#actually not even that he is just a part of the western landscape. the human equivalent of the noble tumbleweed.

[spectrumtacular]

Cheering and clapping like my team just won the big sports game when my favourite c-list actor shows up for .5 seconds in the worst movie I have ever seen

[alpaca-clouds]

The Nature-Culture Divide

Something I have seen a lot of people within the Solarpunk sphere talk about and wonder is: "When did we stop seeing ourself as something outside of nature?" And given that I actually had a module on that (Social Geography, best module I ever had, given we had an anarchist professor!) I thought I could quickly explain this one.

So, the names come, in the end, from Latin and back when those words were considered in Latin, the difference was, that nature was a thing that was innate, while culture had volition behind it. You could change nature into culture by putting work into it.

Something that might surprise you is, that the idea of nature then was never quite big for most of European history. And let me make one thing clear: While we have these ideas also played with in Buddhist culture - especially in East Asia - the way we define it right now is a Western idea.

And that idea... Well, that idea came with colonialism. The thing many do not realize is, how much of the rules and "lines in the sand" that we use in our culture came from colonialisation, came from the desire to make "our" culture different from "theirs". It is shown in the way we eat, in the way we raise children, in the way we view gender and sexuality. And, yes, in the artificial border between nature and culture.

Before I tell you more about this, let me please say here: Yes, this is contradictive. I am aware of it. I am not the one who came up with the contradiction. White settlers did that all on their own.

When the settlers came to America they found a landscape very, very different from what they were used to from Europe. After all, Europe has been changed through human hand for at that point about 1600 years. (And for you Europeans out there: Researching how much forest your local area might have lost through the Romans is always a "fun" thing to do! Because the Romans destroyed a lot of European ancient forests.) In Europe, even at the wildest places, there was usually some evidence of human habitation - but this was not true for the Americas. Not because there were no people there, but rather because the people interacted with the environment very differently.

See, the European idea - while never quite that defined until this point - was really, really based on this thought that nature can be turned into culture. And that this transformation was in fact a good thing to happen. So, when the settlers arrived in the Americas they did not see "culture" there, only "nature" and set out to turn that "nature" into "culture".

Of course, we - modern people living today - do realize that indigenous people had in fact cultures of all sorts and that the actual difference was, that they just did not see that culture as something different from nature, rather than a part of it. Because their culture had not been influenced by Romans. But the settlers back then did not see this or rather did not want to see this. So they "cultured" the land, with the ideas about nature and culture being further formalized at that point.

It kinda stayed like this until the late 19th century, when Madison Grant, the originator of eco fascism came to be influencial. And now he saw something that the settlers until this point were unable to see: The indigenous people do stuff with the nature around them! They change it! For example through controlled burning of forests and things like that.

And this made Madison Grant very angry, because he was very much off the opinion that nature should be "unsoiled" by human hands. So... he made sure that those indigenous people got once more pushed out of the areas they were living, with the same areas being declared natural parks and no longer interfered with by humans (except, of course, all the tourists who destroyed it bit by bit). Leading... To a lot more wild fires.

So, where does this leave us in terms of the culture/nature divide?

Well, the idea has been there since ancient Rome and has very much influenced how much we view nature as its own thing. But within Rome nature was still not quite seen as the opposite of culture - as one could turn into the other. Under the Roman view an abandoned house or a field that was no longer cared for would turn back into nature, while anything could become culture just by interacting with humans.

The modern view really came through colonialism and the way colonialist did not understand (and did not want to understand) indigenous practices. This made people more and more drift towards the understanding of humans being an entirely different thing from nature.

But this is wrong, of course. We are part of nature. We are just animals with fingers and slightly larger brains. And many indigenous cultures understood this. In the end it was the greed of some that made us loose this connection to nature. And that is exactly why we are in this climate change related mess right now.

[alephskoteinos]

Recently Ocean Keltoi wrote a thread about what pagans can learn from the Bible. He basically claimed that the Bible is an incredible resource for pagans with regards to magic, offerings, sacrifice, and both historical and mythological storytelling, adding that hatred of Christianity stops pagans from appreciating that and thus "blocks one's ability to grow".

I'm going to be honest, that thread was kind of an L from Ocean. But I will say that the Bible could be a resource, depending exactly on what you're looking for. Because if you're looking for "pagan practice" you're probably not going to find it. Or, if you do, it's largely going to be from the perspective of people who despised the various polytheistic cults and traditions that surrounded them at the time. I suppose if you're looking for something to base Christian magic or the like on, I think it'd be more useful to look into the systems of (again, Christian) folk magic that actually used the Bible in invocations or spell-casting.

But here's what I would prefer to gleam from the Bible, if anything, as relevant strictly to my own approach:

Henotheism in a polytheistic cosmos: Technically, the narrative of the Bible does assume a cosmos in which multiple gods besides Yahweh exist, just that the narrative of the Bible centers around the worship of Yahweh and generally insists upon the sole worship of Yahweh. Indeed, there seems to be a whole council of divine beings who Yahweh presides over, and who gradually lose their stature as Yahweh condemns them. Other gods roam the land, receive worship, and even contend against Yahweh in struggles for power and/or territory. Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge is explicitly stated as setting them on the path to joining the gods. This creates some ground for "Pagan" treatments of the Biblical landscape, not entirely unsuited to navigating our contemporary religious superstructure. It is also this exact henotheistic landscape that can, with little difficulty, reflect backwards towards the "pagan" cosmoses, often sites of divine rebellion.

Demonology: The Bible is full of demons, alongside its own distinct notion of the demonic. Granted the Apocrypha tend to have a lot more demonology going for them, but the Bible has a wide catalogue of demons that infest the popular imaginary to this day. Christian demonologists have of course frequently derived some of their demons from pagan gods that appeared in the Bible (for example Berith, Adrammelech, Astaroth, Beelzebub, to name just a few) and elsewhere. As Andrew Mark Henry (the Religion For Breakfast guy) noted recently, the demonic has its own way of conveying a sort of outer and/or inner shadow relative to the culture. To pronounce heresy in some ways vivifies that shadow, giving it form and content. The gods, even as demons, speak, even in the voices of demons, their cult, their divine content, and in this form do so in a subversive role.

For that particular point I would suggest a new video on the demonology of The Legend of Zelda. Yes, you heard that right.

Cosmic pessimism: This part may sound quite strange, but it's very easy to get a throughline of. Granted it's mostly relevant to Christianity, which as far as I can see really doesn't have the benefit of getting to argue with God that Jewish rabbinical tradition actually seems to have. But picture, for classical monotheism at least in "Western" terms, the throughline of a seemingly all-powerful singular deity, who is to be treated as the sole sovereign of the universe. That power, that intelligence, governs the whole of life and its course, and so is invariably responsible for its death. It is also possible to see a constant struggle of humanity with even the divine itself - a theme which can be found more often than you'd think in the Old Testament, but which is poorly appreciated, if at all, by Christianity at large. Whether it's Adam and Eve defying God and being exiled, arguably the story of the Tower of Babel whereby the tower itself is a struggle to connect humanity to the divine which is thwarted by God, Job demanding an explanation from God for all his turmoils before ultimately accepting God's word, or the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel or apparently God itself and being declared victorious by God itself and taking the name Israel as a result, there's actually quite a lot to work with that can furnish an admittedly rugged and darksome perspective on the universe. Not to mention exegesis around the "fall".

But all this is just what I can think of, and if anything a lot of it still assumes a counter-narrative assemblage. What Ocean has in mind to my mind seems altogether different, and the nature of that difference is in some ways the problem. Ocean thinks that the problem of the Biblical narrative is mostly that it was simply used to cultivate a supremacy narrative for Christianity, and I think that's a rather simplistic way to look at it, particularly when, if we're talking about supremacy, the proclamations of the sovereignty of a single god are right there, in the text. Even if it's about use, strictly, if you want to use it for that it's certainly not hard. But then the rest of Ocean's thread is essentially him talking about how witches and magicians invoked verses of the Psalms for example in their magic. But that's not actually in itself "Biblical insight on magic". That's Christians practicing their own variety of folk magic, in the name of the Christian God, probably centuries after the Bible was written. It's just saying that Christians have done magic with the Bible and that it's a part of history so you have to consider it as a pagan, never mind that it might not actually be relevant to your practice as a pagan, because reasons. I would have brought up the Greek Magical Papyri or The Eighth Book of Moses as better examples just because they actually seemed to involve invoking pagan gods like Horus or Helios alongside Jesus Chrestos, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Iao Sabaoth in some spells while ostensibly still operating around very pagan ideas about religion and magic but hey, that's just me.

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Days of Heaven

One of the most beautifully shot films ever made, Terrence Malick’s DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978, Criterion Channel, Pluto) tells its story primarily through 15-year-old actress Linda Manz’s improvised narration and the cinematography of Nestor Almendros and Haskell Wexler. The most stunning visual effects are achieved through mostly natural lighting and often shot at magic hour, the 20 minutes between sunset and night. The narration offers a child’s limited perspective on a tale of love and loss, ironically commenting on passions that, played larger, could have inspired the plot of a grand opera.

After accidentally killing his boss in a Chicago factory on the eve of World War I, itinerant laborer Richard Gere takes his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and sister (Manz) to the Texas panhandle, where they work the harvest at Sam Shepard’s farm. To avoid gossip, Gere and Adams pretend to be brother and sister, so when Shepard is taken with her, Gere encourages the match, hoping to continue his own relationship while waiting for the sickly Shepard to die and leave everything to Adams.

Malick tells that story through snippets of conversation intercut with shots of the farm (actually an expanse in British Columbia) and carefully curated images. What emerges is a post-modern take on Western themes. The film plays off the conflict between civilization and the wild — Shepard’s Victorian mansion plopped in the middle of a natural landscape, the farming machines that wreak havoc on the local wildlife, responsible farmer Shepard vs. free-living Gere, the state-sanctioned marriage and Adams’ other, found family. Ultimately, the two opposing forces bleed into each other as human passions ignite and destroy the landscape. There’s a locust attack on the farm (a stunningly put together sequence) that follows Shepard’s catching his wife in a compromising situation with Gere.

The way Malick cuts the film has the potential to put the actors at a disadvantage. If they aren’t totally inhabiting their roles, the brief, almost telegraphic scenes will catch any hint of disconnection. That’s a particular problem with Gere, who at that stage of his career sometimes seemed more invested in his physical beauty than living the part. He rarely moves his face. Still, he has one lovely physical moment when he gets to move into the mansion while Shepard and Adams are off on their honeymoon. His body language and his focus as he takes in the rich surroundings of his new life capture the reactions of a man who’s gotten used to having nothing. Shepard’s performance is much more lived in, and Adams is a wonder. Even within the film’s controlled acting style, she finds subtle ways to suggest her character’s rich emotional life. She never has to tell us she’s fallen in love with Shepard; she just lives it. Manz fares even better. Getting to improvise the narration was a gift, and the words she created add immeasurably to the film’s overall effect. Her unconventional, almost androgynous presence underlines the central tension between civilization and the wild. Even when her wardrobe improves after her faux sister’s marriage, she still seems like a wild child, ready to return to nature when she’s had enough of all this pretense of refinement.

[freedfromthegalactichivemind]

#im one of those people who has the SPECIAL KIND of hatred for the harry potter series#that you can only get by being a huge fan of it as a kid I feel deep sorrow for everyone who has had such an experience. We all have pieces of media that are formative experiences, that dig in and form our souls in one way or another. This was your childhood. It encouraged you to write. And then to go back later and to see the awful things in it beneath the surface that you'd missed before that were in it... and to have the author become just an utter, destructive-turd has got be be an incredibly difficult thing. I didn't have passion for the series, so to try to understand it when I see people who did, I do a thought-experiment on things that I am and have been passionate about. My childhood favorite film and my (still) favorite single book: The Last Unicorn. That book is a huge influence on my writing and even thought. It has a lot to say about being a mortal vs. hypothetical immortality and the power of honest love. If you've read it, you know. The author, Peter S. Beagle is a rather low-key guy. He was desperately poor for a very long time because people he'd worked with cheated him out of rights to things. I have met him in person and gotten autographs on two versions of the book (text and graphic novel) from him and, oh, my God, he is the sweetest person. He is willing to sit at an anime-con table and *talk shop* with an aspiring writer. I think he's like, the anti-Rowling. Or, you know, the franchise that has shaped me perhaps even more - a series I got into as an adult (and have been re-watching and re-reading lately). Trigun. Trigun and the Trigun Maximum anime and manga (and it's recent reboot). To describe it would take too long, but the gist of it is that it is an exploration of the concept of pacifism vs. justified violence, a series of trolley-problems with extra people and extra trolleys, an exploration of how humans use and abuse resources and each other. Also sci-fi western landscapes, guns, soooo many big ridiculous guns and people who wear way too many belts! This series eats souls, I tell you. And I think it actually made me a better person - more willing to see all sides of any given issue and more interested in finding peaceful and equitable solutions. I know, weird for a series where there are minor villains that wear neon suits and have trains grafted into them and there's a race of beings that lives in lightbulbs, but, yeah. The manga-artist behind it all is, by all accounts and interviews, an incredibly chill guy. Goofy. A geek. It's not a gay-manga (despite what the fandom interprets), but there are actual trans characters. (One is a villain, but is, like the strongest human on the planet and she is not a villain due to being trans, she's a villain because of loyalty to the main and being a part of a group of villains where everyone's testing their maximum strength. One is neutral and their gender is bugs. I don't even think they have a gender in a human sense and it's treated as kind of fluid). So, again, an Anti-Rowling. I do the thought-experiment of "What if they were jerks? What if they turned into jerks?" And I can't imagine it. I just can't imagine if these people whose works have informed my own work and my life experience so damn much fell down some horrible anti-human-rights and oh, lookit me I'm so persecuted rabbit hole. It would be like having my liver ripped out. So, yeah... I'm sorry. It makes sense that it causes a media-trauma-response.

Someone tagged me on Facebook with this today, with the note “Has Entrapta.” I post this with apologies to Harry Potter fandom? I was never “into” Harry Potter, myself. I saw the movies back in the day, but I didn’t read the books and was never a fandom-person for it and was not passionate about it the way a lot of people were. I know that HP is a sore spot for a lot of people because they’d grown up on the books and were so passionate about the story and characters only for the author to become…what she became. I just thought it was neat. I did not make it. I do not know who made it. My friend who sent it to me didn’t link to original source. I think it was a thing she randomly found and decided to save and post because she’s seen Spop and knows what an Entrapta-nut I am, specifically.

[architectuul]

Future Communities

The Laboratory of the Future is the theme of next year’s 18th International Architecture exhibition in Venice led by Ghanaian-Scottish architect Lesley Lokko who became the first black curator to helm the event. The exhibition at Korean Pavilion "2086: Together How?” will explore global issues such as the pandemic, economic disparities, environmental disasters, social and political crises. Kyong Park, the co-director of the pavilion, takes South Korea as an example, whose hyper-centralized economy, culture and education generates regions formed increasingly by aging populations who live in landscapes where the empty and the abandoned prevail. It is within this context that he first developed CiViChon, City in a Village in 2021, an initiative on how to create an imaginary future at the scale of the village, rendering global, national, and local concerns to become more intimate, tangible, and relatable.

Kyong Park | Photo © Jipil Jung, 2022

In your concept for the Venice biennale presentation you are questioning why are we isolated when we are supposed to be connected through the globalization of information, finance, commodities, and even in culture?

The project asks how we might live together in the year when our global population is supposed to peak. It posits that we need to realize a biocultural revolution if we are going to endure the unimaginable levels of environmental crises to come, which have already begun. Starting with three communities in South Korea, 2086 imagines a more empathetic, reflective, and restrained life in a new ecosphere. The project begins with the research and design collaboration of three teams, each composed of architects and community leaders, at three different regeneration projects currently active in South Korea. Located in a global city, a small city, and a village, together they serve to investigate the process of urbanization, modernization, and Westernization of Korean urban and rural history. Employing real activities at real locations, the project will then take them toward 2086 by engaging in set dialectics that have been determinant factors in our biocultural evolution.

Very complex!  

Yes, well the project hypothesizes that environmental crises will radically alter our community, society, and could even bring a new paradigm to human civilization. We also think that our environmental crises are not just the rise of the sea level, the planetary temperature, CO2 emissions or other material and atmospheric pollutants. The problems are actually within us, within our body and mind, and how we have embarked on a Faustian-like ideology of progress for unlimited material pleasures through industrialization, urbanization, modernization, colonization and globalization, in which architecture and urbanism are their instrument, expression and record. Thus, 2086 thinks that the environmental crises can best be resolved through a reformation of our way of living and thinking, and through a reassessment of our history and legacy.

CiViChon Masterplan

What is CiViChon, a model of a city in a village?

CiViChon (Ci - City, Vi - Village, Chon - a Korean euphemistic word for villages and rural areas) is an idea to observe the division between the city, urban and rural areas. Mainly because of the urbanisations that have happened around the world in the last one and half century which have radically changed the way of living, the architecture and the society. It was an instrumental part of western domination that has spread around the world, radically transforming the ways of our life. Its latest version is globalization, the neo-liberal policy of colonizing the rest of the world without necessarily invading it. In the concept of CiViChon urban and rural is reconsidered, as urbanization approaches its maximum level in the developed economy and market territories where ruralization is beginning to take place.            

Nomadic Forums for Future Communities: “Place Centered Community or People Centered Community?” Gunsan City, South Korea by CiViChon 2.0. | Photo © Yuran Kim, 2022

What happened in Korea?

As a result of urbanization and development, almost 82 % of South Koreans now live in urban areas while almost 52% in high rise apartments, and 50.4% of its 52 millions lives in Seoul metropolitan area. It is highly urbanized and centralized. Many accused such a high level of centralization to be part of the legacy of the military dictatorship period, where the developmental policy was extremely geared towards its panopticon-like national territorialization. Since then there’s been many efforts to decentralize its population and economy. There also has been decentralization of political power by giving greater budget and political autonomy to the local governments.

So we talk only about the development of the metropolitan areas again?

No, there also has been an attempt to revitalize the heavily depopulated and aging population in villages with government policy and financial support for business entrepreneurships and cultural activities trying to get younger people to move into small villages and towns. But what I hear from the experts is that the programs have not been so successful.

Why not?

Many say that they are mired by lack of creativity and sustainability. Others say that the private sector has been more successful because they are driven by more urgency by self investments. But this could be the same old argument that capitalism is more efficient than the public sector, when dealing with any developments. The private sector has been more successful because they are driven by more urgency by self investments and have been more creative and much more sustainable.

An installation view of CiViChon: City in a Village, in Vienna Biennale 2021: Climate Care, MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) Vienna, Austria. Photo © Georg Mayer/MAK. 2021

Is behind all this any budget?

I don’t know the exact amount but many say that there has been a significant financial effort made by the national and state government and even cities and towns in rural areas have provided significant support to potential residents and entrepreneurs.

What about localization, is it becoming a new trend?  

The ideal of localism is gaining popularity in South Korea. It can be considered even as a multigenerational movement. There are retired people who are moving aways from the city because they are no longer economically tied to the city through their jobs. Some of them are returning to the villages of their origin. Then there is a middle age group who tries to find alternative life form away from working for companies, and romanticizing to live self-sufficient and independent. The younger generations are moving into the rural area as well, because they find living in the city too expensive and not enough economic opportunities. Those who move to the rural area are called Kwichon, and those who try to farm are called Kwinong.

Nomadic Forums for Future Communities: “Place Centered Community or People Centered Community?” Gunsan City, South Korea by CiViChon 2.0. | Photo © Yuran Kim, 2022

How are the younger generations living in a village?

They are considering whether they would be able to build their new future in the rural environment. In a lot of villages there are hipster bars, coffee shops, boutiques, and some of them are trying to find local commodities and traditional products, try to modernize and brand them and plug them into the contemporary market. They are bringing a new economy to the rural areas by capturing the tourists from the city and providing services that are familiar to urban people. The younger generation is in such a way transporting their urban life form in the village environment.        

How about Europe?

A week ago I met a member of the Robida collective in a village called Topolo, where a group of young people are building a community in a small village in the mountains on the Italian side near the border with Slovenia. There is a strong experiment and effort of localism for building an interdependence relationship in a small community by making a common kitchen, library and other common space where people can get together to become a collective group.

Is behind moving out from the cities also a lack of sense of belonging?

There are many factors behind the early ruralization, moving from the cities to the countryside. One is the capitalist dilemma as the nation becomes wealthier and produces disparity and inequality of wealth. Many people in the city feel that they can not compete and survive in the city anymore. People feel an attraction to the communitarian way of life that is missing in the cities. The rural environment provides them a romantic view and people are searching for an idealized rural life that would enable them a better intimate, social and physical life in a smaller place. Then there is also the getting away from the capitalist system and network that people can live in cheaper space, cultivating food and be in such a way self-sufficient. They also seek to lower the level of dependence on money and get a slower life to do something that they can enjoy in it. People want to be liberated from capitalism. There are many complex desires and directions that can come together in the idea of localism, like independence, self-sufficiency, liberation from the big economic regime.  

Nomadic Forums for Future Communities: “Place Centered Community or People Centered Community?” Gunsan City, South Korea by CiViChon 2.0. | Photo © Kyong Park, 2022

During the pandemia you mentioned that we are all in this not together?

When the COVID-19 happened the campaign slogan in the USA was We are all in it together. This was an ideal to generate collective behavior in order to fight the virus together. The cultural notion in the USA is based on individualism which undermines this collective effort. People refused to wear masks and take vaccines in great percentages and there were people who claimed that this is a violation of their individual right and freedom. I felt very frustrated comparing the situation in the USA and South Korea where people were behaving collectively, working as a group. This is the big difference where the people in the USA are wearing masks thinking they will protect them from other people infecting them. In South Korea people are wearing masks for the opposite reason, because they do it in order to not infect other people.  

---        

Kyong Park is a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego (since 2007) and was the founding director of StoreFront for Art and Architecture in New York (1982–1998); the International Center for Urban Ecology in Detroit (1998–2001); and the Centrala Foundation for Future Cities in Rotterdam (2005–2006). There, he co-produced "Lost Highway Expedition," an expedition through nine major cities of ex-Yugoslavia and Albania in 25 days, in which several hundred people participated [2006]. He was a curator for the Gwangju Biennale (1997) and the Artistic Director and Chief Curator for the Anyang Public Art Project 2010 in Korea, where he curated 30 projects and commissioned 23 international artists, including Suzanne Lacy, Marjetica Potrč, Rick Lowe, Raumlabor, Lot-ek, Mass Studies, Chan-Kyong Park. Kyong Park was also a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University (1996/97), Visiting Chair of Urbanism at the University of Detroit Mercy, School of Architecture (2000-2001), and the editor of “Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond,” a book on his projects, with contributions from 32 architects, artists and critics [2005]. His solo exhibitions are Kyong Park: New Silk Road at the Museo de Arte Contemporàneo de Castilla y León in Spain (2009–10), and Imagining New Eurasia, a sequence of three research art exhibitions that visualized continental and urban relations between East and West, which was commissioned and exhibited at the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju, South Korea (2015–18). He is the author of Urban Ecology: Detroit and Beyond (2005) and Imagining Eurasia: Visualizing A Continental History (2019).

[moki-dokie]

Jess lore

Meet Jess! Or, as he'd most likely tell you to call him, "Bull" - a silly nickname that just sort of stuck around until he grew fond enough of it to use it himself (But if you're lucky enough to be someone he considers close, "Jess" is what he'll go by). Most think that name comes from his imposing size. He's 6'9" and built like he lifts whole ass buildings as a pass time. And he's more than happy to let you think that. The longer it takes a person to figure out the actual reason, the funnier it is. Generally, once he hands over his business card with his full name on it, the light bulb moment happens. Jesse Oliver Malarkey. A natural-born werewolf. Currently, he's 177 years old - roughly the human equivalent of 30s. He looks much closer to mid-40s, extreme stress and trauma taking their toll. He's the sole owner and employee of his landscaping business, although he has started to bring his boyfriend along to help out and train. Even outside of work, gardening is his favorite hobby.

Jess was born in Ireland during the famine. Without a pack for support and the island simply too dangerous for wolves - especially wolves with an infant - and the English driving the human population to starvation, his parents joined the thousands fleeing overseas with hopes for a better life. They followed many pioneers into the wilds of the western frontier, perfect territory for wolves.

In what is now New Mexico, nestled in the safety of the canyon valley of the Chama river, they were surprised to come upon an established pack. According to the áni (First One, Leader, Chief, Alpha. A wolf-specific word, even more specific to packs of the southwest. Stems from both Diné and Nahuatl words for "leader".), Mateo, the pack had been there for thousands of years, for almost as long as there had been people. Said to be established by the first wolves of the Diné people, but soon attracted wolves from the southern desert scrublands, followed by wolves of the plains to the east. Over the centuries, cultures have mixed and blended together but several of the foundational traditions remain.

Their territory bordered the Navajo tribe and later their reservation*, friends and allies of one another. They were amongst the only humans to know of their existence and guarded their secret well. To the tribe, the pack was its own unique but adopted clan, known as The People of Two Skins.**

The pack was peaceful, their goal to be a sanctuary and family, to live in harmony with the world and the many different peoples within it.

Mateo himself was amongst the last surviving Mēxihcah people, Aztecs as we know them. After the fall of his people's empire and subsequent genocide, he and quite a number of other supes (slang for supernatural creatures) scattered to the winds. Eventually, he found his way to the pack and after some time, earned his position as its leader. By the time Jess's parents arrived, Mat was considered ancient by wolf standards, but advanced age didn't mean weakness. Besides being highly respected and extremely wise, he was a force to be reckoned with. Many a young wolf in their prime had challenged his position, and each one failed.

Mat accepted them with open arms, all too happy to provide the better life for their pup they'd been seeking.

Part 2 >>

*The current Navajo reservation does not extend to the Chama river, rather the Apache reservation does. But in this world, it's a little rearranged with the Apache nation further to the east. **If I have any Diné people/speakers reading this, I would adore a proper translation. I could look up individual words to throw together but I don't want to do it that way lol.

[beware-of-you-98]

BAU as College Professors AU

*cracks knuckles*

Penelope

penelope is a graphic design professor

she loves teaching kids about the wonders of photoshop!!

hates illustrator and indesign with a burning passion

(the illustrator pen tool can fucking choke for all she cares)

(AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PUT THE FRONT AND COVER TOGETHER IN INDESIGN!?!?)

(she really hates both applications sm 😭)

is always reluctant to teach them but does it begrudgingly

(she’s just glad there’s other professors in the department that teach editorial and graphic illustration)

teaches photography!!

encourages the students to be as expressive as they want to be with their pictures!!!

she’ll be just as enthusiastic to see a close up of a sneaker as she is to see a sunset landscape shot

teaches the graphic design studio classes too!!

she always has music playing!!

half the time, her students come into the class and her glasses are all skewed, her hands are covered in paint or glue and some abstract art piece is sitting on her desk

when the students ask her what it is, she just gives the projects human names

“hey professor... what did you make there?” “oh, this?? her name is... pam.... yeah, pam”

she doesn’t offer up any further explination than that

and the students just accept it

her office light is always off

but she has multiple fairy lights in various colors hung up

her office is v inviting!!!

students come to her to vent or to talk about their problems bc the campus therapist doesn’t help all lmao

she always has on the most unique outfits but she pulls them off so well

a ray of sunshine tbh!!

Spencer

teaches major science and math courses

he teaches chemistry but only chem for majors in chemistry

it’s not that he can’t teach chem for non majors

but he sometimes gets too ahead of himself and forgets he’s teaching a course for non majors

it’s easier for him to teach for majors because the students can follow his ramblings better

he teaches upper level math courses and usually only has like three students in those classes

he’ll sit up on his desk and debate with the students for the entire hour about the riemann hypothesis

he gets excited because the students are just as enthusiastic as he is

he is two extremes

he either shows up to his classroom like a half hour early and writes out all his notes on the board so that when the students come in, he can go right into lecture

or he’ll show up two minutes before class starts with his hair disheveled, his tie undone and his expression glazed over and just be like “listen up i woke up late and just downed an entire pot of coffee i brewed with several cans of monster energy—i don’t exist on this dimension anymore”

on those days, he lets his students work on other projects for other classes because he knows it’s not fair to ask his students to focus if he’s not

he helps them with their homework

penelope brings him lunch sometimes to make sure he’s eating

he appreciates it a lot because between lesson plans and grading, he sometimes forgets to eat

he’s absolutely the youngest prof on campus

sometimes even his students are older than he is

but everyone addresses him correctly and respects him bc he’s really chill

his office is a disorganized mess

there’s files and papers all over his desk

and a sculpture penelope made for him (she named that one “roger”)

JJ

psychology professor

she really has a passion for teaching and learning about human psychology

(she may have started to become interested in psychology bc her sister was in the psch honors course before she died)

she comes across as a little hostile and unapproachable tbh

but she’s young

and she’s attractive

and she’s not conveniently what people think a professor looks like

she’ll respect her students if they respect her

she didn’t graduate the top of her class and work her ass off for the degree to not be respected

if there’s any inappropriate comments aimmed towards her or anyone in the class, she kicks the aggressor out immediately

she stands at the front of the room and lectures for the beginning part of the semester

once she’s built a good rapport with her students (and vise versa), she becomes more chill

she’ll sit on the edge of her desk and encourage discussion rather than following a book or a set plan

(she finds it’s more interesting that way anyway)

sometimes her students will show up ten minutes before class starts just to talk with her once they’re comfortable with her

she always answers her emails students send her (queen shit tbh 👑)

some kids in the psych major course playfully call her “mom” because she always asks them how they’re doing and about their week

(she hasn’t decided how she feels about it, but she also lets it slide)

always wears pants suits but cuffs the sleeves to the jackets

her office always smells like eucalyptus because she has a small mist diffuser plugged in

she also has a small fish tank with a beta fish inside (its the appropriate size too!!)

(she let a student name the fish—it’s name is sir bubbles of argon)

she also has a sculpture from penelope (“her name is maxine”)

her desk is very organized and clean!!

there’s a small couch in her office and her door is always open

sometimes, students will come in if they’re having a hard time and need someone to talk to

they know jj is there to listen and she always seems to understand (she doesn’t judge them either)

Emily

teaches three languages, both for majors and non majors

spanish, french and russian

(she’s also quite fluent in arabic and italian and can hold her own if she’s speaking in german or mandarin, but the students don’t need to know that)

she’s actually very intimidating lmao

students are so scared of her 😭

she’s serious af

(she smiles in class sometimes though!!)

(besides, she’s only serious inside the classroom)

(outside the classroom, she might even be as approachable as penelope)

always dressed in expensive black suits, polished heeled shoes with very dark makeup and a “don’t fuck with me” steely attitude to match

she also wears expensive watches

she always stands at the front of the class and slowly paces the entire hour

one time someone decided to fuck off in her spanish 101 class

she didn’t even yell at him, she glared

rumor has it the kid was never spotted on campus again after that

(BOY SHE SCARED HIM SO BAD HE DROPPED TF OUT)

despite that, her classes are some of the easiest to take

one because emily has a way of teaching that helps all students understand

and two because her voice is naturally very easy to listen to

students taking her french 101 are going to leave the class speaking fluent conversational french

she also doesn’t tolerate people being racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc in her class

if she catches a bigoted comment someone makes in her class, she kicks them immediately

she brings in her cat sometimes

he’s all black and his name is sergio

(he’s her esa that she brings in when she’s feeling really stressed out)

he’s clipped on a harness and sits on her shoulder or on her desk

if he meows, she accepts it as an answer

it’s the only time the students ever see professor emily prentiss as soft

well

other than the days she has the class watch foreign films because the students can tell emily has a fondness for them

her office is pretty organized like jj’s

instead of it being light and inviting, emily decorated her office on a more dark side

she has a few animal skulls, crystals and other gothic memorabilia on her desk or bookshelf

she has a small cat bed on the corner of her desk that sergio sleeps in

on the other corner is a sculpture penelope made her

(it kinda looks like a crow and emily named it kurt)

really, the only colors in her office are dark, deep purples and the small lesbian pride flag sticker on the back of her laptop

Derek

teaches history classes

but like modern history

from like 1940s to present

he refuses to follow most western history books bc they’re not accurate like at all

in his first year of teaching, the dean of his department made him use a book and he hated every second of it

how accurate could the information be if they portray king tut as a white guy???

he graduated under one of the best historians in the country

he also traveled a lot after he graduated and met a lot of people that had first hand experience with major historical events

that’s really what he bases his teachings off of—first hand experiences and encounters

every two weeks or so, he’ll invite in guest speakers to his classes to talk about what they went through (depending on his lesson plans)

that’s how he likes to teach and learn (bc he always loves to learn new things!!)

this is random, but also he is the type of professor to randomly box jump up onto a desk

he also sits in chairs backwards and has a more laid back style to teaching

his exams are based on what the students can learn from history rather than the information itself

he’s always dressed super casual!!

solid color, short sleeve button ups are a favorite!! (no tie)

he gets along with all the students

he’ll talk to the athletes about their games but sound just as enthusiastic and genuine talking with students who are majors in fine arts about their projects

he’s just a v down to earth professor tbh!!

he brings in clooney so much

like... every friday

it’s just another bonus of taking his history classes!!

he and penelope are dating

his office is full of sculptures she makes for him 🥺

he drops by her graphic design studio class with clooney to help out or even to just watch

he’s supportive and encouraging of penelope and her art!!

other than the sculptures penelope makes him, his office is a bit more disorganized than jj’s or emily’s, but cleaner than spencer’s

he has a few papers scattered on his desk but mostly he’s a little more put together

his office door has a small basketball hoop attached that he plays around with if he’s bored (and if penelope is busy)

both he and penelope have a dog bed in their office and water bowls for clooney when he comes in

Hotch

law professor

is the most intimidating professor on campus

like

seriously

if students think professor prentiss is intimidating, they haven’t met professor hotchner

he stands in the front of the room and goes over his lecture without pausing or asking questions

his voice is naturally low and intimidating and he actually never smiles

his attire and appearance is always so professional

suits

ties that are tied so tight, they look like they’re choking him

shoes so polished, he can see his reflection in them

hair always styled neatly

pants and jacket are always wrinkle free

his classes are difficult

not just because of the subject matter, but because he has a very organized, straight forward method to his teaching

students wouldn’t dare act up in his class—they’d be absolute idiots to

he’s quiet and reserved outside the classroom

if the others hear anyone talking shit about hotch behind his back, they’re always quick to come to his defense

they actually know hotch

they know he puts on a hardass exterior, but really he’s just a softie

he always lets them hang in his office with him

he listens to spencer’s ramblings and is extremely patient with him

he has lunch with emily every other day

even if she’s a pain in his ass 99% of the time, he likes that she sticks around and that he can trust her

he shows up to all of penelope’s art shows

and sometimes sits in on derek’s lectures when he has guest speakers

jj brings him pastries from the coffee shop on campus sometimes

he knows that he can come to her if he ever has anything he needs to talk about

(he never opens up to her but he really appreciates the sentiment nonetheless)

penelope has definitely made hotch a few sculptures

(he keeps them at home, but he does have one of her paintings hanging in his office)

speaking of his office it’s hands down the most organized out of all of them

his desk is so clean besides the picture of his son he proudly displays at the corner

he always has his lights off and his door shut

he seems so unapproachable, especially in class

but sometimes his lecture notes have crayon scribbles all over the page

or a small sock will fall out of his briefcase

and maybe, even for a moment, his serious demeanor falls when he spots them

and it almost reassures the students that he is human

Rossi

actually he’s the only one besides maybe reid i can see being a criminology professor

is a retired fbi agent

and successful author

so like that hasn’t changed from canon

but because he doesn’t work for the fbi anymore, he has absolutely no chill and tells all secrets

he’ll be like

talking to his class about a case he worked on in ‘83

and be halfway talking about details of cases that were supposed to be confidential

he’ll pause and go “oops” but keep talking lmaooo

penelope actually never made him a sculpture

instead she made him a coffee mug she made on the wheel and glazed herself!! (she even made her own glaze bc she’s extra like that)

carved on the side is “world’s best italian dad”

(this is because when emily introduced rossi to the group she was like “yeah he’s kinda like my dad” and now everyone calls him “dad”)

(he loves it so much though and proudly accepts his title)

he loves his mug so much and uses it every single day!!!

he’s the only professor besides penelope that let his students refer to him without the title of “professor”

he gives off kind old grandpa vibes

and that he’s only teaching because he really doesn’t have anything better to do during his retirement

but he’s chill and his class is interesting to take

(plus he really does love to teach)

he’ll ramble on and on about his “golden years” as an agent

he will especially talk a student’s ear off if they come up to him and tell him that they read one [or all] of his books

he writes a different quote on his board every single day

his attire is always business casual

he sits on the edge of the desk or on a swivel chair because it’s comfy

he was doing a lecture on jack the ripper and just pushed himself around on the swivel chair, slowly spinning around the front of the room

his voice kept changing in volume every few words because of him facing the wall and then a few moments later facing the classroom

his students refer to him as a “living breathing meme”

he has no idea what the fuck that means

but he take it as a compliment

his office is empty because he goes home after he’s done with classes lmao

he doesn’t do paperwork

or fuck with technology (he never fucking responds to emails smh)

so he has no need for an office

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: Blood Meridian

Author: Harold Bloom

Rating: 5/5 stars

An important book that deserves every bit of hype it has received.

My first read-through of Blood Meridian, I remember liking parts of it a lot but also thinking it had too many flaws to recommend it as something you'd read for the first time. When I revisited it many years later, I found both those criticisms were not only right but also correct in both direction: there are still things about the book I wouldn't want to do first, but there are also more things I don't think I would have done second -- and in general, I think the book's "perfection" is actually somewhat flawed.

I can't explain what "perfection" looks like. It isn't that every detail, no matter how large, is correct. But that the feeling of the book, and what the book intends to do, is true. The book is an extremely intense vision of an American frontier that has fallen into utter, pointless ruin: a landscape as barren as the "empty" plains and "unclaimed" land depicted by some realists, as empty as the real plains had been until the Indian population was violently destroyed (in the book, at least), as desolate as certain fictional landscapes (say, Cormac McCarthy's postapocalyptic American West). But it doesn't feel like a landscape with no human life, it feels like a human wasteland -- a place which, by some cruel irony, no longer contains human beings, but which can still seem like a perfect setting for some kind of human story.

The narrator, Roach, is one of these human beings, and he is a human being of a certain kind, one to whom many people -- especially readers familiar with the "dark, cynical Western" and who expect such a narrator -- would find off-putting. The book is narrated as a story in which the narrator "tries to convince" various characters -- notably a Mexican gang boss and a small-time lawyer -- to let Roach work for them, because it would be both an interesting and profitable thing to do. It's a story in which the narrator treats the characters he is "trying to convince" in a way that would probably be seen as "unusually" condescending or even bullying by readers who don't see the "logic" of his arguments. It's a story in which the narrator has a history of "trying to convince" various characters -- including his boss -- to take actions they wouldn't otherwise have taken, even when he didn't understand their reasoning very well. For example, he tried to persuade this boss -- a big, genteel, old-style Southern gentleman of a certain kind -- to let him work for him, not because Roach had worked his way out of some horrible situation and would be a good employee, but because there were some "small, odd jobs" the boss needed done and Roach was an unusually "determined" and "persistent" person who just had to do "whatever it takes." This is not a story about an arrogant, rude, "asshole" narrator, it is a story about an arrogant, rude, "arrogant asshole" who happens to have a large amount of power over people and has a certain limited capacity for "persistence" or "determination" -- and yet somehow finds himself in situations (with people whom he has power over, or who are dependent on his decisions) where he's able to succeed with little difficulty, precisely because he can see a way, just barely, out of situations that look totally hopeless. (There is much about this "Roach-as-asshole" character that makes him feel not only like an asshole, but like some sort of cosmic asshole -- a sort of "satanic-angel" narrator who knows, in his arrogance, that he can get away with anything, while also knowing that things can only go wrong for anyone who relies on him.)

What the book seems to be about -- not directly, but implicitly -- is a world in which everything is so "predictable" and there is so little control, at the level of individual experience, that you can have things go wrong for you without having them go wrong for anyone. We have been surrounded for so long in a world in which we have some control over every step, in which each person has some real power to make her life and the life of her loved ones better -- where a person can, through action, be responsible for something other than being a victim of the forces around him -- that we tend to forget we are living in such a world and what it takes to realize that fact and make use of it.

And this is the reason that the book has so many flaws. I think there is a certain element of "trying to convince" that is a good thing, at least in moderation, but which becomes a flaw when the protagonist never stops trying to convince or trying to persuade or always finds a way to make one more effort to be heard. It is a flaw because it leads to a worldview where the world is always, in some way, "already" working to make things better, a world in which we have more control than we think, and our power is never, in any serious sense, at our disposal.

(This is also a reason why some readers may find it hard to empathize with certain characters -- because it feels like what happens to them, from the protagonist's point of view, is "predictable," as if it is already happening, as if the world already is, in some way, "better," and the protagonist will soon be rewarded for his struggles.)

Blood Meridian is also a book with an extremely clear vision -- or, at least, an extremely clear image of a vision: it is a book in which the "great American Western" has fallen, in some real, physical sense, into the ground, and the "prairies" themselves are "empty." It is a vision with a very precise and concrete look, a vision that seems to be a little bit "wrong," at least if your notion of reality is the one presented by most realistic depictions. It is the "Western" (in the sense of the story it tells) which is wrong, in the sense that the land is no longer (as it once was) populated by the "dying race" of an entire population -- but also that it never actually existed in that way to begin with, that it was not a place of "redemption" (say, in the realist sense) of the downtrodden population, but only a wasteland that, in the end, is made up of nothing at all, except its inhabitants.

For many readers, there will be something a bit off-putting about this way of looking at reality. It will not be the way that many readers prefer to look at the world. That's fine. I'm glad there's more than one possible vision of reality, and I am glad there is such a thing as Blood Meridian.

I am also glad there is a book which, in some of its details, seems to do something that only a relatively limited number of books since have been able to do: portray, without exaggeration, the utter, hopeless despair which comes from a vision of reality which may not be false, but which you do not know -- or, at least, which you do not see -- how it might be made true. I feel like this may be a very rare gift -- it may also be an impossible-to-achieve goal -- but I appreciate it more than I can say for the reasons given above.

[asagimeta]

Enhypen Theory- Ruins & Rituals

So I've been watching Given/Taken alot lately for writing purposes and am curious about something....

What's with the weird monument?

The beginning of the video starts with Jungwon standing in a desert with a bleeding nose, but we don't see this scenery again until the third "arc" of the music video, when the rest of the boys join him and immitate firing arrows at this broken monument of some kind- we later see them at night, dressed in their uniforms, dancing in front of it- though before this Jungwon is seen again slowly burning from (presumably) the sunlight

But... what is it? What's the significance and why does the video open there? Why are they firing arrows? There are just so many questions and I, personally, haven't really seen this part of G/T addressed yet so I'm going to take a shot at it for my first HYBE theory! (I actually have been *following* HYBE theories for a few months now but I'm new to K-Pop in general so I've been quiet until now)

First, it's important to note that it stands out as odd from the rest of the video

The beginning and middle of the video have two primary locations with similar but still considerably different vibes-

Old fashioned clothes, indoors, a sense of containment and "other"ness, even though they aren't the same, you can still feel the connection to eachother- but that's completely removed in the desert scenes, wich are outdoors, in modern clothing, and present the boys with more individuality (IE: lacking uniforms)

And it makes me wonder if the ruins they're visiting are of their old testing facility

Let me break it down a bit better-

The two primary locations we see other than these ruins are a mansion-wich I'll, possibly incorrectly, refer to as "the orphanage" henceforth- and a testing/containment/research facility of some sort

At first I wondered if the ruins were simply the orphanage but that's clearly not the case as you can see the exterior of the mansion in one of the snapshots early on, it's very different looking- even the shape is extremely different, and it seems to be in a forest just below a hill, not in the middle of a desert

What about the other place though? The facility- as I'll call it from here on- doesn't have the same deniability

In fact, we see a very similarly shaped building to the ruins during one of the snapshots, but we don't have any clear indication of what it is, why would it just randomly be there? Unless, ofcourse, it isn't random

Initially I assumed the orphanage and the facility were the same place because the boys are wearing the uniforms in both locations, but I'm starting to think that isn't the case, and that the boys were moved to the facility after being experimented on at the orphanage

The thing is that vampires don't always turn when they're given the venom/virus/blood/whatever-it-is-that-turns them, and when this substance is manmade or engineered somehow, it takes even less frequently, this is true of all supernaturals, and again, is emphasized when the people attempting to make the transitions are humans experimenting with forces beyond their understanding, so it's typical of these practioners to have large "sample sizes" of potential experiments, often turning to hospitals, schools, and orphanages (to name a few) seeking the few candidates that can survive and thrive under these new conditions- from there they'll experiment on all of them until they get the desired result, and those select few will move on in the process to the next step

Sound familiar at all? I think this is further representative of the idol industry

We know that a big theme of Enhypen's storyline is going against the toxic nature of the idol industry, with songs like "Not For Sale" and "Mixed Up", and themes like being museum or display peices in "Let Me In", and the process of a large group of young boys being picked through and groomed until there are only a few left standing, who are then taken away from the "orphanage" and brought to a more intense experimentation/testing facility, sounds alot like idol-potentials who are on talent shows, win, and then assigned to a group and agency who put them through intense preperation for their debut

We know Enhypen went through that exact process on I-Land, so it's not a stretch to say this may be what they're referencing

But back to the ruins

You can see a definite difference in the way the orphanage looks vs the facility, wile the orphanage is a western style mansion that looks like it came from the late Victorian era- though, as Laina Sunflower pointed out, it does seem to have some modern conveniences like pen lights and electric fans- (the person conducting the experiments is also wearing a face mask, wich looks more modern from what I can tell)

-the facility is seemingly more modern than that, and has a much less homey feel, resembling instead a more containment type of vibe- large areas of open space, large glass windows dividing one from another, and the boys all seem to have their own rooms to keep separated from eachother, very unlike the mansion where you can probably safely assume that they share rooms, as unlike the sleek, minimal style of the facility, is cluttered with children's toys, furnishings, and accents, and you get the vibe that the boys are allowed around eachother often, the entire feel is more casual, and considering the number of tables in the dining room, you can also safely assume that there are many more inhabitants of the orphanage than just Enhypen themselves, meaning that it's more likely they share rooms

We know what the outside of the mansion looks like, but we don't have as definitive of a space for the facility

Wile the tower in the snapshot is a bit different in shape from the ruins, they're similar enough, and the landscape is notably perfect for a facility containing baby vampires- a barren desert devoid of the one thing they need most (blood) and full of the one thing that can most harm them (sunlight), it would be like keeping Superman in a chamber beneath the red sun surrounded by kryptonite, there's very little chance of them escaping

There's also something particularly strange about the ruins, in that there's a LADDER hanging off of one side leading to the top of the facility

The entire set up reminds me of the vampire facility in True Blood, and I wouldn't be surprised if the facility had this peculiar setup to make it even more difficult on the boys to possibly escape, I wouldn't even be surprised if these ruins are only a small portion of what's been left, maybe the original facility was a little in tune with the building from the snapshots before whatever happened to it... happened

There's also some other things I want to point out with this line of thought-

Sunghoon is kept in a room filled with orange light at one point, sitting on the edge of a bathtub-?- when his hand catches on fire

Some have theorized that this is Sunghoon's power, just like other boys have the power to levitate, hypnotize, and teleport, but what if that isn't it? What if that was the facility testing him in a room full of manufactured sunlight to see if he indeed burns in the sun? True Blood, again, has a similar theme (and it wouldn't be unusual for HYBE to draw influences from other popular media, what with TXT's frequent Harry Potter references)

Additionally, could this be in part about their escape from the facility? We see the boys make a running motion as though they're trying to get away, only to stop

We see something almost exactly the same in "Fever", but this time they succeed in seeming to go through the door to their freedom

I also wonder if the Victorian style clothing vs the French Roccoco style clothing is meant to show that there was a large gap between the time they were originally imprisoned and the time they got out?

This also fits with "Drunk Dazed", we see the mystery woman before the boys, still in their Rococo style clothes, performing a "ritual of blood" by pouring blood into the fountain, could the boys have been rescued, found, or "adopted" by **real** vampires after their, probable, human experiments? If the French Rococo style represents the boys during their escape period, this could make senses, and could also serve to explain, to a degree, their blood festivities in the first place

This doesn't make alot of sense though in terms of timing as the Victorian era is around two hundred years *after* the French Rococo period, so unless it's symbolic....

But I've wondered about the weird contrast between the boys being experimented into vampirism vs being turned naturally, as the mystery woman seems to heavily implicate that she herself is a vampire and that she's showing the boys a "natural" ritual, something that's part of the vampire community/species/way of life, but this is a giant contrast to the more clinical, experimentation vibe of what the boys had been going through in their orphanage/facility days; I'm reminded again of True Blood here, as well as "Bitten", "Servamp" (the manga), and plenty of others where the older, stronger vampires (or werewolves) free the younger ones from human captivity

Things I still haven't figured out or that I find most notable:

-Jungwon seems seperated from the others the most here, he's the one at the beginning with the nosebleed and the one catching on fire- something that doesn't happen to any of the other boys- and in one of the flashbacks he's the one standing outside of the orphanage banging on the window as the others go about their routines, and in “Fever” he’s the one left behind/last in line when everyone is running towards the door, he seems to be the "main" charector in Given/Taken, as he's the last one on screen revealing what everyone suspected: that they're vampires; he's also the one with teleportation, most prominantely seen in Drunk/Dazed, flittering around outside the room where Sunoo is pouring his blood into his glass and coming in between the two groups of three who, according again to Laina Sunflower, seem to be at odds with eachother

-Sunoo is also the one seen to be biting (or attempting to bite) Jungwon, this could be a really interesting nod to their relationship, the two seem to be connected in a special way (is this why Jungwon is outside Sunoo’s room in Drunk/Dazed, flittering around anxiously as though he’s not sure what to do with himself or isn’t sure what to do about something that’s bothering him?) Could Sunoo have been responsible for turning Jungwon, or maybe completing his transformation? Or even just feeding off of him, wich, in some lore, creates a special bond between two vampires?

-Speaking of Drunk/Dazed, we see the mansion reappear during their first "bloody birthday party"- when there was only one candle on the cake- does this mean that they celebrated their life as vampires before being transferred to the facility? Were they vampires for a fair amount of time- several months or maybe even a year or two- before being taken away?

-Why are they immitating firing arrows? They don't seem to be *actually* doing this, just mimicking it, why expose themselves to the sun just for something symbolic? Is it a repetition of something they've done before? Did they originally destroy the facility themselves? Or it it something else..?

If anyone has any ideas definitely let me know, HYBE is my new favorite thing for theorizing!

[bookofjin]

Commentary on the Water Classic: India (cont.)

[We finish the section on Tianzhu = India, and the Heng = Ganges River. The commentary's crisscross of the landscape rather than going strictly downriver reflects the actual path taken by Faxian during his journey. Again there is a heavy focus on sites associated with the life of the Buddha and Buddhism.]

The He River河水 sets out from their north-eastern corner, bending to follow its south-eastern flow to enter into the Bo Sea渤海.

[6]...

Kang Tai's Account of Funan says: Formerly, in the time of Fan Zhan [King of Funan, fl. 243 AD], there was a person from the state of Tanyang嘾楊國, Jiaxiangli, who once came from his home state to Tianzhu天竺. He tossed and turned as a drifting merchant until he arrived in Funan扶南, and discussed with Zhan the lands and customs of Tianzhu天竺. The principles of the Way flowed throughout, gold and treasure piled up in heaps, the mountains and streams were productive and fertile, indulging one's wishes. Left and right were great states, the Generationally Venerated One esteemed them. Zhan asked about it, stating: “Now, what is the distance and time in one could arrive, how many years would a round-trip take?” Li told him: “The distance from Tianzhu天竺 could be more than thirty thousand li. To go and come back could exceed three years. When travelling, four years and just then go back is considered to be the middle of Heaven and Earth.”

The Heng River恒水 again goes east to pass Lanmo pagoda藍莫塔[Rama]. By the pagoda's side there is a pool, within the pool there is a dragon who defends and protects it. King Ashoka wished to destroy the pagoda, and build eighty-four thousand pagodas. He realized that what had been provided by the dragon king was known not to exist in his era, and thereupon ceased. Within here was empty and wasted without people. A crowd of elephants used their to take water and sprinkle the earth. Similarly to Cangwu蒼梧 and Kuaji 會稽, the elephants ploughed and the birds weeded.

The Heng River恒水 again goes east to arrive at Wuhekou五河口 [Lit. “Five River Mouths”], perhaps where five rivers meet – there are no details. Ananda went from the state of Mojie 摩竭國[Magadha] towards Pisheli毗舍利[Vaisali], wishing for parinirvana. The various devas informed King Ajatasatru. The king pursued until he arrived upon the He河. The Licchavis [the rulers of Vaisali] heard that Ananda was coming, and likewise also came to welcome him, all arrived upon the He河. Ananda thought about it. If he went forward, King Ajatasatru would become resentful. If he retreated, the Licchavis then would be angry. Exactly when he was in the middle of the He, there entered him a fire shining samadhi, he burned completely in two, [achieving] parinirvana. The body was in two parts, with a part on each of the banks. The two kings each grasped a half as a relic, and returned home to erect two pagodas.

Crossing the He and going down south for one yojana, you come to the state of Mojieti's摩竭提國 Balianfu Town巴連弗邑[Pataliputtra]. The town is precisely the city where King Ashoka ruled from. The palace halls within the city on all their standing walls and watchtowers had engraved patterns and carved inlays. They piled up rocks to make a mountains, and beneath the mountain they made a rock chamber, three zhang long, two zhang wide, and more than a zhang tall. There was a Brahmana master of the Great Vehicle, named Radha-sami and also named Manjushri, he resided inside of this city. He had a vivid perception and much wisdom, in affairs there was nothing he did not comprehend, and so clear and pure he lived by himself. The king of the state honoured and respected him as his teacher in affairs. Relying on this one man, they expansively circulated the dharma of the Buddha, outsiders were unable to encroach. Altogether among the various states, only this city is great. The population is wealthy and flourishing, and contend to act with humanity and righteousness.

When King Ashoka destroyed the seven pagodas, he built eighty-four thousand pagodas. At the very beginning he built the great pagoda, it is two li or so south of the city. In front of this pagoda are the Buddha's footprints, where they have erected a place of pure activity. The north door is towards the pagoda. South of the pagoda there is a stone pillar. Its greatness is four or five in circumference, and it is more than three zhang tall. On it there is an inscription, the heading states: “King Ashoka used the Jambudvipa to dispense as alms to the four regions. The sangha returned it and used the ransom money for the pagoda. Three hundred paces north of the pagoda, King Ashoka there built Nili City泥犂城. Within the city there is a stone pillar which is also more than three zhang tall. On it there is a lion pillar, and there is an inscription recording the principle and subsidiary causes for building Nili City泥犂城, and the year and the number of days and months.

The Heng River恒水 again goes south-east passing a little solitary rock mountain. On the mountain's head there is a stone chamber, and the stone chamber faces south. The Buddha formerly sat within it, the Heavenly Emperor, Sakra, used the forty-two affairs to question the Buddha. The Buddha one by one with his finger drew them up on the rock. Traces of the drawing formerly were there.

The Heng River恒水 again goes west passing Wangshe New City王舍新城 [New Rajagriha], the one constructed by King Ajatasatru. Setting out from the city and going south four li one enters a valley and arrive inside of five mountains. The circuit made by the five mountains in shape is lake a city's outer walls. This is precisely King Bimbisara's old city. East to west it is five or six li, and south to north seven or eight li. The place were King Ajatasatru first wished to murder the Buddha. Its city is empty and deserted, and again no person passes by.

On entering the valley and holding on to the mountain, going up south-east for fifteen li one comes to Qidujue Mountain耆闍崛山[Gidhra-kuta]. Three li before the peak there is a stone cavern facing south. The Buddha sat in meditation at this place. Forty paces south-east there again is another stone cavern, Ananda sat in meditation at this place. The Mara Pisuna transformed to act as a vulture to frighten Ananda. The Buddha used his divine strength to separate the rock, spread his hand, and rub Ananda's shoulders. His terror then immediately ceased. The bird's footprints and the hand's opening fully exist, for that reason it is called the Vulture Cavern雕鷲窟. Its mountain peak is graceful, straight, and stern, it is the tallest of the five mountains.

Mr. Shi's Records of the Western Regions states: Qidujue Mountain耆闍崛山[Gidhra-kuta] is north-east of Anavatapta [and?] Wangshe City王舍城, looking westward at its mountain. There are a pair of peaks standing up, the distance between them to or three li. In the middle road there are vultures, they commonly reside at its peaks. People of the land call it Qidujue Mountain耆闍崛山, in foreign speech “gidhra” is “vulture”.

Also Zhu Fawei states: The state of Luoyuezhi羅閱祗國 has the Lingjiu Mountain靈鷲山 [“Sacred Vulture Mountain”], in foreign speech they say Qidujue Mountain耆闍崛山. The mountain has blue-green rock. The rock's head resemble a vulture. King Ashoka sent people to cut the rock. They made use of the settled [?] pair of wings and a pair of feet, and cut to arrange its body which is now seen to exist. Looking from far-away, it resembles the shape of a vulture. For that reason they call it Lingjiu Mountain靈鷲山.

The several explanations are not similar, and the distant and near are also different. Now, Faxian personally stayed at its mountain, and recited the Surangama with fragrant flowers to provide and furnish, the reverence of hearing and seeing.

Again west passing thirty li south of Jiana City迦那城[Gaya], you come to the place where the Buddha during six years of exacting practices sat at the tree, and there is a forest. Travelling west for three li you come to the place where when the Buddha entered the water to wash and bath, a heavenly king pressed a tree branch so he managed to pull himself up and get out of the pool.

Again travelling north for two li, you get to the place were the Mijia彌家 girls offered the Buddha milk gruel. Travelling north two li from this place, is the place where the Buddha beneath a big tree and upon a rock, sat turned east and ate the gruel. The tree and rock fully exist. It is six chi long and wide, and about two chi tall. Within their state, cold and heat are equally attuned. Trees sometimes are several thousand years [old], even ten thousand years.

Travelling north twenty li from there, you come to a single rock cave. The bodhisattva entered within it, and turning west sat down cross-legged, thinking in his heart: “If I have perfected the Way, there will be a divine proof.” Upon the rock wall there immediately was seen an image of the Buddha, three chi in length, presently it is still clear and bright. At the time Heaven and Earth greatly moved, and the various Heavenly beings in the hollow talked: “This is not a place where bygone and coming Buddhas perfected the Way. Depart here and go south-west for less than half a yojana, below the patra tree, this is the place where bygone and coming Buddhas perfect the Way.” The various Heavenly beings guided and pulled the bodhisattva to rise up and go. When he was thirty paces from the tree, a Heavenly being conferred kusa grass. The bodhisattva accepted, and again went fifteen paces. Five hundred blue-green sparrows came flying, they circled around the bodhisattva thrice and left westward. The bodhisattva went forward and came beneath the patra tree. He spread out the kusa grass, turned east, and sat down. At the time King Mara dispatched three jade girls who came from the north to test the bodhisattva. King Mara himself came from the south. The bodhisattva pressed firmly on the ground with his feet and fingers. The Mara troops stepped back and scattered, the three girls changed to become old crones who did not apply themselves.

Where Buddha beneath the nyagrodha tree upon the square rock sat turned east, the place where Brahmadeva came to the Buddha, and the place where the Four Heavenly Kings holding up their alms bowls, at all of them were raised up pagodas.

The Affairs of the Outer States says: Pipoli 毗婆梨 [Vaibhali?], the Buddha at this place was beneath a single tree for six years. A woman of grown age used a golden alms bowl filled with milk gruel to send up to the Buddha. The Buddha got the milk gruel, and halted his feet at the Nilianchan He尼連禪河[Nairanjana] to bathe. He bathed fully. At the edge of the He河, he ate the gruel fully, and threw the alms bowl into the water. After going against the current for a hundred paces, the alms bowl sank into the He河. The dragon king of Jialijao迦梨郊 received and took it at the palace to provide furnishings. The previous three Buddhas' alms bowls are also seen. The Buddha near by the He河 sat at the mahabodhi tree. The distance from the mahabodhi tree to the patra tree is two li. He was beneath this tree for seven days, thinking only of perfecting the Way. The Mara troops tested the Buddha.

Mr. Shi's Records of the Western Regions says: The Nilian River尼連水 to the south pour into the Heng River恒水. West of the river is the Buddha's tree. The Buddha at this place [underwent] exacting practices, daily eating gruel for six years. The distance west to the city is five li. East of the tree upon the He河 is precisely the place where the Buddha entered the river to bathe. Eastward upon the bank is the nyagrodha tree beneath where he sat and devoted himself. The residing girl[s] sent up gruel at this place. West of here across across the river, south of the six year tree, is the patra tree he sat beneath, brought down the Mara, and obtained Buddhahood.

Fotutiao says: The inside of the Buddha tree was dried out, at the time of his coming, it changed to bear branches and leaves.

Zhu Fawei says: The distance from the six year tree to the Buddha tree is five li. The texts on it differ.

Faxian from there travelled south-east, and returned to Balianfu Town巴連弗邑[Pataliputtra] following Heng River恒水 went down west. He got to one place of pure activited named Kuangye曠野 [“Empty Wilderness], a place where the Buddha had dwelt. Then he again followed Heng River恒水 and went down west, and came to the state of Jiashi's 迦尸國 [Kasi] Boluonai City波羅柰城 [Varanasi].

Zhu Fawei says: The state of Boluonai波羅柰國 is one thousand, two hundred li south of the state of Jiaweiluowei City迦維羅衛城[Kapilavastu]. In between them is the Heng River恒水 which flows south-east. The place where the Buddha turned the wheel of the dharma is twenty li north of the state. The tree is named Chunfu春浮, the place were was Weimo維摩 [Vimalakirti?].

Faxian says: Ten li north-east of the city is precisely Deer Wilderness Park鹿野苑. Originally a pratyeka-buddha resided here. He often had wild deer staying overnight, and for that reason used it as the name for it. Faxian turned back from there, and dwelt at Balianfu Town巴連弗邑. He again followed the Heng River恒水 and travelled east. On its southern bank is the great state of Zhanbo瞻婆大國 [Champa].

Mr. Shi's Records of the Western Regions says: Next east of Hengqu恒曲 is the state and city of Zhanbo瞻婆國城. To the south is Buqulan Pool卜佉蘭. Heng River恒水 is to the north. The place where the Buddha sent down his explanations and cautions. Heng River again passes the state of Boli波麗國, which is precisely the state of Fowaizu佛外祖國.

Faxian says: Heng River恒水 again goes east to come to the state of Duomolijian多摩梨靬[Tamralipti], which precisely is at the ocean's mouth.

Mr. Shi's Records of the Western Regions says: Daqin大秦 is also named Lijian梨靬.

Kang Tai's Account of Funan says: South-west from Jianadiao Island迦那調洲 you enter a great bay, perhaps seven or eight hundred li [wide], and then come to the mouth of the Zhihuli Great Jiang枝扈黎大江. Crossing the Jiang江 and to pass travelling west, is Jidaqin極大秦.

He also states: Issuing out from the mouth of Gouli利口, and enter within the great bay, entering straight north-west, could be one year or so, you get to Tianzhu's 天竺 Jiang Mouth江口, which is named the Heng River恒水. The Jiang Mouth江口 has a state titled Danzhi擔袟 which belongs to Tianzhu天竺. Dispatched Yellow Gates Zixing [?] to be King of Danzhi擔袟.

Mr. Shi's Records of the Western Regions says: Heng River恒水 flows east to enter the Eastern Sea. Perhaps where two rivers pour into, and where the pair of seas take in, themselves become the Eastern and Western.

[fatehbaz]

regarding the difference between a forest and a tree plantation. again today, encountered a headline about this. because of some highly-publicized academic research in late 2019, involving comparisons between Colombian and Southeast Asian plantations, all of these “authoritative” and “serious” Scientists and revered academic journals have recently been talking about “sustainable” plantations in Colombia in 2019/2020. which they only qualify as: plantations can be sustainable if they provide “vegetative cover” or perform “carbon storage” and “ecosystem services”, which are suspect categories of Euro-American values systems and veiled neocolonial/extractivist logic to begin with. but these grand-sounding scientific articles and headlines fail to consider that, uh, regardless of whether or not a landscape “performs ecosystem services,” plantations harm actual human beings, especially the Indigenous and Afro-descendant people who depend on those forests in the Choco-Darien bioregion (one of the rainiest and most biodiverse locations on the planet) where plantations are expanding. Choco-Darien bioregion’s human communities: 90% Afro-descendant. the nation of Colombia is the world’s fourth-largest producer of palm oil. (outside of Southeast Asia, the nation of Colombia is the world’s largest producer.) “climate and wildlife friendly” plantations? hard to believe that statement to begin with, but how friendly are the plantations to communities of Colombia? did these esteemed Euro-American academic institutions just ... forget to consider this before flooding pop-sci magazines with headlines like this?

stuff on dispossession and palm oil plantations in the Choco-Darien bioregion:

-- Ulrich Oslender. “Geographies of the Pluriverse: Decolonial Thinking and Ontological Conflict on Colombia’s Pacific Coast.” January 2019.

-- Taran Volckhausen. “How Colombia became Latin America’s palm oil powerhouse.” Mongabay. 31 May 2018

-- Arturo Escobar, “Thinking-Feeling with the Earth: Territorial Struggles and the Ontological Dimensions of the Epistemologies of the South.” Revista de Antropologica Iberoamericana. 2016.

-- Claudia Leal. Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia. 2018.

and for “technical” info:

-- Fagua, Baggio, and Ramsey. “Drivers of forest cover changes in the Chocó‐Darien Global Ecoregion of South America.” Ecosphere. March 2019. And also: Camila Fagua and R Douglas Ramsey. “Geospatial modeling of land cover change in the Chocó-Darien global ecoregion of South America; One of most biodiverse and rainy areas in the world.” PLOS One. February 2019.

---

check out these headlines:

---

---

---

---

Afro-descendant communities in South America:

Colombia:

compare:

Excerpt:

Even if the relations that keep the mangrove-world always in a state of becoming are always changing, to mess up significantly with them often results in the degradation of such worlds. Such is the case with industrial shrimp farming schemes and oil palm plantations for agro-fuels, which have proliferated in tropical regions in many parts of the world, often built at the expense of mangrove and humid forest lands, with the aim to transform them from ‘worthless swamp’ to agro-industrial complexes (Ogden 2010). Here, of course, we find […] the conversion of everything that exists in the mangrove-world into ‘nature’ and ‘nature’ into ‘resources’; the effacing of the life-enabling materiality of the entire domains of the inorganic and the  non-human, and its treatment as ‘objects’ to be had, destroyed, or extracted; and linking the forest worlds so transformed to ‘world markets’ for profit. In these cases, the insatiable appetite […] spells out the progressive destruction of the mangrove-world, its ontological capture and reconversion by capital and the State. […] Another clear case […] comes from the  southernmost area in the Colombian Pacific, around the port city of Tumaco. Here, since the early 1980s, the forest has been destroyed and communities displaced to give way to oil palm plantations. Inexistent in the 1970s, by the mid-1990s they had expanded to over 30,000 hectares. The monotony of the plantation – row after row of palm as far as you can see, a green desert of sorts – replaced the diverse, heterogeneous and entangled world of forest and communities. […] The ‘plantation form’ effaces the relations maintained by the forest-world.

[Arturo Escobar. “Thinking-feeling ...” 2015.]

Excerpt:

Researcher Victoria Marin-Burgos’ studies on palm oil expansion between 2000 and 2010 showed that Uribe’s special treatment helped to expand palm oil projects into municipalities that had experienced high and medium levels of displacement. Marin-Burgos [...] said that Carlos Murgas, who served as Agricultural Minister during the presidency of Uribe’s predecessor Andres Pastrana, was responsible for developing the “palm oil model” [...]. Murgas’ palm oil business Oleoflores S.A. received support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) [...]. However, critics such as Comisión Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ) lawyer Jhenifer Mojica said that the ZIDRES law would “spearhead the expansion of the multinational agroindustrial groups in Colombia.”Mojica said the ZIDRES land use changes will effectively “legalize the accumulation of land” that agribusiness interests “illegitimately obtained [...].“ In an interview with Fede/palma trade magazine Palm/icultor, J**** E***** V****, who played a critical role in crafting the ZIDRES legislation, said the land ownership model in the baldios would change to “surface rights that would allow for land exploitation.” [He] explained that the surface rights would not be affected by Colombia’s laws against land accumulation because a single business owner, entity or multinational corporation could “buy various surface rights” without being required to own the title to the land.

[Volckhausen. “How Colombia became Latin America’s palm oil powerhouse.” Mongabay. 31 May 2018.]

[missroserose]

Summertime Thing

Okay, so really I should be working on the first chapter of this (which I actually have a hard deadline for on the 18th, sorta—more on that later), but I promised @laveracevia and @redmyeyes and @notwhatiam (and also an anonymous Tumblr person) that I'd post the bullet point outline for my angsty wincesty teen Sam novel so here it is, all three-thousand-plus words of it. Still tentative and with a fair amount to fill in, but that's what makes it an outline. (Has anyone yet beatified the SPN showrunners for setting the bar for research so ridiculously low? Praise be unto them! 😂) So, without further ado:

• It’s the summer of 1999 and Sam is sixteen.

• They’re living in rural Arizona for the summer, in a little town in the Chiricahua Mountains called Bisbee that I definitely didn’t live in for three years.

• Bisbee’s a weird place. It used to be a wealthy mining town, but in the ‘70s the company pulled out and the economy crashed. Some of the residents are old mining families, some are old hippies and artists who moved there due to the picturesque scenery and bargain-basement real estate, some are early baby boomers looking for an inexpensive place to retire. There's a surprising amount of live music, an absolutely thriving conspiracy scene, and the local police blotter is a smorgasbord of weirdness.

⁃ John picked it because it’s the county seat (which means lots of local records) with cheap housing and residents who don’t ask too many questions. Dean loves it because it’s straight out of the a Western—several famous movies filmed on Main Street, and the theme-park-town of Tombstone is half an hour’s drive away. Sam hates it, but in fairness, Sam kind of hates everything right now.

• Sam’s getting regular beatdowns with the puberty bat—he’s growing what feels like an inch a week, his voice is randomly cracking, he’s ravenously hungry all the time, and his moods go from happy-go-lucky kid to moody teen to full-on young-adult angst on the turn of a dime.

• Most terrifying of all, his relationship with Dean is fracturing. Dean can tell he’s having a hard time of things, of course, and tries his best to cheer Sam up. Sometimes they get on great; other times, even being in the same room as Dean makes Sam feel like his skin is three sizes too small.

• The frustrating part is, no matter how much of a shit Sam is, Dean won't give up on him entirely, just gives him space for a day or two and then reaches out, like—“hey, come keep me company while I give the car an oil change,” or “hey, sounds like there’s a hell of a party going on up the gulch—let’s go sneak in, I bet they have booze, maybe we can get you laid,” or “hey, Dad said we can take the car, let’s drive to the new mall in the next town and go see a movie. Anything you want.”

⁃ Sam definitely picks Cruel Intentions, intending to make Dean sit through something he’d find boring, but it backfires—the incest subplot ends up making him even more uncomfortable and Dean, predictably, digs watching Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair make out onscreen.

• Dean is having the time of his life this summer. The town is picturesque, the bars don’t look too closely at his fake ID, Sam’s old enough to fend for himself mostly, and he even gets an evening gig as a bar back a few nights a week, which means he has a little cash. Sure, Sam’s been weirdly moodly lately, but it’s just puberty, it’ll pass.

• Sam, meanwhile, is on his own a lot, with John either out working, out drinking, or buried in his notes; he spends a lot of time walking down to the library over the post office, which is surprisingly extensive, but more importantly, air-conditioned. If he has a couple bucks he might go to the new coffee shop by the library and buy an iced tea for lunch.

• At some point when John’s gone, Dean brings home Tina, a local bartender. Weirdly, they don’t seem to be sleeping together, at least initially; mostly they just hang out, easy with each other in a way that makes Sam jealous.

⁃ Sam hates it when Dean brings home girls (for the obvious reason that he gets kicked out of the house, of course), but he actually hates it more when Tina starts hanging around regularly, all the more so because she’s always very sweet to him—but Dean’s into her and that means Dean’s attention is on someone other than him.

⁃ Tina keeps working on Sam, and eventually he confides in her—he hates their life, hates lying to people, hates the ceaseless travel and string of anonymous motel rooms and constant scrambling for cash, but Dean loves it and he loves Dean. She mentions having a sister that she has a complicated relationship with, too.

• One day John announces that they’re taking a day trip as a family together, and they drive up to the Portal-Paradise area, which is a sky island—a mountain forest surrounded by desert, surprisingly lush and peaceful, with stunning views from the peaks.

⁃ It’s also a fairly cursed place, with bullet-riddled “KNOWN HUMAN TRAFFICKING AREA” signs and a cluster of boarded-up hovels from the ghost town of Paradise that definitely don't look like a Bender compound waiting to happen

⁃ After they've wandered around a bit, taking in the gorgeous landscape and sheer relief of being amongst so much green after months in the desert, John has them all pile back into the car and takes them up to Sugarloaf Peak. As they're climbing the mountain, he mentions that the fire watch station at the peak is a great place to watch for {insert signs of supernatural phenomenon here}. Sam gets upset at that, accuses John of using their family time for hunting. Dean points out (quite reasonably) that their family time has always been hunting together. John goes into Marine mode and shuts down the conversation, Sam grumbles something about "just because it's always been that way doesn't make it right," and goes into a sulk.

⁃ As he's sulk-climbing up the peak, Sam becomes convinced at one point that he hears running water. John tells him that’s unlikely before monsoons start, and to keep climbing. Sam keeps hearing it, though, and asks Dean whether he hears it; Dean listens, but doesn't hear anything. Sam falls further behind, trying to see the source—he catches a glimpse of something shimmering amidst the few trees and strikes off looking for it—but there’s nothing there, only a cliff that he nearly goes over. Dean comes up behind him a minute later, urges Sam back up the trail.

• The next day at the library, perhaps driven by Dean giving him shit about hallucinations, Sam starts looking into the history of water in the area—they’ve driven over the San Pedro River but it always just looked to him like a muddy creek. He learns about the 1877 earthquake that broke the water table and reshaped the water in the area, lowering the San Pedro's level and transforming St. David from a malaria-ridden swamp into a town of artesian springs.

• Later that week, Sam’s sitting outside the coffeeshop possibly reading Flowers in the Attic when he hears the older woman at the table next to him insisting that mutants are living in Paradise, only coming out at night, kidnapping people and murdering them, mutilating their bodies and leaving them for the sheriffs to find (and cover up, naturally). Sam is only half-listening—conspiracy nuts are a dime a dozen in this town—until the woman's friend asks patiently where they're getting water from, and the woman says something about haunted springs in the forest. He pretends he’s Dean for a moment, cuts in on the conversation, says he’s doing an independent study project over the summer. The woman fills him in on not just the one disappearance, but several over the past decade, mostly border-jumpers and itinerants.

• Reading between the lines, Sam starts to wonder if there’s a vampire nest in Paradise; he takes down some names, starts putting the research skills he's been learning to good use. He looks up some of the newspaper records on microfilm, finding records—occasional mentions in the Bisbee Observer (and before that, the more legitimate and much less typo-filled Bisbee Daily Review) of people missing, reading up on the history of Paradise.

• He comes back from the library, excited to tell Dean and John what he’s found, only to find John gone and Dean and Tina halfway through a case of beer she brought; they invite Sam to join them, and Sam does. Drunk!Sam ends up talking a lot about how cool the sky island forest is and trying to convince Tina to come with them to see it, but Tina seems oddly resistant. She changes the subject, tells them about her sister, how she was so dominant that she couldn’t tell where her sister ended and she began. Sam starts to feel a sort of kinship with her.

• The next morning he wakes up, discovers that Tina and Dean are gone. He wanders out to where John’s working in the living room, tells him what he’s found. John, who got in late the previous night and is singularly focused on demon activity, is a little condescending towards Sam—there’s dozens of conspiracy theories circulating through town, and besides, if there were actual vampires in Paradise he'd have found some direct evidence by now, they’ve been here more than a month.

• Sam is adamant about going anyway—"you always say it's our job to look into things nobody else will"—and maybe John's a little swayed by Sam's passion (or maybe Sam threatens to steal a car if John doesn't take him). As a sop, John gives Sam the keys to the Impala and tells him to come back if he needs help; as he's about to leave, John calls Sam back, gives him a tenner and reminds him not to head out to the middle of nowhere without supplies. Sam stops at the Circle K, packs a couple jugs of water and some nuts and jerky, and takes off; he’s a little pissed at Dean for ditching him the previous night (and also for, he assumes, sleeping with Tina) so he doesn’t bring him along.

• A couple of hours later, he’s jouncing up the road. The road is empty, as usual, the sun is hot, as usual. Sam gets to the border of the sky island, where the sun is less ferocious, and pulls off at the first group of abandoned houses. He goes to investigate; the first two are empty, barely more than hovels. The third looks empty, but he spots a table with no dust on it; looking closer, he finds a trap door down to a cellar.

⁃ Sam knows he should go get Dean, but he’s still feeling jilted, so he goes and grabs a machete from the Impala’s trunk

⁃ Carefully, he makes his way down the rickety staircase into the basement, shining the flashlight around—and is nearly jumped by a middle-aged woman, yelling at him in Spanish. He has some high-school Spanish but not much; he manages to ward her off, convince her he’s not ICE or Border Patrol. She still doesn’t trust him, but he notices the two children in the corner, the chains holding them there. In Spanish: “Why are they held?” “Coyote,” the woman spits. “Went to demand more money from my family. Should have been back three days ago. Probably drowned in a bar.” Sam doesn't 100% understand but gets the gist—the empty water jug in one corner and stinking bucket in another tell most of the story. The disappearances, the mutilated bodies—it's nothing supernatural, just people doing awful things to each other.

⁃ Sam picks the locks on the chains, tells the woman to wait a moment; he goes out to the Impala, gets the food and a jug of water, gives them to the woman. She’s still wary, but accepts the gifts. She tries to give him a warning, something about water, though his Spanish isn’t quite good enough to make it out; she also presses on him a small figurine, clearly very old, something that looks like a mermaid.

• He gets back around twilight, finds Dean and John bent over photocopies of local records. John sees him come in, asks him if he found anything. Sam opens his mouth, intending to tell him about his day…then decides against it. Just says there’s no vampires. John grunts in acknowledgement, mind already elsewhere.

• The next morning, Dean's missing again, so Sam stalks off to go swimming at the community pool. He’s doing laps, trying not to think about anything, but Dean keeps coming to mind, the way his eyes met Sam’s when Tina was talking about her sister, the way they felt almost hungry. It keeps haunting him, something about that hunger—he's walking back down Main Street, past some of the shops and galleries that sell local art to tourists, when he sees a large painting of La Tlanchana that bears some resemblance to the mermaid figurine—the woman’s warning comes to him again, and two pieces click together in his mind.

• He starts researching La Tlanchana and her various legends and beliefs about her over the years, particularly drawn by the darker and more vengeful incarnations that the Aztecs worshipped. He starts formulating a theory about the disappearances, that they’re linked to…what? A haunted spring? A mermaid? He’s so tantalizingly close…

• He comes home when the library closes, all excited to tell Dean what he’s found and get his input, but John and Dean are both gone; Dean’s bed is rumpled, and the sheets smell like…well, they smell like Dean and Tina, in a way that makes Sam’s stomach flip with jealousy. It's not that he hadn't guessed that they were sleeping together, but...he’d thought Tina liked him. He’d thought…Dean belonged to him. Little things like the hollow of his hip when his jeans rode low, or the way his knees bowed out when he walked, or the tightness around his eyes when he was trying to hide something—

⁃ —does horny uncomfortable 16-year-old Sam sit on the bed and envision his brother and Tina together and end up desperately rubbing one out right there on the bed? Oh yes he does. Afterward, roiling with several emotions (of which only some are shame), he half-considers going to the bar to look for Dean—but he has more trouble passing for twenty-one, and besides, what is there even to say?

• The next day, Sam intends to sleep late to avoid Dean, but his brother comes in at ten or so, in a disgustingly good mood. “Come on, Sammy, you’ve been cooped up in that library too long. Tina was telling me about a cave up on Mule Mountain, supposed to be a great place for a picnic.” John is still gone, and Sam’s in no mood, but can’t really say no to Dean.

• The brothers strike out over Mule Mountain, watching out for snakes and wildlife, looking for deer. Sam tries to explain to Dean his half-formed La Tlanchana theory, but Dean just humors him. Sam, nettled, starts griping about Dean’s navigation skills, about the way he sounds like their father, about all the time he’s spending with Tina, etc.

⁃ Dean deflects, but Sam’s upset about a lot of things he can’t acknowledge, so he starts in on the major sore point in their relationship—ripping on John for trapping them here, for never letting Dean be a kid, for always demanding their unquestioning obedience and loyalty, etc. Dean tolerates Sam’s griping to a point but once he starts in on their father it’s only a matter of time before he’s threatening to kick Sam’s ass; when Sam gets to the “he’s never let you be independent” part, Dean informs him with no small amount of anger that John has offered to give him the Impala, let him take jobs on his own—but he refused, because he’s been taking care of Sam—

⁃ They’re so caught up in arguing that they miss the way the sky’s going dark—it’s not until the first crack of thunder splits the sky overhead that they shut up and look at the sky, which is incredibly threatening

⁃ Sure enough, a moment later it starts pouring, with all the ferocity of a full-on faucet. Dean whoops, shedding his shirt like it’s an old skin, and dashes for an overhang that might shield them from the worst of it

⁃ Sam swallows and follows, soaked to the skin and shivering as much from fear as from cold. Cue the most miserably sexually-charged moment possible—Sam tryiing desperately not to notice all those little intimate physical things about Dean that he loves, Dean oblivious and in his element watching the storm transform the landscape

⁃ There’s a moment—maybe Dean says something like “Whatever it is that’s been eating at you, spit it out, Sammy—“ where Sam almost confesses. But cowardice, or perhaps intuition, hold his tongue—some secrets don’t need to be told. So instead, he passes it off as moodiness, apologizes. Dean confesses that he’s not actually all that into Tina—she’s fun, and all, but he knows they’ll be moving on soon enough. He lets slip that John’s halfway convinced that there’s no case here, anyway; they’ll probably be moving on in a week or two. Reluctantly, they allows things to revert to the status quo; as a consolation, they find a waterfall and eat slightly soggy sandwiches alongside it.

• The next morning, Sam wakes up to an entirely different town—the hills are starting to turn green, people in town are making plans to picnic by the waterfalls, everyone’s mood is lighter. Sam realizes he’s already looking at the town differently—as yet another place that’ll be in the rear view mirror soon, not as a place he inhabits. He’s coming to terms with that—glad for it, in some ways—when something tips him off that things aren’t right. Maybe the crackpot dude tells him the cycle is beginning again, or he overhears some gossip about how Tina didn’t show up for her shift last night, or sees something in the police blotter. Regardless, he ends up convinced that Dean and Tina have run off to the sky island and that Dean is in danger. Sam once again channels Dean, steals a county truck and floors it out to the sky island, this time forgetting to bring any supplies.

• Sam arrives in Paradise but sees no sign of Dean or Tina. He realizes he's parched (even flooring it out to the sky island, it's a good hour's drive); he listens for the water sounds. Instead, he hears Dean’s laughter, low and beckoning. He follows it, finds Dean standing shirtless in a spring, the version of Dean that terrifies him, untouchable and threatening and irresistible. For a moment he's almost taken in—but he knows Dean like nobody in the world, and thus knows a copy when he sees one. Not-Dean smiles, shimmers, reforms into the more familiar mermaid form.

• La Tlanchana (or this version of her) tells Sam how he puzzles her. She usually kills violent men, and Sam has a lot of violence in his past, and a destiny of violence in his future—but he was kind to the migrant mother, and undid some of the horror she’s seen done in her land. She sings for him, a lullaby of sorts, luring him away from his life of violence and yearning—

• Sam’s about to submit to her song when Tina appears, tells her to stop, that Sam’s destiny is his own to choose. La Tlanchana sneers at her, the same way you did? and Tina says yes—I’ve chosen you. It’s been more than a hundred years, and you’ve seen so much horror, grown vengeful—but I still love you, your kindness, the way you give life in the desert. They sing together, their voices intertwining, until they turn to water, melding together.

• Sam shakes off the daze, goes back to the truck; a few minutes later, he finds the Impala, bogged down in the rutted post-monsoon roads. He shakes him awake, questions him to see what he remembers—Dean appears to have been hypnotized, or something similar. He uses the truck to pull Dean out of the rut, tells him to return to the town, everything's over. Dean will have questions later, but for now he goes.

• Once Dean is gone, Sam goes back to the pool, now a perfectly mundane little monsoon-fed spring. He takes out the little figurine of La Tlanchana, sets it on a rock nearby, tells both Tina and her sister goodbye, and thanks them for their help.

• Epilogue: Sam is beginning his junior year in yet another new school. The smell of the school is the same, as are the lights (flourescent) and the lockers (stamped metal that echoes when it slams); he finds the guidance counselor’s office, lets himself in. The counselor looks up at Sam, comments on both his excellent grades and his peripatetic record. Sam: “So, if I wanted to go to college…”

[passionate-reply]

This time on Great Albums, we tackle a slightly more obscure artist, but one who’s near and dear to my heart: Frank “Fad Gadget” Tovey, the very first artist signed to Mute Records, and the one behind MUTE 002. Find out what’s so great about him by watching my video, or reading the transcript that follows after the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’m going to be digging into the work of Frank Tovey, better known as “Fad Gadget.” While Tovey was the very first artist signed to Daniel Miller’s Mute Records, his legacy doesn’t seem to be remembered quite as strongly as many of his labelmates. He never achieved the heights of pop stardom that Depeche Mode did, and despite being a daring and experimental artist in his own right, he doesn’t have quite as prominent a cult following as, say, Einstürzende Neubauten. Fad Gadget may not be for everybody, but he’ll always be an important artist to me. As a teenager, he helped me bridge the gap between listening almost exclusively to mainstream synth-pop, and becoming much more interested in underground styles like industrial. And my first love was this album, Tovey’s third: Under the Flag.

Tovey’s first 7” release, featuring the tracks “Back to Nature” and “The Box,” was released on Mute Records in 1979, as MUTE 002, second only to Daniel Miller’s own “Warm Leatherette.” His early singles, as well as his debut album, Fireside Favourites, stuck to a similar sonic template as “Warm Leatherette”: sharp, punkish assaults on common decency, propelled by a harsh synthesised pulse or two. But for his second LP, 1981’s Incontinent, Tovey went in a different direction. He maintained his bile, and impatience with the societal status quo ante, but assumed the guise of a Medieval fool, and incorporated a substantially larger proportion of traditional instruments into his sound.

Music: “Blind Eyes”

For his follow-up to Incontinent, Tovey would straddle the line between gritty, industrial synth lashings and that counter-cultural dark cabaret. And sometimes, he’d even do it within the same track, as on the fearful “The Sheep Look Up.”

Music: “The Sheep Look Up”

On “The Sheep Look Up,” a sparse, piano-driven intro unfurls to reveal a menacing electronic undercurrent. But the piano doesn’t depart from the track--in fact, it keeps up with the pace just fine. As jarring as the synth’s entry feels initially, it’s never the only source of tension in the track. Like a lot of great electronic music, Under the Flag approaches technology with nuance. While it’s one figure in the album’s bleak, dystopian landscape, it’s far from the only one. The lyrics of “The Sheep Look Up” are much more concerned with criticizing mob mentality and mass outrage--not to mention the role of governments in stoking that outrage, peddling jingoistic nationalism and seething hatred of perceived enemies of the state. In a lot of ways, this is a tale as old as time, and one that’s as likely to be told alongside a lute as it is a synthesiser. Sometimes, tradition itself is the target of Tovey’s ire, as on the track “Plainsong”:

Music: “Plainsong”

“Plainsong” is named after one of the earliest forms of music in the Western tradition: the monophonic, Latin-language chants used by the Church in the Early Middle Ages, also called “plainchant.” The track sonically embodies the wearying effect of simplistic, repetitive chanting, with its choir of distorted voices that repeat the main chorus, and refuse to stay in tune or rhythm. The title would seem to lead us to interpret “Plainsong” as an indictment of religious indoctrination, in particular, but I think it can also be read more broadly. Aside from that title, the lyrics don’t actually mention religion in any concrete sense, which makes me inclined to interpret it as also applying to all the other ways society uses music and rhyme to instill its values into people. Who among us wasn’t raised with insipid sayings like “blood is thicker than water” or “curiosity killed the cat,” that reinforce social norms and squash independence of spirit? Religion, like technology, is only one of modern society’s countless rotten pillars. While Tovey doesn’t single out religion in “Plainsong,” he is clear about the victims of such brainwashing being “young ears.” Childhood is invoked several times on Under the Flag, but features most prominently on “Love Parasite.”

Music: “Love Parasite”

The titular “Love Parasite” is, of course, a human infant--though it’s insidiously portrayed as something monstrous. Those of us who dislike children might be inclined to read “Love Parasite” as a brutally honest portrayal of parenthood as a miserable, soul-sucking experience, and hence as a rebuttal of the societal expectation that everyone ought to have children. While I do like that interpretation, I think it’s also important to remember that the “Love Parasite” is a human being, too. The fact that so many unwanted and unloved humans are brought into this world to begin with produces a tremendous resource for those institutions like church and state to exploit. It’s precisely this relationship between vulnerable people and the apparatus of government that defines the narrative of the album’s title track.

Music: “Under the Flag I”

The title track of Under the Flag is actually split into two parts. The first half of it appears as the opening track, and the second half closes out the album. That makes it even more tempting to parse it as a summation of the album’s themes than a title track normally is! Rather than distilling the overarching ideas of the album in a more abstract way, the “Under the Flag” tracks drill down to the level of an individual, struggling to make his way in society. He’s one of those unwanted children who grows up without a stable home life, and ends up working for the government and trying to make a difference in the world...but failing. By giving us this singular protagonist, Tovey centers his focus on human suffering at the most relatable and personal level possible. And with the final line of “Under the Flag II,” and hence, the entire album, he asks us, quite pointedly, “Under what flag?”

Ultimately, “under what flag?” is the central question proposed by the album. It also seems to be the question being asked by its striking sleeve design, featuring a photo of Tovey by the famed Anton Corbijn. The first thing we notice is its bold, black-and-white colour scheme--perhaps a nod to the idea of black-and-white, good-vs.-evil style thinking, often favoured by demagogues and others who seek to mobilize the masses. But after a second or two, we quickly realize that while Tovey is a flesh and blood man, the flag he seems to be holding up is merely painted on the wall behind him. It’s an image that perfectly epitomizes the contrast between the arbitrary, superficial nature of concepts like nations, and the painfully real human suffering that they can cause. Throughout the album, Tovey pits these abstract notions of communal well-being against the plight of the individuals they victimize--as on “Scapegoat,” a track centered around the perspective of the one person who’s saddled with the blame of a whole society.

Music: “Scapegoat”

After the release of Under the Flag, Tovey went on to release one more album under the name Fad Gadget: 1984’s Gag. He then released several albums as Frank Tovey throughout the remainder of the 1980s, first heading in a more synth-pop direction, and ultimately ending up releasing a full album of folk music, 1989’s Tyranny and the Hired Hand. While perhaps initially perplexing, I’ve always thought it was a natural move for Tovey. He was clearly interested in the exploitation of the underclass, and the expression of their fundamental humanity. And those themes are truly timeless.

Music: “Sixteen Tons”

Sadly, Tovey wouldn’t get a chance to re-emerge in the 21st Century, as many of his contemporaries did. He died in 2002, aged just 45, due to a congenital heart defect, while fresh off of releasing a new greatest hits compilation and supporting Mute labelmates Depeche Mode on tour. I can so easily imagine Tovey thriving in the present day, with the rediscovery of so much underground 80s synth in the 00s, and the impact that that had on electronic music--not to mention how he would react to our era’s tumultuous politics. To me, he’ll always be the artist I’d bring back around for one last release if I could.

At any rate, my favourite song on Under the Flag is “For Whom the Bells Toll.” Admittedly, this is a somewhat sentimental pick for me, since it was one of the first Fad Gadget songs I heard and really liked. It’s got clattering mechanical percussion, harsh, textural synth swipes, and, boldly enough, no actual bells. In the context of the album, it stands out for being a bit straightforward, thematically, with a narrator simply pining after a lost love--presumably one who’s deceased, given the title. But what I think really sets it apart is its less-than-conventional vocals. Besides some singing, and a bit of background yipping and howling, we also hear some disgusting, dry retching noises, and even a very hi hat-like sneeze. It’s one of the most memorable instances of Tovey’s artistic preoccupation with our lowliest bodily functions, which, considering the scope of his career, is quite impressive. That’s everything I’ve got today--thanks for listening!

Music: “For Whom the Bells Toll”

[pieces-of-cinema]

Tiny tribulations in vast nature

Wide landscape shots with movement in 40s-50s cinema.

It's 1950, television only started to spread recently (although it does grow with enormous speed and it's was in 80% of households by 1950 in the us), it's only B/W and screen sizes are tiny. When shooting a movie one most likely wouldn't even consider the tv as means to enjoy it. Made-for-TV movies aren't even a thing until 60s. So, they shoot it for a big screen. And when you shoot specifically for a big screen you can shoot vast landscapes not only like an establishing shot, maybe bringing attention to your setting. You can fill those landscapes with tiny humans that do something. I guess modern 4k 60"+ TV could be considered a big screen too. At least I wouldn’t consider watching a movie at a theater as being "bigger", it's more about the experiencing it with crowd, anticipation at a lobby etc. Still I don't know if this type of shot is used today.

Those shots are usually found in westerns. They are always pretty tame, silent. Camera either static or just slowly panning. The beauty of those shots is in that they aren't trying to convey "hey we are moving, e.g. we changing the location from a to b, it's a part of the story, they had a journey, ok.". Instead they shot, and arranged with sound that way, so you can feel the tension character might build up from traveling to the PLOT point (whatever good or bad would they find there). Those huge terrains help to convey that there are thing that take time and during this time… there's lots for you to feel.

Through those shots you could also convey the excitement of a person about to inflict some meaningful or terrible change on something bigger than he is.

Movie used for screenshots is The Searchers (1956). Although it's beautifully shot and has a great rating on IMDB, in my opinion it's just an alright western. As always with westerns though there's problematic execution of racial themes. This movie's main message actually mostly anti racist but the execution and many problematic moments are really twisted and off-putting. But I guess if one would want to watch a wester they would have to accept that there gonna be a racist part in them and a lot of people who work on those were pretty racist too. And I guess it's sometimes to overwhelming to enjoy the rest of artistry of a work.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I’m really intrigued by Rayla’s moonshadow assassin peers. I especially am interested in Andromeda because I think she is the only other girl in the group? Do you have any headcanons in how these teen/young adult assassins interacted? Do you think Rayla isolated herself from them because she was always iffy about taking a life? Also TDP finally colored their map and I know you live maps, find any new cool stuff? I especially love how there’s a frozen sea north and a spinning sea south, imagine the powerful Magic’s that channeled to make them.

Okay, so I jumped straight to the map, did 80% of it, and wandered away for a few weeks. I apologize, anon. Let’s get this going again:

I’ve got a few headcanons on the Moonshadow assassins! It seems likely that they hang out mostly with each other, when they hang out, to reinforce their teambuilding and to give them some socialization, since assassins tend to keep others at arm’s length. So I kinda figure they tend to roam as a pack on their evenings out in the village, if they’re not married to a non-assassin like Runaan is.

I think that could be part of the reason that Rayla might not have hung out with the others as much, too: Runaan wanted to be either training or at home with Ethari, so Rayla probably spent a lot of time doing those things just because he did them. And when Runaan was doing more serious training or missions, that’s when Rayla had her free time to run around the forest and make adoraburr friends. 

Runaan could’ve probably insisted that she do something more assassiny with her free time. Shadow an assassin, do more studying, practice certain prescribed skills on her own. But he didn’t. He let her play. Soft assassin is soft!

Listen, anon, I have a fun headcanon for you about Andromeda--and by fun, I mean it’s really angsty half a second after you start thinking about it. Ready? 

What if: Andromeda is Runaan’s half-sister. If they’re both Lujanne’s children by different assassin dads who kept dying in battle, but a Moon mage needs an assassin leader partner to defend Xadia with, and Lujanne knew her son Runaan wasn’t old enough to lead yet, so she burned through three or more husbands protecting him until Runaan was well trained enough to lead the assassins himself and had fallen in love with a mage who adored him and would be his partner in her place.

 Andromeda looks a fair bit like Lujanne, too:

Along with Runaan, they all have long hair, side tails bound in silver cuffs, and some form of braids. Andromeda’s hair is sectioned in front similarly to Runaan’s. Her accent sounds more British than Scottish, though she only has the one line: My eyes for truth. And Lujanne and Andromeda are the only two Moonshadow elves we’ve met who have medium blue horns, while Runaan’s are dark blue. Almost everyone else’s horns have purple or pink as their base color.

But then, see, Andromeda went on Runaan’s mission, and she died. Her spirit was the most aggressive in TTM, usually closest to Rayla with her sword out, as if she hated Rayla the most. If she had a vested family interest in Runaan’s mission succeeding, and then it went pear-shaped because of Rayla, that would make sense.

No matter if she’s related to Runaan or not, she’s wearing horn cuffs, so she was in a dedicated relationship of some kind, and that’s so sad. Someone’s missing her the way Ethari’s missing Runaan. :’((((

Anyway, it’s just a headcanon, but since you asked, there ya go.

Okay, on to my thoughts on the map, of which I have a normal and healthy amount:

The Map Border: 

Everyone doodles in the borders. I love to see what they put there.

Starting in the upper left and going counter-clockwise, the five human crowns are cool

Cornucopia swirls center left look like an homage to Cabbage Man from ATLA

Bait is staring at Evenere. his home? Or maybe he just wants to eat the dragonfly on its logo

Human defender has a beard. Hairagorn. He's very heavily armored but has no helmet. Long hair is braided to rest on front of shoulder, like the blond elf in the painting at the Moon Nexus. Old timey hairstyle?

He’s defending Katolis Castle specifically. I wonder if the little white building is kinda random or if it’s supposed to represent the Banther Lodge. Nah, I have a better guess: that’s where Viren grew up

The crack in the map looks meta. It's been repaired somewhat. Makes me wonder if it's an in-world map, whose, who ripped it, and who fixed it. Sir Phineas Kurst seems like the kind of guy to almost shred his really cool map

The star behind Zym's egg has seven points

The two ships on the southern waters are western and eastern respectively. Tidebound elves from Singapore? Jack Sparrow would be proud

There is land just south of the Dragontail, wonder what’s there?

The leaves around the human figure are small and numerous while the Moonshadow elf has fewer but bigger leaves

The elf is standing in the way of one of the six leaves growing out of the rune rose and that leaf's curly tip seems to have been replaced with a curl of the elf's very long hair

The human pose is more offense and the elf pose is more defense. But the elf has two swords, and one has some wicked hooks in it.

Elf has 4 fingers instead of 3 so whether it’s in-universe or meta, they were drawn by a human :DDD

The elf's braid winds around their horn and I think that's clever

High collar shirt under protective layer, bracers and elbow gloves, bare biceps, complex shoulder getup, ornate hair that's butt long and partly braided, two long slightly curving swords... horn cuffs too. This is a Moonshadow assassin in the same gear Runaan's got, poised to defend the Xadian half of the map as the human is poised to defend his side

The rune rose isn't a compass. It has a two sided pointer and six primal runes. Just decorative I guess. ;)

More lettuces on right center.

Maybe a portaling caterpillar on the center knot? Little bug pal, I see you

“The Five Human Kingdoms” lettered in red, “Xadia” in blue. Giving me Stratego flashbacks. Even the flowers on their banners are color coded

Banners in the corners are similar but Xadia has more fluttery tips

Thunder drawn all attacky top center, does he have anything to do with the Frozen Sea being frozen?

Compass rose under Thunder’s wing

Dick island near the compass. Well, Duren is the breadbasket of the human lands. A most excellent cartography joke! 10/10 would chortle wholesomely again

The Human Kingdoms:

Neolandia

Capital Eboreus seems to be a lake city below a mountain and I'm here for all the Lake Town refs. 

It's also the eye of the elephant shape

Not a lot of trees, mostly grasses or desert. Only borders Duren across a couple rivers/estuaries/sea channels

Heart shaped island next to elephant trunk

Land generally broken into several sections by sea/rivers 

If it’s rivers, they seem to generate from the capital’s lake and flow in several directions. And they say there’s no magic left in the western lands! ;)

But if there was exactly one source of freshwater in a desert land, it makes sense that you’d find a way, magical or mechanical, to spread that lifegiving water in as many directions as possible so your people can thrive so kudos to Neolandia’s ancestors/Tidebound elves/whoever managed that, it’s brilliant

I can and will make up explanations for anything on a map. I adore worldbuilding

Del Bar

Two named locations. Since Del Bar’s national symbol is a serpent, I guess Serpentongue is the capital.

Hinterpeak is a sweet name. Looks like Helm's Deep with that retaining wall. What’s it for? Are there dwarves in this land? Is it an Earthblood stronghold? Maybe it’s like the Mines of Moria, and the Earthbloods were chased out and/or killed inside and now it’s full of nasty orcses but someone left a MacGuffin down there so *nudges hero* Off you pop.

Nice forests around the southern mountain range but northern DB is more arid or grassy lands like Neolandia. 

Considering that crops grow well in Duren, which is farther north, I assume there is a massive meteorological gyre over the human lands, with a southern wind blowing down over the western realms and keeping them icy until the mountains of Hinterpeak block and divert them, protecting Evenere. The winds don't blow eastward without warming right up-- and causing thunderstorms in Katolis how about that-- because there is a warmer side to the gyre over Katolis and Duren, blowing tropical warmth and moisture north and providing rain for trees and crops alike. Most years, anyway.

How does the weather fail in Duren for seven years in a row, anyway? That seems like a Thunder issue. Unless it’s a Sunforge issue, which I’ll get to below.

Ahem.

Borders Neolandia, Duren, and Katolis across rivers, but most border is coastline.

Serpentongue probably got its name from the two river heads around it

Cluster of dead little cracks spawns a single river. Looks like someone cracked the tub and it drained away. I wonder how much of this landscape has been affected by the Mage Wars. Big watery basins have flooded and other spots seem dead. The lands may or may not actually touch depending on how deep some of these waterways are

Evenere

Looks like someone punched holes in the land with a giant pencil to make it a separate island. Broken outline with scattered islands

That Pawprint Isles has only four toes

Moon-shaped island is very crescenty indeed

Are these isles home to refugees or outcasts from Xadia? Listen, I want pirates and that sea looks pretty Caribbean to me

No capital city, hmmm what's that about? Is it underground, does it move? Maybe Fareeda’s capital is on the back of a world turtle and she’s constantly on tour around the island?

That arm of land ending in a peace sign, please can we get surfers

The hills emanating from that claw shaped headland look like something is sleeping under the island, hello yes I am here for giant immortal creatures please

Katolis

its capital is also called Katolis, the only human realm to use the same name twice

Weeping Bay could be a ref to the tears the humans shed after they reached the west. Or the Moonshadow elves as they left their forest for the east. Or both. Both, in this case, is bad but balanced

Boomerang island next to the Dragontail

The river the Dragaang rode on was going uphill

The watery slash in the land between Katolis and Del Bar is awfully straight. So is the one between Del Bar and Neolandia. I call magical warfare.

Katolis has a bunch of mountains in the east, part of an old natural border before the lava one appeared

Mt Kalik is probably volcanic. It's a standalone mountain and it's really tall. Rex Ignius maybe? Oh, probably not, I think I see him peeking on the other side of the map

The trees of Duren and Katolis are different then the western lands. Softer green, deciduous. And the land itself is yellower, warmer in tone

Forests centered on Mt Kalik

The Moon Nexus looks like an eye on a dragon head near the Dragontail, and Evenere looks like a severed wing (Yes I am still wondering where Luna Tenebris went, why do you ask)

Weeping Bay looks like the most natural body of water in the western lands

Three red little trees scattered around the Katolis map. Fruit trees? How very Moonshadow.

Duren

The only land border among all the human kingdoms is between Duren and Katolis. Maybe it used to be further south along the river?

Capital is Berylgarten, set on a lake. Beryl is a stone that’s usually green, blue, or yellow in color, very gardeny

Second smallest realm but the breadbasket of the human lands. Has several little forests and great tilled fields

Being a farmer in Duren is probably as awesome as being an assassin in the Moonshadow Forest; you do what you do for all your friendly kingdoms

Northernmost land is cold and craggy, named Skall's Hook along the sea

Third ship in the Frozen Sea is icebound and crushed. Looks western, indicating no possible passage

Lots of colored trees and shrubs as if fruitbearing, I keep comparing Duren to the Yakima Valley in Washington State

Where the lava reaches the Frozen Sea, it melts the ice next to Duren's mountains

Northern Xadia:

Lux Aurea

Most of the center lands of this map has warm tones for its ground. Maybe that’s because of the long reach of the warmth and light of Lux Aurea’s Sun Nexus, and only the lands that are just too far from it are truly cold and icy. It would explain why Duren is a breadbasket realm so far north--it’s just across the border from Lux Aurea.

If there’s anything to that, then I suddenly worry for the fate of all the human lands now that the Sunforge has gone dark. It’s early summer now in Xadia, and crops in Duren will be ripening soon... Unless the sun’s magic was helping them grow. This coming winter could be rough. Next winter, people will die. Unless they can purify the Sunforge again.

Also, I have to wonder if Duren’s seven years of famine had anything to do with Sunforge shenanigans. They’d have happened at Khessa’s command, and we know she despises humans. If she was responsible for all the struggles that humans had to go through without enough food for seven years, and then their desperate attempt to fix the problem by invading Xadia for a Magma Titan’s heart which extended and exacerbated the war, I can see why Aaravos might feel Queen Khessa deserved to die

The city’s shaped kinda like an Egyptian pectoral necklace on this map, and that’s super pretty and not at all ominous

Also that’s a lot of gold for a whole city and I wonder how they got it all

The Shiverglades and the Shards

These areas are north of Lux Aurea and seem cold but not very icy, even though the Frozen Sea is right there. More thoughtful glances at the Sunforge over this one. Is it warming the land, or not warming the sea? Both?

Shiverglades is a play on Everglades, so this is a cold swamp, which sounds super fun I’m sure. Permafrost, tundra maybe?

The Shards seem to be rock islands with ice mountains. Glaciers are cool. 

I wonder if something broke those islands off on purpose. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy worldbuilding? Yeah, well, I like world-wrecking, too.

Storm Spire

Has a good view on everything that happens for miles, including Lux Aurea, the Midnight Desert, the Shiverglades, the Black Tundra, the Uncharted Forest, and Drakewood. 

Defensible position, no other tall mountains nearby

Also able to alert others to danger, especially since Avizandum could teleport like lightning

The Midnight Desert

It’s pretty big! And it looks like it’s littered with ruins of columns and dead palm trees. Like something else used to be in that great space and then something Very Bad happened to it. Maybe there was one great city where all the elves could mix together, and then it got utterly obliterated and the elves all fled to their respective safe places around Xadia. A city of black stone, back when Aaravos wore a crown? Now pulverized to dust and surrounded by not one, not two, but three primal nexuses? Hmmm...

All the wisps could be heat from the sand, or spooky spirit hints, or just an ominous sign of danger from the snakes below, but the overall effect is that the land is unhealthy if not cursed

The oasis is marked, and it must contain a spring since it runs a river out to join the river that passes through the Moonshadow Forest

Also the actual oasis kinda resembles a blue lizard which is adorable and probably also terrifying

Moonshadow Forest

The Silvergrove is the only village marked in the forest, so in keeping with the other lands and general map legend rules, it’s likely the capital/central village for the Moonshadow elves

The village is marked by four round-roofed homes between two tall leafy trees that shelter and hide them. It’s a hybrid balance between the blocky manmade castles of the human lands and the actual forest around them, showing a blending with nature that even the Sunfire city of Lux Aurea did not embrace, with all its golden buildings

It’s a good-sized forest, and it kinda stretches thin to the east but there it tentatively connects to the Drakewood Forest

Moonstone Path to the west just chilling in the lava like a blank alignment chart. Moonstone Path is Chaotic Hot.

Southern Xadia:

Ruins of Elarion

Elarion is a city, and it’s been lost to the humans for a thousand years

The building outlines are squared-off towers like the more modern castles in the west, suggesting that humans in Xadia built for strength and defense as soon as they could. They felt vulnerable and created protections in their architecture. The three elven cities we see also play to their strengths, but those strengths include magic. Elarion’s humans had to find a different strength, and they went with craftsmanship and ingenuity

It seems to be the only human city from before the border was drawn

“Ruins” doesn’t necessarily mean no one lives there at all, but it’s been emptied of humans and no one else has maintained it since

It had a great position on a vast lake, with sheltering hills and easy sea access

Sea of the Castout

This inland sea has five inlets and outlets. It’s hard to be sure which is which with some of them, with the way the water is drawn on this map. But I’m kinda liking the idea that all the water swirlies are places where Tidebound magic has been placed over the millennia, so the water can do whatever it needs to do depending on circumstances. That goes for the human lands, too. Katolis backward river, you’re off the hook.

With a name like "Castout,” I wonder if it was some kind of universal toilet to flush away things you didn’t want--including humans--who might wash up near Elarion and start to build there. Yeesh.

The rivers that flow into this sea pass through or near the Moonshadow Forest, the Midnight Desert, the Storm Spire, Drakewood, and the Uncharted Forest. That’s a lot of drainage.

It’s pretty far from the Tidebound Archipelago, so maybe its name is referencing Tidebound elves who have left their home colony

Was this always a sea, or did something that Xadia wanted to forget get flooded and hidden in the depths?

The land around it seems open and hospitable. It could be a good place to build/rebuild in a time of peace.

The Far Reaches

Open grassland with low hills

Two of the hills look like giant boot prints

Several colorful trees which I hope are fruit trees

Bounded by two rivers from the Sea of the Castout

Looks homey tbh, great spot to retire to get away from everything if there were a war that really shook you up

Ocean Point

There’s a Star rune here, and it could mean many things

The closest other marked location is Elarion

If this was where Aaravos lived of his own free will, I can see why he’d take a shine to the humans. They were his neighbors.

If he is imprisoned here, it’s literally the furthest point in Xadia from the other elven realms, with the Moonshadow Forest being the closest one and Umber Tor not too much further but in a totally different direction. If they were trying to isolate him physically with a portable mirror to watch over him, that’s a good spot for it

Possible location that the cube is leading Callum toward? Portal to the Star Touch home plane? Aaravos’s seaside B&B? Trap street?

Eastern Xadia:

Drakewood

Umber Tor looks to be the tallest mountain in all of Xadia, save possibly for the Storm Spire. It’s more traditionally mountainy, with a nice snowcap. Since it’s labeled, I’m guessing it’s the Earth Nexus, under which an Earth Archdragon sleeps

Also there’s a giant yellowish-brown dragon chilling next to the Tor. Yeah, he seems nice. Rex Igneous, I presume?

Or maybe not, since the neighboring forest is called Drakewood. Maybe this woods is just where a bunch of Earth dragons hang out? Ezran and Pyrrah flew off and returned with a crew of Sun dragons from somewhere, so dragons must have communities too

The mountains that edge the sea are shaped roughly like a stone dragon in flight

Drakewood seems to be the forest closest to Umber Tor, with both deciduous and evergreen trees, though there’s a huge swath of wooded land here, to the north and to the southwest. I wonder what the locals consider the border where the Drakewood becomes the Uncharted Forest and why. The way the evergreens are drawn almost looks like a border, a sort of kingswood set aside for a specific use. Rex Igneous’s best toothpicks?

Uncharted Forest

Okay this is a properly magical name, very mysterious. But uncharted by whom? People with charts? This might be a Sir Phineas Kurst name, which is outsidery, and it makes me wonder if the locals/neighbors have their own name for it, which the human explorer never learned, a la “Thunder” for Avizandum

Maybe “Uncharted Forest” just means no one ever turned those trees into charts though, old growth ftw

If no one lives here, will someone move here? If someone lives here, who are they? Earthblood elves? Moonshadow elves? Humans? This mystery, it calls to me

the trees are mostly deciduous and fill basically all of this whole section of land, up against the mountains and the rivers, so it seems very fertile land indeed

Earthblood elves could live here, but there is no city marked. Maybe because we haven’t gotten that far in the show, or maybe that’s the wrong sort of descriptor for how the Earthbloods live and organize. Maybe the whole forest is their city, like Pando, the interconnected quaking aspen clone forest

The northernmost part of this forest lies right between the Storm Spire and the Tidebound Archipelago, so it might get a regular flyover route for migration or messages

Yes, this forest is the most interesting place in Xadia to me, I desperately want to learn more about it

Black Tundra

Yeah this place isn’t ominous

Similar to the Shiverglades, but where that has shrubbery, the Black Tundra has single dead trees and creepy curving spikes. Scorched? Poisoned? De-magicked?

The water north of this area isn’t frozen, and with a lake to the south and a river and a moderate mountain range, the whole area looks like it would otherwise be decently habitable, but instead it’s cold and black

Is climate change a thing here, or will we get a nice horrible disaster instead?

Tidebound Archipelago

These islands have dotted lines around them, like they’re submerged at high tide, or maybe made of shifting sand that literally moves around like sand dunes across a desert, or perhaps they’re exactly at sea level with half their civilization in the air and half underwater or in cool bubbles, or maybe the islands actually float

Maybe the Tidebound elves even sank them on purpose for defensive purposes

The archipelago is about even latitudinally with the Storm Spire Lux Aurea, Berylgarten, and Eboreus so they probably get pretty nice weather

There’s no ice in sight here in any direction along Xadia’s east coast, so presumably the prevailing current is a warm one

do they have bridges connecting the islands? Ferries, animals who give them a lift across?

the islands have quite a bit of space on them. I wonder if there’s a big population, maybe a shifting population? Do Tidebound elves migrate up and down the coast like gray whales and return to the islands for certain holidays or social events?

This is probably the hub of the Tidebound elves’ culture, but the sea surrounds the whole land and infiltrates it with many rivers and lakes. The Spinning Sea and the Frozen Sea are pretty firm Do Not Enter signposts, but a determined Tidebound could get around either one if they wanted to

What I’m not seeing here is a city. Either it’s not been marked yet, or that’s not a thing that Tidebound elves have in their culture. If they don’t have a city, they’re possibly migratory in family groups, or maybe they stick to small villages like the Moonshadows do, but with even less central leadership