#also dfs and how performative his behavior is and what it could potentially mean with jinyuan and how queer it potentially is

[kingsandbastardz]

As far as I can tell, there's really no explanation other than using kinda pseudo religious/magical terms so it is either their lingo or they're a weird cult or some version of both. I think someone at some point in history mentioned they were bodyguards for nanyin royalty? (I'm not sure if this is in the novel or what - someone correct me if I'm wrong here.)

Imo when any organization of this sort loses their core purposes they tend to turn toward being for hire - so imo they're all trained up to be assassins or mercenaries. But with the weirdly religious and magical overtones of a cult -- I also imagine that they would have ritualized things like the mind control bugs and the death match training process.

I also assume the girls are housed in a separate facility/training area.

Their clients? Rich people. Cuz they have to fund themselves, their extremely high body count, and Master Di doesn't dress like he's poor. Breeding the bugs also seems to be pretty difficult/long process, so money would have to be pumped into that too.

If rich people, they would have to train the kids into knowing how to read/write/eat with the right manners, etc. Cuz otherwise they'd be useless to blend into fancy/polite society.

I have no idea at which point in the process DFS escaped - he was pretty young but might have been old enough to start learning how to read and write. IMO he's EXTREMELY performative with how he dresses and exhibits himself. Like he's just... the pinnacle of traditional masculinity, of classy wealth, of classy violence, of being more central-plains than other ppl. Meanwhile there's hints everywhere that he's from non-han origins, that he's obviously not from a rich background. He has a far softer personality than is 'masculine'. Is sitting pretty in a very female coded narrative. He had to have picked this up from somewhere - and if not Di Fortress then....where??

With the local economy, they would buy children with no questions asked. They would get food deliveries. They seemed to be in a remote location, so they wouldn't interact with the local population much. Imo it'd be similar when a town knows that the ppl in that weird place nearby are a cult - where you want their money but don't want to attract trouble otherwise. So you quietly do business with them and close your eyes when some desperate kid runs past. Maybe you try to hide the kid - but you heard the last person that tried to do that died a horrible death. Or maybe the kid exploded and clearly there is evil magic involved. Best not to attract trouble onto your own household and just hope they pick up and leave eventually...

how does di fortress interact with the local economy and what the fuck do their logistics even look like, and other incredibly normal questions to be asking here at 3pm on a work day