#also i don't get the whole concept of The Community(tm)

[mah-o-daryaa]

HOT TAKE INCOMING...

Aang should've struggled with waterbending.

OK! OK! OK! I get why you're upset, just hear me out first! (Also I'm a teenage girl, not an old man.)

Now, if we remember the whole system with the four elements, fire is the element of power, earth is the element of substance, air is the element of freedom, and water is the element of change. And each Avatar has an element that they struggle with because its principles conflict with their personality.

That's why Aang struggled to earthbend, its mindset of facing conflict head-on contrasted with his avoidance of conflict. Similarly, Korra struggled to airbend because its mindset of avoiding conflict contradicted with her hot-headedness and brash attitude.

However, the problem is that while Korra (realistically) spends the entire first season learning to airbend (but this isn't about her though, this is about Aang), Aang struggles with earthbending for just one episode and then instantly grasps the concept and become really proficient (hey, maybe Toph's just a really good teacher).

This is the problem. The writers wanted Aang to struggle, so they gave them challenges that clashed with Aang's character traits, but then as soon as the episode ends, he's automatically succeeded in the given task. It's really annoying how Bryke especially don't want Aang to learn from his mistakes and grow as a person, because Raava forbid their Pwecious Boi(TM) is ever in the wrong!

Another element he struggled with is firebending, but not so much with the element itself as with the application of firebending. In The Deserter (1x16), Aang is given the opportunity to learn how to firebend under the tutelage of Jeong Jeong, but over time Aang becomes careless until he accidentally burns Katara while playing around. The episode ends with Aang swearing to never firebend again, and he stays true to his word until The Firebending Masters (3x13), when he and Zuko relearn firebending from the titular masters, Ran and Shaw. This episode ends with them learning that fire isn't an element of destruction, but rather one of life, warmth, and light, and thus becoming more confident in their firebending abilities.

Then there's waterbending, which is the only element besides air that Aang did not struggle with (apparently it was because Aang was quickly able to grasp the mindset of water), but he somehow managed to be a better waterbender than Katara? "Hard to believe" is how I'd put it. I really think there's a missed opportunity to have Aang struggle with the element, and here's why.

The world has changed a lot during the hundred years Aang was trapped in the iceberg. As Katara put it best, "Everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked." Aang had just found out that every single one of his people were exterminated by the Fire Nation, and the rest of the world was caught in a brutal war that lasted an entire century. Worse, in The Northern Air Temple (1x17), Aang discovers that a group of refugees have moved into the Northern Air Temple and almost completely renovated the interior for their own needs (this is a really grey area of morality, I personally believe that the Mechanist was wrong for destroying what was already there in the temple, but Aang was acting on borderline supremacist behaviour throughout the episode. Plus the Mechanist and Teo especially were genuinely interested in Air Nomad culture and wanted the best for their community).

That's why I believe that Aang should have had a mini-arc about waterbending throughout Book 1 (like how he did with learning earthbending and later firebending in the later seasons), which would be about realizing that the world has changed so much during the last century. The Gaang still steals the waterbending scroll, but this time around, instead of getting it right first try, Aang would struggle terribly the first few times because he's still in denial that he's the Avatar and truly the last of his kind.

This would be explored at the Northern Air Temple, which would still new development. He'd have a talk with Teo who reminds him of his people, and that they would never leave him, and that they would live on in his heart. (I personally think it was a missed opportunity that Teo didn't become one of the Air Acolytes. He'd do great improving the standard of living by inventing new machines that would be a benefit, not a detriment, to the new Air Nation and to everyone who is part of it. That's for another time, though.)

Then at the North Pole the whole deal with Pakku would still be there, but this time Aang would still lag behind Katara, this time not because of his laziness, but rather because he still doesn't understand the change. Then with a little help from Katara and Yue, Aang would finally understand that the world has changed, nothing will be the same, but he can face this. With a little help from Water Tribe philosophy, Aang would realize during the finale that what makes the Water Tribe strong is their ability to work with adversity, rather than resisting or fleeing, and their strong bonds with family that can hold them through anything. Also can we please please please have more Water Tribe Aang? The Gaang spent most of Book 1: Water in the Earth Kingdom!

And there you have it. My argument for why Aang should have struggled with waterbending. You can agree or disagree (you are, after all, entitled to your own opinion), but please don't be rude about it, and try to consider my perspective too.

[sainticidal-arch]

hi everyone. under a read more, but for those of you curious about the future of my (hazbin) blogs.

i am going to keep it 100 with all of you: i have been not having a good time in this fandom ever since a month or two after the finale.

don't get me wrong: i love michael to death. but the future of her blog is: she will shift to a panfandom blog, with multiple verses across various media and original lore. i am in the process of getting / making new graphics, and i will announce the blog move when it happens. she will retain her hazbin verse. i value the experiences i have here and the connections, so i will not be completely kicking rocks from the community.

but going forward: i will be a lot more harsh / selective with the hellaverse roleplaying community, for my personal comfort. if you don't want to follow me to a new blog, that's fine, that's your choice. like i said, when i officially archive this one and move over to another, i will make that announcement. michael is a dearly loved character of mine, and i appreciate deeply all the attention she has gotten since her conception.

however, i have grown deeply uncomfortable in this community. this is not targeted at a specific person. this is a wide-spread set of behaviours i have noticed that simply just do not sit right with me, and on top of that, my interests have shifted from hazbin. i thought full moon and apology tour would reignite my passion, but it simply has not happened. i have sat on this decision for weeks -- i thought moving and getting settled with more time would also reignite my passion. but for hazbin, it simply has not happened, in full honesty. but like i said, i still love michael a lot, i love angels a lot.

what does this mean for god and alastor? i don't know. alastor has not been around in my head for about two months now, and i think we're all safe to assume that blog is on indefinite hiatus. god comes to me a lot easier, i have fun writing the religious aspect of this universe a whole lot. but He is ... difficult, being so heaven-centric and hard to interact with sometimes. i'm trying my best. as for the characters on my multi, they will be on request-only basis rather than secondary. (except lilith i love that milf so she stays primary)

TLDR: no inspiration, panfandom michael Soon(tm). thank you for your patience and support.

[commsroom]

Happy birthday! I have a bit of a strange question but it is Eiffel-related so:

How much (if any) of his personality do you think would be intact post-memory wipe? (Not in the sense of how much would he choose to keep, I mean what parts of him would the memory wipe not get rid of, given that it didn’t wipe his muscle memory, knowledge of English, etc)

this is such a difficult question because, like... as much as i like to speculate about it, there's no real answer re: what wolf 359 defines as "memory" in the first place. like you said, he remembers so much stuff that should be tied to memory - not just his knowledge of english but like, broadly... the concepts and context and consequences for those words and the things he encounters. he understands the weight of what he did back on earth, etc. and that makes the line of "memory" and "information" kind of fuzzy, in a whole bunch of different ways that would also apply to, like... what part of "personality" is inherent, and what part is determined by things we'd classify as memory? how much of personality is flexible and relational, anyway?

and we don't have much to go on re: how he behaves post memory wipe, either, like... there's not much of the show after that; we don't see him in Situations (tm) at all. and he might have different reactions to similar things, depending on other factors, even with his memory! but, like... there's not much to compare or contrast.

with that said: so much of how eiffel communicates is filtered through pop culture - it's not even on purpose, that's just... how his brain works, how he makes connections. everything else aside, i think it's completely understandable he would seem quieter if the primary framework he communicates through is suddenly no longer accessible to him. even if he doesn't consciously know what he's missing, there has to be a gap between what he intends and what he can say, and that has to be frustrating. the context is different, but when he's feeling bad for himself around constructive criticism and doesn't make any pop culture references for a week - that's similarly "uncharacteristic" in how unusually quiet and reserved he seems. for perspective.

short version: "personality" is hard to define, but i think whatever makes eiffel "eiffel" is still intact, whatever that means. i think he still remembers how he feels about things, on some level, even if the memories those feelings are attached to are inaccessible. i think he probably either has or will develop the same values and preferences and sense of humor and annoying habits, but even if his interior world is very similar to what it was before, people might think he's different because he can't communicate those ideas the same way, and that potentially creates a feedback loop where he also feels he must be different than he was. but, over time... i mean, i do think eiffel will get his memories back at some point, but even before that... i think just being exposed to stuff will gradually lessen that gap for him anyway.

[scattered-winter]

Give us the rant my liege

(tagging @vulpinesaint because they wanted to see this as well)

ok this is. gonna get long. and im not gonna be holding anything back. and as someone who suffers from chronic Too Nice disease i need to put that disclaimer beforehand with the additional disclaimer that these are all just my opinions that have been largely brought about by my own personal experiences so im not speaking for the entire community when i give this rant.

now with all that out of the way. let me welcome you to the land of aroace WRATH

the first thing i want to say is that most of the things I'm angry abt in fandom's general treatment/views of aro/ace people are actually extensions of the general societal views toward sex and romance as a whole. I'll go more in depth as we go but I'm choosing to focus more on the fandom side of things for now since it's a lot easier to be angry at something so trivial compared to the entire (western) society that's structured against people like me.

one of the biggest things I've seen a lot in fandom/creator spaces is the urge to give every character a romantic relationship that's more "powerful" or "deep" than platonic/familial relationships. this is of course an extension of amanormativity in society as a whole, because the belief that romance is the Goal (tm) is so deeply set into society that it's taken me years of introspection and research to come to terms and find joy in my aromanticism. but it's the concept of characters not being able to be happy, or find fulfillment, or being lonely for the rest of their lives because they don't have a romantic partner. and I wish I could say queers in fandom were generally more accepting of the idea of characters never finding (or even wanting) romance but that's so far from the case because often it's queer people who are pushing this idea of romance and marriage being the Goal.

and with all the above in mind, aro/ace representation is really hard to find. I can probably count the canon aro/ace characters in any media I've ever consumed on one hand (which ofc doesn't say much about the whole scope of aro/ace rep because that's just from what I've seen/read and there's probably more out there that I've never gotten to). and the thing that really upsets me in particular is how, even in the rare instances where we do get representation, fandom collectively ignores it to shove the character into romantic/sexual relationships in fanworks. like. y'all have literally every single character to ship around with and yet y'all also take the one win we have too. smh. and then my Personal Favorite thing (/s) is when someone points out the erasure, allos' go-to thing to say is "well, ace people can still have sex! aro people can still be in relationships!!" y'all are missing the point.

I also can't think of any media I've ever seen where it's unapologetically aro/ace ?? there are quite a few pieces of media that are explicitly, unapologetically queer that I hold sooo close to my chest, but there's nothing for aro/aces outside of like. children's shows. where the romance is minor enough that it can be ignored. and not to be dramatic but I would kill a man for a piece of adult aro/ace media that actually showed the joys and connections within the communities. even media with queer representation tends to lean into the "sex/romance is what makes us human" thing, which I can't even fault the creators for because that's what society as a whole--even queer society--says, too. and of course it's unfair to hold queer media to a higher standard than normal, and that's not what I'm trying to do. it's just. even when I'm watching/reading something meant for queer people, it's still not entirely for me, yknow?? and I think I can feel disappointed about that and also not hold queer media up to a ridiculous standard.

which brings me to more of the irl shit ig !! for all the anger against people saying that aros will be alone their whole lives, there's also some truth to that, but not in the way you'd initially think. I'm not lonely because I want a girlfriend and I'm sad because I don't. I'm lonely because my whole family is going to get married. all my siblings. all my friends. they're all going to find a romantic partner, and/or a marriage, and as "just" a friend, I'm suddenly not as important as their partner. there's this idea that marriages/romantic partnerships always have to come before hobbies, careers, friends, and anything else. and if someone prioritizes something else over romance, they're "selfish." there's also this idea that breakups can only happen if one side of the partnership did something wrong. that sometimes a relationship just isn't working, or they're just not compatible (and neither side is at fault for that.) and this idea of romance and marriage being The Most Important Thing Ever is what makes me lonelier than anything. because even as a kid in school, I lost friends because they got a boyfriend and girlfriend and suddenly that was more important than anything else. including me. and as more and more of my friends and siblings get married, it's only going to get worse because I'm not as important to them anymore. and that's something I'm gonna have to deal with, even though I love being aro and there's nothing I would rather be.

[uboat53]

I've read and seen a few things recently that have sparked a thought, LONG RANT (TM) time while I work it out?

INTRODUCTION

So, about a week ago, I read a piece on Tumblr by Cory Doctorow in which he argues that the right side of the American political spectrum has become so enamored of property rights that it cannot focus on human rights. I also recently watched a clip of George Carlin on Real Time With Bill Maher from some time ago talking about the situation after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in which Bill Maher made the following point:

"…as if, in the middle of this crisis where so many people are dying already, what we need to do is shoot Tyrone because he's getting out of Circuit City with some soggy tweeters."

I'll link both of these at the bottom if you're interested in checking them out, they're both fascinating reads/listens on their own.

The thought this sparked in me is this: one cannot successfully promote human rights if they are placed equal to property rights, and this is the fundamental problem with any attempt that the right-wing, be it the MAGA movement, the conventional right, or the libertarian right, to make people's lives better. This gets a bit into the weeds, but let me work through this because I think it's important.

CAPITALISM VS. CAPITALISM

The first thing we have to address is the term "capitalism" which gets thrown around by the right and the left with barely a care in the world. The thing is, they mean two different things when they say it.

When the right says "capitalism", they really mean free-markets. In other words, their capitalism is just the economic idea that supply and demand will determine a natural cost for any good or service and that any other form of intervention will distort that natural cycle. Based on my experience, this is what most Americans think of when they think of the word capitalism.

When the left says "capitalism", on the other hand, they're talking about an economic, philosophical, and political system in which capital is prioritized over labor. For example, it can mean that capital is taxed at lower rates than labor and laws prioritize the protection of capital over the protection of labor. They've had a hard time talking to people about this because, well, that's not what most people think of when they hear the word capitalism and people on the left tend to be terrible communicators in general which is a whole other issue.

The reason I focus on this is because I'm going to be focusing on the left's version of "capitalism". Unfortunately, I don't have a better word for it, so I wanted to very clear what I meant before I started. We're talking about a system where capital is prioritized over labor, not a system of supply and demand.

RENT SEEKING

Before we discuss things in a bit more detail, there's one more concept that I need everyone to have in their heads. One of the main reasons why unregulated markets tend to spiral into oligarchies is a phenomenon known as "rent seeking". Rent seeking is, according to the Wikipedia article, "the act of growing one's existing wealth by manipulating the social or political environment without creating new wealth." This can happen by manipulating regulations, but it can also happen simply by using the power of property to lock out competition.

Here's the Wikipedia article itself if you're interested.

Let's take, for example, someone who owns land. A person who develops capital and wealth by improving that land is not rent seeking, but a person who simply owns the land and charges for its use is. This person adds nothing to the collective wealth of a society and simply siphons the existing wealth into their own pocket by virtue of the ownership of property.

In any functional, real-world economy, there will always be some degree of rent seeking, but when capital is valued over labor, then rent seeking can grow to the point where it threatens the stability of the system. Not only are rent seekers unproductive, they actively drain resources from productive activities, making them particularly damaging to the prosperity of a society.

PREFERENCE FOR CAPITAL OVER LABOR

I mentioned a system that values capital over labor, so let me expand a bit on that. In our system, the highest long-term capital gains rate, the rate at which capital gains are taxed, is 20% for high income individuals. The highest income tax rate is 37%. I should note that "long-term" isn't actually all that long, you only have to hold an asset for a year for it to fall under this bracket.

In other words, if you make over $44,726 (as of the 2023 tax year), you're better off making that income as a capital gain than by working for it.

This is the most obvious thing I mean by a preference for capital over labor, but there are hundreds of small and hidden ways that we favor capital as well. There are tax incentives that state and local governments give to capital investment, there is the fact that wage theft is overwhelmingly the largest crime in dollar value in the United States yet is rarely prosecuted, and there is the proliferation in the last few decades of right-to-work laws which were designed to undermine unions with no similar effort to undermine groups that advocate for capital.

I could go on and on and on but the basic conclusion is this: in hundreds of ways both large and small over the last several decades, the United States has systematically advantaged capital and disadvantaged labor to the point where it is far more advantageous to own capital and even rent seek than it is to work.

THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM WITH ABSOLUTE PROPERTY RIGHTS

Now to property rights. If we look carefully, our system which advantages capital also advantages rent seeking as it does not discriminate between the productive and unproductive use of capital. There are certainly limits, a machine that is unused provides little profit, but things like land, buildings, and even machinery can provide profits to their owners even when those owners take little or no effort to improve them.

In fact, there are many investments in which rent seeking, perversely, may be MORE profitable than productive improvement due to the costs of improvement. In economic theory this is impossible as other productive investments would exist that could provide greater profit due to their productivity. In the real-world, however, inefficiencies exist that mean that this is often not the case.

In a healthy society, these inefficiencies would be addressed by regulation and policy, but a belief in absolute property rights prevent these remedies. When taxation and other, similar, methods are off the table, it makes it impossible to correct for these inefficiencies. This leads to a situation where more and more wealth is eventually captured by unproductive assets and activities, diminishing the overall wealth of society and, thus, diminishing human well being.

THE HUMAN PROBLEM WITH ABSOLUTE PROPERTY RIGHTS

The other problem with property is the simple question of what happens when someone does not have enough of it to meet their material needs? Certainly not everyone needs an X-box, but there are people, for example, who need life saving or even just health preserving care but cannot afford it. I think the rights to life and health can generally be accepted as the most basic of human rights, so how to achieve them?

Well, in just about every system that has ever been able to meet these needs, the solution is simple: property is taken in some form or another from those who have more than enough to meet their needs and used to help those who do not have enough do so. This is true for just about every type of civilization that has ever existed, from simple tribal groups to the modern administrative state, and every failure to meet those human rights stems from a failure to redistribute resources to meet them.

However, once property rights are elevated to the same level as human rights or higher, then this it no longer becomes possible to satisfy human rights. At the most basic level, human rights require some form of currency in order to meet and, if it is not possible to take that currency, it is no longer possible to satisfy those rights.

I should note that there are some who claim that this should be voluntary rather than mandatory, but I think it's a fair point to make that no voluntary system has ever come close to doing as much to meet basic human rights as mandatory systems have and the onus is on anyone who argues this to provide evidence that this is even possible.

THE PROBLEM WITH THE RIGHT

Once you put all of this together, the fundamental problem with the way the right-wing of our political system places property rights equal to human rights becomes clear. A system in which no private property can be taken in a legal way creates a scenario in which rent seeking siphons more and more wealth from the productive economy AND there is no way to use this wealth to meet the material human rights needs of those who will be immiserated by this condition.

I should note that I'm not caricaturing the position of the right here, the belief that property rights are equivalent to human rights is a widespread one. You can see it, for example, when the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire declares that publicly produced, free insulin is equivalent to the enslavement of African-Americans because it interferes with the property rights of pharmaceutical companies or simply the monomaniacal Republican focus on tax cuts and opposition to tax increases to "let people keep what they earn" as the solution to just about every problem.

In every case, for those on the right, property rights have not only become equal to human rights, they have become THE human right.

CONCLUSION

As I said, I'm still fleshing this out, but I think it's clear that treating property as an inalienable right prevents us from addressing basic human rights such as the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

If you've got any thoughts or questions, I'd be very interested to hear them. I hope you enjoyed this or at least found it thought provoking.

ADDENDUM

If you're interested, here is the Cory Doctorow piece I read that discusses this issue from a different perspective.

And this is the episode of Real Time with Bill Maher that I mentioned earlier.

[caffeineandsociety]

Honestly though, if I were to be really inflammatory about it - I'd say that actually yeah the majority of men ARE oppressed for being men.

Now that I have your attention because you're pissed off, let me explain. No, I don't mean that in the dudebro meninist "men and women are on equal footing actually, if structural misogyny exists then clearly there is an equal and opposite structural misandry, checkmate liberals" way.

I mean that when it intersects with other axes of oppression, gendered power dynamics get a hell of a lot more complicated than "men big scary oppressors, women innocent victims!!" Like, despite how much the radfems and the terminally online people who treated them as the source of expertise try to redefine it to "the more axes you're marginalized on the more support you should win from progressive spaces, they're basically collectibles but otherwise totally separate", this is a major part of what intersectionality means.

Note how everyone becomes a "feminist" the moment a Black or brown man breathes in their general direction. He exists, suddenly EVERYONE knows toxic masculinity is toxic and violent, and aggressively police him in the name of Protecting Women(TM). Women of color face their own unique brands of oppression, yes! Including being ignored in a lot of these violence statistics or memed if they're actually noticed! But MANY cases of racist police brutality are because a MAN, OF COLOR - very specifically someone at the intersection of those two groups - was read as a threat for being A MAN, OF COLOR. MANY names and stories on any lynching memorial are Black MEN, who were lynched because a white WOMAN saw his very presence as a rape threat. The interplay of race and gender in these interactions is unique.

Or, queer men - when someone says "homophobia is the fear that gay men will treat you the same way you treat women," that's not just a snappy slogan, that's literally how a major facet of it works. The "gay panic defense", in 35 states, lets people reduce assault or murder charges to a lesser offense for "I found out they were queer and I was afraid they were going to hit on me". This is, overwhelmingly, invoked against gay men...

Or trans women - which, however much any radfem tries to tell you otherwise, are still people that mainstream cishet society sees as men, at least until it is convenient to gender her correctly to discount her opinion as the shallow mindless ramblings of an airheaded woman. Like, that's a major aspect of how transphobia intersects with gender in all directions - depending on what's most convenient for the accuser, you're just a silly brainless helpless pathetic woman...

Or a dangerous, predatory, burgeoning, toxic man.

Again, it's another form of "man (or 'man') sets one toe out of line and suddenly the whole world recognizes that toxic masculinity is bad."

And this is coming out in a fascinatingly disturbing way against trans men. There is a concept of "double discrimination" - a term with a frustrating dual meaning; it can refer to being marginalized on two axes and being, for instance, discriminated against for being queer even in spaces meant to support disabled people and vice-versa, or it can refer to being discriminated against by mainstream society, but also by marginalized communities for "not being marginalized enough" (in other words, a less maliciously "neutral" term for the effects of exclusionism). The latter definition has been heavily studied in bisexual communities and has been shown to have nasty adverse effects on both physical and mental health-

And that is also happening to trans men right before our very eyes. Mainstream society hates trans men because, again, depending on what's convenient to demonize us, we're either silly brainless shallow women just hopping on a trend to try and feel special because that's ALL women ever do don't'chaknow and anyone who helps us transition is a predatory drug-pusher, or we're horrible evil predatory dykes (because obviously all trans people are straight relative to our actual genders, which means gay relative to the ones cishet society reads us as) willingly morphing our bodies into a horrifying predatory form to hurt poor innocent cis women-

And among queer groups, we're ALSO treated largely as the latter, and then told "talking about your issues, and GOD forbid trying to come up with a NAME for them, is just Not All Men-ing, sit down and shut up like the good little girls you are, at least you're not being murdered in the streets (except when you are and get reported as women)". Even just sharing resources is treated as "stealing from" or "displacing" other "more deserving" queer groups.

Like, I don't know how to break it to you, but this whole idea of "men are bad, women are good, end of" isn't feminist at all. It's "oh, boys will be boys" in a pink-and-rainbow hat. It's the exact same tool wealthy, white, cishet men use to insist that their dominion over everyone else is just The Natural Order of Things(TM).

And yes, it oppresses most men. It is only the men who have all the other privilege qualifiers who escape it.

No, Men(TM) as a broad single-axis group are not an oppressed class, but there are unique, gendered ways that the hammer of oppression on other axes comes down on marginalized men, because the wealthy, white, cishet men at the top see men (or """"men"""") failing to live up to their platonic ideal of what wealthy, white, cishet manhood means as a threat to their rule - and they're laughably transparent about it; look at all their talk of how men failing to live up to it is "degeneracy" and "the downfall of society". Maleness as a real identity that actual people have, and manhood as a platonic ideal within the power structure of white cishet patriarchy, have a lot of overlap but they're pretty damned different things. The latter is fragile, and violent, and cruel, and hostile to everyone - yes, to women more than men, but very much so to men as well. The former is...literally just vibing.

And yes, women can be enforcers as well. Especially wealthy, cishet, white women. In fact, insisting that they can't be is often in and of itself a precursor to white supremacist patriarchal violence.

We have monuments to prove it.

(Inb4 "you forgot about disability" - no, I didn't; that one is WAY too complicated and deserves a whole breakdown of its own. I have some of the same disabilities that are, for That Most Privileged Class of Men, an excuse for basically anything up to and including murder, but for ME, not even an excuse to need a very minor accommodation or be a little too enthusiastic about something that's not mainstream enough; believe me, I cannot forget.)

[xeniden]

Suppose I should tell y'all what the flag means huh?

I realized I didn't make a post about the flag & my stance on xeniden flags as a whole.

First off, this flag is meant to cover all xenidens at once. Past, present, & future. This one flag in itself is friendly to any & all xeniden labels. It is the ultimate catch-all.

[Read more under the cut ..]

Second, this isn't really a flag template, and I'd strongly prefer if no one made a (public) template without my explicit permission.

Generally, I'd prefer xenidens to not have pride flags with them since they aren't an lgbt++ thing and I do not want them to get mistaken as genders/sexualities/etc since they are not, and I would love to encourage colour palettes and visual aesthetics/moodboards because they give more inspiration to the xeniden itself rather than the concept of "just having a flag for it." (If you look at seaiden, you will notice I created a colour palette in the middle circle, but not as a flag!)

Visual representations in the form of moodboards also lends way to tons of creative options for one to represent a term coined. This is about expression and self-perception!

And, as a reminder, xenidens are allo cishet nt+ friendly too. Everyone is welcome as long as they are using labels in good faith! Flags tend to be used for lgbt/disabled/nd/etc communities only (afaik, I may be wrong though lol)

If you still want to make a flag, you can, but for the foreseeable future, no flags will be considered "official," even if you made it along with a term you have coined. I will still reblog qualifying posts even if they do have flags though!

I'm not ANTI-flag, I just don't feel that they are necessary here. If you have an excellent argument for why you feel flags are necessary to include, or 100% should be considered official any time one is made, please let me know! Can't say my opinion will for sure change but you're free to argue with me lol (/g)

Alright, onto what the flag actually means:

Upside down rainbow similar to xenogender flag: Represents a loose parallel to lgbt & xenic communities but not exactly the same; just based around identity and self-expression.

Blue & pink: Representing traditional masculinity & femininity & how it ties into one facet of our traditional self-expression, as well as how a lot of things in our cultures are often tied to one or the other arbitrarily.

Yellow: Representing things outside of the binary of masc & fem, to do with individualistic expression without the direct influence of the former two categories.

Cyan & orange: An even further extension outside of the binary or trinary, representing expression free from anything traditional styles would like us. These also represent complete nonconformity and the ability to just do what you want. It doesn't mater what "colour" what you like is, all that matters is it's you!

Circle: Represents what "you" are, one whole who has many facets; of which xenidens can represent just one part of your whole without necessarily directly interfering with others. Can also represent a feeling of whole-ness that some have expressed after discovering xenidens; the full & complete freedom to just Vibe(tm) with your identity without gendered (or other) restrictions.

Lines within circle: Represents the different parts of self as mentioned above, how even if these parts may or may not be divided, similar or related, they all are part of you, and thus are within the boundaries of the circle. They are horizontal to match with the stripe pattern of the rest of the image. It also seems to form an "equals" sign, which represents how we are all welcome to xenidens, and all xenidens are treated as equals to one another in every circumstance. Can also represent how xeniden labels are just as valid as all other labels people use to describe themselves.

*.+

Xeniden Carrd in case you have no clue what I'm going on about

*.+

Please don't edit or re-vamp this flag without my permission!!!

[fvaleraye]

TELL THE CULTURE THING NOW

OKAY SO THIS IS GOING UNDER A CUT ASDFLKJN

lets talk about Wood Elves for a bit asdlfkjn

so. wood elves were like. one of the very very first things i thought of for Scintillam, before it was even really a story and more of a concept they play. basically no part in the story asdflkjn which makes me sad! bc i thought abt them!! so much!!! and i'm thinking abt them so much rn!!!! butt here's rlly no way that i can think of to get them to actually play a part in the story :( there used to be a wood elf protag, but they were one of the protags that got axed when the group was getting too bloated asdflkjn ANYWAY culture

they all live in the Wyldwood, one of the few flesh and blood inhabitants(and the only that aren't like. wildlife). and they live like. DEEP in the Wyldwood, and are like the biggest demographic of the followers of the religion centering around the Rootmother, and like a solid 30% of the Order of The Outsiders are wood elves. they worship other gods- they have a whole pantheon- but, like, the Rootmother is like. top god in the pantheon. think like Odin or Zeus, she's the big one. they're all super duper pale, because they live in such thick woods that sunlight literally cannot get in and many of them have had generations of never getting sunlight period, their hair is white, and their eyes are pure black. they're also generally pretty lithe and tall, but that varies ofc. they have an above average lifespan, not thousands of years long, but like. the average "died of old age" age is like, early 300s they're very much like you'd expect wood elves to be; they love nature. they respect it. their hunters wear cloaks with skulls of their quarry on the hood to honor their god of the hunt(which has, incidentally, led to a mistaken belief among non-wood elves that they can shapeshift. it's dark and hardly anybody sees them okay). they have spiritual leaders called Root-Maidens who they believe have a deep connection with the Rootmother, and, by extension, the other gods. Root-Maidens basically lead their community through basically everything; where to build new structures, where the best places to grow food are, the best places to hunt, etc. they're also in charge of judging and deciding the punishment for people who are in breach of their laws. Root-Daughters are Root-Maidens in training, and Root-Sisters are the candidates to take up the role of Root-Maiden if the old one dies. they're all incredibly solitary and distrustful of outsiders and strangers, and very few ever stray outside of their corner of the world; the only exception is Changelings since many wood elves venerate the Traveler. sort of as a result of their solitary lifestyle, they don't rlly have marriages. the relationship between two people is seen as a deeply private thing and that prying into a relationship between two people who aren't open about it is distasteful and deeply disrespectful, the only time they get involved in others lives that deeply is if children are involved; the whole village helps raise kids. occasionally they may have something resembling a marriage ceremony, but it's less of a ceremony and more of the couple actually just officially announcing the fact that they're a Thing(tm). wood elves view gender as a private affair as well, they don't judge and they don't pry, you do you. despite this, they are a fairly close-knit community, just with a particular emphasis on personal privacy as sort of a contrast between most elves in the setting, the wood elf dialect of the elf language is very literal with little room for misinterpretation, as opposed to High Elf dialect which is very flowery and full of metaphors and often incredibly confusing to people who aren't fluent, and Dark Elf dialect which is mostly literal but often talks circles around itself. wood elf writing often have single "letters" that represent entire words, and words when spoken are often short. as such, wood elves learning common often come across as incredibly terse and blunt at first as they adapt to the language those who have a desire to explore the wider world and actually act on it are called Windchasers and are generally seen as weird. but nobody really stops them since they put such high value on individuality because of their solitary lifestyles anyway, no part of an animal is wasted, and they're all VERY careful not to upset the ecosystem too much, so many wood elf villages are pretty small and they're very spread out, because they feel like if their villages get too big than they might need more resources than they feel comfortable taking, with the exception of their capital. they're very big on the belief of paying nature its due, any time they kill something

they take the heart to bury in the forests. killing a predator when it isn't actively threatening you is also seen as a BIG nono, and even then they're encouraged to look for an alternative. the only exception is when they need to replace a spiritual cloak of a predator for hunting purposes despite their rustic seeming lifestyle, wood elves are not unfamiliar with metalworking, and, in fact, the main wood elf city, possesses a great number of metal workers, some of which work with Wyrd Iron, a type of metal naturally infused with the magical energy of the Rootmother, found only in the wyldwood. its seen as a kind of sacred metal, and those who are decked out in full wyrd iron armor and weapons are often like the wood elves version of inquisitors or crusaders, called Archons. stonework is also a common craft simply because sometimes you need something a little sturdier than wood they also have an afterlife that they believe in, called the Glade, which is a sort of spiritual manifestation of their reverence for the cycle of nature. based off how you lived, you either get to return to the world and keep the cycle going as a wood elf, an outsider, or some animal somewhere, or you get to live outside of the cycle with the gods in the Glade if you were a Root-Maiden who did their job well. if you were a terrible person with zero respect for the cycle, you get sent to the Bones of The Earth, where your trapped, fully conscious soul would feed the roots of the wyldwood for eternity, so you'd finally contribute SOMETHING

anyway that's all my brain will give me tonight, ty for ur interest and sorry for the wall of text asldfkn

[whereconfusionisarhyme]

First Reactions To Logan’s Playlist

K first song let’s do this

White and Nerdy-Weird Al Yankovic

Wtf this song was definitely Joan’s idea I mean who else would think of ‘White and Nerdy’ for Logan

Is this like canon he listens to this stuff or like songs about him???

Not Perfect-Tim Minchin

TIM MINCHIN

Bo Burnham better be on Logan's playlist

#deep

Is this about the mindpalace/inside of Thomas’ head??? Cause like???? Ouch???? I think????

Lol nvm it’s not sad lmao

I take back my take back it is sad

So this could be literally “in his mind” or it could be figurative and it’s really messing with my funky flow

Streaks-ANIMA!

Cool instrumental

Love the voice sounds a little like MARINA and Regina Spektor

Oh no I’m two lines in and I can tell it’s gonna be sad

OH NO CONFORMITY RELATED ANGST AHHHHH

Wow Logan is just out here being relatable isn’t he smh 😔👊

"Cause you're a smart kid, but you're still a kid" LOGAN REALLY BE OUT HERE BEING RELATABLE ON MAIN

The Elements-Tom Lehrer

Sounds like what piano class would sound like if I took piano class

Something you would listen to in science class

Bop

Medicine-STRFCKR

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out vibes

Lmao nvm

Gonna go look up the lyrics rn brb

A sad bop

Philosophy cool

Human-Tank And The Bangas

Logan playing this to comfort himself because this singer is the only person who has ever told him this

WHO HURT LOGAN WITH THEIR WORDS

LOGAN THE HEART SKIPPING COMMENT ARE YOU OKAY IM GIVING YOU A HUG

GUYS LOGAN IS TRYING TO CONVINCE HIMSELF THAT HE MATTERS IM NOT OKAY

Last???? Relationship???

Okay I'm not a shipper BUT my theorist analysis obsessed brain is just SCREAMING about Roman and Patton

Observation: Logan is probably atheistic and this song covers God a lot. I don't have a conclusion or anything just pointing that out

This woman do be calming tho like yes I'm beautiful yes I'm special thank you

Okay so I already knew Logan wasn't okay but he 100% isn't okay

Fittet Happier-Radiohead

K two words in and I can tell this is gonna be sad here we go

Employees? Or maybe…other sides?

Minor key ok

SELF HARM ISNT OKAY

"WILL NOT CRY IN PUBLIC" NONONONO

So I heard of a good therapist just downtown-

The Watchtower-The Dø

I paused it cause I need a second after the last one

Guys as someone who dissosiates a lot I think Logan might be dissosiating

Dissosiating to protect himself from his emotions

Y'all just trust me in this one

Coming for the TØP brand I see

K ready to start again here we go

Fire beat I'm vibing with it

Is he trying to distance himself from his emotions to try and perform his tasks better like watching from a Watchtower???

This is the first character I've seen that might dissosiate which only means one thing

I'm gonna be projecting an unholy amount in my fanfiction

"No one in particular" hon who hurt you

City Lights=Emotions (which he considers distractions)??? Maybe??

I'm a William Finn fan come on this isn't my first rodeo

Art Is Dead-Bo Burnham

BO BURNHAM I WAS RIGHT

We all love some good Imposter Syndrome (tm)! :D

This gives Learning New Things About Ourselves' a whole new meaning

Ngl this is the first time I heard the degrading of the piano at the end and I'm here for it

In My Mind-Amanda Palmer

Oop we LOVE setting up impossible expectations for yourself to the point you have a cripplingly horrid self esteem! :D

Logan I've done this before and trust me it isn't worth it the mental breakdowns are too taxing

I'll do it when I'm older=I'm never gonna get around to it

I don't wanna be the person I wanna be either

Why do I perfectly understand every lyric am I ok

Live!!! While you!!!! Can!!!!

At least there's a happy ending

Okay so I've decided that once I'm done I'm gonna make a list of songs I think would fit in the playlist

Algorythym-Childish Gambino

K its spelled incorrectly get ready for some metaphors my dudes

Intro is cool definitely very very Logan WOAH OKAY CHAIN SMOKER

Gonna go look up lyrics I don't understand shit

The chorus sounds like Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house where like 100+ African American relatives blast house music and dance until their feet falls off

Nvm no it doesn't

GO OFF

ELPHABA BETTER WATCH OUT CHILDISH GAMBINO IS COMING FOR YOUR BELT

Adlibs are everything

Letter C-Zach Sherwin

This gives off the same vibes as that one pickle video by Charlie Puth

Roman vs Logan rap battle but it's this

I don't really see why this is related but sure

Time Adventure-The Marcus Hedgehog

Nostalgiaaaaaa

Okay Logan has too many songs talking about one (1) person who is it

I have a gut feeling that it's about Thomas and how Logan used to be enough "back then" but now he thinks he's not cause like let's be honest when was the last time someone gave Logan a strong sincere thank you for all that he does????Excluding DWIT (which doesn't really count in my opinion cause they said he was cool, not like an integral and arguably the most important and powerful side) nobody really appreciates Logan???? Hugs???

Anyway plz ignore this is just how my brain works

K next song

The Breach-clipping.

OKAY SLOW DOWN IM GONNA LOOK UP LYRICS

Is this Daveed Diggs???? I haven't listened to Hamilton in like forever is this Daveed Diggs???

LITERALLY PERFECY PARRALLEL TO LOGAN AND THE SIDES

Sound effects

Really just gonna fry my eardrums like that huh

What I Do For U-Ra Ra Riot

Okay scrap anything and everything I said about it being the sides Logan is 100% talking about Character!Thomas

Erase Me-Ben Folds Five

Ooh this intro reminds me of this one particular musical songs but I don't remember which one

Wait have I listened to this before????

I've listened to this before!

Okay I need to stop being distracted

NOOOOOO don't Erase Yourself!!!!

Logan really just do be having no Self Esteem don't he

Okay so theory: Logan didn't pop up in person in the last video because his eyes were too red from crying

I have 0 evidence so it's not a very good theory but…

Just throwing it out there

One More Time with Feeling-Regina Spektor

Oh no it's Regina Spektor

Oh no I'm gonna cry

Okay so Logan doesnt wanna block of all emotion, only permit some to show???? But most of the time block everything????

Did I get that???

Nobody!!!! Thanks!!!! Logan!!!!

Awww he just wants love and recognition

Tbh this sounds a lot like Roman they have so much in common despite their constant arguing

Galaxy Song-Monty Python

Ooh Monty Python

I haven't listened to Monty Python so I sadly don't know the context

Really just dissing all of the other sides aren't we

Can't really blame him tho

Very scientific

"Yeau~"

Sweet with dark undertones. Love it.

Equation-Hans Zimmer

Later I'm gonna check the equations if they're correct XD

Sunrise-In The Heights

!!!!!!

WHO???!!!!!

K to this is one of my favorite love songs ever it's just so sweet and as someone who's bilingual the concept is just amazingly wonderful so yeah I may be freaking out

Also because WHO??!!

Okay I said I wasn't a shipper but let's be honest this is probably about Roman not romantically but like

OR MAYBE JANUS???

IM SO CONFUSED

But Logan is definitely Nina in this situation it just fits so well with her character for the same reasons I really wanna play her (but never will cause I'm exactly 0% Latin American smh) yeah the pressures to be the smartest and then it backfiring horribly and oh God what if Inùtil is also in the playlist ahhhh

Okay moving on

Lifeboat-Heathers

WHAT

NO

NO

CONFORMITY RELATED ANGST LOGAN STOP BEING RELATABLE AHHHH

IS THIS CAPTAIN THOMAS??? THE OTHER SIDES AS A WHOLE??? AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT???

IM NOT OKAY

Bohemian Groove-Will Connolly

Okay I'm still not recovered from the last song but I need to continue or else I'm never gonna finish this playlist

Eeecccchhhhhoooo

Your friends haven't surpassed you Logan you belong with them okay????

Emptiness despite success??? Millennial who???

Vibing with it but also are you okay

Nvm I know the answer already

Hug All Ur Friends-Cavetown

Okay so Logan is a Cavetown gay noted

Self validation??? Who's she???

Lies. You care so much about what other people *sides* think about you

Maybe Logan listens to this song to remind himself to not care too much

But it doesn't work and it's getting to him more and more

Oh

That took a turn

Breathin'-Thomas Sanders

Good move

Don't really have much to say on this

The Bidding

Spoopy

Alchoholic!Logan

New idea for us fan writers

The pronunciation of beurgoise

Okay I'm like pretty certain at this point that all of the songs that mention a someone else is about Character!Thomas

A Better Version

OHMYGOD I LOVE THIS MUSICAL ITS SO UNDERRATED I HAVE LISTENED TO THE SOUNDTRACK AND UNGODLY AMOUNT OF TIMES YESSSSS

But also since I know the song in terrified cause the feels are gonna come in I just know it

Wait so is Jayce supposed to be Thomas???

I am suddenly feeling much more uncertain about my certainty

Okay let me unpause and just listen to it (even though I already know all of the lyrics)

Okay so I'm a dumbass and apparently this song isn't even part of the playlist

Okay so I'm an idiot and the last few songs have all been "related to playlist" and not in the actual playlist I'm big dumb.

Anyway here's my list of songs I think would fit. (BTW, I only went off of lyrics for these ones. I realize that there’s a general sound and vibe for the playlist, but I decided not to follow it.)

Oh No! ~ MARINA

Hug All Ur Friends ~ Cavetown

Bohemian Groove ~ Will Connolly

Guiltless ~ Dodie Clark

Lifeboat ~ Laurens O’Keefe

The Bidding ~ *idk who*

I Am Not A Robot ~ MARINA

Inútil - Lin Manuel Miranda

Through The Eyes Of A Child ~ AURORA

Community Gardens ~ The Scary Jokes

Let me know if I should do this with the other playlists as well! :)

[viva-la-vie-bohemily]

:(