#and which countries have how much of each faction

[a-very-tired-jew]

Columbia University's Joint Anti-Israel Groups Go Mask Off

Hey, remember how Columbia University had students in encampments protesting for months? Remember how their SJP, BDS movement, and associated groups endorsed terrorism, violence, and "resistance by any means"?

I remember. Well their joint SJP and BDS group called CU Apartheid Divest just posted something to their Instagram that shows it has never been about Palestine or Palestinians.

Fig. 1. CU Apartheid Divest group, made of SJP, BDS, and other groups openly admits that they are anti-Western Civilization

Read that again.

"We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization."

That's a wild statement to make.

So what are they posting about suddenly that has them revealing their intent for their actions since October?

Bangladesh.

The CU Activists are attempting to liken October 7th attack by Hamas with the Bangladesh student protests. Bangladesh had a quota based employment system that students were protesting, the government responded violently, and everything escalated from there due to years of government corruption, violence, and economic turmoil. This was a protest turned revolution within a country by its own people. This was not a government run by a recognized terrorist group attacking another country, killing civilians, and taking them hostage.

However, the differences and reasons between Hamas's actions and the actions of the students in Bangladesh do not matter to the anti-Zionist Activist.

We've seen this repeatedly from these activists that they will try to liken their movement and/or attach it to other conflicts around the world. Many of these conflicts differ greatly from the Israel/Hamas war as they are internal issues with internal actors being involved.

Bangladesh is students protesting against their government.

Sudan is going through a civil war between various factions.

The Congo has been experiencing decades long violence as various militias fight each other for control.

Yet I've see anti-Israel protestors tag their posts with Free Bangladesh, Free Congo, Free Sudan even though these conflicts differ in origin and parties involved.

If you continue through the IG post you'll see very little information as to the cause of the protest/revolution in Bangladesh and continued attempts to coopt the actions for their movement.

Fig. 2. CU Apartheid Divest group tries to liken its student movements to the student protests in Bangladesh and calls to escalate.

I can't help but think that the CU student activists yearn to be oppressed in a way that would allow them to respond like revolutions and protests around the world. The way they speak and write exudes a yearning for violence. In Fig. 2. they detail the actions taken by students against an authoritarian government that has actively shot and killed protestors. Whereas here in the USA the students were forcibly removed from campuses, experienced some police violence, were arrested, and then released. No curfews with a shoot on sight policy were imposed here in the USA in response to college campus protests.

Fig. 3. CU Apartheid Divest classifies this as an Intifada and likens it to Hamas's attack.

Notice in Fig. 3. that they're trying to call the actions in Bangladesh an Intifada. Not an intifada, but an Intifada which is a proper noun with its own connotation. I know I may be a stickler here, but if I see that word capitalized then I know it's referencing the First and Second Intifadas, and I know that these student groups have been calling for a Third one under the guise of "Global Intifada". They also say that Westerners need to escalate and are "obligated" to do so.

Fig. 4. CU Apartheid Divest uses tankie terminology, refers to Bangladeshis as martyrs, and calls this part of the Global Intifada.

The terminology in Fig. 4. also shows how much the Free Palestine student movement in the USA is not actually about Palestine, Palestinians, or any other movement it tries to attach itself to. These are tankies as indicated by the use of "comrades" and they are wholly opposed to Western Civilization. They genuinely state that their movement should violently escalate here in the USA and that they should be prepared for "sacrifices". This language when coupled with the use of Intifada is alarming as it appears that these student activists are preparing to follow in the footsteps of the Second Intifada, or at the very least calling for others to do so.

These students, whom call themselves the Militants of Hind's Hall (seen in the IG post, but not pictured here), are coopting, or attempting to coopt, movements and conflicts from around the world for their own ideals. As these are students in the USA who are arguably experiencing the least amount of oppression when compared to these other conflicts, and are actively attending Ivy League or R1 universities, it can only be assumed that they're yearning to live out their Glorious Revolution fantasy.

I am under no illusion that I understand their reasoning. Are things perfect here in the USA? Of course not, but when compared to the countries that these student protestors are attaching themselves to, we are leaps and bounds better. And if you disagree, then I have to ask, when was the last time we had a curfew with a shoot on sight policy?

Anyone attempting to call this movement and group "peaceful" is naive. They've been telling you for months that they're not peaceful, that their goals are not peaceful, and that the only peace they want is after they commit violence.

The IG link for reference

[kingdomfall]

Demon culture is very interesting to me. These demons are selfish, greedy and their whole social structure is based on power. Yet we don't see demons fight for power or doing something untoward someone to get something they have. A lot of powerful demons don't seem to be abusing their power to push around weaker demons. The only indication of this is the many ear tribe. But you know what happened with them? They were given to a student for a scala, a scala which in the goal was founding a country for them were they can support each other and have some modicum of freedom from being just tools to powerful demons.

When they're too stress they fall into their evil cicle, were they can become aggressive. This was so prevalent that they built systems to relieve that stress (devidols, theme parks ect). The fact we don't know much of evil cycle out of pseudo stuff like Iruma's evil cycle and what we saw of Kalego's breifly is sad to me (he cares so much).

That is not even going into the return to origin and demons that want to return to origin. These faction of demons are so fixated on how the demon realm was that they want to destroy the current demon realm. And it might seem that demons back then ate humans? Now I'm thinking of when or if humans and demons coexisted together or when humans passed thru the demon real. How did they become mythic creatures?

But anyway moving on

The government of the demon realm is very interesting itself. They have the demon king and the 13 crowns as well as the demon boarder patrol. Now we know that their hasn't been a demon king in years. They waited so long to apoint anyone or find a way to find someone suitable. The only reason things got moving is because the demon real was falling out of control. The demon king is lead by the king maker, guiding them on how to become the ruler and how the demon world works. Yet apparently if the demon king doesn't want the king maker around then they don't have them around, like what? And it's clear that the position is important and hold great power before it fell into obscurity. The boarder patrol is supposed to protect the demon real and keep the human realm and theirs closed. Yet we clearly see that demons in the boarder patrol have different ideas on what they should protect the demon realm from.

Man, I don't know where I was going with this. I guess I just wanted to ramble. I love Iruma go read the manga if you can. And if you want to support Nishi Osamu more they have another manga called "Ichi the Witch" go read it, it's good.

[blueteller]

Could you describe Hannah's redemption/ character arc? I'm trying to get in her head, and idk who else to ask.

My pleasure! Hannah is SUCH an interesting character to me. Prepare for a loooong ride!

First and most important part to consider about her is, of course, her childhood.

She and Jack came from a poor family – possibly orphans, maybe they got sold by their relatives to the Church for money, who knows. Either way, they were young children, but old enough to understand that the "care" of the Church was purely conditional. They were told that they should be "grateful" for being "generously" taken in. That they belonged on the bottom of their hierarchy. As in Jack wasn't a freaking Saint! He should have been treated like royalty by them – and Hannah as well by the extension. They called him a "half Saint", or "fake Saint" to undermine his confidence and control him easier – which worked quite well, sadly. It's evident how much his healing power was affected by his insecurity, seeing how much his healing abilities improved and developed, once he was working with Cale simply because he fully believed in the cause. But more on that later.

So Jack was considered a "half Saint", because he could only heal. And Hannah – not a Saint at all, because she was only talented in swordsmanship. It should have been obvious to anyone paying attention that the power of the Sun God was split between the two, but either the Church refused to acknowledge it, or they had their heads so far up their butts that no one realised it. But even if that was the case, the fact stands; a peasant girl becoming a Swordmaster in less than 2 decades (we were never told their exact ages but everyone in the fandom agrees they seem to be in their early 20's at most) is no small feat. Clearly, both twins were extremely talented – and under great pressure from their "guardians" to be useful. We can safely assume that their childhood training was hellish. It did not matter to the Church whether they had good childhoods or were happy with their lives. They were their political tools, and nothing more.

Hannah was painfully aware of that fact all along. She had no doubt that the Church and the Empire considered them disposable. The Pope himself showed them a row of 10 coffins with the bodies of the previous Saints… one of them empty, with a promise that if they make a single step out of the line, their sibling will be the one to end up inside it. That means that in the 150 years, the Church of the Sun God killed a total of 9 of their own Saints… but more on that later as well.

Note that Cale himself thought that he "understands why Hannah went crazy" when he saw the coffins in person. What the twins went through was nothing less than extreme abuse, both physical and psychological. And that took a heavy toll on each, although with very different results.

Jack was implied to be more naïve, and trying to look at the bright side of things despite all their hardships. His strength was his compassion and desire to do good in the world. He probably wanted to believe the best of his patrons as well – as many abused children do.

But Hannah was the physically stronger one, despite being younger and a woman. So she became a self-assigned, sole defender of her older brother. Everything in her life revolved around keeping him a safe as possible. She also had a more skeptic nature than her brother. That came with a healthy dose of paranoia, resentment, and rebellion. When she got mature enough she started to envision an escape, an OUT from that horrible place, for both of them.

That is exactly when Arm approached her, and that is truly where the main tragedy of her life begins. For full context, let's talk about politics for a second.

From what Cale discovered during his first visit to the Empire, all three main political factions in this country has been corrupt for really long time: the alchemists, the royal family, and the Church of the Sun God. The alchemists of the Alchemy Tower were 50% Dark Mages, all working under the Lich Lord Bernard, and subsequently, the White Star. The royal family Prince Adin descended from took part in the revolution against the Saint of the Sun God 150 years prior – the one who got imprisoned in the tower where Cale found the God of Death's Divine Item (which was used to suppress her powers; mind you, that Divine Item was stolen from another Church and yet another proof of their corruption). That particular Saint was also an heiress to the throne of Mogoru and she got usurped by a rival in her family, with the help of the none other than the Pope of the Sun Church. She was understandably pissed about being stabbed in the back like this, and cursed them profusely all in her final letter.

This was the point when things really went downhill for the Empire; the Sun Church abandoned their own god, for the sake of political power. They had to know that the Sun God would be furious at them for it. So they sought out all the new Saints, kept them under lock and key, and once they proved to be too much to handle – branded them as "heretics" and put them in coffins. (Think Avatar the Last Airbender, except if the Fire Nation had no issue tracking the new Avatars.) If we do some math, it's obvious that that the average lifespan of each Saint could not have been longer than 14 if they lives did not overlap… In other words; the Church of the Sun God kept murdering their own Saints children. That was probably why the Sun God split the power between the twins, by the way. They were "easier to control" that way, which allowed them to survive much longer than the rest.

There was also the fact that Adin was interested in Hannah as a Swordmaster; remember, those are quite rare. The whole Empire had only two in total – the other being Duke Huten. Of course they wanted a piece of her too, the poor woman.

To sum up the politics: so the alchemy towers worked for the White Star, the royal family worked for him too, and so did Arm… the Church, on the other hand, did not have such a strict alliance. They were corrupt, yes, and they helped the royal family in the past to take over the throne. But they were a separate political faction in the Empire. Hannah had no way of knowing that Arm basically belonged to the same political faction as the royal family, who were the second in line to try and control her and her brother. So when they approached her, telling her that they were a small organization allied with the North… she accepted the only offer she had to get her and her brother out of both the Church and the Empire's clutches.

All Hannah had to do for Arm, her new "family", was kill a bunch of enemies for them. And here we come to a crucial part of her characterization; the bloodlust.

“What is she saying?” Raon answered Cale’s question as usual. “She said, ‘I wonder how beautiful a bloody ocean would be.’” ‘Lunatic.’ -TCF Chapter 93

It's the first thing we see when we meet her during the Hais Island 5 arc: that Hannah was blood crazy.

She did not care about the fact that she had to kill Whale children – which is confirmed in canon by Archie that she did, in fact, do. And while no one can deny that's extremely messed up… If we look at her psychology, it really makes sense that she had no issue with it.

First of all: Whale are crazy strong. Many Beast People are. Just look at Lock, or On and Hong. Hannah did not see innocents when she fought them out in the ocean. She saw child soldiers, just like herself. Enemy combatants. So she went after children and adults without discrimination. It was kill or be killed, she was doing it for her brother. She couldn't care less about them being young. She was thrilled by slaughtering enemies, no regrets. She went full psycho mode, basically.

So Hannah killed people – strong people specifically, both young and old – and she thrived. But there are other aspects of her to consider at this point in time. Her interaction with Rosalyn, for instance.

“Wow, unni, you are so strong.” “Right? I am a pretty strong mage.” Rosalyn and the swordsman seemed to be casually fighting. -TCF Chapter 95

Hannah respected strength. She did not resent it – she found it interesting. Amusing, even. She only got mad when the Magic Spearman got hurt, aka. her "big brother", someone she cared for. But she had no particular animosity towards the enemies of Arm. She was there for a job; the fact that she was enjoying it was just a side benefit. Her main goal all along was to get her brother to safety, and herself a well. She did not hesitate to kill Redika, her technical ally, when he was going off the rails, just to save her own skin. Her "loyalty" to Arm and their cause was thus limited at best; she was no fanatic.

Another interesting detail: she was not the only one trying to get them out of the Empire. Jack talked to Litana during the combined celebration of the Sun Church and the Alchemy Tower, right before the assassination of the Pope took place. Jack heard the story of Cale from her, and gave Litana a magical orb to track him down (presumably the same one the Church presumably used to track their previous Saints) with the hope that they could meet up later. So while Hannah was conspiring with Arm behind Jack's back to set them free, he was doing a similar thing, just with different means. But who knows what he had to do to steal that item and give it to Litana, because they sure as hell did not give it to him for free.

Then the betrayal happens. Adin brands the twins as criminals to cover up his tracks from the assassination of the Pope, his political enemy who was about to expose some of his crimes to the citizens to the Empire for a bid of power. The Church lets them take the fall and become scapegoats for something they had nothing to do with. Arm, specifically the unnamed Magic Spearman, abandons her and Jack to the wolves. Hannah is hit by dead mana from a magic bomb, and gets poisoned.  Betrayed by the Empire, her old masters, as well as her new ones, is devastating for her. It's not just dead mana killing Hannah by the time Cale finds them on the Path of No Return; Hannah is dying because she has no hope to cling on. She only wants her brother safe, but she lost all faith she could survive this or take revenge. Her spirit is broken.

And then Cale comes in, and he is both the hope she so desperately needs, and an absolutely TERRIFYING unknown variable. Nevertheless, she can only cooperate with him – once again, for the sake of her brother, most of all. But once he offers her a glimpse of a chance for survival… well.

We finally kick off the redemption arc at that point.

I would say that at this exact moment in the story… Hannah is surprisingly less prejudiced about the Dark Attribute than her brother. And it makes sense! Heck, she already fought with the Mermaids against the Whales. It is no issue for her; unlike Jack, she does not hear the voice of the Sun God, telling her to destroy darkness. All she feels is her own bloodlust, directed entirely at those who wronged them; and that includes exactly none of Cale's allies. When Jack sees Mary for the first time, he experiences all sorts of conflicting emotions about her being a Necromancer. But Hannah? She's too busy fighting for survival to care. No, scratch that – Hannah never cared about the doctrines of the Church in the first place, because of her rebellious temperament. And the fact that Mary helps to save her life? She might as well consider her a best friend for life, even without the fact that they're both the only survivors of dead mana poisoning around.

So Hannah is given a brand new drive: revenge against Arm, on top of her old grudge against the Empire… who, luckily for her, all end up the same enemy in the end. She is given the support she so desperately needed her entire life in the form of Cale's group. Her reception is mixed, of course – the Whales do not forget so easily that she was their enemy and killed their children. Even if she would suffer for it for the rest of her life, courtesy of her dead mana scars.

But Hannah is far from unaware of her own sins. No, she is aware that she is a messed up person, and has a long way to go before she could be forgiven. But she is finally fighting for the right cause. Unlike Mary, she carries the scars from dead mana with openly and with dignity, partly because it fuels her desire for revenge… but also because they symbolize the biggest mistake of her life which nearly killed her and her brother both: trusting and working for Arm.

Hannah gets to redeem herself through her actions. To actually work for it. Trusting Cale to steer her bloodlust on the right path, she becomes a warrior, not just for her own satisfaction but for justice. She fights to save the Empire, instead of destroying it out of spite. Becomes part of the movement supporting the Dark Races, instead of discriminating against them. This journey is no longer just about revenge, it's about saving the world, and making it a better place by ridding it of corruption. And you can tell with each new appearance that Hannah is slowly settling into her new role. She even gets a moment to criticize Cale for overworking himself when his body is so weak. Hannah is no longer someone who cares just about herself and her twin – she is a member of a team. Of a real Found Family. She cares for Mary, she has a friend in Rosalyn, a mentor in Choi Han, and a trusted leader in Cale.

Unlike Jack, who embraces his role as a "full" Saint, she refuses to become a "real" Saint of the Sun God because she wants to be free. To make her own path as a Swordmaster. She goes from someone who was trapped, hurt, used and manipulated her entire life, into someone who is finally able to do what whatever she wants...

...And obviously one of the things she wants is to kick all the a**es of the idiots who had the audacity to look at Cale wrong😂

I hope this analysis satisfies you! Have a great day 💖

[gortash-did-nothing-wrong]

Things Enver does as a Father:

When their oldest was four, he started to understand what explosives were, so Enver spent three days teaching him how to make fire powder because, "What's the harm? He can't reach the shelf with the ingredients. So he'll never make them without my supervision." He may not have been able to reach the shelf, but that cunning toddler learned how to climb into chairs really fast after that.

When their children started being interested in tea parties, Enver gifted their children a sturdy but beautiful silver tea set. They couldn't brew the tea themselves, nor could they bake their own pastries to go with it, but Enver instructed their servants to fill the teapot with a caffeine free tea anytime the children asked. The trays of croissants and cookies were, of course, also provided.

When Enver joined those tea parties, he used it as a time to test his children's leadership abilities. He asked them how they planned on handling fake issues in the kingdom. Often, he assigned names to fake groups of people, inventing far off countries that sent either banes or boons to their doorstep. "What shall we do about all these refugees?" "The crops from the west fields have failed. Shall we attempt to grow more before harvest, or should we depend upon our reserves?" "Two different political factions are at each other's throats. One is the farmer's guild, and one is the merchant's guild. Who should we side with?" "There's only room in this year's budget to donate to the orphanages, or the trade school programs in the Lower City. Who do we support?" His children sometimes waved his questions off, wanting only to eat the snacks and play games, but sometimes they paid attention. Sometimes they even gave insightful solutions to these problems that were simultaneously fake and yet very real. Enver was always careful to nurture any of his children that showed promise in these matters

Of course, some of his children simply weren't suited for positions of higher leadership, which was fine. He loved his children all dearly, and loving them meant meeting them where they were and accepting who they were. His children that weren't leadership material had other talents. Archery, swordsmanship, art, dance, and more. His youngest daughter, the middle child of the family, actually had a knack for making friends and organizing events. While it wasn't something most would consider a highly prized skill, in her teenage years she turned it into a passion for charity work, especially with orphans and refugees. Something that he made sure the newspapers always reported on. Why not make sure the public viewed him and his family in a favorable light with the candle of his child's charity cases?

One of his children showed a knack for archery at a young age, and Enver wasted no time in designing moving targets for her to sharpen her skills with. His wife introduced their little prodigy to that vampire friend of hers, and soon his daughter was sneaking around the castle with a bow and quiver full of enchanted arrows. The servants only complained a little.

His brood grew in number until he was often walking around the city with a gaggle of eight children at his heels, looking every bit like a proud father goose. His youngest was almost always in his arms, a young boy with chubby cheeks and his father's grin. The public went wild with love for the sight of his hoard of children, calling them the Pride of the Gate. His wife insisted nicknames didn't count if he ordered the press to call them that, but Enver disagreed.

Enver was a firm believer in raising his children with an iron fist. Not in anyway did that mean physical punishment, of course. He detested the thought. But his children had a busy routine of tutors, governesses, coaches, and many extra curriculars from very young ages. His wife was often worried they were expecting too much from them, but Enver was always quick to remind her that they lived in a cruel world, and their children needed to be ready for that. His children were loved, but not coddled.

And as Enver grew older, he felt comfortable delegating more and more tasks to his children. Until finally, at the age of fifty seven with the entire sword coast under his iron fist, he named his heir, split up responsibilities among his other children to ensure there would be no infighting, and retired with his wife to a nice little castle in the upper city. Somewhere close enough to help should his clan require it, but far enough that he and his lovely wife could relax in their old age. He loved spending his mornings sitting on the balcony and having breakfast with her while he read the paper. His middle child, the charity worker, had taken over propaganda, and she was quite skilled at it. He would chuckle with his wife over humorous tidbits from his children's accomplishments.

And of course, then there came grandchildren. Little heathens running around his home, always so happy to visit "Grandma's House". Enver often rolled his eyes at the title of his castle. "I bought the damned thing." He complained to his eldest son one day. His son laughed at him, "Father, don't pout. They may call it her house, but they're always talking about wanting to see your inventions, play with your magic items, and um... Steal your shoes." Enver sighed at that. "None of you ever inherited my glorious fashion sense, and I regret that every day... Maybe one more child-" his wife interrupted them, "No."

[emblemxeno]

The thing that I think Fates does so incredibly well, enough so that it's probably my favorite in the series in this regard, is how much it frames context and rewards players for being willing to interact with the characters and the world.

You're given a very specific image on characters just from their first impressions as a whole, and the more you ultimately look past that, the more you unearth the whole context behind the setting. The conflict is a great example of this; it seems like one of the many typical "good vs. evil" conflicts in the setting, and the problem with that is the more you interact with the characters and the more you actually interconnect details and known concepts, the more it quickly becomes different from that. The Nohrian siblings are abuse survivors, their father warped beyond recognition into a puppet for an insane god who seeks to burn the entire world to the ground and everyone just treating this day-to-day insanity as somehow normal or justifiable, while Hoshido only has any kind of knowledge in regards to Nohr based on the Faceless attacks that Garon sends through the barrier; this leads to a lot of demonization of the Nohrians that are just not something they're even aware of, with a major part of the parallels they have in a route shows they need each other much more to coexist than they do to be enemies. Nohr was starving, driven by meritocracy and ultimately was still recovering from a country-devastating civil war, while Hoshido was plentiful, had all of its servants determined by the elite, and knew very little when it came to peace. The implication and fact that both were conquering empires and Mikoto's reign was an anomaly, the warped nature of Garon being a sign something was very wrong as a whole, and both factions just assuming the status quo was as it was and that it was just to be accepted that these two factions were meant to clash with each other in ways that completely justified the other.

What Fates does so well that stands out to me is how much of the narrative ends up being expanded upon and given depth by communication. There is such obstruction on much of the characters motivations and you only get the full story from outright seeking out these perspectives, but what it fully intertwines and exposes is that both sides are full of human beings worth protecting and that's clearly something that matters. And it's hard to think of a route that illustrates that more than Conquest, which takes an entire sledgehammer to the idea that the invasion and conquest of a nation full of innocent people wasn't anything but avoidable and that you weren't the hero for it; you did it because you had to with how much obstruction the politics in Nohr led and how you barely had any options to challenge the system that wasn't deliberately breaking it, but it ultimately showcases how much of the conflict is still the choices within the characters. Chapter 24 confirms what Hinoka says in Endgame with Corrin becoming a pariah for his choice (and understandably so), with his final confrontation with Takumi having him understand what he had to do and not trying to twist it or justify it, but how much of it that it actually was his doing and how he needed to take responsibility for that. Which is precisely what he did at the end of Conquest and ultimately talked with Takumi and allowed the two to communicate how they wanted to feel.

And that's ultimately the core of Fates; how much communication reveals the humanity of the other side and how they're not just tragic victims for you to roll over against, how it's important to understand when somebody needs to be talked to and when somebody is speaking in bad faith. Even Kaze defects because Corrin actually communicates his plan to Kaze in Chapter 11 and because he didn't have any real alternative in this regard, but it makes for such a fascinating narrative as a whole because it's deliberately rewarding to those who seek out this kind of knowledge. It doesn't withhold any information for those seeking to find it; even the Ancient Texts reveal the entirety of the cosmology of Fates for those interested enough to dig into it, and it reveals a perspective that I think is just fascinating.

And I think that's the thing that gets me, because Conquest is just especially relevant IMHO in today's day and age. As an American where it feels like apathy and complacency led to tyranny and oppression, it's important to remember that people are complicated and nuanced, that suffering does not need to happen and that all nations ultimately have humanity to them at the end of the day. Xander and Ryoma try to speak for the longest time how this war and their victory was a tragic inevitability and needed to happen. Corrin, who was shielded from most of the outside world, knew this wasn't the case and that, no, it didn't need to happen. Because we take for granted how much it is communication needs to happen, because we aren't meant to be alone and I think anything that tries to prevent you from communicating to the other side or lies to you to prevent you from seeing the full picture is one that ultimately doesn't want to lose its credence to the audience. This is why I don't like 3H; Fates is entirely consistent with what it believes if you actually communicate properly, while 3H remarks on how "tragic" it is characters like Edelgard are being revanchists who side with Those Who Slithers and doesn't want you to actually question what it says versus the actions of these characters. Fates, meanwhile, leaves it up to you to have these actions be in any way consistent, because the whole point of Fates is how we're ultimately in control of our actions and that allowing us to be dictated by circumstances as it's "just so" is precisely how the characters got into the mess to begin with. Quote Corrin at the end of Conquest:

Anankos? What are you talking about?! Your god has nothing to do with this! We all make our own decisions. You are responsible for all of this, monster! You destroyed the heart of a good man for your own selfish gain. But even you could have chosen a different path. No matter the circumstances we are born into, or the blood in our veins… We are all the masters of our own fate! That is why I am not like you, nor could I ever be. I chose the path I believe in, the path of peace. And that conviction, that strength… I will use that power to defeat you!

Fates I think is truly special, and part of why I get so emotional about it and the lack of respect it gets and people just dismissing it has no depth is that I can clearly see what's being said, and I think it's absolutely wonderful and needs to be preached to the core more. Fates is the kind of story that I think is amazing when you actually construct the full picture and truly unforgettable, not just for how internally consistent it is, but how much it ties into FE's core themes as a series and how much of it we just take for granted concepts like tyranny and cruelty and realize the best way to defeat this is to take responsibility for our actions and actually communicate than dismiss the instance as an inevitability. Almost all failures comes down to excuses, and the way Fates is a sledgehammer and jeremiad to the concept of moral complacency and how interwoven it all is just makes the game so special to me and my heart.

YES YES YES, THIS IS THAT *GOOD* SHIT

What I really appreciate about Fates, like you said, is that it really walks the walk when it comes to communication, humanity and grasping with the weight of people's lives.

It's true that it's cathartic to have characters like Hector or Ike be really gung-ho about removing the problems directly in their way, and taking no shit from their enemies.

But in a broader sense, what speaks to me is Corrin, painted as naive and childish, is correct in the philosophical statement being made.

Why is fighting each other endlessly the status quo? Why do you have to kill your enemies at every opportunity? Why is a future where people can respect one another so unbelievable?

And even then, with all of that, the story doesn't let malefactors off the hook. The abusers of that cruelty and irrationality are punished for it. Corrin gives them the chance, but when they're so set in their ways after that? No dice.

The tragedy here, is that sometimes, innocent people who would very much be able to be convinced, are caught in the crossfire. Dying for their lord, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, being too belligerent and forcing someone's hand in order for them to survive, and just plain bad luck. And Fates' story, rightfully, treats this as something to be upset over, because it respects human life. It doesn't treat it just as a tool to make you sypmathize with what a character is going through, or as just a statistical risk in the background; rather, it materializes the effects of your actions.

And isn't that the beauty of FE stories as they are? They are simulated war chronicles, after all.

[rayroseu]

Rambles about Book 7 lol

AAAAAAAÀAAA 😭😭😭 THIS IS SO AUGHHH THE MEANING BEHIND THIS INFO !!!!!! knowing that the first thought of Lilia in encountering Silver was that he should kill him to avenge Meleanor and Levan and that his purpose of adopting him is that he wants to believe he can love a human as well AND LILIA TEACHING THIS HUMAN BABY HOW TO LIVE DESPITE THE MANY CHANCES HE GOT TO GET RID OF HIM AUGJAURIWUTJW AND MAY I SAY LILIA WENT FROM DISTANTLY BEING ATTACHED TO THIS BABY AND THEN TRANSITIONING UNTO WANTING FOR HIM TO LIVE AND WITNESS HIM GROW UP AAAAAAA😭😭✨✨✨

IF I CRYYYY MELEANOR HAUNTS THE NARRATIVE 😭💞💕💞✨

LMAO not the faes snitching this info to malleus ofmg 😭✨

lowkey this is me as well i think babies are kinda ugly too KDHJAEJ especially when they cry 💀🔥🔥

YOU CALL THIS ADORABLE HELPPPP 🤣🤣🤣okay but in all seriousness, we rarely get this easy sarcastic Malleus, he's always too formal around NRC and often his humor lands amiss to other charas which doesnt prompt him to present this trait, but its so sweet that he seemed to be "truly himself" in the cottage scenes where its just him Lilia and Silver🥺✨ his voice doesnt feel "authoritative" too like a dorm leader, its just malleus and his difficulty in getting along with the random baby lilia caught lol

I remember this line was translated as a flower nectar?? but they kinda saying the same and i like this paraphrase that Lilia thinks of Milk as nectar for baby humans, like how Malleus often relates tech to some magical ritual lol

crying at this line, knowing that Malleus says this because he has broken several many things bcs he couldnt control his strength and perhaps there were things that Lilia owns that he accidentally destroyed as well so he tries to mend this uncontrollable strength of his in order to not be an inconvenience😭✨

NURSEMAID???? YEAH NURSEMAID CALLED LILIA VANROUGE 😭😭💔💔💔 and AAAAA not once did Malleus search for this tune??? not even sing it to Maleficia and Lilia so as to inquire about it 😭✨💔💔 this is when you know this lullaby IS truly MELEANOR'S LULLABY because everyone of the characters only heard it from her !!!😭😭😭💔💔

I love this response from Malleus lol, also i feel like some situation will challenge Lilia's love for humans again, like can you still love humans if they commit the same crime again to Malleus as they did with Meleanor?? Twisting their personality and actions so as to validate their fear?? Can you still say that faes should make an effort to make peace with them when repeatedly it was the humans who wasnt willing to udnerstand faes to begin with ? 😭✨ its a realistic worry fitting for a king that'll rule for centuries, maybe bcs he has this instinct that humans are epehemeral and so are their promises.

Thinking about it a bit more, its true that what Levan does is futile effort because the issue between humans and faes, Briarland and Silver Owls is too much that it cant be resolved by just understanding each other.

Levan wants the war to stop but obviously that can't happen because the bigger factions of each natioj are resolute at their stance that Briarland is owned by faes or humans, no in between. He can't immediately fix the mentality of higher faes and Meleanor with their hatred of humans and vice versa with the human officials like Henric,

but what he can do to decrease the casualties of this conflict is to pave way for the COMMON folk to understand each other, if he can make way for the common fae and the common human to talk to each other, then it might decrease the misunderstanding between the common fae and common human (assuming that both parties arw willing to be understanding)

its really a long shot and a gamble to aspire for considering his country's situation, and its effects would take a while to impact and honestly it took so much important people and years just to have his dream of peace, i wish we could get an input about what he feels about this

considering his kindness he might be happy, but im kinda sad its really tragic the implication of how the faes had to earn their peace and atone for a conflict that they didnt even start with,

based on Lilia, it took 400 YEARS just for the humans to sign a peace treaty, maybe in the eyes of the faes, thats just a piece of paper, so they waited and grieved the lost of their Princess Meleanor and many of their fae soldiers and Prince Levan and ALMOST the entirety of their continent, just for these humans to sign an 400 year long overdued peace treaty?? so the faes that died couldve been saved if these humans could spare some compassion and ink to sign a treaty-- It kinda feels like they're insulting their grief (in the faes point of view atleast), whats the purpose of having this paper peace treaty when they have lost so much already?? I WISHHH the story could delve more into the grief of faes,

kinda lowkey mad they just swept Lilia's grief by the humans just cuz he encountered a few good ones, i wouldve love to see him being vengeful then learning how to convert that grief to love again just like Maleficent in the live action, bcs it would be very meaningful on this way, Lilia can truly say he has learned how to love because he experienced real deep hatred---but AAA its whatever this storyline is good as well, just kinda feels general lilia's belief converted to present!lilia a bit too fast to my liking lol

its really intriguing how before book 7 the faes dislike of humans seems so dramatic but now after book 7 it all makes too much sense 😭✨

(can you guys tell i play too much reverse 1999 bcs i ramble too much about morals and politics between different races now JHDJWHRJW)

[mitigatedchaos]

[ @phaeton-flier ]

Would love to see the economist chart, btw, along with evidence that it generalizes to all welfare

I finally managed to track it down to a version hosted on their own website:

I'm not going to tell you that every single person from a Middle Eastern country is a net tax recipient. That's not true, and also, that's not the point.

In fact, in some ways, my point is the opposite.

When "an immigrant" enters a country, this means that some specific guy has crossed over the border into the territory. He's going to be pretty much the same guy as he was before he crossed the border.

If you provide net tax benefits to immigrants, then you are likely to attract people who are willing to come to receive net tax benefits.

You can't balance a tax budget by importing net tax recipients, but that's also not really the point.

The moral theory behind mass immigration is that we should solve global poverty by taking all the poor people in the world and moving them to rich countries. The theory is that global poverty is a moral emergency - even though mass migration decreases the consent of the governed, which is the legitimizing basis for democracy, the suffering from global poverty is so terrible that it is more important.

The thing is, either it's a moral emergency, or it isn't.

If it's a moral emergency, then it's enough of a moral emergency to throw away left-wing taboos when researching the causes of the prosperity of rich countries so that this prosperity can be replicated.

If it's not enough of a problem to throw away left-wing taboos about the causation of prosperity, then it's not an emergency.

There are good reasons for these taboos, but they are supporting polite fictions. The idea that everyone is exactly the same is meant to discourage underinvestment in human potential or the rationalization of a rigid class or caste system, but humans are a sexually-reproducing species, and the point of sexual reproduction is to produce variation. The idea that all religions are the same is meant to support religious people not fighting each other to the death (which they have done, historically), but while older religions have some limits on how bad they could be (they can't have killed all their followers), the range of potential harms is similar to that of ideology - and no one believes all ideologies are equally harmful.

If obtaining the prosperity of developed countries is important enough to break rules about consent of the governed... then it's important enough to break rules about the value of foreign cultures.

It's really just a classic case of using a perceived emergency to justify doing the policy a political faction already wanted to do, harder, rather than perceiving an emergency and going, "Damn, this is bad, we need to rethink everything."

[purrgiri]

All for one vs salem (my hero academia Vs RWBY)

His appearance in shigiaraki vs mahito had me inspired so i made a little something about my favourite for him

Due note this has some minor spoilers for mha manga so consider yourself warned

Connections:

-Ancient villains from a bygone era (the dawn of quirks and first humanity)

-both fashion themselves king/queen of evil (all for one consider himself the symbol of evil and demon king and salem is the queen of grimm)

-both own an army of monsters they command (grimm and nomu)

-both lead an inner faction that handles more delicate work (salem inner circle and the league of villains)

-both would implant a spy in their enemy factions (Aoyama and lionheart)

-both have a giant monster meant to destroy cities (machia and monstra)

-both have an underling that worships them (tyrian and the doctor)

-both would groom a child to serve as a vessel for a power they need to accomplish their goals (shigiaraki was groomed to inherit all for one so he may steal one for all and cinder was groomed to take the maiden powers so salem could get the relics)

-thier arch nemesis is a loved one possessing a strong sense of justice who opposed them in life and ended up dying in battle against them later (yochi and ozma)

-said loved one would later return as a spirit inhabiting different bodies including a teenager to battle them (oscar and the various Ozcarnations and izuku and the one for all users)

Animation:

Lots of range blasts of magic and quirks

Nomu vs grimm

A whole lot of mocking eachother each boasting about divinity and being unstoppable and a lot of attempts at manipulation falling flat

Salem knocking all for one into a grimm pool as she turns back thinking it killed him he blasts back out being revealed to have used a rewind bullet to narrowly survive it

The climax has all for one try and forcibly transfer all for one to salem leading to a confrontation in a mixed vestige world that's a mix of the one all for one and shigiaraki had and a darker version of salem old tower (or evernight both could work) where he mocks her for basically living his dreams and yet wanting to die before he gets consumed and killed (kinda like shigiaraki vs mahito)

Debate:

Now this one is actually very interesting and not just because of how similar it is to shigiaraki vs mahito

The stats definitely go to all for one salem due to her really only becoming a physical threat in volume 8 with the show going on hiatus post 9 (which she didn't even apper in) really only has one fight where she wasn't really trying but even then it's made abundantly clear she dunks on pretty much the entire cast and should upscale along with having her own feat via the grimm river she's in the large island and FTL range

this is definitely not the height of salem power she's clearly not really going all out during her fight in volume 8

Unfortunately this doesn't change much when it comes to her physical abilities compared to all for one since even if we assume that salem is absurdly casual with her feats and massively upscales everyone else and say that when serious she's 10 or even 20 times stronger and faster that still falls short of all for one so he clearly takes stats

However anyone here who watched RWBY knows that if being able to level a country was enough to beat salem the series wouldn't have even happened to begin with which is where we get to the actual meat of the debate

Can all for one actually kill or otherwise incapacitate salem?

Salem can definitely kill him either by wearing him down and overtaxing his quirks as they are still physical abilities over a long campaign as her stamina is endless using the nightmare grimm (less reliable all for one would likely still be able to use his quirks as he and shigiaraki could use Thier quirks in the vestige world which is really no different to the nightmare meaning he'd still have search allowing him to quickly locate the nightmare grimm and defeat it really his only concern would be nightmare all for one but it's manageable) swarming with apathy's dunking him in a grimm pool using the relic if you want to give her those or saying fuck it and taking the abuse till he dies from old age (even if not traditional that's still technically a win con even if a cheap one)

But what can all for one do to bypass her curse?

The way i see he has two possibilities and that's where it becomes similar to shigiaraki vs mahito with it coming down to interpretation

The first option and the not very reliable one in my opinion is instead of using the rewind bullet on himself as intended he instead uses it on salem and rewind her out of existence

I don't think it will really work for multiple reasons

the first one being the possibility her healing factor might just cleanse her of the rewind drug she might get rewound a bit but considering she hadn't aged a day in a couple million years this is hardly a problem

The second being what the rewind bullet even does i mean yeah it rewinds her till she turns to her dad seman and then nothing but i don't see why it would effect her curse when she's completely rewound from existence i don't see why she won't just heal anyway at most it might get rid of her grimm side but considering she can summon grimm that make pools and just jump in them to get it back it's hardly a problem

And the final problem salem age

That women is old and i mean really freaking old millions of years old if miles is to be believed

It took all for one like what 10 minutes to deage 150 years while getting wailed on?

It's seriously not out of the question that even with the rewind effecting her all for one might still die from old age or just run out of stamina by the time she even loses the grimm let alone gets turned to nothing

And it also effectively buffs her regen which also just makes it worse for all for one

Now comes his actual somewhat believable win con the possession via giving away all for one

Now under normal circumstances i don't really consider this a win con for most fights since the way the series paints the effects of all for one on someone who wasn't born with it or got the modifications from the doctor if all for one actually got it inside deku he'd have just exploded immediately which would have killed all for one so i can hardly call it a win con

But salem has a very powerful healing factor meaning she might actually survive it and not immediately explode from quirk cancer she'd probably be in that almost explode state shigiaraki was in during the first war

But frankly trying to possess salem might be the worst thing all for one can do because salem is part grimm

All grimm much like their "ancestor" the jabbawalker possess the ability to absorb and destroy souls an ability also shared by those who are part grimm that's how cinder steals the maiden powers by absorbing the original owner soul destroying it and keeping just the power

Logically salem should possess this power as well so if we treat vestiges as souls....

Yeah she's literally having him for dinner if he tries to possess her

Even if we don't treat the vestiges as souls and just pure biology her healing factor would just overwrite it the only reason the grimm pools could overwrite her DNA is because it's the equal and opposite of light pool and there is no reason to think all for one could accomplish a similar feat it would just be treated a foreign agent and be cleansed

And that's before getting into the pure willpower thing salem definitely has all for one beat there

Overall i think it should go to salem she may be weaker but she ultimately wins the war of attrition since she basically cheats in those and all of all for one win cons have a higher chance of killing him then they do salem

My personal opinion:

I fully recognise that's it's probably not the best for either but personally I love it because it's kind of funny when you think about these characters motivations and why they do what they did

All for one aspires to be the immortal all powerful demon king immortal and beyond all

Basically what Salem already is and hates being

She is basically living his dreams and hating every second of it just wishing to die

And i kind of like it for the way it could echo mahito Vs shigiaraki in certain ways

The potential character interactions really make me wish those two could officially meet but considering mha is basically over it's probably never happening

Also bonus TN that is my favourite but i didn't use because it feels more fitting for cinder vs shigiaraki might make a post about that at some point

[eidolonlathi]

Some insights about Lettou, the Duke of Caster and Allerdale

Now that Ending a Grand Overture has ended it helped me to further reflect on some parts of the main story. Rereading the Duke of Casters statement about the situation in Londinium at the beginning of Episode 12 is so funny in hindsight because it highlights how systematically and thoroughly Lettou managed to win the trust of the Victorian nobles and deceive them. She's acknowledging the citizens of Norport are pretty much doomed but has no plans to interfere because doing so would mean risking conflicts with the other dukes. Like them her priority is to observe the situation and to wait before making any major move. At the same time she believes Lettou might be the one willing to put himself at risk by doing what none of the dukes have been willing to do so far. The reader though already knows at this point that his intentions couldn't be any more of the opposite. He doesn’t care about Victoria, what he cares about is avenging Gaul.

High-Ranking Officer: Then, Your Grace, about the citizens of Norport...

Duke of Caster: Lt. Colonel Lettou said that he was preparing a "rescue plan." You won't go wrong putting your trust in that Gaulish commander. I've met him before– he's an interesting man. The Sarkaz have never publicly claimed to "occupy" Londinium, as it has nominally been under the control of the Defense Forces. And this Lieutenant Colonel has managed to survive in his position for four years without getting caught up in any major trouble either... We all know how what those devils are like, so that fact alone is respectable enough. Who knows, maybe he's more keen on becoming a "savior" than we are.

High-Ranking Officer: I see what you're saying.

Duke of Caster: Getting the right people into the right positions, and turning valued friends into truly loyal partners... is harder than we initially expected. Old Wellington knows what I want, and I know what he wants. Though we've never talked about these things openly, we naturally helped each other, all while keeping an extra knife sharpened for one another. Poor thing. Windermere's been playing with the Leithanians for so long, it might be a while until she remembers how Victoria works.

From 12-2

But it's so revealing to look at the words she is using here. On the one side she describes Lettou as “an interesting man” and also voices respect he managed to survive the four years in close proximity to the Sarkaz since they've taken over the city. Yet she refers to him as ‘that Gaulish Commander', which means she does not truly acknowledge him as a fellow Victorian. Like in his exchange with Catherine it’s one of those moments that show that in their eyes he actually is not and never will be truly one of them. For all his efforts to overtly fit in, he’ll always stay “that Gaulish Commander”.

Keeping that in mind it looks puzzling how Caster brags about having succeeded in finding the right people. Given he's a descendant of a nation Victoria conquered it looks a bit odd Lettou is holding the rank and power he has. As Caster just stated a moment earlier, it might only have been on paper, but officially Lettou was the one holding control over Londinium since the years the Sarkaz have gained the power. But looking at the infighting the different factions of the dukes have, I believe they thought choosing a neutral party not affiliated with any of them would have been the guarantee no duke could backstab the other and take advantage of the others. Because that's their main worry. All Lettou had to do was to carefully hold up the appearance his loyalty laid with his new "home"country and that all he was feeling for Gaul was some sort of nostalgia instead of the deep loyalty, sympathy and longing the reader already knows he is feeling for it.

Caster's words really show how thoroughly Lettou managed to deceive the nobles in charge. Londinium is falling, Norport already has gotten abandoned and she still thinks of Lettou as trustworthy and that he might be the sort to do the dirty work in her stead – even though at the same time she admits that it should not be taken for granted he survived at the side of the Sarkaz for this long to begin with. The infighting and power plays of the dukes is exactly what allowed Lettou to take advantage of these instabilities for his own goals. No one as much as suspects that he never had Victoria’s wellbeing at heart and that becoming its “hero” is the intention furthest away from his mind. But as long as he holds the pretense up that he feels as one of them, the people higher up in power are content enough to believe what they see on the surface.

During Ending a Grand Overture the Duke of Caster makes an interesting statement that further contextualizes her though process in this. In GO-01 when she, the Duke of Gododdin and the Earl of March meet Vina, Caster outright states that she is willing to sacrifice all of Londinium and its people if that is what’s needed to ensure the stability of the rest of Victoria: If Londinium has become an ulcer sapping Victoria's strength, I do not mind gouging it out. I will allow other nations to see Victoria bleed, but I will not tolerate them mocking our scars, nauseating though they may be. In this moment Caster simply states what her fellow Dukes and members of the nobility have been thinking all along. The statement builds a complete contrast to Vina who wants to prioritize the wellbeing of the people of Londinium, no matter what.

It’s symptomatic that even at this point Caster and her fellow dukes are still so set on preventing Vina gaining a position of influence. She might have the title of the Speaker of Parliament now, but all the dukes can think of is in what ways they still can influence her for their own gain. It’s exactly this kind of infighting with each other that prevented them from noticing that people who have reason to harbor a grudge against Victoria and wish for its downfall had the chance follow their own goals already years ago. During a flashback of a young Allerdale in Episode 11-1 it gets confirmed that the Gaulish remnant has been planning to systematically undermine the command structure of Victoria (including the city Defense Forces) as their long term goals since years:

Indistinct Officer: ... the key is seizing the city Defense Forces ...some dukes got fed up with it long ago...

We never learn who this “Indistinct Officer” of Gaulish origin who Allerdale overhears actually is. All we know is that he’s a Gaulish loyalist hiding his true intentions and that he's part of the Victorian army. Well, my theory is that he is Lettou’s father. Interestingly he has a similar speech patterns as Lettou: The choice of vocabulary we see through the entire exchange and especially the pauses he falls into whenever there is a moment the context makes it clear he avoids telling the truth are something Lettou does as well. Them being related would make sense from a narrative standpoint. But actually Indistinct Officer could just be some Gaulish guy with a grudge against Victoria.

And at this point I’m once again baffled by some writing decisions that were made during the Victoria arc. It’s not in the main story but in Doc’s operator record of all places that it’s revealed that the resentment Gaulish survivors feel towards Victoria is not caused due to some old grudges but by things that are going wrong in the present.

Doc’s Operator Record is about him giving medical care to a village of Gaulish descendant in Victoria and it is quite depressing. The people of the village live in dire circumstances, have problems growing food and their attempts to improve their situation by paying for their own infrastructure and the like never go anywhere because the bureaucrats of the region keep intervening. They prevent caravans from going to that village and do business with it, sabotaging every attempt the villagers do to improve their lives. The reader also learns it is a widespread practice that people of Gaulish origin under the suspicion of still feeling ties towards their home country are forced to spit on a portrait of Corsica to prove that their loyalty is now with Victoria. If you read Golding’s lines in the main story how all people born in Victoria are the same, you would think Victoria would make no difference in how they treat their citizens. But Doc’s OpRec makes it very clear that the opposite is the case.

The people of Gaulish descent living in Victoria are not even allowed to keep their mother tongue alive. Speaking Gaulish is heavily discouraged and frowned upon, a matter of suspicion. All of this has led to most people of the younger generation not even being able to speak the language anymore. Learning that Doc can speak French/Gaulish they’re eager for him to teach them. What makes that point especially cruel is that in Episode 11-1 we learn during young Allerdale’s flashback that part of her education involves having to learn Gaulish. Victoria’s nobility is still interested in keeping the language alive for the sake of using it themselves while people of Gaulish origin are in practice forbidden to use it.

No surprise the main story never showed these points, I guess that would have made Lettou’s motivations too sympathetic. It makes me wonder though why that plot point was introduced to begin with when it never got a real conclusion in the events of the main story.

At the same time the main story shows that exactly these unresolved tensions have part in destroying Victoria from the inside since years. Or as Indistinct Officer put it: Even if this duke's home is razed to ash one day, the Cumberlands would never sell off this [steam] armor. Allerdale’s flashback in 11-1 already completely foreshadows that her involvement with Vina and with Clovisia’s Self-Salvation Corps – while still having to answer to the Duke of Caster - will end in her manor getting reduced to cinders. Lettou was the one who investigated her involvement with the Self-Salvation Corps and the Sanguinarch was the one who then burned Cumberland Manor to the ground. The fact that the Dukes were so busy with infighting and internal power plays while Londinium was already crumbling sure made it easier for these two to follow their own goals. Goals that are very much diametrical to Londinium’s wellbeing.

I actually liked how Allerdale’s arc ended in Episode 11. Even before the fire made her lose her manor and her last true ally, her maid Ailshie, her descent into disillusionment had long since started. Her betrayal towards Vina didn’t really feel like a surprise because of this, and her refusal to fully go through with it in the last moment felt coherent for her character. I wasn’t that enthusiastic when it was revealed she had returned and was now acting from the shadows. But seeing how things look for Londinium after Ending a Grand Overture I’m starting to think that an Allerdale going through her “I’m no longer nice!” edgelord phase is maybe the thing Londinium needs to prevent it will repeat old mistakes that led to its downfall.

[bowlinggwithmargo]

The most interesting aspect of Tsurumi's character is that he somehow manages to be both Hasegawa and Tsurumi, yet neither. There was a Tsurumi before Hasegawa, but in the aftermath of losing his family, he can't fully be himself without Hasegawa, if that makes sense.

(I've seen this idea encapsulated in three fics, which I'll reference throughout this post. I highly recommend checking these fics out! They're not natively written in English, so just use Google Translate/Deepl to translate the page, and you should be golden.)

But this separation of self is a fascinating metaphor for his actions in the story. Especially considering his backstory. (Shout out to the Everyday Heroes scanlation team for this context. I recommend reading their scanlations to get added context for the manga.)

Here's the most important bit:

Given that Tsurumi’s family was directly affected by the factionalism of the nation during the Boshin War, he has a distaste for such behavior.

Because as these domains spend their time fighting each other for more power, another country could erase Japan, much like Japan did to its indigenous population.

Wilk unintentionally killed Fina and Olga, resulting in an internal split between Hasegawa and Tsurumi.

Tsurumi hated Wilk, and of course he also hated Hasegawa Kouichi. They are a pair of accomplices, a pair of accomplices who created Tsurumi Atsushiro with their own hands, a pair of accomplices who extracted Tsurumi Atsushiro from Hasegawa Kouichi's soul. They killed Hasegawa Kouichi with their own hands, and then created Tsurumi Atsushiro with their own hands. - Accomplice by qitatapu

That's why he wants to create a military dictatorship to protect the interests of Japan. If he can take control of Manchuria, Tsurumi can reintegrate Hasegawa's grief and love for his family within Tsurumi's nationalistic ambitions. Killing two birds with one stone.

He goes on to point out that the republics Kiro and Hijikata want to establish would never work because they lack an internal sense of unity.

He then shits on Wilk's attempt at unifying his people for the same reason using the mottled coin as a metaphor for how futile it was.

But as the story nears a close on the train, Tsurumi is faced with a choice to go after the deed and fulfill his nationalistic ambitions or hold onto Fina and Olga's bones.

Yes, it’s all so stupidly simple, he’s the real him, he’s playing out the fictional life of a sincere person here well. Where is Tsurumi, where is Hasegawa, what the hell difference does it make. They both aren’t him, he’s made up of them. A photographer doing his job and a soldier who’s fallen passionately in love? Vice versa? It’s such complete darkness, you could throw yourself under a train right now. Tsurumi was full until Hasegawa showed up. Now, without him, he’s not him. These two are now both the children and the parents of such a sad man. - Confusion by Ldvirddp oaoaoža

Tsurumi chooses the deed, thus cementing the fact that it was ultimately impossible for him to fully exist as one person. Tsurumi won out, and in that moment, Hasegawa died, taking with him whatever shred of humanity he had left.

And to top it all off, in the most horrifically ironic ending for Tsurumi, he had to use Wilk's gold coins to bait General Macarthur into protecting Hokkaido from Russian invasion during WW2.

I view this as the death of Tsurumi in a way because he did, on some level, achieve his goals, but he had to use Wilk to do so, and can likely never return to Japan or Russia ever again.

"I am dead," the young Tsurumi answered confidently, but he added, "The area between life and death is not bound by linear time. I could have died at any time. Perhaps a moment, a day, a month, or ten years after your death. Or perhaps an hour, a week, a year, or seventeen years before your death..." Ogata interrupted him, "Wait a minute. Did Lieutenant Tsurumi die before I did? He was still alive when we separated." The young Tsurumi tapped the table with his index finger. "For many people, death is not a one-time thing. Some die bit by bit, some die piece by piece, and some die cleanly when it's time to die, like a ukeishunkan. I was sentenced to memory erasure, but the executioner was also myself, so I am here, and the other part will not be complete until the complete Tsurumi Atsushiro dies with me." - Between the cracks by GreedyCanineGriffon

TLDR: Tsurumi is a hypocritical, fascist, nationalistic, pathetic worm. Instead of taking any form of ownership over his actions (the russians who came to the photo studio were there because he was a spy and not for Wilk at all) or, at the very least, honoring the love Olga had for him by recognizing that she actively chose to turn around and accept her death because she loved him, he decided to instead blame Wilk for all of it and was ultimately damned by this choice.

Not only that, he managed to die twice, likely living out the rest of his days as the hollow shell of both versions of himself—a shinigami. (Lucky for you, someone wrote a fantastic fic of post-war Tsurumi living in America with this exact feeling of grief, so check it out too.)

Anyways, my ask box is open if you want to yell at me lol

[theriverbeyond]

have you seen any breakdown of the political situation on New Rho (in New Rho? is the rest of the planet also populated? I think at one point someone says "down in Ur" but maybe there is an application of 2-dimensional direction terms to 3d space I havent yet thought of). Like who do they mean by militia, who is the government (who is the police?), is there any official house presence, what is the status of the barracks, who manned the spaceport, what power does BoE hold and how are they viewed in the population (Hot Sauce denounces them but who is her faction-that Pyrrha saw her with-then?) and do they know how splintered and farspread it is? what is the siege the blurb is speaking of, just the imperial emissaries showing up?

Also assuming the BoE wings are all named after different planetary settlements which seem in turn to be named after cities in the ancient near east (ur, merv, ctesiphon), why isnt new rho? but i might be misinterpreting this.

Also where does the Empire want non-House humanity to end up? They seem to be turning planets left and right with no endgoal. And how many settled planets might there be?

Sorry I'm dumping this all at you, I havent seen any worldbuilding discussion here on tumblr at all really so maybe you can redirect me somewhere.

Thankies, keep up the good work (posting)

I HAVE seen posts about the political situation on New Rho including analysis posts that were very interesting and I have utterly failed to tag them appropriately, I am sorry -- if anyone who sees this has links to that meta pls add on/reply to help anon!

But to cover the rest of your points:

What is Ur?

Ur is mentioned twice that i can find, in ch 16: Ianthe says that the end has come to the "rebels of Ur", and a person in the crowd says "Ur is fighting".

EDIT: big thank you to @eskildit in replies: "There are four total references to Ur- Corona also says that Judith is in the Ur facility and Kiriona says that the 6th house is "parked outside the Ur system". Could be that Ur is the planet New Rho is located on. While we refer the nine houses as planets, canonically the houses are actually "installations" on each planet with quite small populations. New Rho alone, which is specifically stated to be just one city on a resettled planet, is 3x the size of the 6th house"

It may have been mentioned more times, but Kindle search is giving me the 2,320 times the letters "ur" were used next to each other so I'm ngl I cannot sift through that. Rather than being a city, though, I actually am assuming that Ur is another planet entirely! This is due to multi-planet SciFi in general treating entire planets like countries or even big cities. Like…. planets are huge. There are thousands of different cultures on a planet, but in SciFi planets are often like. One Big City. One Big Country, if you have a particularly ambitious worldbuilder. See: Star Wars, the Nine Houses themselves, etc. not saying that Ur cannot be on New Rho, just that I don't think it is because this is multi-planet Sci Fi.

The militia/civic government?

In chapter 6 a distinction is made between "the militia and the old civic govnerment". Following that, I think the civic government was probably installed by the Houses, as a ruling party that is friendly to them/House interests. I think the militia is a non-unified population of hired guns, that probably revolted at some point priot to the story. It does seem like at least some section of the militia is in power in most of the city, but I do not think there is one coherent government at the moment

Official house presence?

Yes, because there are official cohort barracks. I don't think they have much political leverage by the time NtN rolls around, though

Barrack status?

Under siege due to the people of New Rho hating them/political instability/possible militia revolt, doing badly otherwise because any and all necromancers are suffering from Blue Madness/RB proximity, as seen in ch 20 when Ianthe mentioned some of them were so poorly she had to put them down.

Space port?

I am assuming the civic government/House was originally in charge. unsure of who is in charge during NtN

What power does BOE hold?

Unclear. It seems like BOE itself is fractionated, with a lot of animosity held between different factions, and a lot of both animosity AND collaboration between different factions of BOE, the militia, the population, and the old civic government. It is a very decentralized resistance force, despite sharing a name. BOE do not appear to BE the official government, or BE the militia, though, but I would not be surprised if some groups had ties to one or both. It seems like they have influence both socially and politically but it is unclear what that power is... some factions have some amount of power. Over some parts. But!! it seems that during the events of NtN they had more power than in the past ("best hand they were ever delt", chapter 1)

How is BOE viewed by the population?

My guess is they have mixed reviews. I think a lot of people probably rely on them for resources/protection even if they don't like or fully trust them. I think a lot of people probably see them as extremists and wish they were less extreme (the liberals, u could say). Like Hot Sauce and the gang, a lot of people probably think they aren't radical enough and wish they would resist more, harder, differently. I think a lot of people probably deeply support them, either physically by being part of BOE or by providing resources/etc, or quietly because they are afraid of retaliation by the House or civil government. A lot of the population probably has opinions about BOE versus the militia, BOE verus House, BOE versus the civic government, based on their own interests/position/power. This is a really long answer that can boil down to "idk"

What is the siege?

I think the siege is the cohort being sieged into the barracks. I am guessing there was some sort of revolt in the local government, probably related to Blue Madness weakening the cohort, and they have pushed the cohort into the barracks. , as described in chapters 1 ("the cohort dies like anyone else under seige") and chapter 20 ("the barracks siege").

What group is Hot Sauce in if she denounced BOE?

Hot Sauce specifically calls BOE "fat cats" and "zombie lovers" in chapter 15, after noting that she, Honesty, and Born in the Morning, as well as Born in the Morning's father, are "active" in with an unnamed group at the park. It is unclear what group that is, if it has a name, or if it is organized in any capacity. From what little we know, it appears it is a group of people who are more radical than BOE, which I think is either ex-BOE members that were pushed out for their radial choices/beliefs, or civilians/other freedom fighters that aren't satisfied with what BOE is doing. But beyond that I have no idea

BOE wing names vs New Rho?

So BOE wings are named after historic Earth cities. Ctesiphon, Troia, Merv, Valencia (which is not historic to us, as it exists today, but WOULD be history in 10k years). They are named by BOE, likely to keep connection to Earth, just like BOE people-names. "New Rho", on the other hand, is likely named by the House. Rhodes is a place on the 7th house (see: 7th cavalier is the "Knight of Rhodes"), and I assumed that New Rho was like. The house naming shit. Like how New York is named after York in England, even though that area of land already had a name (Lenapehoking, I think?).

Specifically this difference is important because like, the House is a imperial colonizing force here, and they are naming things after their home system as a part of the imperial violence they are enacting. In As Yet Unsent, Judith notes that the non-house people call New Rho, "Lemuria" -- HOWEVER, in NtN chapter 17, the Angel mentions Lemuria twice in a way that is phrased like Lemuria is Somewhere else, and is Not the city they are in right now ("I was born on Lemuria", "there's still a facility on Lemuria") I am not sure what happened there, honestly. Perhaps an oopsie?

Where does the Empire want non house humanity to end up?

Unclear. Coronabeth notes in As Yet Unsent that even she (who has studied the war in-universe) has no idea what the real goal is. My guess is nowhere, because a forever-war has no end goal. It's a war for resources gained only by literal blood and death. Many analysis could be made about this as an allegory to to oil based forever-wars of today -- I read a few of them and as said before unfortunately failed to tag them, so if anyone has a link and can share with anon that would be awesome! But anyway, I do not think I am smart or learned enough to say a lot beyond this but, yeah. I think there is no end goal to the war besides meaningless revenge and the resources gained via murder, because that's the point. We could learn different in AtN tho! who knows

How many settled planets?

No idea! Thousands. Hundreds of thousands? Hundreds? Unsure! 10k years is a long time, and there are a lot of planets out there in the fantasy universe that could be habitable. EDIT ty @eskildit, unclear how many planets were settled over the course of the Empire, but there are three settled planets by the timeline of NtN: ""Everyone was crammed on one of three planets now, and they all agreed that this planet was easily the worst", from chapter 2

-

Thanks for sending this!! I really enjoyed answering it, and I hope it helped -- sorry if I missed any. Ask more any time!!

[rom-e-o]

I'm gonna leave this up to you since you're the expert. Our Scrooge characters, what fractions do you see each being in the Dragon Age universe? And which games would you put them in?

In addition to the WIPS, I confess, I have been mulling this over very, very seriously in my brain, haha. There are so many considerations, and because Dragon Age is a brutal universe, no faction/class is safe. At all.

BUT, here goes what I think the vibes for each of our characters. I'm going to lean into Veilguard factions since, honestly, those are some pretty defined factions (or they include the most clear-cut factions across the franchise, like Grey Wardens.)

The Twins: Mages from the Circle of Magi. I don't think any of the Veilguard factions really ... suit them, in my mind? Rather, I see both Wolfy and Adonis being arcane advisors or accountants to powerful nobles in countries like Antiva or Orlais that got their start by surviving the Circle of Magi. Now, being human mages, if they were from Ferelden (which I think fits them), that means their lovely father would have put them into a Circle. Fereldens don't like mages. This ain't Nevarra - if you can use magic, you're damaged goods. If your kid shows magic, you throw them into a Circle ASAP. There are multiple Circles, but each is a hold where mages are kept hidden away by Templars until a mage survives their 'Harrowing' (basically calling forth a demon.) Each mage must resist possession to basically earnt he right to exist. If you fail, execution or Tranquility (lobotomy). Perhaps Fan was also a Mage. Perhaps she failed her Harrowing. I see the Twins being part of the Kirkwall Circle, AKA ... the worst one. Cruel. Back-breaking. Soul-crushing. Definitely would inspire their cutthroat attitude to scraping by and surviving. Perhaps that's how they meet Marley (corrupt Templar? Nevarran Seeker allied with the Templars?). He offers them an out. Also, mages can choose to shapeshift, so Wolfy still gets a Wolf form (he probably falls into Morrigan or Solas-style of magic using) while Adonis leans a little more classic (Dorian, Vivienne, etc.)

Bess: MOURN WATCH. I mean, with her spirit-whispering and spirit-sight? It's a perfect fit for her! Considering Marley's fate as a ghost, it makes me wonder if he had connections to it as well. Besides, the Mourn Watch is also a faction that is most closely aligned with medicine, and considering Bess' expertise in other universes, MW again feels like the best choice for her. She would be a dynamo at it, being able to sense and see rogue spirits in the Necropolis before many others. I also do see Bess being a mage (Emmrich-style, of course). Earth or necrotic magic feels fitting, which means she can command a massive amount of energy, but needs gear that assists with cooldowns that would leave her drained and vulnerable.

Connie: Okay, I originally said Shadow Dragon for Con ... I'm changing my answer, lol. She's a Crow. A fire mage Crow (a Phoenix, one might say.) Theresea and Arthur having their own Crow house and adopting Connie fits PERFECTLY with how the houses work. Now, Arthur and TeTe would lean much more into stealth and diplomacy than ... well, knives. They definitely have a Robin Hood vibe more than an assassin vibe. Then, they find Connie. They raise her, and as a result, she kind of gets pulled in. Is Connie slashing throats on the reg? No, but she is one charming lady. She may be terrible at stealth, but can she put on some lingerie and get a corrupt prince to drink some strangely bitter wine? Absolutely. And if she must use lethal force, that's what her fire magic is for. All the black hides ash well, let's just say.

Addie: I see her being a rogue/archer in the Shadow Dragons. that totally fits her reporter profession, too. What better way to expose and report on the atrocities of blood magic and slavery in Tevinter than to be part of the organization that works underground to expose it. She's definitely sneaky and careful, and I could see her being a dang good scout of spymaster as well. Want to know if there are traps? Send in the eagle-eyed informant to get the scoop.

Tom: This man is a Veil Jumper. Tinkering, inventing, making everything from dancing toys for kids to unlocking the ancient potential of weapons and artifacts older than time itself? Yeah, that fits the bill for him. I actually see him being Ferelden-born, then traveling to Tevinter, being scrappy enough to survive Arlathan forest, and boom, she's scooped up. And he loves it! Man would be a whiz with machinery and extremely cunning - enough to get out of a pinch with Venatori if they showed up (then send an arrow into their chests, then looting their corpses.) "Thank you very much!" Yeah, I see him as an archer. And he and Addie can bond over slaughtering Venatori together. He captures them, she interrogates them. Date night. <3

Gal: I mean, a Lord of Fortune warrior, of course! Literally a dragon-hunting/protecting pirate that sails the sea? It's perfect. Plus, all the uniforms are fashioned to literally show muscles. EXTRA perfect. I see her specializing in two-handed weapons (double swords). Blue would make for an adorable and amazing Assan-type ally.

Jake: Also a Lord of Fortune. Definitely leaned heavily into the dragon hunter profession first, before ultimately switching. I could see him being more like a Robin Hood-esque character with Maisie, traveling the seas and swashbuckling across continents. A see him being a rogue, fighting kind of Varric-style by implementing a combo of bladework and traps/acrobatics to trick the enemy and disorient them. then, Gal goes in for the finishing blow.

Harry (adding for that lore though): Grey Warden, warrior. He inherits magic use from his mom, and decides to use it for good! The ultimate sacrifice, he thinks. Plus, the grey Warden are basically Second Chance Incorp. If you're a mage or Templar seeking amnesty, the Wardens will take you in, no judgement. But the end price is hefty. The Twins would HATE this decision, and think him an pure-hearted and naive idiot for joining and throwing his life away.

Bonus: Orin: Soparati. Tevinter-born civilian, no magical talent. No special class because, well, he has no ambition. I could also see him being a Viddathari with the Qun (AKA a human that accepts Qunari religion/social system). And he really wouldn't give a shit about the Qun, but he does love their opinions on mages (he hates that he wasn't born a mage, so he's got to siphon that energy out somehow). All mages under the Qun have their mouths sewn shut, tongues cut off, and they're controlled with a cattlerod. They are chained up and have no autonomy, until they need to go kill something. Then he marries Connie, a mage assasin. Hm. Wonder what that's about. Anywaaaaay. (Also, someone can be a member of the qunari race, but not be a member of the Qun. Taash, Iron Bull if you make him Tal-Vashoth (break his pact), etc.)

[emersontung]

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I bought Tankhead a decent while ago and quite enjoyed it. Very much liked how all the different nations had their own design philosophies/design languages (if that makes sense?), meaning you could tell at a glance which tankhead was designed by which country. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to finishing reading the whole thing (thank you ADHD, very cool), but very much looking forward to it. I mainly planned to use the book together with the LANCER campaign I was running (a mecha ttrpg) as placeholder images for mechs that didn't have any from the book. That, or use it as a 'punishment' for my players completely derailing the campaign. 'Oh, you killed the main bad guy way too early and now I have to quickly figure out how to adjust the campaign on the fly? Have fun fighting the mechasaurus rex while figure out what to do.'

Anyway, hope you have a great day! -Penny

Hey Penny,

Really good to hear from you. I'm glad to hear all the thought and effort I put into making each faction distinct has paid off.

I've heard great things about Lancer and I'm glad to hear you're integrating Tankhead mechs into your campaign. It sounds really fun!

[chrismerle]

so, like, I am perhaps a little overly-protective of Veilguard, because I am genuinely very fond of it and a LOT of the complaints I see about it fall into the following categories:

'I am bitching about things that have been present since Origins, but I am very conveniently only taking issue with them now and acting as if they are unique to Veilguard'

'I am bitching about things that I claim haven't been addressed/explained, except they actually have, they just aren't super relevant to the main plot so Varric or Solas didn't turn to look at the camera and address it to my liking'

'I am bitching about how the game is messy but conveniently acting like it's UNIQUELY messy when in reality Dragon Age as a series is a goddamn mess'

'Taash is blunt and kind of awkward but seems largely unbothered by their own bluntness and awkwardness. I find this to be an unpleasant trait and anything I find unpleasant in a person is bad writing.'

'I am incapable of recognizing the difference between bad writing/game design and things that I personally just don't like that much'

and I think all of those categories of complaints are fucking stupid, and I wish the people bitching in such ways would either find some fucking whimsy and just appreciate the game for what it is, stop torturing themselves with a game they clearly don't like and aren't going to like, or at the very least have the good manners to stop putting their ass-hurt-y whinging in the main tags.

that said, I do have some legitimate criticisms! I am not just irrationally praising every element of the game.

you can't really talk to your companions in the Lighthouse. there are a few "scheduled" conversations that take place as cutscenes, but you can't just walk up to them and bug them to talk for the most part, like you can in previous games. hell, I would've been fine with the Mass Effect 3 method, where you just walk up and press the 'talk' button and they spit out vaguely situationally-relevant dialogue until they eventually tell you 'not right now, Rook.' but instead you're largely limited to just listening to your companions bond with each other by eavesdropping on them, which is relatable to me because I'm a nosy bitch and any conversation happening around me is no longer a private conversation, but isn't really what I was hoping for.

I don't think Minrathous and Treviso should have both been facing the exact same threat. like, I can buy that a merchant city with a couple handfuls of assassins and no army could be brought low by one dragon. but if the militarized techo-mage capital of The Country Where Everyone Does Dangerous Magic can't hold off ONE DRAGON then that is no longer a me problem. the excuse that was given was that it was circling the city from the air, raining death from above, but the archon's palace is its own long-range weapon, and most mages are also their own long range weapon. Rook rocking up with two additional fighters should not have been required to turn the tide in Minrathous against ONE DRAGON. Minrathous should have been facing a much larger threat than it was.

Varric really needed more ambient dialogue. I guess the devs didn't expect you to actually poke your head into the infirmary that often? 'cause the poor guy only seems to have like five canned responses that he gives. and as funny as it is that 90% of the time he was asking me when the last time I slept was with deep suspicion, it got a little old.

I ran into some audio and camera weirdness. with audio, it only ever happened with banter while running around, not in cutscenes, so I don't think it was my headphones. voices would get really crackly suddenly. and for camera, it wasn't, like, game breaking, but the camera did occasionally just whip itself around to face the opposite direction with no input from me. mostly when I started using the long range attack, but once while I was shimmying through a crack in the wall.

it's a little weird that Rook can't engage more with/about the faction they're part of. like, my first Rook was a Veil Jumper, but Bellara still had to explain basically everything to him, when it could have instead been her explaining it to Rooks of other factions but having a conversation about it with a Veil Jumper Rook. or at the very least some sort of 'Bel--Bellara--BELLARA. I know how it works.' 'Oh! Right! Sorry.'

and then there are some things I just personally wasn't a huge fan of:

I could have lived very comfortably without ever seeing the Mass Effect 3 readiness rating ever again. but there it is. you have to do ... so many side quests ... if you want to keep all of your companions alive. so many of them.

most of the armor is really ugly, in my opinion. my first Rook spent the entire game running around in the N7 armors (the version without the coat was his casual outfit, since my private running joke was that he only ever had time to take his coat off before he had to go put out more fires). my current Rook has been running around in the brown leather duster coat the entire time. I think it's because they're all kind of over-designed? a lot of them would be perfectly fine if they got simplified a bit. whoever dressed the Lords of Fortune, you need help, most of their outfits are so fucking ugly.

I know it's CONVENIENT when you use the same button for basically everything but the 'interact' button and the 'jump' button being the same means I tried to pick something up and then accidentally yeeted myself off a cliff or into a volcano so many times.

they nerfed my archers, man :( I mean, I kinda get it. I was an archer once in Inquisition and was so over-powered. archers got to be so fucking cheap in Inquisition, especially if you specialized as an artificer. it was great. some of the most fun I've ever had playing Dragon Age was being an explosive archer in Inquisition.

the Inquisitor's class should have been one of the previous choices we could carry over. in general, I don't care that it was mostly a clean slate, but we should have at least been able to specify if the Inquisitor was a warrior, rogue, or mage. let us actually see them in combat at the end.

I ... don't think I really had a point to this whole ramble. I just have a lot of Dragon Age thoughts and feelings and only a few Dragon Age friends, and I can only babble at them so much before I feel like they'll wanna break my keyboard with their brains.

[four-loose-screws]

FE6 Novelization Translation - Chapter 18 Section 1

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

———————————

Chapter 18: The Binding Blade (Section 1)

*Note: The 1st 13 chapters are FE7's novelization.

Arcardo had no idea how he’d found himself in this situation.

As an Eturian noble from birth, he was assigned to be the governor-general of the Western Isles, and lived each and every day there in luxury, truly thinking that he would be happy forever… He never could have imagined that this is where he would end up.

“Grrr… I am Etrurian nobility! Why must I be stuck here in this backwater castle!” He lamented as a cold wind blew through the room, and he sunk into the throne.

He was currently in Ilia, the coldest country in Elibe, and stationed at Remi Castle, which faces the border with Etruria.

After he escaped Aquileia with Roartz, they fled north to Ilia, and sought protection from Murdock, general of Bern’s Northern Army. However, Murdock gave them an even colder reception than Ilia’s weather did. 

He granted rule of Remi Castle to Arcardo, and Edessa Castle to Roartz, then told them he didn’t care what they did after that.

They asked him if the Bern Army would take back Etruria for them, however…

“When we win, Etruria will become Bern’s territory. How’s that?” Was all he said. 

They had no choice but to back down.

Now, seven days had passed since Arcado settled into his castle.

Though it was still late fall on the calendar, Ilia was already in the grip of a harsh winter-like cold even here, in the country’s southernmost region. As Edessa was deeper within Ilia and among the mountains, Roartz had to be freezing.

When Arcado left Etruria, he ran as fast as he could with only the clothes on his back, having no time to take any of the riches stored in his villa’s treasury with him. Without money to pay mercenaries, he couldn’t hire any; and no matter how he tried to word it, he couldn’t say there were many troops stationed at Remi Castle. They certainly weren’t enough of a force to take back Etruria with.

And as his head was spinning, he received a report that knocked him down into the deepest depths of hell.

“The Lycian Army... No, the Etrurian Army is coming this way!” 

He froze as if he had just been tossed into a blizzard.

☆

Roy and the Lycian Army chose to fight under the Etrurian Army’s banner for the time being.

After King Mordred formed an official alliance with Lycia, the combined armies decided to chase after the survivors of the coup-d'etat faction in Ilia, while also attacking their allies from Bern supporting them from behind the scenes, to solve the root of Lycia and Etruria’s problems.

To succeed in achieving that goal, Roy took into consideration how the Etrurian troops would take it if they had to answer to the Lycian Army, and made the proposal himself that his army operate under the Etrurian Army’s name for the time being.

Now serving as the general of the combined army, Roy immediately deployed his troops into Ilia, and their first action was to launch an attack on Remi Castle at the border.

The Etrurian Army was a massive force of unparalleled size. Meanwhile, less than half as many troops were stationed at Remi Castle. It was clear as day what the outcome of the battle between them would be, but still, achieving that victory proved much harder than the Etrurian Army ever could have expected. 

Remi Castle was built on a peninsula, protected from the north to the southwest by the seas surrounding it. The only way to attack it was by crossing the bridge to the south. And it was a very narrow bridge at that, giving the limited number of soldiers there a defensive advantage, as the Etrurian Army could not use their superior numbers to charge through their ranks utilizing brute force alone.

Reinforcements from Bern’s Northern Army were on their way. Just as Arcado became confident that if Remi Castle’s troops could hold out long enough, then they would win, the unthinkable happened.

“Lord Arcado! A-A path appeared from beneath the sea…!”

A sand bar was now connecting the castle to the opposing shore to the northwest. The water normally covering it had ebbed away, revealing a path they previously could not see.

“Huh?! What are you talking about?” Arcardo hounded the messenger for more information as he flew into a panic.

“Um… We asked the locals what was happening, and they said the tide falls in this area around this time…”

“Impossible! And not one of you knew anything about it?!”

“I-I understand your frustration, but none of us are from around here…”

Everyone stationed at Remi Castle was an Etrurian soldier who fled alongside Arcado and Roartz. It was unreasonable to expect them to know anything about this area. Still, their current situation was a life or death matter.

Arcado gritted his teeth and shouted, “Grr, how could this be!? …For now, just keep the enemy from crossing it! Send a unit in that direction immediately!”

But he gave the order all too late.

A particular unit of the Etrurian Army predicted exactly when the sand bar would emerge, and lay in wait to cross it as soon as possible.

That unit was none other than the Edessa Mercenary Knights and the Ilian mercenary pegasus knights, all fired up to free their homeland.

As they were born and raised in Ilia, they knew all the peculiarities of its terrain.

“Now’s our chance to make it straight to the castle! Noah, Trec, Tate, follow me!” At Zelot’s order, they all started to move.

They made it across the sand bar before the enemy could get into position to intercept their charge, and were able to attack Remi Castle head on.

With the majority of Remi Castle’s forces defending the bridge, there were not enough soldiers left to defend the castle, and it fell within a matter of hours.

As their commanding officer, Arcado met his end in this foreign land.

ー

After capturing Remi Castle, the Etrurian Army immediately started to recuperate.

There was a mountain of things that needed to be done, including healing the wounded, resting their exhausted bodies, inspecting their weapons, and assigning soldiers to guard duty to keep watch over the surrounding area.

They had to hurry and fight their next battle. Ilia’s winter was already starting.

As it was Elibe’s northernmost country, Ilia was different from all other nations, with short summers and long winters. Though Lycia was in the middle of fall, it was already winter here. A thick base layer of snow had built up and was impeding their march, and the freezing winds alone sapped away at the soldiers’ morale.

The Etrurian Army had zero experience fighting in winter weather.

Having finished handing out all of his orders, Roy was resting in a room within Remi Castle. Elffin and Merlinus were there with him. 

The veteran advisor to House Pherae was currently voicing his reflections on their previous battle. “Lord Arcado… To think that even the final moments of the governor-general of the Western Isles would be so sad.”

“It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Even one year ago, we never could have imagined that this is where we would be right now. But that’s the nature of every person’s fate, I suppose. Maybe even the king of Bern’s…” Roy said as he took the Fire Emblem from around his neck and stared down at it.

Elffin noticed that his general was holding something he had never seen before, and looked closely at it. “...Hm? What is that you’re holding, Lord Roy?”

“Oh this? Princess Guinivere told me it’s the Fire Emblem.”

“So that jewel is Berns greatest treasure…”

“She entrusted it to me. …It looked like it pained her so much to put it in my hands. I don’t think she ever wanted to give up on trying to change King Zephiel’s mind…” The moment he closed his eyes, the events played out in his head once more.

That night in Aquileia, her eyes were so filled with sadness that she couldn’t bring herself to make eye contact. It was written all over her face that she was trying as hard as she could to keep her emotions from spilling out…

Just then, Merlinus said something Roy never would have expected to hear. “Hm… So you’re saying they have a strong bond as siblings? From the outside, I never would have guessed it.”

“Why?”

“This is King Zephiel we’re talking about! Some suspect that he killed his own father. I never would have thought that he could be swayed by a family member’s emotions…”

“Wh-What?! He killed his own father?”

“Oh, you didn’t know, Lord Roy? He ascended the throne after the previous king’s passing. But King Desmond's death was so sudden that many dark rumors have spread about it.”

“And one of them states that his own son Zephiel…”

“...assassinated him.”

Assassinated. That one word weighed heavily on Roy’s heart. “...Do you think Princess Guinivere knows about it?”

“There’s no way she knows nothing, is there?”

The conversation ended there. Roy didn’t know what else to say, instead staring down at the Fire Emblem in silence.

[tomorrowusa]

It's difficult to say which of Trump's nominees is the absolute worst. They each have their own unique combinations of woeful incompetence, hyper-partisanship, and personal failings. But it's certain that Tulsi Gabbard would do the most harm to US national security.

According to ABC’s report, the aides said that the failed presidential candidate regularly read and shared stories from RT—a state-run media outlet formerly known as Russia Today—even after being told that it wasn’t a credible news source. Gabbard’s former staffers suggested that they didn’t buy some claims from Democrats that their former boss is a “Russian asset.” But they do believe she’s become a staunch advocate for one of the United States’ chief adversaries thanks to her routine consumption of pro-Russia propaganda. It’s unclear just how much consuming news from these outlets shaped Gabbard’s worldview. In fact, her former aides said that Gabbard read news from a plethora of outlets, ranging from stories peddled by far left factions to articles from extreme-right sources. But Gabbard’s views on Russian aggression in Europe, specifically, have become increasingly eyebrow-raising since her days as a Democratic House member representing Hawaii. The aides provided ABC News with an internal memo that Gabbard sent to staff in 2017, for instance, which showed her extending unwarranted sympathy to the Kremlin. Among many other damning things, the former Bernie Sanders loyalist-turned-MAGA apologist complained about the United States’ “hostility toward Putin” and bemoaned the fact that “there isn’t any guarantee to Put that we won’t try to overthrow Russia’s government.” “In fact, I’m pretty sure there are American politicians who would love to do that,” she added. These fresh allegations against Gabbard have heightened some Democrats’ fears about her securing a spot in Trump’s Cabinet. Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration, told ABC News that the thoughts outlined in Gabbard’s 2017 memo were “basically the Russian playbook.” He also expressed anxiety that she could soon be charged with overseeing America’s most sensitive intelligence assets. 

It's difficult to find anybody currently on the US political scene who Putin would want more than Gabbard to be in charge of US intelligence.

The aides provided ABC News with an internal memo that Gabbard sent to staff in 2017, for instance, which showed her extending unwarranted sympathy to the Kremlin. Among many other damning things, the former Bernie Sanders loyalist-turned-MAGA apologist complained about the United States’ “hostility toward Putin” and bemoaned the fact that “there isn’t any guarantee to Put that we won’t try to overthrow Russia’s government.” “In fact, I’m pretty sure there are American politicians who would love to do that,” she added. These fresh allegations against Gabbard have heightened some Democrats’ fears about her securing a spot in Trump’s Cabinet. Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration, told ABC News that the thoughts outlined in Gabbard’s 2017 memo were “basically the Russian playbook.” He also expressed anxiety that she could soon be charged with overseeing America’s most sensitive intelligence assets. 

Even some staffers associated with the incoming GOP Senate majority think Gabbard is compromised.

“Behind closed doors, people think she might be compromised. Like it’s not hyperbole,” one Republican Senate aide told The Hill. “There are members of our conference who think she’s a [Russian] asset.”

In addition to Putin, she's a great fan of Putin's pal Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad. By coincidence, HTS insurgents in Syria have made astonishing gains – having take two of Syria's largest cities and are now at the outskirts of a third.

Syrian insurgents close in on Homs as they seek path to Damascus – forcing thousands to flee

The al-Assad régime is being propped up by Russia. But the Russians are losing confidence in their client. Russia has advised its citizens in Syria to flee the country.

Russian embassy advises its citizens to leave Syria as rebels advance on strategic city of Homs

If Tulsi Gabbard had unfettered access to US intelligence, she would be funneling it to Putin and al-Assad.