#betraskan

[honeii-puff]

ive decided that betraskan swears are like czechoslovakian swears in the way that the angrier/more frustrated you are, the longer and more detailed they are.

in my fic so far the swears Fin says towards his exo suit while trying to fix it are:

“Svanti levoshai miikael!”/“Du plaitat un leeiskikov.”/“Meeki-zhon plaitat.”

which vaguely translates to

"Fucking son of a bitch!"/"Bastard child of a cow(female)"/"Whore-loving bastard"

im having way too much fun with this

[licentiouslegionnaire]

Random thought but I hope Syldrathi don’t gotta deal with keloids.

A concerned Betraskan, to whom melanated skin is as foreign as any alien species: “Have you gotten that growth on your arm biopsied? It might be cancerous.”

An irritated Syldrathi, whose skin developed a keloid after healing from an injury: “It is a decade old scar, you fool.”

[every-tedious-beat]

@licentiouslegionnaire YOUR. MIND.

i love all these ideas. here are some scenes i would pair those songs with.

black dog - led zeppelin: i love led zeppelin, so, so much. i feel like this song could work really well with the bar brawl scene too (or really any scene where kal is taking out a room of people by himself).

hijinx - heart: i might love led zeppelin a lot, but i think i love heart more. i could see that working for perhaps the bank heist? it has that vibe.

moonage daydream - david bowie: i think this is very scar and fin in the elevator shaft and/or their first kiss. david bowie songs simply have to be featured in the aurora cycle tv show

carry on, wayward son - kansas: that one is actually on my auri playlist. it reminds me of her role as the trigger. maybe it plays during one of her visions in the beginning of the series.

i'm every woman - chaka khan: remember in aurora burning where right after they kick kal out scar is vibing to her music by herself? yeah, that's the song that needs to play.

some more thoughts i had as i wrote this post

when kal is playing his siif in the echo, it's actually just him playing over the hills and far away by led zeppelin

starman by david bowie should play as the squad is playing frennet

a song off of rumours by fleetwood mac playing while kal is talking about his childhood. silver springs perhaps? dreams?

any black sabbath song would work for the scenes with the starslayer

thank you for making those recommendations. that was great fun for me

does anyone remember that post where someone said that the squad should be introduced while sympathy for the devil was playing in the background? well, i propose an entirely classic rock/70s soundtrack for the aurora cycle tv show. here are some of my ideas:

back in black by acdc: saedii being introduced

seven seas of rhye by queen: when auri and the starslayer are fighting the rahaam ships (or whenever auri does something with her powers)

there are many songs that could work for the bar brawl, but i personally like mississippi queen by mountain

comfortably numb by pink floyd playing during that one chapter where it's just fin being silly by himself

the great gig in the sky by pink floyd playing when tyler dies in the alternate future and kal is confronting his father for his actions

i think for the echo scenes there should be some of the psychedelic beatles songs, like strawberry fields forever or lucy in the sky with diamonds

let me know if you have any other ideas i would love to hear them

[byzantine527]

Does anyone think if other species in the Aurora Cycle series might also have subcultures of their own? Because it does feel weird how amongst the humans, betraskans, and the syldrathi (I mentioned these three as they are the most prominent ones), only humans seem to have different cultures of their own instead of having only one culture. And again, this is not to criticize the authors; a lot of the other sci-fi franchises also do this.

[lilxmoo]

headcanon that betraskans eyes are pale rainbow

Warm up sketch of fin without his contacts :)

[gergthecat]

You PT 2 - Finian POV Finian/Scarlett

When Scar returns from the hall—Saedii now nowhere to be seen—she has a massive smirk on her face, a welcomed sight. I can’t figure out what’s been stressing her so much, but whatever it is, she doesn’t care anymore, as she tells us that we’re going to pull the prank of the millennium on Tyler. 

After a brief run-down of what she’s pulling and a less brief explanation of pranks to Kal, we are all rushing off to our assignments. I’ve been given the most important job: to accompany Scar and Ty and whoever that other girl is (Rachie?) to go shopping. Tyler keeps complaining about how he needs to get back to work, which Scar, ever the genius, uses as an excuse to take Rachie and abandon us in the food court.

Ty sighs as the salad he ordered arrives in front of him and looks off into the crowd. It feels pretty intoxicating to know something he doesn’t for once in my life. His spine straightens as he spots some massive Terran guy bounding towards our table. His contempt is evident on his face for only a moment before he puts on a cordial smile as Guy closes in. 

“Hey, Tyler,” Guy slaps his shoulder, unabashedly eyeing me.

“Trent,” Ty nods, clearly not trying to invite him into further conversation. 

My new best friend Trent doesn’t get it.

He pulls up a chair from one of the other tables as Ty and I awkwardly drag ours away to make room.

“So,” Trent starts.

“So,” Ty just repeats it, and I can feel the disdain melting off of him.

“How’s your sister doing?”

“She’s good.”

“Good, good,” he nods, looking off at the array of restaurants behind us. “And how ‘bout that other girl, what was it, uh, Katie?”

Tyler frowns, correcting him, “Cat.”

“Right, yes, her.”

“She’s dead.”

I can see as the blood leaves Trent’s face, making him a weird shade of green. 

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” I can feel how much Tyler wants to roll his eyes.

“Anyway, uh, tell her ‘Hi’ for me. Thanks, Bro.”

“Okay.”

We finish our food without much conversation. I can’t help but notice the differences between Trent and me. I’m tall for a Betraskan, yeah, but Trent had to be at least as tall as Kal. He’s muscular and manly-looking, and his face looks like it could cut you in half and meld you back together again. He’s hot, and worst of all, he’s Scarlett’s ex-boyfriend.

Check me out on AO3 :)

You Part One

Masterlist

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

Redemption for cheating Tyler or Saedii getting back at him/ finding someone better for her?

Okay there is another one of these asks in my inbox so I will answer this properly when I do that one but for now, this is where my brain has gone every time I've looked at these asks, so here.

Follow up from this post.

~~

*Saedii*

In the end, it is Fin who finds her on the target range deep in the bowls of the Aurora Academy's Tank training wing. She had managed to track down a supply of small axes that she was steadily launching at the targets, imagining her Besh'mai's face on all of them as the axe cracked the wood into splinters, one bullseye after the other.

Fin seemed calm enough to wait for her as she worked down the row, watching her work her anger out and occasionally blink away tears blurring her vision.

Eventually, she runs out of axes and turns to the Betraskan.

"Any particular reason you're here, Finian?" she asks. He frowns.

"I'm here because my friend is going through something shitty and I want to be here for her," he replies evenly, as if the answer is the most obvious thing in the world.

"And should I assume Tyler is at your place, being comforted by your wife?" Fin scoffs and shakes his head.

"Nah, he tried but Scar likes cheaters about as much as I do. Our apartment is quickly turning into a Tyler-free zone," he says and Saedii's brows pinched. They must really have issues with cheating for even Scar to turn her back on Tyler. "I feel like the answers obvious, but are you okay?" he asks. Saedii can tell that there's no pity in it, just concern, and she appreciates it.

She watches Fin for a beat, not really sure how to answer the question. Her heart feels wrong in her chest, like someone had cleaved her open and jumbled up all the ventricles and chambers and valves. And that wasn't the only problem. She sighs and reaches into her pocket and pulls her uniglass out of her pocket, handing it to Fin when she finds what she wants to show him.

He takes it and stares at the screen for a beat.

"Shit," she nods. "Does Tyler know?" she takes the uniglass.

"I came here to tell him. Congrats, you're now the first to know," she says bitterly, taking the uniglass back and glancing at the sonogram on the screen before pocketing it, trying her damndest not to cry.

"Okay I'm going to hug you," Fin warns and then his arms are wrapping around her shoulders and he tucks her closer. Fin and her are basically the same height so it's easy to let her head fall onto his shoulder.

She's generally not the biggest hugger in the world but today had hurt. She had just opened her heart to someone and he had crushed it so instantly it had struck the oxygen right out of her and on top of all of that, she was dealing with all the new emotions her hormones could throw at her.

So she lets Fin hold her and they both pretend not to notice when her shoulders begin to shake and she starts sobbing into his uniform collar.

~

Later, she watches a little numbly as Scarlett and Fin make a bed out of their couch for her. They move in a synchronicity that she envies right about now, but she's not going to say anything to them. It wouldn't be fair to get angry at two people that were helping her just because their relationship wasn't falling apart like hers was.

She can't find words to say to them - even those as basic as a thank you - but she has a feeling that they aren't feeling very talkative either. Fin seems more introspective than anything, trying to theorise what her options were, but Scarlett was another story.

Even with a fraction of her mother's gift she inherited, she can feel Scarlett's simmering rage like it's her own. Even though Scarlett looks as calm and comforting as she normally does, Saedii can tell she's seconds away from rushing out of her apartment to go and yell at her brother some more. Her energy is as red as her hair. Saedii not used to people being willing to go to bat for her like that, but it's strangely comforting, especially knowing how close the twins were.

The apartment is quiet as Saedii gets ready for bed, but she can hear Fin and Scarlett behind their bedroom door. Well, mostly Scarlett ranting. Saedii can't hear exactly what she is saying, but her tone is angry and incredulous and she can hear footfalls, like Scar is pacing.

Eventually, the conversation fades and Saedii is left in the dark and soelnce with her thoughts. She curls further into herself on the couch, pressing her face into the pillow to hide how her eyes are watering again.

She damns her whole life as she begins to cry again silently. She prays she falls asleep soon so she can stop. She prays that all of this day was just one terrible dream and that when she wakes up, Tyler will still be the man she fell in love with.

~~

Would it not be the funniest thing if I do the next part and it was all just a dream that Saedii was accidentally sharing with both their brains?

[ipoxcky]

I WROTE AN INFORMAL ESSAY ON ZILA MADRAN FOR MY SEMINAR CLASS—MAJOR AURORA CYCLE SPOILERS!!!!

Tyler Jones is a human who graduated at the top of his class at the Aurora Academy. He is the squad’s “Alpha,” or commander. He was supposed to get first pick in terms of the other people on his team, but because he went to save Aurora, he ended up with those who remained after everyone else made their pick. He is a White-passing heterosexual cisgendered male. We find out later he is also half-Syldrathi, an alien race that is presumably based on BIPOC ethnicities and practices. 

Scarlett Jones is a diplomat who knows many languages, handles foreign affairs, and negotiation, otherwise known as the squad’s “Face.” Tyler Jones is her twin brother. She has a long history of exes and is ever longingly sarcastic. She is a white heterosexual cisgendered woman. We find out later she is half-Syldrathi as well. 

Kaliis Idraban Gilwraeth is Syldrathi (an alien race in the book) who was born to be a warrior. He is the squad’s “Tank,” whose primary purpose is to fight if need be. Since the age of six, he was trained to defeat his enemies and not tolerate anything less. He is a heterosexual cisgendered male.

Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley is a human girl out of time who was awoken by the squad after centuries frozen in a colony ship, and found herself gifted with dangerous psychic powers. She is Asian-American (Chinese and Irish,) and a heterosexual cisgendered woman. 

Finian de Karran de Seel is a Betraskan (another alien race in the book) who has a heart for all things mechanics. He is the squad’s “Gearhead,” and has a crude sense of humor. He is a disabled bisexual cisgendered male who has pale white skin. 

Zila Madran is the “Brain” of the squad, a medic who knows the body inside and out and is stellar at all things STEM. In the third book, her work allows her to statistically calculate the probabilities of every ideal event occurring and she is eventually the one (with her wife Nari Kim) who saves the entire galaxy from destruction. She is a Black queer cisgendered woman. 

This media analysis will focus on Zila Madran’s role in Aurora’s End, which becomes crucial in the third book and the mechanics of the plot. It will analyze the message that Amie Kaufman, a white woman, and Jay Kristoff, a white man, have delivered to its readers by having Zila, a Black queer woman, be the one who saves the entire galaxy from its demise.

Zila’s character description, thankfully, is one that is not offensive. Unlike the common tendency for white authors to compare Black skin to food, her description in Aurora Rising that we get when we first meet her is simply “dark brown skin and long, tight black curls.”And in Aurora Burning on page 45, there is a conversation between Scarlett and Zila where readers first learn about Zila’s queer identity:

Scarlett: “Yeah. But don't fall in love with me, Zila. I'll just break your heart.” 

Zila: “That does seem consistent with your romantic modus operandi. You are also too tall for me.”

Scarlett: “Wait… you like girls?”

Zila shrugs, scanning the crowd: “Not tall ones.”

However, a closer look at one scene in the book will reveal that Zila’s identifiers are taken into account in the overall plot of the story. In terms of sexuality, Zila is the last one to enter a relationship. The readers have watched every other squadmate enter a romantic entanglement in Aurora Rising and Aurora Burning.  Their relationships grow to become a large, important part of the plot, with multiple chapters dedicated to their development. In the beginning of Aurora’s End, Zila, Scarlett, and Finian get sent back in time to the year 2177 in a time loop. In other words, they are stuck in a segment of 2177 where, after a certain amount of minutes, they meet some sort of untimely death. Most of the time it’s a quantum pulse hitting the station or angry lieutenants deciding to shoot at them. Once they die, the segment of time resets. Each time the segment resets, it gets shorter, and the squad has to figure out how to escape the time loop before they die in it again. In the time segment, they successfully reach out to Nari Kim, a legionnaire of the academy who they find at the station they are attempting to come into contact with. After Scarlett successfully works her diplomat magic before she can get blasted to pieces, Zila gets to work detonating the pulsar with Nari. Meanwhile, Scarlett and Finian decide to start messing around. Prior to this time loop, Scarlett and Finian agreed to enter a romantic relationship, so when they decide to start messing around, their lack of focus makes Zila a bit irritated, so she shouts: “are you two spending precious minutes in the middle of a heretofore unheard-of temporal paradox engaging in frivolous presexual activity?” To which Scarlett replies, “You’re such a hopeless romantic, Z” (Kaufman and Kristoff 185). In the scene, Zila is angry with their lack of consideration for the task at hand. However, it can be argued that she is somewhat romantically/sexually frustrated with the fact that everyone has found love but her. This argument can be supported as she ends up realizing Nari is “not tall” (Kaufman and Kristoff 98), and “as [Nari] keeps speaking, I let myself sink into her voice” (Kaufman and Kristoff 201) Later on, after many romantic events have occurred like this one, she realizes that Nari Kim is the one that future, probability-calculating Zila assigned herself to fall in love with by giving her past self hawk earrings that match the animal insignia on Nari’s vest (it’s quite complicated—I hope that is clear enough. I’d be happy to explain more if it’s unclear.) Her frustrations are then relieved when she learns that Nari feels the same way. At that point, Zila learns that she is supposed to stay in the year 2177 with Nari in order to calculate the events that make up the most optimal timeline: a timeline where her squadmates save the galaxy. 

Arguably, there are a lot of identifiers that shape the scene described above, the one that ultimately is the start of Zila’s romantic journey. The fact that she is the last one to enter a relationship could possibly be due to three identifiers. To start, the eurocentric beauty standard is against her, as she is African American. In 2014, an OkCupid study found that black women were rated the “least desirable” amongst all other races. Second, mainstream society encircles the idea of white queerness being the only queerness to exist. In a paper by the National Library of Medicine, Carmen Logie states that “by representing queerness as white…women of color were rendered invisible in both queer and racialized communities…” and that, as mentioned later on, “women of color were further marginalized by constructions of "real" women as passive, feminine and white, and conversely perceptions of women of color as aggressive, emotional, and hypersexualized.” Due to all of these factors, the ‘dating pool’ shrinks for Black queer women in terms of future partners. Applying this logic, it is quite sensible it would take her a longer time to find the right partner, and luckily, she did. Therefore, the scenes quoted and described above could encompass Zila’s Black, queer, and female identifiers with both their overt statements and what is unsaid by the timing.

Kaufman and Kristoff have successfully established Zila Madran as a strong, self-sufficient, beautiful, bright Black woman who, simply by existing, redacts harmful stereotypes and creates a new image for Black women in the world of science fiction. One stereotype that the Aurora Cycle Trilogy combats with the character Zila Madran is the ‘weird girl’ stereotype. One could argue that the reason Zila is the last one to find a relationship is because she is naturally quiet and not very emotionally available until her character arc near the end of the book. A counterargument is that this is a stereotype which has been romanticized in the media quite often, only that the stereotype requires the quiet stoic girl to be white and heterosexual, and that if she is any other race/sexuality, she’s seen as even weirder. White heterosexual women who fill this stereotype and find romantic interests are Raven from Teen Titans, Detective Jet Slootmaekers in Law and Order, and April Ludgate-Dwyer from Parks and Recreation. Like Zila, they are quiet and stoic, so physical appearance and romantic preference must be the only thing that sets Zila apart from the common narrative. Fortunately, Zila and Nari marry and grow old together once they fall in love. So, Kaufman and Kristoff challenge the ‘weird white girl’ single story stereotype by changing the race of the ‘weird girl’ and writing Zila with a fulfilling queer relationship. 

In addition, another stereotype that Kaufman and Kristoff combat is the stereotype that Black women are unintelligent. Black people, women, and especially Black women have been stereotyped as unintelligent for centuries. As Zora Neale Hurston puts it in Their Eyes Were Watching God, “De n----- woman is de mule uh de world,” meant only to sit and do meaningless tasks that don’t let them build any type of real intelligence or skill. Of course, this stereotype dates back to slavery, where most Black people—especially Black women—were unable to pursue any sort of formal education because they were enslaved. A very small percentage were taught to read and write while they were enslaved. Kaufman and Kristoff combat this by designing Madran’s character with astute intelligence, which is evident throughout the story as she is deemed the military squadron position “Brain.”

A third stereotype is that Black women are aggressive. This stereotype originates from slavery and thrives in lots of pop culture and media. Some examples are Sapphire in Amos ‘n’ Andy, and Florence in The Jeffersons, according to the Harvard Business Review. The stereotype has even been immortalized in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture through the addition of Nene Leakes and her famous eye roll. To fight this, Zila Madran is a medic who heals the wounds of all of the squadmates. She is the one who instructs Scarlett on how to save Finian from anaphylactic shock with only the plastic tube in a ballpoint pen, a gift that was, like Zila’s hawk earrings, planned from Zila in 2177 to be given to Finian in 2380. Zila instructs Scarlett remotely through her earpiece while Scarlett is panicking, and Scarlett describes Zila’s state as “calm in [her] ear” (Kaufman and Kristoff 386). In Zila being the medic of the squad, there is also possibly the irony of the poor treatment of Black women in the healthcare system at play here. The first doctors went years before they expanded their studies of the body to Black people, claiming all kinds of things about how different and underdeveloped their bodies are. They have tried to defend their racism and neglect of Black health with eugenics and other harmful pseudosciences, but the root of the predominantly white field refusing to assist Black people is racism, clear and cut. A recent example is Serena Williams and the birth of her child. Even though she is famous and wealthy, she was still treated poorly in the healthcare system while she was in one of the most vulnerable states a person could be in–postpartum. Unfortunately, racism does not stop for those who financially can sit in the same places as their oppressors. And so, in Kaufman and Kristoff choosing Zila to be the medic, they have established her as a helpful and healing Black woman rather than an aggressive one, and they have supplied her with the skill that her oppressors have continued to systematically oppress Black women with—medicine. For Kaufmann and Kristoff to choose Zila Madran, a queer Black woman, to be the one to find her lifelong partner, to be the “Brain” of the team (literally), to be the one to heal her squadmate’s injuries, and to be the central figure in saving the entire galaxy and founding the Aurora Academy is a huge step towards reversing various stereotypes and is a promotion of Black excellence and Black representation.

[licentiouslegionnaire]

All the ones we heard about seemed very Terran-centric. What about the Betraskan ration packet abominationz™️?

The ships food that is a running joke in the series? Like “just like real tacoz?”

its just American school lunch food

you cannot convince me otherwise

[of-the-way-and-wildflowers]

Books Read in 2021: Aurora's End

Colorful Minds: Finian de Seel ▪︎ Emerald Green

"Looking around the bridge, I realize maybe, just maybe, I've found my clan in this squad."

[charlieism]

thinking about the constant theme of family being the single most important thing to betraskans that spans the series... the line "Everything Bestraskans do, everything we believe, everything we are is about family" .... about the found family trope being used so heavily and blatantly with squad 312.......how directly him viewing the squad as his family affects finian and his actions....... how important everyone on the squad is to his entire being........... how the found family trope is especially important to queer people and how hes canonically a loud and proud bisexual............ theres no point to this just. the worldbuilding + finian + found family = aaARGHFHGHFKFKGDN ❤💜💞💗💖💚😭💓😭💖

[every-tedious-beat]

mr krabs i have an idea

a proposal for an intergalactic version of an ivy league, because not all of us want to go to military school

Sloan-De Renn University

Overview: Sloan-De Renn University is the top collegiate institution in the galaxy. It attracts all sorts of students pursuing all fields of study, all with one thing in common: a desire to be the best. 

Location: Sloan-De Renn University is located on the planet of Minerva VI, after the Roman goddess of wisdom. The university takes up most of the planet, with forests and ocean covering the rest. 

Description: Sloan-De Renn is the intergalactic version of an ivy league school such as Harvard, Yale or Princeton. Many other universities exist in the galaxy, but Sloan-De Renn offers the best classes, most qualified professors, comfortable housing, and unique student body environment. 

History: At the beginning of the Terran-Betraskan Alliance, many relations were fostered between human and Betraskan people. One such relationship was that of Dr. Miranda Sloan and Physicist Lylah de Merrah de Renn. The two realized the need for a place of learning dedicated to all peoples of the galaxy, so everyone had the opportunity to achieve success, no matter what it may look like for them. So, the scholars brought their vision to life.

School Colors: Purple, Rust, and Green

Mascot: Ultrasaur

feel free to add on y'all's own ideas!

[gergthecat]

My wife cooks once again.

Honestly I wasn’t going to respond because I kind of had a crisis but this is EXACTLY perfect. Especially the points about the fact that the whole squad is imperfect and has bad traits/does bad things, so why single out Tyler?

I assume the point was that because Tyler is a straight (at least according to his only two love interests, sorry folks, but Kal doesn’t count today), white, blond man that would lead to people favoring him more. I just don’t think that it true.

Fin is clearly the favorite of the fandom. He’s not white (in the racial sense, he is a Betraskan, so he quite literally is as pale as a ghost), he’s aggressively bisexual, and disabled.

Also, like my wife said, everyone in the squad displays flaws, and that’s what makes them lovable.

(Also, I love the phrase in Zila’s paragraph that implies that someone in the squad WOULD consent to being shot, lol)

The Character of Tyler Jones from an academic perspective as someone who has studied human behavior.

Hello everyone, several months ago I made a statement saying that “Tyler Jones is a terrible person”. I know that I offended many people saying that and I am sorry for hurting those who felt offended. I have been weighed down with demanding classes and caring for a family member of mine with a mental health disease. I planned on backing up my claims much sooner with a list of all the reasons Tyler Jones is “bad”. However I regret phrasing it using the word terrible, because whether or not someone is ‘good’ or ‘terrible’ remains solely up to you, the reader. That being said, in this singular post I plan on showing how Tyler Jones shows selfish motivations and borderline egoistic tendencies based on canon events in the Aurora Cycle series. 

DISCLAIMER: I do not mean to hurt anyone, personally. If you love Tyler, this is not an attack on you. It is okay if you disagree with me, but those who send me vulgar or unkind comments will be blocked.  Thank you.

That being said, let’s jump in.

Selfish motivations: In Book 1, page 39, Tyler Jones quotes to Scarlett and Cat: “The Legion stands for something real. There’s people out there who need our help, and we’re not helping any of them by sitting here and feeling sorry for ourselves.” This leads us to believe that Tyler Jones cares about saving other people. And, in Book 1 page 84 he says to Kal: “Is that the kind of person I seem to you? The kind that decides to hate an entire species because one of them killed his old man?” Also leading us to believe that Tyler is a benevolent person. But as we get on in the books, we learn that these are performative traits. In Book 1, page 11, we see that Tyler Jones wants to leave Auri in the cryopod to die. Despite seeing the vital signs that she is in fact alive. It is only after his sense of duty kicks in which makes him rescue her. (I will say, his sense of duty can be a good trait.)

Objectifies women: Book 2, page 328, Tyler Jones is being held by the Unbroken. In this chapter, Tyler sees Saedii clad in her undergarments. And in this we read Tyler’s thoughts: I realize that once again she is trying to get a reaction from me. She knows how beautiful she is. She knows that beauty throws people off if they let it. While this could be mistaken as desire, it is objectification. Sexual desire refers to a natural, innate, and personal attraction to and appreciation of a partner's entire self - body, mind, and spirit. It is an interpersonal connection based on genuine mutual feelings of love, trust, and attraction.

In contrast, sexual objectification involves treating a person solely as an object or means to fulfill sexual desires rather than a whole individual deserving of dignity and respect. It reduces a person to a body part or a sexual stereotype rather than seeing them as fully human. This is a violation of autonomy and an abuse of power when not freely consented to by all involved. It is never acceptable for anyone, including intimate partners, to pressure, coerce or manipulate others into sexual situations.

Sexual objectification is deeply damaging and dehumanizing, while healthy sexual desire celebrates and honors one's partner's whole being. The key distinction is freely given mutual consent and the absence of power imbalances versus the reduction of a person to a mere object of sexual pleasure.

It is apparent from this chapter alone that Tyler Jones views Saedii as only an object to please him. He is under the impression that her beauty is all to be shown off for him. Instead of looking away, he chose to ogle and objectify her. 

In book 3, page 38, Tyler fantasizes about Saedii and says: “I can still feel her body pressed against mine if I try. We both knew my line about bed was halfway true…” The implication of him saying ‘we both knew’ is implying that Tyler thinks Saedii wants him just as much as he wants her. Note: Simply fantasizing about another character and thinking they share romantic interest doesn't inherently make someone a narcissist. However, it’s the way his pride leads him to assume that Saedii wants to jump into bed with him at any moment that leads to sexual objectification. Tyler's perspective on Saedii is profoundly objectifying. His egotistical assumption that she wants the same, without caring what she wants, shows he does not treat her as an equal, but rather an extension of himself to fulfill his own desires. This unhealthy mentality is textbook sexual objectification.

(Also yes, I do know that Saedii and Tyler do ‘fall in love’ in the series, but their relationship has proven to be very back-and-forth, as opposed to Kal and Aurora’s constant and steady progression. Saedii and Tyler can’t seem to decide if they hate one another or love one another.)

Overly Controlling to his daughter: In the future chapters of Aurora’s End, Tyler has a daughter named Lae. We see in these chapters just how he chooses to treat her and talk to her. In book 3 chapter 14, the situation is not ideal and one could argue Tyler is  under a lot of stress, which he is. When Lae speaks up to share her perspective: (“We cannot aid the Starslayer, nor his son, nor the fool who binds herself to him. We must kill him to avenge our loss-”) Lae is ultimately cut off by Tyler. The exchange goes: “That’s enough, Lae.” Tyler says. “No!” She shouts. “Commander, the blood of billions is on his hands. Honor demands his death! We cannot possibly-” “I said that’s ENOUGH lieutenant!” Tyler roars. (Book 3, page 175.)

The fact that Tyler doesn’t hear her out and listen to her is bad enough, but what this exchange tells me is that Tyler doesn’t value Lae’s input as valuable. Their relationship is extremely strained, from Lae only referring to him as commander while Tyler refers to her as lieutenant. There seems to be no love between the two. I have studied family crisis cases in psychology classes. And this is a clear case of father not respecting daughter, and daughter harboring intense resentment and reluctant submission. Tyler has this ultimate need to be in control at all times and it is hurting his relationship with his daughter. 

Appropriates and uses Syldrathi culture to his advantage despite knowing very little about the Syldrathi: After Tyler learns of his half-Syldrathi heritage, he is quick to use it as a way to sway others into doing this his way. This is a form of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption without understanding the historical and cultural context. As Tyler has stated many times in the series, he knows little about Syldrathi culture and knows a few words in the Syldrathi language. In book 3, page 38, Tyler says: “I’m half-Syldrathi myself. And I know more about the true enemy than anyone.” Say what you will, but that is pretty ballsy to say in front of a group of Unbroken Syldrathi who have quite literally worked with the Starslayer. Saedii even being the daughter of the Starslayer. In theory, would not she know the tactics her own father would use? Tyler is using his newly found Syldrathi heritage as a way to get them to go with his idea, despite knowing little about the Syldrathi. I wonder, if Tyler had never learned about his half-Syldrathi heritage, what would he have resorted to get the others to listen to him? And why does he think he knows the ‘true enemy’ (the Starslayer) better than all of these Syldrathi warriors? Another note: The way the Syldrathi make prejudiced remarks to Tyler about being a “half breed” is not acceptable either. But this does not excuse Tyler from his actions. 

Conclusion: This took me a long time to write in a way that was informative and filled with facts based off of canon events. Throughout the story, despite showing some good traits, Tyler cannot seem to let his poor traits get the better of him. Despite thinking of himself as the “golden boy” that he refers to himself as in Book 1.

I hope that this does not offend you personally if you like this character. I just needed to share my academic insight on this character. 

Book 1, page 39: (Kaufman, 2019, p. 39)

Book 1, page 84: (Kaufman, 2019, p. 84)

Book 1, page 11: (Kaufman, 2019, p. 11)

Book 2, page 328: (Kaufman, 2020, p. 328) 

Book 3, page 38: (Kaufman, 2021, p. 38) 

Book 3, page 175: (Kaufman, 2021, p. 175)

[solowspazz]

Credit: https://images.app.goo.gl/sLYF8c11vMzZXait8

[lilxmoo]

Squad 312 headcanons because it's my birthday today :D

After AE, Tyler and Finian became incredibly close, due to Scarlett. Like, best friends close. And because Kal is Tyler's brother and loves teasing Fin, the three boys became a tiny family within the family, a group unofficial brothers <3

Scarlett takes Auri on massive shopping sprees so she can feel more at home in space with her own wardrobe. Auri fittingly almost spends all the allowance on shoes, to which Scarlett says she actually needs clothes. (Kal later buys her shoes)

Kal washes his hands after a shower.

Saedii and Fin get along like a house on fire, obviously, but what Fin didn't know was that Saedii spoke Betraskan, and they would use it to talk shit, basically. (Scarlett quickly joins the gossip group and the others have given up on trying to figure out what they're saying)

After the events of AE, every og member of 312 gets a different winged creature tattooed to remember Cat. Similarly, they all get identical two circles to represent Zila and her earrings.

EACH MEMBER OF 312 GIVING EACH OTHER DATING ADVICE DEPENDING ON WHO THEY NEED IT FOR

While he doesn't write songs himself, Kal has the most gorgeous singing voice. Auri does not. This makes for some adorable but interesting duets when they're alone.

Auri is like Tyler's younger sister and I will DIE on this hill, WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT THEM-

Tyler starts swearing more frequently. When he dropped a mug and swore for the first time, the room was dead silent. He was insecure about swearing anymore after that

Zila makes herself a library in the past with Nari, and writes each member of 312 a personal note with a book page attached.

Betraskan food is spicy as hell, and Syldrathi food is sweeter. As a result, although she would NEVER admit it, Saedii almost barfed when having traditional Betraskan chilli for the first time.

Scarlett does each girl's makeup every now and again. Their respective boyfriends get very flustered every time she does.

Tyler gets Kal really into Rugby, and they become the most stereotypical Rugby men at bars you've ever seen once there's a game on.

Auri dyes her white streak different colors a lot due to it being very easy, and Saedii starts helping her, and soon they have hair dye sessions! (Scar does not join in as she only lets her hairdresser of ten years anywhere near her hair)

Anyway that's all I got right now, but just thought it would be nice to drop something seeing as it's my birthday!

[songbird-orpheus]

(Aurora cycle spoilers)

Did anyone else notice how in book 2 of aurora cycle it actually mentions the founders names? it says on page 264: “The first academy principals—and the brains behind it—were Terran Admiral Nari Kim, and Betraskan Greater Clan Battle Leader Raya de Monoko de Seel.”