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cainhart · 6 months ago

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The symbolism of the snake embroidery on Vergil's clothes and my theories on how he might have acquired his outfit. (he's broke asf he didn't get it with money guys)

In the first Devil May Cry novel we learn that teenager Dante had his red jacket custom made. He is actually pissy about it when it gets ruined with bullet holes. He then wears a fuckass black jacket, which makes him look embarrassing.

Dante was drinking and using firearms when he was 15 or 16 years old; but he had a job (albeit his job being a MERCENARY. Also twins being European really shows because he was having drinking contests as a fucking 15 year old, god), so he had enough money to buy himself a custom made jacket. But the thing is, we don’t know how teenager Vergil got his outfit. It’s too well made to be bought in a normal store. Vergil probably had no money—though it is hinted that after Mundus' attack, young Vergil may have used public transportation (I also have a headcanon that he didn't know how to open a portal until he was at least 12 so that makes sense) and even bought himself food. These may have happened before or after the attack but let's say after the attack since Sparda, Eva, and the twins were living a secluded life. Still, being homeless and constantly on the run, his concept of the value of money is more like ‘money’ and ‘a LOT of money.’ He had no use for finance; what important was to get powerful and gain knowledge.

So, he probably didn’t get it with money. Vergil was never in one place long enough to earn money. I also don't see him as someone who would kill or hurt people to steal their money (he actually kinda did it in VoV,,, but that was different), so the idea of custom made clothing bought with human currency doesn't sit with me.

He might have used demonic magic to create his outfit. We see a demonstration of this in DMC5 with Trish, who uses her magic to literally recreate her entire outfit. This is very weird and left unexplained, which frustrates me because I need to rationalize things. Perhaps demons can do this because they can infuse anything with their demonic energy, and since the clothes they wear are made of organic material, they can recreate or even sew them back together. In Vergil's case, it's more like 'create a whole new outfit in mind's eye and boom now you have a ridiculous cravat.'

Another possibility is that he had it custom-made, but not with human currency. Demons, or at least a certain demonic/supernatural entity (the God of Time, aka the Divinity Statue), accept red orbs as a form of payment.

Vergil probably visited many places on his trauma blind journey of gaining power. I might overdo here, but what if he came across a strange tailor and they made a deal like, "You give me 70 thousand red orbs, and I give you a slutty vest, a ridiculous cravat, nice shoes and a cool coat with snake embroidery on it." and Vergil was like "Aight." Maybe he was intending to infuse his outfit with his magic anyway. It was a win-win situation.

It's funny to imagine Vergil designing his outfit, just being a teenager for once.

So, Vergil could have saved up red orbs to get a cool coat. Demonic establishments are kind of canon, so that’s a possibility. He was a teenager it’s only natural that he liked teenager things, even in his traumatized and hunted state. At a certain point in his life, he became strong enough to indulge in some of his likes.

Speaking of snake embroidery, Vergil has SO MUCH snake symbolism on him, and on his clothes too! Snakes were adored and respected throughout history before paganism started to get shitted on. Snakes represent wisdom, REBIRTH, healing, transformation, and knowledge. That’s why Satan, disguised as a snake, gave Eve the apple (knowledge) (also, knowledge of the occult was really given to women first). The snake detail on his clothes might even be magic, too. It's nearly an occult symbol on its own. Maybe a sigil? I know sigils aren't a thing in DMC but I don't care I'll go apeshit with my theories.

Whether the serpent detail was intentional or unintentional, it’s still a great detail considering his story and character. He goes through transformation (Nero Angelo), then rebirth (Vergil rebirth party in DMC5), and healing (basically the whole plot of Visions of V).

So, just teenager Vergil researching the occult and being fascinated with the symbolism of the serpent. OR he straight up stole it. :l This bitch split his demonic and human self apart and like 1 day after his human self came to existence he had to deal with money and his first thought was to steal it. Anyway, that's all. Have a good day!

#don't leave your shoes outside he might steal them too #devil may cry #dmc #vergil #dmc headcanons #dmc vergil

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our-queer-experience · 5 months ago

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This is long but I really really need to get it out and don’t know where else to put it out there.

It has a positive middle and end, but trigger warnings for queerphobia/queerphobic slurs in the beginning.

I’d never played Among Us before. I’d seen videos of people playing it; I’d seen my siblings playing it; I’d never played it myself.

One part of me thought it looked fun, and the other thought about how I didn’t know how to play, I didn’t want to play with strangers, etc.

However, one day - yesterday, as I’m writing this - my siblings were going to play together.

Immediately, I downloaded the game, made an account, named my character, dressed my character up. And then I waited with my sister for our two brothers to finish a game with some other people online. As we waited, my sister spent time trying to host a server for us.

I couldn’t join at first. Or at second.

I joined the map at last, but got a text and answered it; when I got back I’d been logged out.

So we had to try again. And again. And again.

We couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

So I tried hosting a map instead; but once again we couldn’t join. It was like the game was against us playing together; like it refused to let me finally play it with people that I trusted; like it— oh never mind, my sister was set to a European server.

After finally figuring that out, we finally joined the same game; and our brothers soon after us.

Four players; one imposter; all excited to play together.

The match ended quickly of course - with my sister as the imposter. After the match, I’d won just enough of the beans’ currency to buy a banner; and of course I went with the trans one.

I was so excited!

Since matches with only four people went by quick, we decided to make our server public and waited around for people to join.

Took a moment, but then someone joined us!

And then left.

But that’s okay because someone else joined us!

Then left too.

Once we finally had enough people - around 12 or so - the game started.

My brother and I both got imposter. Instantly, adrenaline kicked in and I was nervous. What if I got caught? How do I even play? Questions pestered my mind like termites do wood; and then, a dead body was reported.

My brother was the suspect, and by right considering he was an imposter.

“I saw him near the body!” Someone said.

“He was near the body.”

“Vote him out.

“Who?”

“The gay one get him out.”

“Vote the fag out!”

My siblings and I, all living in the same house, screamed in outrage for the homophobia - shouting at each other to report and kick that person from the map.

The meeting ended before they could get kicked.

By now the adrenaline had turned into fear and outrage at my little brother being called a homophobic slur. I was shaking as I vented and looked for someone to kill.

I managed to get one person, and it was a long while before someone finally reported their body.

The meeting was called.

“I saw gray vent.”

I was gray.

“Vote out all the fags.”

So badly I wanted to fight back. “You queerphobic piece of shit, get the fuck out of here!!” - I had a whole argument typed out.

But I do not hold enough courage in these types of situations.

I deleted the text.

I got voted out.

The crewmates won.

After the match, my brother - the host - kicked the homophobe out.

“Why’d you kick him?” Pink asked.

“No homophobia in my chat,” my brother replied.

“Dude they were my boyfriend.”

Your boyfriend was a piece of shit.

“Yall a bunch of faggers!” Pink has left the game.

My brother kicked out another homophobe after that, and everyone left from there. I get it; drama - it’s annoying. But it was my first time playing this game, happy and excited, and I’d run into queerphobic assholes.

By now, I was already done with the game. My siblings weren’t though, so we waited for new people to join.

The irony I tell you when a lesbian couple joined the next game. And then another lesbian separate from them joined too! (Respect to the lesbeans lol).

It went significantly better after that; two matches in which I was crewmate and everything was normal.

No queerphobia.

But still, I was done. I was tired, I was still shaking; I was just done.

And I don’t think I’ll be playing again.

I told Mom what happened; she sympathized and even told my brothers not to play with people like that - just leave the game, turn on limited/safe chat; whatever.

I was still upset.

Later that same night - around 30 mins later in fact - I got on Animal Jam. It was just going to be a quick login; get daily rewards; try and level up my pets; that’s it.

But then I got distracted playing one of the mini games for two hours.

Afterwards, I wanted to see what my sister was up to.

She’d since left Among Us and was now in a fashion show at someone’s den.

There were paintings in this jammer’s house - most of which were anime; and two that were LGBTQ+ ally flags; one specifically for trans people and another the rainbow queer flag surrounded by black and white stripes for their allyship.

At first I was just going to check in, see what she was up to, then leave; but those two flags provided a safe enough space for me to stay and chat with everyone.

I danced around, complimented their amazing outfits, asked if there was a pet station to level up my pets.

We were there for another hour or so.

There was some drama with one person insisting they weren’t out when they in fact were, but that was much better drama than queerphobia in my opinion.

My sister actually ended up winning, and got to choose a prize from the den. She got a paintseed tree, and a hat; which was really cool.

The hat ended up being a double so she gave one to me!

After fashion shows, my sister and I often stay afterwards to chat with the host - even if I’d never actually played in the fashion show and was just cheering everyone on from the sidelines.

Since we’d taken such an interest in their paintings, they asked if we wanted to see all of them. It was late, but we still said yes.

A few moments later, all the paintings were set out on the floor of the den so we could see them all. There were some from anime we knew, Steven Universe, Spider Punk, OCs of other jammers, Adventure Time, even Wall-E.

They had good taste; I told them as such.

We complimented them for their collection, and they told us a bit about each of them. The explained to us they got the pride allyship ones to show that people were safe with them - I explained I instantly felt safe as soon as I saw them.

They found the jammer that’d made the pride paintings, and we all went to their den to check out some of their other paintings. Apparently they had entire shops dedicated to selling them to jammers, and their den was basically a giant advertisement.

There were trans dinos hanging around, pride flags on the walls, and so many flags in the shop. It was incredibly diverse too - I didn’t recognize a lot of the flags, and it made me happy that people could find themself here in this shop.

There were tons of masterblocks of peoples flags spread throughout the den, and I managed to find aroace.

Excited, I ran up to it and exclaimed in chat, “GASP this is my flag!”

“What’s it mean?” the host had asked.

“AJ won’t let me say it :(“

“Awwww.”

Bit of a difficult topic with being able to say one’s identity on AJ. On one end, I want to be able to find a community of fellow aroace jammers. But on the other end, it’s a children’s game and they don’t want kids to be conversing about sexual topics such as their orientations. I understand; just a bit of a disappointment.

A few moments later, the host of the fashion show said, “hey is this your flag in this shop?”

I checked and— yes. It was. The aroace flag for 35 sapphires, its colors pale but ever lovely and a comfort to see.

“It is!” I replied.

I had enough sapphires - for once - and I was about to buy it, when the host suddenly asked to trade.

I accepted.

And there, their gift to me, was my flag. They’d bought me— my flag! They didn’t even know what it meant; they hardly even knew who I was! But they’d bought it and gifted it to me for nothing in return.

I couldn’t thank them enough, and told them how much they’d made my day.

Afterwards, we became in-game buddies officially, and bid each other farewell since it was late for the both of us.

When they left, I showed my sister what they’d gotten me in my den, as well as a trans flag that I’d bought myself. Then, she showed me a pan flag that she’d gotten herself in her den.

We were both really excited, and couldn’t stop talking about it.

My mom was happy to hear about this more positive experience later that night.

To the jammer that’d hosted a really fun fashion show, the one who’d welcomed queer people into their den, the one who’d bought me my flag on a whim and made my day.

I thought I was going to go to sleep that night with tears in my eyes, feeling hopeless about queerphobic assholes online; but instead I went to sleep with a giddy smile on my face because you showed me the kindness and acceptance that I needed.

You never needed to buy that painting, or show my sister and I to that jammer’s den of paintings; those two paintings that you’d bought to show your allyship were enough, and yet you went beyond that.

You made me feel safe and really happy the night before my birthday. You are a kind and awesome person, and I send to you all my respects, all my wishes of happiness, and all of my compassion.

Thank you so so so so so much.

thanks for sharing!

#our queer experience #long post #asks

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girlactionfigure · 6 months ago

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The “Villa in the Jungle” is Unsustainable.

Western elites would like to live in a society based on a derivative of Christian morality, even though most of them have left Christianity behind. They believe that all human beings must be given the same basic rights simply by virtue of being human. They hate violence but believe it should be treated with understanding, and criminal behavior with rehabilitation at best and isolation at worst. For them, revenge is an atavistic act that has no place in civilized society. Honor is something that one pays lip service to, but gaining or losing it has no real consequences. Religion is a private matter that must be subservient to secular authority. Government is based on consent. They aspire to a world run according to these principles, governed by impartial international law and democratic institutions to enforce it. They believe that these values are so obviously superior that social evolution will ultimately bring them to infuse the world, and that opposing ideologies are bound to disappear.

Until 7 October 2023 many Israelis shared this view. They understood that their neighbors did not, but believed that in the fullness of time, if Israel showed restraint and was prepared to compromise, they would see that peace was preferable to war and mutually beneficial.

But the idea of global social progress toward Western norms is a myth and always has been. October 7 was a massive shock to Israelis, an even stronger one than post-Oslo terrorism and the Second Intifada. And finally there seems to be the beginning of a change in consciousness here. The “conseptzia” that it was possible to buy off our enemies with promises of economic prosperity (a huge insult to them, by the way) has finally lost currency. The idea that only the ideologues of Hamas or the PLO want to destroy us, while the majority of “ordinary Palestinians” just desire economic and physical security, has exploded like their rockets and RPGs. Israelis are finally beginning to understand that it requires a different outlook to defend a villa in the jungle than a cottage in Switzerland.

Since before the beginning of the state, Jews here have understood that they live in the Middle East, not the Alps. Military preparedness has been a given. But now the average Israeli is coming to understand that a psychological or spiritual change is also needed. A post-Christian European morality is detrimental to survival here.

Just one example should make this clear. Israel is holding thousands of Palestinian terrorists in its prisons, many of them murderers and even mass murderers. Some of them are serving multiple life sentences. But our prisons try to meet international (i.e., post-Christian European) standards, and convicts are treated relatively well, allowed to govern themselves, given adequate food, and so on. Their families receive regular stipends from the Palestinian Authority, money which comes to the PA from various international donors, particularly the US (in violation of US law).

Most importantly, the “life sentences” last only until the next “prisoner exchange,” or rather, the next time Israel is extorted to trade terrorists for hostages. Both Ahlam Tamimi, the mastermind of the 2001 Sbarro Pizza bombing in which 15 Jews were murdered, and Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, were released from prison in 2011, two among 1027 prisoners freed in exchange for one Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

Any day now we are expecting that a similar, probably even larger, release of prisoners will be announced, in return for a few of the hostages in the hands of Hamas. Like a rupturing tumor that spreads its cancerous cells throughout the body, these creatures will flock to reconstitute Hamas and other terror groups throughout the land, rendering the sacrifices of our soldiers and police to apprehended them null and void.

To survive in the Middle East we have to be, in some ways, Middle Eastern. And Middle Easterners don’t suffer terrorist murderers to live, much less treat them kindly and release masses of them every few years.

Most ordinary Israelis get this now, and even a few of our politicians and generals. But most of the media, the legal and academic establishments, and a hard core of fanatics for whom deposing the Prime Minister is more important than the survival of the state, are still attending the moral garden party in the villa. The Israeli media especially are guilty of demanding a virtual surrender to Hamas in return for a handful of their hostages.

Most of the world, probably including the Western heads of state that publicly demand it, knows that this is stupid. The world, as a matter of fact, does not act according to the post-Christian moral system; the majority of UN members don’t even pay lip service to it. And yet, Israel is expected to be a “light unto nations” according to a foreign concept of morality espoused by countries like the USA, which has a third of a billion inhabitants and is protected from invasion by two oceans1.

Our approach must change. We can’t continue to be a “villa,” an isolated outpost of the West, but we must become part of the Middle East. I am not saying we should become like the Arabs, but there is a Jewish tradition that predates Hellenism and the diaspora that can serve as a model.

The ancient Hebrews fought the Canaanites without mercy. There was no possibility of a two-state solution; for one tribe to live here, the others had to go. When Amalek attacked the people of Israel on their way to their land, bribing them to stop murdering us was not considered. I would not argue that Israel should follow the Torah as a guide to action. It wouldn’t convince those who don’t believe, and those who do already agree with me.

But you could do worse if you are looking for advice about how to possess and occupy the Land of Israel, and how to deal with implacable enemies. ___________________________________ 1 But which is nevertheless being destroyed from within thanks to its adherence to these values.

Victor Rosenthal

Abu Yehuda

#Israeli Society #War

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archie-sunshine · 2 months ago

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Hey archie !

I have a quick question about Ko-Fi. If you don't know it's okay you can delete this ask

I'd like to buy some merch from there but unfortunately i have no idea how it works for the payment. I see we can pay with Play Pal or something and card payment. It's for the card payment. Do you know wich kind of card it requires (like bancontact, mastercard, ...)? Is an european card valid, like a simple bank card? Or it must be like... the "international card" like VISA that allow us to buy no matter wich money type it is (so sorry if it's unclear, i don't even know how to explain it).

Or does it change dollars into euros automatically?

I tried to see on the site but just can't find the info. Maybe just because i'm shit in internet surfing but-

Anyways, thanks for reading and answering in advance (if you have an answer!)

I’m pretty sure it’s international! As long as you’ve got a bank card you should be able to use it!! All prices are set on ko-fi as usd (I know it’s weird) so whatever the price is in usd compared to euros or whatever other currency you use!!

I know all this is super annoying and confusing too, kofi is NOT the ideal storefront, so in the future I will likely switch to patreon

#archie answers

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mortalityplays · 2 years ago

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speaking of currency, one of the most baffling things about my trip to new york was the mass cultural psychosis around dollar coins. my naive ass touched down with my credit card in one hand and some worst case emergency usd in the other and all the confidence of a seasoned european traveler. literally ten steps from the airport shuttle I discovered:

I couldn't use the subway without a prepaid ticket bc the barriers were like 30 years old and couldn't read chip cards

I couldn't leave the shuttle platform without going through the subway barriers

the ticket machines only took bills, and returned change in coins

WHATEVER ok fine I figured it out and got a subway card and jangled my way out with a pocket full of loose change, which I promptly forgot about. A day later I was out with friends, it was hot, I was thirsty, I stopped to buy a bottle of water. The water cost $1. I had a pocket full of dollar coins. so like a pervert and a psychopath I paid for my $1 water with a $1 coin. the conversation after we left went like this:

me: did I say something wrong in there, why did the guy give me such a weird look

friends: well you paid with a dollar coin

me: yeah the water cost a dollar. [growing nervous] was I supposed to tip or something?

friends: no, it's just people don't use dollar coins

me: what do you mean? the water cost a dollar, I paid a dollar. they're legal currency right?

friends: yeah but it's inconvenient, the register doesn't usually have a place for dollar coins

me: ??? why not?

friends: because people don't pay with them, it's an annoyingly small amount of money

me: but you use cents, and you use dollar bills

friends: yes because there's a space for them in the register

me: [trying to escape kafka] the machine in the subway gave me a bunch of dollar coins, but it only accepts paper bills. what am I supposed to do with these if I can't spend them in shops?

friends: perish.

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dertaglichedan · 15 days ago

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Justice Jackson wards off ‘evil’ at Trump’s Inauguration with African ‘witchcraft’ necklace…

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson seemed very deliberate about her look for President Trump’s inauguration. Sure, she had to wear her black robe—she’s a Supreme Court Justice, after all—but her choice of jewelry was unique and a bit disturbing.

READ MORE: We need to talk about Barron Trump…

According to reports, Justice Jackson sported an African necklace designed to ward off “evil spirits,” leading many to wonder if the latest DEI justice is dabbling in old African witchcraft symbolism.

However, there are some questions surrounding the actual meaning of the necklace. Many claim the shells were actually used as payment to purchase African slaves.

We asked Grok about the shells:

Cowrie shells were indeed used as a form of currency in various parts of Africa and Asia for centuries, including during the era of the transatlantic slave trade. Here’s how they relate to the slave trade: Historical Use: Cowrie shells, primarily from the species Cypraea moneta and Cypraea annulus, were imported in vast quantities to Africa, where they served as currency. Their small size, durability, and the fact that they were hard to counterfeit made them an effective medium of exchange. Slave Trade Connection: In some regions, cowrie shells were used to buy goods, including slaves. Europeans, particularly during the 16th to 19th centuries, would often trade with cowries because they were a well-accepted form of currency in many African societies. This was especially true in West Africa where the slave trade was most intense. Economic Impact: The use of cowries in this context had significant economic implications. The influx of cowries could inflate local economies, sometimes leading to devaluation of existing currencies or systems of exchange. Cultural Significance: Beyond their economic role, cowrie shells also had cultural significance in many societies, used in jewelry, rituals, and as symbols of wealth or status.

The story caught on fire, when a large X account published this post about the so-called “witchcraft” necklace.

Christopher Webb:

I love this so much! At the inauguration, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wore a distinctive collar adorned with cowrie shells, which are believed to offer protection from evil in African traditions. This choice mirrors the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s practice of using collars to convey a message.

This comes across as crazy and emotionally unbalanced. Then again, it seems Justice Jackson might be confused about the meaning of the necklace too—which makes sense, considering she’s also not sure what a woman is.

***If you think this is some GOP made up story, check out how the libs on FB are supporting her. Read some of the comments.

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horseslur · 1 year ago

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Someone else can link the tumblr post/reddit link in the replies under this, I'm mostly here to elaborate on uh. How SSE Fucked Up This Time (possibly illegal version).

Disclaimer: Not an actual expert on this stuff, but i am an economics major. and i literally took a class on this sort of thing this semester.

What is SSE doing?

TLDR: as of roughly today (dec 21st 2023) but possibly earlier, you have a chance of, when trying to buy starrider, getting not just the "regular" discount packages that we know, where you pay once and get a bunch of seasonal goodies and the weekly sc, but also a "special" "Discounted" option where you get the goodies and starrider and *no weekly sc*. Meaning you will have to manually buy starcoins if you ever want any beyond the initial 2k or whatever.

Why is this possibly illegal?

I'm not diving too deep into A/B testing, because I know the least amount about it, but essentially it is literally up to chance which option you get, the regular set or the "cheap" option.

Combined with the fact that they sneakily removed the "receive a weekly starcoin allowance" from the starrider page from one day to another, and the fact that a slight graphical change (that being the +100sc not being in the image of the cheap option) are the only acknowledgements of this change, it basically sets them up for a lawsuit in any location they roll out these options.

Trade, market and consumer authorities (the FTC in the US, the European Commission in Europe, Konsumentverket in Sweden for example) have as one of their main and foremost goals the protection of consumers in the country where a product is sold. They're the reason why you can get your money back if you order something online and it doesn't arrive, or something distinctly different from what you ordered arrives instead. Rule number 1 for any company or seller is do not mislead your consumers.

Does removing the sc allowance directly break said rule? No. But doing so in a shady, hidden way that leads people to believe they should be receiving starcoins onto to be told by customer support to suck it up, they bought the wrong thing, and to do so unannounced and randomly throughout multiple regions, Definitely sets up a case against them.

It can absolutely be argued that after a decade of having a premium currency allowance as the Standard in their starrider subscriptions, to remove it unannounced and present it to customers as a regular discount is deliberately misleading consumers to buy a product that is not what they intended to buy. Both new customers and returning customers buying alternate accounts step into this process expecting to pay once for a starrider bundle that, given the ongoing seasonal festival, includes the seasonal cosmetic options, in addition to the "regular" premium currency allowance. This is especially more obvious once you realise that (presumably since implementing this system), you have to have created an account on their site and logged into it to even see which starrider bundles are available to you, which makes people unlikely to ever realise that the offers they are getting might be different from other people in their same region, with one version being significantly worse/different from what they might expect.

TLDR: it's really fucking shady of them to just Suddenly shove a bundle without the weekly allowance in people's faces when people are expecting to have them, especially because they're clearly trying to hide the fact that it's an option at all or different from the regular bundle.

What now?

If you or someone you know is getting this bundle or has bought it and felt surprised/betrayed by the fact that it lacks the allowance, take it to your local consumer protection authority (after you've contacted customer support). If you're uncertain what to tell them, try and add the following points:

You bought an online product to be used inside the game, which turned out to be something different from what you thought it was.

When you contacted customer support over this, they told you that the version you bought does not contain the allowance, but offer no way to correct this mistake. (Unless the customer support script ends up changing. In that case simply add what they did tell you.)

The discounted bundle did not clearly state that it lacks the allowance, nor is it distinctly different from other bundles, and is in fact the first option you were given.

To see what bundles are offered to you at all requires logging into an account on their website, making it difficult for you to compare offers to what other people might be getting, and making it unlikely for you to realise that you got something different from others at all until after you have bought it.

At worst, SSE will be reprimanded and made to add more clearly on their website what the bundle contains and what you're missing out on.

At best they actually go to court and go bankrupt over said costs and we'll finally be truly free

#calamity be upon ye #sso #star stable #star stable online

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metalobrukht · 7 months ago

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@ygnatyuk_ (Twitter)

How American sanctions against Ukraine work

Yesterday, many entrepreneurs with Ukrainian passports who own American companies and use the services of the bank “Mercury” received a letter with approximately the following content:

“In connection with the recent changes, we stop supporting the accounts of companies whose founders have passports of these countries: Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela”.

For any business, switching banks is a major operational challenge and pain.

Therefore, this trend is very frightening, because it is definitely not the kind of “support” you expect from partners who know that Ukraine is fighting an aggressor for the third year in a row.

Also, many notice that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, many American and European sites block traffic from Ukraine, and you can only access them through a VPN. I was told about the situation regarding the TNW conference, with Ukrainian flag and “We Stand With Ukraine” banner on their website: it was not possible to buy tickets from Ukraine, simply without explanation: block. There are many other stories, including the difficulty of sending currency to Ukraine.

The situation is critical, because without publicity, help and lobbying, we risk losing the opportunity to work normally on the global market.

#stolen twitter content :^#ukraine #russia #twitter #war #russian culture #russian terrorism #usa #us sanctions

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mariacallous · 11 months ago

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RUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is pressing ahead with a plan to use the profits generated from billions of euros of Russian assets frozen in Europe to help provide weapons and other funds for Ukraine, a senior official said Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell got a green light for the plan from most of the bloc’s foreign ministers this week, and he hopes that EU leaders will endorse it at a summit in Brussels starting on Thursday. The move comes as Ukraine runs dangerously low on munitions, and U.S. efforts to get new funds for weapons have stalled in Congress.

The 27-nation EU is holding around 200 billion euros ($217 billion) in Russian central bank assets, most of it frozen in Belgium, in retaliation for Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The bloc estimates that the interest on that money could provide around 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) each year.

“The Russians will not be very happy. The amount of money, 3 billion per year, is not extraordinary, but it is not negligible,” Borrell told reporters.

A small group of member countries, notably Hungary, refuse to supply weapons to Ukraine, so these windfall profits would be divided up. Around 90% of the money would be put into a special fund that many EU countries already use to get reimbursed for arms and ammunition they send.

The other 10% would be put into the EU budget to help bolster Ukraine’s defense industry. Countries that object to sending weapons could then claim that they are not arming the country, Borrell said.

The EU budget can’t be used to buy arms, under current expert interpretations of the bloc’s treaties, but the special fund — known as the European Peace Facility — runs off-budget and doesn’t have to respect the same legal standards or be approved by the European Parliament.

The European Central Bank, or ECB, has warned in the past against seizing Russian assets as this could undermine confidence in the euro currency and EU markets. But Borrell said that no assets would be taken, only the windfall profits they make. He added that the ECB has been consulted on the plan.

Some EU leaders, including Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, have said that they want to use the windfall profits to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction, but Borrell said he believes that “the best thing is to avoid that anything is destroyed” in the first place.

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kkatastrophic · 9 months ago

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Reasons Celeste had the weakest motive as a contestant of Danganronpa (other than Master-Minds) (keep in mind I haven't played v3, and this is my opinion.)

. She wanted money? That was it. She didn't know that the world was ending, but when she got out if she succeeded in her plan, it would've been better to stay in the Academy because it probably would've been safer.

. More on the above point, if Celeste decided to stay in the Academy, alone, it would be like a castle and there would've been no point to kill anyway. She'd have nothing to do with the money because the only thing that needs money is the monomono machine which takes a different currency. Even if her money worked at the machine, she could only buy gifts, and she'd have nobody to give them to because everybody would've gotten executed after voting somebody else.

. If she went outside, she might’ve died quickly as it would've been hard to run in her shoes and with her style.

. She wanted a European castle, but since the world was taken over, she wouldn't even be able to get to Europe.

. Another reason this motive if the weakest is because Celeste and Byakuya actually got along nicely. Decently is probably a better word because neither of them are nice.

. The above dot point means she could've became friends with him. If she hadn't have killed in chapter 3, and lived on, the others would already know how strong and manipulative she was, and she wouldn't become a victim.

. While Celeste may have survived past chapter three if she didn't kill for money, that's around the time byakuya gets his small character development, and he may have helped the out by giving them a few grand. He stated that the amount Celeste killed for was "nothing" in money terms, so he's stacked af and Celeste probably would've gotten some of his money.

. It's just an incredibly selfish reason to be honest.

. Celeste literally gambles for a living, she's the queen of liars! If she hadn't killed, and didn't become a victim, she could have gambled her way to the top and earn that money anyway.

. Some of you might say the above point is incorrect, because gambling is illegal in Japan and the world is ending, but if the world is ending people are already breaking laws, and there's sure to be underground rebel groups gambling anyway.

. Celeste had no point in killing Hifumi, he would've easily been caught for killing taka and she wouldn't have to get her hands dirty, she'd be spared as he would be executed.

. Monokuma said at the start working together was against the rules, Celeste knew this as did Hifumi but she manipulated him. She could've let him kill taka and that end her plan there, because hifumi was annoying to her anyway, it would've gotten rid of the worst side plot (hifumi v kiyondo) and made her life easier in the trial.

. She's a gambler, she alr had money to begin with...

. At the end of the trial she lost jer composure and got caught, screaming how she hated working together and THE ISOLATION. If she were to use the money as planned, she'd be isolated anyway, so what was the point?!

. The school was easier to take care of than a castle would've been, and she wouldn't have had to waste any of the money on food and furniture if she hadn't killed, because the school furnished her every need.

. In sdr2 Nagito "trained" Monokuma to come whenever he heard a certain word, somebody as smart and manipulative as Celesste could just do that too, that would mean he could make her tea. She wouldn't need army butlers.

Thats about all i think... this is a biased post as an Ishimaru lover, Hifumi hater, and Celestia neutralist, feel free to reblog and add on your opinions even if they differ, I'd love to hear people out, especially on a character as complex as celeste!

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darkmaga-returns · 2 months ago

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A (YOU) token is being developed. This (YOU) token will include in-depth information about you collected from the new system

Dec 17, 2024

NOTE TO READERS: This article and dozens of others appeared in this week’s Trends Journal. Subscribe here for history before it happens.

BY GREGORY MANNARINO, TradersChoice.net

For nearly a decade I have been making the above statement to those who follow my work, referring to what I know, and we all know is coming.

Rapidly, the people of the United States FIRST, are being thrusted into a system which they neither voted for nor want, but the fact is this—it cannot be stopped.

For many decades, central banks have been developing a new system, (none more so than the U.S. Federal Reserve which still holds the world reserve currency, AND the European Central Bank).

What has already been developed is a cross-border, global, singular currency cashless system. This new system will allow for every transaction that you make to be tracked, traced, categorized, logged, and registered.

A tremendous amount of information can be gathered about you by studying what you buy, where you buy it, how much you spend, how often, etc. and this information can, and will, be then sold off to corporations, banks, along with various other “government” agencies, etc.

And this is just the beginning.

Developing a (YOU) Token.

A (YOU) token is being developed. This (YOU) token will include in-depth information about you collected from the new system. Including, speculation of what you may or may not do, what medications you may need in the future, what medications you take now, current illnesses, potential future illnesses, what you may buy, and even when you may die.

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rabbitcruiser · 2 months ago

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National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Indulge in a chocolate fountain or fondue to dunk any treats you fancy or drizzle your favorite desserts in delicious sauce and syrup.

Chocolate, a candy loved by both children and adults alike. But how much can it go on? What edible creations can molten chocolate create? Where in the world are certain chocolate dishes made a favorite staple? Well, in order to find the answers to all those questions, we must do a time-hop into the past, for this is the search of the history of Chocolate Covered Everything Day!

Learn about Chocolate Covered In Anything Day

Who doesn’t love chocolate? It’s creamy, sweet, and delicious! While we can all eat chocolate on its own, it is fun to combine chocolate with other ingredients as well! A lot of people love strawberries dipped into chocolate; a real classic. Or, how about some chocolate pretzels? There are plenty of weird and wonderful ideas you can try as well, such as dipping French fries into chocolate ice cream. Hey, don’t knock it until you have tried it! If you have ever wondered what something would taste like in chocolate, today is the perfect opportunity for you to find out.

History of Chocolate Covered Everything Day

We all know and love the dark and sweet bricks called chocolate, we even melt it down and put on our ice cream! When was this delectable treat created? The history of chocolate begins in Mesoamerica. Fermented beverages made from chocolate date back to 1900 BC. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, and the seeds once had so much value that they were used as a form of currency. After chocolate’s arrival in Europe from oversea expeditions in the sixteenth century, sugar was added to it and it became popular throughout all of Europe, first among the ruling classes of the European societies, and then among the common people. Jose de Acosta, a Spanish missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, described its use more generally.

Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum or froth that is very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink very much esteemed among the Indians, wherewith they feast noble men who pass through their country. The Spaniards, both men and women that are accustomed to the country are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that “chili”; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh.

How to celebrate Chocolate Covered Everything Day

To celebrate the day where we coat everything we can in chocolate, we go out and find an affordable mini chocolate fountain, and then we buy whatever we like to go with our chocolate, take it home and set it up, and then enjoy the chocolate covered foods in the comfort of our own home, enjoying it any time we want! We can also celebrate by buying chocolate syrup, heating it up in a bowl and have a bowl of ice cream with a hot chocolate syrup topping.

There are lots of great chocolate desserts you can make on this day as well! We all deserve a treat now and again, and what better sweet treat than a chocolate-based dessert? From sticky toffee pudding to dark chocolate fondant, we take a look at the best desserts for chocolate lovers.

Let’s start with a Chocolate Sticky Toffee Pudding. This is a delicious traditional English dessert with a chocolate twist. When done correctly, sticky toffee features a rich moist sponge that is topped in a thick and indulgent toffee sauce. It is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The coolness of the ice cream against the warmth of the toffee is an exquisite combination.

How about some Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding? We recommend pairing the bread and butter pudding with a tasty rum banana ice cream. It’s comforting, creamy, and delicious.

You will struggle to find a dessert as decadent and indulgent as Dark Chocolate Fondant. You need just the right amount of gooeyness in the middle. The dessert is usually finished offer with a smooth and refreshing vanilla ice cream and a thick salted caramel sauce. Prepare for your taste buds to be sent into overdrive.

Finally, do you feel like being adventurous? How about some Chilli Spiced Chocolate Cake? Chilli and chocolate are two ingredients you wouldn’t expect to work well together but they make a delicious pairing. It’s not simply a case of making chocolate spicy. Both ingredients have real, varied fruit flavours and so it’s all about pairing them in a complementary manner, which is what you can do with a Chilli Spiced Chocolate Cake. Take this luxurious dessert and give it a contemporary edge by adding chilli, which gives a pleasant kick that will warm the back of your throat.

All in all, if you are a lover of chocolate sweets, you can rest assured that you will be more than happy with one of the four delicious desserts that have been mentioned! There are plenty of other recipes that you can try on National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Aside from making your own desserts, National Chocolate Covered Anything Day presents you with a good opportunity to support a local chocolatier. With the increase in the production of commercial chocolate, a lot of people overlook just how delicate and difficult the art of making chocolate can be! So, why not support your local chocolatier and let them know that you are amazed by their incredible work?

Source

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dailyanarchistposts · 2 months ago

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Way of death

Still, the emphasis on debt is puzzling, since nothing in the ethnography suggests that in the 1950s debt was a pervasive concern of everyday Tiv life. Here I think we have to turn to a larger historical context.

The early history of the Tiv is difficult to reconstruct, but they appear to have arrived in the Benue River valley and adjacent lands sometime around 1750 – that is, during a time when all of what’s now Nigeria was being torn apart by the Atlantic slave trade. Early stories told how the Tiv, during their migrations, used to paint their wives and children with simulated smallpox scars, so that potential raiders would be afraid to carry them off. They established themselves in a notoriously inaccessible stretch of country, and offered up ferocious defence against periodic raids from neighbours to their north and west (Abraham 1933: 17–26; Akiga Sai 1954; Bohannan 1954). Some of these raids were not entirely unsuccessful. It’s probably not insignificant that the nearby Jukun kingdom, which made a series of ultimately unsuccessful attempts to conquer the Tiv in the 18th century, disposing many Tiv captives to slave-dealers on the coast in the process, was also seen, in later times, as the real origin of the ‘organisation’ of the mbatsav (Abraham 1933: 19, 31–5; Curtin 1969: 255, 298; Latham 1973: 29; Tambo 1976: 201–3).

One might also consider the actual origin of the famous copper bars used as social currency.

Copper bars had been used for money in this part of Africa for centuries; often, it seemed, they were used not just for social purposes but broken up into small change for use in ordinary commercial transactions (Jones 1958; Latham 1971; Northrup 1978: 157–64; Herbert 2003: 196). Ibn Battuta saw people using copper bars to buy everyday wares in marketplaces in the nearby Niger region as far back as the 1340s. Most of the bars current in 18th- and 19th-century Tivland, on the other hand, were not local products. They were mass-produced in factories in Birmingham, and imported through the port of Old Calabar at the mouth of the Cross River, by slave-traders based in Liverpool and Bristol. The Tiv were unusual in restricting these bars to social purposes. In all the country adjoining the Cross River – that is, in the region directly to the south of the Tiv territory – they were still used as everyday currency.

It is hardly surprising that Tiv were suspicious of such items. Almost everywhere else, they were also the currency of the slave. During the 1760s alone, perhaps 100,000 Africans were shipped down the Cross River to Calabar and nearby ports, where they were put in chains, placed on British, French or other European ships, and shipped across the Atlantic – part of perhaps 1.5 million exported from the Bight of Biafra during the whole period of the trade (Eltis et al. 2000; Lovejoy and Richardson 1999: 337). Some had been captured in wars, raids or simply kidnapped. The majority, though, were carried off because of debts.

In fact the Atlantic Slave Trade as a whole was a gigantic network of credit arrangements. Ship-owners based in Liverpool or Bristol would acquire goods on easy credit terms from local wholesalers, expecting to make good by selling slaves (also on credit) to planters in the Antilles and America, with commission agents in the city of London ultimately financing the affair through the profits of the sugar and tobacco trade (Sheridan 1958; Price 1980, 1989, 1991). Ship-owners would then ship their wares to African ports like Old Calabar. Calabar was the quintessential mercantile city-state, dominated by an African elite who dressed in European clothes, built themselves European-style houses, and in some cases even sent their children to England to be educated.

On arrival, European merchants would negotiate the value of their cargoes in the copper rods that served as the currency of the port. The cargoes themselves consisted of cloth, iron and copper ware, incidental goods like beads, and substantial numbers of firearms. The goods were then advanced to Calabar’s merchant elite, again on credit, who assigned them to their own agents to move upstream.

The obvious problem was how to secure the debt. The trade was an extraordinarily duplicitous and brutal business, and merchants who often doubled in the interior as no more than raiders and kidnappers were also notoriously bad credit risks. As a result, a system quickly developed where European captains would demand security in the form of pawns.

It would seem that, with the development of commercial towns on the West African coast, institutions that must have originally resembled Lele pawnship, or Tiv wards, had gradually transformed into what was effectively a form of debt peonage. We don’t know precisely how it happened, but the process was clearly well under way even before Europeans appeared on the scene in the 16th century. Debtors would pledge a family member as surety for a loan; the pawn would then become a dependent in the creditor’s household, working his fields or tending to his household chores – their persons acting as security and their labour, effectively, substituting for interest. Still, there are clear signs of a historic connection: for instance, if a girl was pledged, the creditor generally had the option of marrying her when she reached maturity, thus cancelling the debt, exactly as among the Lele. And critically, pawns were clearly distinguished from slaves. The difference only became blurred once it became the custom for the masters of slaving ships, on advancing goods to their African counterparts, to demand pawns – for instance, two of the merchants’ own dependents for every three slaves to be delivered, preferably, including at least one or two members of the merchants’ families (Lovejoy and Richardson 1999: 349–51; 2001). This was in practice not much different than demanding the surrender of hostages, and at times created major political crises if captains, tired of waiting for delayed shipments, decided to take off with a cargo of pawns instead.

Upriver, debt pawns also played a major part in the trade. In the Cross River region, this trade seems to have had two phases. The first was one of absolute terror and utter chaos, in which raids were frequent, and anyone travelling alone risked being kidnapped by roving gangs of thugs and sold to Calabar. Villages lay abandoned; many fled into the forest; men would have to form armed parties to work the fields (Equiano 1789: 6–13). This period was relatively brief. The second began when representatives of local merchant societies began establishing themselves in communities up and down the region, offering to restore order. The most famous of these was the Aro Confederacy, who, calling themselves ‘Children of God’, and backed by heavily armed mercenaries and the prestige of their famous Oracle at Arochukwu, created their own justice system, with the Oracle acting as a kind of regional court of high appeal (see Jones 1939; Ottenberg 1958; Afigbo 1971; Ekejiuba 1972; Isichei 1976; Northrup 1978; Dike and Ekejiuba 1990; Nwauwa 1991). This system was notoriously harsh, and itself seems to have functioned above all to either reduce as many villagers as possible into slavery by judicial means, or to assign penalties (always denominated in brass rods) so hefty that culprits would be forced to sell themselves or members of their families into slavery.

These same merchant societies also assisted in the dissemination of a secret society called Ekpe, most famous for sponsoring magnificent masquerades and for initiating its members into arcane mysteries, but that also acted as a covert mechanism for the enforcement of debts. In Calabar itself, the Ekpe society operated primarily as a means of enforcing contracts and collecting debts (Latham 1973: 38). But it was open to anyone willing to pay the hefty initiation fees – which were also exacted in the brass rods the merchants themselves supplied. In the town the fee schedule for each grade looked like this (from Walker 1875: 120):

In town, membership became the chief mark of honour and distinction. Entry fees were no doubt less exorbitant in small, distant communities, but the effect was the same: thousands ended up in debt to the merchants, whether for the fees required for joining, or for the trade goods they supplied (mostly cloth and metal put to use creating the equipment and costumes for the Ekpe performances), debts that they thus themselves became responsible for enforcing on themselves. These debts, too, were regularly paid in people, ostensibly, yielded up as pawns. But in these cases the line between pawns and slaves soon became effectively non-existent.

In the countryside, practices varied. In many areas, copper rods became general purpose money. In the Afikpo district (Ottenberg and Ottenberg 1962: 124), on a remote part of upper Cross River, we learn that copper bars, supplied by the merchant societies, were not used to buy food but restricted to social purposes, ‘for gifts and for payments in funerals, titles, and other ceremonies’. Most of those payments, titles and ceremonies however were tied to the secret societies that the merchants themselves had brought to the area:

In the old days, if anybody got into trouble or debt in the upper parts of the Cross River, and wanted ready money, he used generally to ‘pledge’ one or more of his children, or some other members of his family or household, to one of the Akunakuna traders who paid periodical visits to his village. Or he would make a raid on some neighboring village, seize a child, and sell him or her to the same willing purchaser. (Partridge 1905: 72)

The passage only makes sense if one recognises that debtors were also, owing to their membership in the secret societies, also the debt collectors. The seizing of a child can only be a reference to the local practice of ‘panyarring’, current throughout West Africa, by which creditors despairing of repayment would simply sweep into the debtor’s community with a group of armed men and seize anything – people, goods, domestic animals – that could be easily carried off, then hold it hostage as security. It was actually a quite sensible expedient in an environment with no central authority, where people tended to feel an enormous sense of responsibility towards other members of their community, and very little responsibility towards anyone else. In the case cited above, the debtor would, presumably, be calling in his own debts – real or imagined – to those outside the organisation, in order not to have to send members of his own family.

Such expedients were not always effective. Often debtors would be forced to pawn more and more of their own children or dependents, until finally, there was no recourse but to pawn themselves (Harris 1972: 128). And of course, at the height of the slave trade, ‘pawning’ had become little more than a euphemism. The distinction between pawns and slaves had largely disappeared. Debtors, like their families before them, ended up turned over to the Aro, then to the British, and finally, shackled and chained, crowded into tiny slaving vessels, and sent off to be sold in plantations across the sea.

∗

If the Tiv, then, were haunted by the vision of an insidious secret organisation that lured unsuspecting victims into debt traps, whereby they themselves became the enforcers of debts to be paid with the bodies of their children, and ultimately, themselves – one reason was because this was, literally, happening to people who lived no more than a few hundred miles away. Nor is the use of the phrase ‘flesh debt’ especially inappropriate. Slave-traders might not have been reducing their victims to meat, but they were certainly reducing them to nothing more than bodies.

What was remarkable that all this was done, the bodies extracted, through the very mechanisms of the human economy, premised on the principle that human lives are the ultimate values, to which nothing could possibly compare. Instead, all the same institutions – fees for initiations, means of calculating guilt and compensation, social currencies, debt pawnship – were turned into their opposite; the machinery was, as it were, thrown into reverse; and, as the Tiv also perceived, the very gears and mechanisms designed for the creation of human beings collapsed on itself, and became the means for their destruction.

As the above examples reveal, the change could only be effected by violence – in the case of the Atlantic slave trade, what is almost certainly the greatest and most catastrophic outbreaks of commercial violence in the history of the world. Yet at the same time, I think the very intensity of the catastrophe can help lay bare some of the mechanisms by which human economies could have, in many other times and places in human history, overcome the conceptual barriers between social currencies, as tokens of a debt that cannot be paid, and commercial currencies, as means of cancelling debts in their entirety. One thing is clear: the change was effected by violence. Above all, it was only violence that could rip a human being entirely from the web of unique human relations that thereby made her a unique individual, a daughter, sister, wife, lover, friend, so as to make her the exact equivalent of anyone else. But of course, this violence was already present even when lives could only be equivalent to other lives. Among the Lele, men could not be compelled to do anything they did not agree to do, but women could still be beaten if they completely refused to comply with the system that rendered them exchangeable. Among the Tiv, Akiga Sai is even more explicit:

Under the old system an elder who had a ward could always marry a young girl, however senile he might be, even if he were a leper with no hands or feet; no girl would dare to refuse him. If another man were attracted by his ward he would take his own and give her to the old man by force, in order to make an exchange. The girl had to go with the old man, sorrowfully carrying his goat-skin bag. If she ran back to her home her owner caught her and beat her, then bound her and brought her back to the elder. The old man was pleased, and grinned till he showed his blackened molars. ‘Wherever you go,’ he told her, ‘you will be brought back here to me; so stop worrying, and settle down as my wife.’ The girl fretted, till she wished the earth might swallow her. Some women even stabbed themselves to death when they were given to an old man against their will; but in spite of all, the Tiv did not care. (1939: 161)

Anthropologists have spent much of the 20th century studying kinship systems, often creating elaborate and elegant diagrams to understand what Le´vi-Strauss so famously called ‘the exchange of women’ (1949). It was only after feminist authors like Gayle Rubin (1975) began to point out just how coercive such systems ultimately are, how much violence lay beneath them, that anthropologists suddenly seem to have concluded that the entire subject was no longer particularly interesting. Yet it would appear that it is precisely through elaborating on this underlying violence, through the transformation of pawns into peons, for example, that systems of debt could begin to take what we would now consider commercial form: that is, as a series of quantifiable, fully exchangeable equivalents, and that social currencies could become money in the familiar sense of the term.

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copperbadge · 2 years ago

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i don't know if this was intentional but you seem to have set the exchange rate of saorh to euros higher than nearly any other european currency. in 12 points jerry wants to buy the car for 32 M TRY. someone says that's over 1.2M saorh. 32M TRY = approx. 1.6M euros. (this also makes the saorh to USD rate in favor of saorhs; euros & USD are like 1.1 to .9 right now.) while you could say well 1.6 is over 1.2, the car's referred to as a million dollar car, indicating it's closer to 1.2M. also 32M TRY = 1.4M GBP, which also sets the saorh to GBP rate in favor of the saorh.

i really like these numbers -- it helps reinforce the idea that ashkazer-shivadlakia has this amazing stable economy, even with how small the country is. caleb mentions the stability of the saorh early on in 12 points to buck, and this really demonstrates it. also shows why no one ever bothered pegging it to the euro! why bother!

also! as far as i can tell, the iso 4217 for the saorh might be ass? (a-s as the country code and then s for the saorh). could also be aks, which i prefer stylistically but i could def see the nation going 'no, we want our currency to be known in the financial world as ASS'

i know this is super nerdy worldbuilding but i've been thinking a lot about the ashkazer-shivalakian economy instead of doing the work i have for my actual econ class haha

Well, admittedly some of that is an error, I did the math wrong on the Saorh-Lira conversion but I knew Lira were subject to some pretty severe inflation so I didn't question it. :D In theory, the Saor is independent, although in practice outside of the story it's basically pegged to the dollar, like that's what I use as reference when pricing things in Saorh. In Royals/Ramblers there's a brief exchange where Monday wants to bet ten dollars on something, and Noah tells her that's roughly 11 Saorh, so she just bets ten Saorh.

I've adjusted the amounts and put in Euro for Lira since obvs. the Lira isn't in existence anymore, but hopefully the change is still reassuring for someone who's super into currency/economics, since I've also adjusted the value of the car downward (it's actually about a $150K car). I try to keep things somewhat vague a lot of the time but I also do try to keep it in proportion for the most part, like I did put thought into the Saor and how it would be valued or supported as a currency. Gregory II worked really hard to lay the groundwork for an economically stable, democratic society, and Jason and Michaelis both considered themselves custodians of that. Gregory III, because Michaelis kept the country so stable so long and because Gregory has an MBA with a specialization in economics, is able to start reaching towards actual diversified investments to support the country; he's starting to woo pharma and tech companies, and taking small risks like investing in Galia's bond measures. (You'll see this paying off after Royals/Ramblers, when Gregory starts to have a little walking-around money to spend on a national university and a football team.)

Love the idea that the Saor might be ASS :D It looks like the currency codes were instituted in 1973, so Jason was in charge, and probably wouldn't have approved ASS (Michaelis might have, depending on his mood). But it could also be SHS, for Shivadh Saor, or RSS for Royal Shivadh Saor, looks like neither of those are taken. (My love of RSS readers makes my desire clear....)

#shivadhverse

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