#city-state

[arthurdrakoni]

Flag of the Free City of Hong Kong

This is the flag of the Free City of Hong Kong.  It comes from a world where Britain handed over Hong Kong to Taiwan rather than the People's Republic of China.  British leaders were able to convince both of the Chinas to allow Hong Kong to hold a referendum to decide its fate.  The overwhelming majority voted to join Taiwan.  The PRC demanded a recount, and Taiwan agreed to hold another referendum.  This time, however, Hong Kong voted to become and independent city-state.  America and Britain agreed to defend Hong Kong's independence if it were ever threatened.  Tensions ran high for a few days but, reluctantly, the PRC agreed to respect Hong Kong's sovereignty.  Though they also built a large wall along their border with Hong Kong.  The PRC claimed this was to keep Hong Kongers out, but almost everyone knew it was really to keep their citizens in.  

Hong Kong is an economic powerhouse just as it is in our world.  It maintains close relations with Taiwan.  The two nations operate a mutual immigration policy, colloquially referred to as the Free China Corridor.  As a result, Hong Kong is slightly less crowded than in our world.  Hong Kong also maintains good relations with Britain and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. 

The flag symbolizes Hong Kong's mixed Chinese and British heritage.  The stripes harken back to the flag of the British East India company.  That they also resemble the America flag, and thus act like a middle finger to the PRC, is a happy coincidence.  The lotus flower represents Chinese influences on Hong Kong's culture. 

Link to the original flag on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2017/09/flag-of-free-city-of-hong-kong.html?m=1

[lusifernocturne]

City of Atolla

The City of Atolla is a city-state located on the Eastern coast of Lothian.

Size: City with around 24,000 within the walls and surrounding farmland. 

Attitude toward Travelers: Fairly welcoming. 

Attitude toward Players: Neutral/a little nerves 

Architectural Style: Tudor 

Visual features and quirks: Lots of sea glass and pretty smooth stones, dirt roads despite being a city, a large cave system, massive coral reef nearby, and the ocean quickly gets super deep. 

Prominent buildings: Council building, meeting house/city hall, 3 guildhalls, 1 large temple to multiple gods, 1 large temple to the god of the sea, a druid's grove in the nearby forest, and a public arena(with a strict no kill policy for fights) 

Majority Race (or melting pot): Melting pot, but has a high concentration of draconic races(kolbolds, half dragons, dragonborns, and even dragons) and outer races(Tieflings, Aasimar, Genasi, ect.). Low number of humans. 

Common language(s): Common, Aquan, and Draconic are most common. Abyssal, Celestial, Infernal, Sylvan, and the other elemental languages are fairly common.

Economy Major trade in the city? Yes. 

Major exports: Elemental Crystal / Ore(water and lightning), fish, sea based gemstones, spices, local flora, and lumber. 

Major imports: Adamantine, Furs, Inks, granite, dyes, incense, exotic meats, and supplies for farming, fishing, and mining. 

Overall wealth: Fairly high

Taxation: Normally fair, but if the city is majorly damaged by a storm it can get kinda high until everything is fixed. 

Leader(s): The Council of Atolla

Police/Guards and Crime: Decent amount of guards and they mainly deal with petty crimes(thieving and vandalism). But there are still murders and such on occasion. The biggest problem is the gnolls that attack the outlying farms. 

Crime rate: Between Medium and Low 

Can they be bribed? No really, it'd be a very hard thing to do. 

How organized are they? How well-trained? How strict are they? Fairly well organized, pretty well trained, and semi strict.

Primary god(s): Mostly worship Abelus Saloninus but also worship The Phoenix Queen, The Raven Queen, Mask, and Pan.

Culture Unique traditions? Pray before ship travel. If a crew is going on a long voyage they hold a gathering at the harbor to set off the crew with food and well wishes. 

Important holidays?

They participate in the Festival of Pan from the 1st- 7th of First Seed. The Day of Tricks on the 31st of Harvestmere. Festival of the Ancestors in Wintermarch form the 20th to th 22nd.

The only fully unique event is The Festival of Atolla during the last week of Highsun(aka the last 9 days, from the 22nd to the 30th) to celebrate their independence from the Cloud Empire.

Factions

Guardians of the Vaults 

A major merchant's guild with plenty of members but few bases/guildhalls. It's main focus is to help new merchants set up and help one another grow through trade and tips. 

Allies: Shiphaulers 

Rivals: None

Shiphaulers 

Otherwise known as the sailor's guild, it is a decent sized group made up of those who spend much time on the seas. 

Allies: Guardians of the Vaults

Rivals:  Hallowed Berserkers

Hallowed Berserkers

 A small mercenary guild with a guildhall outside of the city. They don't often allow new members and are thought to worship Eve but no one is sure. What is known, however, is that they have attacked many ships. 

Allies: None known 

Rivals: Shiphaulers and Memories of the Sea 

Memories of the Sea 

A group that worships Life and Death. They make sure the families of sailors are informed of the lost or disappearances at sea, as well as make sure those loses are honored and if possible makes sure the person is laid to rest. 

Allies: Guardians of the Vaults, The Fallingstar guild, and Guardians of the Vaults(who frequently make donations to make burial possible) 

Rivals: Hallowed Berserkers 

Inns and Taverns

The Lazy Bowl tavern and inn(located in the shopping district on the higher area)

The Grim Kraken(a tavern and inn right by the docks)

The Port's Hole(A tavern, inn, and brothel all in one, located on the far western side of the city)

[macbethz]

Well I like it but it’s not very well written. Also it’s a visual mess. The plot doesnt make any sense and the creators suck and its politics oscillate from mildly problematic to frankly baffling. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. However. the character

[mahmoud0qassas]

I am Mahmoud's wife. Unfortunately, I wanted to inform you that my husband Mahmoud was injured in the head, which caused a skull fracture that descended onto the nerves of the brain and affected the nerves of speech, hearing, and sight.

Mahmoud's condition is very critical and he must go abroad for treatment. He was injured 3 days ago and underwent surgery to clean his head. The doctors are telling us that he needs to undergo a major operation to remove the shrapnel or fix it to the skull bone so that no nerves in the brain are cut off.

Please donate and share this post widely so that we can get my husband out and receive treatment abroad.

[reasonsforhope]

"According to National Coalition for the Homeless, 40% of the country’s homeless youth population is comprised of LGTBQ+ teens. 

When New York native Austin Rivers took up knitting during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was this staggering figure that drove him towards action. 

“I don’t have the capacity to build a shelter, the network or the connections to help in that way, but what I can do is knit,” Rivers told NBC News. 

“And I know that New York City is cold, so I decided I would start knitting and create this nonprofit.”

That’s when he founded Knit the Rainbow, an organization that distributes free handmade garments to those in need. 

And nearly five years after it was first created, Rivers’ knitting collective isn’t just serving the queer community in New York City.

Their nationwide network links local yarn stores and local nonprofits with over 550 volunteers from 45 states. 

As of 2024, they have collected and distributed over 25,000 winter garments — including sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, and socks — throughout homeless communities in New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, and beyond. 

Once clothing items are shipped to Rivers’ apartment, he works with volunteers to unpack boxes, tag and sort donations, and pack and deliver them to local shelters that provide housing to LGBTQ+ and HIV+ homeless youth. 

Although the organization’s impact is wider, and the piles of mail have grown higher, Rivers still has a hand in day-to-day deliveries. 

“We’re going to do it whether it’s rain, or snow, or shine,” Rivers said in his NBC News interview, pulling a handcart topped with boxes. 

Those clothes could be the difference between frostbite and hospitalization, especially in cities that often drop below freezing in the wintertime. 

But Rivers also noted that every handmade item — knitted, crocheted, or stitched — has a dual impact, because every piece of clothing is made with love. 

“A lot of the times, the reason that they’re unhoused is because they were kicked out by their families,” Rivers said. 

“We’re not just providing warmth, but we’re also providing that love and that compassion that they so often don’t have.” 

To the members of the community Knit The Rainbow served, he had a clear message.

“There are thousands of people out here that are constantly thinking of you and using their hands to make things for you,” Rivers emphasized. “So don’t give up. Keep going.”

To download free knitting [and crochet] patterns, donate a garment, or sign up to volunteer, you can visit the organization's website to get started." 

‍-via GoodGoodGood, December 23, 2024

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

URGENT UPDATE ON KOSA.

This is exactly how they were finally able to pass the tiktok ban after trying for 3 years. And this is exactly what I was worried about them trying as a result. Again, all info and resources for fighting KOSA are in the pinned post on my page. Plz spread the word. Even if you don't live in america, Share this with any american friends and mutuals you have. We can still fight this bill we still have a chance at stopping it just like we have in the past. The only reason it hasn't passed yet is because we keep fighting it. Don't forget that. make sure your reps and senators don't know a moment of peace

[unpeeled-human]

tough out herre

[thoughtportal]

[finemealprompt]

DP x DC Prompt #16

When Hal had asked him which town he protected, Danny was more than happy to tell him, "Amity Park!" When Hal asked Danny where it was, Danny hadn't thought the response, "At this moment? Or where it was last week?" would've caused such chaos in the meeting.

Danny knew not everyone's town traveled across the country, but he didn't think it was odd enough to warrant this kind of reaction.

[bentbox-co]

[bonesashesglass]

Protestor waves Palestine and Sudan flag during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance

NFL didn’t air it on TV, but people at the game caught it on video:

https://en.as.com/nfl/the-controversy-about-the-palestinian-flag-at-kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-halftime-heres-what-happened-n/

[breathtakingdestinations]

Empire State Building - New York City - New York - USA (by Diana Robinson)

[communistkenobi]

On the one hand, slavery represented the most radical rural degradation of labour imaginable - the conversion of men themselves into inert means of production by their deprivation of every social right and their legal assimilation to beasts of burden: in Roman theory, the agricultural slave was designated an instrumentum vocale, the speaking tool, one grade away from the livestock that constituted an instrumentum semi-vocale, and two from the implement which was an instrumentum mutum. On the other hand, slavery was simultaneously the most drastic urban commercialization of labour conceivable: the reduction of the total person of the labourer to a standard object of sale and purchase, in metropolitan markets of commodity exchange.

— Perry Anderson (1974), Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, pp. 24-25

I always knew that the Roman Empire probably wasn’t great to live in for a variety of reasons but reading about the obscene amounts of chattel slavery they were doing is really driving home why all the fascist guys on twitter are obsessed with this period of history

[mahmoud0qassas]

I am Mahmoud Al-Qassas, I just got out of the hospital

I need your help to have an operation abroad

I am waiting for your help and donations and please be of help to us

[aestum]

(by Lerone Pieters)