#don't get me started on the religion

[monabee-draws]

Okay but HOW did the South all fall to the Blight anyways? I get that Ghilan'nain altered it to be more vicious but the world of Thedas has survived Blights more than a century long with no knowledge of how to 'safely' combat them (the First Blight lasted 192 years) and though yes parts of the Anderfels remained Blighted for centuries, they managed to repel it well enough that other parts of the region remained habitable. By contrast, modern Thedas has survived five Blights, each of which was combatted more efficiently the last. Even the disastrous Fourth Blight which resulted in the near extinction of the griffons was managed. You're telling me that two of the world's biggest powers (Ferelden and Orlais) just rolled over and died in the span of what must be no longer than a few months??? The latter Empire which did not even 'recently' suffer a Blight and may well have both absorbed the forces of the Inquisition and had the aid of the entire Southern division of Wardens after they defect from Weisshaupt.) Or Ferelden which has a good chance of being ruled by a former warden who may be getting on in years but is deeply aware of the threat of the Blight and likely to be quick to mobilise?

This is why we needed a proper worldstate system. Because it would only (VERY BARELY) make any sense that Orlais and Ferelden fall so easily if you completely ruined both kingdoms' political relations with each other, they fought a war that depleted both countries' resources, AND all the Southern wardens were killed or exiled to Weisshaupt. Which sure, COULD be the canon. But instead we get nothing at all. Except a convenient wiping clear of the board as if none of those places and people ever existed. And we can't say or do anything about it despite the Eluvian network almost certainly reaching those locations as well.

Ghilly isn't even PRESENT in the South at any point according to the Inquisitor's letters, so the presence of the Evanuris speeding the spread/voracity of the Blight (which is implied through D'Meta's Crossing and the Blighting of Minrathous and Treviso) doesn't even apply there. There's no direction for a darkspawn hoard in the South - no Archdemon or Evanuris. And we're told repeatedly that the Blight is dangerous (in comparison to the general darkspawn presence) because their leadership makes them smart. They are organised and fight well against martial resistance. The new darkspawn are clearly less intelligent and do not work together using tactics, but rather swarm or do their own individual things. And yet no one can organise a meaningful resistance against them such that two ENTIRE COUNTRIES WORTH OF LAND aren't completely annihilated? Nah. This will always be the biggest plot hole contrivance nonsense to me.

[eddis-not-eeddis]

Expecting a man to ask conversation-carrying questions is futile. It will never happen. So instead I've been acting like a podcast host interviewing a guest, and dang. Those conversations get kinda deep.

[aptericia]

speaking as a textbook atheist who has never believed in a higher power of any sort, some of you really need to be normal about religious people.

Taking "religion" to mean Christianity and "Christianity" to mean whatever specific branch and church where you were traumatized by old White people as a child is inaccurate and self-centered. I firmly believe that religious trauma is real and serious and that no one who suffers from it should have to engage in triggering discussions of religion, but that is a personal right and has nothing to do with the morality of religion as a concept. Yes, people do horrible things in the name of religion, just like they do in the name of science and patriotism and many other ideals. Yes, religion (especially institutionalized religion) deserves a lot of criticism, but it deserves criticism based on the real-world harm it causes and not gut reactions of disgust.

For instance, I know plenty of scummy Christians who use their beliefs to justify terrible actions, but I know far more Christians who are vehemently feminist and anti-racist and supportive of LGBTQ+ rights, who respect both modern science and the natural world, and who I know have my back whenever I need help. It's important to criticize institutions of power, but please don't fall back on the same kind of awful, sweeping generalizations about religious people that like, TERFs make about men and masculinity, for example. You don't have to follow it or even like it, but you do have to treat your fellow humans as the infinitely complex and inherently worthy beings they are, no matter what labels they choose to use.

[hilacopter]

Who gives a fuck what you feel as if you don't despise arabs and islam.

ah, you got me there anon 😔 you're right, I'm an Islamophobic Arabophobic asshole because I view them as people capable of thinking and making rational decisions instead of what we all know they ACTUALLY are: quirky desert people who drink sand and wear funny clothes and have to kill Israelis because they simply don't know any better!!!/s

in all seriousness I assume you're talking about me condemning Hamas because I literally haven't said anything against Palestinian civilians or civilians of any other Arab country (nor am I here). I'm not against Islam, I'm not against Arabs, I'm against an extremist terrorist group who wants me and my family dead. and it just so happens that this group is Muslim and Arab! You know how ProPals always insist criticism of the Israeli government isn't antisemitic (a true statement I wish they'd actually deliver on)? you're basically applying the opposite of that logic here. criticism of Hamas is Islamophobic because, well, they're Muslims! and not treating every Muslim as perfect human being capable of doing no wrong is Islamophobic, actually. istg the way you people talk about Muslims and Arabs is so utterly dehumanising. ever heard of the noble savage trope?

[bitterrobin]

y'know I don't think Colin is ever magically cured of his various mental illnesses/phobias (at least in the scant appearances I've read writers don't address them)...does he still panic at the sight of Batman? Like, he knows Batman saved his life, giving him an adult figure he trusts for the first time in his life, but still its Batman. Does Colin have to mentally prepare himself when he talks to Batman? Is the snark and tough "street smart" attitude a conversational shield? Is being Abuse (the big guy, the monster) a sort of protection from the world for him?

Maybe Colin still lives in fear of the world. He's a boy abandoned, a boy mistreated, a boy hospitalized and experimented on. An adult, one who's a dark mirror to himself, used him as a weapon against his fear (a bat, a batman). And though he was terrified and the venom took that fear and converted it into rage, and Batman stopped him, theres still the irrational psyche - a child's paranoia - that will always tell him Batman isn't safe.

Maybe he gets close to Damian because, well, they're similar aged kids, but also Damian isn't in a bat costume. Damian is Robin. He doesn't represent a fear Colin has the way the Bat does, as the animal and an adult. Damian's a peer, an equal. Maybe he's Colin's Robin. It's something I really want to explore in future fics - that Chris's first experience with Robin was Tim and that forever shades his perception of Damian, that Maya's first experience with Robin was the face and colors of her father's murderer. But Colin's first impression of Robin was the boy who vomited at the sight of the dead bodies of children who Colin knew and vowed revenge. The boy who stood up to Zsasz and brutally won the fight, but heeded Colin's voice and spared the man's life because a scar (a mark of Cain) is more lasting than death. Something about children used to violence and death, who fear the world, and they find each other because of a search for justice and independence.

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[taegularities]

some men are textbook villains fr

[pan-magi]

The Alma Tran arc should have emphasized more on religious trauma and indoctrination. In this essay, I will-

[soup-mother]

hate how often "only white privileged westerners are athiests, real progressives love the nuclear family and religion" type posts go around on here. you are either a psyop or a fool chasing a "problem" that only exists within niche leftist discourse. white privileged westerners are overrepresented in athiesm because of being white, privileged and westerners and generally less likely to be targeted or killed for it yea?

i promise you the constant control and abuse from religion and family are bigger problems than feeling like communists and anarchists of all people "reject religion", like yea no shit, it's materialism innit.

[meirimerens]

you know i must have been bone-tired when this part of the herb brides lore didn't come to my mind when i discussed how the Kin fundamentally differs from the cultures it is inspired by um There Is The Human Sacrifice part. like it's an important part of pathologic 2 that you are doing human, or anthropomorphic (if you want to see the Herb Brides as closer to spirits, which comes with its own set of problematics regarding how to approach their oppression) sacrifice. it's an important part of pathologic 2 that you kill a woman, as part of the journey and in direct resonance with you ritualistically killing cattle earlier, and she offers herself to you with cultural and religious significance.

human sacrifices have been done across the globe for millennia, but i cannot, for the life of me, find any source at all that mentions the Buryats (since that was the discussion point) partaking in human sacrifices by the turn of the 19th-early 20th century (or even anything past the 16th). every single source mentioning offerings and sacrifices i've read mentions animals, things such as milk and vodka, and often both at once. would love to read anything about these rituals if papers exist, but i'm personally drawing a blank.

the Kin has Obvious and very Visible influences but it also differs from specific (in this discussion's case, the Buryats) or wider (here, turkic/mongolic as a whole) cultures from the area by so many pieces, big and small, that i wouldn't have enough appendages on my whole body to count them all. and sister. i have plenty of appendages.

[elio-monroe]

i have figured out how to put my erotica under a read more! rejoice!

blessed are the meek

[theinfinitedivides]

aight ok now that i've watched ep 7 i see some folks are review bombing KTL on MDL bc of the Arab prince storyline,,,,,, what are our thoughts

[lesbianwyllravengard]

I watched knock at the cabin bc the premise sounded cool but God the changes from the book are so blatantly homophobic it's gross? Not to mention the ending validates hyper religious cult mindsets like what the fuck

[wordswithkittywitch]

*sprays you with a spritz bottle*

Stop! Equating! Hades! To! Satan!

[decomposingpoet]

religion!! scary!!!!!

[theshalesky]

look at them.

they haven't learnt how to make statues yet.

they don't have time for it. all their energy is being used to survive in their cruel world where the ground has been burnt centuries ago.

and yet they venerate their gods with a passionate devotion, crawling on their knees in front of the plain wood altars.

despite everything, they're convinced their gods exist. of course they are, they're right. their gods really do exist, and they know that because the gods have shaped their world as it is now and given them the powers that allow them to survive. so of course they're convinced they exist, it couldn't be otherwise.

really? looking at their story, we know their gods exist and ours might not. but they don't have more knowledge about their gods that we have about ours. we, too, have scriptures that tell us how god created and changed the world and how the abilities that make us human come from him.

are we any different from them? are they any different from us? neither of us know the things that we're worshipping.