#elven supremacy problems

[welcomefortune]

One of the big problems I do have with Veilguard is that they seem to not want much moral ambiguity. Like finding out that Sten has nothing to do with the Qunari invading despite being previously established as the Arishok. Or the Crows just being completely morally good now and making sure all of their targets deserve it. Or none of the elves joining their gods or Solas because they’re good and only evil people would join evil people so it’s just the Venatori and the Antaam despite the fact that the Venatori’s vision of Tevinter relies on human supremacy to elves and the Antaam hate magic they’re actually fine with it when it comes to the elven gods. Or how if you are blighted now the Grey Wardens will put you through the Joining to save you but don’t worry they wouldn’t actually make you join against your will because that would be bad. Or how the Lords of Fortune are treasure hunters but don’t worry they would never take anything cultural important and respect indigenous rights. Or how none of the Shadow Dragons want to do a violent uprising against slavery the most they want is to threaten that they might do violence but ultimately they are going to end slavery by asking nicely.

No one even seems to have any prejudices against anyone or anything. If you play a Shadow Dragon mage Rook you don’t have any issues with the Qun or the Qunari even though you’re family is military and has been at war against them or that you are from Ventus which was taken over by the Qunari and all of the mages were lobotomized with qamek a few years ago or from Tevinter propaganda or just from being a mage. The worst you can say is to question if someone who follows the Qun is scared of mages and everyone looks at you like you’re crazy for asking that. And the other way around doesn’t apply either. No Qunari hold particular prejudice against you for being a Tevinter mage. Taash’s mom seems to not like Tevinter mages in a codex entry but she doesn’t say anything to you or Taash about it. The Butcher doesn’t even hold it against you! People have made a lot out of no one being prejudiced against elves which is true but it also applies the other way around. There really is very little mistrust of you as a human Tevinter mage by any elves. The only pushback I remember getting is being asked if you will respect the halla which seems to be more about you not being an elf than anything else. Any sexism also seems to be mostly brushed under the rug. When you talk to Tarquin he tells you that he was told by his father that to be a man he needed to be in the military. That mostly tracks with what we know about Tevinter. It’s a little more trans accepting than it was according to Krem but I can buy that Tevinter has started accepting trans men in the military in the last decade. He then goes on to ask a female Shadow Dragon Rook why they aren’t in the military and you can’t even bring up how women’s roles in the military are very restrictive. You don’t bring up anything about gender roles in Tevinter even though according to the lore they are more rigid than in the South and men hold nearly all of the leadership positions. You can’t bring up how it may be difficult for Tevinter to accept a woman as Archon since as far as I know all of the previous Archons have been men.

There’s some background mentions of how life is difficult for certain groups in certain places but we never see it or even hear specifics. We hear that there’s slavery in Tevinter and it’s hard to be an elf but we don’t see it and a Shadow Dragon Rook seems shocked that the Venatori are engaging in human trafficking. We hear life is difficult for mages in Treviso but we never see or hear about it after one line.

This isn’t a Veilguard exclusive problem it seems to be an issue in a lot of media today that there’s this total unwillingness to deal with anything controversial or difficult. I think they’re trying to respond to feedback about how people didn’t like the way in which sensitive things were handled in media in the past but it seems like the way most are choosing to handle it is by not dealing with it at all? Or flattening out characters like in HOTD where in response to the criticism about how Dany was handled they’ve decided that now women have no ambition or capacity for evil or violence and they are all purely good but also have zero agency whatsoever.

I know a lot of people prefer this and like all of their media to be escapist with no bad things happening in it but I personally prefer when difficult things are handled as long as they’re handled with care. I personally don’t subscribe to the belief that by depicting something you are inherently endorsing it. Anyway it’s fine if you disagree and I hope I don’t sound like a chud who just wants to be racist in games, I’d be fine if Rook couldn’t express these views but it’s just a bit strange to me that no one holds these views anymore in Thedas.

[jamesshawgames]

Shadowrun: Neon Fire - The ROs

Time for a post to introduce the romance options for Shadowrun: Neon Fire.

Early in the game, your character has to relocate from their native Seattle to Neo-Tokyo. There, they will meet an established crew of Shadowrunners which they will join. If you want to work effectively as a team, you’ll need to win the respect of this crew of hardened professionals, who don’t know you or have any reason to trust you.

But it’s possible that you might win more than trust from one of this motley crew...

Quick Note on Gender: The ROs in Neon Fire are gender-selectable. You’ll be able to choose whether you want them all to be women, all to be men, all to be nb, a random mix of these, or pre-set genders. For convenience, in the descriptions below, I’ll be referring to them by their pre-set genders. However, in the actual game their gender will be up to you. So if you like the look of one of them but they’re the wrong gender for you, don’t worry, you’ll be able to change this in game.

SPIDER: A male human physical adept. Spider remembers nothing of his birth parents or family. As a very young child, he was sold to a mysterious religious order who live in a remote mountain monastery in rural Japan. The order trained him up to be a proficient killer, teaching him how to channel his magical energies into remarkable feats of combat strength and agility. But after tragedy struck within his community, he came to learn some hard truths about the order and their agenda. Troubled, he ran away and ended up selling his services in the Neo-Tokyo shadows. He’s a skilled operator with sound judgment, but also inflexible and authoritarian, expecting from his crew the same unremitting and fierce discipline that he demands of himself. His leadership style is already causing tensions within the crew, even before you turn up to add another variable to the volatile mix...

SMOKY: A female troll rigger who grew up on the mean streets of the East End of the London sprawl. Smoky possesses a scrappy optimism, a kind disposition that is rare in shadowrunners, and a child-like enthusiasm for all things mechanical. As a teenager, she saw the military as a way out of a life of crime, and she spent a couple of years as a British Army drone operator, before her unit was sent into the Lambeth Containment Zone to suppress a riot. Issued with an unethical order, she refused to obey, and this pissed off her superiors so much that she felt that she had no option but to flee to the other side of the world to escape the clutches of the Lord Protector’s vengeful agents. She’s made a good life for herself in Neo-Tokyo, but she still has unfinished business back home in London. Maybe one of these days someone will come along who can help her put the ghosts of the past to rest...

DAISHO: A male human street samurai, Daiso is the mystery of the group. He takes the “samurai” part of his job description more seriously than most, and self identifies as a ronin, a masterless elite fighter. When pressed on this, he will reply that he is a failure who does not deserve a master. His background is a closely guarded secret. He is guided by a rigid and inflexible moral code, which can cause problems on runs and infuriate his fellow crew-members. After all, shadowrunning is no job for a moralist.

BLACKHAT: A nonbinary elf decker. A native of the elven nation of Tir Tairngire, Blackhat is the illegitimate child of a member of the Council of Princes and a human servant who worked on his estate. Upon hearing of his servant’s pregnancy, Blackhat’s father cast her out of the house, plunging her and her child into poverty and a life in the slums of Portland. Although they were born an elf, Blackhat grew to hate the callous elven father who had condemned them and their mother to poverty, and this grew into a broad hatred of the elven supremacy that structures Tir Tairngire society. Young Blackhat began to associate with a revolutionary movement opposed to elven domination. And then, one day, they did something Bad: something so bad that it enraged the entire Tir Tairngire establishment and they had to flee. Since then, they have been hiding in Neo-Tokyo. But Tir Tairngire’s security services are on their trail, and the Ghost Commandos always get their target in the end...

CROWLEY: A female oni mage. A little older than the rest of the crew, Crowley grew up in unimaginable deprivation. Born during the period of Imperial Japan’s anti-metahuman segregation, Crowley was born in one of the detention camps on Yomi Island, the penal colony in the Philippines where Imperial Japan sent all non-humans. Her parents died when she was young in a confrontation with the camp guards, and Crowley had to learn how to fend for herself. She got to know a kindly ork mage in the camp, who secretly taught her how to develop her awakened talents. She thought that she had finally found a protector - until the old ork’s life came under threat and he sold her out to the authorities to save his own skin. She managed to escape Yomi aboard a smuggling vessel before the goons could catch her, and she spent years living in secret in Neo-Tokyo as part of an illegal underground metahuman community. Then the enlightened new emperor revoked Japan’s discriminatory policies and closed the camps on Yomi, and suddenly Crowley and her kind were welcome on Japanese soil. And so was her betrayer, who’s out there somewhere, living in the labyrinthine ork and troll slums of Yokohama... Her deprived and brutal upbringing has made her harsh, self-protective and reflexively hostile to outsiders. Can you break through that armor and discover what it protects?

[princecharmingtobe]

The more I pick at him the more interesting V becomes to me. And probably only to me tbh

V is generally presented as a good and kind person. And he is! Never would I say he’s not. But he is a flawed person, as everyone is. And I find his flaws very interesting in contrast with his goodness and kindness.

Flaw #1: While part of his goodness and kindness is helping people through their problems... he tends to not... ask. He just does. Meaning he sometimes makes himself a nuisance by trying to help people against their wills. His father is the biggest example of this, as V desperately wants to help him work through his trauma and become a better person, and Rowen has negative interest in this. This, as well as their opposing morals, creates a lot of the friction between them.

Flaw #2: Not acknowledging his OWN problems. V has made it his mission in life to help people, but rarely accepts help for himself or acknowledges that he even needs it. He presents himself as someone who has already worked through and come to terms with all his own issues. And he often denies any “negative” feelings he may have, often when he feels said feelings aren’t fair or reasonable. Example would be his feelings about his father. V is very aware that Rowen didn’t know he existed. He knows that his mother made the choice to not seek him out and tell him. So on the surface, V shows no resentment toward Rowen’s absence until recently. He knows it isn’t Rowen’s fault. Buuuut our feelings aren’t always logical or reasonable, and deep down he does resent Rowen for not being there, and will not put any blame on his mother for it because he loves her so much and she WAS there. He keeps these feelings buried, but Rowen is very good at sensing these things and does intentionally bring it to the surface eventually to work through it (ironic). 

Flaw #3: High elf supremacy. Now, V is not the sort to go around preaching supremacy or anything. But he is a high elf (or at least half of one and was raised by them), and he has that thought in the back of his head that high elven culture is simply superior to others. now, moon elves are better than sun elves in this regard in that they do see the value in other cultures. Instead of isolating themselves to prevent “contamination” of other cultures, they wander the world with the intent of learning from other cultures to strengthen their own, and “improving” other cultures by sharing their own. They’re all about cultural exchange, they just believe theirs is inherently better. And V is not immune to that mindset. He doesn’t usually voice it, and doesn’t push too hard for others to adopt his customs. But every once in a blue moon it does slip out.  it came up last night when BF was talking about how he likes to portray wood elves and their relationship with the natural world. “They don’t worship nature, it’s more that they see themselves as guests in this world and feel they should leave things as they found them.” and I knew, in the back of his head, V would find that mindset childish or naïve for an elf to have. He’d never say it, but he would feel it.

[archangelsunited]

Do you think so little of my judgment, Eragon? You forget that when I was in my egg, Arya exposed me to each and every one of these elves—as well as many of the Varden’s children—and that I rejected them all. I wouldn’t have chosen someone to be my Rider unless they could help your race, mine, and the elves, for the three of us share an intertwined fate. You were the right person, at the right place, at the right time. Never forget that.

(Saphira: Eldest, The Obliterator)

[archangelsunited]

So, I have a theory on this.

When we meet Oromis it is 100 years after his and Glaedr’s injury. I don’t remember the particular part, but Oromis says that spell after spell had been used to try and help him. Glaedr had lost part of a limb.

And the thing is, injuries and illness eat time. The recovery of the first injuries probably took a while, but afterwards? When the elves had done everything they could and don’t seem to be able to help, Oromis and Glaedr are left on their own to recover.

Glaedr can’t hunt for months. Hunger weakens him as he recovers the ability to take slow steps. Hunting is hard and unrewarding for a long time. He has to learn how to fly again. His weight has changed and he can’t land in the same way. He crashes and injures himself often, and he can’t let Oromis on his back until he is sure he won’t kill his rider. He gets better, but sometimes he can still feel the missing limb and he forgets to adjust. He is alone. There is no one to teach him. The elves, who once looked upon him with awe, now only pity him. Mates, hatchlings, nest mates- they are all gone and he has only Oromis to comfort him. It takes years before he flies again, and years afterwards before he allows Oromis on his back.

It is both better and worse for Oromis. His entire support system is gone. Brom has gone half-mad, but he can also leave. Oromis takes a long time to recover his strength, only to relapse when he reaches for magic he can’t wield. For years he is studied and treated until the treatments make the disabilities permenant and immutable. The elves pity him, and in doing so patronize him. Oromis cannot bere it, and secluded himself the moment Glaedr will fly him away.

Oromis is not gentle with himself. Injury and illness are foreign to him. He does not know how to rest his body, how to identify his limits. He works through the only way he has been taught, by pushing himself past his limits, setting himself back more and more. He is left alone with his guilt and his pain and his certainty that he has got to survive. He is the last defense.

When Eragon comes, Oromis has only reached his peak understanding and mastery over his illness for six months.

what was oromis even doing for a hundred years ?? just chilling in his hut in the forest?? drinking tea?? 

[loominggaia]

What are some misconceptions about other races?

It really depends on who you ask. But in general, most people think...

COMMONERS

Humans are obsessed with dogs. Some people think that all humans love dogs and treat them better than they treat other people. In reality, a lot of humans don't like dogs or are even afraid of them. Some humans see dogs as nothing more than tools or food.

Dworfs are all alcoholics. It's true that beer was consumed heavily in the dworf's native region of Noalen, and dworfen migrants took their drinking habits with them to Evik when they founded Zareen Empire. But the world's dworfen population is now much bigger and more diverse than it used to be. Dworfs have many cultures, and not all of them value alcohol. Some don't drink at all.

Roshava are gold-grubbing cheats. In ancient times, many roshava made their living as traveling merchants, as they were the only ones comfortable enough to traverse the steep terrain of their native region, the Twisted Canyons. They had many unique and valuable goods to export from this region, but this way of life was hard and some merchants had to be shrewd to survive. In truth, roshava are no more likely to cheat you than anyone else. It's just that they happen to run a lot of businesses and the world of business is crooked by nature, so people associate them with crookedness.

Trolls are obsessed with dung so much that they eat it and bathe in it. While ancient trolls did utilize dung for many things, very few trollish cultures have ever considered it to be food. They also do not--and never have--bathed in it. The closest practice to this is smearing newborn trolls in dung shortly after they're born to boost their immune systems. All of these practices are becoming less common as time goes on, and today, many trolls do not engage in any dung-related activities beyond using the toilet like everyone else. Many of them find the very idea repulsive.

Ogres are bloodthirsty brutes who eat smaller peoples. Some ogrish civilizations have eaten other peoples, but it is not a common practice, and it's usually a response to famine or other extreme conditions. They're no more likely to eat other peoples than anyone else. And while it's true that very large crowds of ogres tend to become aggressive towards eachother due to pheromone overload, this phenomenon doesn't extend to other species. An ogre who is surrounded by a large crowd of fauns, for example, does not become aggressive. Ogres are no more bloodthirsty or aggressive than anyone else.

FAE

Elves are snotty, arrogant, and think they're superior to everyone else. There just happen to be a lot of historical events in which elven cultures ran elven-supremacy campaigns, and these events happened in several regions (namely Mogdir Kingdom, Matuzu Kingdom, Seelie Court, and Unseelie Court). The Divine Titania's conquest is the most notorious. Many of the Great Kingdoms have seen at least one major elven-supremacist event in their histories, and some of these events are quite recent, so they're still fresh in the minds of people. What laymen don't realize is that these events weren't random--most of them were connected in some way, and it became like a domino effect throughout history. In truth, elves aren't supremacist by nature, it's just that one big elven culture had a prime opportunity for power a long time ago and seized it, which led to even more opportunities for this species later.

Goblins are clumsy and unintelligent. Goblins have gangly limbs, knobby fingers, large heads, and poor vision. Between all these features, they are not the most physically graceful species. However, they naturally grasp mental schools of magic such as telekinesis with ease, and many overcome their physical problems with magical solutions. They are thought to be unintelligent, but this stereotype is particularly ridiculous because in reality, a goblin's large skull houses a large, efficient brain that never forgets anything it learns. People only think they're dumb because they also happen to be the most exploited species on Gaia, meaning they are enslaved more than any other species. Slaves are usually uneducated, so people associate goblins with illiteracy and ignorance.

Gnomes are cultish and misogynist. While it's true that gnomes have many insular, isolated communities of their own kind, not all of them live this way. The majority do simply because they are so much smaller than most other species, and trying to live in a city that wasn't built for them is challenging at best and dangerous at worst. They don't live apart from other species out of some weird cultish desire, but simply practicality. As for misogyny, all modern gnomes descend from just 3 cultures that originated on Umory-Ond. These cultures were in close proximity, so they had a lot of traditions in common. One of these traditions was the rigid roles of men and women in the household. Many people think that male gnomes trap their wives in the house all day, beat her, force her to bear children, and treat her like a slave. Maybe some gnomes behave this way towards women, but no moreso than anyone else. In their traditional cultures, women are considered equal to men, they just serve a different role in the household. Most gnomes look down on men who mistreat their wives and find it shameful.

Sirenes are shallow, mean, and their love for you is only skin deep. Sirenes do value physical appearance quite a lot, both naturally and culturally, but it's still not everything to them. They are perfectly capable of loving someone despite their looks. Sirene psychology differs from many other species, and behavior that others consider "mean/rude/abrasive" is not always meant that way by the sirenes. They just don't take offense to certain things as easily as other species.

Cecaelia smell bad and treat women like breeding factories. This one is more subjective, but cecaelia do have a natural "fishy" smell to them that many find unpleasant, but there are others who enjoy it. Due to their biology, just one female cecaelia is born for every ten males. This leaves a huge population imbalance between sexes, and as a result, many cecaelian cultures have had to take drastic measures to protect their females from rival tribes and any other danger. This often means locking females away in so-called "nurseries" where they can raise their young in peace and safety. However, many female cecaelia stay in these nurseries by choice. They also have control over their own fertility to some degree, and they cannot usually be forced to lay eggs they don't want. Women are revered and respected in many cecaelian cultures, and some of these cultures are even matriarchal.

GAIANS

Satyrs are all thieves and rapists. Of course not every satyr on Gaia is a criminal, but it's an unfortunate fact that this species suffers disproportionate poverty compared to others, and as a result, they also suffer much higher rates of substance abuse, lack of education, and nuisance behavior. People tend to think satyrs are malicious by nature and they just enjoy mischief, but this is rarely the case. Satyrs want safety, love, and happiness just like everyone else--it's just that obtaining those things is so much harder for them due to the widespread oppression they face. Their wildly fluctuating hormones don't help matters in the behavior department, but they still don't mean any harm most of the time.

Fauns are satyrs or riddled with disease. Fauns are mistaken for satyrs so often in some regions, it can be a real problem for them because they will face the same discriminations that satyrs do, which holds them back in life. Otherwise, people have this perception that fauns carry all kinds of diseases and will spread them everywhere. This one has some grain of truth to it, as fauns are more susceptible to a wider range of diseases than other species. They can catch a lot of zoonotic diseases, for example, and may act as a "bridge" for those viruses to transfer from animals to other peoples. This problem has been mitigated a lot in modern times with the use of vaccines and advanced medical care. But the ancient fauns themselves also found solutions early on in the form of curative magic and herbal remedies, which saved them from many close calls with extinction. Also, most of the diseases fauns catch cannot be spread to other species, and when they can, they can usually only spread to a small number of them. As long as a region practices good hygiene and has at least half-way decent medical care, no one should worry about fauns spreading disease any more than other peoples.

Minotaurs are dumb and lazy. Minotaurs are no less intelligent than anyone else, but their brains do function in a unique way, which prioritizes different things than the brains of other peoples. This species is just as intelligent as others, it's just a different type of intelligence. What they lack in math and science skills, they make up for with high (non-verbal) language skills and social intelligence. The "lazy" stereotype has many origins in many regions, but regardless, it isn't true either. Some minotaurs are lazy and some are very hard-working. Just like anyone else, every minotaur is an individual.

Centaurs are violent by nature. People think centaurs crave fighting and bloodshed because many traditional centauran cultures value wrestling, and in addition, many are/were war-like. Now, there are a lot of war-like civilizations on Gaia and not all of them are centauran. But centaurs get the violent stereotype because due to their size and speed, they happen to be really efficient at killing. This gives people the perception that they enjoy killing and do it more often than others. Centaurs also have unique psychology in which they aren't as troubled by violence as other species are. That's not to say they enjoy it, but exposure to violence is less likely to leave them with PTSD. This has likely contributed to the stereotype as well.

Gorgons are all cannibalistic. This misconception comes directly from Lamai Nation, a gorgon-dominated culture. In this culture, gorgons traditionally use every part of a dead body so that nothing goes to waste--and yes, that means the meat too. All gorgons descend from this region, but not all of them continue to practice the traditions of their ancestors. Many foreign-born gorgons find this tradition disturbing, and in fact, some Lamaish ones do too. Gorgons have no natural desire to eat their own kind, this is purely a cultural phenomenon.

*

Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

[team-council]

TW: SEMI-GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, SWEARING, INJURY, ABUSE

Evil Council AU! Part 1(??)Just in time for spooky month! I have a lot more to say than I thought so this doesn’t cover nearly the whole thing. Most of its very general save the parts with bronte (because I’m not capable of restraining myself)

Just a loose collection of ideas I’ve had floating around in my mind brain! Less ‘Evil Council’ and more of a ‘Role Swap’ AU if you want to get really particular. But I don’t. Could alternatively be called ‘Fallon Vacker Is A Piece Of Shit and Ruins Everything For Everyone’. The later half of this is Bronte-Centric and I don’t have any shame about that if I do a P2 it’ll mostly focus on everyone else.. probably…..no promises… also the tags have misc. ramblings I didn’t want to put here enjoy

- Starting the Evil Council AU of strong with some non council-related content here but it’s important to note that Sophie and Keefe kind of swap roles in this AU. Keefe is wholesale the moon lark- raised in the lost cities, brown eyes, teleports, alicorn blood, the whole shabang- and Sophie is… Well, this is where the ‘kind of’ comes in. She’s still the Neverseen’s anti-moonlark but rather than having been raised under the delusion of normalcy like Keefe she’s always known about the Neverseen and their plans for her. She fronts the facade of typical playful, sarcastic Sophie at Foxfire whilst spending all of her free time training to assume her rightful place as the Neverseen’s ultimate weapon.

- Kenric and Oralie are Sophie’s biological parents in this AU. They both resigned from their positions on the council to get married about :rolls dice: 70 something years pre-cannon. They come away from their time as councillors incredibly disillusioned with the state of their world, finding that regardless of the fact that they dedicated hundreds of years of their lives to bettering and protecting the Lost Cities virtually nothing has changed since they joined the council.

- Fallon Vacker’s totally epic evil schemes are already well underway by this point in time, but he sees an opportunity to gain valuable allies in the still wildly popular power couple that is Koralie, so he approaches them. And by them I mean Oralie. He’s off the council by this point but served *much* longer in this timeline, enough to spend at least a few years working alongside her and they’ve kept in contact. From what he suspects Kenric would be more proactive than her but would be more likely to try and alienate Oralie from their plans under the guise of protecting her- which won’t do, he wants them both involved.

- Seeing as he’s made his appearance I’ll now take some time to explain Fallon and his grand vision. I know some people speculate differently than I do, but for the sake of this AU elves have always maintained the facade of being a ‘peaceful’ species due to their fragile minds. Fallon’s spent he majority of his life on the council and in the nobility tap dancing around the real issues that face their world- whether it be humans, ogres, internal prejudices- and assigning asinine non-solutions to legitimate problems. The solution to the elven race’s terminal ineffectuality, he believes, is to shatter the illusion of peace they’ve manufactured so thoroughly that they’ll have no choice but to become stronger in order to survive. Like the Neverseen in the proper books he’s also like, a raving bigot and of course the end goal in all of this is elven supremacy- but in order for that to come about elves have to grow some balls. Also Fallon and whoever is taking Vespara’s place were experimenting on humans to replicate their indestructible minds, but also experimenting on other species as well. Specifically ogres since they seem to have a certain amount of telepathic skill.

- He doesn’t come out of the gate with any of this stuff though. Instead, when he approaches Oralie he softballs the idea of his rebellion to her. He recalls specific moments in her career when she was blocked from actually improving things, denied access to important history and information because it was deemed better forgotten, he has her relive every infuriating defeat she’s suffered throughout her entire career and then gently suggests that perhaps she can still do something despite no longer sitting on the council. She’s immediately intrigued but she can tell Fallon’s hiding something from her. She finds it ironic that even though he laments the state of Eternalia’s underhanded politics he’s still acting no better than an average nobleman. Fallon can tell Oralie’s figured him out before she’s had the chance to press him about it and decides to preempt her inevitable prying by testing the waters of her… moral flexibility. Being an empath he didn’t expect much of her mental fortitude, but to his delight she seems to be in agreement with him on the idea that elves have grown too unwilling to take action and that perhaps it’s time to abandon their ‘peace’ and reveal it for what it is: cowardice masquerading as benevolence. They have several conversations like this over the course of a year or so and Fallon finally comes clean about the entire plan to her. Oralie hesitates only briefly before agreeing to join the neverseen.

- Kenric is less enthused about the plan than Oralie is when she finally tells him. He dislikes the idea of working exclusively in shadow, but more than that he dislikes the idea of Oralie putting herself in such grave danger. He knows there’s no talking her out of it and before he’s even had the chance to decide whether or not he agrees with Fallon he’s come to accept that he will have to partake in his scheme if he’s to keep Oralie safe. After talking with Fallon and Oralie more extensively though he does come around, albeit more slowly, and once he does he’s even more excited about the idea than Oralie is and beings active work with the Neverseen- mostly gathering information, manipulating his social status and connections to access classified documents as well as any available information on the Black Swan.

- More important than any of that to Fallon, however, is the request he has for the pair. Now that he knows they’re on his side, implicated so thoroughly in his plans they’d rot in exile for treason if they betrayed him to the council, he asks them to submit their first child to him for genetic modification, to have it be the Neverseen’s penultimate weapon. Kenric and Oralie are appalled at first. The idea of using their own child as a pawn disturbs them, and rightfully so, but as Fallon explains what the modifications would entail they start to understand. He says he means only to strengthen her mind and ensure she has a couple of abilities that will be necessary for their war against the council, primarily inflicting (I made this AU before unlocked came out and since the reason for Keefe’s special ability or even how it fully works aren’t known I found it too much of a bother to rewrite this so that it takes inflicting’s place). They both tentatively agree, submitting their DNA to Fallon so that he and his team can handle the modifications. The process takes decades and during that time Kenric and Oralie find all of their guilt over the matter completely subsiding. They dig themselves deeper and deeper into their work with the Neverseen, watching with contempt as the Elven world spirals into inefficient madness around them.

- By the time Sophie’s born they’ve wholly given themselves to Fallon’s ideals. They’re prepared for war, prepared to make their only child an instrument of that war. She’s trained to fight, trained to resist pain, resist telepathic prodding, trained to analyze the weaknesses in other people and exploit them without mercy. The black swan won’t be very active until their Moonlark returns to its proverbial nest but even as a child Sophie’s warned of their existence, of the threat they pose to the Neverseen and the dogma she’s been fed. She’s told she will one day manifest an incredible gift and that she’ll have to use that power to wipe them out. Perhaps more so than any of her other training, the preparation of her mind for that moment is absolutely imperative. She was already designed with an infallible mind, but that of course has to be put to the test. Through out her childhood she is put through a series of experiences that escalate in the severity of their violence. At first she’s watching violence be done to an animal, then a person. Then she’s made to be the victim of violence. Then she’s forced to enact violence upon animals, and then finally another elf. She manifests as an inflictor, finally, during the last portion of her conditioning, losing herself in the brutalization of an elf she’s been told betrayed the organization.

- Oralie and Kenric have watched her progression with pride, joy even. Their daughter is remorseless. She’s capable. She’s efficient. She’s everything an elf hasn’t been in thousands of years. She will end an era of mock civility that has survived extinction events and countless wars. They don’t notice that she looks at them both with utter contempt when their backs are turned.

- So Sophie’s an inflictor, albeit with some adjustments made. Rather than targeting someone’s mind specifically she’s only capable of inflicting on a given radius around herself- the expanse of which grows as she harnesses her power. Anyone within her range will fall victim to a pain like they’ve never known. She’s incredibly violent, incredibly volatile, and desperately in need of training.

- So let’s talk about Bronte! Honestly, I agonized a little over what to do with him in this. The idea that I ended up going with is something of an… unconventional evil Bronte take? I almost felt like I was absolving him of responsibility by going the road I did, but at the same time I don’t think anyone’s convinced Bronte’s incapable of being a bad person. In another world- fuck, in Keeper’s proper cannon- he could easily find himself a self-aware, wholly responsible for his own actions villain. Thhhaaat said I felt like this AU didn’t have much of a need for another disillusioned former politician convinced they’re doing the right thing™️. Also, Fallon being who he is in this AU it seemed.. on brand that he’d show up yet again to make a mess of things.

- To being I should mention that Inflicting was banned instead of pyrokinesis in this AU not long after Bronte became an emissary- albeit not for the reasons you might suspect. Fallon had taken a particular interest in Bronte and his ability as soon as he manifested, watching from afar and occasionally arranging meetings where he would pry into the nature of his ability, the way he processed violence, and even provide encouragement and validation Bronte desperately needed. By the time that Bronte graduates from Foxfire Fallon’s already arranged for him to be a personal attendant of his and emissary soon after that. Bronte completely adores Fallon. He’s one of the only people that will acknowledge his ability without treating it as an affliction- if anything he seems excited to know more about it. Fallon sees his ability as a gift as opposed to a curse and Bronte in turn hates himself less for possessing it, eventually even coming to embrace his inflicting with enough coaxing. Bronte will do anything for Fallon’s continued approval and as such becomes an incredibly useful tool to him. He often dispatches Bronte to do his dirty work in regards to matters dealing with the nobility, the kidnapping of subjects for Nightfall, and other various problems. It doesn’t take long for Fallon’s enemies to realize that if he were to lose access to Bronte he’d lose a pretty substantial advantage as well. So they frame Bronte for an abuse of his power. Fallon attempts to protect him but inflicting has long been an idea that’s made everyone uneasy and they’re more than happy to sentence it and Bronte to the highest punishment elven society has to offer: being forgotten.

- Bronte is stripped of his title as an Emissary and is put on indefinite house arrest as punishment for the ‘assault’ he committed. While he formerly had an outlet for his ability in the form of assignments from Fallon he can now do nothing but let resentment and hate build in him without relief as he rots alone with only his spite for company. Due to the fact that Fallon constantly encouraged him to explore and use his ability in this AU Bronte never discovered a means of keeping his inflicting at bay. He never graduated beyond ‘being an irritable fuck who’s constantly on the verge of losing his shit’. Had it not been for the fact he kept up appearances for Fallon’s sake it’s very likely he would’ve been punished a lot sooner for a crime he *actually* committed. Anyways, by the time Fallon is able to see Bronte again he’s a complete fucking wreck. Reigning his ability in hasn’t even occurred to him. He feels slighted, scorned, ill-used and those emotions are only heightened by an ability that feeds off of them. He’s totally trashed his house and apparently every other living thing that’s attempted to come near him- he hasn’t been very kind to himself either. Fallon’s sure that when he approaches him he’ll be greeted with the full force of his inflicting, or at least a fist to his gut. He’s surprised to find that he’s met with neither. If anything, his presence seems to calm Bronte and they’re able to have a discussion. Rather than suggesting that Bronte control his ability, Fallon suggests that Bronte find another outlet for his violent urges. He posits that hand-to-hand combat might do the trick and arranges for him to meet with a goblin instructor on the matter. It’s a difficult idea to sell to the rest of the council, but Fallon assured them it’ll be a good means of keeping Bronte occupied and reduce the likelihood he’ll snap and hurt others- and more pressingly himself.

- Fallon doesn’t make this decision out of the goodness of his heart though. No, originally he saw the weapon he created Sophie to be in Bronte. He figures that if Bronte’s to be unable to assist him then he can at least be acquiring a useful skill in the meantime. And boy does Bronte set to acquiring. He takes to combat well if not a little too zealously, but it doesn’t satiate him in the way that Fallon had said it would. If anything, it makes things *worse*. He can wail away at as many training dummies as he wants, it’s not inflicting. It’s not draining all of his pent up, festering rage, only adding to it. By the time Bronte’s able to leave his house again and his supervision is relaxed he doesn’t even care what Fallon’s planning so long as he can fuck something up. Fallon’s never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth and obliges him, testing the extent of his newfound inhibition by ordering him to torture various prisoners of the Neverseen. At first Bronte finds himself satisfied to just unleash his ability on captives. After centuries of frustration and unvented rage releasing the unbridled force of his power is a euphoric experience. He’s spent years rotting in purposelessness and now finally has something that puts his skills and his time to use. The satisfaction, the bliss of it all is overwhelming. Whatever guilt he feels at hearing the agonized screams of his victims is washed away by a tide of long overdue relief.

- To Fallon’s intrigue, however, Bronte’s new position as torturer doesn’t satisfy him either. Inflicting, like pyrokinesis, seems to be more of a gluttonous creature in and of itself than a passive power that can be manipulated. But where the consuming nature of a pyrokinetic’s ability is lost in abstractions about the vague ‘nature of flames’ Fallon finds inflicting very easy to explain.

- One of Bronte’s charges is refusing to talk. They make a small jab at him, something juvenile, something stupid. It doesn’t really matter what they said. Fallon’s called to the scene and finds their captive simultaneously covering the floors, walls, ceiling, and Bronte. Fallon expects this to shatter even an inflictor’s mind, but his friend surprises him again by taking things in stride. For a while, anyways. It’s a month or so before another incident and in that time Fallon’s come to the conclusion that an inflictor’s mind is simply a naturally superior version of a humans, the perfect step 2 in elven evolution he was always striving to achieve with his research. It’s not a presumption he gets to hold on to for very long. The next time that Bronte mangles one of their ‘guests’ he doesn’t seem to recover so well. He’s not grieving though, not stewing in self loathing. No. He’s agitated. Fallon finds his moods to be increasingly more volatile. Sometimes he’ll maintain his cold, sarcastic demeanor but as soon as something displeases him slightly he’ll lose his shit, usually not calming down until Fallon’s soothed him or he’s done severe harm to someone else. Fallon’s still struggling to figure out what’s going on, but Bronte already knows. The first time he inflicted on someone after such a long hiatus he felt so… satisfied. But when he did it again that sense of fulfillment was nowhere near as great. Emotions started to build in him again, every minor annoyance compounding, silly little aggravations multiplied a thousand fold until he could see nothing but red. Brutalizing someone with his bare hands… it felt like that first time inflicting again. Satisfied. Relieved. He thought it was his answer. The next time he felt his anger piling high he went to marring his victim as he had the time before, horrified to find that this pleasure too had become dull to him. With no way to truly feel as if he’s dispelling his want of violence he becomes trapped in a downward spiral, a perpetual loss of control. He finds that it gets difficult to pay attention to things, that he can’t listen to anyone- save Fallon- speak to him without wanting to floss their teeth with their vocal chords. It gets to the point where he doesn’t even notice time passing all that much. All he desires is to have an enemy pointed out to him, to partake in whatever meager rush of dopamine ripping into somebody gives him at this point. Fallon decides that this is the true nature of an inflictor, the monkey’s paw-esque cost of their exceptional power. In order to keep the mind of the, for lack of a better term, ‘host’ from shattering under the weight of their power’s inherently violent nature the ability consumes it. True, the ‘host’ is no longer capable of caring for their victims but they are also no longer capable of caring for much of anything. By the time the process is complete what’s left of the inflictor is little more than a vessel of violence. It’s not the result Fallon was hoping for but he nevertheless thinks it’s comforting to know that elves *are* capable of violence.

- he decides the best thing to do from here on is to keep Bronte sedated or otherwise drugged when not in use. He does occasionally pay him visits just to be ‘social’. Bronte rarely says anything to him anymore but he’s always listening when he speaks.

- When Fallon creates sophie it’s with the intention that she be a compromise between Bronte’s power and a normal elves’ sanity. Unbeknownst to him, his design is imperfect. While she’s not prone to losing her whole self to her ability she will struggle with violent urges her whole life. Even if she’s incapable of breaking due to the guilt of her actions they still make her wonder just what kind of monster she really is.

- she doesn’t wonder anymore after she’s introduced to Bronte for the first time. He’s the personification of her urges. His hair’s long and matted. His nails are long, their undersides coated in thick clusters of rot. She can’t see much of his face except for a hellish, bloodshot eye. His stare is empty of everything except hatred and for the first time she feels as if she’s really looking at herself. Fallon has explained her situation to Bronte and up until seeing her he had thought he would test her limits as he’d asked. Test her limits and then go back to drifting between assignments. But when he sees her… Well, Fallon’s always had theories about why he did what he did. His ego likes to think Bronte was scared of being replaced by her, that he’d only ever lose control of Bronte if he were afraid of being cast aside again. The answer he likes less is just as plausible though. That Bronte saw in Sophie the potential to fall just as far as he had, and in a brief moment of awareness had.. done his best to prevent that from happening.

- Sophie spends months in the infirmary after Bronte attacks her. He’s broken her jaw, torn her stomach open with his hands, practically flattened her throat. For the first time in her life Sophie has a lot of private time to herself. For the first time in her life she considers what all of this has been for. If that creature is the incarnation of violence.. the culmination of everything Fallon aspires to, the ‘gift’ he wants to bestow upon elven kind… What was everything even for? That creature was farther from salvation than anything she’d ever known in her whole life. What good could possibly be done by bringing that darkness into the lives of ordinary people?

- She keeps these thoughts to herself though. The Neverseen is still all she’s known. She has no other support systems. It’s where her family is. She won’t give them up so easily. (and besides, who would welcome a monster into their ranks anyways?)

- During her recovery Sophie is allowed a break from training even after she’s no longer bound to the infirmary. Her injuries have been explained to Foxfire and all concerned authorities as the result of an accident at Havenfield. Jolie, who is alive and collaborating with the Neverseen, helped sell the story by claiming she was a witness and had invited Sophie over to help with animal care when some of the security systems failed and a few dinosaurs escaped. Grady and Edaline have left the property to Jolie and Brant in this AU is well and are taking (a very deserved) vacation somewhere. Brant is an emissary of the council and was personally trained by the still sitting Councillor Fintan but that’s for part 2.

- Anyways, when she returns to school she’s surprised to find that gossip isn’t so much focussed on her as it is a new student with peculiar brown eyes.

[i-love-side-characters]

wait wait wait since youre back on your biana hype... oralie and biana mentorship (eventually frienship when biana grows up?)

slkdjfslk anon you’re brilliant

i headcanon that oralie’s got scars? maybe burns from everblaze? maybe scars from lumeria?

either way she’s got scars alright?

oralie was at everglen when dex and biana leaped back

so she was there staying with della and alden while elwin was helping biana

she spent hours in the eternalia library trying to find the best ways to heal scars

biana used to come to her office a lot after she got out of the healing centre

they would talk and have tea together

oralie even let her try on some of her dresses

biana made her a flower crown because flower crown supremacy

anyways where was i

you know oralie had a small little proud smile when biana fought against vespera in flashback

oralie also recommended to add biana to team valiant even when the council was concerned with her ability to keep fighting

biana being so scared when she hears about what happen in the dwarven throne room

also give me biana being so torn when she hears about oralie and sophie

also like???

oralie teaching biana how to fight because they have the same king of styles

biana and her teaming up together to make supports for people affected by the neverseen

oralie stepping down as councillor to help destory the inequality in the elven world

and biana being nominated? and becoming a councillor?

why? because i said aroace biana rights

biana and oralie fighting for years for talentless rights, and fighting to abolish the punishment of banishment in the lost cities

oralie teaming up with biana to research and fix the justice system in the cities

councillor biana making oralie an emissary, sending her to help repair bonds with the intelligent species

oralie walking biana through the problems she's noticed in the lost cities

oralie and biana having lunches together like the fun aunt-niece duo you always wanted

bored? send me serotonin please <3

[haldenlith]

A Game of Story Devices

So, while sitting in on an art stream and conversing with chat and the streamer, we got on the topic of Baldur's Gate 3 and, more specifically, Wizards of the Coast and how they handle story and world building. Outside of the other company bullshit with WotC, we got talking about a common theme or "trope" used in Dungeons and Dragons/Forgotten Realms, and fantasy games in general, these days (since most everything references D&D in some way).

Racism.

The overall feeling was a sense of weariness about how often it's used. Racism towards elves, racism towards half-races, etcetera... Everyone, for the most part, unanimously agreed that they were tired of seeing it as a story element. (For the record, the racism in BG3 people noticed was towards tieflings and githyanki.) It got contrasted with the idea that the biggest issue in Divinity: Original Sin 2 was whether you were a Source user or not. (Looking back, it's clear people missed the whole lizardmen-racism present in the game, as I remember clearly a difference in tone to the lizard folk...) At first, I agreed that it was worn out, especially when looking at, say, the Dragon Age series, where it has arguably become something of a main story focus, given that Solas is the new antagonist (presumably) for Dragon Age 4, and that much of his motivation is basically helping his people fight back against the elf-racism and restore the elven kingdom/way things were.

But then I thought about it...

Our society still has a humongous fucking issue with racism and white supremacy, like really, really bad. I can say this even first hand, as a black-mixed person, as I've experience racism and had to explain it to people. It's a problem. With that in mind, I look at media, at our stories, and at how often art imitates life. Yes, racism sucks, and no, it shouldn't be reduced to a bland throw away story beat, but at the same token I think it's kind of an important thing to have visible. Look, if that's what it takes to get kids, people to look at our society and understand issues, to do some association and realize "Oh shit, we're acting just like those jackasses in that game," then fine. Maybe it starts a good conversation.

WotC has already moved largely away from the alignment system as it was, and definitely moved away mostly from the arbitrary racial alignment (ie the whole "all orcs are evil" or "all aasimar are good" or whatever alignments), so that's progress. That's the good kind of change that brings actual character and race development to the table, instead of "oh well they're classified as evil, so everyone automatically hates them lol." I think it's still important to have those interactions, though, of dealing with racial tensions, and more importantly working through and overcoming them in these fantasy settings.

I can say for me, personally, it was kind of nice, for example, to play an elf in Dragon Age (both Origins and Inquisition) and, in spite of getting called "knife ear" and jeered, I did prove those side characters wrong. I was the hero, I overcame their vitriol, and I kind of got to rub that victory indirectly in their face.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. While I think, yes, it can be a very lazy story beat (I personally don't really like the direction the story for DA has taken for example), or even a painfully insensitive one when done poorly, I think it can also be a very important beat to have as part of a living narrative and world.

It's hard to explain, I guess, despite my trying. It just feels like not using it/taking it out of narratives feels like just another way to sweep racism under the rug. It feels like the whole "I don't see color" of storytelling.

[pokeblader3]

TDP Meta: rewriting some flaws and missed opportunities

(I won't be talking about anything related to a. Viren, b. Dark Magic, or c. the history of Elven supremacy and oppression and the show’s wack conception of morality sometimes) because those are a can of worms larger than the scope of this small rewrite, and also we don't know how the show will portray them fully in the future.

I would say that in Books 1-3, Claudia and Rayla are the best written characters, with Soren having a good arc muddied by a few poor writing decisions, and Callum and Ezran being rather bland and uninteresting(and also having a few poor writing moments).

-Claudia is the golden child of Viren, and was raised almost as a pawn to him, with her having an unhealthy view of family coming before all else, including morality, and when her family is threatened, she does horrible things in order to keep it together. 

-Rayla was groomed to be an assassin, something she just didn't have the heart to do, and spent her life internalizing shame from her parents being deserters and her own inability to be a good assassin to her adoptive father, and how she "failed" her mission and was ghosted by even Ethari. She puts on a facade of aggressiveness and being hot-tempered to distance herself from being emotionally open(which assassins can't be), and when that mask comes off with Callum we see just how little she thinks of herself. 

-Soren was the one Viren took out his anger on, yet Soren always wanted to prove himself to him and get his approval like Claudia did. He eventually sees that Viren is gaslighting and manipulating everyone, and doesn't let Claudia stop him from leaving Viren before their final battle. 

-Callum and Ezran are... interesting, but they don't have real apparent flaws or weaknesses to their character like the others do. They have some good moments and strong characterization, but aren’t as interesting as the others in my opinion.

1. Callum's arc

Callum has a fairly generic arc about bravery and learning magic, but he also has an important character trait in valuing his family and trying to be a good older brother for Ezran.

Callum is someone who was(or should have been) greatly effected by the conflicts between Katolis and Xadia. He never knew his birth father, lost his mother at a young age, and lived with a distant but loving relationship to his step-dad and his younger brother, his only family left, only to see his home attacked in an attack that killed his father and intended to kill Ezran and him as well.

He should have been allowed to make mistakes or hold flawed beliefs, such as expressing anger or grief to Xadians for being involved in the killing of his parents(especially since he's traveling with the daughter of his parent's killer), but this is only ever addressed in one near throwaway line when he sees Avizandum's statue in Xadia.

It would also have made sense for Callum to be overprotective of Ezran, and stop at nothing to make sure that he won't lose his only family left.

For example, in Book 1 when the egg falls into the lake, it's uncharacteristic that Callum let's Ezran, his tiny 10 year old brother, dive into a frozen lake when he could have done it instead(especially given he's likely still emotionally turbulent and on-edge from having just watched his family get attacked and living on the run). In a rewrite, Callum should be unable to dive into the lake for some reason, but also freak out when Ezran says he’ll dive into the frozen lake, because he doesn’t want to lose him. When Ezran does go into the lake and isn't heard from for a few seconds, Callum would begin to freak out thinking his brother might be in danger and he just let him do it.

Come Book 2, when Callum decides to trust Ezran to return home alone, this decision would hold a lot more weight, as it's a change Callum went through as he overcame a flaw he developed from his past. Also in Book 2, this would add a deeper context to Callum's talk with Ezran about how life sometimes hits you hard unexpectedly, since he is older than Ezran and would be speaking with the experience of someone who's dealt with the war for longer than Ezran, and want to shelter and guide him through growing up in such a tumultuous time.

It makes sense that Book 3 would be about Rayla in Xadia, but there should have been at least a few scenes about how Callum is doing now that Ezran is gone and he truly is alone, far away from family and home. As is, Callum doesn't really have an arc outside of Rayla in Book 3. Callum should have been allowed to hold grievances or react "wrongly" to his parents being killed by Xadians, especially when visiting Avizandum's lair, meeting Zubeia(the one who ordered the hit on his father), and the home of the Moonshadow elves that killed his father. 

2. Soren's arc

Soren's character and arc is complicated and built on a moral dilemma: he is told by his father(who we later learn is abusive) to kill Callum and Ezran, for his father's own personal gain. The problem is that the most important parts of this arc, his debating over and “attempting” to kill Ezran, are completely played as a joke. Because of this, we never get to see how he could have convinced himself that murdering children(who are also his friends) could be justified by himself, because that is not something any normal good-hearted person would even “haphazardly” try, and a considerable amount of his arc falls flat because they made a joke out of what should have been a key character moment.

To a lesser extent, Viren isn’t shown as abusive to Soren until Book 3, which makes his actions and why he’s so on board with killing children confusing and not make sense until we learn how he was gaslit and manipulated by Viren an entire season later, with little to no foreshadowing in the 2 seasons beforehand.

3. Ezran, Zubeia and the ending to Book 3

Ezran's arc is about the burden of ruling and navigating conflict with pacifism. Ezran believes that every death in a war, even if fighting for the wrong side, is still a father, son, lover, family member, etc., who just had their life taken from them. But then by the end, the entire army the protagonists fight against are dehumanized and turned into literal monsters, with it being portrayed as heroic when they kill thousands of them. The show also treats Kasef as a generic bad guy needing to be killed, instead of a tragic figure who chose poorly when his family was killed and his country was threatened(like, say, Claudia and Harrow are).

And now, for the worst part of Book 3: Zubeia. Zubeia is a huge sour note to end what's otherwise an amazing season on.

She ordered the hit against Harrow. She tried to kill the royal family of Katolis, after her husband killed Ezran and Callum's mom. She is over 1000 years old and was the regent of Xadia for the last 300 years along with her husband, and the two of them no doubt committed horrible acts against the humans. It is a complete asspull that she gave a "humans and elves? together :0? how beautiful :0:0:0" speech at the end of the season, and on a larger scale, how fast elf-human relationships instantly heal. Amaya's sister was killed by Zubeia's husband. Zubeia ordered her niece and nephew to be killed. Ezran and Callum were staring at the dragon who ordered their parents(and THEM) to be killed, and then was acting like humans and elves together was the most beautiful thing in the world. Amaya and Janai getting together also should have happened in Season 4, Katolis and the Sunfire Elves were at war literally a day prior, and Amaya was being kept as a prisoner by Janai and put through a torturous pain by her sister a week ago, and all that time she was worried about whether or not her niece and nephew were alive and the war that was going on they were embroiled in. Janaya and Rayllum are my favorite ships but they could have been handled better.

And now for the massive missed opportunity that would have also solved that issue above: Zubeia should have died(aka, what I thought was happening before the final scene when she suddenly recovered). It's thematically consistent with how the other 3 families of main characters experience a tragedy because of the Human-Xadian war, lose their parents at the hands of other families' parents, and have to work past it and choose forgiveness over vengeance. It would have given Zym and the Xadians a more tenuous relationship with the humans since Zym lost his mother to the war, and provide drama for Books 4 and 5, and it would also have shown how sometimes, relations between groups are not easy to heal, and history is not easy to right.

[oculis-grp]

“Racism: More Than Skin-Deep.”

Written by: Alexandra, Alexis, Blossom, Elven, Ninio, Kate, Kyle, and Rhea

Racism is one of the topics that has ignited discussion because of humanity's most pronounced and profound differences; suggested, divided, segregated, and excluded are some of the words we might use to define the behavior taken against certain racial, religious, political, and other classes, and that for the purpose of intensifying efforts to eradicate all types of discrimination. It has always been and continues to be a significant issue even in our modern-day society.

In our own written history, there have been invaders had their own vision for supremacy, which caused a growing change towards the culture of the world since then. It is here that racism began to be a growing phenomenon in the past, as these people who came from different races had no possession in basic human rights and suffered in the inequality that was placed into their circumstances due to the growing biases placed upon them due to their background.

It stems from the notion that comes from a way of thinking since society has always been afraid and threatened by others who are different and unique in comparison to their own brand of normalcy and standards. With this, it incorporates thoughts and ideas that others that hail from different countries and upbringings, they are perceived as unworthy of respect, dignity, equality, happiness, and among others, and are thought to have become a threat to the much more “better��, “sophisticated”, and “proper” culture and safety.

Due to this, a hatred towards anything that is incompatible with their evolving ways of thinking and behaving, or simply because they don't realize that we all have the same right to freedom and that we aren't liable for how we were born, our sexual preference, or other issues that include prejudice. It has been continuously been ignored throughout many points in history and some not even acknowledging that it doesn’t exist.

But the reality is that this is a form of human oppression, as well as a threat to all people. Racism has changed dramatically over time, and the divide between its classic expressions, which appeal to science, and its modern manifestations, which increasingly rely on the definition of cultural distinction and incompatibility, has grown wider. Owing to prejudice or a lack of knowledge thereof, are one of the most common causes of racist attitudes is a fear of what is different or of people who come from other countries.

Although, Racism may exist between people on a personal level, it also takes place in various organizations and foundations as a result of their conduct in their policies, processes, and practices. Individual bias is a result of a society's way of life. It refers to discriminatory attitudes and practices, as well as discrimination based on conscious and personal bias.

Racism may also manifest itself as individualism, the desire to eliminate power hierarchies and link personal agendas to racial or structural issues, in which a group of individuals believes that their words are not discriminatory because they are personal opinions, and there are actually more sections when it comes to racism.

For example, there is the existence of systemic racism, which occurs when policies and procedures are embedded in existing institutions, resulting in a group's exclusion and promotion. There is also Individual racism stems from a combination of learned and wider socioeconomic backgrounds and structures, which are aided by structural racism.

Another type of racism is economic racism, which is caused by patriarchal racism and historical factors and usually affects the next generation due to a lack of formal education and parental preparation. Furthermore, racism exists in today's schools; adolescent students may be naive or ignorant, and their conduct towards other students of a different ethnicity is conditioned by their peers and the integration of these actions that could potential stem from their background.

Bullying, for example, is a major problem in our schools, particularly after 9/11, when students mocked each other and physically injured Middle Eastern students, labeling them as terrorists. Not only that, but some parents themselves are found to be also instilling in their children the belief that it is acceptable to degrade the integrity of others, as well as teaching them to despise those they consider “inferior” or “weaker”.

It is important to note that, while racism and stereotyping are linked and not be the same thing, they actually are because racism is the assumption that a certain category can produce better individuals in terms of skills and physical appearance and individuals can be racists whether they are aware of it or not and it could stay within the mind and thought process of the population because because there are groups and individuals who actively advocate and support its harmful ideologies and methods, these contributing to its damaging relevance and existence even further.

In light of the current world affairs, Many will believe that we have overcome racism but we actually have not. Evidence of this is the on-going fight on overcoming hate crimes on both Black and Asian racism throughout parts of the world for the belief that that those from Asian descent are the ones “responsible” for the causing the COVID-19 Pandemic or those who hail from black communities are “dangerous” and “evil”.

In a localized context, in the Philippines there are is also an unsaid influence and often positive associations when it comes to foreigners, particularly those coming from the West such as the Americans, Canadians, and the Europeans, who are often greeted with enthusiastic greetings and welcomes the second they step into the country. But the pure opposite can be said for other races such as those who hail from the Middle East, Africa, and other parts of the Asian continent, as they are faced with mocking gestures and imitations and are a primary target for assault and violence.

It doesn’t also help that the country is known to have a preference towards paler-skinned individuals and countries in comparison those from darker-skinned ones. There have been many distasteful jokes and associations about having tan skin such as being from a place of poverty and are deemed to be “less attractive” when compared to those who have lighter and fair complexions who seen as more “amiable”.

When it comes to these types of beliefs, this could place children, no matter how young they are, into the impression that their value and worth as people are only recognizable by the color and shade of their skin and could take years for them to truly love themselves as individuals for the way that they are.

As a result of these negative and prejudiced beliefs, These said individuals who are inflicted to harassment, violence, abuse, and humiliation. The scars that come with after surviving these traumatic events, may have physically healed, but it is the wounds on the inside that are still struggling to get better. The impact and news of these types of cases will massively impact the victims as well as their loved ones in the process, some which don’t even get to heal even with time and may haunt them for generations on end.  

Therefore, Every person should take part in fighting this long and often misunderstood and ignored war. Stopping prejudice begins with one's own self-awareness. Individuals should be educated about its consequences and these ways of thinking should be eradicated because it promotes and inflicts hate and harm to several types of people and the communities that they belong to.

As the world continues to grow and evolve as the decades and centuries that have passed, we humans do too since we learn from the many mistakes we make since the start of time as no race is superior than the other. We may all live and grow in different traditions and belief but in all of these there is humanity, and that does not require dissection among races. We the people, should strive to grow and foster a better world to stand against this and continue to support equality and respect for everyone no matter the race.

However, it is not only the job of the individuals to place forward such actions and the need for change for the betterment of all, but it also the responsibility of those in power, who are capable of setting the stage up for change, to ensure that the demands and the voices of the people, their citizens and fellow countrymen, are met and should be answered with drastic measures and calls so that these incidents will only cease to occur, not only for the safety and welfare of certain marginalized groups, but for the progress of the future for all.  

To summarize our sentiments with regards to this topic, Racism is more than skin-deep. This is a system that has been enduring for a time now and continues to affect and impact millions everyday. For a long time slavery, ethnic discrimination, and white supremacy are only some of the racial discrimination are one of the many examples of this behavior and thinking that are happening in our society then and even now.

However, the antagonism over other races is gradually being combated in our society since the world is progressing, with people are getting educated and corrected in order to avoid racial and other types of discrimination. It is through both learning these causes and factions and exhibiting true compassion towards those are who different to us can we be able to combat this harmful and often invisible threat.

Posting and advocating causes such as these on social media is a great way to get many more people be more aware and involved with the situation the world is in, but it is not the only way to do so and we shouldn’t stop there. Instead, we should find more effective ways as a response. For example, by applying as much as we can learn from different forms of media such as the Internet, pod casts, books, and much more, and using them in real-life situations, not only can we help those who are not privileged as we are, but also at the same time, educating ourselves and the people around us.

We should, instead, evolve as individuals and eradicate bigotry from our lives as there isn't much of a difference between us. We are all humans who breathe the same air and eat the same food. Our main distinctions are the color of our skin and our abilities to perform certain tasks; otherwise, we are all the same.

[wyrmguardsecrets]

"We have a problem with nazis and nationalists trying to join our elven supremacy guilds/events/communities." IT'S BIG BRAIN TIME BOYS.

[runridedive]

Five consecutive titles for Botterill/Vacy-Lyle

The battle for supremacy in the South African National Rally Championship culminated with the running of the Ermelo Rally, Round 7 of the championship, where Toyota Gazoo Racing SA’s Guy Botterill and navigator Simon Vacy-Lyle were locked in a tussle with Volkswagen’s AC Potgieter and navigator Nico Swartz.

The two crews started the event on the same points, and from there it was easy to see what was needed for Botterill to take his fifth title in a row: Finish ahead of Potgieter. But the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA crew had had a tough run up to the final round, after failing to finish the opening rally; and rolling out on the penultimate round.

“It has been a tougher-than-expected season for us,” said an elated Botterill after clinching the title in Ermelo. “Two DNFs certainly didn’t help our cause, and it was disappointing to have put so much pressure on ourselves for the final round.”

But Potgieter’s challenge faded early on, after he was forced to clock in late to Stage 2 due to brake problems on the opening stage, which required urgent attention. This gave the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Etios crew a handy margin, which they maintained through the remainder of the 15-stage rally.

“There was no need for us to try and win the event – we were there to win the championship,” explained Botterill. “Even so, we managed to continue at a good pace, especially considering the rough road conditions.”

Botterill/Vacy-Lyle opened the road on both days, which made it tricky to stay ahead of the chasing pack without taking chances. Even so, Richard Leeke and Elvene Vonk (Ford Fiesta) only caught up with the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA crew three stages from the finish, and eventually won the event by 0.07 over Botterill/Vacy-Lyle.

“In the end we just lost out to Richard and Elvene, but we did more than enough to win the title, which is what we set out to do,” added Botterill. “I must thank Toyota SA Motors for their continued support, and also our technical crew who looked after the Toyota Etios throughout the season. They’re always on the ball, but they took extra care for the final round.”

With this title added to their tally, Botterill/Vacy-Lyle have now won two overall South Africa National Rally titles on the trot. However, they’ve won a total of five consecutive front-wheel-drive titles in a row, making them one of the most successful front-wheel-drive crews in the history of South African rallying.

“The Toyota Etios has proven to be a highly reliable machine, and we’ve been extremely happy with its performance over the last few seasons,” concluded Botterill.

The post Five consecutive titles for Botterill/Vacy-Lyle appeared first on Run Ride Dive.

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[archangelsunited]

[musingofariael]

Dwarves

Quick Facts: Height: Average about 4" Weight: 160lbs to 250lbs on average Lifespan: Average of about 250 to 300 years Defining Features: Short stout build, broad Population: 6,000 Found: Iron Crags, Ivory Hills, Worldwide Reputation: Master smiths and craftsmen Gods: Leanings towards Kaflios. Racial Bonus: +10 any Smithing or +10 Axe Combat Overview: The Dwarves are a proud race of expert smiths and warriors. An ancient race, it is difficult to tell when exactly they came into being as an organized society. They come in two types, divided by where they live; the Hill Dwarves and the Mountain Dwarves. The Dwarves of both types are renowned for their abilities to craft stone and metals into magnificent weapons and pieces of architecture the likes of which is unmatched by any other race. It is because of this innate skill that dwarven stone masons and weapon smiths are respected, sought after, and more then a fair bit expensive. Despite how sought after their work is, both segments of the Dwarven population tend to live on the fringes of human society and stick within groups among themselves, but the Hill Dwarves are slightly more sociable then their mountainous counterparts with outsiders. This life on the edges of civilization is by their own choices, as they are not inherently mistrusted or disliked. History: It is said that the Dwarves were carved out of the living rock themselves. Milja, Goddess of Life once gazed down from the heavens at all of the twisted spires of rocks, jutting mountains and rolling hills of Ariael and had a thought come to her mind. What if all this stone, so lacking of life, could be formed into life of its very own? She spent days walking among the mountains, the crags and cliffs breathing life into them, little by little. The stone that had once been cold beneath her feet began to feel warm as if it possessed a spark within the cold depths. She knelt upon the top of the Iron Crag, the tallest of these mountains in the grandest of ranges in all of Ariael and from that point, where all other stone lay beneath her she could feel the beat of the heart of the planet. The stone was now living so long as it was connected to the living, beating heart of the planet. A smile came to her lips as she reached down and dipped her hand into the stone, suddenly fluid and malleable for her to make into whatever she wished. First she built up a base form. She pulled from the earth the minerals of strength, iron and other metals to form her creation. Her tongue sticking from her lips as she concentrated on her work. Making life from the base materials of the planet was always a fun activity for her. She could paint a small portion of herself onto the creature she created. The rock was strong, steadfast and true. It did not yield to the wind or any other force. She would make them short and stout so they will not blow away in the wind. Strong because rock would not find itself pushed this way or that. Moment by moment, day by day, eon by eon; time means nothing to a Goddess and still she worked on her new creation. The broad face, the flat nose, long braided hair and a prominent, proud beard. They would be a proud race, she knew this. Finally she stood and examined her creation, the Dwarf. Stepping back to appreciate her work she could not help but be impressed with herself. She could breath life into solid stone, something dead and devoid of any life, and give it form. A smile played across her lips as she leaned in and planted a kiss upon the nose of her creation, a kiss of life. To her dismay, nothing happened. Did the stone not wish to come to life? She was the Goddess of life, things awoke at her touch, but this stone though living, breathing in a way, did not wish to move. It was then that she was approached by another god, a minor god born of the coupling between the Goddess of the Earth and a mere mortal. Kaflios, the god of civilization offered his help. "I do not need your help, for life is what I do. It is mine to command, and by my power alone the stone will live, will breath." She spoke in a tone that broached no argument but still held true to the grace and life that she had always represented. "But Goddess, the stone and metal has never lived before, the spark is not strong enough. Perhaps, if it were fed, allowed to grow in heat, we could cause that spark to grow into an inferno and wake the very stone." He kept his head slightly bowed as he spoke as to not be too brazen, she was after-all a true Goddess. "My forge can wake him." And so it was that the Dwarf was placed within the forge of Kalfios, god of civilization and it was through those fires that life was truly awakened within the stone that had lay cold and lifeless before. From that fire emerged Koh'orim Of The Living Stone, the first high king of the Dwarves. It is because of this story that many Dwarfs view Kalfios as their patron and master of the Heavenly Forge, or so legend has it. Biology Physical Appearance: The Dwarves are broken into two segments of their population; the Hill Dwarves and the Mountain Dwarves. There isn't much difference between the two beyond some small visual differences. The Mountain Dwarves are slightly shorter then the Hill Dwarves, though broader in body. They also are more contrasting in their coloring then the Hill Dwarves, their skin often being more pale and their hair being dark brown or black. The Hill Dwarves by contrast tend to be slightly more tanned, their skin even ranging to a deep brown on rare occasion, and their hair often is a red or light to medium brown in color. Common Traits: The most common trait among the Dwarf is of course their size. Both males and females average around four feet tall at adulthood. They are stout and almost as broad as they are tall with short strong legs. All Dwarves have relatively broad faces with wide flat noses. Perhaps almost as well known as the short stature of the Dwarf is their beard which the Dwarf grows from a very young age and will cut under no circumstances within their control. To lose one's beard is to be dishonored in the most drastic of ways. It is said that the beard is so symbolic and so tied into their existence when they were sculpted into life that even the women of the Dwarves have beards. Psychology: Dwarves are honor bound individuals. They have a confidence that often comes across as arrogant and perhaps it is. After all, the Dwarf is the greatest race to be isn't it? They would say so. Dwarves tend to keep to themselves and away from many of the other races unless they are running a shop or hiring themselves out for blacksmithing or stone masonry tasks. The Dwarf is a proud individual that will go to great lengths to hide weakness and it is nearly impossible to see a Dwarf shed a tear. No Dwarf is worth anything without their beard, a symbol of their strength and prowess, at least that is what other Dwarves will say. Reproduction: Dwarves are capable of breeding with other races though this is rare. The offspring of a Dwarf and any other race, will be taller then the Dwarf on average but not by much. Upon a second or third generation of mixed breeding, the Dwarven aspects of their physiology will become notably muted and start to disappear. Gestation for a Dwarven pregnancy is about ten months. A Dwarven female is able to get pregnant twice within their life, and come into sexually maturity around eighty years old. Often times, these pregnancies consist of two offspring at once. Aging & Longevity: The average Dwarven lifespan is between 250 and 300. They reach maturity between 50 and 100 years. Society: Social Structure: Dwarven culture is structured around clans and families. The largest kingdom of Dwarves consists of the Mountain Dwarves under the high king and lay within the Iron Crag Mountains. The Hierarchy beneath the king is geared around various clans that have and sometimes still do war with each other. Much of the large scale combat is in the past now, but clans still fight among themselves for supremacy. Lineage and past conquest of ancestors is often touted when deciding which families find themselves next in line to succeed the throne if it were to find itself empty and without heirs. It is said that only the high king can call for a unification of both Hill and Mountain Dwarves in a time of crisis. Hill Dwarves are also known as wandering Dwarves. Though they make their home in the Ivory Hills, they have been known to travel the world in small bands or troops. Often consisting of one, two or at most three separate families these groups are tight knit and loyal to one another. These groups often consist of trade merchants, masons and a variety of smiths so that they can enter other territories and earn money for their continued survival. Though Hill Dwarves are more social then their mountain dwelling counterparts they still keep themselves towards the fringes of other societies by their own choice. Of course, one might find this difficult to believe if one encounters a very friendly and very drunk Dwarf in a local tavern. Language: Dvaar, the Dwarven language is considered to be the ancestor language of common. Common is believed to have been developed directly from the Dvaar language with small contributions from ancient elven languages. Dwarves tend to keep grammar and syntax short and to the point, avoiding excess fluff. Some say Dvaar is as simple as it is so the Dwarves have no problems once the ale starts flowing. Names: Dwarves are not much for fancy sounding names, but many times their surnames will either be denoting something that is linked to their accomplishments or prowess, references to the mountains or rock or will be a denotation of their parentage. Examples of Dwarven Names- Torin Stonehammer Morgo Oakenfist Korrick Son Of Kren Koh'orim Of The Living Stone Friends and Family: Dwarves view family as one of the most important things in the world as their honor is tied to their family lineage. All Dwarves can name their family tree back for hundreds of years and can always manage to pick out the bits that make their family better then any other. Both Mountain and Hill Dwarves stay within their families and function as one solid unit, the old passing on their knowledge to each successive generation and the young raising up to take care of them. A Dwarf without family is a Dwarf without honor. Often times fathers will pass down their smithing knowledge and families will carry on various designs from generation to generation. This direct passing of artisan level knowledge is one of the primary reasons that dwarven craftsmen are viewed as among the greatest, if not the greatest in the world. Religion: Many dwarves view Kalfios as their patron god due to his forge waking them to life and view Koh'orim Of The Living Stone as a sort of messiah figure. The likeness of the forge master and his creation are held to high standards among their houses of worship. Perhaps it is a bit of chauvinism within dwarven cultural that find the Goddess of life excluded from many of their religious practices. Though viewed through the rest of the world as the god of civilization, within the dwarven community, Kalfios will always be the master of the forge and father of all things built, smelted or smithed. Any dwarven blacksmith that wishes to forge a blade that will last forever will say a blessing to both Kalfios and Koh'orim over the blade. Diet: One thing the Mountain Dwarves do not have is a green thumb. Due to their often subterranean lifestyle their diets consist of very little fruit and vegetables. They eat a lot of meat and consume vast amounts of ale, both traits are common with their Hill brethren as well. Hill Dwarves, though often traveling do manage to grow food and raise livestock more effectively, so their diet consists of a more balanced spread consisting of fruits, vegetables, wheat, meat and of course ale. Care: Dwarven medicine is not as renown as their smithing abilities or warrior status but given their seclusion from other societies it is very advanced. It is rare to find a dwarven medicine man or healer functioning outside of a major dwarven settlement, but those that do exist are talented in their fields. 

[loominggaia]

Anonymous asked:

Hade a rough idea for a fan-made Looming Gaia great kingdom based on the current info about the roving bands of violent liberated slaves in Evangline, the Benfreit Imperium. Benfreit takes place a century after the current story, the kingdom is based in the ruins of Evangline and Yerim- mor and is basically the Gaia version of nazi germany. They are the former Fae & Gaian slaves of Evangline, having earned their freedom through bloodshed and are now taking their grief out on their former masters

Benfreit got its start out as the roving bands of escaped slaves, massacring every slave owner and stray human they could find and freeing every slave they encountered to join their ranks. With Folkvars discreet help they managed to organize into a single faction, the Befreits. Together they waged a violent war against Evangline and eventually won, ending the war by storming the capital and murdering queen Indiga and her whole family, parading her corpse around the street for several days.

For their loyality the Benfreits where given the blue valley by Folkvar as reward and to serve as a vassal state, a decision they would later regret. For the first couple years Benfreit was a hellhole to live in, with widespread anarchy, political instability, racial violence and remaining bands of Evanglite loyalist plaguing the region. After a awhile the anarchy was reigned and order was brought to its lands by a very charismatic, very angry elven man, the soon to be King Kaaldor Benfreit.

Kaaldor is a angry, vengeful elven man, having suffered his whole life under Evangline slavery. Having been himself and seen people he loved beaten, tortured and worked to death by human masters over and over again turned him into a radically anti-commoner monster who seeks nothing but revenge against their entire class. He united the Benfreit people under his rule, quelling all the anarchy in the region and silenced all criticism against him.

He achieved total support by playing to the Benfreit peoples already radical hatred of commoners, turning it up to genocidal levels. Having consolidated power, turned the Benfreit commonwealth into a military dictatorship and made the revolutionaries his personal army he set his sights on his true goal, the total eradication/enslavement of all commoners. launching a genocide all throughout the blue valley, all commoners but humans especially where massacred in droves.

By the end of it 2/3rds of all the commoners in the entire blue valley region where killed, with the rest being enslaved. Folkvar took notice to this early and tried to stop it but was unsuccessful, Benfreit becoming defiant and even completely cutting ties with Folkvar. A war broke out which Folkvar surprisingly lost (mostly due to other external problems), forcing them to abandon much of Evangline territory which was scooped up by new Benfreit Imperium, giving them even more power.

Over the following century the Benfreit Imperium would continue to grow in power, eventually taking over all the old territory of Evangline, some of Folkvars old souther border after another war, and even annexing Yermin-Mor, having gotten along with them and sharing a similar grudge against commoners. Their mass killing and enslavement of commoners also continued, with the entirety of the surviving commoners in their territory being brutally enslaved and the old Evangline culture erased.

The culture and set up of the Imperium is a full blown fascist regime. The extremely authoritarian, militaristic, nationalistic, xenophobic, and obsessed with racial purity and Fae/Gaian supremacy. They are a culture of hatred and victim hood, wanting revenge against all commoners for their ancestors enslavement. They believe commoners, humans especially, are Gaia’s biggest mistake, believing their lying, lack of magic, and draw to pollution causing technology is because they are soulless.

Seeing all commoners as Gaia’s soulless bastard children, the imperium claims that all commoners kind is the biggest threat to Gaia and her “pure” children. The imperium proclaims it is their divine duty to eradicate the commoner menace and put them in their “proper” place, that if not stopped commoners will destroy Gaia and all Fae/Gaian kind in their greedy jealousy. No commoner is given any form of freedom under this regime, being either killed or enslaved with extreme fervor.

Commoner slavery is rampant here, and unlike the Evangline kingdom of old, their is next to no legal restrictions as to what one can do to their slaves. Benfreit is firmly allied with Damijani, having a similar history of being Fae enslaved by commoners and obtaining freedom, as well as their authoritarian beliefs. Their also allied with Mogdir, though mogdir likes to keep them at a very long arms length. Their firm enemies with Zareen, Folkvar, and Matuzu.

Their enemies with Folkvar for their betrayal and multiple wars. Enemies with Matuzu for annexing Yermin-mor, taking away a major industrial area alongside the encroachment into their territory. And for both the “demands” Benfreit is making to them, trying to strong arm them into giving up their commoner populations. And of course Benfreit has a special hatred of Zareen, using them alongside what their old Evanglite masters did to them to prove their anti-commoner doctrine.

The imperium alongside Damijani and Mogdir are planning a massive war against zareen, seeking its total destruction. The imperium believing that if it can take down Zareen then it would prove themselves unstoppable in their quest to rid the Gaia of commoners. This is the rough idea for what I can come up with so far, may post a updated version later once it’s ironed out. Also what do you think of this, could a kingdom like this even spring up?

Anon, I just want you to know that when I finished reading this, I actually clapped. This fits in so seamlessly with the existing lore, I could easily see it happening in the series. This would make a really great AU!

Benfreit sounds really interesting, I’d love to know more about their culture. They’ve got some similarities with Etios and Damijana in their history, but this Kaaldor guy obviously cranked shit to 11 and went ham with his manifesto there.

This is just so good, I love it. Every aspect of it just makes sense. Benfreit Anon knows their shit when it comes to LG lore!

I have just one small contribution to make...After they pulled Kaldoor’s charred carcass from his bunker after this great war of world powers, officials noted that he only had one testicle. Did it burn up in the flames? Or was it NEVER THERE?

That’s why the dude really be so mad. B)