#encampment defense

[allthecanadianpolitics]

From Katarokwi Union of Tenants March 21, 2023:

The City of Kingston thinks that they can sweep homelessness under the carpet and evict people who are homeless from their encampments because they’ve provided a few (not enough!) high-barrier shelter spaces for (well-behaved) people to crash in. The moratorium on clearing encampments expires tomorrow on March 21 and the genocidal and illegal bylaw and ‘encampment protocol’ kicks into effect.

Only real, dignified, social, public, democratically-controlled, rent-geared-to-income ACTUAL HOUSING is a solution to homelessness. KUT will support and defend our homeless friends from eviction and will insist that no amount of low barrier shelter beds or sheds or aleeeping pods is enough to ’resolve’ the problem of homelessness.

Join us at a solidarity BBQ in the backyard of the Integrate Care Hub tomorrow, Tuesday 21st at 5pm. Bring donations of money, clothes, wood, smokes, batteries and whatever else you feel people might need.

[queer-reader-07]

just out here reminding myself that the core of my belief system is faith in the human story

[nando161mando]

UCLA PALESTINE SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT RIGHT NOW. THIS IS TRUE COMMUNITY DEFENSE.

[comrade-onion]

Advice to the Students

Student movements have often proved to be pivotal in bringing about radical change. From the Civil Rights movement, to anti-Viet Nam War protests as well as more contemporary examples such as Black Lives Matter and, of course, the ongoing student protests against the genocide in Gaza. One thing that all of these movements have in common is that they all faced and are currently facing vicious backlash from those in power, with riot police and even the national guard being sent on unarmed protesters, injuring and killing scores in the process.

In order to maintain this movement and to fight back against the crackdowns, the encampment and protest movements across the United States and the world will need to prepare, organize, and militarize.

Firstly, it is imperative that the protesters know that their action, no matter how peaceful, will be met with violence. And it is in these circumstances from which the necessity to defend themselves and fight back will arise, a series of tactics on resistance will be listed below, I hope they are of use and are accessible to any and all who need it.

Bricks: Bricks are easily accessible to the majority of protesters and can be used in a multitude of ways to disrupt and defend. Aside from the obvious uses, bricks can be alternatively used to build and alter structures in a way that slows down police or national guard advances with minimal violence.

During the Hong Kong anti-government protests in 2019, protesters utilized bricks to build small structures (such as the ones seen above) on roads and passageways. These brick roadblocks are extremely effective at slowing or even halting oncoming traffic. When these structures are hit by the wheel of a vehicle, "the block on top falls and helps buttress the other two."

Umbrellas: Umbrellas, if utilized correctly, can be a great defensive aid if protests become heated. They can be used to deflect against projectiles fired at you by police, such as tear gas cannisters, water cannons, and pepper spray. They can also be used in the construction of makeshift barriers and walls utilized by the protesting parties.

PPE: When attending a protest, encampment, or any form of civil disobedience, it is of utmost importance that you come prepared for it to go south. Police arsenals include a wide array of weapons and chemicals such as tear gas and pepper spray, and the site of the protest might be equipped with cameras that can later be utilized for facial recognition. Wear face and eye coverings to protest from pepper spray and gasses as well as to protect your identity. Always be ready to defend yourself in the case of physical confrontation.

Random Stuff:

• Makeshift barricades can serve as great protectice instalations at best, and serve as a way to buy time for yourself and fellow organizers at worst. In my opinion, they should be present at every encampment.

• Look out for one another, co-operate, and maintain order. From this point forwards treat your encampment as you would treat a small breakaway state. You are under attack, and only through planning and organization can you maintain order and safety for the members of your protest. Everyone needs to contribute what they can.

• Don't bring a knife to a gun fight, be ready for anything, rapid escalations at these types of protests are not unheard of.

Last but not least, this is in no way an incitement to violence. Merely a set of advice protestors can follow to defend themselves and their comrades in these turbulent and unprecedented times. Share this post with those who you think can benefit from it. Much love, solidarity forever 🇵🇸🏳️‍🌈🇿🇦❤️

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ali Winston at The Guardian:

As the University of California, Los Angeles is reeling from a late-night attack on a student protest encampment for Gaza last week, attention is turning to the disparate group of counter-protesters who had rallied against the encampment in the lead-up to the violence, including during chaotic dueling rallies two days before. Many witnesses to the 30 April melee observed that the small group of assailants – many of them masked – did not appear to be students. More than 30 people were injured, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair). Authorities are still working to identify the perpetrators, and have not made any arrests.

But researchers studying hate and anti-government groups have confirmed the presence at the counter-demonstrations of several far-right activists who have been involved in anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-vaccine protests across southern California over the past three years. Narek Palyan, an Armenian-American from Los Angeles’ Van Nuys neighborhood, was photographed on UCLA’s campus on 26 April amid a group of counter-protesters, and again on the evening of 30 April, hours before the assault on the protest camp. Palyan took part in several “Leave Our Kids Alone” demonstrations at school board meetings in southern California over the past year, where he was at times photographed making Nazi salutes. His social media history is rife with antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ posts. The Leave Our Kids Alone protests have cropped up at school board demonstrations, book readings and Pride celebrations throughout southern California, focusing anger from conservative parents on the recognition of LGBTQ+ identity and students in both curriculums and classrooms.

The demonstrations, part of a broader rightwing effort to sow unrest and undermine an alleged “liberal agenda” at US schools, have at times been marked by violence and drawn far-right participants from around the region, including people associated with local Proud Boy and Three Percenter militia chapters and fundamentalist Christian churches.

Manuk Grigorian, one of the organizers of some of the southern California “Leave Our Kids Alone” protests, was also present at the counter-protests at UCLA on 30 April. Grigorian frequently appeared on Fox News to discuss the school board demonstrations last summer, where he leveled false claims that certain public education districts were “grooming” children to develop LGBTQ+ identities. Michael Ancheta, a former mixed martial arts fighter who in the past associated with southern California Proud Boys and assaulted a journalist at a 2021 anti-vaccine protest in West Hollywood, was spotted among the pro-Israel crowd at UCLA on on 28 April, when pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protesters staged dueling rallies near the encampment, and again on 30 April. Ancheta, who until recently ran an Instagram account under the handle “Antifahunter”, has been a frequent participant in the Leave Our Kids Alone demonstrations.

[...] The reason these counter-demonstrators are drawn to protests over the war in the Middle East, he said, was that they see them through the prism of a broader rightwing view that “traditional” societies and families are under threat. “Their animosity towards the campus demonstrations are part of this Christian far-right perspective that LGBTQ folks are threats to Christianity, and so are Palestinians or Muslims,” Cravens said.

[...]

Beyond UCLA, a number of far-right actors, including a violent white supremacist charged in connection with January 6, the founder of the Proud Boys, and a former member of the streetfighting Neo-Fascist Rise Above Movement have stood alongside pro-Israel demonstrators confronting Gaza solidarity encampments at universities across the country.

Lindsay Schubiner, the program director at the Western States Center, has been tracking this trend. To her, the activist presence is part of a broader rightwing effort to sow chaos and undermine democratic institutions. “These white nationalists, religious extremists and anti-democracy actors are political actors who are opportunistic and strategic – they have a goal of ratcheting up the temperature and escalating tensions between groups, and when there’s so much attention on a situation like the current crisis in Gaza, they show up,” Schubiner said. “We’ve seen attempts to co-opt and reframe the debate about the current war by characterizing pro-Palestinian students and faculty as un-American, which is incredibly troubling.” Gene Block, UCLA’s chancellor, has condemned the attack by “instigators” on 30 April, and Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, has called the assault “abhorrent and inexcusable”. Bass likened the 30 April assault to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The assault came after days of tension between camped-out students and counter-protesters at the Westwood campus. For days, counter-protesters turned up to the campus to confront the student demonstrators, with shouting matches occasionally erupting into scuffles. Aside from the rightwing school protesters, other extremist elements were documented on UCLA’s campus. On the weekend before the raid, photos emerged of a flag featuring the symbol the Jewish Defense League, a virulent Jewish supremacist organization founded by Meir Kahane that has committed “countless terrorist attacks in the US and abroad”, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The JDL was formally delisted as a terrorist organization by Joe Biden in 2022, over protests from Palestinian groups.

Why are far-right groups disrupting campus protests for Palestine? To cause trouble and stoke their war on “liberal colleges.”

[aurenzo]

If my Americans (my D&D players) somehow found this: keep scrolling

Hehehehe your little warcouncil meeting in the tent with the archmage is getting ambushed by an army of aboleth thralls this session hehehehe

[ms-demeanor]

Can you tell me it'll be okay? And mean it?

Yeah. It feels like shit now and there's a lot to worry about, but there was a lot to worry about last month and four years ago and eight years ago and twelve years ago and sixteen and twenty and twenty four and twenty eight and on and on and on.

Continue to work locally, continue to help people, continue to speak up for what is right and protest what is wrong.

We all should be breaking unjust laws and taking care of one another because you don't survive things like this by being isolated and alone, you survive things like this by building networks and creating parallel systems and growing tight bonds with the people in your community (either physically or digitally).

Plan on helping someone get an abortion. Plan on lying to ICE. Plan on helping someone get hormones. Plan on defending an encampment. Plan on sharing information that is being hidden. Plan on potesting a pipeline or supporting forest defense. Plan on not crossing picket lines. Plan on helping your friends get their meds.

The US Federal Government sucks shit and is not here to help. But there are millions of people who want to help each other, and those are the people you should be focusing your energy on.

It's going to be hard, but it was always going to be hard. I believe in my community, I believe in the networks I've built, I believe in the ability of small groups to make change and I believe in you.

Don't panic about what's on the horizon, do something *today* that will make someone else's life better tomorrow and it will feel less like the world is falling down.

[willtheweaver]

Some locations and structures to include in your forest

Abandoned shrine

Alchemist’s lab

Ancient ruins

Army encampment

Battlefield memorial

Boathouse

Bridge, log

Bridge, stone arch

Bridge, suspension

Bridge, wooden beam

Causeway

Cablin

Cable car station

Cairns- grave markers

Cairns- trail marker

Cave system

Caved-in tunnel

Cemetery

Clearing

Campsite

Castle (robber baron or otherwise)

Collapsed building

Dam

Dirt track

Ditch, defensive

Ditch, henge monument

Dock

Dragon’s lair

Elven settlement

Fairy ring

Farm

Ferry landing

Ford

Fort, earthen

Fort, stone

Fort, wooden

Game trail

Ghost town

Guardhouse

Haunted ruins

Hermit’s hut

Hollow hill

Hunting lodge

Hunter’s hide

Inn

Logging camp

Manor house

Mine

Monastery

Outlaw’s hideout

Overgrown ruins

Potholes

Paved road

Portal

Quarry

Railroad

Rail station

Raised platform

Roadside grave

Sacred grove

Sawmill

Sky burial platform

Signpost

Stone circle

Summoning ring

Switchback

Temple

Tollbooth

Treehouse

Troll cave

Tunnel entrance

Turnpike

Village

Waterwheel

Watchtower, stone

Watchtower, wooden

Witches’ cottage

Wizard’s tower

Zip line

[n1ght0f-nyx]

woven bonds pt 4

pert'ah x fem reader

you've struggled with sleep since you first moved in with your arranged orc husband, one night you find him awake in front of the hearth, drawing quietly

tags/warnings- arranged marriage, human female x male orc, gentle giant, your starting to develop feelings for big man

also feel free to request non-woven bonds related things that involve pert'ah or my other ocs (see my masterlist) i love writing for all these characters and seeing the mass of support ive gotten over the last month!

word count-1025

The fire crackled softly in the hearth, its warm, golden light flickering across the small room. You were curled up on the straw mattress, a blanket pulled up to your chin as you tried to sleep, but rest wouldn’t come. It hadn’t for weeks now—not since your father had sold you to this…orc. You didn’t even know how long it had been since you arrived in the orc’s encampment. Days blurred together in a haze of resentment and exhaustion.

You shifted under the covers, your eyes squeezing shut as you willed sleep to take over. But the soft, almost rhythmic scratching sound near the fire caught your attention. You opened your eyes and turned your head just slightly. Pert’ah was seated by the fire, his broad, muscular form hunched over something in his lap.

You studied him, curiosity tugging at you despite the cold distance you had tried to maintain. His rough features—large tusks, strong jaw, and dark green skin—were cast in soft shadows by the firelight. His long, dark hair was tied back, leaving his sharp, intelligent eyes exposed. He was so different from the human men you had known, yet there was something almost peaceful about him at this moment.

He didn’t notice you watching him as he worked. His large hand moved with surprising gentleness, guiding a piece of charcoal across the page of an old, worn book. The scratching sound was his sketching. It struck you as strange at first—an orc, known for their brute strength, sitting quietly by the fire, creating art.

Your gaze drifted to the rest of the room—his space, now shared with you. It was small but organized with care, wooden furniture crafted by hand and everything in its place. There were his weavings, hung neatly on the walls, adding splashes of color to the otherwise drab space. You had always kept your distance from him and his belongings, but tonight, your defenses felt weaker. Maybe it was the late hour or the quietness of the moment, but you couldn’t help but feel a small spark of curiosity.

Slowly, quietly, you rose from the mattress and tiptoed toward him, careful not to disturb the peace. He still hadn’t noticed you, his focus entirely on the sketch he was working on. You hesitated just a few feet away, unsure if you should say something or return to bed. Before you could make up your mind, his hand stilled, and his head lifted slightly.

“Why you awake?” His voice was low and gruff but not unkind. He still hadn’t turned to face you.

You swallowed, caught off guard by the question. “I…couldn’t sleep,” you mumbled.

He nodded, still looking down at his work. “Fire helps. Calm mind.”

You shuffled awkwardly, unsure how to respond. His broken English always made conversations feel a bit stilted, but you could tell he was trying. He always tried. Despite everything, Pert’ah had never been cruel to you. Frustratingly kind, even. Still, the bitterness of your situation gnawed at you, making it hard to accept any gesture of goodwill.

“What are you drawing?” you asked softly before you could stop yourself.

Pert’ah finally turned his head toward you, his expression unreadable in the firelight. He hesitated for a moment, then held out the book in your direction.

You took a tentative step closer, eyes darting down to the page. Your breath caught in your throat.

It was a sketch of you.

In the drawing, you were lying asleep, the blanket pulled up around your shoulders. It was a peaceful image, detailed and precise. The lines were soft, capturing your form with care. He had been drawing you without your knowledge, but there was no malice in the action—just quiet observation.

You stared at it, unsure of how to feel. His drawing was beautiful, but the thought of him watching you sleep, even harmlessly, made your skin prickle. “Why did you draw me?” you asked, your voice barely above a whisper.

Pert’ah looked back at the sketch, then at you. “You are…here. In my life now. I want remember this. Peaceful moment.”

Your chest tightened. A part of you wanted to snap at him, tell him that you weren’t here by choice, that nothing about this was peaceful to you. But another part of you—the part that saw the care he put into that drawing—felt…something else. Something softer.

You didn’t say anything for a moment, unsure of what to do with this strange mixture of emotions.

Pert’ah’s gaze fell to the floor. “I sorry… if this upset you,” he mumbled, his shoulders slumping slightly.

“No,” you said quickly, surprising yourself. “It’s just… unexpected. But it’s—” You paused, searching for the right word. “It’s nice.”

He nodded once, clearly unsure how to respond to your hesitant compliment. The awkwardness lingered between you like an invisible barrier, but it wasn’t as heavy as it had been before. You glanced at the sketch again, still processing how gentle his work was despite his imposing exterior.

Without thinking, you reached out toward the page, wanting to take a closer look. Pert’ah, moving at the same time, reached to turn the page, and your hands brushed together.

The touch was brief, just the lightest contact, but it felt like a jolt of electricity had passed between you. Both of you froze. Your eyes flicked up to meet his, and you saw the surprise mirrored in his expression.

The air in the room seemed to still. Your heart thudded in your chest, and you didn’t pull your hand away. Neither did he. It was a simple touch, nothing more, but the warmth of his skin against yours lingered, refusing to fade.

Pert’ah was the first to break the silence. He pulled his hand back slowly, looking down at the book as if embarrassed by the moment. “I… make you new blanket,” he muttered, his voice quieter now. “Orc blankets warm...Keep you comfortable.”

You swallowed hard, feeling the tension settle back into the air. “Thank you,” you whispered, stepping back toward the mattress. Your hand still tingled from the brief contact, and you weren’t sure why it affected you so much. You shouldn’t care. You shouldn’t let any of this matter.

But it did.

As you lay back down, you glanced at Pert’ah once more. He had returned to his sketching, but his movements were slower, more hesitant. You could still feel the faint trace of warmth where his hand had touched yours. It was a small, fleeting moment, but it stuck with you, lingering long after the fire had burned low.

Maybe it was the quiet of the night, or maybe it was something else entirely, but for the first time since you’d arrived, you didn’t feel completely alone.

In the quiet darkness, your thoughts churned, and for the first time, you wondered if perhaps things might change—if maybe, just maybe, you could learn to see Pert’ah not as the orc who had taken you, but as the quiet, kind soul who had always offered more than you could give in return.

You weren’t ready to admit it to yourself, not yet. But something had shifted tonight, something you couldn’t quite put into words.

And for the first time in weeks, sleep came easier than before.

[magz]

Palestine related news summary from LetsTalkPalestine, May 1 to May 4, 2024.

[Ways to help, sources, and more: LetsTalkPalestine Linktree]

May 1.

(Instagram reel of UCLA protest. Includes footage of treating n washing a pro-palestine protestors' bloody head)

Day 208

🇨🇴 Colombia to cut diplomatic ties w/ Israel

•⁠ ⁠33 killed, 57 injured in the last 24 hours. Real number likely higher

⚖️ US lobbying ICC not to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, after Israel's threat to respond by retaliating against Palestinian Authority for sparking ICC investigation

🇫🇷 France denies selling weapons to Israel used in Gaza, claiming what's sold will be re-exported to 3rd countries via Israel, but did supply Israeli Iron Dome defense system

🇹🇷 Turkey set to follow Columbia & Nicaragua by joining South Africa's ICJ case against Israel

🎓 Zionist mob attacked Palestine protestors at UCLA w/ fireworks & pepper spray for 3 hours, police didn’t intervene (📹👆). Columbia & CUNY asked NYPD to raid & arrest 280+ student protestors. New encampments across UK, Tunisia & Canada

🚚 First aid trucks enter through Beit Hanoon crossing to north Gaza despite Israel's promise to open 1 month ago. Nearly half of aid convoys to north Gaza denied by Israel.

May 2.

(Instagram post, news update. The Israeli occupation has killed Palestinian Dr. Adnan Al-Barash.)

Day 209

• 28 Palestinians killed, 51 injured in last 24 hours. Note that the toll is underreported.

🏥 Dr. Adnan al Barash killed in captivity after IOF abducted him in Dec (📷👆)— 496 medical personnel killed in Gaza + 309 in captivity

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia arrests many for anti-Israel online posts, incl. an executive & media figure. Timing suspicious w/ reports of renewed normalization talks

• IOF attacks aid convoy, killing 1

🇹🇷 Turkey stops all trade w/ Israel after banning 54 exports to Israel

🇺🇸 US House pass “antisemitism awareness” bill using repressive IHRA definition of antisemitism despite antisemitism covered in anti-discrimination law. Why is IHRA definition problematic? See tinyurl.com/ynsfy8sx

• IOF airstrike in central Gaza killed 5, incl. a child

🪨 37m tons of rubble in Gaza, heavy contamination w/ unexploded ammunition & 800,000 tons of asbestos

🎓 Columbia & Emory University face federal investigation for anti-Muslim discrimination, reports of doxing & harassment

May 3.

Day 210

• World Press Freedom Day: Israel killed 100+ journalists since Oct 7 + holding 53 captive

• 26 killed, 51 injured in the last 24 hours. Note the toll is underreported.

• Israel attack on Rafah killed 7, incl. a mother & her children — the children’s bodies were shredded by the airstrikes

🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago recognizes the State of Palestine as West Bank & Gaza

🇬🇧 UK sanctions 2 Israeli groups + 4 settlers for violence in West Bank, warns of more sanctions if no Israeli action against settler attacks

• Israeli strike on Bureij camp killed 5, incl. a child

💰 UN estimates cost to rebuild Gaza at $40bn; more than post-WWII reconstruction

🎓 Goldsmiths University students in London win & obtain demands after occupying library — @ goldsmithsforpalestine on instagram for details

🎓 University encampments for Gaza go global spreading to 🇨🇦 🇮🇳 🇳🇿 🇪🇸 🇦🇷 🇯🇵 🇰🇼 🇱🇧 🇹🇳 🇯🇴. US crackdown w/ 2,200 students arrested

• Iran-backed Bahraini militia launches attack at southern Israeli port Eilat

May 4.

Day 211

✝️ Israel blocks entry of many Palestinian Christians to Jerusalem for Holy Saturday celebrations

•⁠ 32 Palestinians killed, 41 injured in Gaza in last 24 hours. Toll underreported

•⁠ ⁠IOF killed 5+ in 15-hour siege on Tulkarem (West Bank) & clashes with Hamas resistance fighters. IOF targeted fighters’ homes w/ women & kids inside, demolished homes trapping many under rubble

•⁠ ⁠Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 11 incl. 3 in bombings of tents in Rafah

•⁠ Head of UN WFP says north Gaza experiencing “full-blown famine” and it’s only a matter of time before south Gaza faces same level of starvation

🇫🇷 British-Palestinian @ dr.ghassan.as denied entry to France for Senate address as witness of Gaza Genocide as Germany put year-long ban on his entry to Europe (Schengen)

🇺🇸 88 US lawmakers warn Biden that Israeli aid blockade violates US ‘foreign assistance’ law

•⁠ IOF abducts 5 overnight in West Bank

🎓 Uni encampments spread to Switzerland, Ireland, Germany, Cuba & Costa Rica

[tzifron]

Reminds me of how the British blamed the Acadians for the Mi'kmaq resistance.

The crackdown on campuses offered a grim continuity: Police and other officials churned out all the same old excuses for quashing resistance. Most notably, their rhetoric relied on the predictable canard of the “outside agitator.” New York Mayor Eric Adams trotted it out as grounds for sending in an army of baton-wielding cops against the city’s students. And Deputy Police Commissioner Tarik Sheppard went even further on MSNBC Wednesday morning, brandishing an unremarkable chain lock — the sort of which I’ve seen on bikes everywhere — as proof that “professionals,” not students themselves, had carried out the takeover of the Columbia building. The bike-lock business quickly came in for rightly deserved mockery, but the “outside agitator” myth is no joking matter. In this current moment, the “outside agitators” conjured are both the perennial anarchist bogeymen or Islamist terror groups sending funds to keep student encampments flush with the cheapest tents available online. The “outside agitator” trope has a long, racist legacy, including use by the Ku Klux Klan. In the 1930s, the Klan issued flyers in Alabama claiming that “paid organizers for the communists are only trying” to get Black people “in trouble.” The allegation does double rhetorical harm by denying the agency and commitment of organizers themselves and suggesting that “outside” support from beyond a given locale or institution is somehow a bad thing. More recently, the canard has been hauled out in defense of movement repression in Atlanta, against Stop Cop City protesters who had made a national call for backup. And it was a common refrain for politicians nationwide during the 2020 uprising, as well as discourse around the earlier Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson after police killed Mike Brown. Blaming outside agitators or interests always was a propaganda ploy and remains so now. The idea that Palestinian liberation struggle is a mere proxy for Iranian interests repeats the delegitimizing logic of the past. In fact, the Gaza solidarity encampments on campuses are student-organized and led, with Palestinian students at front and center, and a disproportionately large presence of Jewish students too. It is students, over 1,000 of them, who have faced arrest. It also happens that millions of people have called for an end to Israel’s genocidal war, and support for Palestinian liberation is not and must not be limited to the mythic and maligned terrain of campus activism.

[hogwartslegacyreactions2]

Hello there, glad to see you again, quick question how would the students, Professors and villains react to MC having an army of puffskein's like 27-41 puffskein's?

A/N: PUFFSKIENS ROLL OUT!! wait, wrong franchise-undercut because EVERYONE is here

HLC REACT TO MC'S PUFFSKIEN ARMY

MC had enough to swarm even the toughest camp. No one could handle the mass of cute they commanded. MC felt more powerful than if they were controlling an armada of dragons. Forget a few dozen. MC has HUNDREDS of rolly polly puff balls. They breed rather quickly

SEBASTIAN SALLOW: He finds it hysterical! Watching MC command the flood of fur to overtake any suspicious encampment they come across is extremely entertaining. The enemies never know what hit them.

OMINIS GAUNT: He's not a fan of Puffskiens. He doesn't like their fascination with his nose. And for MC to willingly capture and breed so many of them is beyond him. He will never go inside the vivarium, even when invited.

ANNE SALLOW: She really likes hanging out in the vivariums. She can just lay down and be cuddled by hundreds of walking pillows. It's rather nice, as long as you wear nose plugs.

IMELDA REYES: Are they serious? No really, stop selling her this cock and bull story of puffskiens defeating wizards. She refuses to believe it until MC opens their nabsack and releases the horde. She has to escape them via broom.

NATSAI ONAI: She applauds MC's creativity. She is sure that the villains of the valley have many defenses against wizards, but who would expect puffskiens?

GARRETH WEASLEY: Unlimited puffskien fur. That's how he sees it. MC produces so much of the stuff, they could stuff a mattress.

LEANDER PREWETT: ...hhwat? This has got to be the single most insane thing he's ever heard of. A literal puffskien army? This will go down in the history books alongside the Bard that tried to teach trolls ballet.

AMIT THAKKAR: Are they sure that's actually safe? For them or the puffskiens? He knows the little things are pretty durable to magic, but they're not invulnerable.

EVERETT CLOPTON: He begs MC to let him borrow the nabsack to use in the Ravenclaw dorm. Why? They'll see.

POPPY SWEETING: This is a lot, even for her. Is MC sure they can handle this many beasts? They may be small, and relatively docile, but they can be quite a handful even in small groups. She does love the irony of poachers and dark wizards being defeated by them, however.

~~~

ELEAZAR FIG: He'll admit, of all the ideas MC has had, this is one of the weirder ones. As long as they're sure they can actually take care of all those beasts, he won't interfere.

MATILDA WEASLEY: MC is doing what with an army of what? Nonono, absolutely not. MC getting themselves into trouble on purpose is bad enough, but she cannot allow a student to run amok with an irresponsible number of beasts in their pocket. She will confiscate that nabsack until MC can use it responsibly.

CHIYO KOGAWA: She's impressed. No matter how small, magical creatures tend to have minds of their own. One has to be a pretty strong leader to maintain control over such a large group.

AESOP SHARP: As long as those beasts aren't running amuck in the castle, he doesn't give a niffler's ass.

ABRAHAM RONEN: He is endlessly amused by MC's depth for whimsy, even in dire circumstances. Fighting off villains with Puffskiens? BRILLIANT!

MIRABEL GARLICK: Oh dear, she hopes MC is able to care and feed for all of those beasts. That seems like quite a few to take care of.

MUDIWA ONAI: Is this...normal for British wizards? Seems a bit eccentric.

BAI HOWIN: That's one way to handle the poaching problem, she supposes.

DINAH HECAT: She'll have a drink with Sharp. This isn't any of her concern. MC is doing just fine. Calm down Matilda, honestly.

CUTHBERT BINNS: He never knows the goings on outside of his classroom.

SATYAVATI SHAH: She swears on the nine realms, if she finds ONE puffskien hair in her classroom, she's taking house points.

PHINEAS NIGELLUS BLACK: A student fighting dark wizards with puffskiens? Please, don't bore him with outright lies. He's too clever for those.

~~~

VICTOR ROOKWOOD: This is ridiculous!! It's bad enough he's losing territory and respect within the valley, but for his gang to be dismantled by bloody puffskiens!? It's embarrassing, to put it lightly.

ASHWINDERS: They're confused by the messages sent to them by Rookwood. "Beware the Puffskiens?" What's he going on about? They find out soon enough when the earth rumbles with rolling thunder as hundreds of fur balls descend on them.

POACHERS: Interestingly enough, puffskiens have been extraordinarily hard to find as of late. Perhaps they over poached the area and now they're gone. At least that's what they think, under they're buried under a mountain of fur.

RANROK: What. The actual. Grogtash? He has seen and heard of wizards doing some wacky things to fight back, but this is a first. Even when his loyalists use dark ancient magic against the horde, their numbers are too great.

~~~

DUNCAN HOBHOUSE: Lives in constant fear of the puffskien invasion. He sees them in his sleep. Hundreds of long, hungry tongues come to eat his brain! If he sees MC in the corridors, he runs away.

[isagrimorie]

Speculating more on Agatha’s siphon powers spurred on by Agatha’s appetite.

I’m spitballing here but could it be possible the reason why Wanda’s Hex became distorted wasn’t because Wanda is “gone” but because Agatha is unconsciously feeding on the residual magic that comes from a Scarlet Witch spell?

It took Three years for the spell to lose its efficacy, enough for Agatha’s subconscious to nudge it from Nosy Neighbor to Detective Agnes.

In episode 9, Agatha told the Forest Witch that she and Nicky haven’t eaten in a while. On rewatch, it struck me how quickly Agatha siphoned the witches. She didn’t even let herself have one minute before she provoked them to attack her.

Instead she left the witches’ encampment with only a cup of soup, and seemingly, a peaceful, healthier Baby!Nicky.

Does Nicky also have some of Agatha’s siphon abilities?

When Nicky asked about why Agatha killed witches, Agatha said it was to survive. It sounds like a paranoid justification especially paired with Agatha saying, they would kill us.

“Us” and not just her. But Agatha and Nicky.

And then, Alice died because Agatha has been magick starved for three years and the sudden blast of magic must have been like water in the middle of a desert.

Or, a starved vampire getting fed with blood for the first time. And Alice wasn’t even enough for Agatha to top up.

Agatha telling Lilia she needs to restock is a lot more chilling now. Lilia survived a garden variety vampire only to encounter Agatha, a special kind of witch vampire hybrid. A succubus.

The only reason Agatha was able to switch off her siphon ability with Billy is because Maximoffs with Chaos Magic is a bottomless source of food. And, apparently siphoning from one Maximoff witch for a short time is equivalent to draining 4 witches at the same time.

It’s so fascinating and sad that Agatha’s source of ‘magickal food’ are her own fellow witches.

How is that going to affect ghost!Agatha? Is that siphon ability just limited to her physical body or is she going to have a different problem altogether and become a hungry ghost if she doesn’t get to feed?

*Magickally, I mean. Agatha does still need regular food. But it looks like food isn’t a complete meal for her.

But also, Agatha scarfing down thar corndog is such a great acting choice. Agatha is a person of many appetites and underneath that facade is a woman who always hungers.

I want to know more about the mechanics of Agatha’s siphoning / succubus powers work! Especially since its tied to her appetite, and now that as Jac mentioned in that House of R interview, apparently her ability has evolved into touch.

And that’s how Agatha absorbed Death’s powers.

It used to be just a defensive power, if she has a physical body again, she can just reach out and touch to absorb someone’s powers.

[bestworstcase]

thoughts cooking.

mountain glenn, grimm overwhelmed the city and the people took shelter in caves, building an entire underground city after the destruction above. an explosion later opens a breach into a grimm nest, grimm flood the city again, and vale seals off the tunnels, implicitly without attempting rescue or evacuation, sacrificing the people to protect the core city.

<- same choice ironwood made.

“i see lives that could have been saved,” and all. vale created the world’s largest tomb.

fast forward a few decades. a single transport ship approaches vacuo with the news that salem came to vale and “there’s nothing left.” the huntsmen aboard “led the civilian retreat, brought as many people as we could…”

that turn of phrase—‘led the civilian retreat’—doesn’t evoke a panicked, disorganized scramble to get away from vale. it calls to mind the orderly evacuation procedures we saw during the battle for beacon, where people were loaded efficiently into transports to move them from beacon into a safe zone established in vale. port and oobleck were in charge of that retreat too. (and it demonstrated generally that emergency evacuation is something vale has on a lock—the assault on beacon blindsided everyone but the kingdom’s crisis response plan sprang into action like a well-oiled machine.)

only one ship, though.

when cinder attacked beacon, they retreated to a safe zone in vale. when salem hit vale, the immediately obvious place to establish a safe zone is patch—it’s close by but separated by a body of water, and it’s relatively defensible (an island). unlike vale, patch probably doesn’t have the room or resources to support a large urban population indefinitely, but you can use it as a relatively secure staging area for a subsequent evacuation to somewhere else. what you probably can’t do is squeeze anything like the majority of vale’s population onto patch island. (i mean, you could if it’s as huge as it appears to be on the map, but the map is NOT to scale and i get the impression that patch is supposed to be quite small.)

mountain glenn. “i see lives that could have been saved.” vale’s greatest failure, standing abandoned as a dark reminder. and “if you can’t learn from [history], you’re destined to repeat it.” did vale learn from its failure in abandoning mountain glenn to die?

in this fractal spiral of a story. ironwood didn’t get his way, but what if he had? “we are saving who we can” -> “brought as many people with us as we could,” with the history teacher whose chosen purpose is to prevent another mountain glenn from happening hunched over, haunted, in the background. is this a fucking counterfactual.

also if there were people left behind in vale, the mountain glenn undercity is the obvious place for them to flee. it’s not safe, but you can get there from vale through the tunnels (less exposed than driving or flying above ground) and if you can barricade the points of ingress to the cavern, it’s at least a more defensible place to set up an encampment than anywhere out in the open.

and i mean it might be that salem massacred the city and let one ship escape to maximize the damage to morale and provoke as much outrage as possible for the sake of getting the sword out of that vault. but mountain glenn is such a crucial narrative cornerstone, and vale has a history of making the kind of sacrifices ironwood tried to make with mantle, and the specific phrasing used here is interesting (“nothing left” vs “no one left,” “civilian retreat” implying an orderly process a la the evacuation from beacon).

i think it’s also the more narratively interesting and dynamic choice for there to have been a judgment call to leave a large number of people behind—it’s a counterfactual vehicle for unpacking team rwby’s conflicted feelings about their decision-making in atlas through comparison to what vale’s leadership did in the same situation, and there being some ambiguity as to whether anyone else survived allows for a thin ray of hope (maybe there are some people still alive) to galvanize the coalition into a counteroffensive (if there’s even the smallest possibility of survivors, we need to help them. we have to try.) and you draw the tension in salem’s character between her extremism and her effort to chart what she believes is the minimally destructive course to the surface by putting a survivor’s encampment within her immediate reach.

[visenyaism]

um. you do know that the uni protests are wildly antisemitic right? like. there are people there who are fully advocating for genocide of jewish people and the rest of the protesters are not only not kicking them out but actively cheering them on. not to mention that the actual effect of the protests has been to take attention away from the people actually suffering in gaza. like, to be clear: i actually agree that universities investing in weapons programs should divest - but the protesters are asking them to violate the civil rights amendment. (yeah, refusing to employ or work with someone because of their nationality or ethnicity is illegal, and rightfully so.). and also to be clear, i think that the universities' reaction and deployment of the police is a massive escalation, morally wrong, and a violation of the right to protest. but just because i don't think the protesters deserve to be killed or seriously physically harmed does not mean i think theyre in the right. hard to believe they care about ethnic cleansing when they support the regimes that have ethnically cleansed their jewish populations.

I don’t think it’s fair to talk about every single protest like they are a single unified entity. there are almost a hundred active encampments all over the country. i also do not think it is fair to say that every single protester is antisemetic or supports regimes that ethnically cleanse jews especially when a significant amount of campus organizing has been undertaken by chapters of jewish voices for peace and that at least in NYC jewish students have been a really big part of the protests.

I find myself alarmed by the media messaging that these protests are about jewish students’ safety versus pro-palestinian protestors organizing, because that narrative also characterizes Jewish people as a political monolith when there are non-token amounts of participation on both sides and equates Judaism with the state of Israel. That messaging is also what is doing the most to take attention off Gaza to me. Almost 35,000 Palestinians have been murdered by the IDF since October, and the American media’s handwringing about the tactics used by student protestors is the distractor here especially because a lot of the reporting out is in bad faith and right-wing agitprop.

Some of the encampments need way better message discipline and organization in terms of who is allowed on board because some of the things i have seen individuals saying and cheering for are genuinely repugnant and antisemetic. But the idea that they are all actively welcoming and cheering on genocidal rhetoric is an overgeneralization that has been used to justify these crackdowns and shut down any criticism of the state of Israel as antisemitic.

the police are not brutalizing students and faculty and journalists and protestors to combat antisemitism or allow jewish students to feel safe on campus, they are doing it to repress dissent. Jewish students deserve to feel safe on campuses. Sending in thousands of military police to beat up students and faculty endangers everyone on campus. I worry that using combatting antisemitism as an excuse for cops to unlawfully arrest and brutalize thousands of people in defense of a foreign country that has murdered 14,000 children in seven months is going to make Jewish students less safe, not more.

[lectorel]

Dalish Political Opinions:

I've been working on worldbuilding regarding Dalish culture and beliefs, as a framework for writing stories more focused on Dalish characters and clans. This is a rough draft of what different clans might believe and practice, and how those attitudes could differ.

The Future Homeland:

Building a Neo-Arlathan: The great city should rise again, as the jewel of the Dalish culture. We'll benefit most from having a single, large city with strong defenses and room for the clans to overwinter.

Reclaiming the Dales: The Dales should be ours. We should have a wide range of settlements from tiny homesteads to a capital city, dispersed and defended so that we can never loss everything in a single siege.

Founding a Third Kingdom: We need to find a new place to live and build a kingdom, bringing the best of Arlathan and the Dales to a fresh slate.

Nomadic Life: the Dalish are best served by continuing to be nomads, with only semi-permanent encampments and small settlements. We are best served by finding better ways to bring wealth with us and defend ourselves while on the move, not putting a target on our backs by having a fixed location.

Religion: 

Literalists: These are the stories we have, which we believe are the truth of what happened. The moral and social rules they lay out should be followed as strictly as possible

Reconstructionists: Our myths may be missing information or misconstrued. What matters is that we act in good faith, keeping to the core tenets, and continue searching for more evidence of our past. The details of the rules are less important than the intent.

Functionalist: it doesn't matter if our myths are true or not. What matters is the fact that they're ours, and they show us what it means to be Dalish. Rules can be discarded entirely if they no longer work for a clan.

Diplomacy:

Non-Dalish Elves:

Isolation: we should have nothing to do with anyone outside the Dalish Clans. In an ideal world, we would have a country all our own that no one outside of the clans even knew existed. The elves of the cities are not our concern.

Expansion: we should actively be bringing non-dalish elves into the clans. In an ideal world, all elves would be Dalish.

Collaboration: We should develop positive relationships with elves outside the clans, without recruiting. In an ideal world, the Dalish would be independent but have friends, business partners, lovers, and allies who were of many faiths.

Dwarves:

Alliance: The dwarves' religious beliefs are perfectly compatible with Dalish beliefs, and both groups specialize in areas the other lacks. We're natural allies, and should seek to strengthen ties.

Non-Interference: The dwarves are not our problem, and there is nothing they can offer us that would make it worth getting involved in their politics or the mess of the darkspawn in the deep roads.

Hostility: The dwarves have never helped us, they've never acted even when it would cost them very little. They have no magic. They're not like us, and they can't be trusted.

Humans:

Hostility: Fuck Orlais, fuck tevinter, and fuck everyone who allies with them. Shemlens can't be trusted.

Strategic Ties: Many, if not most, humans are awful, but individual ones can be trustworthy. Maintaining ties with the morally upright among them will keep us safer than a universal rejection.

Sympathy: We have a great deal in common with the poor and unwelcome of human society. What is done to them, and what they do in response, could make them valuable allies if we approached them in the correct way.

Qunari:

Most clans outside of the free marches don't have an opinion about the qunari. Clans within the free marches range from 'well they scared the shems' to 'and they scared us'. It's expected to be a major subject of debate at the next Arlathvhen

Magic:

Political beliefs about magic can generally be split into two attitudes: enthusiastically embracing it, or accepting it with reservations. (There are a few fringe clans who reject it entirely, and require non-mage keepers, firsts, and seconds, and a few more will allow non-mages as keepers without requiring it, but they are very rare.)

Political opinions about magic map very neatly to geographic location - the closer a clan's territory is to Tevinter, the more suspicious that clan is of magic. It was the northernmost clans that took the precept of the three mage minimum and decided it would also be their maximum.

Northern clans, if they're sending extra mages away, will travel south to make sure the young mage isn't picked up by Tevinter. Not doing so can result in a clan's leadership being declared illegitimate at the Arlathvhen.

As a result, most non-Dalish are not aware of the variety of opinions regarding magic, and assume that all Dalish clans allow only three mages.

Dalish clans in Rivain, on the other end of the spectrum, pride themselves on having as many mages as possible, to the point that not having a mage available to be a clan's Second is a bad omen and sign of potential disaster. This has, in the past decade, lead to what the Dalish call 'Rivaini diplomacy' - the practice of Rivaini clans sending members to live with clans adjacent to Tevinter, for the chance to adopt any young mages the clans send away.