#generally on the basis that they are both about Sword Lesbians

[wizzardhat]

Im rereading nona and i am baffled anew by people who listen to jod recount every single agonizing step in his slow and terrible descent and are like, "wow John was always an awful irredeemable liar and his reluctance to admit that he set off the nukes was not, in fact, him struggling to accept the magnitude of how completely and terribly he failed and became the very person he was trying to stop, but was just another calculated lie because he's a Bad Man. if it were me i would have simply not done that." I have to assume these are the same people who read "**When our backs are against the wall and everything is falling apart we rarely become heroes" and were like "huh i wonder who thats for"

**approximate quote from memory because I cannot for the life of me find the exact excerpt but it was one of Wake's "letters" that only Harrow could read while they were in the bubble

[askarcanamagnus]

Arcana Magnus: for our first post, we thought we'd get some help from the Earth we post on! Transformers media in your world is to sell toys after all (aside from people wanting to tell a story) and we thought some the customs in this photo would help set the tone even though talking via toys won't usually happen (and well, the unofficial Ask Vector Prime 2 has done digibashes paired with prose storytelling, so not new ground really). Please feel free to send us asks, even for things canon hasn't answered! :3

We're talking about canon here besides touching on those two. Here's the alt text/dialogue so people can read it this way, its a bit lengthy because of the amount of dialogue:

Alt text: A photo of transforming toys on a windowsill, with a trans flag for the background flooring, and a dark blue / purple night-time cardboard backdrop of a scifi city of cybertronian inspiration. The figures are engaged in combat and talking:

Titan Returns Arcee has her pistols out and is firing one into Siege Ion Storm's chest point blank, which has a blast effect there representing the impact, with a KABLAM orange-pink sound description above. TR Arcee is looking at Legends Arcee and saying: "So, you used to have a human body and then because you wanted to be a transformer from seeing the toys you became one? That’s so cool. I’m both a gal from Cybertron and binary bonded with a human who’s a dear friend of mine at this point- and our writing has now and my design is inspired from our trans iterations."

Ion Storm: "GAH- yeah your toy is cool as hell, it’s nice that things came full circle and car TTRPG Arcee can use her car hood as a shield.

Legends Arcee meanwhile stands on top of a collapsing Beast Hunters Shockwave, cutting his cannon in twain with a sword while stabbing Shockwave through his mono-optic face with her other sword: "Indeed! And yeah, my writing isn’t too great and I’m sexualized in a way that isn’t very tasteful or about me having agency in that regard, but as a concept me becoming a bot is fantastic, it’s a sentiment that resonates with the nonhuman community particularly human-bodied robot folk. Hopefully I’ll get better writing in a new iteration someday…"

Her attacks have similarly pink-orange sound effects of CLANG and CRUNCH.

Shockwave: Urk- I would hope for more logic…  bleh

Behind her, Studio Series 86 Arcee is kneeling, with her pistol on her thigh, and Generations Selects Galvatron's fusion cannon held over her shoulder, firing it with blast effects into staggered Kingdom Cyclonus's shoulder and a SKWOMP sound effect: "Funny that we’re talking about this, besides my binary bond with Daniel, I did have a synthoid human body briefly, though I didn’t sign up for that. I think I wore overalls pretty well and certainly have a better understanding from my binary bond that was voluntary."

Nearby, a T30 Arcee painted in trans and lesbian flag patterns and guns on her backstacks has beheaded a falling T30 Jhiaxus with her sword. Jhiaxus's neck socket has a blast effect exploding upwards like pressured blood/fuel. T30 Arcee is looking at an Arcee customized from Legacy Elita-1 to resemble IDW1 Arcee, and T30 Arcee's speech bubble says: "Hmm, I mean, Transformers has always danced around that with the ‘transformers are humans in robot bodies with alien context’ concept in terms of writing- the toy design two of you are retooled from, me minus my custom pride flag paint job, though, definitely hits that sexualization thing. My concept design was going to be the basis for IDW1 Arcee over there in 4th reformat with a surgery that she was happy with as part of her gender journey, but the comics were so ahead from schedule that there wasn’t much of me to go on. Thankfully the artist wanted to keep in line with the comic aesthetic, so she looks different."

The IDW1 Arcee custom, erstwhile, who has cut into Jhiaxus's wing with her flaming orange blade with a pink and cyan FWOOSH sound and a fiery blast effect on top of her blade, is glancing at Legacy Arcee, and saying: "Yeah, that loops back around to the basis of Titan Returns Arcee, although I’m not sure that’s why she’s a Blurr retool. I mean, I feel like a Legacy Elita retool to Arcee with swords is fairly obvious route to go and it seems there are other people who think that, given the robust look I have from 2014-2018 (and that’s not even counting how other Arcee iterations drawn in Transformers vs. GIJOE, or IDW2, or Transformers vs. Terminator). I dunno, there’s something to be said for how root designs that look ‘overly human’ can work, my second reformat is in that category and outside of one cover with Galvatron that hasn’t aged well it’s not really focused on, which I think is interesting in retrospect even though it wasn’t intentional for a trans narrative. But yeah it is funny to see you on covers sometimes given the difference."

Legacy Arcee, who unlike her pink car bot companions, is a blue motorcycle, is in point blank contact with an unlicensed toy based on Airachnid (APC Night Countess), while Arcee's forearm blades are out, and she has 3D print blasters pointed at Airachnid's chest and head, taking a headshot with a blast effect over Airachnid's face, and Arcee is saying: "It’s still absurd to me that the only appearance of my Legacy form in canon media outside of toy stuff is me in a leotard or a swimsuit. Clothing is cool and all but am I hiding, and if it’s for fun why aren’t any of the guys doing the same thing too? I’m more partial to the fact that most of the time we are all basically walking around nude save for a few of us, and those who do wear clothes don’t do so on a basis of being a gal. I would much rather take being curvy with metal boobs while living sweetly and ferociously."

Airachnid: "You- guess fanfic and art will do…"

End Alt text.

[rpgsandbox]

                                         *desperately* click! click!

Thirsty Sword Lesbians battle the Lady of Chains when her enforcers march down from the frosty north. They rocket through the stars to safeguard diplomats ending a generations-old conflict. They sip tea together and share shy glances at the corner cafe with their old classmates and comrades. Even when swords are crossed, they have the potential to connect more deeply than anyone expects.

A sword duel can end in kissing, a witch can gain her power by helping others find love, and an entire campaign can be built around vagabond matchmakers piloting their sentient gay spaceship from system to system.

If you love angsty disaster lesbians with swords, you have come to the right place.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians by April Kit Walsh is a roleplaying game that celebrates the love, power, and existence of queer people—specifically queer people with swords and a lot of feelings. Flirting, sword-fighting, and barbed zingers all mix together in a system designed for both narrative drama and player safety. This innovative take on the Powered by the Apocalypse engine is a breeze to learn and ensures that no matter how the dice fall, something interesting happens to move the story forward.

In this game, you will solve problems with wit, empathy, and style, fight when something is worth fighting for, and redeem (or seduce) at least a few of your adversaries. You’re part of a community that embodies important ideals and you’ll strive to protect it and make your world better.

Play as one of nine character types: Beast, Chosen, Devoted, Infamous, Nature Witch, Scoundrel, Seeker, Spooky Witch, and Trickster. Each explores a particular emotional conflict that drives the drama and shapes your character’s story. Are you a Beast, faced with the dilemma of expressing your inner truth versus fitting in to a society that demands you conform? A Devoted, who sacrifices for others while struggling to care for yourself? A Trickster, who craves closeness but fears vulnerability? In long-term play, you may even resolve your initial arc and advance into a different playbook as you continue to change and grow, facing new challenges.

                  Backers get immediate access to the playbooks too. 

                                          They're form fillable!

Thirsty Sword Lesbians provides clear, robust guidance and support for running the game, including how to make appealing adversaries, set the tone, structure play, and create a safe environment at the table. Handy reference sheets help you narrate appropriate twists and drama on the fly, depending on the feelings and character types you have in play.

Want to jump into a one-shot? The game includes six adventures that can stand alone or kick off a longer series: Sword Lesbians of the Three Houses, Best Day of Their Lives, Constellation Festival, Gal Paladins, and Monster Queers of Castle Gayskull. For even more inspiration, it features The Starcross Galaxy campaign setting along with five more settings from these contributing authors:

Lesbeans Coffehouse by Dominique Dickey

Neon City 2099 by Jamila Nedjadi

The Three Orders of Ardor by Whitney Delaglio

Les Violettes Dangereuses by Jonaya Kemper

Yuisa Revolution by Alexis Sara

We also provide ample guidance on how to create your own tales of fighting with swords and falling in love, along with a world building worksheet, variant rules, and a set of starting scenario seeds to play with. Because the game focuses on feelings and relationships, it’s a lens you can use to play in a variety of genres. If you like slashfic of characters with swords, you’ll love this game.

Thirsty Sword Lesbians is explicitly designed to tell melodramatic and queer stories; tales fraught with relationship triangles, mystery, intrigue, relationship anarchy, celebration, and revolution. It includes rules to highlight different identities, emotional connections, and setting elements.

This game is not for fascists, TERFs, or other bigots. The team behind Thirsty Sword Lesbians supports racial liberation, intersectional feminism, and queer liberation. We love and respect transgender people, nonbinary people, intersex people, and women. This game is a joyous celebration of lives and identities otherwise marginalized. If you don’t agree, fix your heart before sharing a table with other people.

What if... not Thirsty? The game fundamentally assumes that the characters crave connection, but that connection doesn’t need to be sexual or romantic. We offer you options for changing how the game addresses connection in our variant rules section.

What if... not Swords? It’s simple enough to swap out a different hand-to-hand combat option. Your campaign or your character can use a labrys, the double-bladed axe that became a lesbian icon in the late 20th century. You can use different styles of unarmed combat or even grapple using telepathic self-projections. It’s also possible to replace the swords with mecha, starships, or guns, but it requires some thought and the book will help you think about how to ensure that it stays intimate and relationship-focused. The conflict doesn’t have to be physically violent, either; you can use any kind of conflict that’s adrenaline-inducing and close-quarters.

What if... not Lesbians? We’ll let you in on a secret: you don’t have to play a lesbian. The game plays with themes that are common for all sorts of people who are marginalized on the basis of gender and sexuality, as well as feelings that go beyond the queer experience. If you want to play thirsty sword cishets, we’re not going to stop you—just don’t be surprised if the game turns them queer.

What if... I’m not good at flirting or zingers? You don’t have to be witty or good at flirting in real life to play a character with those skills, and not every character in Thirsty Sword Lesbians is good with words. Shy and awkward sword lesbians find love, too. You’ll find them well-represented in this game.

Ready? Let’s Go!

===============================================

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, November 12 2020 9:00 PM UTC +00:00

Website: [Evil Hat Productions] [facebook] [twitter]

[apricops]

I’ve been mentally plotting out a lot of stuff w/r/t actually writing that whole “gritty but lol in a daily-life way fantasy,” and am currently searching for the gumption and self-esteem to actually start writing on a regular basis. Rambling some notes here both as proof of effort and out of the hope that airing it out will make me feel a little less embarrassed about trying to write a thing.

Setting: one of those “JRPG-HRE” settings -- a medieval setting defined by the constant hum of conflict between various theocratic mini-states and secular merchant republics; an emperor who is omnipresent but rather ineffectual, ruling over lands so vast and decentralized that he’s mostly stuck with telling a guy to tell a guy to tell a guy that he shouldn’t do that one thing; and the worrying presence of disgruntled horse archers right outside the edges of the Empire.

Setup: The Chosen Hero (a mysterious orphan and sword lesbian tentatively named Sophia) has slain yon Evil Archbishop that had burned down her hometown as part his evil scheme. As a reward, she's granted (part of) the lands said Archbishop used to rule over, including her hometown, receiving a title around the Marquis/Landgrave 'tier' of nobility: not important enough to suddenly become a driving force of domestic/internal policy, but important enough to start having the occasional diplomat show up, and to have a regular stream of missives to attend to. Also has some relative freedom with how and where she spends her time, and the "rebuilding her home village" element gives her an impetus to get involved with the castellan-tier duties of said home village. (That’s one of the things I’m unsure about. I can kind of justify any level of involvement with “lol it’s a made-up place” but it’s surprisingly difficult to find an account of what your average count or marquis would do on just, like, a day-to-day basis)

-- Why that choice: it creates a suitable villain to have quested against, while also being a plausible reason for some land distribution and granting of new titles (maybe said Archbishop was so caught up in scheming that he never took care of the whole "pulling strings to organize a successor" thing.)

-- Future plot points to set up: The Emperor sees Sophia as a handy opportunity to marry one of his sons or cousins or nephews off to her, and then within a generation it'll be back in the Emperor's hands, a plan which Sophia is pretty obviously not fond of. The new title and rebuilding efforts also provide a handy cover for some land-grabbing/colonization, to nudge the borders East(?)wards into some of the fuzzy-border territory loosely occupied by the aforementioned horse archers. (and if they don't like it, the Emperor can, of course, blame it on Sophia. The Emperor's not an outright evil man, he's just got a bit too much Habsburg culticness for his own good, seeing himself as just one manifestation of a great and glorious dynasty whose needs rise far above the concerns of mere individuals.)

-- Questions: Any childhood friends or new acquaintances that tagged along with Sophia and were there at the final showdown at the opening? On the one hand I want Sophia to be a bit of a blank slate author-insert character, so caught up with fighting villains and nicking the occasional mythical sword that she's started to forget what day-to-day affairs look like for normal people. On the other hand, some immediately-recognizable characters would make an opportunity to flesh out the setting and help with pacing so she doesn't have to do everything herself. I've mentally plotted it out with 2-3 others with her, where they generally serve as some setup window-dressing and then go back to their respective homes because they aren't from the empire, but that might be a bit too 'neat' of a wrap-up. Some deeper connections with those friends/acquaintances would be good for just, keeping the story active and feeling... not-too-convenient/arbitrary. A reasonable idea I've rolled with is them becoming her courtiers, getting free room and board and money because Sophia's the exact type of new nobility who'd go "you're cool, come to my castle and I'll just give you some of our administration's money just to exist here."

-- biggest question: how 'visible' is the fantasy/magic? On the one hand, I like the idea of a world in which magic is indistinguishable from elaborate coincidence: less "sorcerers sling fireballs" and more "if you piss off a sorcerer then your cows will get sick and your roof will start leaking." One the other hand, I also like a certain 'mundanely magical,' like Kings of Dragon Pass-ish, with a local council for fey-related complaints and official legal statuses of ghosts. Leaning towards the latter.

Events/plot threads in mind:

* Sophia's attempts at handling the aforementioned border-pushing is further harmed by her thirst for a buff horse archer lady who's a locally important figure just outside the Empire.

* Sophia's territory has Imperial Immediacy. The nearby Duke doesn't like this. Sophia first tries to figure out what the hell Imperial Immediacy entails, then works to maintain it against the Duke's machinations.

* Sophia running into financial troubles because she likes her new reputation as a big local folk hero, and it’s hard to remain a folk hero while also, like, knocking on people’s doors and reminding them to pay their taxes.

Feel free to respond to this with whatever you like or don't like, or any suggestions you have. I'm pliable.

[auroral-melody]

Why do you ship Lucifer/Dream ? I'm just curious.

NONNY I LOVE YOU FOR GIVING ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO JUST YELL ABOUT THEM

As with most of the convoluted, context-less things I post (e.g., the full-on rewritten characterization of Beelzebub in Good Omens), it started with a simple conversation between myself, @procrastinatingbookworm​, and @aqueeraphale​…and ended up in a hence unwritten fanfic that maybe we’ll get around to eventually.

Put it this way: self-written fanfiction is the answer to why I ship them. I need to actually write it on a page for y’all. I’m not really going to go into ~Oh, My Ship Is Canon~ because it’s clearly not. I’ll point out a few things in canon I want to talk about, but this isn’t a “I ship them because [] and [] in canon” it’s a “I ship them because I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT STORIES I WROTE/MY FRIENDS WROTE”.

So how did this happen?

I’m pretty sure it started with something along the lines of generally agreeing Dream being bi, on the basis of Lucifer Pretty. Which evolved into an, “oh, that’s fun! let’s write it” RP, along with some doodles (back in May 2018. My art has improved since, and my character design thoughts, but)

Which turned into the concept that basically goes as follows

- Morpheus lonely and depressed- Death essentially brings him to Lux, to definitely set him up with Luci bc hey obvs they’re both bi disasters. Maybe see what happens- Morpheus voice I don’t dance- Death voice Okay I’m lesbian but he’s being nice and offering so I’ll dance with Luci instead- Morpheus voice [shocked pikachu meme]

Basically, it boils down to the fact that Morpheus was a very…lonely and sad person and tends to make enemies easily. Lucifer clearly doesn’t hate him, or Dream would probably be dead in a ditch, but he’s obviously engaged in their relationship as friendly rivals. Lucifer has just left Hell, and is kinda not knowing what to do with himself. He’s looking for something new and different.

They’re both incredibly touchstarved/affection-starved. Morpheus intentionally isolates himself from his friends and family, not seeking out friends, while Lucifer has spent the last billions of years completely alone in Hell.

So the setup here works pretty well. Death wants to help her brother, Lucifer is like, the one person who isn’t pissed at him, Morpheus Sad.

From then on is essentially just what we’ve written. They end up…somewhat dependent on one another for comfort because they just aren’t good at investing in any other relationships. And Death and Lucifer become more friendly.

Morpheus and Luci’s relationship is…tumultuous at best. They care for each other, but they cling so much to the One Thing they like at the moment. It’s not exactly the best thing. So the fact that Dream transformed into Daniel was pretty awful for everyone involved.

This AU fits in with the Lucifer continuity mostly based on Lucifer taking place shortly after Sandman ends. Dream is not often brought up, but allow me to go through some places where he is, and how I interpret them in context of the AU.

Obviously, this will have some spoilers. Also light NSFW art.

Lucifer (2000), issue #8.

[Image Description: Four panels of the Lucifer comic. The first is a backdrop, with Lucifer’s text saying, “But to Dream of the Endless, I imagine it would look like poaching, pure and simple. And since he’s the gamewarden he wouldn’t like that at all.” The second panel shows him holding a sword over a goddess’s son. The goddess, Izanami-no-Mikoto, looks on. She is made of stone. He says, “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him. If I speak his name, he’ll come, and see what you’ve made here. So it’s your call, Queen of Death. Heads I win, and tails -- tails it all comes down.” The third panel shows the goddess holding up a hand to stop him. The fourth, the kneeling son says, “She offers atonement, Lucifer Morningstar. She offers your wings.” End description.]

In the AU, it makes a lot of sense that Lucifer would be able to easily summon Dream of the Endless with a single word. “He’ll do it. I won’t even need to compel him” is an interesting phrase. The absolute certainty in Dream’s actions – even if this is after Morpheus’s transformation (which I’m not sure of), Lucifer characterizes Dream as though he knows him well.

Oof. Lucifer: Nirvana.

[Image description: A watercolor cream and purple comic panel. In the distance, there is a boat. From the boat, Dream of the Endless says, “Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you will offer me no gifts.” End description.]

This is the only conversation I recall in Lucifer or Sandman in which Daniel!Dream and Lucifer speak to one another. Yet Dream says,

“Bearing in mind our previous meetings, Lucifer Morningstar, might I suggest a bargain? I will ask no favors if you offer me no gifts.”

In the AU, their relationship soon after Dream becomes this version is tentative. Hostile at worst. They might be trying to figure out what comes next.

[@procrastinatingbookworm​ and I did write a fic on this! Find it here!]

Either way, they’ve talked before.

[Image description: A close picture, misty, cream and purple, watercolor, of a small boat, silhouetted. Dream’s silhouette is on the right, along with a small bird perched on the end of the boat. Lucifer is sitting, lounging on the left side of the boat. Lucifer says, “The situation isn’t likely to call for either. Your predecessor preferred a corkscrew to a stiletto. What’s your position?” End description.]

How did they end up on a boat in the middle of nowhere? Lucifer looks supremely comfortable, lounging, completely trusting that Dream offers him no harm. They’re standing, very awkwardly, on opposite sides of the boat.

Lucifer is making a metaphor here, regarding how Morpheus was not very to-the-point. He knew how Morpheus worked, how he thought. He’s asking in an almost affronting way: “What’s your position?” that could be interpreted as curious or as a thinly veiled hostility.

[Image description: A watercolor of Dream’s profile, somewhat silhouetted. He has white hair. He says, ‘By all means let us be direct. Someone has used human dreamers to stage an assault on you. I assure you, this someone has attracted my attention, too. The matter will be dealt with.” End description.] 

Dream is taking this matter very seriously. It just seems that Morpheus may not have put as much attention into random attacks, but Dream is very involved. In the AU, this is kind of because Dream is keeping an eye out for Lucifer.

This conversation just hints, to me, of much more backstory between them.

They’ve been trying to bargain, offering favors or gifts to one another – something they don’t really have a good reason to do in the comics, except maybe to secure an alliance, but that feels…?? Well, considering the rest of the conversation…

[Image description: two panels, watercolor. The left is Lucifer’s face, and he says, “Actually I intend to deal with it myself. It would be unfortunate if our investigations hampered each other.” The right panel is of Dream, with a hand on his waist, looking down. He says, “I am interpreting that statement as a threat. Very well. This touches profoundly on my interests, but you are the injured party. Your rights are paramount.” End description.]

Lucifer is certainly difficult to make an alliance with. (Tangent, but I love this issue’s art style.) Dream still seems surprised – “Very well.” He is respecting Lucifer’s somewhat “bugger off” statement.

[Image description: A watercolor landscape shot of Lucifer on the left, with black wings spread, and Dream on the right, turned away from both the camera and Lucifer. Dream is saying, “I will conduct my own inquiries, along avenues that will not intersect with your own. Whatever I discover I will pass on to you. Via an intermediary, of course.” Lucifer replies, “As you like. But somewhere discreet. No white ravens.” He is referencing the bird also present but off-panel. End description.]

At this point, Dream turns mostly away from him. In my eyes, I see this as hurt/deflecting, supported by the fact that he says he will pass information via an intermediary – unnecessary, it feels, considering they’ve been talking, they’ve had multiple conversations before...it’s very sudden. Feels like it was based off of what Lucifer said. Which was a threat, but still, Dream knows how to not cross boundaries and get himself killed from a threat.

Lucifer doesn’t seem to have a strong opinion on this, or rather, he says, “As you like.” Letting Dream do whatever.

I don’t really have much to say on that part. It’s just a really fascinating conversation.

The Sandman (1989) Issue 72:

[Image description: Mazikeen and Lucifer sitting on what looks like a bench or stone beside one another. Mazikeen is to the left. She has an arm around Lucifer’s shoulders. Lucifer has his hands steepled in front of his face and his expression is unreadable, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. Mazikeen is almost leaning on him. She is wearing a red dress with no sleeves. Lucifer is wearing a blue suit. Both have curled hair, and Mazikeen is not wearing a mask. Overlaid, there is text from Matthew the raven, talking about Morpheus’s death. Matthew says, “I mean, Despair may be the thing that comes after hope, but there’s still hope. Right? When there’s no hope you might as well be dead. What’s in my heart?” End description.]

I find this significant in the AU because, firstly, it’s a point where Mazikeen shows affection to Lucifer. She has her arm around him. It feels...comforting, to me. Secondly, it’s the one panel of Lucifer I can find in the Wake -- and it’s when Matthew is talking about how he cares about Dream, and he’s figuring out his relationship with this new Dream.

Overall, Lucifer clearly respects Dream as just...another individual. He attends his funeral. He speaks with him multiple times.

In our AU, he and Dream are happily married, and their relationship post-Morpheus is settled, loving, happy. Because I love happy endings!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoyed reading!! Feel free to shoot me a question about my thoughts on this AU. Because I have a LOT.

[ash-trash]

🌈 - 👊 - 🙅 - 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 for each of your active RP charr >:3c

(( SCREAMS ))

(( Going to format this one a bit differently - I’ll list all the questions at the top, and then just go through each character, using paragraph breaks to separate the questions. ))

🌈 What is their sexuality? 

👊 Do they have a warband? What role do they play on it? Who are the other members of their warband? 

🙅 Who do they consider their enemy(ies)? 

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦  Who is their birth family? Who is their chosen family? 

Alcmene Chillhorn: Alcmene is asexual, though she’s homoromantic. Unfortunately, it took her a little while to realize that and now she’s got a few bad memories/experiences floating around.

Alcmene is the Legionnaire (formerly second-in-command) of Chill Warband, a Blood Legion warband that patrols the Shiverpeaks. Aside from her Legionnaire duties, she’s a capable frontline soldier, medic-in-training, basic radio operator, tactician, and general mom-friend. Other members include the Centurion Vyneera Chillcleave, ((and several other members that I honestly don’t remember right now)) Kayla Chilltooth, Zelra Soulchill...

Alcmene’s primary enemies are the Icebrood and Sons of Svanir, though to a lesser extent the Dredge as well. She also still hates humans with a vengeance, though she doesn’t let that get in the way of her civility, as far as duty is concerned.

Alcmene was born to a dam and sire she never knew ((and I never developed)), and her fahrar Warband ((also undeveloped)) fell in the war against humanity. The ceasefire disbanded what was left, leading her to join up with her chosen family, Chill Warband.

Aspa Spiterune: Aspa is heterosexual, though she’s not really interested in pursuing that. She doesn’t like interacting with anyone that much.

Aspa is a member of the Spite Warband, an Iron ‘band based out of the Iron shipyards in Ashford. She’s primarily a welder, using her elemental powers to fuse metal quickly, cleanly, and with no tools but her own paws, though she’s a sturdy combatant in a pinch. ((I don’t know any other members besides Tea’s Spite-gal who heroically gave her life so that another character could be born, so x3;; ))

As far as enemies go, Aspa’s primary one would be, uh, bad workmanship? Separatists are the most common issue she deals with on a regular basis, though she’s the kind of gal to consider everyone her enemy.

Aspa was born to a yet-undeveloped dam and sire, and her fahrar warband happens to be her chosen family - Spite. Though, if she’d had the choice, she’d have been born Blood, and would be out there kicking human booty.

Bathea Sorrowhaunt: Bathea is bisexual, but is too terrified of Legion charr to ever do anything about it. She’s hoping to find a nice Archborn that knows nothing of Legion life, but work keeps getting in the way.

Bathea was once a member of an (unnamed) ((I’m noticing a trend...)) Blood Warband, before an ‘incident’ led her to leave the Legions and flee to the Arch, where she joined the Lionguard. Now, she’s a medic, though her size, bulk, and Blood training mean that she acts as bruiser when needed (as much as she hates doing so).

Her enemies are basically the everyday issues she deals with - drunkards, troublemakers, and rabblerousers, as well as a variety of injuries from all sorts of sources. As far as outside forces, she probably mostly hates hostile pirate groups or privateers, as well as general bandits and thieves, as they cause her the most trouble. She’s not too fond of those battle-drunk followers of Balthazar, either...

Her birth family would have been the former Warband. While she loved them to bits, she hated Legion life, and so the aforementioned ‘incident’ (in which her unfortunate warband met a cruel fate...) allowed her the opportunity to move on, and find her chosen family in the Lionguard.

Black Spiraldancer: Black is technically heterosexual, but way too distrustful and paranoid to ever engage with anyone on that level. Black (who, for the purposes of telling them apart, will now be referred to as “Blak”) is a lesbian, and although she’s less paranoid, her sister has enough of a stranglehold on her to keep her away from any entanglements.

Black and Blak have never had a warband, only ever each other. Black and Blak are merchants, peddling used/pre-owned goods for discount prices. Black tends to specialize more in acquiring merchandise, while Blak has the better personality for dealing with customers and closing the sale.

Black and Blak’s primary enemies are the Adamant Guard, pesky lot that stick their snouts where they don’t belong. Really, their enemy is “law enforcement” anywhere, or anyone else that might object to their goods being liberated to provide stock for the ‘Black market’.

Black and Blak’s birth and chosen family is simply each other. They’ve only ever had each other, and as far as they’re concerned, they only ever want each other. It’s just the two of them, against the world.

Crusader Sootwalker: Sootwalker is heterosexual, and as much as she’d love to pursue it more, there’s not a lot of potential partners that can keep up with her size.

Sootwalker is currently a member of the Soot Warband of the Vigil. She’s a bruiser, beater, battlemaiden, and all-around behemoth on the battlefield. Other skills include eating, more fighting, more eating, and sleeping. Other members include Sootpaws and Sootcrawler.

Sootwalker’s primary enemies are Kralkatorrik, the Shatterer, and all of the Dragonbrand/Branded.

Sootwalker’s birth family is an (undeveloped) Blood warband, though her chosen family is certainly the Vigil. She’s made many friends and battle-brothers in her time there, especially among her new Vigil Warband.

Domitus Shardspirit: Domitus is pansexual, and is pretty casual about what his partner has or doesn’t have.

Domitus is a member of the Shard Warband, acting in his role as scout, tracker, spiritualist, communer, and general hippy. Other members of the warband include Centurion Traikill Stormshard, Soho Moonshard, Legionnaire Grimm Shardheart, Firiann Fellshard, Karnelion Shardgrin, and too many more to name.

Domitus’ primary enemies would be whoever Shard’s up against at the moment, of course, though as far as personal vendettas, top of the list would likely be Charr industrialists and Asura, as well as Dredge. Dom has a deep dislike of the way these races meddle with nature.

While he was born in the Shiverpeaks and raised in an outpost fahrar as part of Glare Warband ((hah, finally one I have developed)), Dom’s chosen family is partly Shard Warband, and partly something more personal - his loyal fernhound, Foof, and the small commune of nature spirits that call him/his belongings home.

Fyra Shalespine: Fyra is pansexual and is always down to get down, though she much prefers being a guide and mentor rather than a participant.

Fyra is a member of the Shale warband, where she’s the majordomo of meditations, chief of chakras, and master of massagetherapy. She’s also a solid fighter when she puts her mind to it, and an experienced voice of reason. The only other member that I remember is Caligus Torqueshale.

Fyra’s primary enemies are triple: whatever Shale’s dealing with; Mordrem and other desert nonsense; bad vibes. She spends a lot of her non-Warband time working with others and sometimes, it’s a bit too draining.

I talked a bit about her birth family in a previous answer, but her chosen family is simple, yet elaborate: her warband, Shale; the Vigil; and anyone she happens to be sharing her time with, whether for a minute or a lifetime.

Einn Úlfursdottir: Einn’s bisexual, but with a male preference.(That said, she’s taken, so.)

Einn isn’t a charr, silly!

Einn’s enemies on a day-to-day basis tend to be icebrood and Sons of Svanir, which seems to have multiplied lately, though she also faces off against Dredge, Jotun, and just general critters and beasties of the Shiverpeaks.

Einn’s birth family is unknown, as she was found orphaned. However, her chosen family, at least for most of her life, was her adoptive parents, Maja and Úlfur. Now, without them, she’s searching for a new family to take their place as her ‘pack’.

Graf Towercleave: Graf is heterosexual, though at his age he’s kind of given up on that sort of thing.

Graf is a member of the Cleave Warband, where he functions as resident old man and occasional sword-swinger. Sometimes he tries to do magic. It almost always does not go well. Other members are currently Legionnaire Rrul Rivecleave, Dexious Fiercecleave, Lexus Frostcleave, and Fiana Spiritcleave.

Graf’s enemies are naturally the Dominion, though he bears a special hatred for the Sons of Svanir and Icebrood after what they did in Bjora. Ultimately, he hates all dragon minions.

Graf’s been through several families in his lifetime - from his fahrar warband Field, to his Vigil warband Thunder, to his current warband Cleave. He’s no stranger to battle-brotherhood, and takes his family bonds where he can. That said, he still maintains a lot of contacts within the Vigil, and thinks of many of them as family still.

Ink Voidbreath: Ink is asexual and doesn’t really have any interest in that sort of thing.

Ink is currently gladium, with no warband to speak of. Prior to that, they were ((Spoilers for Lunar story)) a member of Breath Warband, acting as assassin, general-purpose caster, voice of reason, scout, and occasional medic.

Ink’s enemies tend to be conflict in general - positioning themselves as the enemy of strife, they find that they have enemies in both sides of the Charr-Human conflict, in both sides of the Charr civil war, and now they’re not really sure where their allegiances lie.

Ink’s birth family was an (undeveloped) Ash warband, though after their grisly demise, Ink grew disillusioned. Even in their time with Breath, they never felt part of a “family”, so it’s hard to say that they’ve had a “chosen family” since their first warband.

Keele Rustsocket: Keele is bisexual with a strong female preference.

Keele is currently part of the Socket warband, a Pact mechanic warband where she serves as an airship mechanic and engineer. I’ve not created any other members for it.

Keele’s enemies are any sort of Dragon or Dragon Minion, though she admittedly has a personal hatred for any remaining Mordrem, after the events of the Pact Fleet in the Maguuma Expedition...

Although Keele left behind her “birth family” to join the Pact, she maintains regular contact with them and they all get together for drinks whenever possible. That said, she gets along quite well with her new family, Socket, as well as her many friends and “coworkers” amongst the Pact. She’s even made quite a few friends in the BLTC, during her time in the Aerodrome!

Kreyn Fluxlift: Kreyn is a lesbian, though she is absolutely too dense to know when anyone’s hitting on her.

Kreyn is currently part of the Flux warband, where she serves as an engineer and designer, specializing in lifting bodies and aerodynamics. Other members include Legionnaire Grarr Fluxforge and a few others whose names I don’t remember.

Kreyn’s enemies include long sentences and complicated words, as well as other unscrupulous inventors who might be trying to steal her ideas. Other than that, aside from a general dislike of ghosts and humans, she’s relatively insulated from any real enemies.

Originally part of Bolt Warband, many of Kreyn’s initial ‘bandmates were killed or injured in a horrific accident. Following that, she moved into Flux Warband, where she is now. She’s quite happy with her new family, and although she checks on her former ‘bandmates occasionally, she has trouble remembering to on a regular basis.

Kurra Fogshroud: Kurra is absolutely a lesbian.

Kurra is part of Fog Warband, stationed in eastern Ashford, where she serves primarily as a sniper, though she occasionally doubles as a master of disguise.

Kurra’s enemies are primarily ogres, with whom she’s engaged in a daily battle. She also has to contend with ghosts, devourers, bats, gargoyles, and all sorts of other annoying beasties, but absolutely her biggest beef is with the ogres.

Kurra’s lucky in that her birth and chosen families are one and the same: Fog Warband! So far, aside from one or two unfortunate deaths, Fog’s been the same from fahrar to present day.

Kyrdra Sparkdawn: Kyrdra is polysexual, mostly preferring anyone that she can top.

Kyrdra is currently a part of Spark Warband, of Iron Legion, a bottom-of-the-barrel scrapper Warband that’s effectively a punishment assignment. She’s a scrapper in name and trade, using her brute strength to bust apart even the most resilient of wreckage. Other members include Legionnaire Sparkspring, and the now-deceased Sparkjaw and Sparkwire.

Kyrdra’s enemy is basically the whole world - it certainly seems like it’s out to get her! That said, her biggest beef is with Flame - partly because they’re what ruined her life in the first place, and partly because they keep making trouble while she’s just trying to scrap wreckage. She’s also not very fond of Forged (and those damn Choya....)

Although Spark isn’t her first warband, she hates her original ‘bandmates and would hunt them down if afforded the time. Even so, she doesn’t get on well with Spark, and often clashes with the Legionnaire, Sparkspring. She’d never let herself admit to liking any of them, though she does (in private!) mourn the loss of some, such as Sparkwire or Sparkjaw.

Lad Duskpillager: Lad is very gay and prefers fellow nasty bois.

Lad is part of the rough-and-tumble Pillager Warband, where he fills in as part-time bruiser, part-time mad scientist, part-time experimenter, and full-time horrible creature. Other members include Cur Blitzpillager, and their Legionnaire.

Lad’s enemies are far too many to count, including the Adamant Guard, his fellow ‘bandmates, capitalism, and just about everything. His biggest struggles are mostly with the law (especially the Adamant Guard and the Peacekeepers) and with his fellow ‘bandmates (who, strangely enough, don’t enjoy being experimented upon!)

Lad doesn’t really have a chosen family - his initial Warband was devastated, and since then he’s simply been looking for a way to continue his work. That said, Pillager is currently home, so they count! He doesn’t hate them, at least, and sometimes they get up to some really fun mischief.

Morak Stillwater: Morak is heterosexual, though he’s mostly a hormone-crazed youngster and would probably bone just about anything.

Morak doesn’t have a warband, instead being part of a pirate crew. He serves as navigator, first mate, occasional fisher-charr, and by virtue of being the only one with a beast, the beastmaster.

Morak has a few enemies, though his biggest is probably the man, man. He’s a rebellious youth who resents Lion’s Arch and its leadership for what it did to his family, and although he’s mostly struggling to get by, all his spare energy is definitely put towards sticking it to the power.

An Arch charr by birth, Morak’s family was taken from him by Scarlet’s invasion. Although they’re less a family and more just a bunch of unfortunates thrown together by circumstance, his current “chosen” family is his crew, under the leadership of Captain Yeens.

Naphtha Seizetar: Naphtha is what I’d call demisexual, though she tends to have more of a female preference.

Naphtha is currently a member of Seize Warband, working as a researcher, where she’s developing ways to convert organic biomass into post-processed hydrocarbons (AKA turning corpses into fuel). Other members include her Legionnaire, Kharra Seizespark, and Nenqe Seizebabe Seizeshield.

Naphtha, as an Iron researched, fortunately doesn’t have many enemies, though already in her time with Seize she’s developed a dislike for rock elementals, separatists, spiders, grawl, dredge, and Inquest. Her biggest challenge is probably Clonky... that bastard.

Originally Naphtha Rotplate of Plate Warband, after an industrial accident, she’s eagerly signed on to Seize Warband (though a little less eager after meeting the Legionnaire), making the trio her chosen family, although she shows a disturbing level of anthropomorphism towards her “rot vats”....

Olmakhan Firedancer: The unnamed Firedancer is bisexual, and although he has a female preference as far as romance/company goes, his sexual attraction is stronger for other men.

He’s not currently a member of any warband, instead being part of the Olmakhan, a tribal society of Charr living in a small cluster of islands off the coast of Elona.

The Olmakhan unfortunately have more than their fair share of enemies, between Awakened/Palawan loyalists, the Inquest, dangerous beasties, Djinn... any one of these is a weight upon his conscience, though all of them together pushes the Olmakhan to the fringes of survival.

Living his relatively sheltered island life, the boy’s birth family happens to be his chosen family, his Olmakhan friends and fellow villagers. Recently, however, he’s taken to traveling the newly rediscovered world, and is starting to pick up new friends along the way, though the amount of letters he’s sending home would make a Sylvari blush.

Rakk Smokewraith: Nasty bastard boy. Rakk is pansexual and will bone down on anything that moves. Evil wicked man.

Rakk is a member of the Smoke Warband in truth, where he acts as a spy and infiltrator, searching for Renegades, Flame, Dominion, and anyone else that Ash Legion has determined to be a Charr of interest. However, part of that is his cover identity as Rakk Blackpowder, of Powder Warband, where he’s an Iron engineer, using his small size to squeeze into narrow tank compartments.

Rakk’s enemies are the Legion’s enemies: Old Flame, Dominion, Frost Legion, Renegades, and just general traitors and criminals. Any Charr that goes against the Legions becomes part of his growing list of enemies.

Despite still being a part of his fahrar Warband, their assignment(s) means that they don’t interact much, if at all, now that they’ve graduated. So while he’s still a part of his birth family, so to speak, Rakk’s chosen family is certainly much more important to him. Unfortunately, that’s still not much, because it’s composed primarily of barkeeps, informants, and various Charr offering questionable services.

Ruya Starchaser: Ruya has no idea what she likes, and certainly not much interest (or time!) to pursue anything, though inside, she’d find that she’s pretty evenly bisexual.

Ruya's abandoned any sort of Warband life, and now is part of the Priory instead, as described in a previous post.

Despite being a huge nerd who just wants to look at the stars, Ruya has to deal with a number of desert annoyances - Palawan loyalists and leftover Awakened are the biggest threats, though the occasional Iboga or remnant Branded continue to be issues as well.

Ruya has no regrets about leaving her ‘birth family’ behind, quite content among her ‘chosen family’ in the Priory. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for her), that chosen family tends to be about 70% books, 28% telescopes, and only 2% or so other people, usually when she’s giving a lecture...

Rylka Miststone: Rylka is pretty solidly heterosexual.

Rylka’s a member of Mist Warband, a relatively new warband composed of revenants, intended to be the Legions’ test-group for these new abilities, given how un-cooperative Tribune Brimstone has been in sharing details.

Rylka’s got plenty of enemies on her plate. Separatists, Old Flame, Dominion, Frost Legion, leftover Branded, Ghosts... anything that threatens the Charr is a threat to her, almost on the level of personal affront.

Rylka’s life goal is to get close to (and emulate) Rytlock Brimstone, and so her ideal chosen family would of course be Rytlock himself. Failing that, she’s at least surrounded herself with fellow loyal-minded Charr, though she isn’t particularly close to any of them.

Sela Lunarstep: Sela’s somewhat bisexual, though she’s almost exclusively male-preferring.

Sela’s the Legionnaire of Lunar Warband, where her skills include espionage, sabotage, assassination, direct combat... anything that Ash needs doing. Her loyal soldiers include Grus Lunarspark, Malin Lunarstone, Xyx Blacklunar/Corax Lunarcaller, and many others.

Sela’s enemies are plenty, as well as her personal grudges. Ultimately, her enemies are whoever the Legion pits her against. That said, she has a particular hatred for traitors, especially Renegades, and a bit of personal beef against ghosts.

Although Lunar Warband is technically Sela’s birth family, almost their entire number has been whittled down over the years, leaving only Sela and Grus as the two remaining original members. The rest of Lunar, despite coming later, is absolutely Sela’s chosen family - they’re hers, her soldiers, and she’s happy and proud to be her Legionnaire; she’d do anything for them!

Sentinel Glassblade: Sentinel Glassblade is absolutely not bone-able. Very forbidden. Do not. (Strictly speaking, her mind is too twisted and warped to really think in that sort of vein anymore, and her body doesn’t respond much either. Once upon a time, she was quite heterosexual.)

Once a feared Ash Legion Centurion, now she’s little more than an outcast Sentinel, though she’s found a place in the Glass Warband, among other members like Glasscutter and Glassedge. Despite the deterioration of her mind, she retains a bevy of skills including tracking, combat, and interrogation (although the latter isn’t very useful against Branded...)

Glassblade’s enemies are, primarily, what remains of the Brand, and the Branded that inhabit it. As a Sentinel, she’s doomed to wander the Brand and work to contain its horrors for the rest of her life. Though somewhere inside, she definitely harbors a grudge against the treacherous soldier that landed her in this position...

Born to a rather well-known dam, Glassblade quickly rose through the ranks of her “birth family”, becoming a Centurion at a young age, though that’s all behind her now. She certainly didn’t choose the Sentinel life, and even among her new warband, she keeps herself distant and elusive. The closest she has to a chosen family is her devourer, Grendel, which has (for some reason) stayed by her side for years now.

Skara Weldblast: Skara is polysexual with a mild preference for the ladies (and a strong exhibitionist streak).

Skara’s a member of the Weld Warband, where she works as an engineer. She’s currently researching metallurgy and explosion-based welding techniques, looking to reuse old munitions and materiel to create new alloys. She works under Legionnaire Rallus Weldcog.

Skara doesn’t have much in the way of enemies, besides empty kegs and boredom. Still, she’s not immune to the troubles of the Charr as a whole, and definitely bears hatred for ghosts, separatists, and all the other troubles plaguing Charrkind, especially the Dominion of late.

Skara can find a “family” just about anywhere - after a long night of drinking and partying, just about anyone nearby is a member of the family! She’s certainly not picky, and although she loves her warband to bits, she’s pretty generous with her caring nature.

Wassail Ciderpride: The boy is pretty evenly bisexual!

Not technically a Warband, though the Cider brothers do call themselves “Cider Warband” from time to time! It’s Wassail and his brother Wurzel Cidersnout, with Wassail in charge of water supply and some of the more inventive drinks, such as Zapple.

As every brewer knows, Wassail’s biggest enemies are poor sanitation, bad water quality, and mold. Aside from those, the worst that the Brothers have to deal with is the occasional issue on their way to a market - bandits, at worst, which isn’t so bad. The Boys have it easy.

Wassail’s pretty happy with his family as they are - he’s got a successful and fun business/career with his brother and father and they have lots of great times and fun memories.

[recentanimenews]

My Week in Manga: April 10-April 16, 2017

My News and Reviews

Last week at Experiments in Manga was relatively quiet, but I did post the Bookshelf Overload for March. As mentioned in that post (and I think sometime prior to that as well), I’m currently in the process of changing jobs, so I’ve been a bit preoccupied to say the least. (If you follow me on Twitter, this largely explains my sporadic appearances there.) This week is my last week in my current position, so I’m understandably pretty busy with meetings and tying up loose ends and such. I still plan on finishing up and posting my review of the first volume of Nagabe’s The Girl from the Other Side sometime this week, but it will probably be towards the end.

Over the last week, Seven sees announced a couple more new licenses: Yoshikazu Takeuchi’s Perfect Blue novels (which were the basis for Satoshi Kon’s anime film of the same name) as well as Jin and Sayuki’s manga series Nirvana. Yen Press also had a slew of announcements: Natsume Ono’s ACCA 13 (probably the one I’m most excited about), Kudan Naduka and Nakoto Sanada’s Angel of Slaughter, Matoba’s As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Rihito Takarai’s Graineliers, Afro’s Laid-Back Camp?, Mufirushi Shimazaki’s The Monster Tamer Girls, Koromo’s A Polar Bear in Love, Matcha Hazuki’s One Week Friends, Fuse’s Regarding Reincarnating as Slime light novel (Kodansha Comics has licensed the manga), both the light novel and manga of Carlo Zen’s The Saga of Evil Tanya, Okina Baba’s light novel So I’m a Spider, So What?, Keiichi Shigusawa and Tadadi Tamori’s Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online, Abec’s Sword Art Online Artworks artbook, Reki Kawahara and Shii Kiya’s Sword Art Online: Calibur, Mai Tanaka’s Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, Kakashi Oniyazu’s Though You May Burn to Ash, and Ryousuke Asakura’s Val X Love.

As for crowdfunding efforts, Digital Manga will be launching its most recent Juné Kickstarter sometime later today in an effort to publish print editions of some of Psyche Delico’s manga which were previously only released digitally. (This is in addition to recently announced print licenses of Psyche Delico’s Even a Dog Won’t Eat It and Choco Strawberry Vanilla.) Another Kickstarter project to keep an eye on is Retrofit Comic’s Spring 2017 collection which includes Yuichi Yokoyama’s Iceland. (In general Retrofit Comics releases some great books, but this will be the publisher’s first manga to be translated.) Finally, the wonderful people behind Queer Japan are currently raising funds for the film’s post-production as well as some of the non-profit organizations featured in the documentary.

Quick Takes

Dawn of the Arcana, Volumes 7-13 by Rei Toma. I enjoyed the first part of Dawn of the Arcana a great deal and so was looking forward to reading the rest of the series. As the manga progresses it becomes less reliant on the standard fantasy tropes that form its base, although it never escapes them entirely. However, even considering this, Dawn of the Arcana is still a satisfying and enjoyable series. The story’s most dramatic plot twist I guessed at long before it was actually revealed, but there were still developments and directions that the story took that managed to surprise me. At times it felt like Dawn of the Arcana was only scratching the surface, as if the manga was only providing a summary version of a much more complicated narrative. The characters and story have depth to them, but not everything is thoroughly and completely explored, much of the more nuanced interpretations being left to the readers to form. I really liked Dawn of the Arcana. It can be heartbreaking–the characters’ struggling with circumstances that have no easy resolutions–but also thrilling as they find ways to take control of their own fates.

Murciélago, Volume 1 by Yoshimurakana. I was forewarned about the violence, gore, and otherwise explicit nature of Murciélago, so I was well aware of what I was getting myself into by picking up the manga. Murciélago is ridiculous, absurd, extreme, over-the-top, and a great deal of fun if someone doesn’t have a problem with the series’ aforementioned blood and brutality. Interestingly, the risqué lesbian sex scenes which both open and close the first volume, while being deliberately lewd, scandalous, and outrageous are also entirely consensual and in a way are bizarrely one of the more wholesome aspects of the manga. The lead of Murciélago is Kuroko Koumori, a dangerous, murderous, and lecherous woman who has been sentenced to death for her crimes. Kuroko is a monster and is portrayed as such. (She’s an awful person, but I really like her as a character.) The only reason that she’s still alive is that the police have indefinitely postponed her execution in order to take advantage of her impressive skills as an assassin. So, yeah, Murciélago definitely isn’t a series for everyone, but I certainly plan on reading more of it.

Triton of the Sea, Omnibus 2 (equivalent to Volumes 3-4) by Osamu Tezuka. It has been a very long time since I read the first half of Triton of the Sea. So long ago in fact that I had forgot that I hadn’t actually finished the series yet. Fortunately, the manga was pretty easy to pick up again. I seem to like Triton of the Sea best when the story centers its focus on family. In the first omnibus, it was Triton’s relationships with his human family that really captured my attention and in the second it was his experiences as a new father that most delighted me. (It probably didn’t hurt that the baby merfolk were super cute.) Triton of the Sea is also a story of revenge. Triton is determined destroy the Poseidon clan for the sake of his people who have been nearly driven to extinction, his desire for retribution blinding him from seeing other courses of action that might allow the two clans to establish a lasting peace. This of course only serves to continue the cycle of violence that puts him and his loved ones in danger. Triton of the Sea isn’t Tezuka’s strongest or most notable work, but I did appreciate the themes that Tezuka was exploring with the series.

Wandering Island, Volume 1 by Kenji Tsuruta. The premise of Wandering Island is fairly simple: Mikura Amelia is a pilot for an air delivery service based in the Izu Islands that she and her grandfather established together. When he unexpectedly passes away, she understandably takes it pretty hard. While in mourning she discovers package among her grandfather’s belongings with an address on it that shouldn’t exist, leading Mikura to become obsessed with a search for a mysterious, disappearing island. Although there are some wonderful scenes of Mikura in flight, there’s not really much action in Wandering Island. Instead, the manga is rather leisurely paced with a contemplative and melancholic feel to it. Wandering Island is also beautifully illustrated, Tsuruta’s artwork being one of the series’ highlights. I love how Tsuruta is able to capture a sense of place and the people who live there. I’m not sure when or if the second volume of Wandering Island will be published in English (the Japanese edition itself isn’t even scheduled to be released until next month), but I would definitely like to see it translated.

Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure: A Tale That Begins with Fukushima by Hideo Furukawa. Fukushima has been on my mind lately which reminded me of the fact that I had yet to read Furukawa’s Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure, one of the first major literary responses to the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disasters associated with March 11, 2011. The work is rather curious, but it’s also worthwhile and powerful. In part it’s a sequel of sorts to Furukawa’s novel Seikazoku (The Holy Family), which hasn’t actually been released in English. However, familiarity with that earlier work isn’t at all necessary. Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure also delves into the history of Fukushima as a whole, both before and after 2011. But perhaps most importantly, it’s an incredibly personal memoir. Though he was away at the time, Furukawa was originally from Fukushima. Soon after the disasters struck, he traveled back to the area in order to witness the aftermath of the events himself. A fair amount of the volume is devoted to Furukawa’s profound experiences while on that trip, combining fiction, history, and biography in a compelling way.

By: Ash Brown

[noblelake-blog]

Trump and the people

The fireworks started around midnight on the west coast, they were probably the most depressing fireworks I’ve ever listened to in my life. I hadn’t seen any Trump signs around the ‘hood but it wasn’t too shocking. This stretch of deep Southeast Portland backing up to Powell Butte is in the old school white working class vein of town, though it’s had a thrush of new blood in the last decade, as the few remaining communities of color have been pushed out this way. I sat at my kitchen table feeling like a bad acid trip was coming on. I was about to turn 40, and my 20 year old self would probably have been surprised that something like this had taken so long. I remember sitting around with a bunch of degenerate punk clowns in Austin watching the returns the night Bush “won” in 2000, and feeling the same kind of despair while my girlfriend and I consoled each other in ‘04. But beyond that, it had felt for a long time that a country rapidly overrun by oligarchs was gonna run itself off the cliff sooner or later. Now that it’s done, I feel utterly alone and terrified a lot of the time. I don’t know if that’s a valid reaction or not. It is certainly one of fear, and that fear is by no means ungrounded. I write this not so much the 20 year old anarchist who went to anti-globalization protests but a self-employed carpenter father and partner of a teacher. Working people, raising our child with the same working class values our parents instilled in us: do your best, and take care of each other.

  I had to think of the time, 8 years before, when I rode my bike drunk on a warm November night in Brooklyn, fist pumping anyone I saw on Myrtle Ave and yelling “Obama!” on my way to a victory celebration with a bunch of friends. The restaurant was run by a lesbian couple, it was a diverse crowd, and the sense of elation I felt that night was potent. I’ll never forget the way I felt when the president elect verbally reached out to queer community, it seemed so strange to hear that from the man who would be president, the first black president, so improbable and unstoppable at once. And it was stranger still because I hadn’t even voted for him. I had voted in the first presidential election of my lifetime in ‘04, although I was old enough to have voted in the two previous ones, solely out of sheer terror at the prospect of another Bush term. When Obama came onto the scene, I liked him, but perhaps it was the way in which so many of my friends had become involved in elevating him to such a high stature that they weren’t able to see that much of his politics were firmly rooted in neoliberalism and, even if he were able to embrace his more progressive tendencies, he would certainly be hamstrung by the political establishment, more so because he is black. I did not vote for him or anyone in that election, but I was three sheets to the wind a fair amount in those days, and I couldn’t remember if I had updated my registration since I moved to New York. It was the last presidential election I would ditch, I voted happily for Obama in 2012, even though by then the dream was dead and the Tea Party racists were half unhinged over a black man trying to tell them what to do with their health insurance. I voted for him partly because I felt a little ashamed of not voting for him in ‘08, and partly because I hate stiff rich white guys like Mitt Romney as much as most Americans.

  But Donald Trump is no Mitt Romney. The now famous picture of the two of them dining together may speak to their shared cartoonish robber baron natures, but the similarities end there. Mitt Romney is the stuffed shirt blue blood with the weird religion, Donald Trump is the macho TV star whose antagonism has been saturating the market of our daily lives for two generations now, his kind of sales pitch is safe as milk to a lot of us. The picture of the two of them is terrifying, his dominance of Romney broadcast so viciously.

It’s no coincidence that he came out of the same 80’s culture that made guys like Vince McMahon rich and famous, his antics are right out of the WWE playbook. Trump is the classic heel, in wrestling terms the villain you love to hate, the guy who doesn’t mind fighting dirty to get the job done. In the working class neighborhood in Baltimore I grew up in, more kids idolized Rowdy Roddy Piper, the heel, than Hulk Hogan. To draw further comparisons between Trump and the Hot Rod would do a disservice to the memory of the latter, but Trump is indeed cunning in his abilities. His racism is well documented going back to the 80’s, as is his treatment of women and outright powerlust, but it was not within his grasp to become a politician, for that he would have to wait until 8 years of living under a black president had created such an apocalyptic mindset in the voters of white America that he was able to seize his opportunity. And he held fast.

  Count me among those who believed that his candidacy would fizzle after the initial blast of profane assaults, but once his momentum gathered I felt like we were in for it. I was canvassing neighborhoods for Bernie Sanders but I knew he was never going to be given a serious look by the Democratic establishment. White folks in our neighborhood who were for Trump would give lip service to Bernie, and that kind of sentiment fueled the idea that he might be the only one who could beat him. We’ll never know how that would have turned out, unfortunately. But one thing that’s clear is that the Trump phenomenon is a vindication of the power modern media domination, and, to put a finer point to it, mind control. The Apprentice gave rise to its titular character’s aura of invincibility. Here we have the lavish billionaire, the picture of wealth and power, thronged by beautiful elites and backed by ominous music, dangling the sword over outstretched necks of would be sycophants, buoyed by the immense drama of those two famous words…..

  And in the end that’s all it took. The rich and middle class Republicans by and large fell behind him like we all knew they would, but much ink has been spilled in these last months about the rest of his voting block, those poor racist white people, and how could they be so stupid to vote for someone who so obviously doesn’t give a shit about them? Did they feel wounded and left behind by 8 years of a “reverse” racist-in-chief, or were they simply sick to death of the status quo and willing to vote for the flamboyant playboy because he at least doesn’t seem like such a phony? I suspect it’s more than a little of both, and more than a lot of decades of misinformation and subterfuge clouding the waters for working people of all colors, leaving the talk shows and comment threads with nothing but vitriol and bad analysis. Given the alternative of a candidate like Sanders, would people see that his brand of populism gave some beef to the airy promises Trump made to bring back manufacturing, or would people just see him as a far out Jewish commie? If Hillary Clinton had not been Hillary Clinton and instead been a woman more in the mold of Elizabeth Warren, would poor white folks have given her more of a shot, or is the horrid sexism she endured a true barometer the attitudes towards women among the working class?

  And then there is the whole issue of the term itself. Working class. Working poor. White working class. Blue collar. While there are fairly clear indicators of where we all fall on this ladder based on income, the past few generations have indeed muddied the usage of the term in a variety of ways. One’s upbringing and exposure to media and education may preclude them to a different outlook than those they share an income bracket with. As a child of college educated socialists I certainly viewed politics through a different lens than an old carpenter I once worked with, who thought that global warming was a hoax to sell more textbooks and hated Hillary Clinton not on the basis of her corporate, imperialist worldview but because she had the gall to be an assertive first lady instead of “knowing her place”. And there are certainly those who argue that the working class doesn’t even really exist any more; in the same way that people talk about the vanishing middle class, the attacks on unions have all but eviscerated the ability of working people to organize for their mutual benefit, to the point where working poor is perhaps the only appropriate term.

  I am working poor. I live paycheck to paycheck and I was raised by a single mother who lived that way too. Under President Obama, I had health insurance, medicaid for sure but it was enough to get me to the dentist every once in awhile. I also had hope. Not hope in the utopian sense that was broadcast large back in 2008 but hope in a more cautious, realist sense. I have long understood that I was born into the later stages of a cancer. We are abusing the earth at an alarming rate, and the world cannot hold up under the excesses of capitalism for very much longer. I do believe that, for all of his drone strikes and fracking advances, President Obama understood this too. I felt some measure of comfort in the thought that at least he could pilot the sinking ship of neoliberalism with some care and perhaps mercy. For the next four years, I will abandon that hope as he hands the wheel over to a narcissist lunatic. But I will most certainly not give up.

    This Friday they will be installing the madman at the White House, and the following day, thousands will march on Washington to demand that their voices be heard above clamour of those who would normalize the denigration of women, the dehumanization of immigrants, and the destruction of resources for poor people the world over. In the coming years some of us may have to make difficult choices about putting our own privilege on the line to help stem the tide of abuse that will undoubtedly fall hardest upon our more vulnerable brothers and sisters. I was raised to think these kinds of actions can not only make a difference, but can be what makes us human. I can only hope that I will be able to find the courage and determination to see that through.

-JS