#holy alliance
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classic-art-favourites · 4 months ago
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Reception of Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich by Prince Metternich in the Vienna Hofburg in 1829 by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller, 1839.
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empirearchives · 2 years ago
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Some of the Napoleonic reforms undone by the Pope was vaccination against smallpox and street lighting.
Source: Richard J. Evans, The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914
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ukdamo · 2 months ago
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This photo from the museum in Leipzig - the autocrats of the Holy Alliance, plus Metternich.
It was a bastion against democracy and citizen-nationalism, designed to frustrate any liberalisation of Prussia, Austria or Russia.
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xenothenarrator · 7 months ago
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Shout out to Goathalamew. Hyped for the new update
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squeaky-potat · 6 months ago
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Black Eagles 🦅
Blue Lions 🦁
Golden Deer 🦌
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khyann · 10 months ago
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First Page || Prev Page // Next Page
You know i cant let past the opportunity to do angst with this man
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mids-stupid-shit · 6 months ago
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This was mostly made for @rabid-raccoontail but whoever wants to get into Mortal Kombat, this is your lucky day. So welcome everyone to the
Idiots guide to Mortal Kombat
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Also this is going to be my biggest post yet so if you like to read this is the place for you. If you can't picture the characters I name, look them up on google.
Also this contains heavy spoilers for the ENTIRE series.
So sorry for the wait, I hope you enjoy this
What is a Mortal Kombat?
To get a basic understanding of the series you got 3 canons to work with. You have the Midway games (Original Dev team), you have The NRS reboot (the canon most people are known with) and you got the The New Era ( the one that changed it all).
Classic games
The first game takes place on an Island owned by Shang Tsung, the final boss. The whole premise of why everyone is fighting on an island is because of the Mortal Kombat tournament, which happens every generation, and is a tournament mostly against Earthrealm and Outworld. Basically how it works, is if your realm wins 10 tournaments in a row, your realm gets fused with the winners (but also you can choose not to do that because fuck it). Outworld won 9 tournaments and with this one, one of the biggest villains of the franchise, Shao Kahn, fuses Earthrealm with Outworld and fucks up the entire human race. Our champions, Liu Kang a Shaolin monk, Johnny Cage the actor and Sonya Blade a Special Forces Commander, led by the thunder God Raiden won't let that shit slide. Oh also Kano is here and he's a proper Aussie, ye m8? Anyways, Liu Kang sweeps the floor with everyone, including a four armed hurdling mass of muscle named Goro, kicks Shang Tsungs ass and practically saves the Earth. Bonus fun fact, Scorpion kills Sub Zero because he thought he killed his family and clan and as revenge, he spit roasts him.
MK2 takes place some time after that with Shang looking a little sexier and asking the Earthrealmers to join a second MK tournament. If they don't oblige, they're gonna invade Earth (save that for a little later). Also Sub Zero is back, except not really the one who got killed by Scorpion was Bi-Han, and this is his younger brother, Kuai Liang. Getting back on topic we got some new characters like Jax, Sonya's partner from the Special Forces, Kuai Liang Sub Zero, Kung Lao who's the cooler Shaolin monk and also has a hat that's also a throwing weapon, Kitana, who is the main villains step daughter (sorta), Mileena, who's a test tube baby made by Shang Tsung for Shao Kahn, Reptile, who as you could guess is a lizard, and Barraka, who has Nosferatu's face (but also like, his species is tied to Mileena's creation because she's half Tarkatan. Anyways, some shit happens and Liu Kang beats the fuck out of Shao Kahn.
MK3, instead of being yet another tournament, Shao Kahn says FUCK IT and invades earth with the Outworld armies. Not only that, but the Lin Kuei (Sub Zero's clan) are being turned into cyborgs. All but one of them escaped, that one being Sub Zero. One cop survives New York, Johnny Cage gets killed by a centaur, there's a speedster with swords and fireballs coming out of his face, and boom, bang BING, we got some new characters. There's Stryker the Cop I talked about a few seconds ago, Kabal the speedster because the co-creator really wanted to make a psycho killer flash, Cyrax Sektor and Smoke who are the cyber Lin Kuei, Rain, who appears in like 5 games but only does something in 3 and isn't playable in one of the games he's in, Night Wolf who's a native American, Ermac who uses they/them and Sindel, the biggest bitch in the fucking seven seas. Oh also Bi-Han is back and he's edgy. He now goes by Noob Saibot, which if you read backwards is Tobias and Boon, the creators of Mortal Kombat. No time for that though because somehow Shao Kahn returned after being fisted, Johnny Cage gets brought back to life and Liu Kang kills Shao Kahn once more again, the end.
If that's not confusing enough, we aren't done yet because now we got
3D games
I'm not doing Mortal Kombat 4
Deadly Alliance starts with Shang Tsung and his boyfriend Quan Chi snapping Liu Kang's neck so he can't interrupt them in reawakening Onaga, the king of all scalies and one of the most powerful forces in the realms. And now Liu Kang is a zombie, Raiden kicks Shang and Quan's asses or at least tries. Also we're introduced to Kenshi Takahashi the blind swordsman with a magic sword, and sexy vampire pirate lady, Nitara, more on her later.
Deception takes place right after that, where Raiden is trying to fight the Deadly Alliance (who are literally just Shang and Quan), failing. Raiden dies, Quan Chi kills Shang Tsung which somehow awakens Onaga. Quan can't do piss and trying to fight him, somehow brings both Raiden and Shang Tsung back to life... Okay?? And then Raiden nukes himself and Onaga walks it off. Deceptions protagonist is a little shit called Shujinko, a student of Bo Rai Cho, the same man who trained Kung Lao and Liu Kang. He then gets encountered by Damashi, a glowy ball that tells him he has to help the Elder Gods by retrieving the Kamidogu (which are basically Jewelry that hold the fabric of the universe). And Shujinko, being the gullible idiot he is accepts. And from this point on, the game turns into you fixing everyone else's problems like finding Bo Rai Cho's sodding watch, getting water back from another realm, and beating the shit out of Wesley Snipes. Speaking of Blade we got other sick characters like Kira and Kobra, Black Dragon members and one of them is named after a martial art/movie, Havik who is a klerk of chaos, Hotaru the Policemun, Dairou who's an outlaw loose and runnin', and Li Mei, voiced by Kelly Hu in the latest game. After all that, you find all the Kamidogu, you defeat everyone + Scorpion is the final boss (don't ask me, I don't fuggin know why) and what's your reward? Realizing you've been deceived the whole game and not seeing a final battle between Onaga and Shujinko (even though Shujinko can definitely beat Onaga but fuck it).
Armageddon begins with this schmuck named Argus, an Edenian God who did it with a mortal woman Delia and they had two boys who had to be put in stalagmites because Argus knows the apocalypse is on its way. Thousands of years later, Daegon and Taven, the two brothers wake up. Daegon basically made the Red Dragon clan, named after Caro who's basically Taven's spirit animal and he helps bring about the apocalypse. Taven's character can be summed up to "Who are you? Who's that? Uuuuh..." But that's what I love about him. Anyways, Taven looks for his asshole brother, de-frosts a bad bitch and kicks everyone's ass. Which translates to what Armageddon really is. All the characters choose sides. We get one of the coolest fmv sequences in PS2 history and everyone dies trying to take Blaze's power. Blaze is a demigod-esque creation made by Argus to warn Taven and Daegon about the apocalypse, but also whoever kills him, gains his power and basically becomes the developer of the game. But because Taven is the main character, he has to kill everyone he encounters, a few of those people being one's he was proud to call friends. He climbs to the top, kills Daegon, destroys Blaze and saves the universe, the end.
Yeah I lied lol
Netherrealm Era
After Armageddon, Midway shut down, Warner Brothers bought Mortal Kombat and Netherrealm studios took over the franchise and this is where it all went downhill.
Mortal Kombat 9 starts with the end of the previous game. Except it doesn't, because Taven is somehow not here and Shao Kahn walked all the way back to kill him after being carried away by Onaga. Before Shao Kahn crushed him, Raiden sends a message to his past self saying only three things. "He Must Win.". We are now in the first Mortal Kombat except it's HD and Johnny is down bad for Sonya. Sonya is here just so she can find Jax who's lost on the island somewhere, Bi-Han is a bit of a prick and Shang Tsung is the only character in the game who has common sense. Liu Kang beats Shang Tsung, Jax gets his arms ripped off by Ermac, Johnny only gets to win if he has a suit and Mileena gets the most revieling outfit in fighting game history. Kitana and Liu Kang have an on and off thing, Reptile gets bullied (poor thang) and before Kuai Liang can kill Scorpion for killing his brother, he's taken away by the cyber Lin Kuei because Raiden saved Smoke from being cyberized and he says there's nothing he can do (that's bullshit but okay). Anyways, Kung Lao is doing pretty good in the tournament and then Shao Kahn snaps his neck. Feeling horrible by the death of his Shaolin brother, Liu Kang jumps in the arena and fists Shao Kahn. Sometime later, we learned that Shao Kahn survived because they put him in the Soul Chamber, a place in the Outworld arena that heals any and all wounds. He then gets the idea by Quan Chi to invade Earthrealm which completely goes against the laws of Mortal Kombat. And Shang Tsung knows and wants to stop them, but Shao Kahn doesn't fucking care and erased him from existance. they get guns from Kano, and they start blasting. Army can't do shit and somehow, a single cop (Stryker) is able to fight off A lizard man, a fire breathing cat and the only thing in Outworld that knows what pronouns are. Kabal was here too, but only for the first two fights. But he doesn't get his super speed here because he's just an average dude and maybe dating Stryker? I don't know. Anyways Kabal gets roasted by a big buff cat, taken to the Black Dragon and given a respiratory device by Kano that helps him breathe. He's basically Deadpool - the guns + super speed because the magic atmosphere of Outworld gave him that. Don't ask how anyone else got that after going to Outworld, idk🤷‍♀️. Anyways Quan Chi and Bitch-han bring back Sindel and mind control her to do their biding. Meanwhile, our heroes that consist of Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jax Briggs, Night Wolf, Cyber Sub Zero, Smoke, Kitana, Stryker, Kabal, Kitana and Liu Kang sit and do nothing. The Bastard Sektor walks in and with his Cyber Lin Kuei to tire out the heroes until Sindel arrives, the worst scene in MK history plays because the purple bitch kills damn near everyone and kicks Smoke in the nads, and then Night Wolf, the most forgettable Mortal Kombat character kills Sindel by Hail Mary. Raiden looks for help of Quan Dale Dingle, but he instead of helping, brings everyone who died back as revenants, which are basically zombies but with memories of the ones who died and they are pretty strong. Raiden fights three at once, Kills Liu Kang because he fears Shao Kahn is going to kill him and with the power of the Elder Gods, Raiden goes super Saiyan and does a Kamehameha, killing Shao Kahn. Yeah all of that was one game.
Mortal Kombat X (or as dip shits would call it mk 10) starts with Johnny, Sonya and Kenshi fighting revenant Sub Zero (who's a human revenant because of MKX prequel comic nonsense don't worry about it), Smoke who isn't even playable, Sindel who's a bitch through and through and Jax, who in a minute turns back into a human because of unexplained reasons, but I guess by killing his revenant, Liu, Kitana and Lao who are some. it turns out they were going to the Jin Sei chamber (earthrealm's life force that is pure light) where Quan Chi and his boss, Shinnok exact their plan of taking over Earthrealm by putting Shinnok into the Jin Sei, corrupting it and turning him into a super Saiyan but he looks like a devil, so kind of like a ssj4 thing? Doesn't matter because Johnny learns he has God killing powers and uses them to punch Shinnok in the nuts. Raiden seals him and the rest of the game is now a 20 years time skip. And now we have the next gen of kombatants, called the Kombat Kids by the fans. You got Cassie Cage the mc, Jaqui Briggs, who's basically Jax 2.0, Kung Jin, Lao's cousing who fights with a bow and Takeda, who has whips, bombs and a fuckin lightsaber. Anyways other new characters you have are Kotal Kahn who took over the throne, Erron Black who is the Cowboy and D'vorah, a character that absolutely everyone hates because she kills Mileena, who had a civil war with Kotal for the throne. Also Scorpion, now Hanzo Hasashi kills Quan Chi after learning it was him who disguised himself as Bi-Han to kill the Shirai Ryu out of spite I guess? D'vorah betrays Kotal, Almost kills Johnny but does get wrecked by Cassie who does also have the same God killing powers as Johnny, and he uses them to punch Shinnok in the nuts. Raiden puts himself in the Jin Sei Chamber because Shinnok corrupted it. Raiden purifies the Jin Sei and everyone gets a happy ending. Except Shinnok, who gets decapitated by dark Raiden.
Mortal Kombat 11 is a flawed masterpiece, and that flaw is the multiverse bullshit. So basically, Shinnok's mom Kronika who's like the keeper of time, wants to kill the entire universe because it's not balanced (shut the fuck up, ya bitch). Anyways, we got Geras, who can never die because he's a fixed point in time but is mostly known for pounding ass in the next game, Kollector who is the IRS and I hate him, and Centrion who is Shinnok's sister. There's also he Frozen bad bitch from earlier and her name is Frost, who is like Sub Zero minus but she's cyberized like Sektor and Cyrax who are in this game but unplayable (WHY NETHERREALM!). Anyways while remaking the timeline, Kronika accidentally summoned past versions of Liu Kang, Kitana, Kung Lao, Jade (who was dead but I didn't give a shit to introduce her at the start) and also she has maybe done it with Kotal (LITTERALY oc x canon shit) ((Also Jade doesn't kill D'vorah when given the chance, the stupid bitch)), Jax and a past version of Erron Black, even though he's still alive??, and also Shao Kahn with the coolest design of all time. Also Barraka is back, because I forgot to mention the bug bitch killed him too. Anyways, now we're spending the game beating up but rarely killing beloved characters. The cyber Lin Kuei and Frost and old Jax invade their ship that they use to get to Kronika's keep. Young Liu Kang dies, but Raiden fuses with revenant Liu Kang and that turns Liu Kang into a fake Gogeta, aka Fire God Liu Kang (any of this starting to sound like fanfiction?). Anyways they make it to the island where Kronika's keep is and then, everyone but Liu Kang gets Thanos snapped. Liu kills all the leveled up revenants, Glasses Kronika and brings back Raiden to help him rewrite history.
JUST KIDDING RETCONNED FUCK YOOPUUUUU HAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHAJ FUNNEE
uuuuuuugh alright I got two more story modes to do, holy fuck it's okay I can do this shit
The MK11 expansion, Aftermath, brings back Sheeva, who is now queen of the Shokan, the same species as Goro and Kintaro (the fire breathing cat from MK9), Night Wolf, Fujin the wind God and brother of Raiden, and Shanga langa ding dong. Fujin, Night Wolf and Shang were all locked away in a place beyond time until just now somehow (just roll with it okay? Okay). The plot of this story expansion is basically, Liu Kang wants to reset the universe, but he can't because he doesn't have Kronika's crown, which is needed to do the universe reset. So our boy Liu takes the two idiots and Shang into the past. I just now realized, Raiden is the only smart person in this game, because he knows Shang Tsung is planning something devious. Liu maybe knows but plays it off. They go back to previous points in the game to get the crown, revive Sindel who says she was mind controlled but later she says she's evil from the start (holy fuck I want to kill her and then myself). They get a boatsman, Kahron, to take them to the keep. In the process, D'vorah kills the poster boy of the franchise (Dominic I will fucking end your bloodline). Sindel gets Shao Kahn, heals his eyes that were sliced out by Kitana, they kill Liu and Lao, Shang reveals that he wants to reset the timeline (Fujin you stupid) , he Soul sucks Sindel and Shao Kahn, kills Kronika, but before he can do anything with Kronika's Hourglass, Liu Kang breaks in, kicks Shang Tsungs ass and reboots the series one more fucking time, which brings us to...
MORTAL 1 KOMBAT (or Mortal Kombat 1
This game starts with Shang Tsung being a failing snake oil salesman because he can barely survive. Then someone who looks like Kronika comes in and he makes this face
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Best game of all time.
Anyway, we're introduced to Kung Lao and baby boy Raiden, who are farmers but also train Martial arts under the belt of Madame Bo, this universes version of Bo Rai Cho and she runs a kitchen, what more could you want with a grandma. Later, the Lin Kuei invade and we get the return of my boy Smoke who now has a Karambit and is voiced by Spiderman. He's Joined by Kuai Liang who is now Scorpion, and Bi-Han Sub Zero, the worst he's ever been i hate him. It's like they took his personality from Mortal Kombat 11 and slapped it over a poor man's imitation. Kung Lao kicks all three of their asses but only because they were pulling their punches. They join Liu who is basically Raiden now, and look for Johnny Cage, who's having a one-sided argument with his wife, and then she leaves and doesn't come back. Then, Kenshi breaks in, wanting Sento, the sword of his family which now lays on displayed on Johnny's wall. They fight, and Johnny beats him effortlessly. Johnny ties him to a chair and interrogates him until Liu Kang, along with Scorpion and Sub Zero walk in, which leads to one of the most iconic moments in the franchise
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They want to untie Kenshi, but Johnny doesn't want that and thinks this is a prank, so he tries to play along but ends up being tossed into a million dollar statue, which triggers him and Johnny starts beating the shit out of Bitch-Han. Liu intervenes before Johnny can do his second fatality on him.they all go to the Wu Shi monk academy, where they train for the Great Tournament between Earthrealm and the realm of Outworld (that's LITTERALY what they call it, I'm not joking). Raiden beats them all using the one move he has, advance Cartwheel kick. Winning, Raiden is chosen to represent Earthrealm. And for winning, Liu Kang gives him a lightning amulet, which gives him lightning powers so he can fairly combat the Outworld fighters. Entering Outworld through a portal created by Liu, they are introduced by Kitana, Mileena and the palace guard, so-called the Umgadi, featuring two returning characters, one of which does nothing and the other was just a barrier. The one's i speak of are Khameleon and Tanya, the first canon lesbian in Mortal Kombat who has a thing going on with Mileena. Li Mei is back and... She's voiced by Kelly Hu. No wonder I forget she's in this game all the time. but along Li Mei, we have Shao Kahn, who is now degraded to General Shao, and his second in command, Reiko. I forgot to mention that Sindel is in this game and for the first time in the series, I don't mind her. She's a sweet, caring mother who is actually a mother to both Kitana and Mileena. Shao is now jobbing more than ever, from losing to a farmer, to being wrecked by queen. After winning the tournament, Liu Kang sends Kung Lao, Johnny and Kenshi to look for Shang Tsung, as it's word that he's somewhere in Outworld. The tremendous trio find a colony of Tarkatans, Outworlders infected by a disease called Tarkat, which deforms and debilitates. Shang Tsung is there and plans to harvest their marrow for a cure for Mileena, who as we find out, she has Tarkat. After a few fights, Kenshi pushes Johnny out of the way, as Mileena has gone feral, took some sais of the table, and stabs Kenshi's eyes out. As this happens Shao and tiny ass Goro walk in and take them to Shang Tsung's true lab, the Flesh Pits where Reptile works for him because Shang says he has his family captive. But as it's revealed, this isn't the case, as Shang already killed them many moons ago. This makes Reptile (aka Syzoth) have anger. They toxic gas the place and we get a Test Your Might to survive. They escape, but as they walk through the Living Forrest, they encounter Ashrah, a demon from the Netherrealm killing demons and almost killing our heroes. Also she says Demons funny. Like... DEE-MUNZ!
Anyways, she joins the party and they search for Quan Chi, who used to be dead, but is now an escaped cole miner and also black. The way Ashrah knows where Quan Chi is because she has a magic sword called the Kriss, and she uses it to purge evil from her soul, by killing other demons. We then find Quan Chi and his jobber squad consisting of Havik who is horribly lame in comparison to his older version and design from Deception, Sareena, Ashrah's so-so sister, Darius, aka Wesley Snipes' Blade with a dash of A-Train from the boys on the side, and the absolute dog shit tier downgrade of all time, Nitara is back, and nothing that made her cool is here. She isn't cool, her design is mid at best, her head looks like an onion, and the one thing that everyone hates about Nitara in this game, is that she's voiced by Megan Fox. Megan, Goddamn, Fox. Her performance is so goddamn awful that people actually prefer Rhonda Rousey's Sonya Blade from MK11. Anyways enough bitching, because Ashrah, with the help of a Reptile kameo beats the jobber squad, but just too late to stop Quan Chi from making a tornado of souls, which he uses to create Ermac, and then does this "who's mans is this" lookin' pose as he says kill them.
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In between this and Ashrah vs Quan Chi and Ermac, Johnny thanks Kenshi for saving his life, and gives him Sento, which he uses to assist Ashrah in the clobbering of Quan Chi. Now they return to the streets of Outworld's capital, Sun Do to look for a way back home. They disguise themselves, run into the Umgadi, get away and now it's Li Mei's turn to shine.
I forgot everything that happens in her chapter.
The Lin Kuei infiltrate a palace where Shang Tsung is, but while they are terrible at being stealthy, they aren't in beating Shang and Quan. But In the process, Bi-Han admits he let his and Kuai's father die, just so he can be the Lin Kuei's grandmaster. Smoke waits outside and does nothing till Kuai Liang escapes. And when Bi-Han comes out and leaves a scar on Kuai's face, even then, Smoke does literally nothing. All the characters who had their own parts in the storyline + Mileena (as it's her time to shine). They head to the Fortress where Ermac almost rips off Bi-Han's arms, fight Ermac, but it turns out the soul of Mileena and Kitana's father, Jerrod is inside Ermac...
That came out wrong... Or did it?
Anyways, they break in, Kitana almost fools General Shao and Shang Tsung right before Shang Bang puts on a crown, that awakens the Dragon Kings army and a a fake Sindel kills the queen, but Jerrod, who is still in control of Ermac, takes her soul before it leaves her body, storing Sindel as a part of Mac n' cheese. They head all come to discover that it wasn't Kronika at the intro, but instead was Shang Tsung from another timeline where he won in MK11,
HOW
DO
YOU
DO
FELLOW
KIDS???!!!
Anyways, 11 Shang, who we will now call Titan Shang, has a plan to rewrite Liu Kang's timeline (the one everything else I just talked about in this entry takes place) and bring absolute fucking chaos with his team of evil time lords. Liu Kang, being the reasonable person he is, summons an army of good time lords and they all fight on the same pyramid that Armageddon's ending took place. For the first time in the entire series, you get to pick your own character for the finale. And based on the character you pick, you get a different variants of characters, most commonly fusions of already existing characters. Finally, you beat Shang and Quan, you get a thanks from Liu, and sent to Madame Bo's, where the Earthrealm heroes enjoy food and tea.
*HEAVY BREATHS*
So, that's the entirety of Mortal Kombat. Any questions?
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remnant-emblemeer · 2 months ago
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So I Don't Forget #1
going to start dumping any fire emblem related writing ideas in this blog so I don't forget them. special tags just for me lol
Anyway, I've got a bachelor's degree in rhetoric and sociology and I think it would be cool to write an academic research paper understanding the different routes of FE3H and how the rhetoric used in the storytelling of each route fundamentally impacts your understanding of the characters and story. It's not as simple as "edelgard bad" or "church of seiros bad" because different elements are revealed in each route that do not negate the truth of others; it's not like in one route, rhea is evil and in another she isn't. the facts of the plotline remain the same, but how you as the player engage with these elements changes your gameplay experience and the experiences of your units as well. And that translates into fandom spaces and how people engage with secondary media related to the game. anyways. dumping that idea here.
*Note that this same concept can be applied to Fates but Three Houses is a much better written game and is far more extensive so I'd focus on three houses but brrrr Camilla from Fates my love. anyways.
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anghraine · 7 months ago
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It's weird to describe any Tolkien thoughts as "coming out of nowhere" given who I am as a person, but I woke up thinking about Ghân-buri-ghân.
I wish the depiction of him were not deeply entrenched in noble savage tropes, because there's something kind of amazing in this idea of a people who have barely survived through the ages yet still persist; who saw the earliest warning signs and ditched Númenor before most people had the slightest idea of what was going to happen; who have gotten profoundly screwed over by basically everyone except (iirc) the Haladin; who have had their own powers since the First Age; who have always been implacable opponents of Morgoth's and Sauron's forces, even as these days they're hunted for sport by the Rohirrim; and at the same time who are facing down the threat of total obliteration by Sauron. And Ghân-buri-ghân manages to navigate all of this and get his people security and autonomy.
So like ... there's a seed of a really intriguing concept there, but I'm not sure Middle-earth has ever been in the right hands to actually do it right.
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ciderbird · 10 months ago
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Sophie de Choiseul-Gouffier in her memoirs is pretty much fangirling over Tsar Alexander and what a cutie-patootie he is, but I just got to a part where they’re discussing Napoleon, and Alexander is complaining about his character or something, to which she says “Well not every sovereign can be as perfect as Your Majesty”, and this 36 year old man apparently “blushed hiding his face in his hands and said with the most cordial smile: Please, no more compliments”
How is he like this??
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slotumn · 4 days ago
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I think a lot of Byleth's political position in SS makes more sense if you consider them to be leading an insurgency legitimized by the Church, rather than the Church itself
It makes more sense why Faerghus and Leicester didn't team up with them, for one. Before they're enemies of the Empire, those two are established states (with what appears to be weakening control over their own territories at that), of course the leadership would be wary of an insurgent army that popped out of nowhere and is steamrolling another established state at alarming rates.
The fact this rebel military is allied with/endorsed by the Church absolutely does not make it better from Kingdom and Alliance's (especially the Kingdom's) perspective. If the Church disappeared (scattered) for 5 years without asking them for help then suddenly reappears flying a new standalone rebel army flag, the message Kingdom and Alliance would get isn't "look at this cool new faction you guys can ally with against the Empire," it's probably "this war isn't state vs state it's state vs insurgency and we legitimized the insurgency"
Alliance and Kingdom suiciding into Gronder off-screen makes more sense if you think about it this way too. Myrddin went a little too well and the rebel army was threatening to become too politically prominent, so Leicester and Faerghus governments rushed into Gronder because they wanted to claim they were doing something.
Granted Claude and Judith do collaborate with Byleth somewhat and Gilbert suggests that they team up for Gronder, but I don't think that Alliance and Kingdom leadership overall like what's going on with Byleth's army. Claude+Judith had to be discreet about their deals for one, and Gilbert still wanted them to follow the Kingdom army's lead. How the factions act in Silver Snow is very much the epitome of "they all have their own interests to uphold and any collaboration is out of convenience, not loyalty or any other sentimentality" imo
Tl;dr it's very politically embarrassing if you're an established state and an insurgency that appeared 6 months ago repeatedly dunks on you and/or overshadows you in war
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ym-loreposting · 2 months ago
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On the origin of the Kingdom and the Alliance
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Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes are home to many story threads that are hidden under the surface and can only really be understood by taking a look at many disparate sources in these games. One such thing is a peculiar question that is asked by professor Manuela in Chapter 11 of Three Houses, which involve spoilers for both games under the cut.
During that chapter, the existence of the Holy Tomb is revealed under Garreg Mach Monastery. The Monastery is located in the Oghma Mountains in the center of the continent Fódlan, a fairly inhospitable area, and this leads Manuela to speculate that the Monastery was built in this location to be near the Holy Tomb.
However, she then goes on to make an interesting observation. Garreg Mach and the Oghma Mountains lie at the center of Fódlan's three nations: the Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance. However, two of those nations were founded well after Garreg Mach was. Manuela questions why this is:
"I understand now why they'd build the monastery in the mountainous center of Fódlan. Although… When the monastery was built, the Kingdom and Alliance weren't even around yet. But look how cleverly it was placed right in the middle of the Empire, Kingdom, and Alliance. That's weird, right?"
It is interesting that the game itself calls this out in this way and there may be an actual answer to this question, but it does require looking at the origin of both Faerghus and Leicester in detail.
Setting the stage: Adrestia and Garreg Mach
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To start with, before the founding of Faerghus and Leicester, Fódlan looked more or less like the image above politically speaking. The Adrestian Empire had been founded at the start of Fódlan's modern calendar in the south of the continent at the city of Enbarr by Seiros and Emperor Wilhelm I. They would go on to wage the War of Heroes with Nemesis and the Ten Elites, who lurked in the north of the continent according to a Scholar in Chapter 17 of Crimson Flower:
"Over a thousand years ago now, not long after the Adrestian Empire was founded… The first emperor and his army, with the aid of Seiros, set out on a campaign to the north with the aim of unifying Fódlan. Meanwhile, in the northern reaches of Fódlan, Nemesis, the King of Liberation, raised an army to take down the Empire…"
After 60 years, the war ended with victory for the Adrestian Empire and the unification of Fódlan under its banner. Nemesis and the Ten Elites were killed, while their descendants became the new nobility of the Empire.
The Church of Seiros had been founded by Seiros as well in the beginning days of the Empire and received multiple branches throughout Fódlan after the war: in the east, west, south and center. The Central Church came to be seated at Garreg Mach Monastery in the Oghma Mountains in the center of Fódlan. The monastery was completed in the Imperial Year 185, about a century after the War of Heroes ended.
Origins of the Kingdom: Eagle and Lion
Until the Imperial Year 747, the hegemony of Adrestia stood as Fódlan only had to wage war with foreign nations like Dagda and Brigid. However, this changed when Loog, a descendant of the Elite Blaiddyd from the north of Fódlan, rebelled against Adrestia. He demanded independence for the region of Faerghus, which started the War of the Eagle and the Lion. In this war, Loog was aided by two advisors: Kyphon, a descendant of the Elite Fraldarius, and Pan, a strategist of whom much has been lost to history and who is only really mentioned in Ferdinand's A Support with Byleth.
The war was a success for Loog, as he won it and afterwards, the Church of Seiros mediated between Faerghus and Adrestia. The Church supported Loog's right to rule Faerghus in exchange for the Seiros religion to become Faerghus's official religion and to publicly proselytize in the territory. As such, the Kingdom was called holy and retains close relations with the Church even during the present day, as said by a Knight of Seiros in Chapter 4 of Three Houses.
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Origin of the Alliance: A Rebellion and Two Wars
50 years after the founding of Faerghus, the Leicester region in the east of Fódlan also rebelled against Adrestia. The Kingdom saw this as an opportunity to expand its influence and occupied the region, declaring Leicester a part of its territory.
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This situation remained stable for another 60 years, until the death of king Klaus I in the Imperial Year 861, which led to the division of Faerghus into three for a while. The events of this are detailed in a novel called The Death of King Klaus in Three Hopes and given a few details in the Burnt Remnants of a Report from Three Houses's Shadow Library.
King Klaus had three sons named Banfig, Krouffer and Kite. Before his death, Klaus caught a deadly fever and was so delirious he could not decide which of his three sons would succeed him. One day, his sister Morianne found a note written by him that said that whoever is most beloved by the people shall have the throne. This note may have acted as the will mentioned in the Burnt Remnants of a Report, and so failed to name a successor and demanded the Kingdom be divided among the three princes: the Leicester region in the east, the Faerghus region in the middle and the Mach region in the west. The princes themselves also agreed to do this and a faction of knights sided with each.
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War would break out between the three regions before long, with Prince Krouffer emerging victorious. He became the king of Faerghus while his brothers remained archdukes of their respective regions. In reality, the will had been forged by Morianne in a plot to put Kite on the throne, but this had failed in the end.
This situation did not remain stable for long as when Kite died, he did not leave a heir and the lords of the Leicester region with blood ties to House Blaiddyd refused to recognize the next archduke in line. Instead, they tried to form a republic and fought with Faerghus over this in the Crescent Moon War. After 20 years of fighting, they succeeded and the Leicester Alliance was founded. This is when the modern borders of Fódlan were established.
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The darkness lurking behind history
So far, this seems all like fairly typical Fire Emblem fare as rebellions and wars that lead to the founding of nations are very common in the history of the various continents in the series. However, this does not explain why the nations all seem to be centered around Garreg Mach Monastery. The contents of the Shadow Library hint that there lurks more behind these events as well, particularly in the aforementioned Burnt Remnants of a Report.
The document is interesting as it gives insight into a few recent conspiracies that have gone down in Fódlan's history, in particular with regards to the Tragedy of Duscur that threw Faerghus into chaos and the assassination of the heir to the most important house of the Alliance. However, the Report also gives comments on the events further back into Fódlan's history.
On the events that sparked the founding of Leicester, it is mentioned that the death of King Klaus was likely an assassination and in the Japanese version that whoever the guilty party was, their goal was to weaken and divide Faerghus because it was growing stronger than Adrestia. It seems doubtful that Morianne was interested in this, given what little we hear of her only paints her as being interested in putting Kite on Faerghus's throne, so she might have been part of a larger scheme at play:
"…One day, Klaus's sister Morianne found a note supposedly written by her brother. [...] ..She despaired that her scheme had failed. Her plan to install her preferred Prince Kite as king was disrupted by one so banal as Krouffer."
As for the events that led to the founding of Faerghus, it is mentioned that Loog's army mysteriously obtained weapons that were similar to the Heroes' Relics and was able to gather soldiers without anyone noticing. Many fishy things are lurking behind the War of the Eagle and the Lion.
This makes sense, as the guilty party is mentioned explicitly in this part of the Report, which details the first tear in the unified banner of the Empire, and the common thread between all the conspiracies of this document:
"What is the true identity of Pan, the tactician rumored to have been integral to Loog’s victories? And Those Who Slither in the Dark…"
Agartha's Long Game
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The Agarthans or Those Who Slither in the Dark were explicitly involved with the Tragedy of Duscur and the political turmoil in Adrestia in recent times, and were likely behind the assassination of the heir of House Riegan in Leicester as well. But their influence stretches back way farther into Fódlan's past, as the mysterious tactician Pan was one of their members and supplied Loog with weapons and soldiers. The weapons are noted to be similar to Heroes' relics, which is mentioned to be the case for Agarthan weapons in the Forging Bonds Hint of Potential in Fire Emblem Heroes by Claude:
"I fought those who slither in the dark in Fódlan. Their weapons were of a similar material to the Heroes’ Relics."
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And so the answer to the initial question posed by Manuela comes into focus. The War of Heroes fought at the start of Fódlan's calendar was in many ways a proxy war between Agartha and their sworn enemies, the Nabateans, the children of the goddess Sothis. The Agarthans were responsible for orchestrating the genocide of the Nabateans in the Red Canyon Tragedy through Nemesis. They also aided Nemesis during the War of Heroes, as Seiros was actually a Nabatean who sought revenge against Nemesis for his role in the Red Canyon Tragedy. This is most clearly seen in the Paralogue Cycles of Nostalgia in Three Hopes, where the Agarthan Epimenides is directly controlled as the player character and fights against the forces of the Empire and even Seiros herself.
However, the War of Heroes ended badly for the Agarthans. Nemesis and his allies were killed, their descendants swore fealty to the Empire and the factions controlled by the Nabateans came to rule Fódlan. So, in response they could do nothing but lay in wait and play a Long Game. They influenced the course of Fódlan's history from the shadows starting about 400 years before the two games take place by creating rifts in the unified banner of the Empire, as a house divided against itself cannot stand.
First they helped Loog to win his independence from the Empire and split the power of Fódlan in twain. When Faerghus stood to become too powerful with the acquisition of the Leicester region, they likely once again entered the scene and ensured that the Alliance was created.
Fódlan now has three seats of political power, all conveniently centered around Garreg Mach Monastery. The Monastery is the seat of power of the Church of Seiros and the Nabatean, Seiros, who continues to rule it under the guise of various identities. The Agarthans have also tried to attack Garreg Mach Monastery directly with their javelins of light, which are actually orbital missiles, and always fail according to a Hermit in Abyss in Chapter 18 of Verdant Wind and Silver Snow:
"Those lights that came down on Merceus���I might have seen them before, here at Garreg Mach. They looked like they'd rain down right on top of us, but at the last moment, they veered off… I think they crashed into Ailell. It must have been the goddess's blessing that protected us."
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The Hermit is correct, as according to Rhea, the modern-day identity of Seiros, in Chapter 20 of Verdant Wind, the Holy Tomb was built by Sothis to repel evil:
"The Holy Tomb is not only the location of the progenitor god's eternal slumber, but also a sacred vessel for a power that repels evil. Supposedly, the progenitor god built the Holy Tomb herself to protect her children from the evil light."
As the direct approach continues to fail, the Agarthans also have a secondary plan to attack Garreg Mach, which is the result of their meddling in history and the creation of the Kingdom and Alliance. Their modern day conspiracies are a continuation of this. As I wrote in my Enbarr Conspiracy post, the goal of their efforts in Adrestia was to create a peerless emperor to rule Fódlan. To this end they committed atrocities in Enbarr and Duscur, as said in Chapter 10 of Three Houses:
Flame Emperor/Edelgard: "There will be no salvation for you and your kind. Those responsible for such gruesome deeds in Duscur and Enbarr." Thales: "All so that you may acquire the strength you need. All for a purpose…"
The conspiracy in Enbarr was needed for Edelgard to obtain the blood of Sothis and gain the Crest of Flames, to increase her personal power. But it seems a bit unclear why the events in Duscur would be necessary, as Edelgard had only tangential involvement there. The strength Thales mentions here is likely political strength, as the fallout of the Tragedy of Duscur allows the Agarthans to put one of their own, Cleobulus, in charge of the Faerghus Dukedom in the non-Crimson Flower routes of Three Houses. The Dukedom becomes an ally of the Empire in the war in the second half of Three Houses.
This is likely what the Agarthan conspiracies are all about: securing the three seats of power around Fódlan so they could mount an attack against Garreg Mach from all sides. This is why they target the children of Emperor Ionius IX, the royal family of Faerghus and the heir of the leader of the Alliance, and seeking to either turn them into pawns for their own ends or to assume control of the nations directly. All to complete their revenge against the Nabateans that they started with the Red Canyon Tragedy, even if in the end they are only partially successful in these plans.
"They [the children of men] swore a fervent oath of revenge against the surface world, ruled by beasts, and against their tormentor, the False God" -Romance of the World's Perdition
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ukdamo · 2 months ago
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Poems from Rosetti
Dante Gabriel Rosetti (excerpt)
 Another later thing comes back to me.
'Twas in those hardest foulest days of all,
When still from his shut palace, sitting clean
Above the splash of blood, old Metternich
(May his soul die, and never-dying worms
Feast on its pain for ever!) used to thin
His year's doomed hundreds daintily, each month
Thirties and fifties. This time, as I think,
Was when his thrift forbad the poor to take
That evil brackish salt which the dry rocks
Keep all through winter when the sea draws in.
The first I heard of it was a chance shot
In the street here and there, and on the stones
A stumbling clatter as of horse hemmed round.
Then, when she saw me hurry out of doors,
My gun slung at my shoulder and my knife
Stuck in my girdle, she smoothed down my hair
And laughed to see me look so brave, and leaped
Up to my neck and kissed me. She was still
A child; and yet that kiss was on my lips
So hot all day where the smoke shut us in.
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shinsmile · 7 months ago
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dykedvonte · 9 months ago
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The Khans - My Introspective
I don't like the Military and I don't support a lot of the actions the NCR does to the Mojave in New Vegas but in terms of the Khans I feel like the fandom infantilizes or diminishes the fact that they are or at least one of the most violent raider groups in the Mojave.
What happened at Bitter Springs was a tragedy, innocent lives were lost and the fact that the NCR swept it under the rug and continued to hunt down Khans that are truly trying to back down and resettle is horrendous, but there is a history to the NCR's aggression towards them.
The Khans first appear in Fallout 1, the main faction of raiders in the game besides the mentioned Vipers (who don't actually appear if I remember correctly). They came from Vault 15 along with the members that would form rival groups; The Vipers, The Jackals, and Shady Sands. They are a very large and foreboding raiding party, known for burning towns and encampments they attack and taking survivors as their slaves or slaves to sell. They are a big reason why the Jackals and Vipers are actually so small in New Vegas, they wiped them out.
Their main targets where Shady Sands and Junker town, the former of the two would be what became The New California Republic. This explains a big part of their animosity towards the Khans, only furthered by the fact the Khans kidnapped Tandi as a young girl, the girl that would go to offically found the NCR out of Shady Sands. When the dweller saved her and killed much of the Khans, this allowed the NCR to develop into what it currently is as they no longer needed to focus on fighting off constant raids.
When the Khans became the New Khans in Fallout 2, they barely resembled the Khans as they were led by Darion, Garl Death-Hand's son (former leader of the Khans). They were smaller and refortified vault 15, still planning to take down the NCR (at this time nowhere near as imperialist as they are in FNV) as mostly a revenge/power ploy. They manipulate The Squat, a group of y'know squatters, that lived in the upper levels, promising and lying about repairing the vault and offering them ransacked caravan resources if they kept the NCR away. Being their only life line The Squat had no choice. Still the chosen one got rid of them and they left New California for the untapped Mojave.
The Great Khans, the most current iteration, continued in the path as the original Khans, regrouping and gaining information from the Followers who hoped they'd use their new medical knowledge to heal themselves. They gained more members and a substantial part of Vegas territory before they were run out by the three families. They were pushed to Bitter Springs where they first and foremost continued to pick off and attack NCR settlements, most of which consisted of caravans, towns, and camps as they saw them as easy like in their old days. It was the killing of four influential Republic members (non-military) that brought on Bitter Springs.
Bitter Springs was the result of years of hatred and animosity and likely the goal to send a final message to the Khans. It does not excuse the fact that innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered with few survivors. It does not excuse the fact that the NCR has yet to make amends for this and continues to try and persecute the Khans even in moments of surrender.
This post is not to defend what happened but to give a quick rundown of the Khan's history and their history with the NCR. It's to remind people that the NCR is not just their military power but an actual group/settlement of people that were also attacked indiscriminately by the Khans. It's to point out that the Khans were not a band of indigenous people (no matter the comparisons) driven from their homes but raiders who fed into the brutal cultures of the west coast wasteland and were in turn treated to the same things.
My frustration comes from the fact that FNV has so many comparisons to indigenous struggles but the groups it chooses are not comparable at all. Their oppression hinges on not being familiar with their past, which explains why they have the reputation they do in canon. The "tribes" are often not even groups of minorities or have goals/desires out of acquisitions of power and I feel like it is important to both acknowledge that this is bad indigenous rep because it is not supposed to be. It is supposed to be a comparison of the in-game groups and how they all do the same things and justify it in their own fucked up ways, some better at it than others.
FNV of all the Fallout games (in light of it being heavily Western based) distastefully uses indigenous imagery and theming for groups that are sad mimicries of American indigenous cultures at best and outright offensive at worst.
#this is also to say the NCR is barely different but they imply New California is a city and safe and that once the NCR military leaves#they will properly try to settle and revitalize the area unlike the goals of almost every other group#the issues arise from the tensions of the hoover dam battles the legion and the corrupt leaders chosen in what is a terse time#but the khans are interesting to me and I like the named khans we have in FNV but they are treated to be almost innocent at points due to#all the Ls they keep taking despite admitting to their raider roots and being PROUD#they partnered with the Legion and before i hear they didnt know they were slavers at a point too and likely didnt care if they believed it#would not affec their own. the Mojave is an unforgivnig place and sometimes you make unforgivable alliances since they alienated all their#other options through their continued and consistent behaviors#like i could go on how bad the native rep is but I would not use any of the tribes cause they barely count the only difference from the NCR#is they organize themself differtently like id use the tribes in Honest Hearts cause holy shit is it bad and racist like at least the Mojav#tribes are just white dickheads brutalizing each other and not the characatures of native people the Sorrows Dead Horse and White legs are#like yikes I hated playing white savior the dlc#this is also semi personal because i dont see a lot of POC people in the fandom talking about the Khans and so I dont know if the proper#perspectives can be added because just because something can represent a culture or group doesn't mean it does or that it was the primary#thing they were trying to get across#like feel free to ask and talk to me more about it cause grrr#fallout#fallout new vegas#the great khans#the khans#new california republic#the ncr#fallout 1#fallout 2#papa khan
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spiced-wine-fic · 6 months ago
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