#kratocracy

[shotbyshe]

Words of the Day

begat / beget / begot:

Begat is the simple past of beget.

An element of a lineage, especially of a lineage given in the Bible.

To produce (offspring) by sexual reproduction. Used especially of a man.

To cause to exist or occur; produce.

To procreate, as a father or sire; to generate; -- commonly said of the father.

aspersion:

A false or damaging accusation or insinuation.

The act of slandering or libeling; defaming.

A sprinkling, especially with holy water.

An attack on somebody's reputation or good name, often in the phrase to 'cast aspersions upon'.

An abusive attack on a person's character or good name.

cui bono:

Utility, advantage, or self-interest considered as the determinant of value or motivation.

The principle that the ultimate initiator of an action is likely he who stands to gain from the action.

Layman: who stands, or stood, to gain (from a crime, and so might have been responsible for it)?

carte blanche:

Unrestricted power to act at one's own discretion; unconditional authority.

Unlimited discretionary power to act; unrestricted authority.

Complete freedom or authority to act.

à la carte:

With a separate price for each item on the menu.

Allowing selection from a fixed list of individually priced options shown on the menu.

(of a restaurant meal) having unlimited choices with a separate price for each item.

kratocracy:

Might makes right

"Might makes right" or "Might is right" is an aphorism on the origin of morality, with both descriptive and prescriptive senses. Descriptively, it asserts that a society's view of right and wrong is determined by those in power, with a meaning similar to "History is written by the victors".

Kratocracy, (from the Greek κρατερός krateros, meaning "strong"), is [...] government by those who are strong enough to seize power through force.

~~~

I discovered a retired YouTuber this week. She clearly gave up on the site (like I want to do). I'm glad that she was there though (which is part of the reason I haven't left). {I still feel like there are people who look forward to my content. They never talk to me though, so if I left I still wouldn't feel that bad.} Anyway, the retired YouTuber made EXCEPTIONAL short films about black woman empowerment (BWE) -- apparently this is a thing on YouTube. Now that I am back there I'm noticing how different and segregated it is now -- and I wish she was still around.

Women in the BWE space use these words to describe black men's behavior in romantic relationships. This is not something I've ever been a part of because I don't do those things, however, listening to these women and their stories, viewpoint, etc is very entertaining. Aside from validating why I was never in that space to begin with, I find it fascinating that they use these French and Latin words to describe these men's actions. Instead of simply saying "these men just do whatever they want, with no consequences" they say:

"They go about their marriage 'carte blanche' and pick women 'a la carte'"

"If they ran the government it wouldn't be a republic or a democracy, it would be a 'kratocrazy'" (I would call it a kakistocracy, but that's me)

"Everywhere they go, whether with black woman or their preference, they 'beget' another kid that they refuse to support"

"When they create all these broken homes, 'cui bono?' Not their kids, not their wives, not even them, but they don't see it that way".

It's quite alluring.

At least to a word nerd like me.

~~~

"You don't gotta cast 'aspersions' at me, guy". I love Casey Affleck's voice.

[witchofthesouls]

I’d image that Girl Dad! Megatron (mostly MTMTE/IDW) would do some ‘baby proofing’ after his daughter is born, not only the form of hiding sharp objects and putting extra alarms on doors, but also in cleaning up the Decepticon ranks, the first to go being the Phase Sixers or at the minimum Overlord 😳

The ultimate sparkling/hybrid child proofing mechanism and parent-child bonding: his personal sparkling hold.

Frames that deal with immense and wild environmental changes, like miners, submarines, and shuttles, have something like an internal kangaroo pouch.

The structure is located deep within their frames, near if not settled next to their spark chambers. Within the dark hold that mimics similar conditions to a gestational chamber, it's cozily warm, well-protected, and well-fed behind tons of thick plating and nozzles connected to the mecha's fuel systems. There are specialized mechanics that refine the fuel directly from the main tank and their circulation to pull out vital nutrients and initial firewalls to create a dense, creamy sparkling fuel.

Adults unused to having a newspark within them will eventually figure out how to keep their hold still as the bitty bounces and rolls inside them. (Imagine the leader of the Decepticons at the meeting, and his subordinates are hanging onto his subtle changes, thinking the results are not up to adequacy. Meanwhile, his daughter has decided to smush herself to the side that's closest to his spark. I'm here! Yes, he knows.)

Fresh newsparks typically stay inside those holds until they reach the phase where they can toddle on their own as their plating has settled into a more appropriate density and hardness, the milky film has worn off, and they gained a significant amount of weight.

IDW Megatron doesn't strike as a mech that would get rid of the Phase Sixers or other dangerous elements. The violent and brutal kratocracy that became the Decepticon movement is a testament to the cruelties implemented by Functionist-held Cybertron as well as a twisted mockery and reflection of his own self and journey and spiral from "Decepticons to uplift the masses" to "Megatron's Decepticons."

If anything, he would keep the kid under wraps where only a handful of mechs ever known their existence, especially if he sired a techno-organic child.

[bittrlys]

So, dragon society is basically a kratocracy, right?

There's 0 explanation why dragons suddenly decided they needed a king despite living without one for a presumed while but I imagine it went something like this:

SOL REGEM: I am your king. EVERYONE: Well, we didn't vote for you. SOL REGEM: You don't vote for kings. Now do you want to repeat that to the dragon that can bite your face off?

So now dragons have a king, hurrah! But oh no, humans have done a naughty!

LUNA TENEBRIS: I am your queen. HUMANS: Well, we didn't vote for you. LUNA TENEBRIS: You don't vote for queens. Now get the fuck out of my country before this dragon bites your face off.

We know Thunder just straight up brawled for the right to take the throne because LT didn't leave an heir. (Royal bloodlines matter a lot to dragons, don't you know. They're just like us!) Zubeia, my useless angel, can still bring herself to let out the occasional mighty roar or lightning flash to scare others into line. EVERYONE has to listen to these violent lizards who just said "OBEY ME."

Remarkably, we're also supposed to see the dragon monarchy as a good thing that should continue, despite it providing very little benefits as far as I can tell. Most elven societies are self-sustaining and have their own rulers. Dragons are undeserving emperors who -- what? Keep other dragons in line? I haven't seen much evidence of that yet. They also fail to protect drakes from elves, which seems fucked up to me, but hey. The social stratification of that which may loosely all be called dragonkind is not for me to comment on, as it seems like the writers didn't think about it at all.

With all this in mind, when Ezran steps up to ask a bunch of dragons do to do him a solid, are they obeying him simply because the show wants to pretend Xadians have no issue with humans? Because they see the threat as more important than their pride or prejudice? Or because Zubeia is a wrathful queen who shares her husband's propensity for an iron fist, and she's hulking menacingly behind Ezran? Are dragons, Ezran's horrific weapon turned against his own people in season 3, representative of the unquestionable power granted by the divine right of kingship, and thus when he acts in authority, even when intending to be 'diplomatic' and 'peaceful', it is always with implicit threat of violence? Makes ya think!

[fantasyinvader]

It kinda gets me that after all the time that has passed, people still don’t understand what kind of world McGillis wanted to create. “Tekkadan and McGillis changed things, so even though they lost they won” just shows how little people actually paid attention to what they were saying.

McGillis wanted to create a world where people are free to simply take what they want, the only restriction is that they need to be strong enough to actually take it. So, if I wanted to steal something and was able to assert my power in order to take it, then by rights it would then belong to me. He talks about people rediscovering their fangs and whatnot, meaning that his system would push people to gain power through whatever means are available to them. This isn’t the democracy Rustal installed in Gjallarhorn, this is a pure kratocracy.

As for Tekkadan, McGillis was willing to install them as kings of Mars. However, going by his ideals this would mean that if anyone were to want that position for themselves, they’d be able to challenge Tekkadan for it. Tekkadan would not be able to quit fighting, but this would also that their rule is based simply on their strength as a military organization. Tekkadan’s ability to use violence is their right to rule.

Tekkadan were close to becoming fascists. And this fits with their history of taking the law into their own hands whenever they feel someone has wronged them. Newsflash people, mercenaries don’t get to go around murdering folks just because their guys died. Hell, considering that Tekkadan are all child soldiers legally Orga’s the one who would be held responsible for the deaths (and be considered a war criminal IRL for recruiting and exploiting kids). Even in-universe, the usage of child soldiers by Tekkadan was shocking and meant to be a wake-up call to the people of Earth over how bad things are on Mars before people went “wow, look at what they did. Maybe we should use kids as well.” And this led to wars breaking out for the first time in centuries, wars McGillis used to bolster his reputation in prep for his coup.

But people don't like to think about those things. Easier to make Tekkadan out to be simply victims who didn't know what they were doing, but not actually criticize their actions.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Would you call the drukhari a kratocracy (strength rules), or a meritocracy (success rules)?

Meritocracy! Any avenue that leads to success (including strength) is viable and valid in the Dark City. You can be a bloodthirsty warlord in your own little regime. You can be a political mastermind or a backstabbing cretin. If it works, and you win, then you win. The loser should have been better.

Asdrubael Vect, the supreme overlord of Commorragh, is very much the embodiment of utilising any and every avenue to go from rags to riches.

[anueutsuhos-touhou-profiles]

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna:

Top art by Rihito

The Shining Needle Castle is a colossal pagoda, floating in the air, and upside down! The youkai revolution is masterminded here, seemingly led by Shinmyoumaru Sukuna.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna is an inchling, which basically means she's a thumb-high miniature human. Inchlings are a strange lot: it's not certain if they're counted as youkai, even though they're clearly miniature humans.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna is a descendant of Issun-Boshi, the most famous inchling in Japanese folklore. He grew up among larger humans. One day, he obtained the all powerful wish granting Miracle Mallet after stabbing an oni's eyes out. He wished for something simple: growing to human size. He married a princess and had many children.

However, his descendants did not use the Miracle Mallet as sparingly as he did. They began using it for all kinds of pointless things. But this came at a cost. The Miracle Mallet was forged by oni, after all, and would cause the greedy to gain at their own sorrow. Any wish would come with a price, and the bigger the wish, the bigger the cost in return. Additionally, the Mallet's power is not infinite, and it will run out of power and need to recharge if used too much.

Eventually the descendants of Issun-Boshi grew greedy enough to wish for a massive castle, the Shining Needle Castle. The castle turned upside-down, and plunged its inhabitants into the underground World of Oni. There they suffered under the oni's revelry. Eventually most of Issun-Boshi's descendants died out, and the Miracle Mallet and the history of it was lost to time.

Suddenly, Seija Kijin, an amanojaku, came along one day, gifting Shinmyoumaru the Miracle Mallet, and telling her that it was the youkai of Gensokyo who were responsible for the inchlings' plight. She convinced Shinmyoumaru to carry out her plan of overthrowing Gensokyo society and creating one where the weak ruled the strong. She tricked Shinmyoumaru into using the Miracle Mallet to increase the power of the weaker youkai in Gensokyo and make them go berserk, as well as to bring all the tools to life. They also unsealed the Shining Needle Castle and lifted it up into the air. Oh, and Shinmyoumaru did wish to become bigger, though she only managed to reach the size of a child.

Seija kept the costs of the Miracle Mallet from Shinmyoumaru, so she didn't learn until it was too late that their dreams of revolution were doomed from the beginning.

Unlike Seija, Shinmyoumaru truly wanted to free her people and end the kratocracy Gensokyo effectively was. The protagonist, meanwhile, simply wanted to stop it since they considered themselves one of the strong ones and thus would be negatively affected. Thus, the final battle commenced against a final boss more heroic than the main character.

After Shinmyoumaru was defeated, all the Miracle Mallet's effects went away. The protagonists' tools became lifeless again, and the weak youkai turned back to normal. Shinmy shrunk down to her former inch-high self, and Reimu put her in a bug cage for interrogation. The Shining Needle Castle still floated in the air for some reason, though.

Surprisingly, even after Reimu crushed her hopes and dreams of liberating her people and put her in a bug cage, Shinmyoumaru has gotten along well with Reimu in the times since. She helped clean around the Hakurei Shrine, which Reimu is truly thankful for. She even made a matching kimono for Reimu! ...that was in Shinmyoumaru's size. But, Reimu wore it on her head anyway to make Shinmyoumaru not feel bad. Reimu may act like an asshole most of the time, but she really can care.

That said, this nice part of her personality abruptly vanished in her subsequent appearances. She next appeared as a playable character in Touhou 14.5: Urban Legend in Limbo. Here, she developed a Napoleon complex and became obsessed with a more permanent way to grow in size. She became a similar character to Cirno: childish, stupid, and too feisty for her own good.

In Touhou 15.5: Antinomy of Common Flowers, she teamed up with that bratty celestial, Tenshi Hinanawi. She became something of a suckup to Tenshi, who in turn buttered her up by claiming the inchlings were revered as royalty up in Heaven... though she also claimed she owned Shinmyoumaru's Shining Needle Castle because "celestials basically own the whole world". More interestingly, and perhaps disturbingly, her Dream World counterpart may have permanently replaced her from hereon out. But that might need elaborating on later.

Most importantly, Shinmyoumaru Sukuna appeared as the main villain of the book The Grimoire of Usami. Reimu Hakurei had put together a fireworks festival using spellcards, and invited anyone willing to participate (except Old Hell. They couldn't be trusted not to try to kill the human audience). Reimu had listed in the rules to keep it safe so as not to endanger anyone, but Shinmyoumaru didn't approve of this. She felt the killing power of spellcards were where their true beauty came from, and got Seija to be her right-hand woman in taking over the festival. She brought along a large number of like-minded youkai, including all the Old Hell residents who were banned, such as Utsuho Reiuji. She even got the attention and respect of Yukari Yakumo, and another sage who we'll get to later. They all took over Reimu's festival and went wild, with only the combined efforts of Reimu and every other playable human up to that point preventing any innocents from getting hurt. Despite this, she actually reached Reimu with her opinions, although Reimu showed her in the end it was possible to show the thrill and danger of spellcards without actually aiming to kill anyone.

The audience didn't really notice any of this, of course, and thought it was all part of the show.

In her most recent appearance, as part of a character cross review, she seems to have gotten over her Napoleon complex, and in fact now embraces her short stature with pride. She seems, at least on the surface, to now be close friends with Seija despite their wildly contrasting moralities. How this works I cannot explain, but it probably has to do with both of them being rather countercultural.

As a final boss, Shinmyoumaru has a wide plethora of attacks. She can use her Miracle Mallet to change the size of objects, including the player! She makes you grow to larger size than her: you think that'd be a plus, but in the main Touhou games, you die in one hit regardless of size, so this just makes you a bigger target. This is deliberate on her end, to show you the advantages of smallness. She also makes her bullets bigger, of course. She also uses the Miracle Mallet to create endless gold coins to hit you with. And of course, she can use it like a plain old mallet to whack you with.

She primarily attacks with a large amount of sewing needles that have been grown to the size of swords by the Mallet. She uses one as a sword and shoots many others.

Her final attack "The Seven Issun-Boshi" involves her creating waves of seven-colored energy in rainbow order.

Shinmyoumaru Sukuna's last name comes from Sukunahikona, the small statured leader of the Earthly Gods in primordial times. Her first name means something like "Strange Needle Boy".

[ideologyfairy]

Current status of the realicide fantasy creature au

Realistic realist: Shapeshifter

Inverse: banshee (?)

Boring mole: ?

Moralism: deer-taur

Orwellian: ?

Grej: shapeshifter

Egoism: Fairy

Ingsoc: giant

Darwinism: werewolf

Communalism: Vampire

Ahospice: ?

Censurist: ?

Postie: ?

Utopiary: ?

Avaritionism: ?

Hive mind: ?

Soulism: Naga

Kratocracy: ?

Feel free to give suggestions on what the undecided characters should be

[ellipsismark]

Random Lore Dump GO!

In The World of Demi-Humans there's an organization knows as "The Brotherhood of Mutant".

Their "culture" is based primarily on gang culture but they are in fact a fully recognized state governing over Mutant-kind. They are borderless and nationless since mutants can pop up anywhere.

They are a kratocracy. They have 13 heads of government that meet and decide on things. Each of these seats can be usurped by anyone at anytime by over powering the current holder.

Other than that, decisions are often made by majority vote of the patriarchs.

Oh yeah, another thing is the "family motif" they use. Members of equal rank in the same chapter as you are your "brothers and sisters", with senior members being "big brother and big sister" and "little brother and little sister" for the reverse. Leaders are "father and mother" with higher ranks being "grand father and grand mother" and of course "son and daughter" for the reverse.

The Brotherhood maintain this aesthetic born from a time when mutants were often rejected by their blood family. They would find each other and make new families. Relying and supporting one another. Over time the found family became more structured until became the gang/organization it is known as today.

It still wasn't a state but it was essential when the Mutant Revolution started! When mutants being actively hunted down in a genocide. The Brotherhood maintained a place of security for many young mutants. Those who fought those trialing time try to hold a sense of remembrance, even as the new generation grows up without the udder dread of a world against them. But what can they do other than remind that through it all

The Brotherhood Stands.

[jimothy-g-brooks]

Pokemon Idea (Evil Teams)

So, an idea I had for a Pokemon game that I talked about elsewhere before. Someone brought up the idea of, instead of Gyms, you have to go around defeating Evil Teams that have taken over towns throughout the region, freeing the town before you're allowed to progress.

I modified that idea: Normal game, normal gyms, normal Elite Four. Post Game+: You're informed that there is a neighboring region that has been taken over by warring Teams/Gangs and the the League officials of that region have placed a request for aid towards your region. Everyone else is too busy to help, for various and possibly related reasons, but as the new Regional Champion, you qualify to step over there and start taking names.

Team Black: Psychic / Ghost / Dark specialists. One of the smallest teams, based in what looks like an expy of Gen1 Lavender Town, being a bunch of Hex Maniac types and other various occultists and supernatural enthusiasts. Their primary threat is that their leader has some crackpot plan to summon three type appropriate Legendaries (Hoopla, Giratina, Darkrai) to steal their powers to become god. The plan is doomed to fail, but in such a way as to place the region is danger.

Team Yellow: Electric / Bug / Poison specialists. One of the smallest teams, based in what looks like an expy of Cinnabar Island, being a bunch of Scientist and other techie types. Their primary threat is that their leader has some crackpot plan to clone three type appropriate Legendaries (Zeraora, Genesect, Eternamax) and use their powers to become the preeminent super power in the region, almost like unto gods. The plan is doomed to fail, but in such a way as to place the region in danger.

Team White: Steel / Fairy / Dragon specialists. A bunch of Rennaisance Faire cosplayers who would really like to turn the region into a feudal state under their direct control, please and thank you. They are one of the largest teams, having a city and 1-2 outlying towns under their control. They are led by a regal White Queen and have a tenuous alliance with Team Blue.

Team Red: Fighting / Rock / Fire specialists. A bunch of Mad Max cosplayers who would really like to turn the region into a faux-anarchic kratocracy under their loose control, please and thank you. They are one of the largest teams, occupying a city and 1-2 outlying towns. They are led by a mighty Red Boss and have a tenuous alliance with Team Green.

Team Blue: Flying / Ice / Water specialists. Sky pirates floating in sky ships. While they don't directly occupy any towns or cities, as they have little interest in the surface except as a place to exploit, their presence is felt throughout the entire region and there is at least one city that is unofficially considered their territory.

Team Green: Grass / Ground / Normal specialists. Anarcho primitivists living in the woods. While they don't directly occupy any towns or cities, as they have little interest in civilization except as places to be destroyed, their presence is felt throughout the entire region and there is at least one city that is unofficially considered their territory.

...

Champio Trio+1: After, or during, Team Black & Yellow's similar but separate disastrous attempts to harness the power of Legendaries to oust the other Teams from the regions, the other four teams began cooking up ideas to get some Legendary level Pokepower of their own. Separately, Team White and Team Red, with Team Blue's wide ranging resources or Team Green's bio-ecological know-how respectively, begin a program to breed their own super Pokemon. After the smoke clears on their Legendary disasters, Team Black and Team Yellow realizes they're now the ones lagging behind on the Legendary arms race and team-up to take their own crack at it.

Team White and Team Blue create Quazyados, a creature obviously descendant from Gyrados but bred to resemble Rayquaza. It had its Magicarp and Water type bred out and somehow inserted Dragon. It is a haughty creature that rules the skies and demands tribute from all things below it. It starts on the White Queen's team, escapes, ends up on the Blue Captain's team and then escapes into the wild indefinitely.

Team Red and Team Green breed Goldon. Descendant of the Golem line but bred to resemble Groudon, with its previous evolutions bred out and its Fire type bred in. It is a bullying, boorish brute with no manners that destroys anything it doesn't like and beats up anyone that gets in its way. It starts on the Red Boss's team, escapes, ends up on the Green Chief's team and then escapes into the wild indefinitely.

These breeding experiments are not without mistakes, however. These rejects are abandoned by their uncaring masters and left to die in the wild. A kindly Daycare Center took a pair of these creatures in and this pair had a child before they passed on from the world. Mafable, a Fighting/Fairy that somehow combines the humanoid features of Machop with the pink puffball that is Clefable to create something wholly unique, resembling a Sentai Henshin crossed with a Magical Girl. This creature is a friend to all living things- all it wants to do is make peace and help the helpless, but it will fight to protect the weak if it has to.

Abmam is a Poison/Dark type based on the Arbok line created by genetic engineering and occult practices, given both a Dark type and arms. The Black Lady & Yellow President lose control over it almost immediately. It believes itself to be Mafable's archenemy and will often challenge the other legendary Pokemon to battle. If Mafable is in the middle of something, like saving creatures that are in peril or stopping the other Champion Trio from bullying others, Abmam will help out so that the two of them can get to their battle.

Obviously, Mafable does not consider Abmam an enemy and thinks the other legendary as its best friend who is always by its side and driving it to become stronger.

[ladymirdan]

Fools! Did you really belive I could be swayed by the petty opinions by the masses?! My blog is a Kratocracy, only might will prevail.

🚧IRON WITHIN. IRON WITHOUT!🚧

But I will compromise and make a small squad of chaos:y sisters so the Iron Boys can have friends. Very tempted to use my Valkia the Bloodied as a kitbashed leader for them. And maybe put a Mortifier/penitent engine in there as well. Go ham on the body horror :3

[witchofthesouls]

Nickel could and would 100% kill the half high command and, assuming she didn't start with him, Tarn would just be "it's not that big a deal she's just having a bad day 🥰" as she's covered in the entrails of the Trine

Nickel is absolutely dangerous. Not just in the "medics can be vicious" sentiment, but in the way that she's not hung up on their traditions and culturalisms.

In some ways, Nickel could have been Megatron's worst enemy. (Or for any of High Command...)

She won't give into the underlying homoerotic tension that would still her hand against action. Her very identity hasn't been groomed nor intensely shaped by Megatron's direct guidance or by the immense influence of his works as a mecha on a Functionist-held Cybertron. Nickel doesn't have an obsession with the guy.

She loathes organics, but it's understandable since the Black Block Consortia attacked her home planet, and she was the only survivor left.

I'm curious about Prion's culture as well since she doesn't have any troubles with the gratuitous violence that's the D.J.D.'s standand method. In anything, she's more annoyed and irritated by the mess and the lack of consistent good hygiene behavior. Shoot, she interrupted Tarn. Multiple times.

I'm also wondering if there's some sort of cultural misunderstanding going on with Nickel's role among them. She's not a full Decepticon. She probably falls under a "claimed spoils" category since the Decepticons is basically a kratocracy and developed culture of taking.

The Justice Division is treating rather kindly because she doesn't push against their worldview.

She's a trained medic who not only utilizes her full skillet upon them, she actively works with them. Her complaints aren't about their operations. It's about their own care and treatment and how it impacts them. Nickel's a quad-changer from a Lost Colony. She doesn't have the hangups that a classically-trained medic from Cybertron would have. If anything, she probably has tricks of Prion's trade to help out some of their issues.

She's loud, vicious, and isn't afraid to get in their faces as she can back up her considerable threats. The Justice Division can't help but adore their little acquisition.

Now, if Nickel had tried to leave them prior to Megatron's defection, that would be a different story...

[fantasyinvader]

I recently read up on a 2 book light novel adaptation of Pokemon, Pocket Monsters the Animation. It's infamous for it's darker nature to the original games. In the past, I've joked that the Pokemon world exists as a kratocracy, where people's ability to travel the region is restricted based on their aptitude in Pokemon battles, but there were some things that stood out to me when reading about the books.

Pallet Town is a poor place, where there is no work and people turn to the Pokemon League to support themselves. Failing that, many young men turn to crime.

Gym leaders are known to bribe trainers to lose, since if they lose 4 matches in a row they are fired. Considering how shitty the infrastructure is in Pokemon games and how those badges are needed to use moves for traversal, this system keeps people from being freely able to move around the region. It's not a test to be licensed to use the move, it's a test where at least 1/4 of the applicants are supposed to fail.

To get to the third gym, you need to board the SS Anne in order to get Cut. You have to board a luxury cruise liner, one that will be leaving Kanto for a year to boot, in order to get a skill to progress through your journey after starting from the region's slums. If Bill didn't give you the ticket, you'd be fucked.

Speaking of money, a bike costs a million Poke-dollars, more than the player can carry (and beating the league champ only nets over 6k. There's an entire road in Kanto for bike-use only. Once again, if the player wasn't given a ticket in order to get a luxury item like a bike, they wouldn't be able to access this road.

Pallet town, again supposedly a poor place, has the the weakest Pokemon in the region outside it's gates. As you progress through Kanto in the intended order, the Pokemon get stronger. And as such, as the journey continues your prize money for each battle and the quality of the goods available in shops increases. RPG-mechanics at play, or do the people live where their are Pokemon that are supposedly at their level?

This would also mean it's harder to train in areas like Pallet town, due to lack of resources and weak pokemon. Likewise, badges also limit your ability to control traded pokemon meaning you can't just give someone a strong Pokemon to help them out.

Considering the life of crime aspect, is this why everyone challenges the player when they supposedly make eye contact? I mean, you're walking down the road and some kid challenges you to a battle you can't say no to, Until gen 4, you would lose half of your money on hand when you lost and are transported to the Pokemon center. Are these kids robbing you, or is that the charge for transporting you there? The other guys don't black out when they lose, and the protagonist in Legends doesn't either unless they're hit with enough Pokemon attacks... yeah, you're being robbed.

Kids are considered adults at age 10 and when they leave home for their journey, it's them cutting ties with their home for good. These are kids with no real education to do any other job, going out to live in the wild and aren't supposed to return to living with their parents if they fail.

Suddenly, living in Gotham seems like the better option. Thankfully, the novels aren't canon.

[rvexillology]

Flag of The Spartan Kratocracy from my Post-Apocalyptic Map of Europe

from /r/vexillology Top comment: This is such a nice flag, beautiful.

[fancyfade]

following up to this post i made over 6 years ago when i was special-interesting swtor in college...

my interpretation/analysis of thew ith empire in the above post is also like. very unsubtly present in game

Zash's dialogue, if it's hard to read:

Yes "there is only passion". but do not forget -- "through passion, I gain strength; through strength, power." Passion is the method, power is the end.

like the game is not subtle about the empire being a fascist kratocracy. it sucks to be a sith (link) because they are constantly backstabbing each other. 3/4 of the imp side plots involve some type of backstabbing (bounty hunter being immune), normally master trying to kill apprentice (after having their apprentice dispatch threats they themselves could not deal with i think @badsithnocookie had a neat post analyzing this). Sith are constantly vying against each other for power, and there are various situations in which it's totally permissible for a sith to kill other imperials (so I guess sucks to be in the empire works better :P)

and like the game is, at least in vanilla, very aware of this fact! in various instances, the characters acknowledge that each sith who currently is in charge of the player also has their own master, who will do whatever they please, including using the chains/shackles rhetoric from the sith code (first linked post).

and while the fandom rhetoric often portrays the jedi as emotionally repressed and the sith as very free, the text of swtor does not really support this. Sith are not forbidden attachments -- but attachments are a weakness, that can and will be used against you by other sith (link)

relevant bit from that post:

that some of the passion stuff seemed weak with the Sith - like they clearly only encourage certain passions, and at least familial love is not one of them, seeing how many many Sith family relationships work - Beeltzit and Lady Grathan okay with sending you to off Lord Grathan, who she only married because it was advantageous… Whatshisface in BH plotline sending you after his daughter…

and note: Beeltzit, Gratham's son, was a secret from all the other sith because Gratham knew the other sith would try to use his son against him (and that is what Baras tells the player to do). Eskella goes to kill Tremel if the player doesn't, because him surviving and fleeing is embarrassing, and then he kills her if she finds him. Raina kills her own father for trying to protect her from the Sith Academy when she thinks she has to to keep the secret that she's force sensitive. Andru's ghost tells the player to drown children at birth because he's salty he got poisoned by his daughter, though if his daughter was also his apprentice this is par for the course -- thanaton assures the player (though he's about to try to kill them anyway so he doesn't really care what hey think) that its natural to want to kill your master when it appears player has killed zash. There is so much parent/child, master/apprentice murder in sith world, and in most cases it isn't even the bug - its the system. children are either a threat to power directly or something that could be used to threaten you, parents are a threat to power or something you will not be able to surpass without murder. the sith empire is just constantly eating itself.

I’m trying to transfer my brain mood from SWTOR to English class, so I can work on my midterm, and that reminded me when I was reading 1984, our assigned book, O’Brien’s rhetoric about Oceania’s structure reminded me of how I have Lycaea and her dad interpret Sith society structure (which u know… is definitely a huge chunk of how I interpret it)

For Lycaea: link. relevant line “Peace is a lie, there is only –” “Power. Power is the only thing that matters. Passion… freedom… that’s all dressing. Until you understand that you will never be able to fight as a Sith”

For O’Brien: “Why should [the Party] want power?” “You are ruling us for our own good…” “I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this: The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power. … We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end…. The object of power is power.”

anyway I can’t tell if comparing my shit to the “classics” is pretentious, but this *is* making the book more interesting for me and succeeding in getting me in the mood for my midterm so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ideologyfairy]

We Completed realicide fantasy creature au list!

There's a theme of the auths being giant and the anarchists being tiny :3

Realistic realist: Shapeshifter

Inverse: banshee

Boring mole: just some human guy who's blind so he doesn't realize all his buddies are mythical creatures

Moralism: deer-taur

Orwellian: were-rat (?)

Grej: shapeshifter

Egoism: Fairy

Ingsoc: giant

Darwinism: werewolf

Communalism: Vampire

Ahospice: were-dog

Censurist: giant octopus mermaid

Postie: borrower

Utopiary: jiangshi

Avaritionism: imp

Hive mind: 3 headed giant

Soulism: Naga but like, small

Kratocracy: Cyclops

[wmaitla]

Homeworld’s hatred for fusions

So Hessonite made me realise something today.

For a long time my understanding of different-gem fusions was that the reason they’re so despised is because they’re a way for weak gems to become stronger in a way that upsets Homeworld’s social hierarchy and threatens higher up gems like the Diamonds or the Quartzes. These gems rule because they are powerful, because they are strong. A caste-based kratocracy. Weak gems fusing creates social mobility and gives the lower castes more power, threatening the higher up gems. So those higher up gems create a culture that regards fusing with disgust. This discourages fusion and protects their positions in the hierarchy. Same-gem fusions are more acceptable because they don’t threaten this hierarchy - six Rubies fusing just creates a bigger Ruby. The Hexa-Ruby might be stronger, but it remains on the Ruby caste rung in the ladder.

Now, I’d assumed different-gem fusions differed from this in two key ways: firstly, the gems created through different-gem fusions were much more powerful than those created through same-gem fusions. Sardonyx and Sugilite were some of the most powerful gems we’d ever seen on the show that weren’t Diamonds (don’t even get me started on Malachite). Secondly, I’d assumed that each gem created from different-gem fusions was utterly unique.That each one was different because the gems that make them up and their relationships to each other were unique. There was only one Sardonyx, only one Sugilite, etc.

I’d assumed that the higher up gems hated these fusions because these new gems were not only powerful, but existed outside the social hierarchy. Different-gem fusions were not useful to the Diamond Authority, they didn’t have a role or purpose that allowed the Diamonds to benefit from their existence the way they benefit from other gems. So fusion was not only a way for weak gems to become more powerful - it was of zero value to the Diamonds. Hence the amount of scorn and derision heaped on different-fusing gems.

Hessonite disproves this. Hessonite is a non-fusion Garnet. When Ruby and Sapphire fuse to form Garnet, they aren’t creating an entirely new gem, they’re creating a gem that’s higher up the kratocracy ladder. A more powerful gem, but one that already exists inside the Diamond Authority.

This is interesting because it raises other questions. Are there other Sardonyxes? Sugilities? Malachites? I assume there aren’t any Stevonnies running around but you get my point. Some, if not most different-gem fusions could be creating gems further up the hierarchy than the sum of their parts.

These gems could still have value to the Diamond Authority, but this revelation also means Diamonds could have another, far worse reason to fear them:

Fusion could create new Diamonds.

Think about it. Get enough different-gems together, or just the right different-gems together, and there’d be a new Diamond. This would be a major concern for the current Diamonds. All of their power is based around being the Diamonds in the Diamond Authority. Their role in the kratocracy comes from an almost divine right to rule - a level of power so far above everyone else they MUST be the intended rulers of gemkind. If weaker gems can become Diamonds it upsets the whole kratocracy. Dogs and Cats getting along. Rain falling upwards.

Or worse - different-gem fusions creating something ABOVE the Diamonds.

So yeah. Just something I was thinking about.