#landmark renaming

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Toronto city council voted Thursday to rename Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square and recommended a host of other landmarks be stripped of the Dundas name over connections to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The move comes more than three years after council first received a petition raising concerns about the name at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in the United States. In a late council session Thursday night, councillors voted 19-2 to rename Yonge-Dundas Square. Coun. Jaye Robinson, who represents Ward 15, and Coun. Stephen Holyday, who represents Ward 2, voted against the move. 

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

[rabbitcruiser]

New Amsterdam was renamed New York on September 8, 1664, in honor of the Duke of York (later James II of England), in whose name the English had captured it.

[rwby-redux]

idk what your spoiler rules for your blog are, but i HATE the name "The Ever After" for Remnant's Wonderland equivalent, its so flavorless and unimaginative but i also cant think of any other ideas, do you have any?

Re: spoilers for the show (and side media), I try to tag things whenever possible (especially in the immediate week after the episode airs; anything after that is fair game, I think). I’ll typically add a readmore to posts as a courtesy.

Since the Ever After got namedropped in V9.E2, I think it’s safe to discuss at this point.

And…yeah. I really hate how everything about the Ever After is rip-off Wonderland. It feels like it lacks an identity beyond aping the aesthetic of the book, without considering the fact that Wonderland’s weirdness was a metaphor for a child navigating the incomprehensible and sometimes arbitrary rules/etiquette of adulthood. Its nonsensical setting exists to support the underlying commentary. RWBY’s decision to cherry-pick Wonderland’s design, without using it to reinforce some sort of narrative commentary, makes it little more than a shallow knock-off.

The alliterative episode titles aren’t helping matters, either.

If it were up to me, I would have axed the entire premise of the Ever After. But if I had to give it some sort of alternative name… I would avoid anything that feels evocative of Wonderland and fairy tales in general. Nothing whimsical or romantic.

I’d likely give the Ever After two names—an endonym (a name that the residents of this place use) and an exonym (a name given to it by outsiders).

It’s bizarre that the people who live here call it the “Ever After,” when the reason why Team RWBY called it that is because it has a fairy tale vibe to it. (See: Blake’s comment at the end of Episode 1.) As in, nothing about this place feels “normal.” But for the people who live here, this is their version of normal. So why would they call it something that alludes to a fairy tale (a folklore genre populated by things that are unreal)?

Timothy Hickson does a great job talking about place names here. If you have the time, I highly recommend you watch it!

If we wanted to create a name that feels at least somewhat believable, maybe come up with a handful of prefixes and suffixes with assigned meanings. Then combine those root words to form endonyms.

A great example of this is The Lord of the Rings, where minas is the Sindarin word for “tower.” Tolkien uses minas in the names of several locations, like Minas Tirith (“Tower of the Guard”) and Annúminas (“West Tower”).

As for what Team RWBY would call this place (at least initially, after they first arrive)… If pressed, I would call it “The Hinterlands.” There are two reasons why.

Traditionally, a hinterland refers to any area that’s inland from a coast. When Ruby first arrives in the Ever After, she wakes up on a beach. Immediately she begins to travel away from the shore, and into the jungle further inland.

The second definition of a hinterland (and my other reason for choosing this name) is any area that is “unknown, unexplored, vague, or ill-defined," which nicely compliments the hostility and mystique of this place.

Not only does hinterlands work in the literal sense, but in a figurative one, too.

[olowan-waphiya]

Tribal Leaders Sign Historic Co-Stewardship Agreement with National Forest Service in the Black Hills

“This landmark co-stewardship effort will feature storytelling in various formats at the Pactola/He Sapa Visitor Center, educating the larger public and helping current and future generations of Native People connect with their own creation stories and cultural identities.

On June 6, leaders of the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Oglala, Rosebud, and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes gathered in the He Sapa — the Black Hills — to sign an historic Memorandum of Understanding at the newly renamed Pactola/He Sapa Visitor Center with U.S. Forest Service officials. Together, they’re beginning a process of sharing Indigenous cultural heritage with visitors from all over the world. Leaders said that they want to see young, Native children visit the Black Hills and experience the importance of the landscape with a deep understanding of their own heritage.

Previously known as the Pactola Visitor Center, the seasonal facility welcomes more than 40,000 visitors annually from Memorial Day through Labor Day — and approximately another three million people pass through the area each year.

This effort has been several years in the making, though the process hit a snag during the Trump years. When tribal leaders initially proposed the concept to the U.S. Forest Service in 2018, the idea was heard but not taken seriously. Persistence pays, however, and the efforts of many relatives and allies eventually led the Forest Service to agree.

We hope this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s critical that Lakota — and all Indigenous — stories and history be shared from an authentic perspective with those who visit our homelands. To that end, please stay tuned this summer. I can’t tell you too much about it yet, but we’ll soon be launching an ambitious program that can help ensure Native stories are told — and Native tribes are funded — on occupied Indigenous homelands across Turtle Island. “

Via the Lakota People’s Law Project

[skelly-words]

hiii , if i can ask for like mammon and mc sitting in his room and he tried to "do it" with her a lot of times but she just stop him , one day he get a little mad so asked for asmo help , so asmo asked mc what was the reason and she told him that she feel insecure abt her body , he conferm her، and when asmo tell mammon abt it he go to her and make her love her body on his way

thanks if u accept it and if not have a good day<333333

(NSFW Mammon x Reader)

18+ no minors allowed!

Hiiiii anon, thanks for the ask. hope this is what you were looking for. This was proofread by Grammarly and that's it so I apologize in advance for mistakes.

No use of Y/N. There are no pronouns used (I think) but the reader is pretty feminine (wears a skirt, pretty girl is used once or twice, has a pussy.)

Tags: serviceswitch!mammon o7, very vanilla, light fluff, praise, cunnilingus, cumming untouched, very light angst, hair pulling, language, spit kink? lemme know if I missed anything

Synopsis: see ask above. Mammon eats you out.

Wc: 3.7k

You and Asmo love to gossip. Every week or so you get together, shopping and pampering yourselves and spilling every detail of your personal lives. You're ending the relaxing afternoon with bottomless mimosas at Hell’s Kitchen’s Sunday brunch, talking way too loudly about everybody’s business. It’s so easy to forget about the world and vent when the waiter fills up your champagne glass and Asmo smiles so encouragingly at every word you say. Though, today it seems like Asmodeus has an agenda. He keeps steering the conversation towards you and Mammon’s budding relationship, which is exactly the topic you want to avoid. 

“At least tell me if he's a decent lay” Asmo whines. “If not I have a 50-slide presentation I can send you to give him a crash course in pussy.”

“That sounds more like a master’s program. Besides, I wouldn't know.” You mumble the last part around the rim of the champagne glass as you down the drink, and Asmo signals at a waitress to bring you a refill. 

“What?” Asmo really tries to sell his shock here. He feels bad lying to you, but it's not often he has Mammon begging for a favor. “No way, are you losing interest?”

You shake your head quickly. “No.”

“Are you a virgin? Is it too much pressure?” With every question he scoots a little closer to you in the booth, so you only need to whisper an answer. 

“Nothing like that. I've been with a couple of people before, and Mammon is really sweet. He barely even mentions sex at all anymore. I think he might even be scared to kiss me. I'm more worried about him losing interest if I don't put out.”

“You don't have to worry about that. He's insane about you.” Asmo scoffs. “Like he-should-be-institutionalized insane.”

You laugh at Asmo and shove his arm off of where it loops over your shoulder. 

“No, I'm serious,” he continues. “I want to sedate him before even mentioning you. I think he'd rename important landmarks after you if he could. Whenever his mouth opens, there's a 96% chance he's gonna bring you up. You get it?”

“Thanks, I get it,” you murmur softly. Tears threaten to fall as your vision blurs a little and you blame the four mimosas and the fifth one the waitress sets in front of you. “Now I feel guilty. He's too sweet for me.”

“No, hun. That's not what I meant.” Asmo pulls you into a hug. A real one that he doesn't let you shrug off. “What I'm saying is that you can talk to him about whatever you want and I'm sure he’ll understand or at least help you work through it.”

His hug is warm and soothing, arms holding you close and tight without feeling suffocating. 

“You're the best, Asmo,” The words are a little slurred and shaky, but it’s easy to get emotional when you’re buzzed and Asmo is being so sweet. “I don’t know. It has nothing to do with Mammon. It’s just, I’ve never had great self-esteem, so physical intimacy can be a little hard. I mean, there's plenty of things for me to be insecure about, and I'm aware of every single one of them, so when I see how pretty and perfect Mammon is-”

“Gross.” He cuts you off at the perfect time, right before your sappy rambling. He makes a retching sound and reaches for his drink to wash away that sourness. 

You glare up at him. “That's my boyfriend you're gagging at, asshole.”

“Yeah. You sure know how to pick ‘em.” His nose scrunches up, and you're half-sure it’s involuntary. 

“Yeah.” You sigh dreamily and continue. “I just don't know how to bring a mood-killer like that up.”

“Want me to tell him for you?”

You think about it for a moment. “I feel like I should stop being a little bitch and just rip off the band-aid.”

“Okay, you could, but you haven't.”

“I think talking it out with you will make it easier though. I'm gonna talk to him as soon as we get home.”

“Promise? Cause I'm sick of him bitching about how you don't love him anymore.”

You smile and nod and pretend the confidence is from more than the alcohol. “I promise.”

***

Mammon’s been waiting for Asmo to text him all day, nervously pacing or playing with random things in his room to occupy the time. He’s flipping through an old copy of a magazine he modeled for when his phone buzzes with Asmo’s custom ringtone, quickly followed by yours. He snatches the phone off the bed and flops down between the pillows. He reads the text from Asmo first.

Asmo: So so, sorry, but I can’t spill ): We’ll be home in like 20 minutes

“Ugh.” Mammon glares at the ceiling. He was sure Asmo would come through. Especially after loaning you two Lucifer’s stolen his credit card for the day out. 

Mammon opened your messages next.

<3: We’ll be back in a little bit.

<3: If you’re not busy, let’s hang out. Love ya

Mammon: I’m never too busy for you, chillin' in my room

<3: Good answer

The next twenty minutes are spent trying to figure out how to dress. Mammon tries to master the look of lazily lounging around the house without looking suspiciously slutty. The final decision was a black wife beater and basketball shorts. He even experimentally smudges his eyeliner to make it look a little slept-in. He carefully uses the remaining time to switch out accessories and pose around his room in an attempt to see “where he looks the hottest.” In the end, his efforts are futile and he doesn’t notice you come in, too busy changing out his earrings.

“Hey.” You tap him on the shoulder, hesitantly, not wanting to scare him. 

“Oh, hey, hi.” He turns around, lips pressed into a smile that looks a little too tight for his face. “So how was your day with, um, Asmo?”

“Nice.” Now that the mimosas had worn off and Asmodeus wasn’t around to keep you confident, the impending conversation was starting to make you nervous. 

“Just nice?” Mammon asked with a tilt of his head. “What can I do to make your day better, babe?” He gently cups your face, becoming acutely aware of the sweat on his palms, and the breakfast on his breath when he kisses you.

You kick yourself for how quickly you break the kiss to murmur against his lips, “I’ve been lying to you. Well, only by omission, but still. Can we talk?”

Your hands hold each other to stay steady. Realistically, there’s nothing to be nervous about. You’ve blown this whole thing out of proportion, but it’s not like insecurities follow basic logic. 

“Yea, ‘f course.” His hands trail down your sides. 

You don’t notice the sweat, more the warmth as he thumbs over each of your ribs.

“Just talk to me, angel.”

And you hate that it sounds like he’s begging. Like he wants you to dump your baggage on him. Especially, when it should be so easy for you to just get over it on your own.

“I don't think I'm hot enough for you.” It comes out messy and unarticulated.

“What? That’s ins-”

You don’t let him finish, cutting his rebuttal off with the more rehearsed version of what you said. “I mean, whenever I go to see you at your photoshoots, you look so good with those other models. You're surrounded by all these perfect men and women who you'd look great with, so great that it's literally on the cover of a magazine, and I can't compete with that. And it's not like this hasn't happened before. I've never been the first choice, just someone to settle for or a rebound, y’know?”

“Not really.” He scratches the back of his neck, realizing how clammy his hands have become and how uninspiring that answer is. “But, well, that's because I've never felt that way about you. There’s no need to compete with anybody, baby. You're everything to me. I don't even notice other people when you're around or when I'm thinking about you, which is always. And I can't make up for shitty past relationships, but I hope you know I'm better than that.”

“Thank you, and I wanted to apologize. That’s why I’ve been avoiding being physical with you, but that seems kinda dumb now. So, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. And I'm a little insulted that you'd compare me to your past partners. I'm The Great Mammon, not some idiot human boy with no brain. I can't even comprehend why you'd jump to that. I'm appalled, disgusted even, livi-”

You cut him off with a kiss. Smiling into the lines of his lips as he struggles to keep up. 

He breaks the kiss to keep talking. “And I'm not just saying all this ‘cause I wanna have sex with you. Not that I don't want to do that. I just don't want you thinki-”

“Shut the fuck up, Mammon.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His hands find your waist again to pull you towards him. 

The way you kiss is slow and natural. A welcome change to the stiff distance you’d previously been putting between your bodies. His hands wander and guide you closer. It takes a moment for you to reciprocate, too distracted by the simple comfort of his touch.

You rest your arms on his shoulders, lazily lifting a hand to play with the fine hairs on the nape of his neck. As your fingers tangle higher up on his head, you tug gently to pull him away. It’s nice just to look into his eyes for a second. The dark blue near the center of his iris almost blends with his blown pupils. You find it impossible to pick a favorite shade of blue when his kaleidoscope gaze stares so intensely back at you. 

“It’s you who’s too pretty for me.” Mammon doesn’t even try to kiss you, just looking at you, flicking his eyes up and down your face. His thumbs barely dip under your shirt and skim the skin of your stomach, memorizing it in the pads of his fingers. 

“Stop it.” You take a small, nearly involuntary, step backward. 

He follows you, pushes you until the back of your knees hits the edge of the bed. 

“No. You gonna let me see all of your pretty self?” He asks. “Take it off.”

Mammon gently stretches the fabric of your shirt away from your body, waiting patiently for you to comply. 

You nod. Your eyes slip shut as you peel the top off, and you don’t bother opening them to see his reaction. You just wait for him to say something, to touch you, or to give you any indication of disgust and rejection.

He holds you gently by the side of your neck, lifting your chin with the pads of his thumbs.

“Can you look at me, sunshine?” 

It takes a moment for you to make eye contact with him. You’re not expecting him to be disgusted or reject you, but that doesn’t stop you from being nervous or unsure. He smiles when you finally meet his eyes.

“We don’t have to do anything right now. It’s your call, always, okay?”

“Okay, but I do want you right now. ‘M just a little nervous.” Your hands need something to do, so they go back to threading through his hair. You thank Jesus that Mammon takes that as a cue to kiss. His hands smooth down to your shoulders, never breaking away from your skin. 

The kiss is too long and too deep, not parting until you’re roughly panting into each other’s mouths. You sit on the bed and Mammon pushes you down onto the mattress, waiting for you to tell him to stop.

“Don't just stare, weirdo.”

He chuckles, and you can feel it on your face.

“Sorry. I just can’t believe you’re real, and really with me.” His admission comes with a blush smeared across his face. It’s hard for him to continue the eye contact after that. Mammon buries his face in the crook of your neck as he laughs again. “You’re just here, and I love you so much.”

Your fingers are less rough in his hair, gentle and soothing. His arms dip behind your back to hug you, keeping your bodies pressed together for a minute or five. Until he’s sure you’re not leaving. When he finally moves, it’s to unhook and remove your bra, but then he’s back to hugging you again. This time, kissing between your breasts, he doesn’t know why you’d ever keep this from him. His hands don't stay in one place for long, wanting to feel every inch of the body that you've been hiding. 

“You know what pisses me off the most?” Mammon lifts his head to look up at you. Saliva coats his mouth, your skin, and connects the two with lust and heat. 

You don't answer, half-scared he's changed his mind. 

“I hate knowing that someone else has seen you like this before me. I wish I was your first everything.” His mouth is smothering yours again like he wants the feeling of his lips to stay there even after you’ve parted. From your mouth, he drags light kisses down your jaw and to your neck. He keeps you so close that, even though he can't see it, he can feel the flush coming off of you. 

“You won't hide from me anymore, right?” His kisses begin at the junction of your shoulder but quickly drop lower, down your chest, tummy, thighs, winding a clear path down your torso.

“Hey.” Mammon stops and the fuzziness dissolves. Your attention easily snaps back to him, where he kneels on the floor, hair sticking out where you’d tugged it out of place. “When I ask you questions, fucking answer me.”

You swallow thickly and nod, unsure of what would come out if you opened your mouth. 

“Words, babe. You won’t hide from me anymore?” Though it’s a statement, he’s still asking. The skin of your thighs is worried between his teeth as he waits for an answer. 

“I wo-” You cut yourself off, inhaling sharply when his teeth dig in too hard. He soothes that spot with his tongue, making you moan into the back of your hand. 

“Close enough,” he murmurs.

He inches the hem of your skirt up as his lips climb back up your skin. 

You scoot up the bed when his mouth lands on the crotch of your panties next. He chases you, following and following until your back is pressed against the headboard.

“Quit that.” Mammon yanks your knees apart. His broad shoulders stop your legs from snapping back shut. “Where’re you going?”

“I don’t know,” you admit. “I mean- don’t you wanna fuck?”

He nods into the crease of your thigh, nosing the lace trim of your panties. “But not yet, treasure. I’ve been missing meals, gonna make up for lost time. Can I taste your pretty pussy, please?”

“Yeah,” and it comes out like a breath. You slip your panties off. Mammon never lets you close your legs, so you have to frustratingly take one leg out at a time. 

He grabs the garment, dangling the blue panties in front of your face.

“Can I keep these?”

You snort. “Pervert.”

“So?”

“Yeah, you can have them.”

Mammon neatly folds the dirty underwear and roughly stuffs them into the pocket of his shorts.

“You’ll get them back when I’m done.” He’s not looking at you when he says that, eyes dropping lower to where your legs are spread as he pushes your skirt up around your waist. You feel warm like it’s too much for him to look at you.

“Gross,” but it comes out weak. You’ve shrunk back into the pillows, barely breathing between your fingers, mouth gone dry.

“Uhuh.” Mammon nods, dragging his nose down the trimmed hair above your slit. The hands on your thighs slide inward, keeping your legs spread and pinned against his pillows. His bottom lip brushes your clit as his mouth drops lower. He completely skips over the nub, licking at the slick pooling beneath it. “You get this wet for everyone?”

You can’t speak, covering your mouth with your palm to bar any sounds from escaping. His head tilts, looking both amused and curious as he waits for an answer.

“No,” you mumble.

“Yeah, well good.” Mammon’s mouth quirks up into a smug grin as he readjusts himself to lay more comfortably on the bed. He lies flat on his stomach, lazily kicking his legs back and forth as he kisses around your clit. He knows exactly where it is, but teases on purpose until he can feel your hips straining beneath his hands. 

Mammon’s palms keep you pressed down so easily that you don’t notice how desperate you are beneath him. Not until he lets you go. The reaction of your body is involuntary, a few rough rolls of your hips before you can keep yourself still. Your groans are stifled by your palm, you can feel the hot breath and saliva collecting behind your hand. 

“Wait?” He sounds disappointed. “Don't stop.” 

Mammon’s hands catch beneath your thighs, sloppily simulating the roll of your hips against his face. The movements of his mouth are less coordinated, too preoccupied with the strain on his forearms. Your juices smear messily on his chin as he works you open, pushing more and more of his tongue into you.

Spit collects in your mouth. You can’t keep from moaning into your palm, and all that sweat and drool runs from the corners of your mouth to collect on your chin. His mouth is warm, and the flick of his tongue deep inside you makes you match the pace he’s already set. 

Mammon grunts against your cunt. You can feel it more than hear it. The sound is low, deep in his chest, and drowned out by the sound of your heartbeat in your ears. The edge of your orgasm builds with the soft vibrations of his lips. Your hesitant grind is pushed quicker by the need to get off. Every glance down at your spit-covered pussy has you bucking upward with a muffled gasp. 

Mammon is lazy, leaving you to chase your high as he looks up at you, enamored by how you still try so hard to cover the sounds spilling from your mouth. He’d say something about it if his mouth wasn’t so busy. It’s not until you dare to stop staring at him that he speaks up.

“C’mon.” Mammon lands a sloppy kiss on your clit. “What? Now you’re too good to even look at me, pretty girl?” He manages to sound so fucking pathetic and upset that you look back down at him. He grins back at you, pleased with his performance. Small kisses work up from your sopping hole to swollen bud. He flicks his tongue, teasing and testing before fully sucking on it. 

“Shit.” This is the first sound you let through your fingers, followed by a shaky moan as you try to control your breath. You can’t help but pant, stuttering, and heavy between the gaps in your fingers. 

“I know,” Mammon keeps his words short, barely parting from your skin to speak.

Though he tries to hide it, you can’t help but notice how he pushes his hips into the comforter, grinding his dick against the mattress through however many layers of fabric. You almost feel bad for him, but then he moans against you like he’s the one getting head. 

The hand you’d been using to keep yourself muffled reached between your legs to tangle in Mammon’s hair. The palm is still tacky from spit, sticking to make you tug rougher on the strands than you mean to. 

“M-more. Just a little bit more.” The words stumble out of your mouth like you don't know what you’re saying. Whatever will make him push his tongue a little deeper. “Pretty please.”

“Mhmm,” Mammon moans an affirmative into your pussy. He can feel your clit throb against his nose. Each second that passes brings you closer to climaxing. 

You’re stuffed full of his tongue, rubbing your clit on the bump of his nose. He’s barely done anything himself except taking it and whining. The rhythmic rutting of his hips starts working the comforter up the bed, gathering it beneath him to fuck into. He’s not even looking at you straight anymore, eyes focusing or crossing dazedly. 

You tighten your hand in his hair by pure instinct as you writhe beneath him.

“I think I’m gonna-” You’re not given a chance to finish before the twist in your stomach spills over. “O-oh, Mammon. Fuck, I’m-”

The last of your words are drowned out by his own needy moans. His hips hump the comforter bunched beneath him.

“Fuck, I love you.” His tongue licks a long stripe up your cunt.

“I’m still sensitive.” You shudder, and the hand in his hair falls to grip your skirt.

“Gotta clean up my mess,” he mumbles. He laps the saliva and cum from your skin, eventually just leaving wet kisses up the crease of your thigh. 

Mammon’s sweaty and flushed, still grinding into the blankets. His eyes flick shut and he lays his head flat on your lower stomach. His breaths are quick, warming your skin. 

A hand slips from underneath you to overlap yours. He pulls it back to his hair. “Pull it again.”

You want to be gentle, running a hand through the white strands. Mammon doesn’t care for your afterglow tenderness and slaps the side of your leg.

“Please, baby. I wanna cum.” Mammon kisses your stomach, low below your navel.

You can’t help but laugh at him. It’s too pathetic when accompanied by the frantic rolls of his hips. You can feel the skin beneath his head get sticky from the sweat and drool he smears onto you. He looks and sounds more fucked out than you just from using his mouth on you.  His thrusts stutter when you twist cruelly on his hair. 

“Yes, yes, like that.” He lets out a string of swears as he spills into his sweatpants. His labored breathing crests and slows, and you can feel when they finally grow even. “Thank you, treasure.”

Mammon doesn’t move from where he is, still comfortably tucked between your legs as he comes down from his high. It’s not until he’s been suspiciously quiet for too long that you realize he’s asleep.

[thesovereignsring-if]

Patreon Update + New and Old Alpha Build(s)

Hello! Sorry for the inactivity for the last few days. I caught a cold from my younger sister. I'm still getting over it, but on the upside, I've finished Linnet's route! :)

Patrons of any paid tier can play it here.

The idea of overwriting the old alpha build, which included 23k+ words of nonreleased content for Chapter 1, made me kinda and sad, so I decided to simply make brand new build for the new and revised content. (duuuh I feel so dumbbb) So now patrons can enjoy the new and old content if they'd like :D

Anyway onto the update:

What to expect from the new alpha build:

Update Wordcount: 8k+

Totalword count: 36k+

Spend the day with Linnet her friends, Hyacinth, Alyssa & Dahlia

Get your Fortune told!

Reunite with your (stinky) Cousin, Eirik

Meet Eirik's bastard half-sibling Daria/Darius (gender-selectable)

CHANGELOG:

Colour Themes have been renamed and updated: Deep Green, Old Gold, Dark Rose (NEW!) and Royal Blue (NEW!). I will always welcome more suggestions on colour themes if people want more :)

Old Alpha Build Includes:

Total wordcount: 60k+

The first two halves of Chapter

Bond, banter and/or argue with your newly formed party of Sieghardt and Medea.

Enter and explore the Old Capital City of Arkades and some of the landmarks in the area.

Encounter the denizens and creatures that roam the old city.

Survive a dangerous encounter...

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

The push and pull between white supremacist rule and a multi-cultural United States is nothing new. But on Friday we saw a first in our nation’s history: A school board voted to restore the name of three Confederate generals to their public schools.  That’s right, in 2024, the right is naming schools after people who fought and killed to preserve both chattel slavery and white supremacy. This is just the latest salvo in the GOP’s campaign to move America backwards to before the Civil Rights movement.

This jaw-dropping event happened on Friday, when the Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia voted 5-1 to reinstate the names Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School to honor Confederate Generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby. This vote to celebrate the traitors who killed US soldiers in the hope of maintaining the barbarism known as chattel slavery was led by the conservative group Coalition for Better Schools. Now the school board will spend an estimated six figures in tax dollars to send a message that this area of Virginia is a place where white supremacy rules. This action is all part of the right’s response to the racial reckoning that was kicked off in the United States after the brutal murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed. In fact, the names of these Virginia schools were changed in that very period.   But this is not simply a “reinstatement” of Confederate names. Rather this is a manifestation of the white right’s desperate efforts to maintain control in the face of changing America. After all, this is exactly what white supremacists did in the past when they felt challenged.

As a reminder, the greatest number of Confederate statutes were erected in the early 1900’s spearheaded by United Daughters of the Confederacy as Jim Crow laws were being enacted across the South.  These racist laws and the Confederate memorials were part of a scheme to both celebrate and preserve white supremacy. The next spike in Confederate monuments came from 1940’s to 1960’s. Why then nearly 100 years after the Civil War? Simple, these statutes were built in reaction to the Civil Rights movement to send a message that white power still ruled that area. It’s no coincidence that in 1956, Georgia redesigned its state flag to include the Confederate battle flag and in 1962, South Carolina placed the Confederate battle flag atop its capitol building. 

When it comes to schools being named after traitors who took up arms against the United States of America to fight for the Confederacy, want to guess when the biggest wave of that occurred? Was it shortly after The Civil War? Nope, it was following the landmark US Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 which ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional.  Between that 1954 court decision and 1970, our nation saw the largest spike in schools being after those who fought to defend slavery. In fact, the schools at issue in Virginia were opened in that time frame, with Stonewall Jackson high school opening in 1960. That’s right. The naming of these Virginia schools was part of the backlash to the Civil Rights movement and Brown v. Board of Education. The white officials in that area of Virginia at the time wanted to ensure that people knew white power still reigned supreme.

Dean Obeidallah gets to the point as usual. The renaming of a pair of schools in Shenandoah County, Virginia by reinstating the name of the pre-2020 names of the schools named after three treasonous Confederates (Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby) is a middle finger to common sense and a win for white supremacist values.

[mountrainiernps]

Mount Rainier National Park Archives Photo courtesy Richardson Paul Album of the Paradise Road near Ricksecker Point circa 1910.

Between Longmire and Paradise is a short one-way scenic road called Ricksecker Point Road. First built from 1904-1915, this part of the road is an older section of the Nisqually-Paradise Road and was considered one of the most dangerous stretches. It was narrow, bordered by steep cliffs, and prone to rockfall. Over the years the road was widened, resurfaced, and parking was included at viewpoints. A detour constructed in the 1930s replaced the original route and became the main Paradise Road, while Ricksecker Point Road was left as a scenic bypass. Ricksecker Point is named for Eugene Ricksecker, an Army Corps of Engineers supervisor who surveyed the route to Paradise in 1904. The survey team originally named the feature “Gap Point”, but it was renamed after a road was constructed in 1909.

Ricksecker Point Road, also called Ricksecker Overlook, is a contributing structure in the Mount Rainier Historic Landmark District. Have you driven or stopped along this scenic road during the summer?

NPS Photo from Ricksecker Point Road in 2018. The forested, rocky ridge in front of Mount Rainier in both photos is called Cushman Crest.

[atlantathecity]

Pershing Point Park in Midtown, seen this evening while on a walk. I always enjoy passing by this lovely space.

John Ruch wrote about the park last year in a Saporta Report article, 'City Council approves landmarking of Midtown’s World War I memorial'.

From that article:

"A group of residents bought the land in 1918 and gave it to the City on the condition that it remain open space. Originally named Goldsboro Park, the space was renamed later in 1918 for Gen. John J. Pershing, the famed commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in the war. Shortly thereafter, the City approved a plan by a group of “War Mothers” to raise funds and erect a memorial in the park to locals killed in WWI, which was dedicated in 1920."

[jils-things]

◆↬ jaide e. stone ; profile↫◆

[ pre i/ii - rgb arc - aged 0-18] (may change)

◆↬ jaide is a self-taught aprijuice merchant. she started when she was quite young - she liked to collect apricorns with her teddiursa and was quite fond of roller-skating to maximize the apriblender's juicing proficiency.

◆↬ she picked up on this trade when her mother introduced this concept to her which was still new at the time, and enjoyed this as a hobby before turning it into a profession

◆↬her childhood companions consisted of; teddiursa, hoppip, and ralts (all evolved as years go by). she is strictly not a trainer, but has practiced basic pokemon battle conduct

◆↬ jaide is an older sister to a sibling named gold, with an age gap of 8 years.

◆↬as kids, they were an interesting duo. while they were quite the tough kids, they have their own styles in projecting it (his actions / her words). gold took an interest in skateboarding to copy her roller-skating tendencies

◆↬she wasn't exactly the same as her adult counterpart. she was a little rough around the edges and sometimes played hard with her words. she isn't the type to fight, but she knew how to get around people older than her and she was rarely afraid. she was fast, charismatic and somewhat smug

◆↬ jaide was gifted with an interesting skill to be able to read other pokemon's natures, almost psychic-like thanks to her kirlia who was able to steer her guesses in the right path. this would later be very useful when aprijuice would be popular in the pokeathalon games in allowing pokemon improve their performance in the multitude of sports*

*(this is aligned with the game mechanic where several drinks have different results with consideration on the nature of the pokemon drinking it and flavor of the drink)

◆↬most people buy her drinks because it actually refreshes the pokemon - but what customers don't know is the underlying magic it does when you mix the right flavor with the right nature/personality of pokemon. that's what fascinates her the most. this can only be achieved because of her good perception of pokemon natures.

◆↬jaide wanted to make it a point that her aprijuice business would expand beyond johto - her personal reason being to introduce the beauty of it. she sees aprijuice production as an intricate way to create natural beverages (and not artificial) for pokemon. (which admittedly, is a commonplace in johto. i.e: kurt and his pokeball production)

[ gsc - oras arc - aged 19-25+ ] (most present frame)

◆↬jaide becomes more mild and calm in her personality due to maturity and events that occured in gsc, though she still retained the cheeky personality but it would be more sly and vague. and being a mom. of course /lh

◆↬meeting steven was definitely a curveball thrown at her direction because he's one of the rare people who can see through her cheeky facade. it's common for them to have interesting back and fourth that either sounded smart or really flirty. only they know really.

◆↬after officially being renamed to his family name, she treats aprijuice making as a hobby instead, she passes her knowledge to ruby and this helped him indulge in making pokeblocks. while it's hoenn's equivalent to her juice, she doesn't mind it as long as he's learning something.

trivia ;

- her pokemon team consists of: (old to recently joined)

gardevoir, ursaring, jumpluff, glaceon (previously eevee), solrock, aron

- it's a bit of a running gag with new bark town's population that jaide and gold are the kids with the worst natural bed hair /lh (it's just like that)

- jaide and gold loved to skate together in the national park as kids

- the e. in her maiden name is evergreen

- goldenrod city her favorite landmark since it's the most modernized section of johto. definitely likes shopping there

- jaide doesn't skate anymore, but if she were in a floor of ice, (usually caused by her glaceon), she probably would skate a little. just for old time's sake.

- jaide has met all the johto and hoenn dexholders + only red from kanto. (mt silver incident) she has never personally seen blue, green and yellow but only through others' accounts of them

- she is right-handed.

- semi-canon statement, if she had a mega stone, it would be attached to the back of her necklace

- she supports fran.ticshipping :]]] (she also emotionally supports sapphire as she's not really good at expressing herself without being wild)

- dislikes zinnia. that's it /lh

- in my head, i imagine she's currently living in hoenn but she occasionally visits johto when she can just to see her mother and gold

[marykk1990]

My next post in support of Ukraine is:

Next site, we already visited on March 4, 2022, but it was still called the Motherland Monument then. It has now been renamed Mother Ukraine and has had the soviet symbols removed from and the Ukrainian Tryzub placed on her shield. Here's an article about the Mother Ukraine statue, which also compares it to The Motherland Calls statue in muscovy.

#StandWithUkraine

#СлаваУкраїні 🇺🇦🌻

[rabbitcruiser]

President Theodore Roosevelt officially renamed the “Executive Mansion” to the White House on October 12, 1901.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Published: Jan 31, 2023

PARIS: An Iranian court has handed jail sentences of over 10 years each to a young couple who danced in front of one of Tehran’s main landmarks in a video seen as a symbol of defiance against the regime, activists said on Tuesday.

Astiyazh Haghighi and her fiance Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, both in their early 20s, had been arrested in early November after a video went viral of them dancing romantically in front of the Azadi Tower in Tehran.

Haghighi did not wear a headscarf in defiance of the Islamic republic’s strict rules for women, while women are also not allowed to dance in public in Iran, let alone with a man.

A revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced them each to 10 years and six months in prison, as well as bans on using the Internet and leaving Iran, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said.

The couple, who already had a following in Tehran as popular Instagram bloggers, were convicted of “encouraging corruption and public prostitution” as well as “gathering with the intention of disrupting national security,” it added.

HRANA cited sources close to their families as saying they had been deprived of lawyers during the court proceedings while attempts to secure their release on bail have been rejected.

It said Haghighi is now in the notorious Qarchak prison for women outside Tehran, whose conditions are regularly condemned by activists.

Iranian authorities have clamped down severely on all forms of dissent since the death in September of Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested for allegedly violating the headscarf rules, sparked protests that have turned into a movement against the regime.

At least 14,000 people have been arrested, according to the United Nations, ranging from prominent celebrities, journalists and lawyers to ordinary people who took to the streets.

The couple’s video had been hailed as a symbol of the freedoms demanded by the protest movement, with Ahmadi at one moment lifting his partner in the air as her long hair flowed behind.

One of the main icons of the Iranian capital, the gigantic and futuristic Azadi (Freedom) Tower is a place of huge sensitivity.

It opened under the rule of the last shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the early 1970s when it was known as the Shahyad (In Memory of the Shah) Tower.

It was renamed after the shah was ousted in 1979 with the creation of the Islamic republic. Its architect, a member of the Bahai faith which is not recognized in today’s Iran, now lives in exile.

[greatdragonorion]

How to Name a City

A lot of people struggle when it comes to coming up with fictional place names, and I do too...

But! I have collected a lot when it comes to making these names. Most place names are based off a few set things:

People: Often those who founded the town, led it, protected it, or simply wished to honor/appeal to (Denver, CO is James W. Denver; Albany, NY is the Duke of Albany).

Landmarks: Major landmarks that defined an area such as hills, rivers, forts, and more (Dundee, Scotland is the Fort on the Tay; Erie, PA is named for Lake Erie).

Butchering: People take the name already there and add the same word onto it (Glendale means Valley Valley, Sahara Desert means Deserts Desert)

None of these have to be English either. Mordor simply means the Dark Lands.

To help show all of this, let's imagine a small farming town. It's situated in a valley with a large river. The natives before have already named this river Seska (meaning river). The colonists who came later decide to rename the town after the Seska river, so they add -wan (meaning valley). The town known for the river Seska, shall be known as Seskawan (meaning river valley). Let's do this again. We will name the capital of a country this time. This country is founded by a monarch name King Lothword. The townsfolk want to honor this king so they name it after him. Since this is also a fort (to protect the monarchy) they add guard to name. The city will be called Loth's Guard. As time goes on the name changes a bit and becomes Lothgard.

That is how I and many other people come up with place names. Choose notable aspects and combine them, whether English or not, and possibly even let time change it as well.

Farewell!

[lboogie1906]

Jean-Baptiste-Point DuSable (November 4, 1745 - August 28, 1818) a frontier trader, trapper, and farmer is regarded as the first resident of what is now Chicago. He was born free in St. Marc, Saint-Dominique. His mother was an African enslaved, and his father was a French mariner. He traveled with his father to France, where he received some education. It was through this education and work that he learned languages including French, Spanish, English, and many Indian dialects.

He arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1765, he learned the colony had become a Spanish possession. Having lost his identification papers and been injured on the voyage, he was almost enslaved. He migrated north, settling in an area near Peoria, Illinois. He lived in what is now Michigan and Indiana as well during the 1770s. He was arrested at what is now Michigan City by British troops who considered him a spy and was imprisoned at Fort Michilimackinac before being released to manage a tract of woodlands in Eastern Michigan. He married a Pottawatomie Indian woman, Kitihawa who was called Catherine in a traditional Pottawatomie ceremony. The couple had a daughter and a son. They married in a Catholic ceremony (1788).

They settled on the shore of Lake Michigan in a marshy area called Eschikagu. He built a home on the north bank of the Chicago River, claimed about 800 acres of land, and established a thriving trading post that included a mill, smokehouse, workshop, barn, and other smaller buildings. The post became a major supply station for other traders in the Great Lakes region. In 1796 their granddaughter became the first child born in Chicago.

He sold his trading post for $1,200 and moved to St. Charles, Missouri. He was commissioned to operate a ferry across the Missouri River. He never prospered as he did in what would become Chicago. A high school, museum, harbor, park, and bridge in Chicago have been named or renamed after him and the place where he settled at the mouth of the Chicago River is recognized as a National Historical Landmark. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[astramthetaprime]

IceMav Landmarks

For the curious, here’s a few real-world points of interest with regards to the Shooting Star series:  

Ice and Mav’s first little house that they buy in “The Night Road” is located just to the west of Oxnard College in Oxnard, CA.  There is no specific neighborhood to pinpoint.  It’s within a quarter-mile of the college, with a natural foods co-op market within a mile west or southwest of it.  

Their second house is located in Simi Valley, in a relatively new and actually quite wealthy subdivision.  It’s within 2 miles of the Simi Dog Park, so that when Mav goes out for his daily run he runs to the dog park and back for the full 4 miles as he intends to do in “Hiding and Hunted”.  Ice and Mav mostly designed the new house (with the help of an architect) and had it built in 2018, so it’s still very new.  

Sarah’s psychotherapy practice is in Pasadena, CA.  Look up the Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA and the picture that comes up on Google Maps is the model I had for her office as used in “The Devil You Know”.  

NAS Point Mugu and Point Mugu State Park are as in the real world, though of course with my own inventions as to their layouts and contents.  They’re quite a ways west of the city, on the coast.  Oxnard is north and west of the base so it’s an easy drive in to work for Ice and Mav, and not too much longer later once they build the Simi Valley house.  

Slider went home to New York after he left the Navy but once Avex Aeronautics became a real going concern they relocated their operations to Phoenix, AZ and he relocated there himself.  I don’t have a specific location for where he lives though, but I imagine it’s near Sky Ranch at Carefree in the northeast part of the city where he keeps the little red jet.  When he comes up to see Ice and Mav he flies out of there and lands at Camarillo Airport which is near their Simi Valley house.

Sayyad, Kholm, the AH-76 and FOB Robatak in "The Night Road” are real places, as is the narrow valley where Mav was shot down.  Look up Sayyad, Afghanistan and you’ll see the AH-76, then just west of that you’ll see the mountains that constitute the narrow valley.  The south end of those mountains are the narrow part where Mav flies sideways on one wingtip, and what told Ice he’d been bored with the patrol pattern and was playing when he was shot down.  The place where Mav was found by Bowcott and his squad is Saighanchi between Sayyad and Kholm.  I used the pictures on that entry quite a lot as to what the terrain was like in the area, the caves, etc.

Dryden Flight Research Center is a real place, though these days it’s been renamed to NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.  If you look it up on Google Maps and switch to the terrain view, look at the dry lake bed to the east of the center.  They’ve got a very convenient compass and several landing strips carved into the dry lake bed.  Almost directly east from the center, at the edge of the lake bed, you’ll see a small mountain with no name that looks like it’s been split down the middle from east to west.  This is Turnaround Hill, where Slider and Sarah went to watch Mav on his Mach 10 flight in “The Shooting Star” and where the disturbance and Alan appeared in “Windfall”.  

Hope you enjoy!