#much of my culture involves a lot of belief in animals and how we are all connected

[arthursfuckinghat]

After chapter six, I swore off killing any deer because I was afraid it could be Arthur.

That's what this game does to you and it's fascinating, or maybe I'm just superstitious :')

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Religion in Rohan

On the recommendation of @sotwk and on the off chance that others find this interesting or useful, here is another summary of some of the background head canons that support how I think of Rohan when I'm writing stories set there. This one is about religion, for lack of a better term, and covers at a high level what they think about gods, the afterlife, etc. and the influence of that on their culture. I fine-tuned some of this recently as part of a back-and-forth with others, and it's (hopefully?) more interesting than my pages of thoughts about changes in Rohan's horse breeding economy over time (the TL;DR there is that Théoden’s grandfather created crown-sponsored horse breeding enterprises to better supply the expanding army, but that ended up forcing some of the traditional horse breeding families into poverty)! Anywho...

Most of what we know about the religious history of Middle Earth (the full Silmarillion-style recounting of Eru, the Valar, the making of the world, etc.) comes via the elves and Númenóreans. But the Northmen ancestors of the Rohirrim didn’t really interact much with these groups, and so their knowledge of that history was limited to what they directly experienced themselves or what filtered through to them in sometimes irregular ways. This means their belief system, which is what became the Rohirrim belief system, is a mix of those Silmarillion-style ideas plus concepts they picked up in other places and some homegrown beliefs and practices. 

For example, the Rohirrim don’t make a real distinction between Eru and the Valar. To them, they’re all “the gods” who made the world and are of roughly equal power and importance (though they are particularly attached to one as further discussed below). 

They also recognize fewer of the Valar than others do, having a stripped down set of 7 associated with earth, sky, water, plants/animals, battle/protection, weather, and all things to do with the spirit/soul (roughly corresponding to the Silm’s Aulë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Oromë, Vána and Eru). The compression of all the spirit-based Valar into just one likely happened because these Valar almost never left Valinor and so the evidence of their separate existence for those who had never been there was tenuous at best. Although the Rohirrim gods have spheres of influence as denoted above, the lines between these gods are porous and they might all be involved in anything. They also each have their own Rohirric names.

The Rohirrim don’t practice their beliefs in a form that is anything like organized religion – no formal rites, ceremonies, prayers, etc. They simply pass down beliefs from generation to generation, and individuals or families may all have different ways of expressing those beliefs (or may choose not to express them in any sense). The primary purpose of their beliefs is to explain the world as they see it around them (How was the world created? Where did this storm come from? etc.). People may appeal to a certain god for help in difficult times or they may give thanks to a god for luck or fortune, but they also believe direct, purposeful intervention by a god in the real world is extremely limited since the War of Wrath and the end of the First Age. This causes the Rohirrim to put a lot of weight on both living honorably and taking care of your community, because there probably is no god coming to help you – you can only help each other. 

Unlike the Gondorians, who think the ultimate fate of mortals beyond the world is unknown, the Rohirrim believe in a very specific afterlife. They believe the gods come to collect the dead and reunite them with their families so that they can “live” a second existence together with one another (the so-called “halls of our fathers”). Anyone who doesn’t deserve admittance to their family’s halls is put in service of the spirit/soul god until they’ve earned their honor back through deeds.

The Rohirrim are particularly attached to their god that is the Valar Oromë the huntsman, who they call Béma and associate with both battle and protection. He was a great favorite of the Northmen, and this connection was passed on through time to the Rohirrim. 

They believe that, just as he did for the earliest elves, Béma rode among early men. They don’t care that the elves and Gondorians don’t believe this happened; they will not be swayed and say that he came in disguise, which is why others didn’t recognize him. They further believe that Béma chose their ancestors among early men to be his loyal foot soldiers in the fight against the evil creatures of the world. He asked for their aid, and they granted it. This established a firm belief among them that coming to the aid of an ally against evil is a sacred duty, never to be refused or ignored when requested in good faith.

As his allies, Béma bestowed horses on them, and the most treasured and best of those horses (the mearas) are thought to be descendants of Béma’s own horse, Hnaegan (whose elvish name, Nahar, is meant to evoke the sound of neighing and so the Rohirrim call him by the Rohirric word for “neigh”). Because Béma always hunted and fought on horseback and usually announced his arrival through the blowing of his great horn, the Rohirrim inherited these same practices from their ancestors.

Béma also influenced the disposition of the people, who adopted his very stern personality and his tendency to pursue thankless duty with grim determination. Showing Béma-like strength and persistence in the face of insurmountable odds is considered one of the very highest demonstrations of character in Rohan, akin to a religious virtue.

While their reverence for Béma shaped many significant elements of Rohirric culture and identity, they also ask/hope for his intervention in times of crisis. As a huntsman, they leave him small offerings of spear heads or bridle bits when they most hope that he will come to their aid, and the phrases “Béma protect us” or “thank Béma” are common parts of the lexicon – as noted above, they don’t necessarily *expect* Béma will show up and intervene, but it doesn’t hurt to ask!

Although their focus is Béma, the Rohirrim also give some primacy of place to his wife, whose name is Vána in the Silmarillion and is called Ácith in Rohan as the rough translation of her epithet “Ever-young”. She’s associated with the weather and turning of the seasons. Much like the other peoples of Middle Earth, the Rohirrim say that flowers bloom in Ácith’s wake as she walks through the world, which she does at the end of each winter to usher in the spring. The Rohirrim also believe that the consistent and otherwise unexplained appearance of simbelmynë on their graves is evidence that Ácith has been there to personally escort the dead to the halls of their fathers. The Rohirric expression that someone “went with Ácith” means that they died.

Other common Rohirric expressions with religious roots: “the light of Hnaegan” (a sign of hope in a bad situation, deriving from the sparks of light that came from Nahar’s golden hooves and were the first light in the world after Morgoth killed the trees); “you’re going to hear Béma’s horn” (you really fucked up and are about to experience someone’s wrath); and “to earn the hall” (doing something good and honorable that would earn your place in the afterlife halls of your fathers).

[tangibletechnomancy]

The problem with AI and the entertainment industry in particular is that...okay, fine, technology marches on. Digital art made physical ink-on-cels animation into mostly a hobbyist novelty (though boy howdy did it ever make it an impressive one). Photography turned portrait painting into a luxury, rather than something everyone who could afford it saved to do at least once for every family member because it was the only way to keep their likenesses alive. Photo editing has gone through so many changes that it's almost unrecognizable compared to what it looked like as recently as the 80s and 90s, and the older methods are, again, super impressive hobbyist passion projects now. Digital painting made physical painting less viable in an economy of scale, but way more impressive as an art form. These kinds of changes always really fucking suck for some people, but you can't really prevent them without stifling human development in general.

But.

The entertainment industry wants to make it suck way more than it has to for everyone but their executives and shareholders. They want to have their cake and eat it too. They want to take advantage of the inherent marketing power of celebrity culture without ACTUALLY involving, let alone paying, the people whose names and likenesses they're using. That, I hope we can all agree, is vile.

Now, the logical endpoint of this is that we push back against that, and as an alternative we get more fictional celebrities in the near-ish future, and as a Vocaloid fan, theoretically, I dont see much of a problem with that. Theoretically, at least. In the best case scenario, I think it could be a lot of fun! But the problem is, well...

See, in the early days, Vocaloid producers tended to take a very backstage role. Very few people were fans of specific producers; they were fans of Miku or any other character. Eventually, though, producers just kind of came more into the spotlight on their own because everyone has their own style and taste. We still love the characters, but we all started to notice when half our favorite songs by Miku were produced by the same person, well, perhaps we were fans of that producer as well!

But in American-born entertainment culture...

You may notice that CGI was conspicuously absent from my Technology Marches On breakdown. That's because while, yes, it has made for an interesting highlight of practical effects, with love for the work and nostalgia for their jank the same way other new art media has shone a spotlight on its predecessors, it hasn't actually gotten to be recognized as an art form the way the others listed have. We've barely moved on from the attitude that got Tron disqualified from the Academy Awards for SFX because "the computer did those effects, not you" (in 1982). In fact, I'm strongly of the belief that if Disney were a halfway decent company, they would be bragging about how they're pioneering photorealistic animation, rather than trying to pass off 90+% CGI animated films, usually (but not always; see: The Lion King remake) with live celebrity actors' faces composited in, as "live-action". Instead, they treat the VFX department as mindless dancing monkeys, and perpetuate the idea that VFX is just "select material, press button, get polished scene" - because to brag about it as its own art form might imply that the people doing it are skilled artists who deserve to be paid fairly and treated like human beings, and oh, we can't have THAT, now can we?

VFX labor is all hidden; very few people have a favorite VFX artist or director, instead we treat the artists, who put the time and effort into wrangling code and semiconductors and routines and layers into creating a professional-looking end product, as just part of the machine themselves, to save the companies some money - and culturally, I fear we're well on the way to regarding AI exactly the same way but worse.

As such, I fear that we wouldn't have the same effect with any digital idols produced by Silicon Valley.

Now, I don't fear virtual celebrities being able to fully replace human ones. Half of the draw of celebrity culture is the illusion of human connection. As much as the word "parasociality" has grown to be associated with only the negative effects of this, in reality, it's also the driving mechanism behind why representation matters. It's fun to be able to feel a connection to a fictional celebrity, but it doesn't replace the feeling of knowing that your fave is a human being with a real life - ...whether you use that knowledge for better or worse.

What I do fear is the fight against using AI to replicate real humans without their input, or with their manufactured consent, being long and drawn-out and doing a lot of harm before we can fully put a lock on it, and virtual celebrities being used to hide the work that the human directors and producers put into them for the sake of saving a parent company a buck.

[darlin-djarin]

I love how you discuss the Mandalorian in terms of how much of the fandom views its culture from a very western point of view. That so much of what they see as odd, or bad, or restrictive or not important goes against so much of what makes it a rich culture.

Like the early show went out of its way ti portray Tuskens as real people with their own language, both spoken and sign language that deserve respect. And how its rare people treat them like the locals, and not animals. Which speaks so much about how Mandalorians view outdated cultures and people.

How part of Mandalorian culture was created around Temuera Morrison's own even back in Attack of the Clones. Beacuse it mattered to them that Mandalorians are a real people with real beliefs that make them stand out.

And its nice to see someone so vocally defend that postion against a lot of the very western modern points of view that both judge it and the writing thats changed to erase those aspects.

Distinctive culture and beliefs are what make a fictional world feel full, and by writing out or ignoring aspects of that you lose its sense of unique identity.

Its just refreshing to see someone routinely point out those aspects and call out both show writing and fandom behavior that comes off as disrespectful. So thank you 💜

YES YES YES YES YES THIS EXACTLYYY THANK YOU

i think my biggest pet peeve with the fandom is that it’s so westernized and it holds such a lens on western/american culture that it completely disregards the incorporation of so many other cultures involved. it’s really frustrating how the show is catered so much towards the western fandom that they disregard the other cultural implications it includes. i’ve seen so many fandom takes that paint anything “out of the ordinary” as something weird or wrong, and that’s just simply not true. there are so many factors when it comes to this show and i hate how the fandom marks it off as something negative when we could all instead view it in a way that could really benefit a lot of people.

about the tuskens- i think it’s WONDERFUL how we got to take a closer look at them. we learn that they are the indigenous people of tatooine and that they shouldn’t be dehumanized or treated as “savages” (😕 literally wtf guys) because we FINALLY got that different perspective on them. when we first see tuskens in ANH, we see them as bad people who attack others, but the mandalorian and the book of boba fett shows us that that wasn’t just the case and that there’s a lot more context we could’ve explored. it also gave a lot of indigenous representation too!! i’m indigenous and i definitely felt seen and more understood as i related to the tuskens for what they stood for and what they did. and also seeing sign language representation!!! i’ve learned sign language since i was little and seeing the tuskens use sign language on screen was such a wake up call to me because it felt so normal, yk?? it felt like “wow this makes a lot of sense” and i have SO many thoughts over tusken sign language. i made another post about it so i won’t bore you all again with it here but i still think we should explore more with this type of culture!! i LOVED seeing the tuskens and their culture in tbobf and i truly deeply resonate a lot with them.

and yes temuera morrisons impact on bringing so much of his own culture into mandalorian culture is so important and i wish people could understand how much of an influence temuera is on star wars. polynesian culture has so much to explore and the parallels it shares with mandalorian culture is so interesting. i truly desperately believe temuera deserves so much better than what he’s getting from disney star wars right now.

i will FOREVER be vocal about the westernization that the writers always push on star wars. we could have SO much more and i will forever speak up about it until it gets fixed. the whitewashing can and SHOULD be judged so the world can improve as a more diverse and inclusive space for everyone. and i’m not trying to push this “cringe” shit on everyone but i truly believe the world can be a better place if others could be given the spotlight that aren’t often handed to them. seeing mostly white cishet abled writers be in control of everything is so disheartening and it doesn’t feel like we can get proper representation anywhere at this point.

thank you so much for pointing these things out!! i hardly see anyone in the fandom openly talking about these things and it’s sickening to see how much the fandom disregards the beautiful and rich cultures that could be incorporated into the thought process and instead mark it off as something weird or wrong. if no one is going to say it, then i most definitely will.

thank you so much ❤️❤️

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

Totally with ya on small town living, we moved to where we are twenty years ago. Kids born there etc etc but we are still the new folk *rolls eyes* it seems to be some kind of cultural phenomenon which is really common but it doesn't make it any easier to bear. It hurts when people we consider friends act like we are outsiders and they do it on reflex without even thinking. The worst thing is they do it without malice cos for them it's natural as breathing. Also if you are different or do something out of the norm then heaven help ya. My daughter wanted to be a car mechanic when all the other girls were talking about becoming teachers or other female orientation jobs and omg it was as if she wanted to sacrifice babies to Satan. My husband prefers reading to fishing and hunting and this raises a few eyebrows even now. We do take part in traditional town stuff etc but we will never be one of them

Oh, this is so familiar. When you are considered apart you stay that way. You are so right about the way the lack of malice makes it worse. It’s so much easier to have an enemy than to know they have no clue they are even being hurtful.

And the rigidness of a small community’s ideas can be crushing, and they have no clue there either! You would think with the world so interconnected people would have their perceptions widened. Your daughter’s interest isn’t the slightest bit odd (besides, wouldn’t it make sense for a woman to know how to fix the car she drives) yet they don’t even question their beliefs about gender roles. The way people around here STILL act astounded by the things I do, including just living alone (?!?), because I’m a woman drives me nuts. Especially when it’s someone going “We women don’t know about these things” Good grief, the fact in 2023 so many people think they can’t do things just because they are women blows my mind!

I can imagine the raised eyebrows. Look at mine. One parent a chemistry major, the other it was physics and engineering. Owners of literally thousands of books. Some of us agnostic, all of us liberal, folks involved in causes (my father was giving talks on climate change decades ago), whose idea of a little side hobby would he building a submarine, who spent a lot of time in the woods NOT killing animals or cutting down trees…Yeah, the eyebrows got raised so high they escaped the scalp entirely! LOL

When people suggest that finding friendship just means finding some like minded people in your community, they REALLY have no idea how hard that is in a small town. “Join a club! Take a class!” Yeahhhhh…

I guess those of us stuck in a small town we just have to wish some other poor soul gets trapped too! Friendship through joint outsiderdom is our only hope! LOL

[omegatheunknown]

Top 10 of 2023 -- Theatrical Releases

Started using letterboxd as a journal two years ago, mostly so I could remember just how recently I'd watched Big Trouble in Little China or Hot Fuzz, but also to hit 'em with of the moment reviews and ratings fresh from the theatre. Which is to say, I'm a little nervous to see what'll come up at the top, but let's take a trip.

10- The Boogeyman (**1/2) - Technically in theatres for a week or two. Buried otherwise, a low stakes King adaptation/remake/reboot that makes the list so I don't have to say anything about AntMan, Elemental, Renfield, or, god forbid, Mario. Effective horror, kind of a neat creature at the center of it, pleasantly surprised that I didn't hate it.

9- Asteroid City (***) - Did lead to a minor personal epiphany, so not all bad. The amount of meta-fictional artifice (lest we for a second want to empathize or consider Wes' paper doll characters in his paper doll theatre as being recognizably human) has gone well-beyond the 'as Royal Tenenbaum' and 'let me tell you about my boat,' past the authorial frame of the Grand Budapest and as of The French Dispatch, Mssr Anderson is now almost entirely preoccupied with stories within stories and it is actually very annoying. (The minor epiphany is that I have also been doing this, as metafiction delights me too, Wes, but why should anyone else care?) Anyway, highlight here is the usual meticulous design, the ridiculous stop-motion sequence, some crackerjack dialogue (muted because now every character has the same blunted affect and without subtitles I sorta glazed over in parts) and these movies remain quite funny.

8- Barbie (***1/2) - Watched a lot of pablum this year, most of it with very naked corporate ambition. Barbie's central trick is to critique itself and the very cynical context in which it critiques itself and hopefully contain within it the entire discourse (good luck to you.) Wish I hadn't had to listen to people earnestly tell me how brilliant and resonant certain 'pause for applause' moments were, but the humour may well stand the test of time, and people were rightly hyped on Ryan Gosling's over-delivery on what once was seen as an unlikely bit of casting.

7- Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 (***1/2) - Not too proud to admit I was, in 2023, still kind of excited to see this one (1) marvel movie. Crisp Rat aside, the Guardians deliver best on the comic-to-screen vibe and rarely seem embarrassed with their source, leading to the intense emotional journey of a CGI mutant raccoon bounty hunter reckoning with his maker, no winking involved. Rocket Raccoon is my fucking guy, anyway, no more of these, please and thanks.

6- Dungeons and Dragons, Honor Among Thieves (***1/2) - Yeah, okay, more popcorn flick pablum. Hasbro hoping to further capitalize on the pop culture rise of and monetize and micro-transaction-atize and thereby enshitiffy one of my dearest hobbies (I am diversifying away from D&D TM) looming large in the background here, given the whole OGL blowback it was briefly reasonable large portions of diehards might boycott this thing. Anyway, saw it, liked it, succeeded wildly in the goal of effectively conveying what it's actually like to play a fantasy ttrpg, all the weird in-jokes, wild variations in tone, hand-waving and quirks of 'the rules' there for snorts of recognition. Cannot imagine this was much fun for non-players, but maybe.

5- Across the Spider-Verse (****) - Extremely hyped, but hopefully not the zenith of the trilogy, a lot is riding on part 3, which is thankfully due, uhhh, sometime next year? Dragged out its ending laying more groundwork, but before then, another ceiling breaking exercise in contemporary animation, an almost non-stop kinetic kaleidoscope of visual creativity that augurs well for animation's continued evolution.

4- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Mutant Mayhem (****) - Speaking of. Now, I've loved the Turtles since I was 4 years old, so my personal belief has always been, even though I love the 1990 rubber-suited cash grab, that the central premise is something that in the right hands can actually be objectively good, as opposed to personally delightful to me. This is that movie, the good Ninja Turtles movie. 'Teenage' -- to the point of being endearingly, obnoxiously immature, 'Mutant' -- to the point that the world around them is just as grody and fucked up looking as they are, 'Ninja' -- with sly handheld camera angles and satisfyingly fluid motion to rival Spiderverse, and uh, 'Turtles' -- they sure fucking are. I loved this. Jackie Chan forever.More, please.

3- Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (****) - Exceedingly Quebecois take on the contemporary hipster vampire movie, Can-con for my list. Canadian Indies in 2023 are strikingly similar to American Indies from 2008, if that at all recommends. Ranks high for efficient self-contained everything, very charming, funny, just bizarre enough.

2- The Boy and the Heron (****1/2) - Easy to feel like this is a Ghibli greatest hits compilation, easier to remember that's what we all kinda want-- cute and unsettling creatures, delicious looking food, spirit worlds, quiet moments of reflection, arcane rules for how any and everything works... yet also maybe the truest return to the titanic achievements of Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away (especially.) Story forms a suitably esoteric thesis about grief and creation and, ultimately, endings. I think Miyazaki might actually be done this time.

1- Godzilla Minus One (*****) - An entirely different movie than Shin Godzilla, very possibly even better. It's tense (Godzilla hasn't felt creepy like this for a while.) It's emotional (rivals Godzilla vs Biollante in its human story.) It's very naked in its message (ah, the guilt.) The action is superb. I do not know where Godzilla goes from here. (Mothra!)

(Haven’t seen: Poor Things, Bottoms, Napoleon, the Killer, a bunch of other crap.)

[james-fun-in-the-sunderland]

1, 6, 8, 11, 14, 21, 22, 26, 28, 29, 30. maybe too many for one post but u can split it up as u like.

HIIII you always give me a billion qs from ask games i love u sm for it <3

obligatory link back to the npc ask game

1. What’s your NPC creation process like?

ALREADY ANSWERED FOOL!! (/j <3)

6. How do you pick names for NPCs?

same way i pick names for ocs of mine! if theyre not a one off npc or one off turned main npc then i search for a name that has a meaning relevant to who they are as a character! (swords's last name is lyon and her symbolic animal is a lion... winifreds name means reconciliation, giving her a fun ironic twist since she wants to KILL her ex husband soso bad lol) but if theyre a one off then typically i just generate the name using this american name generator and pick something i think fits the character at hand!

the only one that doesnt fit in either here is jacques who as i belief i said is named off of my old cat with the same name <3

8. What kinds of NPC (personality, class, culture, age, whatever occurs to you!) tends to be your favorite to make and/or play?

i really enjoy fucked up dudes!!!! if it werent obvious from my ocs... this was supposed to be a lighter campaign but i really love tragedy and making people have OBVIOUS issues and its fun to have stuff with those play out with the players, sometimes even being used to bounce off the players! also i like magic users. theyre fun. or people involved with the gods of this world! i think i really really enjoy making people who give off lore hints or just straight up tell you interesting stuff about the world c:

11. (which oc is...) Most unique?

oh this is a hard one... if we mean in context of the world itself like in that world then i would have to say speciallest girl ever henrietta but also not really bc theres also vanya.... hmmmmmmm but out of context i would have to say probably daggers, swords or dr. shi, i feel like those three have a good spread of not being too like many of my other ocs! (daggers having lots of image issues and being outwardly guilt trippy and feminine, swords being impulsive and almost like a shonen character, and dr shi being very monotone and intelligent (i like my dumbasses) plus all three have big as hell prides, they think they are HOT shit)

(putting the rest under a readmore so that people dont hate seeing me on their dash)

14. Most likely to be on a reality show?

HARD TO TELL... first instinct is to say daggers or swords bc those two interact with media enough to want to go onto a reality show (or henrietta bc shes. you know. leader of the old rebellion imagine the numbers that could do for the show) but i think final answer would be delilah bc not only would she LOVE to be on tv but she would like have an AWESOME time

21. Which NPC is the easiest for you to roleplay? Why?

ALREADY ANSWERED AGAIN!!!!!!

22. Which NPC is the most difficult to roleplay? Why?

ouhhh hard one here but id probably say first of all vanya bc my russian accent skills are NOT there. but in terms of personality and roleplaying in general not just speaking as them then probably wiz or daggers! both have to have an incredible amount of balance, in daggers's case its so that she is nuanced and not an annoying caricature considering my concept for her and with wiz its just . not revealing some things too early and not revealing some things too late, plus hes the quest giver and PLUS idk why but doing his voice gives me troubles. this is all ironic bc he is like. one of my favorite npcs lmao (hes better in writing IMO)

26. Which NPC is YOUR least favorite and why?

oh interesting... this is like having to say i hate one of my children i really never dislike any characters i create i just get agonies over them tbh but if i HAD to choose one..... hmmm probably vanya and/or richter, i really enjoy them conceptually but i feel like i fumble them too much and their story, while interesting and exciting in the beginning, became a bit more extraneous as time went on ! but really its not by much that i dislike them, i really love every npc i make

28. Is there any NPC you wish your party interacted with more?

THREE STRIKES YOURE OUT SIR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29. Are there any NPCs you wish you could play as a PC one day?

wiz probably fits most closely into the type of pc i would create for a game like this! however if i would want to be more fun more creative then i would actually really like to play jacques or vanya, mostly because they also are the types of characters i would make and they are easily translateable into a pc for this specific campaign (both in stat ways and in story ways!) as for a complete wildcard i think also playing as someone closer to the religion of this campaign (swords, rhys, etc) would be very interesting ! but im sure if i were to recycle a character concept from this game i would not expect who i would choose in the future...

30. Bonus question! Answer any that you haven’t been asked, or talk about any NPC you want!

oh god an open ended q ummm this is really the hardest question ever . i will give you a few little tidbits abt characters not on their toyhouse and not like fully really talked abt i tink...

Vanya is based on a character from dungeon meshi and originally followed this characters plot way more closely before i changed her up! not saying who tho

hook and rex came out to each other at the exact same time (as trans).... it was really funny and they almost immediately did a fun little clothes swap :)

even though wiz has his 50 ft vision, sometimes bc of habit when hes in his house he wont use it and if he has a guest he will often times get spooked by them... he feels silly after it happens every time lol

jacques is bisexual. also has never dated anyone ever. (he feels like its weird to date anyone from the village hes from bc everyones kinda like family there...)

rhys and the griffin god priest (mr hightower) have actually met once on occasion, they found each others company very enlightening but will not meet again ever

[thistechnologicalterror]

so what's the jedi prophecy mr. vader?

[ vocorder sigh ]

THE JEDI PROPHECY, AS DETAILED IN THE HOLODOCUMENTARIES KNOWN AS THE "STAR WARS PREQUELS"... HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE ABSOLUTE BANES OF MY EXISTENCE.

IT STATES THAT A LEGENDARY FORCE-USER WILL ARRIVE TO DESTROY THE SITH AND THEY WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE-USER OF ALL TIME AND THEY WILL BRING BALANCE TO THE FORCE AND... BLAH, BLAH BLAH.

I AM GOING TO BREAK THIS DOWN, VERY SIMPLY.

FOR ONE. IT CAME AS A "VISION" BY ONE OR MORE JEDI MYSTICS FROM A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.

A THOUSAND YEARS AGO IN MANY YOUNG CULTURES, USUALLY INVOLVE STONE FORTS, PACK ANIMALS, AND A LACK OF ANTIBIOTICS. AS YOU MAY IMAGINE, A THOUSAND YEARS IS A RATHER LONG TIME TO HOLD ONE TO ONE IDEA. CULTURES RISE AND FALL IN A THOUSAND YEARS, IDEAS MIX AND REMIX.

IT IS FOOLISH TO HOLD ON TO THIS IDEA OF "PROPHECY". OF COURSE THEY WANT A VISION THAT DESTROYS THE SITH, THE HIGH REPUBLIC HAD ISSUES WITH THE SITH.

THE GALACTIC REPUBLIC DID NOT HAVE THE SAME ISSUES.

FOR TWO.

THE JEDI AND THE SITH ARE TWO SYSTEMS OF BELIEF. THE JEDI ARE PREFERABLE, AS SITH HAVE THIS HABIT OF WORSHIPING MURDER, DOMINATION, AND CAUSE A LOT OF RUIN IN THEIR WAKE.

BUT THEY ARE STILL TWO SYSTEMS OF BELIEF... ONE CAN CHANGE THEIR MIND, NO MATTER WHAT THEY HAVE DONE.

THE BEST WAY TO ERADICATE A HOSTILE AND TERRIBLE SYSTEM OF BELIEF... IS TO UNDERSTAND IT BUT NOT AGREE.

THE PROPHECY WANTED A QUICK-FIX TO A LONG STANDING ISSUE, WITHOUT WORKING WITH WHY IT WAS AN ISSUE TO START WITH. IT IS NOT THAT THERE WAS SITH, IT WAS WHY SO MANY FORCE-USERS WERE DRIVEN TO BECOME SITH OR STAY SITH.

NEVER, EVER, GO FOR THE QUICK FIX IN A SITUATION LIKE THIS.

FOR THREE.

BALANCE TO THE FORCE. WHAT A NICE VAGUE PHRASE, OF PERFORMING A GREATER GOOD, WITHOUT ANY UNDERSTANDING WHAT THAT ACTUALLY MEANS.

LET ME TELL YOU WHY THAT IS A STUPID PHRASE.

THE FORCE IS ALL OF LIFE. IT PRODUCES LIFE AND IT IS THE CONNECTION OF LIFE AND LIFE PRODUCES IT IN TURN. IT IS THE WILL OF LIFE TO LIVE AND IT IS THE FORCE THAT IS THAT WILL PERSONIFIED.

YOU ARE OF THE FORCE, THE PLANTS YOU SEE ARE OF THE FORCE, THE ANIMALS, THE BACTERIA, THE SMALLEST SINGLE CELL ORGANISM- THAT IS OF THE FORCE, AND BY LIVING, THEY CREATE THE FORCE.

... SO THE QUESTION IS, WHAT BALANCE ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT EXACTLY?

I DO NOT SEE FUNGI GROWING ON BREAD TO WANT MUCH BALANCE IN ITS LIFE SAVE EATING THE BREAD.

IF IT IS SENTIENT LIFE, THEN TALK TO SENTIENCE. THE BEST WAY TO BALANCE THE FORCE IS TO HELP BALANCE THE INDIVIDUAL, ONE AT A TIME. IT IS A SLOW AND ARDUOUS PROCESS AND YOU MIGHT NOT SUCCEED. IT IS THE ETERNAL UPHILL BATTLE, BUT IT IS ONE THAT IS WORTH IT.

THE BIGGEST ISSUE THAT THE REPUBLIC JEDI FACED WAS NOT THAT THE FORCE WAS DARK, BUT BECAUSE THEY DID NOT INVESTIGATE THE WHY. ONE SITH LORD DOES NOT NECESSARILY MAKE THE FORCE DARK-- THERE ARE CENTILLIONS OF LIVES IN THE GALAXY, AND ONE OR TWO MEN ARE NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE THEM DARK.

AND I WILL TELL YOU-- THE EMPIRE TOOK VERY SHORT TIME TO CREATE, ALMOST AS IF MILLIONS OF LIVES WERE CRYING FOR BLOOD AT EVERY COST, AND THEN SUDDENLY THE MICROPHONES WERE TURNED ON.

SO "BALANCE OF THE FORCE" WAS OVERLY VAGUE AND PRACTICALLY NONSENSICAL.

AND FOR FOUR.

I WAS OFTEN TOLD THAT I WAS AN IMMACULATE BIRTH. I SIMPLY DID NOT HAVE A FATHER. THE CRUELLER WORD WAS THAT I WAS A BASTARD, AND I DID ONCE OR TWICE COME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT THE REASON IMMACULATE WAS CLAIMED, WAS SIMPLY BECAUSE MY SUPPOSED FATHER WAS SCUM.

BUT NO, I WAS OUTRIGHT IMMACULATE. WE COULD SPRINKLE IN "OH MYSTIC FORCES HAVE MADE A BABY"... BUT THE SECOND HOLODOCUMENTARY SHOWS YOU A PLANET THAT CLONES PEOPLE.

AN OLD FASHIONED FORM OF CLONING INVOLVES ALTERING THE CELLS WITHIN A NATURAL PREGNANCY.

SO... MYSTIC FORCES I CAST DOUBT UPON. WHAT IS MORE LIKELY IS THAT MY MOTHER, PRIOR TO MY BIRTH AND OUR ARRIVAL ON TATTOOINE, WAS USED IN SOME EXPERIMENT TO CLONE A A CHILD AT THE MOST BASIC WAY OF CLONING.

GIVEN HOW THE EMPIRE CAME TO BE, AND WHO I CAME TO BE, IT WOULD NOT SHOCK ME IF THE EMPEROR SIMPLY WANTED TO CREATE HIS OWN APPRENTICE. MAKE MANY JEDI CLONE CHILDREN, SEND THEM OFF INTO THE GALAXY UNNOTICED BY THE REPUBLIC OR THE JEDI, AND WHOEVER GOT NOTICED BECAME HIS APPRENTICE.

I DO KNOW THAT CLONING FORCE CAPABILITIES THROUGH A TUBE IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE, WHICH IS LIKELY WHY NATURAL BIRTH AND BIRTH MOTHERS WERE REQUIRED IN THIS CASE.

I DO NOT KNOW WHO MY DONOR WAS. WHETHER IT WAS SOME RANDOM PERSON, OR MAYBE THEY EVEN ATTEMPTED TO CLONE AN OLD FORCE-USER, BE IT SITH, JEDI OR SOME OTHER DENOMINATION.

AND THIS, THIS HERE, TELLS ME THAT PERHAPS THE PROPHECY WAS SIMPLY WISHFUL THINKING THAT WAS TURNED MANIPULATIVE, AND WITH THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES SET UP, YOU CAN MAKE EVEN JEDI BELIEVE ANYTHING.

TO SUM.

THE PROPHECY IS ABOUT...

A SUPER POWER SUPERSENTIENT OF MAGICAL POWERS AND BY MAGICAL MEANS WAS MEANT TO BASICALLY SAVE THE GALAXY AND ENSURE THAT PEOPLE DID NOT HAVE TO PUT IN THE WORK TO SAVE THEMSELVES AND WOULD NOT HAVE TO UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WERE IN THEIR POSITION TO BEGIN WITH, AND IF THERE WERE PERPETRATORS THAN THE SUPERSENTIENT WOULD CLEARLY JUDGE THEM AND PUNISH ACCORDINGLY WITHOUT ANY INVESTIGATION OR LESSONS LEARNED. AND THIS SUPERSENTIENT WOULD BE GOOD AND PURE AND RIGHTEOUS AND JUST, EVEN THOUGH NOBODY KNEW WHAT THOSE THINGS ACTUALLY MEANT, AND EVERYTHING WOULD BE HAPPY FOREVER.

[ vocorder sigh ]

DO NOT PUT YOUR STAKES IN PROPHECY-- THEY ARE INDICATORS THAT SOMEONE IS DIRECTLY MANIPULATING YOU FOR ULTERIOR MOTIVES.

AND IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE LIKE ME, YOU MAY JUST RUIN THE LIFE OF SOMEONE OR MANY SOMEONES IN THE PROCESS.

PUT YOUR STAKES IN YOUR OWN WILLFUL CAPABILITY TO OBSERVE AND THINK AND CARE ABOUT PEOPLES AND PLACES. IT MIGHT BE A FAILED EFFORT IN THE END, IT MAYBE A NEVER ENDING PROCESS, BUT IT WILL BE WORTH IT.

[dolugecat]

On some Japanese social issues I had learned about at uni and abroad):

(Rb ok!)

Legit had an epiphany about the true hidden meaning of the last arc of Mob Psycho 100. It’s hella projection but for real there is nothing neurotypical about Mob or Mob Psycho. I do not wish to enforce my interpretation on others (ironic bc I do that all the time but this is a serious social theory). There are some interesting and very sad social issues in Japan that the west really doesn’t understand but would I think help people understand a lot of context behind not only Mob Psycho, but also a lot of other anime. I learned this at my shitty university (prestigious but horrific) and while studying abroad in Japan and talking with Japanese peers. Get ready here we go (and tw for bullying and darker things):

Unfortunately in East Asian education systems, bullying can be extremely intense. Growing up I assumed it was over exaggerated extremely in anime for drama but it really can be so horrific. From what I’ve heard, there is often a single kid or so who is just shit on by everyone else, even the teacher. Mogami land *is* the reality of some Japanese kids. I’ve read that in Korea, this social punching bag sometimes is just the darkest skinned person (yayyy colorism /angry) and or someone who does not fit in. I mean, we have that in America too, but maybe not as common for the bullying to be as focused on one misfit rather than several. These kids just can’t escape the stigma too, kids from other schools find out they were a major victim at their old school and it starts anew. Thus there is so much stigma and incentive to join in on bullying so you aren’t the one. Sadly, this also ofc leads to higher suicide rates. That’s where the “shoe on building roof” anime trope comes in, bc somehow taking off shoes is relayed to death (I forgot why sorry)

There is a difference in how intense in general high school vs college is too. In the West, commonly college is the more intense curriculum and is harder than high school, but in Japan it’s usually the opposite. Grind suuuupppeeerrrr hard for entrance exams (huge standardized tests that determines what college you can qualify to) bc unlike the ACT or SAT here, that test is by far the most important factor for college admission. Then chill and relax a bit in college. Can’t relate. Name and prestige is very critical for job application, more important than here. That’s why planning out your future is sooo much more intense for Japanese high schoolers than in America, and why there is sooo much more pressure to excel in high school than here. Japanese school years and holidays are done different than ours, I’d suggest looking it up.

Social prestige of going to an American high school or college is nuts. Like whyyy do you value our shitty education, Japan’s is much higher quality (it’s bc we neo colonized them). Being able to speak English is very, very highly valued and any association with Americans make you cooler. From my experience, some Japanese students got very excited to practice speaking English with us, and their biggest issues with learning it is pronunciation, lmao. Wasai english is unique slang that is indeed English words but it’s kinda different and it’s kinda jarring to remember lol. So, Teru having parents that are working overseas isn’t too uncommon, idk about leaving him absolutely alone, but I did have a ex-friend who just came from Japan in middle school who’s situation probably wasn’t too far off from that. Empty wealth with no love, it’s no wonder those kind of people can end up being huge bullies (minori?)

I did a presentation on 引きこもり(hikikomori) for which means “shut in”, (like Serizawa) and it’s fucked up. It’s a social phenomena where according to some Japanese researchers a mix of undisciplined parenting, guilt/not living up to expectations, and hopelessness makes an alarming amount of youth/ young adults literally never go out side their house/room. Often a parent is “enabling” the behavior by supporting them, but idk the articles seemed a bit victim-blaming to me when I read it, but I don’t think I should make a judgement too hard, not my place. I will say I do suspect and believe I read something to support that ASD might play a role in hikikomoris (there is pitiful resources for autistic people in Asia, much much less support than even here, to the point I don’t think most know it exists). Like come on, with the other points I laid out my personal opinion as an Asian American with autism is that it really seems it’s unknowing ableism against autistic classmates, but I didn’t grow up in Asia so I don’t want to say.

Mental health in general is tragically quite abysmal in Japan, and with it being so hyper competitive and brutal work culture, it’s no surprise birth rate in Japan is so low; some Japanese young adults say it seems unethical to bring a life to such hostile world. Suicide rate is of the highest in the world. It’s fucked, I’ve interacted with some of the locals in Tokyo and they were so nice, but the business men just looked dead inside, it’s so sad.

Relationships between child and parent is also strained bc of this intense work and school culture. Quality time is too scarce when you gotta work so much. And the pressure from parents to do well in education or else you might end up socially stigmatized is rough. Bc your job is who you are, it’s hyper capitalism (thanks us for making them do this)

With autism being so unknown, support for parents in raising autistic kids is almost nonexistent. What happens if the “darker” side of ASD shows up in kids? I used to be a menace when I had meltdowns, I felt so bad but really just became so indiscriminately violent. See where this is going? Legit, I think ESP is a sort of metaphor for neurodivergance to ONE. There is so much stigma around it, and even less way for kids to understand why they are different than the others. My Korean family can’t admit we all got ASD, too much fear and internalized shame.

I got finally diagnosed with ASD as an adult and I’ll tell ya, I relate too much to Mob hurting Ritsu. I felt so bad, but also not in control, I knew what I was doing but not how to stop. Luckily, is was blessed in that my hyperfixations involved science and logic, so I did well at school. Sadly, our boy Mob just don’t got the passion or ability to do well at school. His kanji is very bad, even to point of not being confident he wrote a kanji (世) they learn when they are 9, in elementary school (thanks @katyatalks). Him being a bit berated by his parents for having bad grades and bending spoons seems harsh to Westerners I think, but IMO it’s pretty tame from what I’ve seen of some Asian parents (I get to say that lmao). Ofc, however the shaming is very real and Mob just agreeing with them about how weird and stupid he thinks he is so sad. There is even more pressure for the eldest to be better than here, I feel from some interactions. Nonetheless, it’s implied Mob is quite emotionally detached from his parents, even though he loves them, which also adds to his emotional complex. Combined with originally fragile self esteem and feelings of worthlessness, we got one emotionally stunted boy. However, contrary to common belief people with ASD are sometimes hyper empathic and experience emotions very intensely. We are prone to having “meltdowns” which if not assisted with can be quite violent if very intense. For me, my worse meltdowns as a kid came from when I didn’t understand why I wasn’t getting what I wanted, it seemed selfish and cruel of me but I couldn’t control it. I wanted to be a good kid, so why did hit my moms leg at target when she refused to buy me Pokémon toys? I couldn’t come up with a good reason for why my mind just commanded my body to do bad things, just a single thought was controlling me, I want I want I want I want I want ____. Which I argue could be what ???% represents… bc well…. Yeah….. hmm….. not in control of self (mob unconscious), selfish (not actually, I’ve forgave myself but my “normal” kid self was so ashamed), destructive, hurt family, wanting to stop but can’t, that’s kind of…. Too relatable.

But legit, since realizing my new HC, I’ve started to think of the last chapter of mp100 when I “explode” and it helps me feel better and I do gain “control” a bit easier. I don’t feel so bad anymore either, Mob!

[fatehbaz]

hi maybe you’ve written about this before but i’m working for someone who is part of the ecological landscape alliance and we’ve been having big talks about the concept of “invasive” species vs “native” plants and how the concept is rooted in xenophobia, and also talking about how maybe invasive plants aren’t that bad?? this goes against everything i’ve ever heard anyone talk about invasive species but i really don’t know all that much about it. sounds silly maybe coming from a farmer but i really don’t have a super firm ecological understanding, most of my plant knowledge is agricultural based and im really curious to learn more and was hoping you could point me in the right direction?

Yes, I definitely run into this disk horse all the time. Especially the “maybe invasive plants aren’t that bad” discussion. It seems the native/alien stuff is most often mentioned in disk horse about the Anthropocene. Basically, you’ll sometimes see statements like: “Is anything really natural in the Anthropocene?” I have also seen, and spent a lot of time contemplating, how belief in the categories of “natural” and “alien/invasive” in discussion of ecology might be rooted in or at least inadvertently support racism/xenophobia.

But I am still wary of the “native vs alien” and “no creature or landscape is really natural, not any more” disk horse, at least as explored by some white/settler-colonial academics, for exactly the same reasons: because it might be rooted in or support racism/xenophobia. Because the proposal that “nothing is native, nothing is invasive” itself can actually engage in a sort of “settler absolution” that obscures how there really is a contrast between imperial and Indigenous peoples, and the “nothing is natural, nothing is invasive” proposal could excuse the colonial/imperial introduction and expansion of monoculture by accepting the spread of industry/agriculture/non-native species as an inevitability. And these concepts can actually work to generalize conditions of ecological degradation and apocalypse, as if to say that “all humans now live in such a damaged world, we’re all victims” (even though many non-white, especially Indigenous, people actually bear most of the violence and burden of living in “post-apocalyptic” ecologies.)

But actually, I don’t think I can be too helpful here.

I still have a lot of contemplating to do, about how categories of natural/invasive in ecology might support the violence of categorizing people as natural/invasive. Don’t really know where I stand yet, y’know? So I don’t want to be too quick to come to a conclusion. I don’t even really want to offer opinions here. That said, I am very sensitive to language, and the language that I use. So I do appreciate that there is an effort to interrogate the negative consequences of describing things with words like “alien”. Also, the categorizing of lifeforms is and always has been a mess.

I don’t have many reading recommendations. The “native vs alien” and “nothing is really native, actually” proposals are concepts that I brush up against but don’t read too deeply into, even though this disk horse has been popular-ish in dark ecology and academic ecology/environmental studies circles for at least 10 years or more by now.

I guess, for my thoughts on native vs alien, what counts as “natural”, invasive species, and how the disk horse can excuse settler-colonial/imperial racism, I would point to this post I made about Pablo Escobar’s feral hippopotamuses in Colombia.

One introduction to the concept, which I think is an enjoyable read (though I don’t necessarily agree with all of his implications), is this essay by Hugo Reinert about the category of “natural” and the “purity” of a species: “Requiem for a Junk-Bird: Violence, Purity and the Wild.” Cultural Studies Review. 2019.

Anna Boswell’s very famous article about stoats and non-native species in Aotearoa kind of dances around this same issue of naturalness: “Settler Sanctuaries and the Stoat-Free State.” Animal Studies Journal. 2017.

-------

Generally, I agree with the implication that there is no “remote” or untouched corner of the planet where ecology has escaped human influence.

On that aspect, here’s a post I made about “planetary urbanization”.

But the native/alien disk horse can be extended to problematique degrees, with proposals that sometimes remind me of sci-fi goofiness, like fans of dark ecology or weird fiction or Mieville/Van der Meer got a little too excited about “the boundary between human and other-than-human has become so blurred that there may as well no longer be distinctions between native species and invasive species”, like they got a little too drunk on theory and just decided that “everything is in flux!”. Criticisms, then, of the “nothing is native” disk horse include how this oversimiplifies ecology and might enable/excuse settler-colonial invasion.

A lot of the “invasive plants are good, actually!” disk horse I’ve seen shows up in Australian literature written by settler scholars, which might be pretty telling.

Basically, it seems some scholars will take Alfred Crosby’s “neo-Europe” and “ecological imperialism” concepts, and then say something like “look, the damage is done, so much of Earth’s soils/landscapes are altered by introduced plants that we may as well accept it as the new baseline/normal ecology, and work from there.” As if to point at how North America has been entirely overrun by non-native earthworms and then to say “well, the worms are going to inevitably destroy hardwoods forests, soils of the Great Lakes region, the boreal-temperate transition zone, and maple trees which supply place-based maple syrup foodsheds, so we may as well accept that we live in a damaged world.”

I don’t know if I’m entirely satisfied with this.

-------

Other related concepts brought up in the same  discussion of “nothing is really native” might include “invasion biology” and “assisted migration.” I see these concepts brought up in academic writing from the University of California system, Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and “environmental humanities” generally. Basically, these writers/scholars will point to the past ten thousand-ish years of the Holocene, and how humans have had such profound influence on global ecology that “introduction of non-native species” and “mass-scale anthropogenic climate/ecological change” are not just recent developments since Industrial Revolution or Indus/Yellow/Mesopotamian statecraft, but even older. For example, I’ve talked a lot about how, in the Late Pleistocene or early Holocene, the Asiatic steppes and parts of the Great Plains could have apparently been more like intermittent woodlands before humans engaged in deliberate fire-setting to better target megafauna herds, meaning that the human role in creation of vast “naturally-occurring” grassland regions may be underestimated. This dove-tails with the better-established fact that the forests of Central America and eastern North America in the early Holocene were/are actually more like cultivated food forests managed by Indigenous people.

The argument, then, may also point to yams, sweet potato, and coconut as examples of creatures with what now appear to be “old” and “established” widespread transoceanic distribution ranges which actually may have been introduced via assisted migration by humans.

The argument, basically, says: Well, let’s say hypothetically that humans didn’t play a role in spreading sweet potato or coconut. By chance, if ocean currents “naturally” introduced these species, if these plants “naturally” colonized whatever lands they were swept off towards, doesn’t this mean they could essentially be “natural” to anywhere they might arrive and successfully establish themselves? Therefore, does it really matter if humans helped them get there?

This seems to be related to the “no plants are actually invasive” proposal. As if to say: “If English pasture grasses have successfully reproduced themselves in Patagonia, Aotearoa, South Africa, the Canadian prairies, etc., what does it mean that their migration was assisted by humans?”

But this is where I have reservations: It wasn’t just any humans that “assisted the migration” of monoculture grasses from Europe to the prairies of Turtle Island. It was specific humans, with deliberate intent, upholding specific institutions, protecting their own well-being at the expense of other humans and lifeforms, enacting specific violence against specific victims.

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Another aspect of this which I see mentioned often is how early human/Polynesian settlement in Oceania and the South Pacific is an example of how mass anthropogenic ecological change doesn’t always involve statecraft, mass mono/agriculture, and imperialism. Aside from the famous decline of creatures like the moa, Polynesian islands were also home to relict species of large land turtles and ancient terrestrial/semi-arboreal crocodiles until human arrival in recent millennia. Writers will also point to human settlement in the Caribbean, where human arrival coincided with extinction of remnant populations of endemic Pleistocene ground sloths. (This also happened on Mediterranean islands, which hosted endemic species of hippopotamus and goats until recent millennia.)

Again, though, this is where white/settler-colonial academics advocating “nothing is natural” can kind of obscure settler-colonial violence, by pointing to history of anthropogenic environmental change and saying “see, all humans provoke extinction.”

Thus, you’ll see these scholars invoke Anna Tsing or Donna Harraway, referencing the “arts of living on a damaged planet” or “living in post-capitalist ruins.” Essentially, advocates of “nothing is native, any more” might say “we all live in a post-apocalyptic world now, so we should get used to it.”

This, coming from white/settler-colonial academics, sometimes rubs me the wrong way, as if it’s sort of like wish-fulfillment, or “an adventure” for comfortable white academics to engage in low-stakes thought experiments about extinction, naturalness, and apocalypse from which they’re actually largely insulated, at least compared to the poor, non-white, non-academic people who cope with the worst of environmental racism and ecological collapse.

This, again coming from white/settler-colonial academics, is also of course more than a little grating, since it kind of co-opts or culturally appropriates the “Indigenous/Native people actually live in a post-apocalyptic world” concept proposed by Indigenous scholars. It kind of takes from Indigenous/non-white people, and then generalizes the apocalypse as something that all humans now live with in seemingly equal measure, obscuring the fact that many people are actually forced to cope and/or live with more-serious-of-an-apocalypse than others.

-------

At the end of the day: Sure, kudzu or English pasture grasses or coconuts or European earthworms or domesticated cattle might be generalist species which can successfully inhabit landscapes across the planet. So whether humans introduce them via agriculture, or whether they "naturally" expand by some accident or by drifting across ocean currents, they might exist in this strange ontological space between "native" and "alien" which confounds human conceptions of what "belongs"? And this is worth considering! This is good to think about! But there are still, and always have been, those "small" landscapes, those isolated pockets, those relicts and remnants in shaded stream corridors, where small populations of endemic species teeter on the verge, with highly-specialized adaptations to highly-specific microhabitats. You're not going to "assist the migration" of or "accidentally introduce" a cave-obligate salamander from a limestone cavern or a temperate rainforest-dwelling land-slug to a desert biome.

But, again, I still think it is good to stop and ask ourselves whether categories of “natural” and “alien/invasive” in ecology make sense, are outdated, or if they reinforce racism/xenophobia. And, again, I haven’t read enough -- I haven’t grappled with these questions enough -- to have an opinion which I’m comfortable sharing, so I don’t want to discourage this disk horse too much.

Anyway, hope some of this is interesting. Sorry. Again, I don’t really have any good recommendations.

[theflybitteneye]

"Not the sum father" made me piss myself, lol. Hell yeah. All father bless, may your spear and wisdom strike true even with only one eye, friend.

For those curious, I am a non-theistic practicing Heathan. By "non-theist" I mean I don't believe the gods exist in literal, physical space but also that I don't think it matters. "The soul" is the narrative the mind tells itself about itself and theology is the narrative the mind tells itself to rationalize the world, something even non-theists do whether they realize it or not often. It's kind of just how the mind works, and I personally opt for being mindful of that to keep your perspective in check. Not to get on my high horse, but you know, bias is unavoidable. Being a "tips-fadora lol God not real" Atheist scorned by being brought up in the Catholic church for a few years taught me that the hard way. Feeling a "personal relationship with god" and experiencing religious ecstasy for the first time when discovering the Sagas and Edda for the first time made me realize that. I never felt that as a Christian, but, I don't think all Christians are dumb idiots who can't tell fact from fiction anymore. I think a lot of atheists are fundamentally making the same error in dogma as biblical literalists are a lot of the time just on the other end. You know, not recognizing the ways your internal reality is colouring your experience of external reality. I'm still technically an atheist, but the Norse Gods are as real to me as I ("i" as in "the ghost in the machine") am to myself. My practice as a Heathen has done a lot for my mental health and was the beginning of me coming to terms with my own gender identity.

I send single-rune readings as fun little extras out with my orders because a) I hope it makes people remember my shop, lol, but also b) regardless that it's just random chance and vague proverbs most people can apply to their lives, there is some value in the introspection that kind of reading (hopefully) provides people. It's part of the Norse concept of the nature of fate--- that it's both unchangeable and uncontrollable, but that way it plays out isn't. The Norse used the analogy of a weaving, but for a more contemporary analogy, you might have no choice to tell someone something sometimes, but you can influence how they receive the information by how you word it. I'm not saying The Norse didn't literally believe in Gods and magic, but like, you know, they were kind of for lack of resources when it came to the scientific method, cut them some slack. The way we talk about "the supernatural" now is greatly influenced even in the secular context by the dominance of Christian theology, which kinda had a very anti-pagan and anti-animism bias. I don't think many pre-christian pagans would have actually seen much of a distinction between someone being insightful, and literally psychic. That was kind of the same thing to them, their rational was just a bit spectacular.

For the sake of clarity I typically identify myself as a "transman" or a "genderqueer transman" amoung other queer people who aren't going to get confused by the term "genderqueer," and that is true. I'm FtM, medically transitioned fully now, he/him pronouns, so for functionality when the information is relavent that works. But again, because my belief played such a big part in coming to terms with my gender identity, I actually in my heart of hearts consider myself "ergi."

"Ergi" is a bit of a tough concept to translate because it's culturally specific to the Norse (which weren't a unified people mind you, just a vague collection of Germanic, Scandinavian, and Celtic clans, so it wildly varied even within their own demographic.) You'll see it described as a "sacred third gender" and also as meaning, "unmanly" and that works to try and just, you know, simplify it down. But in English it's vague closest equivalent is actually "queer" ("odd" in an interpersonal context vaguely relating to social roles involving sexuality and gender identity.) But like, not even that's quite right. The "female equivalent" didn't have the same connotations, and calling a woman "ergi" ("agar"/"agari", but I'm trying to keep the etymology simple enough to follow here) didn't mean hyper feminine, it meant "witch." That's because, in modern language, the Norse saw gender (gender and gender expression being the same to them, mind you) as kind of fluid and "bigender." Or rather, as all people having both masculinity and femininity within them and quite literally your connection with "magic" (Seidr, the magic of the fabric of time and the natural world) was directly related to your "feminine" aspect. These were like, two stats you could fill independently without depleting the other. This is expressed in the characterization of the gods--- Odin being max manly and high level feminine, Freya being max feminine and high level masculine, Frigga being high level feminine and low level manly, Thor being high level masculine and low level feminine, and Loki being maxed out as both. And at the same time, "feminine" to them meant something closer to like, "fruity" in English. "Flamboyant, queer." Being outside gender and sexual norms meant you were on some fucking wizard shit. That's why male sourcerers or particularly "butch" female sourcers where believed to be capable of "Galdr." Chanting something into existence. Your levels of gender were just, over 9000. Too OP levels of queerness, gods plz nerf.

And like, I can understand why some people may interpret this as egotistical for me to say, but I do truly believe they were kind of on to something. Not that being queer makes you magic, but, being queer naturally forces you to develop a lot of perspective that cis straight people ABSOLUTELY CAN, but aren't so fundamentally confronted with by their very state of being. The more you're forced to question and come to terms with your own existence and place in social norms, the more you . . . See the forest for the trees, if you will. Not always, but, it's hard not to. I'm not a particularly conventionally masculine or feminine person, but if I didn't transition I couldn't have gone on. I couldn't just conform no matter how hard I tried (and I did, real hard) to either gender role. I couldn't bring myself to even pretend to date men while I still identified as a lesbian. "Too gay to function" as the kids say. That does really put the unreality of social norms into focus. Gives you a lot of perspective. "Ergi" is a term that more describes how you relate to social norms, but it's the one I identify with the most. I think I might have bluescreened under the weight of it all if it wasn't for my faith, so.

If you're not sure if you want to be the big titty goth gf or have a big titty goth gf, consult your nearest pagan god.

[darlin-djarin]

it's kam! just wanted to add onto your comparison of SW and real life and this culture of non-criticism i am seeing a lot of throughout internet discussion. this is a long post i realise this but i hope you find it interesting

i think it's imperative to understand that the stories we write exist in context, and that goes for every kind of story. no story is made up on just a whim, there is something that the writer must have experienced or even spent a second of a thought thinking about before putting the pen to the paper. and with that you have every right to criticise or even just think about the context in which the fictional story was written.

take animal farm. obviously george orwell didn't think that animals actually talked but because he was writing about capitalism, the failed russian revolution, we can critique his writing based on THE POINT HE WAS TRYING TO MAKE. for example, i think the use of animals as a microcosm for the intellectual inequality amongst people is flawed because some animals are simply not as intelligent as others and do not have the capacity, whereas most people have the capacity to be equally intelligent because we are all the same species. therefore the point he was trying to make about people being stupid hence why revolutions fail is silly because it omits the nuance involved in education suppression. to simply just say "well talking animals aren't real so why are you criticising it" is dumb because the argument orwell himself was trying to make is flawed by the premise he himself put out.

relating this back to the mandalorian, there is absolutely real life parallels with religions and ethnicity, particularly islam as far as i am aware. of course, different people have different opinions about religion and i personally think seeing din struggle with his own faith and his relationship with his helmet spoke to me because of my own life. that is okay. the issue that i had with mando s3 was that it took these very real topics specifically regarding ethnoreligious identiy and did not show a good enough exploration of this topic and sometimes perpetuated harmful tropes. one that's more pertinent to me is the irish/northern irish-catholic, protestant conflict. that was not only about religion but also ethnic identity, and it had a serious consequence on the lives of people up until only 20 odd years ago.

so in mando, where you have bo, portrayed by a white american, who is the "pure" mandalorian, a former terrorist, looking down on a man portayed by an ethnic minority, his religion and his lifestyle and her friends questioning his identity because he's mandalorian by belief WITHOUT questioning her side of the whole ordeal, by undermining the validity of the religion without giving exploration into their customs, smells really bad. top it off by the fact it was written by a white american man, likely raised without religion but if not, a christian, it begs the question: what was jon thinking as he wrote this? how small is his world view? why does he want to show some aspects of this type of culture without giving them the fair screen time? it is simply flawed storytelling.

sorry for the LONG ramble but i fully support your right to feel how you feel regarding din and his helmet, and even though i have different opinions regarding din and his religion because of my own biases, it doesn't take much to respect people's personal beliefs.

fiction doesn't equal reality but in the same vein, it doesn't exist in a vacuum. you may write about stuff you do not necessarily agree with but whatever you write has the potential to reflect on pertinent issues. i think that's the take away here. which is weird because that feels like a universal truth

anyways i hope you're having a good day!!

DUDE YOU’RE SO RIGHT !!!! EVERYTHING YOU JUST SAID !!!! i loved the relation back to animal farm. you said it PERFECTLY. i think anon’s reading comprehension is like a 0 though so i doubt they’ll understand what you said. but YES you’re absolutely right and i adore how many people from different walks of life can relate in a variety of ways to fiction. tysm for saying this

[shihalyfie]

I am reading through your interesting blog especially about the difference between the original digimon adventure 2 version and the dub and I do not remember the things you mention in the dub. Now I realize you speak of the English dub. I watched the German dub and there is no difference at all between the german dub and the original japanese version; except they gave the characters the english names as nicknames. so Taichi is named Taichi but his nickname is Tai. why did they change the whole translation for the american audience but we germans got thankfully the original japanese version?

Yep, this is why I had to put a warning on my 02 watching guide to make sure which dub we're talking about, because as long as the myth that the American English dub "didn't change much" still persists in this fanbase, we're still going to have people talk about all dubs like they're equivalent (a very Western Anglosphere-centric mentality when you think about it) when in fact the American English dub-exclusive things only apply strictly to anyone in the Western Anglosphere and a very, very small handful of countries that got a dub translated directly from it. It's not quite "acting like the US is the center of the world" because Canada/the UK/Australia are also involved, but I think you see what I'm getting at.

As for the reason the American English dub changed so much, this used to basically be standard practice for all American English dubs in the 90's and early 2000's, and there are two major reasons for that. The first is simply necessary localization for when things are too culturally Japanese to quite hit the same way with a local audience, which is a necessary requirement (contrary to popular belief, the more faithful-to-the-Japanese-script dubs don't have zero changes at all, but do still have more minor tweaks to account for things that really don't translate entirely like accounting for seniority culture differences and other particularly obscure concepts).

The other is, to be blunt about it, racism and cultural insensitivity. I don't think enough people are willing to acknowledge this because it means admitting that a lot of childhood memories and jokes actually come from that. While it's true that back in the late 90's and early 2000's, the market for anime in the West was still untapped and there was uncertainty about what it'd take for kids to accept it, but you cannot convince me that this was truly the "bare minimum" needed to make the story digestible to American kids, especially when 1) in practice kids tend to be more open-minded than you think, and 2) if you think I'm just making assumptions about the dubbing companies involved, wait until you hear about some of the stuff some very important people in that industry have said and done about the products they handle (including the CEO of Saban, which was responsible for early Digimon dubbing), on record. I'm sorry to say that condescendingly thinking that Japanese things are too weird or boring when left alone was a very genuine sentiment behind it, especially when this dub has made some derogatory sentiments about Japanese food that go way beyond "minimum necessary change because it won't be recognizable to the audience otherwise".

The boundary between necessary localization and flat-out racism is very thin (I think it's similar to how the "weeb" concept was supposedly intended to call out fetishizing of Japanese culture, but more often than not gets used to justify stigmatizing Asian things and people who like anime), and moreover it varies from company to company, or country to country. For instance, I've heard Korean dubs will routinely obscure Japanese origins in kids' shows specifically because the memory of Japanese colonization and attempted cultural genocide inflicted on Korea means too many parents won't want anything to do with Japan, and meanwhile, even in the US, there's a huge difference between the Adventure/02 dubs, the Tamers/Frontier/Savers ones, and the Xros Wars one, because they were handled by different companies during different eras. Nowadays, while they're still probably more derivative than most other countries, modern kids' anime dubs in the US usually tend to be much closer to the original script and intent than ones from the 90's, but there are still some outlier dubs and companies that still haven't let go of said practices.

Moreover, I won't say other countries are immune either; while most Western Anglosphere dubs are produced in the US, some dubs done in Canada or the UK or Hong Kong or Southeast Asia are just as drastic about it, as are even some other countries' specific dubs that would normally be closer adaptations for other anime, so it's very case-by-case. And, as you pointed out, there are dubs that weren't based off the Japanese script but still don't use Japanese names, and I honestly still think that's their own way of contributing to the sentiment that Japanese things specifically are weird and foreign (think about how American names aren't any more local to said countries than Japanese ones are, and the name "Yolei" is infamously difficult to spell or pronounce in any country, but somehow all of that is still preferable to Japanese names like "Miyako" because Japanese names need to be avoided at all costs).

In any case, it's 2022 now, we can't change the fact these dubs existed and have permanently sunk themselves into pop culture (the rights to it are messy, too), and I can't hold things too against people who have a strong attachment to it from childhood or have their own reasons for liking the end product -- I think there's a difference between calling out problems with a dub (which I will shamelessly do) and calling out the people who have an attachment to it for any reason -- but I think we as a fandom could do better about how we actually handle this topic, such as it being better acknowledged and understood what actually went on here, treating the American English dub as one extremely derivative localization (it's not even the only English dub!) rather than expecting the entire world to be familiar with and conform to it, conversely being aware that many people working from that dub may not be talking about the same exact series as those who are working from the Japanese version, being more clear about where each of us is working from in general, and also, maybe just being more considerate about where the other person is coming from. Like the fact that one of the group chats I come from is entirely composed of either Americans who understand the perspective of those who grew up with it but still ultimately fell out with it a long time ago -- and are treated as "weebs" for their trouble no matter how legitimate their issues are -- and people not from the US to begin with, who constantly are confused by being expected to conform to a dub they never had anything to do with and a version of the series they definitely do not remember watching. And of course on the other end I don't know how fair it is to expect people to rewatch an approximately 50-episode series (or more) for the Japanese version, let alone potential accessibility issues with watching it subtitled, much less be condescending to them because they can't. And then on top of that you have people claiming that said dub didn't really change anything significant, which is just flat-out misinformation. So, I dunno, I just hope people can be more diplomatic about discussing this, I guess.

[elliepassmore]

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, magic, dragons, Indigenous fantasy, magic schools, LGBTQ+ characters, autistic characters. Big thanks to Netgalley, Del Rey, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review! This might be my favorite book of the year! I really like the take on dragons shown here and that there's such a big variety between the different kinds. I also liked the worldbuilding and enjoyed learning about the two main cultures of the book (Anequs' culture is one indigenous to this alternate-North America, and the settler culture is a German-Nordic mix). I also enjoyed how there were stories within the story and how these were used to bring more history and lore into it. The dragons and the lore were clearly well thought out. I can't remember all the species of dragons, but Anequs comes into contact with a lot of different species that each seem to have their own appearance, temperament, and activities/uses. Some of them come across as being more of the traditional Western kind of dragon while others have feathers, fur, and/or antlers. We also get to see some of the lore of the world, with some of the stories being completely unique and others being repeats of the same myth/story but from a different angle. I thought this was a fun way to include information about the different cultures and beliefs while still fitting them within the frame and style of the story. I liked learning about Anequs' culture and their beliefs. There's clearly a greater appreciation for nature and animals than in the Anglish culture, and Anequs gets quite the culture shock. Likewise, the Masquisit and Naquisit are much more LGBT+ friendly and same-sex relationships, transgender/gender fluid people, and poly relationships are all casually accepted. There are several LGBTQ characters in the book, including Anequs, who are out to varying degrees. I also enjoyed learning about the oral history traditions and the dances, and the role they play in the story is very interesting. I thought Anglish culture was mostly stuffy, which I think is the point, but there were also some interesting aspects to it as well. As a German speaker, I'm always delighted to see it show up in English books. While the language used in this book isn't exactly German, my take on it is that this is an 'alternate' earth anyway, so the German language just underwent a different history than the one on this earth, one that involves a lot more Dutch and Nordic influence. Some words are changed, so, pfennig = pennik, but others remain the same, Versuch = try/attempt. The compound words were a little difficult to get a hold of, I think another reviewer mentioned that they aren't compounded morphologically correctly, but it wasn't too troublesome and I don't think any non-German speakers would notice. This is a very character-driven story, with each of the major characters having at least some learning and growth to do. There's a couple of scenes that have action in them, but a lot of the book is an exploration. I enjoyed the slower pace and getting to know the characters and the world they're in. It felt slice-of-life at times, which I feel is often missing from fantasy stories, especially ones that are more action driven. Anequs is someone who is very solid in who she is. She may have doubts about things at times, but she never doubts who she is as a person and what she wants out of life. This leads to her very matter-of-factly pushing back against the expectations people have of her as a result of her race and/or gender. I very much enjoyed seeing her go head-to-head with others' expectations and prejudices because she was never one to backdown to keep the peace, but rather forced people to consider their prejudices, even if it didn't always lead to them reconsidering them. Anequs is also someone who seems to make friends easily, and she has a friendly and welcoming demeanor and is considerate of others' needs. The story is, obviously, mainly about Anequs and her dragon, Kasaqua, but there are some major side characters in the book as well. Marta is Anequs' roommate at the school and the only other female dragoneer (or really, only since Anequs distinguishes between dragoneer and Nampeshiweisit). She can be a bit annoying at times because she is so invested and interested in the workings of society, and thus likes to discuss dresses and the who's who gossip. Marta is from high Anglish society and brings those prejudices and rules of civility with her, resulting in some clashes between her and Anequs. Marta is an interesting character because she's clearly interested in being friends with Anequs but also thinks that the way things are done in Anglish high society is the correct way to do them and that Anequs breaking those rules makes her backward. She does get the chance to learn over the course of the story, but doesn't fully break free of her prejudices even by the end of the book, though she does improve. As much as I would've liked to see Marta learn and completely change her ways, I think the way it's written is probably more realistic. Theod is another interesting case. He's a Naquisit who was raised in Anglish society after his parents were killed and hasn't had any contact with his own culture. Like Marta, he has prejudices against the Indigenous cultures of the region and thinks that Anglish high society is improvement/progress. He and Anequs butt heads as well, but Anequs is able to get through to Theod more than Marta by commiserating with him and sharing information from her/their culture. He's a bit difficult to like at first since he's quite abrupt and grumpy, but over the course of the book he warms a lot and seems happy in the friend group. Sander is the other really 'main' side character. He's also Anglish, like Marta, but unlike her he's far more open and less prejudiced. He's autistic and largely nonverbal, preferring to write instead. He has an AAC device that allows him to write something in wax using a stylus and then use magnets to erase it so he never runs out of room. You don't really see AAC devices a lot in fiction (I don't think I've ever seen one), even when characters are completely nonverbal, so I was both surprised and excited by it's inclusion here. I liked Sander a lot and thought he was a good friend to Anequs from the beginning. A lot of his story is about gaining confidence in himself and getting free from his mother, who's a truly terrible person. I liked Sander's sister, Lisbet, as well and hope we see her in future books. Liberty is another side character, I wouldn't say she's a major character since I don't think she gets enough scenes, but she impacts Anequs a lot and I suspect she'll be a bigger character in the sequel. Liberty is an indentured servant at the school and is the first person Anequs befriends when she gets there. The two of them develop a close relationship, and are supportive of one another's goals. I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. Niquiat is Anequs' brother also plays a role in the book. He left their island a few years prior to Anequs and lives in Vastergot, the closest city to the school. Niquiat has a bit more conflict with the family than Anequs does, though this improves over the course of the book as Anequs, then their father gain a better understanding of Niquiat's interests and goals. This book really dives deep into into discussions of colonialism and all its violences and injustices. It tackles both the overt instances of it (i.e., racism and ethnocentrism) as well as more subtle instances (i.e., the erasing of Indigenous knowledge and silencing of Indigenous people), and the well-known assumptions that 'of course you want to be part of settler society, it's a vast improvement from your own.' There's a really great juxtaposition between the two main cultures of the book, with the settler culture claiming civility but reflecting a stark lack of care and community, while the Indigenous cultures embody that care and community and show that the so-called 'uncivilized' are actually far more welcoming and accepting. There's also a clash in the book between tradition and progress, deciding what exactly progress looks like, and whether and how foreign technologies can be adapted to the culture so the advantages of it are there without also seeing any erasure. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and think it'll probably be one of my favorite reads for the year, if not my favorite. I can't wait for the sequel and am so bummed I'll have to wait until 2024 to get it!

[thornquillthefiendish]

Oooo that is definitely extremely interesting, (I need to look more into African religions and mythology — the continent is so large and has so many different cultural groups that vary largely from eachother and it all seems very cool) and I’m really interested to see your rewrite, I definitely haven’t seen a lot of inspiration from the many African religions and cultures which is a shame because what I do know is not only very different from most European mythos, but just so densely detailed.

I admittedly have mainly focused on South American indigenous religions (Aztecs and Mayans mostly but also the several indigenous Brazilian nations) and a lot of European stuff since, for obvious reasons, a large part of those are well documented �� besides the Celtics, that is, which is often what I’m reminded of in warriors due to the British origin and because Celtic mythos is really interesting to me even though sadly a lot of information is either biased (the Romans and Greeks would exaggerate or lie about other peoples to make themselves seem more civilized so questions remain on certain practices or cultural beliefs that seemingly have no archeological evidence of existing) or it’s gone via the invasion of the Anglo-Saxons.

Celtic beliefs were polytheistic, but there was a lot of natural respect and spiritualism involved in many of their practices, trees for example are a good example because different species had meanings and rules applied to how they were to be treated within Celtic culture, Hawthorne trees were for example never cut down or used because they were connected with the Aos sì (fae folk) and often gateways between worlds. Druids were religious leaders, but also dabbled in many other interests such as law (both national and foreign), philosophy, early science (the best ancient peoples could work with at the time, but nonetheless impressive), storytelling, song writing, and medicine as well as the previously stated spiritual aspects. In most of my warriors stuff I tend to focus on Celtic beliefs for that reason as inspirational basis, also because it’s severely underrated amongst a number of Indo-European cultures and they both come from the same area and I enjoy that little parallel.

A n d if you’re Latino, Christianity gets kind of experimental there. As a Brazilian of confusing origin (there are an increasingly long list of last names in my family and they all sound different in origin), spiritualism is big there, and there are many different sects of religion based in not only Christianity, but also African religion since a large chunk of us (me included) are African Brazilian and African culture is a very large part of our modern culture (our music, our festivals, our food and many other factors of Brazilian life is connected to a variety of different African and Caribbean cultures, I’m not exactly sure where my ancestors come from because both parents are Afro Brazilian and unfortunately the implications of how we got to Brazil leaves many a question on where exactly it is that we come from), and generally speaking latino abrahamism is often mixed with the indigenous religions of the continent, Mexican culture is well known to have many Aztec traditions passed down and mixed into the Christianity that is prevalent in Latin America today. There’s room for a lot of interesting concepts with Latin Christianity in mind including several of our unique holidays. There’s so much that you can do with any of these concepts, but warriors as xenofiction is so poor at it.

Watership down went all out in its religion for the rabbits down to creating words in its conlang that carried spiritual significance and even its own kind of morality for the rabbits — which whilst very human is also very unique to the sensibility of the animals. I strive to accomplish a similar feeling in my rewrite and I’m still figuring out a way to keep things vaguely similar in essence — my focus is to start in a similar place that the series starts in and basically have the clans evolve societally with the bigger changes at the starting point being cultural and ofc fixing StarClan and the concepts that follow it because they irritate me. As a lover of religious studies and different practices from an outsider perspective as I’m not practicing anything rn, I feel largely unsatisfied as someone who likes deep lore like this because the world has already done some much of the work through time. All you need to do is pick up an article or buy a book and read about these cultures and their stories which while as anything human, are often flawed, there’s a beauty in a lot of them that is greatly inspirational not only as a writer, but as an individual, like, legit Aztec, Incan and Mayan stories and beliefs have made me cry before they can be so beautiful. Broadening one’s experience in these subjects is greatly eye opening and wonderful and the inspirational outcome is only one of the many pluses that comes from seeking these stories out.

i really wish warriors fans would stop treating ancestor-based religions as inherently stupid or lesser im ngl

as someone who comes from people who worship their ancestors every time i see a take like “starclan is SO DUMB imagine listening to DEAD PEOPLE anyway in my rewrite the clans have gods:))))” five years are taken from my lifespan you can point out how members of starclan are manipulative/hypocritical without demeaning the concept of ancestor worship as a whole bc i feel like yall forget ancestral religions actually exist sometimes??

[dwellordream]

“I can’t believe I have to write this down right now, but my dear friends, medieval people bathed regularly. Yes. I assure you. I am very serious. It is true. In fact, medieval people loved a bath and can in many ways be considered a bathing culture, much in the way that say, Japan is now. Medieval people also very much valued being clean generally in an almost religious way. This is not to say that getting clean was as easy for medieval people as it is for us now.

But medieval people were very clever and had ways of getting around that. So, say you are an average-ass medieval person. That means you are a peasant, because 85% of the population or so were peasants. This meant that you were working very hard doing manual labour in a field. How would you stay clean? Well you would probably wash daily at home. This usually involved filling an ewer with water, heating it and then poring it into a larger basin which allowed for ease of scrubbing….

Say that you couldn’t or didn’t have time to heat up water though, what then? Well people would just bathe in a local water source… So, fine, regular people figured out how to get wet, right? Well, the other thing that is important to note here (and I can’t believe I am saying this), when washing at home medieval people used soap. Yes. I am serious. They did. In fact soap is a motherfucking medieval invention. Yes. It is. The Romans – whomst I don’t see a bunch of basics going around accusing of being filthy – did not, in fact have soap, in contrast. They usually washed using oil. Medieval people? Oh you better believe that they had soap.

It was first introduced from the East, like most good stuff was at the time, but it took off rather quickly. Your peasant ass would likely have been making soap at home, and books of secrets often included various recipes for soap, all of which can still be made today. The general ingredients were usually tallow, mutton or beef fat, some type of wood ash or another, potash, and soda.

However, soap could also be purchased. As early as the seventh century soap makers guilds began to spring up , trading it as a high value commodity. If you were fancy enough to be buying soap you could also get the good imported stuff initially from Aleppo, which was traded heavily and involved laurel oil rather than animal fat. After importing rather a lot of this to Castille, in the twelfth century the denizens there got to thinking that they could probably create a similar product using the local olive oil. Voila! Castille soap was born and also became a popular trade good.

Even if you couldn’t get the good fancy soap, many people would scent the water that they bathed in, often with thyme or sage. People often used herbs not just for washing, but in deodorant as well. Yes. They had deodorant. It was often made of bay leaves, hyssop or sage. In fact, one of the more popular medieval deodorant recipes came from Dioscorides, a Greek physician active in the first century AD. His De Materia Medica was super popular throughout the medieval period and advised readers on how to make a deodorant using salvia and sage.

Medieval people also regularly washed both their hands and faces both before and after meals when in between baths because – stay with me here – they knew that dirt and grime could be hazardous to their health if ingested. Yes. They did. They really really did. In fact, the whole washing after eating thing was an explicit health concern, because as medieval medical writers such as Magninius Mediolanesis noted, If any of the waste products of third digestion are left under the skin that were not resolved by exercise and massage, these will be resolved by the bath.

Our girl Hildegard of Bingen even had a recipe for face cleanser because apparently she was a skin-care bitch. She advises that, one whose face has hard and rough skin, made harsh from the wind, should cook barley in water and, having strained that water through a cloth, should bathe his face gently with the moderately warm water. The skin will become soft and smooth, and will have a beautiful color.

So yes, medieval people, even regular old peasants were pretty clean types of people. In fact, they were so clean that for them bathing constituted a leisure activity. So the average person would likely wash daily at home, but once a week or so they would treat themselves to a bath at the communal bath house. That is where the party was at.

…You, my gentle readers may have picked up on something here, and that is that our girls the sex workers be showing right TF up in the public baths. This meant that whether or not you admitted them made the difference between whether you were keeping a bathhouse or a brothel. Here in London, of course the Stews in Southwark were essentially brothels where you could also have a bath (and were largely owned by the Bishop of Winchester (as you do).

Having said that, there were plenty of people who went to bathhouses just to go to bathhouses and by 1292 in Paris, there were at least 26 running that could give you just a bath. Medieval people related to this very much as we do having a spa day, and medieval bathhouses often included steam baths along with big wooden tubs where you could sit down and enjoy a meal. In order to stand out from the crowd, the Parisian bathhouses would even employ criers to advertise themselves.

And, I cannot stress this enough, this was just for regular ass people. Rich people? Oh, you better believe they were bathing, and often had dedicated rooms for washing unlike the poors. They also might go places simply to bathe, like Bath in England, or the thermal baths in Pozzuli in Campania, which was so famous it had a whole ass poem, De balneis Puteolanis written about it. They could also afford that nice soap and perfume and all that good stuff. In fact they were so into poncey baths that most medieval knighthood ceremonies involved having a scented bath.

So OK, clearly, fucking clearly medieval people bathed and were clean and into it. So why am I telling you all of this? Well the idea that medieval people didn’t bathe is a persistent myth that some basics on twitter will come at me with at least once a week. Why is that? Well part of it is a modern misunderstanding of the idea of bathing. It’s true that we have medieval sources which warn against “excessive” bathing. But here’s the thing, that wasn’t really about being clean, it was about hanging out naked in bathhouses with the opposite sex. They didn’t want you to not be clean, they wanted you to not be going down the bath house and getting your fuck on.

And yeah, some holy people didn’t bathe, notably saints who would forego bathing themselves but bathe sick or poor people. But if you bring that up you are missing the point. Medieval people thought that bathing and being clean was really nice, so giving it up and living with your stank was a sign that you had given up on the corporeal world and only thought of heaven. It was holy because it was uncomfortable, like wearing a hair shirt, or eating vegan, and hitting your chest with rocks and sitting in the desert trying not to wank. You know, standard saint stuff. It is mentioned because it is uncommon and uncomfortable.

These things, while they make sense in context are often taken by people who have never learned a damn thing about the middle ages and read in the worst possible light. If you intrinsically believe (and it is a belief) that the medieval period is the Dark Ages, and very bad, then you read stuff like this and just assume people are gross and dirty, even if there’s no real evidence of that.

You know what else helps? Well, in the modern period sometimes people were gross. In both the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, there were times when some doctors claimed that bathing was harmful. This was often linked to the idea that bathing with warm water would open the pores and allow contagion in. And here’s the thing about that – a lot of people just don’t know what the medieval period is, but they are pretty sure it is when stuff was gross. So if they hear about doctors telling you not to bathe they are like, “LOL medieval people were gross”, even if that is going down smack bang in the modern period.

Now on the one hand we can see this as a historical quibble. After all it’s not like I don’t have a history of getting big mad about someone incorrectly relating to the medieval period. But here’s the thing, allowing myths like this to perpetuate allows us to keep upholding harmful ideas about the medieval period that furthers our colonialist ideas about history, and simultaneously allows us to gloss over all the harmful and gross stuff that we as modern people do. If we always blame medieval people for everything difficult it allows us to deny their humanity and write off a thousand years of thinking and culture that still influences us now. So, like, could you not?

- Eleanor Janega, “I assure you, medieval people bathed.”