#or maybe railroad workers

[hustlerose]

a group of late 1800s miners singing a working song while hammering a massive dildo into my ass

[oveliagirlhaditright]

This whole train derailment thing in East Palestine, Ohio is so horrific.

And those toxic chemicals got into the Ohio River!

And I heard people saying that there was danger that it could possibly get into another body of water?

Apparently, this is going to affect 10% of the country's water supply, as things are? (According to one comment I saw, anyway.)

The place really has become the next Chernobyl, and everything has been handled so badly! (I feel if this had happened in a bigger state, that wouldn't have happened. And I strongly feel they should have evacuated everyone on day one.)

And no one's talking about it! In fact, at first they were covering it up and tried to arrest at least one reporter on the job of reporting the truth (finally more people are starting to discuss all of this, but still not as many as you would think. Especially with the massive ramifications this could have for so many!)

And why hasn't the president or any of the big wigs talked about this or done anything about it? Why didn't people in hazmat suits knock on the people in East Palestine's doors to tell them to evacuate when they finally did give them that order, instead of acting so blasé? You know if it was a place that people actually cared about, people would do so much more. I'm disgusted with my country.

[glassbirdfeather]

Mohg's Brain

(This is an essay on Mohg, Lord of Blood, from hit video game Elden Ring. It just takes a bit to get there.)

There is a story often repeated in Psychology classes, Physiology classes, pop psych media like YouTube, podcasts, and garbage daytime television on channels that used to be scientifically rigorous: about a man with an incredible brain injury. For those of you who haven't heard the story or are not yet sick of hearing it, I've included it from memory below, because I have heard it just that many times.

If you've heard this story already, you can skip to the subtitle: "Can We Even Learn Anything From Gage?"

If you already know the controversies about Phineas Gage or just want to jump to the part about the video game character, you can skip to the subtitle: "Let's FINALLY talk about Video Game"

----

"The Curious Case of Phineas Gage"

Phineas Gage was a railroad worker who would help clear land with explosives. The dubious and definitely wouldn't-have-been-OSHA-approved method of laying these explosives was to chip a hole into the mountainside, place the explosives, and then tamp it down using some sort of implement like a railroad spike. What happened next was predictable and it's surprising this didn't happen much more often--when packing the explosives, they detonated in Gage's face. Specifically, this launched the spike underneath his left eye and out of the top of his head. Less predictably, Phineas stood up afterwards. When a doctor arrived, said doctor did not believe what had occurred until Gage vomited approximately a "teacupful of brain matter" onto the street.

Due to lack of effective sterilization and antibiotics at the time, poor Phineas Gage was bedridden for several months, where he continued to lose further brain matter to infection. Eventually, he did recover, although he would continue to experience migraines and seizures for the rest of his life. While he lost his job for the railroad service, he went on to work in a sideshow attraction, carrying around the very railroad spike that went through his head. Eventually, he got a job and worked as a taxi driver and lived for several more years before dying of a seizure.

Phineas Gage was never the same after this life-altering injury: he was belligerent, drunk, lied frequently, and lost his job for the railroad company because of his new personality. And I do say NEW personality--Phineas had become like a completely different person and was, in essence, "no longer Gage" (they love quoting that). The damage to regions of the prefrontal cortex made him unable to make moral judgements, and impaired his impulse control.

OR MAYBE THAT LAST PART ISN'T TRUE.

Phineas Gage was NOT much changed by this life-altering injury. Though he lost his job at the railway company, the cause of this job loss is unknown. He MAY have had severe alterations to his personality due to this injury, but whether these changes were due to physical damage or emotional trauma--or whether personality changes ACTUALLY occurred at all--are disputed.

----

Can We Even Learn Anything From Gage?

Though I am uncertain if we have exact data on which parts of his brain he was left with when accounting for what was later lost to infection, the trajectory and angle of the injury suggests he initially lost much of his prefrontal cortex. Which of the previous versions of the story are told or over/under-emphasized is dependent on the point the teller is trying to make in the age-old debate of nature vs. nurture.

Some psychologists argue that Gage's personality change demonstrates the Global Workspace Model, where different parts of the brain are responsible for different parts of consciousness, and that by changing or removing parts of the brain, you change consciousness.

Other psychologists will argue that the LACK of change is evidence of the brain's incredible plasticity--its ability to adapt and compensate for missing parts by shifting the functions of those parts to be performed by different regions.

Most reasonably, he probably experienced some cognitive differences while still being effectively the same person and is an example of both points of view. But we don't have concrete enough evidence to say.

Any class in which a teacher or textbook needs evidence to support whatever point they're trying to make about how changes to the brain affects personality, addiction, emotional regulation, decision making, etc., they'll use Gage to make that point, no matter what stance they take. So really, Gage isn't a useful case study beyond what we could actually observe: he lost some of his brain and lived, while also experiencing migraines and seizures for the rest of his life.

With all of that said, if we assume that Gage experienced no changes to cognitive function or personality, I just typed out a story I am very sick of hearing for no reason. So let's assume that at least some of those observations were true.

----

Let's FINALLY Talk About Video Game

Her are some potentially useful images to reference if you want. Left: general brain regions and their functions. Right: paranasal sinus cavities.

Unlike a nice, straight tamping iron, Mohg's horns curl in unpredictable directions. Some assumptions must be made about length, depth, and diameter to determine what region and volume of his skull is occupied by his horn. The minimum I expect is that the horn occupies the region of his frontal lobe in any scenario. Let's also set a maximum limit: I believe it is reasonable to assume it has not reached the primary motor cortex, where it would disrupt body control and physical movement... unless one wants to suggest he is puppetting himself in his boss fight like a bloodbender. Which, let's be real, IS a really badass concept, someone should write that fanfiction.

Though I argue that Gage is a bad example to use given our lack of reliable data on his personality and lived experiences, we DO know that disrupting the function of the prefrontal cortex can affect judgment, planning, concentration, and any type of higher processing you might call a uniquely 'human' mental ability (I acknowledge the mental abilities of birds and primates but they are beyond the scope of this essay). It may be safe to assume that, in Mohg's case, these mental processes are harmed regardless of any further extrapolation I make. One other brain region of note is the motor speech (Broca) area, located on the left side directly behind the prefrontal cortex and controls muscle movements for speech.

On the topic of pain, migraines, and seizures: He has a horn in his head, it probably hurts. Obstructions (like cysts) can cause buildup of cerebrospinal fluid, which can cause pain and is a common cause of seizures. It is difficult to say how many people have benign brain tumors, but there is speculation that benign tumors in the brain are unexpectedly common. People only typically get brain scans when they've already noticed a problem, but there have been cases of perfectly healthy people having (non-cancerous) brain tumors, so a mass being present in the brain does NOT guarantee seizures will occur. This being said, that horn is significantly larger than a typical benign brain tumor. Migraines and seizures are very reasonable to assume.

I don't know what to say about illness and disease. In theory, if the horn grew at any point after birth, I would say he should have died from any pathogens that were introduced during its corkscrewing into his skull. Phineas Gage was bedridden for months due to infection, was under the care of a doctor, and he wasn't living in a sewer. Do the Lands Between understand the germ theory of disease? It may at least know that poop in the brain is bad, but I listen to Sawbones, so I know that isn't something we can just assume. It's possible he's lost some impossible-to-estimate amount of brain matter to infection. Feel free to speculate about Omen resistance to pathogens, but I don't feel that is the point of this essay. I'll say it's safe to assume his body has healed closed around it, but anything else I won't try to extrapolate.

----

Specificity from Horn Trajectory

Possibility 1:

If we estimate the continued trajectory from the visible part of the horn, it actually continues medially, towards the center of the body, and curls downward. This might even miss most of the brain and instead disrupt the frontal, ethmoidal, and maxillary sinus cavities of the skull.

It may possibly even pierce the roof of the mouth, if we roughly estimate the rate at which the horn tapers and where it likely ends. I argue that this is the most optimistic scenario in terms of his health, because although the horn almost certainly penetrates the prefrontal cortex, it may not be as deep as other possibilities.

In this horn trajectory case, he probably experiences constant sinus pressure similar to a permanent head cold, obstruction to his sense of smell, and by extension his sense of taste. Even if the horn does not completely block his nasal cavity, it may have damaged his olfactory nerve and thus disabled his sense of smell anyway. Should the horn obstruct his mouth he may experience physical difficulties eating and speaking.

Possibility 2:

A worse scenario may be to assume this horn instead extends directly backwards. This would likely pass through the motor speech area, and may have caused him to lose the ability to talk, forcing him to relearn how to speak by having another part of the brain learn to do this function (similar to how anyone learns a second language after very early childhood). It may also reach the LEFT temporal lobe, which processes hearing and smell for the RIGHT side of the body, and therefore he could be deaf in his right ear. Again, the olfactory nerve is potentially in the path of the horn, and loss of sense of smell is frequently considered a symptom of brain damage, so regardless of the angle of the horn this is a high possibility.

----

What Time of Horn Growth Could Tell Us

Children are more likely to recover well from brain damage. The older he was when the horn entered his brain, the more likely he would be to experience cognitive impairment.

Should Mohg's horn have developed that way before birth, his brain may have formed around it without issue, or obstructed regions may have simply remained underdeveloped. His skull would also have developed to more 'comfortably' accommodate this horn, rather than having to break and re-heal around a later intrusion. If the horn is shallow enough and its growth occurred during fetal development or very early childhood before the fusing of the bones in the skull, it is possible that left eye blindness and mild discomfort are the only effects. The timing of the horn's growth being before birth or in early infancy is supported by the Regal Omen Bairn, which shows Morgott with seemingly all of his horns, suggesting that omens horns are largely present upon birth and that those horns grow in proportion with them.

However, given the themes associated with the Formless Mother, here is another--vastly more speculative--hypothesis: Mohg's horn was grown deliberately into his skull by the influence of the Formless Mother, perhaps with or without his consent. I find it hard to believe that a force claimed to be the "mother of truth" which "desires a wound" would be unaware of the possible effects of this type of wound.

I posit that the Formless Mother intended to compromise Mohg's consciousness and sense of reason to make him easier to manipulate. If we assume that they were not working together (debatable), the abduction of Miquella and potential interruption and sabotage of his ascension puts an empyrean under the Formless Mother's control, and works counter to the dynasty Mohg desires. Damage to his ability to plan, make rational decisions, and his sense of morality could explain how Mohg seems to want a place for outcast and hated people, likely seeing a kinship with Miquella, but has created something that is the antithesis to the Haligtree.

Furthermore, should we assume that Mohg and Miquella met previously and Miquella had the opportunity to do so, the power Miquella purportedly has to compel adoration in others may have interacted poorly with Mohg's potentially impaired emotional processing, and could have caused an obsessive outcome that the Formless Mother did not predict.

Of course, I don't believe every awful and cruel decision someone makes is the result of brain damage, but this may explain the incongruity between what Mohg seems to want and what he has made. Whether Mohg is "the reigning lord and hierarch of the coming dynasty of Mohgwyn" or "a raving lunatic" may not be an incompatible dichotomy. It may be sequential.

----

Glassbirdfeather you're so wrong, why did you say ___?

I am not a doctor. I am a chemistry student with a biology lean (clinical laboratory science) and am drawing my conclusions from what I've learned in Anatomy, Physiology, and Psychology classes at an introductory level, and I glanced back at my anatomy and psychology textbooks as my sole academic sources. Please don't take this as a well-researched essay, none of the claims I make about mental or physical health are properly cited. This is just fandom theorizing; it's as academically rigorous as fanfiction. Any doctor/member of the medical profession who would like to correct me is invited to do so, I would love to hear more accurate and informed observations.

----

Bibliography

(literally just 2 references, man)

Grison, Sarah and Michael S. Gazzaniga. Psychology in Your Life. Third Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, 2019.

McKinley, Michael P. and Valerie Dean O'Loughlin. Human Anatomy. Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2017.

[robertreich]

Why Do We Have Weekends?

Ladies and gentlemen…the weekend. Why do we have it? 

The short answer: unions!

In the late nineteenth century, many workers labored 7 days a week, sometimes up to a grueling 100 hours in poor conditions.

Workers were fed up. Many began to unionize and take to the streets in protest.

Violence against them at the hands of corporate union busters and law enforcement was common. Many lost their lives. But they didn’t relent. 

Organized labor kept up the pressure. Workers in the mining, printing, and railroad industries eventually won 8-hour-work days. Major corporations, most notably Ford Motor Company, began to heed calls to institute 5-day work weeks.

But most workers across the country were not guaranteed these benefits. 

Then came Frances Perkins — President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Labor Secretary and the first woman cabinet secretary.

Before agreeing to the position, Perkins met with FDR to secure a guarantee that he would support her pro-labor agenda.To her surprise, FDR backed her.

In 1938, thanks to her advocacy and the momentum built by organized labor, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act — which among many things ultimately established a 40-hour work week by forcing employers to pay time and a half for any hours worked beyond this limit.

And thus, created the weekend. 

 While many workers now enjoy weekends won by organized labor, the fight continues for those who don’t. 

A rising number of contract employees, sometimes known as “gig workers,” are putting in backbreaking hours without the protections afforded to full-time workers.

Now is the time to renew the historic call of unions to make sure ALL workers are afforded the dignity — and time off from work — they deserve. 

And who knows — maybe one day we’ll move to a three day weekend? 

[hoofpeet]

ouuguuh … it would be cool if lik (going off the tags of this post) … there was a story reason as for why all the pokemon are attracted to the gear station :3 maybe theres a super ancient pokemon beneath (or somethinng similar IDK ! THEY GOT XURXITREE HOOKED UP TO THE WIRES annd its lik ghost stories lik Oooh theres emptty trains ! and spice is lik Thats not me doing it .) like its SOMETHING tahts drawing them there , whether it be another pokemon or some sort of life force or energy

THOUGHTS .... Okay giratina specifically loves trains for whatever reason and starts hanging around railyards as soon as they get invented and protects the trains from harm, seeing them as part of it's 'hoard.' Even though it's ??? weird at first the railroad workers eventually just accept Giratina's presence since it's not harming the rails or anything and it eventually becomes kindof the patron saint of trains, later becoming an influence for the design of some trains and Giratinism kindof just becomes a slightly ironic tradition for railway workers .

--> Giratina eventually hibernates in an abandoned tunnel in gear station (possibly unbeknownst to Ingo & Emmet) which attracts a lot of various types of pokemon to the area . Some of which start working at the station

[dragons-and-magic]

TTTE has so many possibilities for really good villains besides the usual snooty bully type or devious diesel. It's awesome. Here's some ideas I had!

What about an engine (Any type) that hates humans for what they did to their kind? All the scrapping and stuff? And he wants to hurt/kill as many humans as possible for payback, completely passing over the fact that engines and humans have a symbiotic relationship and need each other. And that not all humans are bad. Especially the ones on Sodor. It could also be a good gateway for addressing the trauma some engines have from the 1960s scrapping period.

Or how about a driver and engines villain team? Where they team up to do some huge crime that effects both humans and sentient machines?

ELECTRIC ENGINES. They're very under used! Have the diesels and steam engines come together to fight a new supposed enemy, only to find out that it's just one in particular that's villainous and the rest are rather nice. The engine types are usually competing against each other for the humans good graces, so this could be eye opening for them.

Super NATURAL ENGINES. Give Lady a rival that's not Diesel 10 and is instead an entirely new super natural engine to fight! And you don't have to stop there! Add more engines to the Pantheon and really flesh out The Magic Railroad in Lady's Realm!

More human villains. So far we've only had Sailor John. WE NEED MORE! (EDIT: And Baz and Bernie. I forgot about them.😅)

Bounty hunter engines that chase down runaway engines, like the diesels that chased Oliver and his crew! And make them REAL bounty hunters. Pull out all the stops. And have their crews involved as well! Maybe some of them are scrap yard workers!

[sea-lanterns]

Oooooh… Cowgirl AU got me feeling things…

Clorinde as the sheriff who cuffs you and tosses you in a dark little cell in the town jail so she breed you in private…

Lynette and/or Arlecchino as wild bandits, bringing you back to their camp in the middle of the desert to fuck you by the campfire… the town thinks you’re an innocent maiden who’s been kidnapped just as she was due to be happily (unwillingly) wedded to a good (horrible) man, but you were actually seduced by their roguish charm…

Maybe Beidou is one of the Chinese workers the rail company imported as cheap labor to work on the new rail line coming though*, and she sneaks into your fancy house at night so she can fuck you nice and good before you shoo her out at dawn so your father doesn’t learn you’ve fallen in love with one of those ‘damn [insert slur typical of the 19th Century here]’…

*per the Smithsonian, 1/6 of Chinese immigrants in the 1860s ended up working on railroad construction, and the Guardian puts a more specific number of Chinese working on railroad construction at roughly 15,000.

Ohmygod this is all really cool! Sheriff Clorinde and Arlecchino + Lynette as bandits?? That’s so hot jaidjsjdn 💕

I will say though, despite how cool it is that you know so much about the historical accuracy of the cowboy times, I’m going to leave out any racial/discriminatory topics since it can be really sensitive/triggering for my readers.

If I choose to write an AU based on historic times (Ex. Empress AU, Pirate AU, Cowboy AU, etc.) there will be little to no mention of discrimination even if it’s historically accurate. This blog is safe space for all sapphics 💘

[foggyfanfic]

Did you guys hear Disneyland Cast Members voted to strike?

It was nearly unanimous too, 99% of the unionized cast members voted in favor of the strike. This doesn't necessarily mean they will strike, more that when the union rep shows up to the negotiation table on Monday they'll have that extra bit of leverage. Hopefully that'll be enough to win them living wages and such. I don't have anything intelligent to say, I just feel a kind of way about this subject, I'm going to put my opinions under the cut.

Ok, look, I love Disneyland. Love it with a passion. You know what reminded me this was happening and prompted me to look up the story? I was thinking of updating this card I made for one of the many games I've come up with to play in Disneyland because I have a weird variety of hyper-fixation when it comes to that park specifically.

So I am not speaking an ounce of hyperbole when I say Disneyland is my favorite place in the world.

But! Whoever the hell is making the big decisions around there needs to get their head out of their ass. I don't know if I should be blaming Bob Iger or Josh D'Amaro for the way the parks have been since the pandemic, but I'm going to blame both. I can deal with them experimenting with Genie Plus (I hate it but I'm used to capitalism), and I can sort of deal with the prices (I can't afford them easily but I'm saving up), but Disneyland has very clearly been trying to cut labor costs for a while now and it's incredibly baffling to watch. It feels like the parks are being run by somebody with a business degree from a sketchy "college" and zero experience with the real world.

They're cutting back on shows, overworking their existing staff, and skipping regular maintenance so they can operate the park with a smaller maintenance team. Overall it results in a worse experience for the customer, making it less likely that they'll convert new guests into returning fans like myself. While Disney World is a major tourist attraction that most people consider a once in a life time experience, Disneyland has always had a steady revenue from local Californians that return again and again. If you frequent forums about the parks you hear all about folks who live in SoCal that buy their annual pass (I know that's not what it's currently called, but that's what it is) and use it to get into the parks just to have dinner or rove around and maybe grab a churro. They might not be paying for Iger's next yacht, but those folks are providing a reliable revenue stream, and they go back again and again because for decades Disneyland has maintained a "magical" atmosphere.

And I feel like it's fairly obvious that the front line workers are the ones that make Disneyland what it is. Right? Like I'm not crazy, we all agree Disneyland would be nothing without the hard work of these cast members, right?

Why are they-? You need front line workers, why wouldn't you-? Do they not have years of research and experience backing up how beneficial a well paid staff is? I love the Incredicoaster but if all I wanted was thrill rides, Six Flags is an hour closer and a whole lot cheaper. I'm going for the complicated rides that require their own pit crew like Mickey's Runaway Railroad. Why are we even still having this conversation? I get that people like Bob Iger are a bit insulated from the rest of us, but the relationship between a happy staff and profit is well documented. Why wouldn't they just...? In the Disneyland subreddit a retired cast member post the Benefits Binder he got back when he worked for Disneyland and this thing was thick, it included health, retirement, and stock options. Somebody somewhere must have known that whittling down benefits while stagnating pay was not sustainable. Right?!

Like I said, I don't have anything intelligent to add to this conversation, but to be honest, I think everything intelligent to add has already been added. I'm just annoyed for my own sake and downright pissed for the sake of the cast members. I hope they get everything they ask for on Monday, and if they don't, I hope the strike knocks some sense into everybody it needs to.

[yunamedkostobot]

I just can't do with them

This person speaks like the Grievous POV in Labyrinth of Evil, when he speaks a lot about this events, is non-existent and this book directly preceeded Revenge of the Sith in Legends continuity. So, only magazine article, you know, it does not mean anything, and Jedi are completely innocent about it!

While I do not condone Grievous methods neither in Canon, nor in Legends, the Kaleesh invasion on Huk would not happen if not the Yam'Ree did not attack Kalee first and did not attempt to enslave his population. Where was the Jedi than? Where were they after it, when Kalee outright started to starve?

And it is not the first time when Jedi in Legends failed to help those who were in need.

There was Jabiim. This page when Stratus clearly sums up everything went wrong with the planet.

The planet used to be faithful Republic world, but neither Republic, nor Jedi helped them when they needed it the most. The result? Total majority of people of Jabiim supporting Stratus and CIS. Yep, maybe Stratus is pushing revanshist propaganda, but it would not have made the same impact of people of Jabiim, if there were not quite an objective conditions.

There was Findar with his population being enslaved by criminal overlords for more than ten years. Add the fact, the same overlords who conducted the experiments with memory wiping on people, and only the fact that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi (who were heading to another mission) crash-landed here saved the findians from future nightmare.

The probability theory says that when one thing happens is the accident, coincidence, when it happens twice, and sistem when it happens thrice. So, make you own conclusions.

And even the argument about it no longer being canon doesn't really works. In Canon, Jedi outright ignored Czerka corporation literally enslaving its workers(what she by this time did not do in Legends). This exchange between Qui-Gon Jinn and Yoda really sums up what is wrong with Order right now.

«Qui-Gon had been too young to see the cracks in the bravado—the pain that all Dooku’s guidance and all Rael’s accomplishments had never been able to erase. “That he would effectively sell citizens into slavery—” “Grievous, this is,” Yoda agreed. Into Qui-Gon’s mind came the echo of Rahara Wick: What’s the point of having a Republic in the first place? “We should put an end to it,” he said. Yoda shook his head. “Not ours to decide, the fate of the treaty is—” “Not the treaty. Slavery.” Qui-Gon folded his hands in front of him, allowing the robes to obscure them—the most formal way in which a Jedi could address another. “Why do we allow this barbarism to flourish? The Republic could use its influence to promote abolition in countless systems where the practice flourishes. How can we fail to do this?” <.....> Qui-Gon’s patience began to wear thin. “This isn’t about imposing human ethics on nonhuman species. This is something humans do to one another, an atrocity we should put an end to.” “We? Not the chancellor, not the Galactic Senate, not even the people of the Republic, but the Jedi?” Yoda thumped his gimer stick on the floor. “Want to rule, do you? Dangerous this is, in one who would join the Council. Dangerous it is in any Jedi.” Qui-Gon knew all of this. On one level, he accepted the truth of it. On the other—“If we don’t stand for the right, what do we do? Why do we exist?”»

From the same book we know that Czerka corporation acts even worse, than IRL Russian nobility up to 1649 or American slave-owners. Their property can not be considered free unless they buy themselves out of it, no matter how long they were absent from Czerka's control(as Rahara case clearly indicates). Up to ratification of Council Code of 1649, Russian serfs who ran away from their masters can be declared as "wanted" only for 10 years and were considered free after that. The black slaves could use the Underground Railroad and get to the North or another country when slavery was illegal.

It's not a case for Czerka. They will never let their former property go, no matter how many time passed since the escape, or where their former subject had gone.

And Jedi stand and allow it to happen. Doing their part in Republic, yep, Yoda?

"Many ways there are of serving the right,” Yoda replied. “We work within our mandates, and there do as much good as we can. To do otherwise, to substitute our judgment for that of the Republic, is to repeat the mistakes of the past.” So instead we make different mistakes in the present? Qui-Gon kept this to himself."

And also, to what mistakes of the past Yoda is referring to? What mistakes are deemed worse than allowing slavery to exist? Even in the Legends the Jedi having closest ties and basically control of Republic(to some level that it can be considered religios teocracy) allowed them to defeat Siths and practically destroy them except one. And even then, after the victory they stepped down(too far IMO). What thing could be called mistake here?

I am gonna specify: the Republic had a lot of problems that have a need to be fixed, but there was one thing that made this state more durable or competent is having Jedi, but not as the «Galactic therapists»(therapy can not be forced onto living being without his desire, if it is not a conversion therapy), but as the protection from arbitariness and exploitation. If some planet was endangered, they could have contacted Jedi and ask for help. The main problem of Order in this case is the fact they did not do enough for the people they should have protected, blindly trusted some reports and never attempted to search for the truth beyond it(Kalee, Galidraan and Pijal to lesser extent) and also hadn't seemed to have their own outposts for survelliance or interference, or some rapid reaction forces since Ruusan reform in Legends(1000 years)/«Starlight Beacon»'s destruction in Canon(200 years). I can not call it anything else but shooting yourself in the foot.

The Jedi should have been more autonomous, should have had their own information information service, outposts in the Galaxy and forces of reaction. It was not necassary to cut their ties with Republic entirely, but distance themselves from Senate, so people wouldn't think that Jedi «blindly serve the corrupt Senate».

Jedi Uncrits: «But the Jedi are only 10.000 for all of Galaxy, they could not do it!»

Well, in this case it's better to drop your practice to recruit children under five(as Rael Aveross's case indicates), abandoning tons of kids and youths elder than this age(like Caris in Legends). Or what, they will not blindly accept everything Council says? Sorry for the Council.

[taylor-swift-fosters-it-again]

christmas was an eventful time! (ps- my secret santa is coming soon sorryyyyyy)

“Too busy exploiting railroad workers.” - Fitz

“Shuffling and bringing an already-cooked turkey back to life are two very different things.” - Keefe

“Buy a bounce house! Whoo! You crazy man!” - Sophie

“I don’t follow rules.” - Mr. Forkle (the rules of telepathy)

“I’m like the IRS of rules.” - Sandor

“We were just talking about your polka music.” - Biana

“Hop on the plane, go to San Antonio.” - Sophie

“We have lots of raspberry Jello. We stock it.” - Dex

“Were you a Legolas cosplayer?” - Sophie

“That’s the spirit, honey. The garage is never big enough.” - Grady (to Edaline)

“He can marry whoever he wants, okay? That’s not the point. The point is, I’m weird.” - Keefe

“I may be playing games, but I’m not playing around.” - Dex

“My job is to inconvenience, mostly.” - Tam

“Maybe they need a graphic designer to make an infographic. Hired by DARPA.” - Biana

“I hear you’re defending my honor.” - Sophie

“How dare you miss someone in this madhouse of people.” - Fitz

“It’s a big break. It’s a chasm. It’s the Grand Canyon!” - Dex

“I guess the backstory is, I hate flamingos.” - Keefe

“Maybe the theme is, it’s okay to be a skeleton.” - Linh

“He’s actually hugging you with a full suit of armor on.” - Sophie

“It’s powered, but not connected to the utility.” - Dex

“I feel like maybe I should’ve paid more attention in AP Chemistry.” - Sophie

“Advanced with a capital N, so there’s some code for you.” - Dex

“I called someone the Burger Meister Meister Burger the other day, and they didn’t get it. I’ve never been more embarrassed.” - Sophie

“Sure enough, for one hundred and forty-nine dollars a night, you can stay at the Hilton in Oman!” - Keefe

“I’m stepping away from the person with the meat fork.” - Biana

“Tam says, no, I’m depressed. I’m going to sit with my toothpick and stare into space.” - Linh

“I was kind of impressed by the technology.” - Fitz

“You’re like an ad for Apple Wallet, spewing credit cards everywhere.” - Sophie

“I’m having an existential crisis, all my teeth are rotting out of my mouth and there’s nothing I can do about it,” - Sophie

“SOMEONE GET THAT CHAIR!” - Sandor

“You people and your raspberries.” - Dex

“No, she kept killing it! She wouldn’t feed it!” - Biana

“I bet you Fitz Vacker loves to paint his nails.” - Dex

“Why do I type like WHAT?” - Sophie

“You can still be the problem today. Don’t limit yourself.” - Keefe

“Like, I slept, but I didn’t sleep.” - Sophie

“My memory’s being insulted.” - Dex

“You little rascal!” - Keefe

“This is where the cool kids are, so you are not allowed.” - Biana

“Well, they don’t call it hot chocolate for nothing.” - Marella

“I know you’re usually on plan B or C, but this, is like, W or something.” - Sandor(to Sophie)

“It’s egregious because you weren’t even looking in the fridge when it was open.” - Grady

[sovietpostcards]

Do you have much on Soviet trains/railroads (I'm a big railroad fan!)? Maybe a tag in your blog? Thank you!

Hi! Here you go - #trains

You can also search for 'railroad' and 'railway' for things like workers and stations.

[reallynotwelcomed]

An interesting thing about Hadestown animatics is how the above world (basically act 1) is generally portrayed as very rural, forest-like. The only consolidated building is the bar and things relating to the train

I think it's done mostly to contrast the underworld, and maybe it gathers some inspiration from the NYTW/Edmonton tree and also previous animatics with the same background

And, while surely there's a lot of vegetation there (Eurydice's part in Chant I where she's looking for firewood, as an example), I think it would be fun to imagine a more urbanized setting

The railroad station would make a small town appear around it (if not already constructed in one), at first improvised houses for the ones who built the tracks and the station. Since it takes an enormous amount of work to do it, a lot of people stood there, both to maintain the tracks and station and also for the land. These workers were most likely miserable people to accept the amount of bullshit it takes to build train tracks

During the musical itself, the town fills up with people from nearby places looking to ride the train, especially in the winter. It also has a spike in activities when Persephone shows up there for some time

The urbanization gets harsher the nearer you get to the wall, from those who can't really afford to actually live there but are still trying to make money. I can't imagine a ticket to Hadestown would be an easy thing to acquire, considering possible documentation surrounding actually getting there and the financial state of most people looking for it. It makes people desperate enough to do anything, from working in terrible conditions, to falsifying documents and even to trying to bypass the wall. And hey, if you catch those people, you can throw them into prisons so they can work for you for free!!

In conclusion, I think it would be easier to draw parallels to our current situation in the Real World™ with this setting, regarding global warming and such. Also why am I yapping again I should be writing other stuff

[sunatsubu]

Get to Know Me (Tag Game)

Rules: answer + tag 9 people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with

thanks for tagging @mystical-salamander @hayesflints! Favorite color: blue and green Last song: Because the Night by Patti Smith Currently reading: I'm deep in so many dungeon meshi fics and SO many different Laios pairings but current active fav is a really cute modern AU Chilaios fic What Keeps You Here by @avoidcrow and @every-captain. It has EXTREMELY autistic Laios and grumpy Chil set in the 90s and I love it so much Currently watching: in the middle of a class actually supposed to be watching the lecture but i'm slackin' LOL Currently craving: some kind of cake. Maybe matcha flavored. I haven't had sweet things in so long Coffee or Tea: both! A hobby you would like to try: Been wanting to try archery foreverrrr but the range near me is always SO crowded I chicken out every time An AU you're working on/thought of: I've been wanting to expand more on my kalluzeb railroad kiss fanart (...still need to finish that lol) where Kallus is some aristocrat/upper crust type and he encounters blue collar worker Zeb, clashing at first and going through classic enemies-to-lovers. All in fun period clothes of course. Maybe something Titanic-inspired, just for the aesthetics NOT the storyline cuz I am absolutely not strong enough to have one of them die lmao

While brainstorming on that, I also thought it could be fun switching their roles, so Zeb is actually upper class (royal Honor Guard and all that) and Kallus is the one who's lower class (insp. the popular headcanon of him coming from Coruscant slums) who for whatever story reasons is trying to pass himself off as upper class. He is of course very good at it but by sheer dumb luck Zeb happens to catch him in the lie and Plot ensues.

I'm fried right now so can't think of 9 whole ppl but @lost-in-derry @mayawakening @solsilverpine @heart-0f-a-rebel16 gooooo (if you haven't already/no pressure!)

[ibbity]

I haven't followed the main Fallout 4 questline that far (current mission is "find Virgil in the Glowing Sea" and I've been ignoring that for several in-game months) but I'm not satisfied with the only option at the end being to nuke the Institute. I feel like the most just thing to do in-universe would be to execute and/or expel the Institute's leadership and hand the place over to the non-courser synths as reparations, since their labor was what sustained it. Gameplay-wise, this could be an option for the Railroad and/or Minuteman ending - if you got kicked out early on, you would be stuck with "nuke 'em" as your only option, but if you managed to stay undercover long enough, a quest with this as its final stage would become available. Maybe there would be some tasks or a specific mission you would have to accomplish to open up that possibility. The Brotherhood of Steel ending, however, would remain as just "nuke 'em" since the BoS hate synths.

Coursers who were willing to accept the changeover could stay on as defense; those who weren't would have to share the leadership's fate. Maybe a new ruling council or board of governors could be elected from among the older/more knowledgeable synths. The rest of the non-synth Institute population would have to get their own fates decided by the new synth ruling council. Perhaps they could choose to extend mercy to those who weren't cruel to them and decree execution/exile for those who were. Or they could simply kick all of the non-synths out, since all of them benefitted from synth slave labor. In-game, this could be accomplished by having them lay out various options to the sole survivor and ask what sole thinks would be the best option. The synths could then choose whether or not to continue expanding their own population by creating more of their own kind. Maybe some of them want to be parents, and so could use their own genes/combine their genes with a partner to make a child for themselves to raise. This could also be a decision made in-game by having them discuss it with the sole survivor. Or it could just be stated that the new ruling council will make such decisions based on what they feel is best.

The Institute could then become a synth community, optionally with some non-synth researchers/workers there as well depending on what decision was made about that, and could serve as a center of free learning and progress, rather than closed and slave supported. Maybe it gets a new name at this point and isn't called "The Institute" anymore. The synth leadership could arrange for trade with other communities like vault 81 does - maybe there could be random encounters with a synth trader from the Institute after this was all accomplished, like Rylee from 81. Or random encounters with synths who wanted to go out and see the world. Other post-ending aspects could be that the sole survivor gets to have a permanent base in the Institute and is granted special status as a valued ally. At this point, the Railroad's original purpose would be obsolete, so they could pivot to spreading the word about what went down and advocating for synth acceptance now that the Institute, as such, no longer exists and will no longer do the things people were afraid of. The fact that the Institute's scientific and technological achievements can now be shared with the Commonwealth - if its people are willing to deal with synths as equals and allies - could be a good bargaining chip for this. As a special ally, and as the official Railroad/Minuteman liaison to the reformed Institute, the new synth management could sometimes ask the sole survivor to do quests for them. These quests could be things like persuading infiltrator synths to stop spying and come back to the Institute, or fixing a problem/helping with some work within the Institute, or rescuing an adventuring synth who went out into the Commonwealth and got into some trouble.

This endgame allows the synths to benefit from the results of their own labor, puts them in charge of their own destinies, and avoids the problem of "oops now there are a ton of homeless synths running scared among a surface population that fears them to the level of committing murder, and that doesn't understand what's actually going on." It also seems like the most just and equitable solution to me - the problem-causers are gone, the advantages of scientific/technological progress and development are retained, and the former slaves now have control over a safe and familiar environment that they've already been managing on the ground level anyway. Plus it opens up the possibility of some more interesting post-game missions and gives the Railroad a meaningful postgame raison d'etre.

[firstsprinces]

Thank you @anincompletelist for the tag this week! I can't wait for more of the dom!Henry/Alex you've got us begging for! I've been purposely saving the rest of bridesmaids so I can read it all in one go, and partially because I'm not ready to say goodbye to them yet!

We’re so close to this WIP finally being posted! This may be the last preview you'll get from this chapter. Below the cut, you'll also get a bonus share of this fic's title.

The radio announcer’s voice comes back in, breaking up in between his words as the signal Henry’s found seems to weaken, “if you are planning any kind of travel for this weekend, the Deputy Sheriff advises everyone to be cautious as the ‘Boxcar Bandit’ moves his way closer to our city. Policemen have begun to post these signs in businesses as well as passing around a sketch of what this twisted man may look like from an eyewitness who described him after spotting a suspicious-looking person rummaging through his pigs' feeding troughs late at night.” At the mention of the wanted poster, Henry twists around to reach into the pocket of his coat where he’d placed the paper the policeman had given him at the train station. He quickly unfolds it in excitement because he’ll finally have an idea about what the notorious outlaw may look like. When he opens the paper’s final fold, his eyes are met with the large bold letters spelling out ‘WANTED’ with a picture of a man wearing a black cowboy hat and a kerchief that covers everything but his eyes. Dark brows are furrowed on top of filled-in eyes, making him look deranged. Henry studies the way the man’s expression has been drawn because how could a witness describe the angry look in his eyes if he never approached him, especially if his face is covered and it had been dark outside? Henry wonders if this sketch will also be printed in the Western Observer, or if it already has been included in today’s edition. Surely, they must have because this is the biggest news story to hit the city since the railroad workers’ strike during the last war. Nobody’s going to bother with reading Henry’s column about the church’s fundraiser and bake sale when they can read the exhilarating update about the outlaw from the Southwest. He doesn’t blame anyone for wanting to skip his piece because it doesn’t compare to the increased fear about this criminal that could be heading their way. Henry doesn’t want to be a columnist anyway, but at the time it had been the only job available for the paper once he’d been granted entry into American territory. One day he hopes that he’ll be able to impress his boss enough so he can become a featured journalist and write and report on more newsworthy material that giving his short personal thoughts on things happening in the city or the surrounding farmlands. He doesn’t necessarily wish to be a reporter on politics and international affairs – partly because he has come to America from a different country and he will not tarnish his homeland just to please other people. He wants to travel and write about all the places he’s been, or maybe become an investigative journalist – just something with a sense of adventure.

Here’s the bonus share of the inspiration board with the fic’s title! I’m aiming for this week, or Monday at the latest to start!! If you'd like to be tagged when I publish his to AO3, let me know!

I know you've been tagged alreadt @priincebutt but you're also someone who always tags me and I also always appreciate when you do! This tag is always open and I will be checking in with everyone's posts shortly!