#please just stop Jfc

[mythals-whore]

Here is why i find it strange that there are some people who seem to think Minrathous specifically is too sanitized:

*a specific gripe that doesn’t have that much to do with the overall post but frustrated me all the same

To be so clear with anyone reading this, i am telling you why I personally do not take issue with there not being *sigh* more slavery in this game.

You don’t see more slaves (other than the ones you explicitly free) because you’re in the poorest part of Minrathous and the slaves, presumably owned by all the altus families, would be living in slave quarters with the altus families in the nicer parts. (Read up on the depiction of slavery debt vs. chattel HERE if you care)

Now that’s the easiest answer. But for anyone making this complaint, that isn’t good enough because we want to see the horror or it Doesn’t Exist. So allow me to continue.

What we learn form Dorian in DAI is that he doesn’t think slavery is wrong because his family ‘always treated their slaves well’. To treat slaves poorly in Minrathous is seen as Bad. It’s a moral responsibility to treat slaves well. Obviously, not everyone abides by this (I’m looking at you, corpses outside if Zara’s bloodbath chamber) but it’s the party line, if you will.

So, no. There aren’t slaves being whipped in the streets. Or…whatever else you might want to see. Because everything that happens in Tevinter, happens behind closed doors. Even blood magic is ‘officially’ frowned upon. Tevinter prides itself on a public stance that often isn’t reflected in actual moral practice. And I could tell you that it feels more indicative of politics as they are in real world now to have the outward stance be very different than the actual beliefs and values/morals held. But this post is about the apparent lack of slavery/racism in Veilguard, so I digress.

I have seen a lot of people bring up up alienages, or the lack-there-of in Minrathous. Which is, in the south, an area where the elves live similiar to ghettos/slums. Alienages were set up by Divine Renata I after the Exalted March against the Dales. They are a direct result of elves being forced into one walled-off part of town and creating a subculture based in-part on Dalish influence/heritage (the tree of the people being an example).

Stay with me.

Tevinter doesn’t have alienages. But Minrathous has Dock Town, which we are told explicitly is the poorest part of Minrathous. And we see that it is the poorest part because there are beggars everywhere and literally shanty towns along the streets where people are living. We are told explicitly by Neve that no one cares about Docktown except her (and the Shadow Dragons). There are demons running rampant, murders, thievery and no one cares because it’s Dock Town. Presumably because the Templars/any other sort of police they may have are a) corrupt and b) who cares about the poors??? They don’t contribute anything to society anyway and we don’t care about them.

In Dock Town most of what we’re seeing are not slaves, you’re right. They’re likely Liberati, freed slave class. Who are graciously allowed to begin a trade or join a Circle. They are not, however, allowed to serve in the military, the government, hold any rank in the imperial chantry. Also in Dock Town: the poorest of the Soperati, who can own property and serve in the military but otherwise have no representation in government or any real rank in the imperial chantry, or in general the ability do any social climbing. So they can never move up, they always stay stagnant, always poor and weak and never ever able to do anything about it.

This is your alienage equivalent, if it’s not clear. You’re in it. No, it isn’t walled off. But it doesn’t need to be walled off or called an alienage to be that part of town.

And before you ask about the tree of life, Tevinter slaves (and therefore the liberati class) are not just elves. They’re humans, dwarves and Qunari also (this is from World of Thedas Vol. I). All of which have different backgrounds, traditions and would not come together to form such a cohesive culture based on their Dalish heritage for reasons i’m sure i don’t have to spell out.

On a final and a bit of a personal note: i live in the southeast US. Bible belt. I grew up in a majority white suburb, and yes, I’m white. So as I said, if you have a different take, you’re entitled to it and maybe my opinion means nothing. But I grew up constantly hearing about the part of town that we don’t go to. Don’t go to that shopping center, its too close to [part of town where the minorities live]. And i tell you this to say that i never heard any of the adults in my life use a slur, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t being racist. And in fact, a lot of then pride themselves on not being racist and fail to see their implicit biases and the systemic racism.

So yeah, i guess to me, the minorities and the poor people being relegated to the part of town no one cares about, where crime and corruption are rampant is racism/classism as i have witnessed it most commonly in real life. It seems odd to me that people missed it or that it seems to not be ‘enough’ for people when it’s the kind of racism that is the most rampant in the present times (at least where i am) even if it’s not as explicit.

Again, i could get into the 40 acres and a mule, post-civil war reconstruction failures that kept black people down (share cropping) and is still keeping them down now and all the ways that minorities having the ‘same rights’ somehow tricks some people into thinking that racism and bigotry doesn’t exist anymore (just because Dock Town isn’t walled off doesn’t mean the people who live there are reasonably free to live elsewhere). But maybe that’s for another post where we talk about how freeing slaves is good, but not nearly enough to actually help marginalized people. (Government reform, which you know…you get to choose the new archon but that is irrelevant and doesn’t mean anything)

*I’d also like to say that i saw a post which referenced Chantry teachings that say kissing elves is like kissing a dog. I don’t know about this. What I do know is that in The Masked Empire There is a scholar out of the university in Orlais who comes out (on the authority and encouragement of Gaspard) and says that to lie with an elf is to lie with an animal because they’re more like rabbits and follow their baser instincts. I can only assume this is to what that post is referring. You may correct me if i am wrong.

So #1 it didn’t come from the chantry, as i remember. And #2 the schism between the Northern and Southern chantries is widely known, so what applies to one may not apply to the other. Very big rift. So it’s not surprising to me that this doesn’t come up, is all I’m saying.

[eddiebabygirldiaz]

yeah yknow what i really want in a book about two fucked up people doing fucked up stuff to each other and other people, true freak4freaks, is them psychoanalyzing each other to tell the reader that they are actually "good" people and have almost every conversation they have with each other include a fuckton of therapy speak, yeah mmm thanks

[le-fruity-fool]

FRANCISCO FARNSWORTH NO

[luna-the-cretar]

Motherfucker, I’m trying to go to bed bc it’s 3am and I have work in like 10hrs, and my brain is over here going into panic mode and convinced that I’m gonna die bc tooth hurts

Am I gonna die bc of a toothache? Probably not. Is my brain convinced otherwise, causing my heart rate to rise? Absolutely. Is it annoying? Very.

[screamingcrows]

I was that kid who Very Solemnly used phrases from a fantasy language in daily speech 👍 I blame my father for introducing me to Warcraft and enabling my embarrassing behaviour by replying in the same fantasy language. Sometimes, I still catch myself muttering "Bash'a no falor talah.." if I'm in a bad mood.

[whataperfectwasteoftime]

Good morning to everyone except my doctor's office who forced me to create an account to pay my bill online and on that account home page my weight and BMI are visible for my dumb little eyeballs to see and internalize even though one of my STAUNCH positions for ELEVEN FUCKING YEARS is to never ever ever know either of those numbers.

[crmsndragonwngss]

Some of my top genres are apparently Alabama metacore, Australian post hardcore, and Japanese punk rock?

Like… okay so what, Erra, Amity and/or Polaris, and… Crossfaith?

[pinkpixelpolygon]

screaming at the void why did this happen again

[badolmen]

I’m trying to find a way to parse this but like:

Make up culture is bad because of how capitalism has twisted appearance to be a basis of worth and social value. However, humans have been putting stuff on their skin since our ancestors started losing hair (maybe even before?) and ornamentation does have significant historic cultural value outside of modern late-capitalism induced self loathing.

Like. Make-up is not a thing in my immediate family. My mother and older sister? Nothing. My little sister is going to be so lucky to grow up in a space where she won’t have any expectation or support for make-up culture. I know make-up culture a shitty phenomenon; I know it steals time and money and self-worth from people at its worst and at its best feeds back into an appearance based cultural hierarchy.

But. But. There is such a rich and vibrant history to cosmetics outside of what is sold to reinforce that inevitably toxic culture. So many forms of art in face paint and more permanent and interesting body modification! There’s history and traceable evolving styles and intentions! And it fucking sucks that it’s been so corrupted to the point of no longer reflecting it’s original intent of being creative and unique and interesting!

Sometimes it just sounds like ‘don’t have tattoos don’t you know those annoying punks and degenerates have those?’ has just been repackaged as ‘don’t wear make-up don’t you know those annoying preps and conformists do that?’ Like I get what you’re trying to say but there is nuance to these conversations and willfully ignoring that nuance makes you sound ridiculous at best and outright hostile to any deviation from your standards at worst.

[unohanadaydreams]

Tfw one of your most agreeable employees is suddenly making you look like a fucking idiot on company time.

[missmitchieg]

i just woke up to news of cm being renewed for s18 even though s17 isn't out till tomorrow

Oh, ok.

What are the chances they change up the marketing strategy next season because Garvez finally got together so all the promo involving them is 70% them being cute together like Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton promoting Bridgerton?

[metaldwellerrr]

i'm so tempted to draw my kingilly au (also called stoplight trio fantasy au for my fam)... and POST IT... HERE... AA

[lichbutch]

oughhhh oh i hate you snapchat memories i hate you google photos reminders

[siph-by-induction]

I'm really not sure what to do with this one- there's no search button or any other features it's just a big aggressive CHOOSE YOUR GENDER button. please shut up, website, i know this no more than you do

[asgardian--angels]

hoo boy the number of baaaad takes on twitter since that con o'neill interview came out lmao

[soulsxng]

>:3