#pre-unification atla

[herebutnotpresent]

click for better quality

Tfw you transmigrate back into a shitty noble household, pre-unification Toph edition

check out their pre-uni atla idea @allgremlinart (ノ＞▽＜。)ノ

[allgremlinart]

@jetkoweek2023 day 7: free day (isekai)

[atlaculture]

Possible Water Tribe Weddings Pt. 1: Chukchi-Style

I’ve gotten quite a few asks regarding what sort of wedding traditions the Water Tribe would have. This has been a difficult question to answer, as the Water Tribe’s primary cultural inspiration (Inuit/Inupiat) traditionally didn’t have wedding ceremonies; pre-Christianized marriage was simply a matter of moving in together and starting a family. I recommend reading through Mostly-Mundane-ATLA’s blog, if you’re interested in learning more about Inupiat and Inuit culture.

That said, I also recognize that ceremonies can be a great source of inspiration for writers and artists. So I’ll be covering the wedding traditions of the adjacent cultural inspirations for the Water Tribe.

Also, the engagement necklace practice we see in the show is unique to the Avatarverse.

Chukchi

Next door to Alaska is Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula, the homeland of Chukchi people, a circumpolar people with a culture similar to Inupiat/Inuit people. The Chukchi marriage process begins when the family of the groom presents gifts to the family of the bride. If the bride's family accepts the gifts, the prospective groom then moves in with the bride’s family to help with the labor for a year, to prove that he will be an able provider and a good husband to his wife. If those 12 months go smoothly, then the couple will be married in a simple ceremony.

The actual wedding ceremony involves the bride, accompanied by her close relatives, traveling by reindeer to the groom’s home. Outside of the groom’s home, a reindeer is sacrificed. Using the reindeer’s blood, the couple and all relatives present are anointed with the groom’s family symbol, representing the unification of the two families. The bride would then be considered part of the groom’s family and would live with them.

There are also alternatives to the “standard” Chukchi wedding/marriage. Among maritime Chukchi--- those whose livelihoods lie in hunting rather than herding--- no reindeer is sacrificed and red ocher is used to do the anointing instead. Similarly, the groom may also join the bride’s family. In such a situation, the groom would travel to the bride’s home by reindeer and everyone present would be anointed with the symbol of the bride’s family. The groom would then live with the bride’s family from that point forward.

In Part 2, I’ll be covering the traditional marriage practices of the Sakha people.

Like what I’m doing? Tips always appreciated, never expected. ^_^

https://ko-fi.com/atlaculture

[duxbelisarius]

Dune At Home: The First Dornish War, Part One

This is a project I've had on the backburner ever since I finished my Military Analysis of the Dance. I mentioned in my analysis of the Velaryon Blockade that I plan to rewrite the Dance series at some point, in light of the research and further reading I've done into the subject of pre-modern warfare. One can look at this new series focused on the First Dornish War as essentially a trial run for the rewrite, but my reasons for analyzing this war in particular go far beyond that.

The First Dornish War was the largest conflict fought by the Seven Kingdoms following unification, while its outcome cast a long shadow over the history of Westeros and the Targaryen Dynasty. There's Rhaenys' death and the affect it has on her family, the recurrent desire of future monarchs to conquer Dorne and succeed where Aegon failed, to say nothing of the way in which the events of the war have influenced and continue to influence the plot of the main ASOIAF books. While F&B only devotes 10 pages to the war as compared to the 200 taken up by the Dance, the importance of the First Dornish War far exceeds it's limited coverage, and we can probably expect to learn more about it in TWOW, ADOS, and the Aegon's Conquest series planned by HBO. This more than justifies analyzing the First Dornish War and the extent to which it is consistent with George's own worldbuilding and what we know about Medieval and Early Modern war.

This first part of the series will assess the Dornish worldbuilding, what information we have about its people, geography, environment and society as a whole. The purpose of doing this is to establish a baseline of what we can know or reasonably infer about Dorne from what the books tell us, which can then be compared to how Dorne is portrayed in F&B during the First Dornish War. I also recommend checking out the Dornish installments of the Politics of the Seven Kingdoms series written by the late Steven Attewell of Race for the Iron Throne; if you want a second opinion or more detail, his series is absolutely worth your while!

Atlas of Ice and Fire estimates that Dorne's size is approximately 328 472 square miles, using a similar process to TWOIAF editor Elio Garcia; this makes Dorne slightly smaller than Pakistan (340 509 square miles) and slightly larger than the former French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, c.290 000 square miles). Atlas estimates a population of c.3 million in Dorne at the time of the ASOIAF series with his calculations again using methods similar to Elio, but the population may easily be lesser or greater than these extrapolations. Unfortunately the demographics of Planetos are a mess at best, and Dorne's population and that of the Seven Kingdoms should in theory be much smaller at the time of the First Dornish War.

ADWD's map of the south and TWOIAF's map of Dorne identify 16 and 17 populated locations in Dorne respectively, excluding Ghaston Grey, the Tower of Joy, Vulture's Roost and the Water Gardens. 7 of these settlements are located in the Red Mountains, aka the Dornish Marches: Starfall, High Hermitage, Blackmont, Skyreach, Kingsgrave, Wyl and Yronwood. Dorne is divided into eastern and western halves south of the mountains, with the eastern half beginning in the hills around the source of the Vaith and Scourge rivers and extending to the Broken Arm, and Dorne's western half comprising mostly desert save for the sulfurous Brimstone River. The aforementioned maps show only two settlements in western Dorne, Sandstone and Hellholt, while the remaining 7-8 settlements are located in Eastern Dorne: Vaith, Salt Shore, Lemonwood, Sunspear, Ghost Hill, Godsgrace, The Tor and Planky Town. All of the settlements in eastern Dorne are located directly beside the Vaith, Scourge and Greenblood Rivers or to the north of them, save for Salt Shore on Dorne's southern coast.

These dispositions reflect what we know about the settlement patterns of Dorne's past from TWOIAF: the majority of the First Men settled in the Greenblood valley or the Red Mountains, with the Daynes, Fowlers and Yronwoods settling in the latter area and the Wades, Shells and many more settling by the former. Only the unnamed Lords of the Wells ventured into the western deserts, and these were a minority. Only with the arrival of the Andals do we know of named houses settling in the west, House Uller and Qorgyle, while the Martells, Allyrions, Jordaynes, Santagars and Vaiths settled in the east along the northern coast and in the river valleys. When the Rhoynar arrived in Dorne and finally settled they mainly stayed in the east near the coast and the river valleys, further cementing the Red Mountains and eastern Dorne as the most populous areas of the country.

The distribution of Dorne's population is also consistent with the information we have about it's geography and climate. George's inspirations for Dorne in this regard were Spain and Palestine, and Morocco also fits the bill, being regions where summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and wet. These areas also have the bulk of their population situated along the coast and in the major river valleys, which is again consistent with George's worldbuilding. More than three-quarters of the land south of the Red Mountains is arid wasteland according to TWOIAF, with the bulk of this land being flat save for the hills at the source of the Greenblood and it's tributaries, and a small mountain range between The Tor and Ghost Hill on Dorne's northern coast. Dorne's southern coast is some 400 leagues/c.1200 miles long according to Rodrick Harlaw, and is largely barren outside of Salt Shore with few sources of fresh water for passing ships to utilize.

It should also come as no surprise that Dorne's population distribution coincides with those areas with an abundance of fresh water, for consumption and agricultural purposes. Eastern Dorne is mostly scrubland with hard, rocky soil that relies heavily upon the Greenblood for irrigation; alongside the Brimstone and Torrentine, the Greenblood is the only river which does not dry up during any season. Potential sources of fresh water in the Red Mountains include the Torrentine and Wyl Rivers as well as an unnamed river that ends near Yronwood, alongside groundwater from wells and rain/meltwater collected from streams, springs and cisterns. Due to the Brimstone being sulfurous, fresh water in western Dorne comes primarily from wells, watering holes and oases.

The result of Dorne's varied geography, climate and population distribution a history of political division and the emergence of Dornish subcultures following Nymeria's wars. The Rhoynar arrived in Dorne less than 700 years before Aegon's Conquest, following the destruction of the Rhoynar Principalities by the Valyrian Freehold, prior to which the First Men and Andals had warred with each other and their Reacher and Stormlord neighbours for millenia. Nymeria and her people spent more than four years in the area of the Summer Sea before arriving in Dorne and allying with Mors Martell, and it took more than a decade to unify the Dornish lands. Four Dornish subcultures emerged in the centuries after the Rhoynar settled, known to us from the ASOIAF books and TWOIAF as the Stoney, Sandy and Salty Dornish, and the Orphans of the Greenblood.

The Orphans have a small population that lives on poleboats in the Greenblood valley and near Planky Town, and retain the language and gods of the Rhoynar, while the Salty Dornish live along the coast and retain some Rhoynar customs but have adopted the common tongue and the Faith of the Seven. The Sandy Dornish live in the deserts and the river valleys, and are closer to the Rhoynar than the Stony Dornish who live in the Red Mountains, some of whom may still practice male-preference primogeniture as opposed to absolute primogeniture. Internal divisions ensured conflict too place within Dorne even after unification, with Nymeria facing two rebellions during her 27 year reign according to TWOIAF. The Yronwoods rebelled several times in the centuries before Aegon's Conquest and supported 3 of the 5 Blackfyre rebellions; following the death of Nymeria's grandson Mors II, his successors the Red Princes (2 of 3 were female) faced further rebellions and sought to suppress the Rhoynar language, driving the Orphans to speak their mother tongue in secret only.

Other aspects of Dorne's worldbuilding will be discussed in greater detail in subsequent installments, but for now I believe this is a solid baseline for us to use. Similar to my analysis of the Velaryon Blockade, I'm going to offer my potential fix-its or improvements now as opposed to saving them all for a conclusion like I did with the Dance series. I think this is process is better based on the feedback I received for the Dance, as its better to highlight those aspects that still work and what areas can be made better as opposed to just listing off flaws ad nauseum. Although not perfect, I think that Dorne's worldbuilding is a step up from how the rest of the Seven Kingdoms are portrayed, being on par with the North and Iron Islands in terms of the information we're given about their socities and their cultural diversity. With the exception of the Vale and Riverlands to some extent, Westeros between the Neck and the Dornish Marches tends to blend together; for example, we have little indication of any differences in Westerlands culture between the coast and the Western Hills, or the mining communities and peasant farmers, despite having three major POVs from the Westerlands (Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion).

Dorne's cultural diversity is significant as there should be a greater variety of cultures and languages in Westeros just based on the great distances and different terrain, even among the First Men and Andals. That being said, there is one quibble I have concerning the four Dornish subcultures, specifically the 'Stony' and 'Sandy Dornish.' Rhoynar culture had a strong affinity with water due to their original home in the Rhoyne valley and use of water magic; TWOIAF also states that those who settled in Dorne preferred to live by the sea which had been their home during their wanderings, hence the 'Salty Dornish' culture. It doesn't really follow that the 'Sandy Dornish' should be more like the Rhoynar than the 'Stony' based on this information; if anything the reverse should be the case based on geography and settlement patterns.

Access to the sea is greater in the Red Mountains than the western desert thanks to the mouth of the Torrentine and the western coast of the Sea of Dorne, whereas Dorne's southern coast is mostly uninhabitable. The greater abundance of fertile land and fresh water in the mountains would better accommodate Rhoynar refugees than the more scarce resources of the western deserts; despite TWOIAF's references to water witches making "dry streams flow and deserts bloom," the majority of Dorne's population remains concentrated in the east and the Red Mountains, suggesting these were just legends or that water magic did not significantly improve the habitability of western Dorne.

The way the 'Sandy Dornish' and their culture are described is also contradictory; despite references to their living in the river valleys as well as the deserts, TWOIAF makes it clear that outside the valleys, "men live in different fashion" and describes the 'Sandy' way of life as centered around wells and oasis which support life in the desert. We also know that five of the six kings that Nymeria exiled to the wall were from the Red Mountains: Yorick Yronwood, Vorian Dayne, Garrison Fowler, Benedict Blackmont and Albin Manwoody, with Lucifer Dryland of Hellgate being the outlier. Largescale Rhoynar settlement in the marches should have been a priority for Nymeria in light of the opposition she faced from the lords of the Red Mountains, both to repopulate an area that had seen heavy fighting and ensure that the border of Dorne was settled with people that were personally loyal to her and had arranged marriages with the local houses.

The 'Stony Dornish' should be closer to the Rhoynar than the 'Sandy' on this basis alone, and this could have had interesting implications for the story and worldbuilding. Given the significant presence of the Andals in the western deserts, it would have been interesting to see how this remoteness affected the local development and practice of the Faith of the Seven. Ellaria Sand is a bastard of House Uller who are one of the Andal houses that settled in the desert, though we only get glimpses of her in ASOS, AFFC and ADWD; by having the 'Sandy Dornish' be more distinct, we could have seen how her houses' Andal roots affected her character if at all. Perhaps she would be closer to Tyene Sand due to her training to be a Septa, and Tyene could even instruct Oberyn and Ellaria's four daughters in the Faith? In fact this raises a broader criticism of the Dornish worldbuilding, being how the practice of the Faith in Dorne differs from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. TWOIAF mentions that the more liberal sexual morays of the Rhoynar clashed with the teachings of the Faith, but is the Dornish Faith deemed schismatic? Were there any conflicts with the Faith hierarchy? This is a subject that would be worth exploring since the in-universe author of TWOIAF, Maester Yandel, insists that the Andals learned ironworking from the Rhoynar and that there were relations between the two peoples prior to the Andal migrations. Did Rhoynar beliefs affect the development of the Faith in Essos and vice-versa, and did this have any affect on the adopting of the Faith by the Rhoynar that settled in Dorne?

We're going to cover more issues with the worldbuilding of Dorne once we start discussing the First Dornish War itself, but for now these are the extent of my issues as concerns the foundational worldbuilding. I believe George did a solid job of constructing it despite some flaws, and that greater issues mainly arise when trying to square this portrayal of Dorne with what we're shown in the Dornish Wars.

[fanfictionlive]

I have a great idea for a Legend of Korra fanfic, need some feedback and general ideas

Ok, so, i've recently been on an Avatar roll after rewatching ATLA with some friends and watching Lily Peet's video essay on why LOK was bad (it's a great video, i dont necessarily agree with him on everything but he has some great points). I was about to go to sleep the other day when i stumbled upon a video by uniquenamesaurus about making an avatar show where the avatar is the bad guy of the story, and then i had the most awesome idea i've ever had when it comes to fanfics (not that i get that many, but this is legit the first one where i want to sit down and actually write the damn thing)

This is the basic idea:

​

Seasons 1 through 4 of LOK still happen, everything stays the same until the last two episodes of Book 4, where the fight between Kuvira and Korra ends very differently. Instead of Korra winning the fight aboard the cockpit of the collosus, she loses, and Kuvira kills her (dont know how, just roll with me here, this isnt the part i really like). Without the Avatar the Republic City resistance loses all hope and leadership and scatters, taking severe losses in the form of Tenzin, Lin, Suyin and Mako. The survivors of the battle flee to the Air Nation, where they can't do anything except watch as Kuvira accomplishes her goal of completely unifying the Earth Empire. To everyone's surprise, Kuvira does not pursue further war against the other nations, and instead focuses on managing her empire and establishes a truce with the other nations (basically a "you dont mess with me, i dont mess with you" kind of deal). The Air Nation and the Southern Water Tribe (both understandably pissed at the Earth Empire for murdering the Avatar and also the de facto leader the air nomads) refuse to deal with the empire and essentially boycott them from everything, while the Fire Nation and the Northern Water tribe remain neutral in the conflict and have good (if a bit tense) relations with the earth empire.

Jump 15 years into the future, where Kuvira has proven that the unified Earth Empire is a force to be reckoned with, they're the most prosperous nation in the world as well as the most technologically advance. The populace of the Earth Empire live in a more egalitarian society, and their lives are demonstrably better now that the earth monarchy has been abolished, but economic factors aside, the empire sees severe discrimination of people from the fire nation, as the wounds of the Hundred Year war and the Harmony Restoration movement are exploited by Kuvira to keep the support of the people. The Air Nation (having opposed the unification of the empire) as well is treated with denigration and accused of being anti-empire conspirators. Anyone who opposes Kuvira's rule is treated to a trip to the prison camps, where they're used as part of the work force of the empire or are straight up executed; but thanks to the economic boom that the unification brought and the near idilic safety that the empire provided, Kuvira is seen as a larger than life figure, on par with what Fire Lord Sozin was to the Fire Nation pre-Zuko (think of George Washington or Simon Bolivar).

Kuvira knows that the next Avatar in the cycle will appear in the Earth Empire, and she spends the next seven years after Korra's death looking for him (or her, idk yet) until she finally finds him (i dont know what name to call him, i do know it'd be cool to have a Lava-bending Avatar, i think metalbending has gotten all the expansion it needed). Kuvira understands that having the Avatar on her side would be a huge military and strategic advantage, but since the last Avatar was very much opposed to the empire, the populace has a very deep hatred of the Avatar (think of Ching the conqueror and Kyoshi), she takes the boy/girl in as her protegé/adopted child and personally trains him/her, raising him/her to believe that the Earth Empire's claim to Republic City was justified and moral, and generally indoctrinating him to be staunchly in support for the Earth empire; this new avatar doesnt know that he's avatar until his fifteenth birthday, when Kuvira finally reveals him to the world and becomes the center of attention once again, drawing the ire of the chief of the southern water tribe (Korra's father), who views this as a sign that Kuvira will start expanding once again, using his daughter (kinda) as a weapon. He tries to carry out an assasination attempt on Kuvira but the avatar stops him, and he's executed by Kuvira in a public broadcast; the Earth Empire oficially declares war on the Southern Water Tribe and the Avatar, for the first time ever, is used as a weapon in a war.

The remaining plot of the story would focus on how the avatar initially believes the Earth Empire is a force of good, but slowly learns in the war against the water tribe that he's on the wrong side. With a focus on him connecting with Korra and the characters of LOK and learning that Kuvira was in fact wrong, and manipulated him the entire time. Kuvira would be the main antagonist of the story, and the whole thing would be much more focused on the politics of this radically changed world, the complicated relation that the world now has with this new avatar (who is hated by the Earth Empire for eing a reincarnation of Korra, but simultaneously hated by the world for being in support of the empire) and the avatar learning his place and duty as this figure (Kuvira would be explored much more in depth in the story, and this complicated relationship that she has with the new avatar could have some really good emotional beats too, since her ruthlesness would clash against the fact that she's essentially fighting her own child, and as for the avatar it would give him a really layered conflict with her; again mixed emotions, he hates her for manipulating him but cant quite bring himself to kill her because she's been his mother figure for a good part of his life)

So that's my main idea, i'd love to see what kinf of feedback i get on this, since its an idea that i REALLY like. What kinds of challenges would writing such a thing bring? What should i explore with the MC and Kuvira, and heck even the legacy characters? I just want to develop this idea really well

submitted by /u/AlbinoTuxedo [link] [comments] from FanFiction: Where Magical Ponies battle Imperial Titans https://ift.tt/2qrcnZs

[mi5014andrewjung]

Study of Korean culture

Cultural Orientation: Traditionalist, One Cultural Identity,

Possible Options;

1) Korean missionary

2) Cult like church/unification church (guns for god) 

Believers will rule with a rod of iron

Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven

Build God’s kingdom on earth: Use of arms to do so. 

Peace kingdom police (not a vigilante): There’s evil in the world- need to protect ourselves. 

Against the Gun control debate. 

 Psalm 2:8-9

��Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a Rod of Iron (gun); You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel. 

Break a nation into shivers

Revelation 2:27

“He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’”

Korean Etiquette

Pastor Sean Moon: who studied religion in Harvard. (outfit- ebay suit, and crown attached ornaments of bullets) {Harvard Theologian}

How to build God’s Kingdom proposal. Using the rod of iron.  

Koreans perceive it as a cult. 

AR-15- what if the students at Parkland school could have shot back? 

Unification movement

Accuse church of brainwashing. Infamous for mass weddings.

Nunchi, Kibun

Social Harmony

Addressing by Last name and than given name, addressing each other by title

Meeting and greeting- bowing, using both hands to give something

Communication: no excess body language, misdemeanour to use no., good posture

No direct eye contact, personal physical space, don’t point at people

Wrapping paper for gifts- avoid red, host should present first when meeting, feel indebted by receiving expensive gifts. Avoid red writing

Food: used to build relationships, women often pour for men, do not pour your own drink, socialising happens once feasted, never refuse invitation or suggestions (singing)

Palli Palli culture

Avoid using the number 4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok

Korea basic history of religion

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Christianity_in_Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Korea

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2018/february/korean-christianity.html

Fundamental

Opening the door fo the christianity

Buddhist split between state and church was eliminiated

Neo-confuscioan

out side yangban and aristocrats discontent with ideologies. 

Korean government against Proselytizing koreans 

YI Kwangjong returned from Beijin carying a world atlas and theological books written by Matteo Ricci. 

17th century: Yi Sugwang, Yu Mongin wrote critical commentaries on Ricci’s workd. 

Criticism of christianity continued unabated. 

Silhak schools development

= attracted to egalitarian values of christianity. 

55 percent of all catholic had family ties to Silhak schools. 

First Prayer House: 1784 In Pyongyang 

Different to the development of faith from Europe

Catholics practiced faith through studying texts brought in from China. (developing communities of faith)

Against the official rule (Canon Law) of establishing a hierarchy of lay priests. 

Early spread was done through the initiatives of the indigenous lay workers. 

1780’s: portions of the Gospels appeared in hangul. 

Effect of translating written work to Hangul- assisting the message to be spread outside the upper class. 

Struggle in spreading faith.  

IMPACT: The network of schools implemented by Christian missionaries led to the dissemination of Christian assisting the literacy rate. 

Hangul invented by Sejong in 1446- it was not used for several centuries because of the pereception that chinese is superior. 

Catholic Church valued Hangul 

Protestant church: had hangul literacy as a pre-requisite for admission to Holy Communion. 

Auspices of the missions schools: female literacy rose sharply. 

Many South Korean Christians view their religious faith as a factor in the country's dramatic economic growth over the past three decades, believing that success and prosperity are indications of God's blessing

exceeding their American counterparts in such areas as frequency of attendance at group worship services

Social

Before inbred of confucianism hierarchical teaching. However, when the top declines in providing help and care for the lower class. The structure tends to turn despotic. When those at the top do not have the attribute to support any longer. 

Lower class constituent during the Joseon Dynasty. Individual rights had little standing. 

However, the christian teaching that: The Christian teaching that all men are created in the "Image of God" (Genesis 1.26-27), and thus that every individual has implicit worth, radically challenged that structure. The right to own private property closely aligned to that concept.

. The Church prohibited the traditional arranged child marriages, and the neglect of daughters (who, in Asian society were often regarded as less "desirable" than sons).

prohibition of ancestor worship put a strain on family and social relationships in a Confucianist society where veneration of ancestors has long been an expression of the esteemed virtue of filial piety. 

Furthermore, many Christian denominations had a Fundamentalist outlook that disparaged believers in Buddhism and Confucianism, thus breaking up social and familial cohesion in a society that had been relatively tolerant of religious diversity.

Minjung point of view

Term: common people

History to judged based on the acts of minjung and acts upon minjung. 

Christianity have appeared in order to improve the state of the minjung, to make life on earth  more comfortable and pleasant for the minjung. Emphasizing nationalism as well as human rights, Minjung Theology appeals increasingly to both right and left, politically, in Korean society.

Catholic Farmers Movement and Protestant Urban Industrial mission: A campaign for better wages, working conditions for agricultural and industrial workers. (manifestation of minjung theology)

Such movements were seen as a threat to social stability- gov. Made attempts to stain the movement. 

Kim Young sam (a practitioner of Minjung Theology) 

President after 1988. 

TODAY

29 percent are South korean. 

⅔ of christians in North Korea before Korean War. But imbue to fleeing away from the country. 

Christians in North Korea were repressed. 

2nd to most missionaries sent abroad. 

David Yonggi Cho: founder of colossal Yoido Gospel church. 

Human Rights and Democracy appeal helped in exponential growth of churches. 

Unification church development. 

Christian intoleration has led to disregard and reflect upon christian compassion. 

Ex: Unification Church

[markoutmania]

Progress Ch.88 SSS16 Day 2 Thoughts

Chapter 88: Super Strong Style 16 - Day 2 Show date: 5th May 2019

Aerostar vs Daga -OH MAN! What a FUN opening match! They were surprisingly a little awkward at the start of the match but they find their groove and Aerostar is AMAZING and Daga is very good, of course, and they have a really fun little match. Nothing out of this world but a LOT of fun! 2.75 stars!

Kyle Fletcher vs Jordan Devlin - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOW! This was a really fun match. It could have been a SUPER match but there was a LOT of sloppiness, especially from Fletcher. He went for a springboard moonsault early and was not going to make the full rotation in a scary moment. Devlin caught him, stopped his dangerous trajectory and guided him down safely in a suplex fashion but they both sold it as if Fletcher hit the moonsault. 2 minutes later, Fletcher is out of the ring, Devlin goes for a moonsault off the top. Kyle is out of position, just like he was for Daga's dive in Day 1, but instead of Devlin splatting dangerously like Daga did, Jordan was able to save himself from disaster. Later in the match they tried for an epic series of reversals & counter reversals of the tombstone piledriver and so many times it was Fletcher again messing up during this chain sequence. I'm not saying Fletcher is crap, but I think he was not ready for these high profile singles matches. Not at all. Anyways, that stuff aside, the idea of the back & forth match they went for here was exciting but execution, as noted, left a lot to be desired. Ah well, fun anyways! 2.5 stars!

Ilja Dragunov vs Trevor Lee - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG! We get a long pre-match promo from Trevor Lee doing his big league WWE star schtick and trying to tell Dragunov that they should go easy on each other since they both work in the WWE system (Lee in NXT, Dragunov in NXT UK) and then he tricks the ref and low blows Ilja to try and steal the quick win. But it doesn't go down like that. Dragunov survives, and VERY QUICKLY destroys Lee with like 2-3 moves and IT'S OVER in moments! Dragunov advances! Fun but not much to this! 1.5 stars.

Jinny w/ Laura di Matteo vs Session Moth Martina - winner goes into Day 3's women's title match -OMG! So much fun! Martina may lack perfect execution & smoothness in the ring but she has so much charisma and is so gosh darned fun! You just can't help but fall under the spell of her antics. Jinny has really good submission game and great kicks from all I've seen of her from the MYC, NXT UK and here in Progress. These two worked really well here and put together a simple but very fun match. Martina defeats Jinny, a first for Martina, and we get a big moment for Martina and a farewell for Jinny. Good stuff! 2.5 stars!

Do Not Resuscitate vs Haskins, Havoc, Andrews and Ligero - No DQ tag team match -Wow! At times this was a TON of fun, and the Eddie Dennis-Mark Andrews reunion moment was pretty fantastic, but there was also just a lot of just pointless things happening in this match. It was just a lot of brawling & spots with minimal selling at times, with no direction other than ACTION & VIOLENCE IS HAPPENING THEY ALL HATE EACH OTHER! There are better ways to show the hate with in ring story than executed here but it was a bunch of violent fun and had some cool moments. Fun stuff! 2.5 Stars!

Kyle O'Reilly vs Paul Robinson - SSS16 Quarter-Final -WOWZA! This was REALLY GOOD! It started off a little odd, O'Reilly was kind of playing around & hokey and bossing around the little angry man, Robinson. But it turned into a HELLUVA match! Both men worked over each other's knees, used cool submissions, cool strike sequences, built up a heck of an in-ring story & struggle to a dramatic conclusion! I love when a match wins you over and this one certainly did going from kind of goofy to good! O'Reilly wins to face Devlin in the semi-finals! Good good match! 3 stars!

Postmatch Jimmy Havoc comes out and says he wants to wrestle his last match in Progress against Robinson to decide which one is the better man for sure. It will be a death match of course. OMG. Havoc-Robinson Death Match on Night 3!! Yowza!

David Starr vs Travis Banks - SSS16 Quarter-Final -OMG!!! This was pretty DAMNED GOOD! Heated! Stiff! Action packed! These two have history & bad blood and it showed as they tore into each other! The match ended in a double pin but Jim Smallman says "Nope! Carry on!" So then the intensity goes up MULTIPLE TIMES! EVEN STIFFER AND HARDER HITTING! Banks's mouth is busted wide open! THEY CAN'T STOP FIGHTING THROUGH THE CROWD! SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY STARR! GERMAN SUPLEX ON THE FLOOR BY BANKS! BOTH MEN ARE COUNTED OUT??!!! AIEEEEEE! And then... RIP EACH OTHER INTO LITTLE BITTY PIECES BRAWLING BETWEEN THEM! All the Progress crew can't keep them apart until Jim says  WE AIN'T HAVING IT! You either reign it in or your BOTH out of the SSS16 tournament! But if you can go to the back and calm down... One of the semi-finals tomorrow? NOW A TRIPLE THREAT MATCH!!! HOLY MOLY!!! FANTASTIC PRO WRESTLING! I LOVED this! 3.5 stars!!

Chris Ridgeway, Darby Allin & Lucky Kid vs Artemis Spencer, Chris Brookes & DJZ -WOW!! This was RIDICULOUSLY fun!! Basically a spot fest sprint but WHAT A FUN ONE! Everyone got to shine in this action packed lucha rules trios match. So many cool spots including a SKATEBOARD ASSISTED DOUBLE FOOT STOMP by Allin on Artemis Spencer! Super fun! 2.5 stars!

WALTER vs Trent Seven - World and Atlas titles unification match -WOAH! This was a good match! It was maybe a little hard to buy into Trent Seven being at times on equal terms with Walter but that aside they had a STIFF, brutally stiff, hard hitting match that saw Seven up against it but fighting back constantly and seemingly slowly chopping down the big man with the bigger weapons. The finish was great from a story telling point of view. The ref takes a bump, Walter goes to grab both belts and use them as weapons. Seven gets ahold of one of the belts, the ref is coming to. Walter tosses his belt aside and goes to the waking ref and points out Seven w/ the belt in his hands. The crowd FURIOUS as the ref scolds Seven, Trent doing all he can to assure the ref it is not what it seems. The ref takes the belt, Trent turns around.. SNEAK ATTACK BIG BOOT AND THEN REAR NAKED CHOKE! Seven is fading but close to the ropes. His arm drops twice, but stays up the 3rd time, he tries to fight, he gets a foot to the ropes but the ref doesn't see it and.. STOPS THE MATCH! The crowd now BEYOND FURIOUS! Walter kicks Seven's foot off the ropes before the ref can see it and with an angry crowd throwing middle fingers up at him, the ring general from Germany is crowned the 1st ever Unified World Champion of Progress! Great scenes post match with Seven being helped to the back, seemingly near death and Walter holding the belts in the air, rubbing his cheap win in the faces of the fans while the commentators wax poetic that the Progress World Title is almost like the one ring from Tolkien's LOTR mythos. Fantastic stuff! Great pro wrestling even if not the best match action wise. 3 stars!

Overall: WOW! This was a great show! Good & fun matches all up and down and the SSS16 tournament really heated up and I can't wait to see how it all concludes! The main event had a compelling story and with Walter turning "corrupted" by the Progress world title, you begin to look for who will be positioned to dethrone him. Good stuff! Can't wait for more!

[allgremlinart]

ahhh fuck it. pre-uni EK concepts since I know I've neglected them a lot,,.

I debated posting this to my non-fandom blog since it's not what a lot of u followed me for but w/ever. woe. worldbuilding be upon ye

[loservillepopulationone]

[gif of azula and zuko falling out a mysterious spirit portal into the pre-unionification era Azula asks "Is it my turn for a nonsensical fieldtrip" while zuko grumbles face down into the ground]

I am frothing at the mouth i desperately need this au i am going to go insane this is going to take over my mind how DARE you do this to me this is all im going to be thinking about for the next few weeks

BONUS:

Zuko the nerd trying to figure out when and where they are as Azula solves all their problems the usual way (with fire)

atla isekai but they just get sent back to their pre-unification era ... play with me in this space PLAY WITH ME IN THIS SPAAAACEEE .. if u want .. (scuffs shoes) ..

[allgremlinart]

The Most Underrated Line In All Of ATLA/TLOK And Its Many Worldbuilding Implications - A Ramble

In S2E7 of TLOK we get this dialogue from Wan and The Aye-Aye Spirit: "There are other Lion Turtles?" "Of course there are - dozens of them!" [timestamp 3:38 in this video]

It's such a quick line it's easy to miss, but there's one thing about it that made a LOT of things click into place for me about the Avatar universe's worldbuilding; the fact that there are (or were) dozens of Lion Turtles. NOT four, with one for each element, like you would assume. Dozens.

What does this mean in terms of the Four Nations? What connections might this have with other previously established lore? Well uhm follow me on this journey. I guess.

Pre-Unifications - A Global Warring States Era?

A warring states era on a wouldn't be nearly as compelling if there were only four Lion Turtles. If this were the case, everything would be perfectly balanced; why would there be disarray, violence, cultural disparity and struggles for power within each elemental group if the world was already perfectly divided into four solid groups? Why would a national identity be in question at all?

But the fact that there are more than one Lion Turtle per element... that means different groups of people being isolated from one another for long periods of time. This means different bodies of identity, regardless of element. Different city states, regional Kings, Queens, fiefdoms, dynastic power struggle, etc etc, before any sort of inherent loyalty the ones element as a national and cultural identity was established.

We know the Avatar world was not always divided into Four Nations. In Chapter 21 of The Rise Of Kyoshi we learn that Guru Laghima - a name you'll recognize from TLOK S3 - was from an era when the Four Nations had not yet been formed. We also know from Zaheer that he lived about 4,000 years before the events of TLOK (for context, thats about 6,000 years after Wan became the first Avatar).

There's further confirmation of this in Smoke And Shadow, where we learn about the first Firelord and the Fire Nation's unification wars.

However there's implications of this even in the original series; it's not some sloppy ret-con from the books and comics, it fits. Think Omashu:

In S2E2 of ATLA we get the story of Oma and Shu - and we learn that they come from "warring villages." Now why exactly would their villages be warring if The Earth Kingdom already existed? Why the need for a power struggle? Why is it not presented as a civil insurrection or civil war, but as a conflict between two distinct groups of people? The answer is that the "Earth Kingdom" as we conceptualize it did not exist. I'd go further and say that we can assume that after Omashu was established it became a powerful regional kingdom, and created strong sphere of cultural influence. Think about it - Bumi is King Of Omashu. King. NOT the Earth King, King Of The Earth Kingdom, but still King Of Omashu.

[Now there's some debate about where Omashu's founding sits on the timeline but to me it HAS to be post-Wan, probably very nearly immediately post-Wan. The line that calls them the "first earthbenders" and that they "learned earthbending from the badger moles" has caused some to question if they fit in with the "Lion Turtles bestowed bending" lore, but to me it fits pretty easily. The Lion Turtles may have bestowed the power but the actual technique was learned from the badger moles and dragons and blah blah blah.]

I also find this line from Jianzhu in The Rise Of Kyoshi very illuminating:

VINDICATION !! And Jianzhu's moaning over the cultural diversity within his country brings me to the second part of this post...

FC Yee And Gene Luen Yang Accidentally (?) Make Avatar's Cultural Mish Mash Make More Sense

Avatar's cultural gumbo of visuals has always been a little hard to parse. If you follow @atlaculture then you know it'd be kind of fruitless to try and apply any one single ethnicity/culture to one nation. A common, and very valid, criticism of Avatar is the pan-asian approach it takes to worldbuilding. I'm not here to defend that lol. I think people who dislike Avatar on that basis are well within their rights to do so, and I also think it's important to enjoy things critically.

HOWEVER, from a worldbuilding perspective, the mish mash becomes easier to swallow when you think of it in terms of multiple groups of people being unified into different nation states over a very long period of time and slowly intertwining their cultures into a single(ish) identity.

Take the Fire Nation for example: in FC Yee's The Shadow Of Kyoshi we learn that the government was much more decentralized and the country was controlled by different clans, like the Saowon and Keosho, who had individual spheres of influence and strong senses of identity. It makes me think about Mai and Ty Lee

They're both Fire Nation nobles and they both live in the Fire Nation capital - but their styles/clothes are completely different. Now, obviously that can be boiled down to personality-based character design but. There's a wide discrepancy between Mai's Edo Japan inspired hair and Ty Lee's Thai inspired performance outfit, and a little retroactive canon about them being part of different but powerful clans .. ? Yeah. That'd be fun, at the very least.

I could go on about this... was there a Water Lion Turtle at the north AND the south? How did the airbenders transition from relatively sedentary life on a Lion Turtle to nomadism? etc etc etc BUT in conclusion: TLOK and the comics have some very fun worldbuilding implications snuck in there !! Which makes up for a lot in my opinion. Personally I'd KILL for an Avatar series set in the warring states/unification period... I think that could be insanely cool...idk. The End. For Now.

[allgremlinart]

I would like to hear about the earth kingdom over expansion theory

‼️ ok. admittedly this DOES require some knowledge of my pre-unification theory to understand better sdhsdh.

but basically, it rests on a few certain assumptions and ideas that make me believe that The Earth Kingdom looks as big as it does because it has made some aggressive, ambitious, and somewhat wobbly land claims throughout its history.

the facts of canon are as follows:

While being divided into smaller kingdoms and states the Earth Kingdom has a centralized seat of power that exerts authority and administration over them (currently, Ba Sing Se).

The Northern Air Temple is marked on the world map as Earth Kingdom Territory, while the other three Air Temples which are not connected to the contiguous EK by land are not.

By 4,000 BG the four nations were not yet unified or ethnically identifiable.

my assumptions and theories are as follows:

While when we appear on the scene in 100AG its clear that the 4 nations developed to have a strong sense of ethnic identity, it is unclear if national ethnic (see: elemental) identity came before or after these territories unified.

The borders of the 4 four nations changed and oscillated over time.

It is the central authority that is currently in power (BSS, Chin The Conqueror, Kuvira, etc) that decides what is and what is not considered the "Earth Kingdom."

These decisions and claims are not always 100% salient, or there is no intrinsic or inherent claim to an ethnic Earth sovereignty over all the territory we see that it possesses.

So essentially what I've concluded/headcanoned based off my own personal assumptions is:

Once upon a time the Earth Kingdom decided that the Northern Air Temple and the mountains they lived in were now Earth Kingdom territory. The Air Nomads simply didn't challenge this because they didn't care about borders or nation states and also the EK has no way of ascending to the temples to collect taxes from them or anything anyway.

Once upon a time the Earth Kingdom decided that the islands closest to the South Pole, which were historically either a mix of Earth and Water elemental identities, mostly Water Tribe, or populated mostly by non-benders, were now Earth Kingdom territory. The people from these islands did not put up much of a fight to these claims since the EK rarely bothered to sail out there anyway.

In conclusion: this theory is mostly an excuse for me to make the world's history messier (because it's fun and realistic) and to expand the Southern Water Tribe's identity and cultural sphere of influence (because it's fun and I can draw about it.) Uhm. play with me in this space? if you want.

(the map I used is from the official RPG book, but here's another map of 98 AG by GPMAsss2 on Deviantart because. well idk just because. I like this one. atla has a cool map community if you know where to look...)

[allgremlinart]

17, 18, and/or 25 for the ask game? 👀

17. There should be more of this type of fic/art

(for atla) in-universe historical aus!!! IN-UNIVERSE HISTORICAL AUS!!! @ranilla-bean has written a fic like this, and I've definitely rambled about some plot bunnies/ideas for this too, but overall sooo underrated. pre-unification era falls under this umbrella too, I'd say, so of course I'm biased.....

18. It's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Republic City, just like, in general. I get it, I get it, some people just dont vibe w that genre of story/setting as much as they do the pre-industrial stuff but I find it soooo interesting (and also not as problematic as people say it is, frankly. I dont agree that it was ever a matter of "inevitability" messaging, since in tlok almost everywhere else looks closer to as it did in atla, but more a very intriguing example of worldbuilding that's kind of under-explored fandom wise...)

25. Common fandom complaint you're sick of hearing

"why would they have forklifts in the atla comics and cars and stuff in Korra thats so unrealistic-" NO ITS NOT. IM GOING TO KILL MYSELF THERE'S LITERALLY A 70 YEAR TIME JUMP BETWEEN ATLA AND TLOK that is like. a GENEROUS period of time for the progress we see between shows, if we were to parallel it to western (AND eastern) Industrial Revolutions.

[allgremlinart]

building yet again off my pre-uni theory post ...

I wanted to try and isolate when that Kofun-dressed first Firelord existed, aka when did the Fire Nation unify exactly ... I went into this thinking "this is feasible" and came out of it thinking "this is in no way feasible we'll just have to guess and make stuff up"

now as stated in my original post, we know that all four nations were unified, or at least had four distinct identities that could be connected to their modern day equivalents, approximately 6,000 years after Wan or 4,000 years before Korra's harmonic convergence.

so we could guess that the Fire Nation unified 4,000 years ago - but the fact is we don't know whether or not the nations unified all at once or at different points in time. the history enjoyer in me leans toward the latter, because it's more interesting. it DOES make our job harder because we have no way of knowing who unified first and when; personally I'd bank on the Earth Kingdom unifying last and most tenuously, if Jianzhu's ravings are anything to go off.....

the other option is, hey, we know they're wearing Kofun clothes, why dont we go off that and apply the real world difference to the Avatar timeline? unfortunately this wouldn't work either - first off, the Kofun period was around 250 AD. we know that FN unification happened 4,000 years before the equivalent of the 20th century, and for us that'd be around 2,000 BCE, decidedly NOT 250 AD. which makes sense; I could go on and on about how it's practically impossible to make detailed real world parallels with the Avatar timeline. I mean do not even TRY to go "ohh well this hanfu is from this era so if I see this in atla that means atla takes place in - " thats not possible. its not possible because they didnt do anything like that on purpose and so absolutely nothing will correspond in a way that makes sense lol. Ba Sing Se fashion being inspired by Qing stuff, which WOULD actually kind of make sense if we were comparing timelines, is an outlier and should not be counted... we'll call that Last Dynasty Georg...

so in conclusion: I have set out to answer questions no one but me has asked and come back to say that the answer is that there isn't one. makes sense right?

[allgremlinart]

atla isekai but they just get sent back to their pre-unification era ... play with me in this space PLAY WITH ME IN THIS SPAAAACEEE .. if u want .. (scuffs shoes) ..