#regular imperialism

[deanofsam]

“usamericans are so annoying they think everything’s about them and if it’s not they try to make it about themselves blah blah blah” okay and? one thing about me i love to talk about me. now who wants a FREEDOM BURGER RAHHH 🦅🦅🦅🦅

[a-side-character]

Imperial Radch as Things in my Phone pt. 6

Pt. 1, Pt. 2, Pt. 3, Pt. 4, Pt. 5, Pt. 7, Pt. 8

Lt. Tisarwat:

Sphene (the grandma):

Seivarden:

Breq's pep talk to Ekalu (you know the one):

Raughd and Fosyf Denche:

Annander Mianaai:

Breq:

Seivarden:

Sword of Atagaris:

✨️Bonus from Translation State✨️

Qven:

[zephhhhh]

draw everything june 16

[interrogatormentors]

s)(-Elly m-E for forg-Ettin those -Es.

oh don't be so glubbin' P---EDANTIC, peasant. you WIS)( you could fuckin' be me. can't even get my FLIPP---ERIN' QUIRK right, which is just a straight up INS)(OALT. )(----ELMSMAN.

My Empre22 may II rot eternal for forcIIng you two addre22 thII2 your2elf. What do you de2IIre of me?

dispatch the drones for capture, and R-ESC)(-EDUL-E my damn appointment with ritoly. the interrogatormentors need to be reassigned schooner with these pathetic scum all up in my fuckin' krill with their petty inshoalence. i want to watch this S)(RIMP squirm befoar it dies.

Thy wIIll be done and may your mercy coagulate IIn theIIr throat2. Drone2 are en route now and your apoIIntment change notIIce ha2 been 2ent two IInterrogatormentor RIItoly. Long may you reIIgn.

good buoy. i'll be by S)(OR---ETLY.

II get a 2econd vII2IIt? Your grace know2 no bound2.

damn fuckin' STRAIT.

[redbean-nom]

Rebel Admirals Rex & Kalani from an au where the clone and droid rebellions were a bit more successful

Rex's fleet (rebel fleet Remembrance) - the whole 'ahsoka's not actually a jedi' thing worked and most of the 332nd got dechipped. (maul still escaped, but they managed to patch up the maul-damage before he got to the hyperdrive, so the Tribunal is mostly okay). the extra resources & manpower allowed the clone rebellion to operate on a much larger scale, and they eventually allied with pantora as a whole with the backing of senator chuchi. cody and later wolffe brought their imperial fleets to join the rebellion about a year later (after the chips started wearing off).

the fleet (one venator (the Tribunal), four star destroyers, associated clones, gunships, fighters, and tanks, plus a handful of stolen imperial walkers and shuttles) formally joined the rebel alliance around 10bby.

(rex got put in charge of the fleet because he's the least traumatized out of all the surviving officers. cody ran off to live with obi wan on tattooine.)

Kalani's fleet (rebel fleet Independence) - something happened and he and kraken managed to steal a chunk of dooku's ships (and later a good chunk of whatever was left of grievous' fleet on utapau) after his death. they essentially got lost in the chaos of o66, since the rest of the separatists thought they were deactivated after the shutdown order, and escaped with essentially a full separatist fleet. since they were active instead of stuck on agamar, kalani noticed that the leader of the empire happened to be the republic's supreme chancellor, and decided the empire was the new target of the CIS army. he later encountered the clone rebellion and decided that since the clones had effectively deserted the republic and were now fighting the empire, they were therefore allies.

the fleet (one dreadnought, three cruisers, one stolen imperial carrier, associated droids, fighters, transports, and tanks) formally allied with the rebel alliance around 10bby, with the backing of serenno and raxus secundus.

[randomnameless]

Genuine question, not trying to start a fight, why do you get so upset about gods and churches being presented in a negative light in fictional works?

No pbs!

I guess it's a mix of being too common, too forced and having, in general, the cast use common tropish arguments to fight /defeat them.

I rant a lot about this game, but take TS where we have three sort of factions opposing each other, and each are supposed to suck. Who is the faction who never receives any "positive traits" or "pet the dog" moment?

The game force fed us a scene where an Aesfroti soldier - when Aesfrost is depicted as a highly militarised nation with a cult of personality towards their current ruler, that invaded the protag's home and slaughtered several civilians and NPCs in the process - say goodbye to his wife and kids before going to "war" to defend his land against, well, the protags who are invading it to kill their warmongering leader.

As force-fed as this scene was, it, I believe at least, tried to tell us that even the Aesfrosti who pillaged villages and killed their inhabitants are humans, and care about their loved ones, sure it's corny, but it's all about not deshumanising any party.

When we attack Hyzante? Niet, zilch, nothing. No similar scene where random soldiers, or NPCs, worry about what is going on and if they're going to die when their wall has been breached. They just, don't exist in this context.

I think the cherry on the cake is the Golden Route scene, where, apparently, nationalists Aesfrosti decide to turn back against their ultra charismatic leader because, uh, he "lied" when he declared the war and used a false pretense, so the soldiers and people who were butchering babies and invading a city where people were preparing a marriage apparently now have morals and rebel.

There's no similar scene for Hyzante when the cast reveals that the teachings of their Goddess were made up and salt wasn't exclusively given to them by divine intervention, because rock salt exists everywhere. Sure it would be a bit weird and forced that people thinking they're chosen ones and looking down on everyone else suddenly, hm, don't break down when their entire system of belief is shattered, but hey, if the Aesfrostian Gregor can have morals after washing his hands of all this Glenbrookian blood, why shouldn't religious npc #55 not make the same heel face turn?

And then, we have the slavery/human experimentation plot - in general, when TS tries to give nuance, they more or less explain/justify why something that "sucks" is done, it's basically Silvio's character.

Aesfrost' Gustadolph manages to push his "freedom" mentality because his land is a harsh place where people are desperate to survive, salt smuggling is reprehensible, but it's the only way to give some to the ones who cannot afford it. Of course is everyone is free, no one is because, as Gustadolph puts it, they're basically free to die for his ambitions.

Hyzante? Follows a racist creed where Rozellians have to pay for some great sin, and are slaved away in a lake to recover salt until they die. It's, later, justified by Hyzante wanting to keep its salt monopoly else they don't have anything, and wanting to curb down the Rozelle people because they know about the exitence of rock salt (and I guess getting free workers to harvest salt from the lake + having state enemies make his own population docile/not willing to rebel ?).

And then, we have the human experimentations, that are just done for, uhh, Idore's lol. When Hyzante is known for its "advanced medicine" and we could have had the usual dilemna of, idk, having those humans experimentations used to develop this medicine that is reknown in the world (idk, sacrificing a Rozellian to save someone else's life?) - it's not the angle the devs picked. Rozellians are sacrificed to power up an idol, Idore wants to control the world through his idol and soft power (compared to Gustadolph's hard power) and manipulates his people (just like Gustadolph) to do so.

The two are very similar, but who is the final boss? Complete with a transformation in an eldritch monster? The war-mongering imperialist or the jaded old man who is leading de facto a religion?

Hopefully there's the entire "human experimentations for no other purpose than the lols" to settle them apart.

---

I recently watched Dune, and even if I have some issues with the adaptation, the Bene Gesserit isn't portrayed as "comically" evil-er than the Harkonen Empire, I reckon the comparison isn't adequate, because Dune is multi book series when I'm mostly talking about video games.

Symphonia's church of Martel is a font for the Big Bad (tm) to put in motion his nefarious plans, and yet, through the game, we see how random clergymen use their, uh, religious buildings to help people around. Ultimately Martel herself is reincarnated through plot device and tells the big bad to stop being an ass and the story is less about "church and gods evil" but "big bad distorts Martel/church's teachings and role for his plans because he has a tragic backstory"

(but then Symphonia ends with the biggest whitewashing from every Tales I've played for its big bad so I'll stop talking about it because otherwise I'm going to be salty).

Abyss' church is more or less the same thing - the Church is supposed to help people deal with the fact their verse has "predestination stones" where the future is already written, and in the course of the game, we see how it has several factions and one opposes the group (who has the pope as a NPC!) - but it's not a story about "gods bad church BaD".

I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis a long time ago, and while the game seemed to go through familiar "church bad gods bad" route and we end with defeating a god-like entity... I pretty much loved the twist that, in a game that relied on alternate dimensions/universe, the god-like entity was actually the protag if he made different choices!

In those games, if you fight a religious body and someone pretending to be a God or what not - it's not because people fight against an eldritch creature who wants world domination and to erase puny insects, or is the reason why everything goes wrong, but because, at the end, the conflict/fight is ultimately caused by someone, generally a human or at least a non "god like" entity, wanting to destroy the world.

I don't remember if FE was my first JRPG series or not, but I always liked the idea that if the world is doomed in those games and the heroes must prevent said doom, it's not because a god-like being wants to destroy the world, but because people, humans/randoms are the most shitty ones out there.

---

As for the "tropes" often used to deride fictional churchs and religious people, well, I will again point to TS - which did a splendid job in the Benedict Route where you smash Hyzante after allying with Aesfrost.

There's one battle where out protags diss Hyzantese because they worship a goddess and have no free will, listening to Her teachings and Her says (the traditional "religious people have no free will and listen to their churches who tell them how to think!") - which is immediately countered by one of those Hyzantese characters asking Serenor if he's not the same, but instead of blindly listening to a Goddess, blindly follows Benedict. And it ends with the final chapter title referencing automatons/puppets : who is that title talking about ? The fake "idol" Idore created, or the fake "king" Benedict created?

Anyways, the usual "religions people have no free will because their church/religion tells them how to think" trope reeks of r/atheism and the double standard - bar in this route of TS, but I guess, in TS itself in the Roland route! - is never called out, blindly following a charismatic leader is okay, as long as charismatic leader isn't religious?

Regardless of my IRL thoughts about religion, usually those tropes are presented as a "gotcha!" when they are... not at all, but the games/books leave it at that and we're supposed to roll with it.

I'd say it's lazy writing or, as we saw in Naruto, a quick way to end a story without having to dwelve in characters and their motivations : "you're a god/alien/other being and you're bad, so let us do what we want!" - end of the story.

Hopefully some fillers and to an extent, Boruto gave her more meat bar being the 11 hour villain we had to defeat quick and who manipulated the previous sad'n'lonely antagonists - but it still felt rich from Naruto, known for his famous "talk no jutsu" and trying to understand people he's fighting against, to drop the ball with Kaguya, calling her pure malice and ending with some "let us live the way we want" to wrap up the plot so he can wrestle with his boyfriend later on.

In the end, we often end up with "religion bad bcs the big bad manipulates people through it", as if those mangas/animes/vg never have other examples of charismatic people not using religion to manipulate their randoms/people or "gods bad they should let humans do what they want" when we've read/seen/played through various, uh, really fucked-up shit humans did - but on their own! and ultimately, but it's more in fandom spaces, with have Projection 101.

TLDR : church/religion/gods are too often used in those works as the ultimate scapegoat to either wrap up a story in a rushed ending or to pretend to have "nuance" but still have a common enemy where all the "nuanced" characters can grow/be whitewashed and side together against that "common enemy".

Just like in all things I guess, I prefer when something isn't painted as purely negative and all of the positive traits are erased because there is a need for a perfect scapegoat - sure, bring out too much "nuance" and writing/designing a game/manga/anime becomes harder because there's no "clear cut" antagonist, and yet, the one who always gets fucked in this scenario is the religious/church side.

Want a generic stock villain who will destroy the world so the heroes have to fight against them? Just create a "religion" in your setting, and have the big bad either hell bent on resurrecting Chtullu to destroy the world because Chtullu BaD, or have them be the most corrupt piece of shit who manipulate everything in the shadows, so the rest of the world, even the ones who slaughter others bcs they feel like they must start a war, can be whitewashed at the end.

I mean, there's a saying about diverting attention from a fire by starting a bigger one near, or a trope of "aliens made them do it" : who cares if Madara started a continental war and targeted a village full of random civilians he swore to protect because he lost the elections? Did y'know he was manipulated by a woman, I mean, an eldritch thing created by a woman, regarded as a God, who ultimately wanted to get out of her fridge to kill everyone?

Roland must get over his hatred for Aesfrost for barging in his kindgom and killing hundred of his people while they were preparing for a wedding, because hey, Idore is evil and plans on ruling the world through his sham religion!

I'll forever be salty at TS for not giving Kamsell the occasion to rise against Idore, or not even have minor NPCs get the same treatment as Sycras suddenly going all "u lied to me gustadolph so i won't listen to u anymore + sad goodbyes to my wife'n'kids".

Extremism of all kinds can lead to wars/tragedy/fucked up shit - Sure I don't want to get my History lessons in video game medium when I play lol, but what I really don't like is how it feels like depicting "they're extremists because they're religious" feels like the default/easy answer : want a bunch of brainwashed people the heroes must fight against and can't talk no justu their way out of this fight/will fight without looking too BaD? Depict those people as "misguided" members of a corrupt church/believers of a religion, no one will givea fig. If they are instead supporters of a charismatic leader who throws them through the meatgrinder to further their goals? Well, there's no automatic loyalty so either you have to show/depict it on screen, else it can be challenged at key points to demonstrate how those people - who follow the charismatic leader - aren't completely "mindlessly listening to their leader" or how their leader "isn't that bad after all".

[nerevar-quote-and-star]

General Tullius: Legate, status report.

Last Dragonborn: I just need to finish these repairs to my armor and then off I go, killing again!

[lieutenantselnia]

The voices of my f/os are often quite important for me and I feel with Firmus it's no different ... First of all, I genuinely adore how softspoken he talks. Even though he rises to a righ rank, he's not boasting about like some other officers have the tendency to do, but is speaking rather calm and measured, almost quiet sometimes (I literally have to turn the volume up and down all the time in some of his scenes, because I want to hear him properly but the other characters seem too loud in comparison then). He's still able to raise his voice when needed, and will do so if he has to give an urgent order that must be followed immediately, but I think it's just not in his nature to do it without reason. As someone rather quiet myself, I really love that about him.

Another thing, of course, is the accent. As a non-native speaker I'm not proficient enough to determine what specific accent he has, but I love how that rolled R slips through occasionally. Not nearly as strong or frequently as for example Grand Moff Tarkin uses it*, it's more like a pleasant surprise that pops up every now and then. I believe it's called received pronunciation (any British people here who can help me out?), and I personally just find it wonderful to listen to.

*Say what you will about the character but his accent absolutely slaps, I'd totally listen to an audiobook read by him. Generally so many of the Imperial officers have such nice voices to listen to, because they casted mostly British actors for them and due to Star Wars being already an older movie, many of them were using that kind of accent that was more common at the time than it is today. In my humble opinion they should bring that back especially for villains >:)

[skitskatdacat63]

I meant to write more for a pt 2 lore post earlier but didn't end up doing so, so pls take these AU sketches(Mark & Jense and then some assorted sketchies)

[soraeia]

"Sugar Daddies?" Allisae tilts her head. "Is that a name people have given men who make confections?"

"If that's the case, then I hope I meet one when we go into town!"

[doolallymagpie]

imperium fans stop being fucking cringe re: the t'au challenge (impossible)

[kemendin]

One of Damaskh's specialties is deep undercover missions and identity swapping, so on my replay I'm playing around with that a bit more. While he's genetically a Sith pureblood/Zeltron mix, he's gotten very good at disguising himself as a Twi'lek.

[invinciblerodent]

Iona is 5'4, but will say that she's 5'6 with such conviction as to make those who are actually 5'6 feel unsettled, and like they've known their own height wrong their whole lives.

Petyr is the kind of asshole who is actually 5'11, but will say that he is 5'9, just to make Astarion, who is 5'9, look like a liar.

[superkawaiimothman]

How do you do fellow imperials, I need to commandeer your vehicle for very legitimate reasons, thanks and bye

[hylianengineer]

As an anthropology nerd, every time a Star Trek character describes the Prime Directive as apply to ‘less-advanced’ civilizations, I am physically incapable of not shouting at the tv, because THAT’S NOT HOW CIVILIZATIONS WORK!

Development is not a linear concept and the idea that is it is rooted in imperialistic nastiness. Because if development is linear, than that means some civilizations are better (’more advanced’) than others and should get to boss the others around. And Starfleet does that sometimes! I just rewatched SNW S1E1 and it’s all about Pike lecturing this warring planet into making peace because he’s from the big, advanced Federation where they know all the answers. That’s kinda creepy actually - it’s taking agency away from the pre-warp planet in favor of casting the Federation as the saviors. It also implies that the Federation is capable of coming into a situation like this, fumbling around for a couple hours, and suddenly knowing everything they need to fix a centuries old problem, because they’re just that smart - and the natives are just that stupid. Of course if this were realistic, the locals would be way better equipped to understand and solve their own problems than a bunch of outsiders who have been there five minutes. One lecture about destiny from Starfleet’s boy scout captain is not going to end a war. He’s not that special.

Okay, rant over. Disclaimer: I really do love SNW and Captain Pike, I am simply incapable of seeing this level of blatant inaccuracy and not yelling into the void about it. Come on, it’s egregious.

[sesamenom]

someone has probably asked this before or you've said that before but what instrument do you play??

just casually, but violin and piano (mostly piano right now)! seitz is one of my favorites to play on violin (i also love vivaldi music but sixteenth note scales are. not very relaxing) right now i'm playing around with changing the chords and tempo on a modified version of Canon in D for piano to convert it to what I call Canon in Dragon :)