#romance club your story interactive

[lady-pawaki]

Found this meme on pinterest & I just had to show it here.

I would turn into a infected if it meant that Lane will kiss me too, so no judgement from my side.

[farizrz]

New feature on next update. The progress save slot 👀.

[anonymouswarriorhumanist]

We Need to Talk About RC and South Asian Representation in its Stories

Hey beautiful people, this is going to be a long post yet a very important one. From a Desi (A South Asian) to my fellow Desis and non-Desis (who especially need to hear me out).

I know the popularity of Romance Club as an interactive game. And being a South Asian makes me wanna pick literally any story that represents us. So, I went into RC's stories promising South Asian representation: Kali: Call of Darkness and Kali: Flames of Samsara. Apart from the poor research done on Indian culture which is too niche and trivial to be understood by everyone (relating to Indian languages and North-South differences), there is yet another aspect of Indian society that the game not only completely misrepresents but even whitewashes and this is very harmful to people, especially those with no knowledge of Indian culture, picking up the game to learn smth and that is: CASTE.

While playing the game, I am sure many of u may have come across such terms as 'Brahmin' or 'Kshatriya', 'Vaishya', or even 'Shudra'. And I am sure many of u may even have a rudimentary understanding of the same. This is the caste/ varna (Sanskrit term) that has plagued Indian society for thousands of years. And these terms basically divide desis even today. I especially want non-South Asians to understand that these terms carry a history of violence and discrimation. This was the chaturvarna or the 4 varna/caste sys wherein groups were ranked on their superiority to each other.

1.Brahmin-Priestly class

2.Kshatriya-Soldiers/ warriors/kings

3.Vaishya-merchants and traders

4.Shudras-Servants/slaves, (the lowest rung on the caste ladder and the most miserable)

Do keep in mind that this is not some class sys similar to feudal Europe or France, but this is CASTE which is very diff from what a non-South Asian may imagine. Notions of purity and pollution guide the caste sys (which may not influence class). A Shudra person was considered impure and hence an 'untouchable' and their mere shadows were considered polluting on the other 3 castes, so much so that they were ghettoized. In South Asia, servile work is generally considered 'polluting' and a complex history of multiple factors relegated this strict division of labourers, In simple lang, a Brahmin priest's son could only be a priest (which was a divine occupation and revered) and a Shudra's son could only do work considered appropriate of his caste which usually translated to things such as manual scavenging (still in India) and servile work considered 'polluting' from which they had no respite. This system was horrible towards Shudras in general as their labour was appropriated by the upper castes for their own gain very similar to how African slave labourers worked at white plantations if I hv to draw a rough comparison. Shudras/Dalits (the term 'Dalit' means broken/oppressed and was given by a Dalit leader and Indian legend Dr. Ambedkar to help uplift this community in Indian society) are subject to not only physical but structural violence. They were barred entry in schools, wells, tanks, roads and literally everywhere since their presence of 'polluting'. Now I have 2 more points:

In RC, I know everyone loves the male leads, and rightly so. But u need to understand that Ratan Vaish and Amrit Doobay won't give a fuck if a Dalit person died in front of them no matter how caring they might be. Since Brahmins were the priestly class, they hegemonized control over Hindu deities and mythology and only they could 'talk' to Gods (according to them ofc and their superiority complex). Amala is a Basu (a Bengali Brahmin surname) and hence both Doobay (again Brahmin) and Vaish (def upper-caste surname) r after her. If Amala was a Dalit, Amrit would hv raped and even killed her (Dalit women and the sexual violence enacted upon them by upper-caste men....again to draw a comparison similar to black women being raped by white men during slavery and jim crow eras: Google Hathras Rape case) and Ratan would have ignored her. ( Notice how Amrit was having an affair with that temple lady. She is most likely a Shudra as most Shudra women were forced into sexual slavery in temples by Brahmins like Amrit. Therefore, he treats her like an object and throws her away once Amala i.e. a woman of his caste falls in love with him. A Dalit woman's body is disposable and objectified here. Look at the complete whitewahing of power dynamics in that sexual encounter with Amrit and the temple dancer).We all need to understand that a similar fate would hv befallen Deviya Sharma (again a Brahmin woman) as even she would have been raped and ignored by other Brahmins and upper caste men in the story such as Ram/or Kamal etc. Arhat is likely a Shudra and Deviya will never bat an eyelash at him since his only job is to be in service to her tiger which Deviya probably treats with more respect than she does Arhat. My point is RC is mass producing these stories for the hyper-privileged White people of India i.e. the upper castes and that is Brahmins and Kshatriyas and Vaishyas. Dalits have rarely been entertained in representation much less in India than in abroad. But that is not what I am pissed abt. What I am pissed abt is that an American sitting in their home will check this story and see terms such as Brahmin or Kshatriya thrown abt without understanding them and then even internalize the harmful notions about these terms and caste in general in both stories abt a bunch of upper-castes freaking out over some goddess ritual.

Be very careful people in what u accept and what u don't bcoz even if it is a game, many non-Desi people may not have the relevant positionality (and that is completely fine!) to understand how the insidious caste sys is being shown and represented by RC. It is being glorified even (ik in the earlier chapters of KCD where Brahmins r shown as saviors of society and keeping Indian society stable when in reality they have done nothing but dehumanize and alienate Dalits for generations) and downplayed and even whitewashed as some trivial division. If RC wanted to publish a story about upper-caste people then pls go ahead but don't you dare whitewash it and glorify the caste sys. When impressionable audiences see all this, it is in their best interest to know the ugly truth about Indian society and not some cheap exotisation of the same. BE BETTER, especially for the Dalits who have suffered so much in South Asia. I am also attaching some material as I would greatly appreciate it if more people knew about the horrors of the caste system and how it plagues Desi society even today.

Discrimination (all types) r shitty and needs to kicked in the balls. Many times, it is subtle and while we may not know much, it is our responsibility to know more and try our best to stop it in whatever way we can.

Thank you for staying and take care y'all.

[moonylads]

Why tf are people calling Christian de Clare a villain??😭 I know my history all too well so don't give all those historical facts and shit because how are those even related to THIS character? You guys need to go back to some schooling omg-

It is so freaking obvious he's gonna be of help to Devi shortly! If you guys think even A BIT- the real villain is that traitor among the Dozens (THAT PERSON IS INDIAN I BELIEVE) and everyone should be wary of that guy instead of stupidly fretting over a British guy.

[sweetiebriar]

Ah, the blissful, sun-soaked days of May! 🌸🌴 With him, not only am I stuck on this island for good, but in fact, I'll make sure my handsome, grumpy old man is not going anywhere either! Sorry, people—he's all mine now. 😈😍

[helpfullizard]

Well, WHY DID NO ONE TOLD ME ROMANCE CLUB HAS A TUMBLR?? LIKE THERE'S WHOLE FANDOM AND EVERYONE'S HERE HAVING DISCUSSIONS AND ALL JGGDFHJ

I'm gonna explore some romance club hashtags ahhhhh

Edit: WDYM there's a rc confession page WOW

[thisghosts-obsessions-again]

I'm sorry but being whispered poetry in such an intimate fashion is my highest standard now. IF YOU YOU CAN'T DO THAT GET OUT OF MY FACE 😭😭😭

[genevieveskingdom]

I'll never ever forgive them for not giving me Athena as a LI in the ROT serie. She's gorgeous ❤️

Instead, I had to face a widely annoying Murphy and forced interactions with Adrian about whom I couldn't care less. (...sigh...)

Why did you waste such a beautiful, strong, powerful and intelligent goddess as a side character? Is it because she was a virgin according to the history and the old Greek myths? Or because Ramona (her descendant) was a nerdy girl with glasses and did not fit today's "beauty" standards?

Oh dear, I am so NOT into who's called "beautiful" in today's epoch. 🤦

[choiceswithmika]

Themmm >>>>

[thesnowyprincess]

I cannot help myself but the Caucasian MC from Astrea's 💔 reminds me so much of Nora von Waldstätten, one of my favourite actresses 🫶

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If you know the TV-serie Die Toten vom Bodensee, you're a real fan 👏

[farizrz]

Oi, Cain What the heck you doing?

[farizrz]

Zombie attack the lis!

[farizrz]

Loading screen from Season 2 of Astrea's broken heart

[lady-pawaki]

This is literally Cain's beauty

[farizrz]

Angels and Demons

[farizrz]

Looks like Vicky (aka histerical scream expression lady) & friends are far from over as main story of heaven secrets not done. And Alice confirm about new original story and hs3👀