#the idle city

[weirdlookindog]

“Suddenly they fell upon one another, sword to scythe”

Victor Delhez (1902–1985) - The Idle City, 1936

illustration for Lord Dunsany's 'A Dreamer's Tales'

[pipinpali]

Idk abt most ppl in the gt community,,,but like,,,,, ,if i saw an actual giant,,, i think id be so scared id faint ngl,,

It kinda depends on how big the giant is, but like

If theyre over 20ft,,,,,,,,,

Yea no i think id die maybe

ALSO THEY CAN MAKE CONSCIOUS CHOICES TOO??

HELLO???

THATS TERRIFYING,

someone of that size can do so many things to you and you cant do literally anything abt it

[letlionslie]

i love how chris is such a bad communicator that his sister ends up tracking him across an ocean because his silly ass can’t check his email or send a postcard…

… but apparently leon checks his email so religiously that claire knows she can just fire one off to him and within a matter of hours leon will track down her deadbeat brother and send him to pick her up from secret umbrella prison island.

[infantandinnocent]

[barnlarn]

In other news....................Chase McCain!

[cruel-hiraeth]

i’ve made a few batches of chia seed pudding and it’s sooooo fucking good

[flipjack]

Jessica Alba for Elle India

[idlenight]

One must imagine Dr. Finch in the revealed ending. Does Ortega explain... why their patient won't be showing up to sessions anymore? Does she connect the dots herself? Especially with a more... unstable session that didn't get wiped.

Your patient, with a clear unstable mental state (in the case of not-wiped) or decently normal patient with depression. They are a villain (possibly a seriously bad one, and a murderer).

Frankly, I would quit my job.

[eilwen]

Visiting the Dragon's Nest District

Most cities and towns in No Man's Land have been similar in appearance, with a ship or a portion of a ship watching over its people. However, in Ryutsu, where many things happen, the ship is not the only structure that dominates the landscape.

I wanted to do a dive into the city, what inspired it (and speculate on some of the visuals) and what we can potentially understand about No Man's Land.

Some spoilers for Vol. 4 and 5. Also, this is long.

Even without the baos and wonton-fonts on signage, Ryutsu visually does not match with other cities in No Man's Land. It’s not just the citadel which can be seen from afar, but it’s also the crammed housing and confusing architecture. The tone of Vol. 4 shifts and leans towards neo-noir. As this arc's villains move into the city, Hoppered says: "This place is truly the bottom of the dark. [...] We'll walk into a place where the light does not enter." These lines may not be literal but it certainly brings ideas of seedy places. They move through pitch black and eventually…

The big showdown happens at the city's main feature: the Dragon’s Nest District - an area that brings up memories of the old Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. No Man's Land is a sparsely populated planet, yet for whatever reason, people have sardined themselves into this city and into this district.

Kowloon Walled City had been called ‘City of Darkness’ and it was possible to move through the city without ever seeing daylight. It carries a bit of romantised nostalgia because of its weird part in Hong Kong colonial history, its uncontrolled and chaotic construction, and its lawlessness (though apparently the ungoverned city was tight-knit and communal). The city became a source of inspiration for a lot of media, but not many films were shot in the city itself. Those that I had seen tended to use the city as a 'cool film location' so apart from the examples below, there aren't many I know to recommend (happy to take suggestions for films I may have missed).

Clip from Bloodsport (Arnold, 1988)

"No joke, man. It's a random piece of No Man's Land in the middle of a tourist paradise. It goes way back to the old lease agreement between Great Britain and China. Once you step out of the sunlight into the narrow corridors, it's time to protect your nuts, guys."

Clip from Crime Story (Wong, 1993). This is the climax of the film, which featured actual explosions from Kowloon's demolition, according to its wiki page.

Off the top of my head, good fiction film substitutes (unrelated and unlike Trigun/Trimax) which more illustrate what life might have been like in these places, may be films like Wong Kar Wai's Fallen Angels (1995) and Chungking Express (1994) - though these films take place at the Chungking Mansions, Kowloon Walled City's more modern cousin. I thought of Wong's films because he treated the mansions as a character more than as a location. His films showed examples of immense density, globalisation, and a bit of that noir crime stuff within small and unusually intimate spaces. They also reflected Hong Kong's complicated anxiety as the city was approaching its handover from British to Chinese rule.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 7; Screencap from Chungking Express (Wong, 1994).

To talk more about Hong Kong cinema itself would be much longer than a tumblr post but if Nightow is connected with Rodriguez's films via Desperado (1995), Rodriguez and his collaborative friend Tarantino are connected with Hong Kong films from those like John Woo and Ringo Lam. One example: Mexican standoffs are tropes used in various films, but we see them frequently enough in Tarantino's films and in Hong Kong action cinema that it becomes noteworthy.

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 3

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 5

Kowloon Walled City which was demolished in 1993, was visually ‘resurrected’ as Ryutsu's Dragon's Nest. Kowloon Walled City was not a city that just looked interesting. It was an agreement between China and Great Britain that was then kind of weirdly botched, thus leaving it pretty much ungoverned. Trimax Vol. 4 was released in 2000, three years after Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China. We don’t get Ryutsu’s history and with the multiple panels of silhouetted buildings against the night sky and hanging laundry in balconies, Ryutsu’s citadel falls into the 'cool manga location' category. Also, I should be clear: these chapters in Trimax are not an analysis or an allegory of Hong Kong's colonial history.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 4; Photo of Kowloon Walled City's alleyway from wiki article.

At the same time, many eyes, including those outside of Great Britain and China, were on the news when the handover occurred. The point is not if Nightow was considering that historic moment or if he happened to be watching Hong Kong films when he was working on these chapters. Instead, I wonder if readers, when they picked up these volumes from the bookshelves, had thought about Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s movies, and Hong Kong’s past and uncertain future, as they were skimming through the pages. But you know… this is 2023 me thinking about 23 years ago. All of this is daydreaming.

I bring up Hong Kong's history and cinema because I wanted to see what I can envision and interpret about Ryutsu and thus about No Man's Land. If Hong Kong via cinema brings imaginations of transnationalism then Ryutsu via Vol. 4 and 5 could do the same for No Man's Land.

There is no literal ocean to divide cities and there are no named countries. There is a broad ‘Federal Government’, so I assume that means the government concerns itself with all settlements in the entire planet. If Ryutsu itself is No Man’s Land’s ‘Hong Kong’ (which opens another discussion of the use and/or misuse of Hong Kong in media - some other time), then despite No Man’s Land being an incredible dystopia, the elimination of borders is, very plainly, very interesting. I am leaning to this being a good thing, considering that one major problem in No Man’s Land tends to be ‘Humans vs. X’ (plants, worms, the planet’s environment etc.). Also, No Man’s Land is already very sparse. No spoilers for later volumes but I am curious about the planet’s future if the population demographic changes.

Panel from Vol. 4 Ch. 4. Western and Eastern hats in the same panel.

There are also thoughts about its class struggles. Vash says in Vol. 4 Ch. 4: "There are too many people here. I don't like it. The lower and upper class all cramped together." ... which really made me think about the conditions the upper class were living in. Kowloon Walled City was known to be unhygienic, dark and cramped and the wealthy did not live there, so how rough was it to live in Ryutsu when a rich person might still need to live in the citadel? I didn't interpret Vash's statement to mean 'citadel plus those outside of it' when the high stakes in these volumes were because of the high density and maze-like streets.

Panels from Vol. 4 Ch. 6; Ch. 7; Ch. 7.

The above panels remind me of establishing shots in gritty crime thrillers than the sci-fi western I had been reading up to this point.

Featured is the Juukei Building - a building that looks pulled from the 20th century. It is tall, drawn sometimes in narrow panels to emphasize its height and to show how small the characters are in the claustrophobic space as they navigate towards it. As characters move through the structure once inside, it becomes more difficult to tell where in the building they are or if they are somewhere adjacent. Combining historical and futuristic designs in Trigun/Trimax isn't new, but it's not often you see 20th century structures. Maybe wealthier residents lived in buildings like this, though the interiors of Juukei look like abandoned offices.

Panel from Vol. 5 Ch. 3.

Or maybe this was meant to be a mixed-use building? But it seems the entire building is abandoned anyway.... So I'm not sure where the upper class is supposed to live or how I should imagine the upper class to be.

Panel from Vol 5. Ch 6.

... After the end of the battle, once morning comes, we no longer see the citadel. The landscapes return to those reminiscent of American Southwestern deserts. Like we dipped into darkness then we returned to the light.

Anyone who knows about Kowloon Walled City would instantly recognise it in Trimax. The imitative Ryutsu Citadel could be read as a cool manga location where a massive shootout plus some serious revelations occur, but I personally am always interested in what else a location can do. It matters if you set a film in New York City versus a nameless location and how you visually convey that city because it can tell us about its people and helps us understand its characters. So to me, I thought it would be fun to look at certain locations in Trimax (with all of Nightow's free-form inconsistencies and confusions) and imagine or interpret what they can tell us about No Man's Land and by extension, the people in No Man's Land.

Other fun facts include: "[...] Japan, in particular, developed a keen interest towards Kowloon. Its demolition in 1993 was broadcast on national television."

[honourablejester]

More TTRPGs and Spreadsheets, Heart The City Beneath Edition

I just really like crunching numbers about things. Spreadsheets soothe the soul. Or my soul, anyway.

I wanted to get an idea of class access to skills and domains in Heart: The City Beneath. Because when you’re browsing, you do notice missing elements. Most classes can get access to most skills and domains, mostly via Minor Abilities, but not all of them. There are the occasional skills or domains that certain classes cannot gain access to. So I wanted it laid out.

Skills

Spreadsheet:

There are two classes, Hound and Cleaver, who can get access to all of the skills. There are two classes, Heretic and Vermissian Knight, who are missing two of the nine skills. Everyone else is missing access to one.

Amusingly, both of the least skilled classes are barred from Sneaking, which somewhat makes sense on the Knights, but apparently Heretics are also opposed to going quietly in this setting. Which, actually, maybe that does make sense. The other skill Knights lack is Evade, and the Heretics are also missing Delve. So Knights don’t get to dodge or sneak (because they’re tanks), and Heretics don’t get to sneak or explore (because they’re more civilised?).

Of the classes missing a single skill, Apiarists also can’t evade, which I’m not sure makes sense to me? Given that they can break themselves down and reassemble themselves if they want to, though granted that takes a minimum of an hour if you’re dangerously rushing it. But eh. Incarnadines, also civilised, again don’t Delve, Junk Mages are too burnt out to Endure, Witches also do not Evade, that is beneath their dignity. And Deadwalkers, ridden by death itself, cannot Mend.

Everyone can gain access to the Compel, Discern, Hunt and Kill skills. Evade is the skill the least people have access to (3 classes can’t), followed Delve and Sneak (2 each).

Compel, Delve, Hunt and Mend are all primary/guaranteed skills for two classes each. The Junk Mage gets the lonely Discern primary skill. No one is guaranteed Endure, Evade, Kill or Sneak.

Domains

Spreadsheet:

When it comes to domains, nobody gets access to everything, all the classes have at least one realm where they don’t tend to tread. Cleavers have two places they don’t feel at home, possibly to make up for having all the skills. (This leaves the Hounds as the most generalised class).

Haven and Occult are the two most polarising domains, having both the most classes barred from them and the most classes that have them as primary domains. Haven is barred from 3 classes and the main domain of 2, while Occult is barred from 2 and the main domain of 3. Technology and Wild also have 2 classes that can’t access them, though Technology is one class’ primary domain to make up for it.

Everyone can gain access to the Cursed, Desolate and Warren domains. Warren and Wild are the two domains that no one gets guaranteed access to.

Of the domains that everyone’s missing, Cleavers don’t like Havens and Technology, which makes sense as they’re wilderness survivalists. Deadwalkers don’t like Havens either, which is slightly less explicable, unless it’s just that even in the Heart most places don’t welcome the partially undead? Same goes for the Deep Apiarists, maybe they’re just a bit too fucking weird for most places. Heretics and Hounds don’t like the Occult, one presumably on religious grounds, and the other just from generalised ‘I ain’t messing with that shit’. Vermissian Knights don’t like Religion, possibly because their armour has become a demi-religion in and of itself and they don’t truck with other gods? Not fully sure on that one. Witches, obviously, as very very occult beings, are not keen on Technology. And neither Junk Mages nor Incarnadines like to be outside in the wilderness, loving as they both do the vices (and powers) of civilisation.

End Thoughts

Now, granted, outside of a class’ main skill and domain, all other skills and domains are optional, you only get them if you pick the right Minor Abilities in most cases. I think the Enlightenment calling is the only way to gain access to them outside of that, granting the Discern skill, so it’s all down to your ability choices otherwise. Though, you get three minor abilities just to start out, and more when you complete minor story beats, so you should have a comfortable collection of them unless you really are building exclusively for resistance protection and buffing up your major abilities.

I do like the thematic thought that went into what everyone can and most particularly can’t access. I have some questions on some of them (Deep Apiarists and Evade, Vermissian Knights and Religion), but there’s definite logic involved, and I enjoy it.

[venusangelite]

about needing beauty

1 + 4- belladonna of sadness 1973

2- brand new city by mitski

3- girl interrupted 1999

5- starving in suburbia 2014

6- square by mitski

7- black swan 2010

8- teen idle by marina

9- jennifers body 2009

10- good sister-bad sister by hole

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

i can feel another oc being slowly created in my head... ilu Celia n co but i need an insane rural bitch who is wildly offputting in her knowledge of animal butchery and the great outdoors...

[commoninfected]

[randomly-generated-posts-machine]

leonardo dicaprio and the ancient city of Ur … we need to talk about that

[baeshijima]

so i have an appointment/interview to go to on friday morning about 3 cities over, right? so yesterday i was talking to my dad over the phone saying how i was planning to take two buses bc 1) its cheaper than taking the train and 2) it will take me less than an hour to get there. but then tHIS GUY (my father) goes “oh why don’t you walk there?”

my beloved father it will take me 2hrs 20mins if i walked … is what i told him, only for him to counter with “what are you talking about? it will take you ten minutes. maybe half an hour if you walk slowly. just follow the [insert road] and you’ll be there in no time.”

so now im abt to walk there while on call with him to prove him it will not, in fact, take me ten minutes to walk there, but rather two hours :)

[sasheeemeee]

been on a splatoon kick so i decided to redraw some of the photos i’ve taken of cool inklings/octolings i’ve seen around,,, seriously some of you fellas look so cool :o

(it’s super unlikely but i’d love to know if any of you see this and it’s your inkling/octoling)