#the modern political parties & system is something i'm still working on but i'm going off of what i wrote for pascal et al

[ranticore]

Can you talk more about homosocial bonding in Ironwall, I'm curious to know how that works. If there are women's only dance clubs, are their clubs for men too?

Yes but it did work differently for men

The womens clubs are a social holdover from pre-Florian times. A herd is always led by a mare (read: a mother), who would be the leader of their entire social group, enforcing a rather strict hierarchy among subordinate mares and younger women. Young colts and geldings (yes babey we have eunuchs too) have their place in this herd so long as they are related to one of the established female members (a son, a nephew, etc), though colts would have been expected to go their own way once they reach maturity.

What happened at the time (traditional era, pre-Florian, middle ages) was that the colts would stick together when they left their group/town/hold/etc and form little roving bands of 17-25 yr olds. They'd prepare themselves for their proper adult life by play-fighting over literally everything, being gay, and caring for the youngest members of their bachelor band. But it was not acceptable to stay in this roaming, half-wild state forever. They would peel off one by one to try their luck in the settlements they passed, arriving as a potential stallion, not a young boy. They were treated henceforth as ticking time bombs ready to go off, as all stallions are (just because it was pre-Florian doesn't mean it was some egalitarian paradise. you know me better than that and i love it when things suck), and allowed to lead 'from the rear' (a protector role vs the boss mare leading from the front, the one who was truly in charge). In a small herd, the stallion would be the only guy fathering kids. In large complex towns and settlements, herds could merge and separate on a daily basis, and a small number of adult men could claim (with the boss mare's permission) the wives who wanted him.

So in their adulthood, men were never expected to seek out male social groups, because those other men were now rivals (for sex, for dominance, for their place in the herd, etc). Why are you as a man seeking friendship with other men? etc

For the young women in the herd, things can be grim. You're not expected to strike out on your own, but you are expected to find your place in the hierarchy and that means going head to head with the other women. And being gay. Friendships were always made complicated by the friends' unbalanced social status, and the fact that your social status was in part decided by the boss mare (so not something you have the ability to change if her mind is set), and your own willingness to fight (sometimes physically) for your place. Not everyone has the guts to assert themselves, but also a lower social status was not always doom and gloom, usually it just meant others dictating your movement by cutting across your path. Social status in a herd was entirely unrelated to material wealth, it was a separate axis kept track of by everyone around you at all times. Unlike the boys, young girls would be expected to grow up in the same herd, living their entire lives among the same social group, and it also meant that acting outside that expectation was discouraged and disrespected; a woman leaving the herd to find another, without the boss mare's blessing, was considered to be acting either "like a man" or like someone who just couldn't hack it in the often very stressful life of a low-status woman.

BUT! That was hundreds of years ago. Following the foundation of Ironwall, the most common herd structure (small groups of subsistence crop-farmers) began to die a slow death. The concentration of a large population in a small area caused a clash that could not easily be accounted for by the new laws and human-style social norms. Early Ironwall was plagued by gangs of unruly feral teenage boys roaming the streets, so a new law was added to the rest. Boys of the right age range would be conscripted into military service during their bachelor era (great for wartime). Homosexual behaviour might have been tolerated as a quirk of youth, and inherently immature, but the governors and lawmakers saw it as obscenity, and cracked down hard on it. It was impossible to impose the nuclear family on Ironwall citizens, but something like it was enforced; emphasising greater parental control, smaller social groups usually limited to one's workplace (hard work was purifying, so people were less likely to be gay at work... maybe...). The herd structure was sublimated into the overall puritan work ethic of Ironwall and evolved.

In later centuries, womens' clubs like the one I talked about briefly became very common. Homosocial activity among women was more acceptable as they were expected to, like, have friends of the same sex, so they frequently made spaces where they could hang out together. Social clubs reached their peak in the Victorian era, becoming so popular that you could almost find one on every street, and they were almost a prerequisite for a lady, but getting into one involved an interview process with the club's matriarch, the contemporary boss mare. Dancing was only one of the activities they were permitted behind closed doors. They could also play cards (gambling was immodest for women and illegal in clubs, so they would play with game tokens and chips instead, and then leave the club with their chips to go to a second location to turn them into money so technically they were not gambling at the club...), they could drink, and they could take occasional tours out to the local sportsgrounds to engage in Womanly Exercise (aforementioned hard as fuck centaur polo, racing, tennis). The invocation of the traditional herd structure was a feature of the clubs, and its proponents believed that imitating the 'natural' way of life for a centaur was good for your health, but it was mostly artifice, and the role of the boss mare was vastly overstated, practically inflated into a Queen-like rulership over her subordinates. homosexual activity in clubs was kiiiiiind of common, but on a club-by-club basis. you had to find the ones in which you could be openly gay.

because of the other laws about immodesty and women needing chaperones, men and humans were strictly forbidden from the clubs. if any men showed up, suddenly it became a mixed social event, and those women had better be chaperoned so help me god

At this time, specifically centaur social clubs for men were not nearly as common, due to the factors i mentioned above. Why are you, as a man, seeking the company of other men? But boys had to gamble somewhere and they ended up doing it in social spaces which did not have such tight security. Any random guy could stroll into a men's social club, even humans. there was not so much of an air of revivalism there, or any fetishisation of the past, but still it was and has never been considered healthy to be gay past a certain age and for men, friendships were part of that. The gay clubs were few and far between and kept secret.

In the 20th century Ironwall saw a cycle of recession, housing market crash, collapse, migration, and unprecedented homogenisation between human and centaur populations. Romanticising the herd structure was old-fashioned and socially regressive. Dance clubs became mixed-sex, and progressive attitudes started to become predominant. There was a backslide in the 90s, however, when Natural Life (tm) became glamourised once again, a backlash in response to increasingly heterosocial spaces and relationships, particularly against young women who (according to natural life proponents), were only going through a rebellious phase by choosing to be friends with men. Human-derived society was seen as the culprit here, a corrupting influence. Rather than "we are half animal and thus we should be ashamed and try to make up for it", the natural movement's tagline was "we are half animal and thus we should not go against Nature". They were quite well-funded and spawned several popular political parties, differing only by whatever parochial bullshit the individual councillors can do for rando citizens, which have been passing around power without letting their opponents get a word in edgeways for about twenty years now.

For people who really take their Back To Nature movement seriously, they have left Ironwall entirely, ironically seeing it as a den of sin for very different reasons than the ones that led to its founding, and tried to revive herd-based societies in their own homesteading communities, creating a hundred tiny little cults perfectly designed to abuse basically everyone in them. But you can be gay there, so long as you're under 25. still gotta dress modest though

[arumidden]

Hi, I've been wondering about your headcanons about how the nations work. What is their role in the government, how does family work for them, do they have any powers? And stuff like that 😊

I'm guessing you're asking about my Public Nations AU and how Nations work within that universe? Get ready, this is gonna be a long post. I'll break it into parts for each section of your question :)

Note: I edited this recently so it reads more smoothly.

Role in the Government

As long as Nations have existed for, they've always been important advisers to their leaders. I think they mostly functioned as advisers, ambassadors, translators, etc. I imagine they have to remain apolitical when it comes to modern systems like political parties; they don't want to seem too supportive of any one political party, no matter what their personal opinions are. If they are gonna make a statement about something, they're expected to do it not as a Nation, but as an individual. That's partly why America's youtube channel uses his human name; it signifies that the channel is just a place for him to goof off, so nothing he says there is to be taken as a representation of the country. I think people still get those roles confused though. There’s gotta be tons of people who see Alfred stating his personal opinion and assume that that’s the government’s official statement as well. Plus I think lots of people just aren’t well versed in how the government works, so they probably misunderstand Alfred’s role as well.

I also think they've been put in the military ever since ancient times. After all, kings used to lead their militaries into battle, so I imagine their Nations would be right alongside them, both for the symbolism and because of how useful it would have been to have an immortal with lots of battle experience on their side. I can’t say that Nations always wanted to be on those battlefields, but they would often times get put there anyway.

Family

What counts as family is incredibly fluid and ever-changing for Nations. Nations aren't created through reproduction, so I don't think very clear-cut blood relations are truly possible. As a result, how Nations are related can vary and change. Why do America and Canada resemble each other so closely? I don’t think even the Nations themselves know. Sometimes Nations take this resemblance to imply familiar relations, sometimes they don’t. (I think this is more just my frustration with canon. Who is related to who makes no sense and has changed over time as Himaruya wills it. Why are England and America brothers instead of father and son? Why are America and Canada clearly twins when they didn't even belong to the same empires when they were born? I give up)

I also don't think they have the same standards for what is taboo and what isn't. Things can get waved away as "human ideas” which doesn't apply to them. Plus, Nations can't reproduce the way humans do after all, so I don't think they consider “incestuous” relationships to be nearly as scandalous. America and England might have a father-son relationship or a romantic one and I don't think they would have a problem going back and forth between the two. Not to mention the fact that after however many centuries, I assume practically all of them have slept with each other.

Of course, humans get uncomfortable with that fact, so that aspect of their relationships is usually kept private. Basically, Nations can have any kind of relationships with each other, but stick to only letting humans know about the ones that are socially acceptable.

Powers and Abilities

Nations draw life from their human populations, and as a result have a connection to those humans. Nations can tell if a human is theirs or not and identify them by name.

They can suffer from two different kinds of injuries: Direct and Indirect. Direct injuries are when their bodies are injured; they can heal from practically any direct injury, but the rate they heal depends on how well their country is doing. An injury incurred during a war may take multiple weeks to heal, while a random injury incurred during everyday life will heal much quicker.

Indirect injuries are what happens when their population is harmed or killed. Major tragic events can result in injuries suddenly appearing on their bodies. Some rare events can leave them with permanent scars (9/11, London Blitz, French Revolution, Atomic Bombs, etc). If their people are sick with a disease, they will show symptoms as well despite not actually being able to get sick themselves.

For either type of injury, if a limb in severed, it can be reattached, but will otherwise turn into dirt if left separate for too long. If the injury is direct, the limb will grow back. An indirect injury resulting in a missing limb will likely be permanent.

Whether or not they have super strength depends on their status as a world power. America only gained his strength in the 1880s when he became a major economic power, and even then, he wasn't as strong as he eventually became post-WWII. America currently has this superhuman strength, but during the height of the Cold War, Russia had it as well.

Nations can sense other Nations around them, and also when a foreign Nation enters their territory.

They cannot leave the Earth. Once they've been outside Earth's atmosphere for 72 hours, they start to become violently ill and will begin to decompose into dirt unless they return to the planet.

Okaaaaay, I think I've covered everything! Let me know if I answered all your questions, and if you have any others! I always love to talk Nation lore XDDDD

[petewentzisblack1312]

question coming from also a third world supremacist (i think?) figuring out political ideology: how did you form yours?? i think i remember you saying you used to go off of empathy before forming a more solid worldview and i'd wanna know how to start that. apologies if i'm completely off base and you didn't say that in that case it's just nice to follow someone who's not from a first world country thank you for that

sorry this is quite meandering. i dont have a clear cut answer of a specific turning point, its just been a journey of learning ive been on as ive come of age. as for how to go about doing it yourself, id say to stay curious, but also stay skeptical. learn about the patterns that repeat in history- the way outsiders are blamed for problems, the way the world tends towards complicated answers, the fact that things are more often implicit than intentional- and be wary of them when you are confronted with an answer. remember that 'common sense' is not an edict passed on by god, its the culmination of a lot of decisions, some made with ulterior moments, so interrogate who benefits from you believing certain things that 'everyone knows'. and try to get some bearing on the theory behind certain philosophies and modes of thought. it could be a video essay, if you just need to get your foot in the door. my mentor is wary of documentaries and video essays because he thinks they can lie to you easily, but a book can do that too, especially if you think it cant! still, the audiovisual language is very easy to take at face value, and its more difficult to assess the legitimacy of a youtube video or documentary than it is with a book thats been cited by other authors a lot.

anyway, my own journey. i did in fact say my ideology is founded on empathy first and foremost. i was already pretty left leaning (but without a framework, just very 'live and let live') at that point but one of my teachers in secondary school (who ive known since my sister went to that same secondary school over 10 years prior) (hes the guy i call math dad occasionally) used the times allotted for christian education and christian family life education which were basically free periods during which were supervised by our homeroom teachers (though its not really supposed to be that) to teach the basics of anarchist philosophy (like what can or should be considered violence) to our class, and i was really engaged in that framework. there were only two people in the class who were interested in that myself included so he eventually stopped but hes always been something of a guide to my beliefs, and this introduced me to anarchism as a philosophy.

i have to say what radicalized me beyond just my love of my fellow human was curiosity. i wanted to know why the caribbean is poor. i wanted to know why certain people are mistreated. i wanted to understand racism. and it was a gradual process for me but eventually i learned that pretty much all real bigotries are systemic, but i didnt fully understand why those systems were in place until i started to understand the 'flaws' inherent to capitalism, or rather, the way its supposed to work. all these systemic injustices are in service of capitalism.

i was still quite imperial centric until fairly recently in my life though, id say like the past 5-7 years ive become more and more critical of modern empire and more disillusioned with its manifestation worldwide and as you might imagine especially in the caribbean. i hate tourism now, while it tends to be something both major parties invest in to some degree (its the liberal position). while im a little less superficially patriotic than the average st lucian, im very invested in our politics, though i find it difficult to navigate as a lay person for a myriad of reasons that frustrate me. as much as i have opinions on politics and policy, im not an economist or political scientist or commentator and have auditory processing issues that make it just hard enough to sit and watch parliamentary debates and things like that that i dont.

i would be remiss if i didnt shoutout the tumblr community for also informing my politics. ive been introduced to all sorts of people and all sorts of problems and all sorts of ideas by being on this website for as long as i have, and listening and learning and looking into things myself.

[shinraholidayparty]

Frequently Asked Questions

Given how new this is, these are mainly an attempt to head off the main questions I think people might have, based on my own experience in fandom as well as what I've seen others doing in their event weeks.  As questions are sent in however, this will be updated!

💡 What is this?

Shinra Holiday Party is an annual Final Fantasy VII event to celebrate the winter holidays with our favorite Shinra Personnel, be it Turks, SOLDIERs, or board members!  We'll post a week's worth of prompts, and you see if any of those prompts inspire a fanwork.

💡 How do the prompts work?

Basically, there's a post that will have the days listed with the prompt for each day.  You do not have to fill all of the prompts to participate, and if you want to post them out of order, please feel free!  However, please note that if you post them out of order, they will be scheduled to be reblogged on the event blog on the "correct" day, just to kind keep things together.

💡 How do I participate?

By posting a work either here on tumblr or to our AO3 collection!  If you're posting here on tumblr, be sure to either use the #shinraholidayparty tag or ping us (@shinraholidayparty) so that you can get reblogged to the event blog.

💡 What kind of work is allowed?

Any kind of work!  Writing, art, graphics, fanmixes, gifsets, and any other kind of fanwork is allowed.

Traced, plagiarized, and AI works are not considered eligible for the event.

💡 Can non-Shinra characters appear in the work?

Of course!  Our Shinra crew doesn't operate in a vacuum after all.  If you would like to include some of the AVALANCHE team or some OCs or honestly, anyone at all, please feel free to do so.

💡 What if I can't make any content?  Is there any way that I can still help?

Absolutely!  It's called "signal-boosting," and it will greatly help the fanworks reach more people!  You can reblog the prompt list post as well as any entries that you see that you enjoy.  Sharing and commenting is loving!

💡 How do I tag sensitive content?

So I'm going to go a little in-depth on this just in case you're new to tagging in general.

If you are posting your fic to the AO3, you should be using the Archive warning labels as appropriate.  These labels are as follows:

Graphic depictions of violence.

Major character death.

Rape/Non-Con

Underage

If you use "Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings," your work will not be reblogged to the event account.

You must also use the Archive's Rating system appropriately, choosing one of the following:

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Please see the Archive's guides on Ratings and Warnings if you have further questions.  You may also find the Archive's guide on Tag Types or "How to Tag" useful.

In addition to that, it's generally considered polite to tag/warn for any of the following:

Abuse (including Child Abuse / Neglect)

Ageplay / DDLG / DDLB / etc.

Animal Cruelty/Death/Harm

Any AU settings, including Cafe AUs, Omegaverse (or even just A/B/O Dynamics), Modern AU, etc.

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Drug Use

Dubious Consent

Genderbending

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Kinks in general should be tagged so people can find them!

Kinks specifically regarding bodily fluids, such as Bloodplay / Scat / Emetophilia / etc.

Pregnancy

Racism / Transphobia / Homophobia / etc.

Torture (psychological or physical)

Now, it is not required that you use these tags, although if the work is reblogged to the event account, you may see these tags added where appropriate.

💡 Is this event related to the Shinra Holiday event on Twitter in 2020?

Short answer: no.  Long answer: Still no, but this event was heavily inspired by that one.

💡 Why are there lightbulb emojis?

Because it's for the Shinra Electric Company! 💡💡💡 And because I wanted something cute to break up the visual monotony of all the text.

💡 I have a question not addressed here!

By all means, send in an ask!

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[whatifsandspheres]

Voting is not the point. It never has been. First off, there's elections in my country coming up soon. I live in Mexico and can legally vote here. I'm originally from the USA, California. The electoral college system is flawed but it has an important intended function that's been completely forgotten. It was meant to prevent any single axis or states from exploiting the rest for their own benefit and intents. It was meant to soften the influence any region could have to dictate the whole country and simultaneously increase cohesion and create more common ground between far-distanced regions and people. Voting is not the point. It should never be seen as the point. It should never even be regarded as a powerful form of exercising one's civil liberties and an ode to democratic values. Voting is like walking into a casino trying to win something sizeable. Realistically all you're doing is contributing more money to the jackpot someone else will win. Except the political casino is rigged worse than any gaming casino. The house and all interested parties are allowed to lie, cheat, and steal. Consider yourself fortunate to make any win at all through gambling as well as voting. But be realistic. Maybe you'll make bus fare, or maybe you'll spend a given amount and win back everything you lost-- the important part is not to lie to yourself about the establishment and become addicted to all the blinking lights and arcade-like sounds. Do not lose sight of the real world and how things really work. Have you noticed most casinos tend to offer their players complimentary services? the more you play, the more they offer. If you're famous or a big spender they'll even reserve you special services and privileges. Sometimes even if all you do there is sit down at a table and lose a few hands of blackjack. They would go out of business if they gave everyone what they wanted! How are politicians paid? Well, when they don't run corrupt side-hustles or use insider-trading... Suffrage in Western society arose from peasant revolutions against monarchy. Remember that. We, the underclasses, went from being used as mules and beasts of burden in peacetime to human shields for the knighted elites in wartime. Then the revolutions led by the upper and middle-classes became dissatisfied enough to finally sympathize with the plight of the peasantry and they took the reigns from the monarchy. The modern democratic institutions of the state are still reigns on the lowest classes and primarily serve to prevent violent revolutions or challengers/pretenders to the establishment's long-established rule. They serve oligarchy. I've been in a lockup where human rights abuses were committed regularly for the sake of generating revenue from the family of drug addicts. Sometimes relatives would lock up family members while they took legal possession of their share of inheritances or business. The places benefit from displaying a poster with the number to the human rights commission, ironically, sadistically. They do this as a show of confidence that you're being held there without access to a phone. No phone calls, no contact with the outside world. How could you ever call to complain to the human rights commission from inside? Sometimes they even have a little "complaints" box like they do in jails. I dare you to use the complaints forms and tell us all what happens afterward. Ask yourselves why only slightly more than half of all eligible voters actually vote in the US and other "democracies" and the government remains largely intact? Because the other half is either too complacent or worn down by the same systems. Either too privileged or too burdened by it and have become apathetic because whether the establishment represents them or not-- voting simply doesn't represent their immediate interests and needs.

Voting has never been the point, it was an attempt to reach the goals of representation. Plenty of middle and upper-class people are wholly unaffected by the outcome of elections red or blue, because the establishment already represents and protects them. Violent revolution is easy to imagine. But just like voting, it's not the point-- what we need to strive for is dignity and conditions which are difficult for us to even conceive of! Things that are not on the menu and which you might not even have been raised to believe in but which we deserve and our dignity and humanity needs. Vote if you feel like your issues are even allowed to be discussed, debated, and opened up for legislation. Vote if you have the rights and power to, it's a privilege but it's not the whole picture. It's the icing on the cake.

"Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth,” Lucy Parsons once said.

the current electoral system is an unfairly weighted corrupt mess that will not save us, but

abstaining from voting does nothing to destabilize or replace it

participation can reduce harm and be strategically applied to your larger more revolutionary goals

(plus following electoral politics just keeps you aware of what specifically to expect from The Powers you oppose)

there is no materially revolutionary argument against voting if you are at all able.

[professorfaber]

I'm interested to see what you have to say about my communism paragraph.

To point out the Healthcare Man, me personally? No, I have not been able to do that for years on end due to my age, however several people over the years have been pointing out the issues within Marvel media as well as general superhero media. Including Healthcare Man. I wasn't trying to seem like I was disagreeing. I think that part got deleted, apologies. (I had made note that the paragraph was no way intended to be directed at you, more as like an agreement and that the situation was kinda dumb.) As for the memes, yeah could definitely do without those, I'm tired of seeing them. (Also wow do I agree with the statement that Marvel are incompetent cowards. Oof Marvel, step up or clear out.)

The WandaVision thing, g o d s don't get me started on the bs they pulled. Consumer activism definitely doesn't work in this situation, I wish that situation was handled differently. For the centrist fearmongering, it could potentially have to due with the fact it's a common piece of media. I'm sure as you know, the more x is in the media, the more people seem to think x is ok. The memes would contribute by someone taking it lightly or not thinking it's a serious issue. Only mocking it to go with the crowd and not looking at the situation through a critical lens, barely even scratching the surface level on the issue.

As for the statement of "Marvel is problematic" I'd say in this day-in-age, it needs to be worded like that because it catches people's attention. Do I personally agree with it, no. But it's necessary to catch an audience so something can be done. As long as the person using that statement has an actual argument, I think it should be used. I see where you are coming from though. Also I hope I haven't come off aggressive or rude, if I didn't address your other points it's because I agree with them. I'd also like to apologize, my tone often comes off as argumentative when I just mean to have a conversation. I hope you are havin a good day.

Thank you for clarifying all of this! I think we agree on a lot more than I initially thought (and no, you haven't come off as rude, don't worry). And thank you for sending an ask instead of adding on to an already very long post. I hope you're having a good day too.

Okay, point by point (this might be pretty long, sorry, I'm like. allergic to brevity but I do try):

1. The communism paragraph. First of all, I'm allowed to make snide remarks about liberals on my own blog on tumblr dot com without it harming The Cause. My post was not directed at liberals, and very few people, if any, that I engage with on this website are liberals so I wasn't hugely concerned about watching my language. Normally I would agree with you that it's important to do outreach, but it's my personal blog and I make the rules. Also:

"liberal this, republican that", both side are are horrible in their own ways but we still need the people.

Okay so, this is tricky because sometimes when I say "liberal" I do mean it in the modern, especially American, sense of social liberalism that the Democratic Party (ostensibly) adheres to, and that was kind of what I meant in the original post, but Republicans are also liberals, just of a slightly different ideological strand. In America today both parties are primarily dominated by centrist and rightist factions, with the original American left (i.e. socialists, anarchists, trade unionists, social democrats) being essentially squeezed out of political discourse over the past century. It's less an instance of "both sides are horrible" than "one side is horrible, but it's being presented in two flavors".

Also, I never said I was a communist and I actually usually don't politically identify as such, but I can see why you'd make that assumption based on the kind of things I post.

2. I think I get where you're coming from on this better than I did at first and I'm sorry for being dismissive about the memes. It did not occur to me that casually shitting on a massive corporation's ridiculous propaganda could be an issue in that way. Like, to me it was less "people all of a sudden realizing that Marvel is bad" than it was just a continuation of people criticizing Marvel as before, but you've honestly made me reconsider and I'm sorry if those sorts of jokes are frustrating or annoying. They honestly seemed like completely innocuous leftist tumblr memes to me, in the vein of jokes about any other shitty company ("shitty company" is kind of redundant I think but you know what I mean). But yeah, you've convinced me. I'll stop reblogging them if that helps.

3. This was a bit confusing to me? I understand being personally upset by the memes, but the notion that they normalize and contribute to corporations using propaganda to nullify left-wing ideas is kind of odd. Companies like Marvel and its parent Disney make those sorts of characters and storylines because it is in their interests to do so, and it will continue to be for as long as capitalism exists. What I called "centrist fearmongering" is like, a function of their existence as capitalist entities with immense power to manipulate public opinion in their favor, and what you or I post on tumblr really does not have an effect on that.

Capital shapes public opinion, not the other way around. That's one of the big reasons consumer activism doesn't work.

4. I've gotta disagree with you here, honestly, though I should say upfront that I'm not like, super invested in whether people call Marvel problematic or not. My original post was just a rant, no one is obliged to listen to me, I don't care about this nearly that much.

However, if we are going to have that conversation, then I will say that while it is important to attract an audience, using patently misleading or reductive language is the wrong way to do it, even if you also have a solid argument. I might also note that the problem that needs addressing (the influence of the interests of capital on entertainment) isn't exclusive to Marvel, and pretending that it is just lets the problem fester. "Marvel is problematic" just... seems like a bad slogan honestly as far as critiquing capitalist media goes.

I think there are two separate problems here: Marvel media broadly containing harmful or clumsy messages, and Marvel media suppressing or distracting from left-wing ideas and resistance. The former will change when it becomes legitimately profitable for Marvel to become more sensitive to certain members of its audience (which will only result in more marginalized identities becoming emptily commodified, unfortunately). The latter is a more direct result of capitalism that is systemically unavoidable.

Lastly: as you said, if I didn't respond to one of your points or comments that probably means I agree with it or couldn't think of anything to add

[sparxwrites]

so um, I don't know about anyone else here on this blog but I saw the playlist you made for that LARP and I'm like so honestly extremely morbidly curious about it and would love to hear more about it or at least get some kind of overview, I understand if you want to keep it private tho

i mean… the larp preparatory document is a full 14 pages, and the larp ran for maybe five or six hours, so i can’t provide you with the full document and summary (like i said, this larp was created and written from scratch, and it’s something i’d like to run again if possible, so i’m reluctant to give out a link to the document - if we’re friends, message me and i’ll see, but otherwise i’m afraid it’s staying private for now at least).

i borrowed a lot of the aesthetic / setting stuff from the dresden files, the matthew swift series, urban magic yogs, british fairytales, and white wolf’s changeling rpg. i borrowed a lot of the rules and mechanics from “end of the line”, “new world magischola”, and various blogs about rules and safety mechanics in nordic larps in general. it was, essentially, about twenty five of my friends in the alps, down by a stream, running around and getting sunburnt and scaring the inhabitants of this tiny village - so it was very informal, the participants weren’t pre-selected by anything other than “on holiday with me”, and the whole attitude towards it from the participants was very… ah, lax and gung-ho, shall we say, which meant it maybe wasn’t taken as seriously as it should have been.

the basic idea was that each faction - humans (hedgewitches, formal magicians, urban sorcerers), dwarves, elves (regular and dark), changelings, summer court, and winter court - had the overarching goal of working to resolve whether the hunt would go ahead or not, but each faction had their own secret assigned goals, and each individual had self-set goals and a secret, so there was a lot of politicking. mostly it was people talking, arguing, making speeches… there was some innovative magic-casting, a bit of drama when a hedgewitch tried to attack the fae (shoutout to the human players for coming up with anti-fae organisations with catchy names and slogans Alarmingly quickly tbh), a fae getting murdered, and everything just… exploding into a shitstorm really, in the end, as it was supposed to. the accords were shattered into smithereens, the fae were gonna go ahead and hunt, the changelings had mobilised with weaponry from the human army to take out the hunt. the dark elves got fucked over because they weren’t specific enough in making a contract with the fae… i think the dwarves just sort of ran off after acquiring some strange glowing artefact they had decided was the only thing they really cared about. the elves brokered immunity from the fae like gloriously self-serving bastards. the urban sorcerer willingly sold himself into effective slavery. it was pretty wild.

it was a lot of fun, really. there’s a lot of stuff i’d change if i did it over - but as someone who’s run a few rpgs now, and a larp oneshot along with inheriting a longer-form larp, it’s… kind of always a learning experience, every time you do it. and i would like to do it over, ideally with more planning and prep, and more dedicated players (i think demanding people come with proper costumes, and charging a nominal entry fee, would go a long way to making sure people took it seriously - but that also means i’ve got to ensure my production value is a lot higher, so, pros and cons i guess). i’ve got another nordic larp i’d like to run, too, tho it’ll be a while before i run that (ideally, i need a desert for that, too, which the uk is notoriously light on, so…)

but. yeah! here’s the summary / hook for the larp that i used, if you’re curious and want an idea of the sort of aesthetic i was working with:

It’s been twenty-five and a half years since the Accords were signed, almost to the day. Twenty-five and a half years since both mortals and fae met on the yule solstice, under the auspice of the Winter Court, to agree to peace – an end to the practice of changelings, of sending cold iron through to the Faerie, of the endless battling and bloodshed on both sides of the liminal. Though the years since then have been far from entirely peaceful, the Accords have held. Fae and mortals have largely coexisted in cities across the nation, moved freely through the liminal between the mortal world and the Faerie, and observed solstice celebrations in relative harmony.

This summer, however, the solstice is different.

It is the first since the Accords to fall on a full moon – and whilst other races prepare for their own celebrations, the fae are demanding that a Hunt be allowed. Solstices are a celebration of life and death and rebirth, they say, as is the waxing and waning of the moon. The intersection of both is a sacred time. A time of sacrifice. It is in accordance with the Old Laws, they say. Blood must be spilled.

All attempts at overarching, nationwide negotiation have, despite the relative civility of fae-mortal relations in comparison to before the Accords, failed dismally. On this one point, this one, ancient tradition, it seems the fae will not budge – and neither will the mortals. They refuse to allow the fae free reign to sweep through their cities and countryside in a whirlwind of revelry and bloodshed, as they have done in decades past.

Fortunately, almost every region, province, or city in the country has managed to negotiate its own, individual agreement on the subject. The almost, however, is crucial. [Our region] is the only region that has been unsuccessful – and the pressure is on to find a solution.

Now, the day before the solstice, a summit has been called in the ancient town of [our town], in a last-ditch attempt to reach an agreement. Representatives from every race have been called from around the region to attend Castle [house we were using], along with an impartial party to act as judge and preside over the proceedings – the Drac of Malmonte. Humans, dwarves, and elves are sending diplomats, negotiators, scholars, and warriors, anyone who might be able to provide a solution. A delegation of free changelings have also been invited, and have reluctantly agreed to attend. And, of course, the Fae Courts will be present, in all their glamour and finery and alien, terrifying beauty, with the Mab and the Titania at their heads and their knight and other lords, ladies, and lieges following close behind.

There is more riding on this summit than just one Hunt in a remote département of France, however. The lives of local mortals, the continued presence of the fae in this region of the mortal world, the freedom of the changelings still held captive by the local fae – and, potentially, the future of the very Accords themselves – hang in the balance. The peace that the Accords have brought is a delicate, brittle thing. One major incident may be enough to bring decades of political efforts crashing down, and throw the country back into the darkness of constant war once more.

There are other forces at work here, too. Old rivalries boil beneath the surface of the political landscape, and though the Hunt is the most pressing issue, every race and faction has their own angle to play. Every individual in the room has their own agenda. The Summit is little more than a pit of vipers, but, somehow, a solution must be found amidst the snakes. And it might be up to you to find it.

Good luck, and may the Goddess’s blessing be with you. After all, you’re most likely going to need it…

[Drawing inspiration from The Dresden Files, the Matthew Swift series, White Wolf’s Changeling, traditional fae, faerie, and sidhe mythology, and various little bits and pieces of writing I’ve done, The Wild Hunt is a character-focused, Nordic-style LARP about politics, social conflict, The Greater Good, modern magic coloured by ancient tradition, and what happens when mortals bump up against ancient creatures with an utterly alien system of ethics. It’s a little experimental, incredibly untested, very firmly play-to-lose. It’s gonna be Spicy, my guys.]