#the most noble of people

[helenofnowhere]

Muslim chroniclers, and historians writing about al-Andalus, generally identify five main social groups in Andalusī society under the Umayyads: (1) Arab Muslims, who occupied the highest social rank and included the Umayyads and their Arab allies and their clients or mawālī (singular “mawlā”); the Arabic term for this elite group as a whole was “al-khāṣṣah,” the special ones. (2) Muslims of Iberian or Berber origin who had become honorary Arabs and part of the khāṣṣah through the study and acquisition of Arabic language and Arab culture. (3) Muwallads, which is a catch-all term for Muslims who were descendants of Iberian converts […] Muslims fell into this category if they had not broken into the “Arab” elite through ties of clientage or by being recognized as distinguished in their education and knowledge of Arabic. (4) Muslims of Berber origin, most of whose families came from North Africa in the 700s. They, like Iberian Muslims, could gain elite status, but most did not. (5) Dhimmīs, that is, Christians and Jews living under Islamic rule.

(…) The sources apply the above categories almost exclusively to men. Of course there were women who were non-Arab Muslims, or who were Jews or Christians living under Muslim rule, but their status had more to do with the identity of the men in their family than with their own attributes.

The Most Noble of People: Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Identity In Muslim Spain (2017) by Jessica A. Coope, Introduction, pages 7–8

[elodieunderglass]

changes and trends in horror-genre films are linked to the anxieties of the culture in its time and place. Vampires are the manifestation of grappling with sexuality; aliens, of foreign influence. Horror from the Cold War is about apathy and annihilation; classic Japanese horror is characterised by “nature’s revenge”; psychological horror plays with anxieties that absorbed its audience, like pregnancy/abortion, mental illness, femininity. Some horror presses on the bruise of being trapped in a situation with upsetting tasks to complete, especially ones that compromise you as a person - reflecting the horrors and anxieties of capitalism etc etc etc. Cosmic horror is slightly out of fashion because our culture is more comfortable with, even wistful for, “the unknown.” Monster horror now has to be aware of itself, as a contingent of people now live in the freedom and comfort of saying “I would willingly, gladly, even preferentially fuck that monster.” But I don’t know much about films or genres: that ground has been covered by cleverer people.

I don’t actually like horror or movies. What interests me at the moment is how horror of the 2020s has an element of perception and paying attention.

Multiple movies in one year discussed monsters that killed you if you perceived them. There are monsters you can’t look at; monsters that kill you instantly if you get their attention. Monsters where you have to be silent, look down, hold still: pray that they pass over you. M Zombies have changed from a hand-waved virus that covers extras in splashy gore, to insidious spores. A disaster film is called Don’t Look Up, a horror film is called Nope. Even trashy nun horror sets up strange premises of keeping your eyes fixed on something as the devil GETS you.

No idea if this is anything. (I haven’t seen any of these things because, unfortunately, I hate them.) Someone who understands better than me could say something clever here, and I hope they do.

But the thing I’m thinking about is what this will look like to the future, as the Victorian sex vampires and Cold War anxieties look to us. I think they’ll have a little sympathy, but they probably won’t. You poor little prey animals, the kids will say, you were awfully afraid of facing up to things, weren’t you?

[justabiteofspite]

"Astarion doesn't do big romantic gestures."

My Durge still trying to get graveyard dirt out of her ass crack after being lovingly pounded into it by Astarion who wanted to share with her this deeply joyful and meaningful reclamation of himself after sharing a vulnerable declaration of his love, at this place he hasn't shown anyone else but her: "Then what the actual fuck was that???"

[a-great-tragedy]

The thing about the Black brothers is that they both want the same things in a way. Sirius wants to be accepted by the order. He wants them to see that he’s not like the rest of his family, that he’s a good person, who’s capable of doing good things.

Regulus wants to be accepted by his family. He wants them to be proud of him. To prove that he won’t be a disappointment like his brother. That’s why he does everything they say, following along blindly (until it’s too late).

They both want so badly to be loved, they do everything to appeal to others. And what do they get in return? Nothing. Sirius gets thrown into Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit, making him seem like just another member of the Black family. Regulus finally realizes his family will never love him and tries to make things right, resulting in his death. They’re two sides of the same coin.

[mwagneto]

ruby and 15 finding the same guy hot and having a joke catfight about it vs donna and 14 finding the same guy hot and just agreeing and moving on. this is coz the former are young & sexy and the latter are geriatric

[aeteut]

‘The only thing that could tear down the House of Black was itself.’

By likeafunerall, and reposted with permission.

[aromanthur-lester]

Hi I’m gonna be sooo normal tomorrow

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you. I'm sorry.

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[elialys]

TV Appreciation Week 2024

Day 5: Favourite season of a tv show ↳ Fringe - Season 2

[beneath-themilkytwilight]

"something so scary the tardis ran away 😨😨💀" babe this is nothing new name one episode where the tardis doesn't vibe w the energy and just fucks off to who knows where until the conflict is resolved,, bye guys I'll catch you at the end of the episode

[the-sun-is-also-a-star]

kinned sirius black too hard and now my mother is trying to convince me its a good idea to marry my cousin

[sadlynotthevoid]

Crack idea here: LCF modern AU with magic where og!Cale accidentally gains a swordmaster aura after way too many hours of playing beat saber.

Cale: *intensely playing the same game for 74th time this (new) year*

Cale's body: *starts exuding glowing mist*

Cale:

Hans, who just opened the door: Excuse me, young mas— Hhh...

Hans: Madam Violan!!!

[bg3heart]

I've noticed people saying things like how Gortash tries really hard to seem like a noble and not like the commoner he grew up as

(and of course everyone is free to headcanon what they like)

but I thought it was clear he hated nobility and saw himself above them

I think the best examples of this are the busts in his office, specifically Carric and Dame

*Carric started from nothing, built a financial empire and founded the Counting House. He refused to mingle with the other patriars, saying, "They didn't want me when I was an urchin, and now they can't have me."*

*Dame Amafrey, the Orphans' Friend, founded several orphanages in the Outer City, as the Lower City was no place for children (and the Upper City declined to sponsor an orphanage).*

The narrator gets passive aggressive when reading about the upper city declining to sponsor, and the line about being an urchin feels very directed

So yeah I think at best he thinks lowly of them, at worst he hates these fuckers

[mrstellmeafuckingsecret]

regulus "lucky is she, who lives unaware, who doesn't get bothered by all that's unfair" black & sirius "unlucky me, who knows way too much, who fights to make changes and music and such" black

[weirdnico]

got this stupid comment yesterday

and it got me thinking, yeah, harley!bella and ivy!rita as girlfriends is indeed quite silly...

so i married them. they're married now. congrats to the couple!

(plus close ups!)

[vaguely-concerned]

so for obvious reasons, rye is not generally all that popular with most of the senior watchers. however. I think there is a certain type of younger watcher to whom he is The ultimate hot badboy icon and fantasy. (we're talking about a group of extreme indoor kid goth nerds who've barely been outside. it doesn't take a lot ot achieve bad boy status in this context and the only thing in this world that lasts forever is a bad reputation in a small insular group like the watchers.) it's SO funny because rye thinks of himself as such a disappointing fuckup of a son of the grand necropolis. and meanwhile there are novices kicking their feet and giggling as they're like

'Ingellvar is so cool. no one knows where he's from he was found down here as a baby. mysterious orphan appeal. he could be a secret dalish prince or something for all we know. (*annoyed extra nerd watcher novice voice*: umm actually the dalish don't have princes, merrivar?? read a real book sometime maybe???) he's a rebel. he doesn't care what the senior watchers think no time for politics he just gets the job done. (*small sad rye voice* I care a lot what the senior watchers think actually. a pathetic amount, in fact. it just rarely seems like it helps anything at all) I heard he graduated almost top of his class even though he spent all his time as a student partying up in the city and having a torrid affair with the son of a noble family. sometimes in his spare time he wears a cool punk leather jacket but like the fantasy version of that. he has tattoos apparently but no one's seen them for years. yuh-uh it's true too, I know someone who knows someone he dated once. they say he saw a knife fight once. like, in a bar brawl, with living people. all that, and he's even sneakily emotionally unavailable. *starry-eyed sigh* what a dreamboat'.

needless to say this only grows worse with the events of the game, after he takes out the formless one and rumours start to spread that he maybe killed a god or something too???? and this being nevarra, more importantly he's out there killing dragons with his sworn companions?? like a fucking fairytale prince but with that devil-may-care rebellious streak???? he's the safely unavailable first crush at a distance of many a young watcher. now imagine the reaction when he shows up home for the first time in a year after the war of the banners accompanied by The one true bad boy fantasy to rule them all: literally the sad brooding crown prince of the crows of antiva in leather pants who has WINGS and a dark tortured side of his nature that he has to constantly battle against for the sake of those he loves.

(the perception vs. reality situation for both of these characterizations is. so unspeakably hilarious needless to say. consider how much of the above lucanis characterization is accurate to the person he actually is and then you've basically found the level of distortion lens being applied to rye as well. is most of it technically true? sure. 'technically' is having to do a whole world of heavy lifting there tho fhdfska)

what I'm really saying here is that there is a subsection of this group that's been ferociously writing rye/lucanis rpf from the moment they were seen trotting down into the necropolis depths together (other pairings within the lighthouse gang as a whole, caught in tantalizing glimpses as they visit the necropolis, of course having their own devotees), and when this fandom subgroup eventually discover they were right it's with all the insane glee of a sixteen year old fanfic writer on wattpad (is that still where the kids are these days. idk i'm getting old folks) finding out that their dark mafia prince AU is basically true. varric might be gone but the legacy of friendfiction lives on after him. the king of thedas rpf being the shoulders of titans that young watchers are standing on to write fevered WILDLY inaccurate depictions of the private life of two of the most low-key domestic quietly devoted and undramatic people on the continent, one of them being varric's own poor little meow meow slash mentee, is something that can actually be so personal. rye does not end up terribly famous in the end considering the shit he manages to get done in this game, and he thanks his lucky stars for it. but to a tight-knit community of mourn watch fic writers he is blorbo from my apocalypse. it's all I could have wished for him.

(funniest possible outcome of all this: myrna gets so fucking tired of trying to understand what the novices are being so tittery about that she asks rye 'watcher ingellvar with the realization that this is a long shot and the admission that vorgoth and I have exhausted all other avenues of investigation: do you possess secret insight about what an 'x reader' is. and also 'ship war'. your name seems to come up in this context a surprising amount'. 9000000 points of incoming psychic damage about to hit the fan.)