#the people's republic of everything

[serpentface]

What’s the architecture/layout of old Bur, how do modern people perceive the ruins?

The city in its peak was very large and spread over both shoreline and a network of small islands. These islands comprised a waterfront district connected by a network of bridges and canals, where a large portion of its non-agricultural lower class lived.

It had a fairly well organized and efficient freshwater+sanitation system across most of its span (the canal district had less effective plumbing largely due to logistical difficulties, most of its wastewater was instead flushed by rain powered cisterns). The water system was powered by the Hsuke river and made fresh water readily accessible throughout the majority of the city (though few homes had direct freshwater plumbing). It had several major public baths, and the homes of the wealthiest members of society had their own private bathing pools.

In this part of the world, it is broadly regarded as once being one of the most beautiful cities to have ever existed. It was particularly noted for its water gardens (still a fixture of present day Burri culture) which were absolute marvels of engineering for that period, with the majority of these being entirely artificial and supported by its network of aqueducts. These hosted thousands of ornamental plants, fish, and fowl, as well as fruiting trees and shrubs. They were treated as a public work meant to benefit all citizens, and existed throughout the city.

The palace in particular was noted as impressive, in part for its architecture but mainly for its gardens. These hosted 'exotic' plants and a menagerie of animals from across the empire's territory, and existed in part as a symbol of the state's power and reach. It was a trend for emperors to bring in the fiercest animal from each conquered province to the grounds, with the an-nechoi being the beast of choice from the lands across the sea to the east, with one (Probably erroneously) cited as killing thirty servants in the process of moving it into the gardens.

The palace was located within the temple district. This district housed over a hundred shrines to the various lesser deities of the pantheon, and temple complexes to the seven chief deities (the firstborn gods who created the world, all other gods were later descendants). Old Burri temples were Kinda similar in shape to a ziggurat, though had an accessible interior space and a central tower which housed the shrine. At this time, the chief gods were believed to physically inhabit their temples. Each god had its own high priest permitted to attend to their shrine, with the emperor being the high priest to Inanariya (king of the gods) and the only person permitted to directly commune with this deity. The foundations to these temples are relatively intact in the present day, though none of the towers remain (collapsed in earthquakes with no one to rebuild them).

The city was heavily fortified, having one external wall surrounding most of its length, and an internal wall surrounding the palace/temple district (which doubled as a fortress).

---

The period of sea level rise began with a 500ish year period of mostly gradual increase, which occurred slowly enough that most infrastructure could adapt very easily and the problem went unnoticed by most (the city of Bur experienced most of its Growth during this time). It then culminated with about a century of (relatively) rapid rise, which is the direct cause of the city's abandonment.

The canals flooding had always been a problem during storms, but this began to occur with notable frequency, alongside the water level as a whole rising quickly enough to be noticed on an immediate human timespan. The canal district was maintained for a while by rerouting some of its waterways and building up barriers, but it was the first part of the city to be abandoned. Things got more serious when the mainland parts of the city grew increasingly impacted by storm surges that never seemed to fully retract, and major parts of its surrounding farmland were hit by surges and tidal waves, and rendered too saline to remain arable.

The actual single biggest cataclysm was the collapse of the city's mainland sewage system. It was built with flood canals as a failsafe, but these were built to withstand heavy rain rather than an encroaching ocean. Storm surges would cause large segments of the city to be flooded with sewage (including some of the freshwater plumbing), and serious disease outbreaks would follow.

These issues were enabled/exacerbated by earthquakes (the region is geologically active and this isn't unusual) that further damaged and mingled the sewage and freshwater systems. One earthquake and its subsequent tidal wave was a turning point, and the resulting breakdown of (already strained) infrastructure rendered a large swath of the city uninhabitable in the space of about a week. This also just caused immediate damage to much of the city's architecture/walls, and collapsed the tower of the temple to Inanariya (never a good sign). This is when the full exodus began, first with people flocking to un-flooded parts of its city and farmlands, and those who could afford it fully relocating to other cities/towns.

All of this issues were compounded by the 1st Burri Empire already being in a period of collapse at this time. This was largely a matter of simple overextension. Its borders were constantly under attack by rival states/its victims, sometimes with great success. Bur's own population had burgeoned well past what the imperial core land could sustain, and its cities relied predominantly on extraction of foreign grain/goods to feed their people. It lost most of its eastern land holdings in a fairly rapid timespan (overextended with wars at multiple fronts), which caused frequent famines in its core.

This put pressure on its final emperors to invest in increasingly desperate expansionist projects, while attempting to keep up public morale with lavish public works and objectively stupid vanity projects. The attempt to excavate a canal at the Viper seaway's 'tail' (one of the few eastern regions it retained secure control of at that point) was in part a desperate act to revive its economy by opening up/monopolizing a new trade system. The amount of money and manpower sunk into this ultimately doomed project was followed by Bur being fully ousted from its eastern holdings, and was one of the final straws in its collapse.

People in the city of Bur proper were dealing with the double front of starvation and their homes + streets + immediate water supply being flooded with seawater and literal human feces. These issues impacted the lower classes first and most severely, but ultimately transcended class boundaries. Famine grew more and more rampant, not only with the loss of the colonial holdings that supported the population but of farmland in the imperial core- much of the city of Bur's immediate farmlands were unproductive due to repeat inundation with saltwater during surges, and the farmland along the Yamage river to the north was rapidly being captured and pillaged by the Hsem (historical enemies, a nomadic group with a khait warrior culture from further west).

All this was fucking unlivable in of itself, but also had very obvious implications in the context of Burri emperors also being high priests and the chief intermediary between the gods and the people. Not only was the government failing to sustain its citizens to begin with, but signs of divine disapproval were deeply apparent.

So the last days of the 1st Burri empire were a chaotic period of civil unrest, most acute in and around city of Bur proper. This involved near-constant peasant revolts and several attempted coups. The last Burri emperor (of the First empire) ultimately fled the capital of Bur and reestablished in Titenegal, declaring it the new capital. This was then sacked by the Hsem within a year and after that it was fucking Joever.

The city of Bur was functionally abandoned by this point. People still Lived There and there were several attempts to set up a new government, all of which failed in the short term. After the collapse was complete, its inhabitants were mostly just peasants who built up new homes further inland and sustained themselves on the remaining farmland. Few people lived permanently in the city proper due to all of its intact infrastructure being effectively non-functional without the governmental bodies/human labor to sustain it.

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It should also be noted that it was Extremely not just Bur that was flooded, the sea level rise was worldwide (resulting from a collapsing ice sheet) and almost Every coastal city during this period experienced the same issue. Bur's demise was just notably dramatic in that it was once the most heavily populated human city that has Ever Existed, and directly correlated with the fall of the empire it hosted.

The flooding was fairly gradual, but it's been 7 centuries since the first Burri empire's collapse and the fall of its capital city, and many contemporary records were lost to the immediate chaos and to the large span of time since. Cultural memory tends to reframe the flood VERY rapid on a human scale, many of the stories describe the city being swallowed in a single wave as an act of divine punishment (the popular notion at the time that the last emperors deeply displeased and shamed the gods has stuck into the narrative, often exaggerated into stories of them being horrifically debauched blasphemers guilty of the worst disgraces imaginable). Even more conservative accounts tend to imagine the totality of the destruction taking place over the span of about a year (merging the memories of the immediate earthquake devastation with more gradual elements of its slow flooding). People widely believe that most of its residents drowned in the city's cataclysmic demise, and that the ruins are now Extremely haunted.

The state of the flooding is not 'completely under the sea' and you can still walk/wade through most of the inland ruins (the canal district is effectively submerged, with most structures that Would be above the water level having collapsed against the strain). As such, some people Do Live Here. These people are mostly smugglers and pirates using the ruins as a hideout, and/or opportunistic hunters and fishermen who won't let ghosts stop them. Entering the city ruins is currently forbidden (largely Because of the criminal nature of basically every motive to go here (even hunting, which is considered poaching)), but enforcement of this rule/active patrols to prevent entry are inconsistent.

The majority of Old Bur's inhabitants are animals. The un-flooded parts of the city and its gardens are now a host to a thriving community of native plants and animals (and a few descendants of escaped non-native zoo animals/ornamental plants that adapted well to the conditions).

The egret shown here is a foreign species originally brought as an ornamental bird. In the centuries since its first import, it has become widespread and occurs on both sides of the Mouth seaway. It can hunt in both freshwater and saline environments, and a very large population lives permanently in the ruins of Old Bur.

Its common name is the ghost egret. Contemporary Burri folklore holds that the ghost egrets of Old Bur are literal ghosts, carrying the souls of those who died in the cataclysmic floods.

[skywalkerthrawn]

"star wars is fucking horrible at queer rep" tell me you haven't picked up a star wars book or comic in the last 3 years without telling me

[sforzesco]

CAIUS TREBONIUS AND MARK ANTONY, MARCH 15th

The Hetairia of Cassius, Luciano Canfora

Cic. Phil. 2

(taps mic) so as we all know, conspiracy is a kind of seduction, and actions not taken can be just as loud as the ones that are. so. uh. fellas! hey fellas. heyyyyyy.

like, I was looking at the Dolabella-Caesar-Antony mess yesterday, but something really fun and vicious happened here and I will be rotating it around in my head at maximum volume for the foreseeable future

the red panels are the Assassination of Julius Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini (the pen and ink drawing, not the painting)

[navree]

nothing is stagnant nothing is permanently set in stone everything is dynamic everything is subject to change

[toustik-blogs]

Tw eyestrain

This is for the draw this in your style by @ricky-tiki-tah ^^

I wanted to do this wayyyy earlier but i was busy with stuff

Hope ya like it ^^

[moobrvoobl-moobmoob-oobmpoobroom]

I just find it mind-boggling that some people will reblog things like “Anakin didn’t care about Rex and his men, he wouldn’t listen to Fives just because he was friends with Palpatine” and then in the next post be gushing over Rexwalker/Rexanidala like???? so you agree. Anakin does care about Rex?

[beverage-cowboy]

I think part of the reason people think that thrawns actions weren’t accurate or that thrawn isn’t really thrawn and “Dave filoni ruined him” is because thrawn isn’t the main character or even the main villain of Ashoka and therefore people haven’t gotten any sort of “real” context to his actions (besides everything we got in the show and rebels) because no one is saying “oh thrawn did this because of this” “I, thrawn, am doing this because of this” “I, other character, do not understand why thrawn is doing that but it’s thrawn so there has to be a reason”

Because it’s a fucking tv show, no one is going to say that in a tv show!! When reading a book, it feels normal for the character to ponder or guess at what the other characters mean when they say that or do something. It feels normal that the character is thinking things through on the page but thrawn is going to say out loud what the fuck he’s doing because that’s stupid and he barely talks to other characters in Ashoka anyways!

Go read an essay if you want to get an extremely detailed explanation of what someone is doing, if you’re not reading an esssay shut up about how you didn’t get the explanation

[bikananjarrus]

but seriously. vernestra really showed up to elzar’s (which used to be stellan’s) office, told him to sit his ass down and confront what he did. Like the gist of that whole scene was vernestra saying: “you can’t call me vern bc we’re not friends and will probably never be friends. i don’t like you, never have bc you’re a bad jedi. i don’t know what master stellan saw in you, and out of the three firebrands, you’re the least of them all.”

like elzar said, “i wish stellan were still here” probably expecting them to have a small bonding moment in their grief, and instead and she came back with “if he was, what do you think he would say to you?” like vernestra girl stop!!! he already hates himself enough!! he’s already dead you’re killing him!!

[jewishcissiekj]

Asajj's "I emerged from misery and suffering only to find the Jedi I had once worshipped are nothing but weak, misguided fools. Count Dooku speaks true, the Galaxy needs a Jedi purge!" quote and her in Republic #52 in general always hit me so hard because it gives you so much information about the character while keeping so much else from the reader. whether or not you've encountered that character before (at the time it came out), it gives you such a strong sense of who she is. Shoutout to W. Haden Blackman's stellar writing and Tomas Gioerello's art (that references some early Asajj concept art) for one of my favorite Asajj issues.

[imogenkol]

Me trying to figure out what High Republic book I’m supposed to read after I finish the first one

[unliikelylovers]

i think the fact that boston and cambridge are separate municipalities makes them like 19th century brooklyn and manhattan.

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing: if there were (clone) strills everything would be much better

For me, the biggest missed opportunity & disappointment of the Republic Commando story is that NO ONE APPARENTLY CAME UP WITH IDEA TO CLONE MIRD. And I swear, everyone would be better off with strill puppies (kittens?) around. Like seriously. Vau? Mird is what kept Vau alive and happy for decades and is literally what makes Vau soft and caring. Now multiply Mird and Vau won’t magically change from hardened veteran & harsh training sergeant into overprotective, overemotional dad, sure, but it would definitely make it easier for him to show his care and deeply hidden emotions once each squad of his batch gets a cute lil clone!Mird to take care of (and be taken care of in return). Can you imagine all the cadets’ excitement and wonder for their own strill, for the unconditional love and loyalty of an highly intelligent and smart animal and for the Vau’s trust given alongside it? All the things boy!Vau must feel at some point too, when he was stuck with an abusive family or shortly after leaving them and be on his own in an unknown, uncaring galaxy? Can you imagine him swarmed by the puppies and clones with a thousand and one question on how to deal with strill so he could unleash all his love for Mird on everyone around?

Or Atin, after losing his first batch mates? Or even after Geonosis? No point for violence when you can drop an emotional support animal on a hurt, depressed human being. Deltas too could benefit from lil Mird. What could be better than a strill for emotionally stunted people with even more an emotionally shut down trainer? Beside the whole long-term therapy, I mean.  

Jango too should get a strill, the man is like one, walking trauma and Boba would be better to hang out with a loyal pet than Aurra Sing or other assholes.

Where is a cute lil clone!Mird for each squad of Vau’s batch, I demand to know?! A loyal strill  to make everything better? WHY NONE OF YOU in-universe SMARTASS THOUGHT TO GIVE MIRD A BUNCH OF SMALL PUPPIES (KITTENS) TO MAKE KAMINO A BIT BETTER PLACE FOR THE STRILL, VAU AND CLONE CADETS? Everyone would be mentally healthier!

Well maybe beside Kal who could have a heart attack once Jaing brought the strill puppy or two or a whole pack and Skirata was forced to explain how that happened to overprotective Vau & Mird XDDD 

UNLESS Vau wanted to do so but Kaminoans, remembering that this animal hunts them down out of boredom decided FUCK NO. Then I will accept the canon as it is, but only then…

(I do remember Vau sicing Mird on Ordo in book canon but I will admit I do not have a clue what was the point of this action besides making us, readers, to dislike Walon on the spot. I mean, killing people and physically trashing cadets? Sure, it makes sense within his characterization. But using Mird like that without any logical reason and just for fun? Nah, I will pass. Like Ordo lacked trauma and reasons to dislike strill and Vau when Kal had plenty of his own complaints about Walon to pass to his kids.)

[sforzesco]

same energy

Crassus, The First Tycoon, Peter Stothard / Crassus, Plutarch (trans. Warner) / Cic. ad Brut. 1.16 / The Romans in their Decadence, Thomas Couture

[inthegardenofprayers]

"Do you think I seek the death of all living things? There is no victory in such things. I do not want to win our war like this, little Jedi. When I win, I wish it to be because I was right, my teachings true." | "Direct action is not always the best way. It is a far greater victory to make another see through your eyes than to close theirs forever." | -Knights of the Old Republic II: Kreia/Darth Traya/Arran Kae

[attila-werther]

[kimmkitsuragi]

even the opposition is so fucking stupid im crying