#their matriarchy has its own rules

[nocturnalazure]

[far-side-skies]

Cyclonis and the Cyclonian Royal Family

Aka I gave this girl a family and then had to figure out why so many of them are absent from the show. This was the second most popular option in that poll I posted, so here we go.

I headcanon Cyclonia to be a matriarchy. Every ruler of the Empire since its founding has been a woman, with rare exceptions when the men take the position of regents for one reason or another. Even if the firstborn of a generation is a boy, they will never have a claim to the throne.

Queen Alyka Prosperis was the second ruler of Cyclonia after its founding as a kingdom. She was gifted the throne by First Queen Marinia, as they were close friends prior to Marinia's death. Since then Alyka's descendants have ruled Cyclonia and its expanding empire in one of the longest-running bloodlines in recorded history. No one is entirely sure who her partner was, who helped father the bloodline.

Master Polaris is a black mark on the royal family's history. Many say she cursed all the men in her family to take the form of monsters, in a fit of jealousy towards her brother Hemlock. Ever since then, the men of Cyclonia's royal family have been sickly and weak.

Cyclonis's great-grandmother is Master Roburis. Originally the youngest of four sisters, Roburis was not expected to rise to power. Then a plague hit Cyclonia, devastating the royal family and leaving her as the last survivor of her sisters. She wasn't a particularly attentive mother to her daughter, Morrigan, and some sources say she's the one to blame for instigating war with the Free Atmos, only to palm off the fallout onto the next generation.

Empress Morrigan Anarchis started her reign with the goal of doing better than her mother. Instead, she lead Cyclonia into a 50 year war that didn't end with her death, and repeated history by handing it off to Cyclonis. There are rumours that she orchestrated the assassination of her own husband and let the Sky Knights take blame for it in an incident that almost killed her only child, Cyclamen. She wasn't particularly popular as a ruler when she died, in fact it was no secret that the public greatly favoured Dark Ace over her.

Delphinium Cyclonis was seen as a symbol of hope for Cyclonia. A chance to finally end the war one way or another, but unfortunately she proved to be just as bullheaded as her grandmother. More concerned with learning new magical secrets and accessing the far side than actually ruling her Empire, it all ended in disaster after Cyclonia Rising. Now her brothers Larkspur and Cardin (Cardin largely belongs to @ashe-alter, thank you for helping me figure out these brothers :3) are struggling to pick up the pieces.

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 113 (Jan. 23, 1988) - “Angel One”

Written by: Patrick Barry Directed by: Michael Rhodes

The Breakdown

The Enterprise picks up on a distress signal from a freighter called ‘The Odin’ that went missing a few years back, so they decide to check out the nearest M-Class planet (ie, capable of sustaining life) to see if the survivors made it that far.  It turns out they did, but the problem is the survivors all happened to be men, and the planet they landed on is run by a matriarchal oligarchy that objectifies the males, and believes they should accept their place as slutty-play-things-without-rights.  Naturally the Odin survivors (being enlightened federation folk) take issue with this on-the-nose-metaphor, and go public with their opinions, resulting in a social justice movement (which we are told about but never actually see). 

Beata (The ‘Elected-one’ aka the ruler), agrees to let the Odin survivors go, since that would silence the dissenters, but not before getting Riker to spend the night with her, which he’s all-too-happy to oblige (she may be a misandrist, but Riker will not pass up on some perfectly good… diplomatic relations).  While Riker flounces around in a pretty little get up (all an essential part of the diplomacy), Tasha and Deanna talk to the survivors who refuse to leave since they have families now.  Their unwillingness to leave results in a death sentence, to which Riker is like, “Fuck this, lets just beam everyone out of here”.  Unfortunately the Enterprise is having it's own issues.

Back on the ship, a nasty virus has broken out, which has incapacitated most of the crew  (There’s also some stuff about Romulans, but none of that really amounts to anything) Anyways, since beaming everyone to the Ship is out of the question, and the executions are imminent, Riker makes a nice little speech to Beata about how “evolving world views are necessary for any civilization and maybe don’t be so mean to your men?” Somehow that works, and Beata decides to stay the executions on the condition that the survivors-and-their-families all go far away to a less pleasant continent (where they’ll be too busy surviving to worry about human rights). She reasons that if she can’t stop change at least she can slow it to a crawl, and everyone is like “Yay, what a progressive sentiment.” The end.

The Verdict

I’m not sure sure where to start with this episode, but I guess I’d have to say that the script just seems clueless. We’re shown a sexist matriarchy that is seemingly meant to mimic our own patriarchy, but it’s so broad that it fails to capture any nuance whatsoever. It’s also pretty telling that the feminine coded men of Angel One are all written as vapid, jealous, emotional, and devoid of any real agency; not unlike most of the women characters from this season so far. It’s well known that the women cast struggled with how their characters were portrayed, especially during the earlier seasons. I don’t know if ‘Angel One’ was one of the offending episodes, but it certainly throws its weight towards confirming the pattern.

1 star (out of 5)

Stray observations

Remember folks. It’s okay to hook up with a brazenly sexist dictator if they’re hot.

Tasha thinks Riker looks sexy in his skimpy-frilly-outfit and states it outright. Now I’m not one for kink shaming, but that’s not a very professional thing to say to your commanding officer.

Geordie gets to sit in the Captains chair. Nice.

Season-one-Worf is kind of adorable, like a pitbull. He’s big and strong looking, but just a teddy bear deep down. His scenes with Geordie on the bridge are so wholesome.

The prime directive sure is confusing. I thought the rule was that any pre-warp society is off limits, but Angel One is said to be equivalent to our mid-to-late 20th century. Apparently, the federation made contact with them 60 years ago, and that was okay because it didn’t involve a starship? I feel like the Prime Directive must have been a concept the writers were still figuring out. Then again, the Federation does seem to have some fairly arbitrary rules.

[emblazonet]

So, the Black Jewels Trilogy

Saw these books recommended in a thread about adult sexy fantasy books, and my brain went ??? Wait. They weren’t that adult???? They had dark themes, but they were fluff.

I’d almost forgotten about them. I read them about 15 years age (wat!) in high school. My friends at the time peer pressured me into it. They would tell me about all their favourite scenes and squee about them as we whiled away lunches in the stairwell, which both spoiled a lot of the fun of reading them the first time and I still remember which scenes were spoiled as I did my reread.

I enjoyed them well enough at the time, because they were dark and a bit gory and a bit sexy and I was ravenous as a teen for anything with sex, violence, and especially BDSM. I grew out of them by uni.

So the thread was specifically recommending them as an adult alternative to the trendy ACoTaR books by Sarah J Maas that I have never read and don’t intend to. I have since learned that some hold the opinion that SJM plagiarized or otherwise cribbed heavily from Black Jewels. (The other alternative offered in that thread were the Kushiel books, which I would agree are more adult, both in subject matter and style.)

On a reread, I think my initial impression that these books are more for teens—or people who specifically want and need an id-based power fantasy—holds up. Content warnings for literally all the standard bogeyman: rape, pedophilia, implied cannibalism, torture, etc etc. It dives shallowly into all the dark stuff in order to get to the revenge fantasy at the heart of the series.

Extensive spoilers under the cut. There’s a few things I liked, but there’s a lot more I didn’t enjoy about it too. (And it’s not because of any of the content warning stuff above.)

I wrote my review of the first three books before reading any of the sequels. Sequel reviews will be forthcoming.

The Setting

The worldbuilding is a mess. I have no idea how the economy works or why there are even nonBlood ‘landens’ (basically magicless folk) at all when they Literally. Never. Show. Up.

Yet! For all that! It is so rare to see a matriarchy in a fantasy setting that I will forgive the cardboard worldbuilding and pretend like economics doesn’t matter it’s just fantasy. I love that the greatest power is downwards, the Darkness rather than the heavens. Dark stuff more powerful. It’s neat! Like even today the books feel different, even when they’re extremely 2000s aesthetically. Goth vibes ftw. Less good is the gender essentialism and the caste system, which feels like a forerunner to A/B/O in some ways.

Basically, like in A/B/O, everyone has like a secondary biological gender that determines their rank in the hierarchy. So women who are born Queens are biologically meant to rule, and men are drawn to serve them. (It’s stupid, but I respect the inherent service kink aspect.) Some males are Warlords, who are more aggressive, and some men are even higher caste as Warlord Princes, who are ‘predators’ who want to murder ppl all the time, but they’re supposed to be controlled by the women I guess. They're emotionally immature alpha males. Yuck.

I still have no real idea how the fuck Terreille and Kaeleer are different tbh, one just has sentient animals? Are they different dimensions?? The physicality of the environment in this book is like wisps of smoke. Stuff just appears, usually when it needs to, and then goes away again, much like how the magical protagonists are always calling and vanishing objects.

Daughter of the Blood

For a trilogy with a deeply repetitive, emphatic style that over-relies on (dorky) catchphrases (‘and the Blood will sing to Blood,’ ‘everything has a price,’ ‘Mother Night’) each book does have a unique flavour and its own problems.

Weirdly, the thing I hated the most about the first book was the random fatphobia. I never even noticed it as a kid, but almost every time a fat character is introduced they’re a gross dude and likely a pedophile. Don’t like it, tired of seeing it, stop. I’m not even going to forgive the series for being from the early 2000s. I don’t care. Cut it out. At least it only happens in the first book.

The Mary-Sue (she really is! I mean that with affection!) Jaenelle is a child in this book, and her main problems in life are getting sent to a mental institution called Briarwood that is run by pedophiles. We also—at no point ever in the books—get her POV, so a lot of the horror is mitigated by how much the details are glossed over. I think that was meant to be more horrifying but the author isn’t good enough at building atmosphere to make that work. The book chooses a couple specifically horrible situations and then hammers into them in a way that feels both schlocky but also makes the world and the situation feel smaller. I don’t like the way repetition is used in these books. It’s certainly a choice but it’s one that drives the nuance out of book. Almost every villain in this book is a rapist, which makes the rape feel cheap by the end—and I don’t think cheapening it was the intention.

Yet, to be honest, I think this is the strongest book of the three. I actually really like the beginning, with Tersa being crazy and giving prophecies. I don’t know, the writing just draws me in somehow. It’s not great writing, I want to be clear. It’s got nothing on, idk, Tanith Lee. But it is extremely readable and compelling. I was having a good time.

Also, Lucivar and Daemon, like, kiss? And that is just about the only gay thing that you will see in the books until Daemon fakes raping his father in the third book. It is unrelentingly heterosexual otherwise. But I think I was hooked early on as a teen hoping for some gay action. I was disappointed at the time and I’m disappointed now.

This is also the book with probably the most sex and violence. Men are castrated on screen a couple times, there’s explicit cannibalism of one of the other children at Briarwood, one of our viewpoint characters is an assassin, etc etc. Much bad sex happening. Daemon and Lucivar, the hot dudes who are brothers, have been sex slaves for like 1700 years which is objectively hilarious that is SUCH an absurd amount of time to just... be more powerful (aka have darker Jewels) than any of your slavers and just not gotten free? Even with magical cock rings that control them, it's still so stupid.

Also, our main character is actually their dad, Saetan (I WILL NEVER BE OVER THESE NAMES) who is like 50k years old? That makes me giggle so much. That’s so old. Why. Honestly props to Anne Bishop, she really just went for it. I have so much respect for how batshit absurd everything is.

Honestly I just kinda like the first book? It’s paced a lot better than the other ones, it’s dark and ridiculous and full of bad things happening. Jaenelle reminds me of a friend of mine, oddly enough. She’s probably tolerable because we never get her POV.

I also liked Daemon and Jaenelle’s relationship in this one. Under the worldbuilding power fantasy terms of this setting, Jaenelle is literally made up of the dreams of people in the world, and Daemon’s dream was to be the lover of the Most Powerful Matriarch Ever, who in the book is called ‘Witch.’ So meeting her as a kid he’s constantly bombarded by his attraction to her spirit/power/Witch-self, whatever. But she’s a kid and he’s Very Not Into That. He and Saetan are constantly respecting her consent at every opportunity, so it doesn’t squick me out in the slightest.

Because you know, at that age (12-14), I would have killed for an ancient powerful lover who is The Hottest Guy In All The Realms to be all but overcome with lust for me and yet completely absolutely in service to my every need and desire.

It’s a power fantasy, yo.

Anyway the next two books will completely kill any interest I have in their relationship so really, Daughter of the Blood could have ended here and I would have been satisfied.

Heir to the Shadows

Wow, does this one have middle book syndrome. It’s a slog. Someone out there probably likes it. One of the scenes my high school friends liked is the introduction of the Arcerian cat Kaelas where he squashes the Sceltie puppy Ladvarian. I remember them telling me about it with glee. It’s cute, but not enough to save this book.

Everytime a conflict happens it’s almost instantly resolved. Jaenelle grows up, Saetan spoils her, she has friends. All the characters feel really one note. There is almost no sex in this book, but there is some gore. The extremely boring villains, Dorothea and Hekatah, who are basically the same person except one of them is undead (‘demon-dead’), do some violence. Our protagonists do more violence. There’s a unicorn genocide. I can’t keep any of the characters that are in Jaenelle’s court straight (except for Karla and the aforementioned cat and puppy).

Oh, Daemon’s just insane for the whole book, and I ended up skimming all his sections because nothing happened in them.

That sure was a book. Took me longer to read than the other two combined.

Queen of the Darkness

Back to a compelling read, somehow. I blasted through it.

A major issue I have with this series is about how power is framed. Might makes right. The good guys happen to be more powerful, so they can unleash their often bloody revenge, which is always framed as a good thing, a triumph. And also, no one just talks to each other, because bad guys are bad and good guys are good. There is no real compromise, and no nuance.

Like, Bishop is writing a matriarchy, but instead of, idk, expanding on that idea, she just kinda writes the same power imbalances that exist in our world except more villains are women, which instead of feeling empowering or whatever reeks of internalized misogyny. Yeah, I get it, women are bitches and oppressing the mens, so then the sad menz all rape vulnerable women. So it’s a patriarchy, actually, with the Queen-caste women as figureheads. WHY YOU DO THIS.

Honestly I find the ‘might makes right’ part much more problematic than any inclusion of sex slavery, unicorn genocide, or pedophilia. All the latter are perpetrated by villains; what's the excuse for the good guys?

Like this book is more about being righteous and also horny than it is trying to say stuff about politics or whatever, but it’s saying stuff about politics anyway, and what it’s saying is that the most powerful people make the rules. And being an emotionally unregulated nuclear bomb person is perfectly fine so long as you’re the good guy. And frankly, I hate that, and I disagree with it.

And ok, sure, so the Queens are supposed to emotionally regulate their Warlord Princes except that’s mostly just by hoping they hold onto their tempers until they can unleash them in a better direction which doesn’t strike me as real emotional regulation. And who’s supposed to regulate Jaenelle? Just... Jaenelle? Like theoretically the males who serve her, but the way they treat her seems more likely to cause nuclear explosions. She is herself a walking bomb.

Honestly the way males treat females in this book is gross. Men just like overprotect and patronize to the point of infantilizing a woman. And Big Yikes if she so much as gets a period—which is apparently The Worst and makes them unable to use power which THANKS I HATE IT—and it’s just awful, the men treat them like INVALIDS. Not romantic. Didn’t like it as a teen, don’t like it now.

Additionally, I don’t like how emotions and trauma are handled in this. I love a good broken traumatic character, and it's even better if they're powerful and need to navigate not causing harm whilst healing. I lap that shit up. Black Jewels fails me here. All the characters are so fucking one note and so the trauma/healing stuff feels shallow and uninspired.

Additionally, Jaenelle and Daemon are so boring and they’re ‘courting’ each other like high schoolers with zero personality and I hate it. They had better sexual chemistry when she was 12, which is probably just because Daughter of the Blood was the better written book.

Also, they got like a romancey fade to black sex scene? Yeesh.

I DO appreciate that Daemon has no magic healing dick: Jaenelle is still pretty traumatized about stuff after they bone. She’s better about sex, sure, but she’s still upset about being a Queen, etc etc. You know, this series has ooooodles of problems, but I really don’t think Jaenelle is one of them. She works for me. (Although Daemon being a virgin after 1700 years as a pleasure slave? I HATE THAT, that’s stupid. Miss me with that bullshit. At least Jaenelle is never punished by the text for not being a virgin.)

I don’t have much to say about the end. Because we go in knowing Daemon's got back up plans it takes all the tension out of the climax. The story ends with an expected triumph. The book doesn’t set up the idea that Jaenelle will die well enough either, like it’s telegraphed from the first that the Kindred will save her, and then they do. Ok then. Wow, so tense. Much thrill.

So like, I raced through reading this, sure, but it still wasn’t a satisfying read. But it wasn’t a slog. And there were some fun interactions—I enjoyed Surreal and her wolf Graysfang. There were moments.

Honestly this series is so unhinged that despite all the ridiculosity of it, I think I’m coming away feeling weirdly affectionate towards it? It’s bad, the alpha male tropes are nauseating, the matriarchy failed hard, and it’s repetitive as fuck. I’ve been thinking about this series for weeks now, and I have no idea why I find it compelling! It’s infuriating! Maybe it’s compelling because it’s infuriating.

In conclusion: I guess I’m going to read all of this garbage and yell about it. Stay tuned for the sequels.

[iceiceparis]

Regarding Octarian clans:

Fun (Headcanon) Fact!!!:

While ultimately lead by their General: DJ Takowasa Shogun, the military structure of the Octarians is broken up into smaller clans each one bearing their own responsibilities and traits. According to ex-military first hand accounts, many of these clans have existed since before the great turf war and no new clans have been formed since, which likely resulted much of the emphasis on traditionalism in Octarian society.

The more than half of all the foot soldiers hail from the Kujou Clan, one of the more powerful clans in Octarian society. A bonified matriarchy, not only are all its daimyos are all women but also exclusively train female Octolings for combat, known as the Takozonesu Corp.

Males are given away to other clans or in rare cases assigned non-combat duties. However, non-octolings do not have such rules in the clan, either because they hold no real gender and/or because they are only seen as "co-workers/friends of the family" instead of actual clan members, thus not really given care.

Due to the power of this clan, even the lowest ranking members were seen as slightly above the rest of the other clan's soldiers given their intense training, influence, funding, and rather exclusive bar for entry (being born or gifted as a child to the clan) despite not having the most members out of the military.

If what word of mouth is to be believed, they had the both the best fighters and the smartest engineers and scientists. Rumor has it that famous Marina's skills are owed to being once a member of Clan Kujou, but there has been no confirmation to the public if she was former ex-military as of yet.

Despite being the best of the best however, they suffered defeat after defeat in the battles leading up to both DJ Takowasa's disappearances by what was a speculated black ops unit tasked with monitoring the Octarian nation.

A common joke/theory that interviewed Octarians mentioned was that "the only reason they had lost was because their opponents were women." Of course there are no confirmed sources on who their supposed attacker was so this may not be entirely truthful.

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Sai Vikhe Source

Sai Vikhë is the Janya of courage and of battle. Her planet is known in Telluria as Mars. She is the Janya of warrior-maids and rules all the Vikhelic Arts, and also such things as surgery, where a cut must be made in order to heal. The Holy War (Vikhail), which in physical terms is war against those who would destroy or harm the Empire, is only the lesser holy war. The greater holy war is that fought by the spiritual maid against the false self and against the forces of darkness and materialism in one's own soul.

Sai Vikhë is, of course, profoundly necessary to the "economy" of manifestation. Conflict is a condition of manifestation. It is from the agitation and conflict-play of the three gunas and the four elements that a manifest universe can exist. But while conflict is necessary, so also is harmony, represented in one aspect by Sai Thamë, and in another by Sai Sushuri (said to be the sister of Sai Thamë). As manifestation progresses on its outward and fundamentally degenerative course, the element of conflict increases and that of harmony decreases (this is observed in the axiom of modern physics: "entropy tends to increase").

Sri DurgaThus the metal of Sai Vikhë, iron, is also the metal symbolising the last of the four ages of a world-cycle, the Age of Iron, or Kali Yuga, traditionally known as "the age of quarrels". The sign for Mars (and Iron), is also the sign for masculinity, thus it is natural that in the Age of Iron, the masculine principle should come to the fore in human society, both in its social order and in its spiritual conceptions. We know relatively little about civilisation before the dawn of the Kali Yuga, but from hundreds of thousands of artefacts discovered at a large number of neolithic sites, three things are clear beyond any dispute:

1) These were civilisations, despite the misleading appellation "stone-age" — they were well-ordered cities with multi-story buildings.

2) The great preponderance of human depictions, especially those of a religious nature, are clearly female. We leave aside the question of "matriarchy" — that is, of whether women actually ruled in a temporal sense, a hypothesis that has caused much consternation among both male historians and victim-complex feminists. What is unarguable is that these societies were clearly massively culturally oriented toward the feminine.

3) There are no signs of war. Both fortifications and weapons of war (as opposed to hunting) appear at a later stage, along with depictions of warlike activity and masculine god-figures. This is quite clearly not because the neolithic civilisations were incapable of building fortifications. They had elaborate palaces, harbour installations and advanced transportation. They simply had no need for them until the "patriarchal revolution" of the Age of Iron.

In Telluria femininity and masculinity are governed by Sai Sushuri (Venus) and Sai Vikhë respectively, indicating a pivot between concord and discord. In Aristasia, blondeness and brunetteness are governed by Sai Sushuri and Sai Thamë respectively; the pivot being more between mercy and rigour, love and duty, indulgence and strictness.

Nonetheless Sai Vikhë is an universal principle necessary to the fullness of any manifestation — from the primal discord necessary to manifestation itself, to the various forms of "surgery" necessary in the pursuit of earthly life, to the need for defence against foes both physical and spiritual, Sai Vikhë is always with us.

In the Indian tradition the image of the warlike Sri Durga on her lion or tiger is the primary image of Sai Vikhë, and it is this form that many of us turn to her as the Great Protectress. Like all Janyati, she is at once a separate stream of Godhead and, at Her source, Dea Herself.

[znarikia]

So, I saw the feature-length advertisement by Mattel called Barbie. I had fun!

I also spent the movie watching it mobilize a bunch of ideas and critiques, recuperated or otherwise, and force them to fight it out like the Kens towards the end of the movie. I sat there, laughing at the fun stuff, wondering what it was trying to say, so now I'm going to ramble about it.

The simple answer is that its thesis is that it's impossible to be perfect, and that you have to make peace with that and your own mortality. You can't predicate your sense of self on others and expect to be anything more than a hollow shell. In the end, everyone becomes Weird Barbie but they're still Kenough.

Which is great and all, but I couldn't stop thinking about that post about how Mattel got ahead of the feminist critiques of Barbie by recuperating them or deflecting them. There's an underlying current of mockery of the idea that the state of Barbie is unfeminist or that toys can even be the site of ideological reproduction. The Barbies believe that feminism has won in Barbieland, and thus in the real world, and the implication is one of comedy. When Sasha levels feminist critiques at Barbie, it's framed as a joke. We'll get Ordinary Barbie, because she'll sell. But also don't project any heavy emotion onto a Barbie, because that'll dissolve the rules of reality.

It's just so... trying to have your cake and eat it too. I don't even know what to think about the patriarchy Ken arc. Barbieland is in metaphorical and literal dialogue with the real world, so metaphors are heavily mixed. Barbieland is, genuinely, a matriarchy, and the movie doesn't know what to do with that. The Kens wither under the matriarchy like a sanitized version of women withering under the patriarchy, so Stereotypical Ken comes back to Barbieland from the real world with patriarchy as a solution. The Barbies are, inexplicably, brought under his spell and brainwashed into giving up power. So we're presented with a backwards world, wherein the men have a legitimate reason to demand liberation and they resort to a real world ideological poison.

Textually, the movie agrees that the patriarchy is bad. It is treated as a threat to the status quo to be reverted. It's an obviously bad thing, played for laughs, but the Kens are still treated with empathy. It's defeated with the apparatus that allowed it to come into being and nearly allowed it to enshrine itself permanently into the fabric of reality. There's no thought given to how it got a foothold in the first place. Or, come to think of it, it can be read that feminist critiques of Barbie instantiated patriarchy into Barbieland by bringing reality into fantasy.

"Yes," the Barbie movie says, "patriarchal capitalism strangulates women with misogyny. Gloss over this, however, with toys. Don't think too hard about the toys, either! You don't want to bring the patriarchy here, do you?"

More succinctly, the Barbie movie says, "Consume our products. It won't fix anything, but it won't hurt anything, either."

I dunno. I could forgive a two hour long advertisement for a doll line if all it really had to say was that perfection is unattainable and unsustainable, that being you is enough, but it had to act like it had something to say about feminism that wouldn't be immediately kneecapped by what it is.

I just. Keep thinking about how the Barbies immediately submitted to patriarchy the moment it was introduced to Barbieland, as though it is something that will naturally crystallize if a mere seed is planted. Pushback was minimal and the Barbies had to be taught to value their freedom again. They're snapped out of patriarchal subservience by hearing truth spoken to power, which is great. And it's also great that it's a real Latina human woman speaking that, and not the Stereotypical Barbie toy. It's just undercut by the everything else.

It's a toy ad. I get that I'm expecting too much from it, but it's trying to say something! The messages are mixed, but they're there. It's trying to say something about patriarchy and feminism, but because it's trapped in a world that operates counter to reality, ie there's a matriarchy instead of a patriarchy, the thing critiqued is placed in both positions of insurgency and dominance. Men are dismissed and marginalized... but so are the women. It operates in spaces of both metaphor and literalism, but can only speak with one mouth. Subtextually, I think the movie settles on a single, concise point.

It's laughable to grapple with Barbie on ideological terms and expect anything to come of it.

[baublecoded]

“Fontevraud was founded by Robert of Arbrissel, a hermit whose charismatic preaching attracted a following of mostly women of all social classes, including members of the high nobility as well as prostitutes and beggars, and which, in about 1100, he was required to regularize. The community at Fontevraud became the special concern of the counts of Anjou, and the community remembered not only Robert as its founder, but them also. The structure of the monastic community was distinct. It was a mixed house with both men and women living in it, but was unique in that the women were dominant. The men were not monks but canons regular who laboured on the nuns’ estates and acted as their chaplains, in order that the nuns might enjoy the rituals of the monastic life. The men lived in one part of the monastery, while the women lived in several cloisters, separated by function and by class. It was the aristocratic women who ruled. When it came to the decision-making process, in the world of Fontevraud, it was class that mattered, not gender. The community followed the Rule of St Benedict, and by the time that John is said to have been a member of the community, it was still being strictly observed. No other monastic community, whether long established or part of the new movements in monasticism of the twelfth century, had a structure in which religious women governed religious men. Like other orders that succeeded in the twelfth century, Fontevraud attracted imitators, and thus became the mother house of a large number of dependent communities, including, after the accession of Henry II, three in England. The community had a special place in the hearts of the Angevins, and under Henry II Fontevraud took on the character of a royal mausoleum. It was here that Henry was to be buried, to be followed by his son, Richard the Lionheart, his daughter, Joanna, queen of Sicily, and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine – her grandfather had had a hand in supporting the founder of Fontevraud, so the community had Aquitainian connections that satisfied Eleanor. John, in the company of his sister, Joanna, had therefore been placed in a matriarchy for the purposes of learning his letters.10 Quite when he entered Fontevraud is difficult to say. He certainly could not have been there in his teenage years (nuns did not teach teenage boys), and it is unlikely that John had been placed in the community as an infant (nuns were not in the habit of wet-nursing babies). In 1170, aged three, John had been handed over to the care of his eldest brother, the Young King, for him to promote and support, so we can suppose that John was not at Fontevraud until after that time. John emerges from the records as an individual in about the year 1177, so the simple deduction has to be that John’s time at Fontevraud occurred between 1172 and and 1177. But it would be wrong to see this period in John’s life as one during which he was abandoned. On the contrary, he was at the spiritual home of the Angevin dynasty, nurtured by women who would have been friends and relations of his own family. There were few better locations for a boy to learn the basics of his literate education even if it was an unsuitable place for a boy to learn how to fight.

[…] John was the recipient of a privileged education, the best that his world could give, and in a place that he could recognize as home. He may have been denied his mother’s attentions (she was in prison from 1174 after her capture by Henry II during the revolt she led against him) and his father, too, must have been a distant figure, but none of that was unusual. Where John’s education did stand out as different was in relation to his brothers. […] John, on the other hand, missed out on the rough and tumble of knightly instruction. Until the age of ten, John was given an education more like that imparted to his sisters, Eleanor (b. 1163) and Joanna (b. 1165), than that provided for his brothers.15 John, therefore, was perhaps more cosseted and more softened than his elder brothers. He certainly approached the world differently from them. When the contemporary commentator Gerald of Wales came to describe the boys, he thought that John was less prepared in martial affairs than any of his elder brothers. This did not mean that John was destined for the Church: legitimate children were far too valuable for the purposes of diplomacy. Henry only directed his illegitimate children to ecclesiastical appointments (three of his four known bastards went into the Church). But it might explain why, of all his brothers, John was the least martial and the least successful in dealing with other men.”

— Stephen Church, King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant

[szalonykasztan00]

I still don't know why the ACOTAR world is patriarchal?

And I don't talk here about AuThOr's choice. More like the in-world explanation.

Because we know that for the Fae the One and only GOD is A GODDESS - The Mother. It seems like the genderswap of the Jewish/Christian/Islam GOD. (+ we know that AuThOr like to take inspiration from these sources)

Like:

The Mother = The God

The Cauldron = Holy Spirit?

You get the idea.

So by that logic shouldn't the fae world be like a matriarchy. A crooked mirror of our world. Where we see either:

a) genderswap problems from our world - males get slut-shame, they have rather few choices outside of marriage to a female, they don't have their own money etc.

Or

b)there would be new different problems, and obstacles for Ferye to overcome that would come from that - for example, she would need to like instantly learn how to be a good speaker/negotiator, strategist, and planer because the fae world does not have physical war but like they battle on arguments and sick burns. (imagine rap battle UTM)

And if the fae world would be like this then we can get:

Possible High Ladies (or like its more common ones at least)(if we assume that this is not happening naturally in canon - Cresseida was seen to suggest that it happens but idk)

Tamlin (or Rhysnad or anyone) becoming High Lord instead of their sister/female cousin/aunt is like a HUGE scandal and a BIG obstacle in their rule. (+here death of Rhysand's sister might have an additional political point because she is technically the heir)

Having ALL 7 male rules of Prythian at the same time is like one a million type of situation.

Amarantha might have like propaganda program where she presents herself as the chosen one of The Mother to "MAKE PRYTHIAN GRATE AGAIN" and like priestesses supporting her and that would be a HUGE point in the second book + reason for Ferye to trust Ianthe because she wasn't one of a false priestess (then Ianthe of course still betrayed them but it would hit harder)

contras to the human patriarchal world that Ferye grows up in. That can give her additional freedom which we know Ferya likes.

NO SA scene UTM.

or it is played as a power move by Amarantha and Rhysand here IS ACTUALLY forced to do this to Ferye and really feels really bad.

Ferye being locked up by Tamlin - IF it's still happening - to be like a hugely controversial thing that makes actual social unrest, starts debates, controversies (High Lord power move for the equality of males or blasphemy that proves he and the males CANOT be trusted with power).

+ And it would help Ferye with her quest in the ACOWAR

But it won't have to. Ferye could live her best life and the only thing that bothers her (destroys their relationship) would be Tamlin being cold (he can have like second thoughts about marriage because he doesn't want to lose the freedoms that he has as a single High Lord)

or he still plays his part of the happy groom but because of Ferye's dementi power, she could like see/feel it and is heartbroken.

Lucien's crisis over how Ianthe treats him. (Ferya see it in him and they bond over it)(Tamlin would where either don't see it because he is training to fit the social expectations or see it and be unable to do something about it or see it and do something about it- it depends on how much agnst you want and what you thing of Tamlin).

Lucien, Tamlin and Ferye can bond over it.

it would paint Rhysnad in a better light for the people from the beginning as "a devoted, good male that just got the wrong spiritual guardians because males can be super silly it's in their nature"

Beorn is being EXTRA careful in being a cruel bastard, especially towards his wife

+ or having Tragic Backstory™ where he was horribly mistreated by the system and/or female and he swore to change it to a Better World™ (here we have the option of Good Beorn = Vanserra brothers being spoiled little shits (in that he may think that Lucien got like rape/groomed by his lover "vile female" and like lose it and not listing to him and kill her still) or Bad Beorn = He is using propaganda on 1000000% and still is cruel, horrible and nothing really change but it's just harder for Beorn which is better) it doesn't matter if he is lying or not.

Rhysand's mother and sister, Tamlin's mother, Lady of Autumn can have a name that would be nice.

King of Hybern and Mortal Queens alliance would have another layer.

It's all that I got for now but I will probably add something when it starts ranting in my brain.

Thoughts y'all?

[lunitysmoon]

KNB ROYALTY AU

Kuroko no Basket Royalty AU sneak peeks to test the waters on this idea (I'm still going to write it no matter how this post turns out).

Remember the post about lumberjack Kagami? Yeah, this is that fic.

INTRODUCING THE KINGDOMS, EMPIRES, AND DYNASTIES:

L/N Y/N: Kitsu Kingdom. Known for being the upholder of peace and unity, their castle and town housing the kindest people to ever grace the continent. This includes, of course, their beloved Princess Y/N. But more than a princess, she was a knight. Her sword shall not bend nor break as long as her will stands. Enemies would be naive to believe kindness is akin to weakness, and it will cost them their pride and dignity. A warning for those who would dare attack Kitsu Kingdom and its' people, know that they will not go down and instead plant the seeds of destruction in your mind that will soon contaminate your voice, causing havoc on your own turf.

Landscape: Steppe. The castle is exposed on an open field surrounded by gardens of flowers that extend miles. (The castle regularly sends townsfolks in need of money but out of work to tend to the fields and flowers, providing free transportation as, again, the fields and flowers extend miles.) First-born daughter to the queen of Kitsu Kingdom, their kingdom is one of few matriarchies in the continent/on the map. Y/N is a princess knight. This kingdom has a unique tradition of inheriting the throne that explains why unlike most other clans, their last names do not match that of their kingdom. 

Kise Ryota: Kingdom of Kise. Rumors always spread like wildfire in the palace. If it weren't built with marble, it would've collapsed during Ryota's forebearers' time, ashes blown into the sea, floating atop the bubbly surface. Prince Ryota slept with his maid. Prince Ryota has been eyeing the muscly cook up and down as of late. His Highness can't keep his hands to himself. Prince Ryota! His Highness this! His Royal Highness that! This palace thrived on the ernergy of scandals. It wouldn't be the K Palace otherwise.

Landscape: Coastal. The palace overlooks the sea on a ledge a safe distance away, in case of tsunamis. The only one in the Generation of Miracles that lives in a palace; everyone else lives in castles.

Kuroko Tetsuya: Kuroko Kingdom. A small kingdom that's relatively peaceful, with no intention of being involved in conflict. Their people live quiet lives in the mountains, taking hot spring baths while watching the snow fall to soothe their aching joints and tired minds. Ruled by a kind and thoughtful majesty who constantly dotes on his son, Prince Tetsuya. Though no one has ever seen the young prince's face, they believe him to be of such a dazzling visage that they've been spared for the sheer power of his hearsay glowing fair skin, for no medicine on the snowy mountain would be able to cure blindness.

Landscape: Mountains. Everyone knows His Majesty has a son but has never seen him. Some lucky few have heard him before, but by the time they got to the place where the sound had sourced from, he was gone. They say his voice is light with the essence of air, delicate like a drop of water fading into the mass, and softer than a snow leopard's fur. Prince Tetsuya often visits the commonfolk squares in search of entertainment.

Kagami Taiga: A commonfolk who recently arrived at Kuroko Kingdom. His large build made him easily stand out from the mass, and his red hair contrasted the snow. The chief of the village was quick to collect the boy and offer him a job. It would be tough labor, but the pay is good, the chief said. So, Kagami Taiga became a lumberjack. Providing the village people with firewood to warm their homes, and a smile to warm their hearts.

A lumberjack commonfolk that Prince Tetsuya befriended in the village.

Aomine Daiki: Aomine Empire. An empire so out in the middle of nowhere, yet countless kings and emperors continue to send their knights, so innocently inexperienced with the harshness of the desert, in a trudge toward their demise due to personal loathing and despise for the emperor. Prince Daiki of the Aomine Empire cackled every time a guard informed him of the location of the enemies. He calls them weak, calls them names, and imagines the sand seeping into the knights' armor, unfit for the desert unlike the loose cotton and linen fabrics he embellished. One arm wrapped around a curvaceous woman's waist; he called the servants to fetch his warrior attire.

Landscape: Desert. Army: Strong and touch, each knigh is expendable in Emperor Aomine's mind (proudly proclaims so to the people as well). The largest army among the seven relevant kingdoms.

Midorima Shintaro: Midorima Dynasty. Never a dull moment for the servants who reside within the castle, because King Midorima's children are always bickering about who gets the throne once their sickly father passes. Each with their own ideologies they'd like to enact upon inheriting the throne, they've each accumulated a praiseworthy number of followers within the dynasty. Although only leading by a dozen or so, it's undeniable that the crown favorite is Prince Shintaro, the youngest son of His Majesty, whose seriousness, confidence, and reservedness could be quite charming and appealing in odd ways. His ideology is as follows: "Man proposes, God disposes."

Landscape: Forest. The castle is well-hidden inside a forest, sitting atop a body of land in the middle of a lake. Prince Shintaro has one older brother (25) and one older sister (22). Takao could possibly be the court jester (that Shintaro falls in love with).

Murasakibara Atsushi: Murasakibara Empire. A castle built with thick walls of stone and lined with iron sheets all throughout the interior. It is tall, intimidating, shrouded in dark green moss... and half of it is submerged in mud. Agreed upon by kingdoms-wide, the Murasakibara Empire is the most difficult castle to infiltrate on the continent. With little to no information on the inner layouts of the castle, those who sought revenge are doomed to stand by for all eternity; even if they dared to challenge the unknown, their spirits are quickly crushed at the sight of the colossal-sized knights who guarded every entrance, window, bridge, and tunnel. All this strength was made possible by ancestors of the Murasakibara clan, giants who mastered the art of concealing, all in waiting for the chosen one to be born. And at long last it arrived sixteen years ago, in the form of Crowned Prince Atsushi.

Landscape: Wetland.

Akashi Seijuro: The Akashi Dynasty. Led by their young king, Akashi Seijuro, who succeeded the throne following the mysterious death of his father. He is a ruthless leader, showing no mercy to those who break the law. The law that he personally revised the very day he sat on the throne, as his first order as king was made. A strong king who carefully calculates the type of guidance to craft for his people, in order to collect their undying loyalty.

Landscape: Cliff. On the coast.

[bloodpen-to-paper]

Review Blurbs: The Sea Beast

General:

-This movie is a huge love letter to pirates. They made a point to use accurate accents from pirates in that time period and region, even making a dig at the inaccurate depiction of pirates saying "argh" that is popularly known

-On that note, it has a huge core theme of being critical of history, and the idea that "history is written by the winners". As a history buff I am begging you to get more into this topic, you have no idea how bad the inaccurate depictions of history go (some people still believe in the Thanksgiving story...)

-Sarah Sharpe is the best character I take no criticisms (and I lived for every time Ms. Merino's job was to just shout at people, I support her with my life)

-Minor detail but I noticed that the town is a matriarchy; the Queen seems to call the shots more often with her "King" either having equal power to her (and not more than her) or being a prince consort under her power. The "King" talks almost like a consort with giving debriefings and run downs of known information while she handles the real conversations and decrees, which is a cool detail to put for the world-building

-The movie's generally very racially diverse and has lots of diverse women (I'm talking in body type, facial animation, personality, occupation, etc.) in the pirate world and among the townspeople. Even the monarchy general was a woman, which makes sense when you consider the kingdom is actually a queendom

-There's seemingly no racism or sexism in this setting, but I feel the implication is there; Captain Crow has women and POC everywhere in his crew but he himself as a white man made Jacob, another white man, his heir without having to think too hard (many times these "draws" people have to those of their own archetype are subconscious). He also doesn't listen to Sarah much of the time (this is during his grieving process which could be chalked up to that but he also shows a distinct interest in what Jacob has to say more than anyone), and refused to listen to Maise about cutting the rope, even almost killed her for going against his orders. The monarchs are also white, which felt intentional (diverse society's can still be privy to racial bias, which you will see when you look at the demographics of the working class vs. the elite, in this case pirate society vs. the monarchy)

-Maise mentions when she's telling Jacob about how wrong their history is, and that the beasts attacked human ships after humans attacked them and encroached on their territory. Humans have done this to animals since we were first able, and the movie takes a strong stance towards wildlife preservation in the form of telling people we need to leave the wildlife alone, which I immensely appreciate and you should too

-The symbolism of Sarah Sharpe giving Maise the knife that started the whole journey. She first gave it to Maise as a precaution ('you're on a pirate ship, you need to be prepared' kinda deal) and Maise used it to cut the ropes that got her and Jacob flung off the ship and eaten by Red. This paralleled so nicely during the final act with Sarah telling Maise “I should’ve given you a bigger knife” and siding with Maise in cutting the rope and freeing Red. Its a subtle but very beautiful detail of a black woman supporting a black girl, particularly in breaking the rules made by a white man, stating her only regret was not encouraging her to have greater ambitions (the “bigger sword”), and eventually helping the girl on her path to achieving them

Criticisms:

-Since its the core theme, it felt kind of glaring to me that the movie doesn't quite treat animals like animals. Red is made to be “friendly” and hyper-sentient in understanding humans, which is not accurate to real animals. The reason I harp on this is because people have a harmful habit of trying to humanize animals in order to give them value (i.e. "we shouldn't hurt the environment because animals are cute"). Its a good standpoint for getting people to sympathize away from extremist beliefs (Manifest Destiny/"animals are inferior so humans can do whatever we want to them" type ideology), but at this point I think we're ready for broader conversations about being actually accurate in our perception of wildlife, in that they are nothing like humans and don't need to be to deserve to be left the hell alone. They exist, and we should respect that.

-I honestly would've removed Blue, the movie felt harder to take seriously with this character that's very much meant to be the "fun and lovable companion that the kids will like and maybe even buy merchandise for" insertion. Not accusing anyone of that last bit, but my point stands; you don't need to have "that" character for a kid's movie to be enjoyable to kids, and this movie is already more mature than most kid's movies so I would've removed them

Final Thoughts:

The Sea Beast is a very cute movie that's a love letter to pirates and history, and especially now in this era of critical analysis, its more important than ever to not only know our history, but to make sure our history is accurate. Definitely watch this movie if you love history, pirates, pirate history, or just cute stories about people finding their own unconventional families within each other (and some animals).

[bahrbae]

hot take ahead on barbie (2023) INCLUDING SPOILERS

i  don't  think  barbie  is  about  feminism.  in  this  essay  i  will...

but  no,  really.  according  to  the  cambridge  dictionary,  feminism  is  "the  belief  that  women  should  be  allowed  the  same  rights,  power,  and  opportunities  as  men  and  be  treated  in  the  same  way,  or  the  set  of  activities  intended  to  achieve  this  state".  nowhere  in  the  movie  does  it  show  any  character  wanting  to  become  part  of  the  feminist  movement.  i  want  to  emphasize  that  feminism  is  about  being  treated  the  same  way,  including  women  having  the  same  rights  as  men.  barbie  isn't  a  feminist.  neither  is  ken.  don't  even  get  me  started  about  the  elf  of  the  shelf  aka  mattel's  ceo.

everytime  i  go  on  youtube  i  get  bombarded  (due  to  the  algorithm  i  created  lmao)  with  barbie  videos  and  how  everyone  talks  about  feminism  or  anti-feminism  for  that  matter.  and  from  a  sociological  point  of  view  (i  missed  using  this  fancy  term),  it  shows  how  individuals  will  see/hear  exactly  what  they  are  looking  for  -  they  will  see/hear  everything  that  goes  along  or,  on  the  contrary,  what  contradicts  their  own  set  of  beliefs  that  they  had  before  watching  the  movie.  if  someone  was  looking  for  feminism,  they  will  look  at  all  the  signs  for  women  rights  in  barbieland  being  equal  to  men  rights  in  the  real  world.  or,  vice  versa,  if  someone  was  looking  for  anti-feminism,  they  will  look  at  how  all  male  dolls  were  treated  (that  includes  the  kens,  allan/s  and  all  the  other  dolls  too  as  long  as  they  fall  into  the  masculine  gender).

but  let's  break  down  the  feminism  definition  to  prove  this  point.  my  archnemesis  emile  durkheim  said  that  "the  totality  of  beliefs  and  sentiments  common  to  average  members  of  the  same  society  forms  a  particular  system  that has  its  own  life;  one  might  call  it  the  collective  or  common  consciousness".  in  that  sense,  beliefs  become  part  of  a  group  (or  subgroup)  if  they  are  agreed  upon  by  a  majority.  the  term  women  is  too  broad,  so  instead  i  will  use  another:  individuals  who  identify  with  femininity  (this  is  still  skewed  since  it  doesn't  cover  that  much  ground  on  all gender  identities,  but  hopefully  it's  enough  to  make  the  point).  the  rest  of  the  quote  in  the  beginning  basically  agrees  upon  all  genders  having  equal  rights,  power  and  opportunities  in  a  society.  to  limit  this  even  further,  it  means  no  discrimination  whatsoever,  regarding  any  aspect  of  one's  life  and  activity  in  a  society.

this  brings  me  back  to  the  barbie  movie.  the  movie  isn't  about  matriarchy  vs  patriarchy.  from  an  empirical  point  of  view  (and  it  was  hard  to  do  that  bc  i  adore  the  actors/actresses  and  the  dolls),  the  movie  can  be  considered  at  the  very  most  satirical.  barbieland  was  ruled  by  matriarchy  until  the  kens  overthrown  that  government.  but  the  barbies  did  manipulate  the  situation  so  that  they  could  take  the  power  again.  in  the  end,  the  barbies  said  they  will  allow  some  positions  for  the  kens,  but  definitely  not  something  important,  suggesting  that  they  couldn't  face  it.  that  isn't  feminism.  it's  not  about  equal  rights.  it's  exactly  what  we  see  in  societies.  let  the  minority  think  they  won  something  when  in  fact,  you  don't  give  them  at  the  very  least  the  bare  minimum.

i  woke  up  and  chose  violence.  but  this  is  my  hot  take  on  the  sociological  aspects  of  the  movie.  i'm  oh  so  tempted  to  make  an  actual  paper  including  the  political  but  that'd  mean  someone  will  have  to  read  about  30  pages  in  word.  and  i  feel  sorry  for  that  person  already.

[futuroprimordial]

Healing Civilization

“The patriarchal mind is a mind where the three brains don’t operate as an integrated system, but in which the inner father is a tyrant; the mother is just a subordinate, as women have been since the days of Eve, where Eve is culprit and therefore she must serve Adam; and the third party being the snake, the inner child—the reptilian brain."

“Civilization goes against nature and desires. It doesn’t trust spontaneity, like animals trust their own appetites; and their appetites have a wisdom. So we have pretended to live beyond nature, and squished nature within us, squished the inner child that has its own preferences."

“If this is true that we have all participated in this kind of mentality—the rule of one brain over the whole territory; one brain speaking for ourselves when it’s only a kind of island within the psyche—then the remedy is not just something so vague as democracy, or something like a return to matriarchy. If you take the three-fold scheme of Father, Mother, Child—which is echoed in our inner structure—then a healthy society would be one where this balance [exists] inwardly, in each individual’s inner parts or “persons”; and where there’s balance in the family—there’s no dominance of one or the other; no enslavement of the children to the position of somebody who is not to be heard, who has no voice."

. . .

"There is yet to be a civilization that undergoes the death-and-rebirth process that we have come to recognize as the essence of individual transformation, as manifest through the experience of those who have completed it."

Claudio Naranjo (about his book "Healing Civilization")

[witcher-lore-enjoyer]

Viper Witchers

Cat | Griffin | Bear

Gorthur Gvaed

The Witcher School of the Viper made their home in the stronghold of Gorthur Gvaed. Guarded by a remarkable tower adorned by a frighteningly ominous spiral coiled around its contours. Yet it held not a candle to the terrifying moat that surrounded it—deep by several hundred feet and truly… breathtaking. No one could tell if what was filling it should still be called water. The smells above the moat were, to put it mildly, hard to forget. Viper witchers, who survived the fall of the stronghold, later joked that it was the stench that led the Usurper’s army to find Gorthur Gvaed. Countless soldiers died in this gutter. According to legends, so many perished that one could have made their way to the other side of the moat on a bridge composed entirely of their corpses. And the odour grew even worse

Located in Tir Tochair (a scarcely inhabited mountain range that divides the Korath desert from the modern-day northern and central provinces of the Nilfgaardian Empire. It is known as the largest lasting enclave of gnomes.)

There were many scrolls and manuscripts about the legend of the Wild Hunt.

Founder

Ivar Evil-Eye

There’s a terrible tale behind each and every scar⁠—you’d be surprised just how many are true.

Ivar was one of the unfortunate few who endured the mutations extremely well, and so was selected for further, more complicated experiments. Of those subjected to these enhancements, only he survived—perhaps due to the mages only managing to partially complete the trial.

As a result of these experiments, Ivar gained his moniker, as well as a new sight. His so-called “Evil Eye” saw a different world. Many other worlds, really. With his eye, he watched as ghostly riders dashed along the Spiral, and observed how they’d kidnap, kill, and conquer. Forever haunting Ivar’s special vision, these spectres became his obsession. 

Training

Each student is given a pet to raise during their stay at Gorthur Gvaed, in order to form a strong emotional bond throughout their training. Years later, before becoming a fully-fledged witcher, they are ordered to slaughter their companion in cold blood.

Viper Witcher Mentor

Viper mentors are especially cold and ruthless in order to prepare their students for the harsh life that awaits them.

Some Lore from Gwent

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Or weaker. It depends, really.

It is often said that witchers took on the characteristics of their schools' namesake creatures. Without a doubt, this was true of the Viper School. They were agile, quick, and frequently made use of deadly poisons.

As with the other witcher schools – the Wolves' Kaer Morhen as sole exception – none were aware of the Viper School's location. Only one detail ever became widely known... That it stood somewhere south of the Yaruga. In Nilfgaard.

Perhaps it's no wonder then that Vipers were less inclined to neutrality than other witchers. The Empire would never recognize such a stance. There is only obedient servant... Or mortal enemy.

Emperor Emhyr var Emreis gave them a choice they could not refuse: assassinate a few kings in the Northern Realms in exchange for rebuilding the school to its former glory.

The emperor, however, did not keep his promise and instead of rebuilding the school, he sent bounty hunters after its few remaining members to remove any loose ends.

Armor and Equipment

Viper Witchers are trained to fight with twin blades, often referred to as “fangs”. This style focuses on fast and furious strikes aimed to overwhelm their target, be it monster or man.

These blades would often be coated with poison as the school made great use of its knowledge of alchemy.

No need to strike deep when but a scratch will prove fatal.

Five More Witchers

Letho of Gulet

Witchers never die in their beds. - Letho

Some friends you see after many years apart and you immediately develop a headache. Not out of antipathy, but as a somatic premonition of the hangover sure to follow your drunken reunion. Seeing others, however, gives you an itching pain in your back and a desire to reach for your blade. For Geralt, Letho of Gulet had a foot in both of these camps.

Letho, if Geralt doesn’t ask him to go to Kaer Morhen, says, that he will be heading to Zerrikania citing a possible reason that it's a matriarchy and he's always had a deep belief "that it's women who should rule the world."

Serrit and Auckles

He seems different, but in reality is so similar. Our paths have been the same: we survived the Trials, endured the same training and have slain so many monsters that we no longer keep count. So many men, also. The difference is in the details – when I see him moving in combat, I want to laugh, but I also see that he is just as effective, if not more so. There is, however, one critical difference I cannot describe adequately. He has a goal, he is committed to something. He doesn't wander the world as if blown about by the wind. I believe he feels emotions at a level I cannot attain, yet these emotions are not typically human. Is it an illness of some kind? I think he teeters on the brink of instinct and emotion, and that he uses up a lot of energy to maintain his mental health. I hope I get a chance to know him better and learn from him. Nothing specific – just life. - Serrit about Geralt

Serrit was a lot more hot-headed than his brother, complaining about the lack of action they had in the past days.

Letho's got a plan… what could go wrong? - Auckles

Auckes seemed to be the less serious of the brothers, being sarcastic at times while being very confident of his skills.

He appeared to regard Geralt as a friend, which is reflected when he asked if Geralt wasn't hanged for Foltest murder and Letho asked him if he wanted to see him hanged, he lowered his head and just answered "no".

Along with his brother, Auckes was fond of using bear traps.

Kolgrim

Fate seemed to take pleasure in torturing Kolgrim. Fortune only smiled upon him if it was accompanied by a stroke of very bad luck. It was always thus, even before Kolgrim became a witcher. When he was still a young harmless brat...

On the eve of Saovine small Kolgrim was kidnapped by a weeper, which replaced him with its own cursed offspring. Fortunately, the monster was slaughtered by a witcher that very same night. The boy's savior, having taken pity on him, decided to escort him back home. Kolgrim was relieved to be returning to the warmth and safety of his mother, unaware of his impending misfortune.

The woman greeted the witcher with hatred in her eyes, not believing a single word that came out of his mouth. Blinded by her contempt, she refused to even look twice at her own crying son, utterly convinced that the weeper's baby was her real child. With the door slammed shut in their face, the witcher had no other choice than to take Kolgrim with him – straight to the Viper School.

Over many future years, fate mocked Kolgrim many times – both during his murderous training and the later travels around the Continent. His life ended most ironically. For he, who was once stolen and then rejected from his mother, was accused of kidnapping a child.

Warritt The All-Seeing

By slightly modifying the Supirre sign, Warritt gained the ability to see... everything.

Supirre is a Sign enhancing the auditory perception of the user. Drawn on a solid surface, it allows the people near the Sign to hear sounds which would be normally inaudible due to the distance or background noise. As such, it is often used for eavesdropping.

It compensated the monster hunter's lack of sight by giving him the ability of echolocation.

[nerdasaurus1200]

Seven Kingdoms Headcanons (so far)

Bayangor

Bayangor was officially founded not long after the Peloponnesian Conflict and the first Druune attacks in Kumandra. It was mainly formed by refugees who just wanted to get away from the violence

It has still retained many of its old Grecian and Asian philosophies.

It is the intellectual capital of the Seven Kingdoms. It has stunning architecture, world famous scholars, and a library that rivals the Library of Alexandria

It eventually got dragged back into its ancient ways of war, but over the last century it’s been going through a revitalization/renaissance and now their scholarly ways are more valued than ever

Their religion is centered around Buddhism, with some of the basic Greek gods as their deities. Some minor portions of the Bayangor population also practice Daoism, Hinduism

Their patron goddess is Athena

Even with the dark war side of their history, Bayangor is extremely pacifist in its nature, and its people gladly welcome those of any religion or ethnicity into their walls

Some men have ruled Bayangor, but for the most part it’s a matriarchy

Their crest is a branch with (I think) hibiscus flowers on it; as a way to blend their cultures visually and celebrate how they’ve evolved and their love of peace and prosperity

Galcrest

Galcrest is located in the far north, close to Arendelle and the Enchanted Forest but a fair distance east

Unlike Bayangor, it’s not really a matriarchy. It doesn’t matter what the heir’s gender is, men, women, or otherwise all have to pull their own weight.

Galcrest is widely known for its seal fur trade business and fishing business

The penguin is considered a VERY sacred animal to Galcrestans. He is believed to have brought an end to the Great Ice Age and contributed to the creation of their people

Galcrest was actually a very isolated and secretive kingdom for quite a while. The old Galcrest rulers saw no business in affiliating with the southern kingdoms, and therefore just didn’t participate in those affairs. Basically think Wakanda from Marvel

Depsite what the other kingdoms believe, Galcrest is actually very technologically advanced for the time.

The primary resources of Galcrest are fish and seals

Koto

If I could describe Koto in one word it would be: bougie. Three words? Bougie as hell

It’s just literally a kingdom full of rich people. There are poor people too, but everyone acts like they don’t exist

They specialize in jewelry making, and one of the most common jobs there is working in the diamond mines

Despite the class issues, they’re actually really liberal when it comes to magic and magical creatures. They’re actually one of the few modern (modern in the time of Tangled) kingdoms that still jas a high population of magical creatures

The MOST common magical creature and even animal in Koto is the unicorn. It is believed to bring good luck, good health, prosperity, long life, and in some cases even eternal life

The Kotoan royal family has a garden that houses a small herd of unicorns

However, their magic is still VERY different from Saporia. It’s the kind of magic you’d probably see at Las Vegas magic shows, just kicked up a knotch

The royal family is called the Grimm family

Ingvarr

Bayangor may be kinda easy matriarchy, but Ingvarr is STRICTLY matriarchal. No exceptions whatsoever

Men are actually given the role of women in most European societies in Ingvarr. They’re seen as caretakers and providers. They’re meant to stay home and care for the children and the house while the women fight

They have the best military in the Seven Kingdoms, if not the world

Their strongest alliance is with Koto, ironically

Their biggest rival is Pittsford. They’re almost always on the verge of war with each other

Their crest is the Lion. It is revered as a sort of deity to them.

The Lion is also seen as a sort of spirit guide, giving warriors courage and hope

The Lion’s Paw (a medal) is one of the highest honors an Ingvarr warrior can recieve

In the royal family, having a son is considered a bad omen

Men doing any kind of fighting is considered VERY unorthodox

Ingvarran Queens never marry. Instead, they are given a handful of male concubines on the night of their coronation so an heir can be produced

Pittsford

Pittsford is kinda the little kid version of Ingvarr. They focus less on actual military skill and prowess and more on dignity and keeping the air of a skilled soldier

They’re actually VERY low on local resources

In the events of Tangled, they’re also on the verge of a famine

The lands of Pittsford actually have very bad soil, so it can be extremely hard to grow certain crops

The only things they have in abundance are gold and coal

Neserdnia

Neserdnia is actually the youngest of the Seven Kingdoms. It’s only been an actual kingdom for just a few decades.

Neserdnia’s first Queen was Moana of Montunui

After Moana and her village left the island, they began exploring the world more, settling more and more islands as they sailed. It didn’t take long before they had formed an empire with all the islands they had discovered

By the events of Tangled, Moana’s daughter Malia has taken up her mother’s throne and is now Queen

With the formation of Neserdnia came a huge revitalization movement. Malia was born into a brand new generation of sailors and wayfinders. Everything she learned from Moana, she has been passing on to her own daughters

One of Malia’s first acts as Queen was to make the Neserdnian crest; which was a shell as a symbol of Neserdnia’s new era, Moana’s reign, and the continuation of wayfinding

Because of the wide range of the Neserdnian empire, it is considered the trading capital of the world. Anything and everything comes through Neserdnia

[elaz-ivero]

Worldbuilding Diaries- Chapter Nine; Developing Complex monarchies and Unique Royals

Depending on the story royalty can play a key or subtle role in how growing tensions and thematical beats unfold. I've read a fair number of novels in my favored genre; fantasy where the main character is closely connected or even part of the monarchy. It's easy for the role relegated to kings and queens to feel meaningless, simply having the presence of someone above the law and with endless amounts of power is not enough to make an impact. My own fantasy novel has five unique systems of royalty, lineage, and rights on the basis of power and I've learned a lot about how the way one uses and treats their royalty in their worldbuilding impacts the prominence and success of their novel.

The key:

- Distinctness

- Power

- Control of the narrative

We've seen the same rulers in literature over and over again, the benevolent king who suffers at the hands of his temperamental and jealous wife, the treacherous younger prince whose right to the throne is thwarted by prophecy or anticipated birth. The patriarchal hereditary-based monarchy is old, readily anticipated and while it can gain favor by rising tensions with the sudden passing of a royal or apparency of an unclear bloodline, it isn't the only possible structure for rule.

Diarchy- two people ruling simultaneously or joint rule of spouses(Sparta)

Personal Union- separate independent states share a monarch but retain their separate laws and government (The sixteen Commonwealth realms)

Absolute Monarchy- a rule that is protected by its divine nature

Elective monarchs- elected by a group of individuals, sect or by the populous

Self-proclaimed monarchy- claimed individual monarchy without any historical ties to a previous dynasty (becoming nomadic or an isolated settlement and crowning oneself)

Rule by combat- Exchange of power occurs after a challenger kills the currently reigning ruler.

There are many more ways of rule and during your story, you can transfer from one to the other. Adding a distinctness to your royal line and transfer of power will make it more memorable, a matriarchy is more memorable than a patriarchy. There are so many ways to make power and rule interesting and memorable, have an animal be king as a result of religious right, have power be gifted from one individual to another, maybe the ruler is decided based on a competition of different skills or achieving certain feats. I've tried many different ideas from lining up all the babies born over a short period of time and randomly selecting one to having a royal family that simply doesn't exist and has died many years ago but the castle is keeping up the façade. Distinctness is imperative to keeping an audience interested and engaged and can lead to new scripts and story potential.

Power is imperative, without power your royalty holds no stake in the story or world. Sometimes I read stories where certain members of the royal family are just...there, they don't do anything and just agree or disagree with the plans or ideas of the main character. If you want your powerful characters to not act on changes In the world then give them a reason not to do so, a restriction that comes as a result of their royal obligations or maybe they care more about their image and the permanence of their reality than the consequences of inactions.

I would advise that you give your royalty power, power to execute on will, to restrict or unbind the path of the main character. Have them make decisions that negatively or positively impact themselves and their lineage, show in-fighting, sweeping orders that change the course of history. The degree to which you humanize these characters or victimize them will change the amount of realistic power they wield, the less human the more they feel like a force, a nondescript wall of unflinching power, and unfortunately a simple narrative device.

Control over others, control over themselves, the narrative, the impact, the result, people with power deserve to hold precedence in the story. Their actions of course should still have causes and consequences and whether they are aware of these preceding or succeeding factors is up to you. How much control royal characters have over their circumstances and position and their ability to avoid consequences are all indicators of power.

Making the most of your royalty and power structures within a given world can make a difference in how alive and active the world feels.

-E