#these boys are so damn tragic

[serpentface]

Oh, birthing & midwiferyposting, please

Ok I will Elaborate

(Content warning because this contains discussion of infanticide)

This is speaking about midwifery and childbirth in the Imperial Wardi context (this also should not be taken as ubiquitous for every facet of the Imperial Wardi cultural sphere, but this is a broadly accurate rundown).

Infant mortality rates are high, and pregnancies and births can be very dangerous for the pregnant parent. Midwives serve a vital societal function and the best form of reproductive care available.

Midwives come in many forms. In poor families, the duties are usually performed by a family member and the skillset may be passed from parent to child. Some communities have resident midwives who perform their services for free or at low cost. Professional midwives exist for hire, and are very common in the cities. An upper echelon of midwives are a kind of physician-priestess, who will have received extensive medical training and are considered sanctified and uniquely equipped to fulfill the spiritual needs of childbirth. A few will perform services for free, but they are generally hired and their services are very expensive.

Wealthy families may have their own personal midwives, and VERY wealthy families/royalty have personal physician-priestesses.

Midwives are mostly women, though whether this is an expectation or merely an average tendency is dependent on the specific context. Cases where this is an Expectation tend to be in cultural contexts where the Gaze of a man is believed to have a sexual element that is uniquely powerful and harmful to the nude bodies of women (all Imperial Wardi cultural beliefs include a concept of the spiritually empowered Gaze and disempowered vulnerability in nudity, but exact nuances vary). Physician-priestesshood is, in theory, reserved only for people designated female, though a few throughout history have been known or suspected to be eunuchs.

Physician-Priestesses serve Anmir-Ganmache (an epithet of God as the domestic sphere, close in meaning to Ox-Face of the Hearth). This is not a priesthood specifically devoted to this face of God in the same sense that Odonii are the cult of the Lion-Face and Galenii are the cult of the Lunar-Face, they are merely seen as serving Anmir-Ganmache by performing their duties and being uniquely empowered by this Face's blessing. Most begin their training and education at puberty (though it's possible to join later in life) and are expected to serve for 25 years before retirement. Their primary function is to behave as midwives, but they receive a wide spectrum of medical training and are considered uniquely equipped to tend to the overall health of women.

A midwife is usually expected to not perform their tasks while menstruating (this may not be practical for poorer families who have to take what they can get), during which time a person is considered ritually unclean. Specially dedicated physician-priestesses are usually expected to be virgins and to remain so for the duration of their service (a method to ensure an entirely ritually pure existence). This is not expected of common midwives.

Most of any midwife’s job is typical physical assistance with the pregnancy and birthing process. Births are typically done in a sitting or squatting position, often wearing a special skirt or blanket to shield both parent and child from full view (a spiritual element to reduce unwanted metaphysical vulnerability during the birthing process). Under the best conditions, a midwife has several assistants of their own (in the case of physician priestesses, these are usually priestesses in training) who will physically support the person giving birth and attend to their needs.

The infant is shielded from direct view during its emergence, and is immediately cleaned and wrapped in cloth upon the cutting of the umbilical cord.

Part of the toolset for a physician-priestess is a pair of horns from a pregnant cow sanctified via sacrifice to Anmir-Ganmache. The cow had taken God's role in its sacrifice and its remains are holy relics, and used to put the mother and child under God's full protection. One horn will have been carved into a cup and holds a sanctified oil (usually olive), which is gently daubed over the eyes, mouth, heart, and near the genitals of the child, forming a protective barrier.

The other horn is intact (usually carved with protective imagery, notably a motif of a lioness-headed woman that has protective qualities for children, and an abstract, twisting serpent that represents and encourages the incarnation of the child's soul) and is waved over the child’s body in the form of a blessing. The same is done for the mother, with the addition of anointing the breasts to encourage healthy and clean lactation. Common midwives are unlikely to have easy access to sacred sacrificial relics, but this blessing rite is considered vital and can be accomplished (to a less ideal extent) with any cow's horns, so long as they have been properly purified.

Protecting the helpless, naked infant from the gaze and immediately exposing it to purifying agents is believed to help expel any inborn dagia or other polluting agents. This is believed to support the child's spiritual and physical health and hopes to prevent congenital or otherwise lifelong health conditions.

The midwife performs a thorough inspection of the infant, and will give a recommendation upon whether the child is healthy and fit to rear. Infants deemed at high risk of premature death may be killed, as the cost of care and emotional attachment for a child deemed unlikely to survive will often be seen as too great to warrant the risk. This act (presumably with the parent’s permission) is usually performed by the midwife themself, and is ideally accomplished with a fatal sedative dose (this death is seen as peaceful and painless, while a traumatic death would risk the infant’s soul failing to reincarnate and instead becoming a vengeful wandering ghost).

This obviously may be a difficult and traumatic choice on an emotional level, but infants are not believed to have fully incarnated souls until they begin to speak (it is believed that the soul begins to enter the body upon conception, but takes significant time to fully inhabit it), and will be reincarnated if they die before this occurs. So infanticide in this context is not usually perceived as the murder of a full person or a denial of life, as the infant’s soul will have as many other chances as it takes to become fully incarnated. (There's a variant of 'old soul' beliefs, where an especially precocious child or one that learns to speak early is believed to have had many previous reincarnations)

Intentional abortion of a fetus carries no stigma whatsoever for much the same reasons (though the MOTIVATIONS for this act on the parent’s part may carry stigma, such as to hide an illegitimate pregnancy). Natural abortifiacients are available and widely used in cases of unwanted pregnancy (though these are not by any means as safe or reliable as contemporary abortion procedures).

In all cases (whether an aborted fetus, a miscarriage, a stillbirth, infanticide, or another death before full incarnation), the infant or fetus’ remains are given the standard funeral rite of cremation to ensure their soul is freed from the body and can be properly reincarnated. Basic rites are all that is expected in this situation, but some parents will undergo extensive funerals with lavish offerings to encourage a prosperous and healthy rebirth.

There's also certain rites to encourage the same soul to return to the same parents (as it would otherwise be reincarnated into a human at random), the physical element of which is anointing the body (ideally the lips) with both parent's mingled blood before the cremation, as blood physically contains a person's spirit and the sharing of it can establish a powerful metaphysical bond. This is believed to assist in leading the child's stray soul back to the same source, and may lend a tremendous sense of comfort to parents in the face of a wanted, dead infant.

A pregnant parent who dies in childbirth is given special status and are believed to enter an esteemed afterlife (located within the Lapis Moon, a paradise where they will reside among saints and other esteemed dead). Childbirth is regarded as one of many analogues to God's self-sacrifice to bring forth creation, with the mother symbolically crossing the threshold of death and spilling her blood to bring forth life from nonexistence. To die in such a state is regarded as one of the noblest deaths typically available to women. (This sentiment is also entirely reflective of the typical place ascribed to those designated women in this society, where their chiefmost value is in bearing children). It's still (obviously) ideal for most to survive the birthing process, but this belief may contribute to some choosing to undergo an (almost always fatal) caesarean procedure in a difficult birth if the infant is assumed to be otherwise healthy.

In the case of a healthy birth in which all parties survive, the child will then be presented to its father (who in some contexts is prohibited from attending the birth), who will formally accept it as his own and bestow it with the family name (the child is not given a personal name until a month from birth, and undergoes a formalized naming ceremony at either their first birthday or when they begin to speak, tradition depending). A child born out of wedlock or to an absent father does not receive a family name, though may be formally adopted if the mother marries later on, or be given the family name of the mother's father if he chooses to accept it.

The mother should ideally undergo a full blessing to recover from the metaphysical vulnerability of the birthing state (the physician-priestess can provide this, but otherwise this is done at a temple or family/village shrine).

It's also generally expected to offer sacrifice to Anmir-Ganmache in thanks and to ensure continued protection for parent and child (the best offering is a cow, but offerings of milk or at the very least some grain is acceptable). Most who can afford a physician-priestess can also afford to offer a cow, and it's also expected that the best meat (usually the liver and flank) and the horns should be removed before the rest of the sacrifice is burnt, and gifted to the priestess as a personal thanks.

[hellt00th]

yikes i just saw a solas post that was like "yall hate solas bc he's neurodivergent coded!" and said that he didn't lie. firstly, solas is the epitome of neurotypical actually, he's just reclusive bc he's surrounded by, in his eyes, shadows of the ghosts of his people, and by some extention sees himself as not a person anymore. not even a fraction of what they used to be. he doesn't see anyone except an inquisitor that befriends or romances him as real people. cole tells you this much about him. his goal once you meet him again is literally to destroy life as we know it to attempt to bring back HIS people.

secondly, solas lied A Lot. A whole lot. Bc a lie of omission is still in fact, a lie. he lied about everything you asked him about in the beginning by not telling the inquisitor the full story. It was HIS orb that blew up the temple of sacred ashes, and he gave it to corypheus bc he couldn't unlock it himself. All you get from him at ANY point in the game is that the orb is elven in origin. If you befriend/romance him, he'll tell you it was his orb. Thats it. BIG lies of omission there. plus I'm almost positive the elvhen artifacts solas has you activate are actually mini bombs that'll shred the veil when he's ready to tear it down, and not, in fact, artifacts that strengthen it. thirdly. I adore solas. He's my favorite character in the entire dragon age series, but I'm so tired of people either completely villifying him bc they only see things in black and white, or completely woobifying him and making him into a sweet innocent uwu elf boy which he is not.

Solas is a genius, utterly ruthless tactician who will use any means necessary to achieve any goal he sets his mind to. There's not a single doubt in my mind he's going to do some horrible shit in dreadwolf in the name of reviving arlathan, but you also need to remember he's grieving. Poorly mind you, because he's using his self assigned duty to the People as a distraction from his pain and loss and sorrow. He's beautifully complex that way and stripping any of those traits away from him to make yourself feel better about liking or hating him does a huge disservice to the writers and the character himself.

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok almost immediately falling for that telepathic alien beaming his wife and home into his brain despite knowing it can’t be true is iconic of him. He’s like a hundred years old and from a race of logic-only telepaths yet he goes down before Janeway, Harry Kim or Tom Paris. Tell me you’re desperately in love and horrifically lonely without telling me you’re desperately in love and horrifically lonely.

[halscafe]

The Beauty in Tragedy

I’ll be the first to admit that of all the characters in the Bastard Warrior series, Albus is the character that arguably is the most deserving of a happy ending. He’s received some of the worst cards imaginable, and therefore, should be the recipient of some light at the end of an extremely dark tunnel. But of course, he isn’t. Throughout the course of episode 12, Albus is doing everything in his power to ensure both Kerano and Faithful make it out of the temple alive and safe. As they are all leaving the temple following Joshua’s death, the supports of the temple start failing and to guarantee their safety, he puts himself in harm's way in their stead; pinning himself under the debris, eventually leading to his death. It’s a tragic end for a tragic character with an even more tragic life. However, as heart-breaking as this moment was, there is beauty to be found in the wake of this tragedy that makes both this episode, and Albus himself, something to respect and commend. 

As we go through the series, we (the audience) are provided with more insight as to the events in his life that shaped Albus into who he is today. As a child, he grew up on the streets and was set up by his mother to join the Knight Paladdin ranks so that she could join Clan York. After discovering her true intentions, he ran away from Trents to Kansas where he finished his training in another battalion. Shortly after his training, he’s drafted under false pretences to join Sub-Delta where he experienced terrible, unimaginable horrors. In a world that condemns children for the actions of their parents, Albus York receives the short end of the stick at every path he takes — all because of a mark that rests on his chest.

In episode 10 of “The Bastard Warrior,” Faithful is tasked with the responsibility of entering Albus’ mind in an attempt to wake him up after being attacked and nearly killed by heart rippers. In his mind, Faithful enters an Ideal World from Albus’ POV whereby in short, he has lived a life completely opposite as to what he has in reality. He was raised by his mother and father, and joined a platoon with his brother Devlin where he eventually gained the title of “Knight Captain Albus of Trents, 82nd battalion, Clan York” ��� a title he presented with pride to Faithful upon her arrival in the ideal-scape. It’s not known (at least to my knowledge) the oaths that Knight Captains must swear when gaining their new title and/or when beginning their journey of rising through the ranks. However, one can deduce that with a title as significant as this, the person receiving the title must uphold certain values such as valiancy, chivalry, heroism, etc. 

Although Albus’ life was cut short, his death wasn’t for nought. During the showdown against Joshua in episode 12, Albus goes as far as to cut out his eyes so that Joshua cannot use the mind control implanted by Sub-Delta against him; and later on, prioritizes Faithful and Keranos safety over his own so they aren’t crushed by the falling temple. Although Faithful is insistent on getting Albus out of the rubble before leaving to the ship with Kerano, he tells her what she needs to hear so that she can prioritize her safety before his own. In doing so, he not only fulfills the clauses of the contract he made with her all those months ago, but he upholds the traits that a Knight Captain would — the status he always to make of himself. In the same episode we learn that it's Albus’ dream to be a Knight Captain alongside his brother, he admits to Faithful that it’s only in this Ideal world that people want him around and hold any sort of value to him. He views this impossible in the life he currently lives in reality. However, it’s in his final moments whereby he upholds those values of chivalry and heroism and sees the effects they have on Devlin and Faithful that he realizes that that life he once viewed impossible for himself, is indeed his reality. In his final moments that occurred from a life of tragedy, Albus York is able to experience a brief moment of solace. It’s the occurrence of a great tragedy that allowed Albus to be that chivalrous, brave Knight Captain he always dreamed of becoming, and a man worthy of receiving love and wanting from both those he holds dear to him, and those that hold him dear to their hearts. 

[arolesbianism]

Every day I mourn the fact that none of my family and friends give a single shit abt oni lore, I don't wanna keep repeating shit I've already said before on here but every now and then I just remember the horrors™ and nearly explode not being able to scream abt it again

[verytendou]

about to trauma dump to the ac*u and hope i get the job wish me luck

[kuromi-hoemie]

i just finished iron blooded orphans and need to lay down for a bit

[s0fter-sin]

finally figured out the reason it’s been difficult to get back into reading books after reading fic for so long is so many fantasy books are just self inserts and the mc has no personality beyond the bare minimum

[sanstropfremir]

i’m sure u received asks about the mma 2022 performances - hoping i’m not adding too much noise ur inbox 🫡

but i feel a bit underwhelmed with these performances? i was sad to see the lineups for all of the upcoming award shows and how there aren’t a lot (or any) 2nd gen/3rd gen performers. granted there aren’t as many 2nd gen active kpop artists that are doing music (most ventured into acting but also hello! i want a key gasoline end of year stage!). and 3rd gen bgs are enlisting + ggs disbanded or not as mainstream.

i’ve seen a lot of praise for le sseafim’s stage but idk it wasn’t anything wow. it felt awkward to me?

i haven't actually, it seems like everyone (including me) forgot about it. i don't know what the full list of performers is so i probably haven't watched all of them, but yea almost no strong performances. what the hell is wrong with the creative directors for these groups, like did y'all forget how stage a good awards show performance in two years? the mmas gave like 11-12 minutes to all these trendy fourth gen groups and NONE of them could keep any semblence of my attention for more than maybe three minutes. the only two groups that actually understood the scale of what they were supposed to be doing were monsta x and ive, bc starship has been sending groups to awards shows for ages. and of that mx's was the only one that was actually interesting and in proper scale for the event, and they did it in less time than everyone else. and also gidle but like. was that a good performance? no, but at least they got the scale right.

tbh the main problem seems to me that all these groups are doing songs/vcrs etc that are just too sedate/slow for that large a stage and they aren't planned well. some groups are kinda sol in that regard (sorry newjeans, your music isnt gonna work on an awards show stage without revamping the production), but literally why were there vcrs in the middle of some of these performances. the one in the ive performance literally just covered up them WALKING TO A DIFFERENT PART OF THE STAGE. why. are you too good to sing a song and hype up the audience while you walk? i dont even want to talk about the txt performance it has some of the worst everything i've seen in a hot minute. the le sserafim stage had extremely poor understanding of how to actually use the stage properly and pathetic styling. like sorry diesel outfits do NOT cut it for an awards show performance. enhypen had legitimately horrible styling like what the actual fuck was that. a lot of these groups are treating these stages as extentions of their 'lore' or whatever and having these ponderous ~mysterious~ vcrs without actually realizing that that is not what these shows are for. these shows need BIG performances bc they are long and they have huge lulls in them thanks to the actual awards presenting. it's one of the only types of performance that it's not necessary to build a dynamic arc into because you do not need one.

[claratyler]

im sorry i know gaius loves merlin and takes care of him all through the series but his homophobia and bootlicking make me so Angry. and whats worse is that he instills the same conformity and homophobia and bootlicking in merlin. Its evil evil evil

[a-very-smooth-boltzmann-brain]

But what if the study group is brought back to save Troy (from the pirates, yeah) and then something happens and then theres some legal issues and Jeff has to go back but he can't and the others (read: Annie) convinces him to go back (why, one of them (Abed?) could give a Winger speech, like in the finale of S4) and he does, and then the issue is resolved and everyone moves out of Greendale, with a final parting look at the school and Jeff and Abed going "I see your value now"-ish something and Britta then looks at some "protestor" teenagers and smiles a little and then everyone goes their separate ways? And then.....the epilogue goes something like "Troy and Abed made a movie". That part was a little far fetched, but whatever.

But then the dean could say to Frankie when she's like "they were a good bunch" that they'll come around and the camera pans at "Greendale".

[dragonagebrainrotblog]

oops

Don't know how this romance will end, but history tells me in tears.

[softgrungeprophet]

i love you, cellophane noodles.....

[monsterblogging]

"I know JK Rowing is a terrible person but her books are so good-"

You sure about that?

I mean, just for a start, have you taken a good look at her fantasy creatures lately? A whole bunch of them are straight-up based on malicious and dehumanizing stereotypes about actual people.

Remember the werewolves? And being a werewolf was made into a kind of metaphor for having AIDS?

And you know how AIDS was first associated with gay men? And how conservatives back in the day were claiming gay men were preying on children in order to convert them to gayness?

Remember how Fenrir Greyback preyed on children in particular? Yeah, she put that subtext in there. She was an adult in the 90's. She knew damn well what she was doing.

Remember the house elves? Remember how most of them loved to serve and needed to have a home and a master or else they just wouldn't know what to do with themselves?

Did you know that's literally what slavers in the American South said about the Black people they kept enslaved? Go look up the happy slave myth.

Do I even need to get into the goblins and the antisemitic tropes they're based on? No, folkloric goblins were not gold-hoarding bankers waiting for their chance to stab humanity in the back.

"But the characters are so good!"

Are you kidding me?

Most of her characters are pretty one-dimensional, including Harry. Her idea of making a morally complicated character is giving a tragic past to a bully. Numerous characters are little more than stereotypes. (Looking at Fleur right now.) Literally anybody, including you, can easily make dozens of characters just as good, if not better. (It doesn't exactly take a lot of character designing skill to go, "hey, actually, having a sad backstory doesn't make it okay to bully children" or "hey, maybe I should not base a character on the first stereotype that pops into my head.")

"But the rest of the worldbuilding!"

Sorry, but her worldbuilding is just as basic as her characters. Magical castles and secret passages are stock tropes. Magical people who keep their true nature secret from humanity is the premise of pretty much every White Wolf TTRPG. Most of her fantasy creatures are just common European fairy tale and folklore creatures with shitty stereotypes projected onto them.

I'm not saying "basic worldbuilding bad." I'm saying, you could do just as good, if not better, with minimal effort.

Also there's her magical bioessentialism, where only Harry's abusive blood relatives could provide him with supernatural protection from Voldemort. Rowling thus effectively declared that non-biological family isn't quite real family, and that abusive biofamily can give you some essential thing that a loving, supportive family that isn't related to you just can't.

The Hogwarts houses are one of the most insidious elements of her worldbuilding. The idea of being sorted gives you a little dopamine hit because wow now you have a li'l niche where you belong!

But the actual function of the houses and sorting system and the House Cup is teaching children to see each other as rivals, and ensure that the most toxic views of the upper class get passed on to every new batch of kids sorted into Slytherin.

Hogwarts effectively prepares children for a dystopia where magic serves to distract its citizens from how nightmarishly awful it is. Economic inequality is so bad that people like Arthur and Molly Weasley can barely afford to put their kids through school, casual sadism is just an accepted norm in everyday society, and non-humans are second class citizens. Rowling sorta acts like she thinks this is a bad thing with certain lines she gave to Dumbledore, but in the end, her special boy protagonist becomes an auror; IE, a defender of the status quo. So.

If you've never seen it, Lily Simpson's video goes into even more detail on how the worldbuilding of Harry Potter is actually incredibly fucked up, and how it betrays small-minded attitudes on Rowling's part. There's no separating the art from this artist, because Rowling's rotten values pour out of nearly every page.

Yes, there are many things in Harry Potter that evoke feelings and inspire people, but there's absolutely nothing in it that this series has a monopoly on. You can find those same experiences in much, much better media.

[asidian]

A little heartbroken by the news, not going to lie.

But I'm going to keep creating for this fandom, because the characters have made a place in my heart, and I suspect they'll stay there for a good long while. This show and the fandom have been such a joy to partake in during a really rough time in my life, and I appreciate that more than I can say. I appreciate all of you who make the fandom what it is, too.

I guess in the end, Season 2 gets to be whatever we make it. So you know what? Let's all share our Season 2s. Nobody's going to stop us or tell us we're wrong.

So here we go. The Season 2 in my heart, in no particular order:

Desire shows up and puts Charles Rowland through the absolute wringer. He is losing his entire mind, he wants Edwin so bad. This boy has 17 different crises and finally a realization that he has been head over heels for some decades and he is just an idiot, actually

Payneland confession and a first kiss

They get Niko back from the Neitherlands. She's some flavor of undead, and she is having a grand old time, actually

Jenny sets up a butcher shop in London and goes on a date that doesn't try to kill her. With the Night Nurse

Crystal has a corruption arc with David buried in her soul-tree soil and at first they don't realize what's going on, but in the end the boys find a way to go into her heart-space and help her resolve the problem

The boys dance on-screen with some of those skeleton choreography dances

Mick mysteriously also has a shop in London. It straddles time-space and also realms. The characters are all ????? but no one ever figures out wtf is going on with that

Tragic Mick saves the day like a big damn hero with a bazooka like in the comics

The Cat King is around, generally being his trickster self, causing problems for funsies. He dies again and comes back as a fluffy white cat with glam white fur clothes

Charles gets kidnapped somewhere and Edwin has to go and save him. It's very dramatic and parallels S1 Ep7

Monty makes a showing in crow form. He has so many cute bird mannerisms. He gets fluffy in the London cold

The boys return to St. Hilarion's. They find their respective remains and come to terms with their deaths. They decide that, however tragic their deaths were, it led them to the only place they'd want to be: together

Crystal and Niko lay the boys to rest side by side, under the same headstone

[pinkkittysaw]

have not been heavily involved in ffxv in such a long but reading fics for noctis always makes me fucking CRY