#tides of history

[fallowhearth]

Nanaya-ila’i and her daughter were just two of the thousands upon thousands of victims of the Assyrian Empire, most of whose names have been lost over the centuries. The Assyrian Empire was just one of the many aggressive polities that has produced victims by the thousands over the past several millennia: The Romans did no better in Gaul or Dacia. Alexander the Great razed Thebes on his way to far more expansive conquests. The crusaders who took Jerusalem in 1099 waded ankle-deep in blood, Timur Lenk left behind towers of skulls marking his conquests. Pizarro slaughtered the Inca by the score. The Nazis left behind millions of corpses. As long as grasping rulers and would-be warlords have sought to expand their power, common people have suffered the consequences, just like Nanaya-ila’i and her daughter.

But those ambitious politicians and conquerors didn’t do the dirty work themselves. They had underlings, generals and officers and common soldiers and bureaucrats, to enforce their will. Those underlings participated in acts that, by any reasonable standard of moral behavior, range from the merely distasteful to completely abhorrent. It would be comforting to think that those who murdered children, burned houses with the residents inside, committed acts of sexual violence, and enslaved the survivors were uniquely evil. It would be easier to believe that these participants had somehow forfeited their humanity somewhere along their path to organized violence. We would prefer to fool ourselves into thinking they formed a special class of malefactors separate from the farmers and shopkeepers and laborers who made up their societies as a whole. These ideas would be wrong. The agents of empire and conquest were not a marked group of sadists; they fit quite comfortably within the mainstream of the societies that produced them and benefited from their actions.

Patrick Wyman, Perspectives: Past, Present, and Future Substack, 2024

[st-just]

Catching up on tides of history and incredibly funny to me how the episodes on the Indus Valley civilization start with a 'I'm not here to attack anyone's beliefs, everyone is #valid, I'm just relaying the current consensus of the field' disclaimer nearly as long as the set on bronze age israel and canaan.

Fun way to find out who the craziest people on Twitter are from a safe remove.

[civ5crab]

Historians love to talk about how move big rock but Patrick Wyman is the only historian who move big rock for real

[haveyouheardthispodcast]

[litcityblues]

Bookshot this month features #TheVerge, which is an excellent book written by Patrick Wyman who also has an excellent #podcast called #TidesOfHistory, which you should check out if you haven't.

It was also supposed to be homework for a fantasy serial I was attempting to write, but I'm not sure how well that worked out. Might have to revise that one of these days...

[nonevahed]

... i just remembered that i dreamed up a nonexistent episode of Tides of History last night. I actually found it plausible while i was asleep, despite having things like hunter-gatherers in the 7th century BCE levant (where would they even fit?)

Also did a lot of the 10 minute historical fiction narrative stuff the Patrick Wyman did back early in Fall of Rome, which i kinda miss.

[ltwilliammowett]

Tides

Three basic tidal patterns occur along the world's major coastlines. In general, there are two high tides and two low tides every day in most areas. If the two high tides and the two low tides are approximately the same height, this is referred to as a semi-diurnal or semi-daily high tide. If the high and low tides differ in height, this is referred to as a mixed semi-diurnal tide.

Dinurnal (top left). An area has a diurnal tidal cycle if it experiences a high tide and an ebb tide every lunar day. Many areas in the Gulf of Mexico have this type of tide.

Semidiurnal tidal cycle (top right). An area has a semi-diurnal tidal cycle when it experiences two high and low tides of approximately equal magnitude each lunar day. Many areas on the east coast of North America have these tidal cycles.

Mixed semidiurnal tidal cycle (lower centre). An area has a mixed semidiurnal tidal cycle if it experiences two different high and low tides on each lunar day. Many areas on the west coast of North America have these tidal cycles.

[han-ban-bam]

episode three has not freed me as of yet they have not freed me as of yet

[macleod]

William Thomson's Tide Predicting Machine, 1872 (London)

Tide-predicting machine designed by William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), built by A. Légé & Co., 20 Cross Street, Hatton Gardens, London, 1872. The machine is a mechanical analogue computer which traces the tidal curve for a given location, by combining ten astronomical components. It is the first working machine of Thomson’s design, based on his application of harmonic analysis to tidal phenomena.

Each of the ten components has a shaft with an overhead crank which carries a pulley pivoted on a parallel axis adjustable for the range applying to that place. The shafts are geared together so that their periods are broadly proportional to the periods of the tidal constituents. On each shaft the crank can be turned and clamped in any position corresponding to the epoch of tide required. The machine was able to draw the tidal curves of one harbour for one year in about four hours.

[cipher-the-sidhe]

Hi! I just went through your entire WtTK AU and I have a (potentially sad) question :D

Has baby Eclipse ever accidentally hurt Y/N? Cause I noticed he's got some pretty big claws, and kids (especially young ones!) don't tend to have very good control of their strength and coordination when they're little

*grabbing you and shaking you*

Thank you for liking my au and for engaging! I love these fish a normal amount!!!!! As for your question~

———————🐠🐟🐠🐋🐳🦭🦈🪼🦐🐙

The first time it happens, Eclipse is too young to realize what he’s done. Tiny baby teeth are still sharp enough to pierce and tear, and when he mindlessly mouths at you a little too hard Moon is the first to notice the blood at your shoulder where your baby nestles his face. Sun is a mess of anxiety over the realization that your little guppy has teeth and claws sharp enough to hurt his mama now, and no will yet to prevent it. The bites don’t leave a visible scar, but the boys never forget.

It happens again, of course. Many times. Little nicks of careless baby claws and eager baby teeth. Nothing serious, and your mers are diligent in teaching Eclipse to be careful with his mama and her delicate body. Sun maybe goes to far with it really, and for a while your little boy handles you like you’re made of glass. Eventually you ease the anxiety he develops over hurting you into a more reasonable level of caution, but he’s always very careful.

But even the most careful, cautious people slip sometimes, and Eclipse is just a boy after all…

He hadn’t meant to. He swore up and down around hiccuping sobs over and over again how he hadn’t meant to and how he’s so so sorry. You coo and shush him, one hand pressed down firmly to stem the bleeding from your calf, and the other holding onto his hand (so much bigger than yours already, and covered in your blood) even as he tries to pull away.

“Clip, sweetie, look at me. I’m ok. It’s going to be ok. It was an accident. I’m not mad. It’s ok.” You talk to him as gently as you can, holding him as close as he‘ll let you. For a moment you resent how big he’s gotten so fast. Eleven years old and he’s already taller than you.

Moon doesn’t take it well, of course. Sun takes it worse. They get your injuries cleaned and stitched up, and they end up healing into four pale pink scars just a few inches above the first scratches Moon gave you on your ankle years and years ago. Eclipse doesn’t speak almost at all for weeks. He stays with Moon most of the time, and his nocturnal father uses the time to share whatever wisdom he earned from his own time as a sharp and dangerous creature on how to be gentle. Your son keeps his hands entirely to himself for that time, accepting hugs but not returning them. Your heart hurts far worse than your leg. Sun stays by your side while the other two are away, and his son won’t meet his eyes for days either.

Things get better. They heal, they scar, the marks fade and leave behind lessons for all four of you. Eclipse grows into a frighteningly deliberate predator, and those claws and teeth never do any harm that they don’t fully mean to do by the time he’s mature. Certainly after that, though he causes his fair share of carnage, he never hurts you.

[shlubbyart]

what do tide and crash do during big runs? do they actually happen in their area of inkopolis?

curious since one just ended lol

I don't know about Big Run specifically, but I imagine their Salmon Run shifts look something like this:

[fallowhearth]

RUO Meme: The Tides of History podcast

Oh man, I could say nice things about this podcast all day. I would say Patrick Wyman is 80% responsible for me being able to engage with history as a field/pursuit/description of the past again without ending up back in the grad school trauma zone. He's just so genuinely enthusiastic about it, while somehow managing to balance rigour and entertainment.

It's so nice to get a history podcast by an academically-trained historian with actual production values, too. Tides always sounds good.

One of my favourite parts of Tides, is that even while it tries to tell a coherent narrative, it's grounded in the practice of history. Patrick foregrounds questions like how do we know this? What types of evidence support this interpretation, and what types of evidence say something else? What evidence can we plausibly expect to result from X or Y event, and what do we actually find? How does drawing from multiple disciplines improve our historical analysis? That, to me, was always one of the more interesting parts. Our lenses shape what we see and what we can't see, which in turn shapes the kinds of things we can say about particular people in the past. Sometimes, the really important stuff just doesn't leave the kinds of evidence that last. That's history!

[st-just]

Catching up on Tides of History and

you can tell we're getting into the late bronze/iron age age Levant because three episodes in a row have started with five minutes of 'please don't be mad at me' in academicese

The trying to disambiguate what probably actually happened, the mythic histories constructed by kings and priests at the time, and the 3,000 years of additional mythology piled on basically every writer ever afterwards, is just fascinating.

Also fascinating - apparently the covenant between Yaweh and Judah in the Book of Kings has a lot of really obvious parallels with the sorts of loyalty oaths the Assyrian Empire would have been demanding of vassals and conquered peoples around the time it was written? Like, not really surprising I guess, but cool trivia anyway

[civ5crab]

[fine-arts-gallery]

Sad Tidings (1870) by Walter William Ouless.

[bedtimegiraffe]

Here's my little essay about King Arlan (and a little bit about Baldur) and their complicated relationship with ruling effectively.

Arlan, the (overall) very good king

King Arlan is keeping the kingdom running well

In the very first lore tablet, you learn that, "King Arlan Valleros VII currently sits on the throne. Known as the Gentle King, Arlan has reigned over a period of great peace and prosperity."

Periods of great peace and prosperity are not easy! It's a combination of luck, delegating effectively, and putting in a ton of administrative work to make sure the laws and policies work for the unique situation your nation is in at this moment. That stuff does not happen on accident.

Based on Aerin's statements that he never really saw his father, I'm assuming Arlan keeps busy with actually running the country. We never see Arlan show interest in hunting or any vices that would take similar amounts of time. I also don't get the sense that Arlan and Baldur are always like, hanging out. And we don't interact with many administrators, making him seem pretty hands-on.

King Arlan knows how to maintain an image

When you return from the Shadow Realm...

King Arlan is very savvy. Maybe he's sincere, who knows! But publicly honoring the heroes who saved your ass is a great way to get goodwill for yourself and make it so you no longer owe those heroes. Your party puts in quite a lot of work to save Morella and King Arlan just lets you take some weapons and armor no one was using anyway. Doesn't even send a single guard to help. Unlike Book 2...

Before the battle he does a great job making it seem like he's doing you a favor. Like you asked for his help and he's magnanimously granting it, even though the Ash Empire is very much coming to destroy his capital!

Which brings us to his take on Aerin being gone (assuming he was imprisoned previously)...

This is an awful thing to say about your son! But it's actually a pretty cunning move as a king. Arlan was absolutely right- his best move was to let Aerin go and hope he got killed. He gets to eliminate a problem making him look bad to the court (his son who committed murder and treason in a very public manner) and keep his reputation as a nice guy. He's the 'Gentle King,' not the 'Strong King' or 'Decisive King.'

And in the very unlikely (in his estimation) chance Aerin did come back alive and looking heroic, Arlan could keep him imprisoned indefinitely. Or (much less likely) he could say Aerin was corrupted before and use his success as an excuse to get one of his kids back in the line of succession. That's good for your ego and can help prevent a succession crisis if there isn't a super clear heir in place (which seems to be the case currently).

Overall, (and completely separate from him being a horrendous father) it seems to be like Arlan is actually a very good king. But there is one part of the job he sucks at...

Arlan's fatal flaw is that he is terrible at reading people.

'Baldur's great, no concerns!'

Obviously, we know that thinking that Baldur is going to be a good king is stupid.

But why didn't King Arlan know that? Aerin (who does seem to be pretty good at reading people) says he's, "handsome, bold, outgoing." Those things are all great for winning people over!

But not nearly enough to actually run a country. We know Baldur's not really even trying to have any of the practical, administrative skills that requires. And this system does not seem set up to function with a figurehead.

You know that tutor must have clocked that Baldur was asleep! It was probably common knowledge at the palace that Baldur never learned a damn thing. Either Arlan didn't realize his heir was not gaining any practical ruling skills (bad sign) or he didn't care (also a bad sign).

Even monarchs who aren't invested in their kids as people are usually very invested in their education. Because that's how you make sure the wheels don't fall off once you die, ending your glorious bloodline.

Aerin tells us that Baldur would never contradict their father. So Arlan absolutely could have forced him to read a damn book. But for some reason, he didn't.

'My second son sucks...

Arlan truly thinks that Aerin is useless. Which is a wild stance to take after you watched him kill big strong Baldur in a single blow and open a portal to the Shadow Realm.

Arlan got there a little late for Aerin's full villain monologue. But the second your party disappears through the portal, the smart thing would have been to determine if Aerin did any more damage. It didn't feel like it to Aerin, but he had tremendous access to people and resources. For all King Arlan knows, this could have been just one piece of a bigger plot.

And it was! Aerin admitted to corrupting dozens of people, usually very connected people. That's a ticking time bomb just waiting to cause more damage. One it doesn't seem like King Arlan ever looks into.

Arlan seems to just assume that Aerin can't cause damage because he's... not physically imposing? Because knowledge and connections are never a threat to power?

Pre-crisis, Aerin also talks about trying to smooth over Baldur's brash decisions. Having someone to soften the blow of harsh or unpopular decisions is absolutely crucial for any ruler, but especially one like Baldur. Yet Arlan doesn't seem to have any awareness of that either.

So Arlan at least picked up some vibes from Aerin that he was... something. Troubled could be 'miserable,' but this statement makes it feel more 'he creeps me out.'

-and I'm not worried about that.'

Even if Aerin was incompetent or messed up, King Arlan should have been concerned about that! Baldur is very strong and presumably good at not dying. But he throws himself into dangerous situations all the time for fun! There is a very good reason most monarchs don't stop at one kid if they can help it.

History is absolutely littered with examples of people who inherited a throne and ran things into the ground because they didn't have the ability to manage the amount of power they had effectively. If Arlan thought Aerin could fall into that category, he should have had people working around the clock to get him up to standard just in case.

Instead, King Arlan fully ignored Aerin, letting him just haunt the archives like a depressed ghost.

'The Heroes of Morella obviously agree with me, they're important!'

King Arlan makes the assumption, based on your party's status, that you'll agree with him on the 'complicated politics' of executing your own kid. Because you're not 'commoners.' Your party includes one elven noble, one orcish (until like 2 days ago) princess, and one human with a very prominent position in the Temple. Mal is more under the radar, but he was still proclaimed a hero. And your character is the most Hero of all.

So Arlan basically does that thing some people do where they trash talk a marginalized group, because everyone in the room looks like they belong to the majority group, so why would they object? (Never a good look.)

But Mal and Nia are both, at least to you, visibly angry with Arlan for being excited his son is (presumably) dead.

Still, no effort to backtrack or soften the blow from King Arlan. Just sails right over the dude's head that Mal looks pissed and Nia is using her damn customer service voice.

Seriously, King Arlan should probably keep an eye out for Mal... Not a big monarchist, that one.

Bonus Baldur, the tremendous idiot

The fact that Baldur thinks he's the first of his name, when "Baldur Valleros" literally founded his dynasty, is incredibly funny to me. Such ignorance. Such hubris.

I am not about to give him the benefit of the doubt that maybe Baldur I went straight to being king, so our dumbass is the first "Prince Baldur Valleros." His father is Arlan VII, there's no way no other king has named their heir after the founder of the dynasty. More evidence that he has never once learned a thing.

(Don't worry about Kade- he took a shadow lance to the face but he's fine. He's mostly fine. Feel free to look at my older posts if you're curious how that went down.)

Baldur seems to make the same assumptions about people based on their status as his father. I don't think it's an accident that when Baldur wants to tell gross stories (including the phrase "slum girls"), he immediately grabs Mal, the human man. Mal isn't all that subtle about his disdain for the nobility, but he still looks like the best one for Baldur to win over. Mal is also the one who steps up and negotiates for the group, making him look like the leader- even more Baldur catnip.