#which suggests that it was not descending specifically that was the problem

[remcocoa]

one big takeaway for me is that jonas has looked very comfortable descending

[sixosix]

religion's in your lips

third year to timeskip!hinata x fem!reader, a tad suggestive

It’s Shoyo’s fault.

You don’t join Shoyo’s outings often; most of them are volleyball-related anyway, and you didn’t want to get in the way. But right now, it’s just the third years, and Shoyo had begged so sweetly with round eyes that you would be cruel to even think about denying him.

Kageyama sits on your other side, stiff and polite, jostled here and there by Shoyo pressing up against you. Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Yachi sit on the other side of the table. Conversation is light and comfortable. They don’t exclude you even when talking about practice matches and lineups—Yamaguchi asks you about your own club ever so often, too.

Yamaguchi claps his hand, forcing everyone’s attention on him. Except Shoyo, who’s busy tracing stars on your hand. “Do you guys want to watch a movie this weekend? I heard they’re releasing a sequel of the one we watched back in first year.”

Yachi emits a wordless sound of excitement, easily agreeing. Kageyama and Tsukishima begrudgingly agree at the same time, then sneer at each other. Then they all turn to you and Shoyo.

Shoyo grins. “Sorry, I got plans already.”

“You get a girlfriend, and suddenly you forget about us,” Yamaguchi mourns. Shoyo laughs while you get flustered and assure them that you’re not keeping your boyfriend hostage. Kageyama says that they know Hinata is the one doing it.

“You’re going to watch our match next week, though, right?” Shoyo asks you in a low whisper, as the other three dutifully settle in their own world.

“You don’t even need to ask, Shoyo,” you tell him. “Of course.”

Shoyo’s eyes brighten impossibly, face split into a grin. He looks like he wants to push you down onto the floor to kiss you in front of his friends, but he doesn’t. You knew he wouldn’t.

It’s Shoyo’s fault.

Really. Seriously this time. Specifically, Hinata Shoyo from third year. He’s changed from first year, gained more confidence, but he’s still shy and soft-spoken with you, which you expected from someone as sweet as him. It set your expectations for him and what your relationship would look like in the years and years that you’ll spend with him: bearing that first love kind of shyness.

It takes about two years to prove you wrong.

When Shoyo came back from Brazil, the first thing he did was kiss you breathless in front of everyone in the airport.

His strong arms around your waist, pulling you up—which you had to think ‘thank God’ for because your knees have definitely buckled. You don’t think too much about it, because he’s been gone for two years—two!!—and you’ve missed each other too much.

But when Hinata’s mouth descends to your jaw, you have to push him by the chest and exclaim (albeit weakly), “Shoyo—there are still people behind us!”

Shoyo blinks and pulls off, his eyes fogged over with heat that makes you have to look away, having to remind yourself that you’re in public and you do not want to beg for him to continue. Thankfully, his friends yelling his name seems to have snapped him out of it.

But his palm never left your side, splayed over your hip like a mark.

It gets worse at his homecoming party thrown by his teammates back at Karasuno. You’re familiar with them, and they’re familiar with you, so of course, it wasn’t a problem when Shoyo was pulled away to greet everyone. You made friendly conversation with Sugawara-san, caught up with Nishinoya, and joked around all night with Yamaguchi and Tsukishima.

“You called each other every night?” Yamaguchi’s brows have shot up all the way to his hairline.

You smile. “I mean—isn’t it normal for people in a relationship?”

Tsukishima shrugs. “Hinata loves you as much as he loves volleyball, I’m not surprised.”

Yamaguchi considers it. “Hmm, I guess.”

“Hinata’s waiting for you,” Kageyama mutters from behind you, appearing out of nowhere. His brows are stitched together, and his mouth is pulled in his ever-permanent Kageyama pout. “His staring is pissing me off. Can you go get him?”

“He’s not a dog, Tobio,” you chide lightly but grin all the same when you turn to your side and see Hinata Shoyo’s eyes drilling holes into your head.

He’s not mouthing anything. Shoyo stays seated on the loveseat, looking entirely isolated from the crowd around him. His eyes say it all: come here.

Helpless to his whims, you obey.

“Shoyo,” you murmur as soon as you reach him.

He pulls you to his lap. “Baby.”

You freeze. He’s never called you that before—his expression isn’t shy at all, too, just expectant. Heat crawls down your body as he tugs your back to his chest, resting his chin on your shoulder. Shoyo’s own warmth is a burning sensation. You feel lightheaded.

“Ah—well, um.” You pinch your arm. “Are you feeling okay? Did you drink?”

“There’s no alcohol here.”

“I’m pretty sure I saw Sugawara-san holding a bottle.”

“Ah, well. Sugawara-san.”

You understand. What you don’t understand is what happened in those two years to have Shoyo’s hand crawling on your thigh, a scorching mark on only that part of your skin. To have Shoyo’s breath on the nape of your neck without him flushing and flinching away. To have Shoyo have this air of confidence around him that’s usually in volleyball suddenly translate to you.

“Did you miss me this much?”

“You have no idea, don’t you?” The implications are clear: I could show you how much, if you want.

Still, this development is very sudden. You squirm on his lap, but Shoyo doesn’t relent. He keeps you there, a puddle in his hands. Nobody is watching—or maybe they’re just being respectful, but you feel flustered facing this side of Shoyo in public.

“Shoyo,” you warn. “Not here.”

It’s Heitor’s fault.

Ever since Hinata had met Heitor and Nice and witnessed how unapologetically intimate they were with each other, Hinata became envious. He wanted that, too. He wanted that with you.

“Well, why wouldn’t you?” Heitor asked when Hinata lamented to him.

Hinata made a pitiful noise, like a deflating balloon. “I don’t know. I think she just thinks I’m too cute to take that seriously.”

Heitor laughs. “Shoyo. Trust me. You’ll drive your girl crazy if you’re confident with it.”

It’s Heitor’s fault, and Hinata is eternally grateful for it, seeing your wide-eyed face beneath him like this. He loves it when he surprises people, but yours might be a different kind of thrill that he’s already addicted to.

[milkteasweetheart]

『just like heaven, introduction』

this part contains the introduction.

housewardens x reader

author’s note: i depict nrc as an actual college, so first years are 18, second years 19, etc.

summary: crowley has the bright idea of a bonding experience, specifically in the form of a dream potion.

characters: riddle rosehearts, leona kingscholar, azul ashengrotto, jamil viper, vil schoenheit, idia shroud, malleus draconia / platonic mentions: dire crowley (ew), grim

genre: romance, fluff, smidge of angst

warnings: female reader, reader is yuu, reader is around ace and deuce’s height, sappy, marriage, mentions of potential children, some suggestive themes

「introduction: dire crowley (derogatory)」

It’s not a very peaceful evening.

It started with Crowley’s bright idea of a bonding experience. That is, gather the students that overblotted (and the overworked, underpaid regular joe that got dragged into solving them) and spritz a potion that will make them see each others dreams. What kind of logic does this birdbrain operate on?

“It will help you understand each other, which will reduce conflict! And since I am oh so generous, I’ve already brewed the potion required for this occasion.”

(Y/N) had the strong feeling that Crowley just wanted to get rid of the problem of overblotting the easy way, instead of actually getting help for the housewardens (and Jamil).

When asked how it works, Crowley talked in circles to the point that it’ll be easier to just go with whatever bullshit he’s come up with instead of pulling teeth any further.

So, that leads to the Ramshackle’s lounge. Grim had willingly left to spend the night in Heartslabyul with (Y/N)’s best buddies, Ace and Deuce. “I don’t wanna hang out with those weirdos! I got better things to do!” She could only hope he’d behave for the sake of Trey.

The rocking chair and coffee table had been pushed away next to the walls to make room for the beds Malleus had kindly summoned. (Y/N) will definitely ask him if she could keep one. They’re very comfortable.

After making supper with the aid of Jamil (and Azul, who butted in, which caused Jamil to glare side-eye daggers at him) and Vil, who wanted to oversee the process to assure the food they made was healthy. Before embarking on this culinary mission, (Y/N) had tasked Riddle to distract Leona from picking a fight with Malleus so that Ramshackle could be spared for another day. Riddle had seemed excited for some reason, and took his mission seriously after giving a small, blushy nod. 

「Riddle: The prefect trusts me to keep peace. I won’t disappoint!」

The meal went by… strangely. Jamil and Azul kept slipping each other snide remarks, and so did Leona and Malleus. (Y/N) had long considered carrying around a spray bottle, and these people did not help the growing need for it. Idia wisely stayed out of it. His strategy to survive the night was to keep his mouth shut and avoid conversation with anyone else other than the prefect. When Riddle attempted to make conversation, Vil would change the subject. When Riddle eventually managed to hijack (Y/N)' attention, Vil looked at him with a freezing stare.

「Vil: Foolish ventriloquist doll potato. She's got better things to talk about.」

Despite the tension, Ramshackle had not fallen, and so the headmage descended upon them with a potion in a fancy perfume bottle.

“What are the ingredients in this, if I may ask?” Vil sensibly asked the incredibly suspicious headmage, who skillfully evaded the question with the command for the students to get comfortable.

Each of the overblotted students were confident that their dreams were not that bad. Sure, letting others see what they desired wasn’t ideal, but they can surely control what they’ll see, right? Right. 

[perfecttenth]

Usually not much can be said about the character design in Kinnikuman. But in the case of The Man and The One, the contrast between their designs is top-notch. 10/10.

The most obvious contrast is between their attires. The Man was designed to resemble the Ancient Greek god Zeus, and the Greek influence can primarily be seen in the golden laurel wreath that's a part of his helmet and the white toga. The golden helmet, jewelry as well as his cape fittingly give him a regal appearance, as Zeus was regarded to be the king of the gods of Mount Olympus. It overall results in a Western style.

The One on the other hand was specifically designed to have a more threatening aura than even Shogun, and his spiked armor accomplishes just that. His armor resembles those of the samurai and generals of feudal Japan, with his helmet looking nearly identical to the kabuto-type helmet, of which some tended to be adorned with horns. His style comes across as martial and Eastern, accentuated by the war fan he wields.

Partially as a result of their attires, their silhouettes on their own also contrast one another: The Man's form is wider and shorter with rounded edges, The One is a bit slimmer and taller, with his silhouette being edgier due to the spikes and horns sticking out.

There's also the colors. The Man's palette consists of the saturated primary colors pink, yellow, blue plus white. Meanwhile The One's colors are much paler and desaturated, with only monochromatic shades of red. His bright red eyes are the most saturated part of him, corresponding to The Man's blue ones.

Even their names contrast each other. The God of Harmony giving himself the name "The One" with his descent makes it feel like he's further reinforcing the binary between the two of them when comparing it to The God of Mercy's group-based title "Perfect Zero". The Japanese spelling of their name are only one kana off from each other too, "Za Wan" (ザ・ワン) vs. "Za Man" (ザ・マン).

When you look at the way The One used to look when he was first submitted as Hermoz, it all feels like very deliberate choices. Personally I would've preferred it if they had kept the asymmetrical helmet and horns, but it might have been unbefitting for a choushin design, being perfect beings and all.

The dynamic these two have is also great. I hope we get to see these old men bicker some more over the course of the story. They're defined by having opposite views on the matter of choujin: It was The Man who suggested the creation of the choujin race to fill the 108th god seat back in heaven and held up his hope in them, descending in order to save and train them himself, when The One gave up on the choujin almost immediately and lead the group of gods who advocated for their erasure.

This is also reflected in how they see themselves, and by extent the rest of the gods who descended: The One regards himself to be a choushin on the same level as the other gods, but The Man only ever calls himself a choujin, seeing himself as an equal to the mortal choujin, despite both him and The One being ex-gods.

The Gordian Knot metaphor lays out their differing views the best. The Man patiently attempted to untie the knot with his own hands, making more progress than any of the other gods, but The One chose to simply cut the un-untieable knot in half with his fan. It's similar to how he used the Capillaria Rays as a tool to eradicate the majority of choujin, a bold and drastic solution for their constant infighting that shows his contempt for them. Nowadays, The Man's approach to handling the choujin in the form of directly teaching them over a long course of time is starting to be seen as the right decision, with him believing that choujin have resolved the issue and have grown on their own.

This does not mean that The One's unconventional way of problem-solving is wrong, as his reformation plan to redefine what it means to be a choujin and demote the unqualified to human status in order to equilibrize the universal energy imbalance doesn't feel all that unreasonable considering the direness of the situation. Whether it is his idea or The Man's idea of effectively using the circulatory Friendship Power system that will be realized we'll have to see.

Everything about them is coming together so well and I can't wait to see how their plans for fighting back against the God of Time's forces are going to work out.

[earlgreytea68]

I'm going to descend into Fall Out Boy stuff for probably a while but before I do, I just wanted to put down some musings on AI. Sorry.

You, like me, are probably already sick to death of talking about AI. In my field, it feels like the only thing people want to talk about, not only because I'm a teacher but because I'm also an intellectual property lawyer focused on the technology space, so it's just endlesssssssss.

First I should say that I've been so far completely underwhelmed by AI. Like, yeah, sure, I get that it's amazing and I'm probably spoiled by tech wizardry or whatever but if AI is so great I think all the algorithms in my life should be better at recommending things to me (I gather TikTok has the best at that but I'm not on TikTok). Westlaw's AI is so incredibly terrible that the database has gone downhill ever since they tried to make me pivot that way and I'm constantly being like, PLEASE GIVE ME THE OLD WESTLAW INTERFACE WHERE I USED MY OWN ACTUAL BRAIN AND GOT THE THINGS I WANTED EFFICIENTLY WITHOUT ROBOT INTERFERENCE.

I tried out ChatGPT because I wanted to know what the fuss was and I put one of my old exam questions in and it gave me four sentences in response, one of which was just a flat-out wrong statement of law, and considering I would have expected around a thousand-word analysis of that exam question, four basic and only half-right sentences was just not super-impressive to me.

But I gather that it's getting better all the time and that the harder you work on what you ask it for and keep refining your prompt then the better the output is, or whatever. I also gather that asking it for text output is probably super-different than asking it for visual output.

I'm talking about this now because I went to this symposium and there were panels on AI and honestly, the more I hear *tech* people specifically talk about AI, the more I want to light myself on fire. Like, one of the topics was whether the AI using everyone else's copyrighted works as input without the creators' permission was copyright infringement. The tech people were like, "No, not at all, because the output doesn't actually use their work, it's just training the machine, it's just an algorithm." But then the tech people in the next panel were like, "But of course we should get to own all of the output of the AI because it's using human creativity." And I'm like, ...this feels contradictory to me? Like having your cake and eating it, too? It can't NOT be infringement because it's all machinery but also you get to own all the output because it's not just machinery.

Like, sometimes I think if AI were really just about, Idk, algorithms helping us out, we wouldn't have to talk about it in IP symposiums. The reason we're talking about it is because OBVIOUSLY people are going to start claiming ownership over the things AI creates and so we're going to end up in a world where humans (corporations) own what humans create AND they own what machines create and all of that is so much more stuff owned than ever before and I don't think any IP scholar looked around and thought that the problem with our creative landscape is "not enough stuff is owned."

Setting aside my views on ownership, though, I've been trying not to be a kneejerk crotchety old person about AI. The tech people at the symposium kept saying it was just a tool that people would use to aid them, like a typewriter or PhotoShop or whatever, and that people always freak out about new tools possibly killing human creativity, and that doesn't turn out to be the case. So I keep trying to keep an open mind. Maybe I'll really like writing with AI! Maybe it will be awesome! But I can't shake the fact that I don't even like Word to suggest autocompletes to me when I'm writing a fic, because I feel like it's putting ideas in my head about where the story or sentence or dialogue is going that isn't what I intended. I especially hate that little thing on the side that tells you that your document is "54% good" or whatever and then wants to edit you to within an inch of your life. All of it makes me think that maybe it's a great tool for writing a cover letter or a resume but I don't want it going through my fics telling me to take out the run-on sentences that I have intentionally added to suit the mood of the character. Like, those aren't accidents. I know how to write sensible sentences, I do it all the time for work. Not everything should sound like work. "The next generation of content creators are all going to use AI," this tech person confidently stated, and I thought, Well, I'm going to get left behind obviously because I cannot imagine using AI to write my fics, OR in a few years I WILL be using AI to write my fics and thinking how silly it was that everything in the fic used to come straight from my own brain.

I get that their argument is that the AI isn't going to write the fic for me, it's just going to help me, the way spellcheck helps me. After all, what they say is that it's not going to supplant the market for artists, that there will always be demand for human creativity. But they say this while simultaneously admitting that the movie studios have already begun to use AI-generated scripts and scores and even actors. "So far," the movie studio reps announced, these are not as good as human-generated ones. But it's pretty clear to me that they think they eventually will definitely be good enough for them to cut the humans out of the equation. And anyone who thinks, "no, no, that won't happen, employers totally value human labor," has apparently never had a job, because employers definitely do not value human labor lol. And sure, I'm sure there will always be creators who will be able to get paid but these will be the big-deal creators with the connections, and it's not like we don't already have income inequality in the creative space and people's ideas being stolen when they have no power because of this inequality. I'm sure that problem won't be massively exacerbated when a corporation can see someone's work they like, feed it into AI, and have what they want produced in that person's style with zero effort or money paid.

The tech people talk about AI with so much hope, and I want to be on board, I want to hope for good stuff. I think it sounds like it could help people with the things they find difficult and challenging, that, for people to whom writing doesn't come easily, it would be a huge help to shape their sentences. For people to whom art doesn't come easily, it would be a huge help to give them a template. I want that to be how I think about AI. It *should* be a great tool for this stuff.

But then I think about how the problem with every tool is the humans using it. That tools are always relatively neutral and benign, it's the humans who use them for ill. That it was a straight line of less than two decades to go from "here's a great way to connect with friends and family!" to "here's how we turn the world's leading democracy into a fascist dictatorship." And yet tech people still talk about having hope. I want to live in their world. But I can't help but live in this world, where I look at all this "promise" of AI and I think, Great. So great we came up with this so we can do something absolutely nightmarish with it in the next few years.

Sigh.

[hyperbolicpurple]

Many academics cherish an irritating myth: that Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel is an error-strewn and racist endorsement of European imperialism. One mention of Diamond's name is enough to get everyone in earshot to regurgitate their favorite streams of invective against his books. A 2013 article in Capitalism Nature Socialism by David Correa, entitled "F ** k Jared Diamond," decries the aging geographer as a "racist", a "hack", and the "darling of bourgeois intellectuals"—and that’s just on the first page. Others lambast Diamond for using "geographical determinism" to excuse Europeans for the bloody consequences of the conquest of the Americas.

... One historian, to popular Twitter acclaim, suggested that the main problem with Diamond is that "[h]e uses geography to explain horrible things done by colonialism, which makes this stuff natural and not anyone's fault." This is a catastrophic error, reflecting a basic, likely wilful misreading of Diamond's work. As I have noted before, his explicit aim is to explain the rise of Eurasia, and specifically Europe, without reference to inherent European biological and cultural advantages. He explicitly condemns popular histories that emphasize biological and cultural superiority as racist. Guns, germs, seeds, or steel did not make it inevitable that Europeans would invade the Americas and annihilate native populations. I mean, why would Diamond even want to argue this? But it reflects a strain of GGS ripostes that have seized the academic imagination since the book's publication.

... No doubt some crude right-leaning histories, for instance, Jeffrey Flynn-Paul's Not Stolen (2023), attempt this historical gambit, but Diamond does not. In no way does he dance around the question of agency in the destruction of native populations. On page 15, for example, he writes that "the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, the Americas, and southernmost Africa, are no longer even masters of their own lands but have been decimated, and in some cases even exterminated by European colonialists" (15). Two pages later, he adds that "many other indigenous populations—such as native Hawaiians, Aboriginal Australians, native Siberians, and Indians in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile—became so reduced in numbers by genocide and disease that they are now greatly outnumbered by the descendants of invaders" (17). That's right—genocide and disease, working in tandem.

... Diamond's critics would like to have it both ways. On the one hand, they refuse to concede that Europeans had any significant technological or military advantage over Native American civilizations, because that would connote some kind of intrinsic superiority of the former over the latter. On the other hand, however, they want to show that deliberate European manipulation and control over Indigenous peoples led to population decline—a level of imperial mastery that could only have been maintained with some sort of military disparity. Diamond's explanation is much simpler: Europeans won initial victories because of guns, germs, and steel (plus horses, literacy, and ships) and then, after establishing their own colonial regimes, induced further depopulation through impoverishment, coercion, and outright murder—yes, he calls it genocide. Europeans committed horrific crimes that were not inevitable and germs enabled them to do it.

... I’ve spent years reading and rereading Diamond’s work, and I’ve found next to no evidence that he even implicitly attempted to give cover to apologists for European empire. I don’t understand why he would have tried to do this: it is the racists and Eurocentrists that he set out to quash in the first place. As you’ve seen above, the claim that Diamond’s work is based on “junk” data appears to be exaggerated, if not altogether specious. If his data (say, on population sizes and losses) is off, it’s off by moderate percentages, not orders of magnitude, and is more likely just uncertain—the critics don’t know either. The only way to avoid speculation about the history of the pre-contact Americas is to say nothing at all. ...

Finally, some good fucking justice for Jared Diamond.

[sauntervaguelydown]

From Feather Unpacks the Hobbit (ep 6):

"Which brings us to Beorn, and their time with Beorn. 

Beorn is a problem. Beorn is one of those things that sticks in the easy understanding that the texts do lay out to us in a way not dissimilar to Tom Bombadil, where it's not immediately or transparently explained how he fits into the world as we understand it - especially as The Silmarillion explains it to us. 

Beorn is described by Gandalf (or at least by Narrator Bilbo speaking through Gandalf) thusly: 

He is a skin-changer. He changes his skin: sometimes he is a huge black bear, sometimes he is a great strong black-haired man with huge arms and a great beard. I cannot tell you much more, though that ought to be enough. Some say that he is a bear descended from the great and ancient bears of the mountains that lived there before the giants came. Others say that he is a man descended from the first men who lived before Smaug or the other dragons came into this part of the world, and before the goblins came into the hills out of the North. I cannot say, though I fancy the last is the true tale. He is not the sort of person to ask questions of.

At any rate he is under no enchantment but his own. He lives in an oak-wood and has a great wooden house; and as a man he keeps cattle and horses which are nearly as marvellous as himself. They work for him and talk to him. He does not eat them; neither does he hunt or eat wild animals. He keeps hives and hives of great fierce bees, and lives most on cream and honey. As a bear he ranges far and wide. I once saw him sitting all alone on the top of the Carrock at night watching the moon sinking towards the Misty Mountains, and I heard him growl in the tongue of bears: "The day will come when they will perish and I shall go back!" That is why I believe he once came from the mountains himself.

Now there are a few other things we know about Beorn, and one specifically is that is he mortal (or at least that other people thought that he died at some point): his son is the lord of the Beornings by the War of the Ring, and there are reputed to be at least several other skin-changers in the lot of them, so presumably at some point Beorn sired children, and he's not around by the War of the Ring. 

[...]

One possibility is that Beorn himself is one of these Maiar. It would explain his ability to change his shape; it would also explain why he brooded resentfully over the idea of having lost the Misty Mountains to the orcs, and so on. However, given that Grimbeorn his son is explicitly and continually identified as his son, this would require either that this be untrue (and that stories of the Beorning skin-changers also be untrue) and Grimbeorn be somehow adoptive, or it would require that a Maia sired a child with an Atani [human] woman in the midst of the Third Age, which feels a bit off. He'd also have to be both willing to muck around as much as he did, and where he was living, and yet not have attracted Sauron's hostile attention, which seems unlikely. If this were the case, presumably either he did fall afoul of Sauron at some point, or he went off whenever his son got old enough. 

That one also feels a bit off because I feel like it would be hard for even huge numbers of orcs to run a Maia who still has access to a bear-shape off his patch. But it's a possibility. 

However, the more suggestive and compelling possibility to me is that despite the Eldarin claims, Melian was not in fact the only Maia ever to fall for, or procreate with, one of the Children [elves and humans]. 

That she was by far the most powerful, definitely, and I suspect that the occasion for any other would have to be just about as remarkable and spectacular. But I don't think it's beyond possibility that once upon a time, a Maia of Yavanna or Oromë living somewhere in the mountains - very possibly as a bear, but maybe mostly as something else - encountered an Atane at least close to being as special as Beren was, or equivalent to Elu Thingol but mortal, and had a child with him, and that as a result much like the lineage of Elros keeps throwing up these astonishing healers and people who can have a power-level wrestling match with Sauron via palantír and win, there's this other lineage that keeps throwing up Atani who can change their skin - and, as it happens, talk to animals. 

Given that Oromë was a hunter, Beorn's specific avoidance of eating meat and his tendency towards cultivation with his home suggests to me that his lineage comes from Yavanna, which would also contribute to his inclination to like Radagast (who is himself one of Yavanna's Maiar). It would also help explain his a priori dislike of the Khazâd, as Khazâd due to Aulë's not telling his wife about them lack certain harmonics that would make them resonate with living things rather than things-of-craft, and that sets up a tension. 

On the other hand he has a lot of hounds, and Oromë and hounds are a very strong association. 

That's all speculation; we have no real answer. But it's a possibility that makes sense to me, and sometimes speculation is fun. "

[hopeless-eccentric]

re: Éowyn, I think the OTHER problem is that patriarchy is inconsistent in Tolkien’s universe.

Númenor seems to have developed it as an institutional force independently (LaCE’s whole section about Noldorin gender roles indicates that even if the author is a bit sexist the elves don’t seem to be, even down to an absence of a requirement that marriage be heterosexual*, and Haleth and Andreth respond to some gendered pressures but they don’t seem to be systemic) but challenges it through the legalization of absolute primogeniture. Despite this, Gondor and Rohan have their own versions of patriarchal norms, in contrast to Harad and potentially to Umbar. The Shire is written as a land of benevolent sexism, and yet Merry never questions Éowyn’s capacity to murder things with a sword when he realizes he’s been riding with a woman. So we’re left with this nebulous thing that obviously exists and impacts the life of one of the most significant female characters in the text, but that also clearly exists in a way that’s different from our own modern conceptions of patriarchy as all-encompassing and global even as the author isn’t thinking too hard. I wonder if a more feminist LotR written with, say, input from Joy Davidman, would have featured the non-Gondorian Aragorn calling out the patriarchy, but that’s simply because Tolkien tends to do those sorts of things in response to criticism (see Gimli).

* LaCE-compliant elvish marriage being queer-friendly is sort of my personal soapbox, I apologize

ok, so ill admit we're starting to edge out of my area of (if you can call it that) expertise since ive done the most research on the real-world mythological/literary connections within the Men (celts and anglo-saxons specifically, lord above ive read so many eye-splitting middle english poems in the last few months), but i would love to hear more about the stuff with gimli, which i havent heard about before!

also for the sake of transparency im about 2/3 of the way through the silmarillion until my local library's hold comes in so im a bit new here

so something ive done a lot of reading/writing on myself is that patriarchy in rohan/gondor is very closely tied to war and "warrior culture," i.e. this concept that glory via violence should be celebrated above all else and the association of this idea with masculinity. this is more prevalent in rohan than gondor, but tolkien writes that that the presence of a budding warrior culture in gondor is some sort of "fall" from a more peaceful (and implicitly wiser) culture of the past, which very well could be a reference to a more Elvish, numenorean culture (if im reading your ask correctly in assuming that numenor's culture isnt quite as patriarchal as we see in later ages)

so the thing that gets complicated is that these ideals of peace, wisdom, the arts, intellectualism, etc over war are strongly gendered. in The Feminine Principle in Tolkien, Menalie Rawls (who also saved my ass on that paper god bless her) suggests that a lot of the aforementioned traits associated with this "better" (i.e. aligning more with tolkien's internal moral compass for the book) numenorean-refugee culture are strongly in the feminine category, while the warrior culture stuff sits in the masculine category

so that leads to a bit of a weird point. i think a lot of patriarchy as we see it in lotr is related to this idea of the descendants of numenor falling away from their roots and becoming more hypermasculine (the thesis of Rawls's paper is essentially that tolkien's heroes are either expected to have an internal balance of gendered traits or an external one where they balance their gender expression with strong opposing forces to become their most heroic self, i.e. legolas and gimli, eowyn and faramir, varda and manwe, beren and luthien, etc) as opposed to their more balanced, and therefore, in the eyes of the book, "better" past. essentially, like the warrior-worship, patriarchy seems to be an adverse effect that centuries of war can have on a culture

the weird part of it is that i dont know if the whole fall from a golden age thing was supposed to include patriarchy as a symptom of societal decline or just had it coincidentally because tolkien personally associated femininity with peace. it feels like a bit of a chicken or the egg situation honestly

but, like most of tolkien scholarship, this all completely falls to pieces when you try to apply it to the hobbits. i would hazard a guess that the hobbits do a lot of weird shit that doesnt click with the rest of the world (i.e. golf, wristwatches, a mailman) because they're supposed to be the closest thing tolkien has to a normal english human reader in his worlds, so they probably dont have any views/cultural norms outside what someone in the rural england of his childhood would have. best i've got is a reason, but not an explanation

in certain pockets of the world, i think the culture of patriarchy is pretty well justified. however, i agree that there are some major inconsistencies. the hobbits, as per usual, break any theory you try to apply universally across the text. the crowning of aragorn, which is meant to represent gondor's rebuilding to its former glory, has very little to do with how women are treated (which does make me lean more towards the "patriarchy just came along with tolkien liking peace and not warrior culture while also gendering those two concepts" theory now that i think of it). if anything, femininity is treated better after aragorn's crowning (i.e. focus on healing, very gender-balanced king, rewarding small heroes, marrying an Elf, rewarding faramir, tree blooming again, so much celtic symbolism stuff i dont have time to get into but they were considered effeminate as well, etc). but that's how the concept of femininity is treated which is. yknow. different than actual living breathing women

so point is, 1) there's some insight onto why gender concepts look different among different cultures, especially with Men 2) hobbits confuse me

[dongzhou3kingdoms]

Dangers of bad history

This is not about Reddit (though it involves it) so even if you hate Reddit drama, please read.

As a western 3k community, we are extremely fortunate in that the three kingdoms era or the Later Han is limited in terms of toxic ways it is used. Though we do see them: The age-old "there be women, this ruins my historical immersion" rubbish in gaming circles which is a wider problem beyond the 3kingdoms (though Koei Tecmo should be ashamed of playing into that with rtk14), Chinese people claiming Taiwan is theirs because in 230 Wu sent ships across the seas and people using the bigoted attitudes towards eunuchs of the era and the novel to warn of the "dangers" of trans rights. But compared to some other periods of history, we get it fairly light though the implications of such ideas spread are dangerous and must be opposed

This week we have seen how easily distorted history to suit a bigoted agenda (Japan bad) can, when done with some skill, be convincing, even as others argue it was bad history. A user, seemingly unaware of the problematic aspect (has since defended it when pointed to it), has been Google translating them and is utterly convinced of their accuracy as articles, putting them into two subreddits: Dynasty Warriors and Three Kingdoms. People who hadn't seen the anti-Japan issue have been enjoying them with 100 upvotes this morning across the two subreddits. Does it not show archaeology and quotes from eyewitnesses? Does it not show the statistics of peasant revolts in Wei? (spoiler alert, no). Something so academic must be correct, some new members have even suggested Wei Economy one should be a paper or worthy of a PhD

Unaware that say slave society was being written by a person who, in another forum post, argues the family inflicting a slave society and a primitive barter economy on the Chinese people was also arguing the Cao's weren't Chinese but Japanese descendants.  

This turns the threads from the very questionable and biased attempt at history into something much darker, one the Reddit poster and upvoters have walked into without being aware. The people of Wei were forced into a slave society of untold suffering by a family who aren't Chinese. Meanwhile, the heroic Shu-Han upheld the best of China including their fantastic administration. Even before 190 CE, Japan and its people were causing harm to China thanks to the Cao tombs. 

People couldn't notice, even without that important context, it was bad history and so were open to some very nasty propaganda. Just by using a little bit of history to make it seem academic and accurate, a nasty construction was built to push an anti-Japan agenda. It is very cleverly done, it builds itself credibility by referring to historical sources and quotes, by providing pictures of the tomb bricks, and using that kernel of truth and seeming truth to gain authority to then tell its tale. 

The quotes would be accurate, for example, key eye-witness Fu Xuan in the Jinshu was used to show the crushing 80% Wei taxes via a line he said. To use Jordan Paper's translation "From those who use government stock, the government receives eighty percent and the soldiers twenty. From those who use their own stock or are without stock, the government receives seventy percent, the soldiers thirty."

However Fu Xuan was talking in 168, after Wei had fallen and decades after Cao's had control of policy, about recent problems and as part of the 5-point plan to deal with droughts. His advocacy for the low tax was to return from 70-80% (share owed related to if things like grain and oxen had to be loaned to farmers) to 50-60% of the Wei dynasty (also advocated returning to Wei intensity of farming while fixing issues with Wei farming policy like the need for more drought officials). He was also talking specifically of garrison farms, not wider tax policy. 

But one line won't show the nuances or the wider point and that allows the narrative to build. To turn into talking about Wei by removing the date of advice, ignoring the wider reforms suggested, and deliberately muddling general tax policy to garrison farming (or landlord share) policy. Who can doubt it was 80?% It is a direct quote from the texts and you can build the narrative around it of suppression via this "fact". Which by being based on a historical quote, seems convincing.

Or statistics. The Wei economy post has a list of peasant revolts Cao-Wei suffered. Who can argue with statistics? People aren't going to know who the people listed are, and they aren't going to know the circumstances of revolts but this person has names, placed and dates, it is surely authoritative. Thus weighting appeal and weight to the argument. 

A harder argument is the truth of uncertainty: we are missing a lot of revolts, and our records only will have covered certain ones that reached the national level or involved an official whose life got properly recorded rather than the many thousands of officials who didn't. Even a relatively well-recorded revolt like the Yellow Turbans is a muddle in the sources and there are debates about all sorts of things involving them. Including peasant or gentry leadership. But we can tell the exact reasoning and background of all these revolts that are less well recorded? No, no we can't.

I don't know if Chen Ce (for example) was a refugee leader, a local strongman, a bandit, a leader of a self-defence group, non-Chinese, from a rich or poor background, whether he was rebelling or simply always independent in an area that had not unified beyond any one leader yet. So I will not claim any such "facts" and certainty but the more certain "peasant" revolt sounds better and thus can be used as a statistic that people often won't query. 

This seeing bad history and accepting it, as it has been, could lead to even worse things if they can not tell "Hey this sounds one-sided and off" and it is why learning history, how to spot what might be rather off, how to sort out facts from the narrative they are being twisted into and be aware of propaganda matters. It has allowed people to embrace a narrative that, to them, simply suggests Wei was a horrible regime and Shu-Han an impressive one. But one that is set up to claim the Japanese were involved in the suffering of the time, oppressing the people of China and holding China back. All without realizing the dark context to which they upvote and with the mods having no idea of the kind of material being spread in their forums. 

It is why we should keep trying, even if it only reaches bit by bit, to put out there the history, to help people learn how to read history. To help give the tools so they can be aware of potential dangers of things that look and sound smart that, instead, can carry a dangerous undercurrent. That will lead them to support things that, the full implications of, they are not aware of and be unable to have alarm bells ringing, telling them "this needs double checking" when there are dangerous lies around.

[john-frog]

Today is Wednesday you know what that means? Another frog post, today we are looking at the continent of Batrachia, the second largest continent and home to two frogs, Dendrobates spp. and Phyllomedusa bicolor.

Batrachia

Batrachia is, as mentioned above the second largest continent and also the middle continent, in between Bufia and Incilia. It is quite dry evem though warm equatorial currents hit its East side, that is due to the mountain chain present here that even though it is not so high, it causes some Rainshadow effect what leaves the interior of the continent dry, with the predominant biomes being that of savanna, steppe, xeric shrubland and arid desert. While there are some forests in areas that encounter warm currents such as the rainforests of the East coast, mediterranean climates from the tips of the continent, the Western and Northern temperate forests.

The leaf frogs(Phyllomedusa spp.)

Giant leaf frogs are frogs from the Genus Phyllomedusa, specifically from the species P. bicolor. They are known for their skin secretions that are used by indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest who claim that the poison grants strength or even cure diseases. One of their main characteristics is the extreme size difference between males and females of the species whith the latter being the double of the male's size. Being the largest species in the continent plus the adaptability already present on the other species from this genus on Earth this frog has a predisposition for taking available niches due to the aforementioned Adaptive radiation, exactly what happened here.

Cannibal giant leaf frog(P. gigas) 

This phyllomedusid is slightly larger than their ancestral, however their key difference is not physical but behaviorial. These frogs are very active and aggressive, hunting ivertebrates but principally other frogs including their own species such as the males, who are smaller than females. Other than this predacious behaviour no other customs have chnaged much.

Diver giant leaf frog(P. hydrica)

This and the following species have changed behaviorally in quite a drastic way... The Diver giant leaf frog descended from the trees onto the many rainforest's rivers, evolving adaptations for their new life as semi-aquatic predators. Webbed feet is such an adaptation, being used for better underwater propulsion. Another adaptation for a semi-aquatic life-style is not physical but as all other species from this genus, behaviorial. For this new way of living these frogs, as mentioned before have forgone climbing trees and live mostly near water, coming to land from time to time. As they live close to the water they don't have the need of laying eggs in leaves above water, instead laying eggs directly onto the water with a foam-nest for protection of the eggs.

Ground giant leaf frog(P. grada)

The last but not less important species, the Ground giant leaf frog exploits a niche that the other frogs on the continent don't, large terrestrial frogs. This niche isn't occupied by any other frog as the poison dart frogs are not large enough to compete with the Giant leaf frogs and so this niche was free to be taken. Thus this frog predates upon many animals on the soil including other frogs. Their egg-laying behaviour is somewhat a mix of both previous species, being able to lay eggs above water, hanging on leafs glued together and underwater too, among plants and protected by a "foam".

The new dendrobates(Dendrobates spp.)

Dendrobates spp. is a genus of small frogs native to the Amazon rainforest well known for having their potent poison being used by indigenous people in their blowdarts, which has led to this genus being commonly called as Poison dart frogs. They get their characteristic poison from the invertebrates they consume, what exactly is unknown but it is suggested that some mites and other invertebrates. This selective feeding of only these toxic animals is, added to their diminute size a problem that this genus encountered when adaptive radiating into new species. Yet they suceeded and here are some of the new species from this genus.

Leaf poison dart frogs(D. saltatorius)

The first species we take a look at is known as Leaf poison dart frogs, this is due to their green coloration that somewhat resembles a leaf. They have pactically doubled in size compared to their ancestral species, D. auratus which had an average of between 2-3 centimeters in Snout-to-vent lenght. This comparatively larger size is due to both the great lack of predators and for better locomotion, as their small size grants small jumps, which are not great in an arboreal environment that demands changing from tree to tree in order to reach new hunting grounds. Eggs of this species are laid inside of small water pools formed in the "cups" of bromeliads, where the tadpoles will feed on algae and mosquito larvae, plus any other small animal that may find itself in the pools.

Dead leaf poison dart frog(D. terrestris)

In the same way the Leaf poison dart frog is inconspicuous when sitting on leafs the Dead leaf poison dart frog becomes camouflaged among dead leafs in the ground. They are the descendants of D. leucomelas that-as all other new dendrobatids- doubled in size due to relative lack of predators. These brown-colored frogs live in social groups-which is quite unusual for frogs. Such armies are comprised of 6-10 individuals and will fight with other armies over territory. This species can be found on the monsoon forests that are the frontier between rainforest and savanna, in such locations the frogs aestivate to avoid the summer heat.

Common poison dart frog(D. vulgaris)

Both D. terrestris and D. vulgaris are found primarily on the ground, with the latter being less widespread compared to the former even though it receives the name of Common poison dart frog. This species is one of the least changed, both behaviorially and physically, with the most noticeable change being their size.

Water poison dart frog(D. hydricus)

The last frog species we will see today. Descendant from the subspecies D. tinctorius azureus they sport generally a blue coloration used in camouflage underwater as they are the only semi-aquatic species of the genus. They show Countershading, having a dark blue on their backs and lighter tones on the belly and limbs. These Poison dart frogs are the least toxic as they dont feed so much on their previous prey, now foraging underwater and near the water's edge. Curiously this species has tadpoles that can endure slightly brackish waters, and larvae populations that live near the ocean display the behaviour of swimming downstream into brackish waters when evading predators. Though the larvae can resist salt levels in the water of up to 1225 ppm(parts per million) the adults cannot outstand that much salt around them.

[iamthekaijuking]

The thing about synapsid jaw evolution is that we have a pretty good idea of how the bones transformed, but when it comes to life appearance and functioning of all these forms we can only guess - I`ve read a lot and still haven`t found a more or less definitive answer of what the ears of e.g. a gorgonopsid should really look like.

Jaw articulation is hard to see in screenshots, but the hips are a problem indeed. Maybe they`re not even synapsids but some sort of mammal-imitating reptiles, kinda like how some mesozoic crocs were trying to get into mammal niches?

As for Tobi I fail to see why it is less wyvern-like than Magnamalo. Sure it has that snake-like head, but the fart tiger seems far more aberrant to me.

As for pangolin scales and mammalian feathers, the scales look rigid enough even without beta-keratin. And a hypothetical pango-feather most likely wouldnt have the complex structure of a real one - merely a superficially feather-like form, no separate barbs or anything, just good enough for gliding. Though this is all unnecessary if we assume the dino-hipped beasts aren`t real synapsids like a said above...

Finally, I was thinking that maybe pronated hands are important and they indicate common ancestry among most flying/bird/brute wyverns. Maybe they all descend from a single unusual group of maniraptorans that radiated really hard into increasingly aberrant forms after the K-Pg? They`d be burrowers like you suggested, evolving the powerful pronating hands without flight feathers as well as much more flexible bodies and tails than other dinosaurs. Even wyvern pseudofingers could originally appear to help with digging.

Speaking of pseudofingers, what if they and the neighboring fingers eventually had the biochemical pathways for their development so entangled that a simple mutation could replace one with the other? That would explain some wyverns having extra fingers. Or maybe some pseudofingers just became indistinguishable from the real ones, possibly by co-opting some of the genes involved in their formation.

But this is all just idle speculation of course, I`m not trying to prove you wrong or anything.

(I’m actually going to post this one if you don’t mind because there’s some particularly interesting bits to talk about)

Fair enough, soft tissues do have a hard time showing up so yeah maybe the ears were different.

The Crocodylomorphs you might be thinking of are notosuchians. They were notorious for many of their convergently mammal-like features, and one of my UHC friends, Dr. Masiaka (mentioned in the UHC Kushala vid) actually thinks this is where fanged wyverns lie.

As for Tobi, I tend to ignore it not just because of its aberrant nature and you are right in your assertion that it’s just as wyvern-like as magnamalo. I suppose it’s just that I have a hard time fitting it into any particular group on my flying wyvern tree. I guess it could go near the base with the common ancestor of flying wyverns, but even though it lives similarly to my purposed FW ancestor it also looks nothing like it. Maybe future games will give us a new monster that can bridge the gap and make me restructure my tree. I know Somnacanth, and more recently Giasmagorm has done that for my piscine and elder tree, which will come out soon.

I think it’s worth mentioning that the whole beta keratin problem specifically refers to bishanten (and maybe garangolm) and not any other monster.

I’ve been pretty vocal about my displeasure of bishanten as a monster hunter design due to its deranged combination of monkey and bird features. I could make a way better tengu monster than monhun B team.

Pronated hand ancestry theory actually seems pretty interesting.

And the idea of the biochemical pathways for fingers and false-fingers is an interesting one. While I doubt that the pathways for fingers and certain wrist bones would become entangled, pathways for phenotypic expression is also something that I don’t know a whole lot about, so my statement could be wrong. It definitely gave me something to think about for a bit.

[chososhoeso2]

One Piece Theory: Wano Spoilers

--------------------------------------------------------

Zoro is a member of the Shimotsuki family. More specifically, he's the grandson of Ushimaru. I know this theory isn't that much of a gotcha, since Zoro literally looks exactly like Ushimaru and a young Ryuma, but there's more to it than just the facial features, spiky hair, swordsmanship, and injured left eye.

We don't know about Zoro's past before he challenged the dojo in Shimotsuki Village. The village was founded by the swordsmith Shimotsuki Kozaburo after he illegally left Wano 55 years ago. He was the smith who created the Wado Ichimonji and Enma. Both of which are now in the hands of Zoro. A few years after Shimotsuki Village was founded, Kozaburo settled down and had a child named Koshiro, who we know as the head of the dojo and Kuina's father.

Other members of the Shimotsuki clan include: Yasuie and Toko. Both of which quickly befriended Zoro in Wano. Speaking of Wano, Ushimaru had been the daimyo of Ringo for many years before dying during the reign of Orochi and Kaido. Ringo is also where Zoro, Toko, and Hiyori stayed when Zoro was trying to get back the Shusui from Onimaru.

Onimaru, who has been the companion of Ushimaru, is 69 years old (nice). It is likely that Ushimaru would be a similar age if he were still alive. Unfortunately we don't actually know Ushimaru's date of birth or age at death, so we can't know for sure. However, 70 is a pretty typical age for a grandparent of a 21 year old. Garp is 78, so Zoro's gramps would probably be around a similar age. And we know for sure that Ushimaru isn't Zoro's father, because Oda said so in the SBS for chapter 1024. In that SBS, Oda also said that he might show Ushimaru's bloodline again later or he might just keep it a secret.

The other known member of the Shimotsuki family who I haven't talked about much so far is Ryuma. Ryuma is the sword god whose corpse and sword were stolen from Wano by Gecko Moria following Moria's defeat at the hands of Kaido. In his youth, Ryuma was just like Zoro, both in looks and in personality: he was also way too eager to fight and was kind of oblivious. We know that Ryuma's blade, Shusui, was the treasure of Wano and that it was given to Zoro after he defeated zombie Ryuma in Thriller Bark. But some time before he acquired Shusui, Ryuma used a sword that resembled the Yubashiri, another legendary sword that made its way into Zoro's possession.

We've seen that Zoro has had direct ties (and has gotten along well) with all of the known members of the Shimotsuki family, except for Ushimaru. We do know that Ushimaru is a direct descendant of Ryuma. This makes sense since they look and act so similar. With that same line of thinking, it would also make sense for Zoro to be in that bloodline. He clearly doesn't look anything like Kozaburo, Koshiro, or Kuina.

There are also some pieces of the puzzle that are missing on Ushimaru's end. For example, Zoro and Ryuma both wear their swords on their right side, suggesting that they're lefty's. We don't know if the same goes for Ushimaru; we just know that in the past there were times when he wielded two swords. Another missing piece is his birthday. Shimotsuki is an old Japanese word for November. Both Ryuma and Zoro have birthdays in November (the 6th and 11th, respectively), but we don't know when Ushimaru was born. We also don't know the birthday of Kozaburo, but none of the other known Shimotsuki's have birthdays in November (aside from Onimaru, oddly enough). The third missing piece is blood type. Kuina and Koshiro both have type S, Toko and Yasuie have type F, Ryuma and Zoro have type XF, and Kozaburo and Ushimaru's are unknown.

So now we've gone over all the facts and circumstantial evidence, but it leaves us with a problem. If Ushimaru is in fact Zoro's grandfather, then how tf did Zoro end up in Shimotsuki Village? We know Kozaburo went there 55 years ago, but Ushi never left Wano (that we know of). I mean, it was illegal to leave the country and Ushi ended up being the daimyo of Ringo, so he probably didn't commit any major crimes. But maybe he did, who knows. Could Ushi's child have ended up leaving Wano with Kozaburo? We don't know if there were any other Shimotsuki's who ended up in the East Blue. Another possibility lies with Ryuma himself. Well, Ryuma's corpse. The fall of the Kozuki clan was 20 years ago. Zoro was born 21 years ago. Ryuma's corpse was stolen by Moria 23 years ago. Perhaps, Ushimaru's son or daughter was also taken (or escaped) at this time? If they did leave Wano at this time, then they would've had 2 years to find a partner, knock up or get knocked up, and then a few years to find the other known Shimotsuki's that left Wano, drop their kid off with them, and then leave or die.

Tbh considering the family ties of each of the other Strawhats (that we know of - *cough cough* Nami *cough cough* Franky), none of this would be super wild if it were true for Zoro.

--------------------------------------------------------

Anyways, that's the end of this theory. Sorry I didn't feel like proofreading. I'm always open to thoughts, ideas, and comments, so feel free to give your two cents. My next theory post will either be a mini theory about Franky or a big one about the influence of gods in One Piece.

[burning-sol]

oh yeah i forgor the terrible shit i came up w/ for char yesterday. wit fren. we did little generator prompts and then i completely brainrotted and suggested a bunch of story. cw for a cult, death, mention of substance abuse, yeah.

there's not a lot of specifics but basically the setting is a sort of rural town which has a an established cult that nobody really likes but presumably cant rlly do anything abt. my character has lived in the town all their life and basically THE main part of their story is that when they were younger, they were playing with their friend in the woods, and they came across this old well, but when they were playing they accidentally knocked their friend into the well and they DIED and my char was too scared to tell anyone abt it. people tried looking for the child but the specific place was so far out of the way that no one found the body, and the cult was already an established disliked group so they quickly blamed them for it, but couldnt do anything abt without any proof, and so my char was basically let off the hook but now they carry a terrible fucking guilt.

flashforward when they're older. they're having significant problems because they're frankly very sickly mentally ill, and struggling in their day to day. a recruiter from the cult comes around to do their shtick, and long story short my character gets pulled in. they get some free acommodations but they dont ENTIRELY trust the place, so they're still somewhat independent, but slowly their guard gets lowered and they start growing more dependent. they're basically being flooded w/ so much affection that they end up pretty deep in, and they've been emotionally constipated all their life, so they spill their guts to one of the members, and for once in their life they feel like there's a lot less weight bearing down on them.

PROBLEM. shortly after they hear stories from inside the cult that someone had tried to leave b4 but had been pretty blatantly blackmailed and forced to stay. and my char quickly realises. oh SHIT what am i gonna do? nothing bad has happened yet, so they dont act on anything yet, but they're WORRIED now. of course things eventually start going downhill, and they REALLY wanna leave, but oops you can see what's coming, they're being threatened w/ being exposed if they try which would obviously turn out BADLY. so when my character starts getting so SO desperate, they do the only thing they can think of and go back to the well. it is frankly very horrifying and traumatising when they descend into it and fish out the remains of their childhood friend, probably having panic attacks and being sick, but they know if they cant make this evidence disappear forever then they're going to be stuck in the cult.

BUT IT GETS WORSE, because after undergoing their horrifying ordeal, they return to find out someone TAPED them. so not only was that devastating effort all for nothing, now they're trapped for fucking ever. luckily that doesnt end up being the case but yeah you know. they spend the next however long being in complete utter misery as they're at the whims of this group who can expose them for their crime at any time. but tldr, the same person who recruited them vents to THEM abt shit they've been through. namely that they're an addict and while the cult had been providing them substances that's kept them placated until now, they'd abruptly decided to stop doing that. so now they're actually sober and reflecting on how shitty the whole situation is and how much soul destroying guilt they have knowing that they've basically destroyed so many other people's lives.

they're definitely not a good person, and yeah they pulled my character into the cult, but my character has hit rock bottom. my character is like "no, we DONT have to stay here. we can get out. but i need you to help me. please get the incriminating tape of me and we can leave together. i am desperate, i dont care what you've done, please jsut help me". and then they probably go through whatever it takes to get out and just leave. no, they probably dont help anyone else get out (tho maybe they do spark some hope in other ppl), but they're finally out of that shitty town. and they can live their own lives.

we came up with this all within probably an hour or less. so the fact it's basically a complete story is a bit surprising. usually i struggle w/ characters stories. i guess it helps that this is a pretty simple premise.

[cullenakingirog]

i contemplated asking the cockroach question or the better question. you know who i am. or do you? anyway, how do you incorporate the Filipino culture in your DA worldstates?

Gago you should've gone for the cockroach question haha may readymade sagot na ko dun lmao

But also boi

*cracks knuckles*

So there are various aspects of Filipino culture I used here and among them are Pre-Colonial and Spanish Colonial era fashions and customs and traditions. But not just that, I sprinkled in some of the modern-day traditions and customs here too.

But that's my generic explanation cause this is gonna be a novel

Also quick disclaimer but I do tend to make a lot of commentary on my country’s current state from disinformation to specific problems so forgive me for that. I’ve been dealing with this sm growing up that it bothers me.

I made an entire Filipino-coded country I named Azarinas post-Antivan colonisation to use because if canon will overlook the southeast esp the Philippines, I'll bring that to the forefront with my own canon-disrespecting ways.

And with that, comes in my own commentary of rabidly devout Catholicism in Filipino society. I translated that by having them persecute mages (cause of their part in Andraste's death and all that) and also they quote the Chant of Light to refute a lot of things. That, in turn, is a nod to Filipinos' obsession to quoting Bible verses to refute any suggestions of moving forward as a society.

But that's not the only group of people I added! The Azarinos are actually more of Spanish colonial Filipinos but I have made my "Dalish" clans called the Last Noble Houses who follow the old ways for them.

NOTE: They don't call themselves Dalish cause they've always been in Azarinas pre-colonisation. So this means they've never been to the Dales.

The members of the Last Noble Houses all have tattoos, but only some of them have tattoos on their face or their back since those are reserved for warriors of great renown. (a reference to how tattoos were treated in pre-colonial times)

NOTE: I did make it so that it would be customary for the common folk to have basic tattoos in front of their bodies for the sake of having protective spells imbued in their tattoos.

Pre-colonial Azarinas had the same caste system as Pre-colonial Philippines but after the fall of Iesera (Azarinas’ pre-colonial name) most of the caste levels dropped and only hints of it show through the leaders. (Namely, the ruling families are still descended from the Maginoo caste or are adopted into the ruling house to make it so that they’re in a way descended)

Soulmate dreams. That’s a thing haha

Azarinos have this obsession with foreign blood mixed into native Azarino blood. The more foreign you look, the more favoured you are. Colourism and racism directed at one another is common. Not to mention crab mentality being another flaw of the people.

But there are instances of beauty there and among them is that I incorporated the Bayanihan spirit in some moments. 

The Lakan during the pre-colonial era of Azarinas is a slight reference to epic heroes in his skill and power. TBH a lot of the characters like Mahalina and different leaders follow the checklist of Filipino epic heroes.

The Azarino language is legit Tagalog (which isn't the only language but in this instance it's the only one I learned cause I wasn't taught Pangasinense no matter how much I wanna learn) but there's a difference. The version of Tagalog used by the Azarino people vs. the Last Noble Houses is different. For the Azarinos, it is Tagalog with Spanish loan words. For the Last Noble Houses, it's deeper Tagalog with as little Spanish loan words as I could remember. (Deeper Tagalog, man it makes you sound regal but it melts the brain)

All seventeen clans (if u kno u kno 10+7 ballot) I've made followed the Pre-Colonial culture with a variety of the clans' leaders being named Datu, Rajah, Hara, or Dayang and their best leader being called Lakan as decided by the other leaders.

I made references to the legend of Princess Urduja of Pangasinan (My province) in one of the clans I made

I also made a reference to the Battle of San Rafael and made a Thedosian version of the revolutionary, Matanglawin.

The way they refer to the different members of the clan is also a thing from pre-colonial addresses. Paratabgaw = teacher (hahren in common Dalish), Atubang = Advisor, Kapunuan = Kinda like my lord/your majesty??, Tambalan = healer. I dare not touch the sacred titles of Babaylan/Katalonan/Alabay though. 

Honestly Philippine history is sprinkled in everywhere in Azarinas.

The houses of the elves in the Last Noble Houses are either based off of the bahay kubo or the torogan for the ruling families.

Various sayings like “malayo sa bituka” (it’s far from the intestines) or Filipino proverbs like “ano mang gagawin pitong beses iisipin” or “bato bato sa langit ang matamaan wag magalit” are used

I made sure there’s the different Filipino cuisines too from post to pre-colonial dishes. Mahalina is a brave mfer for loving Dinuguan but that’s no shock. Kakanin is also part of those dishes.

Carabao-like animals are one of the favoured animals of my elven clans. Those big zen looking animals are their halla in a way 

Among the favoured pets of the elves are the mayas, they’re simple and small but to them they make beautiful songs. (also they’re cute and round so-)

I made it so that the elven clans developed a specific type of floating balls of light meant to guide their people home. Common Azarinos see it and see it as an ill omen when it’s meant to help you. That’s a reference to Tala, goddess of the stars, and her helping people back then find their way home with her guiding balls of light and how the Spaniards demonised her aid by calling them the Santelmo that would lead you to your death.

The elves have long hair as a point of pride and beauty and will not cut it unless it’s in punishment, grief or before they go on a long journey.

They follow animism more than the thought of deifying any of their leaders. (they never had to deal with the Evanuris hence the difference in tattoo meanings) Another people they would deify are their ancestors. I’m not inserting the actual pantheons because I don’t want to disrespect them.

Alcoholic drinks like basi, lambanog and whatnot are the alcoholic drinks of Azarinas. Pandan tea and other flavours are also used.

Banana leaf wrappings. Every. Fucking. Where. Also rice. It’s considered weird if a meal is without rice. 

Traditional Filipino dances from pre to post colonial like Lawin-Lawin or Tinikling or Itik-Itik or Pandanggo sa Ilaw are used.

Songs I hc being commonly sung growing up: Ili-Ili, a Thedosian version of Dandansoy, Sa Ugoy ng Duyan, Pen Pen De Sarapen. Some pop songs could be sung here too like Kumpas, Ikaw at Ako, Rosas, Mapa.

Traditional musical instruments were also used along with the concept of harana. 

Pre and Post-colonial courting traditions are also used. (yes this means Dorian will get harana and Cullen gets to ask for Dalisay’s hairpin)

Same for wedding traditions like the sponsors for the non-Dalish and pre-colonial wedding traditions for the Dalish.

The usage of the gesture “mano po” which is pressing one’s forehead against the back of their elders’ hands. Along with the use of po and opo is used. 

Andrastian marriages can’t be divorced but annulment is allowed if the Grand Chantry gives its permission. A very expensive thing to try and get. Dalish marriages could end with divorce if both parties wish it really and both sides get equal shares when they split from each other. (though the dowry paid stays with the respective person it was given to.)

Sampaguitas are worn in the hair of the Dalish people sometimes as embellishments to make themselves look more beautiful. Outside, sampaguita garlands are sold to be hung on graves or on holy statues of Andraste and her followers (barring Shartan)

These are all the influences I could think of off the top of my head but there are more than this that I’ll be writing into stories I’m planning. God this was so much fun writing tho 

[world-cinema-research]

A bout de souffle (1960) By Michael Bump

A bout de souffle (1960) 

A bout de souffle is a film about a perry criminal named Michel. Michel kills a police officer. While on the run he hides out in Paris with his American girlfriend named Patricia. Michel is infatuated with Patricia while she is reluctant to trust him. Patricia discovers that the police are after Michel when she becomes aware of his crime. She turns Michel in to the authorities and he is killed trying to run away. Most of the film is dialogue between Michel and Patricia. The film is exciting, and jazz music plays with the emotions of the scene.  

A bout de souffle (Breathless) was directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Godard was inspired by the American Hollywood gangster films. Breathless was Godard’s first feature film. Many critics felt that Godard’s style of filming pushed the conventions of filmmaking at the time. Specifically, the handheld camera angels and “jump-cuts” for which he became famous for. Godard also pays homage to other directors that came before him. Being that it was Godard’s first film, he could not afford some of the equipment needed to shoot certain scenes. There is continuous dialogue throughout the movie which is reminiscent of other old gangster movies. During that time, many people embraced the film. Young directors looked at the film as a revolution to the film industry.  

Noteworthy events that were happening in the world when this film was released was first, the entire world and the superpowers were focused on stopping communism and creating the most nuclear bombs. February of 1960 France tested its first nuclear bomb in the Sahara Desert. Another event that happened during 1960 was the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. The world had only ended the second World War 15 years prior. There was massive hysteria around the world because people were worried about nuclear conflict with Russia and other communist powers. France and the United States were allies and it makes sense that the movie would have two people from those nations as love interests.  

The film is movies fast. It almost feels like one long perpetual scene. I found myself rooting for Michel to get away from the police. I wanted him to make Patricia leave with him so they could start anew elsewhere. This film was good at making one root for the bad guy. It helps one understand that we all do not intend to do bad things, sometimes we just get caught up in the wrong situations. Michel does give off the notion that he has been a swindler for quite some time. It was just a matter of time before his evil deeds caught up with him. He falls in love with a woman and the almost successfully pulled her into his underworld. Godard wanted to show that you cannot run away from your problems, they will always catch up to you, no matter how well you hide. Michel was destined to be killed in the end. Patricia, the one he gave his heart to, was the one that turned him in. I think that was proof that she was in love with him.  

This film is unconventional because it was unlike what people were used to seeing at that time in France and in the world of cinema. The style of filmmaking set the stage for future gangster-love sagas that came after it. This film was revolutionary to how action-romance films are made today.  

There is a direct line through "Breathless" to "Bonnie and Clyde," "Badlands" and the youth upheaval of the late 1960s. The movie was a crucial influence during Hollywood's 1967-1974 golden age. You cannot even begin to count the characters played by Pacino, Beatty, Nicholson, Penn, who are directly descended from Jean-Paul Belmondo's insouciant killer Michel. 

“À bout de souffle remains, as Raymond Durgnat suggested in 1988, "vivid witness to its era, in a manner transcending journalism and nostalgia alike". (1) Beyond all the surface icons of the hip late '50s – sunglasses, cool jazz, Seberg's endlessly imitated short haircut and tomboyish dress sense – there is something much deeper about that time which strikes a chord with today's audiences.” 

“The original À bout de souffle may not seem half as disturbing, confronting or difficult as Godard's strange, nominal remake. But in 1960, its casual violence, disconcerting style, open-ended philosophising and raw invention had an immediate impact which was just as powerful and unsettling. These are qualities well worth rediscovering at any point in cinema history.”  

http://www.filmcritic.com.au/reviews/a/aboutdesouffle.html

[aikoiya]

Dragon Forms & a Little Bit of Wyrmling Pediatrics

I imagine that dragons have 3 forms. Their natural, full dragon state (4-legged in the case of elder dragons), a small, human-like form, & a sort of in-between form. The largest being their dragonus form.

Make no mistake, a dragon can never truly look human unless they are skilled enough in dracomancy, as to become a true human facsimile is something that doesn't come naturally for a dragon.

Even the small form they take is basically them as a human-shaped & sized dragon. In this form, they have no muzzle, instead bearing a humanoid face, however, beyond that, they are draconic. They have the scales, the wings, the tail, the horns, the claws, the talons, the fangs, everything. This is their draconian form.

On the other hand, the in-between form is twice as big as the small one & despite having a humanoid bodyshape, they bear a more dragon-like visage than the draconian form, just on 2 legs. Especially in their head shape. This form has many of the benifits of the other 2, if to a lesser extent. A similar maneuverability to their small form, but a strength more in line with their large form. They also frequently switch between walking on 2 legs & 4 very often. This is their dracolithe form.

As mentioned before, each form has it's advantages & disadvantages. The dragonus being power, draconian being enhanced swiftness, flexibility, & maneuverability, & the dracolithe being a mix of both, but again, to a lesser degree.

Of course, every type of dragon has their own features. Such as wyverns & longs. So their appearances when in these forms do reflect what they are. Arm wings & 2 legs for wyverns & deer-like horns, no wings, a strip of hair down the spine, & sometimes whiskers if they're longs or ryus.

---

On the other hand, most draconids (half dragons) can't take full-dragon form unless they're descended from an elder dragon &, even then, they can't do so until they reach the age where dragons are fully mature.

So, like, 100 years of age. (Citation needed.)

They are in a midway point between draconian & human form at birth (or hatch depending on your hc) & do have access to a purely human & purely draconian form upon taking their first breath even if it takes time & practice to do so, but they need to reach dragon teen years before they can take on dracolithe form.

(Worldbuilding/Note: Not being able to take on either full human or full draconian form by age 3 usually indicates a bit of a developmental issue, but it's normally nothing that could harm the wyrmling medically & just means that it could take them longer to do so. Parents should also note that the difficulty is not a direct symptom of a developmental problem, but rather a side-effect of one & said problem won't stop the wyrmling from being able to eventually take on the problem form unless there is a severe imbalance between human & dragon dna which could actually lead to real medical issues, so pediatric shaman dragons suggest that it's best to keep an eye out just in case. However, consistent difficulty with transforming into both at age 3 is a much higher possible indication that the child has some sort of medical problem & should definitely be monitored.)

Again, draconids naturally take on a draconian-human mix form as that is their default, though they are also able to take on both full-human & full-draconian form right off the bat with enough practice & with enough experience, both draconian & human forms will become like second nature to them. However, it takes increasingly more work & practice to take on dracolithe & dragonus forms.

The aging only gives them access to these forms, not automatically allow them to become them whenever.

While draconids don't naturally have quite as close of a connection to the elements as their draconic parent, supplementing that with their element's mantic parallel can alleviate quite a bit of that. It just takes more work.

Another benefit to being draconid is the access to human-specific magic which has it's own benefits as humans are industrious by nature & so their magical abilities reflect this.