#why is the central relationship a master slave dynamic

[alpenglw]

i wish the locked tomb was a well written series and didnt have the most unbearable writing style ever so i could enjoy it

[pumpacti0n]

I plan on replying in full to that one response to my post about the seizing of state power and why anarchists reject it. but for now I can take the opportunity to use current events as an example to illustrate why this conflation of authority with self defense is awful and hazardous.

from the very beginning of the isareli settler occupation until now, every pro-israel entity has framed the ongoing genocide of palestinians as "self defense". so, according to them, there's no hypocrisy in condemning "political violence" because their attacks are portrayed as justified and reasonable responses to the october 7 attacks. this way, all of the collateral damage can be blamed on the alleged "instigators" indefinitely.

a similar framing is often used to protect cops against any consequences for killing someone while attempting to chase or arrest another target, or killing a target they believe (or claim to believe,) present a threat to them. this is what happened with the black panther party and COINTELPRO, for example, during the assassination plot against Fred Hampton and a number of other influential radical figures.

that, combined with the "guilty until proven innocent" bias when it comes to the colonized masses, is what helps give politicians the confidence to say things like "political violence is unacceptable" that are blatantly false.

the slaves, the colonized, the cult leader's followers, the party, must fall in line or die at the whims of their masters, because their use of power over others is made into law, thus considered legitimate and necessary.

the "spin" is critical tactic for any political project that relies on centralized and hierarchical power structures. it allows those at the top of any given hierarchy to avoid criticism and flip the script, a textbook maneuver for individual abusers that can scale all the way up to the level of a state's ruling class.

when the ruling class have access to the means of sustaining life itself as well as the means to inflict harm in order to restrict them, dishonesty is hardly off the table as a tactic to ensure their power goes unchallenged. in fact, it is required.

this is all the more reason to demand specificity and transparency around what constitutes self-defense and what amounts to authorities seeking to preserve the power structures that force the masses into submission. this is not to be taken lightly, because the results are always the same: power structures preserving themselves for an exclusive minority of individuals at the expense of those at the very bottom.

if everything from a slave revolt and free breakfast programs to the bombing of a school or hospital can be labelled "authoritarian", then the word truly has no value and this mystification only helps maintain the status quo, not its necessary destruction.

states, by their very nature, resist bottom-up organization. it can't be any other way. no state has ever created itself without the wholesale destruction of the society existing prior to it, nor can exist independently of the social stratification and resource hoarding necessary to ransom the captive population into obedience or entice them into positions as middle-managers and overseers. whether we call this a vanguard or not changes jack shit about the power dynamics at play.

the price of statehood is always passed along somewhere, to some group or another, someone must be the beast of burden whose labor is used to plow the field while the politicians and capitalists feast on the fruit it grows and sells it back at a profit.

and if these beasts rise up, not to find some poor soul to take their places, but to do away with this relationship in its entirety, to liken them to their former masters and claim that they are using similar means for similar ends is a total farce, and you don't have to call yourself an anarchist to recognize that, just someone who can tell the difference between a bullied person suffering and a bully getting his ass kicked.

[jackoshadows]

Isn't it strange how S/nsa fans constantly talk about how some characters got written off as more sympathetic and got 'whitewashed ' compare to the books when their fave did got this treatment as well . D&D adapted some controversial Arya , Tyrion, Dany, Jon, Bran scenes (the stable boy , Shae, Mirri maur dauz ,Janos slint , warging to Hodor etc) but they never showed S following littlefinger's plans to poisoning a kid alongise with altering her relationship to Arya . The only person that had her kill was Ramsay which is a totally different case than a kid like Robert Arryn

Yeah, a whole lot of characters were whitewashed, particularly in the early seasons. A lot of the characters had their morally grey actions changed or removed on the show. Sansa was of course the biggest beneficiary of this. They changed and rewrote the entire Sansa/Arya dynamic, made Arya throw things at Sansa, gave her dialogue where she calls girls stupid or some such shite and removed Sansa's betrayal of the Starks. And of course, in the later seasons they didn't think her Vale plot was worth adapting.

Similarly Catelyn wishing that Jon would die instead of Bran - usually book Cat gets the most criticism for this. Removed from the show and instead they have her an entire monologue about baby Jon being sick or some such nonsense (I forgot exactly but I remember thinking this is terrible when I watched that scene 😂) In the books, it's Catelyn who pushes Ned to go to KL and become Robert's Hand. On the show it's the other way around with Ned wanting to go and Cat trying to stop him. In the books, it's Cersei who has Robert's bastard babies killed. On the show it's Joffrey.

Even one of Dany's controversial moments - the Wineseller's daughters for ex. did not make it to the show. Though, it didn't matter in Dany's case because they then went on to add shite like Dany questioning and burning to death the Slave masters using her dragons, which people later used to justify the bad ending. At least with GRRM's morally grey actions, our protagonists ponder on what they did and that introspection has an impact on the story. Dany and Jon rethink their decisions or feel guilt and remorse in the books.

Same with Arya. Her FM kill of the insurance agent is missing on the show, but instead we get no remorse killer Arya murdering entire Freys and baking them into pies (Giving her the Manderly plot), walking around with Faces and threatening Sansa because she wears pretty dresses? 😂😂😂 Again, in the books, when Arya is asked to kill the Thin Man we get an entire chapter of Arya trying to mentally justify this, conflicted and traumatized. She has no choice, if she doesn't kill the man, the FM will kick her out. So what should she do? The show removes these moments and instead writes Arya as some kind of bad-ass assassin instead of a traumatized 10/11 year old who killed to survive.

It's interesting how D&D whitewashed Sansa, Catelyn and Cersei from their book counterparts while making Daenerys and Arya more darker in their actions... D&D have certain ideas about women and femininity (reflected in their writing about motherhood - Cersei deserves to be saved because she's a mother unlike Dany who is barren and Karsi who is suddenly unable to fight because she sees some dead zombie children in Hardhome)

This is why GRRM's story is entirely different to the one Benioff and Weiss were telling on the show. GRRM's central, lead female characters/protagonists are Arya and Daenerys. For Benioff and Weiss, it was Cersei (antagonist) and Sansa (protagonist) - it's why they got the focus and the writing and the show shifted book plots from Jon, Arya and Bran towards Sansa.

Tyrion and Jon are of course two of the most whitewashed characters in the series. Especially Tyrion because he ended up being D&D's mouthpiece on the show and they stripped him of every complexity. Jon Snow is no longer depriving Gilly of her baby, or breaking his oaths to save a sister or ambitious enough to want power and leadership, playing the game with the Karstarks or manipulating Janos Slynt into death for revenge. Resurrected Jon Snow is most definitely going to be straddling a thin line dividing good and evil.

Ultimately the show was just badly, badly written nonsense by the time we reached season 8. Plots went nowhere and made no sense, entire character arcs thrown into the trash. No moral complexity, nothing. It supremely sucks that this is the only ending we will get.

[metaverseproductions]

Chapter 1.5 (Bill Gates and the road to Implanted Humans)

Down the Rabbit Hole we go. 

Back on June 1st of 2015, the reputable IEEE published an article titled “Medical Microbots Take a Fantastic Voyage Into Reality”. This was the year after I had read about the Max Planck “micro scallops” and wondered what it would take to get critical mass implanted with these micro robots (and future nano bots). 

In referencing the article’s approach of having a Doctor implant hundreds or  thousands of “micro grippers” (developed by Johns Hopkins) into the human body to perform a biopsy, the natural progression of questioning its capabilities led me to ask if they can also be used to implant micro or nano chips into the body”?

What would be the purpose of this on the grand scale of humanity? Beyond medical applications of implanted technology (such as heart monitors) that can already be hacked, what if the ultimate goal was behavior modification of the masses? We know that this is possible based on previous lab tests on mice, but could it work on humans? 

I often wonder if US Patent #US6754472B1 filed by Microsoft was designed for more than just systems integration between wearable and implantable IoT technologies. (Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6754472B1/en)

"...a body of a living creature for coupling the first device to the second device and for conducting the electrical signal from the first device to the second device and the initialization information from the second device to the first device, wherein the first and second devices establish a master and a slave relationship there between."  Makes one think of the #Matrix and  #HumanBatteries 

On April 10th 2020, China’s CCTV went live with Bill Gates and made the following comment:

“You are being attacked in the U.S., they say the #CoronaVirus originated from the process of vaccine development under your supervision. What is your take on this Bill Gates conspiracy”?  

His response begins with: “I say it’s ironic, if you take somebody that is doing their best to get the world ready...”

I will tell you what is TRULY IRONIC! How about that “Event 201″ that took place on October 2019, TWO MONTHS before the COVID19 Pandemic began and was hosted  by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Source: https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/about

About the Event 201 exercise

Event 201 was a 3.5-hour pandemic tabletop exercise that simulated a series of dramatic, scenario-based facilitated discussions, confronting difficult, true-to-life dilemmas associated with response to a hypothetical, but scientifically plausible, pandemic. 15 global business, government, and public health leaders were players in the simulation exercise that highlighted unresolved real-world policy and economic issues that could be solved with sufficient political will, financial investment, and attention now and in the future.

The exercise consisted of pre-recorded news broadcasts, live “staff” briefings, and moderated discussions on specific topics. These issues were carefully designed in a compelling narrative that educated the participants and the audience.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.

Purpose

In recent years, the world has seen a growing number of epidemic events, amounting to approximately 200 events annually. These events are increasing, and they are disruptive to health, economies, and society. Managing these events already strains global capacity, even absent a pandemic threat. Experts agree that it is only a matter of time before one of these epidemics becomes global—a pandemic with potentially catastrophic consequences. A severe pandemic, which becomes “Event 201,” would require reliable cooperation among several industries, national governments, and key international institutions.

Recent economic studies show that pandemics will be the cause of an average annual economic loss of 0.7% of global GDP—or $570 billion. The players’ responses to the scenario illuminated the need for cooperation among industry, national governments, key international institutions, and civil society, to avoid the catastrophic consequences that could arise from a large-scale pandemic.

Similar to the Center’s 3 previous exercises—Clade X, Dark Winter, and Atlantic Storm—Event 201 aimed to educate senior leaders at the highest level of US and international governments and leaders in global industries.

It is also a tool to inform members of the policy and preparedness communities and the general public. This is distinct from many other forms of simulation exercises that test protocols or technical policies of a specific organization. Exercises similar to Event 201 are a particularly effective way to help policymakers gain a fuller understanding of the urgent challenges they could face in a dynamic, real-world crisis.

Recommendations

The next severe pandemic will not only cause great illness and loss of life but could also trigger major cascading economic and societal consequences that could contribute greatly to global impact and suffering. The Event 201 pandemic exercise, conducted on October 18, 2019, vividly demonstrated a number of these important gaps in pandemic preparedness as well as some of the elements of the solutions between the public and private sectors that will be needed to fill them. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, World Economic Forum, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation jointly propose these recommendations.

When/where

Friday, October 18, 2019 8:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. The Pierre hotel New York, NY

Audience

An invitation-only audience of nearly 130 people attended the exercises, and a livestream of the event was available to everyone. Video coverage is available here.

Exercise team

Eric Toner, MD, is the exercise team lead from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Crystal Watson, DrPH, MPH and Tara Kirk Sell, PhD, MA are co-leads from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Ryan Morhard, JD, is the exercise lead from the World Economic Forum, and Jeffrey French is the exercise lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Exercise team members are Tom Inglesby, MD; Anita Cicero, JD; Randy Larsen, USAF (retired); Caitlin Rivers, PhD, MPH; Diane Meyer, RN, MPH; Matthew Shearer, MPH; Matthew Watson; Richard Bruns, PhD; Jackie Fox; Andrea Lapp; Margaret Miller; Carol Miller; and Julia Cizek.

Event 201 was supported by funding from the Open Philanthropy Project.

###

Then five months later (March 2020), in the midst of the CoronaVirus epidemic being declared a global pandemic, this news breaks from LinkedIn (Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/13/bill-gates-leaves-microsoft-board.html):

“Microsoft announced on Friday that Bill Gates is leaving the board, effective Friday. “I have made the decision to step down from both of the public boards on which I serve – Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway – to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change”.

Basically, the “pandemic scenario” of Event 201 became a reality. Bill Gates leaves Microsoft to focus full time on his Foundation, which coincidentially had been funding coronavirus research and has now been revealed to be the second largest funder to the World Health Organization (WHO), coincidentally, (yet again) in charge of coming up with the vaccine for COVID19. Who profits from the pandemic under this scenario? Bingo! Just look at the history of Microsoft and how Bill Gates became a billionaire. It was not by playing nice and more like a chapter from of the Art of War.

Yet the disbelief doesn't stop there. How about that #ID2020 and what Bill Gates calls for in a "national tracking system similar to South Korea, saying that "in Seattle, the [University of Washington] is providing thousands of tests per day but no one is connected to a national tracking system" and that "Whenever there is a positive test it should be seen to understand where the disease is and whether we need to strengthen the social distancing." (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattperez/2020/03/18/bill-gates-calls-for-national-tracking-system-for-coronavirus-during-reddit-ama/#36c92b5e6a72)

Could this ID2020 be implanted? Would that benefit Microsoft’s U.S. patent #US6754472B1?

The United Nations seems to think there are significant risks associated with a digital identity roll-out, such as: “Digital identity carries significant risk if not thoughtfully designed and carefully implemented. We do not underestimate the risks of data misuse and abuse, particularly when digital identity systems are designed as large, centralized databases”. (Source: https://id2020.org/manifesto)

All in all, I would say that the sense of irony expressed by Bill Gates on the #CCTV interview, is a two-way street as #WeThePeople of the United States have more time to research in self isolation and petition the White House to investigate Bill Gates.

Who gets to play God in this time? Event 201 was a game of playing God to develop depopulation strategies for a Human Disruption. While the intent might have found a root cause in the question of how to survive Climate Change, why is the survival and evolution of the human species primarily in the hands of Bill Gates?

If human overpopulation is such an issue, why isn’t Euthanasia legal for humans everywhere? Think about it, how many people suffering from old age, disease, poverty, and extreme suffering would opt for dying quickly and peacefully. Why choose for others and take away someone’s power over their own body and existence? 

My advice: find out what magnets are needed to remove grippers, buy them and start developing methods for removing micro and nano bots from the body.  Also help to promote active voluntuary euthanasia around the world before pushing for legislation to place technology into the bodies of millions of people against their will.

[racefortheironthrone]

How I Would Fix the SW Prequels

So I’ve been listening to School of Movies’ We Need to Talk About Anakin episode, and it reminded me that, while I’ve discussed this with friends and acquaintances in DMs, I’ve never actually written out this idea I had a while back for how you could fix the Star Wars Prequels.

Because in the wake of all the sturm und drang over TLJ, I feel like it’s worth noting that the failures of the Prequels were largely ones of execution rather than intent or conception and I think a very few changes could have made it a worthy addition to the larger universe.

Change #1: Make Anakin Older

No offense at all to Jake Lloyd, because why torture someone their entire life because they weren’t good at acting when they were nine years old (almost no one is any good at that age), but I think one of the major problems with the series was that Anakin starts out too young, which causes all kinds of character and world-building problems in all three movies. Instead of being 8-9 years old, Anakin should show up in Episode I as a teenager. 

This one change does a lot:

To start out with, it creates a better thematic parallel with the original trilogy (and now the new trilogy too) - we meet Anakin when he’s around the same age as Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, and around the same age as Rey in The Force Awakens. They’re all teenagers who dream of the stars but are held in place until something arrives to change their world forever.

Next, it gives the audience a way into how the character is similar to and different from our other protagonists: like Luke, Anakin is a teenager scraping out a life on a backwater desert planet, and because he’s a teenager, and like Luke all Anakin cares about is space street racing (because American Graffiti). But whereas Luke is a good if slightly whiny kid with a decent home life, Anakin is a bit of a wild kid. He hates being a slave, hates that his master makes money off his talents but won’t ever let him win his freedom, throws fists when people say he’s a cheat, etc. You can already get the sense that he’s got a bit of the Dark Side in him already - this will help later on in the Trilogy, as I’ll explain in due course.

After that, it makes his other relationships make more sense: instead of the creepy age gap which means that we start with Amidala as a teenager caring for a child which makes their relationship in Episode II harder to accept, the two meet as peers in a shared period of struggle, which promotes an instant bond and explains why both of them would be interested in rekindling the relationship a short few years later. Likewise, instead of Obi-Wan pretty much raising Anakin, they’ve got more of an older/younger brother dynamic which helps to explain why Obi-Wan would decide to and struggle with mentoring someone not that much younger than himself. 

Finally, it makes the Jedi Order no longer insane or evil. If an eight or nine-year old is too old to be trained, than the Jedi are basically stealing babies and raising them to be ascetic warrior-monks with no experience of the world. However, if Jedi are supposed to be trained from late childhood, so that they have control over their powers when the intense emotions of adolescence hit so as to not fall to the Dark Side or hurt people around them inadvertently, that seems like a sensible precaution. 

Change #2: Bring the Sith in Earlier

I strongly believe that having the fall of the Republic political narrative be a central part of the Prequels was a good idea, since part of what you need to explain is why the Republic fell and the Empire took over. The execution, however, was less good. And part of that is that there’s a pretty hard swerve from local conflicts over tariffs and blockades and trade federations to the rise of the Emperor, so the initial reason for the Jedi to get involved in Naboo never makes much sense and the stakes of the conflict with the droid armies is too low to carry us through the trilogy. 

So instead of going to Naboo to negotiate over trade, have Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan investigate whether the Sith are behind the rising Separatist movement. I would jettison the whole Rule of Two thing, because it doesn’t make sense that an entire Jedi Order of thousands of Jedi would think two Force-users are a galaxy-wide threat, and replace it with the idea that the Sith operate in independent cells of a master and two pupils (because Rule of Three) who go on to found their own cells, in a combination of pyramid scheme and underground organization, this hidden, omnipresent threat operating everywhere and nowhere at once.

This does a couple things:

it better explains why the Jedi are so concerned with the Sith, and provides a longer-term explanation for the downfall of the Republic: rather than promoting the health of the Republic, the Jedi became obsessed with hunting down signs of Sith activity, which made different groups in the galaxy see their supposed defenders as violent religious fanatics, and allowed more subtle Sith like Palpatine to corrupt the Republic from the shadows. (And rising fear and hatred strengthens the Dark Side of the Force...)

It gives a clear through-line from the trade conflict at Naboo to the Separatist/Clone War to the fall of the Republic: in each movie, the Jedi are looking to see whether the SIth are secretly behind some threat to the Republic. In Episode 1, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan encounter Darth Maul, who seems to prove that the Sith were involved, but they don’t find out who his master was; in Episode 2, Obi-Wan and Anakin are fighting the separatist movement, which Count Dooku’s involvement “proves” to be Sith-inspired, and the Clone War kicks off with Sith groups popping up all over the galaxy; in Episode 3, the Republic falls to a military coup that could only succeed because of the military build-up. 

It provides better context for Anakin’s fraught relationship with the Jedi Order: Qui-Gon is convinced that the self-taught Anakin is the Chosen One because the threat of the Sith makes the prophecy that much more important, the Jedi Order don’t trust Anakin because they’re afraid that he’s a Sith infiltrator, and it gives a better reason for Anakin to turn against the Jedi if he comes to see them as paranoid and oppressive.

And this also fits in with what a big part of Anakin’s arc should be about, without everything having to be about his romance with Amidala. If Anakin was already a teenage prodigy when the Jedi found him, he’s already started using the Force (although he doesn’t intiially know what he’s doing) and using his emotions to give him strength, and Anakin should be especially good at the very physical stuff that the Dark Side is strong in: using the Force to speed up his reaction time, shoving boulders out of the way during Pod Races, etc. 

And so when Anakin becomes a Jedi in his own right, he should start making the argument that “balance” means using both the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force (which is also a nice thematic parallel to both Luke and Rey). This should gain him some acolytes, especially during the Clone War when fighting Sith makes some Jedi fight fire with fire, which helps explain how Darth Vader is later able to hunt down almost the entire order, but it also gives the Jedi a reason to fear him and even Obi-Wan a reason to doubt him, and a central tension: will Anakin maintain his precarious balance or fall? (It also sets up a nice parallel once again: Anakin chooses the dark over the light, Luke the light over the dark, Rey is the synthesis.) It’s a hell of a lot better than him being a fledgling fascist or fridging his mother to give him a reason to go bad. 

Change #3: Give Amidala More To Do

Speaking of the political plot, one of the things that would give the political plot more meaning for the viewer is to give a lot more of it to Amidala and have her be more active in it. While Amidala gets to do some stuff - in Episode 1 she calls for a vote of no confidence in the previous Chancellor, bringing Palpatine to power, and works out an alliance with the Gungans; in Episode 2 she’s attacked and doesn’t actually get to act against the rising militarization of the Republic, although she does get to fight on Geonosis (which is a bit of a thematic contradiction), and then everything else is the romance; and then in Episode 3, she’s not allowed to do much. 

Rather than this mish-mash, I’d have Amidala’s main arc in the Prequels be the foundation of the Rebel Alliance: have her be actively whipping votes against the creation of a standing army and the granting of emergency powers in Episode 2 (good time to bring in Bail Organa and Mon Mothma earlier and have them do more) and doing more to uncover the behind-the-scenes machinations that are driving the conflict; have her try to uncover Palpatine’s crimes and bring him to justice in Episode 3, only to be too late, and decide instead to create the Rebel Alliance, etc. 

This also gives a better explanation for why the romance between her and Anakin falls apart without the need for Tuskan ethnic cleansing or wanton child murder: as Anakin gradually falls to the Dark Side through a combination of “ends justify the means” and fear/resentment for the Jedi, Amidala moves in the opposite direction as she fights against this same mentality in the increasingly militarized Republic and begins to see Palpatine as the true threat. 

[xenosgirlvents]

Farsight, Crisis of Faith-Review

SPOILERS

Let’s get the first thing out of the way; ‘Crisis of Faith’ implies this story is more about Farsight’s dwindling faith in the Ethereals then it actually is. Although that is certainly a part of this novel, it doesn’t really delve too deep into it and, rather, deals more with Farsight’s initial encounters with the Daemons of Chaos.

Synopsis: In sum the story tells of Farsight’s ‘reconquest’ of Vior’los in the aftermath of the Damocles Crusade (the first one). The story is divided into three main pieces; the decision to launch the Second Sphere Expansion and preparation for it, an ambush by Space Marines of Farsight’s expedition within the Damocles Gulf and then, finally, the reconquest of Vior’los itself. Attached to this are some other pieces, presented not in strict chronological order, most important of which is a snapshot of the battle on Arthas Moloch. In addition to this then there is a substory about a Tau Water Caste Member who is possessed by a Daemon of Tzeentch, periodic reports by an Inquisitor infiltrating the Tau back to her significant other and the perspective of the primary antagonists of the story; the Scar Lords Space Marine Chapter.

I make it a bit of a habit of mine to purchase Xenos novels and audio dramas when they come out, even if I’m unsure of their quality, simply since it is the most effective method to encourage more Xenos content in future. Fortunately Crisis of Faith was rather good, not excellent like the Jain Zar novel, but still enjoyable. In many ways it is less the strict story, which is mostly an unremarkable telling of how Farsight beats some Imperium forces to conquer a planet, than it is the amount of information on Tau, Tau characters and society which we get too see which makes the book appealing. So I’ve divided this review, since its nothing formal, just me airing my thoughts for myself, into things and topics which interested me;

Combat: For the most part the combat is fine (though I should note I am not a reader who finds endless description of shooting and chopping fascinating, which is why numerous Black Library novels don’t appeal to me) and there are even some interesting parts. The story doesn’t, usually, spend to much time on the combat, not lingering on it more than necessary for the narrative. There is still a definite feel of ‘Herohammer’ where the overall performance of military units organized into clever movements is less important, seemingly, than the actions of a few exceptional individuals. I honestly wish we’d start seeing less of this in 40k.

Some specifics of the combat I did like is the Tau’s highly practical approach to it; very early on both Farsight and Brightsword point out that the tendency for more than a few Space Marines to not wear helmets is a very exploitable weakness, since a Marine’s head can’t withstand a Plasma Rifle or Fusion Blaster to the face. This reaches its most important point when, confronted by Terminators with Storm Shields who are proving impervious to fire, the Tau deploy optical munitions to blind the receptors of the Helmets, prompting the Marines to discard them so that they can still find their enemy. The Marines are still, thanks to the Storm Shields, immune to fire coming at them, but with their helmets now off a team of Crisis Suits can engage from above them, targeting their exposed heads before they can raise their shields up. Stuff like this, or taking advantage of the Tau arsenal’s capacity for operating from the air (hover tanks, battlesuits) are nice when they’re brought up since they are actually very important advantages, mobility. Similarly the Tau are shown, again, as always being quick to change strategy and tactics to capitalize on weaknesses. After discovering of the importance of the Geller Fields to an Imperial Ship Farsight targets it so that any translation to the Warp will mean almost certain death for the crew.

It is not a Book of Epic Duels really, which suits me fine, since Farsight tends to act towards achieving victory over his enemy without resorting to the ‘I’ll kill their leader myself and then they’ll break’ which has been seen in 40k so many times now. The closest to an epic duel we get is the Epistolary of the Scar Lords final fight against Farsight and his whole band, which is actually won by a Daemon of Tzeentch for the most part. But, for example, the Chapter Master of the Scar Lords and Farsight never actually meet or clash with each other, which was something I enjoyed actually.

Beyond that I just don’t pay attention to scale when it comes to 40k. Books can vary so much, and sometimes seem so impractical with regards to scale in a setting like 40k’s that I tend to, these days, ignore stated numbers and rather read results. Besides the central conceit of 40k has always been that a force of a few hundred can wipe out forces of billions so yeah.

One thing which was very original was that, in the novel, the Space Marines are not the primary military force the Tau struggle with. Once the Tau reach Vior’los, and battle commences, we see Space Marine and Astra Militarum forces being dealt with handily, but it is the Skitarii Legions who pose the greatest problem. The Skitarii have an enormous amount of numbers, with dozens more macroclads being shipped to the planet once the Tau attack begins, and their relentlessness in the face of the Tau assaults are the Tau’s biggest problem to overcome in the consequence. Painting any Imperial military force as doing better against a foe than Space Marines is very rare, so the Skitarii earn definite kudos for it.

Ulimately the end of the battle is a bit repetitive, its another ‘Tau use the enviroment against them’ this time triggering the volcanoes of Vior’los to melt the Skitarii in lava after evacuating the civilians from the slave camps so they won’t be harmed.

Characters: Farsight continues to be fun to read, and very conflicted. He is very notably flawed too, with a lot of his companions spending their time berating him for his temper and his unwilligness to make harsh decisions. Despite this his attitude of detatched analysis is fun to read, often feeling as if he is, like the reader, trying to puzzle out and understand the story he is caught in.

The Farsight/Kais/Shadowsun trio is explored a little bit more but...still not much. That being said what is shown makes me incredibly hungry for more. The three have an incredibly stuffed up relationship now, despite having been as close as Tau can be in their youth. It is made clear that post Dal’yth the three aren’t really ‘friends’ anymore, with Kais basically never even talking to them and Shadowsun and Farsight’s relationship being incredibly strained. In this dynamic Farsight seems the one most eager to repair their friendship, always thinking of his two companions in fond terms still, and desperately wishing for their involvement in his life (particularly Shadowsun’s). However, standing in his way is his own fame. Its made rather clear that, at least Shadowsun’s, resentment of Farsight has a large part to do with him being seemingly treated as the saviour of the Tau whilst her efforts are ignored. Farsight himself, when appointed to lead the Second Sphere Expedition, points out that Shadowsun has a better win record than him, even on Dal’yth, and is better when operating in support of fleets. Despite this acrimony Shadowsun does still clearly care for Farsight, and we get to see the rather touching scene of Farsight bidding Shadowsun goodbye as she goes into stasis (with the two assuming they’ll never see each other again). Shadowsun feels guilty about something in Farsight’s past, the same way he feels guilty for Shadowsun being ignored in the present.

What we get on Kais is less but sounds awesome. Kais is effectively a broken soul, as Farsight thinks of him, a Tau who is totally lost and alienated, desiring to be alone which is abhorrent to the Tau spirit of community (something Farsight and Shadowsun both feel is important, cooperating as a group). But Kais’ issues are clearly deep, with Kais seemingly fearing becoming close to others. When Farsight rushes over to talk to Kais and Shadowsun before they are put into stasis he comes to late for Kais, with the Earth Caste explaining that Kais asked to be put under instantly, which Farsight notes is very like Kais since it effectively amounts to him running away from contact with others. Kais is clearly described in very ominous and dangerous terms throughout the book, whenever Farsight thinks of him.

Other than these three we have a nice supporting Caste; O’blotai continues to join Bravestorm and Brightsword as Farsight’s main supporting cast (I do wish there had been a female member of the 8 before Torchstar). O’blotai is the strongest of the three in character, serving still as something of a mentor to Farsight, whilst Bravestorm has perhaps the least to do (except be the best in a physical fight cause of his Onager Gauntlet). Brightsword is still Brightsword; the overzealous rookie who can’t get enough of fighting. He provides a lot of humour with his quips, but his overzealousness is also something which causes Farsight trouble.

O’vesa is still here and I love him cause he is so adorably heartless, approaching everything in such a rational method that, without meaning to, he’s constantly infuriating Farsight.

There is a tragic lack of important female characters. This is very frustrating, considering these are the Tau, and I hope we get a Shadowsun novel series too which can then hopefully counterbalance this to an extent. Of the new female Tau we’re introdcued to only three matter; a Water Caste Ambassador who just exists to again show Aun’va is evil, an Earth Caste Terraformer who’s there to talk to O’vesa sometimes and also to help shore up gender balance in the Elemental Council by making it that there’s almost always a male and female Tau representing every Caste and an Ethereal who is basically just Aun’va but less evil but already going to die on Arthas Moloch and does basically nothing.

Non-Tau important characters breakdown mostly to an Inquisitor female, Vrykola, pretending to be a Gue’vesa and the Scar Lords Space Marine Chapter (though the Hammers of Dorn do make an appearance). Vrykola herself does little in the story till the end, but her regular ‘missives’ sent back to her significant other are fun to read, often showing a nuanced take on both the Tau Empire and the Imperium, disillusioned with both in many ways. She doesn’t attempt to deny that much cruelty in the Imperium is not necessary, but she still feels committed to saving the project as a whole. In her own words there are aspects of the Imperium she thinks it would be better without. By the end of the book she has begun to fear she is becoming the mask, so to speak, with a clear sympathy for the Tau which leads to her using her powers against a Space Marine Librarian to save Farsight. She still feels loyal to the Imperium, she confides in her final missive, but she at the same time clearly isn’t dedicated to the destruction of the Tau anymore and even thinks they may be potential allies.

The Scar Lords were already written as participating in the first Damocles Crusade, as part of this is the already existing fluff that their Chapter Master was trapped on Dal’yth in a Stasis Bomb. This paints the background for their burning vendetta against the Tau and their rather young and inexperienced Chapter Master who has only very recently taken command. The Scar Lords are largely painted as competent, their very first ambush wiping out a 1/3rd of Farsight’s initial expedition, if somewhat overzealous, their own recklessness usually being their undoing.

Then there are two other characters to briefly mention; Aun’va. Honestly. Ugh.

Aun’va being evil isn’t a problem. In fact having an ‘evil’ Tau is nice and a lot that can be done with it. But...Aun’va has become a bad cartoon parody. He is so obviously evil compared to all other Tau that its mind boggling. We get it. He’s bad. He basically does nothing in the book except have a scene of ordering a Water Caste Member to kill herself so we can all go ‘so evil’. It’d be okay if he was effective, but he’s basically never got anything right, so rather than getting a cool ‘Tau Palpatine’ feel from him, he just comes across as some obviously evil idiot who lucks into power without performing a single impressive feat.

Then we have Waterspider, a derogatory nickname implying that he can only skim the surface of water, unlike a proper Water Caste member who can submerge within it. Early on he attempts to help translate the markings on a captured Imperial Warp Drive but, activating it, he ends up possessed by a Daemon which makeshim incapable of lying, practically ending his career as a Water Caste member. Honestly its really sad to read him cutting his own tongue and then staring into a mirror, willing himself with all his might just to tell a simple lie...but still can’t. The line between the Daemon and Waterspider himself can seem blurred, and isn’t explicitly delineated (which I loved), and through the course of the book he plays Tau serial killer in the background, whilst also merrily supporting Farsight, wanting to help him spread bloodshed throughout the galaxy. He is a treat to read, particularly due to his inability to lie. He is something of the ‘true’ antagonist, being the final confrontation Farsight has, and also the meta-point of Farsight realizing there are ‘forces’ he doesn’t understand.

Chaos: The Daemons and raw energy of the Warp is often unimpressive to me in fluff, just appearing and then dying, as if they’re just another type of enemy. This book very much plays on Chaos’ subtle role again, something I enjoyed greatly, with Waterspider reflecting the danger of Daemonic Possession. We also get to see funny scenes like, when noticing Horrors wear jewelled bands and such, Farsight tries to offer them gold to negotiate!

Setting: There’s quite a bit on the setting here which was fun to read. Tau political decisions on a macro level first go through the Ethereal Council, the highest political body, before being deliberated on by an Elemental Council which constitutes a body with two representativesof each Caste (including Ethereal) and two seats for the Kindred Souls (non-Tau member races). There doesn’t seem to be fixed membership of the council, rather at each Council the Caste or Kindred Souls can designate who to attend and deliberate. The Kindred Souls on Dal’yth, making the decision to launch the Second Sphere of Expansion, included a Nicassar and a Human. Any major cross-caste decisions are taken by Elemental Quorums, a collection of the two highest ranked members of every Caste partaking in the matter.

There is sadly not as much of the other races as I’d enjoy, the Nicassar gets to make some pointed comments, sensing immediately when the Imperial vessel’s Geller Fields are down and warning the Tau to stay away from it, and some Kroot cheering when Aun’Wei talks about the Tau’s alliance with other races.

One thing that is very nice is we do get an extended examination of how Tau expansion operates, with Merchant contacts leading the way, offering cheap and effective technologies which usually reduce labour and risk of life and damage to the locals of planets. Furthermore the Tau offer free medical care, eliminating, we’re told, many diseases which plague the Imperium on worlds who allow them to land. The obvious conclusions of this is that, as Waterspider says to Farsight, most people who join the Empire don’t do it because they believe in the Tau’va like the Tau do, they just would prefer to live longer, healthier and more safely, and the Tau offer this at a very low price so long as accession into the Empire is accepted. Meaning only groups who value their independence more than their welfare tend to resist them.

We also get to see Vior’los as run by the Mechanicum and...it isn’t pretty. Tau civilians are hunted down, rounded up, marched across the desert to Volcanos, and then thrown into them to be melted alive. Humans are forced to serve as slaves, beaten if they so much as look up from their work stations, and brutalized so badly that even when their captors are killed they just keep working, having no independent will left in them (until some help with Chaos riles them up against their slavers). It is honestly a very sad bit to read what was being done to the population of Vior’los, both human and Tau, and Farsight is very incensed at the atrocities being committed.

Final Thoughts: Its a fine book, I enjoyed it. Its not amazing, I prefer Fire Warrior as a Tau novel, but it is still good and I hope we’ll see similar books about Aun’Shi, Shadowsun and Kais soon. Honestly I’d love for a followup on Aun’shi’s fate right now, and I’d love for a female Ethereal Special Character.

[amazingsubahu]

What do you Know about yourself? 

What do you know about yourself? 

You know only what you have assumed and pretend about you, and what others have told, taught and imposed upon you,  from your beginning, from your birth, without your permission, and your ability to understand and justify it. You are just carrying the things, thoughts and values, given to you, from family, society, friends, faith and your environment you were born or lived, without knowing it, what it is?

Did you ever question anything in your life? Did you ever search, checked the things you are believing and doing all the time, what impact they have made upon you? Did they make you a more intelligent and alive person or degraded slave of the system and things you know nothing about?  Did you ask yourself why are your life is so miserable and complicated? What made you so insane and disturbed? Why are you not capable of living in peace and harmony? 

The reason behind it, why it is so?  I found that your unconscious way of living,  stupidity, and ignorance are the only reason for all the miseries, troubles, dissatisfaction, insanity, and blocked growth in your life. I am a keen observer of everything from the very beginning and I have questioned everything in my life, I have observed hundreds and thousands of people in my life in last 36 years including my self.  You must look and see yourselves closely, unprejudiced, to find all the elements which are responsible for it. You certainly find that your ignorance and unconscious way of living is mostly responsible for it. Every Change starts in your life from recognizing and understanding the root cause of the problem you have, without diagnosis no proper and permanent cure is ever possible for any disease. So to change this unfortunate course of your life, you must know and learn the way, methods and practices of living consciously and abundantly.

How can you change this unfortunate course of your life?  Know your Truth, know your real self, this is the most important task you have in your life, everything comes after it, without discovering it no growth will ever be possible for you in any dimension of your life. This is the alchemy of total transformation towards what you really are? It leads you towards, you born here for, your ultimate goal, it will decide your fate and your rewards, discover it, know your truth, and live it. Make a promise to yourself that you are the creator of your own destiny and you always have the ability, courage, and will to change the total course of your life. You need to move towards a totally healthy and conscious way of living. So maximizing the benefit, start from now looking at your body and mind. Monitor all the activities from going to sleep to awake in the morning to all day around till again going to sleep.

if you really love yourself and your life, ask these question to you Do it carefully and consciously, see and ask yourself these questions sincerely, honestly. How many of them or all (all the physical, mental activities) is worth doing? What impact and influence they are producing to your body and mind? Does it have any worth towards holistic living and good health and well-being of you? Do they enable you to be more creative and better human being? Do they are sucking and abusing you? Do they giving you vitality and creative satisfaction or making you more miserable, retarded and degraded than ever before? What the cost you are paying to own them, physically, mentally, financially, spiritually in all aspects of your life, assess and count honestly? Do they worth keep continuing, what you are getting through all the associations and engagements you have, habits, family, likes, friends, relationships, job, business, things, thoughts, possessions etc?  

Monitor and evaluate your every thought, action, and habit round the clock How effective, and beneficial, motivating, fulfilling, enriching, and affordable they all to you? Are they improving your level of physical, mental, spiritual health and total well-being? Are they enhance or degrade your life as a whole or problem and curse for you? Are they making you more strengthen, expanding and rich in every aspect of your life? Are they made you more confident, divine and conscious? or shrinking your mind, body and every aspect of your being and made the ugliest creature in this world and degraded you at the possible lowest level of your being. Are you happy and growing in your life? Do you knowing and living your purpose here? 

You will get what you need to move forward Ask these questions honestly, see, and check every thread of your being, consciously, awakened. You will get all the necessary answers you ever asked yourself in the course of your life. Take your time and do it regularly until you check and learn sufficiently about yourself. You all are wasting most of your time criticizing and discussing, imitating and following others as gossiping is the central focus of your life. it takes nowhere to you in any way, you may become a cheap, degraded, useless and stupid copy of someone but you totally lost yourselves. You are born here to discover and celebrate yourselves with your own intelligence and insight towards every aspect of your life.   The truth about Human beings - You must understand your quest  All the other creatures, in the existence, come with a total inbuilt program of their life, instincts, and activities. They start living their life at that moment when they delivered to this world by their mothers. They started doing everything from the very moment of their birth. They are, enabled by nature to do everything necessary for their growth and survival, but they cannot grow and do beyond their capacity and limit. All these life forms are restricted, except human beings, they are bound to live with their instinctive abilities and limitations. They cannot grow beyond it, you never find a dog studying at Howard.  it's not the same for us humans, you come with power to think, discover and know, to ask, to experiment, to learn, to expand our horizons infinitely as much you can with all your capacity and intelligence.

How you can enjoy your uniqueness and capabilities given to you However, one thing is totally different from other life forms in all of us,  that a human baby needs to learn everything in his/her life to become worthy of something or to enjoy owning something. You need to learn everything and to transform. You constantly needed to do more inquiry, experimenting, learning, and activities to develop your ability and resources to acquire and enjoy them. You need to explore and discover what is good for you, how to go about it, how to be a master in it. Life is a dynamic force, it is flowing and expanding, it is infinite in nature and scope, and you are the bearer of it.  It's all a process of continuous learning and experimenting to discover. You need to learn and acquire excellence and mastery in things belong to you and you have all the potential to grow and expand in it. It is a responsibility and an unending quest for learning and seeking excellence in everything you are connected and concerned with throughout your life. It starts from when you were in your mother's womb to the funeral pier. If you really love your self and your life, You must do these necessary actions and think deeply about these fundamental and most important matters of your life. Know your truth, discover and create yourself.  Happy exploring and inquiring :D AmazingSubahu Read the full article

[silverflintdaily]

cast & creators quote roundup [updated]

From inception, the show is about Flint and Silver and their relationship. It’s about a lot of other things, but that’s the spine of it. [...] they’ll never escape each other’s orbit. This is always going to be a story about how that relationship develops, and the highs and the lows of it, and the places it goes that you don’t expect. [x]

[Silver helps Flint in VIII. because] at this point he wants the money, and a live Flint gives him a much better chance at getting his share of the Spanish prize than a dead Flint. It just so happens that in this moment, Silver's self-interests and Flint's interests in maintaining control align with each other. I think there's some sympathy there, though. He has some awareness of Flint being something of a divided person. Silver tries to avoid the entanglements Flint has for that very reason, to avoid having to make tough choices about people. In that moment, there's definitely an understanding. [x]

[Flint and Silver's evolving relationship is] my favorite part of the whole show. I love every part of it, but the Flint/Silver relationship is what I find the most interesting. [...] The whole cast on this show is incredible, but when you get to face off with Toby Stephens in costume, it’s scary and it’s fantastic. One of the greatest acting experiences ever is getting to work with him. [x]

This show is about Flint and Silver. It's about the beginning and evolution and ultimate tragic end of their relationship. In some respects, this whole season [Season 1] has been a launch to put them into this place where they are, to each other, their only ally. Season 2 is about the building of that alliance and the deepening of it. [x]

For me, Season 2 is really interesting because the Silver and Flint relationship is kind of the central part of the show for me. [x]

[Flint and Silver’s relationship in Season 2 is] kind of a love-hate rela- no, you know… tolerance-hate relationship. I think, that they are… they have to work together, they have to deal with each other and that kind of double act was really fun. [x]

We reach a moment in the middle of Flint and Silver trying to spearhead to taking out the Spanish Man O’ War where Flint comes to the realization that they’re kind of all they have. We wanted to tell a story about how we went out to go get this gold but we came back with something entirely different. [x]

[Flint and Silver] are both on the outs with their crew and potentially subject to being executed. So, they only have each other to try to get out of that. The long arc through [Season 2] is about them circling each other, and trying to understand what they are to each and whether they can trust each other. And what happens in a moment where they realize that they can't. [x]

As good as John Silver is at getting into people’s heads, Flint is also a master in that domain. When we first start Season 3 there is a bit of a mental battle going on between the two of them. [x]

[Silver’s] got insight into Flint that most people don’t. That’s a two-way street if you want to dare go that way, and it’s precarious at the beginning of [Season 3]. The commonalities between the two of them start to become evident in a way that is not necessarily beneficial to Silver’s mental well-being. Silver begins to realize there’s a mentor/mentee relationship developing that he might want to resist but can’t. It’s a lot more complicated than he thinks when you’re sitting on the outside. [x]

[Flint] starts in a place of having lost Thomas Hamilton, who was very meaningful to him, and then having lost Miranda in such an awful way that he feels alone. Part of the journey in Season 3 is finding a new person that he feels he can be vulnerable with and understood by, and it comes from a surprising direction. [x]

Silver finds himself with the dubious honor of being the one person who understands Flint. That, in terms of the stakes of the show, has become a matter of life and death. He tells Billy Bones that he understands the things they’re forced to do at Flint’s behest [which] are the acts of someone who is in despair. Silver has to find a way to return Flint to a place where he gives a shit about the people around him and not thrust them into this nihilistic war on civilization. [x]

What is a tense partnership in Season 2 starts to become a friendship, and there are some big emotional moments in that journey that are really gratifying. You start to realize that this show has been [Flint and Silver] circling each other for all this time and as they start to understand that this person might be the thing that saves their lives, it becomes emotionally compelling in a way you didn’t quite see coming. [x]

The thing Flint doesn’t have in Season 3 that he’s always had is a partner. Part of the arc of the season for us was about him really flailing alone and not having anyone to have that human experience with. [We liked] him finding John Silver and having that become the person with whom he’s able to emerge from this awful experience he’s having. It’s a massive moment for us, in terms of these two guys who’ve been circling each other and mistrusting each other starting to become friends. [x]

[Flint and Silver] become co-dependent. I won’t give much away, but their journey is really cool. We’re starting Season 4 and it’s going further into that. It’s a tragic relationship. It could never sustain itself. But for a while, it’s sweet. [x]

[...] we’re at a place in [Flint and Silver’s] story together where there’s a real friendship there. [...] [What we’re looking forward to the most in Season 4 is]  the Flint and Silver relationship dynamic, that, by the end of Season 3, has now reached a new state. [x]

[Silver and Flint] by the end of Season 3 have got a real mutual respect and friendship and it is one of the biggest, central things for the 4th Season. [x]

Season 4 is about this relationship with John Silver being a bit of a summation of all the relationships [Flint’s] had so far. [x]

I think right away you’ll sense that [Flint and Silver are] closer than they’ve ever been, and that becomes sort of very integral to not just their relationship, but to what happens at large for everyone in the story. I think they’re aware of how much is riding on their ability to sort of maintain this partnership and stay on the same level and not let anyone feel like there’s daylight between them, because a lot of people would like to take advantage of that if there was that. So you’ll really watch that, that relationship becomes extremely central right down to the last scene. [x]

Those narrative devices [Flint’s Season 2 flashbacks and Season 3 dreams] were useful because he didn’t have a relationship in the present where we could really access some of those emotions; and Season 4 is significantly different in the sense that he now has that person in John Silver, so really their relationship becomes the focus throughout. They’re both recognizing that they have something special between them […] and it figures into every scene they’re in right down to the last one. [x]

[The shark scene] was the first time it got to be just the two of us doing a big sequence together to that extent. We definitely top that in Season 4 — there is so much Flint and Silver stuff and it gets really, really deep. There’s a lot to look forward to on that side. [x]

[Season 4 is] really [Flint and Silver] ready to take this war to the world. [...] they’re about as close as two friends can be, [...] I think it’s kind of a surprise to both of them that they ended up there. [x]

[My favorite moment] is all [of] the Flint/Silver relationship. [...] as much as it’s been great working with everyone, working with Toby [Stephens] and charting the strange little journey of Flint and Silver through the whole show is what it all comes down to for me. [x]

The great thing is that it seems like everyone really believes this journey. You know, going through such a big dramatic character change. We've done it in such beautiful moments. And especially that Flint/Silver relationship, getting to work with Toby Stephens so closely. [x]

[Flint and Silver have] got a mutual respect. They’ve accepted that they’re friends. They’re the pirate kings together. [x]

How did this iconic pirate Long John Silver become Long John Silver? Who was Flint to him? There couldn’t be a simple answer to it. [x]

UPDATE:

It’s Flint’s show - it is a show about his tragic end - but at some point the levels were going to start to even themselves out and it was going to become a little bit more Silver show, and a little bit more Silver show - until by the end of it - it kind of is Silver’s show. [x]

After Miranda [Flint’s] lost, until he finds Silver. And actually realizes that Silver is probably… you know, the one he needed most of all. [x]

[Flint] finds a kindred spirit in Silver. It’s finding this balance between somebody who’s driven by pragmatism but also has this dark side — this anger that’s feeding it, these motivations that are emotional. [x]

I think [every character’s gotten a backstory] except for Silver going into Season 4 - which was absolutely deliberate - and his unknowability, I think, was baked into the nature of this story in terms of what he meant to Flint, so yeah, that was not an accident, nor was the moment in which it finally comes out. […] It will not be what you expect, I can guarantee that. [x]

I think you know, from the moment the show starts in Season 1, that things probably aren’t going to end in a terribly happy way for [Flint and Silver]. It’s just really a question of why, what does it, what affect does it have on them, and what does the aftermath look like? [x]

The big [relationship], the Flint/Silver [relationship]. [x]

It’s a tragedy, basically. The whole thing is a tragedy, because it’s about the dream of this man to lead this kind of emancipation of the pirate world and the slaves, and all of this stuff. So we know it doesn’t end well. His dreams don’t come to fruition, but most importantly, what happens to Flint at the end of that, and how does the Silver of that become the eponymous Long John Silver of Treasure Island? How does this person become that, and what happens to their partnership and their friendship? [...] also you see with Silver, it’s a tragedy because what has he become? He becomes this sad sort of guy who ends up in Treasure Island, kind of conniving his way back to this place. Everybody else has died, the golden age of piracy is over, and he fails to get the treasure. He fails to get what he wants. And also what this series sort of tries to create is why does he want the treasure? Is it purely for avarice, is it purely self-serving, or are there other motives for that? [x]

[Flint] needs somebody to be partnered with and Silver becomes the ultimate person. He’s had Thomas, he’s had Mrs. Barlow, and then finally, it’s Silver. In the end, [he’s] sort of... [the] love of his life, really. [x]

[johnrgordon]

Thoughts on Christianity and Homosexuality under Slavery

My 2018 novel, Drapetomania, is an antebellum epic that follows two enslaved Black men, Cyrus and Abegnego, who become lovers. After a flood threatens to bankrupt the plantation on which they toil for the benefit of their enslavers, Abednego is sold away. Broken-hearted, Cyrus makes the momentous decision to flee the plantation on which he has spent his entire life, and attempt to seek out his lost lover: his true north star.

One premise behind my writing the novel was to use fiction to restore to life and to cultural memory the sorts of lives that passed unrecorded. For of course no-one wrote a gay/sgl slavery narrative in the C19th — such an endeavor would be almost, if not entirely inconceivable. Following the advice of Toni Morrison, I wrote the book I needed to exist.

While responses to the novel have been overwhelmingly positive, an interesting critique came my way from a (white gay) reader, who found my representation of the lack of guilt and shame Cyrus and Abednego feel over their sexuality and relationship unrealistic. Why, he asked, do they not writhe in the self-loathing that would have been, and has continued to be, planted in gay men by conservative Christian moralizing? Certainly there would be no countervailing liberal or progressive tradition to which they would have any sort of access.

I found the charge interesting: had I, as a gay man, been guilty of sentimentality? Given the years of research I had done in order to render a realistic portrayal of various experiences of chattel slavery and the psychology of its brutality and oppression, had I stumbled here, out of the impulse to allow my characters an implausibly heroic mode?

I reflected, and on consideration decided I had not. In fact, I concluded that my critic was guilty (as it were) of his own particular anachronistic thinking. He took the current Evangelical fixation with homosexuality as the singular locus of moral depravity (much worse than murder, adultery or stealing) and projected that current cultural centrality 170 years backwards into the past. I don’t think contemporary reactionary Christian concerns map onto previous centuries tidily. The feverish religious homophobia of today has gained its focus through LGB people asserting their rights on identitarian grounds analogous to those identities based on race (and so modeled on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements) and gender (feminist movement.) That recategorization removes sexuality from the religious frame altogether — moves it away from sin — and Evangelicals are much exercised trying to claw homosexuality (and its kin) back from the world of human rights based on identity, and into sinfulness. It’s this categorical escape (or refiguring) that drives contemporary religious homophobes mad, and leads to them positioning themselves as victims of a supervening, ‘bullying’ secular discourse.

None of that pertains to the world of America in the 1850s, when Drapetomania is set; a time when by and large ‘homosexuality’ as an identity had not been conceptualized — or certainly not beyond the figure of the performatively effeminate Sodomite (whose ‘freakish’ disordering of gender roles also prefigures later trans discourses). It seems to me unlikely that Cyrus or even the somewhat more worldly Abednego, would have experience of such a person or knowledge of such a concept — and would certainly not see themselves as represented or embodied by it/them.

I think one can also ask, what would have tended to be the focus of the Christian preachers and teachers of the time, in terms of the lessons they sought to impart to the enslaved flock? The historical record is informative. With the exception of active abolitionists, (who could expect to be beaten, tarred and feathered for their efforts), white preachers focused on how slaves should obey their masters, render unto Caesar, set little store by acquiring worldly goods, and endure ‘unimportant’ earthly suffering in anticipation of far more important heavenly rewards. Going forth and multiplying was another tenet, though as an ‘animal’ function it was deemed not to need emphasizing.

What would these white preachers have said to the enslaved about sexual morality? First one might ask, would the enslaved have paid serious attention to anything they said, given the exploitative nature of slavery, and the defenselessness of the enslaved in the face of sexual predation and violence. Any sermonizing on sexual morality would surely have been viewed most ironically, and not be seen as having any moral weight.

Moreover, in such a context, without a trigger or catalyst — that is, an event publicly noticed — why would a white preacher bring up the sins of Onan or Sodom? The pseudo-scientific race discourse of the times gave rise to the notion that ‘Negroes’, being closer to the brutes of the fields, were ignorant of the possibility of sexual ‘deviance’, it being a product of perfumed decadence. Why chance planting such decadent ideas in pliant minds, however limited those minds were assumed to be? Better to say nothing. Better to urge marriage, however little it would count for; to urge reproduction.

What, then, might enslaved preachers preach among their fellows? This, of course, is much less recorded. However, we can reflect on its likely focus. Here a guide is surely sorrow songs and spirituals, imprecating the Lord to ‘let my people go’, drown Pharaoh’s army, and liberate the Children of Israel from slavery. Talk of a Promised Land that for white preachers was located conveniently in the hereafter, was a way for Black preachers to model liberation for other Black folks, share notions of a better life, and even outright rebellion: the North might be at least a version of that promise.

Given the vicious (and vastly predominantly heterosexual) sexual oppressions of slavery, pious talk of sexual morality amongst the enslaved must have dwelt in an ambiguous, uneasy realm, and in the slave narratives, and the sermons at times mixed in with them, we see talk of loving friendship and support between man and woman, husband and wife, championed as key virtues. Within this matrix, it seems to me inconceivable that homosexuality — in particular the tale of Sodom and the strictures found in Leviticus — could be in any way a focal point of sermonizing. It could only conceivably become so as a consequence of homosexual relations occurring in some measure publicly, within the immediate environment.

Indeed, it’s at that point in the novel — when the intensity of the friendship between Cyrus and Abednego becomes noticed by the other hands — that Samuel, the slave preacher with whom Cyrus shares a cabin, hints at the issue. However, he references the tale of David and Jonathon, rather than that of the Cities of the Plain. To his question, is Cyrus and Abednego’s relationship like that of David and Jonathon, Cyrus simply replies yes, and is sufficiently imposing (and indeed well liked enough) to foreclose further comment.

I felt that was realistic. Samuel is confronted by two people he has known all his life, and so the Bible tale he goes to is one about two individuals, rather than the tale of Sodom, with its fairly unrelatable power dynamics — stranded wanderers; a lynch mob of locals — its peculiar aspects (handsome angels as houseguests), and queasy foundations (‘Rape my daughters instead,’ Lot offers) that could hardly have sat well with an enslaved man who has witnessed such sexual violence against women at first hand.

Cyrus and Abednego, then, in somewhat differing ways (Cyrus being at heart a pre-Christian animist, and Abednego anticipating the modern secular man to whom religious doctrine is marginal), both inhabit the tale of David and Jonathon’s loving friendship, and find no reason to connect their experience with the tale of Sodom. I think here love is key. It is love that reveals their desiring natures to both each other and themselves, as opposed to experiencing a desire to perform certain sexual acts with someone of the same sex, and seeking out someone who responds to that desire — though the more worldly Abednego is more aware of a desiring identity as a possibility, prefiguring modern conceptions of self, than is Cyrus, the novel’s primary protagonist. Cyrus’ sense of identity formation is brought into sharp focus later, through his encounter with the white coachman, James Rose.

And so I think my interpretation stands. But it was deeply interesting to be given a reason to reflect upon it at length.

John’s new novel, Hark, a haunting tale of gay interracial teen romance that begins the night a Confederate statue is pulled down in a dying Southern town, is out on Sept 18th, and can be pre-ordered here (US) and here (UK). Drapetomania can be bought here (US) and here (UK).

[music-research-strategies]

Marshall Trammell on Music Research Strategies

http://soundamerican.org/sa_archive/sa15/sa15-marshall-trammell.html

Originally published in Nate Wooley’s Sound American “Propaganda Issue” April, 2016

Photo Credit: Agatha Urbaniak (Brighton, UK)

PART 1

Bradford, Roper, and Wong perform on a loom of interpersonal rituals and dialogic relationships at San Francisco State University in March of 2016. This band, Purple Gums, is a marked territory. The brassy trio (cornet, tuba, and saxophone, respectively) performed for a master class in the Creative Arts building for about 25folks in a medium-sized band room. For this performance, percussionist Vijay Anderson played with the usually drummerless trio. Minutes into the in-class performance, [William] Roper authoritatively erupts a spoken phrase through his mini-tuba: “Assume the position!” A bolt shivers our bones. He continues, invoking an aspect of life in this country. Purple Gums knows what this means. It’s imprinted upon the psyche of generations. Purple Gums refers to themselves as representative of a circular history: a story that’s not yet past. [Cornetist Bobby] Bradford tells us the excess of melanin in the skin causes relative coloration in the gums, and of the racial slurs attributed to it within and outside of the black community. He gives a sermon on the usage and appropriate inflection of the term motherfucker.

The band has had a 14-year interval between hits.

Why did they choose that moment to reconvene?

Purple Gums expresses an oppositional consciousness. Direct transmission of strategic methodology of pissedness and resistance technologies volley across the bandstand; seeing signs in culture (semiotics), analyzing these signs (deconstruction), synthesizing related forms (meta-ideologizing), erecting new principles of action (differential movement), and deploying egalitarian practices (democratics). Chela Sandoval’s seminal work Methodologies of the Oppressed exists for the purpose of generating dissidence and “revealing the rhetorical structure by which the languages of supremacy are uttered, rationalized—and ruptured.”

I entered the room with these lenses on. Gums speaks for themselves:

Purple Gums views music as narrative. A tune starts, by the time it ends, territory has been crossed, a story has been told. Most of the time the band lays down a backdrop for the audience to spin out their own creations within their heads. But on occasion, any one of the band's members will step to the mic and spin a yarn for you. Like the music, these stories are created extemporaneously—knowing the carnival ride you've stepped onto doesn't guarantee that you'll recognize the ride you step off of.

The nature of the signified totality of the presence of this group is that of their agency to produce musical sounds reflective of location/dislocation, dialogic inferences, traditions in/out of music, cultural signifiers, arbitrariness, and any, every part of their engagement.

This and related events were part of ImprovisAsians!, an annual performing arts and community-building event sponsored by Asian Improv aRts (AIR). The goals since 1987:

          1) To make it possible for artists to create innovative works rooted in the diasporic experiences of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage.

          2) To engage a next generation of community members in the arts through arts education.

          3) To enable sustainability for artists and arts organizations in a challenging economic environment.

          4) To facilitate creative collaborations that bring together major institutions, artists, and multigenerational audiences and participants.

The introduction—this introduction—into the subject matter of messages or propaganda or poetics of politics in art/music production is a reflexive process.

When I came to San Francisco 25 years ago as a student/street activist, I literally tripped over people like [saxophonist] Francis Wong, whose worldview and political consciousness shifted in response to the beating death of Vincent Chin near Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1982. Chrysler autoworkers—incensed about recent layoffs attributed to the boom in the Japanese car market—beat Chin to death with baseball bats outside of a bar at his bachelor party. The murderers received lenient fines and three years’ probation, and the state was satisfied. Asian Improv aRts was founded five years later by Wong and others. A bell can’t be unrung.

On the ride home from the class and performance, Vijay Anderson, an AIM devotee, shakes his head remembering how melodic Francis and Bobby are together. I think that overall harmony of difficult material is a binding substance for examination here.

Listen to Black Spirituals

PART 2

“the streets our brushes, the squares our palettes”

Constructivist motto

Russia, 1917

La Paz Middle School is located in Salinas, California, a historic town in Monterey County near the Central Coast of California named for its salty marshes and fertile agriculture. Reflective of the population of the town, La Paz has a high Latino concentration, presumably descendants of generations of farm laborers.  Just weeks before I delivered a two-day arts practicum on the visual culture of the Underground Railroad, a 16=year-old was murdered by the police fairly close to the school. The history curriculum is a complement to instructor Jason Flores’s constructivist education framework (ultimately based on the work of Jean Piaget). The classroom centers on meaning-making by exposing the tenets, on which the social construction of everything in the classroom is based. As a facilitator, Flores serves to remove obstacles to learning by cultivating cognitive development through a series of observable, didactic activities. Students, as makers-of-meaning themselves, engage in the democratic learning environment as they construct representations of history individually and collectively.

I taught four classes of La Paz Panthers waist-high in the stories of Frederick Douglass, Civil War battles, and coded Black Spirituals. I engaged these young investigators to synthesize their own expertise and acquired knowledge through a socio-historical, tactical arts practicum centered on the intervention of the Underground Railroad quilt codes. “Re-Imagining UGRR Quilt Codes” illustrates connections and dynamics between the Civil War–era Underground Railroad to currently existing underground railroad dynamics and the relevance in their lives today. A conductor is clearly more understood as a coyote in the parlance of La Paz students; a station is a safe house.

Using the tools of perception, production, and reflection, these students demonstrated they had shared an interpersonal relationship with history beyond that of a solely fact-based curriculum.

         1) Perception: students study works of tactical media in historic relevance to emancipatory practices

         2) Production: students use basic skills and principles of the art form and put their ideas into visual form

         3) Reflection: students assess their work according to personal goals and standards of excellence in the field

In art, Constructivism has origins in the 1917 Russian Revolution, where artists built meaningful objects reflective of the resources used for construction. It was an art form rich with materials for producing a new culture through assigning art to a practical, socially useful role in everyday life. For good or bad, they rejected “autonomous art” and the idea of the individual artist in favor of collective movements, like Bauhaus or De Stijl. As a theory of knowledge in education, Constructivism demonstrates an interaction between experiences and idea development. In classrooms, the convergence of social and practical elements in learning advances discourse and an interpersonal, cultural connection to the learning experience.

The improvisational nature of the Underground Railroad is aligned with the collective and individual experiences of slaves and fugitives. “The struggles waged against domination and enslavement in everyday life took a varied of forms,” according to Saidiya V. Hartman. She continues:

Exploiting the limits of the permissible, creating transient zones of freedom, and re-elaborating innocent amusements were central features of everyday practice. Practice is, to use Michel de Certeau’s phrase, ‘a way of operating’ defined by the ‘the non-autonomy of its field of action, internal manipulation of the established order, and ephemeral victories.’

The dual invocation of the slave as property and person was an effort [that] wed reciprocity and submission, intimacy and domination, and the legitimacy of violence and the necessity of protection. By the same token, the law’s selective recognition of slave humanity nullified the captive’s ability to give consent or act as agent, and, at the same time, acknowledge the intentionality and agency of the slave but only as it assumes the form of criminality.

These nuances did not go unnoticed at La Paz. The young Panthers constructed reimagined coded quilt blocks, both mimicking the old ones and simultaneously inventing new ones. The students demonstrated their understanding of the need for safe houses, for a code, for a conductor, or coyote, to weave a network of mutual aid synthesizing technologies of the methodologies of oppressed persons. They taught me codes for safety in their everyday lives. Students exhibited a strong motivation to learn and a confidence in their potential for completing the project. We created nearly 100 new quilt blocks reflecting on both history and personal experiences and knowledge. These reflections of competence and belief in one’s potential to solve new problems are derived from first-hand experience of mastering problems in the past, and are much more powerful than any external acknowledgment and motivation.

PART 3

"A book neither begins nor ends; at most it merely feigns doing so."

-Le Livre, Mallarme

Above is a graphic from my 2006 graduate thesis (RPI) mimicking Jean-Jacques Nattiez’ semiological, symbolic mapping of Wagner’s controversial Bayreuth Festival production of The Ring (1976).

Simultaneously inspired by [Gilles] Deleuze’s analyses of Leibniz and the Baroque, the map fails to address the Improviser’s choice to approach their instruments, not as jazz machines or rock ’n’ roll machines, but as improvising-machines. An appropriate correction might be to adjust #13 to read simply: Performance. However, I still find comfort in my bold appropriation. The waveform is code emblematic of the persistence of cognition. It represents a translation across media and lineage. It represents a path of identity formation as a significant, recognizable, and navigable event.

Referring to Kantian aesthetics of beauty in his book Economimesis, [Jacques] Derrida writes, "One must not imitate nature; but nature, assigning its rules to genius, folds itself, returns to itself, reflects itself through art.” “Kant,” he continues, “specifies that the only thing one ought to call art is the production of freedom by means of freedom [Hervorbringung durch Freiheit].” Pretty righteous words; to be clear, neither author is speaking of freedom from chains. They speak of an absolute freedom of expression: an art signifying pure ideas. Mimesis can roughly be defined as a representation of reality transmitted through empathetic means; economimesis is regarded, quite simply, as a process that exemplifies that appropriation.

It was Jacques Lacan who taught us that humans acquire identity through the acquisition of language process. Ideologies ingrained in that exchange are likewise absorbed. And it is his student, Slavoj Zižek who emphasizes that the effects of ideology are pervasive, powerful, and a nearly inescapable aspect of our world. Zižek further emphasizes a “creative refusal” of ideology sparked by a profound political change in the S/self, such as the 1917 Russian revolt against capitalism. We can say that oppositional consciousness, a term from Third World feminist praxis, was acquired through discursive processes.

Listen to Marshall Trammell

PART 4

"His was an historical music. He began himself before he played with Fletcher Henderson, playing alternate piano in the orchestra when Fletcher conducted. In recent years he even brought Fletcher and Duke back with a sweetness and contemporary restatement that was thrilling.

Ra was so far out because he had the true self-consciousness of the Afro American intellectual artist revolutionary. He knows our historic ideology and socio-political consciousness was freedom. It is an aesthetic and social dynamic. We think it is good and beautiful!"

—Amiri Baraka, foreword

This Planet is Doomed: The Science Fiction Poetry of Sun Ra

In 1999, the “Improvising Across Borders” symposium at the University of California at San Diego introduced me to the subject. Pianist Dana Reason had organized the conference at which George Lewis, Pauline Oliveros, Douglas Ewart, Eddie Prévost, LaDonna Smith, JD Parran, Hafez Modirzadeh, and many more were present. I recently found a quote from LaDonna Smith on her experience:

One purpose of the Symposium was to explore one of the most previously slighted, but critically important fundamentals in music creativity and its true role in the shaping of musical traditions, styles, and current direction.

Pauline Oliveros gave a talk on Quantum Improvisation:

Quantum computing is a revolutionary method of computing based on quantum physics that uses the abilities of particles such as electrons to exist in more than one state at the same time. Quantum computation can operate simultaneously on a combination of seemingly incompatible inputs. By analogy or metaphor quantum Improvisation could mean a leap into new and ambiguous consciousness opening a new variety of choices.

At the same symposium, pianist and composer Vijay Iyer gave a memorable presentation on “African American Improvised Music and Embodied Cognition,” in which he analyzed Thelonious Monk’s music with the help of a multimedia display complete with transcriptions and minute details that delight me to this day. This moment greatly informed my thinking on analyzing music, as well as elucidated a process that I had unwittingly undertaken. Iyer’s presentation described and analyzed the way Monk’s fingers moved upon the keyboard with precision: the matrix of complexities pouring through expressive nodes in the body.  As citizen-subjects, we often find ourselves to be subject to dominant ideological elements similarly quilted into our identities and woven into our imaginations. Robin D.G. Kelly’s book on Monk gives us a wealth of insight into the total social fact (Mauss) of the man, entreating us, as fans of his magic, to peer into this “bond between giver and gift.”  We cannot ignore the conditions of cruelty and subjugation to admire the diamonds that such pressure creates. Iyer’s analysis of Monk’s embodied expression demands that Monk’s emulators reach beyond the sounds that come through one’s home speakers.

George Lewis’s essay “Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives” was weighed on my mind during this period in my development. I remember that John Cage’s body of work is known and accepted for his innovations and privilege, and Charlie Parker’s body of work is known and accepted for his innovations and remarkable lack of, and struggle for, privilege. Generations emulated Parker’s research and sound, along with other black musicians of that era; compelled by the representation of those artists’ lives in their music. I’ve wondered if their interest is in the actual conditions of their lives, or so it seems to me, the forces-in-motion that perpetuate those conditions. The oft quoted social theorist bell hooks writes, “Throughout African American history, performance has been crucial in the struggle for liberation.” She refers, of course, to minstrelsy. Moreover, Saidiya V. Hartman talks explicitly in her book about the auction block as a site of forced enjoyment, where slaves were made to dance and whoop it up at the crack of the whip

Locating:

I still see/practice “free music” and “creative music” as resistance music. I trace my interest in participating in music back to an exposure to Bob Marley, Parliament, and Earth, Wind & Fire as a youth. However, I am an Improviser. “Improvising Across Borders” addressed borders real and imagined, and made them all permeable. I was certainly in the right place at the right time! I had involved myself with this music as an extension of my political education, practices, and deep curiosity about how this form of resistance would change my sense of self, self-consciousness, and actions. I remember daring to raise my hand at that symposium saying that I thought there was going to be some kind discussion about the actual border: you know, the one between us and Mexico. There wasn’t meant to be one, although there is room enough for that to be my work.

Eleven years ago, the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee-General Command of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) launched La Sexta from Laconcondon Jungle. This was the Sixth Declaration from the Zapatistas deep in the jungles of their autonomous zones surrounded by Southern Mexico, and the largest listening party the world has ever seen. Masked Zapatistas collected stories, complaints, recollections, evidence, and other data from the machinations of capitalism and status quo politics throughout the length and breadth of the country. The kick off in San Cristobal began with a peaceful occupation of the zocalo, or town square, by thousands of Zapatista and hundreds of press. Three musical acts took the stage, setting the tone. They played songs people knew. I imagined a performance by the World Saxophone Quartet in the zocalo in San Cristobal de las Casasin the State of Chiapas that New Year's Eve in 2005. What a gig?!? That stage was built with much more that wood and nails. I imagined WSQ, with all its members over time, ascending to the stage miraculously playing “The Hard Blues” together as the system of music to jump off such a project in the States, and I knew I had to be in a band worthy of that stage.

About the Artist:

Marshall Trammell is an African American percussionist born July 21, 1972 in Oceanside, CA and raised in Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii. Upon exposure to the Glenn Spearman Double Trio and ROVA's conduction systems, he has been a contributing member of the Bay Area Creative Music scene his arrival in San Francisco in 1993. Influences include Donald Robinson, Eddie Blackwell, Louis Moholo, Milford Graves & Papa Joe Jones are present in his performance on the drum set, while a deep exposure to Cuban, Haitian and West African linear drum systems shift his focus away from conventions in Jazz and Free Jazz.

Mr Trammell is a Soloist, Curator and Chief Investigator at Music Research Strategies. He curates "Decolonizing the Imagination: Arts Practicum & Democratics" and conducts "Black Fighting Formations," a conduction system based visual culture and cooperative economics of the Underground Railroad. Mr. Trammell has performed with such luminaries as Roscoe Mitchell, India Cooke, John Tchicai,  Dylan Carlson & Saul Williams. He is a recoding artist as a member of the electro-acoustic duo Black Spirituals (SIGE Records) which performs internationally with Zachary James Watkins.

[reviewfix]

  Review Fix chats with OBEY developer Jorge “Dez” Hernandez, who discusses the origin of the game, the long and difficult development process and how he feels about the final product.

For More on OBEY, Click Here.

Review Fix: How was this game born?

Jorge “Dez” Hernandez: What you see now as OBEY started in 2002 as a very different idea. I had just graduated college, and since none of us recent graduates had jobs, we decided to think up some game ideas we could execute. The idea of the game (I think it was just called “death tower” or something at the time) did have a giant tower and players trying to take over the tower in a king-of-the-hill type of mechanic, but the human aspect that makes OBEY what it is hadn’t been thought up yet. I remember one of the main ideas of it was that every key on the keyboard would trigger a different weapon on the tower. The idea was simply to build the most asymmetrical king-of-the-hill game possible.

However the project never got started at all with those friends, and in later years failed multiple times in other attempts I made with different teams and partners.

Review Fix: What games inspired this one?

Hernandez: I get asked this sometimes, but OBEY doesn’t have many parallels in video games. It wasn’t inspired by other games, but by political ideas, human dynamics/psychology, and power theory and memetics. This really came into play around 2014 when the basic mechanics were being implemented. Because one of the main project goals was to make the most asymmetrical game possible, it led me to ask: what is the most asymmetrical relationship between human beings? My answer is the master/slave dynamic (followed possibly by the parent/child dynamic).

As soon as I made this connection I realized the power of what this game could be and what the central idea was going to be: I would be making a human exploitation simulator. The game I always wanted to play and make had come into focus. If you want to ask simply about comparisons, it does have a lot in common with many board games (something I didn’t know until I was well into development), since at the time that I started I really hadn’t explored board game dynamics much (shamefully!).

What is interesting, though, is that I seemed to have re-invented many board game mechanics that I hadn’t known existed. I was happy to learn many of these mechanics had already been proven even before I had the possibility of testing them myself. Because I had never played a game like OBEY before, I didn’t know if they would be viable at all.

As far as video game comparisons go, the closest example I can come up with is: OBEY is a non-broken and balanced incarnation of the Counter Strike Jailbreak mod. There are other examples that can be found in obscure mods or parts of other games, though (like Day-Z, and Town of Salem ).

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Review Fix: Let’s talk about the art. What inspired that?

Hernandez: My first thoughts on what OBEY should look like was to make a “gritty post apocalyptic environment.” The robot would be this dinosaur looking thing, inspired by mecha-godzilla and the players would be these tiny humans running around hiding in the rubble. However a large part of my career has been creating environment art, and no one knows how over-done and cliche it is to make yet another “gritty post apocalyptic” game than environment artists. Further, this would be difficult to execute as a lone developer, because gritty things take a lot of tweaking UV work and poly work to get right. I knew I could do better. I brought the issue up to an old friend and colleague named Matt Harwood (who authored nearly all the sfx for OBEY). Matt immediately trashed my post-apocalpytic considerations and said… no, this game is about contrast! The robot should be this horrible intimidating machine, and the world should be a beautiful forest, untouched and unspoiled.

The robot should clash completely with the environment.

The players should be forest animals.

Immediately I knew he was onto something and that is how the bunnies came to be as well. Baby bunnies were the most innocent and harmless creatures I could think of that could also make sense in a forest environment. They would also make acceptable metaphors for human beings (I did consider making the player avatars human babies but decided it would be too weird/off-putting in a commercial sense).

Finally, once I knew the motif that I wanted to try, I got to work designing a look for the forest that had to meet some important specs:

1) It had to be able to work with a lot of repetition since I knew I wanted to have player made maps, I decided the environment would be tile based.

2) The environment design had to have a level of detail and ‘look’ that could be produced and managed by a single developer (me). This was achieved by allowing for large flat colored areas, that would be broken up by lighting and decorations, as opposed to broken up in geometry and UV work.

3) It had to be low poly and efficient enough to draw a large area at once even if it was all on screen at the same time: player made maps would require it since anyone could design any crazy map and since the maps could in principle be viewed at any angle by a spectator, which I knew OBEY would have. I achieved this by designing everything to use 1 single texture and material.

And it is so: everything in OBEY (with the exception of GUI, the robo, and dropship) utilizes a a single material that references a single 2048×2048 texture.

Review Fix: What has development been like?

Hernandez: To be honest, development has been extremely difficult and taxing. When I started, I think for me a big part of my motivation for doing the project was to answer the question of whether I am even capable of completing such a thing. I discovered the answer, but also I discovered that for a single dev to build a project with the complexity and scope of OBEY is not a human thing to do. Besides the effects on my personal life (and there is no way around this no matter the scope of your game, it will have SOME effect), I also faced a lot of failures that I simply muscled through. The Kickstarter I ran for OBEY failed, I also failed to get funding to complete production (even from indie centric publishers), and financially OBEY has so far not been able to fund its own dev.

So OBEY right now is still very much a passion project.

Nowadays, I work on it at night, since early in 2016, financially, I was forced to get a full-time job. I really wanted to finish it before doing that, but my choices became either compromise the project and put a lid on it and ship it, or continue working on it to make OBEY what I think it should be while working on it on the side with no expectation of financial success. I chose the latter.

Review Fix: With all the competition in the indies now, how difficult was it for you guys to try and make something that stood out?

Hernandez: I knew no one was ever going to make any game like this unless I made it. So for me, it wasn’t an issue to try to make it stand out. It was unique from the start.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why must someone play this game?

Hernandez: There is no other video game remotely like it. If you want to play a game built by a developer who said “if I never make another game, this is the one I want to make”, play and try to master OBEY. It is unique.

Review Fix: How do you want this game to be remembered?

Hernandez: From day one, I wanted to avoid gimmicks and just build a solid title that would stand the test of time. I wanted to build something with the depth of chess, with a metaphor as powerful as a Chomsky article.

I hope it is remembered as one of the first games to make the gameplay itself have meaning. There are only a handful of other games I have ever seen do this. Games by Jason Rohrer (ie Castle Doctrine, Passage) and Brenda Romero (The Mechanic is the Message) are the only ones I know of.

In OBEY, the players themselves mirror all kinds of power structures in life in trying to win (corporate, religious, governmental, parental etc). Making it DRM-free is also part of trying to make OBEY stand the test of time. My hope is that it will always be playable.

Review Fix: What are your goals for this game?

Hernandez: I want to build a deep game of the likes that no one has ever played. If you want to play anything like it, there will be only one game to run: OBEY. I also want the game to have meaning beyond its facade and motif. Even though it isn’t finished, so far I do believe OBEY is already these things.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Hernandez: Well, if OBEY does well on release I have several ideas that I would love to hit next. However, if it doesn’t, it will probably be the last title I develop. And I have made peace with that possibility.

Review Fix: Anything else you want to say?

Hernandez: I believe OBEY is the most ambitious project to ever be published by a single developer. As far as I know, there is no title made by a single dev that has all of the following features (or equivalent features):

– real-time action game – server/client multiplayer – fairly large non-isometric 3D environments – player generated maps & customizability – in-game VOIP – non-cloned gameplay (which causes a lot of testing and prototyping) – professional grade art and sound

The games published by a single dev I know of have three or four of the above at most, hence I think it may be the most ambitious game ever made by a single dev.

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Review Fix Exclusive: Inside ‘OBEY’ Review Fix chats with OBEY developer Jorge “Dez” Hernandez, who discusses the origin of the game, the long and difficult development process and how he feels about the final product.