#xenophobia mention/

[cata613]

It’s unfortunate to see what the world has come to :(

[neighbourhoodtwo]

usamericans please stop putting your "congrats uk!! hope this happens to us in november!!" posts in the uk politics tag please please you have no idea

[angelicsentinel]

Imagine the need to put "not m27 compliant" on everything.

"Dear Father, before I post, I disavow any relation to the CANON. Forgive me for I have sinned mortally. I have fallen into apostasy and ruin on the altar of kaishin. I was an unknowing sinner, caught about on the seas of incest for thirty years, but now, with your divine revelation, I have seen the light!

"Now I only ship the holiest and purest of rivals to lovers, that of the unrelated queers, so their incestuous foreign seed shall not bear fruit.

"In the name of the monocle, bowtie, detective badge, and watch. Amen."

[espers-n-espurrs]

did you know thievuls are thought of quite fondly in spikemuth, and that many spikemuthians have a nickit or thievul as a companion?

its because of how similar we are. how many view spikemuthians as nuisances or criminals, quick to make judgment calls on the people there when the people have done nothing but try to survive.

and it goes back further than when spikemuth became spikemuth, back before the homeless built this city and made it home. many spikemuthians are descendants of the equirexians and kingsmen, two groups of people who were seen as nuisances to the galarians with only one group, the equirexians, surviving to the modern era with their culture and having to be the ones to help the kingsmens culture come back.

but this post is more centered around the kingsmen. did you know, towards the end of the kingsmens time, as the kingsmens lycanroc were being exterminated, they began to bring in thievuls to fill in the gaps? thievuls and the early boltund (a species they bred into existence from lycanroc and manectric i may add) were some of their main partner pkmn towards the end.

that was until the galarians took the boltund and began to breed them into what we now know them as, a pkmn that when used for hunting is primarily used to hunt fox pkmn.

thievuls, a pkmn that once stood proudly by the side of the early boltund, were now thought of as nothing more than nuisances that the boltund were to hunt. they werent desirable, thats why they werent taken in mass and bred to fill some sort of role. no. their role was simply to get out of the way or be hunted.

much like the kingsmen when there was nothing else to take from them. much like the equirexians when there was nothing else to take from them.

much like spikemuthians, and while spikemuthians arent hunted, they werent really helped much either. nuisances.

spikemuthians have much the same history as thievuls. the same kinship. the same connection.

does a thievul look at a boltund and remember? does the boltund remember? or are they just now the hunted and the hunter? no longer companions side by side?

[bonefall]

Can I hear more about Villain Thornclaw? The way you described him is a really cool take on his character.

He exudes a sense of detached ruthlessness, something happened and he just never got over it, most of the time he is a model warrior, but sometimes he says something or gives a cold look, and that hints just how much he is willing to do for his beliefs

The first warrior that Firestar named becomes his most insidious enemy.

He was too young to clearly remember Clawface snatching him and his little sister, but he does remember the way it became an early fixation. His favorite games were always reenactments and play fights, and his father Lionheart and kidnapper Clawface would be characters in them. He often would go too far and play rough, actually biting or scratching his playmate.

We, in the real world, may recognize this as a way kids often process trauma. But they don't have cat therapy here.

And quickly these fixations became unsettling. Brightkit didn't like these games, and their older siblings were disturbed. Frostfur reacted strongly and tried to intervene, but it didn't help the way they wanted.

He got good at hiding it, and he got better at finding other ways to express his fixation. He never knew Lionheart, but he DID know Grandma Speckletail, and she would tell him all about the ways he could be like his dad. When you don't know a person, they can be anything you want them to be.

Turns out if you dress up "I'm obsessively xenophobic of foreign cats and want to rip them to shreds" as "I will ferociously avenge my father and uphold his legacy," suddenly you're golden! It's that simple!

(it's almost like clan culture didnt actually value peace or kindness and just encourages you to channel ur violence towards specific ends)

Thornkit went from Grandma Speckletail to Mentor Mousefur, and she continued to cultivate this. There's a time and a place for aggression. Be good to your clanmates. Use words in camp, not claws. She made a good soldier out of him.

When ThunderClan had a reckoning with Tigerclaw and his ideology in TPB, during his coup, the line of thought that went through Thornpaw and the cats like him was that Tigerclaw was the problem. Who could have known! A shock! Sickening!

...for a while they were "better," devastated by his betrayal, more openminded. But minds don't always trend towards progress.

Eventually, Thornclaw backslid. Let's not throw out the kitten with the tonguewash, here. Yes yes, Tigerclaw was a damn traitor and a hypocrite, but there's worse cats to look up to, you can't deny his nobility, that some of his ideas were great for ThunderClan, that there were lofty ideals he merely took from our grand and glorious history and we can return to those days...

What is so terrible about being a thistle? To lash back when you are attacked? To defend the meadow for you and yours?

We can have Tigerclaw's good aspects without the bad, surely?

And Firestar...

You must understand it's nothing personal. Firestar's a fine cat, for a kittypet. There is no hate for him. But we can't have a leader who stops ThunderClan from engaging in honorable combat. The Clan has become too mixed, and he punished him simply for expressing his concerns. What other choice is there? To do nothing as the clans are destroyed from the inside out?

Bluestar brought wildfire to the forest, to burn it to the ground. Firestar is Thornclaw's natural enemy-- and so is every cat like him.

[whatudottu]

Regarding your cerebrocrustacean headcanons mentioned in the previous ask: they very well could be somewhat canon given how, when asked if Albedo and Dr. Psychobos would be willing to work together, Derrick J. Wyatt responded with "Psychobos seems like a total team up slut, he'll team up with any villain any time" (his words, not mine).

Which he likely meant in the sense of "Psychobos is so power-hungry he'll team up with anyone in order to get ahead", but with your headcanons and the fact he never talks much about his personal life in mind, you could alternatively interpret it as "Psychobos is so desperately lonely he'll accept anyone he has even the slightest similarity with into his clique, even members of a species he's violently xenophobic towards" (probably to cope with/serve as a rebound for his mancrush Azmuth friendzoning him /lh /hj).

Now all of this is making me realize that it was a massive missed opportunity in Omniverse to not have Psychobos' demeanor do a complete 180 around the people he works with compared to everyone else (whether sincere or a thinly-veiled manipulation tactic) if not solely for a few jokes. Especially him acting like an affectionate father figure towards Malware (whether he likes it or not) solely so he can rub it in Azmuth's face that "I'm a FAR more attentive and caring parental figure towards your creation than YOU ever were, and I use the term loosely".

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DJW SAID 'TEAM UP SLUT' HAHAH WHAT!? dear god it's true it's on the wiki what the fuck what the fuck assdfjhghsdlfkgfkl-!

I mean, look at his already canon group; Khyber, allegedly the greatest huntsman in the galaxy, teaming up with Dr Psychobos to make a little watch that can sample (specifically predatory) animals; and Malware, a technology absorbing mutant mechamorph, working with the cybernetically enhanced (also listed as a mutant???) cerebrocrustacean in order to make said watch- if liking the concept of animals and incorporating machines as part of oneself is enough to get into Dr Psychobos' clique well, he's certainly stretched what that means far enough to at least snag two others into his initial team up. Same can't be said for Attea and the incurseans which seems to be more of a sponsor type relationship, and Maltruant commissioned him to repair his body but violated the trade agreement so whether or not Psychobos would do business with the incurseans again, he's already squarely sequestered Maltruant in the outest of out-groups :P

Hah, the 'Dr Psychobos adopting Malware specifically to stick it to Azmuth' bit reminded me of a signing-the-adoption-papers version of the 'I throw my used car batteries in the ocean' thing- something along the lines of; [psychobos voice] "You are the most calamitous individual I have had the pleasure of meeting, and I use the term loosely." [malware voice, threateningly] "I have devoured and absorbed the specs of the Omnitrix." [psychobos signing adoption papers] [malware, experiencing the affects of cerebrocrustacean in-grouping and having no frame of reference on how to deal with it] "What the fuck is happening-"

[astorichan]

Can't believe I have to say this, but. People. Behaviour like this is not okay.

Even foregoing the fact that I am not even Russian - this is fucked up on so many levels. Russian people - especially young fandom teenagers, which this person seems to think I am, which this person seems to be targeting - are not responsible for the war, nor are they capable of stopping it. Bullying people on the Internet to jerk off doesn't make you a hero that Ukrainians need right now. Russian-speaking Ukrainians exist and are prevalent in many Eastern regions of the country. People can be multilingual. Russian people do not equal Putin. Harassment is never okay. Coming back to comment again after your comment has been deleted is not okay. Xenophobia is never okay.

What the fuck.

@ao3org tagging to bring a little light to this. I am not much affected by this, but this person might target someone more vulnerable in the future.

[kimseokjinn]

Yes, he'll be president, but it's also not wrong to refer to him as the twice impeached, 34-count felon, xenophobic, sexual abuser president. That's what he'll be remembered for.

Also, if you voted for or supported him, feel free to unfollow because we aren't doing any of that "we must get along and find peace" bullshit

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Teller of Small Fortunes

lighthearted fantasy adventure

follows an immigrant fortune teller who travels between villages telling small fortunes for people

when she runs into a (mostly reformed) thief and an an ex-mercenary searching for his lost daughter, she ends up traveling with them in the hopes she can help, along with a baker they meet along the way,

they encounter various magical creatures and adventurous situations, and eventually she has to face her past

no romance

[mintyscuriocabinet]

Just saw your dni, are there actually anti irish people on tumblr??? Are there actually anti Irish people in general?? Sorry if im being dumb, ive never seen anyone claim to br anti irish...

[Also your blog is awesome minty is queen]

Hi there!

I haven't really seen anyone openly anti-Irish on Tumblr thankfully, but I know people like that do exist and the sentiment is still alive and well today, so I just want to be sure none of them interact with my blog.

I'm glad someone is curious about it because xenophobia towards Irish people has existed for a long time and it's not really spoken about. Wikipedia has a really interesting article on the topic if you're interested.

Generally from what I've seen, Tumblr is one of the more open minded social media sites, so I feel safe here.

thank you for your ask, I'm glad I get to talk about this because even though I don't like politics, Irish history is an interest of mine.

[monstrouslyobsessed]

uhhh i got bombed in my askbox. i'm not complaining though, but some of these are a bit hard to answer. regardless, i'll compile them into one post so i don't litter people's dashboard!

this is a long post so it's all under the cut.

Hey, in the Beastfolks world it has happened that a Beastfolk kill a human? Is there a famous example of something that happened simular to this situation in this fictional world? —anonymous

uhhhhh...

wars had happened. the zoo outbreaks had happened. even accidental deaths had happened. just to name a few. so there are really no one specific example i can use for this one. unless you're talking about the time after everything had been worked out on most parts, where some semblance of equality finally existed between the two races?

because of how valuable the humans are in the modern eras, those murderers would most likely get a death sentence, but it also highly dependent on the context behind the human's death. was it accident? were the beastfolk driven by instinct to attack the human*? was it out of greed? desperation? bloodlust?

*example, if beastfolk was expecting a child. was caring for their sick spouse, was ill themselves, etc. and the unfortunate human was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“human who married another human (need a term for this one)” You already found a term for this? When a human marry another human… they suffer prejudice? When society becomes more modern, this will became a taboo? —anonymous

i still haven't, actually. coming up with terms i'm happy with is a lot harder than i expected tbh. currently, 'normies' and 'interspecies marriage' are the placeholder terms. i'm not satisfied with them, but they'll do for now. i'll happily take suggestions though!

and no, as i've stated in other posts (which I'm certain you've read through), beastfolks rely on human productions to produce more…well, more beastfolks, so human marriage is still encouraged (though some regions try to keep these 'human factories' a closed secret). however, you'd be more likely to find them in the human-sanctioned areas than in mixed communities.

marriage does provide some levels of protection against a beastfolk's claim, especially when there are already children involved. but, again, this varies by regions too. in more conservative beastfolk slash mixed race areas, marriage doesn't provide much, while progressive does.

“cheating is extremely taboo in beastfolk society--far more so than ours, where it's often forgotten within a few months. It's so taboo for the beastfolks that it's often a lifetime of shaming. even incest isn't as looked down upon to that extreme.” Why incest isn’t so looked down as Cheating? —anonymous

this is likely more to do with their history and beliefs slash religions.

if you are familiar with the irl tragic history of cheetahs, something similar occurred in the beastfolk history. multiple tribes faced extinction and starvation, often isolated from others in wasteland areas, so they practiced incest to continue their lineage. don't get me wrong, this is not a widely accepted practice in the modern eras, but most beastfolks who know their history generally understood that there was no other choice.

plus there are species where inbreeding saw less negative consequences than others, typically in birds (wingedfolks and featheredfolk), reptiles and amphibians (scaledfolk), and fish (seafolk). in some cases, incest had to do with certain folks' original cultural upbringings. so for some beastfolks, it's just easier not to judge.

that said, again, this is not encouraged--particularly since some experts theorized that inbreeding may be the prime reason for beastfolks' struggle to maintain their population. it's just not viewed as harshly as cheating is.

most of their faiths essentially started the same way--with incest between siblings born on a newborn earth, with no other living beings aside than themselves. together, they started to populate the earth.

many of the original verses were either lost, altered, or translated differently over time that they spawned multiple religions. in more recent eras, however, a new belief emerged where people believed that one sibling was a lone human while others were originally actual beasts--which lend to beastfolks their ability to walk and talk like us humans and be more humanoid in appearance. still, incest remained a constant, since…none of them were said to have any parent other than the one deity whose name differed across other scriptures.

so, their religion beliefs and history are the reasons why beastfolks just don't bat an eye at incest nearly as much as they do at cheating.

“the brothels back then that featured both human and beastfolks employees were often made 'illegal'—especially since any sort of intimate relations were looked at negatively. this is the era where the possibility of humans bearing/providing full beastfolk was being "discovered", still, while being scoffed at. “ Who had the idea to create these brothels? The humans or the Beastfolks? The demand for these types of “services” is greater for the Beastfolks or the humans? —anonymous

if you're familiar with our irl history, you'll know that brothels have existed for a very long time--since the beginning of human civilization. this is also true for my beastfolk au, so there's no real way to pinpoint the actual answer. even before the segregation between humans and beastfolk thousands of years ago, brothels were common.

in our history, there had been times where brothels were considered sacred, so it's the same with beastfolk. like us, our viewpoints on the brothels had shifted from positive to negative over the centuries, it's the same for them too. things worsened just a bit before the zoo era when the segregation barrier was compromised, and mixed brothels faced many restrictions and attempts to outlaw them.

also, it's because of the centuries/thousands-long segregation that the truth about the human's capability to carry the beastfolk's children had been lost over time and was thought to be a myth. so this was messy too.

but honestly, this is a complicated one to answer, because there are multiple regions in this au and things happened differently across countries. the main country where i tend to tell my stories, Applachia (the stand-in for the US), saw the divide so extreme that each race thought the other as fictional. granted, Applachia is an enormous country and in the past, the communications with other countries were vastly more limited--more so than ours.

reasons are long, but i reckon that the seafolks might carry a lot of weight to blocking the Applachians' attempts to explore the world and didn't take until long distance flight became feasible post zoo eras.

i'm rambling, so i'll get back on the course.

as for the last question for this one--

i'd say the same, though for humans, beastfolks are harder to come by due to their strengths and/or abilities. they do exist though.

What was the first public couple between a human and a beastfolk in history? Like, the first couple that was truly open, and everyone knew they were together. —anonymous

hard to answer tbh. if this is well before the zoo era, they'd be dismissed as myths or jokes. but if after, where technology is becoming more common-- like, say, with a heavy box tv in your home where you can watch black-and-white movies? probably the first known 'humanfucker' film. its director was openly involved with a human spouse--though granted, that movie itself probably portrays human characters in a very questionable light.

not sure, but i do imagine that director became famous because of how scandalous the concept of romancing a human was.

“one thing for certain, humans made a great effort not to wage wars with beastfolks because they’d get dominated very easily by their strengths alone. instead, humans used all kinds of underhanded tactics to weaken and derive beastfolks from their essentials, such as poisoning their wellwaters, stealing their (animal) livestocks, fucking with the soil so nothing can grow, etc. until humans managed to throw some kind of chemicals enough to finally weaken most of the beastfolks to throw them in all sorts of zoos. some unlucky fews went in the “facility” for experiments. all this occurred within the past one hundred years for them, probably far less that.” What species were unlucky to be send to the facility? What the facility did to these Beastfolks? —anonymous

??? any they encountered and could capture (keywords: could capture) back then would be sent to the zoo facility. it's essentially a prison where humans can gawk at the residents there (as in, it's literally a zoo). it's a degrading place to be for beastfolks, more so if one zoo is underfunded and keep its residents in under-stimulating conditions.

i know my writing isn't always clear, but i've spoke about the zoos fairly often…

“it really depends on where you are and what cultural setting are there. but it’s usually being assaulted by another beastfolk when the human’s already mated and attacking a married human / couple. i’d have to think more about this one though, it’s a bit of complicated question to answer given all the answers i gave before in other posts.” Why would another Beastfolk attack a married human/couple? This Beastfolk that attacked could be send to the jail? Why this is so common? All Beastfolks do that? —anonymous

some of these details were spoken earlier above. marriage protections. they're not always foolproof, but in more progressive regions in progressive eras, assailants can go to prison for their attacks--

and mind you, attacks can also refer to…coercion involving the human's body. i try and avoid using the term since i know some of my readers are sensitive, and tumblr is a little odd about the usage of that said word. but it can either mean that the attacker wanting the human for themselves--or is offended about their relationships.

but no, not all of the beastfolks behave this way. in fact, probably around 80% of them are decent folks who manage their instincts well. the rest though, well, they're physically stronger and more dangerous than any human.

“when it comes down to it, it’s really depends on who they are, their beliefs, and if they’re involved in their tribe’s ways of life. you may expect this one particular bear beastfolk to be a human-eater, but nah, they’re a humanfucker who is probably hunting for a perfect human they can call their own. same goes how you may expect that rabbit beastfolk over there to adore fucking humans from left to right, but no, they downright hated humankind and would probably be involved in a fighting ring with humans killing each other for their lives and making bets.” These fighting rings still exist? Who controls them? There is a human victorious? —anonymous

uhhhhh, that was just an example to describe how different people can be regardless of their species. but i wouldn't be surprised if a human actually ran these fighting rings. there's no one right answer, because anyone can run anything in the underbelly if they have enough money, know the right people, and know good hiding places.

“notably, most canid beastfolks, from wolves, foxes, hyenas, etc. are among the most common to take humans as breeding mates and pets than to eat them. aquatic species, like sharks and turtles, very rarely mates with humans, largely due to incompatibility for humans to live in underwater but there had been several reports of successful mating / breeding with them happening in the past” What reports of successful mating/breeding with the aquatic species? Can you explain more about this please? —anonymous

i don't think they'd be known for a good long while tbh, until the internet was invented and became more widespread. the first known case was probably a human charming a shark seafolk and working together to communicate. this one would probably be fairly old though, read like an adorable fairy tale with a happy ending.

though whether if they had children together remains unanswered.

you'd probably see more cases if the human residents were already living on the coastline long enough to catch a seafolk's attention--though there would be more incidents of humans dying from accidental drownings, too. sealions would likely be more common seafolks (though many still debate whether they should be called as such because they're more akin to clawedfolk/fangedfolk due to their natures and anatomy) to mate with their chosen humans, since they requires air to live and can move on land decently enough.

besides sealions, probably octopus and dolphin-based seafolks would also be more likely to mate with humans because of their intelligences. though as far as the public knows, only dolphins saw successful breeding with humans. it's still in progress with the octopuses.

“—human meats are made illegal though due to the questions of the humans’ welfares and butchering conditions, but it’s one of those laws most politicians, both beastfolks and humans, sort of turned a blind eye on though. interestingly enough, meats from certain beastfolks aren’t as illegal as humans though for some reasons.” What reasons? —anonymous

meat-eaters. pigs. cows. chickens. to name a few examples.

certain races doesn't mind cannibalism either.

like…look at the irl pigs. they really got no issues eating their sick/dead kins and got no qualm on eating their fallen farmers alive. that said, with certain beastfolks, it's an open (or closed, depending on the regions and such) secret.

however, this practice is being phased out in the modern eras, when there are domestic animals readily available for consumption.

“suppose a beastfolk fell in love with one of the parlor’s workers, they can purchase that human to keep though. depending on the age and ‘quality’ of the human, they may be very expensive to buy—or very cheap.” What makes a human cheap and a human expensive to buy? —anonymous

how old are they? had they been pregnant and given birth before? are they untouched? are they healthy or sick? are they thin or overweight? are they able-bodied or disabled? etc.

this can be regional and cultural too.

that said, some beastfolks really like the meat on their chosen human's bones, so weight (and differing beauty standards) doesn't hold much bearing on the price tag. it's primarily health and age that matters the most to them.

“that said, most the beastfolks are actually much bigger than humans are, both in height and in size. the biggest ones (on land) are usually bears, deer, horses, and whatnot. of course there are exceptions where some beastfolks are just born freakishly small (because like us, they have genetic faults too).” Generally, what is the height of Beastfolks by species? —anonymous

it's….kind of scaled with real-life animals in some ways.

for example, if tigers are bigger than us, then the tiger-based whiskeredfolk'd be taller than humans. dolphin-based seafolks, on the other hand, would likely be our height.

now, if it's a mouse-based toothedfolk? they'd be a bit smaller than us.

however, for massive animals like an elephant- or a horse-based hooved folks or even orca-based seafolks, they would be smaller than their bestial counterparts in order to mingle more safely with the rest of our shared society, but they would still be far bigger than humans.

so, there are some consistent standards for each species of beastfolks. of course, there are always some exceptions to the rules, just like with humans as i've already mentioned.

“i’m sure it’s becoming a general thumb of rule in the modern society to keep distance from a beastfolk and their mate, especially if they’re visibly pregnant. fyi there are afab beastfolks with amab darlings, so it won’t be rare common sights to see a pregnant beastfolk with their mate too—just don’t expect their human to do the snarling, its usually the beastfolk being extremely territorial of their mate and their unborn baby/ies regardless of what gender they’re passing as.” Why they so territorial? —anonymous

because…they're still animals in instincts? in real life, when they're expecting or in season, they generally gets aggressive. same still applies here to beastfolk.

“internet does exist, yes! humans are the ones who invented it/computers still though (which was one of many reasons why humans still get some independences, because of their intelligences—beastfolks generally dont see them as emotionally intelligent though but i digress since thats for another post). “ Why Beastfolks don’t see humans as emotionally intelligent? —anonymous

humans are emotional creatures who tends to struggle with regulating their emotions. in general, we face a lot of inner conflicts and often strives in superficial relationships (teenager dramas comes to mind tbh). many of us experience mental health issues, and we frequently allow our emotions to cloud our judgements.

…that sounds a lot like beastfolks too lol

beastfolks generally shy away at the first sign of issues with people they don't know and/or don't have to deal with on a regular basis. but, they often are…not very emotionally aware at times and are highly driven by their instincts, while humans tend to be more self-aware in comparison.

in conclusion, how they viewed humans largely stems from their upbringing.

“so, yes! frollo scenario wouldn’t be too farfetched at all and heck, may have happened more than several times. might’ve couple movies and novels out of it too, but at least the rabbit priest would see some sort of “happy” ending when frollo himself found his death. his “happy” ending though doesn’t necessarily mean happiness for his poor human lol” What movies and novels? Could you elaborate more about this please? —anonymous

this is a reference from an old disney file, the hunchback of notre dame! i'd recommend watching it; it's a good movie with a twisted villain named frollo obsessed with one beautiful poc character, esmeralda <3 for many people, it's their first introduction to male yandere!

keep in mind, though, that it's an old movie, so it's far from politically correct. the term, g-psy, is considered a slur today, and other examples portrayed in the film aren't accurate representations of the beautiful Romanian culture.

so, just be aware of that and you'll be fine.

okay thats all for now! hopefully this answers your questions, nonnie! sorry that some of them aren't to your satisfactory tho, they're tricky ones, especially with how big my au is.

whoops.

anyway, my inbox is always open. <3 now off to work my very late halloween thing...sighs.

[residents-of-the-darkforest]

Bumble's Curse AU (DOTC) (half-baked)

The Bullshit

I think what really annoys me about Bumble's death aside from the sexism and xenophobia and the sending her back to an abuser and not doing anything against Clear Sky is the fact that THEY AT LEAST COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING WITH IT.

Think about it. The first main character of the series was Rusty/Firestar, a kittypet who proved himself over and over in spite of his origins and became legend among the Clans.

Then we flashback to the creation of the Clans and have Bumble, who was rejected for her kittypet origins and.......nothing comes from it. Literally nothing reasonable.

What They Could Have Done

They could have still killed her, much as that scene absolutely sucked, if it was to intentionally show the Clans' xenophobia, to show the Clans' flaws and how that will eventually lead to Firestar changing things. But rejecting Bumble as a Clanmate was seen as a completely good thing??

Like they could have deliberately made their stories correlate in opposite directions.

So what if the Clans actually faced consequences for literally not helping Bumble when she was abused and leading her on the path of death?

I like the idea of her relating to water or ice, as that's the opposite of fire.

My Main Idea

She becomes a crying spirit, so distraught from her death and how she was treated by everyone--friends to enemies--in her life, that her ghost, if seen, is seen always crying

(cats can't cry, but in the books they shrug, show the whites of their eyes, have kits talk and open their eyes at like one day, so I think it's fine)

The emotions engulf her entirely, so that all she can feel in her death is utter sorrow. And because ~spirit powers~ those tears are the waters that flood SkyClan--the Clan that was founded by her killer. Because she sees how many kittypets reside in it, and if she wasn't so destroyed, so constricted in how she could feel as a spirit doomed to always feel only sadness, she would have been glad for them, she would have been happy!

But because she was a crying spirit, she could only cry at the unfairness of it. Why could they get the life that she had wished for herself?

And, as Patchpelt once said in Forest of Secrets: "I remember the last time the river overflowed, many moons ago. Cats from all Clans drowned. Prey drowned, too, and we went hungry even though our paws stayed dry. This is not just RiverClan's problem."

Maybe Bumble had to do with that flood as well? It's not seen in books, so it could have happened for a number of reasons. Maybe when Featherstorm met with a kittypet or had a kittypet's kits? Maybe, to tie them further, when Firestar was born and she could feel the prophecy, and knew of a kittypet that would be accepted into the Clans and become a wonderful leader?

As well, there's the flood in Bramblestar's Storm--though the kittypets join afterward. What if Benny was destined to become someone great, almost like Firestar, but this knowledge upset Bumble further, resulting in the flood.

As well, Shadowstar lost a life to drowning--and she was the leader to reject Bumble.

To make this short and not put in detail every water-related incident, here's a list of those that drowned, and thus could have possibly been killed (unintentionally and unknowingly) by Bumble:

Splashpaw [died offscreen in Dawn]

--

Woodkit + Robinkit [Leopardstar's Honour]

--

Tadpole [Tigerstar and Sasha] (kittypet that would have joined the Clans, as would Hawk and Moth, but they survived)

--

Lichenfur [Skyclan and The Stranger]

--

Flametail [Night Whispers]

--

Blackstar [offscreen in Bramblestar's Storm]

--

Seedpaw [Bramblestar's Storm]

--

Pebblefoot [offscreen in Bramblestar's Storm]

--

Grasspelt [offscreen in Bramblestar's Storm]

--

Snipkit [Hawkwing's Journey] (Skyclan + being chased away by someone who was once a kittypet possibly induced Bumble's crying??)

--

Juniperclaw -[AVOS]

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:

You may say that Bumble's no killer, and I would agree with you! In this case, the deaths are not murders, Bumble is not killing them intentionally--she likely doesn't even realize that she's killing them at all.

She is constantly crying in her afterlife, and whenever she sees something that especially triggers the deep sorrow inside her (like something that reminds her of her own pain or the life she could have had), a flood results--and the flood could kill anyone that gets caught in it, regardless of if they, specifically, caused her sadness.

Then, what if someone--Firestar, Princess, Echosong, another kittypet or kittypet-turned warrior finds her, and breaks the trance that had engulfed Bumble for years?

And she realizes the monster that she had become, that she made herself into, that the Clans made her into--no, the Clan founders, because these cats alive now were innocent. Just like she was. and she breaks down. The numb exterior that had built after decades of living as a crying spirit shatters, and Bumble is Bumble again.

More ideally, everyone who killed/rejected her apologize deeply. Maybe she accepts, maybe she doesn't, she's just glad to have the pain mostly gone, because she spent too long suffering and making others suffer because of it, and she just wants to move on.

And together, they send a message to the Clans to not neglect help from anyone who may need it, regardless of where they come from, and to think twice before rejecting someone based solely on where they come from. -- At least then they could admit the whole xenophobia problem in Warriors and try to fix it.

--

This is still very wonky, especially that ending part. My brain is still fried to blackened ash from final exams, but I thought of this and wanted to get it out there.

I think Bumble would be more interesting of a character if she was, you know, a character and not a prop, written only to be abused, neglected, killed, and forgotten. And I think it would be interesting if the Clans' xenophobia was called out and dealt with instead of something that's treated as perfectly okay and normal.

[as-tro-nauts]

what actually happened? I used to be big into btd, joined gato’s server briefly when tpof was in development, but haven’t paid to actually stay in the server, so i just see the announcements that it’s closing in 2 days

Hey! I’m glad you reached out to ask. A lot of people are in the dark, it seems to be that way when someone’s fave gets accused of excusing bigotry/g/nm. That being said, I’m going to lay out everything that’s been made public first, and then add in my own thoughts and things I’ve noticed.

The News:

As posted here a member(who I will be calling spieler in reference to their twt handle, and for privacy of their other accounts) of the patreon server(which I was also a member of up until news broke) reached out to Gatobob regarding untoward comments made to them by a mod, Melon who was a prevalent member of the fan community but also has a history of making members uncomfortable enough to leave server. Spieler operated under the assumption of good faith based on the language of the message and based on what myself and others had seen in mutual servers with them. The story develops in the thread and the two ensuing ones linked here and here detailing Gatobob’s handling of the situation. Reminiscent of but FAR worse than her handling of the Carnivorekitty situation. She knew spieler was going to reach out, it is implied she was aware of Melon’s subpar apology, minimized the situation to the fan’s face, and unrelatedly Spieler experienced enough harassment from diehard fans to not feel comfortable in the fandom space anymore.

Reports from members in server prior to its closure confirm that Melon was active until the very end, and did not face consequences for the frankly unacceptable comments made, which were far more than “cringe on main”.

My Thoughts:

Given how she didn’t bother handling the Carnivorekitty situation, and was more focused on smoothing things over here than anything, I’m not shocked. Frustrated and disappointed? Deeply. But it’s definitely a pattern of behavior to weaponize mental health(whether her own or others, as shown in Spieler’s threads), to shut down conversation on these serious matters, and that she doesn’t act like it’s her responsibility to curate a space reflective of her “good values”. It’s really hurtful and evidently untrue, it is the responsibility of a creator to manage the space their fans occupy to create a zone as free of bigotry as possible. Anything less than an enthusiastic FUCK NO to any kind of xenophobia is complacency. She did not boot Tom when he derrided the POC and LGBT+ fans that gave her this platform and this income. She did not remove Melon when confronted with the hurtful and unnecessary commentary she made, and instead allowed the pattern to continue for the duration of the server’s life span. Protect yourselves and take your money to someone who cares about their fan community, and won’t shut it down when confronted with serious issues.

I would like to make it very clear I disavow Gatobob’s actions, the people who harassed Spieler on her behalf should feel ashamed, and no party in this deserves harassment.

I just think maybe I’m tired of creators not doing better, and yet again my trust was ill placed.

[aquadestinyswriting]

A Stand on Holy Ground

Genre - High Fantasy, drama

Themes: friendship, fantasy politics, fantasy racism/xenophobia/bigotry

Warnings: fantasy racism/xenophobia/bigotry, likely a bunch of swearing, fantasy violence, blood mentions

Stage - In Progress

Pov - Third Person

Synopsis

Selene has been watching the rising tide of violence against the dwarven community within Toreguarde from her tower, and is not best pleased about it. When it becomes clear that the gang responsible for most of this violence, the notorious Brotherhood of Cleaving, is being bankrolled by someone on the Council, she tries to step in to help as many people as she can; starting with her close friend and ex-adventuring partner, Egrim Shiverstaff.

Author's Note

Please note that this whole WIP is based on events that took place in a Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition campaign, Destiny's New Servants, which was played between 2015 and 2018. That is all.

Chapters

Chapter 1

[queerbauten]

Western Joost fans when the Europapa Guy doesn't hate The Bad Europeans™ (Russians):

[privateandshamefulvices]

Crazy to me that most pop history stuff about the Diamond Necklace Affair has the anti-MA backlash portrayed as just completely delusional misogynistic xenophobia, and doesn't at all mention the impact of the botched public branding of Jeanne de la Motte on public opinion.