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spacepunksupreme · 2 years

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Apologies for weird ask but i really want to hear all your thoughts on Feyd’s ill-fated Hoe Squad—

Not weird! I do have "talk to me about Dune" in my bio for a reason haha.

But ah yes, Feyd's poor, poor ill-fated Hoe Squad ... I have so many thoughts on them. I will try to keep it organized beneath the cut

Okay going to start my thoughts on Feyd’s like feelings about it all to have in mind while I talk about the Hoe Squad. As sympathetic as my perception of Feyd is, I don't really think he was like actually sad about having to kill them, not in any kind of meaningful way at least. I just don't think he really has the emotional capacity to actually be sad. Like from the moment he decided he didn't have another option I think he probably just shut it all off, got it over with as quickly as killing an unspecified number of people with your bare hands could possibly take, and then like did a bunch of drugs, worked out until he fell unconscious, and depression-slept for an entire 24 hours until some house staff had to brave the task of waking him up. Maybe gave himself a new haircut and wardrobe (which is what I think he did to deal with losing Piter as a weird pseudo parental/ teacher figure in his life) lol.

In the reverse, I don’t think he got any pleasure out of it either though. We know Feyd enjoys killing people. And that it's probably not the first time he's had to kill people that he didn't necessarily want to kill, because I imagine he didn't have much choice about going into the arena as a little kid. But I think the killing of these poor girls was probably different for him because it wasn't even like "ugh, Uncle's making me go to killing-people-sports practice" like he normally enjoys it because all just sport to him, like truly the same kind of enjoyment normal teen jock boys get out of football. But I really don't think Feyd had previously killed anyone in a context outside of entertainment. Like unlike Paul who has been forced to really fight and kill by the end of the book, Feyd's ridiculous cocky behavior in the final fight seals the deal for me that I think he has such little experience of killing outside of a thing of fun and games and conquest and having to kill these girls like that definitely hit him hard in a way he is simply not equipped to even address with himself.

NOW To actually go into the Hoe Squad: I'm not certain whether they're supposed to be like proper slave-concubines belonging exclusively to Feyd— like women who at least like somewhat """enjoy""" like a glamorous lifestyle of being a part of a very wealthy major house, and think of their place there as just sort of a sometimes-unpleasant vocation because they've never really had a life beyond that, VS like spoils of war type slaves stolen away from regular lives and therefore making their whole existence in House Harkonnen more of a constant violence against them. The proper concubines one is like a little less horrible though, so I personally prefer to think of them that way. I also think the early chapter where Gurney talks about his murdered sister having been a part of "a trooper's pleasure house" lends some credence to that because we can assume all women enslaved via violent means end up there vs like women who are slaves via it being just their born societal station are more likely to be in the actual Harkonnen keep. idk, I digress.

The sad caveat of Hoe Squad living a life they consider somewhat decent is that I think they wouldn't really be expecting to meet such a violent death. Like I’m sure they’re prepared for a lot of shit because all Feyd knows is do drug, have sex, and do violence, which unfortunately can be combined into one single horrible hobby, but I really don’t think any of them conceived of having it end with him killing them. He doesn’t have a temper like the Rabban, and he’s not as flippant with people’s lives like the Baron, so it’s not something he ever would have done on his own imo.

Like I truly think Feyd was like—and I mean in this in the loosest possible definition of the word— “friends” with these girls. He likes them as genuinely as he is capable of, and they don’t completely loathe his presence either. My girlfriend said once that she imagines Feyd would just go the pleasure wing to just like talk to them, and I’m so here for the idea. Like he seems, for the most part, to have been as isolated as a kid as Paul, so who else does he even have his age to talk to? They’re a free captive audience he just relax around. It makes it all sadder, but also less horrible in other ways so I like it.

Because my mind works in visual sequences, I have this horrible little scene in my head where the girls like see Feyd come in and are just like "oh hi, Feyd. Lookin kinda pale, you okay? haha" and only upon seeing the Baron, who normally would not be anywhere near their rooms, just like silently all realize what's probably about to happen. Like this horrible silence followed by one single girl screaming and then all hell breaking loose .... awful awful awful.

The Baron is so evil for telling him “with your own hands”, which I assume means bare-handed, like to make it all so prolonged and personal, I don’t think there’s any way from him to avoid having to kill them all individually one-by-one. And I think it's especially fucked up that we are not told how many of them there are. Like, is Feyd murdering five girls with his bare hands? Ten? Twenty? Even with the smallest possible number I think it’s so horrible to imagine how long it must have gone on. And like it’s only natural that they would’ve tried to fight back, at least a little, which probably made it so much worse for any attempt Feyd made to make it quick for them.

I also have horrible thoughts about whether or not he had favorites among them, like did he have to decide—in the time it takes to walk from the Baron’s rooms to the slave wing—if he was going to kill his favorite girl first so she wouldn’t have to watch, or if it was better to let her live last even if she has to witness the death of the other girls? awful.

woof ... okay. That’s all I got. And now to clear our minds of violence against women, I invite you to close your eyes and imagine a toddler-aged Feyd who loves animals playing with some cute, exotic alien big cat cub that the Baron made Piter illegally import for him.

#sorry I didn't answer this for like over a week. I typed everything out like immediately after #getting this then saved it to drafts to organize my thoughts better later and accidentally forgot about it lol #THANK YOU FOR THIS ALSO. love to chat <3 #hope there's something interesting here for you #asks

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rayrex0fartemis · 1 year

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Battlefield Artemis, Protector of Warriors

Artemis from DanMachi: Astraea Record volume 3. Written by Omori Fujino and illustrated by Kakage.

“Hunting and the chase are the recreation of Apollo and Artemis, but they are also connected with the goddess [Athena]. For one thing because they are a part of the art of war…”

-Aristides Or. 14:6 (Tr. C.A. Behr; excerpt from Mary Galvin’s BIOΣ APTEMIΣ, p.169)

Artemis’ role in times of war and how she’s favored by soldiers are overlooked in favor the typical “war gods”, like Ares, Athena, and Mithras. While she was not called a “Goddess of War”, Artemis had a prominent role in war.

According to Mary Galvin, Artemis role in war is due to her connection to the life of society. Artemis prepares society for war and from the quote above indicates that there’s an overlap with the hunt and war.

Appeals were made to Artemis prior to war, especially when an enemy threatened the populace.

Historically people greatly believed that Artemis will protect them in times of crisis. The Ephesians had great faith that Artemis protected them danger, such as the legendary conquest of Croesus, who later built the first Artemision.

During the time the Persians controlled Ionia, they left the city of Ephesus and the Artemision mostly intact, despite destroying other cities and their sanctuaries and temples. The Syracusans, after a civil conflict try to keep the peace and decided to took steps to avoid further conflicts and keep a harmonious relationship with Artemis.

Artemis kept women safe from war. The women of Amphipolis gathered in the temple of Artemis Tauropolos and plead to Artemis for her help when their city was under threat.

Artemis also kept soldiers safe when they rest under her watchful eyes near her sanctuaries. Afterall Artemis’ sacred spaces were usually sites of asylum at least from the Archaic age to the late Roman period.

There’s a pre-war sacrifice ritual of pre-battle sacrifices to Artemis, usually with an animal sacrifice. Artemis occasionally give pre-battle epiphanies, she gave them signs or directly appeared to them herself. After a successful battle, the army and/or the society will give thanksgiving to Artemis and sometimes Artemis alongside other gods, typically Athena and/or Apollo, if they’re involved.

Examples of appeals before war and battle:

Antigone called upon Artemis prior to Parthenopaeus’ attack.

Agamemnon dedicated a sanctuary to Artemis at Megara in hopes to have Kalchas to join him in the Trojan war.

The Delphians appealed for help against a barbarian attack.

Before the battle of Marathon, the Athenians appealed to Artemis by promising to sacrifice a goat for each Persian killed.

Post-battle thanksgivings include:

Athens sacrificed numerous goats for their victory at Marathon against the Persians (though not 1:1).

Ephesus frequently honored Artemis each time they’re saved when they're in a pinch.

Alexander the average I mean Great honored Artemis with a sacrificed at Ephesus.

Xerxes the Great honored Artemis Ephesia, on his way back home after unsuccessful campaign in Greece.

Tissaphernes honored Artemis with a sacrificed at Ephesus.

Agesilaos honored Artemis with a sacrificed at Aulis.

The Spartans regularly sacrificed a goat in her honor.

Various memorials were erected around and inside Artemis’ sanctuaries to memorialized and thanking Artemis for her help in their time of need.

Athenians victory over Medes at Salamis memorialized in the temple of Artemis Proseoa.

Theseus’s at Troizen for his victory against the minotaur and his safe passage out of the labyrinth.

Preservation of land of the Cirrhaeans and Cragalidae.

At Euboea is Agamemnon stone ship with his thanksgiving for the passage to Troy.

Themistocles dedicated a shrine as thanks for his victory at Salamis.

Numerous thanksgiving inscriptions from Ephesus, Caria, Skythia, and throughout the ancient word from both Greek and non-Greek people.

Festivals and celebrations were made in Artemis’ honor.

Phokians initiated the Festival of the Elaphabolia at Hyampolis for their success against the Thessalians.

Athens observed on Mounychion 16th a holiday to Artemis in thanks for their success at Salamis.

Delphians initiated a festival for the thanking Apollo, Artemis, and Athena for their epiphanies during the battle against the barbarians and for their aid.

Another way that people thanked Artemis is the dedication of gifts at her sanctuaries and temples.

Garlands by Agesilaos and his soldiers.

Artemis Ephesia was given a tithe from the spoils of war by the Greeks.

Images of war heroes were dedicated to Artemis, such as an image of Adrastus the Lydian was given to Artemis Anaitis, and Artemis Ephesia was given images of various war heroes, including Lysander and prominent Spartans.

Aetolians gave images of Artemis to Delphi after their war with people from Gaul.

Artemis also participated in peace treaties as well. One time in Rome, there was an agreement that was publicly posted in Artemis/Diana’s sanctuary. Governments and political bodies frequently ask for Artemis’ permission to ratify treaties and/or seek her recognition of the treaty.

Overall Artemis was appealed for her help during critical moments before and during battle and her protection from her sanctuaries to the battlefield. Armies called for her help via pre-battle sacrifices and after the conflict, they gave Artemis thanksgiving sacrifices and/or dedications. Before Mithras, Diana was the favorite god for Roman soldiers to pray to.

“May God protect our soldiers"

Sources:

“BIOΣ APTEMIΣ” by Mary Galvin, there's a lot of information about Artemis here.

“The Secrets of Ephesus” by Izabela Misczak

Title totally not inspired by the Battlefield TV series…

Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/Artemision/comments/zt2bia/battlefield_artemis_the_protector_of_warriors/

#ancient greek #ancient rome #roman history #roman mythology #greek mythology #greek gods #artemis #diana goddess

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sublimenol · 11 months

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Deirdre Lore Dump

Art by Doc Starline

More Lore time. This time it's just some notes on the world and major factions still hanging around.

The World

The world is shaped similarly to how Tails Tube #1 explained things. There are a few large continents and countless small islands, chains, and clusters that dot the enormous ocean. The large continents primarily hold humans and their nations. The myriad islands are where the mobians have built their homes. Nations are mostly the same as they were presented in Sonic Unleashed. Many of them have ties to the United Federation and the defense force GUN. The Islands house many small city-states or governing bodies that make up island clusters that are connected enough to form into larger political bodies. The Kingdom of Acorn is one such example of a larger than average political body among the islands.

GUN

GUN still exists with the goal to protect the Human nations from Eggman’s threat. Their focus genuinely is on the interests of the larger continents and the United Federation in particular. The mobians are not high on their priority list, though that they are so frequently involved with the schemes of Doctor Eggman means that they are not entirely ignorant of their utility. While a huge power, the events of Forces have left them a shell of themselves and in the middle of a restructuring period that has seen an increase in Mobian membership. While ultimately well intentioned, their focus on militaristic control in preparation for total war has allowed potential threats to begin fomenting within their ranks.

Eggman Empire

The Eggman Empire is the greatest threat to the world currently. It exists mostly as it always has been, a collection of lands controlled by Eggman and his robotic swarm. In addition, Eggman has seeded supply caches, bases, hidden lairs and hideaways all over the planet just in case he needs to bolt or a novel idea drives him to a new land to work on growing his power. The size of the Eggman Empire has fluctuated over time, and though currently it is at its smallest extent, it is still a global threat. An aspect pulled from the Archie incarnation is that the Eggman Empire also employs Eggbosses. These regional commanders and agents are sewn throughout the world in order to facilitate Eggman’s needs. In some regions they may be conquerors, in others they are clever planners biding their time, sometimes they’re ardent wardens holding an area under Empire control. The majority of them are Mobians as that is where most of Eggman’s ambitions lay. While some are doggedly loyal servitors, many of them are just as ambitious and cruel as their employer and they themselves hold goals and aims of their own conquest. A fact that Eggman is well aware of, and all part of his overall plans.

The Restoration

The Restoration is a collective made up from Mobians all over the islands of the world. Originally spawned from The Resistance that fought against Eggman during Forces, they are primarily a recovery and rebuilding effort rather than a combative group. Currently administered and organized by Jewel the Beetle, The Restoration has a limited governing structure and mostly serves as communications and connections between the disparate islands. Recently, however, with the rise of other villains and increased Eggman Empire activity, the Restoration has had a need for more proactive defense initiatives. As such, they have begun to organize and keep track of various agents and squads of volunteer heroes around the world.

Battle-Bird Armada

Next to the Eggman Empire(and GUN if they get hungry enough), the Battle-Bird Armada is the most dangerous threat to the globe. Currently, however, they are still in disarray from Eggman handing them a crushing defeat prior to the events of Forces. Since the loss of their Battle Fortress, they’ve been hiding in the wings and slowly rebuilding their strength from small pockets dotted around the world. It is only a matter of time before the birds fly again.

#sonic oc #deirdre #oc lore #sonic au

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mariacallous · 1 year

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On March 25, state-run television network Russia 24 aired an interview with Vladimir Putin by All-Russia Radio and Television Broadcasting Company correspondent Pavel Zarubin. In the interview, the Russian president spoke in detail for the first time about how he plans to respond to Western countries supplying Ukraine with weapons. The most striking part of the interview was Putin’s announcement that the Kremlin has decided to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Additionally, he said that 10 Belarusian air force planes have already been updated to carry nuclear weapons. Russia has also given Belarus an Iskander ballistic missile system capable of carrying tactical nuclear weapons and plans to finish construction on a nuclear storage facility in the country by July 1. So far, the West has reacted to this attempt at escalation with restraint: U.S. authorities said they “have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture nor any indications Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.”

Meduza spoke to Maxim Starchak, an expert on Russian nuclear policy and a researcher at the Center for International and Defense Policy at Queen’s University in Canada. The conversation covers the rationale behind Putin’s decision, whether we should expect reciprocal steps from Washington and its allies, and how the presence of tactical nuclear weapons changes the status of Belarus itself.

Why did Vladimir Putin decide to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus?

I think it’s just the latest attempt to draw U.S. attention, to increase tension, to escalate, to put on the line what Moscow believes is important to the U.S. and would force them to the negotiating table. It’s the same with the suspension of the START treaty [the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the U.S.]. Moscow considers it an important case for the U.S. Moscow set a change in U.S. policy towards Ukraine as a condition for returning to [participation in START].

With Belarus, Moscow is playing another card, suggesting that tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus could also be an occasion to negotiate, in order to convince the U.S. to accept Russia’s conquests in Ukraine as non-negotiable, [and suggesting that] otherwise there will be no resolution to the nuclear questions which are so important to the U.S.

What accounts for Washington’s seemingly calm reaction to this attempt at escalation?

The U.S. reaction indicates that they’re not going to play Putin’s games. Just like after the build-up of Russian forces in February 2022. Putin introduces nuclear power as a factor in the war with Ukraine in hopes that it will draw the U.S.’s attention, but nothing happens. I think this is the correct policy, [that] the U.S. is not responding and doesn’t plan to change its nuclear readiness. That is, they refused to join the game with Moscow. That means the nuclear factor of this conflict has not formed at this point. It’s not Cuban Missile Crisis 2.0.

Does that mean we shouldn’t expect any answer from Western countries? Does Putin’s decision change the balance of power in Europe?

[Most likely, no, because] the presence of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is not news to professionals. In February 2022, Belarus introduced an amendment to the national constitution whereby it ceased to be a neutral and non-nuclear state. In June, Putin reported that he was prepared to send Belarus an Iskander ballistic missile system and Su-25 military aircraft converted for nuclear missions. By the end of the year, these issues had already been resolved. Apart from that, Belarus has already received two S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems from Russia. They’ve gotten Su-30 fighter jets and a Protivnik-GE air defense radar. In other words, everything is ready for Belarus to have a secure zone for weapons, some of which may be nuclear.

So we realized last year that nuclear weapons would appear in Belarus. Yesterday, it was officially confirmed.

It’s likely that Poland or another country will invite [the U.S. and other Western nuclear powers] to deploy nuclear weapons on their territory [in response to Russia’s decisions to deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus]. But it’s unlikely that the U.S. and NATO will respond [in kind]. These discussions were happening last year too, but they remained just discussions.

Will the presence of tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory make Belarus a nuclear power?

First of all, it’s important to understand that this doesn’t mean more nuclear weapons in the world — they’re just being moved from Russia to Belarus. And so far, it seems that Moscow will copy its own practice: nuclear warheads are stored separately from carriers, and the carriers exist without the nuclear weapon.

Russia will evidently retain control over the nuclear weapons [it supplies to Belarus] and will create a special storage facility [in Belarus] for nuclear warheads, which will be fully under the control of the 12th Chief Directorate of the Ministry of Defense [which oversees Russia’s nuclear arsenal]. So they’re not formally violating their non-proliferation regime. Belarus will not become a nuclear power.

What other aspects of Russian nuclear policy will change based on the decision to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus?

Now we can say that Putin is clearly inconsistent. In March, as a result of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, Russia and China signed a declaration on, among other things, the importance of not deploying nuclear weapons outside of national territory, and about how the U.S. policy of storing tactical nuclear weapons in Europe and the integration of NATO allies into this issue is opposed to the path that Moscow and Beijing have chosen.

But a few days passed, and now this. So far, it seems that Putin has deprived himself of the moral trump card of being a defender of the non-proliferation regime, and has received nothing in return.

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catch70 · 2 years

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Russian Troops’ Embarrassing Drunkfest in Ukraine Prompts Alcohol Bans Wasted troops in occupied Ukrainian territories have reportedly caused so many incidents that Russian leadership has ordered bans on alcohol sales in some regions. Published Jul. 06, 2022  12:00PM ET   Russian troops are hitting the bottle so hard that they're banned from buying alcohol in some regions of partly occupied territories in Ukraine, according to General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The soldiers are getting so drunk while trying to fight in the war in Ukraine that they’re causing serious incidents in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military said. “This leads to numerous disciplinary violations and serious misdemeanors,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Wednesday. The drunken Russian troops’ excessive habit to enjoy a tipple is allegedly causing car accidents, firearm violations, and other incidents while intoxicated. In a somewhat incongruous move, the Russians are relying on a Santa Claus impersonator, Ivan Sushko, to fend off the wasted Russian troops from buying any alcohol—including beer—in Mykhailivska and Rozdol. Russian troops, though, have been raiding and grabbing assets from local businesses in Zaporizhzhia, according to the Ukraine Crisis Media Center. The people of Zaporizhzhia, meanwhile, have been subject to enforced disappearances, torture and forced conscription. Russia has been preparing for a mobilization in the region in recent days, and has started to forcibly conscript men in Berdiansk, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the National Resistance Center. Russian authorities in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is partly under Russian control, have been working in recent days to try selling Ukrainian grain abroad, in a move that has raised concerns that the Russians will generate funds from their conquests. Just last month Russian forces were taking Ukrainian grain from the region to Crimea via train, according to Ukrinform. The head of the Russian administration in the region has said sales will go to Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, accord go TASS, The New Arab reported. The Biden administration has been working to convince other countries Russia might try making a grain sale with to avoid purchasing stolen Ukrainian grain, the State Department has said, according to The New York Times. Russian forces have also been occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, and laying anti-personnel mines to fend off Ukrainians, raising the prospect that any breach of protocol or damage to equipment could lead to radiation exposure. There’s never before been a military takeover of an active nuclear power station. And while Russian troops have been patrolling around the complex to try to root out spies, or Ukrainians they deem still have allegiances to the Ukrainian territorial defense forces, Ukrainian defense officials have said that they likely will not be going offing after the nuclear power station, as they are more focused on running a counteroffensive in the direction of Kharkiv and Kherson, the Wall Street Journal reported. Source: Russian Troops’ Embarrassing Drunkfest in Ukraine Prompts Alcohol Bans

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beckface · 2 years

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I was today years old when I learned Violet and Becky put on a gay version of "Romeo & Juliet" with two Juliets and a third-wheel talking wall for their parents. (Low-key I thought Scoops would officiate the wedding as the wall lol)

Why the heck did I just completely forget about this ask. forgive me comrade you deserve better

Scoops would absolutely officiate the wedding and would also get his license to do so from the internet

I’m interpreting this as you telling me to think about a Vibecky forbidden love au anyways

Lexiconians invade earth and oops they’re bad and expect Becky to join them. She does at first, not realizing their intentions, and then is like “o shoot”

She ends up having to sneak away to see her earth friends and family, and they have to keep it a secret because a) her secret identity is revealed and b) earth people hate aliens now

unfortunately the timing is horrible because Violet and Becky has JUST realized they had fallen deeply in love with each other, and they have to hide it from everyone lest their warring sides be distraught

One day Becky finally meets her biological parents and she’s so happy and emotional that she almost glosses over the fact that they just basically told her she’s going to be a great asset in destroying the earth people to make an alien farm or whatever

Becky realizes that she can’t let this happen and with tears in her eyes pulls away from her people to go stand with Violet and her real home.

The earthlings don’t trust her at first until Violet stands up and reminds them of everything she’s done for them

The girls gather everyone and prepare for war best the can, sharing one last moment together before going into battle

During the fight everyone is doing their damndest, Tj and Johnson are working together, Granny May is committing mass alien murder, Tobey is living his best life with free range to be as destructive as possible, Amazing rope got captured immediately, the rest of the villains are at the forefront just mowing through aliens and their technology, Scoops is the leading man of a human blockade (get it cause he was dressed as a wall) just writing shit in his journal, Sally is being terrifyingly good at this and Tim is supporting her as the team medic

In the heat of battle Violet is captured and about to be deadified when becky thROWS herself infront of her and threatens to romeo and juliet herself, know that she’s a key asset to the alien’s victory. Everyone freezes and stares at the tense moment

It’s a kids show and we can have ideal endings so her lexicon mother looks deep into her eyes and realizes that they’ve all lost themselves in conquest, and proclaims that they have made a mistake, and promises to leave

After they leave Becky and Violet embrace in a triumphant moment with tears in their eyes, finally able to be in love in public. Scoops runs up and joins them in the group hug, camera pans out scene ends the end

BECKY GETS ALL THE BLONDES

#wordgirl #hc/au #ask #becky botsford #violet heaslip #todd scoops ming #vibecky

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yandere-daydreams · 3 years

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Imagine a darling priestess/priest living isolated in a temple, much like the vestal virgins did: sheltered and dedicating their lives to serving their deity. The Yandere, maybe a foreign prince, only catches a glimpse of the darling once on the rare occasion of a yearly public ritual, and they become obsessed. They're drawn to the darling's purity, and even more drawn to the idea of sullying it. Drawn enough to come back to the city with an army and claiming the darling as spoils of war...

tw - kidnapping, sacrilege/general disrespect of religion, mentions of war, nonconsensual touching, unbalanced power dynamics, implied noncon.

I think it’d help if the foreigner in question was a general, a high-ranking soldier spoiled by their own victories and ready for an easy conquest, one that’ll provide a prize grand enough to fit their inflated sense-of-self. They’ve put in the work, showed their dedication made their sacrifices, and now they’re prepared to reap the rewards, even if they’re not quite ready to say it that bluntly, just yet.

Of course, you’re not just a prize. No, you’re more than that, a hidden treasure tucked away into the furthest, coldest corner of the nation they’ve been sent to conquer, a jewel too rare and too dear to stay trapped inside that monastery, worshiping a god they don’t recognize and preforming rituals they can’t see the point in, not when it’s clear they’ve done your country so little good. From the moment they stumble onto your temple, searching for a place to house their troops and let them recover before the long journey home, they recognize it - the indoctrination, the persuasion, the waste of a beautiful face and a pretty laugh and such a sharp tongue, when you don’t have to worry about getting into trouble with your superiors. They know you don’t care for them now, not when you only know them as the invader of your motherland and the tyrant that’s welcomed themself into your home, but that can change. It will change. They have a habit of getting what they want, and they already know you won’t break their streak.

Although, they’re willing to admit they excepted you to be a little more thankful when they announced they’d be taking you back to their country, that they’d be keeping you by their side, that you’d be with them as a willing consort or as their prisoner, whichever it may be. They thought you’d be happy to leave behind your rigid chores and your stuffy traditions, but you’re too stubborn for your own good, too brainwashed to see that they’re doing you a favor as they carry you, kicking and screaming, away from that awful, confusing place. You say that you liked it there, that you took pride in the role you played, that you were happy, but they just can’t believe it, not when they know what you’ve been denying yourself, not when they’ve already decided you belong with them, rather than a place where you’ll never be appreciated as thoroughly as you should be. It’s tiring, having to bind your hands when they want to touch you, having to restrain themself unless they want their pious little brat to come to hate them, but they’ve faced worse, and you’re far from the most intimidating enemy they’ve had to overcome. You’ll get used to it, eventually - the one-sided kisses, their wandering hands, the sparse displays of affection they expect you to return, from time to time, and if you don’t, it only means they haven’t been a good enough guide, that they’re not being forceful as they could be, when it comes to your late education. You need a steady hand, and more than anything they need to make you understand your place.

They’re owed a prize, after all. And if you care about precious monastery as much as claim to, you’ll give them what they’re owed.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere imagines #yandere prompts #yandere theory #general

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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Hi, I’ve been tasked with researching Richard Plantagenet for a paper and thus far found extremely negative accounts of the king, his religious bigotry being a reoccurring theme (his treatment of Jewish dignitaries attending his coronation and his reasoning to join the third crusade etc)

I stumbled across your wonderful tag for Richard at the weekend and wondered if you wouldn’t mind sharing your informed opinion of Richard and his views on religions ? Your writing seems very well balanced regarding his attributes and flaws. Thanks :)

Oof. Okay. So, a short and simple question, then?

Quick note: when I was first reading your ask and saw "Richard Plantagenet," I briefly assumed that you meant Richard Plantagenet, father of Edward IV, or perhaps Richard III, both from the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century, before seeing from context that you meant Richard I. While "Plantagenet" was first used as an informal appellation by Richard I's grandfather, Geoffrey of Anjou, it wasn't until several centuries later that the English royal house started to use it consistently as a surname. So it's not something that Richard I would have been really called or known by, even if historians tend to use it as a convenient labeling conceit. (See: the one thousand popular histories on "The Plantagenets" that have been published recently.)

As for Richard I, he is obviously an extremely complex and controversial figure for many reasons, though one of the first things that you have to understand is that he has been mythologized and reinvented and reinterpreted down the centuries for many reasons, especially his crusade participation and involvement in the Robin Hood legends. When you're researching about Richard, you're often reading reactions/interpretations of that material more than anything specifically rooted in the primary sources. And while I am glad that you asked me about this and want to encourage you to do so, I will gently enquire to start off: when you say "research," what kind of materials are you looking at, exactly? Are these actual published books/papers/academic material, or unsourced stuff on the internet written from various amateur/ideological perspectives and by people who have particular agendas for depicting Richard as the best (or as is more often the case, worst) ever? Because history, to nobody's surprise, is complicated. Richard did good things and he also did quite bad things, and it's difficult to reduce him to one or the other.

Briefly (ha): I'll say just that if a student handed me a paper stating that Richard was a religious bigot because a) there were anti-Jewish riots during his coronation and b) he signed up for the Third Crusade, I would seriously question it. Medieval violence against the Jews was an unfortunately endemic part of crusade preparations, and all we know about Richard's own reaction is that he fined the perpetrators harshly (repeated after a similar March 1190 incident in York) and ordered for them to be punished. Therefore, while there famously was significant anti-Semitic violence at his coronation, Richard himself was not the one who instigated it, and he ordered for the Londoners who did take part in it to be punished for breaking the king's peace.

This, however, also doesn't mean that Richard was a great person or that he was personally religiously tolerant. We don't know that and we often can't know that, whether for him or anyone else. This is the difficulty of inferring private thoughts or beliefs from formal records. This is why historians, at least good historians, mostly refrain from speculating on how a premodern private individual actually thought or felt or identified. We do know that Richard likewise also made a law in 1194 to protect the Jews residing in his domains, known as Capitula Judaeis. This followed in the realpolitik tradition of Pope Calixtus II, who had issued Sicut Judaeis in c. 1120 ordering European Christians not to harass Jews or forcibly convert them. This doesn't mean that either Calixtus or Richard thought Jews were great, but they did choose a different and more pragmatic/economic way of dealing with them than their peers. This does not prove "religious bigotry" and would need a lot more attention as an analytical concept.

As for saying that the crusades were motivated sheerly by medieval religious bigotry, I'm gonna have to say, hmm, no. Speaking as someone with a PhD in medieval history who specialised in crusade studies, there is an enormous literature around the question of why the crusades happened and why they continue to hold such troubling attraction as a pattern of behavior for the modern world. Yes, Richard went on crusade (as did the entire Western Latin world, pretty much, since 1187 and the fall of Jerusalem was the twelfth century's 9/11). But there also exists material around him that doesn't exist around any other crusade leader, including his extensive diplomatic relations with the Muslims, their personal admiration for him, his friendship with Saladin and Saladin's brother Saif al-Din, the fact that Arabic and Islamic sources can be more complimentary about Richard than the Christian records of his supposed allies, and so forth. I think Frederick II of Sicily, also famous for his friendly relationships with Muslims, is the only other crusade leader who has this kind of material. So however he did act on crusade, and for whatever reasons he went, Richard likewise chose the pragmatic path in his interactions with Muslims, or at least the Muslim military elite, than just considering them all as religious barbarians unworthy of his time or attention.

The question of how the crusades functioned as a pattern of expected behavior for the European Christian male aristocrat, sometimes entirely divorced from any notion of his private religious beliefs, is much longer and technical than we can possibly get into. (As again, I am roughly summarising a vast and contentious field of academic work for you here, so... yes.) Saying that the crusades happened only because medieval people were all religious zealots is a wild oversimplification of the type that my colleague @oldshrewsburyian and I have to deal with in our classrooms, and likewise obscures the dangerous ways in which the modern world is, in some ways, more devoted to replicating this pattern than ever. It puts it beyond the remit of analysis and into the foggy "Dark Ages hurr durr bad" stereotype that drives me batty.

Weighted against this is the fact that Richard obviously killed many Muslims while on crusade, and that this was motivated by religious and ideological convictions that were fairly standard for his day but less admirable in ours. The question of how that violence has been glorified by the alt-right people who think there was nothing wrong with it at all and he should have done more must also be taken into account. Richard's rise to prominence as a quintessentially English chivalrous hero in the nineteenth century, right when Britain was building its empire and needed to present the crusades as humane and civilizing missions abroad rather than violent and generally failed attempts at forced conversion and conquest, also problematized this. As noted, Richard was many things, but... not that, and when the crusades fell out of fashion again in the twentieth century, he was accordingly drastically villainized. Neither the superhero or the supervillain images of him are accurate, even if they're cheap and easy.

The English nationalists have a complicated relationship with Richard: he represents the ideal they aspire to, aesthetically speaking, and the kind of anti-immigrant sentiment they like to put in his mouth, which is far more than the historical Richard actually displayed toward his Muslim counterparts. (At least, again, so far as we can know anything about his private beliefs, but this is what we can infer from his actions in regard to Saladin, who he deeply respected, and Saladin's brother.) But he was also thoroughly a French knight raised and trained in the twelfth-century martial tradition, his concern for England was only as a minor part of the sprawling 'Angevin empire' he inherited from his father Henry II (which is heresy for the Brexit types who think England should always be the center of the world), and his likely inability to speak English became painted as a huge character flaw. (Notwithstanding that after the Norman Conquest in 1066, England did not have a king who spoke English natively until Henry IV in 1399, but somehow all those others don't get blamed as much as Richard.)

Anyway. I feel as if it's best to stop here. Hopefully this points you toward the complexity of the subject and gives you some guidelines in doing your own research from here. :)

#anonymous #ask #history #medieval history #richard the lionheart #long post

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manikas-whims · 3 years

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Shadow & Bone, The Crows & everyone's complaints

So now that I'm on my 2nd watch of the show, I wanna speak on certain things about the Crows in the show, which have made many people mad and some of which I didn't like either..but which I can still see as tying up with the canon.

⚠ Spoilers for both the Books & Show ⚠

Here we go:

• Kaz accepting the 1M Kruge job

Now ofc we all remember the book Kaz who bargained with a Mercher and raised his prize to 30M. But Leigh, Eric & the Crows Cast has been pointing out since day one that these aren't the same people we know from what we've read. This is a sort of prequel to those characters and just them figuring out their dynamic with each other.

Remember, the book opens with Inej saying Kaz is a feared man in the Barrel without hesitation, she introduces herself as the Wraith who can't be stopped even by gravity on certain days and Jesper as the amazing sharpshooter and charmer.

Now as a new reader, I found that chapter sort of funny because how are you claiming all this without showing me their process of becoming these formidable people? But as I read through, the thought that inded these are 6 dangerous outcasts, settled in my mind.

But before that 30M job, they must've had many smaller conquests too right? Ones which slowly built-up their experience, confidence and relationships.

Since this is a prequel, consider this as another day in their Barrel life, as them going on another of their regular jobs. And just think of this as a learning experience for Kaz. That its the dangers that they got into travelling to a different country that made Kaz learn his and his crew's worth. And prepared him for the negotiations he did with Jan Van Eck in SoC.

• Kaz brought to his knees by Pekka

While Kaz being bested by two mere lackies of Pekka was kinda annoying to me as well, why do we believe that Pekka can't harm him or the others? PEKKA ROLLINS WAS THE BARREL KING BEFORE KAZ.

Remember on the Ferolind when Oomen tells them he was ordered by Pekka Rollins to take down the Dregs? They all were shocked and somewhat worried. And it was brought up later on when Jesper said they were going against Pekka Rollins and Wylan explains for Matthias sake how Pekka is not to be messed with.

It was only Kaz who wasn't concerned at all, who consoles Jesper by saying Pekka is just another Barrel Boss.

And what were we even expecting Kaz to do when Pekka brought him to his knees? Didn't Kaz express in the books enough how a simple beating won't make it up. He promised to take his revenge in small steps— building up his gang, stealing customers from Pekka's clubs, etc. BRICK BY BRICK.

So Kaz can be brought down to his knees too. And Pekka can easily do it if he wishes so. But no one wants outright Gang Wars; Pekka because he is far more experienced and knows when and where to put pressure or when to let go of a job. He even advices Kaz to forget Inej and drop the idea of going against a Mercher in SoC last chapter, because it is a foolish thing to do.

And Kaz wouldn't want gang wars because he knows the Dregs aren't big enough to face the whole of Dime Lions. Besides he already plans to bring down Pekka brick by brick.

But no one threatens Kaz Brekker, so consider this "on his knees" scene as a set up and another reason for Kaz to strike back and pay back tenfold.

It will also serve as an amazing parallel if we get to see him make Pekka beg on his knees.

• Kaz and Inej are too obvious

Are they? Haven't they always been like that when in each other's company or when around the other Crows? So of course they're expressing alot in front of Jesper.

But note that there are was no incident in the show where Kaz expressed his slowly developing feelings in front of his enemies, namely Pekka. In fact all Kanej moments happen only between them or in Jesper's presence. So there's nothing wrong with that.

Are they too obvious? No. As I said before and as we all know Kaz and Inej ALWAYS share deep conversations whenever together even in books— "i will have you without armor", "i would come for you", etc.

So show Kaz telling Inej "no saints have watched over me like you.." was not much different from their canon alone conversations.

Have they shown too much already? NOT AT ALL.

We only saw Kaz putting the Crow Club on collateral but his reason behind it wasn't shown at all.

We only saw Inej kill a man to protect Kaz. We don't know why she chose to kill for him. You can't immediately translate that to love. It can very well be considered her trying to pay back because he saved her from the Menagerie.

Remember in Crooked Kingdom Chapter 4, Inej says: "their lives had been a series of rescues ever since, a string of debts that they never tallied as they saved each other again and again."

So consider these moments as their endless back and forth of saving each other.

*Another thing to note in the show is when Inej gave her knives to Kaz. She says: "as a friend once said".

She has started considering Kaz a "friend" and she knows he feels the same way even though he won't say it. They're only starting to open up and give way to friendship. And not just Kanej, Jesper too.

People can care for and have each other's backs without it having a romantic aspect. The show gave the viewers a peek at what Kanej are willing to do for each other and showed that there's obviously sparks flying but no clear motto. We still didn't see Kanej's first encounter at the Menagerie or Kaz staring at Inej sitting on his window. These are just small moments to set up the ship.

• The Crows only there for comic relief

NO. I don't agree to this at all.

I'm gonna go back to SoC Duology. Now we know both the books have a sort of a dark setting. But both of these books also had hilarious moments.

Right in Chapter 2 of SoC, Jesper joking about spelling with his bullets and Kaz joining in on the joke. There's also the "this whole shoot me thing is starting to worry me". Inej & Kaz's banter about "greed is your god".

Almost every chapter had atleast one moment that was either comical or to lighten the mood or just straight up banter between the Crows. And all those moments were all always entagled with serious ones.

The show did exactly the same. We were given their crime life because they were after all, on a job to capture and sell off a person. But the show lightened it by adding the Crows banter and certain comical moments. And for the finishing touches, they sprinkled in some vulnerability.

• Kaz not being ruthless enough

I AGREE. I DO.

What the fuck is wrong with us all wanting a sinister man being ruthless? 😂

There's not much I can say about this but that even in books, Kaz isn't always ruthless.

He is mostly giving out orders and scheming schemes. But in those rare moments in the book when we get to see Dirtyhands, we are given a view into some really intense moments.

When Kaz dislocates a man's arm in the Ice Court Prison, he himself admits it that he didn't do it as much to make himself look intimidating to the other criminals but more to remind himself that he can do it, that he isn't some helpless man.

The only such thing we got in the show was the brief scene between Kaz and that Inferni where he had that scary look on his face as he crushed that inferni's arm and slammed his face.

WE DID DESERVE MORE OF THAT.

But maybe it was a good moment to set him up for more violence in the coming seasons. *crosses fingers*

• The Crows not stealing from Alina

Okay whilst Inej wouldn't do it, Jesper may only consider, Kaz would definitely do it!

Remember Kaz kazually conversing with Van Eck and Pekka but also stealing their stuff in those moments with his slight of hands?

Yeah, the showrunners had a perfect chance at the end to do it but they missed it 😐

This is probably the one thing that I'm unable to settle with 🤧

So..that's it!

I don't want everyone to agree with me but I hope everyone can be a little less aggressive and more kind to the show. It was still amazing, if not a proper adaptation then at least good as a standalone show. And the showrunners already did say "high budget fanfiction"

#shadow and bone spoilers #six of crows #shadow and bone #the crows #kanej #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #jesper fahey #crooked kingdom #grishaverse

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drops-of-moonlights · 3 years

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"My my, this poor planet has fallen into quite the disarray in our absence. Non-magi thinking they really can handle so much power is truly worrying. Don't worry, young fairies. Now that we're free, we'll get to fixing it all as soon as possible!"

Next getting redesigns are the White Circle leaders! Y’know, the true villains of AUS4. Copypasted info on them below!

The White Circle has been imprisoned for almost 2000 years, and ever since then they’ve been planning their attempt of reconquering the world and bringing their rule once more. While the Spell of Closure the Black Circle used was strong, it was also made with the condition that it could only be broken by a direct relative of the White Circle’s head figures from the outside. When Morgana entered Roxy’s dreams and managed to convince her to come to Tir na nOg, she slowly manipulated her and the Winx’s actions to open the seal. They thought the Winx would want to join their ranks in their new conquest, but when they refused, all hell broke loose. While Morgana stopped a full-on battle in that moment, they started their conquest almost inmediately after the girls left. Infighting started at the same time, however - Only Nebula and Sibylla supported Morgana’s conquest, while Diana and Aurora took their followers and left for the Amazon and Antartica respectively, not wanting part in this war. Sibylla then starts to reclaim Europe, while Nebula focuses on the New World. Morgana keeps harassing Roxy in her dreams, trying to make her join through any means possible.

While the Winx manage to get Diana and Aurora on their side (after a couple issues), Nebula and Sibylla fight them any chance they get, with Nebula’s defeat at the South Pole being the determinant factor in the war. Now losing, the White Circle prepares for a siege in Tir na nOg, where the Winx, with the help of not only the Black Circle but also Diana and Aurora, manage to defeat what remains of the White Circle (with Roxy discovering Morgana’s her mom in the process), and sending them to a jury in Magix to determine their punishment. Nebula and Sibylla are thrown to jail, while Morgana gets a heavy power limiter and sent to custody under the Black Circle.

On each member individually now! They’re all in Ascendix.

Diana, Witch of Lush Nature, Witch of the White Circle’s Summer under Morgana’s rule before defecting. Her Source is that of plants, but she has mastered control over water and earth. In the centuries she’s been trapped she has lost interest in bringing order to the world, and would rather get back to her home and try to manage the damages humanity has done in her absence, and with her original home completely different, she resolves to moving to the Amazon. Her initial conflict with the Winx is a matter of pride, with the Winx trying to stop her from murdering everyone on the spot. After the conflict’s resolved, however, she gracefully joins them, especially after Nebula shows her true intentions. She came from what was once Hispania, now Spain. Her subjects use Dianix, as do the Winx on accident while fighting her.

Aurora, Fairy of the South Pole, formerly the Fairy of the White Circle’s Winter. Her Source is Ice, but befitting her name she also has decent control over light and wind. Like Diana, she doesn’t want part in a nonsensical war, they lost, that’s done, let’s move on. Her abode is in Antartica, and she willingly calls the Winx for help when Nebula starts wrecking the place. One destroyed palace later, and with Bloom having defeated Nebula in a 1v1, Aurora fully joins the Black Circle and helps them by pinpointing the White Circle’s weak points. Unlike Diana, who chose the Amazon as her native land had changed too much, she is native to the frozen continent, and it’s unknown how she came to Tir na nOg in the first place. Her subjects use Aurorix, as do the Winx to go unnoticed.

Nebula, Witch of the White Circle’s War, formerly Witch of Firestorms. Her Source is fire, but she has managed to master control over electricity as well. She’s incredibly devoted to Morgana and her cause, and will gleefully do her bidding, partly out of her dedication to Morgana, partially due to her love of causing destruction. She’s capable with many weapons, but prefers spears and polearms.Her usage of magic isn’t as sophisticated as the others, but more than makes up for it with its raw power. Her subjects use Nebulix. She comes from Carthage.

Sybilla, Sorceress of the White Circle’s Justice, formerly Sorceress of Caverns. Her Source is sound, and has managed to get a decent control over earth and darkness. She can manipulate sounds and voices to make the judgements that need to be done, and does not have issue with creating situations for forced, false confessions, as the will of the White Circle is absolute. She has a mild case of power overload/magic high, as marked by the low aura under her eyes. Her subjects use Sibyllix. She comes from Umbri.

Morgana, Fairy of the White Circle’s Wisdom, later marked as the Fairy of Sanitization. Her Source is light, with control over healing, animals, darkness and poison as well. While she seems to be a warm and nurturing woman, she’s convinced that normal, magicless folk cannot govern over themselves and they will only cause pain and strife. She’s a magnificent tactician, but the fact that her mother had opposed her in the past (as she was one of the Pleiades) but now her daughter as well makes her judgement falter. She can essentially perfectly manipulate people into doing what she wants, via a mixture of illusions and altering one’s body chemicals, hence her later title of Sanitization. She doesn’t have a true Ascendix, but a mixture of Ascendix and Sorgentix. How this form came to be is a mystery, but judging by her wings, it’s an unstable form. She experiences a near constant magic overload, the shine around her eyes ever shifting.

#Drops's Art #Winx Club #Winx Redux AU #The White Circle #Morgana #Aurora #Diana #Sibylla #Nebula #Ascendix

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yelenassecretlover · 3 years

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medieval au hcs [sfw] pt 2

anime: attack on titan

characters: erwin, armin, mikasa

a/n: no thoughts head empty, y’all know I’m on mobile and I cant copy and paste from the google doc I work on to here, its so annoying I have to boot up my old ass desktop to copy and paste :)

Erwin:

King, helped lead his kingdom into a golden age. Although it seems war is just over the horizon, maybe he can help prevent it once again?

It seems as if King Erwin has been in power for centuries…but that cant be. Rumors says he’s over 300 yrs old but those are just rumors

Can either be extremely intelligent and knowledgeable or a complete himbo, there is no in between

A Dilf, has a bunch of daughters who he loves dearly, will behead you if you so much as look at them in the wrong way

Had a beautiful garden made, named it “of eden” as he located every flower and beautiful plant in the kingdom and planted them there for his partner.

Is not intimidated by the demons he calls knights Levi and Yelena. One of the few people who isn’t scared of them, occasionally messes with them

Loves PARTIES, a new ball or some event is occurring every week. Truly he just makes up any excuse to party. (Levi’s usually stuck as the head of the party planning committee, claims to hate it but he volunteered)

“ The butler recently bought a new puppy. Let's celebrate the life of the animal with a ball. Invite everyone”

Many of his conquests and goals are questionable, but no one dares question him (except his daughters they’re always pestering him with new questions)

Has a throne room that he does sit in, but you’ll have a better time finding him in his office (he thinks the throne room is kind of tacky but Levi and Yelena insist on him using it)

Was raised in royalty his entire life but spent his young adulthood sneaking off into the villages, where he met Levi (No surprise, to his dismay, his daughters do the same)

Armin:

Baker, inherited his parents business after they disappeared in a trip to the forbidden land

Extremely curious and inquisitive, questions everything around him. Even owns a couple of banned books but don't tell anyone

Always smells like the latest delight on the menu, on Mondays you’ll smell Snickerdoodle, Wednesday Blueberry muffins and Friday, well Friday is experiment day but sweet is one word to describe it.

Wears an apron regardless if he’s in the kitchen or not, although food isn’t the only thing cooking (some say at 3am you can heard weird spells being cast, but in the morning you merely smell the freshly made bread so who knows)

“ ha..silly rumors we all know casting spells is illegal. I’m just preparing for the next day”

Extremely kind and caring but not naive, picks up on things quickly. Book smart and Street smart

Humble origins. Not that it bothers him he’s always cared more about the way things are done, then the actual things themselves. To hung up on the can it be done not worried on the should it be, you already know this story

Animals really like him, although he hates it because they’re constantly stealing his sweets, he needs those to make a living so he’s a bit stressed

Such a sweet and lovely aura to him, no surprise he’s as sweet as his cookies

Constantly getting flour on his books, when he opens them he’s not sure if its dust or flour but he is currently in a coughing fit so he won't notice

Wanted to follow Eren and Mikasa into knighthood but didnt, although not because of his psychique (baking requires quite the workout, so he’s a bit toned) but rather decided to continue his families legacy in the sweets department

Mikasa:

Knight, Joined for two reasons, for her friend but also her loyalty to her Kingdom.

Stern face but very warm once spoken to, looks mean but is the sweetest

Due to the kingdom being in a golden age her full potential has not been shown, but it has been noticed. Sworn into the head knights team at a young age, the first to do so.

Contrary to popular belief not in love with Eren, she’s very protective of all her close friends, the mom friend of the group. The one you can count on bringing in extra blankets for the mission

Doesn’t drink no matter how hard the day may have been, has to make sure Eren or Sasha dont get into any trouble

“Captain was pissed when you two snuck into his office, the next time you do some dumb shit like that I’ll snitch on you myself”

Touch starved, attention starved, really craves love but instead spends her days training to distract herself

Extremely agile, great fighter, master at swordcraft. Basically amazing at everything she does, Armin tried to bribe her to join his bakery, she refused.

Women of a few words, her actions are how she expresses herself

Cherishes the gifts given to her by the villagers no matter how useless

“Mika that’s the 10th letter opener you were given you do not need that give it away” “……no”

When not in her usual knight attire, she wears lovely summer dresses that go just below her knees, even in winter, claims she cant feel cold. (funny.... Levi claims this too)

#aot medieval au #erwin smith #mikasa ackerman #armin arlet #snk imagine #aot imagine #aot #attack on titan headcanons #aot headcanons #aot x reader #snk headcanons

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ask19thcentury-doctorgilbert · 3 years

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And that’s something that I carried over to my own canon! Gilbert is very protective of Ludwig and that personal protectiveness sometimes comes into conflict with their relationship as the nations of Prussia and (future) Germany which makes things... Complicated.

More of me rambling under the cut because I have A Lot of Thoughts(tm) about this. If you wanted to reblog the art without the headcanon, I’ll be posting it on my art blog ( littleartistthings ) too! ^^

A lot of it comes from Gilbert’s own rocky upbringing ( I talk about that in more detail in this post if you’d like to give that a read! ) so he tries so hard, maybe even too hard, to make up for everything that he felt he lacked when he was growing up. He showered the boy in praise and encouragement, indulged his interests and hobbies as much as he could, and almost always came running at the first sign of trouble no matter how minor the problem may be. A big part of him is subconsciously trying to shelter Ludwig from anything negative, be that pain or disappointment or feeling like he isn’t good enough or the stress of dealing with the business of being a nation. If Gilbert could have his way, he’d handle all the hard stuff and just let his son enjoy the benefits and live a normal life.

And while that sounds very noble and while Gil had the best of intentions, it fostered some very unrealistic expectations, and some frustrations too, from his son’s perspective and ultimately rendered Ludwig ill-prepared to take the reins from him once it becomes his turn to step up and assume the responsibility of being the embodiment of this empire that was forged for him. Sure, Ludwig participated in the wars of Unification and was taught all the necessary statecraft and politicking, but I always thought that he was never really given any real responsibility since it’s Gilbert who’s still pulling the strings and micro-managing from the background; trying to make sure that everything is perfect for his son so that he can live in peace without constant threats to his stability and safety.

You know that quote from Cersei? “I would do anything for you. Anything to keep you from harm. I would burn cities to the ground. You are all that matters.” That just about sums him up. Which brings up another big mistake when it comes to Gilbert’s parenting: The goal was to give Ludwig and the empire peace and stability, to be a stabilizing factor in Europe but the example he set was anything but that --- Ludwig grew up well-aware of his father’s reputation for being the Army with a State and the fact that he comes from two generations of nations who made their name by means of war and conquest. There’s also Gilbert’s century-long vendetta against France that he never made any effort to hide, which in turn left quite the impression on Ludwig.

Unfortunately, Gilbert won’t start to realize how badly he messed up until the lead up to WW1. By then he had to deal with a boy who was a) sick of having his entire life dictated to him and b) way too eager to make his mark on the world the same way his predecessors did; we all know how that will snowball into a bigger shit storm down the road.

Gilbert does feel responsible and does grow to realize that his over-coddling and the decisions he made and agreed to as a nation back then played a role in what transpired in the 20th century, whether directly or indirectly. Which is why I feel he faced the sentence of dissolution at the end without much protest because in a sense, he’s getting what he deserves and at the end of the day, he’d still much rather have his own head on the chopping block as opposed to Ludwig’s.

There’s a whole lot of feelings, trauma, guilt, and stuffed down regret and resentment to unpack from both Ludwig and Gilbert’s side... But father and son did have a very long, very emotional talk about it around 1992 or 1993. Grievances were aired, apologies were exchanged, forgiveness was given, and they’re both still incredibly close to this day.

#[ headcanon ]#aph prussia #hws prussia #aph germany #hws germany #ludwig beilschmidt #gilbert beilschmidt #APH German Brothers #thank you anon for letting me talk about this #gil and lud's relationship is one of my favorite ones #to pick apart and elaborate on #nation relationships are so messy

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div-divington · 3 years

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big ol’ invicncible spoilers, watch the show first trust me you’re not missing anything if you don’t read this post

I’ve never talked about a cartoon or tv show before but I’ve gotta say that people who say there’s ‘no complexity’ to Omni-Man’s character just tick me off.

I mean, listen, he’s totally a villain at least in the cartoon adaptation (I’ve not read the comics, going to consider them separate entities for the sake of argument), but he’s far from a two dimensional sussus amogus imposter blindly readying the planet for invasion.

I whole-heartedly believe that Omni-Man enjoyed being a superhero, saving lives. I believe his friendship with the tailor guy was real, I believe he respected, admired even, the Guardians of the Globe, cherished his relationship with Debbie, and enjoyed living among humans. The brief interaction with Darkwing and The Immortal when the Mauler Twins attack the White House is so sincere right? Like, it seems to me he respects them, the jokey “you’re welcome” when he saved Darkwing, the “I had him” when he saved the guard Immortal was going for, that wasn’t necessary of him. He had no real reason to be playful and cordial with them, he could have been distant and still gained their trust easily (I mean, Darkwing was a jerk and they loved him). The brief moment of shock and unresponsiveness when Mark revealed that he’d finally gotten his powers? I honestly believe that was a moment of disbelief. I think he hoped Mark’s powers wouldn’t manifest, hoped he wouldn’t have to continue his mission. That pause was him coming to terms with the end of things. The realization that he would have to hurt people he respected, finish his mission, and end his time as a father, author, and superhero.

When he collapses after murdering the Guardians of the Globe, the look on his face isn’t just exhaustion from the fight, it looks to me like shock. Disbelief. I don’t think he wanted to kill the Guardians, I think he hated doing it, but it’s what he was bred for. He was born and trained from childhood for thousands of years to weaken a planet from within, prepare it for invasion. Earth had superheroes, naturally a pretty noteworthy obstacle for an invasion, so he, in his mind, had no choice but to kill them. And notice that most of his kills are pretty... clean? He goes right for Immortal’s head, ditto with Aquaris and Green Ghost, snaps War Woman’s neck, kills Darkwing in one clean move, tears off Martian Man’s heart(? is that a heart?), crushes Red Rush’s head (which seems slow because of Red Rush’s perception of time being RIDICULOUS compared to our own, that horrific scene only lasted like a second for the rest of the characters). He goes for quick, clean kills, minimizing pain. Maybe its just brutal, soldier-like efficiency, since the greatest superheroes on Earth cannot be allowed to get any good hits in (they nearly killed him as it was), but what if it was a desire to not prolong the suffering of people he genuinely liked?

We see in the flashback towards the end (during the THINK, MARK, THINK! scene lmao) that he initially didn’t give two shits about humanity on a deep level. He loved and respected Debbie and his then-very-young son, but thought humans were, on a whole, primitive and dumb. But as he spends time observing them, watching their culture, interacting with them, living with them, he warms up to them. The smile on his face when Mark hits his first homerun in little league, remembering Debbie’s favourite foods, the way he laughs when he mentions how a superhero had to meet the president in a plaid supersuit, the fishing photograph with the tailor. Even after he finally reveals himself as an infiltrator, the way he talks, to me, shows respect for his adversaries even as he demeans and belittles humanity. The discussion with Cecil, the warning to ‘stay out of this’. Nolan seems reluctant to kill anybody he doesn’t have to, and seemingly acknowledges that the Global Defense Agency at the very least is a minor threat.

So, you say, why does he act so AWFUL at times?

Well, his seeming lack of emotion after the funerals for the Guardians of the Globe can proooooooooooooobably be chalked up to his alien psychology. He finished grieving, he didn’t see the harm in cracking jokes about them. Calling Debora a ‘pet’? I think that honestly would be him trying to rationalise his feelings for her. There’s a fraction of a second where he hesitates to say it, and I honestly think he’s just trying to explain to himself how he could ever love a ‘lesser lifeform’. Killing all those innocent people? In his mind that was justified to get through to Mark. He doesn’t enjoy it -- though he also doesn’t dislike it -- he just sees it as a flat necessity, no less insignificant than killing a bug (i said the man is a complex character, I didn’t say he wasn’t evil).

Don’t forget, Nolan’s genuine reasoning for bringing Earth into the Viltrum Empire is to help it. He argues that Viltrum technology can end hunger and poverty, end crime, revolutionize medicine. In his eyes, his indoctrinated eyes, he’s doing the right thing to help the people of Earth.

He still thinks he’s the hero.

‘it’s right to pity them’.

He sees humans as lesser creatures, he thinks they need protection from themselves, need to be brought up by the Viltrumites to be better. They can’t survive on their own, they’re weak and soft, they need us to reach their full potential, to find true glory in serving the might of Viltrum. Omni-Man does not see his actions as evil, he thinks he’s the good guy. He reluctantly kills the Guardians of the Globe, slaughters thousands of people, and destroys a city in order to, in his extremely twisted sense of morality, help people.

And, in the end, it is not the Viltrumite parts of Omni-Man and Invincible that end the conflict. It is Mark’s very human belief that he will, one day, get through to his dad. His refusal to give in, his undying love and determination to save people, save Nolan. It’s this that reaches Omni-Man. It doesn’t reach the tough soldier he had been for thousands of years, it reaches the small part of Omni-Man that wasn’t pretending to be human. The part that is Nolan Grayson. The part that, despite still seeing them as primitive and inferior, likes humanity. It’s a human tear that leaves his eye as Nolan flies away from Earth, finally giving up and refusing to facilitate the invasion if it means killing his son, something a full Viltrumite wouldn’t hesitate to do for a second if their family got in the way of their conquest. He was changed by his time with humans.

I’m not defending Omni-Man, he’s obviously a bad guy, an antagonist, serving a genuinely evil empire, but i AM saying he isn’t some flat, boring two dimensional villain who just PRETENDED to like humanity for the twenty odd years he spent living there. I’ve seen people in youtube comments replying with “I think you misunderstand Omni-Man as a character, you see, he was simply pretending to not hate humanity, it was all an elaborate ruse, there’s no real depth and inner terminal in him at all uwu” but i think THEY misunderstand Omni-Man.

He’s not morally grey, he’s arguably not even redeemable, but he IS a complex and well written character and boiling him down to ONLY being an evil alien who tricked people into liking him just rubs me the wrong way.

but idk maybe I misunderstood him and he really IS flat and boring. Maybe his time with humanity didn’t change him at all, he isn’t emotionally conflicted, and he’s just less cool than I thought.

And despite my seeming passive aggressive language, it’s totally chill if you disagree with my personal interpretation of Omni-Man as a character, art is meant to be a unique experience for everyone, so if you see him completely differently to me that’s great! I just dislike the insistence from some people online that anybody who sees him as a deeper, more complicated character is just wrong.

also sorry for this post coming out of left field entirely lmao

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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A timeline of Ken’s fall into the Kaiser persona

The timeline of Ken meeting Wormmon and going through a sequence of events that made him into the Kaiser is relatively unclear, especially because Ken’s own memory is distorted, but production notes and other minor clues in the anime hint at a timeline that works with it:

August 2000: Ken goes on some kind of adventure with Akiyama Ryou and Wormmon

Late 2000-early 2001: Osamu dies

Around 2001: Ken goes on a second adventure with Akiyama Ryou, is hit by the Dark Seed, Oikawa sends him the fateful email, Ken visits the Dark Ocean

Late 2001-early 2002: Ken begins his conquest as the Kaiser

Yep, that’s right: Ken went on two different adventures with Akiyama Ryou.

A further breakdown of this timeline is under the cut!

So the thing you’re probably wondering is “wait, this is supposed to be a Tag Tamers tie-in, but Tag Tamers doesn’t make sense with this at all! Didn’t it say Ken went on an adventure with Ryou in March 2000 right after the Diablomon incident?” The thing is that for as much fanfare as there is about Tag Tamers being important to 02′s timeline, in fact, very little of Tag Tamers makes sense with 02 itself, and the game is is so contradictory that it doesn’t actually help you understand 02 much at all. This is, unfortunately, par for the course with Bandai licensed games, which don’t exactly have the greatest track record of keeping true to anime characterization or being remotely consistent with it at all (Daisuke’s characterization in Re:Digitize is borderline insulting), and everything we know about Adventure and 02′s planned lore doesn’t make sense with it either. In the end, we’re just going to have to follow our very loose attitude towards the concept of canon and default to the anime’s depiction of things for the sake of this particular analysis, pulling from Tag Tamers only when we can incorporate details from it in a way that doesn’t contradict everything.

02 episode 33 has Ken explicitly bring up the idea of “an encounter with a Digimon” that led to him becoming a Chosen Child happening in August 2000 (Koushirou had just mentioned the recent wave of Chosen Children having had a preliminary encounter via the 1999 incident). Unfortunately, we don’t know any more than this, due to Ken’s own memory failing, and the subject is left there.

(Again, yes, this is contradictory with Tag Tamers, but remember that said depiction of “Ken and Ryou watching the Diablomon incident” also contradicts Ryou clearly being seen by himself in Turkey in Our War Game! The anime is consistent with itself; the game is the outlier here.)

So when the Digivice emerged from Osamu’s computer (actually meant for Ken) in the flashback in 02 episode 23, we see a very young Ken with a purple shirt. Let’s take a closer look at this design.

We’ve received a lot of versions of this design sheet over the years, but all of them are consistent about one thing: this design depicts Ken as nine years old, in third grade. (Whether it gives grade level or age depends which version of this reference sheet you’re following, but everything is consistent about this.)

All of Ken’s various designs as depicted in this episode and other flashbacks are very clearly marked and depicted, and even the younger design of “Ken at the time of blowing bubbles with Osamu” has its own sheet (he’s four years old at that point). Moreover, the above nine-year-old design has an explicit instruction on this particular sheet: “please use this for his interactions with Osamu,” meaning that this is the design everyone was instructed to follow up with during any scene where Osamu is alive.

The Animation Chronicle confirms that this happened in August 2000, so it seems to be shortly after Ken’s “initial encounter”. (Or maybe this is the “initial encounter”? Ken might have conflated both.)

This is the same design Ken is depicted with when he first is sucked into the Digital World (again: he’s clearly depicted as going in alone, not with Ryou as Tag Tamers depicts). While Ken’s memory is understandably very muddled, a lot of the details here make sense with each other:

The worst thing we see of this little venture is Wormmon having to fight a Gazimon. It’s not a big deal of a thing they have to fight through.

It’s clearly short enough that Ken can go in and out during the duration of an afternoon without anyone in the real world noticing (besides Osamu).

Ken’s looking like he had a lot of fun -- definitely not the kind of thing that seems like he went through a lot of trauma.

It’s unlikely anything much of a big deal happened during this point, other than some emotional bonding with a new best friend.

Osamu also died shortly after, given that Ken is still depicted with this design in the surrounding events as depicted in 02 episodes 21, 23, and 45. (Spring 2003 also refers to the titular spring as “the third spring” since Osamu’s death, confirming that Osamu must have died within the time period of late 2000 to early 2001.)

Ken is depicted at Osamu’s funeral in 02 episode 48, and while his clothes are different and we don’t get a full-body shot of him, note that there’s attention paid to making sure his design aligns with the above purple-shirt one -- his bangs drop in the center, rather than pointing left.

However, Ken remembers a trip through the Digital World in 02 episode 43, and Ken is depicted with a very different design that doesn’t match up with the one depicted in 02 episode 23. This has often been passed off as animator error, or Ken’s memories perhaps being extremely muddled, but what we know about the surrounding circumstances doesn’t actually suggest that...

This design is consistently written in notes to depict Ken as ten years old, in fourth grade. Not only that, if you look closely, Ken is visibly slightly taller, so it’s not just a simple question of clothing; his bangs are also depicted as pointing left, the same way they’re generally depicted with him at eleven, and not dropping in the center the way his nine- and four-year-old designs depicted.

On top of that, the surrounding circumstances behind this adventure depicted in 02 episode 43 also seem to be very different from what was depicted in the one from 02 episode 23:

The battle is clearly depicted as being against Millenniummon, and, regardless of whether this is following Tag Tamers or not, that’s clearly a big deal of a defeat.

Ken’s injury from the Dark Seed is enough to completely send him on the verge of death, which probably would not elicit the same kind of casual reaction he had during his emergence in 02 episode 23′s flashback. It was mild enough that Ken “recovered from his injuries and went home,” but that’s definitely not the kind of thing you’d expect to result in Ken be emerging with a big smile on his face (especially since Osamu’s violent reaction back then was implied to be out of jealousy for Ken’s happiness). Moreover, Ken returning in a poor state of health would probably be much less likely to be noticed by his family when Osamu is dead (and therefore not there to notice) and Ken’s parents are deep in grief.

This incident is the one that directly caused Ken’s trauma, meaning it’s more likely that this incident is going to be the one that got scrambled up in memory (it didn’t take long for Ken to recall his initial adventures with Wormmon in comparison back in 02 episode 23).

Ken refers to this incident as “two years ago”, but recall that, on top of his own unreliable testimony and scrambled memory, 02 episode 43 (when he brings this up) takes place during late December 2002, meaning that an early 2001 date doesn’t necessarily fall out of the question here, and it’s also not the first time 02′s final quarter taking place at the very end of December has thrown off date references. (02 references to “age” and “relative time” are often very rough in general and a bit too overly realistic, considering how long of a period 02 spans over and the question of things like exactly how long Daisuke can be said to be “eleven years old” over the course of the series, or the fact Osamu is said to be 7 when Ken is 4 and 11 while Ken is 9, so the more important part is paying attention to the fact the design sheets are so explicit about referring to different things.)

Moreover, this design of “ten years old, in fourth grade” is used in 02 episode 23 to show the events that we retroactively know happened right after that:

Once Ken had the Dark Seed in him, it makes sense that Oikawa wouldn’t hesitate to reach out to him, since he now had a great opportunity to exploit him mentally! Remember that this design debut all the way back in 02 episode 23, which meant that we knew that there was some kind of “timeskip” between Osamu’s death and Oikawa emailing Ken, but...if that were all there was to it, why would Oikawa wait so long between Osamu’s funeral (which clearly had Ken with his nine-year-old design) and now, especially since this “timeskip” would have given Ken extra time to mull over and recover from Osamu’s death? It makes much more sense when you apply 02 episode 43′s context that Ken’s Dark Seed implantation happened between Osamu’s death and the email, with Ken still having a really horrible year mulling over Osamu’s death, then getting dragged out like this and having something traumatic stuffed into the back of his neck that had the potential to feed on his already thick emotions of grief, and finally being at the right emotional point for Oikawa to make use of him.

It also explains why the Kaiser didn’t become enough of an issue to merit intervention until all the way in April 2002 -- presumably, of course, the Holy Beasts needed time to prepare, but if Ken wasn’t implanted with the Dark Seed until 2001 and Oikawa’s email shortly after that, that means Ken building up his persona as the Kaiser only really had less than a year to form (especially since 02 episode 23 states that Ken suddenly “doing well in school” didn’t start happening until Ken roughly got to the same height as Osamu was when he died, and the illusory meeting between the brothers in 02 episode 49 shows that Ken’s not actually that much taller than said height at eleven).

Moreover, if you do know the development circumstances behind Tag Tamers and 02: Tag Tamers already existed by the time 02 episode 23 was released, and so did Ken’s ten-year-old design (hence why it and Ryou’s design consistently show up together in concept art). This ten-year-old design had already been associated with “the time Ken got hit with a Dark Seed” (which really seems to be the only holdover in common between Tag Tamers and the anime) by the time 02 episode 23 was made, and despite that, Ken was given a completely different nine-year-old design for the flashbacks in 02 episode 23 that consistently got its own sheet. And you can’t say the animators forgot the ten-year-old design existed, because they clearly were fine using it for the other flashbacks in 02 episode 23 that happened to not be that flashback -- it’s hard to easily pass that off as “animator oversight” when it’s conspicuously introduced in the anime in a context it’s not known for and only revealed to be in its original context later.

Why did they suddenly change designs and depict such a “timeskip” back in 02 episode 23 when, if it really were supposed to all be related to the same events anyway, they could have just reused the designs and called it a day instead of making a whole new model sheet for an entirely new one? Whole entire character designs don’t just come up for no reason, especially when sheets are so consistent about them corresponding to different things, and the nine-year-old design seems to be made specifically for the purpose of having a distinct one for anytime Osamu was alive -- so it’s much more likely that this distinction is actually intentional (regardless of whatever the game says in terms of specifics).

As an amusing side note: Ken’s unusual height has been pointed out by a lot of people, and it’s sometimes been speculated as a bit of fridge horror that his unusual height growth might have also been impacted by the Dark Seed (especially given the 02 episode 23 comment about Ken reaching Osamu’s height correlating to when he started expressing similar “genius” tendencies), but even putting aside the fact he’s consistently portrayed as tall even in Kizuna and the epilogue: if Ken indeed got hit by the Dark Seed at 10 instead of 9, that means the kid had some pretty considerable height growth between those ages even before anything supernatural came into play. His father’s also tall, and Osamu was pretty obviously around the same height as Ken at age 11, so there’s clearly something in the Ichijouji family overall. Ken’s just tall.

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #ichijouji ken #ken ichijouji #shihameta

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niqhtlord01 · 3 years

Text

Humans are weird: Insurgency Part 1

Planet: Sepher III Status: Conquered Industrial Capacity: Limited - Reconstruction in progress Agriculture Capacity: Limited - Reconstruction in progress Orbital Capacity: 5 orbital platforms - 2 require minor repair, 1 requires extensive repair and overhaul Population: 753,682 Humans 35,321 Mentas 125,873 Menta Colonists enroute. Military: 0 Human 175,946 Menta Soldiers 2,653 Naval Personnel 3 Moltak Destroyers Leadership: Military Governor Galvin Zecks Sub Commander Cobal Oft ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +1 To: High Council of Menta From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks To my honored leaders I bid you well, I wish to once more thank you for your confirmation of my stewardship of our latest conquest from the humans. Already I have put to work the remaining population of humans that did not flee at rebuilding this planet and preparing it for the coming colonists. Within a few months of their arrival I will have turned this war torn world into the lynch pin for our future conquests in neighboring sectors.

I have just seen off the remaining military forces which left to continue the campaign. I have no doubt their victories will resound through the hallowed halls of the seven suns for ages to come.

May the eyes of the seven watchers gaze upon your deeds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +1 To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

Per your instructions the remaining humans in the surrounding area have been put to work rebuilding the capital and space port.

Our initial strikes on both locations was deep and the damage is extensive. It will be some time before they are operational again.

In the mean time I have had our ground forces establish their base around the capital building. They have begun work on fortifications along with several barracks and depot buildings have already been constructed.

From here we have been able to launch extensive patrols around the surrounding area.

I have also dispatched several dozen garrison forces to occupy other cities and smaller towns. Once the capital is secure we can go about setting up additional garrisons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +66 To: Cobal Oft From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks The first batch of colonists should be arriving within the next few days.

Finally we can get this dirt ball feeling like a proper Menta world. It will be refreshing to see the streets filled with our people instead of these dirty human rabbles.

To that end I want you to establish exclusion zones around the start port and capital. Expel all humans within and remove them to the outer quarters of the city. The use of lethal force is prohibited at this time for such implementation, much to my displeasure. We can not have our new colonists thinking this world is savage and unhospitable and if word gets out of executions or deaths among the human work force it could reflect badly and dissuade others from coming.

If such methods are required in certain cases make sure that they are properly contained.

After the humans have been relocated establish checkpoints at each of the entrances to the star port and capital. No human is to be allowed in unless with proper authorization. papers. It's time to remind the humans of their new place on Sepher III. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Year 2743 Formal Occupation +153 To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

Security of capital has been officially handed over to the Sepher police force. They're a bunch of green jackribs if you ask me but at this point there's no need for military units to be acting like this is a live combat theater.

In the mean time I am dispersing the remaining forces to the regional capitals now that they're finished. All twelve should have substantial reinforcements to support local enforcement which has become a problem since humans fled major cities to minor towns.

Speaking of troop deployments, I heard a rumor that we are about to lose a majority of our standing occupation forces. Can you confirm? If this is true then it might shake up our redeployment considerably. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +153 To: Cobal Oft From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks You heard correctly, but in the future I would encourage you to dissuade yourself from gossip. The war with the humans is taking a larger toll than first projected. Reinforcements are being called up from all of Menta space and shipped to Vergo Prime and since Sepher III has been classified as pacified the military leadership has decided such a large force is no longer required.

We can expect transport ships to be in system within the next few days to collect roughly a third of our ground forces. Have the finest soldiers ready on the landing pad before then. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +247 To: Cobal Oft From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks I am hearing disturbing reports from one of our mining camps at Golden Peaks. Some sort of violence against one of our guards by a human prisoner.

This came at a rather embarrassing time as I was meeting with several industrialists from the home world about their expansion to our world.

I was able to downplay the event as nothing serious but I want it under control now.

Dispatch several squads and make some examples of the human laborers there. Then go have a word with the mines foreman and express my displeasure with his lack of control.

Be enthusiastic when it comes to telling him how disappointed I am. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Year 2743 Formal Occupation +262 To: Cobal Oft From: Military Governor Galvin Zecks I feel my previous message may have been unclear in what I wanted done with the mining base at Golden Peaks.

To be clear, I wanted the soldiers to publicly execute one or two human agitators and then beat several dozen more including the foreman.

What I did not want to happen was the destruction of the entire mining operation!

My office is still getting reports of damages and loss of life after the explosives went off.

Consider yourself fortunate that the industrialists had already left or I would have your head on a platter.

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Year 2743 Formal Occupation +263 To: Military Governor Galvin Zecks From: Cobal Oft

I have had my men combing the area and we believe we have pieced together what happened.

Several squads arrived just as you requested two days prior and began the process of making examples.

The day before the explosion one of the soldiers executed a human female from the camp and displayed her body at the main mine entrance as a warning.

Later that night a series of explosives went off destroying not only the mining facility but the stationed squads as well.

We believe the humans were able to get their hands on some of the mining charges and wired them to detonate.

Officially I have been stating that the incident was a result of human negligence with improper storage of explosives and the cover story is working. The only problem is the final body count does not add up. It's true because of the blast several more bodies may be buried in the mines, but security footage shows several dozen human workers fleeing the mine before the explosion went off.

I have three teams combing through the surrounding area searching for them.

They will be recaptured and made an example of.

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans are insane #humans are space orcs #humans are space oddities #scifi #story

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