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externalconceit · 1 month

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[Still thinking about That Burke Guy. That means I've thought more about him in a few weeks than Marvel has in 30+ years.

He mentions his first death was by burning at the stake in the 17th Century. Given the method of death and the time period, it's likely he was a victim of the heresy burnings that swept over the Holy Roman Empire at that time. (So... probably Germany or the Netherlands-ish.) Externals didn't manifest their powers until after their first death, so that decreases the likelihood of him being executed for "witchcraft"/visions.

When his body is destroyed, he's canonically shown to be reborn in the body of a newborn baby (kicking out its soul?), and taking on the same distinct features he had in his last body. The stuff I've found in the comics shows that he was physically back to adulthood within ten years.

So, you have Some Normal Guy who was burned for "heresy", but really because he pissed off the wrong neighbor. His body is destroyed in the fire, and he "reincarnates". He's walking around born to a new family while being aware of everything that happened before. He's able to see the future and has no idea what's going on. Is he a demon? Is he cursed?

He's also growing as fast as that baby from Twilight, and he's got these eyes:

I'm seeing him staggering around as the blind beggar trope, cloth "bandages" over his eyes for his own safety.

The other Externals can sense when another member's been activated, but the comics are a little hazy with the explanations. In my mind, Shar got to him first.

Her identity at the time was as a wealthy widow, and as an act of "charity", she takes him into her house as a servant--which he isn't, but the public doesn't need to know that.

They start off with a very clear power imbalance just because she's his mentor. I don't know if they become involved later on or at that point, but they aren't on equal footing until he breaks away to become his own man and joins the High Lords.

I feel like there's a long and complicated story that will be completely irrelevant because there will never be a Burke in the RPC, but I also feel like he's an important part of Shar's life. Their interests are aligned, and they will act to protect one another against other Externals if necessary.

They conceived a child together in the past, but the infant didn't survive the birth due to Shar's powers, or because Externals being able to have children together might be unusual/difficult? Whatever happened, they never tried again, and the trauma resulted in another split and reconciliation.

They get together, separate, get together, separate. Their latest falling out was due to the events of Cable #151. Burke willingly accepted his own prophesized murder because he'd outlived all his "loved ones". ... Shar was probably pretty pissed off about that wording. Also, because he removed her heart and hid it, disposing of her body to protect her from suffering the same fate.

Shar has preternatural awareness and Eldritch Shit going on, but her guard is/was down with Burke enough that he could inflict a "killing" blow and take her heart, which is not a vibe I get with the other Externals when they're hanging out. They have some hazy deal about not killing one another, but Selene, Gideon, and Candra have reneged on that in the past in the comics, so it looks like they stick to that only if it suits them.

Note: Only one External can permanently kill another. This is done by draining their energy, or if a fellow External yanks out their heart and eats it. But it won't stick unless one External gets every other External's heart/energy.

So, Burke and Shar have an Irene and Destiny-type situation, that's also its own thing. Also, Burke is ace with a slight preference toward men because I say so.

Shar is polysexual and demi with a strong leaning toward femmes.]

#:npcs: burke: fortitude:#:people: burke:#:aspect: fortitude [burke]:#child death tw #stillbirth tw #immolation tw #death tw #cannibalism cw #toxic relationship cw #:just in case:#suicide tw

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arcticdementor · 4 years

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Earlier this week, footage emerged of a Black Lives Matter mob in Portland beating a man unconscious after dragging him out of his truck. The incident began at around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday when the gentleman in question was attacked while still in his car. Panicked, he sped off as the mob gave chase before crashing into a tree and a nearby building, bringing the vehicle to an ignominious halt. The driver was then quickly pulled out of his truck and onto the ground whereupon he was savagely beaten as he pleaded with his captors to no avail. Eventually, one of these common criminals ended this collective paroxysm of violence by kicking his helpless victim in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious as his skull crashed against the pavement. There is also a sobbing woman in the background of the footage, visibly distressed at what is unfolding before her eyes and calling for an end to the violence, but she is restrained by the Black Lives Matter criminals as they rifle through their victim’s truck, looking for anything of material value.

This episode put me in mind of an old quotation from Lenin that he used to describe the Bolsheviks’ revolutionary strategy.

You probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw.

This has been the tactic of every revolutionary movement in modern history. Armed with the sharp end of their weapons (both physical and philosophical), they search for the soft underbelly of the existing order, the place at once most vulnerable and least likely to offer concerted resistance. When this point is discovered, Lenin instructs his followers to attack it with all their might.

The more interesting part of the quotation, however, is the second sentence: “If you find steel, you withdraw.” This line testifies to Lenin’s tactical genius as a violent revolutionary. He knew then in the early years of the last century what every historian worth their salt knows today: The decisive factor determining the success or failure of any revolution is not the zeal or the firepower of the rebels, it’s the willpower and self-confidence of the establishment they are attempting to overthrow. When regimes fall, it is inevitably because the elites presiding over its continued existence lose faith in what they’re defending or have not the intestinal fortitude to defend with all the manic fervor and devotion of the mob. Revolutions succeed largely by sapping the ancient regime of their morale, their self-image, and their stomach for the fight.

This is essentially what happened during the War of Independence. If the British Empire had mobilized all of her blood and treasure to defeat the Patriot cause, they certainly could have won the war quite easily. But by the time Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, the loyalist cause had atrophied in the eyes of many Englishmen both in financial and ideological terms. Most of the greatest luminaries in the British House of Commons during that day, such as Edmund Burke, were hugely sympathetic towards both the grievances and the ideals of the rebels from the beginning. The Vietnam War is a similar story, except the roles were reversed as far as the United States was concerned.

…

Black Lives Matter, it seems, have probed and found mush in the area of race relations. This is hardly surprising. If there is one issue on which Americans are likely to doubt the justice of their nation’s cause, it is the issue of race. It is hard for a country only 60-odd years removed from the civil-rights movement to have great confidence in the established order when that order is criticized for racial injustice. But the fact that this doubt manifests itself in a reluctance to stand four-square behind the rule of law is what cynical criminals such as those mentioned above prey upon. They firmly believe that this reluctance will allow them to get away with beating the living daylights out of a human being in the middle of an American city and then rummaging through his car to steal things . . . on camera.

Being a conservative is always the more difficult position to take in conflicts of this nature, because being a conservative means loving something that actually exists, and therefore loving something imperfect. The love of progressives is reserved for a hypothetical and perfect society that does not (and will never) exist, and so they are never faced with the task of loving anyone or anything in spite of their imperfections. Their only task here in the real world is to tear everything down to hasten the age to come. They will, therefore, keep probing and probing, looking for the chink in America’s armor, and turning her imperfections against her, so that lawless criminals have the moral cover they require to destroy everything that stands in the way of utopia. If conservatives will not stand up to the mob and insist upon the rule of American law within American borders, then every aspect of this country that falls short of progressive paradise will be destroyed in successive rounds of violence and civil strife. It’s time to meet the bayonets with steel.

#cameron hilditch #national review

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