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drawingpad-studios · 2 months

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Chaos Beasts Lore: Beast of Greed

Aulto Tenwor

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Appearance: a wish titian that took on the form of a C-cleph stomached Harmonian, with his head being the most away from his body compared to other Harmonians. His halo is fully out on top of his wavy yet straight(to mimic his stomach symbol) instead of being inbeded like other harmonians. Along with having Seraphim-like features, including three pairs of wings, three rings of eyes that go around his body, and a third eye on his forehead. Sporting a dicky collar covered by a well tailored suit jacket, fedora, a locked soul locket he hides under his Dicky, and cuffs that point towards the hand with a dip in the middle. He has a few parts of him that are replaced by machine, like part of his face is replaced by a tv-like screen, and he does have some attachable extra robotic arms.

Voice: a high energy show host yet sophisticated voice with a filter of how voiced came out of old black and white and old color tvs in 1960's(Staticy and kinda like radio)

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AT came from the smaller half of Equinox's wish, resulting in a need to pick a species that is relatively small to have his half give him his form. With his pick being the general of the Cupids, Tenor. Instantly creating a superiority complex where he believes that Harmonians are the superior species, and Crevons and anyone who is a dependent of Crevons(like Fallen Harmonians[stable and unstable]) are lower than dirt sense his opposite, Discord, chose to be a Crevon.

Having a high interest in business and finances, as per one of the sins/his main sin that he's made of, he got to work on building his businesses from the ground up, This corporation being AT Co., even creating a whole city where his corporation mainly resides in. The main businesses in said corporation, mirroring the sins he is, include: Tenwor Casino(Greed), Side Eye Apparel and Makeup(Envy), AT Pharmaceutical(Sloth), and Perfect Nights(Lust).

He created a cult-like following for his corporation so that he doesn't have to work as hard as the CEO/Founder of his corporation, even going as far as making a completely new species, Paintonians. Which was done via him making a deal with Duskkar; a new species(that would be made by an alien species then sent to earth, so all he has to do is make the basic blueprint) for delaying his total takeover of every business in Paper Robloxia and entire land of Paper Robloxia. It was the only deal they could agree on, for he kept insisting while Duskkar kept on wanting/trying to trick AT to join his side.

One day, he spots a Harmonian female that catches his interest. A Harmonian that is seemingly a fertility goddess. Being a family man, he would want children as soon as possible. So a "fertility goddess" would be the quickest person to get children out of, he reasoned to himself. Finding himself truly falling for Staff harder than meteorites hitting the moon. Not because he was fully seduced, her smoke has no effect on him, though he was slightly seduced when Staff showed interest in him. Getting his first and only biological daughter after a week of marriage.

Getting suspicious of his wife after she started to get withdrawn around him and gone for multiple hours a day multiple times a week. Hiring one of his "Shareholders" (cult members that put the most money compared to the others[they aren't actually shareholders]) to investigate and follow her around. Getting enough evidence to figure out her adultery and about who she's cheating on him with.

After using the fallen harmonian in one of his casino's "shows"(Blood sacrifice), he found his mansion cold and empty. Only other being there being the egg Staff left behind. Being a family man at heart, he reluctantly raised the child that came out of the egg. Raising her to marry one of his cult members, and having children(those being Sharp and Flat). Once he got the now "purified" children, he sent his bastard daughter to the same fate as his ex-wife's lover and those who never paid back their loans in time.

Outside his personal life, he is one of the more powerful Beasts. Though even though he's the most powerful he's the least free, being in contract with Equinox with him as Equinox's minion essentially and also Duskkar with the deal. He's like a bird in a cage, hungry for freedom. Wanting to betray the other beasts for more power, though worrying if he does he'll lose most of his power he already has. Which is what makes him trap souls of other powerful beings, like Concord after Staff took half of the general's power without AT knowing.

The only two beast he can bear are The Beast of Pride and the Beast of Wrath. But only a little sense The Beast of Pride is his Opposite's right hand man.

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Powers:

Normal Harmonian species magic

Normal Crevon species magic(got from when he locked Concord in his soul locket)

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Additional notes:

I kinda based him off of Alastor the Radio Demon, though only mimicking his voice and the mention Alastor did about being under contract of someone at the end of Season 1 of Hazbin Hotel. Thou even thou I based him off Alastor, I honestly see him as Vox if I ever say fuck it and make a little animation of Stayed gone with him and Duskkar (with Duskkar being a Alastor in the song obviously). A honestly far stray from his original HYS version.

Originally he was just gonna be a mob boss who runs the city his "corporation" is stationed in. Though I changed it so he's more of a monopolizing capitalist, since TVs were invented in 1927 and that's in the same center that Capitalism was starting to rise in america and he is supposed to be inspired by TV show hosts.

I didn't mention this in the main info text, because I couldn't find a place for it, but in the story; I am thinking about adding a the whole "he's looking for a new wife, so he's interviewing the many women in his cult that flocked to him when he announced he was looking." I think it would be interesting and could either eliminate him as a full threat with a new deal between him and Duskkar or add a new threat to the beasts once he finds a new wife.

#super paper roblox #the world blow #infodumping #spr oc #chaos beasts

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raydianbluesandhues · 6 months

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Okay now that your back i gotta ask

what do you think the inkies's home planet is like?

i am SO glad someone asked this because i have been cooking for a while >:] - also prepare for a long post. im so sorry

The world of the inkies is the exact opposite of the warm, tropical lands of Raydia. With the planet outside of the sun's reach, their planet (which I have temporarily named Noir until I can think of something creative) is drenched in darkness. Without the sun there to provide warmth and color energy, their planet has instead been enveloped in a thick blanket of negative energy. Inkies evolved to live in the dark; a hyper sense of hearing, being able to feel the vibrations of everything around them. Their language, which is now barcode, evolved from simple clicking and other short and sweet vocalizations. Before they developed their technology, they had much smaller eyes that were useless in the darkness of their world. It was only through the efforts of an ambitious Inky that the existence of light came to be, lighting up their previously dark world and rocketing them into a new age of discovery and engineering. Of course, these Inkies would need a leader, or leaders, as they would soon elect a group of Inkies to lead them. These Inkies would later be known as The Council. Inkies, naturally, are a peaceful species, much like Raydians. Without the existence of predators, their numbers were able to rise over the thousands upon thousands of years of their existence. They were too far away to be bothered or acknowledged by any other planets, and for a while, I'd like to believe they were not too worried about conquering planets or taking down civilizations. However, without the existence of predators, their numbers soon grew to be overwhelming. Their planet was running out of space, and out of time, and The Council had to make a decision for their people. It would be here where their society would take a drastic turn. From peace to violence.

It would start with a few scouting ships, then a few navy ships, then an army. A militia. Their military consumed the peace in exchange for a few backwater planets to house their workers. They took over everything; an effort that once came from a genuine place was now engulfed by greed and power. The militia took over the government, with most political figures having a hand in the army. While the Council still maintained their positions as the almighty leaders, their overall jobs shifted from overseeing small aspects of their once peaceful society to managing their troops and the development of new soldiers. Their natural populace was being replaced with robotic drones, designed to fight, and made to be replaceable. All in the name of expansion, right? Or was it a conquest for power? Domination? Outside of the Council, the Commanders and Comrades held the most power. Assigned their own troops, technology, ships, and everything that they'd need for a total takeover. They were equipped to carry out the dirty work that the Council couldn't afford to take care of, with the Marshalls at their beck and call. Outside of the military, Inkies living on any of the colonized planets had rather standard lives. The key to success is usually by either being born into or marrying into a family of higher status. Those of higher status usually were in the military, owned a few key businesses, OR were celebrities in their own right. Many inkies were moved onto Raydia when it was first colonized. Raydia was meant to be taken for both its resources as well as potential slave labor, though most Inkies moved there primarily for work. Most of the hard labor was done by the Graydians, though office jobs and more standard stress-free jobs were taken up by Inkies. Most Inkies didn't like this, however. They are peaceful by nature; it felt wrong to imprison another race. To take something that.. wasn't even theirs to begin with. They could've been friends, allies, even. And yet..

#de blob #de blob 2 #headcanons #long post #inkies #inkies cannot openly speak out against the military or government without punishment #inkies choose to express their individuality by decorating their eyes or wearing accessories and such #music isn't really allowed due to their sensitive hearing #however they do host “parties” aka more formal gatherings #they still dress fancy; just cause they dont like color doesn't mean they cant be dripped out #i like to think there are still inkies on raydia #but they cant return home and are in hiding #anyways. i apologize for this massive wall at 4AM

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researchgate · 2 years

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Out of all the pictures, i think this one tells everything

Fred Sargeant, an elderly gay man, one if the founders of the first Prides in the U.S., pushed and shoved to the ground, already littered and stained by the mob. As he can't stand up, and no one is landing a hand, they actually prevent him from getting up, they're filming it on their smartphones, nit for evidence, as there's someone who's filming this, but as a memento, they'll watch it to humour themselves.

Around him, are only Trans pride flags, surrounding to near suffocation, they do not lend a hand to help, they're covering the scene, using these flags like Romans used their shields, because as long as visible, no one would dare to intervene in favor of their victims.

One may, but only barely, catch the sight if a small, hidden, rainbow flag, and another flag, mostly hidden from the frame, worn on that person's back.

They say not all heros wear vapes, but the cape wearers are certainly in no way heroes. They call themselves such, they demand you see them as such. But when their "community" abuses a man who was truly part of the movement and notion thanks to which they can even even allow themselves be who they they are in such places, in public.

And now they take part, watching, silent, as this elderly gay man, still as brave as he were back in the 1960s, is being beaten up by straight male fetishists.

They're desecrating LGB history for their fetishes. They're eradicating centuries of restless strive and struggle for female liberation.

And they're fucking cheered up for it. They are cheered and praised and celebrated. But most importantly, they're not stopped. They're given the clear to that. Not that they'd wait, or expected to wait.

I used dystopian to describe, hell world, too.

But honestly? It's nearing hopeless. If it were the inferno, the deeper we go the worst the sins of the sinners, and the worst the punishments for their souls. But here the one punished, those brutalized, threatened, killed.... They're not the sinners, their way through purgatorium would not have been far, if they'd be there at all. The punishers are diabolical, but treated as angels. And it seems like there's no chance of a paradise.

So no, this is not a Hell world.

But it's also not dystopian. It has worsened, further and further, while the surrounding is not demolished debris. Everything around is no different from last week nor yesteryear.

And that's part of why it is so horrifying. The normal façade unsuspecting, reveals nothing of the horrors that are taking place from within society. All hidden under Pink = woman, Blue = man, and the white in the middle as meaningless as the rest of it. And this set of stereotypes is the strongest shield.

An unnatural disaster of espionage and embezzlement, infiltration and takeover. Total control, dictatorial and violent, devout religious, the other side of a mirrored sided coin.

And I do not know what to feel other than rage and despair.

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pugugly001 · 1 year

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Write an article about invading alien amazons using pheromones, muscles, and hypnorays to conquer and enslave the most powerful army's of earth.

The world has seen many invaders throughout history, but none as powerful and determined as the alien amazons. With their advanced technology, they have been able to conquer Earth’s most powerful armies with ease.

Their primary weapon of choice is a combination of pheromones, muscles and hypnorays. These three tools work together to subdue the toughest opponents in no time at all.

Pheromones are chemical signals released by the aliens that can influence behavior in both humans and animals alike. In this case, they have been used to turn enemy soldiers into loyal followers who will do whatever their alien overlords command them to do without question or hesitation. The power of these chemicals cannot be underestimated; even some of Earth’s most elite forces have found themselves helpless against it when facing off against an army led by one of these amazons!

Muscles also play a key role in conquering our planet's defenders - from small skirmishes on land or sea to larger battles involving airships or mechanized forces - the strength exhibited by these extraterrestrial women never fails them! Their superior physical abilities allow them outmaneuver and overpower any opposition put up against them without fail; leading many human combatants surrendering before any shots are ever fired due it being simply too overwhelming for anyone sane enough not under control via mind-altering substances/hypnosis techniques (like those mentioned below). This helps ensure that no resistance remains after an attack is completed successfully ensuring total victory every time!

Finally, Hypnorays are beams created using special technology developed by the Amazons which induce hypnotic states within those exposed – allowing complete mental control over its victims until further orders come through from whoever activated it first (usually an Amazonian leader). This ensures absolute obedience among conquered enemies so long as this state persists – meaning there can be little hope for escape once caught within its range since even attempted escapes could lead back directly into waiting arms/clutches if not careful.. This makes sure that even attempts made during retreats won't go unpunished either making complete success more likely than anything else when attempting takeovers via force if necessary instead relying solely on persuasion tactics alone each time out!.

By utilizing all three methods simultaneously then invading armies stand virtually unbeatable odds whether dealing with smaller groups scattered across various regions far apart geographically speaking (i.,e islands) OR much larger unified bodies like governments whole countries exist under rule already... Needless say whenever anyone hears about another invasion having occurred recently chances good 'tis true due sheer effectiveness employed thus far . . . best watch yerselves around here lest end up just another unfortunate victim enslavement agenda set forth upon us poor unsuspecting citizens earth indeed!!

#openai.com #text davinci 003 #article format

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sunbookie · 3 years

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“I do not want to miss a chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.”

-Leopold II of Belgium

The relentless pursuit of profits in the Congo by King Leopold II resulted in one of the worst levels of moral decadence for mankind. The colony in the Congo – the Congo Free State – was personal property for the Belgian king and there was little oversight over what happened there.

King Leopold II committed heinous atrocities in the name of chasing profits and raising the prestige of Belgium. The genocide in the Congo is one of the most forgotten pieces of history, but the damage has been long-lasting. From 1885-1908, the Congo Free State under the personal rule of King Leopold II was living hell.

The scramble for Africa by European countries was an intense one, and Belgium, under the monarchical rule of King Leopold II did not want to be left out. Leopold had always been of the view that in order to raise the prestige of Belgium higher (thus raising the status of the country) it was necessary to acquire a colonial empire in the Far East or in Africa. The concept of acquiring a colony was not popular with Belgian politicians and the public. It was considered an unnecessary venture that would add little value to the country. The reluctance of the politicians to accept an adventure towards acquiring colonies could not deter Leopold from getting a colony of his choice.

He instead shifted his focus to explorers and missionaries. Spurred by the recent reports from Central Africa at that time, he began sponsoring explorers, including Henry Morton Stanley. Leopold then established the International African Association – which was purported to be a “charitable” organization on a mission to “spread humanitarian assistance and civilization” to the natives in the Congo.

The organization was handed the rights to oversee the exploration and surveying of territory around the Congo River. In reality, the organization was up to no charity but was solely for profits in the Congo. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the territory controlled by Leopold (totaling 2,350,000 km2) was recognized by other European leaders. The Congo Free State was then meant to be a free trade area and buffer state between British and French spheres of influence. The takeover of the Congo for Leopold’s personal rule had been complete.

The Congo Free State was a patchy colony since the Belgian government had not officially annexed it. Being under the personal rule of Leopold, he did as he pleased to maximize profits. At first, the colony specialized in ivory exports, but this was not as profitable as the investors, administrators, and Leopold himself had thought to be. The colonial administration was always in debt, but the invention of the car and the subsequent demand for rubber changed the colonial fortunes of Leopold.

The dramatic increase in the demand for rubber was music to Leopold’s ears. At that time, the Congo was one of the places in the world with a vast supply for wild rubber. The focus was immediately turned towards the extraction of wild rubber. They used the local people as cheap labour, and the gruesome brutality that came with the extraction of rubber remains one of the darkest chapters in the history of Africa. Congolese males were forced into rubber extraction for export to Europe and North America. Between 1895 and 1900, exports surged from 580 to 3,740 tons.

Concessions were granted to private companies to extract the rubber. All vacant land in the interior – including uncultivated land and all forests – was declared to be “uninhabited” and thus belonged to the state. It effectively and expressly implied all resources in the Congo were under direct colonial ownership. The rest of the land was personal private property for Leopold; and he never set foot in the Congo. The Force Publique – a colonial military force in the Congo at the time, employed vicious and barbarous methods to ensure the unending, uninterrupted extraction of rubber from the local people. The Force Publique comprised of white officers and African soldiers. The soldiers included original recruits, orphans, and slaves.

Rubber quotas were imposed on villages and the Force Publique was called in to enforce these quotas, which were unrealistic to fill. Failure to meet the quotas was punishable by violence and death. The Force Publique would destroy villages, rape women, take hostages, torture, and extort the people. Men who could not fill their quotas would be mutilated and/or killed. At times whole villages that could not fill their quotas would be burned down to the ground as a lesson for other villages. Women and children would be taken hostage until the men filled their designated quotas. The women would be raped.

The furiously high demand for rubber in the 1890s saw the colonial administrators impose quotas that were unachievable. Those who resisted had to be killed, and that meant the use of arms. Ammunition was expensive to import from Europe, therefore, to account for the bullets used in killing people, soldiers were supposed to bring a hand for every bullet used. For every person shot and killed, providing a hand was evidence of a real killing and not wastage of bullets. The administrators believed some of the bullets would be wasted by soldiers hunting. The basket of hands became a grisly nightmare of Leopold’s Red Rubber Terror in the Congo. For proof of the killings done, hands cut off from the victims were supposed to be availed. Sometimes the soldiers would be paid for severed hands because it was proof that they were carrying out the system of terror in the colony.

Nothing was regulated by law, there was little oversight since private companies were given the powers to control the entire production process which included the extraction of rubber. In essence, the rubber quotas were paid off in chopped-off hands. The hands were collected by the Force Publique soldiers, but sometimes hands were also collected by the villagers themselves. Since the rubber quotas were unrealistic to fill, small wars would break out between villages in which they would fight for hands. Hands were a way to buy the loyalty of the white officers to show that the system of terror to force rubber extraction was being implemented. Each hand proved a killing, but sometimes the soldiers would cut off the hands of victims to save ammunition – leaving the victim to either die or survive. It was a “cheating” way to save ammunition. The need for profits spurred incomprehensible human violence. It was an abysmal point in the history of mankind........

Demonic.

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my-inverted-reality · 3 years

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Two Sides || Same Coin

Welcome to the lie: @chaosworthy

The sun shined brightly through the trees of the city park, illuminating the world beneath, and the many faces of mingling Mobians in it’s warm glow. Seeing this paradise? One could almost assume that this world was perfect. But this was nothing more than a fleeting peace. A temporary lull in the attacks while war raged on other parts of the planet, currently in the midst of total global takeover by the mad doctor.

Though even here in the city, so far untouched by the wars in other lands, the peace could be disturbed. And today, the disturbance came in the form of a sobbing woman at that very park, absolutely distraught that her child had run off during a moment of inattentiveness, and now she couldn’t find him anywhere.

As luck would have it, Nym also happened to reside in this city. But, he was nowhere near the park to offer aid the woman. That didn’t mean that fate wouldn’t bring them together this day though, because as he walked the downtown street, eyeing a vendor selling some hot goods, elongated ears perked high and began to swivel in alert at the sound of none other than a crying child. A young boy, a joey, sniffling and rubbing at his tear stained face as he tried in vain to stifle his sobbing.

And he was completely alone, standing on the corner of the street not feet ahead of the jackal himself.

The prospect of food wasn’t given a second thought in favor of the young boy, no older than perhaps five or six, Nym casual as he approached the small, shaking form.

“Hey there, sport. You lost?” His voice was calm, friendly. “Why don’t you tell me what happened, so we can get you back home, huh?” Kneeling down partially, to better be at eye level with the little kangaroo, he met the boy’s fear-stricken, and watery orbs, his own expression one of encouragement and gentleness. “Hey, hey. Let’s get rid of those tears, shall we? So, let’s hear it. I take it you lost your parents?” A kerchief was pulled from a pocket, and used to dab at the globs of saline that continued to spill free and the snot to sully a nose, another hic shaking the child’s form.

“I w-was at the park...with my mama...” A clenched hand, bearing a scattering of Mobiums was presented. What was a kid doing running around with money? Though it looked to be nothing more than chump change, it was an odd notion, at least to Nym. “I w-wanted an icecream. B-but then...” Another bout of shuddering cries threatened to start, the young boy blubbering the remaining words. “The ice-cream truck drove away! Before I could get there! I wanted ta be fast like S-S-Sonic, but I c-couldn’t catch u-up!”

Well, the money made sense now.

The child was an absolute emotional mess, but Nym didn’t panic. No, instead, he tapped a forefinger to the boy’s chin a few times and offered him a gentle smile. “Chin up, buddy. Do you want to see a magic trick?” After all, he’d helped many a time care for children in his younger years. Even after all these years, he hadn’t lost his knack for calming them, though the means by which he calmed the roo were different now.

That alone, seemed to be enough to distract the boy, his head nodded shakily through his tears.

With his attention solely focused on him, Nym cast a swift, cautious glance around, thankful that they hadn’t drawn an audience. It seemed rather safe, no one paying them any mind, so turning back to the child, he winked. A hand was presented, empty, but fingers held together, as if holding an item. And with his other hand, he started at the base of his fingers, covering the area from view of the child. Slowly, the hand blocking the view rose, and with a little pulse of his power, a cone of ice-cream began to assemble behind said fingers, revealed little by little in a (thankfully) dulled crimson glow as his hand was raised.

And when his palm finally reached the top, the child was grinning, eyes shimmering not just with tears, but that innocent excitement that pulled just a bit on the jackals heartstrings. The simple vanilla and chocolate swirl cone was offered to the child, the boy giggling in happy contentment now that he had something solid to distract himself with.

“Now, don’t go telling anyone about my magic, alright? It’s our secret.” A finger was brought to lips in an indication of ‘shh’, before he pushed himself to his feet and ruffled the joey’s mop of hair, then held a hand out. “You mentioned the park. You really ran a long way, kiddo. Let’s get you back to your mom, huh? I bet she’s worried sick.”

Hand in hand, the jackal led the way back to the park, the child trotting and hopping along at his side, cares forgone in favor of the sweet treat gifted to him. Sure, the ice-cream had been borne of an illusion, but it was as real as the two of them here and now. By the time Nym wandered too far away, keeping the illusion solid wouldn’t matter, as there would be nothing left of the ice-cream after it was eaten. And he doubted the child would notice it vanishing from his stomach later when the illusion was shattered.

The sight of the panicking mother came into view, a large gathering of concerned Mobians surrounding her, and many more searching about the park for the boy already. What a mess. And all over missing something as small as an ice-cream truck. “You were incredibly brave, child. Now, run along to your mother. And no more chasing after trucks, alright?”

Releasing the child’s hand, he watched as the joey sprung to his mother, throwing himself into her arms, her relief more than palatable. And Nym? Watched them silently for a few moments, his expression unreadable, then quietly tried to bow out before any attention was brought his way.

#[I Faced The Devil And I'll Live To Tell] My Inverted Reality #[I’ll Stand The Lonely] Nym the Jackal #[Welcome To The Lie] Nym #chaosworthy

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the-necessary-unnecessary · 4 years

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hey, can you tell us a bit about racism in Spain? I'm incredibly uneducated about it, and I don't know much about Spanish history especially racism wise so it would be really nice to get an insight from you about it.

this is a big question, since Spain’s relationship with xenophobia dates back centuries and I’m neither the most qualified person to take you through it nor someone who has suffered from Spanish society’s racist tendencies. However I’ll try to piece a bit of something together and maybe other people can add on if there’s other stuff to include. Also, this is mainly Spanish history from a racism perspective, there are many other positive things in other areas that I haven’t included (patriota pero no mucho)

So basically, up until the 15th century, Spain (in its then form) was a relatively harmonious melting pot of different cultures. With the Roman invasion, settlements and a Visigoth takeover (Germanic population) thereafter, Christianity was pretty firmly established in the country/iberian peninsula by the 2nd Century AD. In 711 AD the Moors, who had control over Islamic Africa, invaded the peninsula and established a Caliphate named Al-Andalus which had a particular stronghold in the south: in Andalusia and their Córdoban capital. Rule was stronger or weaker depending on the region but largely Islamic rule was established and Jewish and Catholic people were treated as second class citizens. Córdoba became the wealthiest, largest and most sophisticated city in Europe by the end of the tenth century, with trade and rich intellectual North African traditions forming a unique culture in the region.

There is a strong historical basis that during a lot of this period there was pockets of ‘La Convivencia’ ie. the co-existence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Like for example, around Toledo where in universities the three backgrounds contributed to tremendous amounts of sharing of knowledge etc.

However, from about the 9th century onwards the Catholics who still held strong points right in the north, begun ‘la Reconquista’, the “reconquest,” where they began chipping away at the Caliphate’s dominance. By the early 11th century they had gained more land than was held by the Muslims and 1492 is where we set our next scene.

This is probably one of the biggest and most path changing years in Spanish history. Most known for being the year when Columbus landed in America, this enabled the start of Spanish imperlism which would extend to almost 5 centuries afterwards, conquering territories in South America, Africa and Asia and subjecting them to imperialistic rule and policies of white totalitarian dominance.

The second important happening in this year was the fall of Granada, the last remaining territory the Caliphate had in Spain, signifying the end of Muslim rule in the country. They were, as expected, thrown out of the country in their droves and many others were forced into hiding being subject to situations that would only get worse with the Inquisition in full swing.

The third, and last, big event in this year was outlined in the Alhambra Decree where the expulsion of all practicing Jews was announced. Now this had already followed the forced conversion tens of thousands of Jews had been subjected to in 1391 and 1415 (ie. crusades and masacres against them). As a result of the Alhambra decree and the prior persecution, over 200,000 Jews converted to Catholicism and around 160,000 were expelled.

This ended religious diversity in Spain, the Inquisition sealed this fate. If you’ve heard of one thing about all of this I’m sure it’s the spanish inquisition. Primarily set up to identify heretics among those who converted from Judaism and Islam to Catholicism and ensure the establishment of the Catholic monarchy, it became a method of torture, fear and murder for those who were perceived to cause any threat to the Spanish catholic order. The effects of the Inquisition are widely debated, with some saying the death toll and magnitude has been blown up by the Protestants in other European countries at the time and does not show the full picture of the hundreds of thousands of converted jews and muslims who remained and overtime became integrated into Catholic society. Whilst others remaining firm to the devastating measure of these actions and the ‘pure blood’ mentality it created. What’s for certain though, is that by the end of the Inquisition in 1834 very little religious nor ethnic diversity remained in Spain.

Jump forward about 100 years and the Spanish Empire is no more after the 1898 crisis, there’s a weird back and forth period with Republics and Monarchies and dictatorships until the Civil War broke out in 1936. It lasted until 1939 when the Nationalists, led by Franco, took total control of the country and submitted it to a dictatorship that would last until his death in 1975. I don’t even know where to begin with a period that many people see as rosy and many others ignore completely whilst Historians have now gone so far as to call the 1940s and 50s the ‘Spanish Holocaust’. However I’ll break it down to one or two main things that have predominantly spurred on today’s racist attitudes.

During the Civil Rights movements of the 50s and 60s Spain was largely immune to the winds of changes due to their isolationist policies and dictatorial power holds. We didn’t take part in any of the dialogue nor go through any racial reconciliation, at least to much a lesser extent than most other countries. It’s quite a common thing to say that what much of europe did in 70 years we’ve only had time to do in 45, and there’s much of a grain of truth in this.

A famous conservative spanish politician called David Aznar defended these views and can be extrapolated into the sentiment that existed to facilitate the transition to democracy and still remain today: "In the democratic transition there were implicit and explicit agreements. One was that we Spaniards don't want to look to the past. Let's not disturb the graves and hurl bones at one another.” As a society, we hate to think about the past, it’s just not widely done. There’s ONE museum solely dedicated to the Civil War, the Historical Memory Law passed in 2007 to try and increase the rights of victims and their families was met by so much opposition and is devastatingly underfunded etc etc. This still translates to spaniards’ views on racism, saying it just doesn’t exist here and moving on. There’s a refusal to confront this and microagressions are ingrained in the culture.

As I’ve kind of mentioned before, issues of race extend much further than towards just black people which is why the US BLM movement cannot simply be traced onto Spain. People who are originally from Latin America face extreme stereotypes and varying forms of discrimination against them as do Arab populations and other people who have immigrated from MENA countries plus the large Roma communities.

The refugee crisis has further perpetuated the stigma around African immigrants in the past years, whilst the social effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis and beyond also continue to contribute to a xenophobic and nativist perspective where true spaniards should be prioritised with jobs, opportunities etc. For example, the alt-right wing party Vox that’s blatantly racist, anti-immigrants etc posted something with the slogan ‘Spanish Lives Matter’ the other day. They are purposefully incendiary.

Anyways, hope this was a suitable start for you, you can’t summarise millennia worths of history into a few paragraphs but I tried my best. Also there are obviously many who stand for none of these values, politicians who have tried to right these wrongs, activists who keep fighting the fight, people who have broken down barriers and areas where there’s complete coexistance. However the fact remains that these views and ideas are ingrained in people’s minds, theres blatant job discrimination and a lack of equal opportunities despite laws that may have been put in place.

I’m going to point anyone who has got this far to a couple of articles about racism from an Anglo-Saxon perspective below, racist football culture is almost always mentioned. Being a black traveller in Spain; Same Spanish Holocaust link as before but an extremely important book review read; Irish perspective on the Enigma of Spanish Racism; Racism? What Racism? Asks Spain; Opinion: Racism Is Alive and kicking in Spain

#almost a decade of ciencias sociales and cono lessons pulling through #anyways there's a lot here so maybe dont read it all by id recommend having a good skim of it!#i tried ny best to condense almost two centuries worth of histort into one post lol #blm #black lives matter #racism #spain #españa #history #og #the asks #*not two centuries lol two millennia im out here discrediting myself and everything i wrote

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kingdom-of-kins · 2 years

Note

Yaa, you can chang it, but also ! ! * mischiviously starts to rub my hands together as I am planning something 4 u, maybe ! ! *

:OOO?!??!?! /pos

#hmm i dont actually know what to change it to. hmmm #nvm i guess? hyped abt your mischief tho #☆a total takeover! | the far lands

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fallen--lilith · 4 years

Text

Fate

Wow! A fanfic with a main oc? Two fanfics from me in general? It really is the end of the world. Most this won't follow canon rules and shit. I’ll try my very best to stick to canon as possible. I am a simp who has needs so who knows how long I’ll use proper terms and characterization. I’m sure this still have a few errors but I am so tired and I’m craving to post this. Also sorry if Peppa is too Mary sue. I.

I really don't know where I'm going with this. Sutal is @saiyajima 's oc and Peppa's mine. ( this is basically a Peppa centered OVA type thing) Also shout out to my discord homies who haven't been introduced to my chaotic feral Saiyan oc Peppa.

Also I just want to give a BIG thank you to @msgreenverse for helping write Raditz and listen to me ramble about my oc.

I know the title is corny, but honestly it fits very well with Peppa. It’s inspired by a song from Evangelion 2.22

Word count:1100

Rating: T / M

Back on one main Freeza's ship, the cafeteria was filled with happy Sayians. They cheered and drank their booze and enjoyed the celebration of another successful day altogether. Some were singing victory songs, others sang songs for the departed out of tuned.

Chapter 1: Have I the right to riches?

Saiyans cheered for the successful takeover of a planet. It might have taken more than one crew for the world to be totally destroyed but they made it happen at the end.

"Honestly, we'd be in big trouble if it wasn't for Bardock's kid!" A soldier laughed.

"Oh?! I didn't know Kakarot came along! I thought he wa-"

A young Sayian woman kicked the second soldier in the face before he could finish. Causing him to fall back flat on his back dazed.

The woman spat on him, her cheeks were a little flushed from the alcohol. "The name is Peppa. I'm a captain! That idiot of a brother would have dragged out the war longer than needed. I'm the one who saved your asses! "

The solider stood back up, angry, throwing a punch at Peppa. "Why you little brat! Shouldn't you be fucking around with Turles?"

Peppa tried to dodge it, but the larger man was quicker. She flew across the tables and landed on the far side of the room. Peppa didn't move for a few moments. The warrior could tell she already had a few cracked bones already and a second black eye of the week.

She stood up and rushed to the soldier and returned the favor though accidently missed and punched the wrong guy. "Leave my sister out of this!"

As quick as everyone was celebrating, the entire cafeteria was a battlefield of fighting Sayians. No one heard the door open or saw the two massive elite enter with their prince in the middle.

Prince Vegeta watched his people fight and bicker for a few moments before pinching the bridge of his nose. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to even know why the fight started. Though he had a pretty good idea who started it.

"And to think others believe you're not the most tamed one out of the litter." Vegeta remarked lowely to Raditz. Nappa tried to hold in his chuckle while Raditz rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Vegeta had enough of this. "Nappa, get everyone under control. We wasted enough time in this silly celebration. Raditz go find your sister and take her to my room so I can punish her." And with that he made a sharp turn and marched back to his room, trying to decide what possible fate should befall on the Saiyan woman this time.

Nappa wasted no time to bark orders and everyone immediately stopped and got lined up into position.

Peppa was now covered in bruises and cuts. She kept an eye on her oldest brother.

Raditz snatched her arm and dragged her out. She could hear the others going "ooooohhhh! Someone's in trouble!"' "I hope the prince demotes you or exiles you!" "Hopefully the Prince turns you in to Freeza! He'll teach you a real lesson!" The jeers caused a bunch of the soldiers to snicker. Peppa paid no mind.

"Quiet all of you!!" Nappa shouted.

Raditz didn't let go til they entered the hall. They walked for a few moments in silence. Peppa followed her brother.

"You and Sutal are such a disgrace to your family...no.. a disgrace to our race." Raditz finally said. "Just look at how far I have gotten compared to you… compared to Bardock and the rest of your family."

Peppa narrowed her eyes at him. But she knew his game and bit her lip. She knew he was just trying to get a reaction...he couldn't possibly think of their family that way…Even after... Peppa clenched her fist tightly.

"If you didn't waste yourself on trivial people. You can have it all just like me. Security, money,a purpose...I'm basically living in your dream."

"Last time I'm pretty sure wanting to be Vegeta's little bitch wasn't a goal of mine. " Well not in the way she implied...

He couldn't help but laugh at Peppa. "I do more than just wait on the Prince. I attend rich dinners, I have intellectual discussions with generals and the king himself. You wouldn't believe how fun it is to test out new scouters models too."

They continued to wind around the halls. Peppa rolled her eyes. Raditz stopped and turned to her and leaned down and took off his scouter. He whispered in his youngest sister's ear. "The king even put me on a secret mission to see who's smuggling foriegn weapons."

Peppa tried to look uninterested, and keep her ki steady but she couldn't help but sweat from nerves. She loves secret missions. She bit into her lip even more causing her fang to puncture the skin causing her lip to bleed.

"Which reminds .me, my beloved sisters wouldn't know anyone that would be interested in such activities right? Exchanging pleasure for illegal weapons? If Lord Freeza found out, we'd all be in trouble for your crimes." He continued as he noticed that Peppa looked nervous.

Peppa shivered but stood in her place. "Of course not dumbass. If you're so good at your job, you'd look at our mission logs and conduct a proper on the record investigation. We've been working double lately for the past month to meet quota. "

Raditz studied her expression for a few more moments waiting for anything suspicious."Mhm. Then I guess Nappa was wrong about being able to taste a lair." Raditz moved away, replacing his scouter and moving on. Peppa let out a sigh of relief that -weird- interrogation was over with.

They just made it to Vegeta's door. When Raditz gave her his last warning before knocking. "Just remember who got you the captain's position in the first place… and I can take it back. If you put the prince in a bad mood, I'm the one tha-" All the sudden he found himself on the floor, the side of his face in pain. "You fucking bitch I'm go-"

"You're going back to the Cafeteria and help the others clean it up." The Prince said. He had opened the door in time to see Peppa land a powerful punch on her brother. If the two males were concentrating on their scouter….. they would have noticed her power level spiked above her normal amount.

Raditz got up and dusted himself off. "You can't hide behind the prince forever. Mark my words." He bowed to the prince and left.

#Fate: a dbz fic #dbz fanfic #Vegeta x OC #????? x OC #dbz #dragonball z fanfiction

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newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Warp-speed spending and other surreal stats of COVID times (AP) The U.S. effort in World War II was off the charts. Battles spread over three continents and four years, 16 million served in uniform and the government shoved levers of the economy full force into defeating Nazi Germany and imperial Japan. All of that was cheaper for American taxpayers than this pandemic. The $1,400 federal payments going into millions of people’s bank accounts are but one slice of a nearly $2 trillion relief package made law this past week. With that, the United States has spent or committed to spend nearly $6 trillion to crush the coronavirus, recover economically and take a bite out of child poverty. Set in motion over one year, that’s warp-speed spending in a capital known for gridlock, ugly argument and now an episode of violent insurrection. Once, the attack on Pearl Harbor was the modern marker for national trauma. About 2,400 Americans died in the assault on the naval base in Hawaii that drew the United States into the Pacific war. The nearly 3,000 dead from the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, became the new point of comparison as the ravages of COVID-19 grew. The U.S. reached a total of 3,000 COVID-19 deaths even before March 2020 was out. By December, the country was experiencing the toll of 9/11 day after day after day. With deaths now moderating—so that a 9/11 toll comes cumulatively every few days—the U.S. death toll now has surpassed 530,000, exceeding U.S. combat deaths of all of the last century’s wars.

The Fighter Jet That’s Too Pricey to Fail (NYT) Last week, the new head of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Adam Smith, said in an interview that the F-35 fighter jet was a “rathole” draining money. He said the Pentagon should consider whether to “cut its losses.” That promptly set off another round of groaning about the most expensive weapon system ever built, and questions about whether it should—or could—be scrapped. Conceived in the 1990s as a sort of Swiss army knife of fighter jets, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was meant to come as a conventional fighter for the Air Force, as a carrier-based fighter for the Navy and as a vertical-landing version for the Marines. The problems, and there were lots of them, set in early. All three versions of the plane ended up at least three years behind schedule, and sharing less than a quarter of their parts instead of the anticipated 70 percent. Many of those already built need updates; hundreds of defects are still being corrected; the jet is so expensive to maintain that it costs around $36,000 per hour to fly (compared to $22,000 for an older F-16). At the current rate, it will cost taxpayers more than $1 trillion over its 60-year life span. So, kill the monster and start looking for alternatives? Or declare it too big to fail and make the best of it? Last month, the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Charles Brown Jr., gave his answer when he said that the F-35 should become the Ferrari of the fleet: “You only drive it on Sundays.”

Colorado and Wyoming brace for severe snowstorm and potential blizzard conditions this weekend (Washington Post) A major winter storm is set to unload massive amounts of snow, the most in years in some areas, in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska this weekend into early next week. Before the wintry onslaught is over, some locations in the Colorado foothills and eastern Rockies might end up with as much as four feet. Winds are also going to howl, bringing the potential for blizzard conditions across parts of the region. Gusts of 35 to 50 mph or higher will cause blowing and drifting snow, as well as compromised visibility and whiteout conditions. Winter storm warnings are in effect in Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins where the National Weather Service predicts 12 to 24 inches of snow. In Cheyenne, Wyo., also under a winter storm warning, 22 to 34 inches of snow is forecast.

Stay or go? Fence, Guard pose Capitol security questions (AP) Nobody, it seems, wants to keep the security fence around the U.S. Capitol anymore—except the police who fought off the horrific attack on Jan. 6. Lawmakers call the razor-topped fencing “ghastly,” too militarized and, with the armed National Guard troops still stationed at the Capitol since a pro-Trump mob laid siege, not at all representative of the world’s leading icon of democracy. “All you have to do is to see the fencing around the Capitol to be shocked,” Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said in an interview Friday. How to protect lawmakers, while keeping the bucolic Capitol grounds open to visitors has emerged as one of the more daunting, wrenching questions from deadly riot. With warnings of another attack in early March by pro-Trump militants and threats on lawmakers that have nearly doubled since the start of 2021, the police, the Pentagon and lawmakers themselves are wrestling with how best to secure what has been a sprawling campus mostly open to visiting tourists and neighborhood dog walkers alike.

Bolivia arrests ex-leader in crackdown on opposition (AP) The conservative interim president who led Bolivia for a year was arrested Saturday as officials of the restored leftist government pursue those involved in the 2019 ouster of socialist leader Evo Morales, which they regard as a coup, and the administration that followed. Jeanine Áñez was detained in the early morning in her hometown of Trinidad and was flown to the capital, La Paz. She had earlier warned that officials were searching for her, terming it “abuse and persecution” in Twitter posts. The arrest of Áñez and warrants against numerous other former officials further worsened political tensions in a South American country already torn by a cascade of perceived wrongs suffered by both sides. Those include complaints that Morales had grown more authoritarian with nearly 13 years in office, that he illegally ran for a fourth reelection and then allegedly rigged the outcome, that right-wing forces led violent protests that prompted security forces to push him into resigning and then cracked down on his followers, who themselves protested the alleged coup. Dozens of people were killed in a series of demonstrations against and then for Morales.

British police officer charged with murder in missing woman’s kidnapping and killing (Washington Post) A British police officer was charged late Friday in the kidnapping and killing of Sarah Everard, whose disappearance and death has sent shock waves through the nation. Wayne Couzens, 48, who previously had posts at Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, was charged with the kidnap and murder of Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive. She was last seen at 9:30 p.m. on March 3, walking home from a friend’s house in south London. Her disappearance sparked a national outcry in Britain over the harassment and abuse of women. The case has struck a chord with women across the country, with many demanding change. In the days after Everard’s disappearance, women have taken to social media to share their own experiences and fears about their personal safety and walking alone. Caitlin Moran, an author and journalist, tweeted: “Being a woman: my “outside” day finishes at sundown. If I haven’t taken the dog for a walk/jogged by then, I can’t.” Writing in the Guardian, columnist Gaby Hinsliff said: “When she went missing, any woman who has ever walked home alone at night felt that grim, instinctive sense of recognition. Footsteps on a dark street. Keys gripped between your fingers.”

Car bomb kills at least 7, injures 53 in Afghan Herat province (Reuters) A powerful car bomb near a police station on Friday night killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50 others in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, officials said. Herat Governor Sayed Abdul Wahid Qatali said that at least 53 people, including civilians and security forces, were hurt when a van packed with explosives went off in a crowded part of the city in the evening.

4 killed as Myanmar forces continue crackdown on protesters (AP) Security forces in Myanmar on Saturday again met protests against last month’s military takeover with lethal force, killing at least four people by shooting live ammunition at demonstrators. Three deaths were reported in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, and one in Pyay, a town in south-central Myanmar. There were multiple reports on social media of the deaths, along with photos of dead and wounded people in both locations. The independent U.N. human rights expert for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said Thursday that “credible reports” indicated security forces in the Southeast Asian nation had so far killed at least 70 people, and cited growing evidence of crimes against humanity since the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

For Syrians, a decade of displacement with no end in sight (AP) Mohammed Zakaria has lived in a plastic tent in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley for almost as long as war has raged in his native Syria. He and his family fled bombings in 2012, thinking it would be a short, temporary stay. His hometown of Homs was under siege, and subject to a ferocious Syrian military campaign. He didn’t even bring his ID with him. Almost 10 years later, the family still hasn’t gone back. The 53-year-old Zakaria is among millions of Syrians unlikely to return in the foreseeable future, even as they face deteriorating living conditions abroad. On top of his displacement, Zakaria now struggles to survive Lebanon’s financial meltdown and social implosion. Nearly half a million people have been killed, and about 12,000 children have died or were injured in the conflict in the past decade, according to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF. The conflict also resulted in the largest displacement crisis since World War II. The Norwegian Refugee Council this week said that since the war began in 2011, an estimated 2.4 million people were displaced every year in and outside Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians face continued displacement with each year that the conflict continues and economic conditions deteriorate.

Number of missing Nigerian students raised to 39 after armed raid (Reuters) Nine more students than originally thought are missing after gunmen stormed a forestry college in northwest Nigeria earlier this week, a government official in Nigeria’s Kaduna state said on Saturday. The revision brings the total number of missing students to 39 following Thursday’s nighttime raid on the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, the fourth mass school abduction in northern Nigeria since December. Kaduna city is the capital of Kaduna state, part of a region where attacks by gangs of armed men, referred to as bandits, have festered for years. Military and police attempts to tackle the gangs have had little success, while many worry that state authorities are making the situation worse by letting kidnappers go unpunished, paying them off or providing incentives.

#headlines #news

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 years

Text

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020

Today's links

Ripping the window-dressing off the .ORG selloff: It's not even an ethos.

CDC guide to filter-mask-friendly facial hair: You're good to go with a Zappa, Villain or Hitler, but stay away from the Dali, Hulahee and the dread F(l)u Manchu.

Don't trust Google to build Toronto's Smart City: Sidewalk Labs's sleaze has disqualified it.

A "girls-only" social service wants to analyze your facial bone structure: "It's science!"

Norman Rockwell turned into a radical civil rights activist: His last painting was of Nixon, too.

Gmail's filters are blocking opt-in election emails: Mayo Pete and Andrew Yang are winning the spam-filter primary.

Talking Radicalized with The Next Chapter: Shelagh Rogers is a national treasure.

Neoliberalism kills, the coronavirus edition: And you thought capitalism would kill us all with climate change!

Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy LA rally this Sunday: With Sarah Silverman and Dick van Dyke!

Venezuelan women's "army" break into dead factories to reboot them: "Only the people can save the people."

Meet Akil Augustine, voice of the Raptors…and Radicalized: A fighter in my corner.

This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2005

Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Ripping the window-dressing off the .ORG selloff (permalink)

The latest on ISOC's shameful attempt to flog off .ORG to a group of sketchy billionaires: Ethos Capital's promises concerning its stewardship are pure window-dressing.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/02/empty-promises-wont-save-org-takeover

Its binding promise not to increase prices for .ORG domains? Still allows it to DOUBLE prices in 8 years, then allows UNLIMITED increases afterwards. Its "Stewardship Council"? Handpicked by Ethos's own bagmen, & only empowered to rule on very narrow questions of de-anonymization and censorship, AND Ethos can simply ignore its rulings by declaring them to be required by a government or consistent with anti-abuse policies.

In an open letter in the Nonprofit Times, Cindy Cohn of EFF and Amy Sample Ward of NTEN break it down:

https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/npt_articles/commentary-org-still-wouldnt-be-safe/

"Your proposal cabins the council's authority by placing anything construed as 'advice or recommendations regarding day-to-day operational, financial or budgeting matters, or pricing out of bounds. It would be trivial to categorize harmful practices as 'operational.'"

CDC guide to filter-mask-friendly facial hair(permalink)

The CDC has an infographic enumerating the effect of various styles of facial hair on filtering respirators.

You're good to go with a Zappa, Villain or Hitler, but stay away from the Dali, Hulahee and the dread F(l)u Manchu.

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf

Don't trust Google to build Toronto's Smart City (permalink)

Google is planning to turn a vast swathe of Toronto into a high-tech "smart city" through its Sidewalk Labs division. They've been incredibly misleading and opaque about their plans, and yet the city keeps greenlighting through successive phases.

The latest phase is the publication of the Digital Strategy Advisory Panel's report, a wide-ranging critical report from technologists and tech experts on Google's plan to instrument the city and extract its data.

https://quaysideto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/DSAP-Supplemental-Report-on-Sidewalk-Labs-Digital-Innovation-Appendix-DIA-Appendices-FINAL.pdf

It's pretty sharp stuff. Michael Geist's introductory letter gives a taste of things.

https://quaysideto.ca/blog/dsap-releases-supplemental-commentary-on-the-digital-innovation-appendix

But far more pointed is Andrew Clement's Appendix D, a kind of minority report that makes it abundantly clear that Google has totally disqualified itself from this project.

Question One: Does Sidewalk have a strong track record as an urban innovator appropriate for Toronto?

Short answer: No

(Sidewalk lied, omitted other projects that were terrible, and literally followed a grifter's playbook called "BOLD")

Question Two: Can Sidewalk Labs' core claims be relied on?

Sidewalk "consulted" with 21,000 Torontonians, but it hasn't shown that it's willing to take any of that consultation advice to heart ("corporate self-defense").

Sidewalk claims it's not "tech for tech's sake," but the whole plan reeks of it.

Sidewalk claimed it's not about extracting data, but the plan is totally about extracting data.

Question Three: What does experience with Sidewalk to date in this project indicate about its reliability as a partner? In particular, has Sidewalk respected its contracts and other commitments?

Nope. For example, it held its expert panel to NDAs after promising it wouldn't.

Question Four: Can Sidewalk be treated as independent of its parent Alphabet/Google and its wider enterprise?

Obviously not! "In business strategy, financing and overall managerial control, there are clear indications that Sidewalk is unlikely to diverge from Alphabet/Google."

"Nearly all Alphabet revenues are earned by Google and they have the same CEO, Sundar Pichai, and same CFO, Ruth Porat."

Question Five: What are the risks of partnering with an Alphabet enterprise?

"It has been fined a combined $9.5 billion since 2017 by EU antitrust regulators while facing further significant government investigations for its anti-competitive behaviour."

"It will be challenging to make a positive determination absent public evidence of a thorough, independent risk-benefit analysis of the prospective partnership or other contractual relationship."

A "girls-only" social service wants to analyze your facial bone structure (permalink)

Well, this is the most "now you've got two problems" moment in recent memory. "Giggle" is an all-girl social network. To be "all-girl" they have keep men off of the platform. How do they do that? With FACIAL BONE STRUCTURE scans.

"It's science! Just like archaeologists do with mummies."

JFC.

The impulse to start a girl-only social space is a potentially fine one, but deploying what amounts to eugenics – heavily borrowed from the incel movement's obsession with facial bone-structure – is idiotic.

"Unfortunately it doesn't verify trans-girls."

No shit. Also, it doesn't verify people whose bone-structure fails your digital phrenology tests. And it WILL verify men and boys who generate false positives in the system.

https://pipedreamdragon.tumblr.com/post/611048332070109184

I can't believe I need to say this, but: The goal of making girls feel OK with who they are cannot be attained by subjecting their facial bone-structure to algorithmic femininity assessments.

Norman Rockwell turned into a radical civil rights activist (permalink)

I hadn't known that at the end of his career, Norman Rockwell became a political radical, breaking with the Saturday Evening Post over his desire to depict the civil rights struggle.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2020/2/19/21052356/norman-rockwell-the-problem-we-all-live-with-saturday-evening-post

Writing in Vox, Tom Carson describes how Rockwell's personal tragedies – the death of his wife – and the advice of his therapist helped him transform into an acerbic, radical painter, the opposite of who we remember him as.

Switching from the Post to Look Magazine, Rockwell depicted such subjects as 6-y-o Ruby Bridges being escorted into an all-white school by federal marshalls who led her past howling mobs of white supremacists.

He went on to paint a depiction of the imagined last moments of civil rights workers Mickey Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, who were tortured and murdered by white nationalists.

http://www.nrm.org/MT/text/MurderMississippi.html

A staunch anti-war activist, he pestered LBJ with an endless stream of telegrams demanding negotiations, not bombings, in Vietnam (ironically, he voted for Nixon in the hopes that he would end the war).

Further irony: the last substantial painting he completed was of Nixon after his election win: "This time around, he managed what he'd once said was impossible. His subject looks like a nice man who is, nonetheless, unmistakably Richard Nixon."

It's the only Rockwell painting in the National Portrait Gallery.

https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.72.2

Gmail's filters are blocking opt-in election emails (permalink)

Gmail's spam filters perform very differently when it comes to fundraising emails from Democratic leadership contenders: Mayo Pete evades filters 63% of the time, Yang lands 46% of the time. EVERY Warren campaign email tested got filtered to spam.

https://themarkup.org/google-the-giant/2020/02/26/wheres-my-email

These are all emails that Gmail users have opted to receive, too, but most are filtered to the "promotions" inbox, rather than "primary." In all only 11% of emails from "candidates, think tanks, advocacy groups, and nonprofits" reached primary.

It's turning email — the last federated platform on the internet — into Facebook, a filternet whose rules are set by unaccountable algorithms operated by a secretive monopolist.

Goog has a conflict of interest here: "While Gmail does not sell ads in the primary inbox, advertisers can pay for top placement in the social and promotions tabs in free accounts."

This was Facebook's media-killing strategy: when you started your media outlet's FB presence, the company delivered 100% of your posts to your followers, then, once you depended on that, it dialed delivery down unless you paid for "reach."

The pretense of Big Tech is that you they connect you to the stuff you ask for (this is also the premise behind Net Neutrality). The reality is that they decide, unaccountably, invisibly and inexplicably, what you may see.

While the overfiltering might in error, it's an error Goog is incentivized to wontfix: "'You're not precluded from buying an ad in the promotions tab, or offering a deal,' said Lee Carosi Dunn, who at the time led election sales, political outreach and policy for Google."

Talking Radicalized with The Next Chapter (permalink)

My book Radicalized is a finalist for Canada Reads, the CBC's national book prize

https://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/meet-the-canada-reads-2020-contenders-1.5433115

That means all kinds of good stuff, but one of the highlights was talking with Shelagh Rogers for The Next Chapter. I grew up listening to Shelagh, and she's so incredibly smart about books.

The interview came out great! (How could it not, given the interviewer). We ranged widely over "Canadianness," "Americanness," literary forms, anxiety and creativity, and the substance of the stories themselves.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thenextchapter/full-episode-feb-22-2020-1.5469642

You can get the MP3 here:

http://16523.mc.tritondigital.com/CBC_THE_NEXT_CHAPTER_FROM_CBC_RADIO_P/media-session/fecd5192-14ef-43b6-b9a7-7c125875d93b/nextchapter-0I9Y1liD-20200226.mp3?ttag=season:12

It's also been included in my podcast feed, which you can subscribe to here:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

Neoliberalism kills, the coronavirus edition (permalink)

Neoliberalism kills, a play in two acts

Act I: UK employers are not required to offer sick pay to asymptomatic potential coronavirus carriers, even if those workers' doctors have ordered them to "self-isolate" to avoid spreading pandemic.

https://memex.naughtons.org/self-isolation-and-employee-rights/28723/

Leaving workers with a stark choice: perform your duty to the public health and lose your wages or even your job, or turn up for work and infect your co-workers and customers.

Typhoid Mary vs Moral Hazard in action, there.

Act II: Alex Azar, the US Health and Human Services secretary, has ruled out price controls for a coronavirus vaccine, arguing that pharma companies need "incentives" to produce.

https://twitter.com/mmcauliff/status/1232784696792297472

"Alex Michael Azar II (/ˈeɪzər/ born June 17, 1967) is an American attorney, politician, pharmaceutical lobbyist, and former drug company executive who serves as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Azar

This former pharma lobbyist, whose industry gobbles public subsidies like a tweaker gobbles bennies, firmly believes that his once-and-future paymasters must be permitted unlimited gouging, and if they choose to leave those who can't pay to die, that's "the market."

Lambert Strether, 2014:

"I propose two simple rules to which neo-liberalism can be reduced. They are:

"Rule #1: Because markets.

"Rule #2: Go die!"

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/03/neo-liberalism-expressed-simple-rules.html

It turns out that all those people who thought late-stage capitalism would exterminate the human race through climate change were wrong! It's going to kill us all with pandemics, instead.

Herd immunity has a well-known leftist bias.

Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy LA rally this Sunday (permalink)

Angelenos! Bernie Sanders is doing a gig with Dick Van Dyke (!), Sarah Silverman (!!) and Public Enemy (!!!) this SUNDAY (Sunday Sunday Sunday!) at the LA Convention Center.

Admission is free, but you need to RSVP here. Doors open at 3, rally starts at 5, ends at 7. Word of warning: the last Sanders rally I attended (in 2016) started REALLY late, like 2h.

https://events.berniesanders.com/event/252466/

Campaigning presidential candidates have hard-to-predict schedules apparently (but warn your babysitter).

Venezuelan women's "army" break into dead factories to reboot them (permalink)

The "Productive Army" is a Venezuelan women's collective that has been operating since 2017. They visit shuttered factories, get workers to explain what's needed to reopen them, break in and start them up again.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elsaltodiario.com%2Fmapas%2Fbatallas-ejercito-productivo-obrero-venezuela-guerra-no-convencional

They organize themselves like military units, with captains, etc, and the units generally have to beg their bosses for time off to roam the country, putting it back on its feet. Operations typically run for less than a week, and incorporate weekends to minimize time off.

They describe themselves as carrying out the Chavismo doctrine of "workers' control of factories," which even Chavez largely treated as a slogan, and which his successors have been even less committed to.

They remind me of the elite Chinese students whom Xi ordered to read Marx and Lenin, who then decided Xi was a bourgeois sellout and took to the road to support wildcat workers' strikes against Xi-aligned factory owners.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/world/asia/china-maoists-xi-protests.html

The Productive Army's slogan is "Only the People Can Save the People." Its missions are "productive battles." A productive battle might involve repairing the furnace in a sardine canning factory to get it running again, then turning it over to workers: "In the EPO they say that they not only repair machines but, above all, consciences."

One of the crispest definitions of "rightism" came I've heard came from Steven Brust: "Ask them what's more important: property rights, or human rights? If they answer, 'Property rights are human rights," they're on the right." (I quoted this in Walkaway).

When people want the things the factory produces, and workers want to produce those things in the factory, but the spreadsheet says the factory isn't viable, the problem is with the spreadsheet, not the people.

Meet Akil Augustine, voice of the Raptors…and Radicalized (permalink)

In the #CanadaReads national book prize, each book gets a "champion" – a defender who speaks for the book in a series of televised debates. My champion is the incredible Akil Augustine, voice of the Toronto Raptors.

Akil and I met in Toronto last month when they announced that my book Radicalized was a finalist for the prize, and the CBC sat us down for a rollicking joint interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duL6rZeNJY0

I love that Radicalized connected with Akil, given how divergent our interests are (I can't even name a single basketball goalie!). I love even more how competitive he is. As someone who grew up at hippie summer-camp playing "co-operative volleyball" I'm very grateful to have a fighter in my corner who plays to win!

This day in history (permalink)

#15yrsago Halle Berry accepts "Razzie" for Catwoman, calls it a "piece of shit" https://web.archive.org/web/20050306093431/http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=7748301&type=entertainmentNews

#5yrsago Mass surveillance hip-hop from the director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee https://shadowproof.com/2015/02/26/after-hearing-capitol-police-arrest-lawyer-for-shouting-question-at-clapper-about-nsa-surveillance/

#1yrago Bunnie Huang's tour-de-force explanation of how hardware implants and supply chain hacks work https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5519

#1yrago AOC grills Equifax CEO: the Congressional record now contains the obvious, infuriating truth that everyone else already knew https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/02/11/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-takes-aim-equifax-credit-scoring/?utm_term=.cbab554db359

#1yrago Fox hit with $179m (including $128m in punitive damages) judgment over shady bookkeeping on "Bones" https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/fox-bones-arbitration-emily-deschanel-179-million-1203150879/

Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources: JWZ (http://www.jwz.org/blog/), Pipe Dream Dragon (https://pipedreamdragon.tumblr.com/), Metafilter (https://metafilter.com/), Karl Bode (https://twitter.com/karlbode), RCB Leon (https://twitter.com/rcbleon), Naked Capitalism (https://nakedcapitalism.com/).

Hugo nominators! My story "Unauthorized Bread" is eligible in the Novella category and you can read it free on Ars Technica: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

Upcoming appearances:

Canada Reads Kelowna: March 5, 6PM, Kelowna Library, 1380 Ellis Street, with CBC's Sarah Penton https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/cbc-radio-presents-in-conversation-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-96154415445

Currently writing: I just finished a short story, "The Canadian Miracle," for MIT Tech Review. It's a story set in the world of my next novel, "The Lost Cause," a post-GND novel about truth and reconciliation. I'm getting geared up to start work on the novel now, though the timing is going to depend on another pending commission (I've been solicited by an NGO) to write a short story set in the world's prehistory.

Currently reading: Just started Lauren Beukes's forthcoming Afterland: it's Y the Last Man plus plus, and two chapters in, it's amazeballs. Last week, I finished Andrea Bernstein's "American Oligarchs" this week; it's a magnificent history of the Kushner and Trump families, showing how they cheated, stole and lied their way into power. I'm getting really into Anna Weiner's memoir about tech, "Uncanny Valley." I just loaded Matt Stoller's "Goliath" onto my underwater MP3 player and I'm listening to it as I swim laps.

Latest podcast: Gopher: When Adversarial Interoperability Burrowed Under the Gatekeepers' Fortresses: https://craphound.com/podcast/2020/02/24/gopher-when-adversarial-interoperability-burrowed-under-the-gatekeepers-fortresses/

Upcoming books: "Poesy the Monster Slayer" (Jul 2020), a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Pre-order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627?utm_source=socialmedia&utm_medium=socialpost&utm_term=na-poesycorypreorder&utm_content=na-preorder-buynow&utm_campaign=9781626723627

(we're having a launch for it in Burbank on July 11 at Dark Delicacies and you can get me AND Poesy to sign it and Dark Del will ship it to the monster kids in your life in time for the release date).

"Attack Surface": The third Little Brother book, Oct 20, 2020.

"Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a very special, s00per s33kr1t intro.

Posted on February 27, 2020Tags 2020, akil augustine, apple, basketball, bernie sanders, books, canada, canada reads, cbc, cdc, cdnpol, chavismo, coronavirus, democrats, dick van dyke, dotorg, dweb, eff, elections, ethos, facebookification, facial hair, federation, filternet, gmail, google, hip hop, isoc, los angeles, onpol, pir, politics, private equity, public enemy, radicalized, sarah silverman, science fiction, sidewalk labs, smart cities, surveillance, toronto, torpol, venezuela, walkawayLeave a comment on Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020 Edit "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020"

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thereinafter · 3 years

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Chocolate Box 2021 exchange letter below.

Hi, dear chocolatier! Thanks so much for creating for me. For fic, I’m good with whatever rating you want to write and any tense/person/structure. I’m also requesting art for everything besides OW. I’ve copied my signup below with a DNW list for each fandom, and those are followed by my general art and fic likes lists.

——-

Dragon Age: (fic, art) Aveline Vallen/Cassandra Pentaghast (Dragon Age) Aveline Vallen/Female Hawke (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast/Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast/Leliana (Dragon Age) Cassandra Pentaghast & Myrna (Dragon Age) Dagna/Sera (Dragon Age) Isabela/Leliana (Dragon Age) Josephine Montilyet/Leliana (Dragon Age) Leliana/Morrigan (Dragon Age)

For all the / ships I requested, I would be very happy with anything inspired by the likes lists below. Cassandra/Leliana, Josephine/Leliana, Leliana/Morrigan: I’m forever interested in all their history we don’t see as well as how they might interact when the Inquisitor or Warden isn’t around. Cassandra/Inquisitor, Aveline/Hawke: I’m good with any variant of female player character and will always love flirting and tension/confusion happily resolved, or facing things together, or just cute/romantic moments. Aveline/Cassandra, Dagna/Sera, Leliana/Isabela: show me how they might meet for the first or second or third time and spark something?

For Cassandra & Myrna (of the Mourn Watch): “Down Among the Dead Men” was my favorite Tevinter Nights story and I’m fascinated with Nevarra and the Grand Necropolis as described there. Have these two met before in the past? Do they have to work together on something for the Inquisition or post-DAI? Since I read TN I’ve wanted a fic where they interact (and preferably get along eventually).

I would also love art of any of these pairings! See general art likes list below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), background male player characters, pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

——

Crossover: (fic, art) Cassandra Pentaghast (Dragon Age)/Kassandra (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)

I still feel like this should happen. Magic or basically magical AC tech or in recurring dreams or however you want to handwave transportation between universes, I would just like to see them in the same place and maybe breaking some things together. (alternatively: I did art of them arm-wrestling one time and if someone wants to write me that fic I would love it.)

Also more art! Fighting back to back? Kassandra flirting with Cassandra? Wearing clothes from each other’s world? A Greek-vase-style pastiche?

See general fic and art likes below if you want more ideas.

DNW: AUs other than the canon settings, pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

——

Emelan - Tamora Pierce: (fic, art) Dedicate Lark/Dedicate Rosethorn

I love the four kids, but I love Lark and Rosethorn the most. (Note: I’ve only read up to Shatterglass as of now, but I don’t mind references to later books if you want to set something later.)

A few fic ideas, feel free to mix up or use anything else from my general likes list: - An adventure by themselves without their students? Or an attempted romantic outing that turns into one? - Writing to each other when one is away? (Rosethorn travels a lot; has Lark ever gone somewhere and left her to manage Discipline?) - Observing traditions and the turn of the year at Winding Circle, from their POVs? - Ways they might use their magic together or experimenting with that?

I would also love any art you want to do of them: see the general art likes below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), pregnancy, non-canon major character death, unhappy endings, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

——

The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon: (fic, art) Sabran Berethnet/Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra (The Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon)

Reusing some of my Yuletide fic prompts, feel free to mix these or use things from my likes list: - A missing scene from when their relationship was secret, before Ead left the first time? - Sabran’s experience of one of the times Ead was hurt and recovered? - I’m always here for long-distance pining and letter-writing. - Post-canon reunions, whether it’s Ead visiting Inys, or Sabran finding ways to meet her elsewhere, or Sabran carrying out her plan to abdicate. I would love exploration of the other courts and lands in the book, especially Yscalin rebuilding from the draconic takeover, and the Priory. - I’m still curious about whether it’s possible for Sabran to learn either type of magic and whether she would explore that, and whether there might be other trees.

I would love art as well! Any canon scene illustrated (the rose under Sabran’s pillow? the bath? the candle dance scene?), or just any art of them you want to do. General art likes below.

DNW: setting AUs (except for art), non-canon pregnancy, non-canon major character death, daddy/mommy kink, noncon

——

Original Work: (fic) Female Adventurer in Need of a Challenge/Lady Stuck in Tower of Ridiculous Traps (Original Work) Female Inventor of Ridiculous Traps/Female Master Thief (Original Work) Female Avant-Garde Artist/Scandalous Demimonde Actress (Original Work) Female Palace Cook/Female Royal Taster (Original Work) Female Paladin/Incarnation of Her Goddess (Original Work) Female Knight on Noble Quest/Witch Who's Far Too Distracting (Original Work) Brave but Stubborn Female Knight/Famous Female Bard Who Has a Crush on Her (Original Work) Dethroned and Dishonored Queen/Lone Loyal Female Knight (Original Work) Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Sorceress Who Loves Baths (Original Work) Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Water or Hotspring Spirit Who Loves Knights (Original Work) Wandering Lady Knight/Her Pining Female Friend She Writes Letters To (Original Work)

I nominated:

Female Adventurer in Need of a Challenge/Lady Stuck in Tower of Ridiculous Traps: I was imagining the kinds of elaborate traps you find in D&D manuals, but other types also work! I just like the idea of bonding through solving bizarre dangerous puzzles from opposite sides of a barrier.

Female Inventor of Ridiculous Traps/Female Master Thief: Professional rivals to lovers? Longtime couple who collaborate? (Bonus idea: prequel to the first prompt?)

Female Palace Cook/Female Royal Taster: I like the idea of one falling for or trying to seduce the other through food creations, under the noses of the royalty. Maybe the taster is also a bodyguard, or just another servant with a risky job?

Female Avant-Garde Artist/Scandalous Demimonde Actress: I’d be here for this whether you want to set it in a real historical period or a fantasy/SF world. Too many feelings and sublimating them through art? Modeling turning into more? A secret relationship, or a volatile on and off thing? I could also see this as a found documents or research notes type of story (or something like 5 times = 5 works in an exhibition?)

Female Paladin/Incarnation of Her Goddess: A dramatic h/c situation, or a reward for faithful service? Or maybe they have a comfortable old-married type of relationship? I could be into any of these.

Female Knight on Noble Quest/Witch Who's Far Too Distracting: Kind of the opposite of the above. They just keep running into each other and catch feelings? Or the witch wants to interfere and ends up helping? Or the quest is actually a bad idea and the witch saves her life?

I didn’t nominate but would delightedly read any take on these (all the lady knights edition): Brave but Stubborn Female Knight/Famous Female Bard Who Has a Crush on Her Dethroned and Dishonored Queen/Lone Loyal Female Knight Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Sorceress Who Loves Baths Female Knight Who Loves Baths/Female Water or Hotspring Spirit Who Loves Knights Wandering Lady Knight/Her Pining Female Friend She Writes Letters To

See the long list of general likes below if you want more ideas.

DNW: unhappy endings, death of requested characters, underage sex (<18), daddy/mommy kink, incest, noncon, a/b/o

——

General fanart likes:

I draw it myself, and I don’t really have style preferences for fanart; I’m interested in however you interpret my request in your own style!

- If one of my fic prompts or my likes below suggests something (non-explicit) you want to draw (whether one scene or sequential), I’d love to see that. I always like to see characters doing things they’re good at or looking formidable or happy. And for shippy art, I am always here for handholding, hand kisses, regular kisses, cuddling, and/or other romantic moments in contexts that make sense for the characters.

- Dressing the characters up or down is also fun. Fancy clothing or armor, things they might wear that we don’t see in canon, or illustrating what they do wear in canon if it’s a book. Partial undressing and dishevelment. Different historical AU looks (as an exception to my setting AUs DNW).

- I’d also be into a piece that’s more of a character study expressing something about them through formal visual elements and symbolism (as opposed to a narrative scene).

- If emulating other art styles is fun for you, I’d totally enjoy any kind of famous artist/historical style pastiche. Or, my love of in-universe documents and worldbuilding definitely extends to art, so something like an in-world manuscript page or notes/doodles/sketches by a character or an in-world portrait of them would make me quite happy.

——

General fic likes

If something’s not on this list, that doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t like it, but I enjoy these things pretty reliably. Take from it and mix these up as you wish.

for both gen and shipfic: Relationships among women, complex and powerful female characters, adult characters with some level of life experience Casefic if the characters do cases or missions: anything like another episode or chapter from the canon Lighthearted slice of life/ day-in-the-life stories when the canon focus is more on big dramatic events Epistolary or found-documents stories, and other unconventional story structures Time loop stories, Rashomon-style stories, and other sets of variations on a theme (including “five times” fic) Canon divergence AUs Worldbuilding/exploring places and times we don’t see much in canon; in-universe mythologies, stories, songs, plays, etc.; holidays, personal or cultural traditions, celebrations People or events from characters’ past resurfacing to complicate things Magical or scientific accidents or anomalies making weird things happen Heists, rescues/jailbreaks, investigating mysteries big or small Court plotting, dealing with complex etiquette/social rules, intrigue, spying, disguises and fake identities Road or sea or space trips, wilderness survival situations, exploring ruins/haunted places/caves/dungeons/etc. Sparring, duels, tournaments, competitions whether serious or not Making things for each other, whether it’s art or music or crafting or food or magic or whatever, and giving gifts Competence porn/demonstrating how good they are at what they do (but perhaps being awkward or lost in other contexts) Learning or teaching others new skills, or trying to Temporarily caring for animals or babies/children when they’re not used to it

for shipfic (pre-relationship, get-together, and established-relationship stories are all interesting to me if I like the ship) Everything above plus: Longtime friends, partners in arms or work or crime, old friends or former lovers meeting again, old enemies who have to admit they like each other, rivals who respect each other … to lovers Long-term established relationships where they know each other better than anyone Cute/playful moments, escalating flirtations whether awkward or skillful, good-natured teasing, surprising each other, discovering new things about each other, trying to impress each other, distracting each other consciously or not Giddy crushes, pining that’s eventually happily resolved, angst with happy endings Having a lot of feelings and not knowing what to do with them, repression, extended UST, slow burn, emotional romantic revelations Hurt/comfort, fighting beside each other, disproportionate reactions to the other being hurt or possibly hurt, facing external threats together, rescuing each other, tending each other Loyalty and devotion, us against the world, bodyguarding, protectiveness, love conflicting with other loyalties, noble self-denial and sacrifice, courtly love Being inspired by the other to create, or achieving things for the other’s sake or in their service, whether secretly or openly Forced-intimacy-by-circumstance tropes like only-one-bed, huddling for warmth, fake dating, marriage of convenience, handcuffed together, dreamsharing/psychic bonds Ascetic/hedonist or repressed/libertine or inexperienced/more experienced dynamics “The grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one,” or prickly/stoic/intimidating/jaded characters softening for a particular person, or allowing themselves to have fun with them Secret relationships as a source of angst and/or for the excitement of sneaking around (though I prefer infidelity not be the reason, unless it’s a forced/political marriage situation) Dancing, whether it’s formal dancing with sexual tension or meaningful romantic dancing or getting uninhibited on a dance floor Meaningful handholding Language of flowers/fans/other symbolic communication and private codes Bathing/dressing/doing hair/other physical caretaking, watching each other sleep, holding each other for comfort, having a hard time not touching Reading/storytelling/singing to each other Reunions after separation, or stealing moments away from everything to be together

for sex scenes: cuddling, kissing, laughing, tasting, eroticized hands and voices, clothed/semi-clothed sex, complicated undressing, talking whether emotional or joking or dirty, asking for things, curiosity/discovery, playfulness/inventiveness, eagerness/desperation, being overwhelmed by feelings, having to keep silent or hold still, interruptions and delayed gratification and intentional drawing things out, body worship, sex against walls, informal mild kink (e.g., tying up, holding down, blindfolding, taking direction, honor bondage, scratching/marking, tearing clothes, mutual roughness), sexy letter writing, one fantasizing about the other, decadence and sensory/sensual details, voyeurism/exhibitionism if it’s IC, writing/painting on skin, sex pollen, magical/ritual/magic-enhanced sex

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phiagaming563 · 3 years

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How to adjust intel graphics settings for gaming windows 10

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famous-aces · 5 years

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Zenobia of Palmyra

Who: Septimia Zenobia Augusta (born Septimia Btzby [Bat-Zabbai], changed it to Septimia Zenobia, the name I gave as her "full name" is the name she chose as her regnal name. The name "Zenobia" basically means "child of Zeus" so just by meeting her she made her divine origins and importance clear.)

What: Empress

Where: Palmyrene (modern day Syria, potentially Arabic, Aramean, or Jewish. Active throughout the Middle East and Turkey)

When: c. 240 CE - c. 274 CE

[Image Description: coins from Emesa (now Ḥimṣ, Syria) from 272 CE. The front of the coin shows shows a portrait of Zenobia from the shoulders-up, surrounded by Greek letters. She has a stern sharp profile with a long large nose and round chin. She has extremely curly hair that seems to be braided in the back. She is wearing a diadem. On the left (the back of the coin) it shows a full body portrait of the goddess Juno is holding a scepter. She has her peacock and a star beside her There are more Greek letters around her. End ID]

The coolest conqueror you have never heard of. The asexual Alexander the Great. Warrior queen. Rebel against Rome. Badass. In under two years Zenobia swept through the Roman East, took over, and set up her high culture court, a place where diversity and intellectualism were highly valued.

Zenobia came onto the historical stage as queen consort to the Ras Odaenathus. But then he was until assassinated, at which point his throne passed to their son, Vaballathus. Vaballathus was too young for the crown so Zenobia was appointed regent. And she pretty much took over. She had big plans for the Palmyrene Empire.

This is going to be a longish bio, like with Bessie Coleman and Joan of Arc I have been totally taken in by Zenobia's story. And I had never heard of her before a follower recommended looking into her! (Thank you whoever you were! I didn't write down your name I am so sorry!)

Zenobia's origins are extremely mysterious and there are a bunch of different versions of her story. She has fascinated people since her lifetime. Many different cultures, historians, and writers have given her bio/life their own unique cultural quirks. Plus there's the whole being an enemy of Rome thing, that never ends well for your legacy. I am going to try to stick to the facts rather than the legend, either the one attributed to her or the one she concocted for herself (she was very good at propaganda, too).

She has been linked to Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba, but probably wasn't related to either of them. She was the one who claimed to be descended from the Ptolemaic dynasty, specifically Cleopatra, of course. But odds are not even she actually believed it. The claim was a political maneuver to make her Egypian takeover look legitimate, she was a ruler coming home rather than an invader. Her actual ethnicity/ancestry is unknown. All of the ethnicities I mentioned -- Jewish, Arabic, Aramean -- have all been floated by various scholars over the centuries.

We don't even know what she looked like, really. The images that remain are idealized portraiture from her own coins. No statues or portraits have survived, potentially destroyed by the Romans. Everything else has been made long after the fact. She has been adopted as a patriotic symbol of Syria and was used as a symbol of Syrian and Arabic pride, she has been made both valiant hero and tragic damsel in the West, some say she was an idol of Catherine the Great, thanks to Egyptian magazines in the early 20th century she has become the quintessential female ruler. Some describe her as unbelievably beautiful, others describe her as a mannish tomboy. She is sometimes described as stereotypically emperor than empress in behavior, which really just means she was a very good ruler because women were supposed to be too frivolous and stupid for the crown.

[Image Description: a S£500 note from 1998. It has a green creasant on one side and a profile portrait of Zenobia on the other. She is shown with a long straight nose, curly hair pinned up, a square chin, wearing a diadem and a robe. There is a faded drawing of ruins in the middle. The bill is mostly in a green pallet. End ID]

But, what follows is the most likely story.

She was a well educated polyglot, highly intellectual, enjoyed hunting, and was probably of some noble origin, especially if she had those hobbies before marrying Odaenathus. She was apparently also fond of wrestling, less high class than the hunting thing. We know little about her family aside from the fact that she was the result of a second marriage. During this time she is often described as taking part in more male activities, like the aforementioned hunting and wrestling against boys, as well as enjoying a far better education than most, which seems reflected in her rule.

As a teenager she became the second wife of Odaenathus marrying him around 255. Odaenathus was a loyal subordinate of Rome, and was created King of Kings and Corrector Totius Orientis (Governor of All the East) by the Roman Empire in addition to his royal titles within his own domain. He went to battle for Rome, and although the record on Zenobia is vague, at this point there are accounts that she joined her husband on campaign where she became familiar with the troops. This friendly relationship would help her later on when she took command. It would also mean she was knowledgeable of battle and strategy and familiar with the battlefield.

Ultimately in 267 her husband and his elder son (from his previous marriage) while away from the capital. The story goes that within the day the crown went to Zenobia and Odaenathus's 10-year-old son, Vaballathus. The fact it happened so quickly would suggest she was nearby, helping her husband on the battlefield. Zenobia had no objections to her son being King and she herself remaining Queen Mother/Regent, but his title was nominal, she was the power behind the throne and everyone knew it.

She was a huge fan/patron of the arts, learning, and philosophy. Her court was one of high culture and discussion. Zenobia was a fair and tolerant ruler, she maintained a steady, stable, and safe multi-religious, multiethnic, and multicultural kingdom and eventually that extended to her Empire. This included protections for minorities, religious or otherwise. The leaders she interacted with never objected to or were hostile toward her person, reign, rule, or court. People, including the military and her governors, liked and/or trusted her. Any complaint about her reign comes from later sources.

In 269 Vaballathus got the title of Persicus Maximus (Victor of Persia), implying a military victory there (certainly actually Zenobia's since the "King" was only 12 at the time and she was well known as a strategic mind, she may have even marched with her troops). And that was the beginning of the end of Zenobia's Roman loyalty. That year she began expanding out of Vaballathus's allotted lands and into Roman territory. She wouldn't formally secede for quite some time, but she started attacking the Hell out of the fringes of the Roman Empire and Zenbodia had made it increasingly clear to her Roman connections in the East they would need to pick a side (ahem, hers) even before her campaign began.

Rome was, at the time, stretched thin and weakening. The Emperor was fighting off Germanic threats in Italy and the Balkans, closer to the Roman center. Her reasons for ultimately just going for it in 269 are not really recorded. Or a lot of them have been put forward. It may have been she wanted more direct control over the lands she had been promised. It may have been that she felt encroached upon and undermined by Rome. It may have been concern for her country's trade routes as Rome made diplomacy sticky. It may have been that she saw the Pax Romana weakening as the centralized Roman authority did. In the absence of direct Roman leadership she wanted to keep the region stable and prosperous.

In the spring of 270 she marched into Provincia Arabia (Rome's Arabic Province). Between 270 and 272 she took over much of the Roman East with domains extending from Palmyra up to Antioch (Ankara, Turkey), over to Dura-Europos (Salhiyé, Syria), down to Mada'in Salih (Al-`Ula, Saudi Arabia), over to Centralish Egypt, down to the Red Sea. This encompassed important historical cities such as Aleppo, Tyre, Tripoli, Jerusalem, Petra, Memphis, Alexandria, and Baranis. Really, conquest was a matter of months. A little over a year after she entered the Provincia Arabia, in August 271, the year was counted as "Vaballathus V" all the way in Alexandria, Egypt. In a year she had taken over most of the Roman East through brilliant military strategy, loyal followers, and a well implemented propaganda campaign.

[Image Description: the Palmyrene Empire at its height. End ID]

It was also in August of 271 that she started printing coins with her face on them throughout her Empire and she began using the title of Empresses, including adding on some Roman titles she hadn't been given. This was very open rebellion and Rome wouldn't ignore her anymore. The fairly newly crowned Emperor Aurelian had settled things enough in the West that he could afford to turn his full attention to the Empress in the East. Now, fresh from military victories of his own, Autelian marched the full might of Rome Eastward.

Faced with one of the largest and best trained armies in the ancient world, plus Rome's many loyal subordinates, it is unsurprising her Empire fell as quickly as it rose.

In May 272 she was defeated at Emesa. She had been on that battlefield leading her troops, away from the capital, but managed to escape to it. This was the beginning of the end, however, the Romans marched on Palmyra, but Zenobia had prepared for the siege. After negotiations broke down she and Vaballathus snuck out of the city and attempted to escape to Persia to try to assemble some kind of alliance. She didn't get that far. A year after she declared herself Empress, August 272, she was in Roman captivity.

Her fate is told a few different ways from there. She may have killed herself enroute to Rome so her captors would not be able to do what Romans always did, publicly display and humiliate her. She may have been taken to Rome, displayed as a traitor, marched through the streets, and humiliated. From there she was either executed by the Romans or married a Roman nobleman, retiring to a villa with an as of that point unrecorded daughter.

Her most likely end is probably the most tragic one: humiliated in Rome and then executed. It is unlikely Emperor Aurelian would have allowed her to live seeing as she committed treason, unlikely she would have married one of her captors, unlikely she had this random daughter only mentioned in this epilogue. Also damning, she doesn't turn up in the record again. Her son, Vaballathus, the only one of her children we know existed, also disappears from the record in 274, which doesn't look good for either of them. Although Aurelian occasionally went easy on his opponents, allowing them to survive in defeat and humiliation, considering that he completely obliterated Palmyra -- razing the holy sites, smashing government buildings, burning it to the ground, and literally massacring civilians -- odds are he was similarly unkind to its leaders. So, while her fate is unknown, my bet is that Zenobia and Vaballathus were executed or at least imprisoned.

[Image Description: Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra by Harriet Hosmer (you may remember her as one of the artists Edomonia Lewis hung out with), carved after 1859. It is a marble bust showing a woman with a stern expression, maybe a little judging. She wears a crown and her hair is mostly pulled back except for two strands hanging down her shoulders. She wears a robe. Her features are definitely too Caucasian given her actual ancestry but this is unfortunately largely the case. Any ancient images of her besides her coins were destroyed. End ID.]

Probable Orientation: Asexual (unknown romantic orientation)

Zenobia's story has been told over and over and over again through the centuries from many different perspectives, many of them telling us as much about the historian's society as it does about Zenobia. There is one thing that remains consistent however, Zenobia didn't have much sex. Likewise Zenobia was a propagandist. She crafted her image. She could be anything, but that one detail stood out enough that everyone takes note of it.

We don't know her ancestry. We do know she avoided sex whenever possible.

She did get married, this is obviously true, but she was a noble. As I expounded upon with Elizabeth I nobility has obligations and this stretches back to the establishment of an aristocracy. If your continued power relies on blood relationships, making a baby is vital. Even if she wasn't a noble before marriage she was wanted by a monarch, that is not something anyone could turn down. If she wanted more power or authority marrying a king is a great way to do it and that means babies.

But it was said at the time and onward that she had no interest in sex. She kept her room separate from his. After marrying she said she would only sleep with her husband for procreation, some say that she only had as much sex as she did children, which may be as few as once.

There are some who say she had other kids, but we only know one of them for sure, Vaballathus. Some other kids have been attributed to her because they have no recorded mother others, like that daughter who supposedly integrated into Rome, exist in only one account and may have been fabricated. There are modern historians who argue that her chastity is just sexism, robbing powerful women of sexuality. I would argue that is just aphobia. An allosexual woman is not more powerful than an ace one and the historical record is consistent on her disdain for sex. Some say this may have been for propaganda's sake, but I don't see any evidence of that. It seems she really just didn't want to have sex. Many male historians have turned it into a focal point. People refuse to just allow her to be ace, there must be some reason, some point to it.

Once she took over she ruled alone. It doesn't seem she was looking for anyone to rule with her nor did she have anyone on the side. No Antony to her Cleopatra.

"She would not even know her own husband, except for the purpose of conception. For when she had lain with him, she would refrain until the time of the month to see if she was pregnant; if not she would again grant an opportunity of begetting children."

-Trebellius Pollio

[image description: Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo c.1725. A bright painting showing (again a very white) Zenobia on the battlefield and in armor directing her troops who listen intently. End ID]

#lgbtq #queer #history #asexual #ace #bio #middle east #Syrian #politicians #soldier #Jewish #3rd century #warriors #zenobia

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