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just-late-roman-republic-things · 3 months

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More notes on the development of Roman imperialism and colonialism:

Rome began as a city warring with other cities and city-states in Italy. Its growth was haphazard and, in some ways, accidental. They don't seem to have thought of it as an "empire" in the sense of "our land and sea," until the 1st century BCE.

Before then, the Roman empire was characterized by active military control, not by thinking of lands as "Roman territory." This was not the USA trying to grab all the land it could in manifest destiny; this was a city-state that primarily aimed to enrich and defend itself, and often used military occupation to do so.

The Romans did not like to think of themselves as an expansionist power, but as fighting defensive wars for themselves and their allies. However, the Roman system of alliance building - and sometimes provoking other countries - frequently "pulled" Rome into wars anyway. And Roman generals who really wanted a war could often invent justifications for it. Caesar's conquest of Gaul is one of many wars that started as "protecting an ally from invasion" but which soon became opportunistic power-grabs.

Even so, this self-concept as "defenders" partly explains why the Romans mostly left defeated Italian communities intact, only demanding troop levies and sometimes confiscating part of the land. Draining conquered peoples dry or wiping them out was not the goal, and the Romans actually prided themselves on being relatively "merciful" to their neighbors (by classical standards). However, as Rome's sphere of influence grew, and the distance from Rome to defeated (and potentially rebellious) communities increased, they began stationing permanent military outposts in certain regions.

Roman colonies originated as military outposts. They served a quadruple purpose: 1) to punish communities that had rebelled or fought wars against Rome; 2) to reward Roman veterans; 3) to relieve economic tensions in Rome itself; and 4) to suppress further rebellion by maintaining Roman outposts in the region.

This is in contrast to Greek and Phoenician colonies, which were usually established by traders, and the USA's westward expansion, which aimed to replace indigenous peoples en masse.

Similarly, the word "province" originally referred to a task or assignment, not a geographic area. A proconsul might be assigned the "province" of Spain of Sicily in the sense of "keep this region from revolting."

Economic exploitation came later. The Punic Wars marked a turning point in which Rome stationed generals overseas for extended periods of time to prevent insurgency among subject peoples, not Italian allies who were acknowledged as mostly self-governing. These generals had immense latitude to do as they saw fit, and with the promise of armed protection, Roman businessmen soon saw opportunities for mining, slave plantations, and more. This is also why Spain, Sicily, and certain other regions were abused much more harshly than Italy itself.

In the 1st century BCE we see a slow shift toward conquest of lands being sought for its own sake, rather than as a by-product of war. By the reign of Augustus, writers imagined Rome conquering the whole world.

Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul occurred midway through this ideological shift. Hence he felt the need to justify his conquest by presenting his side of the story in his Commentaries, but the public response to his needless invasion of Britain was overwhelmingly positive. Conquest, if successful, was beginning to justify itself.

However, the Romans also gradually came to see themselves as responsible for the government of long-term provinces, and take measures to curb abuse of provincials. Caesar himself installed one of the biggest reforms limiting corruption. (Yes, he was a bit of a hypocrite...)

The gradual expansion of citizenship across the empire and military recruitment from provincials gradually put pressure on the Romans to value more than just Italian interests. We first see this with Julius Caesar's attempt to extend Latin Rights to Sicily and citizenship to Cisalpine Gauls; it reached its final form when the Edit of Caracalla made all free inhabitants of the empire citizens in 212 CE. The "Romanization" of Europe did not happen by displacing the original inhabitants of provinces, but by incorporating them.

Sources: SPQR by Mary Beard; A Companion to the Roman Republic, ed. Rosenstein and Morstein-Marx, chapters 6-7. See also my previous post on this topic.

#jlrrt reads #a companion to the roman republic #nathan rosenstein #robert morstein-marx #colonialism #imperialism #there were some cases of mass displacement and genocide btw. but at the risk of hair-splitting: these occurred as part of wars #rather than as the goal of roman colonialism per se #jlrrt essays

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contemplatingoutlander · 8 months

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"Far from being exceptional in American history, gun-control regulations are the default. If 'Bruen' was designed to nullify the constitutional basis for many gun laws, it ought to fail."

--Robert J. Spitzer, political science professor emeritus at SUNY Cortland

Robert J. Spitzer, professor emeritus at SUNY Cortland outlines the early--and plentiful--history of gun regulation laws in early American history. Consequently, Clarence Thomas's 2022 Bruen decision might not be the disaster for gun control that some people have thought. Below are some excerpts from the article.

In the summer of 1619, the leaders of the fledgling Jamestown colony came together as the first general assembly to enact “just Laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting.” Consisting of the governor, Sir George Yeardley; his four councillors; and 22 elected “burgesses,” or representatives, the group approved more than 30 measures. Among them was the nation’s first gun law:

"That no man do sell or give any Indians any piece, shot, or powder, or any other arms offensive or defensive, upon pain of being held a traitor to the colony and of being hanged as soon as the fact is proved, without all redemption."

After that early example of gun control came many more laws placing restrictions on the ownership and use of firearms. If guns have always been part of American society, so have gun laws. This fact might come as a surprise to some gun-rights advocates, who seem to believe that America’s past was one of unregulated gun ownership. That view received a big assist in 2022, when the Supreme Court declared in "New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen" that the constitutionality of modern gun laws depends on whether they are “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” In other words, the constitutional standard for any modern gun law boils down to whether you can find a good precedent for it back in the 1700s or 1800s. The advocates’ assumption is that such precedents are few and far between, but thanks to the work of researchers and the digitization of archival material, thousands of old gun laws, of every imaginable variety, are now available for reference. Far from being exceptional in American history, gun-control regulations are the default. If "Bruen" was designed to nullify the constitutional basis for many gun laws, it ought to fail. [...] Throughout this long period in the history of the republic, up until the beginning of the 20th century, gun laws placed conditions or restrictions on weapons access for a wide variety of citizens—in particular, indentured servants, vagrants, non-Protestants, those who refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the government, felons, foreigners, minors, and those under the influence of alcohol. Numerous laws regulated hunting practices, as well as firearms’ carry, use, storage, and transportation; regulated the manufacture, inspection, storage, and sale of firearms; imposed gun licensing; and restricted dangerous or unusual weapons. Despite the Thomas opinion’s claim that “the historical record yields relatively few 18th- and 19th-century ‘sensitive places’ where weapons were altogether prohibited,” some local authorities outlawed the discharge of firearms in or near towns, buildings, or roads, as well as after dark, on Sundays, at public gatherings, and in cemeteries. In some jurisdictions, any use of a firearm that wasted gunpowder was also an offense. [...] In the post-revolutionary 1800s, as rising violent crime led more people to arm themselves, a total of 42 states (plus the District of Columbia) enacted laws against concealed carry. Three more did so in the early 1900s, so that the total included almost every state in the Union. As many states from the 1700s to 1900s also enacted some form of weapons-licensing law. That’s not all. Over that same period, at least 22 states restricted any gun carrying, including of long guns. Moreover, across the entire period, three-quarters of the states had laws either against “brandishing”—waving a gun around in a menacing or threatening manner—or merely having a weapon on display in public. [...] In addition, even though for much of its history America was an agrarian country...its lawmakers and enforcers were inventive and determined about ensuring public safety. When they perceived a threat to that order from firearms, they passed laws to restrict or prevent them. And back then, by and large, no court struck those laws down. That is what is truly consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. So if we accept the originalist premise of "Bruen," the actual result should be to render a broad array of gun regulations constitutional. [color emphasis added]

#american history #gun control #america's original gun control #robert j. spitzer #bruen decision #the atlantic

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domfock · 8 months

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Ayo, Bookclub, I am back with another information clarification post.

Today we're gonna talk about Chronica, Domina, and Plants in the universe, as well as looking at the timeline. A lot of this information is already given to us in Vol 12, and the rest will not really be any spoilers but serve to give everything mentioned later more weight.

Right off the bat, Chronica and Domina are both Independent Plants. They're now born with neural blockers that contains their powers and prevents them from fusing. It seems to be common place for Independent Plants to serve upon Earth vessels, which gives us insight that Independent Plants are not only trusted, but also admired and respected in these military positions, as we see the Captain always refer to Chronica for her analysis and expertise.

And about Earth. Information was obviously lost over time, so it is easy to imagine the people on planet No Man's Land just assumed Earth was gone, or simply didn't bother hope for anything beyond surviving to the next day. With Earth dying, they sent out fleets to colony other planets, not knowing if they would ever make it possible for finding each other again. All that mattered was that humanity had to survive.

In time, they managed to develop a better and more sustainable form of energy, both to preserve Earth and Plants, and this allowed humanity to also develop warp drives to easily travel the stars, finally making the dream of connecting all of humanity across the stars.

Also, with a quick look at the timespan and year we have, we can use the dates offered in the notes about Tesla to nail down a time period. Tesla was born May 3rd, 2405. She survived for seven month and a half months, making that some time in January, 2406.

An unspecified amount of time passed before Vash and Knives were born, but let's go with a year or so for simplicity, which is then in 2407. Add then the one year plus a few extra months for the time they grew up on the ship, making it 2408. Now we add the 150 or so years, making it 2558, give or take the about three years of the entire story, putting us at 2561 as the current year of the story.

Chronica than states that it's been over two centuries since they started colonizing the universe, setting the year for when the SEEDs ships left Earth at around 2361, give or take a couple of decades or so. Meaning the colony fleets flew through space for like fifty or so years, at least the one Rem and the crew was on.

There's an unknown amount of human colonies out in the universe, most likely doing better than our main planet, since they managed to land on suitable planets and didn't crash and lose all their tech and information like No Man's Land did because of Knives.

It seems the tech and understanding surrounding Plants was not fully understood by the time the colony fleets were sent out, making Independents an unknown whenever they would eventually happen to each fleet and/or colony. With all these unrestrained Independents Plants across the universe, it is no surprise that Chronica speaks about having faced similar situations.

From what Chronica states, non-neurally blocked Independent Plants have for the most part turned violent and dangerous, as well. Might be caused by the access to near-unlimited power, even if the Plant situations could look a lot better on other Planets. They could've been treated like subjects, like Tesla, and grown their hate this way.

This also suggest how much of an anomaly Vash is, having been raised like a normal child, with love and care, growing into a reasonable man. It is possibly other Independents out there shared a good childhood too, which is why Chronica says most unrestrained Indepedents are violent, but not all.

It's also worth noting, that despite Independents having neural blockers to prevent them from fusing, they can still be forcibly assimilated against their will through direct contact, as we saw happening to Domina. Another person in Knives' long list of victims whose autonomy was taken away and body invaded by him, because he cares so much about other Plants and totally not acting out of his own hate and fear.

I hope this cleared some stuff up for everyone. I for one absolutely love thinking about what the rest of the world could look like, considering the scope of the world.

#trigunbookclub

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mariaxxxxx · 6 months

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Chapter 3- My future in gold and jade

Summary: To save your nation You are given as a bride to a sea god.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY/ Minors DNI, Angust, Hurt comfort, Sex, Apologies, Crying, Creampie, Passionate sex, virgin!reader, size difference, smut, soft!dom!, HEA, somnophille, slight degradation, duvious consent, pregnancy, arranged marriage, inexperienced reader, abortion commented, unprotected sex (don't do that wrap this thing), kidnapping, aftercare, curse words.

A/N: English is not my mother tongue. I apologize for any errors.

A/N: Reader is heavily implied to be Mexican but i tried to keep it as free to the imagination as possible

Curiosity: A friend asked me what period my story takes place in, well, although I didn't specify, it is very implicit that everything takes place in the colonial period. Namor obtains his queen (You) at least 200 years after burying his mother; As we know, our water daddy ages very slowly and he was around 70/80 years old when he said goodbye to his mother, but he had the appearance of a boy of no more than 13 years old. In my story he already has the appearance we know in the film, perhaps, with some small touches of subtle youth. The characters Namora and Attuma will not be present in this fic, as they were not born yet, I guarantee that later on the reader will have contact with the people who would become the great-grandparents of these iconic characters.

Work count: 1.020

Serie materialist

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

You could have a million lives, but it wouldn't be enough to describe the beauty of the man in front of you. Adorned in gold, jade and lazulite, with his modesty being covered by a white loincloth with checkered embroidery, in his beautiful nose a jade piercing and in his pointed ears earrings also decorated with green stone, his skin shone like liquid gold under the yellowish light from the cabin; the figure was so imposing that You believed you were in the presence of a God.

He smiled wide in her direction, exposing all his white, perfectly aligned teeth. He was standing in front of you, with an upright posture and hands clasped in front of his body. A beautiful body; You noticed. He wore nothing to cover his bare chest. You noticed that on his ankles there were two pairs of wings; just like his father had said.

“You’re even more beautiful up close.” He broke the silence.

"You speak my language." Although it wasn't his intention, his voice came out as a mere whisper. He seemed to have fun with it.

“I see they took very good care of You.” He gestured with his right arm as he spoke; indicating her figure covered in a beautiful dress and precious jewelry. His brain took a while to understand that the ‘‘they’’ he was referring to were the blue-skinned girls who had bathed and dressed him.

"Yes. They took very good care of me.” You said. “I feel like I should say thank you, but I don’t know how to do it.”

"Don't worry about that. I will tell them myself how pleased their queen is with the result.”

Queen, the word echoed in his mind. So he was a king? Were you his queen? Everything seemed so confusing to You. The information you were given proved useless at this point.

“I…” You started to speak, but the words slipped off your tongue. You knew what to say what to do what to think.

"You...?" he encouraged.

“What should I call him? I am your wife, but I know nothing about You.”

It seemed like the right question, because the man, The God, puffed out his chest and approached You. As he approached, You felt the wave of heat that his skin exuded.

“K’uk’ulkan. That’s what my people call me and that’s what my queen will call me.”

“K'uk'ulkan” You repeated the word quietly, testing the sound on your lips. The name was as beautiful as the one to whom it belonged.

“Come, sit next to me. I have a lot to tell you.”

The man was a talented storyteller and You were a curious listener. He told him how long ago his people were driven from their corn farms by white invaders; He explained how disease and genocide forced his people to look for alternative solutions to save themselves. It was a shaman, he said, who prayed to the God Chaac for an answer and the God responded. In a vision he was shown a plant, at the bottom of the sea, with sacred properties that would free the people from hunger and destruction.

His mother, his mother-in-law, refused to ingest the plant for fear of hurting the baby growing in her womb, but the Xama was convincing and she was promised that the seed growing in her womb would be the leader of this new nation. Then he, K'uk'ulkan, was born on prayers and salt water. With his ears pointed towards the stars and his feathered ankles, being able to breathe in and out of the water, he was given a throne when he was still just a few days old. His mother died at an advanced age and her body was buried on the surface, on the land from which she claimed to return.

“My mother is buried on the land where you belong. I cannot let his resting place be desecrated again by those colonizers.”

"I'm very sorry." You whispered. “It must have been painful to lose someone so important.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me, my queen. Use this deplorable feeling for those who deserve it. Those who invade taking what does not belong to them, those who deprive mothers of their children and wives of their husbands. What I will do to the invaders will be pitiful.”

“How should I thank the savior of my people?” You questioned, eyes shining in anticipation. You were his to play with, to mold; his destiny was ingrained between that man's fingers.

“Your father already did this for you the moment your hand was offered to me in marriage.” He paused. “A brave man, I admit. He gave his most precious possession to a stranger.”

You noticed a tone of irritation in his voice, as if the idea of You being handed over so easily was absurd.

“Desperate measures require desperate solutions. My father did what was necessary to protect his people and I don't blame him for that; What is a single life to save millions?”

He seemed proud of his words, proof of which was a huge smile that appeared on his lips.

“Sometimes, my queen, alternative measures can be taken that preserve a single life and the lives of millions.”

"I am a princess. And a princess's mission can never cease. I must serve my nation and its role to play, the hopes of my people I can never disappoint.” You said. “These words were whispered in my ears the moment I took my first breath of life and these are the words I repeated to myself when I was told that I would be handed over to a being that flies beneath the waves. I was afraid, I felt angry at my father and those who failed to protect me, but the lives of my people are much more important than my wishes.”

The man, her husband, leaned forward until his face was mere inches from hers. He placed his hand right on her cheek. You closed your eyes, enjoying that intimate and affectionate act.

“The gods sent a good queen to me.”

#namor x reader #black panther #namor of talokan #namor x y/n #namor x you #talokan #wakanda forever #namor smut #namor the sub mariner #namor #tenoch huerta

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orangerosebush · 9 months

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hi there! I was wondering if I could pick your brain re: accents in the fowlverse because I adore reading your analyses and thoughts so I’m curious to see what you think! Artemis 1 and 2 I’m assuming have a Dublin accent (forgive me Irish fans I’m not familiar with Irish accents!), but what about butler and Juliet for example? And holly and opal and other fairies, while of course they can speak any language they’d like, do you think they adopt an accent that fits their language of choice, or is there a “fairy” accent they have?

Hi there! I have a few thoughts on this, though I will ask that you take them with a grain of salt due to being an American, lol.

The Irishness of the books is a subject on which people have written much more intelligently than I ever could. The first AF book was published in 2001, which I note here due to economic context. The "Celtic Tiger" refers to the rapid economic growth in Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s.

O’Leary, Eoin. “Reflecting on the ‘Celtic Tiger’: Before, during and After.” Irish Economic and Social History, vol. 38, 2011, pp. 73–88. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24338906. Accessed 2 Aug. 2023.

During this period of economic growth (which one must note was characterized by high technology exports), there was a boom in internationally successful Irish children's and young adult fiction. These books usually harkened back to pre-colonial mythology while incorporating high-tech themes connected to economic optimism for Ireland's future.

The 2011 essay collection edited by Keith O'Sullivan and Valerie Coghlan, Irish Children’s Literature and Culture: New Perspectives on Contemporary Writing, analyzes the historical context behind these trends in youth fiction.

O’Sullivan, Keith, and Valerie Coghlan. Irish Children’s Literature and Culture: New Perspectives on Contemporary Writing. 2011. Routledge.

‌Of the Irish children's fiction and YA published from 1995-2005, Colfer's Artemis Fowl series remains one of the most internationally popular. In looking at these books' success, Patricia Kennon interrogates the particular Irishness of AF in her essay, "Contemplating Otherness Imagining the Future in Speculative Fiction".

O’Sullivan, Keith, and Valerie Coghlan. Irish Children’s Literature and Culture: New Perspectives on Contemporary Writing. 2011. Routledge.

The first book establishes some interesting elements of the Fowls' class. When describing the relationship between the Butlers and the Fowls, we learn, “The first record of this unusual arrangement was when Virgil Butler had been contracted as servant, bodyguard, and cook to Lord Hugo de Folé for one of the first great Norman crusades"; the Fowls and Butlers arrive in Ireland as Anglo-Norman conquerors.

One other note we have about the Butlers and Fowls is that: “The original Fowl castle had been built by Aodhán Fowl in the fifteenth century overlooking low-lying country on all sides.” The fifteenth century saw the reconquest of Ireland under Henry VIII; Ireland was changed from a lordship (where the island was ruled by the King of England and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman lords between 1171-1542) to a full Kingdom. Furthermore, with this excerpt about Aodhán Fowl, we must note that the Manor was built in Dublin. During the 15th century, Dublin was located in the Pale.

From Wikimedia

The Pale was located around and in Dublin, and it was the base of English rule in Ireland following the reconquest. By the Tudor period, there was intermarriage between the Gaelic Irish aristocracy and the Anglo-Norman lords, and many of the Anglo-Normans had become "Gaelicized"; descendants of the Anglo-Norman colonists were seen as assimilated into Irish culture and increasingly less "English" by the end of the Middle Ages. These descendants were seen as the "Old English" of Ireland, in contrast to the "New English" of Ireland of the Tudor invasion. One should note that in the case of the Pale, it remained subject to the English king during the 15th century when other parts of Ireland were predominantly under the rule of native Irish lords or Anglo-Irish lords (who, in theory, answered to the king). One should also note that the Pale was comprised of Old English merchants who were loyal to England. Thus, there is a specificity to the time in which Aodhán Fowl lived and built the Manor.

Based on the aforementioned bits of lore and historical context, we have to understand the Fowls as having their wealth and power tied to the class position they enjoyed historically due to being descendants of Anglo-Norman invaders, as well as being "Old English" during the reconquest. The Fowls are undoubtedly Irish -- Colfer positions Artemis and his family as nothing but -- yet they hold the power they do as a result of having at one point been Anglo-Norman (whose descendants "Gaelicized").

As such, IMO the Fowls wouldn't have a location-based accent per se, but rather an education-based accent that is posh, RP-style with a tinge of Dublin. FWIW, some Dublin accents already are received as posh, like the D4 accent. With the Butlers, I think that they'd have a similar accent to the Fowls due to being of a similar class. However, their training would likely lend them the ability to affect an accent that is "local" to wherever they are stationed.

Honestly, I have no idea on accents for the People! I would assume that there is a "Haven" accent, though when it comes to the gift of tongues, I am open to ideas as to how that would affect speech.

Also, I would love to hear any thoughts/additions you may have :)!

#artemis fowl

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spotsupstuff · 8 months

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What happened to suns?

NSH: This man has done irrepairable damage to my mental facilities. That's a crime, y'know?! Messin' up an Iterator's noggin cogs??? They are a *filthy* criminal.

serious answer: a sequence of unfortunate events, basically. idk how long you've been here so i'll start from the beginning

Suns is a very early Gen 2 Iterator. the jump between the 1st n the 2nd Generation went physically very smoothly, but when it comes to the more subtle aspects of a person, it went worse. early Gen 2s r known for bein bad with emotions (the other Iterator that is like that that shows up is Fish. he's rather emotionally crass and unwieldy)

Suns scored the worst possible lottery result while spinning the early Gen 2 emotion capability wheel and their emotional skill and ability to produce the stuff in the first place is in the single digits. they are very conscious of this fault of theirs and instead of doing something more productive with it more often, they rather spend their single digit emotion capability on bemoaning and despising this fault

they do come to Nish for help with it, basically have therapy sessions with him (Nish is the most emotion-capable Iterator in like... Ever) and they do put up a front of this cool, chill, amazing guy persona around themselves to get better accepted by the other Iterators (all of them except Gen 3s know that this cool guy thing is a ruse though. they appreciate the effort however). so they kinda awkwardly fake emotions n go on through their life. this persona is who Pebbles ultimately decided to look up to as his mentor btw. it was never really the real Suns, only maybe some glimpses of it

next unfortunate event shows up first mentioned in my old big headcanon post for the canon Iterators:

(Suns is built quite close to the south pole, though the summer months can still get stupid hot)

at some point i started headcanoning that my Suns has very slow processing time. like absolute Shit reflex time. like

this is canon ☝

n then i put these two headcanons Together ✨ so basically: because of the lack of emotional capability, Suns feels a big need to compensate for stuff. even though the Solis colony is one of the sweetest and kindest colonies out there, they felt like they need to give More. so they started running hotter for the sake of their citizens. but yanno, periodic basically overheating is going to cause damage to hardware shit, not to mention the poor fauna that makes up an Iterator Hivemind. and that's how Suns damaged their processing speed

now as to why i say Suns would go offline in the post-mass ascension off string au: they are falling apart at the seams. torturously slow, but terribly. they are rotting alive- but not in the same way as Pebbles, it's not THE Rot. it's just... a rot. natural decay, not godly cancer. their nickname in DMs between me n shkiki is literally mr. Decay cuz of this

because of a combo of their slow processing time, their location (snowstorms + changing temperatures that go into extremes on pretty much both sides of the spectrum) and their pre-occupation with Pebbles related matters, Suns got yo normal booboo and didn't treat it and when they finally directed attention to themselves, a good portion of them has already decayed including the puppet

yes, they are That wigged that they didn't notice one of their most important parts rotting alive while even using it. this whole thing i refer to as hot girl summer arc btw

after Spears' campaign (they notice they have an infection during the slug's journey back to them) Suns is so fucked up over everything that they just go "Fuck it. why try anymore. i won't fight this. at least i feel *something* rather than nothing, i suppose. i deserve this." and allow their condition to only worsen and don't tell people about it

in the time of the Hunter's campaign i can imagine that they'd be so caked in all of this shit, all physically, emotionally and mentally, that they just wouldn't try at all to save themselves

and fact is, the others will try to help them. especially Wind will. but at some point a person needs to recognize that nothing is going to go anywhere if the other party refuses to put in any effort into getting better too and only drags the innocent one down right along with themselves

#spot says stuff #rw #ask to tag #ill be honest when it comes to suns i keep forgettin n ignoring their apology pearl for some reason gkjsdlcklmmckdsl #all i have on mind r some of the broadcasts... but Mainly the vanilla dialogues -waves- hi pre-DP bitch here #so my characterization stems a lot from those with vague DP stuff sprinkled in- Suns is a pessimistic piece of work that means well but-#-only manages to drag other people down with themselves. thats how i had them 2 years ago n im content stickin to my guns for the most part #readin the spears pearl... like idk suns feels very mechanical/logical/crass for smth as sensitive as this. kinda arrogant #certain things that Suns canonically says Makes Me Uncomfy and Bristly

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anna-the-undertaker · 11 months

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Rebirth: Science Overview

Rebirth: Part 1 Art Ref Just some info about Black Vultures, what Humans would require in order to fly with wings, and MCs new anatomy. This is pretty long but I had fun with it and I hope you guys enjoy it too:

Black Vultures:

Overview - Black Vultures (Coragyps Atratus) are amongst the most abundant vultures of the new world, and out of all the members in the Cathartidae family, have the most varied diet. They are highly social birds that demonstrate fierce family loyalty. They will share food with their relatives and feed their young for months after fledging. Their lifespan is 10 years on average, and the longest-banded individual has lived up to 25-26 years.

Appearance - Their wings are broad but relatively short. The base of the primary feathers are white, producing a white patch on the underside of the wings edge, which is visible in flight. Their plumage is mainly a glossy black.

Habits and Lifestyle - They soar high when searching for food, holding their wings horizontally when gliding. They flap in short bursts which are followed by short periods of gliding. They are generally silent but can hiss and grunt or make barking noises when agitated or while feeding, they also do this when fighting over food. Black Vultures are gregarious and roost in large groups (these groups are referred to as a Kettle/Committee/Wake). They generally forage in groups late in the day; they locate food by sight or following other Vultures to carcasses as their sense of smell is not as strong as their slightly larger Turkey Vulture brethren. They are aggressive when feeding, and may even chase away Turkey Vultures. When startled, they regurgitate just-eaten food so that they can take flight. They conserve energy at night by lowering their body temperature. When morning comes they warm up by spreading their wings in the sun. As such they can often found with their wings spread. This stance has several functions: Warming the body, drying the wings, and baking off bacteria.

Diet and Nutrition - Black Vultures are carnivores and mainly scavengers, eating the carcasses of large animals, and sometimes small dead mammals. They also kill baby herons in nesting colonies and eat domestic ducks, newborn calves, small birds and mammals, eggs, opossums, skunks, ripe or rotten vegetables or fruit, and young turtles.

Mating Habits - Black Vultures are monogamous and pairs mate for life. They engage in aerial courtship displays with circling flight, chasing, and then spiraling down. A pair may also display together on a perch: they spread their wings and jump into the air while making yapping noises. They don't build nests but use a natural cavity such as a cave, rock crevice, tree, or hollow log. 2 eggs are laid and are incubated by both parents for 38 to 45 days, each taking turns everyday. Both parents feed the chicks by regurgitating liquified food until they are 2 weeks old, they then give them solid food. They forage as a family group until the next breeding season.

Stats - Top speed: 55KMH/34MPH, Weight: 1.6-2.7KG/3.5-5.9LBS, Length: 56-74cm/22-29.1 inches, Wingspan: 1.3-1.7M/4.3-5.6FT

Humans and the ability to fly:

We have all imagined it. Wished we could do it. But unfortunately, without countless amounts of genetic alteration, it's impossible for a human being to be able to fly unaided, wings or otherwise.

As humans we have conquered the skies with the use of airplanes, but our avian neighbors still have us beat.

A bird's skeleton has a tougher job than a mammal's. It needs to be light enough for flight, but also strong enough to take the strain of flying. To tackle these problems, birds' skeletons have some unique adaptations.

Bird skeletons are surprisingly light for their size due to having hollow bones. They also have lightweight beaks instead of heavy teeth and jawbones. Some other bones are very small, or have disappeared altogether, for example in the tail.

A bird’s main limb bones are hollow, with special struts inside to strengthen them. This makes them stronger than a mammal’s without being heavier. Other bones are more rigid than in a mammal’s skeleton. Sideways bones sticking out from the ribs lock them tightly together, and the two collarbones are joined into a single brace – which we call the ‘wishbone’. A rigid skeleton can cope better with the stress of flying.

If you look at the carcass of a roast chicken, you can easily see the huge breastbone, which sticks out like the keel of a boat. This bone is unique to birds. It holds the huge muscles that they need for flying. Most flightless birds such as ostriches and emus have lost this breastbone as they no longer need it.

You see, the reason we humans would be unable to fly is simply our weight and lack of strength.

By taking into account a human's average height and weight, we would need a wingspan between 6 to 7 meters (19.7 to 23 feet). When facturing in the average strength of a human, wings of that size would be too heavy to function.

In order to fly, our muscles would need to generate enough power to lift our bodies off the ground for an extended about of time which is impossible without scaling them up, which is a dead end when it comes to human flight. This is because of the strength-to-weight ratio of our muscles. Put simply, as our muscles grow, their weight increases faster than their strength.

Humans are woefully malproportioned for flight. Their centre of gravity is about where their naval is and their shoulders, through which flight loads must be transmitted if their arms are replaced by wings, are about 40 or 50 cm too high. They could however fly upright but then they would be extremely slow because of air resistance. This could be remedied by having much shorter and/or much lighter skinnier legs. In that case they would be hopelessly slow and clumsy on the ground.

A better solution would be to have an altogether new (extra) set of limbs (wings) like your archetypal angel, but unlike angel wings they would have to be supported just above the hips. This would entail a fundamental change of body plan, including mutation of the hox genes and others I assume. It may not be a feasible mutation.

You’d have to lighten up everything and increase lung capacity enormously to begin to approach the power to weight ratio of flying creatures like birds and bats.

So in short we would need:

new bone structure/proportions

more strength

larger lung capacity

MCs New Anatomy:

We all know MC isn't a normal human (or rather no longer human) and due to the supernatural happenings in Obey Me this isn't going to be all the way anatomically correct, but I still tried to keep it as realistic as possible and when it comes to MCs new body I had to do a bit brainstorming and theorizing to come up with how it would function. So in correlation with what's cannon and headcannon (the brothers having a third form which are their true forms) for Obey Me, MC has 3 forms: Human, Partial, and full transformation. The human form is exactly as it sounds: what they looked like as a human. The partial transformation is similar to the brothers in terms of their demon forms: wings/tail and horns. The full transformation is everything as seen in the reference drawing I did: Horns, wings, arms/hands, legs/feet, eyes/teeth. Feel free to imagine any extra details that speak to you in regards to their "true" form as I want to encourage you to insert your OC and have fun with it. I'd love to hear about the ideas you all come up with so please leave them in the comments. (The full transformation was heavily inspired by HunniLibra's work on AO3 called True Forms. I highly recommend reading it. It's really good.) And now, without further adieu, we are getting into the detailed stuff.

Wings -

The wings of course are the main focus of their new form and the most noticeable. They have 3 sets, 6 wings in total:

Top (4m/13ft): The smallest set and they act similar to a vertical stabilizer on aircrafts; prevents MC from being moved side to side as they glide and helps with wind resistance. In terms of protection, they are quite tough and make a good shield for their head.

Middle (7m/23ft): The largest and strongest, these are MCs main set. They are the driving force behind their ability to fly. They generate lift and keep them elevated as this set works alongside the others, flapping in short bursts, followed by a short period of gliding, and then repeating. These are also MCs greatest protection, acting as a shield for their body should they need it.

Bottom (5m/16ft): This set is slightly shorter than the main wings, but serve a very important purpose. Exactly like tail flight feathers, they are there for stability and control. They are used as a rudder, helping to steer and balance Mc and allow them to twist and turn in flight and act as a brake for landing. They also help support MCs body weight and steady their center of gravity, supporting the main set by preventing MC from bobbing up and down. For protection, they cover the base of MCs spine, a very sensitive part of the back that the main set can't reach when being used as a shield.

(For reference, I headcannon that Lucifer's wings are about 10m/33ft)

Strength: Even with hollow bones, these wings would still, realistically, be well over 200lbs/90kgs so in order to lift that weight and MCs body weight they would have to be extremely strong. Strong enough, in fact, to send several, large, grown men flying when launching into flight. They are also tough as tungsten. With the bones supported by internal struts and becoming reinforced due to its evolution, it is virtually impossible for a normal human, lesser demon, or lesser angel to harm them. A wing thrust from these acts as a countermeasure to create distance between MC and an opponent by knocking them back.

Speed: Speed varies depending on what exactly MC is doing while in flight. Normal gliding speed would be about 65mph/105km/h, but can reach a top gliding speed of 70mph/ll2km/h. The only way reach their max speed is during a nose dive, with their wings closed and held tight to their body, reaching speeds up to 122mph/195km/h or more.

Length: When closed their wings drag across the ground due to their size so extra care is required in maintaining them and keeping the feathers from being damaged. It's recommended to only walk around this way when at home.

Horns -

The horns are another noticeable feature on MCs new form, but not nearly as eye catching as their wings. Horns on most animals serve a purpose: head protection and as a weapon. I imagine it is the same with demons as well. Shape, size, and durability determine just how effective they are:

As far as protection goes, they don't provide much excluding the crown of MCs skull. They are, however, great for headbutting or ramming into someone.

Durability: While at first glance they appear to be made of crystal, they are really made of extremely smooth bone. The same reinforced bone as their skull. It is possible to damage/break them but only under extreme force. Possibly the same amount of force of a transfer truck hitting them at full speed.

Size: A little above average when compared to demons. They hover about 2 inches above MCs scalp and have decent amount of girth, thickest at the base with the thinnest part being the tips. The tips are really sharp.

Arms and Hands -

The arms and hands are essential tools for any humanoid creature. Now for MC, their arms and hands look just a like a humans unless they do a full transformation. And when they do, they develop almost charcoal black skin from their hands where it is the darkest to their elbow where it is the lightest. This skin is rougher and stronger than their normal skin. It is similar to the skin of Black Vultures. Their fingers appear to be a bit longer and they have extremely sharp nails that change length at will.

Legs and Feet -

The same as the arms and hands, legs and feet are essential tools. They too look human until MC transforms, developing the same dark skin. The difference is that the feet change shape, transforming in to those of a large raptor with talons that can pierce through bone and rip away flesh with ease.

Eyes and Teeth -

Like the arms and legs, their eyes and mouth are usually humanoid unless they transform. When they do, the eyes change from their original color to a pale blue with large pupils and the sclera turns black. They have keen eyesight in this form and can see an enemy or prey from about 4 miles away. Like Black Vultures, MCs new form is carnivorous so their body has developed sharp teeth to help tear through flesh. (For those who don't eat meat for any reason, don't worry, Black vultures also eat fruits and vegetables, rotten or ripe, as mentioned in the first section.)

Internal Changes -

Diet: As mentioned above, MCs new form is carnivorous, however, their body has developed to be able to consume human, demonic, and angelic food without consequence.

Bones: The larger bones in MCs body have become hollow with internal struts like their wings, but not all. Smaller bones like those in the hands and feet haven't changed much. Their rib cage has lengthened to support a larger lung capacity.

Organs: Speaking of lungs, they, along with MCs heart have become larger to help with the strain of flying. Their stomach, much like Beels, can digest just about anything food related. Maybe even Solomons cooking if they are brave enough to try, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's better to be cautious than fuck around and find out with that one.

Habitual Changes -

Much like Black Vultures, MC is now more aggressive when it comes to food. Only sharing with those closest to them. Anyone else will be hissed at and it may turn physical.

They can often be found in their room with their wings spread under the sun lamp to warm them.

MC will mate with a single partner for life (For those who aren't into monogamy feel free to ignore this. This is solely in correlation with Black Vulture mating habits. This is not truly important for this.)

Mating habits also include the courtship rituals for Black Vultures.

MC now has a breeding season (once again if you don't care for this, just ignore it. This is not essential info.)

Other Changes -

MCs body is now better equipped to withstand and use stronger magics. Angelic Healing (from their angelic heritage), demonic transmutation, hypnosis, charms, curses, etc. They can even listen to Lucifer's cursed records now. Their magic is also much stronger than before along with their pacts.

In terms of magical and physical strength, MC is now on par with most demons and angels and would annihilate any humans that attacked them, excluding Solomon. Going up against the brothers, Simeon, or Solomon would prove to be a challenge, while going against Diavolo or Barbatos would be impossible.

Their magic plays a role in their body functioning since MC is now a supernatural being.

As such unlike Black Vultures who only live a short time, MC shares their lifespan with the brothers because of their pacts. So long as they live, MC will as well.

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me mc #obey me imagines #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me lucifer #obey me satan #obey me belphegor #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me simeon #obey me solomon #Obey Me! Rebirth

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thegrapeandthefig · 10 months

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hi! i’m writing an essay on the shift of helios as a sun god to apollo being the main sun god, and wondered whether you had any resources on it, or an opinion of why this happened! the topic is so so interesting to me since there are a lot of different perspectives on it, but it’s difficult to find concrete evidence on exactly when/what period it happened. if not don’t worry, but i’d love to hear your perspective on it.

hope you’re doing well, and thank you :))

Hi! Here are some suggestions for resources that might be useful to what you're looking for:

The Neglected Heavens: Gender and the Cults of Helios, Selene, and Eos in Bronze Age and Historical Greece by Katherine A. Rea: she places the switch in the 5th century BC and only cites Athenian evidence, and makes other interesting points on the topic.

In the common precinct dedicated to Apollo and Helios (Plato, Lg., 945 b-948 b) by Miguel Spinassi (in Spanish): This is mainly a philosophical analysis, but you might be able to find some interesting ideas concerning the syncretism through the philosophical lens.

The cult of Helios in the Seleucid East by Catharine C. Lorber & Panagiotis P. Iossif: this is more indirect and later down the timeline for you, but could give you leads as to the political role of the syncretism in the context of the Seleucid kingdom and why it spread so widely outside of "mainland Greece".

Two works by Tomislav Bilić might also be of indirect interest: this article and his book The Land of the Solstices: myth, geography & astronomy in ancient Greece. Bilić is an ethnoastronomer but he explores how different Greek traditions (Delphian, Athenian, Delian etc.) deal with Apollo and/or Helios through the link between astronomy and cult.

My personal opinion aligns more with what K. Rea brings up. I think that, if the syncretism between Helios and Apollo originates from the Athenian tradition or similar, it would have very easily spread through the centuries, but especially during the "Golden Age" of Athenian colonialism (the famous pentecontaetia). From there, it is easy to imagine how it could have spread to more territories through the Macedonian conquests etc. And then there's the case of Rhodes, which, as far as I know, had a very distinct Helian cult that doesn't seem to have been strongly infiltrated by Apollo. Whether Rhodes is an exception to the rule or evidence that the sync was originally a local tradition that gained popularity until becoming the norm is something I honestly cannot form a convincing opinion on.

This said, I hope the references above help you for your essay, and good luck!

#apollo deity #helios deity

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bleachbleachbleach · 11 months

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[Bleach e312]

Snake Wines and Beer Steins*: An Anthropology of West Rukongai

* I learned this morning that is not a stein, but I’m keeping it for the assonance!

Really down the rabbithole with this episode and cannot put it down, but this cap is such a completely fascinating glimpse at potential Rukongai cultures and trade routes!

The first thing that caught my eye, naturally, was the snake, which when this scene first came up I thought was just a completely undressed snake on a plate. But when I went to take the cap, no! It’s a snake in liquid! Which led me to believe it was a pickled snake.

But then my co-blogger brought up snake wine, which it definitely is. According to Wikipedia, the liquid part of habushu, snake sake from the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), is mixed with herbs and honey, which is why it has a yellow tint. The Habu snake is a pit viper viewed as both a menace (it can launch itself and bite you from pretty far away) and as a god, bestowing health and virility. (Contemporary Ryukyuan/Okinawan literature sometimes includes habu snakes as an anti-colonial metaphor, such as Medoruma Shun’s 1999 short story, “Hope.”)

1. Increased Importance of Medicinal Food vs. Sustenance Food in Rukongai

Makes all the sense in the world to me that Rukongai would have virility wine. If you don’t need to eat to survive, I imagine the value of virility wine is quite high. ...I mean, what else is there to do out there?

2. Climate Profiles Suggest Far-Reaching Trade Networks

Because the Gate Guardian who shows up in this episode is Jidanbou, this means the village Oomaeda encounters is in West Rukongai somewhere—probably close to the gates, since Soi Fon expected him back after a day trip. (But per the Bount arc, Renji can apparently run to the ass-end of Rukongai to the Seireitei and back in a few hours, so there’s some wiggle room here.)

Nothing we’ve seen from West Rukongai suggests it’s climatologically similar to the Ryukyu Islands (or to southeast Asia, where similar pit vipers live), which are subtropical. Soul Society always gives the impression of being fairly temperate. At least, it snows in the Seireitei without mountain elevations being involved (Winter Fireworks chapter). West Rukongai is where Hokutan is, the mountains where Kaien and Rukia trained, which gave the impression of being pretty temperate. West Rukongai is also where Junrinan is—where Hitsugaya and Hinamori are from. Judging by Hitsugaya’s behavior in the Beach Episode, if Junrinan was anything like the Ryukyu Islands, he’d have perished long ago.

So… DID THEY TRADE FOR IT. DID THEY GET THE SNAKE WINE FROM ELSEWHERE. How far away is that elsewhere? How many different owners’ hands did it pass through to make it to this village, to this feast? Snake wine is intended to age fairly substantially, which in Rukongai could mean quite a bit of time. How old is this snake wine? What is its provenance?? Potential evidence of complex and far-reaching patterns of trade and shared ascriptions of value, is what I’m saying. snake wine snake wine snake wine

In my mind, I’ve mostly transposed Japan over Soul Society and imagine North Rukongai as northern Japan, West Rukongai as western Japan, etc. Except in my mind sometimes south is southern Japan and sometimes it’s northern New Mexico lol. East Rukongai in my mind is "idk, New Jersey?" Maybe the snake wine is from the version of southern Rukongai where Pirate AU Soi Fon lives, dominating the high seas…

3. Evidence of Glassworking and Alcohol Production Characteristic of the late 19th/early 20th Centuries

[For reference, Soul Society is typically described as being similar to the Edo Period of Japanese history, which spanned the 17th-19th centuries.]

The second standout beverage here is the beer stein, which I called a stein and then learned that the original beer steins came from the Bubonic Plague era and had tops, for plague reasons, and were made out of wood and leather and then pewter. What do I know, I don’t drink, LOL.

That is more technically a ten-sided handled glass pint, which became popular in the early half of the 20th century in England, though some sources place it in Austria a few decades earlier. Drinking beer out of various forms of glass predates that, and there was a whole period of ceramic drinkware and trade with China and Japan thrown in the centuries between, blah blah. But two things are probably true if there’s a glass beer mug:

1. Glassworking has developed enough to make this workable/not a holy pain, production-wise. But again, this is Rukongai—maybe this is the one mug in all existence in West Rukongai and not something intended for mass production. They’re toasting the once-in-a-lifetime event of a Gotei captain slumming it with them, after all. Heck, maybe they got it from the Seireitei, which definitely has more than one of these, though after a cursory look at two places I thought they’d appear, neither does. LOL. Welp.

2. Beer production has developed enough that it’s filtered and there’s not unseemly gunk floating around in it (made obvious by the fact that you’re drinking it out of a clear glass mug). This could mean Rukongai is pretty with the times with is alcohol production.

Not that that begins to touch why ten-sided handled glass pints from late 19th/early 20th century England and/or Austria are in West Rukongai, a place less likely to have them than the Seireitei, where weird anachronistic stuff seems like it would come into circulation with more regularity.

I love the idea that even if souls don’t remember their previous lives, there’s still imprints and rogue dreams and strange images floating around in their heads, their muscle memories. But like, specifically the version where sometimes the rogue dream is just a gigantic, bomb-ass cup that Some Guy then proceeds to spend his entire afterlife re-developing. He is a VISIONARY. A GENIUS. A rare mind inventing something the likes of which have never been seen is this world but that exist in his mind so clearly it is as though he has seen it in his hands before!!

#shinigamiology #this isn't even shinigamiology because it's not about shinigami but same vibe (i'm sure rukongai LOVES that attitude lololol)#rukongai #bleach worldbuilding #bleach anime #bleach filler #no brain just bleach

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leftistfeminista · 7 months

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Captive Revolution: Palestinian Women's Anti-Colonial Struggle within the Israeli Prison System

Having female detainees watch the torture of male detainees in order to frighten them and force them to collaborate was not unusual in the experience of many. Israeli prisons’ techniques of torturing Palestinian political prisoners included ‘Shabeh’ and ‘kees’ among others. The term mashbooh, or mashbooheen for the plural refers to detainees who are bound to either a chair or the wall, with their hands tied behind their backs or on top of their heads. The actual act is known as shabeh. The term kees, used by various interviewees refers to a black hood placed over the head and shoulders and often reeks of urine smell.

Here is what Haleema ‘A.’ relayed about her experience:

When I arrived one female security guard took me to a cell and demanded I take off all my clothes, including my underwear. She took my clothes with her and left me naked for a whole hour, hoping I would harm myself. After one hour they came back with my clothes; I put them on while one of the guards ordered me to carry a chair … I refused. He picked up the chair and walked towards a corner in the corridor which to me sounded like a slaughter house. From that corner,

I would hear the screams of men undergoing torture, while walking towards my cell I also saw two men mashbooheen, with the kees which reeked of urine smell covering their heads then they entered another corner, one of them put the chair on the floor and demanded I sit down. Then he cuffed my feet, tied them and hung them through a hook on the wall, and placed the kees on my head, it had an awful stench, and the smell of urine was suffocating. I could hardly breathe.

Haleema ‘A.’

This said, female Palestinian political detainees experience sexual abuse, molestation, threat of rape and even rape more frequently than do men. Playing on their own imagined stereotypes of Arab culture, especially the traditional norms concerning sexuality, Israeli military officers and prison authorities deliberately target Palestinian female political detainees and victimize them sexually. In my conversations with the former detainees, there was hardly any woman who was not sexually harassed or threatened with rape.

When Haleema ‘A.’ voiced her experience about one interrogation session, she described it as ‘the most excruciating form of torture.’ Here is what she said:

During one of the interrogation periods, I refused to answer their questions. One of the interrogators slammed my head against the wall several times and another one held my breasts tightly. I was resisting both interrogators. I never cried and stayed steadfast throughout … I was unable to find sanitary napkins nor did I have any extra underwear … I asked the interrogator for sanitary napkins. He said, ‘You talk, we will get you some.’ He [the interrogator] put one of his legs here [she stood up and demonstrated the scene for us]; he pushed one of his legs between my legs and wrapped his other leg around me … I knew they were exploiting Palestinian social or traditional norms. I wanted to give him the message that he will not scare me by this pressure he is putting on me. He looked at me and said: ‘You are smelly and filthy. Fuck off.’ He kicked me with his boots and said, ‘you disgust me … you sharameet [plural of sharmouta] always move from one man to the next in the PFLP.’

Haleema ‘A.’

Ghada’s experience of sexual assault was voiced thus:

I was beaten very frequently, on all parts of my body. There was a lot of psychological terror and threat of rape. They kept saying: ‘We will sleep with you now if you do not answer our questions ….’ I went through shabeh many times. One day, several interrogators entered my cell as I was defecating in my cell. They would take me to interrogation, then to the solitary confinement. I spent five weeks in solitary confinement. After two months of my detention, they moved me to a room with other women and I stayed there for 20 days; the room was very tiny. It had a bathroom and one tap that dripped all night. I was sleep deprived throughout my detention. I lost eight kilos during interrogation.

Ghada

his orders: ‘Take off your clothes.’ I placed my hands over my chest for protection. He did not give me any time, and asked the others in the room to undress me. I resisted but it did not help as I was lying on the floor naked, with my hands cuffed behind my back, I was thrown on the floor. The cuffs were pressing on my spine and it was painful. The short interrogator placed his both ankles on my belly. The tall one – Uzraeel – opened my legs using a wooden pole, and the woman held my head in place with her foot. The one who was holding me with both ankles started brushing my breasts with his huge hands, while Uzraeel started pushing a wooden pole into my vagina. They kept crushing my breasts, and trying to penetrate my vagina with a wooden pole, but could not do it … I resisted fiercely. Aisha

The use of sexuality, especially in the form of attempted rape, as a method of torture of Palestinian political prisoners was rather widespread in Israeli prisons. Qahira al-Saadi, who was released after ten years of imprisonment in Israeli jails in the January 2012 prisoners exchange with Hamas, said that she had been held for interrogation for three-and-a-half months at the Moscobiyya, then transferred to Ramla (Ayalon) prison. Referring to her incarceration, she said that Israeli guards mistreated and tortured her during the interrogation; the guards ‘threatened to rape me.

Targeting women’s body and sexuality was a policy used in Israeli prison interrogations of Palestinian female detainees. Women complained about the refusal of the interrogator or the prison guard to provide them with sanitary pads during menstruation. Detainees who were sentenced and placed in prison rooms would rip some of the rags used as bed sheets or covers and use these; others in solitary confinement, in isolation cells or during interrogation would be left bleeding all over their only pants.

Salwa expressed her feelings on this issue thus:

During interrogation I had my period; I asked for napkins, for cotton, anything, but they refused. I begged for toilet paper, and they refused. They kept saying: ‘You stay the way you are because you are smelly and filthy and we want you to die, and then we will say you committed suicide …’ My blood filled my underpants and pants, and during these days, I was in a lot of pain.

Salwa

#political prisoners #women's rights #palestine

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lafcadiosadventures · 8 months

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Madame Putiphar Readalong. Book Two, Chapter XXIII:

For the first time in this novel where any place can suddenly become a prison*, we enter the first tangible, actual jail in the novel, and it's none other than the Bastille.

*I believe Proust ironized about noblemen becoming the hosts of whichever place they were in. In Borel’s novel, they are imbued with the alchemic power of transforming any place into a jail whether they own it or not.

J.M.W.Turner, Lecture Diagram 75: Interior of a Prison c.1810 based on an etching from Piranesi’s Prima Parte de Architettura e Prospettiva (1743, pl.2)

We follow Patrick, armed with Pompadour’s letter, into the building. Borel compares it with a beast. Patrick is entering its belly to rescue an already semi digested Fitz-Harris. The jail itself is alive, slowly ruminating on and digesting its prisoners in its gut-like cells. The Bastille is a stone bull, a lot like Phalaris’ Bronze Bull, the narrator remarks. This was a terrifying torture device from ancient Greece, the neoclassicists’ model of rationality and measure, imposing the style in repressive official art (for example see Auguste Préault’s Tuerie: a Romantic response to Triqueti’s La Loi vengeresse a previous and official neoclassical bas-relief)

I’d also say Borel is putting us in perspective with this example: it not only casts the horrors of the Bastille in a magnitude of excess worthy of a capricious, self-appointed tyrant from antiquity, it also shows us how this type of power abuse is not specific to a determinate place and time period (although this novel is very much about ancien régime and restoration era France), it has happened in ancient Greece, it has happened in 18th c France, whenever this abysmal power imbalance is allowed to exist these types of abuses will happen. Finally, the brazen bull is also a great metaphor: its acoustic design transformed the tyrant’s victims desperate cries into the bull’s mooing, a final insult to those dying in it, transformed into a gag or entertainment for the tyrant. (also worth noting, Phalaris was established in what now is Agrigento, Sicily, a colony of Greece, coexisting with democratic Athens)(Phalaris was also, like the French tyrants, finally overthrown by the native population, and some say, roasted inside his own bull)(it is a VERY relevant comparison, on so many levels)

It’s also interesting to note how abstract Borel is keeping France’s most iconic prison. Most of his readers would have had a mental image of it I suppose. But think of how precise Balzac gets when depicting the Concièrgerie (or Hugo in his Choses vues, or Dumas with the Château d’If in Montecristo) it’s almost as if Borel, for now at least, is not interested in documentation of a precise space, we are allowed to imagine any prison, we are allowed to go full Piranesi here. [Insert your mental image of an ancien régime prison here] in lieu of ancien régime France’s most iconic prison, because, maybe its horrors exceed a concrete time and space, specific as they are.

We do see the vault Fitz-Harris is locked in, in its tangible side: a dreadful place where you can barely stand upright, humid, dark, freezing; as well as in its psychological dimension, the effect it has had on Fitz-Harris, how different he sounds now, no more cheerfully mean spirited “monomania of speech”. After weeks of sensory deprivation and immobility, probably half starved as well, he’s grown completely paranoid and afraid of his own shadow. He has probably been hallucinating before, since he thinks Patrick is imaginary too, he also fails to react to the sound of his cell’s door opening.

Fitz-Harris’ monomania of speech is not entirely gone, he cannot help and call Pompadour “—L’infâme! La Putiphar!” right within the guards’ earshot. Patrick grows understandably anxious....

(Interestinly Patrick, a relatively recently emigrated man, knows the Bastille by reputation, he mentions in reference to Fitz-Harris’ anti Pompadour outburst, something called citerne-aux-oublis, a place he says, prisoners were thrown into for harsh(er) punishment. I tried looking this up on Borel’s Bastille related sources but had no luck with the exact words or synonyms I could think of... It is possible Borel is referring to the apparently famous “oubliettes” of the Bastille?

“M. Viollet-le-Duc has assured us, quite gravely, that the famed oubliettes (the bottoms of which were shaped like sugar loaves, so that prisoners might have no resting-place for their feet) were merely ice-houses! It is not denied that these cells existed, and those who care to believe that a Mediæval architect built them under the towers of the Bastille as store-chambers for ice to cool the governor's or the prisoners' wine, are entirely welcome to do so. These were amongst the places of torment in which Louis XI. kept the Armagnac princes, who were taken out twice a week to be scourged in the presence of Governor l'Huillier, and "every three months to have a tooth pulled out."

From The Dungeons of Old Paris, by Tighe Hopkins.

Violet-le-Duc’s drawing of the vaults, and explanation of its origin as ice storage here

Whether he means that or something else, it speaks of the Bastille’s infamy as a symbol of terror, mentally torturing the general population in an attempt to keep them in line out of fear.)

Fitz-Harris, maybe out of prison instilled paranoia, or maybe just projecting his own faults into others, thinks this is a trap, Patrick is lying, he falsely claims he is pardoned, but Patrick is actually leading him to his execution. He still follows, because he has to prove he’s not a coward. (this reminds me of the duel and how differently they both understood masculinity and honour... more on that very soon, in a shocking reveal about Pat’s character)

This routine of Patrick begging for FH to follow him, and the prisoner refusing to be set free is pretty interesting.... there’s something Plato’s Cavern to be said about it, surely. However terrible the conditions, a routine is a routine, sudden change is more scary than quotidian incarceration. It is uncertain and stable at the same time (trying to put myself in the shoes of a person who could barely see his surroundings, calculating the passage of time by the irruptions of the guards, once you realize you’re not being moved I imagine you grow calm because it means you get to live, since any abrupt change is seen by Fitz-Harris as the possibility of execution)

However, as F-H is not as far gone yet as to be unable to notice that he is in fact, being released, showers Patrick in praise, abases himself, swears to change for good and live to “earn” Patrick’s friendship, which he has without having really deserved it. But Patrick reveals a dark side to what we before though was his Christlike behaviour. He confesses a rather perverse pleasure in subjugating the one who hated him so much by making him thankful. His revenge is simply not won by the force of an iron blade, but it is a much crueller revenge, he says. Patrick is less of a saint, less of a Christ intuiting virtues in his potential apostles than what we had been led to think before. He of course has never shared this secret source of pleasure to Debby, not even when she thought him mad and too good for this world for helping Fitz-Harris...

(i am including Fitz-Harris’ previous phrase, I bolded a part that seems like it will be relevant in the future, translation by @sainteverge )

“Apologies, apologies for the all the harm I have done to you! My entire life shall henceforth be entirely dedicated to cleansing myself of my crimes towards you. I shall do everything to be worthy of your esteem; for he whom you esteem must be esteemed by God. As for your friendship, do not ever give it back to me, it would be to profane it! Keep it for hearts righter than mine. Oh! you have my eternal gratitude!” “Fitz-Harris, no gratitude. You owe me nothing, I told you I do not avenge myself with a blade; but I did not tell you that I am not capable of revenge; therefore here is mine: a good deed for an insult. This one is more cruel, I think, than the blade, what say you? to force someone who hates you to bless you, despite himself, in the depth of his conscience; to force a man to blush, to die of shame before his fellowman; that is, if I’m not wrong, a revenge! What say you, Fitz-Harris? We are even, I believe?”

I for one, did not expect this from Patrick... his revenge is still, killing them with kindness in a way... but there’s something about his choice of word that is sensuous and almost cruel, that reveals a vanity, and a perverse relishing in other’s subjugation that is surprising from him. He seemed exceedingly good, and it’s interesting for borel to suddenly introduce this mildly sadistic streak in him.

We are denied Fitz-Harris' reaction, but I bet he was surprised himself.

#madame putiphar #long post #text post

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audreydoeskaren · 2 years

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Saw this post on Xiaohongshu a while back and it’s a really good example of 18th century erasure, so I think I’ll share this here (not calling out anybody or anything just sharing). OP posted a series of scanned images from a Republican era source (of unclear provenance) showing what people *thought* were historical fashions at the time, and the outfit for what they described as the “end of the Ming” is actually from the 18th century, the Qianlong era in the Qing Dynasty. The other images of the Qing all show stereotypical 19th century fashions. What’s fascinating about this is that it shows that 18th century erasure is by no means a recent phenomenon, it had existed since at least the 1920s/30s, when I assume this was made. Great for illustrating that people in the Republican era knew fuck all about Chinese fashion history (even something as recent as 120 years ago) and by extension a lot of other Chinese history.

Textbook mid 18th century women’s fashion from the 燕寝怡情 painting series. (Ironically, the person who uploaded this image to Pinterest labeled it Ming Dynasty lol)

I always think that 18th century erasure is harmful to both Ming and Qing fashion because as is the case with this source, actual Ming Dynasty fashion makes no appearance and Qing Dynasty fashion is appropriated. What this is doing is more than just creating fashion history misconceptions though, it basically reconfigures the whole discourse on what is and isn’t Qing, and more importantly for that time period, what it means to be Chinese, what to embrace and what to reject. 18th century erasure discourse has immense power in stretching the limits of mental gymnastics, as it can make people mentally push the starting date of the Qing Dynasty to around 1800, one and a half century later than the 1644 of reality, and decide that things they do like about the Qing belong to the Ming instead. This is dishonest and annoying at best, and at worst I can make a case about how The Qing™️ in 18th century erasure discourse isn’t referring to the actual dynasty anymore, but functions more as an umbrella term for “everything we deem degenerate and don’t like”. Honestly why would anyone try to nudge 18th century fashion in the direction of the Ming if they didn’t think the Qing was bad in the first place.

The Qing has become a sort of all use hate object since the proliferation of Western colonialism in China, and it’s evident that this sentiment lingers on in the present day. If you scroll through the comments under this post you can find multiple people bashing the Qing for its apparent inferior taste and lamenting the loss of Chinese beauty, based on the incorrectly dated historical fashions. What they don’t know is that some of the supposed “pre-Qing” things they praise for their beauty and Chinese essence are, in fact, also from the Qing. I’m not even going to unpack how the whole thing about the Qing “degenerating” Chinese cultural evolution has close ties to eugenics and racial science popular around the time. Anyway, I’d just like to remind everyone that when you bash what you think to be Qing and contrarily praise what you think to be pre-Qing, both things could in actuality be from the Qing and you are creating a binary opposition out of nothing.

*On a side note, I think it’s fascinating that OP added a Chinese flag emoji to the image, probably because of a growing nationalist paranoia where people imagine they’re defending Chinese artworks from being “stolen” by Koreans. I’ve seen more Chinese people paranoid about supposed Korean stealings than actual Korean people using Chinese images inappropriately. Korean people as a hate object are also very much en vogue right now, for whatever reason. It’s almost established as a racist cliche in recent years that “Koreans like to steal”, and it’s so normalized people don’t even perceive it as offensive. Not saying that OP is intentionally being racist, but this emoji under this context triggers my fight or flight response.

#rant #18th century erasure #qing dynasty #qianlong era #colonialism #nationalism

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vermin-disciple · 1 year

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The shower notepad returns! I actually wrote this months ago and for some reason never got around to posting it. Oops. Transcribed with some light editing below (or follow the link to read on AO3).

FIC: Gentlemen of Fortune

Prompt: Bashir asks Garak to design and construct a costume for a holosuite pirate adventure with Miles.

“I find it so fascinating,” said Garak, “that for as much as humans love to talk about their species’ supposed enlightenment, you’re still so inclined to romanticize some of the more unsavory elements from your own history.”

He did not look up from his embroidery, so he did not see Julian’s expression, though he could imagine it well enough, and he could hear the fond exasperation in the reply.

“It’s a game, Garak. And not even a terribly accurate one. Otherwise, there’d be far less action and far more time spent watching people die of dysentery and scurvy.”

“Yes, but you did say that this program is set during the golden age of piracy, and not, for instance, the dark age of piracy. That implies a certain nostalgia for the era, does it not?”

“You’ve got me there.” Garak looked up in time to see a lopsided, somewhat rueful smile. “The truth is, it was a pretty grim period in human history. Imperialism and colonialism. Constant warfare between the major powers. Whole economies built on slavery. I suppose that’s part of what makes the pirates more appealing.”

“I’m not sure how the presence of petty criminals would improve the situation.”

“I’m not saying they did, necessarily. I’m just saying that when all the legitimate institutions are brutal and oppressive, it’s easy to sympathize with the outlaws. They don’t look so bad in comparison. Take my character, for instance - “Black Sam” Bellamy - he always tried to avoid unnecessary violence and bloodshed, and tried to be a sort of Robin Hood figure - robbing the rich to give to the poor, that sort of thing.”

Garak raised his eye ridges. “And did this charity of his distribute wealth to the most deserving and destitute, or merely to himself and his cronies?”

Julian chuckled. “Very much the latter. I didn’t claim he was a saint. Just an exciting rogue with an excellent costume.” He jabbed his finger at the PADD he’d set down on Garak’s table for emphasis.

That, at least, Garak could agree with, and he lost himself for a moment envisioning Julian’s long legs wrapped in those silk stockings.

“Can you have it finished by next Friday?”

“Of course, my dear Doctor. You’ll be as dashing as you are disreputable.”

---

Note: The title is a reference to Long John Silver's preferred euphemism for pirates in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. And no points for guessing what pirate romcom inspired the prompt.

#my fanfic #aqua love notes waterproof notepad #star trek #ds9 #fanfic #garashir #garak #bashir #vermin rites #verminmom

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alexilulu · 3 months

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Books I Read in 2024 #1: A Desolation Called Peace (Arkady Martine, Tor Books, 2021)

Summary: Following Mahit's return to her home on the heels of defusing a succession crisis in the imperial core, Mahit and Three Seagrass reunite to find a way to defuse the unknown alien threat probing the edges of the Empire along the station's borders, threatening both with oblivion.

This is a pretty damn good book. Theres a few things about it that don't work as well; I find books that have a tendency to jump perspectives have a hard time maintaining a consistent voice and keeping things compelling (this was a gigantic part of my problem with Translation State, a novel from an author I adore that has almost nothing for me to cling to as parts of the novel i enjoy). The POV characters are relatively fine, and I don't think there is a way around it in the way the novel is constructed as a narrative drawing from the first person, but the end result is that the writing can be inconsistent as hell in some of the more secondary character's chapters. You get the best sense for Mahit and Three, and for the admiral Nine Hibiscus (who is honestly a delight to read, a fun compromised character), and child-emperor-clone Eight Antidote, but the others are barely there, mainly existing to give context to actions the primary characters could not see.

The book is primarily focused on the rush to the border by a Teixcalaani fleet to understand and then crush the alien forces revealed in the climax of Memory Called Empire, a long-known threat that has been nibbling at the border of the Empire and its outlying vassal states like Mahit's station for years. The aliens themselves are seemingly implacable, appearing from nowhere and crushing Teixcalaani forces before being crushed in turn by the superior weight of arms available to the empire. The race quickly becomes to try to negotiate a peace between them both, as the alien force seemingly considers humans as not being people worthy of consideration (another connective tissue point between the Imperial Radch novels and their implacable, completely opaque and purely alien Presger who prey upon humanity with impunity and negotiate from a position of absolute strength), butchering an entire colony for seemingly no reason; bodies are abandoned where they fell, untouched.

The aliens are the type of strange you would want from them, a semi-hive mind formed from a fungal substrate that integrates individuals into a shared consciousness and makes them Whole in their cosmology, and cannot imagine a world that cannot communicate in the way they do. They act the way they do because to not be part of the mind is to be screaming meat. It's fun.

Mahit and Three's relationship takes great steps here both forward and backward; I genuinely do enjoy that they have an extended period here wherein Three has to come to the understanding that every interaction she has with Mahit, accidentally or on purpose, is just slathered in references to Mahit's barbarian-ness in Teixcalaani culture. It's great specifically because they so clearly have this incredible rapport with one another from the moment they reunite, but there's some part of Three that cannot help but other Mahit as the Outsider, to view her with this lens that simultaneously acknowledges her skill and brains and beauty, but still as something lesser that she cannot help but bring up. It feels good when they finally connect again and come to greater understanding, and at the same time it's clear that that isn't the end of the road for them. It's phenomenal that they're allowed to be messy and grow over these novels, from the standoffish camaraderie they started with to here, an uneasy pair of lovers, still finding their footing with one another.

The finale is effective, a power-hungry admiral under the commander making a move to genocide the aliens even as they finally reach a proper ceasefire, sure that a decapitation strike on one of their worlds will settle things in the Teixcalaani way, power via might and awe and destruction.

The biggest part of this novel is about identity, weirdly enough. The aliens are networked and bound to one another and yet individual, and a recurring element of the story is that the Teixcalaani Shard pilots are networked in a similar way (based on the omnipresent, semi-human police of the Teixcalaani home world who are networked to the city's AI) and are rapidly discovering the problems with such a thing being rolled out in the middle of a war; pilots across the galaxy are collapsing in howling, bawling pain at the moment another pilot dies, weeping uncontrollably and feeling connected across a further length of distance than has ever been possible before now in the empire. The repeated refrain of 'how broad is the Teixcalaani definition of 'you?', returning from Memory Called Empire exemplifies this; the Lsel stationers are all implanted with the memories of their predecessors sometimes up to 10 generations back, forming a gestalt of the centuries of experience needed to survive in space into a compatible person's mind.

Overall, I do feel that it's a weaker second book than the extremely strong Memory, but that is only in comparison to one of the best space opera sci-fi novels in the last 5 years. It builds on the framework it created, giving us a closer look at the spear arm of the empire after seeing its heart laid bare and the ways it is at war with itself even as it crushes everything outside of itself.

#Alexis reads books 2024

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