#including slaves

[txttletale]

a common doctor who take i really disagree with is that the reset button at the end of 'last of the time lords' cheapens the story's stakes. like, the doctor, jack, martha's family and martha herself went through a year of hell and they still have all those memories. sure the literal stakes of World Domination are kind of toppled over but the emotional stakes are preserved perfectly well and are what push martha to finally leave the doctor. it's fine that that happens. plus i think it's actually set up really well, much better than other RTD resolutions (cf. journey's end, which really is a deux ex machina). the master has something called a Paradox Machine, he's killing off humanity with a future version of humanity, both those things are established early on -- it makes perfect sense that destroying the Paradox Machine undoes the paradoxical massacres. yes doctor jesus is very very silly but i also dont think the logic behind that is particularly warped or out of nowhere by doctor who standards

#tattletxt #doctor who #that said it is pretty fucked up that the emotional stakes of the story include #'the first onscreen black companion's family were slaves to a white man for a year' #that Sucks real bad

[unforth]

@esper-aroon has enabled me, so here let me scream at y'all about The Imperial Uncle.

Okay, so I recently read The Imperial Uncle (Huang Shu) by Da Feng Gua Guo from Peach Flower House and I really loved it??? It's first person pov, mlm, about the Emperor's uncle Jing Chengjun, who is mistrusted by everyone simply because of who his parents were and his position, and so he's basically given up on trying to convince people that he's actually a nice, decent person without ulterior motives. He's super trapped by his position, and there's so much he can't say and do, and he's also a hopeless romantic, like, from his own mouth all he really wants is to sleep beside and wake up next to someone who actually gives a shit about him, and even that is basically out of reach in his life. Like, the book starts with his wife (who he has never once had sex with) storming into a meeting he's having and announcing he's a cuckold and she's pregnant.

But also, this poor bastard really thinks he knows what's going on and his very smart. Very unreliable narrator. He's actually kinda a hilarious, impulsive himbo. But the TL:DR is that his loneliness and isolation and the extent to which he's politically trapped routinely lead him to make absolutely terrible decisions.

E. Danglar's translation is absolutely gorgeous, too, and... idk, if you love political plots, melodramatic idiot main characters, a dose of pining, and a slow burn that eventually pays off, come take a look??? (some people think it's a love triangle??? idk, I never really got that vibe, I never felt it was really in doubt which of the two potential dudes he'd end up with, but maybe I only feel that way because I got it right, lmao).

Anyway, I can't stop thinking about how these two idiots end up finally finding each other and getting together, and I have an entire AU in my head (a modern corporate one) and part of another (canon divergent from like a decade before the book starts), and I just want people to love this book as much as I did and scream with me about it.

#unforth rambles #da feng gua guo #the imperial uncle #huang shu #the first au is jing chengjun and li ransi meet and have a fling during a vacation #and then find out that they work for the same company #hijinks ensue #the other is an au that starts with what if jing chengjun's father had actually been accused and convicted of treason #whether he was guilty or not #and his family was sentenced to death #but because jing chengjun is a youth he is instead made into a eunuch and forced into servitude to the imperial family #i know it's a stretch that someone of his stature would be treated that way instead of killed or sold off as a slave #i just don't care #anyway he's given awful jobs at first and they leave him weak and sickly but eventually it because clear he really isn't a threat #and he's allowed to help raise the princes in the next generation including the crown prince #and he also gets to know the other young people around the palace but as a subservient slightly older person #instead of as their elder of higher rank #and then liu tongyi is like okay so everyone thinks you're useless do you want to be a spy for me and help me uncover treason #and he's like FUCK YEAH #and love unfolds from there ofc

[aristotels]

terfs so funny for defending hp and shitting on asoiaf lol. dany's White Saviour™ trope is annoying but at least she is going around freeing slaves and burning slaveowners to the crisp while everyone in the hp made fun of hermione for being into elf activism and it turned out slavery is okay actually bc elfs love being slaves lol

#though to be fair this is shows fault kinda #bc slaves in got werent racially based but more like slavery of roman times which included Everyone

[mintharasthrone]

okay so larian really just shat all over minthara’s character and her arc huh

#minthara #minthara baenre #guess you gotta be a white man for them to care about you or be consistent #how do you disrespect her character like that and make her so inconsistent #they do not care about minthara #only asssturdion #and g*** #you’re shitting all over her nuance and complexity making her generic #for one thing why would she want you take power from a god who wants you to use it to wipe everything out including her? #he doesn’t want anything to be left to rule over she's not stupid #that’s not her #she literally goes on a whole SPEECH about how all the gods are evil selfish shallow discard you once they don’t need you #how they only have victims because it happened to her and YOU saved her #from the absolute and she also hates lolth for the same reasons and wants to kill lolth #you saved her from being a slave to a god so why would she want that for you??? even what she says to gale abour mystra contradicts it all? #she would ADMIRE you for having the guts to reject bhaal!! for rejecting being his puppet knowing he'd discard you even if she #finds the power breathtaking she knows it's not really real or worth it because you're not free!! so many reasons! her own arc! #she would want you to avoid the fate she almost had and not repeat the cycle #her speech is nulled about how it happened to orin too? them being similar bc of their gods hurting them / their moms tried killing them #it makes 0 sense for so many reasons! she has an oath of vengeance that would include bhaal because he was apart of this?? or am i wrong?? #she is so happy with you and free and says she owes her life to you she’s ride or die wether you wanna control the brain or not #you parallel her in a different way she did orin because she was saved from that she'd want you both to kill bhaal/lolth & their followers #rip my durge playthroughs now #i have so many thoughts and i’m sooo annoyed #it’s so LAZYY #you didn’t need to change that you needed to ADD content!!

[neechees]

I realized that like, Little Women is the antithesis to Gone with The Wind, but Little Women is actually more accurate and was written by someone who actually lived through the Civil War, but GWTW was written by someone who only heard biased secondhand accounts from their relatives

#Like in GWTW the characters are slave owners with a plantation who become less rich for a while #and Scarlett cheats and steals and kills and does everything she possibly can to stay rich including continuing slave labor for her mill #and ghe characters are in the South #vs Little Women where the characters are less rich specifically bc they used money to help the poor #and theyre an abolitionist family from the North who inconveniences themselves to help the poor & fight for the North #& advocate for not only an end to slavery but ALSO to end segregation & go out of their way to not wear silk bc of slavery

[m0tel6mxzzy]

i would like to thank the final girl trope being popularized to create an influx of black female characters who are multifaceted and their trauma rooted in manipulative decisions has nothing to do w being racially traumatized. very small amount but says a complete “foh” to the strong black woman trope and it is so freeing

dre in swarm

isabella larue in cruel summer

monet de haan from gossip girl (if the writers had budgeted her screentime better. bc this weird dichotomy of her being treated as worse than audrey when both of them make shitty choices whilst dealing w the trauma of their neglectful mothers and take their crap out on zoya makes zero sense bc monet is villified and audrey glamorized for it yet only monet has an actual reason)

#i’m sorry but if u say ‘female rage’ and include hidden figures and 12 years a slave that’s so weird #and next to stuff like the virgin suicides and girl interrupted too???? fr???? #swarm 2023 #dre greene #cruel summer #isabella larue #gghbo #gossip girl reboot #but the writers did monet dirty bc how ar eu gonna create gossip girl then be pissed at making ur own characters mean ppl???? #monet de haan

[yennefer-of-dragonstone]

GoT fandom stop saying masculine and feminine with regards to female characters when you actually mean active vs passive challenge

#the extreme misogyny in the fandom oh my gods #jonsas are so guilty of calling daenerys and arya masculine #arya is a tomboy she's not masculine #and i don't mean this to invalidate any enbys or masc girls etc who identify with arya #i just mean that while she scoffs at dresses initially i think it's partly because sansa and jeyne kept telling her she was ugly #she can appreciate pretty things like the acorn dress etc #i just think she believes she's not pretty enough for girly things #even though she's beautiful like lyanna #and dany literally goes through a pregnancy and birth #she likes fine things and sweet smells and all the stereotypical girly things #both of them are just ACTIVE #they make the best of their situations and become highly skilled and respected as a result #they make strides towards their own freedoms #it doesn't make them masculine #and sansa being sweet and passive to survive doesn't make her less of anything either #or more worthy to sansa stans just because she performs femininity well #all are girls and all have traumas enacted upon them because of it #i am so sick of sansa stans specifically downplaying dany and arya's traumas (including ENSLAVEMENT!!!) #just because they think of them as Strong Female Characters™ instead of complex girls who fight tooth and nail for what they have #and ALSO have compassion and kindness for smallfolk/slaves #i would love to know when sansa does the same because i can't think of any off the top of my head #i can recall her singing to keep the women calm but i don't remember much else

[rowenabean]

In retrospect mildly confused by how many Christian songs my state school sang but at least we didn't miss out the second verse of O Holy Night. Like COWARDS.

#it is quite simply one of the best bits in any Christmas carol because it gets! the point! #chains shall he break/for the slave is our brother #there is no point to this faith of ours if God isn't coming along to lift up the humble/ and throw down the mighty from their thrones #(that's the magnificat there) #this post brought to you by discovering my advent playlist has 4 renditions of o holy night (presumably i was auditioning them and hadn't #yet decided which to keep) and only ONE of them goes there #the te reo version gets half a pass for not including it. but not a whole pass.

[marvelstars]

Anakin Skywalker and the ¿Rebellion?

One of my favorite parts of the Clone Wars series is how given the increasing number of problems all over the galaxy as a result of the Clone Wars, there just wasn´t enough Jedi or Clone soldiers to cover them so Anakin´s idea to approach this problem was teaching civilians how to defend themselves and other kind of guerrilla tactics, one of the people who was trained was Saw Guerrera and his group, later he would become one of the biggest leaders in the rebel alliance, who had a big role protecting Galen and Jyn erso which would give the rebellion the plans for the first Death Star.

It´s even better the fact Obi-Wan and the Council called this tactic "terrorism" while Anakin called them "rebels" :)

This gives a new meaning to the fact Vader called the rebellion traitors to the Empire but never terrorists, even if looking at them that way would have gotten the Empire some points in the eyes of the public.

Vader tempted Luke by calling for an end to this "destructive conflict" and put "order in the galaxy" even in the darkside, Vader didn´t deny the rebels had reason to their actions and the Empire was part of the problem even if he didn´t agree with the rebellion.

#anakin skywalker #obi-wan kenobi #ahsoka tano #star wars #The clone wars #Rebellion #Empire #Anakin skywalker unconsciously creating future headaches for the Empire #Palpatine and Vader including #Children #R2D2 C3PO #pocket rebellion leaders #training Ahsoka to survive Order 66 which allowed her to become Fulcrum #is my jam #It´s almost like he said to himself “I am so dissapointed on my self” #I am going to make my darkside life more miserable than usual as a treat and end with a nice send off to Palpatine #I am sure Vader noticed the irony #Anakin to Palpatine: I am going to be so hilarious #you have no idea #This probably was his plan to help free the slaves in the outer rim

[redrobin-detective]

Hmm trying to find writer friends who haven't been tagged:

@cannotgiveafuck, @queenangst, @awake-my-oceans and ofc anyone who thinks this looks like fun

#I only included fics I think I stand a reasonable chance of adding to #agnosia and copper and silver are cheats bc they are So Close to being done just need a good ole spit shine #I dare you to vote for the nurse guide I want you to I crave it #my last change was updating the method of ordering telesitter monitors #it is 113 pages now and is writing I slaved over so its always including in writing things

[britcision]

Okay so having adventures in Trespasser, and there’s a good chunk of emphasis on Fen’Harel insisting all the elf gods aren’t gods at all, they’re just powerful mages who are as mortal as everyone else

Guys

Guys

The fucking ELVES were not mortal at this point in history???? Like it’s a whole fucking thing there’s so much lore about the Quickening and humans brought elves the concept of death because they didn’t fucking have it

So… yes, technically, I’m sure the gods were exactly as mortal as the elves no matter what at this point, because that wasn’t a meaningful distinction

“Maybe it just means they couldn’t be killed at all-”

Nah there’s stories of the gods being killed by stabbing and shit it’s a whole Thing at the temple of Mythal

Fucking Solas running around telling all the elves “look we’re just as mortal as you” when it should already have been common fucking knowledge because no one else was dying either

#dragon age #dai #trespasser spoilers #dragon age spoilers #like i know not thinking their language through is fucking endemic in this series #see: every instance of ‘men’ when ‘troops’ ‘soldiers’ ‘infantry’ are all right there and would actually include women #like you can’t have this completely always gender equal military and call your soldiers ‘men’ #unless you’re qunari and soldier is a gender #but fuck you solas #solas dai #fen’harel #so much shit to call him out on but i also wish to bully him for trying to radicalise slaves with ‘the sky is blue’ #dragon age trespasser

[anghraine]

My best friend and I were talking about our favorite moments in the SW prequels even though we both have issues with them, and there was one that we solidly (but kind of unexpectedly) agreed on.

It's actually in Attack of the Clones and from Hayden Christensen as teenage Anakin, in a moment where we really thought he shone—the return to Tatooine.

In particular, we both loved how he questions Watto, his former owner, who talks as if their history would be nostalgic for Anakin somehow and as a Jedi, Anakin might do him favors now. Watto admits he sold Anakin's mother to some guy who freed and married her, but is purposefully vague on the details, and Anakin just quietly says something along the lines of "I'd like to know."

This could be kind of empty or OTT hostile, and in our opinion, it's really neither! There's a certain, hmm, lingering politeness, but there is also an underlying menace that we thought perfectly fit the circumstances and his character.

(We also thought and liked that he seemed weirded out by the Lars situation. I mean, when you think about "this guy bought my mother in order to marry her, but also legally freed her" from Anakin's POV, it is an extremely strange situation to be in.)

#it's interesting bc we both love ot anakin but tend to see him a bit differently bc of our respective issues with our fathers (lol) #whereas we were solidly on the same page with the prequels #and sometimes amuse ourselves by spinning this whole alternate version with obi-wan as tragic hero #but the plot is basically the same #anghraine babbles #star wars #anakin skywalker #pt critical #by implication though this isn't about that! #fandom has a very ... hmm. soft and romantic take on the skywalker-lars tie #but sometimes i wonder not only about anakin being kind of '......' about the whole thing (justifiably tyvm) #but about luke growing up with that mind-boggling family history #and how it affected his sense of himself as a skywalker (bc this /is/ clearly his sense of himself in the films) #but also his genuine affection for his uncle and aunt #like... i saw a post the other day about how tatooine is the equivalent of the modern rural usa #but i mean ... luke might /feel/ like a us small town kid who wants out in a recognizable way #but tatooine is legitimately an arid hellscape controlled by gangsters #who keep people as slaves including luke's father and grandmother #his father was freed and made a career for himself as far as luke knows (but died young anyway) #his grandmother was freed and found a family (but was tortured to death anyway) #he might well walk past her grave every day until owen and beru are also killed #i feel like his emotions about all this might possibly be more complex than 'ungrateful whiny kid in space usa' #long post #in the tags :P

[islandiis]

send STRAINED for a scene from my muse's past in which they interact with someone they have a difficult relationship with

see into Fannar's history / accepting

There is yelling from somewhere behind him, and his breath comes out in short, jagged pants. In his arms, he clutches a loaf of bread he stole from an open window.

"Vagrant!" The man hollers, and Leifur can hear the door swing open after him. He tries his best to run that little bit faster. "Thief!! You little—"

He knows he is going to be in trouble, again. The goði has already made clear that thievery is not tolerated, although the vagrancy — that always seems to get a pass. That said, he's stolen from this man before and - aside from a stern telling off by the local chieftain - nothing had come of it. The man would have been given the authority to enact justice as he saw fit— the responsibility fell on his own shoulders, and yet he had not taken the boy as slave with a sickle to the throat as soon as he saw his sticky-fingered little self prowling around his cattle.

It's not like Leifur particularly realises, though. The talkings-to from the goðar, fearless enforcers of law and justice in their land, receive only blank stares. The instruction to stay away from this man's farm is never heeded, nor are the instructions not to steal. He would be enslaved as punishment, were he a human. He's been smacked upside the head a few times, but it appears not to phase him as he goes tottering off back into the countryside merely an hour later. He is a strange, strange little boy — everyone knows him for who, and what, he is. He is their land, a God, a strange little boy that nobody will strike too hard. How do you punish he who is God's given, after all? Nobody dares attempt.

Leifur skitters across a thin river on the outskirts of the man's property, and turns back when the man comes to a halt. He jabs a finger towards Leifur.

"You owe me work," The man demands. "Thieving little bastard. You've stolen from me twice now, I remember you. I could have you, all legal! Granted by the chieftains themselves. Be lucky I'm merciful, you hear me?"

Leifur just stares at him, the loaf held protectively to his chest. After a second, the farmer spits in his direction, and appears just short of stamping his foot like a petulant child.

"Dumb little fucker. You never say a fucking word, do you? Don't you come back around here, you hear me? I'll have you worked to the bone."

Leifur slowly takes a bite of the crust of the bread, all without breaking eye contact.

The farmer just sucks air through his teeth and turns back to his little stead, cursing loudly enough that his cattle start, and Leifur trots off. He will share this bread with his friends, tonight — although he always ends up eating most of it.

#in character. #drabble. #YOOOO THANK YOU SO MUCH #I tried to do something a bit different than just Norway or Denmark bc I cover them often??? #so here is one of several farmers that Fannar basically tormented back in the commonwealth times <3 #I think he just roamed around and scared people's cattle accidentally or stole food from them or did weird things generally LMFAO #but basically 1) thievery was Very Bad and 2) the local chieftains would impose a ruling but it was then the responsibility of the person+ #involved to actually enact the penalty for that ruling #I think everyone (including the chieftains tbh) gave him a bit of a pass bc he was their country immortalised and?? yeah #but the law meant that people guilty of theft could be taken as slaves but like. nobody was gonna do that to Leifur I don't think #so he was just there being a rascal for like. 200 years. LOL #tysm this was so fun <3

[guideaus]

i think this is because i just looked at s2 of vinland saga again, where they really improved how much einar mentioned his mother and sister, but einar here feels weird. maybe the manga's not as mindful of women before this arc where it feels like the author suddenly remembered they existed beyond family, victims, or lost potential wives, but seeing einar say this here... i cant help but think... he wouldnt say that lol...

#personal #vinland saga lb #'wow im sorry for woman?? HUH!' sir u were nice and friendly w ur mom and sis. where did the 'a woman wants to join us 🤔🤨/?!!?' #thought come from #im assuming the next season will be made and i hope its a bit different too #smth abt this just feels weird... like yukimura is holding all his characters hands and saying 'lets not think low of women' #when i never even thought einar would speak/think like that in the first place. and thorfinn too is like overly enlightened but still cant #include women in his thoughts? like hes nice but in an ignoring way almost? #they were just best friends w arnheid. what happened between then and now to where they're weirder abt a free woman #they were all literally slaves and cant even compare the thought of 'wow it sounds like shes being made to not do what she wants to do...'

[sunny12th]

i am so fucking tired today HOYL SHIT. anyways when the unsullied/freedmen, the dothraki, and the wildlings all meet and it's this giant fucking mess of cultures clashing and different fighting styles meshing. and maybe under other circumstances they would all hate each other but they can't because they have to work together to stop the literal end of the world. and their respective godkings are working together and possible fucking? so they really gotta make this work now. the wildlings teaching the dothraki and dany's freedman how to survive the cold and fight in the north. the unsullied and the wildings sharing different spear techniques because maintaining distance from the wights is the best way to fight them, besides just setting them on fire. the dothraki showing the wildlings how to make better long range bows. everyone from essos despairing at the food they're forced to eat in westeros. everyone in westeros being like 'yall were starving too stfu.'

#i am sleep deprived and this is how i cope #thinking about dany escorting the wildlings that were being taken as slaves from hardhome back north #sigh #also i recently started reading fanfic again and can fanfic writers please start including the dothraki and the unsullied #like every dany fic just pretends they dont exist. be better than the show please. be better than the source material too #mine #asoiaf

[taupewolfy]

If you've followed me for this year (or prior) you'll know I'm not too keen on doing a 'end of year games wrap up' for the ever looming reason of 'this year was shithouse for developers'.

You can't really eat your cake when the bakers aren't there to make it, and while i've mostly focused on what's happened within the local scene, it's still something present (and still occurring! I just had a dev mutual get laid off the other day...it's the end of the year, they won't be able to find work for a while, especially off of a unannounced project!!)

But otherwise I want to highlight HeavyEyed's excellent vid (that barely even scratched the surface tbh! But for most folks not in the know, it's scarily telling) on the "best" year of games:

#he makes good vids. I don't always agree with his stuff but he does like. well researched and usually focused on things most people do not #i know it's not just this industry going through it too. If anything this is specific issues core to this industry that have reached an #untenable level (that was warned about for YEARS by developers. the disconnect between companies and the people slaving under them) #(oh also btw when i talk about industry and its' workers i am always including the outsourced studios. You really have no clue how much #the bulk of work gets made by them)