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random-thought-depository · 3 months

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One of the thoughts I had while writing that post on Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites, anti-predator defense, and the origins of the male gender role is if that model is correct it implies Larry Niven got the relationship between a sapient species's diet and culture/values pegged wrong, at least as far as the Kzin are concerned. Courage is the virtue of a prey species that engages in collective defense; a smart predator attacks the weak, avoids fights against strong opponents, and is quick to retreat from any fight in which it loses the advantage; a sapient species with a long evolutionary history of being big game hunting carnivore apex predators would probably value/honor courage less than we do, so Kzin biology and implied evolutionary history is actually kind of an awkward fit with the kind of assholes the Kzin are. Asshole aliens with a long evolutionary history of being big game hunting carnivore apex predators might be sneaky raiders with an unapologetic "if they outgun us, trade, avoid, or appease, if we outgun them, raid and pillage!" mindset, or something like that; they probably wouldn't have the prideful machismo, hotheaded aggression, and disdain for restraint of the Kzin (you could argue calling it machismo is an anthropomorphism because Kzintosh aren't men but lbr human machismo is very obviously what the Kzin attitude is modeled on).

I wouldn't go so far as to say it's unrealistic for the Kzin to be the way they are, cause Kzin values could plausibly arise from intra-species competition and my rationalization for why the Kzin are as they are is a mix of that and "the Kzin are like that because their right-wing authoritarians won their history and got to shape their culture." But, as I said, I think the kind of assholes the Kzin are wouldn't logically flow directly from their ancestral subsistence strategy/ecological niche.

Which makes me wonder: if as a spec-bio exercise I tried to make a species which's biology would predispose them toward becoming approximately the kind of asshole Proud Warrior Race the Kzin are, what traits would they have?

Here's what I came up with:

First obvious thing is to give them a "harem" social system like gorillas, elephant seals, certain ungulates, etc.. This lends itself well to a species with a highly competitive male hierarchy in which male social and reproductive success is contingent on being able to make credible costly signals of being strong and badass.

One major obstacle to a species like that becoming a threat on the interstellar scale is control by a single dominant male is a pretty hard cap on group size. I propose that this species has overcome that by developing a social system with dominant bull coalitions, so instead of being limited to groups of one to three dozen individuals controlled by a single dominant male, they can have e.g. groups of a few thousand individuals controlled by a few hundred dominant bulls and so on; this eventually scaled up to an interstellar empire with billions of subjects and probably at least a few hundred million dominant bulls in loose coalition (that big dominant bull coalition is the empire's warrior-aristocrat class).

Unlike the Kzin, in this species the females will definitely be sapient and have lots of soft power; all the internal male social competition and external war and imperialism is largely about impressing them.

Another major point of difference from the Kzin: this species definitely should not have much evolutionary history of cooperative big game hunting. Pack hunting strongly incentivizes and rewards cooperation and solidarity (I suspect this plus the smaller group sizes of carnivores is why you see "harem" social organization more in herbivores), whereas I think to get aliens that are assholes in approximately the way the Kzin are we want a social system that's highly internally competitive. This probably implies a mostly herbivorous diet, though there might be some supplementation with small game; the important thing is this species has had basically no selection pressure for being effective predators of animals strong enough to require cooperation to take down.

Related and important point: the evolution of sapience in this species was more-or-less entirely driven by social competition and sexual selection, and they got too big to be tempting targets for the predators of their ancestral environment long before they developed sapience. So this is a species with no recent evolutionary history of being a prey species.

I guess we're maybe looking at something like a mix of gorillas and elephants here; maybe ancestrally browsers of the savanna and open woodland (though they'd gradually switch toward eating more richer food such as fruit, tubers, young shoots, meat, etc. as they developed more efficient food production). If we're doing the Mass Effect "more alien-looking than Star Trek forehead aliens but still implausibly humanoid" thing some kind of big beefy horned minotaur-looking humanoids would be a pretty appropriate look for the dominant bulls (with the subordinate males being more slender and the females being more slender and substantially smaller - this would be a species with way more sexual dimorphism than humans), not sure what I'd make them look like if I went the route of making them more realistically alien-looking.

Organized violence (i.e. war) developed in this species partly as a mating ritual. Large-scale battles gave males the same kind of opportunities to demonstrate strength and courage that fitness signalling duels did, but the much more complex tactical environment of a large-scale battle also offered opportunities for males to conspicuously demonstrate intelligence and cooperation. The switch from duels to battles as the primary arena of fitness signalling was a major selection pressure driving the evolution of sapience in this species. Originally the ultimate aim of war in this species was group fusion in which the dominant bull coalition of one group would defeat the dominant bull coalition of another group and the two groups would merge with the victorious dominant bull coalition being the dominant bull coalition of the combined group and the males in the defeated dominant bull coalition being either killed or demoted to subordinate status with their new lower rank being rubbed in by bullying and humiliation rituals. As the species developed bigger and more sedentary social groups this developed into territorial conquest with conquered communities remaining in their old homes under the rule of viceroys. But the thing where wars were partly giant mating rituals meant often neither side was particularly in a hurry to finish off their enemies as no more enemies to fight would mean diminished opportunities for social mobility and impressing females; there tended to be a "we have always been at war with Eurasia/Eastasia" dynamic where the conflict itself was effectively treated as having social value and actively maintained and subject to various forms of ritualization that limited its destructiveness so it could be kept going longer.

So, this is a species that's gotten lots of selection pressure from intra-species competition and violence, but has no recent evolutionary history as cooperative predators of animals with comparable size and strength to themselves and has no recent evolutionary history as a prey species. This species will have instincts and intuitions about violence totally optimized for intra-species violence that's mostly a mix of coalition politics propaganda of the deed and male fitness signalling rituals (and, of course, their culture will build on those instincts and intuitions and the dynamics that selected for them). I think this would lead plausibly to people who share one of the defining traits of the Kzin: being aggressive imperialist warmongering swaggering bullies who endlessly congratulate themselves on their ferocious warrior spirit and supposed mighty warrior prowess and supposed right to rule derived from that but are not actually all that good at war compared to a species like us that has been shaped by hunting and being hunted.

The thing about intra-species violence that's mostly a mix of coalition politics propaganda of the deed and male fitness signalling is it simultaneously incentivizes restraint more than inter-species predator/prey violence and incentivizes aggression more consistently than inter-species predator/prey violence.

On the restraint side, intra-species violence means potentially violence against relatives or potential mates, and in a social species violence against potential helpers. This obviously creates an incentive for restraint. Violent intra-species competition is where you get natural weapons and combat set up to probably not do too much damage (bighorn sheep knocking each other on their hard blunt horns instead of stabbing each other in the fleshy flank or face with sharp horns), notions of fair and honorable fights, "why don't you pick on someone your own size?," chivalry, rules of war, boxing gloves and rules against hitting below the belt, etc.. This post touches on some of the dynamics I'm talking about here.

I think plausible cultural development of this species might enhance this. A highly competitive "harem" social system means at least the males of this species are likely to be less cooperative than humans, and a less cooperative species will have a harder time forming effective equalizing coalitions. This species never got our probable evolutionarily significant period of living in mostly relatively egalitarian societies; compared to us their males at least are likely to be less wired for cooperative coalition-building and more wired for trying to individualistically climb their way up viciously competitive hierarchies; again, it seems likely this would make the formation of effective equalizing coalitions harder. The females are a bit of a wild card here, not sure what'd be going on with them, but considering they find aggressive, violent, domineering males sexy, I can see them not having instincts terribly promising for forming effective society-wide equalizing coalitions either. A species that's not very good at forming effective equalizing coalitions is likely to be not very good at coming up with ideologies of equality; equivalents of liberalism, democracy, socialism, anarchism, etc. may not exist at all in their philosophical tradition, or if they exist are likely to be obscure and marginal. The implication may be the political landscape of this species was a pretty dismal picture of oppressive oligarchies everywhere for pretty much the entire existence of their species. Like I said, I expect this species would develop a lot of practices to limit the destructiveness of war and focus its destructiveness on direct combatants. Defeat of a community in war would likely mean little change in the social or material conditions of most of the community's members; one oligarchic dominant bull coalition would replace another, and the only real change for most people would be a change in the names and faces (or scents or whatever they primarily recognize each other by) of their masters. Plausibly, the females of a conquered community would even approve of the change, seeing their community's new ruling dominant bull coalition as having proven themselves more desirable breeding material by winning. All of this would tend to encourage a sensibility that wars are basically social games between males and the only thing important at stake in them is the personal social and reproductive success of the direct combatants.

On the aggression side... Violent coalition politics involves lots of costly signalling, bluff, and martyrdom. The kind of violence a species like the one I'm describing here engages in is probably going to include a lot of violence that's basically an implicit statement of "I am exceptionally strong and brave and badass and would be an exceptionally good subordinate or ally, please give me a promotion!" And when it comes to male violence done as male fitness signalling to females, well, sperm is cheap and ova and wombs are expensive; in a "harem" social system demonstrating your mere viability will probably not be enough to impress females into mating with you, they are likely to require a costly signal of exceptional excellence before perceiving you as a desirable breeding partner, and if you die trying to make that costly signal, well, rolling the dice on a 65% chance of getting killed while young and a 35% chance of getting to breed might easily be selected for over contenting oneself with dying childless at a ripe old age.

Basically, I think you might plausibly end up with a species with bone-deep intuitions that:

- Violence is a performance, it is primarily communicative, using it to send a message to your opponent and/or to witnesses is at least an important secondary consideration and may even be more important than the actual concrete outcome of the fight. It is not enough to simply defeat your enemy, you must do so in a way that effectively communicates what you want to communicate.

- The most consistent purposes of violence are to show off your own strength, bravery, and fighting prowess and to terrorize and humiliate your opponent into submission.

- War is basically a game played among males. It's not a trivial game, it's literally deadly serious for the males involved in it and your society is largely organized around it, but it's fundamentally a game; the only people who have really big stakes in it are the direct combatants, and having fun and displaying good sportsmanship and putting on a cool performance are important secondary considerations and may even be more important than the actual concrete outcome. If you've ever read Ian Banks's Player Of Games, Azad (the game and the institutions and culture around it) in that book is the best analogy I can think of for what war would be to these people.

- Your enemies will be basically following the same rule book you have.

When these people develop interstellar travel and meet other sapient species, they'll apply the instincts and cultural institutions they developed for intra-species competition to those other sapients. I.e. they'll turn into nasty imperialists. Conquered aliens would get incorporated into their society in about the same social position as weak males. In their society weak males with little hope of rising to dominant bull status are kept around for labor and to assist with the care and education of the offspring of their female relatives and have a social status roughly equivalent to serfs; this would be the obvious niche to put conquered aliens in, with some modifications, e.g. conquered aliens would be expected to keep reproducing with each other.

Combine what I said in the previous paragraph with how much these people's social instincts would revolve around volatile male hierarchies reinforced by bullying and humiliation rituals, and I expect being a conquered subject of them would tend to be unpleasant to horrific. Being a primarily herbivorous species, these people wouldn't occasionally eat their slaves like the Kzin, but I could totally see the dominant bulls occasionally casually caving some poor slave's skull in out of a combination of some petty irritation and wanting to remind everyone who's boss.

Let's say we want these people to get approximately the same nasty surprise when they attack humans that the Kzin did. Model favorable to that:

In this setting, the most common pathway to sapience is through social and sexual selection. Sapient species usually evolve in environments without big predators, e.g. isolated islands, because serious predation pressure tends to prevent the very strong commitment to a long-lived slow-breeding very K-selected life strategy that leads to sapience. Sapient species usually do not have recent evolutionary history as big game hunters (the typical sapient is a physically not very strong omnivore, often primarily an eater of fruit, tubers, seeds, insects, and small animals, though also a lot of sapient species started with an ecological niche roughly equivalent of fish-eating birds that nest in large rookeries). Species that evolve sapience through this pathway usually have strong social and artistic intelligence, but lack instincts and institutions of organized violence (they aren't always peaceful, but if they do have significant intra-species violence it's murder, done by individuals or very small groups, not war).

When the warmonger aliens I've spent most of this post describing meet species like this it usually goes similarly to what happened when the Maori met the Moriori, or at least like that event as described in a book I read once. The warmonger aliens will roll up and be like "Yo, what's up, losers! You are now our slaves! We're awfully fond of presents called 'tribute' which you'll be giving us regularly from now on, and you'll be obeying our orders from now on! You can start by performing these humiliating submission rituals to acknowledge our superiority!" and this will be kind of an OCP to their victims, who will usually either basically surrender immediately or try to resist but fold pretty quickly cause they aren't well-equipped for war psychologically, culturally, institutionally, or materially. The warmonger dominant bulls honestly find it kind of boring, to the point that they fight a lot of highly ritualized flower war style conflicts among themselves as a mix of oligarch class dispute resolution, bloody enrichment, and live fire training to keep their warrior skills sharp.

Basically, the galaxy is full of weedy theater kid nerds, and these warmonger aliens are the meathead jock bullies of the galaxy going around shoving those nerds into lockers and stealing their lunch money.

The exceptions to this pattern the warmonger aliens met before us were a mix of 1) other species like themselves, 2) sapient species with a long evolutionary history of being big game hunting carnivore more-or-less apex predators (who are basically sneaky raiders). The warmonger alien dominant bulls tend to hate the latter and bitch endlessly about how they "have no honor," but savor tangling with the former in a "finally, worthy opponents!" way.

Then they met humans.

Humans have a long enough evolutionary history of big game hunting that this may have subjected us to significant selection pressure for increased cooperativeness that the warmonger aliens didn't get. But that isn't special in this context, the warmonger aliens have tangled with sapients descended from big game hunting carnivores before.

The thing that makes humans relevantly special is our relatively recent evolutionary history of being a prey species that engaged in collective defense, and the instincts we have that formed in that context but can be activated in other kinds of conflict.

Going back to that "real fights" thing earlier:

"but how often are you ever going to be in a fight where you’re willing to rip the other guy’s cheek out, gouge out his eyes and so forth?"

A fight against a predator that wants to eat your child looks like that.

If you're fighting a member of your own species, the entity you're fighting might be a relative, potential mate, or potential helper, so there's an incentive for restraint.

If you're a predator hunting, well, a carnivore species needs their prey species, that's their food source; smart lions wouldn't want to wipe out their prey species, they need their prey species, they would prefer their prey species thrive and be abundant and healthy; again there is an incentive for restraint; very plausibly one of the first lessons a sapient carnivore species would have to collectively learn after becoming sapient is restraint, learning that it would be all too easy to use their new, better weapons to kill too many of their prey and that they need to consciously avoid doing that.

Prey defending themselves from predators are the ones who'd have more-or-less zero incentive for restraint. If you can hurt or kill the lioness that's trying to eat your child, there is basically no reason to not go for it except self-preservation. Predators need their prey, but that's not symmetrical; prey don't need their predators, and sapient prey smart enough to do birth control and cull any dumber competitor species would probably be unambiguously much better off if all their predators dropped dead (Pleistocene humans could have done semi-reliable birth control by abstinence, outercourse, and lactational amenorrhea).

Humans are a slow-breeding species. A pride of lions could easily gradually eat a small early human band into extinction, and would have little incentive to avoid doing so cause humans aren't even their primary prey so when they ran out of humans they could just eat more of the antelope and so on that are already most of what they're eating anyway. The warmonger aliens have no evolutionary history of conflicts so existential.

The warmonger aliens have an idea of self-sacrificial heroism, but their version is entirely oriented (in an "adaptation executor, not fitness maximizer" way) toward burnishing the reputation of surviving close male relatives by association and thus increasing their reproductive success. They would have nothing in their recent evolutionary history like the experience of standing between a child and a hungry lioness. They would not grok "get away from her you bitch!" (that essay talks about the role of males in anti-predator defense but, yeah, women would have this too, who do you think would be the last line of defense for the children if a predator got past the male defensive ring?).

(The warmonger aliens definitely think it's a bit weird that we have mixed gender armies, not so much in a conventionally sexist way - they're inclined to see the size and strength differences between human men and women as obviously trivial compared to the much bigger sexual dimorphism of their species - but in that the idea of females caring enough about the outcome of a war to fight in it is alien to them. It's not that weird to them though, the big game hunter ancestry carnivore sapients they've encountered have mixed-sex armies and unwarlike sapients that try to resist conquest usually form them when they scramble to put a military together so it's got precedent in their experience.)

Like, yeah, the warmonger aliens are exactly the kind of people where some human commander would draw some of them into a clever trap they wouldn't anticipate cause prioritizing actually winning over looking heroic is alien behavior to them and then the comrades of the ones who died getting punked would bitch about how "dishonorable" it was of us to fight to win instead of obediently lining up to get slaughtered like cattle in some set-piece battle because that'd be the "honorable" thing by their definitions.

But also, something a lot like Londo Mollari's little speech about how brave the humans were in the Earth-Minbari war but it's some warmonger alien dominant bull describing the resistance we're putting up against his people and instead of admiration it's spoken with a tone of queasy puzzlement tinged with fear, irritation with our "irrational" resistance mixed with fear of the possible implications for what might happen if we start winning, it's alien behavior to him and he's admitting that it scares him.

Also, turns out species that have been strongly selected for solidarity (that's us!) are good at building equalizing coalitions and creating memes to coordinate them around, so not only are human ideologies of equality such as liberalism and communism effective at supercharging our resistance against imperialist conquest in a way that's an OCP to the warmonger aliens, they also turn out to be really disruptive to the warmonger aliens' shitty empire when some human chaos agents have fun spreading them around in it.

#writing ideas #warning: long

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fallowhearth · 11 months

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Rereading Malazan Book of the Fallen for probably the fifth time...

"This city was dead long before the sea dried up," Fiddler said, resuming his climb.

Crokus called up after him, "How do you know?"

"Because everything's water-worn, lad. Waves crumbled this sea wall. Century after century of waves. I grew up in a port city, remember. I've seen what water can do. The Emperor had Malaz Bay dredged before the Imperial piers were built-revealed old sea walls and the like." Reaching the top, he paused to catch his breath. "Showed everyone that Malaz City's older than anybody'd realized."

"And that the sea levels have risen since," Mappo observed.

Fascinating to see how a major plot-point of Witness (the new series) was being casually built up as early as book 2 of MBotF - the melting of the Jaghut ice. And perfect of course, that it is Mappo who brings it up: of the group, he's the only one who would have been in a position to know this.

One thing I truly love about this series is the extent to which the world feels lived in. People have lived in the lands for hundreds of thousands of years, and not as static occupiers, but have endured climate change, environmental collapse, invasions, migrations, cultural movements, and political upheavals. Nobody does longue durée quite like Steven Erickson.

He's also an author who cares about subsistence strategies and the way geography shapes human patterns. The major cities emerge in places where water transport and farmland intersect. Plains nomads have pastoral animals apart from horses, plus working dogs, women play key roles in subsistence, and they have distinct material culture in dress and decoration. (As opposed to certain other authors, cf. Bret Devereaux's Dothraki write up). Environmental changes and human movement force new strategies; pretty much every group in the Malazan world is in some kind of flux or process of change outside of the actual plot, and have diverse responses to these pressures in terms of culture and values.

For all that these books can be very dense, I also appreciate Erikson's loving indulgence toward the reader. Yes, it would be funny if a small spoilt lapdog joined a pack of war dogs: so we will have a series of vignettes describing this in the background of real events. Yes, it is very funny to picture a bunch of capering monkeys mocking the High Priest of Shadow and his broom nonsense, so we will get a series of slapstick set pieces again in the background. Characters like Kruppe and Iskaral Pust get to chew the scenery, etc.

#malazan book of the fallen #malazan #Mbotf #Deadhouse Gates #steven erikson

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biographydivider · 1 year

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Disaster Twins gonna Disaster, no matter what future they’re in...

(inspired in part by @sheep-turtles-and-pizza‘s Future Twins comic)

They were infamous.

Leonardo and Donatello; the leader and the scientist, the stalwart hero and the stoic genius. There wasn’t a recuit in the resistance against the Krang that didn’t have a story about them; Leonardo bolstering the last dregs of their courage in dire moments of battle, leading them to victory with nothing more than a grin and a wink, Donatello terrifying them into silence in the mess hall with a cocked eyebrow as he worked on his latest project, subsisting on nothing but a salvaged pack of cigarettes and two hours’ sleep and still, somehow, coming up with wonders of technology that no-one else could have ever dreamed of.

Both Yokai cut an imposing figure on their own, but together? They were a force to be reckoned with; striding through the corridors of the resistance base, their eyes steely and determined as they talked strategy, Leonardo firing off rapid solutions to problems as Donatello proposed them. The very fate of the base - the resistance against the Krang - the world! - rested on their broad, shelled shoulders. Nothing could stand in their way, no-one could stop them on their mission to -- “DONNIE!”

Both turtles froze mid-step as the echoes of the scream bounced off the resistance base walls. It must have been a trick of the light, but it almost - almost! - looked like Donatello winced.

“Yeeees, dear sister?”

“I told you not to leave your shit lying around in the common room!”

“It isn’t ‘shit’, April,” Donatello called to the diembodied voice, “it’s a highly delicate peice of equiptment that --”

“Then why is it in the common room?!”

Donatello’s gaze didn’t so much hit the floor as plummet. “...because I was playing Purple Game 3 last night while I finished it.”

“Oooooooooh,” Leonardo sang, nudging his brother in the ribs. “You’re in troooouble --”

“Nardo. Do not.”

“You’re gonna get groooouuundeeeeed --”

“Push.”

There were about twelve members of the resistance who saw what happened next. And no-one ever believed them when the told the tale.

“Ow! What the hell, D?!” Leonardo bounced off the wall his brother shoved him into, tackled him to the ground and...and licked the most amazing scientific mind of their generation from chin to temple. “Blllaaaaaaaaaaaaaurgh.”

“Ewwwww, Leo! Sweet Galileo, you absolute reprobate --”

“Dunno what that means, so I’ll take it as a compliment - no, Donnie, not the pits, don’tpokemeinthearmpits --!”

“GUYS.”

Both turtles froze in place as a pair of bright yellow combat boots stomped down the corridor towards them. Slowly - guiltily - they got to their feet.

Not many members of the resistance had known Master Splinter. But what they did know - because they’d heard it so many times, being yelled across the base and screamed on the battlefield - who had been left in charge of his four legendary sons when he died.

The tall, dark-haired woman stopped in front of Leonardo and Donatello; foot tapping, arms crossed, expression grim.

“Fighting? Really?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Yeah, we were. But he started it.”

“Whaaaaaaaat?! How....dare you...”

Unfortunately, Donatello’s dramatics could not halt the commander in her stride. She’d seen it all before. “You think we have the resources to fix these walls if you dum-dums break ‘em? Nuh-uh! I thought you were grown men now, but clearly I was wrong. Guess I’ll have to separate you.” Leonardo was spun around on his heel and swatted on the back. “You? Go that way. Make yourself useful in the training room with Cass.”

“But I’ve got a War Room meeting in five!”

“Tough. March.”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Lenoardo grumbled as he huffed back the way he’d came. “Jeeeeez, thirty years old an’ I just got my War Room privileges taken away.”

“That’s right, you did. And you --” Donatello was dragged by the wrist into the common room. “Get whatever that bucket of bolts is cleaned up, before someone trips and breaks their neck. And give me that!”

“Hey! That’s my last cigarette!”

“It’s a filthy habit, D. You’ve been told. If you can’t stop cold turkey, I’ll have to tell Libby from Supplies to cut you off.”

“Okay okay! Alright, I’ll stop. Just...don’t embarass me in front of Libby from Supplies, m’kay?”

Watching her brother stoop down to sort his tech into manageable piles, the commander folded her arms with a smirk. “Oh? And why’s that? You got a lil’ cruuuuuush? Got a lil’ crush, huh Donnie?”

A wrench was thrown. It missed by a mile.

“Cease, you mortfying harpy!”

“Clear up your shit, then.”

“Ffffffffffffine.”

Leonardo and Donatello were infamous. But Commander April O’Neil was legendary.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rise leo #rise donnie #rise april #i love these idiots with my whole heart

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theamityelf · 1 month

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I’m not sure if your still writing stuff abt you danganronpa zombies au but if you are can we get more on junko??? I’m just wondering how her personality and plans translate to her zombie self

Im also wondering about Mukuro??? I’m not sure if you’ve mentioned her yet but her being a zombie interacting w her strange obsessive behavior w junko would be interesting

Sorry if this is incoherent but I’ve been thinking abt it for the last couple days lol

First of all, I am open to asks for every AU always! Lol.

For Junko, I'd say that her ability to plot things out is largely intact. Her ability to reason through the consequences of different actions in advance is not as sophisticated as it was before, but it's still really impressive for being undead. She's a lot more lucid than the others, but that said, I don't currently think she has an overarching ambition in this AU.

For one thing, just being undead is such an acute taste of entropy that she no longer feels so bored and dissatisfied all the time. So much about her body and mind are new, she subsists on murdering people, and just so much is wrong that, like Nagito, I think this might lowkey be kind of the best timeline for her.

Hope's Peak created this virus. Hope's Peak created this despair. Her point about despair is pretty much already vindicated, and she knows this won't stay contained. Her need to self-aggrandize is subsumed (at least for now) by her fascination with her new self; her need to spread despair is satiated by just the absolutely miserable situation of the Reserve Course and the pretty much guaranteed upcoming escalation when the undead breach containment; any urge she feels to be destructive and contrarian can easily be expressed by leaving the classroom and trying to eat someone before Makoto finds her; and all the while, she's experiencing the friendship and comradery with her classmates that she enjoys.

Makoto is taking care of her, and she genuinely likes that a lot. She loves getting her hair brushed, and the strained look on his face when he wipes blood from her mouth, and the quick reflexes he's developed to avoid her attempts to bite him. Between that and the occasional video calls from Yasuke, she's feeling pretty great.

I'm not saying Junko will never act mastermind-y in this AU; just that, for some length of time, she is satiated by the status quo. I think, if she does manifest a deeper goal than just enjoying herself, the first new goal she might pursue is that of making Makoto realize how Hope's Peak is using him and what Nagito has been up to. She would want Makoto to know what the Reserve Course's real role here is, and that it's not really accidental.

Now, Mukuro! I mentioned her briefly in this post and some others, but you're right that she hasn't really had focus. Mukuro's dexterity and fine motor skills are among the highest, of the undead, in that she can still hold and wield weapons.

She's still fiercely protective whenever Junko is under threat, but other than that she operates as a normal social presence in the class, just because my own headcanons (anime notwithstanding, lol) have her and Junko act like their relationship is normal, at school. Unlike Junko, Mukuro's grasp of consequences and general human behavior is greatly decreased. Her combat intelligence, as in fighting and battle strategy, remains, but her human intelligence is severely impacted.

Like in the hyperlinked post, she complies when Makoto takes her weapons away, but she doesn't understand that he doesn't want her to have weapons. When he tries to tell her, she just stares uncomprehendingly. She likes his face and his smell and how gently he handles them.

I'm picturing Mukuro curling up with Junko to sleep and Junko continually pushing or kicking her away, with groggy little movements, and Mukuro just casually crawls back, until they both fall asleep about a yard away from each other with Junko's foot against Mukuro's stomach.

#danganronpa #undead au #junko enoshima #mukuro ikusaba #naekusaba #naejunko

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batrachised · 5 months

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Uncle Pippin was genuinely disappointed. Living alone as he did, subsisting on widower's fare, the occasional meals and lunches he got in friends' houses meant much to him. And now Aunt Becky was going to ask people to come and see her and wasn't going to give them a bite. It was inhospitable, that's what it was.

uncle pippin apparently has the meal planning strategies of a grad student

#he would go to every club meeting on campus for the free pizza #tangled web book club

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blackhistorystoryteller · 7 months

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Title: "Exploring African Hunting Culture: Traditions, Challenges, and Conservation

Introduction:

African hunting culture is a rich and diverse tapestry that weaves through the continent's history, ecology, and societies. Rooted in centuries-old traditions, it encompasses a wide range of practices, from subsistence hunting for survival to trophy hunting as a sport. This article delves into the multifaceted world of African hunting culture, highlighting its cultural significance, the challenges it faces, and the ongoing efforts for conservation.

A Rich Tapestry of Traditions:

Africa is home to a vast array of ethnic groups, each with its own unique hunting traditions. These practices are deeply intertwined with local customs, beliefs, and spirituality. For many indigenous communities, hunting is not just a means of acquiring food but a vital cultural expression. The use of traditional hunting tools and techniques, like spears, bows, and traps, continues to be an essential part of their heritage.

Subsistence Hunting:

Subsistence hunting is a common practice across the African continent. In rural areas, where access to commercial sources of food may be limited, hunting provides a vital source of protein and sustenance. Communities rely on their knowledge of the land and wildlife to harvest game responsibly, ensuring the sustainability of their resources. This balance between nature and necessity underscores the importance of respecting wildlife for survival.

Trophy Hunting:

Trophy hunting, a more controversial aspect of African hunting culture, involves the pursuit and killing of animals for sport and the collection of trophies, such as horns or skins. While it can generate revenue for local communities and conservation efforts, it has also faced criticism for ethical and conservation reasons. Many African countries have implemented strict regulations to manage and monitor trophy hunting to mitigate negative impacts on wildlife populations.

Conservation Challenges:

African wildlife has faced significant challenges due to habitat loss, poaching, and the illegal wildlife trade. The intricate relationship between hunting culture and conservation is evident in the struggle to protect endangered species while acknowledging the cultural importance of hunting. Conservation organizations work tirelessly to strike a balance by implementing measures to protect threatened species and their habitats.

Modern Influences:

In the modern era, African hunting culture has been influenced by global forces. Tourism, including wildlife safaris, has become a booming industry, providing alternatives to traditional hunting practices and contributing to conservation efforts. Additionally, changing perceptions of hunting, both locally and globally, have prompted a reevaluation of hunting practices and their impact on ecosystems.

Conservation Efforts:

Across the continent, initiatives to conserve African wildlife are gaining momentum. National parks, reserves, and private conservancies play a crucial role in safeguarding habitats and species. Anti-poaching efforts, community-based conservation programs, and responsible hunting practices have emerged as essential strategies to ensure the sustainability of African ecosystems.

African hunting culture is a multifaceted and evolving aspect of the continent's heritage. While it carries deep cultural significance and provides for many communities, it also faces challenges related to conservation and ethical considerations. Striking a balance between cultural preservation, sustainability, and responsible hunting practices is an ongoing process, guided by a commitment to protect Africa's remarkable biodiversity for generations to come.

Hunting practices among African tribes vary widely depending on the specific region, culture, and available resources. Traditional hunting methods are often passed down through generations and are adapted to the local environment and the animals being pursued. Here are some common hunting techniques employed by various African tribes:

1. **Spear Hunting:** Spear hunting is one of the oldest and most widespread hunting methods in Africa. Tribes such as the Maasai in East Africa are known for their skill in using spears to hunt animals like lions and giraffes. This method requires getting close to the prey and using a well-aimed throw or thrust to kill it.

2. **Bow and Arrow:** The use of bows and arrows is prevalent among many African tribes. The San people, for example, are known for their exceptional tracking skills and proficiency in hunting with poisoned arrows. This method allows hunters to maintain some distance from their prey.

3. **Traps and Snares:** Various tribes set up traps and snares to catch small to medium-sized game. These can be constructed from natural materials like branches, vines, and ropes. When an animal triggers the trap, it captures the prey.

4. **Pitfalls:** Some tribes dig pits and cover them with branches and leaves to create pitfalls for animals. Once an animal falls into the pit, it becomes trapped and can be killed by the hunters.

5. **Hunting Dogs:** In some regions, like the central African rainforests, tribes use hunting dogs to track and corner prey. The hunters then finish the job using spears or other weapons.

6. **Blow Darts:** Certain tribes, like the Pygmies in Central Africa, use blow darts with poison-tipped tips to silently kill small game and birds.

7. **Net Hunting:** Nets are used by several tribes to encircle and capture birds, small mammals, and even fish in rivers and lakes. The nets can be set up in a variety of ways to suit the hunting environment.

8. **Hunting with Falcons and Other Birds of Prey:** In some North African and Middle Eastern regions, including parts of Morocco, hunting with trained falcons and other birds of prey is a long-standing tradition, though not exclusive to Africa.

9. **Cultural and Spiritual Practices:** For many African tribes, hunting is not just about acquiring food but is deeply intertwined with cultural and spiritual beliefs. Rituals and ceremonies often accompany hunting expeditions to seek blessings or guidance from ancestors or spirits.

It's important to note that as African societies have modernized, some traditional hunting practices have given way to more contemporary methods and conservation efforts. Many African countries have implemented wildlife protection laws and sustainable hunting practices to ensure the survival of their native fauna and the preservation of their cultural heritage.

#life #animals #culture #aesthetic #black history #history #blm blacklivesmatter #anime and manga #architecture #black community #hunting

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indepthpokemonheadcanons · 1 year

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Rika Headcanons

Rika was born in Paldea, but her father is Unovan and her mother is Hoennese. She has spent a great deal of her life training in different regions around the world, and the result is that - no matter which language she is speaking - her accent is rather unusual and hard to place.

Because she is so personable and down to earth, challengers are often surprised to discover what a bad loser Rika is. Since becoming an Elite, she has had to learn to be more gracious, but she is still infamous for turning sullen and petulant when beaten. Despite this, when reflecting on prior battles, her favourites are almost always the ones where she was bested.

Rika uses any pronouns. They have no preference for how they are addressed, but most of their colleagues tend to stick with feminine or neutral terms - aside from Poppy, who has always called Rika ‘uncle’.

Rika is exceedingly unimaginative when naming pokémon. Their beloved clodsire is called ‘Clod’.

As a teenager, Rika took on the Hoenn League and successfully attained all eight Gym badges, but didn’t make it beyond the first Elite - Sidney, at the time. She lost to him twice, but he took a shine to her and kept in touch to offer some coaching. Even though their type specialisations are very different, Rika’s battle style resembles his in many ways - blunt, slow paced, and occasionally brutal. While Sidney is evasive and Rika more defensive, they both allow opponents to wear themselves out before striking back, and striking hard.

Rika swears constantly, and is not very good at curtailing their language even in professional contexts. They make a poor guest on pre-watershed shows. Geeta has had firm words with them about this more than once.

Most of Rika’s pokémon have battled alongside her since childhood - she caught her camerupt and whiscash in Hoenn over ten years ago, and her clodsire is even older. In her annual reviews, the League has pressed her to take on and train a greater variety of pokémon, to give her more flexibility in teambuilding and cover some of the gaps in her offense. She is complying, but half-heartedly. She’d rather just battle with her old buddies.

Her cooking is atrocious. She often forgets to eat full meals, subsisting on cup noodles and coffee.

Rika loves rotation battles more than any other style, largely due to how unpredictable they can be, but they see very little play outside of Unova. She runs occasional classes at Naranja Academy to introduce students to the basics, but it’s a tough sell for most - rotation battles have a very different rhythm to regular ones, and the initial learning curve is steep. There are particular rules pertaining to how and when you are allowed to rotate and attack, and a whole host of fouls and penalities to memorise. But it trains people in how to change strategies at incredibly short notice, and Rika credits it as the reason she is so adaptable in single battles.

Rika thinks Larry is the bee’s knees, even if he finds her exhausting. Whenever she goes abroad for tournaments she brings back a funky-looking tie for him as a gift, which he inevitably does not wear.

#pokémon #rika #pokémon headcanons #indepth pokémon headcanons #scarvi #scarlet and violet #pkmn sv #paldea #gen 9 #at all times assume I am thinking about rika #drinking horrible coffee swearing in front of a ten year old working at her computer with her big mud fish in her lap

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fishenjoyer1 · 21 days

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Fish of the Day

The beluga sturgeon, also known as the great sturgeon, scientific name Huso huso, was requested by Andromeda! Known for being the largest freshwater fish, and the third largest living fish species in the world, only behind the whale shark and basking shark! This fish is euryhaline, meaning that it can live in many different salinities and environments, and as such moves comfortably through estuaries and rivers alike. They are native to areas around the middle east, Asia, and Europe. Their historic range was in, the Adrian sea, the Black sea, Caspian sea, and sea of Azov, and all connecting rivers between, but as of modern era they can be found only in the Black sea, the Caspian sea, and some rivers connected, notably: the Danube. Like other sturgeons, this is one of the more ancient species still alive, and they started appearing in the fossil record as far back as 200 million years ago.

Beluga sturgeon are some of the only active hunting species of the sturgeon family. Prey consists of molluscs, crustaceans, small mammals; such as caspian seals, and any fish they fit in their mouth. In fact, they're very hard to keep with any other animal, as they can and will eat anything that will fit into their mouth. They pursue their prey, moving faster than expected, and being able to travel up to 37 miles a day, and reach speeds of 15mph in short bursts well hunting, prey is sucked into the mouth quickly. This supports their huge sizes, they can get as large as 28 feet recorded, but there are claims for them reaching as large as 40 feet. Beluga sturgeon can live a long time, taking 10-16 years to sexually mature for males, and 14-20 years for females, and claims that they live more than 100 years in the wild. They have no known predators, other than humans.

Humans are the main and only cause for the reduction in beluga sturgeon populations. These fish fall to dams, like many large fish, and most sturgeon in particular. As it turns out the caviar are perfect for meals, and worth as much as $3,500 US per pound. During breeding season large fish can carry hundreds of pounds of these caviar at a time, and are regularly illegally hunted for this. Although they are large, they are easy to catch, and their meat can go worth good money as well, although due to the legality of its nature I was unable to find exactly how much it's worth, since them being marked as endangered. Efforts to repopulate the sturgeon into their native habitats, but it is a slow effort.

Spawning takes place further upstreams, and they have historic routes they remember over years. Spawning events take place every 4-7 years. Being as this sturgeon has lived in the Danube as it was forming, they have adapted strategies to spawn in it. Spawning is done in two stages, necessary because spawning is up to more than a thousand miles upstream for some fish. The first stage is in autumn which is when they enter the danube in masses, The second stage is after they winter in the river, taking place in spring where they actually lay and fertilize eggs. The eggs will hatch after 2 weeks, and well they age in the danube they will be benthic, feeding mostly on small bugs they can catch. That is, until they are large enough to subsist off of mostly fish.

Have a good day, everyone!

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crossdreamers · 11 months

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New study shows that women have been, and are, hunters too.

Science have been used actively to uphold gender stereotypes and gender roles. One narrative that has served this purpose is that in hunter-gatherer societies men hunt and women gather. This division of labor has been seen as inborn and natural, and has therefore been used to defend a society where men work outside the home and women take care of the kids.

NPR writes:

Until now, the general sense among scientists has been that [the accounts of hunter gatherer societies] overwhelmingly pointed to men mainly hunting and women mainly gathering, with only occasional exceptions, says Robert Kelly, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming and the author of influential books and articles on hunter-gatherer societies.

But Kelly says that the views he and others held of the typical gender divisions around hunting were based on anecdotal impressions of the reports they'd been reading, combined with the field work many had engaged in personally. "No one," says Kelly, had done a systematic "tally" of what the observational reports said about women hunting.

Enter the researchers behind the new study: a team from University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University. "We decided to see what was actually out there" on hunting, says the lead researcher Cara Wall-Scheffler, a biological anthropologist.

Wall-Scheffler notes "our goal was to go back to the original ethnographic reports of those populations and see what had actually been written about the hunting strategies."

Their findings — published in the journal PLOS One this week — is that in 79% of the societies for which there is data, women were hunting.

An Awá woman holds hunting bows and arrows in Brazil’s Caru Indigenous Territory in 2017. Photo: Scott Wallace.

The researchers write:

Evidence from the past one hundred years supports archaeological finds from the Holocene that women from a broad range of cultures intentionally hunt for subsistence. These results aim to shift the male-hunter female-gatherer paradigm to account for the significant role females have in hunting, thus dramatically shifting stereotypes of labor, as well as mobility.

To be fair, a lot of researchers have questioned these stereotypes before. The main culprits have been researchers from a field called “evolutionary psychology”, a discipline notorious for its development of pseudo-scientific theories aimed at reinforcing gender roles.

However, the narrative has spread to text books and popularized versions in the media. It fits the prejudices of many and is therefore considered good content by many editors.

"I think that next to the myth that God made a woman from man's rib to be his helper, the myth that man is the hunter and woman is the gatherer is probably the second most enduring myth that naturalizes the inferiority of women," says Kimberly Hamlin, a professor of history at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

It has fueled the idea, she says, that "men are supposed to be violent, they're supposed to be aggressive – one of the core elements in the soup of toxic masculinity."

Read the whole article here.

See also:

The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts

Shattering the myth of men as hunters and women as gatherers

Do animals have genders? Are there transgender animals? A scientist find some clues among chimpanzees.

Top illustration: Artists depiction of female hunter 9,000 years ago in ancient Peru. Source: Matthew Verdolivo / UC Davis IET Academic Technology Services

#gender #gender roles #bad science #hunter gatherer #queer #transgender #gender variance #gender nonconforming #lgbt #science #sexism #toxic masculinity

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probablyasocialecologist · 1 month

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In international development circles, most people are familiar with the World Bank’s data showing that extreme poverty has declined dramatically over the past several decades, from 43 per cent of the world’s population in 1981 to less than 10 per cent today. This narrative is based on the World Bank’s method of calculating the share of people who live on less than $1.90 per day (in 2011 “PPP” terms). But a growing body of literature argues that the World Bank’s PPP-based method suffers from a major empirical limitation, in that it does not account for the cost of meeting basic needs in any given context (see here, here and here). Having more than $1.90 PPP does not guarantee that a person can afford the specific goods and services that are necessary for survival. In recent years, scholars have developed a more accurate method for measuring extreme poverty, by comparing people’s incomes to the prices of essential goods in each country (specifically food, shelter, clothing and fuel). This approach is known as the “basic needs poverty line” (BNPL), and it more closely approximates what the original concept of “extreme poverty” was intended to measure.

[...]

Extreme poverty is not a natural condition, but a sign of severe dislocation. Historical data on real wages since the 15th century indicates that under normal conditions, across different societies and eras, people are generally able to meet their subsistence needs except during periods of severe social displacement, such as famines, wars, and institutionalised dispossession, particularly under European colonialism. What is more, BNPL data shows that many countries have managed to keep extreme poverty very close to zero, even with low levels of GDP per capita, by using strategies such as public provisioning and price controls for basic essentials. In other words, extreme poverty can be prevented much more easily than most people assume. Indeed, it need not exist at all. The fact that it persists at such high levels today indicates that severe dislocation is institutionalised in the world economy – and that markets have failed to meet the basic needs of much of humanity. To address this problem, and to end extreme poverty – the first objective of the Sustainable Development Goals – will require public planning to prioritise the production of, and guarantee access to, the specific goods and services that people need to live decent lives.

#poverty #extreme poverty #world bank #food security #capitalism

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eos0anemone · 8 months

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Analysis: Genshin Impact Autistic characters - KOKOMI

This is going to be a section in my blog talking about which Genshin characters I think fit very well inside the autism spectrum. If we know Hoyoverse's record, we know that they're not autism friendly (*cof cof* cure for autism in Tears of Themis *cof cof*) but well, neurotypical people accidentally writing neurodivergent characters happens a lot, and at the end of day, it is free to our own interpretation how we see them.

I want to open this section with my favourite Genshin character: Sangonomiya Kokomi. I relate to her a lot (partially the reason why I'm convinced she's autistic) but keep reading if you want to know specifically why I think she is.

INTRODUCTION

Kokomi is a 5 star character, Hydro catalyst from Inazuma. Lorewise, she is Watatsumi's Divine Priestess; in other words, the leader of Watatsumi Island, a small town that relies a lot on fishing and agriculture to subsist.

In terms of 'waifu-uwu', Kokomi is your average overworked waifu who shows a shy demeanor, steady leadership but delicate presence. Is very feminine presenting, has a quirky military side and shows a soft spot for traveller, probably because she falls in love with him too (and yeah, I talk specifically about Aether because we know who thinks this way). A lot of western people, especially men, also reduce her to this stereotype common in Genshin Impact women.

However, we can take some more steps and see in depth everything that Kokomi has to offer.

HYPERFIXATIONS

One of the aforementioned cliches is actually true: Kokomi is an overworked woman, but not in the same way as Ganyu or Keqing, for example. While they overwork themselves because they seem to enjoy being occupated or feeling useful, Kokomi's job is a responsability that she actually doesn't wan't: just by reading her voice-overs (More About Sangonomiya Kokomi: IV), we discover that what she really wanted to do was study military strategy and become an adviser.

And this is one of the most interesting points about Kokomi: she loves military strategy. While some people reduce it to a quirky trait, I think it can be clearly interpreted as an autistic hyperfixation. Not only Kokomi is presented to us as a girl who is an expert on this field (Archon quest was so horribly written that it doesn't do her justice, but canonically she is very smart and a strategy master), but she also tells us on voice-overs that she loves military books the most (Chat: Reading), and wanted it to be her full-time job.

The least we can say is that it is her passion, one that fuels her motivation so much, just like how autism or writing fuels mine to the point of wanting to work on that field and enjoying it on my spare time or when I'm regulating myself.

BURNOUT AND MASKING

In relation to the last point, there's another reason as to why Kokomi preferred to be a military advisor rather than the island leader: social interaction.

As stated in both voice-overs and her quest, social interaction exhausts Kokomi to the point she 'gets negative'. She also tells us (Sangonomiya Kokomi's Troubles) that she's not good at communicating with others, and that putting on her Divine Priestess airs helps her with it. Kokomi is a clear case of a women who does masking in order to survive socialization with other people, and in this case, her being a figure of authority well-respected and loved by her people helps her a lot with the interactions she's forced to endure day by day. I see myself on this, because I too feel more at ease interacting with other people if I have a title that gives me clues about how others will be talking to me (being the class rep, an administrator...) but it still exhausts you, and usually it is even more tiring because you have to keep up to extra expectations. The 'getting negative' references being so burn out that you can't keep masking anymore, making you seem gloomy/uninterested/rude/clueless.

In Kokomi's quest Dracaena Somnolenta, we learn that when Kokomi is too tired of social interaction, she hides for a while on a cave where she sleeps and reads books in solitude. That is decompression. All autistic people need it to regulate their bodies and mind.

For Kokomi, this decompression time is very important, but also a secret she has. Social interactions represent a sensory overload for her, and we can see it on her dialogues during Dracaena Somnolenta, especially when we go find her to the cave:

Sangonomiya Kokomi: Oh... you noticed? I guess I haven't quite mastered the ability to hide how I'm feeling. I'll keep working at it... (masking)

Sangonomiya Kokomi: To be honest, I'm not really cut out to be a leader. At first, my dream was to read up on military strategy and perhaps become an adviser. (another hint to her hyperfixation)

Sangonomiya Kokomi: Constantly communicating with people, trying to retain their morale, having to read between the lines, making sure everyone gets the recognition they deserve... It's such hard work. (more masking, she has to force herself to do all these things because it doesn't naturally come to her)

(...)

Sangonomiya Kokomi: So whenever I feel overwhelmed, I come here to just lose myself in a book and relax for a while... (decompression)

Kokomi also explains that she uses spoon theory to regulate her energy. Spoon theory is a method created by Miserandino and it is used to ration our energy during the day. So yeah, Kokomi literally uses for herself a method that is directed to disabled people; whether it is autistic individuals, people with chronic illneses and pain, etc.

In her case, she writes it on her diary, adding or substracting points according to the tasks she has done and the events that happened to her. Traveller, whether it be Aether or Lumine, seem to be an individual that Kokomi trusts and feels comfortable with; so much that their presence doesn't disregulate her, but actually does the opposite. I don't like to think of it as a romantic thing, but rather as a platonic neurodivergent bond that they both share with each other.

A cute detail is that she also speaks loudly about those energy points with people she trusts, like Traveller and Paimon. I think it's beautiful when neurodivergent people feel free to explain out loud the 'weird' things they do after enduring so much masking.

SENSORY REGULATION

Although I already touched the most important points as to why I think Kokomi is autistic, there are some others I want to emphasize, being one of them sensory regulation and disregulation.

Kokomi is clearly disregulated by social interaction, and uses reading books, resting alone and militar strategy as a decompression mechanism. She also enjoys diving, and as she says, it fills her heart with peace even if the world underseas isn't bright and sunny like the dry land. Water can be very pleasant for some autistic people due to the stimuli and the temperature (I, for example, love swimming but hate being wet and wrinkled afterwards), and I like to think that, when Kokomi is at her limit, she goes diving to calm her mind (this is a headcanon lol, unless I missed something on lore).

Kokomi also dislikes seafood (fish, crustaceans...) and it's funny because I also hate seafood due to it's texture and flavour. Her favourite food, Bird Egg Sushi, is described by her as both 'simple' and 'simple to prepare'. Now I could be analyzing too deeply, but autism and sensory problems with food usually go hand in hand, making us prefer the simplest food possible and avoiding dishes with too much things on them, strong flavours or unpredictable textures... So yeah, Kokomi also fits this.

JUSTICE AND MORALS

Kokomi is leader of Watatsumi Island and goes against the Vision Hunt Decree that Raiden Shogun imposes on Inazuma. As she states on her voice-over (About Raiden Shogun) she doesn't feel rightfully to categorize or criticize Raiden Shogun's actions as good or bad. However, as she fights against it for the welfare of her people, we can assure that she does fight back against things she considers an injustice, even if it burns her out; just because that's what is right.

She also shows a great worry about all her people. If it's raining, she thinks about the fishermans who may not be able to return. The soldiers that died under her charge are in her mind even when she has agreed to not talk about them out loud. That should ideally be the average prototype of a leader, but just by watching Raiden Shogun we can agree that it is, in fact, not it. Seeing Kokomi, a woman who dislikes social interaction and burns herself to fulfill her duty, being at the same time so empathetic, considerate and kind to her people is something I see in a lot of neurodivergent people. The urge to please and help others the best you can do, even if it means sacrificing yourself in the process; not healthy at all, but so pure at the same time.

Kokomi also says something interesting on one of her voice-overs (Chat: Fish) which is that 'respect must be given to the will of every creature'. It is no mistery that she loves sea creatures so much, and I also think that the reason she dislikes seafood is because of this same thought about respecting all lives in nature. Not a very important point, but worth to mention.

I think I covered all the points I wanted to talk about, but if I forgot about anything, I'll update the analysis and add it.

There are a lot of characters I want to talk about apart from Kokomi (Albedo, Alhaitham, Sucrose, Freminet, Fischl, Noelle, Chongyun, Shenhe...) but I will take it slow to bring them all here. Autism spectrum is so colorful and endless that each character has significant but different traits, and I'll cover them up little by little.

This is the end of the post, I will return tomorrow with more things to say.

But here's a little cute Kokomi ❤️

#kokomi #sangonomiya kokomi #genshin impact #genshin #eos #eos autism #autism #autism spectrum #neurodiversity #character analysis #autistic women #analysis of autistic genshin impact characters #asd #neurodivergent #burnout #sensory overload #eos video games

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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While much of the West remains focused on conflicts in Ukraine and Israel, a barbaric assault on Africans is taking place, yet this is hardly noticed. There is an active strategy by certain politicians and the mainstream media to cover it up.

A struggle today for Africa launched by Islamic terrorists is something Western elites wish to ignore, even as thousands of innocents are being brutally murdered, raped, burned alive, and taken captive. It is mostly a war waged against black Christians by African Islamists—and therefore an awfully sensitive subject. The recent Christmas attack against Christians in Nigeria claimed the lives of almost 200 people, yet it was mostly ignored in the mainstream press.

Some took notice when this centuries-old religious conflict flared in 1989, as Sudan's jihad slaughtered 2.5 million Christians and enslaved perhaps 200,000 more. It ended only in 2005, when the U.S. helped broker a peace deal; in 2011, the south succeeded and become South Sudan, the world's newest nation. More recently, Islamist attacks have spread where Islamic and Christian societies intersect: Mozambique, Niger, and Mali. In Darfur, there is a bit of a twist: Arab jihadists are slaughtering and enslaving Black people who converted to Islam long ago, but refuse to adopt Arab culture and language and who, in addition to being thought of as racially inferior, are not considered real Muslims.

Since the mainstream media is mostly absent, people in the West do not know that these African communities are continuously facing attacks that look very like the widely seen Hamas raids. Yet any decent reporter can easily see the pattern—Islamic jihadists throughout Africa, driven by the near-identical supremacist ideology, storm our villages, slaughter our people with guns and knives, rape our women, and take dozens into captivity.

When African children and women are killed in their sleep, teenage girls sexually trafficked across the Mediterranean, and young boys kidnapped for use as child soldiers, there is no global response. Terrorism is planned, funded, and executed by terrorists and their global networks. Why are there no reports analyzing funders and planners of terrorist murder in Nigeria, of genocidal assaults in Africa?

Can it be because we are Black, and the world just doesn't care about us? Or is it that jihad is just too taboo a topic for the Western press and the human rights community? As the U.S. and Europe look away, we Black Africans die. How is this not a sin?

The U.S. confused the entire world with a narrative that blames climate change for religious conflicts in Africa. According to the State Department, climate change has been depleting water supplies in the Lake Chad region. A scramble for water resources sets nomadic cattle herders (who just happen to be Muslims) against the Indigenous subsistence farmers (who just happen to be mostly Christians), attacking them and banishing them from their ancestral lands. The stark but more inconvenient truth is that Muslim terrorists, waging an Islamic "holy war," are overrunning Christian villages throughout the Lake Chad area and north-central regions of Nigeria. The U.S. Department of State insists on tagging the violence as a farmers versus herders conflict, which, according to a 2023 travel advisory bulletin, "can flare up ... in rural areas." Though Nigeria is the place where 89 percent of the Christians killed for their faith worldwide in 2023 were murdered, the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the U.S. list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious oppression, and has never put it back on.

This false narrative is used to obscure the unnerving truth about the nature of the conflict that, if acknowledged, would demand a serious effort by the U.S. to protect our vulnerable Christian African villages from people who want to slaughter and enslave us because of our identity. Our "climate" has changed when armed terrorists surround our villages. But the continued cloaking of Islamic terrorism in a weather narrative has exacerbated the killings and expanded the slaughtering fields of women and children in north-central Nigeria and the Sahel—the horizontal strip across north Africa which culturally divides Arabized Africa from the Indigenous, traditional cultures of the south.

The truth is plain and simple—terrorists take up arms. They kill and take Indigenous people captive. They annex and grab their lands. They call it jihad. Period.

The global community, especially the United States, seems to lack the will to address these genocidal onslaughts. Western inaction spells doom for Africans who are being overrun by jihadists.

What happened to the sleeping citizens in Nigeria's Plateau State, murdered in their hundreds during Christmas Eve 2023, is no different than what happened to Jewish families in their kibbutzim on Oct. 7. Yet no one takes notice. No one hears the cries of the survivors.

The world's silence about the plight of Africans must end.

Stephen S. Enada is executive president of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON).

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

#nunyas news

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