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loumands · 5 months

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Armand and the Romani

I’ve mentioned many times now that I think it would be really interesting and fitting if Armand in the show was Romani and that’s my personal interpretation of his character until proven otherwise. I don’t think it’s necessarily very likely going to be canon, especially when writers rarely remember Romani people exist, but like I’ve said this is like the only show in the world I think could be smart enough to understand how deeply the history of race and racism in Europe (which we know they’re going to address) is intertwined with the history of the Roma people, so you never know. I’ve seen an interesting theory that Armand could be a Tatar and I think that’s the most likely route they’re going to go, but I think him being Roma or some other ethnicity is still a possibility. Furthermore, because of the Roma people’s unique history he could actually be both Tatar and Roma at the same time, especially if he’s from Ukraine like in the books (more on this later). I wanted to elaborate on why Armand’s character and IWTV in general resonate with me so strongly, why I think Armand being Roma could bring a lot to the show and fit thematically, and how if Armand had a Roma background it would influence the way he acts.

Just as a foreword this post is long as HELL as I’ll be talking about Roma people with an assumption that most readers don’t know much about them, and it involves heavy generalization by necessity. I want to emphasize that Roma people are a very heterogeneous group that have very diverse experiences and practices depending on where they live, my experiences don’t apply to all Roma, and I’m not speaking for all Roma. I don’t know much about the Roma in France or Ukraine (which would be relevant for this conversation) other than what google can tell me and I don’t really trust it because much of the information you find on the internet is written by non-Roma people. So when I say something is a part of Roma culture, I mean really that it’s in my subjective experience a part of the traditional Roma culture in my country. The customs may vary a lot even between families in a same region, and the modern Roma and those with mixed ancestry (like me) don’t always follow traditions. I feel I need to stress this because there are a lot of (often negative) misconceptions of the Romani and I don’t want to further contribute to them or just replace them with different misconceptions. Content warning for discussion on sexual and racial violence and the Holocaust.

The history of the Roma people

The Romani (also called Roma, Rom and other variations) are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group originating from the northern India. The Roma are often confused with other itinerant people like Irish Travellers and the Yenish but are a separate group. Note also that the word ‘gypsy’ is considered pejorative and most Roma people dislike being called that, and the Roma have nothing to do with the country of Romania, the names are etymologically unrelated. The Roma people are divided in many different subgroups, and many facets of the Roma culture are easier to understand if you know that it was originally a clan culture like many nomadic cultures.

The Romani diaspora has spread to everywhere in the world (the biggest Roma populations are in U.S and Brazil) but is the most concentrated in Europe where they came through Persia in the Middle Ages, with most European countries today having a Roma minority of 0,5%-8%. The Roma population is estimated to be 10-15 million, but nobody knows for sure because many Roma aren’t included in censuses, many Roma people choose not to disclose their ethnicity due to discrimination, and some people who have Roma parentage don’t identify as Roma. The Roma identity is strongly tied to the community. A person who’s adopted or marries into a Roma family may in some cases be considered Roma regardless of their ethnic background, and an ethnically Roma person who doesn’t have connection to the Roma community and doesn't follow traditions might not be considered a real Roma (in practice the latter situation is much more common than the first one). This is relevant when talking about someone like Armand who if we follow the books was taken from his family when he was young and adopted by a white man. Regardless, the Roma are Europe’s largest ethnic minority. I don’t think statistics really matter in a fantasy horror show but it would be the most likely scenario for someone with Armand’s appearance who was born in the 1500s Europe to be Romani.

I assume the show Armand’s character and story may be largely similar to the books based on what we’ve seen, him just having been older when he was turned into a vampire, though it's unclear is he still from Ukraine. In the episode 2 we see him refer to his prayer in a language that Daniel thinks is ‘Kazakh, or 'somewhere in the Crimea’. Wikipedia suggest that it’s actually Uzbek, though we don't know does it mean Armand is definitely from Uzbekistan. Regardless, him using this language without even thinking when talking about his praying makes me think it may be his mother tongue, and we’re probably meant to think that he’s from the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region. I’m personally suspecting he could still be from the Ukraine region like in the books considering they had Daniel think of Crimea. Him using the name Armand Marius in France which is essentially a patronym also makes me think that he could be from a Slavic country. If he was Roma or from other nomadic tribe he could’ve also easily spent time in several countries. Although there is Romani language that is related to Sanskrit, most Roma speak as their native language whatever is the majority language where they live. Many Roma speak multiple languages, especially if they’re nomadic. From what we’ve seen of Armand speaking, Assad does a great job at making his accent vaguely sound like many different accents but not quite like any of them.

One of the ways the Roma are a unique group is that they’re one of the very few ethnicities in the whole world that don’t associate themselves with any country or place. Typically, even other nomadic peoples have some distant homeland or place they see themselves as connected to. The Roma don’t feel connection to any specific country or place; they have no homeland and they don’t want one either. Although in people’s perceptions the Roma are practically synonymous with free-spirited wanderers, most Roma in the modern time are sedentary, and historically when the Roma people have wandered it has often been because of persecution or trying to make a living, not by choice. Freedom and independence are important values for the Roma people, but more in the sense of being allowed to be themselves and live how they want, not necessarily physical roaming. It’s much more common for Roma people to dream of stability and having a home and secure job than of being able to wander.

Many of the perceived modern problems among the Roma can be traced to the change of work and industry from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The industrialization and urbanization made most traditional Roma professions such as blacksmiths, craftsmen, horse traders, animal trainers and travelling salesmen and entertainers obsolete. Even though there was always prejudice against the Roma they also used to be respected for their expertise on those areas and there was positive interaction with the majority population too. Then suddenly they lost the chance to practice their old professions but lacked societal and monetary capital to learn new ones, which led to mass unemployment and poverty that still exists today. This not fitting in the modern society is a common Roma experience. In the books I feel this is reflected when the vampire characters seek ways to connect with the modern world and humanity. Armand sees Louis as such possibility, but as he in the end tells him ‘You are as cold and distant from me as those strange modern paintings of lines and hard forms that I cannot love or comprehend.’

The Roma people are defined by the dichotomy of being perpetual outsiders who never fully integrate anywhere, and on the other hand being chameleons who adapt anywhere. They often adopt the customs, language and religion of the majority population, while maintaining their own. The Roma have likely been in Europe for at least thousand years, and the earliest records of them are even older. Despite this the Roma have arguably never been fully a part of any wider society or fully accepted. It can be talked about the Roma society rather than just the Roma culture, because the Roma people often form almost a separate parallel society wherever they live. It’s common that the people from the main population don’t have any Roma friends while the Roma people don’t have any friends in the majority population, and the Roma may have little interaction and connection with the wider society. The Roma have been ostracized, but because of this long ostracization the Roma also don’t trust in the society around them and may try to limit their interactions with the majority population. As a Roma you can feel like you live behind a veil that separates you from the rest of the world and you can’t really touch and see each other. Many Roma experience the sense of profound loneliness and of rootlessness, a feeling like you don’t have the past or the future and nothing really matters. Everything above makes Rice’s melancholic, drifting, existential vampires very relatable to me.

The Roma people have been and still are associated with crime, dishonesty, uncleanness and supernatural. The Roma have often been accused of witchcraft, satanism and stealing children. Depending on the time and place people have tried to either banish or forcibly assimilate the Roma. In many countries it was legal to kill a Roma person without impunity. Historically The Roma have often been slaves or otherwise forced into labor or prevented from moving freely. For example, in Romania the Roma were kept in chattel slavery for centuries over 500 years until 1860. The first Roma in America arrived there as slaves too. Interesting in the context of the show, Spain sent Roma slaves to their Louisiana colony and at least according to Wikipedia there is an Afro-Romani community in St. Martin Parish due to intermarriage of African American and Romani slaves (I would’ve been interested to read more about this but couldn’t find much online sources). In the books Armand was abducted by the Tatars to be sold as a slave. Nowadays the term Tatar is used for different Turkic ethnic groups, but historically it was used to refer to anyone who came from the Northern or Central Asia (Tartary). The Roma people were also commonly known as Tartare/Tattare, as they came from the East too. Coincidentally some Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe as slaves of the Tatars or the Mongols. At the same time the Crimean Roma and the Crimean Tatars have a very close and unique history to the point that the Crimean Roma are commonly considered a subgroup of the Crimean Tatars. So it would actually be possible that Armand is both Tatar and Roma, especially if he comes from that region!

2. The Romani culture and relations with other people

The Roma people are often highly fetishized and oversexualized, and viewed as promiscuous and manipulatively seductive, which can also be seen in how Roma characters are depicted in popular culture. Roma people continue to be victims of sexual assault and trafficking at very high rates. Roma women are often assumed to be prostitutes or sexually available. When you see news about human trafficking in the Eastern Europe, both labor and prostitution, the victims are often Roma even though it's rarely mentioned. Many consensual sex workers are also Roma, but most of them likely wouldn’t be sex workers without poverty and if they had other opportunities. Roma children experience sexual abuse much more frequently than children of the majority population, and they're often viewed as more mature and manipulative than they are. This all reminds me of how in the books Armand was sexualized by nearly every person he comes across even when he was a child or teen. Taking Roma children from their families to exploit them or to assimilate and ‘take the gypsy out of them’ in one way or another has always been common, nowadays this often happens in the guise of child protection. Here in Finland even 50% of the Romani children in 1950-1980 were placed in state care institutions, and this continues to happen in many countries. The less fantastical version of what Armand went through with being abducted and sold and exploited by everyone including his ‘savior’ who tried to sanctimoniously civilize him is what has happened to countless Roma children over the centuries.

The traditional Roma cultural practices can be considered (when heavily oversimplifying) to be built on three pillars that are connected to each other: respecting elders, concepts of purity and impurity, and honor and shame. Most cultures probably consider respecting old people important but in the Roma culture this is deeper and more extensive than usual. Older people are treated and spoken to with very high respect, people often address even their own parents with the formal ‘you’. Being older is on itself seen as a sign of authority and younger people must always listen to their elders. This respect shows up in everywhere in daily life in both practical and symbolic ways, older people take the food first, if the house has more than one floor the younger people don’t live in the rooms above older people, shaking hands with or sitting next to an older person may be considered inappropriate because they imply an equalitarian relationship etc. It’s very difficult for a young Roma person to say no to an older person or express anger or anything that could be seen as disrespectful. The Roma culture has anarchistic qualities because the Roma don’t necessarily acknowledge the state’s authority, and intracommunity hierarchies are quite fluid and decentralized, but the older people’s higher status over the young ones is seen as obvious and natural.

Cleanness is another aspect that is very central to the Roma culture, in both literal and symbolic sense (ironically, since the Roma are often seen as dirty). The Roma don’t expect non-Roma to follow or even be aware of their complex system around it (mentioning this because I know some people fear that they accidentally offend Roma if they do something wrong lol). The Roma consider the body above the waist ‘pure’ and below it ‘impure’, and things that touch them are kept separate, and all objects are categorized according to their perceived cleanness. For example, when you come from the grocery store the shopping bag can’t be put on the floor or chair, you can’t sit or lean on the table, hats and shirts are not put on chairs, if a kitchen utensil falls on the floor it may be thrown away instead of washed because it’s now considered unclean etc. Kitchen is the purest place and is kept as clean as humanly possible. The clothes of men and women and people of different age groups are washed separately. When a Roma person grows old they become ‘pure’, and people are particularly considerate not to tarnish them, for example a younger person can’t sit on an older person’s bed and if they sleep in the same room their feet can’t pointed at the older person’s direction. In some circumstances an impure person may be temporarily or permanently banished from the community. The importance of cleanness in the Roma culture goes back to preventing illness in the traditional nomadic lifestyle, and it’s speculated possibly to even further in history in India where the Roma people’s ancestors’, the lowest caste Dalits, responsibility may have been to handle corpses and other unsanitary jobs.

Contrary to the stereotype the Roma are usually highly modest and anything ‘below the navel’ stuff (sex, pregnancy, periods, bodily functions) is rarely discussed. The Roma men and women don’t talk about them at all with each other if they aren’t a couple, and parents don’t usually talk about sex or dating with their children. Casual sex is disapproved. Oral and anal sex are considered unclean. Although Roma people often marry very young (sometimes underage) it’s usually with people of the same age group, people of distinctly different generations having romantic or sexual relations or even talking about sex with each other is a taboo. For example, if there’s something sexual on television the younger people may leave out of respect if there are older people in the room. A pregnant woman may hide it even from her own parents. Much of the Roma customs focus on ‘keeping face’ and maintaining respectful relations with the other Roma and their surroundings and avoiding anything that would bring shame, and this shame can touch the whole family.

Now if we come back to Armand, if he’s a Roma that adds a new aspect to his trauma, especially pertaining to sexual abuse and his relationship with Marius. Sexual abuse and grooming like that are hard to for any child to process, and especially difficult and confusing it would be for a Roma child, when in the Roma culture older and younger people even talking about sex is seen as offensive and older people’s wisdom and authority are seen as absolute. When in the Roma culture sex itself is taboo and wrong kind of sexual activity can make you ritually unclean it would further worsen the trauma that started from his kidnapping and cause immense shame. Since the old people are considered purer than young people a Roma child might also feel like they’re soiling the sexual abuser and blame themself. Death and touching dead bodies is considered unclean as well; a vampire would always be ritually impure. The way Armand is exposed to sex in Venice is pretty much the polar opposite of how sex is treated in the Roma culture. In the books we see Armand struggle with his complicated feelings about Marius and how he resents him but can’t still stop loving him and seeking his approval, or often can’t even express his negative feelings openly. I think it sounds familiar how many Roma people want independence but still feel obligated to respect their elders even if doesn’t always feel right.

I think this respect for elders also shows in how Armand treats Daniel in the show. He’s quite polite towards him and very considerate in trying to make sure he’s comfortable. Although Armand is in his servant disguise for most of the season 1, he notably keeps talking to Daniel in a pretty similar way after he drops his disguise. This maintaining the appearance of respect even when you’re angry at the older person is typical for Roma people. Armand is chronologically much older than Daniel, but Daniel is still physically an elderly person which is seen as automatically deserving high respect in the Roma culture. Armand and Daniel possibly having some sort of romantic relationship in the past complicates their dynamic.

3. The Romani from the WWII to now

It's hard to convey how extreme the prejudice and hate towards the Roma people is still in the 2020s Europe. Majority of people have highly negative views on the Roma. In the polls most respondents say they don’t want to work with or employ Roma people and wouldn’t want their child to date anyone who’s Roma. Majority of the Roma live below the poverty line, often in segregated slums around cities or villages in countryside, many of them without electricity or running water or access to other basic services like healthcare. Depending on a country the life expectancy for Roma people is 7-20 years smaller than for the majority population. Housing for Roma people has been a big problem for a long time, with many Roma being homeless or living in subpar settlements that the officials often destroy and force Roma to move. Nobody wants to rent or sell to Roma people or be their neighbor, so the Roma population often segregated from the majority population. Illiteracy is still common. Many Roma children don’t go to school; if they do, they’re often put in special classes or special schools where they’re separated from other children and receive substandard education. If they receive proper education they can’t get a job because nobody will hire Roma people. Many companies and places refuse to let Roma people enter. Hate crimes and police violence are common. As a Roma you can feel like you’re leprous, nobody will talk to you or come close to you.

Typical for anti-Romani racism is that people don’t see it as real racism and consider it justified and something that Roma people deserve. There also isn’t much difference how left-wing and right-wing people view Roma. Racism against Roma people is widely accepted and normalized regardless of political affiliation. In Europe the Roma are singled out and many people who aren’t (at least on conscious level) racist towards other ethnicities still despise Roma people. A case that has stuck with me and I feel embodies how the Roma are dehumanized is from Naples, Italy in 2008 where the beachgoers continued their day sunbathing and picnicking near the bodies of two drowned Roma girls. Though anti-Roma racism exists everywhere, it’s where the European hypocrisy is its most obvious. The Europeans often talk about the history of racial segregation, slavery and ethnic cleansing in other places like it’s something distant and absurd to us, when systematic segregation continues to be everyday to Roma people here in the present day.

The position of the Roma people is unique because much of the discourse around racism in Europe is focused on immigration and assumptions that people of color always come from 'somewhere else', but the Roma’s ancestors have often been here as long as the white Europeans’ ancestors. Racism against the Roma people predates the modern concepts of race, scientific racism and the modern imperialism and colonialism. The Roma are a large group that certainly hasn’t been living in an isolated bubble separate from the rest of the world and they’ve had a significant influence on the Europe’s culture, but they and their suffering are often invisible and many people are completely ignorant of it. The Roma have oral tradition and there are few Roma politicians, journalists or scholars so they lack platform to make their issues known. The Roma have become a sort of permanent underclass in Europe.

We know that the s2 takes place in the 40s in the immediate aftermath of the WWII and deals with it in some capacity. The hatred towards the Roma people can be seen as having culminated during the WWII when anywhere from 250,000 to 2 million, or 25% to 80% of the European Roma were killed during the Holocaust. The figures vary so much because the Romani genocide is severely understudied, we don’t know how large the Roma population was, and there weren’t as meticulous records of the Roma victims as there was of the Jewish victims. The Romani genocide (sometimes called Porajmos) has often been treated as an afterthought but for the Roma people it was absolutely devastating. The Roma were classified as racially inferior and were killed in concentration camps and in shootings by mobile killing squads. Roma people were often sterilized and used for medical experiments. In some countries like Croatia and the Netherlands practically the entire Roma population was destroyed.

After the war there was little sympathy for the Roma. Many Roma became stateless refugees, and Germany didn’t acknowledge what happened to the Roma as genocide until decades later, which prevented the survivors from seeking restitution. The post-war trials didn’t cover the crimes against the Roma people. Attempts to assimilate the Roma and wipe out their culture continued in many countries. There still isn’t widespread acknowledgement and understanding of the Romani genocide and how it’s a direct cause for the Romani people’s current situation, even within the community. Deep poverty, illiteracy and lack of education and social institutions has led to there not being full consciousness and collective memory around the Holocaust among the Roma like the Jewish people have.

What happened to Roma varied a lot from country to country. France has always been rather hostile to the Roma, and it was also a ‘forerunner’ in the modern racial discrimination against them because it started to register Roma in the early 1900s and giving them ID cards that categorized them differently from other travelling workers. During the World War II some French Roma were deported to nazi-run concentration camps like Auschwitz, but most were detained in internment camps in France that were created under the nazi authorities but run by the French authorities. Although not technically extermination camps, their living conditions were similar to concentration camps and thousands of prisoners died from disease and hunger. After the German occupation ended the internment camps stayed in operation until 1946, two years after the liberation. The special Roma ID cards were used until the late 60s. Some people have noted how in the show Santiago seems to work as the ‘front’ for Theatre des Vampires while Armand stays in the background. I think it’s likely related to their races in any case, but this arrangement makes sense especially if Armand is Roma because it would be very diffcult for any company or organization to be openly led by a Roma person in France during the WWII, and the years preceding and following it. Even in the 2020s many people and companies refuse to do business with Roma people, and back then it would’ve been dangerous. Also, whether Armand is Roma or not, many people are probably going to assume he is when seeing a South Asian looking French man, so that’s going to be in subtext regardless.

I think all this would make Louis strongly sympathize with and relate to Armand – and also to see him as more vulnerable and less dangerous than he really is. However, Armand might not see the things in the same way. After Louis is turned he still feels on personal level engaged with what is happening in the society and feels anger over injustice and continues to see black people as his people even when he becomes increasingly distanced from the community. But when a Roma person is taken away from the Roma community they’re not necessarily perceived as Roma by other Roma or even themselves. You might never become a part of the wider society either, you just become ‘no one’. Armand might not think of Roma as ‘his people’. Because the Roma already see themselves as outcasts and separate from the rest of the world and people, for someone who becomes a vampire that could mean complete emotional disconnect.

Perhaps because the Roma perceive themselves as separate from the wider society, it’s not typical for Roma people to be interested in politics or activism or influencing the wider society at all. This is a big generalization because of course there are Roma activists and Roma organizations, especially since the 70s, but by and large Roma people tend to be more or less apathetic towards politics and analyzing the forces behind it. Many Roma don’t vote (and needless to say many countries make it difficult for them) or participate in politics in any way. Political movements, rebellions and revolutions mean nothing to the Roma people. Every so-called revolution or change either has had no influence on the Roma people’s life or made it worse. The Roma people don’t trust non-Roma people, and the organizations and movements have usually been uninterested in involving Roma people anyway. As someone who is interested in politics and activism when I try to talk about stuff with any other Roma person I often get a ‘why does this matter’ or ‘what does this have to do with us’ reaction. The Roma are very used to their situation because they can’t remember or imagine it ever being different, and they often have an attitude that could be described as ‘it is what it is’. Armand might not feel similar anger Louis feels. Armand’s indifference and distaste towards societal institutions is reflected in the books too:

Armand would also perceive his own and Louis’ race differently than Louis does. For the Roma the world consists of people who are Roma or non-Roma (Gadjo). The Roma don’t really make differences between different races, they’re all Gadjo. When Armand meets Louis he would see him as a Gadjo man before black man, which I imagine could start to feel invalidating in the long term. The Roma tend to be sympathetic towards any outcasts and accepting of different people, but I think many Roma are also rather ignorant of different cultures and struggles, and they don’t necessarily feel automatic connection with different racialized people. The Roma perceive their experience as unique and something non-Roma people can’t understand. In the end all this means the way Armand views the world could actually be closer to how Lestat views it, and Louis might not find the solidarity and understanding he's hoping for.

4. The Romani family, kinship and spiritual practices

Religion and spirituality are very important to many Roma people. Here in Finland most Romani are deeply religious, much more so than the majority population that is pretty secular. Most Roma are Christians or Muslims, mostly different Christian sections in the Western Europe and Islam in the Balkans. The Roma in Ukraine are mostly Orthodox Christians or Muslims, so that would fit too if Armand was raised as a Muslim and didn’t convert later. Relationship with God, seeking forgiveness and sense of purpose, and someone who accepts you as you are, are something that Roma people commonly long for. The Hunchback of Notre Dame should never be used as an example of good representation and I swear this is the last time I’ll ever mention it anywhere, but I always thought this song captures surprisingly well something of how many Roma people feel. Armand’s intense and desperate relationship with religion and the spiritual struggle he and other characters go through is something that is very relatable to me.

With the lack of social structures, stability and purpose, for many Roma people the family and faith are the two most important things in the world. Without them the Roma have nothing. I think this is painfully clear with Armand who was separated from his family and culture, raised by a man who abused and then abandoned him, and literally lost his humanity and connection with God. Both other characters and Armand himself often describe him as this endless empty, hungry void that he is always trying to fill himself with something. Armand is prone to cult mentality and being manipulated in his intense yearning for emotional and spiritual connection.

I think Assad described Armand well when said he isn’t well-versed in the language of love and romance, but he does want it desperately. The Roma’s approach to romantic relationships is complicated because the strict rules of modesty around sexuality mean that they’re not usually explicitly discussed and even married couples avoid showing any affection in public. Historically Roma people have often been prevented from getting officially married so they have developed their own marriage rituals that vary by a country. Although the Roma take their relationship commitments very seriously legal marriage isn’t usually seen as important in the Roma culture and Roma couples may not get married at all legally.

The Roma are also one the very few cultures where in some countries like Finland the institution of marriage doesn’t really exist. The Romani here may get married sometimes but it’s seen as entirely unimportant and doesn’t have any bearing for the relationship, there usually isn’t a wedding or any rituals associated with marriage. A couple who’s committed to each other is seen as having the same status as a married couple. My paternal grandparents have been together for over 50 years and have never been married. Louis’ relationships with both Lestat and Armand would be considered marriage in the Roma culture. Because there aren’t well-established rules of dating and courtship in the Roma culture, forming romantic relationships can be difficult for Roma people. I’m thinking of Armand deeply wanting love but the way he approaches it often being awkward or offputting.

Family is the most important thing and the center of life in the Roma culture. The Romani culture is traditionally patriarchal and considering the importance of age, in practice the ‘leader’ is usually the oldest man of the family. The women’s position is complicated. Men and women are considered to be equals in the Roma culture and older women and their opinions are respected like with older men. Divorce is usually acceptable and isn’t seen as shameful, many older Roma women I know also have children with more than one man and it isn’t seen as a big deal. The ideal Roma woman is intelligent and emotionally and physically strong. At same time there have been and often still are distinctly divided roles for men and women in the Roma culture. Women are responsible for taking care of everything in the household and men for everything outside the household. The man of the house listens to their wife and children’s opinions but he has the final word. Men are expected to be the providers and protectors of their family and it’s something they base a lot of their identity and self-worth around – the most important thing really. I feel we can see a dynamic like this with Armand and Louis - Louis obviously isn’t a woman but he’s much weaker and younger (again, age being very important in the Roma culture). When watching s1 you think Armand is a servant, but if you look any closer, even without knowing it’s a performance, you notice what’s actually happening is that Armand is organizing and taking care of everything in their life. Later he tells Daniel how he’s protecting Louis like always with such a pride.

Another thing I think is worth mentioning that from my experience in the Roma culture physically disciplining children or women is and has been less acceptable and normalized than in the Western and many other cultures. It just isn’t done much, even my grandparents have said they don’t remember their own parents ever hitting them. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t domestic abuse in the Roma families, sadly it’s common in some regions, but it isn’t usually seen as normal and acceptable by the community. The Roma don’t like to involve police but there are many cases where an abusive man has been banished from the community. Also compared to many other cultures it can be less difficult for a woman to leave the man if she’s mistreated, since divorce is accepted and independence valued. I would say that when in most European countries there has often been an attitude that as a man you have a right and even responsibility to hit your wife and children, in the Roma culture it has been more like ‘a real man doesn’t do that’ and if they do they try to hide it. Roma men often perceive themselves as being more respectful towards women than Gadjo men are. When you combine all this - patriarchal society, older men having power over their family being seen as a normal and good thing, but disapproving overt violence within family – I think it would be very easy for Armand to convince himself he isn’t abusing or hurting Louis and is treating him right and being better than Lestat.

Art is very central to the Roma culture, especially music, dance and artisanship, but also other forms like painting and theatre. The first known records of the Roma people already refer to them being musicians. Travelling theatre companies like the one Lestat run away with when he was young were often formed by Roma people. Armand was a talented painter and his love and search for beauty is something that always remains in his story. I found it interesting that this s2 Claudia poster was seemingly inspired by Carmen, one of the most famous Roma characters, and maybe flamenco dancers in general (flamenco being developed in the Roma culture). It tells me that they seem to at least be aware that the Roma people exist if nothing else.

The Roma appreciate beauty and the finer things in life, sometimes in a way that can appear materialistic to the non-Roma people, but the Roma themselves don’t perceive it so. It’s not uncommon that the Roma who’re poor or even homeless still own some jewelry or a nice car. If the Roma people are actually rich they like to show it and are generous in sharing it. Wealth has often been unattainable to the Roma people, so if they have it they don’t see a reason to hide it. Historically the Roma also haven’t trusted banks so they prefer to keep their wealth in physical form. With Armand who grew up in poverty you can see how he appreciates luxury and likes to shower his loved ones like Daniel and Sybelle and Benjamin with it too (again, being a good provider is very important for the Roma men). Sidenote this is another reason why I think the Dubai house’s sterile minimalist interiors were not Armand’s idea because no Roma person in the world would ever decorate their house like that lol.

The way the Roma people traditionally dress differs from the majority population, and their appreciation for beauty and wealth is visible in it too. The clothing has been a way for Roma to show their identity to both other Roma and other people. The rules of modesty influence the Roma people’s traditional clothing and they often avoid showing knees and elbows and the shape of the body. Younger people often wear lighter and older people darker colors. Especially Roma women have dressed in very distinct ways depending on their tribe, for men it’s usually more subtle. The typical Roma men’s every day clothing includes suits, black or white dress shirts, loosely fitting black trousers, vests, hats, ruffles and golden jewelry. Armand’s styling in the show both in the flashbacks and Dubai caught my attention. While there’s nothing exclusively ‘Roma’ in his outfits almost all of them could easily be worn by a Roma man. Most likely it means nothing but knowing how good costume designer Carol Cutshall she would probably try to be accurate.

In the Roma culture referring to dead people by their name and showing their pictures is avoided. Traditionally the remaining family moves out from the house where they lived with the dead person, and the person’s belongings and images are burned or otherwise destroyed after their death (at least in Finland this is still sometimes done). It’s out of respect but I think it’s also a response to generations of trauma where there has been so much death and suffering that Roma people need to forget and move on so they can continue living. In the books Armand treats death in the same way; when he loses someone he stops talking about them, sometimes even thinking about them. When he’s abducted he doesn’t mention his father (who he assumes is dead) again and forgets even his own name, because the child he was before he was taken doesn’t exist anymore. Despite being so needy he often just leaves things behind and keeps on moving, like when he simply walked away from Louis. The Roma aren’t prone to nostalgia and they don’t like wallowing in the past or worrying about things that might or might not happen either, it’s all seen as a luxury they can't afford. It still doesn’t make it just disappear. The deep hidden sorrow that Armand and many other characters of the series always carry with them resonates with me as a Roma.

Lastly, I want to emphasize this is all just random theorizing and I’m happy regardless of whatever Armand’s background ends up being! I also know some Roma don’t want Roma portrayed in fiction made by non-Roma people at all because they don’t trust it to be done well. There’s also a problem with Roma characters usually being played by non-Roma. IWTV is an exception to me personally because I have an unusually high level of trust in this show’s writing, I love and relate to Armand’s character, and I think Assad Zaman looks like he could believably play a Roma man instead of the usual casting of a white person who looks ‘exotic’. However, like I said in the beginning there isn’t any proof Armand is actually going to be Roma and for now this is just headcanoning and speculation for fun. I also want to say that I hope I didn’t give an impression that Roma people’s life is like constant misery because that definitely isn’t true! There’s a tendency to see the Roma only through their problems when there are plenty of happy and successful Roma people and there has been improvement in the Roma people’s situation even though it’s slow. I also think one of the Roma people’s strengths has always been that they can find joy and humor even in hard circumstances.

If you got to this point I salute you thank you for reading!

#interview with the vampire #iwtv #i'm not joking how insanely long this post is if you still read or even just skimmed it through i'm kissing you on the mouth #i considered splitting it in two posts i hope it's even distantly coherent and not super boring #also if you have any questions i can try to answer lol #mal watches iwtv #.txt

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sgiandubh · 9 months

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Such unsmiling people

The comment that moved me the most after posting that August 10 diatribe came from a very special blogger, @myrthil23. I promised her a longer, thoughtful answer, so here it is.

I share with her way more than meets the eye and with a bit of deductive skills, you could easily place us very specifically on an European map. To be honest, I was surprised (and then absolutely thrilled, of course) to find someone like her hanging on in here. But this is not the only reason prompting a response - her comment made me think a lot about a couple of relevant things.

For those who loathe foraging for reblogs, here goes:

In the colorful Shipper family, the Eastern Europeans are (supposedly) the unsmiling ones. This is one of the stubborn clichés that informed the Western gaze, especially in Communist times. Unsmiling, foreboding and unfathomable people: I am not smiling, I am laughing while writing it, because if anything, Myrthil, @zeya-zg, a couple of others and I do share a superb ability to use bullshit-o-meters, an unsinkable sense of humor and a hefty dose of sarcasm. All of these are basic, compulsory street smarts if you want to survive, God knows how, a nuclear winter of sorts.

Imagine you grow up in a world with empty supermarket shelves but permanently sold-out concert halls, where trivial details such as cotton swabs, potato chips (crisps, heh), political parties or The Last Tango in Paris are virtually unknown. Imagine your family is either cautiously aligned to some public idiocy they loathe everyday at home, teaching you at the same time to never talk to strangers. Or even worse, a political pariah, for reasons that have everything to do with the way you sip your tea, as Ella Fitzgerald would say. The latter situation (mine) was something very much akin to a civil death. And you just knew you could never be, for imbecile but firm reasons, an architect, a lawyer or even an epidemiologist: jobs way too sensitive to entrust the enemies of the people (and their spawn) with.

What is left for you, then, when the view from your window, in 1982, is something not very different from this photograph:

(side note: these people are staying in line to buy 1 kilogram of sugar for each person, which was the monthly allowance fixed by law in my country, from 1980 to 1989; you could only buy those with Government-issued tickets, not unlike what happened in the UK during WWII or what you can see in series like The Handmaid's Tale)

When all is seemingly lost, you will still have, in no particular order: books. Music (including piano lessons). Sports. Each other (although that was overall more complicated than it seemed). Going to the opera and never taking off your winter coat inside, but enjoying every second of it. Impromptu dinners by candlelight during power outages ("wir machen ein bisschen Stimmung"/let's make a bit of atmosphere, grinned my aunt). Foreign languages (a must). Fits and giggles and jokes galore. And the ability to adapt to just about anything, anywhere.

When change finally reached us, many had the almost surreal opportunity to go West. Some came back, others didn't, simply because they chose to continue elsewhere their pursuit of happiness. And yes, Myrthil is right, that fabled West was always something to behold and measure up to. In my case, it was almost too easy, but then I consider myself really lucky: going to live in Paris, at 18, felt both as homecoming and being left alone (and with unlimited credit) in a candy store.

So, here we are. We may have discovered Sylvia Plath a bit late, but I think we are decently knowledgeable about Chaucer. We sometimes may sound Edwardian and if we do, you should probably blame C.E. Eckersley's Essential English (this is how that life-long affair started, for me). And if anything, we bring another, perhaps even more inquisitive, angle to these strange things we are dealing with daily, in here.

But for the love of Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, don't you ever dare tell us what to think and with whom to talk. Don't call us stupid. Don't call us liars. Historical reasons prompted a durable allergy to sanctimonious speech and yes (I can only speak for myself) I will always, always react. Because we do not deserve the arrogance of people who have no idea of how it really was to grow up somewhere in Eastern Europe during the Eighties. Oh, and something else, lest I forget: being pariahs never bothered us - we can cope.

Other than that, we should go along just fine. :)

youtube

PS: @claraisabelcampohermoso, you probably don't know how your gif made me smile. Nadia will always be Nadia: a humble, warm person with a terribly heartbreaking story.

#fandom #Youtube

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stinetoftdk · 2 months

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A better world

I am born intersex, which in my case mean that I was born with both male-typical and female typical sex traits. I was assigned the male sex at birth and because I reserve the right to be in disagreement, with that designation, I am also what is called transgender.

I see myself as a woman, but neither as male nor female.

I have a need to rearrange my sex traits, in a manner where my body will become sexually unambiguous, to the extent that is possible, to alleviate my severe discomfort associated with having male sex traits, as a woman.

I am on early retirement (welfare system, for physically/mentally ill/handicapped people), because of traumatic experiences forced upon me in the Danish healthcare system, on the basis of my status as both intersex and transgender and I have co-founded a human rights organization that aim to spread awareness of the existence of intersex people and what that means, while also working towards recognition of intersex persons human rights, especially on the right to self determination of what happen with our own bodies, that no medically unnecessary procedures are performed against our wishes or without our personal, free and informed consent (Physical integrity) and the right to highest attainable standard of health.

Just as is the case with male and female bodies, there are illnesses and problems related to being male or female, the same is true for different intersex variation, and there are many ways in which someone can be intersex.

As is the case with my variation, issues with expressing ourselves in social situations is often observed, there’s an increased tendency towards anxity, autistic traits are observed in 30-50% of all people with my variation, symptoms of the non-hyperactive form of ADHD, as well as difficulties in regulating our own emotions.

I drew the shortest straw and unfortunately I have traits of all these issues, which I think also had significance in my early retirement. That said, I of course do my very best to find solutions so that I can one day contribute to society, the same as most others, but with a differently wired brain that doesn’t at all match up with how the Danish labour market function, finding a solution has proven very difficult and I have been psychiatrically evaluated to never be able to improve my chances of ever being able to keep a job.

I hope and keep my fingers crossed that in time I can find something that suits my neuro-atypical brain.

One of the ways that helps me regulate my emotions, perform better socially and regulate my negative autistic traits has been to participate in sports. I have a particular interest in martial arts and moving my body has a calming effect on me which also helps me not feel less anxious.

For me, martial arts is a form of very physical therapy, where I can burn a lot of energy, but at the same time, it’s a way for me to achieve the weight loss that is required in most places around the world, to become eligible for gender affirming surgery.

I believe it’s important that we as transgender and intersex persons, share our experiences and lives with society, if we are able to, to participate in fostering a better understanding of who we are and thus create a better society where, we can live our lives as equals, with the same opportunities and rights, as the rest of the population.

I believe that this instead of polarizing, if we have the courage to be vulnerable and have our voices heard, can help create a shared understandings and recognition of the diversity of all people.

It would mean a lot to me, if you would share this post, because the only way I can participate in making a better world, is by reaching a bigger audience.

As intersex and transgender people, we need your help and support to create a better Denmark (and world).

(The photo is from a conference I attended a long time ago, but the message is still relevant)

#trans community #transgender #trans pride #transgirl #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtq community #adhd #autism #intersex #intersex community

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ohnoitstbskyen · 1 year

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I've recently seen some posts saying that arguing against AI art would lead to corporations cracking down on fanart and fanfiction. I've had this thought floating around in my brain ever since. Part of me wants to dismiss it, since I feel it isn't anywhere near the same. AI can't argue to have been inspired and to have added their own little heart into a piece, but you can't exactly define that in law. Most art is also conceptually not original. However, AI is assured to be using a combination of direct sample, just from too many sources. So... I don't know. I feel you are very well informed in these kind of matters and would like to hear your opinion.

There's a simple distinction there, which is that "AI art" algorithms are not people. They're not even AI, there is no artificial intelligence happening here. They are machine learning algorithms, not inherently different in nature to the ones serving you "ads relevant to your interests" on various websites right now.

"AI art" cannot be said to be creative because those machine learning algorithms are not people. People are creative. Sentient, sapient, thinking minds are creative. Machines are not. They simply execute whatever algorithm we've put in their black box.

The argument "AI" art enthusiasts very passionately try to make is that their prompts are creative, that the specific line of words they input into the machine which create the output, that is creative, that is transformative. And idk, maybe there's a court case to be fought over that, but to me that reads like saying if you manually input a Minecraft seed, you now deserve creative credit and copyright over the world that it generates, because your prompt is the generative element, not the underlying technology actually executing the output. Microsoft might have some expensive legal opinions about that idea.

The allegory I like to use is this: Imagine that you can't do a backflip. Then, someone sells you a robot which does backflips at the press of a button. Would you say that because you pressed the button that caused the backflip to happen, that means you have now done a backflip?

"I caused a backflip to exist, therefore I performed it!"?

I won't argue that it can be a tricky business to optimize an input for the art machine such that it produces a desired output, but the scope of what the machine can output is NOT defined by the person doing the input, but by the data-set that the machine has available to draw upon. You can tell an "AI art" program to produce "steampunk" artwork all you want, but if the machine doesn't have a big library of steampunk artwork in its database to draw upon, it will never produce steampunk outputs.

You can only prompt the machine to replicate that which has already been fed to it.

Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein and birthed the modern genre of science fiction because she had been disturbed by hearing stories about new experiments to stimulate dead tissue with electricity and seemingly restore it to life. To write it, she drew upon inspiration from everything from gothic horror to biblical themes to famous explorer's diaries. Mary Shelley created Frankenstein by synthesizing the accumulated experience of a lived life.

A machine learning algorithm could only ever create Frankenstein if you had already fed Frankenstein by Mary Shelley into its database.

#ai art #ai art discourse #ai art debate #tb answers

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fatphobiabusters · 2 years

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[PHOTO ID: Three photos of an article from the June 2022 issue of Good Housekeeping. First image is a flesh tone title page, on it sketches of pear shaped women are seen, they are curly and faceless reminiscent of a fashion doodle, they have various skin tones and are standing in different poses. The other two images are of the article itself transcribed below. END ID]

CW: o word, healthism

Transcript: Titled “Why we’re saying bye to BMI” followed by “When it comes to your health and happiness, Good Housekeeping is committed to providing the most relevant and reliable information. Th more we’ve reported on body mass index, a widely used but flawed measure of health, the more we’ve grown to see that thee are more accurate and less stigmatizing indications of overall health to include in our coverage. To understand- and to lean what these are- read on. By Kaitlyn Pirie”

“It’s all by impossible to see a doctor without hopping on the scale and being told your body mass index (BMI), a number calculated b dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. The concept originated in the 1800s as a way to categorize the population by weight, says Amy Lee, MD, an internal medicine physician and weight specialize in South California. People are “In a range of ‘underweight’, ‘normal’, ‘overweight’ or ‘obese,’ she says. As Benign as that may sound, many experts are realizing that there are problems wit the measurement and that the way it is applied can do more harm than good. The issue is complex, but here ar just a few reasons:

“Overweight” is not a synonym for “unhealthy.”

“While higher BMI is correlated with certain conditions on a population level, there is littler evidence that higher weight cause these in individuals. Yet with so much emphasis in our culture on thinness and BMI, things can get oversimplified. In some cases, people with high BMIs are denied treatments (such as IVF or surgeries), or weight loss is presented as a secure all. Consider a patient with knee pain: ‘If the patient is fat, the doctor may diagnose weight as the problem, prescribe weight loss as the treatment, and send them as their way without further diagnostic tests or treatments,’ says Paula Brochu, PHD, an associate professor in the College of Psychology at Nova Southeastern University who studies weight stigma. ‘But if the person is not fat, they are much more likely to receive scans and treatment for the knee pain at the time of complaint.’ Not only might the doctor miss a problem that would have been visible on an X-Ray or other imaging, but being mistreated can discourage bigger people from seeking medical care, possibly worsening health issues.

In truth, you can be heavy and healthy - or thing and less so. ‘One large study examined peoples cardiometabolic health across the BMI spectrum and found that nearly half of all overweight people and nearly one third of obese people were metabolically healthy,’ says Brochu. Almost a third of normal weight people were not. ‘Researches estimated that nearly 74 million adults in the US have their health misclassified on the basis of BMI,’ she says.”

“Race and ethnicity matter.”

“While BMI is calculated the same way fore everyone, research shows the significance of the number to be different for different groups. ‘For the Indian population, we know their chances of [issues associated with] metabolic syndromes like diabetes and heart disease go up at a BMI of 27,’ says Saniea Majid, MD, FACS, FASMBS, a board-certified obesity specialist is Livingston NJ. That’s lower than the BMI of 30 associated with the same issues in white people. The number is even lower for people of Taiwanese descent, adds Dr Majid. SO someone who thinks they're in the clear with a BMI under 30 may actually be at serious risk. Other research has shown that the BMI associated with living longest is around 23 to 23 for white people but 23 to 30 for Black people- ie a higher BMI could be beneficial for Black people. While medical weight stigma and inadequate care are bad for all, misclassifying Black people as overweight may add to an already wide racial health disparity.”

“BMI doesn't take body shape or composition into account.”

“As a result, muscular people are often classified as overweight, says Dr Lee, leading to stigma and denial of treatments. BMI calculations also don't factor in where you carry your weight. Studies show that a higher waist-to-hip ratio is more closely linked to heart attack risk than BMI, whereas having bigger hips does not seem to pose as similar risk.”

“A higher BMI does not mean higher mortality.”

“Many people are surprised to learn that those who are overweight have lower mortality risk than normal weight people and that people who are obese have the same mortality risk as normal weight people, says Brochu.”

“Why is BMI still used?”

“The data point is easy to calculate and cheap to measure, and its the basis of decades of health research. It is also entrenched in our health care system. For example, BMI is baked into the coding system that doctors use to let insurance companies know what they’re billing for. Also, many doctors, including Dr Majid, find it a helpful screening tool when used in conjunction with other measures. These include blood pressure, pulse, cholesterol, fasting sugars, fatty liver disease and bod composition as well as ‘a conversation based on a patients ethnicity, family history, lifestyle, age, activity level and whether someone is perimenopausal,’ Dr Majid says. Other medical doctors, however, as well as psychologist such as Brochu, fell that the use of the BMI leads to too my emphasis on weight in medical setting and fuels the mistaken belief that thinness equals health. ‘It focuses on weight loss as a health outcome, and by and large weight loss is advocated at any cost, which often leads to harm,” Borchu explains. ‘A focus of health rather than weight provides more support to patient of all sizes.’”

In the periwinkle rectangle it reads:

“Our Commitment”

“Good Housekeeping will avoid relying on BMI as a marker of health in our reporting, and if we determine that we must mention it, we will point out its limitations. How much emphasis you give to this measurement, or to body weight at all is between you and your provider. If you decide to deemphasize weight as a measure of your own health or happiness, you can ask your provider to do the other tests noted here (such as blood pressure, pulse and cholesterol) without having you step on a scale. ‘People have the right not to be weight and not to consent to discussing their weight,’ Brochu says. If you would rather not be weighted but aren't sure how to say so, visit more-love.org for helpful phrases to us as well as small cards you can give to providers to express your preference.”

Additional thoughts from mod squirrel below:

I read many “family” or “womens” magazines for a lot of reasons but suffice to say these magazines are going to people who are likely the backbones of families. The fact this information is likely to reach so many people, people who can advocate for fat children, who can model good behavior for others both in their families and communities is so so important. Depending on the magazine they can skew conservative, I personally find GH to be middle of the road, and thats great!

#mod squirrel #healthism #medical fatphobia #bmi

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recentadultburnout · 10 months

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Info for writer in Thai series fandom: Holidays and Festivals

In my opinion, most holidays and festivals can be sorted by their relevance into a few categories, like the royal family, religion, or something inbetween. If its origin is something related to the royal family, it is likely that it will have fewer activities for people who are not government officers or students to do than when it relates to religion.

Piyamaharaj Day

Date : Oct 23

King Chulalongkorn (or Piyamaharaj) Day is to commemorate the day King Chulalongkorn passed away. King Chulalongkorn made many contributions in his reign, like the educational system, military affairs, national communication, the state railway, and the Slave Liberation Act without bloodshed in Thailand. Piya (ปิย) means beloved and Maharaj (มหาราช) means the Great King. As the name suggests, he was really popular. Many people have his picture in their house or their shop. He is also somewhat considered sacred, and some people will make a wish to him. The offerings that people believe he liked consist of brandy, cigars, shrimp paste rice, pink roses, and other general offerings.

Activities

The various departments will send their representatives to lay wreaths of flowers to pay homage at his statue and make merit in His Majesty King Chulalongkorn's name. People who loved him will do that too. Many government agencies, schools, and universities will also hold exhibitions to educate the public about his life and work.

The current queen’s birthday Date : Jun 3

The current king’s birthday Date : July 28

Activities Most government agencies and schools will set up the king or queen's picture, decorate it, and arrange a place for people to sign their name to wish them a happy birthday. They might also hold exhibitions about their lives and the work they do for the public too. I'm glad I didn't have to do it anymore. It's really hard to make an informative board when there is so little information in the first place.

Coronation Day

Date : May 4

In Thailand, we call it Chat-Mong-Khon day. Chat (ฉัตร) means several-tiered umbrella. In this case, it is nine-tiered, symbolizing the sovereign. Its Thai name refers to the ceremony they do on the date that the coronation of the current king happens. Originally, this ceremony was considered a private ceremony of the King, held in the royal court, but later it became a national holiday.

Activities

There are none, but like every special day and occasion in Thailand, it was encouraged to make merit on this day.

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony

Date : May, at the beginning of the month, depends on what day is the most auspicious according to astrology.

The main purpose of the ceremony is to boost the morale of farmers across the nation. The highlight is the sacred bull's choice, which will predict the amount of rain and which product will flourish, and the rice sowing, which won't really have a chance to grow because the audience will collect it up immediately as it is believed to bring luck and help the crop grow when they mix the seed in. After the ceremony, the model farmer usually received a plaque of honor from the king or representative.

Activities

Other than in the ceremony, there are none.

Magha Puja

Date: The 15th day of the waxing moon (full moon) of the 3rd month according to the Thai lunar calendar.

A day celebrates a gathering that was held between the Buddha and 1,250 of his disciples who came to see the Buddha without being summoned. From the tale, all of them are already Buddhist saints (Arhat) and all of them are direct disciples ordained by the Buddha himself.

Activities

Go to the temple, abstaining from all sins, offer alms or make merit by giving freedom to animals (release birds or fish) that got caught-about this one, I must say that it's a thing you shouldn't do on a whim. Too many people do it without any consideration for the environment or even whether the animals they release will survive. They do it just because it's a "tradition". Their actions also create demand for birds or fish that wouldn't get caught otherwise. It's more sin than merit at this point. Listen to a sermon and go wian tian (เวียนเทียน) which is to walk with lighted candles in hand around a temple in the evening.

Visakha Bucha, or Vesak

Date: The 15th day of the waxing moon of the 6th lunar month or, in other words, the full moon day of the Visakha (visakha is the name of the month in the lunar calendar).

It is a day that marks the three most important events in Buddhism, namely the birth, enlightenment, and death of Gautama Buddha, with all three events taking place on the same day but in different years according to Thai interpret.

Activities

The same thing you do on Magha Puja.

Asanha Bucha

Date: The full moon day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar.

It is the day that Gautama Buddha gave his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutra, to Kondanna, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama, and Assaji. The day after Asanha Bucha will be the day Buddhist Lent starts.

Buddhist Lent or, in Thai, Khao Phansa.

"Khao Phansa" means "Rains Retreat", which means all monks must stay at any temple during the rainy season. Because the monks in Buddha's time had a duty to make pilgrimages to animals and spread the Dharma and teachings to the people in various places. There is no need to have a fixed place to live, even in the rainy season. The villagers blamed them for stepping on the seedlings and other crops until they were damaged. Therefore, the Buddha laid down a Buddhist Lent regulation for the monks to stay stationary for three months in the rainy season.

Activities

Because Asanha Bucha and Khao Phansa are next to each other, sometimes the activities get mixed up. For Asanha Bucha, we do the same thing we do on Magha Puja and Visakha Bucha days. Khao Phansa will have more occasional things happen, but like I say, it can get mixed. One day is not a big deal at all. There will be a Buddhist ceremony, as well as preparations for the monks' and novices' residence to be in good enough condition to be used for three months during Buddhist Lent. There will also be a Candlelight Procession (Phi-Tee-Hae-Tian-Phan-Sa:) in which we will take special candles (one of the popular activities is to cast that candles by providing materials such as wax, candle wicks, crucibles, and pans for the crowd to use to make them together in a public place such as in front of the mall), we make before Khao Phansa Day, go to the monastery to present the candle to the monk, then put candles into the temple, and light candles to worship the Three Jewels. There are also other activities, such as offering clothes to the monk, praying that they will conduct themselves within the framework of the Five or Eight Precepts, listening to sermons, and the Dharma. You can choose to participate as much or as little as you want. It is up to your faith and abilities. For monks, there will be a lot of other activities, but for ordinary people, I think this will be all. At the end of Buddhist Lent there will be Tak Bat Devo festival.

The Vegetarian Festival, or Tesakan Gin Jay (เทศกาลกินเจ)

Date: Start on 1st day of the 9th lunar month according to the Chinese calendar and last 9 days.

It is came from Taoist tradition. During the fastival people who choose to paticipate will only eat food that prepared without meat or products of animal origin (e.g. milk, eggs, honey, fish sauce, gelatin, collagen) and not flavored with strong smell vegetables such as garlic, onions, spring onions, shallots, chives, and cilantro, some also Including hot and spicy spices.

Moon Festival

Date: The full moon day of the 8th month according to the lunar calendar.

It is a traditional Chinese cultural festival that takes place in the middle of autumn to celebrate the harvest. Some households will celebrate it with their family, some don't. The ceremony will be held in private, so I'm not sure how popular it actually is, but the mooncakes sure are.

Chinese New Year

Date: The 1st day of the 1st month in the Chinese calendar.

Thais of Chinese descent will follow the tradition for 3 days: pay day (wan jai/วันจ่าย), pay respect day (wan wai/วันไหว้) and travel day (wan tiao/วันเที่ยว).

Pay Day is the day before the end of the year. It is a day when we have to buy food, fruits, and various offerings before the shops close for a long vacation.

On Worship Day, the day starts in the early morning by paying homage to "Bài lǎoyé" (拜老爺 / 拜老爷) which is a form of worship to various gods. The offering is three meats (Sasae, Sam Cheng), pork, duck, and chicken, and liquor, tea, and paper money. After that, we pay respect to "Pai Pae Bo" (拜父母), which is to pay respect to ancestors, parents, relatives, and relatives who have passed away. This will be completed no later than noon. The offerings consisted of sa sae, sweet and savory dishes (mostly done as the deceased once liked), as well as the burning of paper money, gold paper, and paper clothes to dedicate to the deceased. Then the whole family will be gathered to eat and exchange red packets afterward. Finally, we will pay homage to "Pai Ho Hia Tee" (拜好兄弟), which is respect for the spirits of the deceased brothers and sisters. The offerings will be kanom keng, kanom tian, taro in syrup, silver and gold paper, along with firecrackers to ward off evil and for good luck.

The day of travel or holding day is the new year's day. It is the first day of the first month of the year. Today, it is a tradition called "Pai Jia," which is an occasion to go to another's house to wish them luck and ask for blessings from the elders and loved ones.

Qingming

Date: 15 days after the spring equinox.

It is believed that Qing Ming Day is one of the three days when the human world and the spirit world are closest to each other. So during this period, it is a custom to go sweeping and pay respect to ancestors' tombs. Moreover, during Qingming, the weather is good. Therefore, it is suitable for the descendants to travel to the graves of their ancestors to pay homage, sweep and clean around the graves of their ancestors.

( He is coming to me's Thai name is He came to Qingming next to my grave.)

Songkran or Thai New Year

Date: 13 April

The word "Songkran" comes from Sanskrit and means "moving." It refers to how the zodiac sign is moving, which means the new year. Songkran is a traditional family practice where water is the main element of the ceremony. Basically, there will be 1.Bathing Buddha images at home and at temples for good fortune and making merit, offering food to monks ***By bathing, I mean gently pouring water from a water bowl (ขันน้ำ) onto the Buddha images. 2.Gently pouring water from a water bowl onto each other and wish each other luck in the new year. It will be more formal when it's between an elder and a child than between friends. 3. Ask for forgiveness for something that has already passed or a New Year's wish from an elderly person. 4.Loading sand into the temple. It is believed that it will bring auspiciousness, happiness, prosperity, and a lot of money, like the grains of sand that are carried into the temple. Another belief is that taking the sand that is attached to the feet from the temple is a sin. Therefore, to not commit a sin, we should bring it back to make up for what we take during the past year. It is mainly a family event, so it is also a time when most people travel back home to their family. Many people work far from home and don't have many chances to go back, so in the Songkran period they will go back and have a family gathering.

The water fight is not really traditional, but it's a main event that has many people waiting eagerly now.

Loy Krathong Festival

Date: The 15th waxing moon of the 12th month according to the Thai lunar calendar.

Loy means float, and Krathong, in this context, means banana leaf vessel or floating basket. The traditions vary by region, but one thing they all have in common is that it takes place at night and includes float Krathong. The purpose of this event is to either worship the goddess of water, Ganga, pronounced in Thai as "Khong-ka", or to worship the Buddha, or both. The krathong that is used in this event can be made from a lot of things, such as banana leaf, banana stalk pith, foam, coconut shell, or bread. There are many beliefs around this event. For lovers, sometimes the pair will use one Krathong together or go float it together and try to make it stick together after it goes into the water, as it is believed to be a good sign for a pair of lovers. During fastival, the atmosphere can be quite romantic. There is also a belief that you can float away all suffering along with the krathong by cutting nails, hair, and money and putting them into the krathong before floating it.

Yi Peng Festival

Date: the 13th to the 15th waxing moon of the 12th month according to the Thai lunar calendar or the 15th waxing moon of the 2nd month according to the Thai Lanna lunar calendar. On the same day as the Loy Krathong Festival.

Yi Peng is actually a variation of Loy Krathong, but instead of only Krathong, it will also have Khomloy, which is some kind of hot-air balloon, and it will actually happen two days before. The Yi Peng starts on the 13th day of the waxing moon, which is considered "Wan-da(วันดา)" or the day of the preparation to make merit at the temple. When it comes to the 14th day of the waxing moon, Father Oui (grandpa/elderly man), Mae Oui (grandma/elderly woman), and those who have faith will go together and conduct themselves within the precepts, listen to the Dharma, and make merit at the temple. A large krathong will be made in the temple courtyard. Inside the krathong will be food and other consumables. Anyone can bring something to make a contribution. Those items will be given to the poor to make merit. On the 15th day of the waxing moon, the big Krathong at the temple and the small personal Krathong will be floated on the river.

Index

#thai culture

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haveyoubeentothiscity · 6 months

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Hi and welcome! I’ve been enjoying voting in polls on media, food, and more and wanted to create one focused on where in the world we’ve been. Submit cities here, not in the ask box.

How are cities chosen?

Almost all polls come from submissions! I don’t mind duplicate submissions, but if you’re curious, the list of posted/queued/submitted cities is here. No limit to how many you can submit. Thanks for your contributions!

Please read the instructions to help make my job easier.

I may occasionally supplement submissions from a list of the most populous cities where needed, just to get a good mix of countries and continents, and I’ll also add relevant cities on theme days.

What counts as a city?

I’m not paying any mind to city/town/village descriptors. If something is very small (and I mean very, very small) I might deprioritize it in favor of ones that more people have heard of, but as long as I can find a Wikipedia page I won’t disqualify it.

How do you tag?

#city poll for each regularly formatted poll, plus the name of the city, country, and continent

#not a city poll for any other polls (ex. #demographics)

#not a poll for everything else

#asked and answered for asks

#submission guidelines for what you can submit and any clarification on how to submit

#voting guidelines for advice (not rules) on how to vote in ambiguous cases

#submission stats and #voting stats for any insights or charts

#chatty for asks and other posts that are just conversational, not informational

If you have questions, suggestions, or just thoughts to share feel free to send an ask!

Personal notes: I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA and love it here. She/her pronouns. Not going to use name or age on this blog, but I am an adult.

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lilliesofinspirationvalley · 12 days

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Soul Eater Revised Overview!

In case you didn’t know, I have a fan project in the works called Soul Eater Revised, a rewrite/personal interpretation of Soul Eater’s world and narrative. It’s primarily a written piece, but I also have a lot of designs and stuff for it too! has its own blog @souleaterrevised and chapters of the fanfic here on AO3 (they're only accessible if you have an account just to prevent AI scanning).

There’s so much I can get into, and I want to leave at least some surprises… but I can’t help myself. I might as well give some sneak peeks at everything I’m cooking!

Obviously there will be a good amount spoilers for everything I’m planning, so reading all of this is to your own discretion!

Lore & Worldbuilding

Y’know the whole thing at the end of Fire Force where it ends as like… a “prequel” to the SE world out of nowhere? Yeah, some people find that cool while others find it incredibly forced. I… I think it’s both. I have some thoughts on how I would rework Fire Force myself, and part of that is the ending and how it connects to SE. Essentially, the world of flames and infernals dies, but is reborn into a world of souls and magic. The supernatural and fantastical become inherently tied to this new world thanks to Adolla’s whole deal with shared human perception and all that.

Excalibur is the most obvious piece of evidence of the Old World existing— He’s essentially the personification of Arthur’s escapism and loneliness. He got pulled out of the spiritual realm and can’t really get back… so he’s just kinda been hanging out in the physical world for multiple centuries. Truth be told, he just misses his dad, man.

So yeah, Shinra, Iris, Tamaki, etc… they all kinda die??? But they also like… become these fun deities known as Patrons. Much of what’s known about them in the New World is this weird mix of myth and fact.

Speaking of deities, I got more information on how those work!! Essentially, there are multiple deities that work with and look after their associated cultures. For example, death deities such as Anubis/Anpu focus on collecting the souls of those living in Egypt.

Most deities focus on their respective groups (but obviously intermingle and all that), but there are a few deities who work more internationally! These include Lord Death (obviously, lol), Lady Gaia (also known as Mother Nature), and Arcane (Observer of Magic)

There may or may not also be a goddess of madness and chaos whose stuck in a distorted realm of flesh and black ooze. But she’s not trying to get back out into the physical world or anything… right? @hollyhuedhorror may know more about her ;3

Due to deities and magic and all of this fun stuff being more commonplace, not only has global transportation developed a little earlier (especially for supernatural communities), but there was a lot of intervention (especially when LD shows up and sets up DWMA) of “HEY. DON’T COLONIZE AND ENSLAVE EACH OTHER.” Immigrants learn to coexist with indigenous communities, people travel across the world because they wish to and not by force, all that good stuff. Essentially we replace most of the racism/cultural prejudice with… soul type prejudice. Call that what you will.

Soul types are a lot more developed as a concept— it honestly deserves its own post, but to get a major, mostly relevant thing out there: Monsterfolk (associated with animals and magic as a whole) and fae (associated with the elements) were essentially the overseers of humans in much of ancient history due to their sheer power and longer lifespans. Witches are initially created as the offspring between Monsterfolk and humans, though their soul type can pass down through further generations. Enchanters are essentially the same thing, but the offspring of fae and humans. Many of these magical people were genuinely benevolent and helped humans… but a lot of them were also very tyrannical, finicky, all that stuff

Living weapons generally discover their powers around puberty (the average being around 13-14 years old). Just about every soul type is capable of carrying weapon abilities (through genetics and whatnot), so it’s not too uncommon for powerful soul types to unlock their powers much earlier. This is the case for Fire and Thunder! They’re 5 year old nymphs (Fae) and already have phenomenal control of their gauntlet forms.

Aside from deities and corrupted souls like kishins/afreets and phantoms, there are 3 categories for soul types: Human, Monsterfolk, and Fae. These three categories each have their own “enhancements”— incredibly rare variants of the average soul’s capabilities.

Humans - Warrior, Seer, Grigori, Pixie

Monsterfolk/Witches - Sorcerer

Fae/Enchanters - Shaman

Lord Death was… essentially sent down to the physical world as a “janitor” in the Middle Ages (around the 1200s to be more specific). A lot of deaths have been happening to the point where people aren’t really performing the proper rituals to help souls pass on. So LD is sent in to help collect leftover souls and figure out the sorta things causing so much destruction

While he’s getting adjusted there, he ends up meeting some supernatural people such as the sorcerer Eibon and witch Arachne. They form a fun little travel group going around the world and helping people/hunting down corrupted souls. Arachne was incredibly passionate about wanting humans and the supernatural to see each other as equals.

During these adventures, Arachne finds an orphan child who’s village had gotten destroyed and he lost his parents. Arachne, having so much maternal instinct as she does, takes the boy in as her own kid (even though her sisters aren’t too much older than him lmao). This totally doesn’t have a domino affect on anything, I promise :)

But yeah, what do you do when you’re personally hit with the fact that humans are far more vulnerable and die easily compared to you and your supernatural companions? That this vulnerability is what many supernaturals exploit for their dominance in society? You want to find ways to help humans defend themselves, right? And if you already travel with what is essentially an overpowered living weapon… you’re gonna get some ideas, right?

Just because you may have the ability to bring the dead back to life… does that mean you should? What if the revived have no idea what to do with the sudden powers and rejuvenated, unnatural body you’ve given them? What if they don’t remember their past lives? What if they eventually or already do? To literally die and be reborn… it could cause u to go a little cuckoo bananas one way or another.

None of this leads to the divorce between a Reaper and the Spider Witch. Or the first fully corrupted Kishin to be born. Or an octopus merman becoming eldritch. Or witches fearing for their lives on all sides and creating their own pocket dimension for refuge. Nope. Not at all. (In case you genuinely can’t tell, this is sarcasm. So much shit goes down but we don’t have time to unpack all of that)

DWMA Details

The Death Weapon Meister Academy/Association is an international organization that focuses on fighting against corrupted souls, along with teaching living weapons (and meisters) how to control their powers.

The DWMA has several regional branches, each with their own overseeing staff and representative Death Weapon (also known as Death Scythes).

Normally Overcome Target (aka NOT) courses are available at each region’s headquarters, while the Especially Advanced Talent (EAT) program is held exclusively in Death City, Nevada.

The academy predominantly teaches middle-high school students, between (U.S.) grades 7-12. They also provide a large amount of university/college courses for graduates. In most cases, students enroll in whatever grade they would continue in normal school, or the grade most applicable for their age.

If a weapon or meister in a partnership graduates before the other, they remain with their partner but don’t have to continue schoolwork (or they simply move forward with higher, college-level courses)

In order to be in EAT you have to be at least in 9th grade/3rd year, which usually means you spent at least 2 years in NOT courses.

If you enter the academy at an older age, you still need to be enrolled in the NOT course for at least 2 years (some exceptions depend on whether your partner is also able to enroll)

Character Notes

To be completely honest I plan on expanding more background and development on almost every character (because lord knows we need it) so I don’t think I can list everything and everyone. However I will cover some general highlights and details I think are very swag.

First things first, I don’t write Blair as a gross fan-service baiting creep! She’s still very playful but only gets coy and flirtatious around actual adults. I’m making her the big sister/maternal figure bad bitch she deserves to be! She’s also getting more of a backstory— She was adopted and raised by an incredibly powerful sorcerer who… will be quite involved in the later stages of SER’s main storyline. Blair gets her own sample of the horrors, I’m so sorry queen.

Ah yes. We’ll be diving a lot deeper into horrors and madness as a whole. Of course I’ll do more with Soul, Stein, etc… but we’re gonna make madness a little more gender inclusive. That is to say, Maka’s gonna have more unhinged grinning to do! Tsubaki’s gonna become an Omori kinnie! Not even Liz and Patty are safe!

Get ready to explore and learn about more characters’ families and upbringing! It’s… it’s actually a pretty big recurring topic.

I will be including and reworking NOT as the first few months of the school year before the main SE plot kicks in! You will learn to enjoy Tsugumi and her girlfriends… hopefully.

Shaula has more of an independent and chaotic personality compared to Medusa and Arachne. She has a history of pulling major conspiracies and stunts, especially around DWMA. Why does she do this? Mostly for shits and giggles. Don’t be fooled, she is not above manipulating an already traumatized girl and making her memory repression even worse.

Princess Ponera and Nars Garnier from the Wii Game, Monotone Princess, are included! They’re gonna be associated with Noah. Ponera is a haughty, pompous princess dead-set on vengeance. Nars is an arrogant, deceptively friendly man who blends Phantom of the Opera with Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Ponera and Shaula are girlfriends. They’re actually very healthy despite being y’know. Evil.

While we’re on the subject… Noah Grimoire is a sorcerer Eibon took in and mentored 600 years before the main story (but sadly, Eibon thinks Noah died in an accident… this isn’t the case). His associated animal is worms, and it’s very easy to joke he is a major bookworm himself. That term goes even deeper than you can imagine :)

Noah thinks he’s the next Xehanort Kingdom Hearts (guy who makes multiple copies of himself and seeks knowledge no matter the ethics to become a god). He negotiates/coerces multiple people to work with him— including a teenage boy from early 19th century Russia. The kid’s a real angel, he doesn’t experience anything bad ever.

Ragnarok is going to be known as the Dragon Sword! He’s a dragonborn (type of monsterfolk) that just. Showed up in Norway 200 years ago and started causing havoc. Marie’s ancestors at the time were the ones who imprisoned him in his weapon form, and he was sealed away for a long time. Until… someone managed to steal him for Medusa Gorgon herself. You already kinda know what happens next

Pls don’t kill me for this but… Crona is going to be a very tragic character (I’m following the manga plotline because I think it’s super interesting). They doom themselves in the narrative more than anything. You can’t wait around for everyone else to figure out how to deal with you, after all.

Crona and Maka’s relationship is… not that healthy, all things considered! Their “guardian angel” needs to survive a codependent, homo-ambiguous teenage friendship.

Everyone pour one out for Soul as his meister repeatedly ignores his obvious discomfort over being around the person who nearly killed him. And for all their friends kinda getting ignored by Maka too, and also being pushed into hanging out with someone where neither party is that comfortable.

Marie becomes a school counselor/therapist for EAT students (and especially Crona) when she arrives after Asura’s revival. She is the Death Weapon of Northern Europe (Scandanavia) and looks after Justin a lot until LD felt he was “ready” (since he becomes a Death Weapon at such a young age and all). She’s going to go through so much guilt of feeling like she failed to guide the young people she cares so deeply for!!!

Justin is like. Baby Claude Frollo to me. If that makes sense. Tezca (“I can fix him”) and Giriko (“I can make him worse”) both take him in as their lil brother

Giriko doesn’t do the gross descendant possessing thing because that’s just. Not fun to think about! Instead he’s more or less a living golem, frequently creating new bodies for himself out of the earth. He absolutely still has a ton of kids/descendants though like the deadbeat sleazeball he is. If Denji Chainsaw Man were in SE, we unfortunately all know who would be the father.

Eibon’s narrative relevance actually becomes a big thing!! I love when all-powerful characters are actually just. Really chill and nice. He’s like that with so much guilt from all of his past actions. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that.

Proper background, time, and development for characters such as Mifune and Angela, Eruka, Free, the Mizune Family, Tabatha, and Taruho (aka Lisa and Arisa from Chupa Cabra’s)

More on the Hoshi family of meisters/martial artists and how the Star Clan branched off from it! BlackStar doesn’t just have to deal with strangers associating him with corrupted assassins, but much of his actual blood family is really restrained and they don’t want Shiroto (WhiteStar)’s kid to end up the same way.

Mabaa and the Witch Realm! The fox Witch Judge is named Netsuki and she’s Mabaa’s wife <3

Kid getting flashback dreams of Asura and more of him playing detective to uncover the mysteries his dad keeps hiding from him. Some are easy to expect and others… not so much.

Tons of OCs

Maka’s mother, Kumiko Kami-Albarn! She was originally Azusa’s partner until she caught onto Stein experimenting on Spirit when they were all students. She’s a bitch who needs to be better than everyone else (and gets jealous of her own kid rip). I like her so much

Chupa Cabra’s owner, a literal chupacabra vampire! His name is Raul, he’s the brain cell and wants to convince everyone he’s sane and normal.

Squirrel witch Nui Harime kinnie who can checkout people’s mindscapes!

Shadow fae butler dad so Kid isn’t in Gallows Manor all by himself as a child! His name is Lungelo, he’s super cool and dilf material.

EAT classmates based on several things! Magical girls! No Straight Roads! ENA! Undertale/Deltarune! They all get their own little bits to shine and be interwoven in the narrative

More Death Weapons and their meisters to match more distinct regions! For example, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, South America (Tezca is Central America because... he's Mexican. Literally based on Aztec myths which is in Mexico), South Asia, actual regions of Africa (North, East, etc).

Characters created by my friends such as @starkitters @chalkanthit @teaableu and @silvvergears!

#lilli's rambles #soul eater #soul eater revised #soul eater rewrite #I am. Not tagging everybody and everything I talk about in here lmao

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fleshing-out-fodlan · 5 months

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Reproductive Rights in Adrestia

We all know that pre time skip Fodlan was not a very nice place to live in. From endless class struggles to racism, misogyny, and just general corruption, they really had it all. But how much control did the people of Fodlan (specifically Adrestia, because that's my favorite one to talk about) have over their reproduction and did the men and women have an equal amount of control?

I think a reasonable place to start is with arranged marriages, which we all know is common place in Fodlan. Arranged marriages are often done for political purposes, especially among the upper classes, but there is also the component of people arranging marriages with the intention of producing a good heir. This is especially relevant in Fodlan, where crests are something you obtain genetically, making who your child ends up marrying and therefore having children with very important.

There are many examples we can look to for arranged marriages but I want to focus on Ferdinand and Bernadetta here as their A support reveals a sort of double standard when it comes to these marriages. Ferdinand reveals to Bernadetta that his father arranged for him to marry a girl he found frightening due to the rumors about her, leading him to "dissuade" his parents from going through with it. This girl, of course, ended up being Bernadetta, something she was completely unaware of. She says the girl Ferdinand was set to marry sounds "frightening" and is shocked when Ferdinand later reveals that this girl was her.

So, what does this little story reveal? Well, both Ferdinand and Bernadetta were set up to be in an arranged marriage, indicating that arranged marriages in and of themselves were not gendered. However, the freedom each of them was given in this situation varied wildly. Ferdinand was informed of this marriage and given a say in whether or not he wished to go through with it. When he expressed his concerns, his parents listened and pulled out. Bernadetta, on the other hand, was given no say in the matter. I think it's safe to assume this is something her father planned to just spring on her out of nowhere and to totally ignore her concerns. This indicates that, while men and women (or, in this case, boys and girls) could both be subjected to arranged marriages, the men were given more autonomy over their situation while the women were simply expected to accept it. It's also not far fetched to assume that, had Bernadetta been married off against her will, she would have been expected to produce heirs with her husband regardless of how she felt about him. This indicates a lack of reproductive freedom as women, or at least those in the upper class, were given no control over who fathered their children.

I would also like to discuss the story of Edelgard's parents. In her Goddess Tower speech, she explains that her parents fell madly in love but could not marry due to her father having already married for political purposes, leading her mother to instead become "one of his many consorts." Whether or not Edelgard's story is true is much debated fact, were her parents genuinely in love or is this just a girl romanticizing her parents story? Regardless of this truth behind Edelgard's story, this does reveal an important fact. That being that her father had "many consorts." A consort is technically defined as the spouse of a reigning monarch according to Oxford dictionary, although we know Edelgard's mom was never her dad's wife. Therefore, I think it is fair to say Edelgard's mom, and all the other consorts, were more similar to a concubine, or a "woman who lives with a man but has lower status than his wife." Now, Edelgard clearly believes her mother chose this life, but if we look at historical cases of emperor's (or whatever the equivalent to an emperor is in the society) concubines, they often were not given the freedom to choose. If the emperor wanted a woman to be his concubine, she simply had to oblige or likely risk punishment. While we are not given many details on what the emperor's concubine system and the rules surrounding it, I think it's likely it followed the general trend I described above, meaning that, even if Edelgard's mom chose to be a concubine, many women in the system likely did not. And once you became a concubine, there really was very little reproductive freedom. Again, we don't specifically know what life was like for Adrestian concubines, but let's look at some rules that existed for real life concubines to get the best understanding of what it might have been like. There is of course variation in these rules depending on where you look but some reoccurring rules I noticed were an inability to deny the king/emperor, rules against engaging in relations with other men, and many were expected to give birth to potential heirs (assuming they were in a society where concubine's children could be heirs, which we know as the case in Adrestia considering Edelgard's status). This means the concubines were likely given little to no control over their ability to have sex, they were instead forced to have it with one man regardless of their attraction to him and to have it whenever he wanted. Their feelings about becoming pregnant and bearing a child were also likely not taken into account.

Next, I want to focus on Hanneman's sister, who was born with a crest and whose story is revealed in Hanneman and Edelgard's A support. Hanneman's sister was said to have been "married off" to a noble whose power was waning. I think the use of the phrase "married off" is very important here due to the implications. Hanneman's sister did not "get married" she "was married off." The use of passive voice instead of active voice, in a way, positions Hanneman's sister as being an object that was being passed around by men. She did not have agency over her life, much like Bernadetta in her support with Ferdinand, we see here how she was expected to bend to the whims of the men around her. Furthermore, this phrase implies that she left her house and family to join her husband's. While this is not inherently a bad thing, I think it's important to note that a lot of patriarchal cultures expect women to essentially abandon their own families to join the man's. She is not expected to maintain connections to her old life but to meld seamlessly into her husband's world, almost as if she is not her own person but an object. This is especially jarring because Hanneman's sister was the one with the crest and her husband was from a noble family whose "influence was waning." We hear all the time about how people with crests are given preferential treatment and, while certainly true, this situation indicates the situation may be more complex than that. If we believed Adrestia was simply defined by the belief that those with crests are superior to those without crests, Hanneman's sister should've been the one with all the power. Her husband should've joined her house and followed her orders, but the opposite happened. This indicates some intersectionality in Adrestia's culture. While having a crest grants you status and power, this status and power looks very different for men and women (and can sometimes put you in a worse position if you're a woman, as seen by Hanneman's sister). Anyways, after her marriage she is expected to have children with her husband, but none of them bare crests. Her husband began to abuse her as a result of this and she was forced to continue trying to have a crested child until she eventually died. I'm sure this was not what Hanneman's sister wanted. Having tons of pregnancies back to back is not good for anyone, especially if you have a medical condition which we know Hanneman's sister did. She was likely exhausted and wanted to stop, but she had no say in the matter. Whether or not she got pregnant was entirely dependent on what her husband wanted.

So, what happened after children were born? There is less content to talk about here but I want to focus on the concept of child support and other social systems to help single mothers. It's no secret that having children is expensive, and for many young women, experiencing an unplanned pregnancy all alone is enough to completely upend their life. Even if they do manage to scrape by and provide them and their children with what they need financially, they will likely need to give up on many of their hopes and ambitions. Meaning forcing women to raise children without any help is a great way to control them. And who do we know who had a child as a single mother in poverty? Dorothea's mother.

Dorothea reveals in her support with Hanneman that her mother was, at one point, a noble's maid. Until she got pregnant with that noble's child. I do think we should acknowledge that there's a good chance Dorothea's mother was raped, but that's not the point of this section and has no evidence besides just the general way power structures work so we can ignore that for now. Instead, let's see how Dorothea's father treated her and her mother. Did he decide to step up and be a good father or, at the very least, use some of his ample wealth to make sure Dorothea and her mother were taken care of? No. He kicked Dorothea's mother out of his house, meaning she lost her employment and source of income once she was impregnated, forcing them both to live in poverty. And her father, seemingly, faced no repercussions. In many countries that are considered to be relatively good in regards to gender equality, there is some sort of legal system requiring men to help take care of their child(ren) at least financially to try and minimize selfish and irresponsible men's ability to ruin women's lives (since obviously it's much harder for a woman to run away from a pregnancy than a man). The actions of Dorothea's father indicate that there is either no system in Adrestia similar to child support or that there is a system but it is extremely ineffective. Dorothea also mentions how she "lived in the allies" meaning she had no shelter. This indicates a lack of shelters for homeless people in Adrestia. Furthermore, Dorothea also mentions starving as a child, indicating that there likely weren't any programs meant to help single mothers feed their children.

Overall, the lives of the Adrestian characters indicate a lack of reproductive freedom in the country, especially among women. There is not nearly as much information about what reproductive rights look like in post time skip Fodlan, but considering that fact that there are women who have endings where they are able to attain power on their own, either completely free from a husband or with a husband who is not their superior, I do think it is safe to assume that, after the war, some reforms are instituted to improve this aspect of life.

#fe3h #fe3h worldbuilding #fe3h analysis #long post #fe3h adrestia #fodlan #crimson flower #black eagles

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shiresome · 2 months

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OKAY OKAY OKAY HEAR ME OUT

SO!! Remember when my friend and I put a face to the Protector of Orderrealm? I am here to mention it more!

She's Lady Justitia; a goddess with a Code of Hammurabi sense of justice. Hotaru is her most trusted guard, but that's not saying much. Like any good boss, she rewards his devotion with endless amounts of work!

In comparison to Chaosrealmers — and only in comparison to Chaosrealmers, — Seidans are fragile and have short lifespans. Most of them are allowed to die permanently, but Justitia will bring her favorite soldiers back from the grave. The process is gross and time-consuming, but rebirth is believed to be purifying.

Justitia is very selective about who she brings back. Order is valued above all else, and only the most helpful Seidans get second chances. Hotaru has gone through this process countless times, with several deaths at the hand of Justitia herself. He's seen many generations come and go, but has no memory of his earliest lives. The past gets foggy with every rebirth!

And then there's Havik .. Havik's just sorta a freak. I know some people want it to be That Deep, and that's cool, but Havik's charm has always been in his simplicity to me. He wants to cause chaos because, and I truly think that's good enough. I prefer it over his new lore ten times over. I think it's a fun juxtaposition to Hotaru, who overthinks everything every second of his life 💔

Anyway they're fun! Love them! I don't know if this information is gonna be relevant to any upcoming artwork, but I'm putting it up just in case :)

#gore #cartoony and unserious but still #LET HAVIK BEND AND BE MISSHAPEN! PUSH HIS POWERS #mortal kombat #havik #hotaru #mk #fanart #shire art #hotavik

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andmaybegayer · 6 months

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So my hope, eventually, is to have my own purpose-built computer which is an expandable skeleton and will more-or-less never need to be entirely tossed out, only supplanted/upgraded Ship of Theseus style.

However, Microsoft is getting a bit too uppity for my tastes, and I hope to mainly run Linux on that eventual computer.

However, I'm also a gaming man, and I recognize that, in many cases, Linux kinda sucks for games, or, at least, that's what I've heard. Emulation is also a pain I'd rather not deal with (both of Windows and of games themselves), and so, for games that don't support Linux, I'd like to have the option of having Windows on the same machine, so that I can run Linux most of the time, but switch to Windows whenever I wanna play games.

My question is how realistic is that? I know that machines with multiple OS's exist, and you can choose which one you want at boot, but I'm hoping for this to be an extremely fancy computer, connected to a lot of extremely fancy computer peripherals. Would switching OS's without power cycling the machine screw with the other hardware? Is it even possible, or would you need to power cycle it in any case? Is there any way to build this hypothetical computer, or am I asking too much/investing too much effort? Would it be easier/better to just build a really good Windows machine and a really good Linux machine?

So the use case you're talking about is pretty popular among a certain kinds of Tech Nerd, and most of them solve it with iommu GPU Passthrough and a windows VM on Linux. I knew a few people doing this back in like 2018 and while it's a little fidgety it's fairly reliable.

You can't share GPU's the way you can share CPU and Memory. Not on consumer hardware, anyway. So if you want to run a VM with windows with a gaming GPU, it needs its own entire GPU just for that.

The basic layout is this: Build a normal high end system with a lot of extra resources, say, 32+GB of RAM, 10+ CPU cores, a couple terabytes of storage, and two separate GPU's. Run Linux on the system, as your host, and only use one of the GPU's. Create a VM on the host under qemu and hand it 16GB of RAM, 6 cores, a terabyte or two of storage, and use iommu to pass it the other GPU. Now use software like LookingGlass to capture the framebuffer directly off the Windows GPU and forward it to your Linux GPU, so that you can display your windows system inside Linux seamlessly.

Now, you do need two GPU's, so it can get expensive. A lot of people choose to run one higher end GPU for windows and a basic GPU for Linux, but that's up to your use case. You can run two identical GPU's if you wish.

The main place this kind of thing is being tinkered with is the Level1Techs forum, Wendell is a big advocate of GPU virtualization and so has aggregated a lot of information and people with relevance here. He also makes a lot of video stuff on IOMMU.

youtube

So I have to have two whole GPU's?

Kind of. There ARE ways to live-reset a running GPU which allows you to do tricks where you can swap a single GPU between the host and the VM without rebooting, but it's extremely dubious and flaky. Virtualized GPU partitioning exists but only on extremely expensive server GPU's aimed at virtualization servers for enterprise so it's well outside of our price range.

If you're interested in single-GPU, there is ongoing work getting it to run on consumer hardware on the Level1Techs forum and he's even running some kind of Hackathon on it, but even the people having success with this have pretty unreliable systems.

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/vfio-passthrough-in-2023-call-to-arms/199671

This setup works fine maybe 25% of the time. I can always start the VM just fine, my linux desktop stays active and any software launched after the VM gets the GPU will render on the iGPU without issues. However I suffer from the reset bug, and 75% of the time shutting down the VM won’t return the GPU to Linux and I have to reboot to fix that.

I'm quite satisfied with this setup.

Is this a good idea

It depends on what you need and how willing you are to switch between the host and VM. A LOT more things run smoothly on Linux these days. Wendell started tinkering with IOMMU back in like 2015, and I started gaming on Linux back in 2016. If you had native software, great! Without that, well, good luck with anything less than five years old.

I played Burnout Paradise and even Subnautica on my 750Ti laptop on plain old Wine, and then DXVK came out in 2018 and the world got flipped turned upside down and I have video of me running Warframe on Linux with that same mediocre system a few weeks before Proton hit the scene and we got flipped turned... right way up? Now with Proton I would say most things run pretty well under a mixture of automatic steam stuff and scripts off lutris and homemade WINEPREFIXes.

That said, if you want everything to Just Work, it's hard to beat a VM. I'm not sure how competitive games run, but for everything else a VM is going to be more reliable than WINE.

#ask #thehylianbatman #computer stuff #iommu #Linux #vfio

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is-the-owl-video-cute · 8 months

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"anon I want you to look me in the eye and tell me you think that the average person likes dinosaurs in the same way they like gravity." Why? I didn't imply any of that. People can be curious and learn more, as much as they learn with someone on internet talking about owls (many people in big cities will never see an owl, try to pet one, go to a owl cafe??? These are even illegal where a live, a country with 100.000.000+ inhabitants. Nevermind).

"but most kids don’t care how accurate their toys are, they just want to roleplay them forming a death cult with blood sacrifices because that’s just what children want to do." you cleary underestimate how children are complex but I'll pass

"It would go something like “why doesn’t this one have feathers” “oh scientists didn’t know they had those at first” “oh ok” and for most kids that’s the end of it." Really do you have some background on education at all (even practical)? These simple realizations are really important.

"You’re acting like there’s a huge movement of people proclaiming that dinosaurs didn’t have feathers or something, which isn’t the case." Where did I imply that? I just "wow it would be nicer for kids to have MORE info, isn't it?", and you used a lot od words to say "that's not relevant" (and if it is your opinion, don't cover it).

Also, sorry I work with something irrelevant (irony) as education (including child education) and I try to bring nice themes to engage the groups. I feel very sorry for writers and illustrators for their irrelevance (irony) too. Although, urgengy for urgency, I'm surprised you didn't mention the world hunger this time, or used us from the so called "Third World" as props again.

A large portion of my job is child education actually lol. Working at a wildlife outreach center for years will do that. You’re projecting a lot of weird opinions onto me, who hurt you? When have you seen me refer to “third world” countries that way? When have you seen me bring up “world hunger” or say “children are starving in Africa” exactly?

I’m glad owl cafes are illegal in your country. They’re illegal in mine too. Wish they were illegal everywhere. Owls don’t want to be petted and owl cafes are animal abuse. If you want to know why, feel free to search the term on my blog.

Here’s the thing about dinosaurs and fictional media with dinosaurs though: a child can learn accurate information about dinosaurs without every single toy having to be anatomically accurate based on current science. I was reading dinosaur encyclopedias by the time I was six because I loved dinosaurs and wanted to see pictures of dinosaurs and what their names were and what they ate and what have you. I think that educational material such as encyclopedias should be up to date! That is important! People at any age can learn from accessible educational material about dinosaurs.

But if a child plays with a plastic toy that’s not scientifically accurate, that’s not a detriment to their education. A child who is curious should be lead to books for more information on the subject, not more plastic toys. Toys can be educational and raise questions certainly, but not every toy has to be part of their curriculum. Sometimes children just want toys to pretend to eat other toys with. You can teach children about dinosaurs if that interests them even if fictional depictions of dinosaurs are different from the real animals. Imagination and fiction are also a healthy space for children to explore.

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rpmemesbyarat · 4 months

Text

You only need as much information about your character as is necessary to tell a story.

I see a lot of people stressing that they don’t feel they’ve developed their protagonist enough to begin their story. And in some cases, that’s possibly true. But in a lot of cases, these folks often have a pretty fleshed out profile of their character’s appearances, likes, dislikes, and so on, yet still feel it isn’t enough.

Hey, remember Calvin & Hobbes? It’s a comic strip series beloved by many, including me. We never know Calvin’s last names, or the names of his parents, or the exact nature of his dad’s job, or how they met, or their lives before being his parents. We don’t know anything about Susie’s family, or the bully Moe or babysitter Rosalyn; they’re only seen in the context of their interactions with Calvin. We don’t know about the lives of his teacher or principal outside of school. We don’t even know the street that he lives on, or the name of the city. It could literally be any suburbia, and I think that’s the point. This is Calvin’s world as he understands it, where Mom and Dad’s names are just Mom and Dad, and Dad’s job is just some ambiguous office, etc. While Calvin’s imagination is huge, it’s contrasted by his reality being very small and localized, confined almost exclusively to his home, school, and neighborhood, with occasional trips to the doctor, store, beach, museum, or zoo. In fact, the creator Bill Watterson regretted the story in which he added Calvin’s Uncle Max specifically BECAUSE of how it expanded the potential of Calvin’s world, especially since it required some awkward writing to avoid having him call the mom and dad by their names, and Watterson very much wanted them to remain unnamed.

This is a world that is deliberately small and information deliberately scant, and it works MARVELOUSLY. Calvin & Hobbes is the world through the eyes of a creative, hyperactive child and it’s perfect like it is without us needing to know everyone’s family tree, zodiac sign, favorite food, and political affiliations. Now, does that mean NO story needs that information? Absolutely not! There are stories where that might be relevant or even ESSENTIAL information to include about a character.

The question is, is your story one of them? Perhaps, instead of trying to work out your cast down to the last detail, work out what your story will require from your cast, and build their bios based on that. It’s not BAD to have superfluous details, and they’re often very fun for fans, but one should also avoid stressing out about lacking them when it’s unlikely they’ll come up in-story.

[As a note, this is one of the VERY many differences between story characters and RP characters; RP characters often need to come with very thorough bios and headcanons for others to consider them well-developed or worth interacting with, and because you alone don’t control the story, virtually ANYTHING can come up. Hence why a lot of people feel they need their character’s astrological chart worked out, their blood type, a list of allergies, and where they attended elementary school, since all those things may get asked in RP—-but you don’t NEED them for a story unless YOU make it that way!]

#writing tip #writing advice #writing #writeblor #writeblr

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thorraborinn · 2 years

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i follow odin (NOT as a folkish/odinist freak, to be clear), which often feels like it raises some weird conflicts as a newbie anarchist. like, considering his whole. situation it seems likely that pops up there would happily accept cops, fash, etc. into valhalla, if only to pad out the troops, yknow? it doesn’t seem like he goes out of his way to only ghost-enlist good drengir or anything. you ever think about that? what’s your outlook on valhalla in general?

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. There's a real contradiction here. A lot of people are going to have different ways of dealing with this, and yours might be different from mine, but I'll share what I can and maybe it'll help.

I guess I should be up-front and admit right away that I don't believe in Valhöll. And I'm glad I don't believe in it, because I also don't like it. I think it's better to just state that outright than to do what some heathens do and either reinterpret it until it's something that makes sense to them, but barely resembles any of the sources about it; or try to argue that "real" heathens didn't believe it themselves (surely, some did and some didn't). We're gonna have contradictions and differences with each other and with our predecessors because we have no centralized religious authorities, and this is all a good thing as long as we can be cool about it and respect difference.

Side note: while I personally don't think it's helpful to reinterpret Valhöll into a place where the downtrodden get rewarded for all their unseen and unappreciated struggles and sacrifices, I at least have more in common with a person who does believe that than with someone who actually believes in the Eddas' description of Valhöll and thinks that sounds good.

Disbelief doesn't get me out of needing to think about it, it just moves the problem. If what I believe is that it's a projection of the ideal life of the aristocratic warrior conqueror, I can disbelieve in Valhöll but still have to deal with the aristocratic warrior conqueror who was a historical reality. Obviously Valhöll is the one thing everyone "knows" about Old Norse culture and it completely dominates the discussion about afterlife concepts but let's think about why that is. Our main sources of information about the mythology at all were produced by the same group of people that Valhöll was most relevant to: the warrior aristocrats who laid the groundwork to establish the kingdom of Norway. The whole thing is an extension and idealization of their way of life, running on magic rather than the slaves, farmers, other workers, and women with rare exception, whose work was needed to keep the aristocracy afloat here in the living world. We don't get nearly the same volume of myth that might have been more relevant to those slaves, farmers, other workers, and women. As much as that sucks and isn't fair to either them or us, it's the reality, and we're better off accounting for that absence than ignoring it.

I don't actually think someone consciously invented Valhöll, I think one root of it is extrapolation from an idea we see elsewhere, that a person's experience following death is somehow continuous with the manner in which they died. So someone who drowns in a shipwreck has an afterlife in the sea; Hel might be characterized by illness and famine because those are ways that a lot of people get there. I expect that the idea of Valhöll started out the same way, that people who died in violent conflict remained in violent conflict after their deaths. In that case it isn't inherently a reward or punishment, and its later glorification comes about because the tradition passed through many people who glorified violence. I also think that a lot of what we think we know about it was actually embellished in retrospect by the Christian descendants of these people, and was probably done in such a way as to exaggerate the manly valor of anyone who would consider being hacked to death every day until the end of time a sort of "heaven." But we also shouldn't rule out the possibility that heathens themselves developed it as they developed their own identity in contrast to Christianity.

But once it emerged into the ecosystem of spiritual beliefs it probably served a bunch of needs that would have solidified its position. As many have pointed out, it probably helped people deal with the fact that they'd never see their dead children or even be able to give them a proper funeral in accordance with whatever their local custom was, including offering grave goods and putting the remains with the rest of the family, or somewhere accessible in the landscape. The aspect I've usually emphasized is that it was probably extremely useful for warlords who needed to convince children to die for them. Around the turn of the millennium it may have become more relevant to make promises of a good afterlife, as Scandinavians became increasingly aware of what Christianity was offering. Indeed, since we get some indications that some Norse people believed in reincarnation, this might be the time period where the concept of the afterlife being permanent consolidated.

Fortunately we do actually get an alternative view of something very similar, but from people embodying a different ethic. Þórólfr Mostrarskegg was a wealthy and powerful aristocrat known for his generosity in Norway during the time that Haraldr fairhair, the semi-legendary first king of Norway (and a central figure for the warrior-aristocratic context we're examining), was expanding his empire. Þórólfr harbored a fugitive (Björn Ketilsson) who had been declared an outlaw by Haraldr, and as a result had to flee Norway himself, choosing to uproot his own life and lose a great deal of his wealth and power rather than fail to offer aid to a fugitive. Þórólfr and his entire homestead fled to Iceland. He was kind of an over-the-top blowhard but continued to be known for his generosity. His son Þorsteinn took over the farm when he died and took after his father. It isn't specified that Þorsteinn had a specific habit of freeing slaves, but it is said that he had a retinue of some 60 freedmen. When Þorsteinn died, a shepherd saw the mountain Helgafell ('holy-mountain'), near Þorsteinn's farm, open up to reveal a huge feast and celebration happening inside, and he saw that Þorsteinn and his comrades who had died with him were going to go sit down across from his father Þórólfr. To be clear, these guys were still aristocrats. The ability to free slaves means they also had the power not to, and I don't want to romanticize these guys. But they still rejected violent conquest and chose personal loss for the good of others, and the afterlives they're depicted as having (basically Valhöll but connected to the land they lived in, and without all the violence and weird class elements) is surely related to that. This is all part of Eyrbyggja saga (no, it may not be reliable historical fact, but it is how they were remembered, which is important for its own reasons).

So I guess the reason I'm bringing this up is that we're all pretty good at reminding each other "there were a variety of beliefs" but we don't always have an opportunity to examine what they actually were, and what there position was in an ecosystem of beliefs, symbolic power, social values, political conflict, etc.; or why some of those beliefs were more likely to be written down, copied, and selected as important by later authors.

There's also a contradiction here, because Þorsteinn drowned while fishing. If Norse people all had the same concept of an afterlife, he should have gone to Rán in the afterlife, but they didn't all believe the same stuff. There's also one thing about these guys that might make the example less helpful -- in case you couldn't figure it out from their names, they were super into Thor specifically. We don't get a lot of examples of regular people who worshiped Odin, he wasn't big among the people who went to Iceland whose experiences were written about by their descendants. If we had something like the Icelandic sagas but for Denmark, maybe we'd have a broader and more nuanced understanding of these things.

I guess to summarize the main point I'm trying to make so far is that we don't need to turn off the criticism for something just because it's projected into the realm of the supernatural or afterlife or whatever, considering that the actual once-living people those ideas come from are subject to that criticism. Heathens have a really bad habit of acting like they believe there was, like, a cohesive Old Norse Religion and if we're to belong to it than we're handed a predetermined package of beliefs, and a lot of the arguments and discourse are about what's in that package. But that just isn't true. A lot of the lore we have has more to do with regional rulers trying to one-up each other, which generates change and innovation rather than being a witness to what came before them. And some of it is even shrouded in the same fake conservatism, the same "back in the good old days when [thing that never happened]" that we still have today. I have a lot of other thoughts about Valhöll so if any of this is confusing or if it would help to go deeper on something I've said, let me know, but this is getting unwieldy now.

I think there's more to be said about what an anarchist is to make of Odin in general (in addition to what I've already said), but my thoughts on that are less cohesive and I've come to fewer conclusions. In some cases we may be better off sitting with those contradictions than trying to resolve them. One thing I'll offer is that I think that when the gods do unambiguously bad, twisted shit in myths it's because it's supposed to hurt. Like, I think it's supposed to feel like when you yourself think about a time when you've done something fucked up and repeatedly ask yourself why you did it or why you can't go back and do it different, because the only way to give those moments any kind of meaning is to be transformed by them into something better than you previously were. Some of Hávamál is even explicitly framed as hoping the audience will learn from Odin's own fuckups (Háv 11-13: "Don't drink too much"; Háv 13-14: "There was this one time when I drank too much...").

I tend to interpret the Ragnarök story as being about how allowing the breakdown of communal relations based in mutual respect and solidarity, in favor of personal advantage or even out of a sense of duty, inevitably leads to total system collapse, ensuring that any "victory" is Pyrrhic; and about how literally having this spelled out for people won't necessarily prevent them from rushing headlong into it even in their attempts to avoid it. IMO, it's a mythic playing out of ideas and emotions that pertain to living in a blood-feud culture, where honor fuels an engine of ever-escalating violence that leaves no room for anything but tragedy on every side, often in the name of "doing the right thing." (incidentally, the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace is the product of peoples who grappled with the same problem, but actually made it out to the other side). If that's true, then not only does Norse mythology not present a single, coherent, monolithic religion; it actually contains within it, along with lot of other, sometimes conflicting things, a desperate grasping toward something better, and any modern person whose identity is formed in relation to them is also taking on a responsibility of carrying that on. Anyway I'm definitely in the weeds now so I better stop but the stuff I've described in this paragraph is kind of constantly running in the background whenever I read about Odin as a narrative figure and is the more religiously interpretive side of why I can't with any einherjar=good.

#ask #anon #heathenry

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