First off, an official Phantom account posted about the Japanese production. That’s cause for a post in and of itself. Second, I love this PoNR picture.

GLENDA CHITTOCK is THIRTY-FOUR YEARS OLD and a RADIO HOST for THE WITCHING HOUR at THE WIZARDING WIRELESS NETWORK. They look remarkably like JANELLE MONAE and consider themselves aligned with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. They are currently OPEN.

→ OVERVIEW:

The only child of famed wizarding songstress ELINORA BLETCHLY and lead guitarist of world renown rock band The Hungarian Horntails BUZZ CHITTOCK, Glenda Chittock had a strange upbringing with rebellion in their blood, a song in their heart and strange parents. Born in London during the earlier years of their parents' careers, Glenda came as a surprise to both of their parents. A young and promising singer who had graduated from choir in the Great Hall to glam wrock, her career was just beginning to take off as she was named the opening act for European leg of The Hungarian Horntails world tour. The hottest band of the late 40s The Hungarian Horntails attracted a significantly younger crowd of moody teenagers whose parents didn’t understand them. Everywhere the band went they were swamped by fans, all the members being easy on the eye and some of the most talented musicians ever to come from Britain. Buzz’s numerous affairs with fellow celebrities, actresses, singers and veela backing dancers were splashed across the pages of The Daily Prophet. 

Elionora Bletchly was supposed to be just another witch in a long line of other witches who had come before her and fallen in love with his deep brown eyes and boyish smile. The Horntails’ European Tour saw the pair fall in and out of bars in a number of cities and share kisses behind stage curtains on the nights he wasn’t charming fans until one day it was over. The Horntails were off to America and Elionora was about to be signed by a record label in London. They were ready to say goodbye to a season of fun… and then Glenda arrived nine months later. A beautiful baby with their father’s eyes, their mother’s beauty and both their parents lungs. Already an established act who made money off the idea of fans thinking all the singers were single, Buzz had to learn to become a parent outside of the public eye, appirating home when possible to the family’s private residence in Hogsmede and taking shifts with Elinora who was trying to make it on the wizarding wrock scene. Similar to Buzz, Elinora’s music label advised she keep the birth of her child a secret in order to sell more records and appear more relatable to the younger demographic she was attempting to target. 

By the time it came to light Glenda had been born, The Horntails had retained their fame and Glenda’s mother had achieved fame as Madame Bletchley, a sultry songstress known worldwide. With Glenda getting older and their parents careers firmly established in tact the existence of Glenda was confirmed in a five page spread in Witch Weekly magazine with the six-year-old Glinda commenting on what it was like to be the secret love child of two wrock legends. After the Witch Weekly spread their anonymity was tarnished as the world longed to watch them grow up. Photos emerging of them singing backstage with their pygmy puff covered in glitter and singing their heart out. Glenda became a darling of the wizarding world as people followed their upbringing and longed to know more about them. When Glenda attended Hogwarts their reputation precedes them, with some people hankering to be their friend for backstage passes and info on their parents whilst others bullied them mostly out of spite and jealousy. But as the child of two wrock legends, they were born strong and wouldn’t let anyone tear them down. 

Unsurprisingly, Glenda was sorted into Gryffindor and soon attracted the friendship of CHARITY BURBAGE. A Pure-Blood witch who had grown up immersed in Muggle pop culture, Glenda found Charity fascinating and quickly developed a crush as their friendship grew. Both talented singers, they could often be found singing together or listening to records in the Gryffindor common room, sharing music and laughing as Glenda was introduced to the wonders of Muggle music.  Though Glenda had often talked themselves up to making a move on Charity the time never truly seemed right, especially as Charity began fighting an important war inside Hogwarts. Having seen hatred spewed at many Muggle-Born students, Charity and their other best friend BENJY FENWICK formed Sorcerers for Equality which aimed to lobby for equal rights for all those living in the magical community. As someone who had grown up privileged in the magical community due to the love their parents received, Glenda didn’t really know what it felt like to be discriminated against as friends of theirs like KEIRA GREY had been.

Glenda had always thought themselves different from the way they were originally raised, Glenda didn’t feel as though they fit into the box of either witch or wizard and from the age of eleven. Glenda felt free to be themselves and wanted to fight for others to have that same right that everyone should be entitled to. Glenda’s name carried weight to it in the wizarding world due to their parents and although they disliked being famous for simply that reason, they knew what they needed to do with that fame and began to spread the message of Charity and Benjy’s movement. Upon graduating, Glenda began to involve the press more in their life. Frequently being interviewed by Witch Weekly to discuss Sorcerers for Equality and writing the occasional piece for the magazine on activism in the wizarding world from an annoyingly showbizzy perspective. People seemed to enjoy the idea of the child of wrock legends taking to the streets and fighting for Squib Rights alongside their famous father and his bandmates. Although Glenda considers their work with Sorcerers for Equality a full time occupation, they also work as one of the more famous voices on The Wizarding Wireless Network in Hogsmede as host of The Witching Hour.

Glenda’s work after leaving Hogwarts writing the occasional piece for Witch Weekly made them an attractive voice for the Network, though as the station is owned by the Ministry there is a limit on how much Glenda can say. Mostly Glenda uses their hour to showcase up and coming talent as well as some familiar names. Despite their time being spread fairly thin when Charity and Benjy approached them about joining The Order of The Phoenix they jumped at the chance. Working at a radio station and being close with a number of Aurors, Glenda was well aware of the dire situation mounting in the wizarding world and would do anything to help put a stop to any dark sorcery at work. Although they are relatively new to The Order, Glenda is settling in well and has been assigned young sorcerer POPPY HOOKUM to help train. Even though at times Glenda feels as though they are one of the weaker links in the team due to their lack of duelling ability, Glenda knows their talents lie with their contacts and has been assigned Poppy to harness what great talent they have and help them calm down and focus rather than rush into situations head on. With the help of Poppy, Glenda is investigating a number of the wizarding elite, attempting to flush out members of The Dark Lord’s Army hiding among the upper class, starting with mysterious French witch, OPHELIA DELACOUR.

→ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Blood Status → Half-Blood

Pronouns → They/Them

Identification → Non-Binary 

Sexuality  →  Pansexual  

Relationship Status → Single

Previous Education → Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Gryffindor)

Societies → Sorcerers for Equality

Family → Elinora Bletchly (mother), Buzz Chittock (father), Ambroise Bletchly (cousin), Celestina Warbeck (godmother)  

Connections  → Charity Burbage (best friend/object of affection), Benjy Fenwick (best friend), Greta Catchclove (best friend), Alice Yen (close friend), Kingsley Shacklebolt (close friend), Xenophilius Lovegood (close friend), Giva Patil (close friend), Pandora Fortescue (close friend), Keira Grey (close friend), Tomas Wood (close friend/colleague), Tilden Toots (close friend/colleague), Star Davenport (close friend/colleague), Poppy Hookum (friend/mentee), Ophelia Delacour (person of interest) 

Future Information → N/A

GLENDA CHITTOCK IS A LEVEL 5 SORCERER.

Stories of Our Lives - Epilogue

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

May 21, 2043 - 23 years later

She stared out into the spacious backyard. It was littered with young adults, aging parents and laughter, lots of laughter. It was a joyous occasion they were celebrating but her parents and family members tend to take celebrating a little too serious. They didn’t need an excuse to throw a party but this time they had a great one. 

Cora and her brother had just graduated from university - her with a journalism degree, him with a degree in engineering. She had landed a coveted spot at a magazine that was very vested in her father’s career back in the day; Oli and a friend had launched a new engineering firm in the heart of London, focusing on energy and resource consulting and a lot of other stuff she didn’t understand. He loved it though and that was the most important thing.

“Why are you in here and not out there?” She was pushed from her thoughts as the question came from her mother. 

She smiled, pushing her brunette hair from her face before sighing. “It’s mayhem out there. That’s why Oli is out there and I’m here.”

“They’re family, love. They’re not going to attack you.” Gia smiled at her oldest daughter.

Cora lifted an eyebrow in her mother’s direction, something she learned from her father. “I don’t know about that. We haven’t had a full family get together in quite a while. I mean, Harry hasn’t reached his hugging quota for the day yet.”

“Be nice Cordelia Ann or I’ll stick your father on you.” Gia warned pointing a finger in her daughter’s direction. 

Cora rolled her eyes. “Daddy will back me up on that one.”

Her father and her were often found in cahoots with one another, driving her mother absolutely nuts. It was just one of the many special things she shared with her daddy. “I don’t doubt he will.”

Cora looked at her mother with worried eyes. “Are you alright mum?”

“I am . . . just can’t believe I’m old enough to have children graduate from university.” Gia wiped her eyes. “I’m so proud of you and your brother.”

She pulled her mum into a hug, melting into the feeling of being in her mum’s arms. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got an office in London and you’ll still see me for family dinners. I’m just moving into a new house and starting a job. I’m still your little girl, no matter what.”

“I know, it’s just that you’re so grown up and it’s difficult for your old mum to handle.” Gia laughed, pulling back from the hug. 

Cora smiled at her mum. “No matter what you’ll always be my mum. That will never change. I love you mummy.”

“I love you too bug. What’s this special surprise you’re teasing us about?” Gia grinned at her daughter, hoping she would spill the beans.

Cora laughed. “Nice try mum but you’re going to have to wait just like everyone else.”

The back door swung open interrupting the mother-daughter moment. “What’s going on in here?”

“Leave it Lou . . . just a little mother daughter bonding.” Gia swatted at her husband as he pulled both of his girls into his arms. 

He looked at them both carefully before sighing. “If there are tears, I’m out of here.”

“You missed it by five minutes. You’re in the clear.” Gia teased, leaning up and kissing her husband. “Let’s go back to the party.”

Not giving the two a chance to speak, she scooted out the door leaving father and daughter in the kitchen. “She ok?”

“She can’t believe she's old enough to have kids graduating from uni. She’s just being sentimental.” Cora smiled at her father. There were times he was still clueless of what went on in the household, often turning to one of his daughters for an explanation.

Louis nodded, taking a drink from the beer he retrieved from the fridge. “I’m with her there. Seems like yesterday we were bringing you and Oli home from the hospital. And now look at us; you’re working at the magazine and Oli has his own business.”

“We’re still your children, dad. That’s not going to change; what will change is that we’re more successful than you currently are.”

Cora was out the door before it even registered with Louis what she said. “You little bugger; I’m going to get you.”

“Come on old man, we’ll fight right here, right now.” Cora loved challenging her father and was very good at it; Gia often times break up their playful fighting.

Gia gave her husband a look which translated to Louis as ‘knock it off’. “Maybe some other time. I’m going to go reminisce with your uncles about the good old days.”

One Direction had disbanded in 2032 after a worldwide tour. The boys, all with children by that point, wanted to have some normalcy and raise their children at home instead of the road. For their fortieth anniversary since forming on X-Factor, they did a mini reunion tour around the world, which quickly sold out surprising their children. Rolling Stones Magazine ran a special collector’s edition filled with interviews of the men and what they were up to. Cora had a hand in that and even sat down to interview the guys at their request.  

Cora spent the afternoon catching up with her cousins; between the five men there were 15 children and the next generation of children was starting as well. The age range between the 15 was Mollie at 30 and Braelyn at 9 years old. With the wide range of ages, there was always someone to talk to and hang out with. 

“Cora come on! Come play with us.” Her cousin Berto yelled kicking a football between his feet. 

Looking at her clothing attire, she frowned. “I’m in a dress.”

“Hasn’t stopped you before Delia.” Oli grinned at his sister who simply kicked off her shoes before running barefoot into the group. 

Dinner quickly broke up any games going on. As always, it was an affair with so many people rushing around. Once everyone was settled, Louis smiled at the group.

“Thank you for taking time out of your oh so busy schedules so you lot could come celebrate Cora and Oli’s graduation with us.” He smiled at his best friends, siblings, parents, children, and his wife surrounding him. “We are extremely proud of Oli and Cora and cannot wait to see what you two accomplish in the future. To Cora and Oli.”

“Cora and Oli.” Everyone echoed, before turning back to the food in front of them.

After dinner was cleared, a bonfire was quickly assembled, guitars bought from the house and a sing-a-long started. This was tradition no matter the house or occasion. A few One Direction songs were sung before moving onto modern music to appease the younger generation.

That generation soon lost interest, causing focus to shift to Cora. “So you mentioned you had a surprise for all of us. Spill chica, I can’t handle the suspense.”

“Way to put me on the spot, Mollie.” Cora stood up glaring at her oldest cousin.

Mollie grinned. “Well then you shouldn’t have opened your mouth. I’m surprise more people aren’t bugging you, namely the mums.”

“Mum already tried; I shot her down.” Cora grinned, escaping into the house quickly before returning. “So one of my final projects was write a paper on what is important to me.”

“What did you pick?” Niall asked looking at his nervous niece, something that wasn’t common.

Cora smiled looking around the crowded backyard at her family. “Crazy enough, I wrote about you guys, my family.”

“Hopefully you stuck with the positive stuff about us.” Harry yelled causing her to laugh loudly.

Cora grimaced, biting her lip. “Yeah I mean there’s some good things in there.”

Her comment caused the men of the group to protest, loudly, causing everyone else in the group to laugh. “What did you get on it?”

“It wasn’t graded; it was just the final piece of a semester long project.”

Harry grinned, watching Cora’s shift uncomfortable at the prospect of her family reading the piece. “So can we read it or are you going to tease us?”

“Yeah you can read it. I’ve got copies for each family - you get to fight for who reads it first.” Cora smirked handing out the papers to each of her uncles and father. 

Louis smiled at her daughter, taking the paper from her. “You nervous?”

“More than when the article I did on you guys was published.” She admitted, biting her lip and looking at her dad.

He nodded, giving her a quick hug. “Well this is just another step in the process. Everyone here loves you and will say nothing but positive things about this piece. If they don’t, send them my way.”

The way he cracked his knuckles after the statement caused her to laugh. Soon all the papers were handed out, causing her to look anywhere but her family member’s faces. “I’m going inside, call me when you’re done.”

Louis shook his head at his daughter. She had always been this way; nervous about any feedback on anything, refusing to look in your direction until you were ready to give your opinion and anxious for anything negative. 

Taking a seat, he grinned at Gia. “You ready to read this?”

“There’s nothing incriminating in there, Louis.” Gia shook her head. “I already know I’m going to love it. She’s an amazing writer and I’m glad the world has the chance to read her words.”

The Most Important Things - Cordelia Tomlinson

There are lots of things important to me - my friends, my life experiences, the job that I will be accepting in the upcoming days. But there has been one constant in my life that has always been there no matter what was going on.

For the past four years of uni, I have been taught that the written word holds so much power; you have the ability to make people laugh, cry, smile, question, recall memories and the power to surprise. Hopefully along these pages, there will be some surprises, some moments to cry or laugh, maybe some anger but hopefully a lot of good memories and smiling moments.

I have biological aunts and uncles, galore. Mum was one of five and dad was one of seven. I have lots of biological cousins. But that’s not what this paper is about. 

I am one of the 15 kids that know what it was like to grow up in post heydays of One Direction. Most of my childhood, until the age of 12 was spent on a tour bus traveling around. Before I was two, my passport had more stamps on it than most businessmen. I spent my sixth birthday in New York City, ice skating in Rockefeller Plaza.  I got the opportunity to do more things than other ordinary children - my classroom was a bus window; I got the hand on experiences that most adults could on dream about

And along the way had the most amazing family I could have ever asked for. This paper is about them.

Dad was the oldest member of One Direction, the single most successful band in the history of the X-Factor show.  Him and three other guys were thrown together and the rest, they say is history. When he was put with those three other boys, he had met his three best friends to travel on this journey with.

Each boy brought something unique to the group and from there, anyone who was brought into the group added a missing element and unique touch to the group as a whole. The order I’ll talk about each of my ‘uncles’ is not meant to show favoritism (but let the record show, Uncle Niall is my favorite, sorry boys!) All of my uncles were favorites at one time or another but Niall remains my favoritest ever.

Speaking of Niall, we’ll start with him. He is the Irish one of the group; little blonde leprechaun. He can make you laugh no matter what kind of day you have. He’s just one of those people who is the life of the party and no matter what, is always ready for a pick up footie match, which is why I think he’s my favorite. Him and I have gone to lots of games over the years and a lot of my special times with him include food and footie. He’s married to Tricia, who is lovely and amazing (sidenote, my uncles knew how to pick incredible women to marry - they are all amazing and have put up with a lot of shit over the years). She’s a photographer, which means the camera is never far from her hands. She is just one of those laid back women, who you just want to curl up next to and spill your guts. She always had a habit of getting me to talk, even if I didn’t want to. 

They have three kids. Mollie Ann is the oldest of the 18 kids. Her mum is Tricia but she’s from a previous relationship but you would never know it. Her and Niall are so much alike it’s not funny. She would often join mine and Niall’s footie trips due to her being the only child of his to actually have an interest in the sport, which automatically made her “daddy’s little girl.”  She often goes by Walshy, though only certain people are allowed to call her that including my dad and Niall. She was actively involved in sports, particularly football, which caused the rest of us children to practically grow up on the pitch. Saturdays were spent on the golf course, alongside her father, despite her lack of enjoyment of the sport. As a child, everyone thought she would join her mum in the journalism field but surprised us all by becoming a lawyer, despite her sweet and gentle personality. It actually made sense though because she was tougher than she looked. Her law background came in handy, especially during arguments among cousins.

Patrick Frey is their second child. He is identically to his father, only difference is that Patrick is a natural blonde. Patrick is the one you go to if you have any trouble; the amount of people he knows is amazing and he’s always has the connection, no matter what you need. He was the rebellious one of the Horan family; him and his parents had a rocky relationship for about three years. His troublemaking ways led to an accident that got his younger brother in the hospital. This served as a wake-up call for Patrick, who changed his ways after that. Although he grew up to be a good son and brother, Niall still refers to him as their “handsome devil.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially for someone who becomes London’s bad boy restaurateur. As an adult, Patrick bonds with his father over their shared love for food and beer (good thing he owns a handful of restaurants and bars)!

Their third is Robert Henley, and goes by “Berto or Bertie, but never Bert”, per Niall, the youngest Horan was named after his grandfather. With his dark hair and blue eyes, Berto could easily charm the pants off people like his older brother, if he weren’t ridiculously shy. At age 7, he broke an arm while on a walk with Patrick, who was ambushed by school bullies. Berto was quiet; he made good grades like his sister; he often stayed in his room doodling or playing video games. Niall nearly had a heart attack when he heard his then 19 year-old son sing and play the guitar for the first time. Berto is the only one of the 18 children to pursue a career in music.

Liam Payne is next. Liam is the uncle you go to when you need someone to tell you you’re being stupid or want a honest opinion. He is the most sensible of the group, but will always have your back no matter what stupid move you pulled. One of his strong points is embarrassing his own children along with his nieces and nephews without taking it too far. He is still in the music business; him and my dad opened up a production company after One Direction, where they both write and produce songs for up and coming artists. He’s married to Danielle, who is this incredible dancer and has her own studio. She used to dance with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Ellie Goulding among many, many more.  She was the cool aunt that would take the older cousins backstage of the most popular tickets around London - in fact she was the one that introduced me to Justin Timberlake, much to the annoyance of my childhood friends. 

This is where I say I feel so bad for Liam - him and Danielle got lucky with three children, all girls. He often escapes to Niall’s house just to escape the estrogen induced household he’s built for himself. Georgina Ava is their oldest and a dancer just like her mother. Danielle had each of the three girls in dance classes before they could walk. Georgie is a big ball of hyper - identical to her father. She has performed at the Brits and even gone on tour with big names. She is never home so when we do get together, it’s usually for dinner and drinks. She loves to dream and has always kept her eye on her dreams, something I admire about her. She is dating a fellow dancer named Adam and I think I hear wedding bells in the future (sorry uncle Liam! He is just not ready to let his baby girl go just yet). 

Savannah Alexa Payne is the middle child; she’s a hip hop dancer who spends most of her time at her mum’s studio teaching classes. She has always been the center of the spotlight, demanding your attention to watch her spin and twirl. There are girls who love dance and then there’s Savannah who eats, breathes, and lives dance. More times than not, she has tried to teach me simple dances, but my two left feet get in the way and I end up pulling muscles or breaking bones (a broken growth plate is nothing to laugh about). She is dating the sweetest boy named Ryan, whose father is Olly Murs, much to Liam’s humor. 

The baby of the family is Adelaide Hope who is still in school. She is 16 and just getting into the boy phase much to the horror of her father. (For the record, all of the guys had decided early on that their daughters would not officially date until they were 16 years old), though several girls, who shall not be named (coughMollieGeorginacough), gave their father’s a hard time about that rule. Addie is daddy’s little girl. She is the sports star within their family - though her mother tried to get her into dance. She’s the pitcher of her softball team and has a wicked throw - officially schooling the boys within the family. Addie is my little buddy; anytime she’s around my flat, we are watching sports with some kind of sweet dessert, usually ice cream or cupcakes from the bakery below my flat.

Harry Styles, the Greek God of One Direction (or so mum’s of my friends used to tell me - which by the way, no 12 year old ever wants to hear about her uncle!) Harry is typically around our house on any given time. He is always up for a laugh and would usually pop up at my internship at the magazine. He is a charmer, and is credited with teaching his son and the other boys within the family the fine art of flirting. He is hopelessly tied to Scarlett, who act like they’re dating more than being married. Scarlett is a Physical Therapist, which comes in handy when 7 of the 15 children are clumsy and are found most of the time in casts. 

Amelia Dominique is the apple in her father’s eyes. She is a daddy’s girl through and through. All she has to do is bat those long eyelashes of hers and Harry is putty in her hands.  Lia is a part-time model while she is going to school for acting lessons. She has starred in a couple of commercials, her parents being very strict with what she was allowed to pursue while keeping a normal school schedule. She is leaving in July to shoot her first feature movie which she is very excited for. Amelia is my go-to lazy day person. Her and I sit around in sweatpants, watching stupid television shows that no one else will watch with us. 

Jackson Edward Styles was born legally deaf. Harry and Scarlett quickly learned signed language to help their young son navigate the strange world around him. The entire family learned, some of us more quickly than others. Jackson and I bonded rather quickly, both us very quick with our signing. He received cochlear implants when he was 4; I was in the room, at his request, when they were turned on and tears immediately flowed from my eyes when he recognized my voice. We have a special bond that doesn’t compare to anyone else in the family. To this day, Jackson is the one that can actually calm me down when I’m stressed beyond my pushing point. 

Last but not least, is my actual family. Mum and dad are crazy; I’m just going to throw that out there. I’ll tell you about my siblings before circling back to my padres. 

Oliver is the oldest; my twin brother. We are 12 minutes apart and he has held those twelve minutes over my head more times than I care to admit. He’s super smart and is an engineer - he just opened his own business that looks into energy sources (I don’t understand half of what he says but I still think it’s cool that he’s doing it). Oli is my go to person; despite the fact we’re twins, we’ve always been closed. He’s bailed me out more times and I’ve had to lie for him many more times. Mum and dad quickly learned they had to be a tag team when dealing with the two of us. Often times, both of us would be grounded at the same time because we would stick up for one another. Oliver is engaged (shocker!!!) to his best friend named Eleanor and they’re getting married in October. 

We’ll skip me for now (don’t worry that’s the good part of the story!). This is where my family gets crazy. Maisie is 20; she knows what she wants and she goes after it. At twenty, she is a part owner of a local business. Since she was legal to do so, she’s been working at a bakery (the exact bakery that is below my flat). She is a tremendous baker. Her red velvet cupcakes are to die for. She’s always been in the kitchen, since she was little, helping mum bake and cook. She’s going to make someone a very happy husband when she decides to settle down.  All I have to do is text her the word ‘hummingbird’ and she knows to make me a batch of my favorite cupcakes. It’s good to know a personal baker from time to time!

Asher is mum and dad’s little science geek. From the time he was little, he was always fascinated by blood, guts, and gore. Anytime any of us went to the hospital, he was always there asking the doctors questions and wanting to know everything about medicine; it's no surprise that he wants to be a pediatrician. At 18, he doesn’t know if he wants to stay in England for school or go abroad to the US. Mum has voiced her opinion on the matter but will support him in his decision, whenever he decides. My time with Asher is dinner and a movie; that’s about all the attention span he has for me, especially while his girlfriend is around. Asher is dating Amelia Styles; they are completely adorable and Harry has laid down the law more than once with Asher.

(So little side story, when mum and dad were first married, they agreed on three or four children; so you’d think they’d stick with that plan right? Nah not my parents. There’s two more little bundles of joy in the house, bringing the grand total to six children in the Tomlinson family. We joke that they should have had two more to beat Nana Jay but mum doesn’t think it’s that funny of a joke!)

Elodie is 13 and completely boy crazy much to the chagrin of dad. He kind of had it easy with me and Maisie but it’s biting him in the butt with Elodie. She has her eyes set on a couple of neighborhood boys, but daddy is keeping a tight leash on her until she’s 16 (he’s constantly citing that rule whenever Dee brings up the issues of boys). Other than boys, she is a major fan of music but doesn’t have any interest in pursuing a career in it. She plays guitar and drums, much to the excitement of Niall. She is more often than not found over at his house jamming the afternoon and nights away. Elodie is also my shopping buddy. She is opinionated and is not afraid to tell it like it is, which has gotten me in trouble many times.

And finally, we have Braelyn, mum and dad’s oopsy child - they thought they were done with Elodie but Brae was bound and determined to make her presence known. She was a preemie baby; she was born six weeks early, spending the first four weeks of her life in NICU. She was my little fighter and now is completely healthy, happy, and footie player. At nine years old, she’s the captain of her little team and is trying out for a traveling team. She’s mum and dad’s free spirited child as well. Ninety percent of the time she doesn’t know where she’s going but she’ll figure it out when she gets there. Her flightiness has gotten her into trouble one too many times. She is more often late for appointments, something her, mum, and dad are all trying to work on. 

And that leaves, my mum and dad. Dad is one of my best friends. He’s usually the first one I call no matter what situation I find myself in. I’ve called him many times in the middle of the night when I’m pulling an all nighter just for a reminder that I’m alright and everything will be ok. I’ve been described as a daddy’s girl but there’s nothing wrong with that. The only thing we disagree with is our footie teams - dad’s Manchester United while I’m more of a Chelsea girl. He forgives me for that but still gives me hell about it. No matter what’s going on, he always has time for us kids; when we were little, him and mum always took us out for one on one time so we could talk about anything and everything.

Mum is strong in her own right. She has to put up with a lot of crap from dad’s fans despite being married to dad for the past 24 years. Before she became a stay at home mum, she was a bombardier for the British Army; she was the lead engineer for the bombers and had to opportunity to travel to war-torn countries. She was kidnapped twice while on duty, once while dating my dad. She officially retired when she became pregnant with me and Oli. I think that’s why Oli became an engineer was because of mum’s stories. Mum has always been there with a hug and a soothing voice when things got tough. 

And me? I’m the one that always had her head in a book, pen to paper, and one who was shy, but that has been broken since being with the magazine. I loved traveling when I was younger and to this day, still love going places by train and plane instead of car.  England will always be home but I love visiting the United States, Spain (especially Sevilla, a place significant to my parents’ relationship) and Africa. I have a puppy named Tipperary (after a region in Ireland that I fell in love with and is significant to my own relationship).  I have been married for two years now - John was someone who came into my life and completely changed it. I hated him but we were forced to work on a project, and his charm and wit won me over. 

So I’ve written 3900 words and the question was what’s the most important to me. Well, those relationships I have with 23+ individuals is what’s important. What’s a little more important are the lessons each of those people have taught me. Growing up in the spotlight is never easy but with each of those people by my side, I’ve conquered a lot of my fears and overcome them with their love, support, and words. 

But my parents have always taught us to be true to who we are. And always keep those most important close to you. 

So in closing, if I can be half the parent my parents have been to me, I think I’ll be alright in the end. And surprise, mum and dad, you’re going to be grandparents in November. 

Cordelia Ann Thomas

Gia looked around the backyard, looking for Cora but failed to see her. Her husband squeezed her hand to gain her attention. “She’s in the house, should we go see her?”

A bright smile was stretched across Louis’ face and one was stretching across Gia’s face. “Can you believe it?”

“Well it was bound to happen sooner or later.” Louis smirked at his wife pulling her into a hug. “Grandparents, can you believe it?”

Gia laughed. “Nope but this day keeps getting better and better. So what’s the plan?”

“Act like we didn’t read that part . . . let her actually tell us instead of us reading it.” Louis smirked knowing it would irritate his daughter. 

The two walked into the house to see Cora and John standing in the kitchen quietly talking. “Hey you two. Did you finish it?”

“We did and it was great darling. You are a fantastic writer. Your mum cried a couple of times.” Louis hugged his oldest daughter tightly. 

Looking up at her dad, Cora smiled. “Anything surprise you?”

“Nah not really. You made me choke up when you were describing our relationship but I love you Delia. That might be my favorite thing you’ve ever written.” Louis kissed her cheek.

Gia stepped up and hugged her daughter tightly. “You’re a brilliant writer and I love it. That was one amazing piece for your final project.” 

“Thanks mum. Anything surprise you?” Cora looked at John, turning her attention to her parents. 

Gia shook her head. “Everything I knew but it was great reading it again. Your uncles got a laugh when they read what you wrote about them. And more than one of your aunts shed tears while reading their sections. That’s why you’re such a brilliant writer; you know how to play with your audience's’ emotions.”

She listened to her parents go on about how brilliant of a writer she is; usually she loves listening to feedback, especially from her parents but she had dropped a bombshell in that piece and she couldn’t believe her parents hadn’t picked it up.

“Ok stop.” She leaned against the counter and looked at her parents closely. “Are you two pulling my leg or something? Or is this like that hidden camera show you two love to watch?”

Louis and Gia traded glances, looking at Cora in confusion. “What are you talking about? We’re praising you for your work and you’re yelling at us?”

“Did you two not read the last line of the writing?” Cora took a deep breath, trying to calm down and not yell at her parents. 

Louis smirked, loving watching his daughter squirm. “You mean about how if you can be half the parent we were to you, then you’ll be alright?”

“Yeah that line. Did you read the second part of that line?” Cora asked, John coming to stand beside her, his hand squeezing hers for reassurance. 

Gia shook her head. “I must have missed it. I was just so excited to tell you what I thought about the book that I just assumed it was finished.”

“Well if you had read it, there was a surprise for you both in it.” Cora sighed, smiling brightly at her parents. “John and I are going to be parents in November.”

Louis and Gia’s jaws both dropped before Gia squealed. “What? You’re pregnant?”

“And you both are horrible actors.” John commented looking at his in-laws with a smirk on his face. 

Cora looked between her husband and parents. “What did I just miss?”

“Your parents knew the entire time you are pregnant . . . I think they were pulling your leg, hun.” John said wrapping his arms around her in a hug. 

She pouted, looking at her parents. “You two are mean. Why would you do that?”

“Never did I think I’d read that my oldest daughter is pregnant via her last piece as a college student.” Louis said reaching over and giving Cora a hug. “Your mum and I are thrilled for you two.”

Cora’s pout was replaced by a smile. “Thanks daddy. I thought it would be a cool way for you two to find out but I guess it backfired a bit.”

November 12, 2043

After 22 hours of labor, she finally got to hold her newborn in her arms. A tired smile was on her face as she looked at her parents. “You want to hold her?”

Gia nodded, immediately reaching for the baby. “Oh hi little one. Oh you’re so tiny.” 

“You doing all right?” Louis looked at his daughter with a smile. 

Cora glanced at John before nodding. “Yeah sore but happy, tired, and every other emotion in the world.”

“Have you decided on a name?” Gia looked between the two new parents before handing over her new granddaughter to her husband.

John shrugged looking at his wife. “We’ve got it narrowed down to two names but haven’t decided on one of them yet. I think the name Cora picked is perfect for her but she isn’t sure.”

“Can you tell us the two names?” Louis studied his granddaughter’s face before looking at his daughter and son-in-law.

Cora smirked. “The middle name is the same but the first name is different. Evelyn or Felicity.” 

“Both are gorgeous names.” Gia murmured. “But I think I like Evelyn slight more than Felicity.”

Handing back the baby to her mummy, Louis smirked. “I think I like Evelyn better as well.”

John looked at his wife and smirked. “Well then I guess this little girl finally has her name. Nana, Papa, meet Evelyn Louisa Grant.”

“Louisa?” Louis looked at his daughter with tears pricking his eyes. “You named her after me?”

Cora nodded, smiling at her father. “You have been an incredible influence; I wanted our daughter to be named after someone who has had a massive impact on my life.”

Lightly hugging his daughter, Louis pressed his lips to her forehead. “You have given me an amazing gift, Cordelia. I love you.”

“Love you too old man.”

Throughout the years, Gia and Louis’ family would grow with more in-laws, grandchildren, and animals but the love they had for each other continued to grow as well. They both had lives fulfilled with cherished memories and amazing experiences. 

Thrill of the Hunt

Hey everyone, I just want to get some of my thoughts down onto the page. This is mostly just me rambling my thoughts on the current state of OP and Competitive Magic in general. Disclaimer: I have been a lifelong competitive player. My first games of magic were FNM booster drafts 15+ years ago against some unbelievable competition. From day 1 I was drawn in to the fierce competition in the game. I know that I am privileged; Undeniably lucky and advantaged in every way before I even get in the que. I’m a white cis male who grew up middle class in the US with supportive parents. I was able to spend my free time cutting my teeth on Magic Online and traveling to local PTQs/GPs. But this post is not going to be about where you are from; or what challenges you may face personally; or what hurdles your demographic have had to overcome. All of that stuff is completely true and valid. I will touch on it lightly, and I am happy that things are being done to address some of those issues in Magic. That being said; This is going to be solely about the drive for fair competition that burns inside of every single one of us. Inside every single person reading this; Every person that has played this game for probably half of their life or more. For every person that has spent 1000s of waking and/or dreaming hours thinking about decklists, new formats, new ideas, old formats, old theory, new theory; All the while completely forgetting that their is any life outside of competitive Magic The Gathering. For every person that plays this game in search of something they can’t really define. It’s not exactly the validation of self improvement; or the highs of the good finishes. Or even the good times with friends and all the learning we get to do along the way. It’s simply the constant burning desire for competition. Going into battle against a sea of villains who are all fighting for the same thing you are. That upper hand in this ruthless game of marginal edges. I was never part of the “Old Boys Club”. I was always an outsider; a local end boss at best. In my 15 years of being a competitive player; I have played in only 20 or so GPs, 7 PTs and a few SCG tournaments (5 or so). I have always had other commitments (School, Full time Job, Wife and 3 kids), and I never focused 100% on magic as a job or anything. Despite all of this, I was always totally enthralled by the Pro Tour. I know I am not alone. I spent years traveling to PTQs in the South and found that there were 100s of local players who wanted the exact same thing as me. 1000s worldwide all chasing the same dream. The dream of mastering this beautiful game and moving up to the very highest level. The Pro Tour was an enigma; until you played in it. Once you did, you realized how right you were all along. The entire reason you played the game was for your shot in those 16 (17! 👌🏻💪🏻) rounds. The current state of the PT/Wizards Organized Play is still mostly a disaster. Everyone sort of knows this, but it seems that most people don’t care to admit it. (They usually either benefit directly from the current system, or they are incentivized to “be cordial” in hopes of one day benefiting from the climb up the ranks of the popularity contest. They say nothing or even back up the new status quo.) Shoutout to the true hero’s like GerryT and Lucas Berthoud. They benefited from the RNG in the system and still stood up for the fairness of competition. To the Edel’s and Soorani’s; keep fighting the good fight. I will always tell it like it is. At this point they are going further and further into the wrong direction. Magic is completely peaking; unfortunately OP is floundering around hopelessly. The only way to make anything happen right now is to win tournaments. No 2nd places. No top 8s. No good run,nice 11-5 see u in a few months. You have to be ruthless and collect trophies. If you don’t do this, at the moment you are an afterthought. That being said, I am coming for the trophies. When I win the Players Tour Finals 1 and then the World Championship you don’t have to worry; I will still be screaming for organized play to be about open and fair competition. The reality is simple; The highest echelon of competition is now DIRECTLY mingled with one giant absurd petty ridiculous unbelievable comically hilariously awkwardly stupidly infuriating POPULARITY CONTEST. This is mind boggling for so many reasons. It doesn’t have to be this way! No system is ever going to be perfect. It’s impossible to make everyone happy. It’s impossible to be 100% fair. But you could at least fake it? Just try a little bit?? Having invitationals is awesome. Invite Savjz and Day9 and then whoever you want to help out with the diversity issue. But don’t tie them directly in to the Pro Tour results??? And then make them 3x important as the Paper Pro tour Results???? It literally makes so little sense and is so infurating I cannot believe how little has been said about it. I know Wily and Lucas Kai etc. talk about it often. But 25+ of the MPL all pretty much silent on it. Even the people on the bubble aren’t raising hell!!? I can’t imagine being someone who grinds and did well in multiple paper MCs this year, who is now on the bubble of rivals or MPL (that they found out about randomly over halfway through the season) and not invited to most or any of these Arena MCs!! They are OBSCENE tournaments already; 750K prizepool for a small group of players. The EV is unbelievable. And they just PILE on the Mythic Points or whatever BS system they use. It’s like worth double or more points of the Paper PTs 🤦🏻‍♂️😂😵 Siggy and I were talking while I was waiting to play my Quarterfinal match of the last fucking Pro Tour. I was in the top 8!! Siggy had just gotten 10th. I told him how bittersweet it is. With PTs mattering less and no1 caring anymore; I don’t feel as excited as I expected I would. It helped me focus as I know that winning is the only result that matters. I can get 2nd and no1 will remember me. I will not be invited to the next Pro Tour on Arena in a month. In 2 paper PTs from now I will not be there at all unless I top 8 the next one too!! (Or I get on the good side of some Wizards people maybe, or up my clout and twitter followers.) People say this stuff as a joke, but even in this PT top 8 I felt alienated a bit. Ondrej was getting literal hugs from all of the staff before the quarters even started because they know him from inviting him to things, because he calls himself Honey and smiles and is nice and streams. I love Ondrej and I believe he’s a really great player and deserves to be playing these tournaments anyway; It’s just wild to me that at the literal highest possible level of competition it’s still about some things other than the competition. Lucas and others have covered it, but in no other games/esports is this the case. When you watch the TI; or even the Fortnite World Championship... You don’t see famous players or clout farmers. You see unbelievable talent and dedication, the absolute best of the best who clearly earned their way. You don’t see Marshmello and Drake; or even Ninja and his buddies. You see 100 kids between the ages of 13-20 you’ve never heard of; who are all so unbelievably good it will give you the chills. Siggy said something along the lines of “Yeah it is really weird; I got 10th for 5k which is just an unbelievable result obviously. But the Arena PT next month is worth like 5x. You get 7500$ for dead last! And so many points!!” Congrats Siggy, but I won’t be playing in the Arena PT. Neither will 1000s of players who have played in the handfuls of paper PTs over the past few years. SEPERATE THEM! Have all the Arena Invitationals you want. Spend as much money on that as you want. We can take the slaps in the face it’s no big deal. “250k PLAYERS TOUR FINALS! Qualify by winning FIRST PLACE in a GP this season!!! Only 128 Players very exclusive wow wow cool we have to kill the pro tour to make this happen but it’s awesome woohoooooo” “Cominggggg to Long Beach Californiaaaaaaa Your 3Million$$$$$ Arena Mythic Professional Tour Championship of the Universe!!!!!!!!!!! 38 Unbelievable challengers will be taking on this new format and chopping up the 3 million$ plus 100s of Mythic pojnts catapaulting them all into the MPL conversation while you argue on twitter about who should have been invited; as if it fucking matters. As if we read that shit at all!!! If we fucking cared about what you think maybe we would respond to you sometimes 😂💪🏻😬👌🏻👌🏻💯” Just relax; stop giving away rivals/MPL points in tournaments that are invite based and already so high profile with massive prize pools. (This doesn’t affect me at all by the way; I am not even close on points it’s just very obviously the right thing to do and it’s unbelievable they aren’t acknowledging it and just continuing to invite whoever they feel like). Ok enough clowning... but for real though. What in the fuck is this popularity contest bullshit?? How is this being joked about so lightly, it’s an abomifuckingnation! Invite whoever you want, just pick some people based on some predetermined merit. Give people a chance. Something to shoot for. Have open tournaments for people from Australia and Latin America. Have open qualifier tournaments for females/NB Invite people who deserve to be there from previous PT performance like Allen Wu or Eli Loveman or Matt Sperling or Sebastian Pozzo or TheSneakyhomunculous or Jack MF Dobbin or Lan d Ho and Mark herberholz for all I care. Just give the people some feedback on anything ever! Ok enough is actually enough I could write forever about OP and what I wish they would do. But really all we can ask for is fair competition and clear communication. People will complain about anything and everything, but if Wizards would just be open and honest while communicating and promoting fair competition at the highest levels... I couldn’t give 2 shits how little money the tournaments pay or where we have to play them. We just want to have a fighting chance to play against Paulo and Luis and Kai and Yuki and Allen Wu and Zvi and Gab and Seth and Li and Lucas and Shota. Aside: Arena is also a disaster at this point. How can they not implement a friends list? Any programming/computer scientist people know what the fuck is going on? It’s been 2 years now and they are still printing $ faster than a magic streamer from outside the US with 10k+ twitter followers can print with 500000 Arena PTs on the horizon! And they still can’t fix anything ever? How is there no spectator mode or tourney mode? How is building a sealed deck still impossible? How is the best fucking computer you can find lagging after 5 matches no matter what? We gotta figure this shit out m8. Arena should have nice big competitive in client tournaments every day. At least one or two a week. Instead we can’t even draft the fucking current format? The bots can’t fucking click on Merfolk Secretkeeper? 3 cards in pack they really click deafening silence over the secretkeeper???? God dammit GG’s no re sorry u had to read this. TL;DR Old Man Yells at Clouds

Glen Weyl Isn’t Vitalik But He’s Its Next Best Hope

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Dr. Glen Weyl speaks with the calm of a man who has history on the mind.

With an unbroken gaze and an unambiguous delivery, the author, economist and Microsoft researcher calmly espouses a clear and revolutionary vision: that the world’s hierarchies can be challenged and reconceived with the power of markets.

But if his theories were trapped before in the pages of academia, in 2018, Weyl has captured the imagination and devotion of the leading minds in ethereum, and, by extension, what is likely the world’s largest cryptocurrency community. It has so far been the perfect match for the co-author of “Radical Markets,” whose collaborations with developers may soon enable his ideas to escape the page in ways he never conceived.

It was no surprise then to see Weyl at Devcon4, the annual ethereum conference in Prague in October, where he was running on three hours sleep.

At the time, Weyl reported to having given 73 talks in the previous six months alone. Just in from the UK, his trip had brought him to Belgium, Denmark, Norway and France – a series of dates he jokingly compares to a Rolling Stones tour.

Still, they don’t all get the fanfare of his Devcon talk – which he defined as a “rally cry” against individualism; here it’s met with blustering applause from the audience. As a speaker, Weyl has no shortage of charisma – a trait he brushes off as “an unfair advantage” among developers.

This charisma is no doubt helpful given Weyl’s sometimes obscure ideological inspirations. He sees himself as seeking to resurrect a liberal tradition from the 19th century; combining it with modern mechanism designed to displace entrenched power structures. According to Weyl, this enables his preferred school of thought – sometimes referred to as liberal radicalism – to break the left- and right-wing dichotomy he sees as having stagnated change in the world’s most essential systems.

In the place of traditional hierarchies, then, Weyl promotes new, democratic structures – markets that are diverse, inclusive and decentralized.

Some of his ideas go even further. In an email to ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, one he republished on Medium, Weyl went so far as to suggest a tax to penalize “using standard white English.” Elsewhere, he’s tweeted about “tax[ing] masculinity to subsidize femininity.” And following his talk at Devcon, he explicitly asked for questions from female or minority groups first.

“Sorry for not being a woman,” said a male audience member who took the microphone.

Within ethereum, however, the enthusiasm for Weyl’s ideas is at times evangelical. Even in communities that espouse the benefits of decentralization, there’s a tendency to elect icons – and Weyl has undoubtedly become one of them.

His work has inspired blockchains, artworks, science fiction, game designs and political agendas. When he spoke to CoinDesk in September, he claimed “billions” of dollars worth of capital has been pumped into exploring the ideas worldwide. He‘s even been asked to design the social rules for a potential Mars colony.

“It’s getting hard to keep track of what is going on,” Weyl said in Prague, “I’m getting like five requests every day.”

Tipping Point

To cope with the growing hype, Weyl and others have spun up a non-profit foundation as a convening point for their ideas.

Named RadicalXChange, the foundation will culminate in a conference in March that seeks to bring together the various thinkers that are broadcasting Weyl’s methods. According to Weyl, the conference is the locus of an entire social movement that’s bent on saving the world from an imminent political crisis.

“If you ask for a single goal that I have, I think that we were on a trajectory where we were headed for 1930s style global conflict and totalitarianism, and I think that RadicalXChange as a movement can stop that,” Weyl said.

History takes bobblehead form at Glen Weyl’s New York office.

But if Weyl is venerated for his focus on macroeconomic issues, he’s a product of conditions in the smaller world of cryptocurrency as well.

In a way, the enthusiasm for Weyl’s ideas can be said to stem from an absence of purpose that had been palpable since ethereum was trading at all-time highs and spawning viral applications at the tail end of 2017.

At the time, single CryptoKitties were trading for hundreds of thousands of dollars – yet the blockchain itself was burdened with the husks of failed or abandoned projects. With ethereum facing new technical and social challenges, the market mania was coupled with a queasy tension.

“The public clearly has very very high expectations of us, and this makes me feel worried and uneasy inside. We need to try harder to make this actually work,” Buterin tweeted in December 2017.

Amidst this atmosphere, the ideas expressed by “Radical Markets” seemed to introduce a renewed faith that positive social change could be achieved with a system like ethereum, whether that took months or years. Armed with this emphasis on a bright and far-off future, Weyl’s ideas lent the project a regenerated sense of direction.

Weyl sees it similarly, although he argues his ideas may have also helped free the project from the belief that money was an indicator of its success.

Ethereum’s nouveau riche are Weyl’s case and point. He gave Blockchains L.L.C., a startup operated by an early ethereum investor Jeffrey Berns that is seeking to build a blockchain utopia in Nevada, as an example of this.

“I don’t think the Blockchains L.L.C. people are badly intentioned, but I do think they don’t really know what they are doing, and if you just drop a lot of resources in a completely arbitrary way, on someone who doesn’t know, it’s just really not a good social experiment,” he said.

Because decentralization is, in Weyl’s words, “the fundamental principle that animates what is going on in the blockchain space,” enthusiasm for his message stems from the framework he provides to protect it.

“There’s all people like Blockchains L.L.C. where there’s all this power that has landed on someone in a completely arbitrary way and people are like, ‘This is bizarre.’ And so they ask, ‘Is that really going to lead to a liberal society? A decentralized society?’” Weyl said, adding:

“I think that that is what people are looking for an answer to. They are looking for an answer to, ‘How do we build institutions that will achieve our values?’”

Power bubbles

Matters of the present, however, aren’t always on Weyl’s mind; he has a tendency to flit between different time periods when talking.

In our conversation, he traveled from 600 BC up to the Age of Enlightenment, and circles consistently back to 1930s, believing that its proto-fascist political climate isn’t dissimilar to our own.

Historical figurines line Weyl’s desk.

Hitler, Weyl said, “had no power.”

“All power is a bubble,” he explained. “All Hitler had was the beliefs of other people about the beliefs of other people about the beliefs of other people.”

Yet power and its mechanisms, Weyl said, are usually hidden from view. Distinct from this, ethereum and other blockchains stand out for their transparency, which shows the verifiable legitimacy of the system in real time.

“It’s like you can feel the legitimacy or illegitimacy, you can almost measure it, of a system. There’s no historical period where that was so palpable,” he said.

According to Weyl, then, ethereum can be seen as having encountered the pitfalls of centralization. The sell-off, through this lens, is an opportunity, a chance to get it right next time, a chance that maybe systems like the Web never had.

With this second chance, Weyl believes the project needs to overcome its attitude to private property. In particular, he believes that because ethereum combines a formal notion of private property – immutable, cryptographic ownership – with informal governance, it risks leading to nefarious consequences.

“The problem is they formalized private property in an incredibly rich way, and yet they didn’t formalize democracy. And private property without democracy is an incredibly dark and scary thing,” Weyl said.

He pointed to Mencius Moldbug, the infamous neoreactionary author, to illustrate the extreme view of what occurs when private property exists without democratic protections in place.

In Moldbug’s vision, democratic structures are replaced by all-powerful corporations, elected by property holders. And Weyl has a word for governance of this type when coupled with ethereum: Skynet, referring to the villainous artificial intelligence from the Terminator film series.

“The existing system formalizes private property and it doesn’t formalize human beings, and if property exists but humans don’t exist, you will get Skynet,” Weyl said, going on to add:

“That is precisely the opposite of what people want. We built this to avoid Skynet. But if you don’t formalize human beings and only formalize property, skynet is the only thing that you come out with.”

Hope for ethereum

Weyl’s ideas address what he has defined as the crisis of the liberal order – the abandonment of democratic liberalism globally in favor of new forms of nationalism, conflict and economic secession. To protect against this, Weyl argues that ethereum – and the ideology of its leading figures – can play a crucial role.

In his words, ethereum enables new forms of “social technology” that can enforce previously unimaginable democratic structures. Coupled with the powerful ideology of its community, Weyl says, ethereum can help society sidestep emergent totalitarianism.

“What is a good application of ethereum? Avoiding nuclear winter,” he posited.

Yes, you can actually buy this crypto card and own it forever.

And with a new problem to address – one that wasn’t purely due to its trading price or immediate technical aims – word about Weyl began to spread.

Vitalik Buterin, the creator of ethereum himself, first publicly discussed Weyl’s work in April.

Writing in a blog post, Buterin broke down the scope of “Radical Markets” and cited the “multifaceted and plentiful” crossovers between the book and the ethereum community. Buterin predicted that “blockchains may well be used as a technical backbone” for the ideas.

Later in May, Buterin and Weyl made their first written appearance together, in a blog post titled “Liberation through Radical Decentralization,” written in the style of a manifesto.

With a heavy emphasis on quadratic voting, the post urged that combining ideas from the “Radical Markets” canon with blockchain tech could help challenge oppressive power and generate a “free, open and cooperative world in the 21st century.”

Effectively, quadratic voting is Weyl’s answer to ethereum’s informal governance system. What it does is re-engineer the “one person one vote” democracy envisioned by bitcoin so that minorities have a higher say, achieved through using a clever math technique called quadratic scaling.

Collaborations between the two have since culminated in a research paper authored alongside Ph.D. of economics Zoë Hitzig, titled “Liberal Radicalism: Formal Rules for a Society Neutral among Communities,” which provides a distilled description of the quadratic voting mechanism.

Titled “Liberal Radicalism” (LR) after the duo’s emerging social philosophy of the same name, the paper expanded the notion of quadratic voting outward, such that it could apply to funding.

Speaking to CoinDesk, Buterin said that what Weyl had achieved was a reactivation of some of the more politically aligned blockchain applications that were being touted back in 2014 – ideas such as universal basic income based on the blockchain.

As Buterin put it:

“[Weyl] came along and offered some really interesting and novel ideas backed up by solid mathematical reasoning that could actually be a substantial improvement on the status quo.”

“So, naturally there’s a lot of interest,” he added.

Science fiction

Indeed, it was a common theme in interviews conducted by CoinDesk, with “Radical Markets” supporters regularly citing Weyl’s work as the best hope in a world they see as faced with growing inequality and atomization.

For example, Mark Housley from the quadratic voting-powered political signaling platform WeAreThePeople told CoinDesk that “no one has come up with a better way,” to address widening income gaps and the rise of populism and democratic participation more broadly.

Still, beyond a tight clique of starry-eyed enthusiasts, there’s evidence that for some, Weyl’s ideas remain too high-risk, and perhaps too esoteric, for implementation in the immediate future.

To discover why, it helps to look to Buterin’s April blog post, which for a large part was structured as a critique.

“I love this vision. So, let me be a good intellectual citizen and do my best to try to make a case against it,” Buterin wrote at the time.

Buterin argued that some of Weyl’s ideas, perhaps, demanded too high a complexity to become livable market structures. He cited the “mental transaction costs” involved with moving people to such models, maintaining that while well-engineered, the complexity of the ideas may render them less feasible to implement.

Giving an example from inside the blockchain space, Buterin warned that some of the Weyl’s economic models might not be able to sustain the hostile, scam-fueled landscape of the cryptocurrency industry. Beyond these critiques voiced by Buterin, there have been other, more philosophically rooted reactions to Weyl’s thought as well – in particular, his belief that economics can cure all social ills.

And that’s because, in Weyl’s view, the rise of movements like right-wing populism is fundamentally an economic question – rooted in wealth inequality – and not, as others might argue, a result of more slippery, irrational inclinations, such as romanticism.

Confronted with this observation, Weyl defended his position, stating that at its heart, economics is no different to disciplines such as sociology, philosophy or politics.

A bookshelf in Weyl’s Microsoft office.

“We all worship the same god,” he said. “They are just ways of allocating resources.”

Still, Weyl differentiates this view from the mainstream economics community, which is rife with he calls “weenie supremacy” – in his words, “the view that any form of intelligence that is not perfectly correlated with a SAT score contains no value.”

To correct the ills of his community, then, Weyl incorporates the views of other disciplines, regularly working alongside philosophers, artists and post-colonial theorists that complement – and at times contradict – his economics-centric worldview.

Artists and writers are heralded by Weyl as a way to provide critical feedback prior to implementation. For example, blockchain researcher Primavera De Filippi‏ is amassing a sci-fi anthology of Radical Markets ideas intended to speculate on the outcome of the models if applied.

“It’s harder to do it in the real world right now, so instead of trying something in practice and then having to wait and see what happens, science fiction gives you the opportunity to discuss the different ways that it could be implemented,” she told CoinDesk.

Another project that critically extrapolates on Weyl’s ideas is “Radical Bodies,” a concept conceived by ethereum developers Lane Rettig and Dean Eigenmann at a hackathon in Prague, in which rolling auctions are applied to advertising space on people’s clothing.

Based on an idea from “Radical Markets,” the advertising space – such as t-shirts – would be under permanent auction. At any stage, an owner can be outbid by someone else – an action which would force a sale.

Rettig described the idea as a political statement, telling CoinDesk that “Radical Bodies” exposes the market dynamics that are already active within much of the data-driven economy.

“We’re selling ourselves to Google, Facebook and the others all the time, so why not be explicit about it and receive some compensation?” he said.

Still, the idea provoked some criticism at Devcon4. Weyl himself described the idea as “dystopic.” One attendee, who wished to remain anonymous, speculated on what would happen if the same market logic was applied, not to clothing, but to body parts.

Implying that there were areas of life in which such markets structures can be dangerous, the attendee asked: “How much do you value your eyes? And what would happen if I value them more than you?”

Changing the world

Still, in spite of philosophical differences, Weyl claims his ideas are attracting serious dialogue among governments and politics internationally.

For example, he’s optimistic some of his ideas will be tested in Europe during the next couple of years. Within this, Weyl says ethereum – and blockchain more broadly – have the opportunity to gain a level of legitimacy that the technology has yet to achieve.

“This could a way of explaining to the broader community and forming links with artists and real politicians and policy makers and so forth,” he said in the interview.

But there are other ways that the two disciplines can enforce each other as well. Blockchain, for example, is frequently being touted as a way to test Weyl’s ideas in small environments that won’t cause any damage if the experiments don’t go according to plan.

And that’s notable because, perhaps predictably, ideas like rolling auctions as an alternative to private property have been met with some backlash, with many arguing that the model fails to offer the stability required by some members of society, such as families.

And there are other ideas that have been met with suspicion as well.

For example, each idea proposed by Weyl requires digital identity, possibly one of the most coveted and contested ideas within the cryptocurrency industry due to the potentially totalitarian consequences that such information could have if concentrated.

“It is absolutely dangerous to try to build political and technical systems which demand a single identity,” Harry Halpin, the scientific advisor to Panoramix, warned.

Still, Weyl is aware of the problems of building identity solutions and is taking steps to address the idea hands-on. Today he’s in the process of designing a solution that he thinks can sidestep some of these concerns. Within it, Weyl swaps out the idea of a self-sovereign identity for a new kinds of community-based identity systems.

“We are fundamentally social beings,” Weyl remarked.

According to Weyl, a distributed identity system with a strong concept of collectivity could minimize the risks inherent to the technology. The specifics of this solution are still being teased out, and are expected to be published in a white paper alongside Stanford professor Matt Jackson and Microsoft researcher Nicole Immorlica in the coming months.

Arguably, the heavy reliance on identity that is demonstrated by “Radical Markets” is emblematic of Weyl’s unique coupling of humans with market structures.

And while the combination is distasteful for some, it’s worth noting that it is precisely this blend, and its ability to link tech to social justice, that appeals to the ethereum community.

“We’re building what we’re building in order to make the world a better place, to right a lot of the wrongs we perceive, but most of us are engineers, not economists or social scientists, so sometimes it can be hard to understand how tech can actually change the world,” ethereum developer Lane Rettig told CoinDesk.

Rettig concluded:

“‘Radical Markets’ presents one vision for how ethereum can change the world, and for why our work matters – it can be the connective tissue between the tech and society.”

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Art by Chibi Fighters (@chibifighters)

Photos by Pete Rizzo for CoinDesk

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