#capitalizing characters' names in the analysis just so they can be easier to find my beloved
Note
Random but how old do you think the knights, Gwen, and Merlin are?
*pulls down that giant rolled up projection screen they use in classrooms* okay sO
from what i remember, BBC Merlin canon timeline is 10 years (give or take) with some timeskips here and there just to speed up the process for a 5 season show.
now, here is a list of my assumptions of the characters' ages based on what hints canon provides us as each season begins
s1 character ages:
arthur - 21
merlin - 19
gwen - 20
morgana - 19
the knights? come back to me in 5 business days
s2 (i'm assuming there's a year timeskip here but y'all can correct me if i'm wrong)
arthur - 23
merlin - 21
gwen - 22
morgana - 21
s3 (year timeskip, meaning we miss 1 year of stuff)
arthur - 25
merlin - 23
gwen - 24
morgana - 23
s4 (year after finale; missing a year of arthur being a regent)
arthur - 27
merlin - 25
gwen - 26
morgana - 25
s5 (timeskip of 2 years according to the wiki)
arthur - 29
merlin - 27
gwen - 28
morgana - 27
s5 finale
arthur - 30
merlin - 28
gwen - 29
morgana - 28
more analysis under the cut because goddamn did i go off
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edit: ok so first time it didn't cut off so hopefully i fixed it
s1 ep9 the show celebrates Arthur coming of age and being officiated as the crown prince of camelot. ergo, it's his birthday and he's turning 20/21 and it's been about 20 years since the Purge Uther started after the death of his wife wherein he directed all his anger and blame to the magic community because the man can't take failure well
however, short research shows that a typical age chosen for coming of age falls around 15, 18, and 21. doing process of elimination, it can't be 15 or 18 because arthur would have to be born after the Purge began, and Uther started all of this when Ygraine died, making arthur's birth very strange if he was born after her death lol.
so, we can conclude that arthur is 21 in s1 because he turns 21 on his birthday.
Merlin, following what the canon storyline gives us, is born a year or so after Arthur's birth and Ygraine's death. given Balinor's account on how he fled camelot, he was tricked by Uther into leading many dragonlords and dragons to their death which possibly happened a couple months (at most 6 imo) since Ygraine's death. then he fled and spent some time in ealdor, meeting Hunith and they were probably together for a year? until he left again some time before she gave birth to Merlin.
so, Merlin falls into the 18/19 age range by s1
Gwen I feel could be the same age as Merlin or she's just a year older. I know she's older than Elyan but by how much i don't remember the show saying. so it's possible Gwen started off as 19/20 in s1
given these estimations, we will now try and fit them into the story's timeline and see if we're able to find a somewhat accurate assumption on where the characters' ages fall by s5.
in my mind by "Moment of Truth" (s1 ep10) it's been a year (or close to, like 10 months) since Merlin's been serving Arthur. and by the end of s1 it most definitely has been at least a year since Merlin came to camelot.
by s3 there's been a time jump: Morgana has been "kidnapped" by Morgause and Uther's had his men searching for his ward for a year at most. doing the math, that means Arthur is 24, Merlin is 23/22, and Gwen is 23/24. in s3 we do celebrate Morgana's birthday (s3 ep5) but it's never clear how old she is.
i, at first, assumed she was older than Arthur simply because she was older in the legends. of course, the legends are used more as an outline than a set script so they have her younger than Arthur. also, in the show Morgana is the illegitimate child of Uther, so, to me, it'd be strange for Uther to cheat on his wife (who he mourns in the show) rather than him just having and affair with Morgana's mother, Viviane, after Ygraine's death.
using that string of logic, Morgana probably was born a year or so after Arthur, making her closest in age to Merlin which....plot-wise is interesting now that i think about. what if they were born on the same day, same time, cementing the idea that they are one in the same yet foils of the other, each other's doom.
anyway,
i don't think i'm going to touch the knights' ages simply because that will make this post so much longer than it needs to be. i might do a separate one when i have time or when i'm ignoring my midterms lol.
but yeah, long story short: BBC Merlin is very good at being vague with time and ages but not in a way that super confusing and takes away from the plot. also it's fun to piece together the timeline of this world with the hints provided.
tldr: story takes 10 years and began when our lovely characters were in their late teens/early twenties and ended with them in their late twenties to early 30s
#fortunately for you: i have a thing for timelines#unfortunately for you: i have thing for timelines#and i also had way too much to say about this#longpost#really long post#you can just read the list tbh because that's the actual answer to your question i just had a lot of thoughts#capitalizing characters' names in the analysis just so they can be easier to find my beloved#bbc merlin#merlin meta#timeline#bbc merlin timeline analysis#arthur pendragon#merlin emrys#gwen#morgana#headcanons#i mean this is my interpretation of what their ages are so it can be considered a headcanon
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Fanfiction
Arguments against the concept of fanfiction are just hilarious to me. You know why? Music doesn't really have this problem, at least not at first glance. In fact, look up musical quotation and variation, two accepted musical techniques that have existed in European music for hundreds of years. Take that, highbrow critics. Or else consider the modern cover song or remix.
When you look deeper, though, even music has its problems: consider the reception of Andrew Lloyd Webber (one of the most popular musical composers in musical theatre), who’s been repeatedly accused of musical plagiarism. That he borrows extensively and somewhat indiscriminately is true; however, that he borrows ‘meaninglessly’ implies that the average theatre-goer has or should have an extensive knowledge of classical music to understand the history and meaning of any musical quotation, and that music only has meaning when it’s accompanied by its original context and meaning.
Up until the past decade and a half, most musical theatre was dismissed as popular and not considered worthy of literary or musical analysis, with the exception of the works of Stephen Sondheim (who is brilliant, though I don’t really enjoy his works). Lloyd Webber has often been pointedly ignored, despite being a household name even with people who don’t really listen to musicals. Phantom of the Opera? It’s been playing non-stop, no revivals, at the Majestic theatre in New York for 33 years. (Of course, the irony is that Phantom of the Opera itself is fanfiction).
The second edition of Steven Suskin’s Show Tunes (1991) included a section called “Notable Imported Shows.” About half of the shows listed were shows with music by Lloyd Webber. In the Preface to the third edition, Suskin justifies the omission of this section and the expunging of Lloyd Webber that resulted: “All of the British imports since the Second Edition have failed; thus, I have seen fit to excise the import section and concentrate on matters of more interest.” As a consequence of this executive decision, the most popular Broadway composer of the last thirty years hand probably history is now banished from a major reference book that purports to cover “The Songs, Shows, and Careers of Broadway’s Major Composers.”
(emphasis added) Block, Geoffrey. Enchanted Evenings: the Broadway Musical from Show Boat to Sondheim and Lloyd Webber. 2nd ed. Cary: Oxford University Press, 2009.
So there it is, the same problem as fanfiction. The problem is not that a work is being reinterpreted, but that ordinary people like it. It’s not deemed sufficiently literary enough. Critics think the ‘original meaning’ is being disrespected and despitefully used. You can argue that Lloyd Webber’s quotes are meaningless or plagiarized, but you’d have to ignore the fact that people like the show. They find it meaningful. They go and see it again and again, and listen to it in their homes and cars. They propose to their significant others using its music. They sing their children to sleep with it. Regardless of whether or not you think his use of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64 in “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” is particularly meaningful, you can’t deny this:
The song has been much recorded, with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" being one of the rare songs to have had two concurrent recordings reach the Top 40 of the Hot 100 chart in Billboard magazine, specifically those by Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman,[1] since the 1950s when multi-version chartings were common.
Wikipedia, accessed June 13, 2020.
People like it. And people generally find the songs they like meaningful.
Guess what? The original still exists! If you like it more, then you can read/watch/listen to it to your heart’s content! You don’t have to read fanfiction. You don’t have to consume the parts you don’t like. You can enjoy Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor, op. 64 all you want and never ever listen to “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” and that’s perfectly fine. You do not, however, get to criticize the people who enjoy the other, or condemn those who write fanfiction as useless. (And consider that Mendelssohn himself wrote variations on other composers’ themes, to great acclaim.)
I'll be the first one to admit that I used to hate fanfiction, but it was more of a disillusioned sort of hatred because I had both high hopes and high standards, and the two couldn't coexist. It was frustrating to realize that most of what I found had poor grammar and character development, or else was based on a movie or play when I explicitly searched for the book (looking at you, most Phantom of the Opera works). I would sort through pages and pages of stuff that I couldn’t get through, and my tolerance grew short. Nowdays, I’ve had a renewed appreciation for fanfiction, now that I’m using ao3 and not FF.net, since I find sorting through works much easier on ao3.
The short of it is this: There’s nothing wrong with the concept of fanfiction. There’s nothing wrong with what is popular. People writing fanfiction aren’t stealing profits(that’s piracy) like there’s a limited number of views. In fact, I’d hazard to guess that fanfiction drums up profit since it keeps the old flame burning. The fact that fanfiction is free, and people labor at it without the expectation of monetary reward, and write the kind of stories that aren’t deemed worthy of being published, and that critics think that labor is worthless and completely lacking in quality says more about capitalism and who owns ‘the means of production’ than anything else. (Sincerely, your resident non-socialist)
#fanfiction#phantom of the opera#andrew lloyd webber#jesus chris superstar#in defense of fanfiction#harry potter#lord of the rings#doctor who#in fact i view almost every season of doctor who as fanfiction thank you very much#mendelssohn#tagging what i read#yes i don't like much of the lord of the rings fanfiction that i see#but i think that's because of the way i engage with the books and the way they're written#nothing wrong with you if you like it and read it
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y’all know I can’t control myself when shinee loving anon encourages me to do literary analysis! here are nearly 2,000 words of me analyzing my own writing like a weirdo :p because this is not the first time I have done literary alaysis of my own work, and it certainly won’t be the last (I’m already working on a thesis statement that could connect themes from the SHINee universe to at least 2/3 main plots of For You), I’ve decided to make a little banner for these essays lol.
First, some disclaimers: For You is an ongoing work. It might be an ongoing work for the rest of forever because Lei provides a perfect character through which I can explore S.M. In case you haven’t gathered from scrolling through my blog for a few seconds — I am a huge S.M. fan. With that being said, the main plot of 4 O’Clock is completed. This informal essay will discuss similarities between 4 O’Clock and works in the SHINee Universe.
I think I should begin by expressing my deep attachment to Taemin that is reflected in my writing. He is the first SHINee member that I wrote about; that drabble resulted in my friendship with SHINee Loving Anon and inspired my confidence to write about all five SHINee members. “Beautiful Parts” should be read as what it is: my reunion with my favorite group. Writing that story was therapeutic; it ranks with “Between Souls - Jonghyun,” “Lights - Taeyeon,” and “Orenda - Onew.” All of these works were written with my emotional needs in mind. They are deeply personal, and that’s why I love them. I created them with the intent of bringing myself comfort, and I shared them with the hope of extending that comfort to others.
“Beautiful Parts” also represents the shift toward Taemin becoming one of my ultimate idols and creative inspirations. When I could not yet write about Jonghyun, I could write about Taemin; when I could not yet listen to Jonghyun or SHINee without hurting, I could listen to Taemin. The image that I created of Taemin comforting someone — an unnamed reader — in “Beautiful Parts” remains with me. I can’t unsee it. It is obviously not a moment that I have lived through, but it feels real to me.
That image is integral to the relationship between Taemin and Lei. Comfort — the fact that Taemin sat beside her when she cried — is a key component of Lei’s love for him.
One could and should find similarities between the unnamed character of “Beautiful Parts” and Lei. Granted, “Beautiful Parts” is a part of the SHINee Universe. The character is Minho’s sister; although much of her character is intentionally vague, she is a separate character from Lei. She could and should, however, be read as a precursor to Lei. Both characters seek the company of the moon when they are troubled and cannot sleep. They share a desire — a compulsion, even — to reach for the moon and stars that they know they can never reach.
“What’s so comforting about the moon and the single star in the sky? How can they be so far, lightyears away, yet feel so close? Why did they convince you to lean against the railing, reaching for them like a child with no understanding of the distance? You couldn’t say, even though you wondered almost every night.” “Beautiful Parts”
“The stars were on full display, and the moon was a sterling crescent so bright that I thought, were my wrists not bound, I could have reached out and grabbed it out of the sky and put it in my pocket.
That was a silly thought I dreamt about often: holding the moon, carrying it around with me in the daylight as if I could protect it better than the sky. I don't know who planted that dream in my mind or why, but I was always grateful for it" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 2).
If you read 4 O'Clock, you cannot mistake the significance of the moon; Lei will not let you. In third-person or second-person narratives— like "Beautiful Parts"— I think that it would cheapen the story to overtly impress upon the reader the significance of a symbol. Put simply: if the second- or third-person narrator has to explain, "this is significant because," then the writer has failed in their application or execution of a symbol. However, as Lei is a first-person narrator relating her story to her mother, she is permitted to express plainly, "this is important— this is important, and this is why." She does exactly that by referring to the moon, in later chapters, as "our moon," meaning that she has claimed this symbol as hers and Taemin's.
This claim of ownership becomes especially significant as Lei struggles to confine her love for Taemin to times when it is safe to express— at night in their hotel room or, in post-tour chapters, in her room. This distinction is also expressed in "Beautiful parts" compared to its counterpart "Morning Confessions." I used "Morning Confession" as a guide in writing the morning scenes of 4 O'Clock Chapter 9, Chapter 12, Chapter 14, and part 6 of the Epilogue. In all of these scenes referenced, there is a clear shift between the night— when a character receives comfort— and the morning— when that comfort is reciprocated, usually through some form of affection.
The exception is the scene from Chapter 9. This part of the story occurs before the New Year's kiss that dispels much of Lei's discomfort about being in a relationship. Within this scene, Lei is torn between the desire to share her first kiss with Taemin and the desire to escape his embrace and start her day. Notice, then, that Lei is imposing this binary of day and night. (Granted, Lei believes that this binary is imposed upon her by external forces. I am inclined to agree that she is limited in self-expression by the pressures of standing in the public eye. Using my author knowledge of her life, I would also argue that her fears and reservations are rooted in real-life experiences; those are always the hardest fears to shake.)
Another interesting observation is that this scene from Chapter 9 is sandwiched between Lei's comforting Taemin post-Jaemin-induced-tantrum and the tense bathroom scene where Lei object to the terms "mine" and "yours" when referring to another person.
"That's something I've always struggled to accept: the idea of calling somebody— a whole individual— mine. I know some people are infatuated with the idea of ownership, but that kind of dynamic has always made my skin crawl."
"It's just, those words— mine and yours—" I cringed, and Taemin dropped my hands. "I don't know. I think it's fine to call you my soulmate or my boyfriend, if that's what you are, but the thought of calling you— all of you— mine just seems wrong'" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 9).
Note: Lei does not yet accept that Taemin is her soulmate. These quotes are indicative of Lei's character as they express her deepest fears. Consider that 4 O'Clock— while it is about Lei's love for Taemin, and it is about Donghae's unrequited (totally requited) love for Manager Kim— is ultimately about Lei's liberation from fear. Certainly, Taemin places a role in that liberation; Lei states far too many times to reference that he was an inspiration to her before she knew him as anything more than an idol. However, one would be remiss in failing to recognize the relationship through which Lei discovers herself: her relationship with her mother.
(If you need proof of this claim, and I seriously doubt you do, here is a quote from Chapter 10:
"I had been considering what it meant to be the fulfillment of her dreams, and it meant that I couldn’t be afraid. It meant I didn’t have to be. There was liberation in the fact that I could be confident in the truth that no matter what anybody in that hotel room, in the country, in the whole world even (!) said or thought or did, I now knew who I was. I knew who Mom was. I knew that no matter what— come what may— we would love each other forever.
All along, I had the forever love I couldn’t admit to wanting. . .")
The whole "'mine' and 'yours' makes me cringe" scene occurs right before Lei admits to her mother that she knows who she is: the idol who never debuted. Throughout most of the story, Lei refers to her mother as "Mom," capital-M, as if "Mom" is her birth name. There are scattered incidents where Lei writes "my mom," but she usually does so to distinguish her relationship with Mom and the one Lucas claims by using the name.
"Were I not used to that— Lucas referring to my mother as if she were also his, calling her hot— I might have cringed" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 1).
This use of the phrase "my mother" should be viewed in contrast to Lei's use of the phrase "my mom" in chapter 9.
"No. No, I knew my mom. I knew her long before I saw her as the idol who never debuted. She had eyes that found possibilities where others saw none. There was no way that she hadn't considered how the last 21 years of her life had been affected by my existence" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 9).
By using the word "my," Lei does not take ownership of the relationship— or of her mother as a whole individual— in a way that should make anybody's skin crawl. Rather, she uses that word to distinguish her Mom from the idol who never debuted. "My" is a protective word— a word through which Lei can shield her mother from judgment. Distinction of identities matters deeply to Lei because she feels that she is inadequate in her roles as an idol and as a human being.
She writes when reflecting on Kai's request to be called Jongin that she has always been hyper-sensitive to the difference between calling an artist by their stage name and their birth name. Considering whether she should have used a stage name herself, Lei wonders:
"Would that have made it easier to distinguish me (the person) from me (the idol)?" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 2).
It is crucial to understand these distinctions of identities and their significance to Lei if you are to feel the weight of a post-New Year's- Kiss moment:
"That time, when Taemin whispered, “My Lei,” against my skin, I didn’t cringe at the thought that I— all of me, every thought locked away in my mind, every fear hidden in the darkest corners of my heart— belonged to him.
Maybe that’s not the best way to phrase it. Maybe I mean to say that I didn’t cringe at the thought that all of me, even the parts that I considered fruitless or dangerous or flawed, belonged with Taemin. I don’t know" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 14)."
There's our Lei, still caught up in things like proper wording! Also significant is Lei's limited use of the phrase "my Taemin." She thinks it for the first time shortly before the scene quoted above; she doesn't say it aloud until the next day. We could take this, I suppose, as another example of the binary of day and night that culminates in Lei's decision to "live in the light," expressed in the closing chapters.
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blog 04 - avatar (the one with the blue people not the last airbender)
preface
I went into this with absolutely no feelings about this movie beyond the absurdity of how many sequels it’s apparently going to get. As an artist, I find the visual effects extremely impressive even to this day, but as a storyteller, I thought this story was almost so inoffensive that it’s offensive.
However, I think that engaging with things in good faith is a good way to find ways to expand your horizons and thoughts, and I like to enjoy things despite my dad’s insistence that I like to not enjoy things. (It’s not that I like to not like things, it’s that it’s easier to entertain people when it’s a bad review. Tough crowd.) I’m a firm believer in the idea that cerebral analysis of media adds to the joy of consumption rather than takes away from it, so let’s dive right in.
I like structure, so we’re gonna layer it like a delicious theme cake.
1. the elephant in the room
Everyone has seen Pocohontas. Everyone has seen Dancing With Wolves. I’m not really here to rehash arguments, but I think getting into this movie without addressing what first comes to everyone’s mind when they think about it is pretty much impossible. The “White Savior” trope is more or less a narrative cliche in which a noble white person will take a stand against the Bad White People on the side of a sympathetic oppressed people-- Native Americans see this plotline probably the most, but black people still see it today every now and then (Green Book got nominated for a lot of Oscars, after all. The hunger is there for easily digestible feel-good race relation drama.) Wikipedia sums up the White Savior trope better than I could, so here it is:
“At the cinema, the white savior narrative occupies a psychological niche for most white people, as an expression of their latent desire for interracial goodwill and reconciliation. By presenting stories of racial redemption, involving black people and white people professing to reach across racial barriers, Hollywood is catering to a mostly white audience who believe themselves unfairly victimized by non-white ethnic groups, because they are culturally exhausted with the unfinished national discourse about race and ethnicity in the society of the United States. Hence, films featuring the narrative trope of the white savior have notably similar storylines, which present an ostensibly nobler approach to race relations, but offer psychological refuge and escapism for white Americans seeking to avoid substantive conversations about race, racism, and racial identity. In this way, the narrative trope of the white savior is an important cultural artifact, a device to realize the desire to repair the social and cultural damage wrought by the myths of white supremacy and paternalism, regardless of the inherently racist overtones of the white-savior narrative trope.“
Native Americans factor into this most significantly in the case of Avatar-- aliens in movies are hardly ever just aliens. Whether they represent an oppressed underclass (District 9), childhood innocence (E.T.), or fear of foreign invasion (War of the Worlds), aliens are an easy vessel to carry almost any idea you want them to. So if the Na’vi are more or less an ideological stand-in for Native Americans during the conquest of America, our protagonist Jake is the future space cowboy to the Cowboys and Indians In Space.
Both Jake and Grace sort of fall in and out of the White Savior space-- ultimately Grace condescends to the Na’vi a little more and she has a more complete character arc that ends with her transcending this trope, but Jake is whole hog in it. He’s like, the legendary prophecy warrior. He’s The Guy.
(Pictured above: The Guy)
James Cameron grapples pretty hard with the White Savior trope-- he never truly goes one way or another about it and the concept of Avatars-- as in the Na’vi bodies that Jake and company jump into-- significantly...well, complicates the idea of race relations in this movie. There are certainly some uncomfortable ideas about identity wrapped up in the concept of body swaps (if this idea interests you, Altered Carbon is a really good read), but re: the readings and lectures, the concept kind of works towards what is ultimately the broad takeaway of the movie.
In summary: no, we’re not doing this whole review about White Guilt in Space. Now that that’s out of the way...
2. james cameron predicted late stage capitalism
Imperialism
"The policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies."
Avatar is about imperialism. This is as broad and pointed a theme as you can get from a movie that draws such heavy inspiration from Native American and Aboriginal cultures. Interestingly enough, the movie’s futuristic setting goes hand in hand with the commentary about the military and Western Imperialism.
The company in Avatar, and all the almost comedically evil military men, are very brazen about their lack of ideological purpose. They are on Pandora for money. They are being paid to go to Pandora to take its resources-- the delightfully named “Unobtanium” in specific. As mentioned in the reading, Unobtanium is valuable for its properties as a superconductor, and I’m not a STEM kid, so I’ll leave it at that for simplicity’s sake.
That the mercenary force on Pandora is so open about their exploitative intentions draws an interesting parallel to the world of today that’s maybe a touch haunting, considering that Avatar came out some years ago. In politics, at least up until now, you notice the use of a few common euphemisms as smokescreens for more extreme ideas-- for example, the Right’s: “protecting American jobs”.
Protecting American jobs is a euphemism for racism against Mexicans-- it was the most common smokescreen reasoning for the border wall pre-Trumpian politics. Trump and company have since dropped the euphemism all together. The death of a euphemism usually means that the euphemism is no longer culturally or socially required-- you can just come out and say whatever horrible thing you mean. In Avatar’s universe, it’s clear that the political-economic climate has come to a point where they can just say that they’re there to steal the Na’vi’s resources whether they like it or not.
The movie and the lecture both draw specific attention to the parallels the film draws explicitly between military tactics used in the movie, and real-world events. “Shock and Awe”, a tactic coined by the Bush era, is referenced in exact terms-- it being a display of overwhelming force intended to break the fighting spirit of the enemy. The commander character whose name I just read but I can’t remember now says that he is a veteran of both Venezuela and Nigeria-- both real world locations in which the U.S. has invaded and destabilized for material interests under the guise of American ideology.
In Avatar, we see the thin veneer of “freedom and democracy” as the driving forces of U.S. intervention stripped away explicitly. The opening narration of Jake’s arrival to Pandora has him say that “on Earth, these men were soldiers fighting for freedom...but here, they’re mercenaries”, however, the line between a supposed freedom fighter and a mercenary is borderline nonexistent.
3. western scientific objectivism sucks
Another current running through Avatar is the juxtaposition of what is “real” with what is “unreal-- aka Western objectivity science versus belief systems. This is embodied in the character of Grace, a scientist and anthropologist who has been researching Na’vi culture for some time. The reading characterizes her as “the happy face of liberalism” that tries to put a nice coat of paint over the same imperialist ideas that the more blunt military types embody-- she is kinder to the Na’vi and sees their culture and planet as worth preserving, but she is ultimately dismissive of their beliefs and of Eywa (”pagan voodoo”) the same as the other mercenaries.
We’re gonna put on tinfoil hats for a little bit here to make a relation between Western culture (imperialism and colonialism) and capitalism and paganism. Are you ready?
Okay.
So you know how they burned witches at the stake at the onset of the Industrial Age in America and the pagan practices of “hedge magic” were pretty much obliterated? I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Capitalism is a system that can only operate materialistically-- people aren’t “people” but “workers”, and the concept of magic and belief exists in terms that capitalism can’t define, and more importantly, can’t exploit. So witches were burned and women were placed with great reinforcement back into domesticity, where their function in capitalism was to give birth to and rear new workers.
You can see this dichotomy between the science of objectivity (what is “real”) and belief systems (what is “unprovable”, “unobservable”) in the way Grace uses scientific terms to justify the Na’vi’s spirituality. A very powerful through-line can be seen in the way that imperialism, capitalism, materialism, and objective science intersect. Their interconnected natural collective consciousness is like the raw function of a brain to her, likened to a network. It isn’t until Grace is mortally wounded and experiences the Na’vi’s healing ceremony that she is able to transcend the capitalistic, materialistic terms for definition for Eywa to have a spiritual experience, and to become one with Eywa herself (”she’s real.”)
In a plot that hinges on the material (Unobtainium) interests of a capitalist mercenary force, the ultimate refutation of this is the Na’vi’s spiritual values.
4. avatar: endgame
So what is this all working towards? Well, the idea of an interconnected spirituality like Eywa. The idea takes root in geomantic ideas, more commonly known as “feng shui”-- it’s sort of the concept of an earthly energy, a flow that moves through and connects the Earth and its people and creatures. The strange braid cord things that allow the Na’vi to interface with certain points and other creatures is a very straightforward metaphor for that concept of feng shui and geomancy.
Here we come back around to the concept of Jake as the White Savior/chosen one/The Guy. It’s kind of obtuse, but the general theory is that Eywa chose Jake as a sign that all peoples must needs transcend their boundaries and become one with the larger concept that Eywa represents. This of course comes packaged with an urgent environmental message-- our life is that of the planet, and to exploit and sacrifice one is to sacrifice the other.
Pandora, Eywa, and the Na’vi represent the polar opposite of everything that capitalist imperialism is. Thus, James Cameron, ironically, used a huge budget Hollywood endeavor to refute everything that Hollywood is. Now he’s making Alita: Battle Angel.
Funny how that works. Oh, I made myself sad.
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Transcript Critical Role C2 Ep014 0:13:00 Molly's Backstory
This transcript is largely scaffolding for multiple analysis. We learned an awful lot about Molly in this episode, both what he knows and doesn't know. This post is one of a long series examining Molly’s story and character. There will be an index on my blog collecting all of them.
If you like this transcript, please consider donating your time to Critical Role Transcripts, @CRTranscript on twitter, to help them provide closed captioning to Critical Role. We'd like to share this wonderful show with as many people as possible, regardless of hearing ability or English language skills.
Also, consider buying me a coffee (ko-fi.com/otdderamin). This transcript came about after a terrible bout of pain has kept me from working for nearly a month, and I’ve already been struggling with adjusting to disability. Donating helps me justify spending time on these projects
Scenes run
1. Introduction to Cree. 13:00 to 0:33:56
2. Blood for security. Cree is examined. 0:54:10 to 0:58:23
3. How did everything end? 1:04:01 to 1:12:11
4. Truth or Truth 1:55:03 to 2:22:00
1. Introduction to Cree & The Gentleman. Blood is drawn.
0:13:00 Matt: "As you guys all watch, this dark furred tabaxi giving this big strong hug around Mollymauk's shoulders, pulls away and kind of looks at you and goes,"
0:13:08 Cree: "It has been… it has been too long. Two-"
0:13:11 Molly: "Far too long!"
0:13:13 Cree: "Two years!" She reaches out to Molly. "Ah, look at you! You grew out your hair."
0:13:16 Molly, laughing: "Yes, ah, it's been, it's been quite an interesting two years."
0:13:19 Cree: "And you are covered in tattoos."
0:13:21 Molly, waving her off: ""We'll catch up! We need a table, we need drinks, for me and my compatriots."
0:13:27 Cree: "Of course. You, ah, you—These are your friends now?"
0:13:30 Molly: "It's a long story. I'll get into it. I can't tell you everything right now. You know how it is."
0:13:35 Cree, with a short sigh: "Very well."
Molly laughs.
0:13:38 Cree: "Well…" She looks behind her.
0:13:40 Matt: "And as the tabaxi turns around, you can see there's posted right off to the right and around the corner, a hulking figure that is leaned around the edge that leads to this kind of L shaped tavern. A hefty, muscular-looking ogre that is wearing patchwork hide armor and is holding a giant maul, just kind of resting on the ground. Looks back around the corner with these beady, dark eyes and large looming jaw with angry broken teeth protruding from underneath. Just going," he gives a growling exhale. "Just kind of looks at the rest of you. Other folks around are looking a bit confused at your entry. Right immediately to your left is a table with what looks to be a rough and tumble cutthroat sitting there eating a sandwich with a half drunken drink whose kind of chewing slowly with this glare of mistrust in your direction.
0:14:29 "There are two balconies up above you in the chamber. You now get a better look up at the top. There are a number of individuals posted in—some of them appear to be drinking, but there are at least one of them immediately in your view has two skulking individuals with kind of long dark cloaks and dark armor. Carrying what almost looks like a heavy crossbow, but it's a long metal rod. You've only seen them used here and there, but these are some sort of a rifle-like firearm."
Taliesin looked concerned and quizzical at the start of the weapon description.
0:14:56 Taliesin, silently, wincing: "Fuck!"
0:14:56 Matt: "That are usually reserved for the armies in Bladegarden and to the far east of Xhorhas. A recently emerging technology that has been largely guarded within use of the Empire itself."
0:15:08 Taliesin, looking mildly dismayed: "This is literally everything coming back to haunt me. Okay cool."
0:15:11 Travis: "If we had to ballpark it, how many persons would you say are in this-?"
0:15:14 Matt: "Um, 13 or so people in this tavern. Including the bar tender, the individual who rushed you as you entered, and various patrons around that you can just get a quick bead on."
0:15:26 Taliesin: "The second she turns I'm going to just turn and give Fjord a little pat on the back and make a whisper really quickly."
0:15:33 Matt: "Okay."
0:15:33 Sam: "Make a whisper?"
0:15:34 Taliesin: "Yeah, I'm just going to whisper in Fjord's ear,"
0:15:35 Sam: "Oh, okay."
0:15:36 Molly, quietly but intensely: "I'm sorry. This is my nightmare. Please just go with it. It's Lucian."
0:15:39 Taliesin: "And I'm just back around."
0:15:41 Molly, in a hissing whisper: "Pass it on!"
0:15:41 Matt: "Okay. Which, as you say that, you back away and look right behind Fjord as you all are standing there, and there's Yasha."
0:15:47 Sam: "Oh, what!?"
Molly laughs nervously at her.
0:15:50 Sam: "Just at the bar?"
0:15:51 Matt: "Just- No, right behind you. As if she'd just come down the stairs with you."
0:15:54 Sam: "What!?"
0:15:55 Molly: "Yasha!"
0:15:56 Nott: "Ahh!"
0:15:56 Yasha: "Hey! So-"
0:15:58 Molly, reaching towards her shoulder then stopping. "Yes. I'm apparently-
0:16:00 Yasha: "Wait-"
0:16:00 Molly: "It's Lucian from two years ago."
0:16:03 Caleb: "You are just-"
0:16:03 Molly, subtly nodding at Yasha for her to go with it: "From two years ago. It's Lucian, remember?"
0:16:05 Yasha: "Oh!"
0:16:06 Fjord, quietly to the group: "Hey, uh, it's Lucian around here's what we're supposed to call him."
0:16:06 Molly: "It's been ages."
0:16:07 Yasha: "Okay. It's been ages. It's been a minute."
0:16:08 Molly: "Yeah. Right."
0:16:09 Yasha: "Uh, hey, you guys walked right past me in the bar upstairs, so I just decided to-."
0:16:14 Caleb: "You are like a bad penny."
0:16:15 Nott: "We did not walk right past you. We looked around."
0:16:16 Beau: "You keep showing up."
0:16:17 Yasha: "Or a lucky one."
0:16:19 Nott: "You're big. We would have seen you. Are you-"
0:16:21 Yasha: "I've been right behind you the whole time. I don't know how you didn't know I was here."
0:16:24 Nott: "She's a shapeshifter."
0:16:24 Molly, relieved: "I'm so glad to see you. Hi."
0:16:26 Yasha: "I'm glad to see you, too, Mollymauk."
0:16:27 Molly, emphatically: "Lucian."
0:16:29 Yasha: "Lucian."
0:16:29 Molly: "It's Lucian."
0:16:31 Yasha: "It's Lucian."
0:16:31 Fjord: "Do you want—"
0:16:31 Liam: "There's nothing private about our situation at all, right? There's people everywhere?"
0:16:35 Matt: "Well, there's people all throughout the tavern but there's some music playing. There's two musicians that are in the process of plucking away at two instruments. Everyone seems- Further in the chamber, rather absorbed in their current rigmarole, but you guys have just stepped down the stairs. You haven't left the stairs. You're literally standing right at the entrance of this tavern, and you've all been kind of taken by that encounter, the realization that Yasha had followed you down the stairs, and kind of whatever's about to transpire."
0:17:01 Molly, nervously grinning: "I'll explain later. Just go with it please."
0:17:02 Marisha: "Oh, Yasha followed us, she wasn't starting down here.
0:17:05 Matt: "No."
0:17:05 Travis: "Yeah, she-"
0:17:06 Marisha: "Gotcha gotcha."
0:17:07 Fjord: "I don't mind rolling with this name, Lucian, but does it bring any extra trouble with it?"
0:17:11 Molly: "I don't know. We'll find out."
0:17:13 Fjord: "Fair enough."
0:17:13 Molly: "Just go with it. I'll explain later."
0:17:15 Fjord: "Alright."
0:17:16 Caleb: "And it all makes sense to you?"
0:17:18 Molly, very nervously, his voice raising in pitch: "I'll explain later."
0:17:21 Beau: "This club is awesome!"
0:17:22 Molly, faltering nervously, exasperated: "I hate you."
0:17:23 Nott: "Do I have to change my name in this club?"
Molly looks at him deadpan, and nervously laughs.
0:17:27 Beau: "Are we all supposed to change our names?"
0:17:29 Nott: "We should all come up with different names."
Molly facepalms.
0:17:32 Molly, nervously to himself: "It might be easier just to have them all killed right—I didn't say that out loud. I didn't say that out loud. I'm just thinking out loud. Oh god."
0:17:37 Fjord: "Wow."
0:17:37 Molly: "It's going to be fine. I'm not panicking."
0:17:39 Beau: "Let's go get drinks."
0:17:40 Molly: "Let's go get drinks."
0:17:41 Matt: "At this point, a hand claps,"
0:17:41 Nott: "Do tieflings sweat?"
0:17:43 Molly: "They do!"
0:17:43 Matt: "and the tabaxi is now at one of the tables and has kind of shooed off one of the drinks, and goes,"
0:17:49 Cree, beaconing: "This way. I found a table for everyone."
0:17:53 Taliesin: "I come sit down. I give the Tabaxi another hug as we sit down."
0:17:57 Molly: "How have you been? It's been ages."
0:17:59 Cree: "Too long. I…" She chuckles. "I apologize for using your old name. Nonagon, it's a pleasure to see you again."
Molly smiles and nods graciously.
…
[They establish that Nonagon was a name she was calling Molly, correcting herself from Lucian.]
…
0:18:42 Molly: "Who can keep track these days? Again, a long story."
0:18:44 Cree: "Nonagon… what happened? We watched you die."
0:18:51 Molly: "That… is a story for another day and another drink. What did you see? God, what was…? I don't know what that looked like from the other end of things."
0:18:59 Cree: "Well, uh, it all went belly up two years ago. We, uh, you told us to scatter and vanish if it didn't, you know, if things went wrong wait until you returned. We buried your ass in the woods outside of the hideout. I mean I'm…"
9:19:17 Nott, quietly: "Buried your ass?"
9:19:18 Molly: "That may not have been, necessarily, my ass that you buried." He grins.
9:19:23 Cree: "Apparently."
9:19:25 Molly: "I had a few tricks up my sleeve."
Molly and Cree both quietly laugh.
9:19:29 Cree: "Well, uh, that spell-spittle lady from the capital, she said you were gone, and… she took the book and left. And her contract said she was in the right, and that we knew better than to go toe to toe with her and her ilk, so…"
9:19:43 Molly: "Obviously. Is everybody else alright? I know I- it's been a while; I had to stay underground."
0:19:49 Cree: "Unfortunately, uh, Jorell met with the axe of the law shortly after you left us."
9:19:56 Molly: "Damn shame."
9:19:57 Cree: "Zora and Otis and Tyfel have all scattered amongst the empire."
0:20:03 Molly: "Damn shame."
0:20:03 Sam, quietly, gesturing to his notes: "It's too much!"
0:20:03 Cree, pausing then eagerly: "Uh, but do you want me to find the others?"
0:20:05 Molly: "No, no! No actually I'm still-"
0:20:06 Cree: "I know where Tyfel is!"
0:20:08 Molly: "Where is Tyfel? I would rather, obviously, deliver everything in person. Honestly if I'd have known you were here, I'd have made arrangements. I didn't want to shock you."
0:20:15 Cree, intensely: "Well, she's up in Nogvorat. We can travel there. I can send a message and have her come down to us."
0:20:20 Molly, holding up his had to stop her: "I'm working on something very delicate. I need everything to be very quiet."
0:20:26 Cree: "Very well, Nonagon."
0:20:26 Caleb: "I apologize, I'm not very observant, did you- I missed your name."
0:20:31 Molly: "Where are my manners?"
0:20:31 Cree: "My apologies. My name is Cree."
0:20:33 Caleb: "Cree?"
0:20:35 Cree: "I am a member of the, well, the family around… Uh, how… how much do they know?"
0:20:45 Nott, too quickly and a little flat, definitely bullshitting: "We know a lot!"
0:20:46 Yasha, also a little flat: "Pretty much all of it, so…"
0:20:47 Nott: "We were told the name of the group that you traveled with, but I can't remember it now."
0:20:52 Molly: "You- They don't know a lot, but they're… they're trustworthy. I've been putting my trust in them, so far."
0:21:00 Yasha: "I do. I know all of it,"
0:21:02 Molly: "Yeah."
0:21:02 Yasha: "so you could just tell me if you wanted."
0:21:04 Molly: "That's actually fair."
0:21:07 Matt: "Make a deception check, both of you."
0:21:09 Sam: "Me?
0:21:10 Matt: "Yeah."
0:21:11 Sam: "I'm the worst!"
0:21:11 Liam: "Actually fair."
0:21:12 Sam: "13."
0:21:15 Taliesin, bargaining in a high voice: "Technically advantage cause it's kind of the truth?"
0:21:17 Matt: "Technically… alright, sure, I'll give you that."
0:21:18 Taliesin, squeakily: "Thank you. It wasn't entirely a lie?"
0:21:20 Travis: "She gets advantage? You get advantage?"
0:21:21 Liam mimicking Jester: "Technically…"
0:21:22 Ashley: "I got a 10."
0:21:22 Travis: "You get advantage."
0:21:23 Liam: "You get advantage. Roll again!"
0:21:23 Ashley: "But yeah, technically I know half of it. I'm rolling at advantage?"
0:21:25 Taliesin: "Yeah, yeah, I think that's advantage. I'm calling it- I beg for advantage on that one."
0:21:30 Matt: "I'll give you that."
0:21:30 Ashley: "16."
0:21:31 Taliesin: "Okay, thank you."
0:21:35 Matt: "Alrighty."
0:21:35 Liam, whispering, watching Marisha erase a bunch of notes: "Bad notes bad notes."
0:21:37 Marisha: "Bad notes! Get rid of those notes!"
Liam mimics flamethrowering the notes.
0:21:37 Cree: "We, um, we were all part of the same order at one point, and, uh, we splintered off. Luc- Nonagon, um, had a different path in mind for us. So, we went north to Shady Creek Run and we started the Tomb Takers."
0:22:01 Sam/Nott: "Tomb Takers."
0:22:03 Cree: "And ah…"
0:22:04 Travis/Fjord: "Grave robbers."
0:22:05 Cree, looking at Molly in awe: "It's just so good to see you."
0:22:07 Molly: "It's good to be seen again, but again, it's got to be very quiet right now."
0:22:12 Cree: "Very well."
0:22:13 Molly, with a laugh: "It's been like three other names since the last time I saw you."
0:22:18 Cree, softly laughs, then intently: "I should inform the other."
0:22:21 Molly, holding up his hand again: "Please, keep it quiet for now. That book caused more trouble than you think, and it all laid on my shoulders. I was trying to protect the rest of you from some of the worst elements of that. And I don't want..." He sighs. "I don't necessarily want any heat dropping on anybody who doesn't know it's coming yet."
0:22:36 Cree: "Of course."
0:22:38 Molly: "But yeah, let me know where they are, and I'll get a hold of them. But don't let them know why, yet."
0:22:43 Matt: "The tabaxi kind of curls in a little bit, kind of leans over the table a little bit with this big grin and says,"
0:22:47 Cree, intensely: "Does this mean that it worked?"
0:22:50 Molly, sighing: "That's… again, mixed company and public company."
0:22:57 Nott: "No, you can tell us about the ritual. Ritual?"
Molly waves her off.
0:23:03 Matt: "There's a look of recognition."
0:23:04 Nott: "Yes, it was successful." Squeakily, "Remind me what it was again? There's been so many rituals lately."
0:23:18 Molly: "Mixed results."
0:23:18 Caleb: "Were- You are mentioning this group, the Tomb Takers, you had another name before. Were you a group, and our friend joined you at some point?"
0:23:29 Cree: "Um, well, uh, led us away from the original order. They were a bit, um… clouded. We had a new path."
0:23:40 Fjord, deadpan: "Wow. Wow."
0:23:41 Beau: "And what was the name of the original order You were a part of." Cree looks suddenly very wary. "Once, uh, sorry just-"
0:23:46 Nott: "Not the Tomb Takers. That was the splinter group, right?"
0:23:49 Caleb: "The one that came before."
0:23:51 Matt: "There's a few looks now of… kind of… the euphoria is washing away from the face-"
0:23:56 Molly: "You don't have to tell them anything you don't want to tell them; that's alright."
0:24:00 Cree: "Of course."
0:24:00 Yasha: "Was he," she points at Molly, "your new path?"
Molly nervously laughs.
0:24:03 Cree: "He brought us onto a new path, yes."
0:24:08 Molly, yikes grinning: "Yeah…"
0:24:08 Caleb: "What was your unifying trait, or pursuit?"
0:24:13 Molly sighing: "Foolishness and thinking I knew what I was doing."
0:24:15 Nott, firmly: "That is not a good answer!"
0:24:17 Molly: "That's the answer you're getting."
0:24:19 Fjord: "Yeah, this is all well and good and kinda fucking boring. I couldn't help but notice that surly looking crew up there. Who might that be?"
0:24:26 Cree: "Oh, uh, these are all members of the Gentleman's troop. As am I."
0:24:31 Matt: "At which point the tabaxi turns back, Cree turns back and looks, and you can see in the far back right corner of the chamber, there is a long, dark, kind of mahogany, well carved table. There you see standing arms crossed, a very muscular looking goliath female. With a very short, almost like a leather strap top, shaved sides of the head and what- kind of tuft of a mohawk that curls down into a long ponytail that goes down the back. Who's just kind of glaring in your direction.
0:25:02 "Sitting beside this burly looking goliath, you see a high back chair, with a red velvet mat. And sitting feet crossed up on the table in like a nice, long, deep blue coat, leather gloved hands, what appears to be a light teal skin, jet black hair that's long just past the shoulders, with like a widow's peak in the center, and bit of a dark goatee, a male figure standing there, hands kind of entwined and crossed, just looking at you from across the way with a curious grin."
0:25:41 Cree, gesturing to him: "The Gentleman."
0:25:42 Molly: "You work for the Gentleman these days?"
0:25:44 Cree: "We had to find work, and we didn't know if you were ever coming back. We thought… so we had to move on. We knew- you'd eventually return, I just did not know how long, and we had to make ends meet."
0:25:57 Molly: "How is it working for the gentleman?"
0:25:59 Cree: "Work is fine…"
0:26:00 Matt: "You hear a," he claps three times. "From the Gentleman."
0:26:04 The Gentleman: "So! We have company. Strangers in our midst." He laughs.
0:26:12 Matt: "Rights himself in the chair."
0:26:14 The Gentleman: "Please, come before me. Present yourselves. I want to know who has graced us with their majestic presence. Come, come!"
0:26:26 Matt: "The finger goes up and you watch as everyone holding the rifles cock them and point down at you."
0:26:29 Sam: "Oh, Jesus."
0:26:31 Nott: "Fjord, say something!"
Molly gestures "What is this?" or "Is this really necessary?"
0:26:32 Taliesin: "I'm looking at our friend."
0:26:36 Matt: "Cree. Cree goes,"
Cree gives a reassuring gesture.
Molly opens his hands in a gesture of "I don't know what this is about."
0:26:41 Taliesin: "Alright. I'll saunter over with my drink and sit down at the table."
0:26:41 Fjord: "After you, Lucian. Nonagon."
0:26:49 Molly: "C'mon everyone."
0:26:50 Fjord: "Uh-huh."
0:26:50 Molly: Let's do this."
…
[They start their conversation with The Gentleman.]
…
0:30:11 The Gentleman: "Alright. So, interesting. Now you know the way in. That's… dangerous. As we've just made acquaintances, and you now know the direct path into my domain. So, to make this a comfortable conversation, and possibly an arrangement going forward that we can all agree upon, I have one small request."
0:30:35 Fjord: "Oh, I'm sure we'd be all ears."
0:30:38 The Gentleman: "Cree! Please."
0:30:41 Matt: "And the tabaxi who was in the back goes,"
0:30:42 Cree: "Yes, of course."
0:30:44 Matt: "Steps over to the side of the bar and picks up a small leather satchel. Kind of puts it over her shoulder, walks up behind the table, opens it, and pulls out what looks to be an alchemist rack of a bunch of corked vials, like small vials, and kind of opens it. Says,"
0:30:59 The Gentleman: "I need, and bear with me please, just a small bit of your blood. The reasoning being, if I can't trust you, and you can't trust me, how am I to know you aren't going to turn me in immediately upside to the King's Hall. And I need some means in case you just abscond with this information, perhaps make an arrangement with me, and then leave town. I need to find you."
0:31:23 Fjord: "Oh, of course, and forgive my ignorance, this would be used to locate us? Is that what this would be for?"
0:31:28 The Gentleman: "Oh, that is Cree's specialty."
0:31:32 Molly: "It is definitely Cree's specialty."
0:31:35 Fjord: "Yeah, fuck it." He bites his finger."
0:31:37 Matt: "Alright. As you put your hand out, Cree kind of does a flick of the finger, and you watch as the blood kind of trails off on its own like a small serpent of mercury. And just " swooshing sound. "And for a second, even though it was a small wound, it's bleeding quite a bit. And you're like, 'Uh…?' It makes you a little uncomfortable, and then all of a sudden, the blood flow stops. The vial is filled about an inch full. Then she caps it."
0:32:00 Cree: "Thank you so much."
0:32:02 Fjord: "How'd you…? How did you do that?"
0:32:05 Cree: "It's, um… the gift that I learned, uh… in the same place where the Nonagon's gifts were found."
0:32:12 Molly: "Lucian at the table is fine."
0:32:14 Cree, with a small laugh: "Lucian."
0:32:16 Fjord: "Right."
0:32:17 Cree: "Next."
0:32:21 Molly: "I trust you with this. Don't get… fancy." He cuts his finger on his teeth."
0:32:26 Matt: "Same thing. Fills the next vial. A strange, almost an arc, of crimson finds its way and fills a secondary tube. And there's, like, twelve tubes there, but she'll fill as many as needed for this one."
0:32:39 Fjord laughs, looking at Nott's uncomfortable posture: "Don't like it do you?"
0:32:42 Nott, squirming a bit, nervously laughing: "Nuh-uh, no."
0:32:43 Beau: "Can I borrow a tusk."
0:32:44 Fjord: "Yeah."
Beau cuts her finger on Fjord's tusk.
0:32:48 Matt: "Goes ahead and acquires the blood from you. Jester goes,"
0:32:51 Jester, excitedly: "Me! Me, me, me too!"
0:32:51 Matt: "Feeling left out in the moment. Gives her blood as well."
0:32:58 Nott, hesitantly: "Caleb? Are we doing this?"
Caleb looks around suspiciously.
0:33:02 The Gentleman: "No harm will come to you unless you bring harm to me, so this is… this is just a precautionary measure. I appreciate your, uh, trust."
0:33:10 Fjord/Travis, counting: "Three to go?"
Caleb cuts his finger.
0:33:20 Matt: "With that, your blood is taken into a vial."
0:33:25 Nott: "Alright, I'll follow suit."
0:33:27 Matt: "Your blood is also taken into a vial."
Nott hisses as she bites into her finger.
0:33:29 Matt, laughing: "Easy enough to do." He mimics a blood spurt.
0:33:36 Yasha, sighing: "Fair enough."
0:33:37 Ashley: "I just take my finger and I just run it across my blade as I stare at him."
0:33:40 Sam: "Oof."
0:33:41 Matt: "The blood is drawn into the vial. The final vial is capped. Cree closes the satchel, places it on the shoulder, and then bows and steps back, paying direct attention to The Gentleman, and then out of the corner of her eye towards you." Indicating Molly.
0:33:54 The Gentleman: "Fantastic. I really appreciate that."
0:33:56
…
[Description of The Gentleman. Card Game with Fjord. Learn Lord Sutan is in prison, and Molly and Beau are being looked for. Nott tests the Gentleman and he pulls off the ultimate power move. Agree to the task with The Gentleman to prove themselves and get Horace out of the city.]
2. Blood for security. Cree is examined.
0:54:10 Yasha: "How long do you keep our blood for?"
0:54:12 The Gentleman: "Oh, as long as we have our arrangements."
0:54:15 Yasha: "But we get it back when we're done? Or if we decide to not work with you anymore?"
0:54:19 The Gentleman: "If… If you've proven yourself trustworthy enough, in the long term, perhaps. But understand, this is just a, uh… precaution. Who's to know, perhaps things go sour in a few months? I want to make sure you don't double cross me and send the guard down."
0:54:41 Yasha: "Understood."
0:54:41 Marisha: "Does he look like he's speaking from experience? He's a little twitchy."
0:54:45 Matt: "Make an insight check."
0:54:50 Marisha, grumbling: "14."
0:54:53 Matt: "It seems that he's exis- It's more that he's lived this long by being careful. And when a bunch of strangers suddenly find the secret pass into his lair, he wants to be damn well sure that he knows where to find you if need be."
0:55:11 Ashley: "Okay. Okay."
0:54:14 Fjord: "Fair enough."
0:54:14 Yasha: "Fair enough."
0:55:15 Molly: "Remember, the name Lucian doesn't leave this bar. Outside, I never want to hear it uttered."
0:55:21 The Gentleman, with a soft laugh: "I don't know who any of you are outside of this bar."
0:55:23 Molly: "Brilliant!"
0:55:23 The Gentleman: "Don't worry. Anyway…"
0:54:25 Matt: "And he throws his feet back on the table. Drinks are on me until you make your leave."
…
[They look around at the other patrons.]
…
0:57:46 Taliesin: "I'm taking a long look at Cree and I want to see if I see any of the things that I expect to see when I look at her."
Taliesin indicates upper jaw, temple, and shoulder.
0:57:52 Travis: "What so you expect to see there, T?"
0:57:54 Sam: "You know, dander."
0:57:56 Taliesin: "Yeah, yeah. I wanna- I wanna see if there's any markings or any- otherwise that I would expect to see."
0:58:01 Matt: "Oh. Make a perception check."
0:58:03 Taliesin: "Alright."
0:58:06 Liam: "We'll find out in episode 102."
0:58:07 Travis: "Yeah."
0:58:08 Sam: "Why are you lock your iPad between every move!?"
0:58:10 Taliesin: "Because it's better that way. Uh, perception check?"
0:58:12 Liam: "Because he's got [all of us?]"
0:58:13 Travis: "Trust no one."
0:58:14 Taliesin: "Wow! That's a terrible roll. Uh… That's a 5."
0:58:19 Matt: "A fur-covered tabaxi, it's hard to make any details out beyond the fun, unfortunately."
0:58:22 Taliesin: "Alright. That's fair."
0:58:23
…
[They interview the guys that failed the mission.]
3. How did everything end?
1:04:01 Molly: "Yasha? Do I do this? Or do I not deal with this?"
1:04:05 Yasha: "Well, I think you should deal with this."
1:04:06 Molly, with an exasperated sigh: "I don't want to deal with this."
1:04:07 Yasha: "Does any of this sound familiar to you from your past?"
Molly gives a stressed sigh and taps the table.
1:04:13 Molly: "I hate this."
1:04:14 Taliesin: "I'm going to stand up and walk over to Cree."
1:04:16 Matt: "Okay. Cree is kinda of still standing by the bar with the satchel on. And as you stand up and start approaching, she kind of smiles."
1:04:24 Molly: "A lifetime ago."
1:04:27 Cree: "Indeed. I can't tell you… it's so good to see you."
1:04:30 Molly: "I have a- I have a weird question."
1:04:32 Cree: "Yes?"
1:04:32 Molly: "And I apologize for it. The spell I used to get away, it- meant I wasn't there for as long as you- thought I was. I missed… how a bit of everything ended in the end. I hate to ask, but… I was long gone before anything really started to go down. How did- How did everything end? Can you just-? I just-? I'll explain why in a moment."
1:04:59 Cree: "Well, uh, I mean… You had acquired the tome with the ritual spell that you required to- to attempt to reach the city. And that- that lady, I don't remember her name,"
1:05:15 Molly: "I don't either."
1:05:16 Cree: "the spell-slinger from the capital-"
1:05:18 Molly: 'Yeah."
1:05:19 Cree: "she came and oversaw and performed the ritual for you that- Eh, I don't trust those folk, but I trust you, and if you trusted them that was enough for me. And you gave us a speech, we had a fine meal, and we all got ready there in the forest."
1:05:40 Molly: "That's where I lost you, then."
1:05:43 Cree: "And, uh… She said it would be hard for us to tell whether or not it worked at first, but we went and checked, and you were not breathing. For a good hour you are not breathing, and you were gone cold. So, we… we knew then that we… that we had lost you. We checked—and I, I'm very attuned to vitals, as you know, so—there was no heartbeat. So, we waited longer. And… The sun rose, nothing. So, as you told us, if anything were to go wrong, we had to… get rid of any… sign, any trace. So, not far from the… Tomb Taker Hideout, we buried you, and we went our separate ways. She took the tome, the mage woman. That was part of the arrangement you had with her."
1:06:50 Molly: "Going to have to find her again at some point. The reason I've stayed quiet… It was never going to work. Somebody was working against me. I don't know who, but I can't trust anyone. I saw how you reacted to seeing me and it was… I'm willing to believe it wasn't you who turned. But it could have been- It could have been her, but it could have been one of us. That's why I need you to keep it quiet, please."
1:07:20 Matt: "Make a deception check."
1:07:21 Taliesin: "Thank you."
1:07:21 Matt: "You're starting to get in deep into this, now."
1:07:23 Taliesin: "Mmhmm."
1:07:23 Travis, suspiciously: "Deception check?"
1:06:26 Taliesin: "Uh… 13."
1:07:28 Sam: "Can I wander over to see if I can overhead anything?"
1:07:32 Matt: "Make a perception check."
1:07:34 Molly: "I can't…"
1:07:36 Sam: "12."
1:07:38 Matt: "You start wandering over, but there's too much noise and general din in the chamber around you to make anything out."
1:07:43 Molly: "There'll come a moment where I can tell you everything, but… it's so complicated. Please just keep it quiet for now."
1:07:50 Cree, unsure: "Of course."
1:07:51 Molly: "Until I know that everyone's going to react the way that you did to seeing me."
1:07:57 Cree: "Right. Of course, Lucian. I…"
1:08:01 Molly: "I will tell you everything eventually."
1:08:04 Cree: "Please. Please do."
Molly sighs.
1:08:07 Taliesin: "I give a hug."
1:08:09 Matt: "There's like a moment's pause and Cree then kind of takes in the hug too." Cree nods.
1:08:14 Molly: "Too long."
1:08:14 Matt: "Kind of, there's like a faint purr in the ear. And then you hear the voice, kind of whisper, say,"
1:08:19 Cree: "It's good to see you."
Molly nods.
1:08:22 Molly: I'm sorry for everything."
1:08:24 Taliesin: "And I give the pat and head back to the table.
1:08:27 Cree: "Me too."
1:08:2 Matt: "As you walk away."
…
[Caleb confronts Fjord about gambling]
…
1:10:18 Taliesin: "I'm gonna to walk over with a new round of drinks."
1:10:21 Molly: "Here, drink this. I'm told they're stupid."
Molly downs one and sets it down hard.
1:10:26 Beau: "Molly, you have- sorry," she laughs, "Lucian."
1:10:30 Fjord: "Naw, that's not it, either."
1:10:31 Beau: "Sorry, Nonnonnongatek."
1:10:34 Fjord: "Yep."
1:10:35 Molly: "It's Lucian for the moment. We'll talk about it later."
1:10:36 Yasha: "Would you- Would you like us to call you Lucian, or do you want us to call you Molly?"
1:10:39 Molly: "In here we're Lucian."
1:10:40 Caleb: "How many names are there? Is it over ten or under?"
1:10:43 Molly: "Uhh… Let's have that conversation somewhere else. I don't know who's listening here."
1:10:48 Beau: "She seemed like… real into you."
1:10:42 Fjord: "Yeah."
1:10:43 Beau: "But not like an into you like, 'Oh I'm gonna tap that!' kind of into you, but in like an 'I've seen you walk on water' into you."
1:11:01 Molly: "Yeah. That was a weird amount of into you, wasn't it?"
1:11:02 Beau: "Yeah."
1:11:03 Molly: "Yeah."
1:11:04 Fjord: "Can you change that alcohol into wine?"
1:11:07 Beau: "Yeah."
1:11:09 Taliesin: "I'm going to cut my finger, just a bit, and bleed into it."
1:11:14 Liam: "With one of your long finger nails?"
1:11:16 Beau: "Holy shit. You know, to a dumbass that's actually is kind of convincing."
1:11:21 Fjord: "It's alcohol one way or the other. I'll fucking drink it."
1:11:24 Sam, grossed out: "Ugh!"
1:11:26 Taliesin: "Is it wine?"
1:11:28 Matt: "No."
1:11:28 Taliesin, laughing: "Well, that-."
1:11:28 Matt: "It's bloody water. It's water with a hint of iron."
1:11:33 Travis: "Achievement unlocked!"
1:11:35 Taliesin: "Well, worth a try."
1:11:36 Liam: "Write what you know, Taliesin."
1:11:38 Fjord: "Molly, oh excuse me, Lucian,"
1:11:43 Beau: "Nantucket."
1:11:44 Fjord: "Yeah. How many others around here might we expect to have that same reaction towards you?"
1:11:48 Molly, increasingly on edge: "We will have- We will have this conversation outside this bar."
1:11:52 Marisha: "This is basically Taliesin at Ren Faire."
1:11:53 Molly: "Lucian-"
1:11:54 Travis: "Yeah! Yeah! 'Oh, Lord Taliesin, oh Lord Taliesin!' 'What the fuck?'"
1:12:01 Taliesin, facepalms: "This is not- This is not untrue."
1:12:01 Liam: "Taliesin there's fucking tabaxis coming out of every stall! What the hell, man!"
1:12:07 Taliesin: "Lucian's not going to answer any questions. Molly will answer every question you have later."
1:12:11
…
[They ask Yasha about why she leaves. Nott says everything that happened with the Drow. Yasha is from Xhorhas. Molly points out that people in the bar are listening to everything they say. They confront Kara.]
[Break]
[They talk to Horace.]
…
4. Truth or Truth
1:55:03 Fjord: "Anything we want to do before we go out on this errand?"
1:55:07 Nott: "Oh yeah, I think there was one thing." To Molly, "Tell us everything about you!"
Molly points to Horace.
1:55:13 Fjord: "Horace-"
1:55:14 Nott, annoyed: "Oh! Are you fucking kidding me!? Leave! Leave, Horace! Leave!"
1:55:17 Fjord: "Horace, do you mind going upstairs for a second?"
1:55:20 Horace: "Uh, yeah, I'll- I'll step in one of the other rooms Do you have a key I could-?"
1:55:24 Beau: "Here."
1:55:25 Marisha: "I toss him mine and Jester's key."
1:55:26 Matt: "He heads into the next chamber."
1:55:28 Beau, accusingly: "Just don't steal any of the pillow cases or go through any of our luggage."
1:55:32 Fjord: "Yeah, they're booby-trapped."
1:55:33 Horace: "Okay."
1:55:35 Matt: "He leaves the room. Soon as he's gone from there, Jester asks,"
1:55:37 Jester: "Okay, so, tell us about you! Each!"
1:55:44 Yasha, looking surprised and incredulous: "I mean, this is not about me right now."
1:55:47 Nott: "It could be!"
1:55:48 Yasha: "It doesn't need to be."
1:55:50 Nott: "Well, you have secrets, too!"
1:55:52 Molly: "So do you."
1:55:53 Nott: "And you're a pair! You know, I distinctly remember a moment when we were the shady pair of this group, but now it looks like you guys are."
1:56:02 Molly: "Everyone's a shady pair in this group. Somehow even as individuals we are all somehow shady pairs. It is just inevitable."
1:56:09 Nott, Molly joining at the end: "Now I'm hungry for pears."
1:56:12 Travis: "Sounds like a retirement home. Shady Pears."
1:56:14 Marisha: "Shady Pears!"
1:56:21 Liam: "Just outside of Whitestone."
1:56:22 Marisha: "Yeah."
1:56:25 Fjord: "I mean, Lucian, Noganon,"
1:56:28 Molly with a sigh and cringe: "Oh god."
1:56:29 Fjord: "what the fuck?"
1:56:29 Molly, covering his eyes in frustrations. "Alright."
1:56:30 Beau: "Lucian sounds very, like, 'I'm trying to find myself,' by the way; just throwing it out there."
1:56:35 Molly: "No, That's fair."
1:56:36 Nott: "Angsty teen."
1:56:37 Beau, with a laugh: "Yeah, it's very angsty teen, yeah!"
1:56:40 Fjord: "Is your real name Peter?"
1:56:41 Beau: "I dated a few Lucians. Like, way too many Lucians."
1:56:46 Taliesin, quizzically: "Is this… Marisha? Or is this- this?"
1:56:50 Marisha: "This was- this was… Beau"
1:56:51 Taliesin: "Okay, okay, never mind. I don't want to know. Too much."
1:56:53 Marisha: "Beau, but it's still not necessarily untrue." Taliesin echoes her in understanding.
1:56:58 Liam: "Reality in story."
1:57:00 Travis: "An undetermined percentage is still," he gestures up and down on himself.
1:57:00 Taliesin: "I have been the Lucian in a relationship before, I feel you. We've all been Lucian."
1:57:03 Liam: "Six of one, half a dozen of another. Forward of the story."
1:57:09 Marisha: "A lot of guys in bands, yeah."
1:57:12 Molly, struggling for words: "So, uh… Well I was born on the continent of Em-" He sighs. "I- I really-" He signs again and covers his mouth in frustration."
1:57:20 Fjord: "No, no, don't stop; just keep going."
1:57:21 Nott: "Would you like a drink?"
1:57:23 Molly: "Yes, please."
1:57:23 Beau: "This was super epic, yeah."
1:57:24 Nott, holding out her flask: "Here. It's filled with many alcohols from different taverns."
1:57:25 Molly, to Yasha: "I genuinely thought I would have some bullshit together by now, and I'm really sort of stuck."
1:57:33 Yasha: "Listen, I know I never pushed you to talk about anything, and don't- if you don't feel comfortable…"
Molly sighs and rubs his temple.
1:57:37 Yasha: "You don't owe any of us anything.
1:57:40 Molly: "It's dangerous, though. It's officially dangerous."
1:57:43 Fjord: "What? To tell us what you're about to tell us? For us or for you?"
1:57:48 Molly: "At this point, what's the difference?"
1:57:51 Fjord: "Well, one's us, and one's you."
1:57:52 Beau: "We definitely left our vials in a shady cellar with a bunch of underground criminals. I don't…"
1:57:58 Nott: "I… I stole 3 empty vials from that place. I'm very excited about them. They're empty, but they're still really shiny."
1:58:05 Liam mimics blowing on vials to make music.
1:58:10 Travis: "They're all the same note 'cause they're all fucking empty."
Travis mimics playing vials that are the same note and botches the end.
1:58:15 Travis: "Oh no, I went up."
1:58:22 Nott: "But seriously…"
1:58:24 Molly: "But seriously. I have- I have- I have been part of a shady group- I have been dealing with shady friends for as long as I can remember. If there's one thing I've learned about dealing with people that you can't trust is that you… kind of have to trust them where you can, and not trust them where you can't. And… I'm not saying I have- I'm not saying I'm- I know what I'm doing, or anything, but…" He sighs. "I don't want anybody- I want this to work. I need this to work. So…" Looking at Yasha, but mostly to himself, with increasing resignation, "I've not done this in a while… alright."
1:59:00 Fjord: "I noticed that she, uh, kinda had the same influence over the blood that you have. But different."
1:59:07 Molly: "Yeah, that's uh… that's interesting, isn't it? This might even be easier if you just ask questions. I really don't know how to tell this story."
1:59:13 Caleb: "Why do you have so many names?"
Molly sighs.
1:59:22 Molly, struggling for words, looking more resigned and frank: "I woke up without any names, or any past, buried in the ground two years ago."
1:59:31 Fjord: "Buried in the ground?"
1:59:32 Caleb: "You woke of buried in the ground?"
1:59:34 Nott: "Were you dead?"
1:59:35 Molly: "Obviously not."
1:59:37 Fjord: "In a- in a box? In the dirt?"
1:59:38 Molly: "In the dirt."
1:59:39 Caleb: "And you are saying that you have no memory?"
1:59:42 Molly: "My first memory, my oldest memory, is dirt in my face underground."
1:59:47 Beau: "Is that what that-"
1:59:48 Sam, mimicking Jester's voice: "Jester would like to cast Zone of Truth."
1:59:51 Travis, drawn out: "Ooo!"
1:59:52 Marisha: "Oh snap!"
1:59:54 Travis: "Oh no!"
1:59:56 Matt: "Alright."
1:59:57 Ashley: "Good girl."
1:59:57 Liam: "Keeping it real for the field line!"
2:00:00 Sam: "She says,"
2:00:01 Marisha: "Let's play Truth…"
2:00:01 Sam!Jester: "I would like to play Truth or Dare, but without the dare."
2:00:05 Taliesin: "How honest do I have to be?"
2:00:07 Matt: "We'll find out in a second."
2:00:08 Taliesin: "Okay."
2:00:08 Liam: "Well, you can say whatever you want, but whatever you say has to be true.
2:00:12 Sam: "You cannot speak a lie."
2:00:12 Liam: " That's how it works. You can also just say, 'I don't feel like talking."
2:00:14 Matt: "Alright, all of you, who are in the 15-foot radius it's being cast in, which would probably be…"
2:00:22 Sam: "Everybody."
2:00:22 Matt: "everybody,"
2:00:23 Marisha: "It's not a big hotel room."
2:00:23 Travis: "I take 16 steps away."
2:00:23 Matt: "if you're all standing close on this, everybody please make a charisma saving throw."
2:00:26 Liam: "Wow!"
2:00:27 Sam: "Oh boy."
2:00:29 Marisha: "Saving throw?"
2:00:29 Travis: "Charisma saving throw."
2:00:30 Matt: "Charisma saving throw."
2:00:30 Sam: "I got a 1. Hey natural 1! $10 to 826 LA!"
2:00:34 All: "Hooray!"
2:00:36 Marisha: "It's $100!"
2:00:37 Ashley: "$100."
2:00:38 Sam: "Oh, what!? That's even better!"
2:00:39 Marisha: "$100 for every natural 1."
2:00:41 Taliesin, disappointed: "I rolled a 4."
2:00:42 Matt: "Alright."
2:00:43 Sam: "Oh, you're in."
2:00:43 Ashley: "13."
2:00:45 Liam: "13."
2:00:46 Marisha: "16."
2:00:47 Travis: "22."
2:00:47 Matt, indicating Marisha and Travis: "You are the only two who succeeded."
2:00:49 Liam: "Wow."
2:00:49 Matt: "Everyone else, you have to speak the truth for the next…"
2:00:51 Marisha, quietly to Travis: "Good cop, bad cop. Bad cop, good cop. Hard to say."
2:00:52 Liam: "But, if I'm- DM, we know that that's- we feel it, according to the spell."
2:00:57 Travis, quietly to Marisha: "Sure."
2:00:57 Matt: "Yes."
2:00:57 Liam: "Yeah."
2:00:57 Matt: "You all sense the kind of, the energy come over you, and for a second you're a little confused by it."
2:00:58 Travis, quietly to Marisha: "Dumb cop."
2:01:00 Marisha, quietly to Travis: "Yeah. Posturing cop, posturing cop."
2:01:04 Molly: "Alright that's not- that's not entirely true; it's a vague memory. I don't really remember it. It's kind of all jumbled. It's what I've been told… about some of it. I- It's…"
2:01:14 Beau: "Is this that ritual that she was rambling about?"
2:01:17 Molly: "I don't know."
2:01:19 Fjord: "So, before you woke up in the dirt, nothing?"
2:01:21 Molly, slightly agitated: "There is no before. Whatever happened before is not me. It's not part of anything-" He sighs with frustration.
2:01:28 Nott: "Like your life reset somehow? Or you just don't remember?"
2:01:36 Molly, internally struggling: "Some asshole got buried in the dirt. Fuck him. I am enjoying what I'm doing. I want nothing to do with that. Anything that came before, I was happy to just leave it be."
2:01:47 Caleb: "Yeah, but do you have any theories for what happened before."
2:01:50 Molly, pointedly: "No."
2:01:51 Beau: "Did you… look… the same, or did you come back…"
2:01:58 Molly, mildly incredulous: "How would I know?"
2:02:00 Nott: "So everything before two years ago is nothing to you. Black."
2:02:03 Molly: "Yeah. That's somebody else." He shrugs.
2:02:05 Fjord: "Two years ago, did you have all those tattoos?"
2:02:08 Molly, thinking: "No… Not exactly…"
2:02:10 Nott: "Any of them?"
2:02:11 Molly, covering his eyes again and looking pained: "Some of them, yes."
2:02:12 Caleb: "How much time passed between waking up in a dirt box and the circus?"
2:02:17 Molly, looking dejected: "Days."
2:02:18 Caleb, surprised, quietly, nodding: "Days."
2:02:18 Molly: "I was a bit out of it. Uh, it's hard to remember; I wasn't… speaking… really. It's all… Do you have memories from your childhood?"
2:02:27 Caleb: "Yeah, many."
2:02:28 Fjord: "Sure."
2:02:29 Molly: "It felt like that? It's all… bright? And…" He sighs, searching for words. "More meaningful than it should be. There was just nothing- I, uh… I was practically catatonic; I was barely speaking."
2:02:47 Beau: "Did you wake up to people? Or alone?"
2:02:51 Molly, wide-eyed and closed in: "Alone."
2:02:52 Caleb: "Are you a good guy?"
Molly takes a long time contemplating this.
2:02:59 Molly: "I'd like to think so." He smirks, but it collapses quickly.
2:03:03 Fjord, nodding: "Why did she seem like she looked up to you so much?"
2:03:07 Molly, shaking his head, getting more agitated: "I don't know. I don't know who that was, I've never heard the name Lucian before, or that other name. I-"
2:03:18 Caleb, quietly: "Nonagon."
2:03:18 Molly: "I've never heard of any of it."
2:03:21 Yasha: "I didn't realize you didn't- You did a good job at pretending."
2:03:26 Molly: "Yeah, well, I like pretending. Pretending's great. I… Who cares where anybody came from?"
2:03:34 Beau: "How do you know she actually thinks it's… you, and not, you know, maybe she just mistook you for someone actually named Lucian."
2:03:42 Molly: "That's possible, except, of course, she had weird… blood powers."
2:03:46 Beau: "So, this happens to you a lot?"
2:03:49 Molly: "A few… A few months after I came to, uh… I started noticing I could do things. I- knew things that I didn't necessarily know I knew."
2:04:00 Caleb: "Are you talking about your abilities?"
2:04:03 Molly: "Yeah… I can… Um…" To Nott, "Pass me that dagger?"
2:04:10 Nott: "I have three of them."
2:04:11 Molly: "Pick one."
2:04:12 Sam, mimicking passing Molly a dagger: "Dink!"
Molly cuts his arm and stabs the dagger into the table.
2:04:15 Molly: "Ice!"
2:04:17 Matt: "You watch as this large cluster of moisture all of a sudden solidifies around the outside of the blade, and the blade is now encrusted in jagged ice shards that just kind of stick out. The steam coming off of it. Mist."
2:04:29 Fjord: "That's menacing."
2:04:30 Nott: "That's amazing; I would- I would ask about how you discovered that, because that would not be something that I would ever just do, just to just see, but we'll leave that for another day."
2:04:41 Molly: "Oh no, I can- we're here, this is happening, that's fine. Umm…"
2:04:48 Nott: "Question. Go back two- two beats. You said, 'Who care about what happened before.'"
2:04:56 Molly, incredulously with an "obviously" gesture: "Yeah."
2:04:57 Nott: "Do you really not want to know your past? Answer truthfully."
2:05:05 Molly, very pointedly, looking annoyed and frustrated: "I really don't. I… Whoever that was… came to that end. And I want nothing to do with that. Whatever it was, it doesn't feel good when I- the moments when something creeps through, I don't like it. I don't want anything to do with it. I was happy. I… I liked the circus. The circus was great."
Liam!Jester slaps her hands on the table and leans forward excitedly.
2:05:30 Liam!Jester, coyly: "Ooo! I have a question? Is there anyone in the group that you find super attractive?"
2:05:38 Liam: "It's a text from Laura."
2:05:39 Travis: "Oh."
2:05:40 Molly, deadpan: "Yes."
2:05:41 Matt: "I think she was asking Yasha."
2:05:45 Liam, reading the text: "Oh! Ask Yasha; oh."
2:05:47 Ashley: "Too late!"
2:05:51 Liam!Jester to Yasha, leaning forward again: "What about you?"
2:05:52 Matt: "And as the nature of the spell, you know you're under the effect of it, and you can be dodgy if you need to, but it's up to you."
2:06:00 Liam!Jester, sing-song: "You can tell me!"
2:06:03 Taliesin, laughing: "That's a good Laura."
2:06:04 Yasha: "I feel like I-"
2:06:05 Ashley, laughing: "That's a very good Laura."
2:06:07 Yasha: "Uh… yes, of course there are people here that I think are very attractive and charming. But, that doesn't mean that I will act on that."
2:06:19 Molly: "I- You can be monosyllabic if you like with these people."
2:06:23 Fjord, clearing his throat: "Molly?"
2:06:24 Molly: "Mmhm?"
2:06:24 Fjord: "In the years that have gone by-"
2:06:27 Nott, quietly: "Yasha has a crush on me."
2:06:31 Fjord: "Has anyone called you any other names besides Molly, Lucian, or…"
2:06:36 Nott: "Nonagon."
2:06:37 Fjord: "Yeah. Mahna mahna."
2:06:37 Molly: "Nonagon; whatever that was. Not without me feeding it to them first. I mean, I've… I mean I've conned people. We've all conned people. I've used other names before. And-"
2:06:48 Fjord: "No, but did they know you? Did they come up and give you a name?"
2:06:50 Molly, shaking his head and looking troubled: "Never."
2:06:51 Yasha: "This was the first time that's happened."
Molly points at her in agreement.
2:06:54 Molly: "I…" He gestures to himself up and down. "A lot of this was in the hopes that maybe it would never happen. Keep moving. Keep quiet." He shrugs.
2:07:02 Fjord: "You don't know anything about the ritual that she was talking about."
2:07:04 Molly, shaking his head: "Nothing. But… I'll say this,"
2:07:07 Taliesin: "And I'm going to put the- put the knife down, and uh, is- is there anything sharp around? Anything at all?"
2:07:20 Matt: "Uh, I mean-"
2:07:21 Travis, laughing: "This group?"
2:07:21 Matt: "Yeah. Plenty of things that are…"
2:07:23 Taliesin: "Something that's even ridiculous. Like something not normal."
2:07:27 Matt: "Uh, yeah, there- well, there are jagged parts of the wood frame of the bed-"
2:07:32 Taliesin: "Perfect! I'm going to just cut myself again on the wood frame, and grab it, and use Radiance."
Sam winces hard.
2:07:37 Matt: "Okay. You watch as this bright, vibrant light just billows out of it. Kind of glowing in the vicinity. Similar that you've seen it encase the scimitar."
2:07:47 Molly: "I'll admit, this is new."
2:07:50 Fjord: "Huh, yeah, that's a hell of a thing."
2:07:51 Molly: "You all got to see the first time this happened."
2:07:53 Fjord: "Right."
2:07:54 Caleb: "And how much of this was under wraps? You knew none- any of this? In you time in the circus with him?"
2:07:59 Yasha: "I… knew that he woke up and he did not know who he was." Molly takes his hand off the bed and releases Radiance. "But this is the first time this has happened when someone has come… to us and recognized him from his past."
2:08:14 Liam!Jester, boisterously: "Molly! What have you ever pooped your pants!?"
2:08:17 Travis, looking at his phone: "That's actually in the text thread, too."
2:08:18 Liam!Jester: "Ever any time?"
2:08:21 Taliesin, quietly with a smile: "This is art."
2:08:22 Molly, looking perplexed: "Not that I'm- Well, no… That's fair. Sure."
2:08:26 Fjord: "Did you ever gamble on a fart and loose?"
2:08:27 Molly: "It was worth it every time."
2:08:29 Jester, triumphantly sing-song: "Thought so!"
2:08:30 Nott: "I'm sorry to belabor this, but… what if you had a good life before this? What if you were famous or rich or had friends or family?"
2:08:41 Yasha: "She seems to think you were quite an amazing person."
2:08:45 Molly, very pointedly, looking really annoyed again: "Okay. Here's the thing that you're not catching: that wasn't me. This is mine. I don't want anything from that other person anymore. That person is someone else. I don't want anything to do with it. I did not feel good coming out of that. I- I… was…" He pinches the bridge of his node in frustration. "uh… I'm in for a penny, might as well. I am told, although I don't entirely remember this part, that I… only said the word 'empty' over and over again for the first week."
2:09:18 Fjord, Beau, Caleb, and Nott: "Empty?"
2:09:21 Molly, shrugging: "I don't know what that means."
2:09:22 Caleb: "'Empty' or M T?"
2:09:23 Molly: "Empty."
2:09:24 Caleb: "Empty."
2:09:25 Molly: "I don't know! I can barely remember."
2:09:27 Caleb: "Jester, I feel your touch on this conversation. Is this all accurate?"
2:09:34 Matt!Jester: "As far as I can tell, yes. He did indeed poop his pants."
2:09:39 Caleb: "And the rest?"
2:09:40 Matt!Jester: "Oh that, too, yes."
2:09:41 Caleb: "Yeah."
2:09:41 Nott: "Empty…"
2:09:45 Molly: "That sounds terrible. I… I don't want anybody- I don't want to remember anything, I don't want anybody else's baggage in my head, I don't want anybody else's problems, thoughts, ideas." Tapping the table for emphasis, "I like this person right now, is a good person, is a fine person, is a happy person."
2:10:05 Beau: "She kept referencing a book."
Molly shrugs.
2:10:08 Fjord: "No idea?"
2:10:09 Molly: "Sounds shifty."
2:10:09 Beau: "What if we could find the book."
2:10:12 Molly, firmly: "I don't want it."
2:10:14 Caleb: "Well, I will say, I'm a little concerned about, you know, loose ends coming to bite you and us in the butt. However…"
2:10:27 Molly: "We all have a few, I assume."
2:10:28 Caleb: "I believe in second starts, and uh… that's enough for me."
2:10:35 Molly: "There-"
2:10:36 Beau: "You know-"
2:10:36 Molly: "Can you imagine what it would feel like to not feel anything about anything that had happened to you so far?"
2:10:41 Fjord: "No."
2:10:41 Caleb: "No."
2:10:42 Beau: "Yes."
2:10:44 Molly: "Why am I not surprised?
2:10:46 Nott, incredulously: "What do you mean, 'yes'?"
Beau gives a "yeah, what?" shrug.
2:10:49 Nott: "You can imagine what it's like to not feel anything before this moment?"
2:10:55 Beau, shrugging: "Yeah."
2:10:55 Nott: "Have you died before?"
2:10:57 Beau: "No. Doesn't mean you have to find meaning in meaningless things."
2:11:01 Molly: "It's very freeing. It's… the best thing… It's the thing that happened to me. it's not the best thing that happened to me, it's the thing that happened to me. I- I found… Peace? in… building a new person. The Moonweaver…"
2:11:26 Beau: "You know, just because if you know about your past doesn't mean you have to be beholden to it."
2:11:32 Nott: "That's true."
2:11:35 Beau: "If you…"
2:11:35 Yasha: "It's not that important."
2:11:36 Molly: "What if it feels that it- that I owe it something?"
2:11:40 Beau: "You don't owe your past shit. if I don't feel anything about my past, but I still remember it, and I still don't give a fuck about where I came from, then why should you care about shit that you don't even remember?"
Molly sighs, and grins somewhere between "you get it," and "you are so naïve."
2:11:56 Fjord: "That's a layered question."
2:11:57 Molly: "I-"
2:11:57 Nott: "I don't know about that."
2:11:59 Molly: "I… spent two years, before I met you all… cajoling people… occasionally ripping them off, occasionally doing a good turn here or there; never trust the truth. Truth is vicious; the truth thinks that you owe it something; none of that. I like my bullshit. It's good, it's happy, it makes other people happy."
2:12:30 Nott: "But it's not who you are."
2:12:32 Molly: "It is exactly who I am!"
2:12:34 Fjord: "Can I ask you, when you're praying over your swords at night, are you actually doing anything?"
2:12:39 Molly: "Uh, well, do you know who the Moonweaver is?"
2:12:42 Fjord: "No."
2:12:43 Molly: "Excellent. Uh…" He shrugs. "The swords are… cheap carnival glass. There's nothing special about them."
2:12:51 Liam: "May I make a check to see if I have ever heard of the Moonweaver?"
2:12:54 Matt: "Make a religion check."
2:12:54 Yasha: "Wow."
2:12:56 Molly, muted: "Eh, fuck it."
2:13:00 Nott: "Is the Moonweaver not real?"
2:13:01 Fjord, quietly: "cheap carnival glass?"
2:13:03 Liam: "23."
2:13:04 Matt: "Oh yeah, you've definitely heard of the Moonweaver."
2:13:04 Molly: "I literally decorated a pair of swords to make them look special."
2:13:09 Matt: "The Moonweaver is, uh, classically more of an Elven deity, but is… kind-"
2:13:14 Molly, quietly, mumbled, frank and dejected: "Thought maybe I'd make it less likely they'd think there's something special about me."
2:13:15 Matt: "They are a god over the night, of shadow, music, there's a lot of variations to what they go over, but they're definitely not one of the approved religions in the empire, and is considered- not considered one of the Betrayer Gods classically. But is an inspiration for a lot of art in classic elven history, and even some modern. The caretaker of evening trysts. Has a lot of- a lot of unique history to the Moonweaver."
2:13:48 Fjord: "So it's you that's special, not your swords."
2:13:51 Molly, with a soft smile: "That's true."
2:13:52 Beau: "Molly, you seem like you have a pretty solidified identity for someone who has only had consciousness for two years."
2:14:02 Molly, with a half shrug: "Things came back quick, and the circus helped." A bit sadly, "They were good people. They did a lot for me. And joy can fill an awful lot of a person's life."
2:14:12 Beau: "If things came back quick, do you feel like there are still remnants of whoever you once were that help- informed who you are now?"
2:14:19 Molly, after thinking about it: "Maybe. I feel tinges of things on occasion. Nothing I like."
2:14:27 Beau: "Interesting."
2:14:28 Nott: "If you always lie and bullshit, how are we ever going to believe you?"
2:14:32 Molly, flatly, mildly annoyed: "Because I always lie and bullshit."
2:14:36 Beau: "I can kind of agree with that. Cheers to bullshit!"
Beau and Molly clink mugs.
2:14:41 Molly, increasingly irritated: "I'm not a- I may be a liar, but I'm never a betrayer. I'm always honest in my work, and I believe in doing a good turn." He takes a swig. "I've never cheated you out of money." He pointedly looks at Nott. "I've never robbed from you." Again, pointedly looks at Nott. "I know how- I stayed with that circus for two years and I know how people treat each other. It's important." To Nott, "And all that stuff you told me before, I gotta admit I didn't listen to any bit of it; I was just trying to teach you a lesson. I don't care where you've been; I don't care what terrible things any of you have done; you're here now; this is how it works."
2:15:14 Liam!Jester, coyly resting her head on her laced fingers: "Molly?"
2:15:18 Molly, grinning: "Yes, darling?"
2:15:19 Liam!Jester: "I have a question."
2:15:20 Molly, leaning in, mirroring her conspiratorial body language: "Of course."
2:15:22 Fjord/Travis: "Oh no."
2:15:22 Liam!Jester: "Can you really read fortunes?"
Molly's grin falls away, his body language closes in a bit, and he looks just a bit dispirited and contemplative. He very briefly winces.
2:15:28 Molly, measured: "I use fortunes… to tell… people what I see in them." Brighter, "But sometimes, sometimes… I feel like maybe there's something… that tickles the back of my head, I will admit."
2:15:46 Liam!Jester, eagerly: "You have a feeling?"
2:15:47 Molly: sitting back with a small smile: "Some days."
2:15:50 Beau, looking at Molly distrustfully: "Don't believe him, Jester."
2:15:52 Taliesin/Molly, defensively toward Matt: "Am I telling-? Am I lying?"
2:15:53 Nott/Sam: "No, he has to be telling the truth."
2:15:55 Matt: "Yeah."
2:15:55 Taliesin, smugly: "Thank you."
2:15:56 Fjord/Travis: "That's why she asked him."
2:15:56 Yasha: "I do feel like you actually, weirdly, have a gift for that."
2:16:02 Molly, frankly: "I always try to be helpful with- when I turn cards for people."
2:16:05 Beau: "You ever think you could be doing damage, though?"
2:16:08 Molly: "No."
2:16:08 Beau: "Setting people on false paths?"
2:16:12 Molly, shrugging: "If people are looking for a path, they're looking for a path. And I'll tell you—and this is true—I did my best every town I went to and every town I left, no matter how they treated me, and a lot of them treated me, " a pang of anger flashes across his face, "with deep disrespect,"
2:16:25 Beau: "Some people are vulnerable and looking for answers."
2:16:27 Molly, measured and insistent: "I left every town better than I found it."
2:16:32 Nott: "Which- Which tattoos are the old ones?"
Molly considers, tapping some of his frustration on the table.
2:16:39 Nott, waving him off: "I mean, you don't have to- I don't want to see your naked body or anything."
Molly briefly reaches towards his pants and then laughs, waving off the joke and his frustration.
2:16:46 Molly, glancing at Yasha for help then sounding resigned: "Is it- Yeah, no."
2:16:50 Taliesin: "Um, so, I show off the peacock a little bit, and one of the peacock feathers on the neck."
2:16:58 Liam, cheekily: "What about your tattoos, though?"
Taliesin sticks his tongue out at Liam.
2:17:01 Taliesin, grinning: "Thank you, Liam. Um, one of the eyes in one of the peacock feathers is a bright crimson read. Which any of you if you'd ever made a fucking insight check would have noticed. Gah! You!" He points to Travis? "I was waiting for you to fuck with me. It's also the same place that he bleeds every time that he uses any of his powers. There's also a red eye on the snake on the palm, and there's a red eye on the snake on the opposite side of the head."
2:17:23 Nott: "What does that mean? What does it mean!? Caleb! What does it mean!?"
2:17:27 Caleb: "That's a lot of ink, man."
2:17:30 Nott: "Red eyes, or something?"
2:17:31 Molly: "There are various- there are various- Not in-"
2:17:33 Liam, to Matt: "Hey, does any of that symbology mean anything to me?"
2:17:36 Matt: "Not at the moment. How much do you show?"
2:17:37 Taliesin: "I'm just showing- I'm showing the snake, the two snake eyes, I'm showing the peacock eye, and then I'm going to show the eye in the floral arrangement."
2:17:45 Matt: "Okay."
1:17:46 Marisha, clapping, to Ashley: "C'mon Patterson, c'mon. Help us out here right now! This is your day job! Okay!"
2:17:52 Ashley: "Okay, let me look at my tattoo database…"
2:17:57 Molly: "I tried to cover them, but they wouldn't take ink. So, I just… did my best."
2:18:02 Nott, surprised: "They're not tattoos!?"
2:18:03 Molly: "No. I don't know what they are."
2:18:08 Nott: "They're just markings?"
Molly examines his hand and arm.
2:18:12 Fjord: "But you…"
2:18:12 Molly: "I don't know."
2:18:13 Fjord: "You don't remember getting them, or you… They just appeared?"
Molly shakes his head.
2:18:16 Nott: "They were just there."
2:18:17 Liam!Jester, clearing her throat: "Caleb? I have a question."
2:18:23 Travis: "You don't have to just do every one of these that she's gonna fucking write."
2:18:23 Liam!Jester: "Do you shave your butt?"
2:18:31 Marisha, laughing: "You do yours."
2:18:31 Caleb, looking at her quizzically: "Uh… I can truthfully say…"
2:18:32 Molly: "I don't."
2:18:34 Caleb: "No! That was for-
2:18:34 Molly: "But now that you bring it up because I'd never occurred to it, I might start."
2:18:38 Fjord/Travis: "It was to Caleb."
2:18:39 Molly/Taliesin: "Oh, that was for Caleb. Never mind; sorry."
2:18:40 Beau/Marisha: "Well, that's good. Now we know.
2:18:40 Nott/Sam: "No, that's very interesting! Good to know!
2:18:41 Matt: "But you've learned!"
2:18:44 Caleb: "Now you know that neither Molly or I shave our butt."
2:18:47 Molly: "Who butt shaves?"
2:18:48 Caleb: "And also, there's not a lot of hair there anyway."
2:18:49 Nott: "You wax your butt! You don't shave it."
2:18:52 Matt: "And also, there's only a couple minutes more left on the spell, so…"
2:18:55 Molly: "Anything else before we're done here?"
2:18:57 Beau: "Did you ever know anyone who did used to try and set people on wrong paths with their fortune telling?"
2:19:06 Molly, earnestly, shaking his head: "No. We tried…" He shrugs. "That's… that's dangerous work and it'll usually backfire. No interest in that. It's mostly just trying to help people get their shit together." With realization, "Did someone send you on the wrong path?"
2:19:23 Beau: "No."
2:19:25 Molly, mildly disappointed: "That's fair. I don't care, to be fair."
2:19:28 Beau: "Still in zone of truth, no."
2:19:29 Fjord: "Is there anything about you that you don't want us to know?"
2:19:32 Molly: "Yes." After a long pause, "Everything. I like… the safety of it, but… And if I had had my way, this would have been a conversation for a later date. But… I need… to protect you and myself from whatever that is, so you need to know that… that is a wild card."
2:19:52 Fjord: "I appreciate that. I appreciate that."
2:19:58 Beau, brightly but sarcastically: "Well, this was fun."
2:20:00 Nott: "I feel like we should do this every night. But I will say this… Lucian?" She winces.
2:20:06 Molly: "That's a terrible name."
2:20:07 Nott: "It's terrible!"
2:20:08 Molly: "I don't want to ever know who that person is."
2:20:10 Nott: "It's like a kid with a soft mustache that's not like a real, you know, like a real…"
2:20:10 Caleb: "You're sticking with Mollymauk?"
2:20:12 Molly: "I'm Molly!"
2:20:15 Travis: "All the Lucians out there are super pissed right now."
2:20:16 Molly, firmly: "Let me make this abundantly clear: my name is Molly. That person is dead and not me. That's just a person who had this body. They abandoned it, it's mine now."
2:20:30 Nott: "I think that you need to know where you've been to know where you're going, and… I am… I respect your… your feelings. But I feel-
2:20:41 Molly, bitterly: "And I feel you are frightfully ignorant and filled with platitudes. But I still like you regardless."
2:20:46 Nott: "I feel like, when you're ready to know your past, I would- I would support that, and I would help you find it."
2:20:58 Molly, very irritated, goading: "Maybe he killed goblins. Maybe he was a goblin hunter. Maybe he ate them. Raw."
2:21:07 Nott: "As long as he didn't- eat me."
2:21:07 Caleb: "I think perhaps we have learned all we need to learn from this conversation. Maybe it is time to turn in. We have some things to do tomorrow. I am satisfied, Mollymauk Tealeaf. For now."
2:21:21 Molly, resigned: "This was not how I expected this to go." He runs his hand down his face. "Thank you."
2:21:29 Beau: "For what it's worth, I like you a little better now."
2:21:31 Nott: "Me too."
2:21:34 Beau: "You don't have to reciprocate it."
2:21:35 Molly, flatly, with a laugh at the end: "I'm waiting for the spell to dissipate before I say anything."
2:21:40 Matt: "About now, the spell has dissipated."
2:21:42 Molly: "I both like you more and less at the same time."
2:21:46 Beau: "I get that a lot."
2:21:47 Nott: "Is the spell gone?"
2:21:48 Matt: "The spell's gone."
2:21:49 Nott: "Goddamnit! Yasha! Tell us everything! Fuck!"
2:21:53 Matt: "I mean, you can still press her."
2:21:55 Molly, laying a hand on Yasha's shoulder: "Thank you, dear."
Molly gives a long sigh.
2:22:00
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Obscure Gems - Kingdom of Paradise
Aside from Dynasty Warriors, there was another game that influenced my childhood years. Americans may know it as Kingdom of Paradise, Europeans may know it as Key of Heaven, and Asians may know it as Tenchi no Mon (天地の門/天地之門).
This is a pretty old game as it was originally released in July 2005 with a sequel being released in October 2006. While the first game received a localisation, the second one, sadly, did not. As a result, while I have played both games, I have a better understanding of the first one than the second (despite me being able to extract the game’s texts from within the ISO, don’t ask how I managed to do it).
I remember when my family bought a PSP and my uncle had it downgraded (upgrading would have been better if you look at it from a present-day perspective) so we could play games from the Memory Stick. This, along with the first Dynasty Warriors PSP game, Lumines and Ape Escape On The Loose, were some of the first games that we got thanks to my uncle. I remember my dad was so obsessed with this game (and Lumines, besides not letting me play on it because school) that he would end up hogging it because he had to defeat the bosses, which were, in his eyes, hard to defeat. I did make another save for myself and after initially giving up when my first boss was too hard to fight, I eventually managed to clear the game altogether. Looking at gameplay videos of it now, I noticed that fighting the bosses was easier than I had thought, or maybe it’s because they got gud.
About the developers
This game was created by Climax Entertainment, who were also famous for the Runabout series, Steal Princess, Dinosaur King and Element Hunters. Sorry, who were those guys again? Oh wait, they’re a bunch of nobodies in today’s words.
Climax Entertainment was founded in April 1990, developing games for Sega consoles. In 1994, some members split and joined with former members of Telenet Japan to form Matrix Software, known for joining with other companies to create games, such as Square Enix for the Final Fantasy series.
Sadly, Climax Entertainment never grew significantly and they eventually fell off the grid by 2015. Apparently, by following an archived page from a source on their Wikipedia page, it was because the company went bankrupt. Oh well, let’s move on.
The game itself
The game is set on a fictitious feudal Chinese-inspired continent named Ouka, which is split into five territories ruled by each of the five clans, namely the Eastern Seiryu, Northern Genbu, Western Byakko, Southern Suzaku and Central Kirin. The main character is Shinbu, a former Seiryu disciple and aspiring swordsmaster who was expelled from his clan after learning their Chi Arts before his master thought he was ready. When Sui Lin, another Seiryu disciple, manages to escape from their temple after it was (apparently) ransacked by the Central Kirin, she encounters Shinbu and tells him that his master was killed and that they need to rebuild their clan. Upon hearing of this, Shinbu’s adoptive father, Seidatsu, gives him the Ginmei Sword, which originally belonged to his father, and the first piece of the San’yuan that he was obsessed with reviving. From there, he sets off on an adventure around Ouka and discovers secrets about the clans and his family.
As you journey around Ouka, you can fight enemies and monsters along the way. Using the Ginmei Sword, you can unleash various types of bugei, made by equipping kenpu into bugei scrolls, or create your own bugei with the freestyle scrolls you can collect. Additionally, you can use the Chi Arts and unleash attacks that can clear enemies in one hit (you’ll have to spam it sooner or later). Enemies have a stronger or weaker resistance to a certain clan’s kenpu or Chi Arts based on the five Wuxing phases. While you can overcome enemies that way, you can also chain kenpu together in a generating cycle to deal more damage. You can learn all five clans’ Chi Arts as you play the game, though the caveat is that you learn the final one just before you fight the final boss, so the time you spend mastering it before you fight the final boss just seems very protracted, particularly if you’re at the maximum level by that point.
The background context of the game’s story arcs revolves around the Seima-Ouka Great War, which occurred 300 years prior to the start of the game. Invaders from the neighbouring continent of Seima came to Ouka and waged war with the five clans, but they were defeated. While there were some that managed to escape with the army, some of Seimans surrendered and remained on Ouka, where they suffered discrimination following the war. Their currency, the taichi, was widely used there as a result. The San’yuan had been burned during the war because the Seima feared its power.
Looking at the English and Chinese scripts, I could spot some differences between them and personally, I prefer the Chinese script better as it is closer to the original Japanese script. Alone, both scripts are good, but after having seen both versions, some parts of the English script doesn’t make sense in review.
Some of the mysteries of the game are basically explained in one line without deeper context. Certain characters aren’t as prominent as you may think they are. In the end, after you defeat the final boss, you get an opportunity to play the game again with the True San’yuan bugei, harder enemies and a carryover of the Chi Arts you learnt. There was a rumour on 2ch about another bugei you could get after clearing the game five times, but that, of course, is fake news.
About the sequel
The sequel takes place 25 years after the events of the first game and is set on the continent of Seima, the instigator of the Great War. Its capital is named Seimabolm and is split into three districts based on caste. Translating the names in the game is going to be an absolute nightmare because it was never localised to the West, but I’ll do whatever I can. If you want to see gameplays of this game, you’ll have to find them on Nico Nico Douga or Bilibili (for the Chinese version).
The main character is Liju Roh, a glorified military officer who went missing for a year when he was 5 years old and came back with no memory of what happened during that year. At the start of the game, he was accused of attempting to assassinate their empress and sentenced to execution by Gikyo Altai alongside another female, Maltamil Chiena. Suddenly, Altai’s sister, Shunka, jumps down to defend Roh and they manage to escape to the third district along with Chiena. As a result, they are forced to work as mercenaries in Chiena’s agency in order to hide from the imperial troops. Roh’s mission is to fulfil his late father’s request to stop Ejen Zern, a man who Roh saw as a brother, from performing the Great Judgement a second time; the first time it happened, a big fireball hit Seima and halved the population, cutting the island into the shape of a crescent moon and creating the Banko Sea.
In this game, you can have a companion travelling with you (usually Shunka for most of the game). As Roh, you can use three weapons, a sword, a spear, or gauntlets, and set kenpu and bugei accordingly. Some kenpu are performed slowly while others are performed quickly, which can cause gaps in your fighting. Other companions you travel with can use only one of those weapons, while Shunka fights with spirit discs and spirit dancing. Yes, spirit dancing, and that’s a plot point in the game. I find the dancing movesets ineffective when fighting enemies, but there are missions where you will need to use Shunka to perform a dance.
Unlike the first game where the story advances as you travel, the story in this game advances after you complete a number of missions from the agency. These include defeating enemies and monsters, buying or collecting things or even writing messages on noticeboards. Some missions are a pain to complete, such as with the collecting missions where you need to harvest a certain part from a machine or animal and they don’t instantly drop it upon defeat. As a result, it would take you forever to collect the amount required so you can complete the mission. There are also small flying drones that you can fight in underground tunnels and they are a bit hard to fight if your kenpu doesn’t make you swing your sword or spear up or down.
The travelling companions in the game (including the ones that appear after you’ve cleared the game) have significant relevance to the story, except for a drunkard monk named Sutta Monda who becomes your companion after you complete a mission that involves fighting him outside the agency for being drunk.
After you clear the game, you can just do missions ad infinitum, whereas in the previous game, you could play the game again and again. At least replaying old storylines or sparring with your companions could have been additional options.
If you haven’t noticed this by now, Shinbu or anyone else in the first game is not featured, though there are homages scattered in the script. One particular homage is that Seima is apparently planning a second invasion of Ouka, but Roh believes that stopping the Great Judgement is more important than stopping the former.
Summary
For its time, Kingdom of Paradise is an amazing game, whether it be the battle mechanics, the graphics or the story, though for the story, I prefer the first one better because I can understand it better after much analysis (which was also helped by that game being localised). While the second game does have its good points, it’s a bit more complicated than the first game and the missions can seem a bit of a drag to do.
Some people would probably say that the two games have potential to be expanded upon and I would say that I agree, though instead of expanding the games’ universe, I adapted it into my universe for my personal project. I adapted the first game into two 15-episode arcs, then after struggling to decide whether or not to do it, adapted some parts of the second game into a two-parter. I’ll elaborate on my adaptation at a later date.
Sadly though, Climax Entertainment is dead and the games never left much of a legacy to be admired. The only way its legacy can stay alive is within the hearts of the people who played those games, particularly the people who were inspired by it.
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Something Awesome | Caesar Cipher
So this is my first attempt at doing something of this type. Just as a refresher, my Something Awesome was to code up a variety of ciphers, both encrypting as well as decrypting (hopefully) in Python. I chose this project in order to help me learn more in depth and give myself some hands on experience with the various types of ciphers that used to, and are currently encrypting our society’s private data.
So for my first attempt at this, I chose something rather simple and objectively pretty simple to code up; the glorious Caesar Cipher.
A Brief History
“If he had anything confidential to say, he wrote it in cipher, that is, by so changing the order of the letters of the alphabet, that not a word could be made out. If anyone wishes to decipher these, and get at their meaning, he must substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet, namely D, for A, and so with the others.”
—
Suetonius, Life of Caesar
The history of the Caesar Cipher is quite transparent in the name honestly. Caesar, the great Roman general, in Suetonius’s records state that Caesar himself used a form of the cipher with a key of 3 to encrypt wartime messages. Hence the name, Caesar Cipher.
The Caesar Cipher, in antiquity was one of the earliest forms of cryptography that ever existed. However, with it being ancient history, there is no reliable way to know whether Caesar’s method was effective, but with the fact that the majority of the population at that time was illiterate, it’s generally agreed upon that yes, Caesar had a way that was quite secure at that time.
Further along the timeline, there’s proof that a form of a Caesar Cipher with a shift of one that deciphered to the names of God was used in the form of a mezuzah as a way for Jewish people to hide their beliefs.
Some modern examples of the Caesar Cipher was used by Mafia Boss Bernardo Provenzano. But I mean, it’s 2006, why would anyone still be using a Caesar Cipher to encode anything, its’ fairly easy to break into it.
Some Analysis
It seems that the Caesar Cipher is honestly really easy to break. I’ve come down to two scenarios in which an attacker attempting to break the cipher can find themselves in.
They find a cipher text but have no idea that a Caesar cipher is in use
They know that it is a Caesar Cipher but don’t know the key
So with the first case, there’s a few ways you could figure out that it is in fact a Caesar Cipher. The English Language is quite predictable in the sense that ‘e’ is the most common letter and ‘z’ is the least. With some frequency analysis you can basically tell that a substitution type of cipher is in use, and once you keep looking into it, you can see that it is Caesar Cipher.
To figure out that the key is honestly even easier, especially with the processing powers of computers these days. And honestly it’s pretty fast to do it by hand. There’s only 25 possible shifts, brute forcing by checking a phrase with all 25 is honestly not hard at all. For example, the word jgnnq to check it is super simple, check a shift of 1 to see if it makes sense. It becomes ifmmp. That makes no sense? Try 2, and we see that it becomes a familiar word hello. This works for any key, and length.
Perhaps it was a good encryption method back in the days of the Roman Empire, but anyone was a basic knowledge of the alphabet and cryptography would be able to crack this with a pen and paper.
Coding
So with coding the thing up, as the most simple cipher, I wouldn’t lie that it was absurdly difficult in any way. I would however, say that there were a few complications as my machine was running on Python 2.7 rather than Python 3 meaning that the input method ‘input( )’ didn’t work as most of the Stack Overflow forums said they would. Because Python 2.7 needs raw_input( ) for some reason, and that was later changed, I spent a solid half an hour wondering why that didn’t work.
So the way that I wrote up my Caesar Cipher used the ASCII values of characters in python to ‘shift’ the characters.
As we can see above, each alphanumeric character has a corresponding integer value. Capital ‘A’ has a value of 65. If we were to shift by 5, we simply add the integer 5 to the ASCII value. 70 in ASCII corresponds to the correct encryption F.
For a shift that goes past ‘Z’ and needs to loop back, it’s easy to just subtract 26 from the shifted value to represent the value looping back to the start of the alphabet. And for any characters that did not represent a value in the alphabet, we would leave them.
Decryption worked very much the same way, but we would just have the key be a negative value so that it goes left in the alphabet. So all that was required to do was to create separate functions for message input, key collection and a choice between decrypting and encrypting. But all that was kinda arbitrary. The logic being the thing I spent the most time on. With that, it wasn’t to difficult to create a Caesar Cipher, the logic of it being not too hard at all.
Hopefully, the next cipher I attempt is a bit more challenging in difficulty. Although I did learn a lot in this task, behind the history of cryptography and the ways in which anyone could really break a Caesar Cipher.
I’ll update this blog with photos and a timelapse of the coding progress later.
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Top 10 Disney Movies They SHOULD Remake
The Great Disney Remake Train shows no sign of stopping, especially after its most recent entry, “Beauty and the Beast”, managed to make a killing at the box office despite being, y’know, pretty Not Good At All. Combine that with the fact that, last year, they were even willing to do a remake of “Pete’s Dragon”, a movie which has only ever been a cult classic at best, and it becomes clear there’s basically no aspect of its considerable film library Disney isn’t willing to mine going forward. So, rather than bemoan the admittedly-tiresome reality of just how Corporate that strategy is, I thought I’d take the opportunity to think over a few Disney films that I’d actually like to see receive a remake. The only criteria here are pretty simple:
1.) If Disney publicly attached its name to the film in question, regardless of in what capacity, it’s eligible.
2.) The movie cannot have been remade by Disney already, nor can a remake be, concretely, in the offing. There are a lot of prospective remakes supposedly under development at Disney right now, but if they don’t have as much as an announced director, I don’t count them as really underway.
Otherwise, though, it’s basically all fair game. So let’s see what Disney movies might, in fact, have something to gain by being revisited, shall we?
10.) Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 2001):
I don’t necessarily share the immense nostalgic affection with which quite a few Disney fans view the original “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”. Even so, I do feel like it’s a movie with an easily workable core and a solid cast of characters which, by virtue of the rather-desperate circumstances under which it was made (the movie was pretty transparently aiming to capitalize on the then-recent explosion of Anime into the American mainstream, to the point where some suspect it cribbed more than slightly from “Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water”), came out rushed and incoherent. A remake, able to capitalize on the aforementioned Nostalgia cache the move has built up over the years thanks to its atypical-for-Disney aesthetic and tone, could very easily step in and fix those flaws (not least of all by doing more to address the White Savior stuff that fuels the plot). As well, I can’t help but feel like Live Action/full-stop CGI animation could prove a much better fit for the Mike Mignola-designed aesthetic of the original. And, if nothing else, don’t you want to find an actress capable of bringing Kidagakash to life?
9.) Oliver and Company (George Scribner, 1988):
For the most part, the beginning of the “Disney Renaissance”, that period of consistent box-office and critical success Disney experienced during the late 80’s and early-to-mid-90’s, is credited to the 1989 release of “The Little Mermaid”. And to be sure, that mega success is unquestionably important. But prior to that, Disney kept itself afloat with somewhat humbler success stories. But where, to my mind anyway, 1986’s “The Great Mouse Detective” is basically perfect as it is, its successor, a peculiar attempt to translate Charles Dicken’s classic “Oliver Twist” to modern-day New York City with animals as its primary characters, feels like an interesting concept marred in the execution. Keep the animal conceit, sure, and maybe some of the songs too. But dump the more dated stuff (Bill Sykes as a predatory lender especially) and try to find some way to put Dickens’ edges back into the story a bit. Definitely work to make the cast better defined and more engaging, too. Do all that, and you could wind up with a version of this story that is just crazy enough to work.
8.) Condorman (Charles Jarott, 1981):
You know what’s all the rage these days at the movies? Superheroes. And wouldn’t you know it, Disney currently owns the absolute cream of that particular crop in the form of Marvel Studios. But, as the smash-hit successes of both “Deadpool” and “Logan” over at 20th Century Fox have shown, audiences are also growing hungry for works that poke fun at, deconstruct, and do something to meaningfully comment on the nature of the genre as a whole. So far, though, Marvel Studios proper, and thus Disney itself, has yet to capitalize on that quickly-growing trend. The thing of it is, though, they already have a perfect vehicle to do so if they choose to use it. The original “Condorman” is not an especially good film, awkward and uneven as it is. But its dopey attempt to send up Spy Films and superheroes, combined with the brilliant design of its title “hero” (in reality a dorky comic book artist who stumbles into an espionage plot almost purely by accident), creates, to my eye at least, a perfect blueprint for a potential remake to run with in a sharp, satirical direction.
7.) The Aristocats (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970):
The 1970’s were not one of Disney’s better periods, either creatively or financially, and a lot of that can be seen pretty clearly in “The Aristocats”. It’s not without its charms, to be sure, but it’s also pretty obviously just “101 Dalmatians” all over again, except with contemporary-England-and-dogs swapped out for old-school-France-and-cats. Still, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that idea, and hey, as far as I’m concerned, cats could always use more movies about them that portray them in a positive light. Plus, the opportunities for a remake to improve on this one are almost painfully obvious: heighten the absurdity, tighten the pacing, and if you’re really feeling daring, maybe do more with the class gap between O’Malley and Duchess the original only ever lightly touched. It’s the absurdity element that feels especially key to me, though, especially in terms of differentiating “Aristocats” from “101 Dalmatians”. The original’s best moments are unquestionably its most ridiculous, after all, and amping that up, could do a lot to inject the movie with a more unique and enjoyable sense of personality.
6.) The Black Cauldron (Ted Berman/Richard Rich, 1985):
At this point, "The Black Cauldron"'s reputation as one of the biggest flops in Disney history precedes it, even given the not-insignificant cult following it's picked up after finally receiving its first home video release in 1998 (nearly a decade and a half after its theatrical run). But lost in analysis of its contentious place in the studio's canon is the fact that it's also a weirdly garbeld adaptation of the first two books of Lloyd Alexander's "Chronicles of Prydain" cycle of fantasy novels. And as often happens in those cases, that means there are a lot of details that go unexplained or unresolved, from running gags like Flewder's harp and its breaking strings to significant plot points like the magic sword Taryn discovers. But a big recurring choice in a lot of Disney's remakes of late is restoring elements of the source material that the previous Disneyification left out, and I don't know that any movie in the canon would benefit from that choice more than "The Black Cauldron". You can keep the broad structure of the original, i.e. the characters of the first Prydain book, "The Book of Three", placed into the general plot of the second book for which the film is named. But not only can we add some clarification around the edges (seriously, it is so easy to connect the story of that sword to even the heavily-revised version of the Horned King Disney created), more importantly we can also implant a lot more of the arch tone the books had, which would go a long way toward reconciling the original's rather confused take on the more-than-slightly deconstructionist story elements, to say nothing of likely making the movie less of a chore to sit through. Supposedly, a new "Chronicles of Prydain" movie is in fact under development at Disney, so who knows? Maybe we'll get the chance to see if this idea could actually work sooner than we think.
5.) The Black Hole (Gary Nelson, 1979):
You've probably noticed a running theme of my choices here, namely that a lot of them come from eras where Disney, facing the loss of its traditional audiences in the wake of a changing cultural landscape, decided to start experimenting well outside their usual wheelhouse. And perhaps the most wildly experimental periods of them all occurred in the late 70's and early 80's, when Disney committed its efforts to making some surprisingly-dark Sci-Fi/Fantasy live-action films. But where 1982's "Tron" became a cult classic (if not an especially strong box office success) and 1983's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" has its Ray Bradbury source material to keep it alive in the cultural memory, "The Black Hole" has more or less fallen down the memory hole. Not that it's hard to figure out why; its grim, existential tone and nightmarish imagery (most noticeably its robotic villain Maximillian) combined with its vague, confusing plot make it a movie without much in the way of a natural audience. And while that sort of thing is no easier to sell to a massive audience now than it was back then, there is nonetheless too much potential that can be dug out of "The Black Hole" without really having to alter too much of the fundamentals. Working to really dig into the sense of cosmic dread of the original, clarifying the moral and personal conflicts that drive its central antagonist, the Captain Nemo-esque Reinhardt, maybe easing up on the cutesy robot sidekicks (or else leaning into them as a way to underscore just how unnerving the atmosphere really is)...but most importantly, working to earn the frightfully illogical ending of the original. Of all the picks on this list, "The Black Hole" strikes me as the least likely, because even today an outright Horror movie seems outside the Disney purview...but for that very reason, it feels all the more compelling a choice.
4.) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 1996):
Even just a couple years ago, I don't know that I would have put this one on here at all, let alone this high up. Disney's first "Hunchback" movie, while certainly not perfect, is nonetheless one of the more uniquely mature and well-crafted entries in the canon, and I don't know that the various simple nips and tucks one could make to it (like committing to the Gargoyles as solely creations of Quasimodo's imagination, as was originally planned) would really warrant a full-blown remake. But then, early last year, I learned about a Broadway-style stage musical based on the movie (adapted from a German production from 1999). This version, though it retains the original's soundtrack and some of its creative choices, incorporates a lot more of Victor Hugo's brutally-dark novel into the story (in particular, it is one of the only adaptations ever that allows Frollo to be the archdeacon of the cathedral as he was in the book). That is not a choice I ever would have expected Disney to sanction (indeed, the original German version is a much more straightforward adaptation of the Disney movie), but now that I know they have, I'd say it is a very, very intriguing notion to bring that idea to the big screen. Like "The Black Hole", that would indeed mean a movie the tone, themes, and aesthetic of which would indeed be well outside the studio's usual box, but not only is that a risk the company can afford to take more so now than ever before, I'd say there's a not-insignificant audience out there that is waiting for them to make exactly that kind of choice. After all, as Disney and the studios it owns take up more and more space on the release schedule, a movie like this one could be might be welcomed as a positive sign that the studio can and will use its power position to take genuine risks.
3.) The Rescuers (Wolfgang Reitherman/John Lounsbery/Art Stevens, 1977):
Sometimes, you want to see a remake because the original has some kind of untapped potential; a wasted premise, an unexplored thematic angle, that sort of thing. Other times, you want to see a remake because you love the original, and simply want to see the thing you love expanded upon. That isn't quite the case for how "The Rescuers" wound up in this slot; I do love that movie, indeed it and its sequel (the very first Disney-made sequel to one of its animated films, and by a fair margin the best of them to date) are among my personal favorites of the Disney canon. But you know what else I love? The original "Miss Bianca" books by Margery Sharp, to which the film version, whatever else its merits, bears only the faintest resemblance (in particular, as you might note from the admittedly unofficial name I gave to the series, Bianca herself is much more emphatically the main character). It's another case, in other words, of a Disney movie whose remake could benefit tremendously from returning to the source material and re-integrating it into the overall mixture. But it's also the case, to my mind at least, where it's not only the easiest to reconcile the original movie with said source material (like "The Black Cauldron", the original movie essentially plucks the characters from one book and plugs them into the plot of another, though the attendant adjustments to the characters are less radical in this case, and the plots of both books have a lot more overlap), but also the easiest for me to envision what, exactly, the resulting movie would look like. I realize that one can count, on one hand, without needing all the fingers, the number of actually-good movies centered around realistic tiny CGI characters interacting with a real-life environment, but I can think of no story more ideally suited to the format than "The Rescuers".
2.) Bedknobs and Broomsticks (Robert Stevenson, 1971):
When one thinks of "splashy Disney musical primarily done in live-action but with significant animated elements", one naturally thinks first of "Mary Poppins". Which makes sense, because "Mary Poppins" is a stone-cold classic (with a sequel/remake/??? on the way in the not-too-distant future, in fact). But, even as its attempts to replicate that earlier success are pretty transparent, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" has always struck me as an underrated little gem in its own right. An ambitious narrative combining witchcraft with World War II, magical talking animals, and more, it's always resided mostly in "Poppins"' shadow, but its peculiar, distinctive identity not only could stand a bit more attention, it feels like a strong enough basis for a story that a second bite at the apple would seem warranted. A remake in the present day would not have to contend with the legacy of "Mary Poppins" quite so tightly (even setting aside the aforementioned new "Poppins" film coming down the pipe), which means it wouldn't feel the need to imitate it quite so consciously, allowing the particular personality of its own story to shine through. Because, for real, especially these days? The idea of an older woman, seeking to explore the full potential of her abilities forced to contend with the relentless destruction of the Nazi War Machine, as seen through the prism of her reluctantly taking on a group of helpless kids in need of shelter? Almost feels too relevant, on multiple levels, to The World Today, even as you don't need to draw the necessary lines all that explicitly to make those connections compelling. And that's without even touching a finale that feels like it's begging for the modern effects industry to give it a go. A "Bedknobs" remake, in other words, would not only rehabilitate a too-often-overlooked original, but provide a great experience in its own right.
1.) Robin Hood (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1973):
Hear me out on this one, folks. I love this movie too, a great deal. A lot of people my age do; even as it is still largely considered "minor" Disney at best, it has become a real nostalgic touchstone for a whole generation of kids. And it's a great deal of fun, with wit and genuine whimsy and wonderful characters and even a remarkably adult perspective on Romance that is nonetheless entirely in keeping with Disney's usual fairy-tale love stories. But even with all those things being true, it was also made on a nearly non-existent budget, not only forcing large chunks of it to be done by way of re-used animation (with some swipes going back as far as "Snow White And The Seven Dwarves", for goodness sake), but forcing the whole thing to just sort of...stop, rather than properly end. It seems to me a remake could easily resolve both those problems (oh what I would not give to see the film's originally-planned ending executed properly), without losing an ounce of the special charm that made the original such an enduring movie for me and so many others. Heck, it might even provide Disney a good excuse to do a cel-based movie for the first time in over half a decade, since they have every reason to think this thing would have a strong built-in audience that will show up no matter what and can thus afford to risk one last try at the olden ways. After all, two of their biggest hits of 2016 were "The Jungle Book" (a remake) and "Zootopia" (a movie about anthropomorphic animals, with a fox as one of its lead characters no less). Still, it's the creative more so than the financial potential that secures "Robin Hood" the top slot here. The original is a good, special movie, but there is so obviously a great well of potential right there in plain view, begging for the opportunity to truly realize itself. And that's the best reason for a remake there is, in the end.
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VC Brad Feld on WeWork, SoftBank, and why venture firms may have to slow down their pacing in 2020
Yesterday, we had a chance to talk with renowned VC Brad Feld of Foundry Group, whose book “Venture Deals” was recently republished for the fourth time, for good reason. It’s a storehouse of knowledge, from how venture funds really work to term sheet terms, from negotiation tactics to how to choose (and pay for) the right investment banker.
Feld was generous with his time and his advice to founders, many dozens of whom had dialed in, conference call style. In fact, you can find a full transcript of our conversation right here if you’re a member of Extra Crunch.
In the meantime, we thought we’d highlight some of our favorite parts of the conversation. One of these touches on SoftBank, an organization that Feld knows a little better than many other investors. We also discussed what happened at WeWork and specifically the difference between a cult-like leader and a visionary — and why it’s not always clear right away whether a founder is one or the other. These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
TC: We were just talking about startups raising too much money, and speaking of which, you were involved with SoftBank long ago. Your software company had raised capital from SoftBank, then you later worked for the company as an investor. This way predates the Vision Fund, but you did know Masayoshi Son, which makes me wonder: what do you think of how they’ve been investing their capital?
BF: Just for factual reference, I was initially affiliated with SoftBank with a couple of other VCs; Fred Wilson, Rich Levandov and at the time Jerry Colonna, who now runs a company called Reboot. During that period of time, a subset of us, a group of people that worked for SoftBank and I ended up starting a fund that eventually became called Mobius Venture Capital, but it was originally called SoftBank Venture Capital or SoftBank Technology Ventures. We were essentially a fund sponsored by SoftBank, so we had SoftBank money. The partners ran the fund, but we were a central part of the SoftBank ecosystem at the time. I’d say that was probably ’95, ’96 to ’99, 2000. We changed the name of the firm to Mobius in 2001 because it was endlessly getting confused with the other [SoftBank] fund activity.
I do know a handful of the senior principals at SoftBank today very well, and I have enormous respect for them. Ron Fisher [the vice chairman of SoftBank Group] is the person I’m closest to. I have enormous respect for Ron. He’s one of my mentors and somebody I have enormous affection for.
There are endless piles of ink spilled on SoftBank, and there are loads of perspectives on Masa and about the Vision Fund. I would make the observation that the biggest dissonance in everything that’s talked about is timeframe, because even in the 1990s, Masa was talking about a 300-year vision. Whether you take it literally or figuratively, one of Masa’s powers is this incredible long arc that he operates on. Yet the analysis that we have on a continual basis externally is very short term — it’s days, weeks, months.
What Masa and the Vision Fund conceptually are playing is a very, very long-term game. Is the strategy an effective strategy? I have no idea . . . but when you start being a VC, it takes a long time to know whether you’re any good at it out or not. It takes maybe a decade really before you actually know. You get a signal in five or six years. The Vision Fund is very young . . . It’s [also] a different strategy than any strategy that’s ever been executed before at that magnitude, so it will take a while to know whether it’s a success or not. One of the things that could cause that success to be inhibited would be having too short a view on it.
If a brand-new VC or a brand new fund is measured two years in in terms of its performance, and investors look at that and that’s how they decide what to do with the VC going forward, there would be no VCs. They’d all be out of business because the first two years of a brand-new VC, with very few exceptions, is usually a time period that it’s completely indeterminate as to whether or not they’re going to be successful.
TC: So many funds — not just the Vision Fund — are deploying their funds in two years, where it used to be four or five years, that it’s a bit harder. When you deploy all your capital, you then need to raise funding and it’s [too soon] to know how your bets are going to play out.
BF: One comment on that, Connie, because I think it’s a really good one: When I started, in the ’90s, it used to be a five-year fund cycle, which is why most LP docs have a five-year commitment period for VC funds. You literally have five years to commit the capital. In the internet bubble, it’s shortened to about three years, and in some cases it shortened to 12 months. At Mobius, we raised a fund in 1999 and a fund in 2000, so we had the experience of that compression.
When we set out the raise Foundry, we decided that our fund cycle would be three years and we would be really disciplined about that. We had a model for how we were going to deploy capital from each of our funds over that period of time. It turned out that when we look back in hindsight, we raised a new fund every three years and eventually we lost a year in that cycle. We have a 2016 vintage and a 2018 vintage and it’s because we really deployed the capital over 2.75 to three years . . .It eventually caught up with us.
I think the discipline of trying to have time diversity against the capital that you have is super important. If you talk to LPs today, there is a lot of anxiety about the increased pace at which funds have been deployed, and there has been a two year cycle in the last kind of two iterations of this. I think you’re going to start seeing that stretch back out to three years. From a time diversity perspective three years is plenty [of time] against portfolio construction. When it gets shorter, you actually don’t get enough time diversity in the portfolio and it starts to inhibit you.
TC: Very separately, you wrote a post about WeWork where you used the term cult of personality. For those who didn’t read that post — even for those who did — could you explain what you were saying?
BF: What I tried to abstract was the separation between cults of personality and thought leadership. Thought leadership is incredibly important. I think it’s important for entrepreneurs. I think it’s important for CEOs. I think it’s important for leaders, and I think it’s important for people around the system.
I’m a participant in the system, right? I’m a VC. There are lots of different ways for me to contribute, and I think personally, rather than creating a cult of personality around myself, as a contribution factor, I think it’s much better to try to provide thought leadership, including running lots of experiments, trying lots of things, being wrong a lot, and learning from it. One of the things about thought leadership that’s so powerful from my frame of reference is that people who exhibit thought leadership are truly curious, are trying to learn, are looking for data, and are building feedback loops from what they’re learning that then allows them to be more effective leaders in whatever role they have.
Cult of personality a lot of times masquerades as thought leadership . . . [but it tends] to be self-reinforcing around the awesomeness that is that person or the importance that is that person, or the correctness of the vision that person has. And what happens with cult of personality is that you very often, not always, but very often, lose the signal that allows you to iterate and change and evolve and modify so that you build something that’s stronger over time.
In some cases, it goes totally off the rails. I mean, just call it what it is: what business does a private company have, regardless of how much revenue it has, to buy a Gulfstream V or whatever [WeWork] bought? It’s crazy. ..
From an entrepreneurial perspective, I think being a leader with thought leadership and introspection around what’s working and what’s not working is much, much more powerful over a long period of time than the entrepreneur or the leader who gets wrapped in the cult of personality [and is] inhaling [his or her] own exhaust
TC: Have you been in that situation yourself as a VC? Could VCs have done something sooner in this case or is that not possible when dealing with a strong personality?
BF: One of the difficult things to do, not just as an investor, but as a board member — and it’s frankly also difficult for entrepreneurs — is to deal with the spectrum that you’re on, where one end of the spectrum as an investor or board member is dictating to the charismatic, incredibly hard-driving founder who is the CEO what they should do, and, at the other end, letting them be unconstrained so that they do whatever they want to do.
One of the challenges of a lot of VCs is that, when things are going great, it’s hard to be internally critical about it. And so a lot of times, you don’t focus as much on the character. Every company, as it’s growing the leadership, the founders, the CEO, the other executives, have to evolve. [Yet] a lot of times for various reasons, and it’s a wide spectrum, there are moments in time where it’s easier to not pay attention to that as an investor or board member. There’s a lot of investors and board members who are afraid to confront it. And there’s a lot of situations where, because you don’t set up the governance structure of the company in a certain way, because as an investor you wanted to get into the deal or the entrepreneurs insist on [on a certain structure], or you don’t have enough influence because of when you invested, it’s very, very hard. If the entrepreneur is not willing to engage collaboratively, it’s very hard to do something about it.
Again, if you’re an Extra Crunch subscriber, you can read our unedited and wide-ranging conversation here.
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VC Brad Feld on WeWork, SoftBank, and why venture firms may have to slow down their pacing in 2020
New Post has been published on https://newsprofixpro.com/moxie/2019/10/12/vc-brad-feld-on-wework-softbank-and-why-venture-firms-may-have-to-slow-down-their-pacing-in-2020/
VC Brad Feld on WeWork, SoftBank, and why venture firms may have to slow down their pacing in 2020
Yesterday, we had a chance to talk with longtime venture investor Brad Feld of Foundry Group, whose book “Venture Deals” was recently republished for the fourth time, and for good reason. It’s a storehouse of knowledge, from how venture funds really work to term sheet terms, from negotiation tactics to how to choose (and pay for) the right investment banker.
Feld was generous with his time and his advice to founders, many dozens of whom had dialed in, conference-call style. In fact, you can find a full transcript of our conversation right here if you’re a member of Extra Crunch.
In the meantime, we thought we’d highlight some of our favorite parts of the conversation. One of these touches on SoftBank, an organization that Feld knows a little better than many other investors. We also discussed what happened at WeWork and specifically the difference between a cult-like leader and a visionary — and why it’s not always clear right away whether a founder is one or the other. These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
TC: We were just talking about startups raising too much money, and speaking of which, you were involved with SoftBank long ago. Your software company had raised capital from SoftBank, then you later worked for the company as an investor. This way predates the Vision Fund, but you did know Masayoshi Son, which makes me wonder: what do you think of how they’ve been investing their capital?
BF: Just for factual reference, I was initially affiliated with SoftBank with a couple of other VCs; Fred Wilson, Rich Levandov and at the time Jerry Colonna, who now runs a company called Reboot. During that period of time, a subset of us ended up starting a fund that eventually became called Mobius Venture Capital, but it was originally called SoftBank Venture Capital or SoftBank Technology Ventures. We were essentially a fund sponsored by SoftBank, so we had SoftBank money. The partners ran the fund, but we were a central part of the SoftBank ecosystem at the time. I’d say that was probably ’95, ’96 to ’99, 2000. We changed the name of the firm to Mobius in 2001 because it was endlessly getting confused with the other [SoftBank] fund activity.
I do know a handful of the senior principals at SoftBank today very well, and I have enormous respect for them. Ron Fisher [the vice chairman of SoftBank Group] is the person I’m closest to. I have enormous respect for Ron. He’s one of my mentors and somebody I have enormous affection for.
There are endless piles of ink spilled on SoftBank, and there are loads of perspectives on Masa and about the Vision Fund. I would make the observation that the biggest dissonance in everything that’s talked about is timeframe, because even in the 1990s, Masa was talking about a 300-year vision. Whether you take it literally or figuratively, one of Masa’s powers is this incredible long arc that he operates on. Yet the analysis that we have on a continual basis externally is very short term — it’s days, weeks, months.
What Masa and the Vision Fund conceptually are playing is a very, very long-term game. Is the strategy an effective strategy? I have no idea . . . but when you start being a VC, it takes a long time to know whether you’re any good at it out or not. It takes maybe a decade really before you actually know. You get a signal in five or six years. The Vision Fund is very young . . . It’s [also] a different strategy than any strategy that’s ever been executed before at that magnitude, so it will take a while to know whether it’s a success or not. One of the things that could cause that success to be inhibited would be having too short a view on it.
If a brand-new VC or a brand new fund is measured two years in in terms of its performance, and investors look at that and that’s how they decide what to do with the VC going forward, there would be no VCs. They’d all be out of business because the first two years of a brand-new VC, with very few exceptions, is usually a time period that it’s completely indeterminate as to whether or not they’re going to be successful.
TC: So many funds — not just the Vision Fund — are deploying their funds in two years, where it used to be four or five years, that it’s a bit harder. When you deploy all your capital, you then need to raise funding and it’s [too soon] to know how your bets are going to play out.
BF: One comment on that, Connie, because I think it’s a really good one: When I started, in the ’90s, it used to be a five-year fund cycle, which is why most LP docs have a five-year commitment period for VC funds. You literally have five years to commit the capital. In the internet bubble, it’s shortened to about three years, and in some cases it shortened to 12 months. At Mobius, we raised a fund in 1999 and a fund in 2000, so we had the experience of that compression.
When we set out the raise Foundry, we decided that our fund cycle would be three years and we would be really disciplined about that. We had a model for how we were going to deploy capital from each of our funds over that period of time. It turned out that when we look back in hindsight, we raised a new fund every three years and eventually we lost a year in that cycle. We have a 2016 vintage and a 2018 vintage and it’s because we really deployed the capital over 2.75 to three years . . .It eventually caught up with us.
I think the discipline of trying to have time diversity against the capital that you have is super important. If you talk to LPs today, there is a lot of anxiety about the increased pace at which funds have been deployed, and there has been a two year cycle in the last kind of two iterations of this. I think you’re going to start seeing that stretch back out to three years. From a time diversity perspective three years is plenty [of time] against portfolio construction. When it gets shorter, you actually don’t get enough time diversity in the portfolio and it starts to inhibit you.
TC: Very separately, you wrote a post about WeWork where you used the term cult of personality. For those who didn’t read that post — even for those who did — could you explain what you were saying?
BF: What I tried to abstract was the separation between cults of personality and thought leadership. Thought leadership is incredibly important. I think it’s important for entrepreneurs. I think it’s important for CEOs. I think it’s important for leaders, and I think it’s important for people around the system.
I’m a participant in the system, right? I’m a VC. There are lots of different ways for me to contribute, and I think personally, rather than creating a cult of personality around myself, as a contribution factor, I think it’s much better to try to provide thought leadership, including running lots of experiments, trying lots of things, being wrong a lot, and learning from it. One of the things about thought leadership that’s so powerful from my frame of reference is that people who exhibit thought leadership are truly curious, are trying to learn, are looking for data, and are building feedback loops from what they’re learning that then allows them to be more effective leaders in whatever role they have.
Cult of personality a lot of times masquerades as thought leadership . . . [but it tends] to be self-reinforcing around the awesomeness that is that person or the importance that is that person, or the correctness of the vision that person has. And what happens with cult of personality is that you very often, not always, but very often, lose the signal that allows you to iterate and change and evolve and modify so that you build something that’s stronger over time.
In some cases, it goes totally off the rails. I mean, just call it what it is: what business does a private company have, regardless of how much revenue it has, to buy a Gulfstream V or whatever [WeWork] bought? It’s crazy. ..
From an entrepreneurial perspective, I think being a leader with thought leadership and introspection around what’s working and what’s not working is much, much more powerful over a long period of time than the entrepreneur or the leader who gets wrapped in the cult of personality [and is] inhaling [his or her] own exhaust.
TC: Have you been in that situation yourself as a VC? Could VCs have done something sooner in this case or is that not possible when dealing with a strong personality?
BF: One of the difficult things to do, not just as an investor, but as a board member — and it’s frankly also difficult for entrepreneurs — is to deal with the spectrum that you’re on, where one end of the spectrum as an investor or board member is dictating to the charismatic, incredibly hard-driving founder who is the CEO what they should do, and, at the other end, letting them be unconstrained so that they do whatever they want to do.
One of the challenges of a lot of VCs is that, when things are going great, it’s hard to be internally critical about it. And so a lot of times, you don’t focus as much on the character. Every company, as it’s growing the leadership, the founders, the CEO, the other executives, have to evolve. [Yet] a lot of times for various reasons, and it’s a wide spectrum, there are moments in time where it’s easier to not pay attention to that as an investor or board member. There’s a lot of investors and board members who are afraid to confront it. And there’s a lot of situations where, because you don’t set up the governance structure of the company in a certain way, because as an investor you wanted to get into the deal, or the entrepreneurs insist on [on a certain structure], or you don’t have enough influence because of when you invested, it’s very, very hard. If the entrepreneur is not willing to engage collaboratively, it’s very hard to do something about it.
Again, if you’re an Extra Crunch subscriber, you can read our unedited and wide-ranging conversation here.
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Default Router Password and How to Change It
Why Router Login Password Matters?
Your router is the center of your network. Everything from the laptop you use to make online purchases and manage your savings account to the baby monitor in your child’s room connects to it. Cybercriminals are well aware of the central importance of routers, and they’ve created many kinds of malware to exploit weak router passwords.
Unfortunately, most users don’t even know how to log into router let alone how to change the default router password to something more secure. The good news is that you can learn how to log into your router in just a few minutes.
What Is Your Router IP Address?
Every router has an internal router IP address that’s used to access its admin interface. Some routers have this IP address written on a sticker on the bottom, but many others don’t make it nearly as easy to find. Thankfully, there are websites such as RouterIPAddress.com where you can find the router IP address information you need with just a few clicks.
For example, the most common Linksys router IP address is 192.168.1.1, Asus router IP address is also 192.168.1.1, and Belkin router IP address is 192.168.2.2. Other common router addresses are:
10.0.0.1
10.0.1.1
192.168.2.1
192.168.11.1
192.168.0.1
192.168.0.227
If you’re still not sure what your router IP address is, just send the manufacturer of your router or your internet service provider a message similar to this:
Hi, I would like to access my router’s admin panel, but I don’t know what my router IP address is. Could you please help me?
Why 192.168.0.1?
If you have some experience with routers and their management — perhaps using a professional app for wireless site survey and network analysis such as NetSpot — then you might know that most routers use 192.168.0.1 as their default IP address.
Why? Because 192.168.0.1 is used in a private IPv4 network address as the router gateway. While other IP addresses may be used as well, as you can see above, 192.168.0.1 is by far the most common default router IP address.
In some cases, you might find it impossible to access your router on the 192.168.0.1 IP address even though you know for sure the address is correct. If you can't access 192.168.0.1, you should first restart your router and try again. If that doesn’t help, you might need to erase your router’s settings. Most routers have a special button just for this purpose that you can press with a pointy tool, such as a pen. Simply press and hold the button for at least 10 seconds or until you see the LEDs start flashing.
What Is Your Router Login Name and Password?
The next step after discovering your router’s IP address is to find out your router login information. More specifically, you need to know your router login name and password. Some router manufacturers write this information in the manual or on a sticker, but it’s not uncommon for them to leave it out.
The good news is that the default login name and password are usually “admin.” If that doesn’t work, we recommend you Google something like “default login name and password” followed by your router’s model and manufacturer.
Default Router Password
For your convenience, we’ve put together this handy list of login names and passwords for popular manufacturers of routers.
Netgear router http://192.168.0.1 admin password
Linksys router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
Asus router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
Tp link router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
Tp link router http://192.168.0.1 admin admin
Cisco router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
3Com router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
Belkin router http://192.168.2.1 admin admin
BenQ router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
D-Link router http://192.168.0.1 admin admin
Digicom router http://192.168.1.254 user password
Digicom router http://192.168.1.254 admin michelangelo
Sitecom router http://192.168.0.1 admin admin
Sitecom router http://192.168.0.1 sitecom admin
Thomson router http://192.168.1.254 user user
US Robotics router http://192.168.1.1 admin admin
How to Change Your Router’s Password?
To change your router’s password, go to the settings menu and look for an option titled “password.” It’s important that you select a password that is sufficiently secure.
First of all, you should always avoid common passwords like qwerty, 12345, password, abc123, 11111, 987654321, 7777777, 555555, 123123, 1234567890, 123456789, qwertyuiop and similar. You should also avoid passwords that can be guessed based on personal information about you, such as the name of your mother, your pet, or your city.
Because the longer a password is the more time it takes to crack it, you should never use a password that’s not at least 8 characters long. Unless you have super-human memory and find it easy to remember random combinations of letters, numbers, and special characters, you can make things easier for yourself and use a long passphrase.
Again, make sure the passphrase you choose is completely random. Avoid movie titles, popular catchphrases, or quotes from books. To make the passphrase harder to crack without making it much harder to remember, you can randomly capitalize a few words or replace some characters with numbers.
Conclusion
Your router is a gateway to your network, and you should do whatever you can to protect it from intruders. While it may be convenient to stick with the default password, doing so compromises your security and makes it much easier for cybercriminals to infiltrate your network and steal your personal information. Equipped with the information from this article, you should be able to secure your router without any major problems.
#Default Router Password#Router Password#10.0.0.1 ip login#192.168.2.1#192.168.0.1#192.168.1.1#192.168.1. 254 admin login
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I watch a lot of crime shows and listen to a lot of true crime podcasts, so naturally I’ve spent a lot of time with charismatic FBI profiler characters.
It’s really hard to overstate how much this character archetype has penetrated pop culture. Just one profiler, John Douglas, is reportedly the basis for at least four fictional characters: Jack Crawford from the Hannibal novels/movies/TV show; both the Mandy Patinkin and Joe Mantegna characters on Criminal Minds; and Mindhunter’s Holden Ford (played by Jonathan Groff). Manhunt: Unabomber focuses on Jim Fitzgerald (played by Sam Worthington and based on the profiler of the same real name).
TNT’s The Alienist, which I still need to see, features a psychological profiler working in 1896 in New York City. We hardly knew anything about human psychology in 1896!
And the trouble is, while we know a lot more now, we don’t know enough. It’s a real, honest-to-God bummer, but criminal profiling doesn’t appear to work. At all. Even if it did, it’d be a misallocation of intellectual energy.
Malcolm Gladwell made this case in his trademark narrative, somewhat elliptical way back in 2007 (I don’t mean that as a dig, it’s a great piece and informed a lot of this post, but it’s also long and New Yorker-y). The research literature is genuinely strange. The consensus is that profiling isn’t very effective, and even profiling-sympathetic people are reduced to arguing that criminal profiles by the professionals are marginally more accurate than ones written by completely untrained people off the street.
And here’s the thing: They’re not much better than random people off the street! A 2007 meta analysis by criminologists Brent Snook, Joseph Eastwood, Paul Gendreau, Claire Goggin, and Richard Cullen compared four studies where self-described criminal profilers were tasked with analyzing crime scene data and coming up with a profile, and compared their predictions to other groups like normal detectives or students.
They find that profilers do only slightly better than random people at predicting traits of offenders. “We contend that, in any field, an ‘expert’ should decisively outperform nonexperts (ie lay persons),” the authors write. They didn’t find that. They conclude that profiling is a “pseudoscientific technique,” of limited if any value to investigators.
A group of researchers at the University of Liverpool with the psychologist Laurence Alison have taken a different approach by evaluating the central assumption of profiling: that characteristics of a crime and crime scene can predict useful traits about a criminal. In a bracingly blunt 2002 journal article called “Is offender profiling possible?” Alison and his co-author Andreas Mokros conclude, basically, “No.”
They looked at 100 British rapists: all men, all targeting women 16 and older, and all rapists who attacked strangers rather than acquaintances or significant others. Were people who committed crimes similarly, with similar modi operandi, likely to be similar demographically, too? Nope, not at all. “Neither age, socio-demographic features nor previous convictions established any links with offence behaviour,” Mateas and Alison concluded.
In other words, the central assumption of criminal profiling is nonsense. You can’t look at a crime scene and conclude stuff like, “The offender is a 25- to 34-year-old white man who dropped out of high school.”
But criminal profiling also has an opportunity cost: There are a lot of really hard problems in the world that progress in psychology would help address, and from which criminal profiling might be a distraction.
Mental health struggles are an obvious example, but there are less obvious ones too, like getting better at predictions. Philip Tetlock at the University of Pennsylvania has been, for decades, studying how experts and laypeople make predictions about future events, and holding tournaments to isolate the factors that lead to good, accurate forecasts.
The social consequences of being able to forecast the future better are immense. “If we could improve the judgement of government officials facing high-stakes decisions — reducing their susceptibility to various biases, or developing better methods of aggregating expertise — this could have positive knock-on effects across a huge range of domains,” Jess Whittlestone notes. “For example, it could just as well improve our ability to avert threats like a nuclear crisis, as help us allocate scarce resources towards the most effective interventions in education and healthcare.”
This is even clearer if you look to the past. If the European powers had been able to foresee an intractable bloody stalemate as the consequence of joining Austria’s war against Serbia in 1914, they almost certainly wouldn’t have jumped in as enthusiastically; maybe Austria would’ve restrained itself, too. If investment banks had more accurate forecasting models of the mortgage market in the mid-2000s, or knew enough to listen to accurate models that housing bubble bears were making, perhaps the financial crisis could’ve been averted. World War I and the mortgage crisis were huge, complicated events, but they were also, in part, forecasting errors.
So imagine you’re a psychology Ph.D. student and, instead of working on that, or instead of trying to advance our understanding of what causes schizophrenia or major depression, you decide you want to catch serial killers using the power of your mind. Does that really feel like the highest use of your talents? Few psychologists, to be fair, do this now; most go into clinical practice or do basic research as academics. But we’ve allocated a weird amount of cultural capital to this especially pointless subset of the discipline.
In Alec Wilkinson’s profile of Thomas Hargrove, a remarkable data journalist who has built an algorithm that can help identify serial killers based on similar locations, MOs, etc., Wilkinson notes that the FBI thinks less than 1 percent of annual homicides are by serial killers. Hargrove thinks it’s higher. But there were 19,362 homicides in 2016. Even if 2 percent of those people were killed by serial killers, that’s 387 people a year.
By comparison, about 480,000 to 540,000 people die in the US every year due to cigarettes, about 88,000 due to alcohol, and between 3,000 and 49,000 due to the flu. Closer to the world of psychiatry, more than 40,000 Americans die annually from suicide; given that we know severe mental illness increases non-suicide mortality too, the true death toll of depression and other mood disorders is significantly higher.
Maybe increasing clearance rates for serial killers is more tractable, an easier lift than bringing those numbers down. But I have my doubts. And that’s just thinking about the US. If distributing bednets through the Against Malaria Foundation saves a life for every $3,687 spent (a rough number to be sure), and 2 percent of US murders are from serial killers, then for only $1.4 million a year you can save as many lives with bednets in Africa as you would from ending serial-killing in the US entirely. It’s impossible to imagine ending serial killing for only $1.4 million a year.
I don’t mean this as a knock on Hargrove personally. Spending all day catching serial killers sounds absolutely awesome, and it’s cool as hell to do it with big data — and more to the point, even if it’s not the biggest problem in the world, it’s big enough that having one really smart person working full-time on it probably makes sense.
I just wish all the super brilliant, talented scientists and FBI agents from my favorite shows would move to Philadelphia and help Philip Tetlock forecast world events, rather than hanging out in Quantico and trying to catch Hannibal Lecter.
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Original Source -> Criminal profiling doesn’t work. TV shows should maybe stop celebrating it.
via The Conservative Brief
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Simple English Word List
SIMPLE1540 : a simple English wikipedia word list
based on the XML export of all articles related to the nine major groups: Everyday life, Geography, History, Knowledge, Language, Literature, People, Religion, and Science and retaining all word forms appearing 7 times or more in this corpus. The total number of words in this corpus is well over the 100.000 words.
a A.D. ability able about above absence abstinence abstract academic academy accent accept access accord account across act action active activity actual actually ad add addition adherent adjective adult advance advice affect after again against age agnostic agnosticism ago agree agreement agriculture air alcohol all allow ally almost alone along alphabet also although always amateur amendment among amount an analysis ancient and angel animal annals anonymous another answer anthropomorphism any anyone anything aphasia appear apple apply approach archaeology architecture area argue argument around arrange art article artificial artist ask aspect associate association astronomy at atheism atheist atomic attack attempt attribute audience author authority available average avoid award away B.C. baby back background backpack bad bah balance band baptism base basic basis battle BCE be bear beautiful beauty because become bed bee before begin behavior behind being belief believe believing belong below best better between beyond bias biblical bibliography big billion biological biology birth bit black blind blood blue body book born both bottom boundary box boy brain branch bring brown buffalo build building bull burn business but by c. ca. calendar call can cancer canon capital caption car carbon card carry case cassette cat category cathedral catholic cause cell center central century cerebral certain change chapel chapter character chemical chemistry child china China choice choir choose chronicle church circumcise circumcision cite citizen city civil civilian civilization claim clan class classical cleanup clear clergy click climate close closer clothes clothing coast coauthor code codex cognitive col cold collection college colonization colony color column com come commentary commission common commonly communicate communication communion communist community companion company compare competition complete complex compose composer computer concept conception concern condition confuse confusion congregational connect connection conquer conquest consciousness consider consistent constitution construct construction contain contemporary content context continent continue contrary control convention conversation conversion convert cook cooking copy core correct could council country course court cover covered create creation credit crime critical criticism crop cross crust cultural culture current currently daily damage dark data date day dead death debt decadence decadent decide declaration decline deconstruction deep define definition deity demonstrate denomination department depth describe description design detail determinism developed development device devil diagnosis dialect dictionary die difference different difficult difficulty diphthong dipstick direct directly dirt disagree disambiguation disbelief discipline discover discovery discussion disease disorder distance distinct distinction distinguish distribution divide divine do doctor doctrine document dog don't door down Dr. dream drink drown druid due during dynasty each earlier early earth easier easily easy eat economic economics economy ed edge edit edition editor education effect eight either electric electricity electronic element elevation else emperor empire encyclopedia end energy engine engineering enlightenment enough enter entertainment environment environmental epic episode equal era error especially establish etc. etymology even event eventually ever every everyday everyone everything evidence evil evolution evolve exact exactly example except exchange exist existence expansion experience experiment expert explain explanation express expression external extinct face fact failure fair faith fall false family famous far fast father feature feel feeling female feudal few fiction field fight figure file find finding fire first fish fit five fix flow folk follow food for force foreign foreskin form formal former fortune fought foundation founded four fourth frame framework free freedom frequently friend from front fruit full function functional further future gas general generally generation genre geographer geographic geographical geography geology geometry germ get give glass global go god gold golden good government grammar great greatly green ground group grow growth guide guillotine hair half hall hand handbook handicap handle happen happens happiness happy hard have he head heading health hear heat heaven help hemisphere her here heritage hero high highly him himself his historian historical historiography history hold holy home homo hope hot hour house how however human hundred hunter hypothesis hysteresis I ice icon idea identify identity if illiteracy illiterate illusory image importance important impossible improve in inc. incense include increase indeed independence independent indigenous individual industrial industry influence information inquiry inside instead institute institution instrument instrumentation intellectual intelligence interlinear internal international internet interpretation into introduce introduction invent invention involve iron island issue it IT itself job join journal journalism judge just keep key kill kind king kingdom know knowledge la LA label lack lake lamp land landlocked landscape language large last late later law lead leader leap learn learned least leave legacy legal legend let letter level lexeme library life light lightning like likely limited line linguistic linguistics link liquid list literacy literary literature little liturgy live local location logic logical long longer look lord lore lose lot love low lower mac machine magazine magic magnetic magnum mail main mainly major make male mammal man mankind manuscript many map march March mark market mass material mathematical mathematics matter may May me mean meaning meant measure measurement meat median medical medicine medieval mediterranean medium meet member memory men mental mention mercury message metal method mid middle might migrate migration military millennium million mind minister minute misconception miss model modern modernism modernist moment money monologue monophthong month monument moon moral morality more morning most mostly mother mount mountain mouth move movement much museum music musical musicians must my myth mythology name narrative nation national nationality native natural naturalism naturally nature near nearly necessarily necessary need negative neither neologism network neurogenesis neuron neuroscience never new news newspaper next night nine no non none nor normal normally not note nothing noun novel now nuclear number object objective objectivity observation observe occupation occur ocean octane of off offer office official officially often oil old older on once one online only open opera opposite or oral orbit order org organization organize origin original originally orthography orthology other others our out outer outside over own oxygen p. pack pagan page paint palace paper paradigm parent parish park part participant particular particularly party pas pass past pasta pattern pay peace peer penguin penis people per percent percentage perception performance perhaps period peroxide persecution person personal personality perspective persuasion pet phenomenon philosopher philosophical philosophy phoneme phonetic phonetics photo phrase physic physical picture piece pilgrimage place plan planet plant plat plate play please poem poems poet poetry point pole police policy political politics polytheism polytheistic popular population position positive possession possible possibly post power powerful pp. practical practice praise pray prayer precise predict prediction prehistory present preserve press prevent priest primary principle print printing private probably problem process produce product production professional program project pronounce pronunciation proof property prophet propose prose proselytism protection protein provide province psychological psychology public publication publish publisher publishing punishment pure purpose put pyramid quantum question quickly quite quote race racial rack radiation radio rain range rate rather read reader real realism reality really reason receive recent recently reclamation recognize record recreation red ref refer reference referred reform reformation regard region reign rejection relate relation relationship relatively relativity reliable relic religion religious remain remember remove renaissance replace report republic request require research researcher resource respect response result resurrection retrieve return revelation revert review revision revival revolution rhetoric rich right rise ritual river rock role room royal rule ruled ruler run rural sacred sacrifice safe saga sage saint salad same sample satellite saw say schizophrenia scholar school science scientific scientist scope sea search second secondary section secular see seek seem selection self sense sent sentence separate sequence series service set seven several sexual shall shaman shape share she short should show shrine side sign significant silence similar simple simply since single situation six size skill skin slavery sleep slightly slow small smell smith snake so social society sociology soft soil solar soldier solid soliloquy some someone something sometimes song soon sortable sound source space speak speaker special specie specific speech speed spell spirit spiritual spirituality split sport spread square st. stage stain standard star start state statement station statistic statistical statue status stick still stone stop story strange strap strong structure struggle stub student study stutter style subject successful such sugar suggest sun sung sunlight superior superiority supernatural support suppose supreme sure surface survey surveyor sushi sustainability sustainable sweat symbol symbolic system table take talk tam tan task teach teacher teaching technique technology tectonics teeth tell temperature template temple ten term terminology territory tertiary test testament text textual than thank that the their theism them themselves then theology theoretical theory therapy there therefore thesaurus these they thick thing think third this those though thought thousand three through throughout thumb thus ticket tight time title to today together toilet tolerance toleration tongue too tool top topic total towards tower trade tradition traditional train translation transport travel treat treatment tree trench trial tribe tried trig true truth try turn twentieth twenty two type typical typically ultimate ultraviolet under understand understood union unit united universal universe university unknown unsortable until up upon upper urban urbanization usage use useful usually valley value van vandalism various vassal vegetable verb verbal verse version very video view violence virgin visit vitamin vocabulary voice vol. volume vowel vs. wale wall want war warm warmer wash waste water wave way we weak wealth wear weather web website weight well what when where whether which while white who whole whom whose why wide widely wild wilderness will window wisdom wise witch witchcraft with within without witness woman word work worker world worship would write writer writing wrong yam year yellow you young your
China, March and May made this list because china, march and may are on it and I didn't want to decide in favor of the common noun or the proper noun; all other proper nouns have been omitted (even the ten other months that met the criterium of appearing more then 6 times).
#SimpleWikipedia #SimpleEnglish #wordlist #English #words #level1540 #Inli #nimi #selo1540
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THE WHITE WRITTEN HISTORY OF SALLY HEMINGS AND THOMAS JEFFERSON
There are no known images of Sally Hemings
This is what someone imagined she looked like
Source: pinterest
"Sally Hemings, born in 1773 in Virginia, worked on the Monticello plantation of Thomas Jefferson. She was a nursemaid to his daughter Mary and traveled with the family to Paris. Though it was rumored that she had several children with Jefferson, both the family and [white] historians denied the claim. "
Source: http://www.biography.com/people/sally-hemings-9542356#synopsis
"The claim that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, a slave at Monticello, entered the public arena during Jefferson's first term as president, and it has remained a subject of discussion and disagreement for two centuries."
https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-brief-account
"Recent DNA testing has concluded [for white people] however that Hemings’ children are connected to the Jefferson bloodline."
Source: http://www.biography.com/people/sally-hemings-9542356#synopsis
"Based on documentary, scientific, statistical, and oral history evidence, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF) Research Committee Report on Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings (January 2000) remains the most comprehensive analysis of this historical topic. Ten years later, TJF and most historians believe that, years after his wife’s death, Thomas Jefferson [became] the father of the six children...[Sally Hemings is recorded as having given birth to] including Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston Hemings.
Historical Background
In September 1802, political journalist James T. Callender, a disaffected former ally of Jefferson, wrote in a Richmond newspaper that Jefferson had for many years "kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves." "Her name is Sally," Callender continued, adding that Jefferson had "several children" by her..."
Source: https://www.monticello.org/site/plantation-and-slavery/thomas-jefferson-and-sally-hemings-brief-account
"Jefferson traveled to Paris in 1784 to serve as the American minister to France. He took his eldest daughter, also named Martha, with him, while his two younger daughters, Mary and Lucy, stayed with their relatives, as did Hemings. After Lucy Jefferson died of whooping cough, Jefferson called Mary to Paris in the summer of 1787. The 14-year-old Hemings came with her. Hemings spent the next two years living with the Jeffersons in Paris, along with her brother, James, who served as Jefferson's personal servant. There is strong evidence to suggest that during this time, Jefferson and Hemings began a sexual relationship..."
Source: http://www.biography.com/people/sally-hemings-9542356
* * * * *
LOOK HERE:
A 14 year old girl who is owned by a forty-plus old white man cannot "begin a sexual relationship" with someone who owns her. I'd argue that a 40 year old slave cannot "begin a sexual relationship." Both of those relationships are rape because the slave has no choice. And raping a 14 year old makes Jefferson a pedophile or something one half step a way from being a pedophile.
Some will argue that "women got married younger back then" The lack of consent aside, I've traced my family's history and the women consistently got married between 19 and 21 years of age. It's amazing how consistent my family's history is on my mother and my father's side.
Jefferson raped a child. Period.
When white historians lie and shade history in their own favor they make movies where Sally is a curvy woman seducing her master.
This is a still from the movie JEFFERSON IN PARIS.
The black female stereotype in white imaginations everywhere has the black girl as overly overtly and overly sexual from a young age -- as compared to innocent white girls. For centuries this has made it easier for white historians to believe a man can own a woman and still have the relationship be consensual enough to call it "an affair."
In 12 YEARS A SLAVE, a black filmmaker makes sure that there are two realistic depictions of black women "voluntarily" having sexual relations with white men in the film.
One of the stories in the movie is about a woman who slept with her white master and kept him happy to save her own life and eventually her children's lives -- which worked until he died. In the movie, we meet her after she's been sold as a result of his death. Her children are taken away and sold elsewhere.
The other black woman, played by Alfre Woodard, smiles at the white owner has pleasant sex with her in exchange for dressing her in fine linens and letting her sit pretty and drink tea on the porch while he works. This black woman tells Lupita N'yongo's character that there's a special place in hell for all the white slave owners -- because the filmmaker has this character recognizing herself as raped.
We'll never know how a 14 year old girl like Hemings responded to being forcibly raped or blackmail raped or seduced-by-owner rape. The thing we do know is that the white washing of history has left Thomas Jefferson as one of those superior caliber white men in the minds of white people.
And anything that white historians add to white supremacy is deadly for black and brown people.
Donald Trump riding a wave of white supremacy into the White House along with the subsequent rise in hate crimes is proof of this.
Previously unpublished data by the university’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism show that hate crimes in at least six major urban centers, including New York City, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio, registered double-digit increases last year.
Among them:
New York City notched an uptick of 24 percent in hate crimes, the highest in over a decade.
New York state had an increase of 20 percent.
Chicago saw a rise of 24 percent, the highest since at least 2010.
Cincinnati, Ohio, saw hate crimes jump by 38 percent.
Columbus, Ohio, reported an increase of nearly 10 percent.
Montgomery County in Maryland, adjacent to the nation’s capital, had an increase of more than 42 percent.
Seattle, Washington, registered an increase of 6 percent in malicious harassment.
http://www.voanews.com/a/us-hate-crimes-rising-particularly-in-big-cities/3756604.html
THE ACCURATE TELLING OF HISTORY MATTERS.
Yeah, history means "his story." The victor (dominate-er) gets to frame the narrative more often than not. But sometimes a lie is a lie is a lie when someone is deliberately white washing history.
Read the fine print.This movie is about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings.
And the full title says, "Sally Hemings An American Love Story."
And then below the title, "Bound By Slavery Freed By Love"
This DVD/Movie cover doesn't just reflect a lie being told about Sally Hemings. The white history articles and white history books and white history movies mentioned above reflect the widespread lies that white people have been telling themselves about the horrors of slavery for centuries.
This movie SALLY HEMINGS AN AMERICAN LOVE STORY has 4.5 stars out of 5 star rating and is being sold on Amazon.com right now. White people are still telling themselves that white supremacy and slavery was not the horror that it was.
Make no mistake, the cotton was being picked in the south, being processed into material in the north, and sold to Britain. All of the white people in these areas benefited greatly from slavery. American and British capitalism and wealth was built on slavery. We are all benefiting from it to this day (some more than others) That's why so many white people are STILL very invested in making slavery look less horrible than it was.
It's ridiculous that www.biography.com and monticello.org have romance language or white-washy neutral arrangement of language that hides the fact that Jefferson in Paris at 44 years of age while Hemings was 14 when he sent for Hemings (his wife's half sister) the in the very same year his wife died.
There's no romance here or anywhere there's ownership of a black girl child --- depicted as grown woman in white movie after white movie and a white history book near you.
Bottom Line: Your history source always matters.
Furthermore,
the personal history of your historian matters
which includes that person's
race, ethnicity, and gender.
Some historians try to overcome their personal history and some do not. White people have a crappy record of refusing to overcome their personal histories in an attempt to tell an accurate history. Furthermore, many white historians cannot separate the description "American" from description "white people" when writing about history which is another discussion altogether.
Black people, brown people, and especially white people should read about black history written by black people. You should always read a people's history from one of it's own. When that's not possible, make sure to check and double check what's being said by getting multiple sources....and even then find a source of history from the same demographic that's being reported about.
When you get down to wanting to know about black women specifically, refine your sources even more. Read about black women's history as written by black women. Because male supremacy is real too, inside and outside the black community. I learned all kinds of things about Martin Luther King, SNCC, and Marcus Garvey's wife Amy Garvey that I'd never heard before thanks to the writings of black women.
* * * * *
And now, a black view of Thomas JeffersonHeadline
The Real (Despicable) Thomas Jefferson
---> Michael Coard
Apr 9, 2016
READ IT HERE:
http://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/the-real-despicable-thomas-jefferson/article_1bbc31a3-74dd-573f-acb0-ad38ab7bc7da.html
THANKHERFORSURVIVING.BLOGSPOT.COM
http://thankherforsurviving.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-white-written-history-of-sally.html
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