Jon Stewart, hitting the nail on the head once again.

'The Shrewsbury Hoard' 4th Century CE Roman Hoard, Shrewsbury Museum, England

And before you ask, no, spren do not qualify as dependents.

rich people make me laugh

it's so funny how the wealthiest people you know of are always like "I make enough money to be comfortable."

oh really mr moneybags?

you need two boats, nine exotic cars, a mansion on a hundred acres, and a private jet to be ""COMFORTABLE""

maybe you're just a Marie Antoinette reincarnated or something

I like Beyonce just as much as the next person but I cannot sit here black person to black person and say that she is relatable bc she is one of the prime examples of black capitalism and how wealth will make anyone including people of color out of touch in multiple facets

have to ask, for all ThunderStrike fans out there. does he end up becoming the all-king after defeating Cuinn???

Yes he sure does!! And he's pretty good at it

I didn't go into too much depth but essentially the flock as a whole represents a massive cultural group (not just comprised of eagle harpies but representing members of the same size class) which stretches along the entire plain to the coast in the north. Each settlement is an eyrie, and each eyrie has space for one or two kings depending on population size. The all-king takes on more of an ambassadorial role than the others, he meets up with representatives from other flocks, and also is responsible for deciding which humans get eggs or youngsters to raise when they come begging (the humans must bring gifts and proof of wealth and power)

In the future, when Cuinn is king of the Kosa eyrie (and manages to raise their reputation enough that harpies in other eyries start to actually respect them), Thunder Strike would be the guy he has to go crawling back to if he wants his eyrie to be included in the wider flock, which carries a lot of prestige and benefits. I haven't decided how that would go but I doubt it would be an easy relationship for either of them.

Hey folks, the lovely @screechwhisper is about to lose housing. This dude has made a bunch of awesome art and is just a really nice part of this little fandom community from the very start. If you have some cash to spare I’m sure he would appreciate it, you can PayPal him at [email protected].

Feel free to reblog even if you can’t, that’s always helpful too

please sir spare some for a hungry little grub

they don’t care if you fucking starve

Who do you think pays the bills for all those palaces

White neoliberal queers will really advocate for genocide because the side committing the genocide seems more queer friendly on the surface. Yeah Israel’s so fucking progressive they’ll lock you in an open air concentration camp and bomb you to pieces with illegal white phosphorus in violation of the international laws of the Geneva Convention and the United Nations so they can resettle the land with colonizers 😍 And I guess it’s just fuck the queer people in Palestine because they had the sheer audacity to be born there and brown?

Some of ya’ll are heartless barbaric fucks, and I see exactly how your grandparents were picnicking during lynchings. I don’t want to hear some of ya’ll ever talk about queer liberation again. I’m done coddling ya’ll and explaining nicely when people are coming to my page to spew nothing but violent propaganda and advocate for ethnic cleansing. If you don’t know where you stand on genocide, you stand for nothing. You’re a weak mindless coward who only cares about politics when it’s convenient to you and your whiteness. I say that as a white first gen American who was taught from an early age from my father that no one lies better about history than white neoliberal Americans who have a fucking rot in their soul under their supposedly progressive values—“Just look at what they did to the people in Palestine. Look at what they did to the people on the land where we live. It is the same.” He said that to me at 6 years old, because he said he refused to lie about history even to a child. And some of ya’ll are sitting here in your 30s with not a critical thought in your head.

You are not bigger or more evolved than anyone for staying neutral or playing both sides in ethnic cleansing paid for by the United States. Neutrality is the most radical position you can hold in the face of everything happening. Tomorrow I may be kinder to you because I care about these oppressed people, and I know I have to educate the people in my own community. But today, I cannot be kind. Today I am horrified and sickened by a lot of ya’ll, and I don’t have the energy to pretend otherwise.

Traprain Law Late Roman Hacksilver, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Friendly reminder that there’s no such thing as an ethical billionaire.

To my fellow Swifties, let’s recognise this.

Other than the typical immoral strategies used to earn and maintain a billion dollars, we should recognise that an individual with a billion dollars- in accumulated wealth, assets and investments-actively chooses not to ease the suffering of millions, even billions worldwide, instead hoarding a fortune that is too much for one person to reasonably spend.

The way the Xianle trio answer the “two wanderers, one cup of water” dilemma is fascinating. Starting with Mu Qing and Feng Xin:

The Head Priest spoke, “Two walked the desert, about to die from thirst, and there was only one cup of water. The one who drinks lives, the one who doesn’t, dies. If you were a god, who would you give that cup of water to? - - Don’t speak yet, I’ll ask the other two and see how they answer.”

The last part of his words were directed to the two standing not too far behind. Mu Qing contemplated and responded cautiously, “May I ask who those two people are, what their natures are like, and what of their merits? A decision can only be made once all the details are known.”

Feng Xin on the other hand, answered, “I don’t know! Don’t ask me, tell them to decide amongst themselves!”

—Chapt. 68: To Ascend is Human; to Fall is Also Human (Part Three)

It may seem that Mu Qing and Feng Xin have given different answers, they are actually the same. Mu Qing says that the person who he’d give the water to is one who is found valuable in the eyes of societal hierarchy. Feng Xin says that he would give the water to whoever they decide on “amongst themselves,” which outsources the issue to the individuals to decide by which test they would choose to pick the winner, either by debate or fighting, etc. But both of these are still putting a set value on an individual’s life, indirectly saying that they believe there to be some objective value or morally neutral scenario that would make sacrificing someone’s life not only permissible but morally correct.

Xie Lian, on the other hand, has an entirely different, effortless response:

Xie Lian turned his head back and said in all seriousness, “Why are you guys laughing? I’m serious. If I was god, I would definitely give another cup.”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing accepted the premise that, despite being gods, they are limited. Xie Lian rebelled against this same assumption, because if he is a god, why shouldn’t he be able to procure just one more cup of water for just one individual on the verge of death by thirst? Why would a god not be able to save everyone he wants to? Guoshi gives an answer:

The Head Priest gently shook that cup of tea in his hand, and the tea swirled in the cup, as if alive. He continued, “All the fortunes in the world, good or bad, are limited. Just like this cup of water, there’s only so much. Once you’ve drunken your fill, there’d be no more left for others. If one receives more, the other must receive less. Throughout the ages, all conflicts are borne from the fact that there are many in this world, but only one cup of water, and no matter who it’s given to there’d be a good reason. You want to change fate? It’s difficult but not impossible. But if you change that child’s life, someone else’s life will also be changed, and more grudges shall be created. Once upon a time you said to just give another cup of water, just like today how you wanted to choose a third path. Your intention is to expand the source; a beautiful thought. But, I will tell you, it’s impossible.”

So tacitly, Guoshi also believes the same as Feng Xin and Mu Qing, that everything is finite and everyone is limited, even the gods. As the story goes on, we are given countless scenarios in which Xie Lian is limited as both a human crown prince, a beloved god, and a banished wanderer. However, he continues to stick with his answer that he would find a way to give two cups. How? Well, for all of Guoshi’s talk of the limits of resources in the world, neither he nor the other two ever took into account one thing: the god can give his own cup to the second thirsty person.

And as long as Xie Lian’s cup is flowing, he has something to give to save one more life.