Nico is autistic he told me himself

Just under the wire for disability pride month - I've been working on a little series! Character portraits highlighting prominent Riordanverse characters with disabilities/notable disability coding. There's a lot :D

None of these are headcanons!!! These are all either explicitly stated in the text or coding.

The absolutely pervasive mentality that unwanted criticism or critique shouldn't be given and should be ignored is why fans of color don't stay in fan spaces.

And I am not going to mince words here:

A lot of you are racist. A lot of your fan works are racist.

That might have been difficult to hear. And if it was, you should probably reflect on why that was.

"Fandom etiquette" has created a space where fans of color either bite our tongues and eventually leave or say something, get dogged on, and then eventually leave.

carter – june 28th

sadie – march 17th (canon)

walt – october 29th (idk @aroaceleovaldez said it works and i trust them with my life)

anubis – november 2nd (he and walt have an average birthday on halloween)

zia – march 15th (fire sign) (makes fun of sadie) (they also celebrate their birthday together)

And I never listen to audiobooks, but this is the exception. The Kane Chronicles being framed as audio narration makes an audiobook feel appropriate. And it's fascinating, listening to Carter and Sadie's narration.

that's lovely! tkc has all three audiobooks usually easily accessible by youtube. they're read by two distinct actors as well (american guy, british lady) so they do try to sound like it's actually the kane sibs narrating it (they do a pretty decent job acting, but they don't sound like teens 😅).

i'll link the versions that are up as of time i'm posting this, and they'll probably get copyright stricken eventually, but usually they're still well-accessible just by looking for them a bit on youtube. (also i'm not entirely sure, but @aroaceleovaldez might have a download of them somewhere?)

links below readmore!

Blood quantum is a nightmare concept. It is essentially how much 'native blood' you 'legally' have according to the government.

It is not traditional, it is not cultural, it is not something Indigenous nations ever used to measure belonging.

It was created by colonizers as a tool of erasure. It literally exists so the government could mathematically subtract us out of existence over time.

Think of it like this;

instead of letting Indigenous communities define ourselves, the U.S. government came in and said, “Your Indigeneity is only valid if we can quantify it like livestock breeding papers.” It was meant to break apart families, stop us from passing on identity and land rights, and eventually reach a point where they could say, “See, there are no real Indigenous people left! So we don't need to think about them!"

It weaponizes nebulous and often finicky genetics against culture, community, lived experience, etc.

It ignores the fact that Indigenous identity is about kinship, belonging, survival, language, tradition, and responsibility to our people.

Blood quantum turns those things into a number. A number designed to shrink until there is nothing left.

Many nations are still stuck dealing with blood quantum rules because of federal pressure and resource control, not because we chose it or approve of it.

And it harms us every single generation. It pits relatives against each other, creates disenrollment fights, and tells half of Indigenous kids they are somehow less real than their siblings because of paperwork.

It also lets the government give a 'good reason' for why we shouldn't have mixed race marriages or 'interbreed' with other races, because then the blood quantum 'goes down' and we may legally not be considered indigenous under the government anymore, which means they can deny us things like certain assistance programs, medical care, etc.

It's literally government mandated eugenics.

Because I feel it in my SPIRIT people make the excuse "well he's a nuanced villain- I thought you wanted those for Black characters!"

This is coming from the all time lover and supporter of Black casting: No.

There were options. There were more sensible options. Not the white supremacist-symboized incel character "turned good". Not the one that bullies the poor white baby MC who is just trying to Do The Right Thing, while simultaneously revealing he was in love with his White Mama and jealous of his White Daddy. "He has other roles-" don't care, these are central to his character.

Harry's mama or daddy coulda been Black, because then you'd have a dynamic of a Black person in a higher position of power with one of a lower position (which happens! It sucks, especially with children, but it could be a story!) McGonagall. Sirius. Lupin. Hermione.