This Is What You Call A Paradigm Shift

Happy New Year everyone! Next part is going to be the last bit of this 'chapter' (I guess you could call it?) and after that Rolan gets to play center stage again!

Also, I mentioned it a bit in the tags on the previous part, but in case anyone needs the clarification: the timeline of this comic is what would happen if Astarion had come to the decision that he wasn't ready for a physical/romantic relationship after all. They're still platonic soulmates and all but joined at the hip, but they don't consider themselves in a relationship by this point.

Part 1 • Previous Part

Full page format once again under the cut:

Good morning! I’m salty.

I think we, as a general community, need to start taking this little moment more seriously.

This, right here? This is asking for consent. It’s a legal necessity, yes, but it is also you, the reader, actively consenting to see adult content; and in doing so, saying that you are of an age to see it, and that you’re emotionally capable of handling it.

You find the content you find behind this warning disgusting, horrifying, upsetting, triggering? You consented. You said you could handle it, and you were able to back out at any time. You take responsibility for yourself when you click through this, and so long as the creator used warnings and tags correctly, you bear full responsibility for its impact on you.

“Children are going to lie about their age” is probably true, but that’s the problem of them and the people who are responsible for them, not the people that they lie to.

1) chosen to go onto AO3 in the first place

2) chosen the fandom you wish to read about

3) had the chance to filter for the things you do want to see like a specific pairing or a specific AU

4) had the chance to specifically filter out any tags you don’t want to see like, oh I don’t know, incest and non-con and dub-con and paedophilia

5) had the chance to set the rating level if you wish to remove any explicit content at all

6) have read the summary of the story, which aren’t always great but are the only indicator of what the story will be like writing wise so something about it was good enough for you to click on it.

7) have read the tags of the story which will tell you what is actually in the story. If you have used filters to remove stories with things you don’t want then there shouldn’t be anything in here that’s a shock to you but maybe there is. That’s why the tags are there for you to check for yourself.

8) Then you have to actually click on the story. You cannot see anything other than the summary or the tags without personally deciding that you are going to open and read this story.

9) Only here, at step number nine, do you get to the adult content warning pictured above. You have been through eight different steps, the last six of which have also been opportunities for you to see that this has adult content. And AO3 has *STILL* stopped you to ask one last time “are you sure you want to read this because it has things that only adults should see in it”.

If after this point you are reading incest and paedophilia then it’s probably because you specifically went looking for it.

Like, the theme of the game is making connections with other people and building community. To learn the game, you can either painstakingly spend hours figuring everything out by trial and error, using the limited in-game resources of the tv and the library, or you can connect with a community of other players who are eager to help because they remember feeling lost and confused too.

Where do they come from. What do

they hope to achieve.

you all say: I love you I

love you I love you.

True: The episode title “Discomfort in a Married State” is almost a verbatim quote from one of Stede’s friends who knew him before he became a pirate, alluding to the fact that he was gay.

Omitted: In addition to his married life woes, Stede also had well-documented mental health issues, including severe depression, which are mostly attributed to the death of his and Mary’s first child.

True: He did have a full library in his cabin.

True: He did walk around his ship in silk dressing gowns.

True: Stede did pay his crew a cash salary, rather than a share, which was extremely unusual. He knew that little about the business.

Omitted: A lot of fucked up slavery shit. Stede was from a family of plantation owners and was raised by and owned a whole bunch of slaves. Blackbeard also had a spotty history when he captured slave ships, sometimes absorbing them into his crew, sometimes setting them loose, and sometimes leaving them to be sold by merchants.

True: Stede did receive a life-threatening injury from the Spanish navy.

Changed: He wasn’t tricked into going aboard their ship, and the truth is actually way more insane/embarrassing. He was such a poor captain that he couldn’t tell the difference between a merchant ship and a fucking Spanish war ship. So he engaged a Spanish war ship in battle. Half his crew died, and he nearly did as well.

True: Stede and Blackbeard did first meet as Stede was recovering from his injury.

Changed: Instead of rescuing Stede, Blackbeard was granted command of Stede’s ship by his mentor and OG of the Republic of Pirates, Benjamin Hornigold. Stede kept his space in the captain’s cabin while he recovered.

True: Blackbeard was reportedly very kind to Stede, who he saw as mentally and physically delicate. He encouraged him to rest in his cabin while Blackbeard took care of the pirating stuff.