#everythings connected

AvM ep. 30 'The King'

AvA ep. 11 'Victim'

it's pseudo-historical fiction set in a made up version of 1880s-1920s eurasia examining the development of imperialism in this era + industrialization + the rise of communism. this is done primarily through the lens of a boy who was born a literal bear and violently forced into the role of a human prince of one of the imperial powers as part of the colonization of his homeland, is woefully mistreated by everyone and used as a pawn and so he becomes a class traitor (positive) and joins the revolution in his homeland and then marries this world's version of lenin who is a mongolian woman who can form soul bonds with animals & merge consciousness with them 🫶🏼 its both an examination of these various historical-material forces and a love story

they are lifelong friends and her story weaves in and out of his until finally coming together as they transition from being revolutionaries to building a socialist state, and i'm exploring how as they fall in love and their senses of self tangle and merge the limited third person pov expands to include her awareness. in this version of the world my "lenin" (she is not literally lenin, i'm taking inspiration from several historical figures for her, but her role in the history of this world is effectively that of lenin) lives far longer than 1924

the main regions/locations of focus are the eurasian steppe, russian empire, and third republic france / french empire, with late qing china/warlord era roc and much of the balkans and north africa as peripheries - albeit fantasy equivalents of all of the above as i'm taking liberties with some things lol. but i have been doing a lot of historical research on all of the above and having a great time with it. in this version of the world the first socialist state is not in russia but elsewhere in the steppe, and so i'm examining the material conditions that could have caused that to happen and forming the world around that + playing with the political economies of these made up countries

some things i'm exploring through the main characters' personal narratives issues like gender and sexuality, class struggle and the role of the state in revolution and what is required not only to start a communist revolution but to maintain it against counter-revolutionary forces, the collapse of monarchism and how the world reached the crisis of imperialism that was ww1, anti-communist nationalism in the early 20th century, childhood abuse and the manufactured powerlessness of childhood as an allegory for being an imperialized subject, imperial and class collaboration vs resistance, and a bunch of other things. it spans 40 years of their lives so there's a lot to cover and many 'periods' of their lives

had the song on loop for constant inspiration