“...the hardships many non-Indigenous people dread most of the climate crisis are ones that Indigenous peoples have endured already due to different forms of colonialism."

-- Kyle Powys Whyte

"For the societies exploded, reorganised and even erased by fossil powered bourgeois modernity - the indigenous and colonised, the wretched of the earth - life unfolds already in disaster’s aftermath. It is already after the end of the world. For the rest of us, collapse is now."

-- Nathan Hensley

Do you think that when Cassian learned that the empire intended to gouge-mine Ghorman he thought of Kenari’s fate? “Abandoned imperial mining project. Apparently no one survived”. Do you think he remembered standing in front of that huge abandoned imperial mine cutting into the heart of his home planet and felt like a child again, helpless against the might of the empire?

Do you think when Cassian told Luthen “they’re not ready” he was remembering the girl who died on Kenari leading their small band of child-scavengers to check out the wreck of the crashed imperial ship? And all the fallout from that?

Do you think he was remembering the sister he left behind, the community lost, the planet destroyed beyond all possibility of habitation?

Do you think that every time Cassian saw someone recoil from the word “Ghorman” he remembered the woman who recoiled when he told her he was searching for a girl from Kenari? How many other times do you think he saw something like that, from the few people who had even heard of Kenari?

Do you think that when he was in the midst of the Ghorman massacre he was remembering whatever tragedies befell Kenari that left the children to fend for themselves?

My keychains arggggg 💝💝💝

Update: I've finished the plot for Hikarina, totaling 54 pages, and a side story about Hikari. My next plan is to design the setting concept for this story. Thank you for waiting.

Title: Chasing Wild Space: Narrative Outsides and World-Building Frontiers in Knights of the Old Republic and The Old Republic by Cody Mejeur

As I continue my foray into watching all of Star Wars with the first two episodes of Andor, I found myself asking not about the big picture of the larger story, but the frame itself. I talked with (sometimes at) my brother--who is visiting for a few days and is my primary source for all things SW--about the implications of "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away". Who is this narrator? What is this narrator's relationship to the SW galaxy? Is it us, the Milky Way Galaxy human from Earth? Is it a third party external to both our galaxy and theirs? Will the narrative eventually end? How so? What do the answers to these questions imply about the story of Star Wars itself? What is the story that Star Wars, as a whole, is setting out to tell?

I'll admit, the depth I have found in this series sometimes feels miraculously accidental and only possible due to its vastness and, consequently, it's necessary specificity and focus of its various entries. Every Star Wars story is not about finally defeating whatever current version of the fascistic empire that is at bat, but about the one thing (big or small) a specific group of people did to make that, eventually, possible. The big win, so to speak, of Star Wars has yet to come as it is presently the only logical narrative ending to the story of Star Wars.

Mejeur's chapter describes and analyzes the narrative and ethical implications of how SW, through two of its video game entries, utilizes Wild Space and frontiers and how these mirror american imperial and colonial violence. I've heard much talk, primarily praise, of Andor and how revolutionary it is. I was skeptical, but after watching the original and prequel trilogies, I have come to understand how politically audacious the series is despite its reputation and that of its bros.

Andor does indeed (at least within the only two episodes I have watched) present fertile ground for this exact exploration. It's worth reading the closing paragraph of the chapter in full:

Outside spaces play a significant role in world-building and it is crucial to develop an ethics in how we represent and use them in order to avoid inadvertently re-inscribing the colonial mythology of the frontier. I suggest that there is another meaning or approach to outside space—one that can help break the cycle of narrative violence evident in Star Wars. One can face outside spaces and learn from them in ways that are not violent, controlling, and xenophobic. Certainly, one should resist threats of conquest and domination whenever and wherever they manifest themselves. But outside spaces are not always-already evil threats and expansion through conquest does not need to be the dominant mode of the hyperdiegetic cycle. Instead, one could embrace the outside, the unknown, the strange, and the other, along with the insights and new possibilities they hold. Only by seeking such paths can we hope to unlock the transformative power of hyperdiegesis and outside spaces, and to build narrative worlds that are more inclusive, equal, and just.

He doesn't have enough Kenari left to manipulate or persuade. All he can do is plead:

«No!» he says, and, «Not hurt!» And then, voice weak: «Please…»

The masked woman freezes, spear poised to strike. Cassian makes himself look away from Jyn and focus on the the other woman.

The woman says something. He doesn't understand. The sounds are right in a way that aches deep in his chest, but the best he can do is make out a verb tense here, a location participle there.

And then: «Who are you? Where did you come from?»

He doesn't have the vocabulary to explain the situation, let alone to lie convincingly. And the dart is doing its work, pulling him toward unconsciousness. The only strategy he has left is the truth:

«I'm Kassa. Of… of the Greenwater." Her gasmask is decorated like a veteran hunter's facepaint. How did he miss that?

The masked woman goes still. If it weren't for the hiss of the respirator, she might not have been breathing.

She gestures to Jyn with her spear. «Who is she?» she asks. Or maybe, «What is she?»

And the only thing he can think to say is, "La amo."

Where’s Kerri?!😩