ICYMI, To Chain a God (TCAG) is an Attack on Titan massive longfic (current word count 100+k) that deals with an alternate political universe, probing questions of diverse forms of justice (racial, procedural, recognitional, environmental, etc), accountability, Indigineity, and what we owe to each other as humans in times of political strife and violence.
More than anything, TCAG is a divergence from the canon conclusion, and it does this by deepening the world-building specifically around racial/ethnic communities, religion, and politics.
As such, I’ve spent a LONG ASS time researching the necessary material to shape the story in a way that I hope is responsible for these themes. As you may or may not know, I’m a sociology PhD student studying very similar topics, so thankfully a lot of the reading I already do was super useful to pull from for fleshing TCAG out.
And because I’m a grad student, I take research and sources very seriously, and I absolutely love to share what I use with others, especially if you find yourself in any shape, way or form inspired to learn more from the story. That being said, if you want to read any of these sources and are paywalled or can’t access for any reason, PLEASE don’t be afraid to hit me up and I’ll send them over for free :) I’m a big fan of knowledge democratization so don’t be scared to drop a message!
There are several things to note about this list.
It’s not a complete, finalized list and will be updated accordingly as I continue to write chapters.
there are specific topics I’m incorporating into TCAG that I will not yet include my sources from because it’ll be a complete spoiler for certain plot points if I do.
A lot of these sources are not layman-friendly; that being said, please let me know if you’d be interested in more layman-friendly recommendations!!
And finally the * indicates a source I heavily used.
TCAG is a complete labour of love that I’ve technically spent the last five years or so engrossed by all alone and take very seriously so it only felt right and natural so share what the process has looked like so far <3
(also sharing this bc the last thing I want are AI allegations tyvm)
Religion
Brubaker, R. (2013). Language, religion and the politics of difference. Nations and nationalism, 19(1), 1-20. *
Roman catholic religious dress *
Vestments worn by priests
The Colour of Vestments for Catholic Holidays
Cults
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
Munro, D. (2024). Cults, Conspiracies, and Fantasies of Knowledge. Episteme, 21(3), 949–970. https://doi.org/10.1017/epi.2022.55
Bowden, H. (2023). Mystery Cults in the Ancient World. Thames & Hudson.
Robbins, T., & Anthony, D. (1980). The Limits of “Coercive Persuasion” as an Explanation for Conversion to Authoritarian Sects. Political Psychology, 2(2), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.2307/3790815
Military Strategy
Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction (2nd edn) by Antulio J. Echevarria III
Kennedy, P. M. (Ed.). (1991). Grand strategies in war and peace. Yale University Press.
Three Levels of War by USAF College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education
Strategy vs. Tactics: Why the Difference Matters *
Political Sociology
Power: A Radical View by Steven Lukes
The Sources of Social Power Vol 1-4, Michael Mann (selected excerpts ofc) *
Bringing the State Back in by Evans, Peter B., Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol *
Moore, Barrington. 1993. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press. *
Skocpol, Theda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *
Tilly, Charles. 1992. Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990–1992. Cambridge: Wiley. *
Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1976. The Modern World-System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth Century. New York: Academic Press. *
Hooks, G. 2020. “War, States, and Political Sociology: Contributions and Challenges.” In The New Handbook of Political Sociology, pp. 924–950. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Evans, Peter and Patrick Heller. 2015. “Human Development, State Transformation and the Politics of the Developmental State.” In Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State, eds. Stephan Leibfried et al.
Tuğal, Cihan. 2021. “Populism Studies: The Case for Theoretical and Comparative Reconstruction.” Annual Review of Sociology 47.
Polletta, Francesca, and James M. Jasper. 2001. “Collective Identity and Social Movements.” Annual Review of Sociology27:283–305.
Tarrow, Sidney and Charles Tilly. 2007. “Contentious Politics and Social Movements.” In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Politics.
Erin, Ş, & Chase-Dunn, C. 2020. “Global Political Sociology and World-Systems.” In The New Handbook of Political Sociology, pp. 953–972.
Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. 2016. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. *
Brubaker, Rogers and David D. Laitin. 1998. “Ethnic Violence and Nationalist Violence.” Annual Review of Sociology24:423–452.
Du Bois, W. E. B. 1935. Black Reconstruction in America, Ch. XIV, “Counter-Revolution of Property.”
Mills, Charles W. 1999. The Racial Contract. Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press. 171 pages *
Indigneiety
Igoe, Jim. 2006. "Becoming Indigenous Peoples: Difference, Inequality, and the Globalization of East African Identity Politics." Afrian Affairs 105 (420):399-420.
Niezen, Ronald. 2000. "Recognizing Indigenism: Canadian Unity and the International Movement of Indigenous Peoples." Society for Comparative Study of Society and History 42 ( 1 ):119-48. *
Rodriguez-Lonebear, D. (2021) ‘The Blood Line: Racialized Boundary Making and Citizenship among Native Nations’, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. doi: 10.1177/2332649220981589.
Bowen, John R. 2000. "Should We Have a Universal Concept of 'Indigenous Peoples' Rights'?" Anthropology Today 16 ( 4 ):12-16.
Tsing, Anna. 2007 . "Indigenous Voice." Pp. 33-67 in Indigenous Experience Today, eds. Marisol de la Cadena and Orin Starn. New York: Berg. *
Dhillon, J. (2021). Indigenous resistance, planetary dystopia, and the politics of environmental justice. Globalizations, 18(6), 898–911. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2020.1866390 *
Whyte, K. P. (2018). Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(1–2), 224–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618777621 *
Multiraciality
Harris, D. and J. Sim. 2002. "Who Is Multiracial? Assessing the Complexity of Lived Race." American Sociologial Review 67(4): 614-27.
DaCosta, K. 2020. "Multiracial Categorization, Identity, and Policy in (Mixed) Racial Formations." Annual Review of Sociology 46(1): 335-53 *
Telles, E. and C. Sue. 2009. "Race Mixture: Boundary Crossing in Comparative Perspective." Annual Review of Sociology 35(1): 129-46
Roth, Wendy .2016. "The Multiple Dimensions of Race." Ethnic and Racial Studies 39:1310-1338
Appalachia
"The Last Bastion of Colonialism": Appalachian Settler Colonialism and Self-Indigenization by Stephen Pearson *
Romani Communities
Books
We Are the Romani People by Ian Hancock *
The Pariah Syndrome: An Account of Gypsy Slavery and Persecution by Ian Hancock *
Sinti and Roma: Gypsies in German-speaking Society and Literature *
Gypsy Folktales: A Timeless Collection of Eighty Diverse Stories Spanning Cultures by Diane Tong
Layman-Friendly Articles
Knock on wood? Crystal ball emoji? Those are rooted in my Romani heritage
Marime: Roma Culture's Central Value *
Marime in Gypsy Society
Academic Articles
Talewicz-Kwiatkowska, J., & Kołaczek, M. (2024). “… but this fear, which was in you, you pass on to your child, with the mother’s milk.” In D. Strauß (Ed.), RomnoKher Study 2021: Unequal Participation. On the Situation of the Sinti and Roma in Germany (pp. 91–115). Springer Fachmedien. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-44650-5_3
Romani Creators
Florian Specifically — Meeting the Sinti people, often misunderstood, of Germany and France. *
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"Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" — John 12:24
»—–►You can read chapter 4 NOW here
⍟ Note ⍟
This chapter opens with non-graphic child SA -- please check out all the trigger warnings below and take care of yourself if you choose to read!
Preview ➳
Pastor Nick stood a few steps away, speaking softly with a frail woman, occasionally stepping in to adjust the flow when the line got uneven or someone lingered too long.
Take. Hand. Next.
Take. Hand. Next.
Take—
Her hand stilled mid-motion.
There was a boy in front of her.
Her brain didn’t catch up all at once. It only registered the shape of his face, the way he stood, bracing even when he wasn’t moving. The familiar teal-green eyes that had once flared at her with all the fury a child could gather in their eyes—
Eren.
For a suspended second, neither of them moved.
They just stared at one another.
TWs:
Child sexual assault, non-graphic child sexual assault, inappropriate touching of a minor, religious abuse, religious trauma, grooming, manipulation by guardian, religious manipulation, religious indoctrination, bystander complicity, victim blaming, child endangerment, panic attack, trauma response, vomiting, dissociation/freezing, PTSD symptoms, nightmares, emotional abuse, forced church attendance, implied physical abuse, bruising, racism, ethnic discrimination, racial prejudice, racial/ethnic slurs, forced assimilation, cultural erasure, ethnic violence (forced haircut), classism, refugee discrimination, food insecurity, starvation, political dehumanization, forced conscription, state violence, ethnic cleansing undertones, mass death, genocidal policy implications, canon-typical violence,
I’ve been working on the cadet training arc for what feels like 5ever (tech since around Jan 2026) and holy shit yall….
cadet training arc is massively bloated rn (im estimating final count of 100+k words so far in my outline…) but i swear its so important for situating Maria’s interpersonal relationships with everyone and more lore dropping so it’s needed 🥲
I think that’s one of my biggest gripe with stories is that I need to be convinced of the oc/reader’s feelings and relationships esp if there’s stakes attached to them. And I’m also talking about characters outside of Eren even tho Eren x f!OC is the main ship
I just hope others will find her dynamic with the cast just as interesting cuz I do worry readers are only here for the romance but when I say slow burn BOI do I mean slow burn YALL! Just hope readers won’t lose interest and will stay along for the ride 🙂↕️
"Under ancient cypress trees, weeping dreams are harvested from sleep." — Georg Trakl
»—–►You can read chapter 3 NOW here
Preview ➳
Maria wanted to scream. She wanted to spit out every beautiful lie they were trying to wrap around a massacre and call it dignity. Her father didn’t die heroically. He had died in the mud and blood in Shiganshina, in a place she would never be able to forget, and all that remained of him in her memory, slowly tainting how she remembered him, was a severed hand.
As names continued to be read, the rhythmic utterings were interrupted by the sound of footsteps.
At first, it was faint and easy to miss beneath the murmur of the crowd and the priest’s prayers, but then more joined it. A faint disturbance moved through the gathered mourners as people turned toward the road leading in from the gate.
The Survey Corps arrived.
TWs:
TW: Child neglect, child abuse (physical), manipulation, psychological abuse, religious pressure and indoctrination, racial microaggressions, parental loss, sick child, mentions of mass death and mass child death, panic attacks, survivor's guilt, intense grief, traumatic loss, nightmares, PTSD, emotional numbness, dissociation, graphic injury descriptions/mentions of dismemberment.
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"If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it."
— Toni Morrison, Song of Soloman
»—–►You can read chapter 9 NOW here
Preview ➳
"...What?" Eren asked, his voice entirely flat.
"Rutabaga," Maria repeated, patting the horse's neck with a faint, dimpled smile, feeling more assured by her decision as she studied him. "It suits him."
Eren blinked, looking from Maria to the horse, and then back to Maria with complete judgment all over his face. “Walden, you can’t name a military cavalry animal after a root vegetable."
"Rutabagas are highly resilient," Maria informed him primly, adjusting the horse's forelock now. "They survive harsh winter frosts, they thrive in poor soil, and they are incredibly difficult to kill. They’re practical."
TWs:
Blood and injury, needles/injections, medical sedation, attempted murder/sabotage, psychological trauma, dissociation, self-destructive behaviour, religious OCD/scrupolsity, touch aversion
