I was browsing through the TV Tropes character page for Ravenloft, because it gives a nice intro to older lore, and I came across this entry on Addar, Darklord of the Phantasmal Forest:
āMentioned in the writeups for the Shadow Unicorns, Addar was promoted to Darklord status in the Kargatane's Book of Sacrifices netbook. Hailing from a sylvan forest on an unknown Prime world, Addar chafed against the traditions of unicorns submitting to elven maidens as bonded steeds, seeing such an act not as a bond of partnership and purity, but a symbol of humiliation and servitude. Though the other benevolent fey spirits of his forest recoiled from such bitter, poisonous prejudice, darker spirits rejoiced in it. Most prominently, a female nightmare, who began to contact Addar in his dreams, seducing him with stories of a new forest, far away, where he would become a great champion and worshiped like a god, much like the guardians of his own forest. Even as Addar's ego grew on this noxious fuel, the elder fey strove to break him of his arrogance; they arranged for an elven princess of unparalleled purity and grace, a mighty paladin-in-training, to be given his name and told she was to invoke the pact with him. When she came to summon him, however, Addar fought with all his might, recoiling against what he still saw as an attempt to enslave him and reduce him to a mere beast of burden. His defiance allowed the nightmare to slip between the worlds and attack the elf-maid, setting the forest alight with her burning mane and hooves. Free of the spell, Addar began to flee, only to realize the elf-maid was caught by the flames; choked by the smoke, she couldn't hope to escape on her own... but Addar's pride would not allow him to let her ride to safety on his back. Instead, he turned and abandoned the screaming princess to her death, following the nightmare into the mists. Upon her, he fathered the first Shadow Unicorns, and became ruler of the Phantasmal Forest; a foul and dismal place of dead, dying trees whose black, noxious soul nourished only weeds and evil plants, inhabited only by dark fey and predatory beasts.ā
So, okay. I just gonna ā¦ Iām gonna side with the Darklord here? Yeah.
Not on the whole āseduced by a dark spirit with promises of being worshipped like a godā thing, thatās fair enough as a villain origin. Carry right on. But the bit where he saw being bound to someone as servitude, and the response of the people around him to that ā¦
Right. So. To sum up. Addar saw being bound to an elf as being bound into servitude, and the fey around him saw this as possibly racism and definitely pride, and their ābenevolentā solution ā¦ was to send someone to punitively and magically bind him into said servitude against his will, specifically for the purposes of ābreaking him of his arroganceā?
Um. Explain to me how thatās not slavery?
It doesnāt matter how pure and beautiful a paladin she was. It doesnāt matter that the bond is normally not slavery because (Iām assuming) the other unicorns consented. In this case it absolutely, one-hundred-percent was slavery, because Addar did not consent to it and they tried to magically force him anyway, and I feel like every ābenevolentā fey involved in the decision should have slipped immediately over into Lawful Evil, for valuing their tradition over the will and consent of one of their own.
Like, this is phrased in such a hostile way to his interpretation of what was happening to him? I just ā¦ I love how this frames him as entirely unreasonable here. That his wanting not to be bonded to anyone is ābitter, poisonous prejudiceā, that his recoiling while being bound against his will is only struggling against what he saw as an attempt to enslave him, as if heās wrong about that and it was blindly willful of him to fight. That this binding is explicitly meant to correct him of his arrogance, that heās being bound to someone to humble and punish him, and somehow this is not slavery? That itās his defiance that allows a dark spirit to slip into the world, but if you didnāt force him against his will, maybe he wouldnāt have to fight and let nightmares into the world? Itās his āprideā that causes him to abandon the woman who attempted to enslave him to her death, not an entirely reasonable unwillingness to help someone who just tried to force him?
Sorry. I had a surprisingly strong reaction to this, is all.
But. This is just the TV Tropes summary of the story, so I went to look up the original, in case TV Tropes was leaving stuff out or putting a slant on the story in the process of repeating it. And ā¦ sort of. The original does gentle a few things:
Addar was not aware of the nightmareās nature at first
The fey spirits were not aware of the nightmare at all, since she was only approaching the unicorn in his dreams
The spirits could feel a corruption in his soul as a result of the nightmareās temptations, and without knowledge of her presence, his hatred of āservitudeā was the only thing they could tie that corruption to. This doesnāt make their āsolutionā any better, but it explains a bit why they were so adamant, if the nightmare was having a tangible magical effect for the worse on him
The spirits didnāt think of it as ābreaking him of his arroganceā, they thought of it as teaching him āa lesson about the virtue of sharing and partnershipā
The elf they chose had no knowledge whatsoever of any of this, she was just told that Addar was a unicorn who wished to bind with her and was given permission to perform the ritual
She spammed the ritual repeatedly despite his resistance because she didnāt know what was happening and thought he might be trapped somewhere
He realised she was in danger, and turned away from her truly because he didnāt want to bear any elf, and he thought another unicorn for whom that wouldnāt be a problem would reach her in time
Things the original story doesnāt help, though:
It still seems to imply that a unicorn must bind with someone pure, whether they want to or not, and everyone is apparently fine with that
āSuch bitter thoughts, coming from an average person, would normally be seen as mere prejudices, and might even go unnoticed by most others. But it was no less than an appointed guardian of Goodness and Nature who was spitting those poisoned words, and that was seen with concern by some inhabitants of the forest, and with joy by others. These last were, of course, creatures of darkness and foul spirits, who were barely tolerated by others as part of the natural balance.ā Virtue and goodness mean surrendering your right to autonomy, but for other people wanting to not bind yourself to someone is okay?
āShe was training to be a noble warrior-priestess, and the ancient spirits dictated that Addar should be her steed. So, she was told Addar's name and given permission to tame him. The spirits thought he would finally accept the noble partner and once again become true to his nature, leaving the perverted ideas behind forever.ā Sheās beautiful and virtuous, so she deserves to ride him, and he should leave all āperverted ideasā of bodily autonomy behind him
The ritual is still explicitly a forceful spell, an enchantment that does not require the consent of the unicorn, and can wear away their strength to resist: āAddar, who was finally losing his powers to resist the enchantment, suddenly felt free once again, when the nightmare took his place.ā
āAs he turned around one last time to see the princess choking to death, he knew in his corrupted heart that he was never going to allow anyone to ride him, under no circumstances. He would be king of his own forest.ā This is meant to be the heart of why heās a Darklord, the epitome of his corruption, and yes itās extremely selfish to refuse to carry someone out of a literal fire that was burning her to death, and yes to the whole āprideful desire to be king and ruler no matter the costā thing, but on the other hand is it really meant to be evil to not want people to feel free to use your body against your will just because of your species?
I just ā¦ this whole thing sort of rubbed me completely the wrong way. Itās an odd thing to get riled up over, I know. But the whole ā¦ Ignore bodily autonomy, ignore consent, take someoneās species as license to bind them into service, declare them evil for not wanting to allow that, if they object too many times just magically force them anyway ā¦
Look. The base fact is, the binding of the ritual is slavery and is not a āpartnershipā and āa prize and honor for both beingsā in this case, for the sole and simple reason that Addar did not consent and everyone else ignored that and tried to force it on him anyway. Partnership requires consent on both ends, and forcing someone into servitude against their will is sort of the definition of slavery.
I just ā¦ Iām gonna side with the Darklord here. Not on the whole āallow myself to be corrupted and move to my own world where Iāll be kingā part, but on the whole ārefuse to allow someone to use my body against my will and rebel when they attempt to magically force the issueā? Absolutely yes. The spirits were completely in the wrong there. The elf maiden not so much, because she didnāt know and acted in innocence towards someone she thought had consented, and itās definitely tragic that she died for that, but Iām mostly going to put the blame for that on the spirits as well. Addar maybe should have helped her when he saw her dying, but theyād given him literally every reason not to by tricking her into, essentially, trying to enslave him and override his will. If someone tries to magically enslave me no matter how hard or long I fight, and winds up in mortal peril because of it, Iām not going to be too pushed about helping them out of that mortal peril either. Gonna be honest.
I reacted really strongly to this. Oof. Sorry.
Itās just ā¦ is it just me, or does D&D sometimes have some problems with consent, particularly when it comes to issues of magic, as well as some really dodgy views of āvirtueā and āevilā, particularly when it comes to magical species and whatās expected of them?
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Sticky. Ā He was...sticky. Ā Why was he so sticky? Ā It was...a weird thing to wake up feeling. Ā
Blearily, he opened his eyes and tried not to scream, barely clapping a hand over his mouth before the sound came out.
Ash. Ā So. Ā Much.Ā Ash. Ā
Everywhere. Ā
Under him. Ā In his hair. Ā On his face. Ā In his mouth. Ā
Jagged memories that cut worse than knives under his skin, something barely there, slipping...just out of reach. Ā
What had he...done? Ā
As if the sticky ash wasn't enough, his hands were scorched black under the drying substance, leaving him with the uncomfortable feeling that whatever had happened, he'd been directly involved. Ā Even if he couldn't remember. Ā
His stomach turned and he gagged more than once, sure that he was going to throw up, but somehow he held it down. Ā Now...was not the time to panic.
He had to figure out where he was and...and get home before anyone saw him. Ā Discovered him. Ā What time even was it?
Alright Matt, think...think...what's the last thing you remember? Ā
But that was part of the problem, wasn't it? Ā Remembering hurt. Ā
Skipping over the parts that physically hurt, he tried to think back, tried to piece together what he could.
There was...He'd been in that store, looking for a gift for Stephanie for her birthday. Ā And maybe something for himself, something nice, because he might have a date and he wanted to make sure he looked nice. Ā And there was...a creeping sensation, and then...it felt like someone had hit him with a baseball bat. Ā In the back, no less. Ā And then...then...
"Sir! Ā Sir, are you hurt?! Ā We've got a live one! Ā Get a stretcher over here!"
Matt blinked at the sound of a voice, temporary panic overwhelming him. Ā SOMEONE HAD SEEN HIM, OH GOD, THIS WAS IT, HE WAS GOING TO PRISON FOR SOMETHING HE DIDN'T EVEN REMEMBER DOING!!!
"Sir, you're in shock...I need you to try and concentrate. Ā Are you okay? Ā Does anything hurt? Ā He's not responding guys, we've gotta get him to the hospital!"
Distantly, he realized that these were fire-fighters, that they were here to help him, but he couldn't make himself do anything but stare in a stupor. Ā He couldn't...process what was happening to him. Ā What had happened around him but somehow...not to him? Ā
"What...happened?" Ā he forced the words out, jagged, uncertain. Ā
"You've been in an accident...a gas main exploded, you're lucky you're alive, buddy. Ā You're the only one so far...We're going to get you to the hospital. Ā You're going to be okay." Ā
Reading comments at various web sites about the HW scandal in Hollywood, which of course is horrible. But I'm also side-eying some of the commenters who are (rightfully) outraged at him but were, only a little while ago, dismissing and downplaying the allegations that Joss W fucked around with actresses on his shows. I'm not comfortable with this ranking of what actually counts as "real" rape/coercive sex by people in positions of power. Just sayin'. Are they different in terms of details and scale? Absolutely. In terms of implications and connotations? Not in my opinion.
Just love how my autisim/aspects makes me out to be a bigger bad girl then a normal human.
Like heck, I'm sorry that you tucking the blanket into me and making it tight woke me up and I started having a "tantrum" I'm sorry that the change in reality disturbed my isolation in our headspace. I'm sorry your tossing and turning woke me and triggered our head.
I can't always control these things, and we hate when our persecutors front, as they attack everyone not just us.
Why make us to be the bad girl, you disturbed us and you then continued doing the same all night. You expect us to understand what you want, we are lucky to know what we want.
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Zestaw 2 TriggerĆ³w L1R1 do telefonu/tabletu o przekÄ tnej ekranu od 4.6 do 6,5 ''
Proste w montażu
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