take life a little less seriously. learn a skill that isn’t resume-friendly. own your decisions without punishing yourself. both above average and average results are great; it’s good to do something at all. do many things, do many things badly. think about the big picture. the time is passing, regardless
absolutely genius of rf kuang to elaborate on virtually nothing about speer's culture. the only things said about speer are "speerlies are mindless savages" and "speerlies are most definitely not mindless savages". there are no deep dives, no explanations of their way of life, nothing beyond the glimpses that disproves nikan's belief that they are nothing but a violent group. we saw that they had leaders that cared about their people and children. we saw that they are people who found joy in life. but that's really not much.
this emphasizes the horror of genocide. millenia of culture and history, individual lives filled with love, pain, and passion, just completely wiped away. there were only two surviving speerlies. one of them was too young when he was taken away, and probably doesn't remember much. the things he did remember was also probably buried under years of abuse and drugs people were plying him with. the other one didn't even know she was from speer until the last few months of her life, and there was really no one around to teach her about their culture. and if there was, life as she knows it was falling apart. learning about her dead people's culture probably didn't even cross her mind.
without saying any of these things and by intentionally leaving readers in the dark about what speer was truly like, rf kuang said so much about the horrors of genocide. by not saying anything, she said everything. she did the "show me, don't tell me" tip for writers and it was brilliant.
we will never learn most of speer's culture and history and that was the point.
thinking about fang runin and about how all she wanted was to be a good soldier, to get praise from her commanders, to be deemed as worthy, and how she was used as a weapon, over and over again, and constantly betrayed by the people she served and trusted. but she was always a soldier, and she never knew anything else
I know a lot of people think Rin embodies female rage, but I genuinely think that Venka is the one who truly experienced it. Like @rinsrighthand mentioned in their post, Rin's anger was more because of the racism she faced and how her being a speerly came before any other portion of her identity.
Venka was SA-ed. And the fate she met in Golyn Niis was only because, quoting Rin, she had "the body of a woman". If she wasn't a woman, she would've been killed, or tortured, but certainly not been put through what she suffered. She stayed alive because of her hatred towards her abusers. She could not leave the earth till she had her revenge. This decision held a lot of weight considering the warped perception the Nikara had of SA in general - hence why the other girls who survived Golyn Niis drank lye to take their own lives, most of the women who were assaulted during the war blamed themselves and her own father nearly disowned her.
Then came the news of her pregnancy, and her mother's order to keep the fetus because it was against her "religion" to abort a child - even if it was conceived because of her abusers. The amount of trauma, pain, grief and rage Venka went through is unfathomable. But she kept living. She performed the abortion herself. She kept fighting for justice for all those women, for herself.
The reason why Venka joined Rin was because she was the only one with the balls to punish her abusers (even though she burnt the entirety of Mugen down in the process), even burning a Hesperian man alive for assaulting a woman. Rin gave her a second chance to fight, when everyone else deemed her "broken". After Rin won the war, she made Venka the general of her army, after which, the one law she wanted to establish was a death penalty for those who dared assault someone.
At her core, she was angry. Angry because of how women were punished simply for being women. Angry because of how women were blamed for being abused. Angry because of how many men got away with doing horrific, monstrous things. Angry, because no one came to save her.
i mourn the history that left with Rin’s last breath.
— no one will remember her as the girl who passed the Keju with only two years of studying under her belt
— no one will remember her as the girl who punched the Dragon Warlords son or the girl who defeated the Dragon Warlords son in the trials and won
— no one will remember her as the girl crazy enough to pledge to lore
— no one will remember her as the girl who had to endure torture in a Mugenese lab
— no one will remember her as the girl who gave the “broken” girl the chance to fight again
— no one will remember her as the girl who destroyed and saved her best friend
— no one will remember her as the girl who had to fight her whole life till the very end. all they’ll remember is a girl on fire, with so much rage, that it almost destroyed the country.
she saved nikara, she burnt it, and she gave it a second chance.
i will NEVER stop talking about “you’re hurting me”. there couldn’t have been better or more devastating last words for kitay. for so long he endured the pain every time rin called the fire. he never said anything. rin saw how much he was hurting, constantly asked him if he wants her to stop, but he always said no, always said he was fine because he never wanted to deny her anything. because he knew how important the fire was to her. the only time he denies her is at the very end, when rin loses her mind. and even then, at her worst, as she tries to overpower kitay, the SECOND he says “you’re hurting me” she stops. and not only does she stop, but it stops her descent into madness and she has one final moment of clarity. because “rin couldn’t hurt kitay and not worry about it. if she could, she’d be lost.”
Hello, My name is Mosab Elderawi, and I live in Gaza with my family. Life here has become harder than I ever imagined, and I’m writing this with hope in my heart that you might hear our story.
The ongoing war has devastated my family. We’ve lost 25 family members—each one a beloved part of our lives, taken too soon. I miss them deeply—their laughter, their presence, their love. Every day is a reminder of this unimaginable loss.
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We are now facing daily challenges to survive—things that most people take for granted, like food, clean water, and a safe place to sleep. The harsh realities of life here have replaced our dreams with the constant fight for survival.
Our Current Situation:
💔 Lost Stability: The war has left us without work or a stable source of income. 🍞 Basic Needs: Food and water are becoming harder to afford with rising prices and scarce resources. 📚 Dreams on Hold: Like so many here, my family’s dreams have been replaced by the need to simply survive. 😢 Unimaginable Loss: Losing 25 loved ones has left a void that can never be filled.
How You Can Help:
I’m sharing our story with the hope that someone out there might care. Even $5 can make a big difference for us, and if you’re unable to donate, just reblogging this post can help spread the word.
Your kindness, no matter how small, is something we’ll never forget.
What This Means to Us:
Your support is not about changing our entire situation—it’s about giving us a little relief, a little hope, and a way to keep going. We are not asking for much, and we understand if you can’t donate. Sharing our story is just as valuable to us as a donation.
Thank you for reading this far. It means the world to us to know that someone is listening. Your kindness gives us strength and helps us believe in a better tomorrow.
With all our gratitude, Mosab Elderawi and Family ❤️
✅️ Vetted by ✅️
@gazavetters, my number verified on the list is ( #309 )✅️
Hello Everyone, I am Mosab Suleiman Al Derawi, 28 years old, my wife Nadine Adel A… Mosab Derawi needs your support for Help me saving who's
My name is Laila, and I am writing to you from a place of deep despair. The conflict in Gaza has forced us from our home, and we now find ourselves in Khan Younis, struggling to survive. My mother is pregnant, and her life is in grave danger.
I feel utterly helpless and overwhelmed by our situation. There are moments when I wish for my own suffering to end, but my only hope now is to save my mother. I have started a campaign to raise funds for her evacuation and medical care.
Please, I beg you to share our campaign on your social media platforms. Your help can make a difference and give my mother a chance to live.
Thank you for your compassion and support.❤️🙏🏼
Sincerely,
"this fundraiser is vetted by nabulsi, fallahifag, el-shab-hussein, ibtisams, sayruq"
I am Ahmed Shaqqoura, a resident of France, the only hope for… Ahmed Shaqqoura needs your support for Help...Save a Pregnant Mother's Life a
I’m also offering commisssions in exchange for donations to Laila, details here. Please, do everything you can to give Laila and her family the opportunity to restart their lives and escape this genocide.
One day you think: I want to die. And then you think, very quietly, actually I want a coffee. I want a nap. A sandwich. A book. And I want to die turns day by day into I want to go home, I want to walk in the woods, I want to see my friends, I want to sit in the sun. I want a cleaner room, I want a better job, I want to live somewhere else, I want to live.
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