#and classism

[ghiacciowife]

also why the fuck are binders so god damn expensive nowadays what is this shit. how am i supposed to afford gender affirming items if i can barely afford to buy groceries

[uikascape]

”forbidden love trope only works with queer couples” oh this out of touch take 😭😭

[veranavera]

Reddit feminists are some of the worst people in the world - only narrowly outdone by the reddit anti-feminists

[godisthesun]

idk what feminist needs to hear this but if you want to dismantle the patriarchy you have to give a shit about marginalized men

[angelsaxis]

Alright I'm gonna say it. I'm tired of non Americans trying to pass commentary on anything that happens here because it always exposes y'all's total lack of understanding of how anything works in this country. you think you're dunking on the state but it's just y'all hating on marginalized people, belittling and trivializing the violence we face here especially if we're not white or Christian, and then trying to act like you've said anything astute when 99% of the time it's just thinly veiled antiBlackness.

[a-list-of-moods]

i love steampunk but my god were the victorians Not Valid

[glassesmcfancyhair]

Can we all just agree that “from a good Christian family” is probably one of the biggest red flags in the history of red flags?

[dove-actually]

(inspired by @zburatorii​‘s excellent questions, and by @mousetache​‘s amazing worldbuilding posts, I’ve decided to offer some insight into Knight Errant’s setting)

The richest and second-largest (and second-most dysfunctional) of the Five Lands, SCANIA spans the southern half of the continent, from the Endless Ocean west to the Asini River and border with Pykos east.

Scania’s economy relies on grain exports, thanks to its rich central provinces, and on domination of the ocean trade routes. Its navy is known for its daring exploration of the ocean—they’re the only ones who’ve successfully sent ships past the Death Stills and the Fire Islands– and their maps are highly sought-after, for being the most detailed and accurate in the world. 

(Scania has also been known, historically, for robbing & exploiting the resources and people they found on their explorations. Some ten years ago, however, the King mysteriously outlawed human trade and began changing the foreign relations policies. This hasn’t endeared him to some, but he deemed the benefits higher than the costs. And they were. He got a ton of benefits. Let’s face it he didn’t do it from the kindness of his heart)

climate, demographics, politics and religion details below the cut

Climate: Most of Scania enjoys mild oceanic climate, with hot & humid summers and mild winters.The northern and central provinces, being further inland, have a temperate climate, and the east-most province (Ahni’s home) is a big swamp.

Demographics: Scania has a couple of million people, about half of whom live in the Citadel and a few large coastal ports, while the rest are dispersed among seventeen provinces. Scania is the most ethnically-diverse of the Five Lands, partly due to its history (it formed from a union of two separate continent nations and an island they moved closer via magic), and partly to its large coast. 

The dominant ethnicity is Ascani (light-to-medium tan skin, long features, usually brown hair), but mountain provinces are home to mostly old-Scanians, shorter and stockier, with russet skin and broader features; the northern provinces, at the border with Wenn, see a mix of Ascani and light-skinned, pale-eyed Ywenn, and the southwest tip has a strong Myrhi population (taller than the average Ascani, with dark-bronze skin). All these various people have comparable status and rights, though Myrhi are generally regarded as richer and fancier than average because their area is very rich, old-Scanians are seen as rural and less polished, because the mountain provinces are small and don’t have as many resources, and Ywenn are seen as wimpy because Scania was at war with Wenn for like 400 years so they made up bad rumors about their enemies.  

Form of government: Hereditary Constitutional Monarchy

Ruler: King Felipe the Fair (pfffft), whose family has been in power for a couple hundred years. He rules in conjunction with (or aided by) a High Assembly of eight high-powered nobles to represent various interests and perspectives. (there’s also a General Council made up of reps of the top fifty noble families, who meet once every couple of years to approve or deny new laws and to check how the King is upholding the current laws; but it’s mostly a formality unless enough of them are mad enough to unite and make noise).

Religion: Of the Five Lands, Scania is most homogeneous (and most dedicated) in its religious practices. Most people worship the Twin Gods, though regional variances exist on what they believe and what forms their worship takes. Near the borders, there’s bleed-over from the other lands’ religions, especially Wenn’s ten-god pantheon. Scania has freedom of religion but isn’t great at separation of church and state; the High Prelate of the Twin Gods has a ton of power.

General standard of living: Eh. Very high if you’re a noble, almost-mediocre otherwise, but heavily dependent on where you live. The King does try to make sure no one’s starving or homeless, but nobles have a lot of autonomy over their lands, and some push the limits of decency. Generally, the Knight Corps tries to keep exploitation of people to a minimum and remind evil landlords to behave (but sometimes they fail because they are also nobles and have huge blind spots)

Enemies: External: The Fire Islands, a small archipelago a few weeks’ sail east; they have a larger-than-usual concentration of fire magic and want dominion of the ocean routes, so they like to torch Scanian ships for fun and pillage the southern shores or nearby islands when they can.  Internal: well, the High Prelate wants to murder like a quarter of the land, so he’s not AWESOME.

Who lives here: everyone in Knight Errant, except a couple of Sarra’s secret friends characters mentioned in passing.