“Research Notes: Arcane Prisons--
How many years has it been since the Blue Dragonflight decided to go ham on mages? Casualties aside, when a war breaks out between two forces of high magical aptitude, you run into some of the most enterprising of creations.
These arcane prisons contained even the most powerful of the Kirin Tor mages. Not an easy feat.
The prisons seem to be able to hold a victim in an indefinite amount of space within the shell regardless if the prison is grown-adult-sized or small enough to fit inside your bag. It seems all due in part to the central aspect of these containers: they all sustain some form of a spatial warp that represses the prisoner. The shell holds the warp, but is not the physical prison.
The basic principle appears quite similar to the Arcane Vaults that the Kirin Tor utilize. More than likely, the Blue Dragonflight appropriated the concept to contain mages rather than magic relics.
Now, maintaining a spatial warp is a challenging concept on its own-- Are these arcane prisons powered not just by their own mana, but by also utilizing the mana of the prisoners? This would solve issue of maintaining a delicate balance of effectiveness and longevity. Not to mention, it addresses their adaptability to contain prisoners ranging from a whole Dragon to little Jimmy across the street who conjured his first ice cube.
I have deconstructed and reconstructed one of these Arcane Prisons several times. I have studied the runes, took note of every single scratch and dent, and I measured the magic output, and yet I have not been able to replicate one of equal function. The stability needed to maintain the spatial warp is not there. Seems to be lacking some foundation within the prison itself that even divination cannot identify.
Perhaps going into the spatial warp myself, I might run into that missing piece to the puzzle.
The issue-- who is going to get me out, when I’m done?”
(with thanks to @terranlloyd for help!)
This is going to be hard to write. Not because I haven't gone over it in my head time and time again, trying to get to grips with the situation... But because I am very much aware that I am privileged in having nothing to worry about except my research. And yet I have to unload these thoughts somewhere, somehow.
The biggest worry is that, because the pandemic means I have to change my design, I don't think I can have a project that will answer any actually useful questions which are interesting to more than just me (if that). And I don't know who to ask for help with this, or how. I don't know how to make any connection between the questions I can think of off the top of my head and any real-world concerns. Even if I say, well this qualitative analysis could help to develop a more robust (read: interesting) research project where actual problems are – maybe – solved, I still can't think of how that could even happen.
I am also worried that this crisis has exposed how little I know. I know it sounds dramatic, so let me explain.
(continued on 18/04)
My project was based on data that I could only obtain face-to-face, and the interaction cannot be replicated online. Now, I have to transform the project into something that works with data gathered online, which by necessity is a different type of data (for example, I can still carry out interviews with participants, but I can no longer set up mock police interviews, which means I can no longer OBSERVE interpreter behaviour.) Different data => different analytical tools => different questions. I truly feel like I have to start from scratch, to study what kinds of methods I can use with this data (that I don't have yet – that's another story) and what kind of questions those analyses can answer, because right now I just don't know. And, I feel like by now (6+ years of studying Linguistics) I should have a few ideas in my back pocket.
There's another possibility, or a complementary explanation. Over time, it's become more and more obvious to me that to carry out this project I need to be creative. I need to have imagination. It is possible – if not indeed probable – that the more 'out there' ideas about how to collect data, how to analyse it, what questions to ask etc., are constantly being preempted by fear. My critical voice comes in before those ideas can even be formed or put into words, and shuts them down. 'No, that won't work.' 'No, that's scary to do.' 'No, you don't actually know how to do that.' (where "that" is unknown, or as yet hasn’t, erm, risen to the level of consciousness?)
Another thing that I'm missing, which I wasn't aware of earlier on, was the intellectual community, which is not something I'm sure I had before the quarantine because I didn't pay attention to finding or building one for myself. I need this because now, a couple of weeks of not attending to my research – or any intellectual pursuits – at all, I feel really far removed from all of it – physically, intellectually, emotionally. (I don't do work as an interpreter anymore, so I'm removed from that community as well, which I'm sure doesn't help.)
So it looks like I can do a few things here. I can study other methods of online data collection and analysis, ignoring that voice that says that I should know this already. I can maybe look into some 'creativity for academics' shit (I don't even know where to start with that one...) to try and unlock some creative potential (which I am skeptical even exists but whatever). I can look up Jennifer Polk's Twitter feed and other writings (and maybe consider paying for her coaching sessions?) I just don't know how to explain this to my supervisor and in what order I should do any of this and what doing it looks like. *giant shrug emoji*
I love my dogs. I really do.
Until I broke out of the monotony of the Dalaran actually met people, my entire social life consisted of Perdita and Hotspur-- and a few short encounters with individuals who were interested in them.
Note for posterity: walking dogs is a great way to meet men.
It’s absolutely astounding at how extensive a Runehound’s intelligence is. Within the first few months I began to train them, they absorbed verbal commands to the point where I was almost certain they understood the Common language entirely. We’re going to start working on Thalassian, soon. Dwarvish might be next.
Surpassing their intelligence is their loyalty. Though loyalty is a shared trait among canines to their masters, I find myself wondering how much of it is genuine and how much of it is because they are compelled to obey.
Runes have near endless applications. An infamous, and unfortunately frequently used application robs the will of whomever it’s placed upon. From dragons to stone elementals, runes etched upon the skin would bind an individual to the will of the imbuer and they are essentially ensorcelled slaves at that point.
I don’t recognize many of the runes on my dogs, but I at least identify none of them to be this type. Out of uncertainty, though, I am left wondering about it... Either I can be a cruel master and bind the runes, myself, or someone else might do it.
Most of the runes I can identify would accommodate the Runehound’s initial purpose. Perhaps inspired by the felhounds of the Legion, these Runehounds are created with the same principle in mind: Kill mages.
These hounds are highly impervious to magic and their teeth and claws seem to be capable of disrupting a mage’s ability to cast, not just from the pain of an attack. The runic flow creates a severely warped arcane layer upon them, lacking any substantial effect and merely flowing without purpose. Thusly, when in contact with a Spellcaster, it causes a magical interference and prevents a successful cast.
A Runehound’s altered senses can track magic and Spellcasters, and it is rarely fooled by flashy tricks and sensory illusions.
Clearly, their tailoring for mage hunting shows.
The difference that separates them from felhounds is that they were also constructed to obey mages, specifically the ones serving the Blue Dragonflight at the time.
Mage Hunters that were created to obey Mages.
Stupid.
Perdita and Hotspur were from a few litters that I found while doing some ground work. Puppies, already bred and carved with runes. Animal abuse, by the way.
I had to get special permission and training in order to foster these pups. I found that they would bond with mage owners a lot faster than the average individual.
Further proving this theory-- As I have taken up residence in Sir Lloyd’s property, the dogs seem to have taken a pleasant interest in him, which surprises me as he has constantly vocalized that he is not a dog person and it shows. This either means that his presence as a mage is unique enough that it intrigues the dogs or that he smells like beef on a regular basis. It’s probably the former.”
This one has more bad stuff than good stuff, sorry.
The Good (sort of)
I’m generally upset and angry these days. I won’t bother you with the details of how little work I’ve managed to do, but I will say that since the first post on this topic I’ve had what they call here an interim review mid-December. I had to massively rewrite (=beef up) my research proposal for that, which had some very nice consequences:
In having to write it I was able to come up with a better defined topic (perception and discursive performance of interpreter invisibility in police interviews) and better research questions. In fact it’s better to say that I discovered these through the process of writing which I was dreading so much.
And I discovered that I enjoyed the writing process once I got going. This is big, you guys. I don’t think I enjoyed writing... ever. It was always a fucken chore, what with the procrastination, and the unhelpful perfectionism, and the fixed mindset and all. But, this time, I was excited about where it would lead me. I was curious about what I was going to say next. (I wonder if this is in part due to me allowing myself to just say stuff that felt right instead of censoring myself a priori - “no that won’t work”, “hmm you can’t prove that though”, “someone else has said this better” etc. Me - 1, Inner critic - 0; take that, you scumbag).
The Baaaad news - of course there is bad news, I warned you - is that I just... can’t get any data. My focus is on authentic police interviews, and while of course I don’t know what I’ll say yet, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to make the same argument with, say, role-play data.
This links to another one of my big, big worries, which is that I can’t make a case for why my research questions are relevant in practice to the people concerned; like, it might be an interesting theoretical argument for academics, but I can’t say anything like ‘you’ll want to hear about this b/c it suggests better interviewing strategies’ (I’m not researching interview techniques effectiveness) or ‘answering these RQs is important b/c human rights’ or whatever (I mean... it could be about human rights?? but I can’t find the connection). I expect what I’ll find is something like “sometimes interpreters are allowed to ‘perform’ invisibility, sometimes they are not” and the first thought I immediately have is SO WHAT. So what, if I can’t say why (or even WHETHER) this has material consequences for suspects or witnesses. So what, if I can’t show why/whether it matters from a fairness in the justice system standpoint.
Of course I might be lucky and discover that it is indeed the case, maybe I’ll even point out some of those consequences, maybe I’ll be able to link them to a bigger social justice issue or something - but I can’t do anything like that UNTIL I LOOK AT THE DATA. And I seemingly can’t do that until I convince someone to let me do it. How do I convince them to let me do it? Well, by pointing out that my research can help solve X, Y or Z hot button issue. But how do I know whether that’s the case until I do my analysis? How can I do my analysis without the data? Etc., etc. This, my friends, is what we in the business call a catch-22. And it drives me fucking mad.
The Fucking Ethics
The sticking point is that I have to somehow find (conjure up??) and articulate these benefits, to convince the police - who have enough work of their own - to provide me the data, with all the logistical and legal fuss that entails. I need to show them that I can answer pressing concerns or whatever the fuck. But, WORST OF ALL, I need to convince my own goddamn ethics committee.
When you do research with human, you must have their consent. Their meaningful, informed consent. The kind that people interviewed by the police a bunch of years ago can’t give (because you can’t find them. Thankfully.). The kind that people being interviewed by the police right there and then can’t give you (because of power dynamics). You can tell people they can refuse to take part in research without it affecting the outcome of the interview/legal case until you’re blue in the face, but you can’t control for the fact that some people will just say yes out of fear. You just can’t. The ethics cttee won’t take that risk. I won’t take that risk.
So, with the taped interviews that already exist in police archives & the inaccessibility of consent, what do you do? According to the British Society of Criminology, we should make sure that participants
(...) be able to give freely informed consent in all but exceptional circumstances (exceptional in this context relates to exceptional importance of the topic rather than difficulty of gaining access).
i gotta start a real fucking research diary at one point i guess but today’s not the day and this is still better than jsut making voice memo after voice memo so
literally as i was typing this my head was like. make a side blog!! you dont like writing by hand and ur always on your laptop anyways so that might be a good idea!
ok to the point i guess for whatever reason it never occurred to me that my project could also be a project of an engaged anthropology bc until yesterday i didn’t really know that there were actual activists already engaging with the nettelbeckplatz in the way i was. dreaming abt three months ago. or not dreaming but i was like. so what’s the goal? name change obviously but how and with who is anybody doing anything with that? couldn’t find anything. and now i know there’s activists doing that! and i am in contact with one of them! and i can help! i want to help! and i know there comes like ethical issues or whatever with like taking part in activism while doing academic research but as long as i am open about that i hope it won’t be a problem. it’s actually very exciting and i didn’t think it would work, getting in touch i guess but it did
i guess it’s still the question how to bring the feminist and postcolonial perspectives together (reminder to listen to that one voice memo i recorder at night two weeks ago) but i do think it could be turned into a thing of intersectional acitivism//entangled histories//place making//multidirectional memory//memory culture//past-present-future-making
should really read the texts sabrina sent me abt coloniality/feminism/activism/bodies in latin america. also read up on engaged anthropology. and think of ways to get together with savvy
anyways don’t wanna be too optimistic but i feel like this might actually come together. like place and timing are just right and. i feel like i could be right where i need to be to do something good
‘Pain’ is a very unique experience.
It is a physical-response interpreted entirely by whoever undergoes it. Between individuals, one man may scream while being struck with this tool and another might merely frown at the same sensation.
Their experiences appear very dissimilar but the tool’s output was no different. One man just perceived pain differently.
To-may-to.
To-mah-to.
An intriguing discovery-- vicarious, of course-- while I was studying the Neural Needler. I once entertained exploring this concept further, but Sir Lloyd has explicitly told me to, and I quote, “Stop”.
Very short-sighted. Back to the point, though.
The Neural Needler is exactly what it sounds like: a needle-like prod that stimulates pain wherever it makes contact. From my observations upon a few subjects-- willing ones, I must specify-- an enchanting spell of tremendous anguish directly impacts the nervous system of the subject. Such a simple and straightforward path for the enchantment probably maximizes the effect by circumventing the mind where there is always a chance of some resistance.
Streamlining the enchantment by directly aiming for where it is needed speaks for admirable efficiency in the Needler's design.
Pain is such a basic concept though... and fairly useless outside of the hands of brutes or Kirin Tor Librarians. Would there be other types of sensations to create with the Needler, instead? Perhaps the opposite, to numb pain? What if it would elate the senses instead?
I also feel a potential Brain Reward System experiment in the near future. Until then, I need to find more subjects to test these theories.”
(Mentions @terranlloyd-- being the voice of reason ofc
@everyone-just-calls-me-jeri also for volunteering to take the needler to the face)
