honestly my advice for people questioning if they're aro is kind of the same as my advice for people questioning if they're trans which is do less worrying about whether or not you inherently fall into this arbitrary category and do more considering what you want in and from your life. like ultimately deconstructing societal ideals of what relationships (or gender) should be like and figuring out what you want them to look like in your life is what matters and whether or not you experience romantic attraction is kind of immaterial
Links between Finnish/Proto-Uralic folklore consepts and Remedyverse
Disclaimer: this is not an all-compassing information piece about Uralic/Finnish/Nordic beliefs, religions and folklore. This is purely a look into the general aspects of these beliefs and how they might relate to Remedyverse, since we know that Mister Järvi has taken some inspiration from these sources. The foreing terms used here are in Finnish, though the concepts themselves are Proto-Uralic in nature, since that's the group Finnish old belief system lands in.
THE NAIL
In Control's first DLC, "Foundation", you can find a structure referred to as "The Nail", a tall pillar-y object made of dark rocky material. During the campaing, by completing tasks as Jesse, you are able to build it back to it's former glory.
Finnish/Proto-Uralic belief has a concept known as "Taivaannaula", which roughly translates to "Sky's Nail". Taivaannaula is a star on top of a structure called "Maailmanpylväs", as in "World's Pillar" (can also be depicted as a tree or a mountain), and it has said to be the point around which the whole dome of sky turns.
The actual real life star referred here is the North Star, Polaris.
So it would stand to reason that in Remedyverse, the Nail is a link between the Foundation, our world, and the Astral Plane.
THE WORLDVIEW OF THREE REALMS
The World's Pillar runs through all 3 realms of Proto-Uralic worldview; Ylinen, Keskinen and Alinen.
Ylinen is a place above the human realm and sky where the "creator god", a deus otiosus, supposedly resides.
(Wiki: "In the history of religion and philosophy, deus otiosus is the belief in a creator God who has entirely withdrawn from governing the universe after creating it or is no longer involved in its daily operation.")
Keskinen is the realm of mortals and gods/spirits who are responsible for running the daily matters of the world, usually linked to nature or people. For example Tapio - god of forest, Ahti - god of lakes and seas, and tonttu - the guardian of the house.
Alinen is the realm of the dead, also known as "Manala/Tuonela" in Finnish. The land of the dead is said to be an island in an icy sea situated below the ground and governed by an old woman.
In Remedyverse, a neat theory would be that the Astral Plane could be seen as the game's version of Ylinen. A realm where the Former and The Board seem to reside, and a plane which has little to do with the everyday life of natural world and humans. It would also tie neatly into the fact that it seems like the Board's Pyramid fits perfectly into the empty slot on top of the Nail.
The middle realm, where the mortals live, I would say is rather self-explanatory. We already have the god of water Ahti mopping about the place (and you know, Tapio, but that one is much more muddy since we know next to nothing of the guy, and Tapio is a perfectly legitimate Finnish name regardless of one's godly status), and I feel many of the superatural elements of both Oldest House and Bright Falls could be linked to these forces and gods operating in the realm.
And lastly, I think it's pretty safe to assume that The Dark Place is at least somewhat inspired by Alinen. The Diver's Isle in the middle of a lake that's actually an ocean, an old hag lurking about and the concept of a soul becoming trapped under the Cauldron Lake.
And in addition to all of this, there is a river called "Maailmanjoki" which also flows through all these layers. It waters the roots of the Tree in Ylinen, gathers into a pond at the base of it, flows through the realm of humans as a river, travels into the world of the dead Alinen, and because everything is inversed in the Alinen (inversion, another concept Remedy seemingly likes to include in their lore), the river flows into the opposite direction, and ends up going back around to water the Tree once more.
Back on my “everyone who talks about social justice theory should learn at least the basics of the disability justice framework and how interconnected ableism is with racism because then maybe people would realize that intersectional analysis means we can’t be doing this ‘but this is “just” x oppression’” soap box.
Y’all. When Black Panthers were institutionalized for supposed mental illness and chemically restrained and sometimes permanently disabled because institutionalizing them meant they could be locked up forever instead of getting a fair trail was that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When Black kids get diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder and any of their complaints or self-advocacy is dismissed as “defiance” and they get the police called on them for being kids is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When systemic racism disables racialized people and then systemic racism makes it harder for them to access medical care and disability supports is that “just” racism or “just” just ableism?
When ICE specifically targets racialized people and then denies people access to their life-sustaining medications or denies people they’ve injured access to necessary medical care and that kills people is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When police officers kill disabled people of color for being “unpredictable” or “out of control” or “having a weapon” (it doesn’t matter if it was just a butter knife) or for not responding immediately to their instructions (they were deaf and facing the other way) is that “just” racism of “just” ableism?
When racialized person don’t get a job because their cultural dialect or their accent is seen as a lack of intelligence is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When Black wheelchair users are assumed to be disabled because they were a gang member, whether or not that’s correct, but either way are denied access to resources they need is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When Black people are labeled “drug seeking” and left to suffer horrible pain is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When police officers approach a Black mother trying to help her young child through an autistic meltdown, forcing her to have to deal with convincing them she’s not abusive and have to work even harder to help her kid because they can tell something’s wrong, is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
When Black and brown people join gangs because of systemic racism and are shot in the spine before or during their arrest and once they’re out of jail can’t find an apartment because none of the wheelchair accessible apartments accept people with a criminal record so they have to live in a nursing home and then die because their city sent COVID patients to their nursing home when the hospitals ran out of beds and put people who had tested positive for COVID in the same rooms as them is that “just” racism or “just” ableism?
You’ll notice that some of these examples are about disabled people of color but some of them are not. That’s because ableism can still affect people who are not disabled! And sometimes racism weaponizes ableism!
Racism can and does weaponize other types of oppression to oppress racialized people who would not be targeted by those types of oppression otherwise. It still counts as that other type of oppression!
There are a lot of reasons for this, but a big one is that none of the types of oppression that exist today were created in a vacuum. In fact, many of them only exist the way they do so that they could be weaponized against groups who are not usually thought of as the intended targets of that type of oppression.
And is the narrow definition of “proper English” actually racism, ableism, classism, xenophobia, or imperialism? Is the narrow definition or femininity or womanhood actually misogyny, transphobia, racism, classism, or imperialism? Or is it maybe all of them at once?
This is why intersectionality matters so much.
To try to say that something is “just” racism or “just” ableism or “just” any other type of oppression is incompatible with intersectionality as it is described by Kimberlé Crenshaw.
OKAY OKAY are you ready for it, my unhinged theory crafting
Eight remembered Evanuris, plus Fen’Harel
Eight disciples of Andraste (let’s take out Shartan since he’s clearly the Solas of the group and put Andraste herself in)
Eight guardians of the Veil, plus Fen’Harel
You see? A new era approaches. There had to be a sacrifice; Mythal, Andraste, and one of ours
(Mythal =Andraste theory is helped by the confirmation that it was Elgar’nan who betrayed her!! Just like Andraste was betrayed by Maferath, just like Flemeth was betrayed by her husband! The All-Mother tells the same story again and again! )
And like… the sword! The crown!
(I refuse to get better images it’s funnier like this)
And like
I don’t have a screenshot but Elgar’nan’s eclipse !! When he moves the Sun the sword appears again!
(His weird almost complete circle crown fits in here somehow, I’m still cooking)
But like whyyyyy
Why is someone repeating and repeating and repeating the story
Does it give you power?? The spirit of an idea, yes? The more people believe in the story the stronger it gets?? Maybe?
And they didn’t even get to my previous theory about the blood magic ritual in this game !! We didn’t even go to Ghilan’nain’s nasty nasty slime pools!
Have you ever thought about how being a therian would affect sight? Like, for example, if someone with sight is the kind of therian that remembers things from past lifetimes, how would those two overlap? Would they be able to experience a First Touch if the therian has phantom limbs, and one of said limbs touches someone for the first time? As a therian myself, I'm rather curious!
So, in regards to touching a therian; Cricket remarks in fic that when they touch animals it is basically the same as touching a human (just with memories that have a different emphasis) and that this has made them more empathetic towards animals in general.
In regards to a therian with the Sight-
Everyone who has the Sight experiences it differently! It's usually tied to a single sense but that's not a hard rule. Cricket's Sight is triggered primarily by touch and represents itself primarily as taste, but that's just Cricket!
I think it's possible that a therian might have Sight that was more heavily linked to a sense that they relied on in their past life. For instance, if they had been canine, they might have a Sight that was scent or hearing based.
That's just my shower thoughts on it though!
My current theory and I'm not immersed in fandom so idk if its common or not. Scratch made the virtual world the circus is in to store his consciousness forever after death. He convinced Kinger and company to join him in the digital world to keep him from feeling alone/unloved which is what makes abstracting happen. Caine is broken so eventually the other people resent Scratch for dragging them into this. This makes Scratch feel unloved and so he abstracts. Kinger and Caine say Caine messed with his mind to much so I'm not sure if I'm right on that point.
Second risky point, I think Kinger was loosing some memories before Queenie abstracted. I think Kinger and Queenie were the last ones left and Kinger forgot Queenie. This made Queenie feel unloved and so she abstracted, but soon after Kinger starts to remember Queenie and reaches out to touch her. The connection/love makes Queenie start to calm down, but Caine sends her to the basement before she can fully calm down and maybe de abstract if that's possible. I'm really unsure why Kinger doesn't abstract when he is alone pre Ragatha.
