Hammersmith

I want to start a deadpool of bets on which state will try to use the Theory of Nullification on the 14'th amendment first.

Brtz, error, nothing to see here, per mod and thread owner intentions.

What us white males experience is classified as NORMAL since we've held the power for so long and so tightly. Which means as long as anyone else is not getting the same, at all times? They're the ones being discriminated against. The fact that any action against white people is seen as 'rare' really just highlights the point, especially given recent events. 1)Racially motivated isn't institutionalized racism. A black guy can say "Fuck this white guy" and do something. However when the day comes in court, the overwhelming body of evidence points towards Whitey having the advantage. Much less if the police show up for...anything...in any situation. Like I said: You can personally discriminate against white people but when push will come to shove, the law, the country, and the powers that be overwhelmingly favour white people. The harm is not coming against White people any more than it always has. 2) This is called rape and it's wrong across the board and really shouldn't be part of the discussion? Unless you want to get into the actual numbers about sexual violence in which case it's overwhelmingly against women and especially other groups like trans in terms of victims to population size. White males get hurt, yes. White males are not leading the race because they're not the overwhelming target. If you want to dig a little deeper the idea that a man can't get raped pulls from the hyper macho institutions we've built up in there. We're hurting ourselves with the definitions we've helped define. 3) I think the points raised in 1 and 2 address this as well. Hell. I'm hard pressed to think of a "Gender motivated" attack against men. It demonstrates a point of just how much power Men have. We find the idea of there being a group or any institution that would target us for violence to be...laughable. It isn't there. The fact that there's any push against there being safe spaces is an example of the "party wrecker" mentality that comes with this kind of institutionalized and culturally ingrained problem.

You can't discriminate against a social group that holds all the power. And Strait White Male holds All of it in the context of America and a lot of other places. Hell, given how imperialism works, we've got a lot more sway than we're warranted -everywhere-. You can be a dick to someone for a reason, like being a strait white male, on a one to one basis, but discrimination, as a force, isn't involved there. That's you: Being a dick. Discrimination requires an entire culture and society behind it, grinding you through the gears. That doesn't apply to the one turning the crank of the war machine, as it were. Anything that "lessens" the power of strait white males at this point isn't discrimination, it's equality. It's a leveling of the playing field. And I can see why you'd find that scary. It's a lot at stake. Almost all that's AT stake, however, is based on cultural and institutionalized oppression of everyone that ISN'T a strait white male. Look at what you're losing. You're not admitted to a chat channel? That's been happening to other groups for a long time. White Male as a "pass" to all things is based in "White Male" being top dog in the world. It isn't a carte blanche (see what I did there?) and shouldn't be by any thought or stretch. You aren't being discriminated against, you're allowing others to have what White Male has had for centuries in this country: The ability to have their own space. And there's nothing wrong with that. In the end you're literally losing nothing by not being in a LGBT chat channel. Oh no. As pointed elsewhere in this thread, that's not even real separation. It's just a place you're not. Why is that wrong? Why do you have the right to be there when it's not intended for you? It's like showing up to a pie eating contest and NOT LIKING PIE. It's a club you aren't part of. So why insist you need to be a member? That kind of thinking is pretty core to the entitlement issue that keeps causing issues for everyone else. Eventually white het cis male will show up and start imposing on the party, and shout loudly and with a lot of power if they can't get in, even if they weren't invited. Given that White Het Cis Male holds so much power, this often destroys the party. As to touch, briefly, as to why you can never know what it's like to be a group that you are inherantly not a part of? There's a thought experiment known as the Bat experiment. Imagine being a bat. You will never be a bat. You will never actually experience being a bat. The most you will ever be is a human pretending to experience a bat. Because you're you. You can't be more than you and you CAN'T be a bat because you, personally, are a human! Same applies to Strait White Guy "Understanding" what it's like to be affected by institutionalized discrimination. You can't. You can, at best, only empathize. You can only be Strait White Male pretending to have the same perspective as anyone who is not Strait White Male.

This is a good point about this not being a peak/final solution all things are fixed forever and needs to be kept in mind. Good step here, but a long way to go.

So. Uh. While Scalia is a laughable clown...Thomas is...legitimately unhinged and scary in a dark and frightening way: JUSTICE THOMAS WHO SITS ON THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

This, exactly this. I don't really understand how a LS is 'seclusion.' It's like. OK EXAMPLE: How many of you guys have a linkshell for your static? Ok, great. Do not have/talk to any other friends? Of course not! "That's different it's practical not social!" I hear. BULLSHIT! Yes, there are some statics and raid groups that are entirely business. I do not feel, however, that it is the norm. Sure there is a goal there, but it's still a social circle EXCLUDED to some (read: people not in the static, generally). That is not to say I am excluding anyone, the + I add to things involve things like allies and the like. This is not an FC, of which you can only be in one of. There's actually already an FC for that as I know, NAWTY. And while not RP, they're a pretty cool group of people (they live in the same ward as my FC's house). Linkshells do not have the 'only one' restriction. If you already have 8? Then yeah sure I guess there's a conflict there, but I have four! WHAT?! FOUR SOCIAL GROUPS HOW DARE I! I dunno, the 'you're secluding yourself' argument... I'm sorry, it just sounds dumb. Edit: cleaned up language. Post now with less swearing! odd newbie question, whats a static? I am assuming its not random background noise being picked up by your receiver static lol on topic-ish, i still don't get why people care about anyone's sexual orientation. If your not sexually attracted to someone your not going to have sex with them and they are not going to have sex with you, so why the hell is any other detail relevant? if someone gets up in your face over their orientation/religion/politics, the mistake they made was getting in your face. that is just rude and deserves retaliation, the subject matter is moot at that point. However if their not in your face about it, why would you even care what people do in their private life? sorry if i rambled been up looong time with no caffine lol The mistake is viewing someone as an "Other" based on sexual preference, regardless of intent to bone said person. Bigotry and discrimination are not all in your face violence. A lot of it is small things like "LBGT only FC and linkshells are discriminatory!" or small verbal cues that let slurs into casual conversation among gamers, or having to worry at all about being 'out' around strangers for any reason, whatsever. Cultural and sociatal discrimination is a death by a thousand cuts, when it's not death by one big act of violence. It's the sort of thing people say "but lol I didn't mean it!" and you're expected to just nod along and say "ok" with. Excusable the first time. But after the next hundred, thousand times? It wears and scrapes away are your basic humanity. It's why safe spaces and LGBT specific linkshells and FCs are important. They're a safe space run and moderated by people who understand and have experienced what someone who sits in the "normality" of heterosexual cis-gendered life will never understand completely, because it's not their life.

Scalia is a precious, precious baby. In the year of our lord 2015 a member of the high court uses hippies as an example of contemporary morales and martial intimacy.

I'm pulling this from another site, but I figgured it's point of order wasn't so much as political as it was revolutionary and a balm for a lot of people. WOOOOOOOOOO long time coming, thanks to all the ones who dug their heels in so hard and who elevated this in importance to the point where Scotus had to lean in Decision below: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf Scotus Scotus And there's some absolutely delightful old man crying tears in the dissents.

Hammer would be Scumble, from Discworld (He actually carries a severely distilled deadly kind of Applejack in a flask with him, that is pretty much this!)

Yes, people are using a lot of anachronistic terms in this thread. Historically there were no such distinctions. The world of Eorzea does not have the very formal administrative structure that modern nation-states have. The Sultansworn are royal guard/knightly order with fealty to the Ul'dahn monarch. The Immortal Flames are a standing army with a formal structure answerable to the Flame General. The Brass Blades are a mercenary order paid by Ul'dahn interests to keep the peace. That is it, really! There is no 'military', 'paramilitary', or 'law enforcement' in the contemporary sense. Yeah, this was why I kept comparing them to the Roman civic stuff, because they had a similar setup of "Royal guard" "Army" "Those mooks who keep the city from burning down when someone puts too much wine in the fountains"

The Brass Blades are an international Mercenary army as well. They're far more than just a sort of paramilitary unit. I would argue them more as a military unit that is doing policing, rather than a policing unit that has grown large. They can be seen all over Eorzea, something you don't see of the similar yellowjackets or wood wailers. Ul'dah is just one of their many clients... lolorito is making bank. Paramilitary is anything that isn't officially under a nation state's armed forces. I know the term tends to describe vigilates and millitia these days but it technically applies to anyone raising an army that isn't part and parcel and controlled directly by a nation's leadership. Unless a Syndicate member's personal military holdings can/are counted as part of Ul'Dah's overall structure (Judging by how the Blades don't operate just in Ul'Dah and work directly for other nations interest), they're technically just a very fancy (And very powerful) paramilitary unit. Which holds up what we know about them, and keeps the Vigiles comparison pretty apt. They're a professional unit, just not one that represents Ul'Dah when things go wrong (or right) in their operations.(Though, obviously, Ul'Dah can hold them accountable for the multiple instances of bribery, corruption, and lazyness that several side quests demonstrate the blades take/engage in during the course of their contracted duties TO the state.)

Actually this was a thing with the Mongols. Too long out of the saddle and steppes and they went soft. The moment someone wasn't relying on their horse and their survival skills they started to go native. It was a KNOWN problem with their forces, to the point that they'd cycle troops back home to the local hellscape that was the steppes to maintain being "Mongolian" in every terrifying stark sense of the word. It's also one of the reasons Khan didn't invade India. The climate would require tactics such as "Set up a settlement and base of operations" or "Attacking on foot" or worse yet "Working with the local populace to survive". These were things that brought a mongol down to the level of a normal human being, which meant they'd start going native, soft, and weak, at least in Mongol eyes. TLDR; Unless the Au Ra stay murdering and raiding and nomadic they're going to go native and 'softer' around the edges. It might take a few years, or even a few generations, but there's a very real risk of the 'barbarian' becoming the next merchant, or butcher, or farmer, and never returning to the old lifestyle.

Ul"dah's brass blades tend to work like the Roman Vigiles, a paramilitary force maintained by private interests. Much like the Vigiles, who were privately owned slaves who expanded into hired and privately funded police and firefighters, the Brass blades are privately operated watchmen. They look for petty thievery, and other lesser crimes like public drunkeness and brawls. Larger things like sedition, murder, and other "high" crimes are probably handled by the Immortal Flames who are "official" and as such are required to represent and protect the city for more high profile problems. Meanwhile the Brass Blades keep the rich rich, the poor where they can, and Ul'dah and it's various outposts from burning down. They're not true public servants, but they do the day to day from guard duty at outposts to pick pocket chasing in Thanalan. However, given Ul'dah's status, they often get called to handle things that are a larger and more immediate and mercurial threat to civic order. Riots, uprisings, disaster control (Like say: Fire), are also probably handled by the Brass Blades as WELL as the Immortal Flames. As for courts, There's famous prisoners in Ul'Dah, but I don't suspect petty theives and the like are actually locked up. To draw from the Romans and Greeks: Prisons were a waste of real estate and resources. Long term imprisonment cost money, and LOTS of it, and there's no private prison network in Ul'Dah like there is in the US to print money from that. (Yet). Which means most people are probably turned to hard labor, given harsh fines, or told to fight in the bloodsands for redemption when they break the law and get caught (Key word, get caught). There's evidence of courts for this, but it also means that smaller more civic disputes are handled privately until they blow up large enough to attract the Blade's attention and to drag the parties involved to a magistrate. This probably means the bad blood involved has caused some sort of larger civic unrest or disaster, in which case, everyone that's getting hauled in is probably getting hosed because the court probably wants it's pound of flesh as well now. (Discounting the fine ul'dah traditions of bribery and favours owed, which is probably in full force in the legal system)

You're underestimating how refugee populations move. They move hard, fast, and by any route available, often even if it's expensive, dangerous, and impractical. Why? Because the current options are worse, and the potential payoff, either in basic safety quality of life, is so exponentially better in theory that it's worth it. You can look to a lot of RL examples of how refugee populations move, both across the sea and across deserts and hazardous war-torn areas, in RL right now in the news. There's plenty of examples of people from desert areas and no ties to the sea jumping literally onto a ship to get the hell out of dodge right now in Europe/african relations (A lot of it is also laced with racist drivel, but that's another story). It happens. It happens A LOT, in RL and IG. Refugee migration and influx is a thematic in FFXIV. Domans, Al Migans. There's so MANY people displaced by war, disaster, and suffering, that the Xaela are just another population who've been bent over a barrel by terrible circumstance and politics and maybe even other factors. It makes sense. The details of the why you have to hash out for yourself, sure, but that's something we all have to do with every char.

I had a stalker track me down on Balmung after they recognized the Hammersmith name (I am not good at pretending to be someone else) They sent a "friend" out to probe questions out of me and, after a bit, I told them to fuck off and tell it to the stalker. Then I talked to the FC leader of the "friend" who had been used as the go-between creeper. I havn't heard from the creephat since. I'm happy about that. Sometimes the system does work Use it.

What do you mean "again" ? You never left. DUN DUN DUN In all seriousness? Nerd are a dangerous social category in a lot of ways. A lot of them never move past the "I am the victim" stage and it just gets uglier for a lot of them towards other people from there. A pass for terrible behavior. "Get out of jail free" card because they're the person who never got what they were entitled to so the world owes them and they never stop trying to take what they think is owed. (Spoilers: They're not entitled to anything, this is what makes them baddies) Those that move past that? Good nerds. Good people. Those that don't? BAD NERDS.

I'm a very old, very entrenched RPer. I've bounced through and with several communities under various stages in my life. What have I learned? A) People talk. There's no getting around this. People form their own social circles, some overlapping like a pox-blanket ven diagram of gossip. B) Assholes always use the "And I speak for a lot of other people!" line. And they're always full of shit. It's an emotional manipulation tactic to prop up purposefully hurtful and weak stance. If there was a problem, you don't hear it from just one source. Whenever you hear someone use this and refuse to name names, and have no proof, collaboration, or backup? They're full of shit. Always. They're wiggling their tiny e-peen around and saying everyone knows it's 10 feet long you're the only one who can't see it. Emperor's new clothes, except with shitty social actions. C) What you sow, you reap. Corny? Yeah. But, if you're generally a honest, no-shit taking person who is genuinely here for fun and a good time, that shows, that shines through and, in the end, it's what you take with you when you leave. If you're someone who needs to crab-bucket other people to rise up that gets remembered. Your drama-storming gets remembered. Your lies get remembered. People always, always, look for an excuse to turn on someone like that and bring them down. In short: Evil doesn't pay, it just self destructs. The question is when. D) So what do you take away with this? Don't try to stop other people from talking. They will. DO shut out people who shit talk, constantly. They're not worth investing in. They'll only vomit more shit out. You're here to have a good time. They're here to masturbate their ego at the expense of others and that's never pretty. This ties into your point 3 about witch hunts. People who chase those flags without proof are the problem. The only counter is to Not Be Them. Sounds simple. In practice it's complicated. Sometimes you really do have to Go Loud against someone. Because sometimes people are being genuinely harmful to other players. Given that this is the internet though, the drama-troll has a lot of fallbacks of "I didn't mean it" "You took that the wrong way" or, my personal favorite "You're a bully". This is where point C comes in. If you aren't a dick, if people know you aren't a dick, and people know you are, in fact, stand up, then no one will swallow that hook. Social investment is a buggery and complicated. Generally it's worth it. However my last rule is the most important E) If it stops being fun, stop doing it. We're here for fun. If you keep running into drama, if you keep running into shitty people and shitty communities? Drop them. Like a bad habit or a hot stone, drop them. It's not worth the impact on your mental health through anxiety, stress, or otherwise. This is, above all, a game. The problem people will define themselves by how they can manipulate and cause shit in it for other people. Thankfully we're adults here and can step outside that. The shitty trolls can't. It's all they have. And this is why, at least, they deserve some pity.

See, this is another example of less "Level represents RP" and more "If you don't level to the amount I expect you don't have the social capital to spend to make your concept valid my eyes" Which is a different kettle of fish I feel from "Does level represent ability IC" Edit: Actually it might be a different perspective on how level represents/warrants IC behavior instead. Hrrrrm!

So because the character is wearing weathered horas he's going to see things wrong with his body mechanics. Not just assume, nor think he sees, but literally you're going to assign wrong factors to the other characters mechanics because you know that that is a level 1 weapon and you've Inspected his level to be low? There are names for that kind of behavior in RP. They're metagaming and godmoding. The journey can be roleplayed without game mechanics. Yes. If you're a level 1 Pugilist, in my eyes, your character is a level 1 Pugilist. To me, metagaming and godmoding is claiming your character has abilities it clearly doesn't have. If you can't be bothered to level up a job to at least a level where you can pull off a look that fits the job beyond "freshly made character", then I don't see why my character should recognize the skills yours claims to have. If you're going to RP a character and not level them, why even subscribe to the game? You'd probably be a lot better suited doing forum RP. Gaia Online is over there, bro. Question: Does this apply to old, experianced RPers, who play slowly and only have the evenings to invest in? Do they have to go through the 40-50 hour story quest without being able to play their concept? Does everyone have to start as a fresh faced recruit because the game starts everyone at level 1? Where is the flex allowed there? A lot of good RPers also have lives outside the game and, as we all know, the content pit of FF14 is pretty deep. And since we're talking about Gaia Online: Thank You, The Management

Now...here's a funny thing. I don't think this is because you think level has bearing on RP. I think it's because you use level to judge the kind of social capital someone might be deserving. No one wants Nublet McEdgelord to waltz into a gathering and take a giant combat shit on it with a freshly rolled level 1 Char in vanity armor who can suplex Titan Train and is also the last Black Mage of a Royal Allagan Bloodline. So are you against that because you think that levels actually matter, or because you think that at least having a level 50 char means they're invested in the server and RP enough to merit paying serious attention to?

Here's another thing: Getting tied up in identities that are rooted in game mechanics. Yes, the guilds have root in lore. The mystic ones more than the martial, to some degree, since only really the Gladiator's guild which feeds the bloodsands in Uldah has any kind of serious sway/ But really none of this requires you to assume that because someone has an axe they define themselves as a Marauder (Hammer is not a maurader, but carries a large axe because it's a practical tool for a giant person in an anime world. Can't cut a gate down with a sword, as he says.) Hammer's a siege smith and retired soldier, with a side serving of extreme malevolence. No marauder involved in the char, at all. He can, and does, brawl, but if you tossed a sword, a spear, or anything else into his lap, he'd probably try to kill you with it. He's just old and has handled most weapons enough that he can try to murder you with it better than any greenhorn would. Hell, he's gone to the grindstone with a The Stick/lead filled shillelagh for most of his time there. That doesn't even exist in game. Hammer's defined by what he actions he takes, what foul worded game he talks, and whatever motherfucker is unlucky enough to start getting hit by whatever motherfucker he has in hand after those two fail. Not by a class name or guild.

At some point you're going to have to address the suplex question. It's a legit question, with this being Final Fantasy. It's not the first time this question has been posed. The only answer is:

I don't tie my char's accomplishments or abilities to in game mechanics. Hammer's a siege smith and a gearhead, but most of his real "power" sits in his ability to grease the wheels of a war machine and get large-scale logistical work churning out weapons and war supplies on a large, ugly, mass blacksmithing scale. There's no in game equivalent class for that. Blacksmithing exists, but it's not going to stock a platoon's armor racks anywhere in game. It means he knows a bit about black powder, but doesn't mean we now have trebuchets or cannons in game outside of the Ishgarde instances. Conversely I'm working on culinarian with Hammer, and he is NOT A GOOD COOK (Unless it's meat). He enjoys singing and song but I'm never going to call him a bard and will probably never level the class. Having (some) of the points of a class does not require you to have that class leveled. In short a char's life experience isn't defined by game mechanics. Really you can claim anything and bam, it is. The trick is, as it always is in RP, knowing what not to claim and embracing the flaws/shortcomings/lack of knowledge in your char and making THAT fun as well.