Buppy

fresh midnight Question for you:

are there any TAU worldbuilding elements or character facts or whatnot that you wanted to include in the book, but ended up cutting? or alternatively, have any specific story elements you have a burning desire to talk about?

Hm! Some thoughts on queer stuff! Which is ambiently in the text but not so much defined.

I was interested in writing a world with multiple competing theories of queerness, none of which are "perfect" -- in the sense that none of these societies have managed genuine queer liberation (i.e., everyone has the freedom to be who and love however they want). They're not necessarily awful, though some definitely are, but none of it's ideal.

The dominant queer culture originates in the Immaculate Empire and gives us "hermit" and "widow" -- pretty binary terms for a specific variety of desire, often linked with a kind of gender performance. There is no similar term for bi/pansexuality, at least not in the common parlance, so if you're, say, a cis bisexual woman, you'd still be described as a widow, were you engaging in widow-like conduct. The understanding and room for transness is highly dependent on where you are; some states have done that particular brand of evil thing where they see providing trans care as a way to enforce state power, because it's a way to police the binary and deviations from it.

Outside the empire, we get the legacy of downworld "third gender" -- which is actually a catch-all term for queerness. It also...doesn't have any further distinctions. They lump the entirety together in this one category -- which is itself somewhat binarist, as it distinguishes "cishet" from "not that," even though it's on a different axis. So if it's particularly important to you to be perceived in a more specific way, welp! Good luck!! This might actually be pretty chill in a world where authoritarian powers weren't keen on destroying your existence. Unfortunately!

I also have thoughts abt the ways different character relate to these systems of identity and meaning; like Sunai is pretty comfortable swimming between them and has a more fluid sense of self, while Veyadi cleaves more to "hermit" as a term, even though he has a somewhat complicated relationship with it. Jin has latched onto "third gender" even though they're not as bound up in downworld culture as say, Oyu, who is from a downworld caravan, third gender, and presents in a distinctly hermit-like way. And Imaru is the ur-lesbian! Widow supreme! Next question!

@schnuffel-danny hehehe

regarding this post: from schnuffle

I started drawing the Ever After High girls in random historical fashion eras… why? I have no idea

Raven Queen in 1890s, Apple White in Italian Renaissance.

Briar Beauty in 1920s, Madeline Hatter in 1880s

No particularly reason for the eras, just the vibe I get from the characters and their designs!

"I'm here. I am alive, and I am with you, and I will continue to be- until you are dead, and I go too."

Great Gatsby natsby yaoi 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈???!!!!

Pov: You grew up with the swag

Sketch is done ✨

Perhaps you will appreciate this: I dreamed about reading the sequel to TAU and in it they encountered the grave of someone who had been in a romantic relationship with an AI god. The AI god was unnamed; the person was only known as the Spinmaster. I will not ask you to confirm/deny the trend of naming oneself after a laundry machine in order to court a giant robot.

oh my god i'm THRILLED

i will neither confirm nor deny the details but i WILL say book 2 is replete with fun new characters (and their fun new identity problems) who have fun new relationships with AIs (as well as fun new AI/AI relationships -- it's extremely yuri up in here rn, which i mean in the star-on-star-to-black-hole sense of the word)

I got sick, my brain is boiled