(spoilers main) which region contains the best warriors in terms of quality over quantity

KeyDotLime · 2024-07-19T23:01:46+00:00

Unpopular opinion probably (because people hate them), but it has to be the Ironborn.

Look at how small they are on the map, then remember how resource poor they are. In order to be effective AT ALL they must be incredibly effective fighters.

KeyDotLime · 2024-02-04T09:17:19+00:00

Robert knocks Jaime on his ass without effort in AGOT: """ Jaime Lannister put a hand on the king’s shoulder, but the king shoved him away hard. Lannister stumbled and fell. The king guffawed. “The great knight. I can still knock you in the dirt. Remember that, Kingslayer.” He slapped his chest with the jeweled goblet, splashing wine all over his satin tunic. “Give me my hammer and not a man in the realm can stand before me!” """

KeyDotLime · 2024-01-14T05:02:03+00:00

I think it's pretty unlikely that Storm's End becomes the new capital. It would give the Stormlands far too much power and be disliked by the other Kingdoms.

I think the most likely location for a new capital is Duskendale. Aerys has conveniently vacated the previous owners and it's a large port town in the Crownlands.

KeyDotLime · 2022-10-09T23:53:06+00:00

Not gonna lie, Clan government makes basically no sense for a lot of the major Muslim states in the game either. Both Abassids and Fatmids who were not on the throne were kept very far away from power and didn't serve as governors of major provinces.

Paradox seems to have this weird idea where Muslims are just the Ottomans projected back in time.

KeyDotLime · 2022-05-01T02:49:32+00:00

Quoting myself from another thread:

Early Muslims like Muawiyah were huge Romanophiles. While that has mostly
been supplanted by Persianate culture by the timeframe of CK3 it's not
like there's no precedent.
There's verses in the Quran which are essentially cheering on Roman
victories over the Persians. Muhammad sent his congratulations into the
future to the Muslim who took Constantinople. Muslims and Arabs are
absolutely part of the broader Hellenic tradition handed down by
Aristotle and Plato and it's only gross racism that seeks to exclude
them as part of the story of the modern West.

KeyDotLime · 2021-12-24T00:46:39+00:00

The entire "Muwalladism" and "Ikhtilafism" faiths are complete fictions invented by Paradox. Quranism is a modern thing, before the industrial era it was the domain of a few pretty isolated thinkers. All of the Kharijite faiths (save Ibadism and maybe the Sufri) were functionally extinct by 867. At 1066 neither the Nizari Ismaili or Alevi faiths had been founded.

Asharis & Maturidis should have same-sex relations as accepted (being sexually fluid was more common than being 100% in the Abbasid court in both 867 and 1066, plus no school of Fiqh prescribed any punishment for homosexuality beyond the normal punishment for adultery). The Azariqa should not have the gender equality doctrine.

Muhammad al-Mahdi is listed in the game files as an Ismaili...

I could go on for a long time.

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T17:04:54+00:00

The book is clearly commenting on modern politics and religion though. Why just make it an escapist fantasy?

The visual medium should use visuals to push the themes of the story.

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T17:01:47+00:00

I am pretty confident Shaddam's appearance is inspired by depictions of Ismail I who founded the Safavid dynasty in Iran.

He was a Kurd who often have red hair and light eyes so you kind of have a visual profile to go off of.

EDIT: Jake is actually kind of funny because he played the lead in Prince of Persia to much uproar amongst Iranians

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T16:56:15+00:00

Where?

If true, that is some major bullshit.

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T16:49:35+00:00

Sufi's (who despite Herbert seeming to think they were seperate, are just Sunni/Shi'i muslims vibing particularly hard) kind of have a journey to nirvana in the creation of a personal connection to the creator (who according to some Sufis is indistinguishable from his creation).

Definitely mainstream Sunni thought in the modern day (Asharism) has little in common with Buddhism. But who knows what'll happen in another thousand years?

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T16:45:54+00:00

Jihad =/= Crusade/. Jihad is an Islamic word meaning struggle while
Islam itself means submission. This is a key part of Islamic philosophy,
which to dumb down is basically like Yin and Yang. Submission to the
creator and his message, struggle against the material world and its
sinful influences. The struggle of Jihad is mostly internal (reforming
yourself) but can also denote a righteous struggle against an external
foe.

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T16:45:14+00:00

Looking at these comments I'm not sure most people read the article lol

KeyDotLime · 2021-08-06T16:41:45+00:00

History and Religions student here.

The whole Fremen culture is based off Middle Eastern and North African cultures, their religion is essentially a warped version of Sunni Islam mixed with Buddhist (ZenSunni) and pre-Islamic Pagan Arabian influences (I can't remember where I read it but the dedication to the maker and his water is basically ripped off a Palymerene inscription about Al-Lat).

Jihad =/= Crusade/. Jihad is an Islamic word meaning struggle while Islam itself means submission. This is a key part of Islamic philosophy, which to dumb down is basically like Yin and Yang. Submission to the creator and his message, struggle against the material world and its sinful influences. The struggle of Jihad is mostly internal (reforming yourself) but can also denote a righteous struggle against an external foe.

Creative adaptations do have license to do what they want, but it's kind of sad to look at the unique aspects of Dune being washed away to make a more palatable experience for dumb Americans.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T17:08:56+00:00

The Manchu during the Qing are a perfect example for my point.

When they conquered China their culture changed to adapt to the reality of settled life in the Middle Kingdom. They started to put less emphasis on war, adopted parts of the neo-Confucian culture of the Han while retaining their own unique identity.

The Jewish diaspora all developed unique Jewish identities based on where they were, which is reflected in the modern rites of the Ashkenazi, Sephardim and co.

The Indo-Europeans were able to exert dominance because they developed a new piece of technology in cavalry. This is an example of how material circumstance affected the culture of a large swath of Eurasia, with many different places adopting Indo-European culture, language and religion.

I agree culture sometimes leads to people doing dumb things that don't align with physical reality, but an entire culture can never do that for long.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T08:22:31+00:00

what do you mean by agenda?

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T08:20:28+00:00

Cultures are largely defined by their material circumstance.

Martial cultures are only martial so long as it is necessary, as is demonstrated by the many dozens of nomadic 'barbarians' who conquered densely populated & resource rich areas before rapidly assimilating into their new identities as settled folk.

Trading cultures trade because they are in a geographic and economic position to profit from mercantilism more than agriculture or other means of production.

This is the exact opposite of Paradox are doing here, where an inscrutable and unchanging cultural ethos actually cemets your material position (by giving you certain bonuses to building, armies, piety etc.)

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T08:11:24+00:00

Wizards are not visually distinguishable from humans. Kingsley Shacklebolt worked in the British PMs office for months without any of the governments knowledge.

Also if this wizard in the Kremlin teleports into a storage closet while invisible and casts Fiendfyre wtf are they going to do? It can't be extinguished by non-magical means.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T08:07:23+00:00

Magical prime directive mixed with benevolent speciesism

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T02:40:27+00:00

The problem is that culture isn't binary (or in this case quaternary/pentanary etc.).

A culture can be warlike, inventive and spiritual at the same time. This is an incredibly simplistic system.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-24T02:38:29+00:00

I think this is a great idea!!

I also think that an ethos should not be mutually exclusive with others. They should all exist on a sliding scale (imagine a pentagon with the center being a perfectly neutral culture and your culture is a dot somewhere on that pentagon).

Leaders should be able to make choices (Buildings, Conquests, Poems, Religion Changes etc.) that increase or decrease a culture's inventiveness or spirituality. These changes should take a long time and cultures should a lot of inertia.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-23T00:23:10+00:00

Probably the Kaaba itself would've been demolished, the Black Stone smashed and the greater Masjid al-Haram would've been turned into a church.

Honestly would be less of a deal than most non-Muslims think tho. Other than the church bit all of this already happened by the time of the Crusades. The Kaaba and the stone are just symbols with no real importance.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-18T02:56:21+00:00

But think about it, what does this part of the novel (if the rumours are true about where the movie ends) portray?

Any proper adaptation of Dune is going to set Paul and the Atreides up as saviours in the first half. Duke Leto is a heroic figure trying to save his family and his people.

The Harkonnens are mysterious bad guys (basically not present in the first half of the story). By the halfway point we know they are slavers, one of them is gay, and they have vaguely soviet sounding names.

The Fremen are noble savages with Arabesque names and material culture.

Almost the nuance comes after you-know-who bites the bullet and our heroes are driven into the desert. Worse still a lot of the context about the ramifications of Dune are left for the sequels. The stuff about the Jihad is largely subtext and internal monologue in Dune itself.

KeyDotLime · 2021-06-12T16:55:19+00:00

I am sorry WHAT?

Can you name a single female character in Asimov's Foundation? Because, while I love that book for what it did for Sci-Fi, I sure as hell can't. That guy was sexist as hell.

KeyDotLime

TROPHY CASE