Hey Everyone I Know I Haven’t Said It In Awhile But Don’t Worry Pompous Pep Is Still Really Fucking

i bring more memes

Hey!! What would Jazz look like as a ghost in your style?

I haven't thought about it yet but I drew a Jazz Phantom.

My contribution to this topic for the moment

same coin different side

changing fate

I think Veyadi should be allowed to kill Ruhi I think it'd make him feel better and also would make me feel better

??????

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

I just finished TAU and I loved it! The fact that the empire has AI that isn't corrupted is super interesting and makes me wonder what makes them special. I know you probably can't say much about it, so I can't wait to hopefully learn more about them in the next book.

Maybe something you can talk about: while it seems common for salvagers to travel from city to city, what about the average non-salvager? In addition, is there much immigration between the Harbor and the Empire? Is there a formal system of citizenship within the cities/nations?

OH HEY GLAD TO HAVE INDULGED YOU and i can answer a number of these questions! the absence of corruption in the empire is something i will indeed hold my tongue about though :P

travel between city-states is extremely uncommon, and is generally only done by professionals or folks experiencing some manner of duress. alternatively, a number of downworld caravans still exist and travel through the wilds between city-states as a matter of course.

there is little in the way of immigration between harbor states and the empire, though it certainly happens now and again -- there are even post-harbor aigatan communities within the empire! immigration away from the empire is most uncommon, as the empire is in many ways the most civilized place on the downworld, in terms of technological sophistication and access to resources. or at least, that's how it's been for the past few generations. things are getting a bit, uh...unreliable.

citizenship as a system used to vary more when more AIs were actively in charge of their city-states. now folks more commonly have either harbor or imperial citizenship, with a large number of people having neither, officially speaking.

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!