u/TheMastersSkywalker

This may be a question better suited to polysci or anthropology but the way the division of the Ottoman Empire post WWI is framed in many books and documentaries is confusing to me.

The majority of what ive seen has the split between France and England treated the same way as what was done to colonial Africa. A more powerful and "advanced" European empire forcing these smaller tribes and nations together where there had been no central organization before.

But the Ottoman Empire wasn't sub sahara Africa. The Ottoman Empire and it's holdings, had been fighting, trading, teaching and living with the rest of Europe since the Greco-Persian wars. Not to mention before the Ottoman empire, the land was ruled by the Byzantines, literal Romans. The Ottoman Empire was a peer power, weakened and in declined but still considered a European power. And had a robust burecratic system and divided former nations into their own smaller provinces, or simi self governing areas

So why is it framed as being more in common with Africa being split up instead of the Austrian empire? And is it being framed this way a modern take? Or is it something that was perpetuated even soon after, the ottoman empire fell?

WE all know the Chunni Half-Demon trope, heck most of us probably grew up with it in our anime. And Human + some supernatural/mythical species shows up in a lot of books. But is more than half good for you or does your hero need to be mainly human.

For me I'll be honest in that they need to be Human. OR in the case of human looking aliens they need to be raised as humans (cough superman cough). I'm just instantly more invested in a MHumanxFElf romance than I am with the gender swapped. Same for most other combinations. Id rather have the male lead be human dating elves than read about some male elf dating human and elven women.

So does it matter to you? Would you be fine with a full Orc character as the MC or a monster race. Of course I know at times that can be tricky like in Rosario Vampire where the MC starts out as human and ends up as a Vampire at the end. But he at least started as human. Or Innocent Devil's Harem where as far as the MC knows at first he's human with weird powers then hes half human half incubus then now half incubus and half something else.

I remember fighting the giant bat boss in Fallen Order and being shocked when it flew Cal high up into the air and we had that battle while falling but even after that I didn't expect something like this in the second game. Visually it was great though I didn't enjoy the fight that much. Nightsister magic really seems as OP as Starkiller. Or maybe Merrin is just special.

Though nothing beats the final fight with Dagan Gera. Im still unsure how much of his fight was an illusion vs us actually fighting upside down on a ceiling while he makes a arm out of the force.

Cradle is not going to be a work I can binge read. The writing is great, the character is good, the world building is intriguing but I just can't stand how big of an asshole everyone is. I mean I've seen Sith who are more altruistic than the people in this story. Even his own family are ready to screw him over for just a drop more power. I may come back and read it every once in a while but its a bit to grey/bleak for me

I've read stories with cultivation as part of the power set but not very many where it was a full on Xania/Wuxia setting. And those that I did read were very different in tone. "Tales of Demons and Gods", "Beware of Chicken", "Mana Immortal" are the ones I remember but I know BoC is very much the antithesis of the setting while the other two are more harem based.

So harem or no harem are their any good cultivation stories that are more in line tonally with those?

Cradle is not going to be a work I can binge read. The writing is great, the character is good, the world building is intriguing but I just can't stand how big of an asshole everyone is. I mean I've seen Sith who are more altruistic than the people in this story. Even his own family are ready to screw him over for just a drop more power. I may come back and read it every once in a while but its a bit to grey/bleak for me

I've read stories with cultivation as part of the power set but not very many where it was a full on Xania/Wuxia setting. And those that I did read were very different in tone. "Tales of Demons and Gods", "Beware of Chicken", "Mana Immortal" are the ones I remember but I know BoC is very much the antithesis of the setting while the other two are more harem based.

So harem or no harem are their any good cultivation stories that are more in line tonally with those?

I was thinking about Dragon Age this morning as one does and remembered something that made me sad in Veilguard. One of the earlier conversations you have with Scout Harding is her talking about being lonely and not feeling like she was friends with the Inquisitor or part of their group.

When I was playing Inquisition Harding was very much a friend amd part of the group.

She was the first person we talked to going to a new zone. We always talked with her when we were at Skyhold. If I could I would have swapped Sarah out for her in a heartbeat.

So its sad to know Scout Harding didn't feel the same