Alison
@portamali.bsky.social
she/her
Into board games, books, and programming. Fan of, but unknowledgeable about, birds, space (⚳gang), and game design. Wife of a wonderful but blessedly offline wife.
Into board games, books, and programming. Fan of, but unknowledgeable about, birds, space (⚳gang), and game design. Wife of a wonderful but blessedly offline wife.
Goes in the big pile of things like that. The number of topics I trust internet strangers to argue about is much much smaller than the number that are worth discussing in general.
December 12, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Goes in the big pile of things like that. The number of topics I trust internet strangers to argue about is much much smaller than the number that are worth discussing in general.
Breq is trans. She changed her pronouns from ship/it to sir/she. 😁
Only half-joking there. The Radchaai attitude towards Ship -> Fleet Admiral Mianaai is probably much closer to our culture's one towards gender transition then anything actually involving gender would be for them.
Only half-joking there. The Radchaai attitude towards Ship -> Fleet Admiral Mianaai is probably much closer to our culture's one towards gender transition then anything actually involving gender would be for them.
December 12, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Breq is trans. She changed her pronouns from ship/it to sir/she. 😁
Only half-joking there. The Radchaai attitude towards Ship -> Fleet Admiral Mianaai is probably much closer to our culture's one towards gender transition then anything actually involving gender would be for them.
Only half-joking there. The Radchaai attitude towards Ship -> Fleet Admiral Mianaai is probably much closer to our culture's one towards gender transition then anything actually involving gender would be for them.
Yeah, yeah, I think that works! And that makes Zeiat's "Dlique could have been lying about being Dlique. Dlique is sneaky like that." make perfect sense. She's saying Dlique's body might have originally been Zeiat, but the Dlique part of their identity would totally lie about that for fun anyhow.
December 12, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Yeah, yeah, I think that works! And that makes Zeiat's "Dlique could have been lying about being Dlique. Dlique is sneaky like that." make perfect sense. She's saying Dlique's body might have originally been Zeiat, but the Dlique part of their identity would totally lie about that for fun anyhow.
So, like, not everyone on Gethen is trans, but someone who intentionally always kemmers as male would be. That puts Reet in a bit of a "if everyone's trans, no one is" situation. IDK, it's not a well-formed idea and I haven't looked closely at what it would imply.
December 12, 2025 at 12:38 AM
So, like, not everyone on Gethen is trans, but someone who intentionally always kemmers as male would be. That puts Reet in a bit of a "if everyone's trans, no one is" situation. IDK, it's not a well-formed idea and I haven't looked closely at what it would imply.
True. I've sort of got a take that in fictional societies with radically different conceptions of gender, a character is trans only if they specifically go against the default expectations for what they're supposed to be based on some signifier or another.
December 12, 2025 at 12:38 AM
True. I've sort of got a take that in fictional societies with radically different conceptions of gender, a character is trans only if they specifically go against the default expectations for what they're supposed to be based on some signifier or another.
Dual names can be a human-facing thing while single ones are internal, and the Translators who manage to be most polished are at the central treaty center and the others are the ones sent on random errands in Radchaai space.
December 12, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Dual names can be a human-facing thing while single ones are internal, and the Translators who manage to be most polished are at the central treaty center and the others are the ones sent on random errands in Radchaai space.
Two things that seemed a little off to me is that I think we're supposed to read Dlique and Zeiat as a Match, but TS said that adults adopt a single name, and Dlique and Zeiat were quite a bit more ditzy than any Translators we see here. But not hard to find plausible in-universe reasons for both.
December 12, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Two things that seemed a little off to me is that I think we're supposed to read Dlique and Zeiat as a Match, but TS said that adults adopt a single name, and Dlique and Zeiat were quite a bit more ditzy than any Translators we see here. But not hard to find plausible in-universe reasons for both.
Yeah, no question she would reference it. I just didn't know if I was reading too much into "Cheesy in-universe TV show with 'of' and 'Moon[s]' in the title" as something that couldn't be a coincidence.
December 11, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Yeah, no question she would reference it. I just didn't know if I was reading too much into "Cheesy in-universe TV show with 'of' and 'Moon[s]' in the title" as something that couldn't be a coincidence.
Also curious if Pirate Exiles of the Death Moons is a reference to The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, considering how much Murderbot shares with Ancillary Justice.
I'll probably have some more thoughts when I'm done, but I'm definitely loving it.
I'll probably have some more thoughts when I'm done, but I'm definitely loving it.
December 11, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Also curious if Pirate Exiles of the Death Moons is a reference to The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, considering how much Murderbot shares with Ancillary Justice.
I'll probably have some more thoughts when I'm done, but I'm definitely loving it.
I'll probably have some more thoughts when I'm done, but I'm definitely loving it.
Glad I googled about reading order first, because I actually started it before Ancillary Mercy, but if I hadn't done that and stopped, I'd have been a bit miffed about how seeing elements of Mercy's ending here first.
December 11, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Glad I googled about reading order first, because I actually started it before Ancillary Mercy, but if I hadn't done that and stopped, I'd have been a bit miffed about how seeing elements of Mercy's ending here first.
Qven doing a good job of confirming my theory that the best trans analogue characters should just be actually trans as well as whatever analogy thing they have going on, because it generally fits in fine. But I guess Reet contradicts that, because he's great too.
December 11, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Qven doing a good job of confirming my theory that the best trans analogue characters should just be actually trans as well as whatever analogy thing they have going on, because it generally fits in fine. But I guess Reet contradicts that, because he's great too.
Nearing the end now, and it's really cool, as i expected. 😜 The nature of the Translators is both mostly consistent with their depiction in Ancillary, and pretty different from how i would have expected the gaps to be filled in.
December 11, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Nearing the end now, and it's really cool, as i expected. 😜 The nature of the Translators is both mostly consistent with their depiction in Ancillary, and pretty different from how i would have expected the gaps to be filled in.
I'm been moving steadily towards cynical old lady over the years, but I think I've still seen enough communities pull themselves together after messy periods that I'm going to wait to call it till I see a hole in the dam rather than only unpatched cracks.
December 11, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I'm been moving steadily towards cynical old lady over the years, but I think I've still seen enough communities pull themselves together after messy periods that I'm going to wait to call it till I see a hole in the dam rather than only unpatched cracks.
Guessing I might have contributed to the reason for the first post, but for the record, I agree with everything you've said here, with the exception that I'm a bit more hopeful that they'll manage to hit the right balance.
December 11, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Guessing I might have contributed to the reason for the first post, but for the record, I agree with everything you've said here, with the exception that I'm a bit more hopeful that they'll manage to hit the right balance.
How'd you like The Raven Tower? I've heard some people say it's not as good as Ancillary, but it felt extremely similar other than the scifi/fantasy swap to me.
December 11, 2025 at 7:50 PM
How'd you like The Raven Tower? I've heard some people say it's not as good as Ancillary, but it felt extremely similar other than the scifi/fantasy swap to me.
OK, I think that's all I want to say on this. Back to Stardew Valley screenshots and my thoughts on Translation State in future posts (Saying that to commit myself to playing Stardew and reading rather than digging more into discourse)
December 11, 2025 at 5:16 PM
OK, I think that's all I want to say on this. Back to Stardew Valley screenshots and my thoughts on Translation State in future posts (Saying that to commit myself to playing Stardew and reading rather than digging more into discourse)
Invites are going out. The time where they have to make unambiguous moderation decisions rather than fuzzy statements is already here. Tensions aren't going to be any lower when there are actual account suspensions and moderation actions on the line rather than hypothetical ones.
December 11, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Invites are going out. The time where they have to make unambiguous moderation decisions rather than fuzzy statements is already here. Tensions aren't going to be any lower when there are actual account suspensions and moderation actions on the line rather than hypothetical ones.
Cryptography is an unfortunate and innocent victim of the other cryptos. 😞
December 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Cryptography is an unfortunate and innocent victim of the other cryptos. 😞
When one of key benefits of Northsky is going to be more trans-positive moderation, knowing how moderators will act is a key criterion for potential users. With no moderation history to point to, and a partially anonymous board, a relatively generic pro-trans TOS alone doesn't really give that.
December 11, 2025 at 3:25 AM
When one of key benefits of Northsky is going to be more trans-positive moderation, knowing how moderators will act is a key criterion for potential users. With no moderation history to point to, and a partially anonymous board, a relatively generic pro-trans TOS alone doesn't really give that.