Visit the Kinema

Watch some videos...

Aristasians referred to videos as "kinnies," being short for "kinema." This was pronounced with the k sound rather than a c sound like in "cinema." As you'll see, they produced a variety of material over the years, ranging from creepy tabloid news interviews in the 1990s to illustrated spiritual sermons in the late 2000s. I wanted to collect these here as best I can, given that they can be hard to find on YouTube.

The playlist (which you can visit directly on YouTube here) will hopefully be updated when and if I find more material archived. It is, sadly, thus far in no particular order, though I hope to apply some sort of organization to it in the future to make it easier to navigate. Another thing - back in the day, YouTube didn't allow large uploads, so some of these are split into several parts.

This playlist is, quite essentially, a trip backwards in time. It starts with the most recent of those videos I’ve collected, and moves chronologically in reverse.

While none of these videos (being on YouTube and all) contain anything pornographic or gory outright, “A Weekend at Miss Martindale’s” includes scenes of physical punishment, mostly carried out by the titular character, Martindale herself.

There are other, related videos featuring her that aren’t included here because they barely mention Aristasia (only caning). If you want to see those, the YouTube search function works, I guess. I’m squicked a bit by it, sorry.

The playlist as it currently stands as of July 20th, 2024:

1. A video with audio imagining Queen Myrine of the Amazons, part of the Aristasian legendarium, so to speak, addressing her troops prior to battle, set with still images.
2. A video rescued (by me) from the crevices of the web featuring scenes of Aristasians spending time together at the Aristasian Embassy in Virtualia (Second Life).
3. Video showing (an early incarnation of) the Aristasian Embassy in Second Life, meant to test the audio and filming features of the program itself. Shows a blonde maiden with angel wings.
4. Two winged blondes dance in an Aristasian part of Second Life, wearing gorgeous virtual clothing and hairstyles. Dancing with other people by using dance pose balls with music and such, was always such fun in Second Life.
5. A music video created by the Aristasians, using a song from an anime called Maria-sama ga Miteru. The song is called “Maria-sama no kokoro,” and it is, of course, a hymn to the Catholic Mary, but is here syncretized with Aristasian Déanism.
6. An illustrated sermon on the general underpinnings of the Déanic faith, produced by Aristasia as a group and posted by them originally. This is part one.
7. Part two of the same.
8. Part three of that.
9. A Channel 4 documentary from 1996 focusing of “Marianne Martindale, disciplinarian” who lives within Aristasia, and invites several girls to spend the weekend with her. Rather nothing but contrived spanking scenes.
10. Part two of that.
11. Part three of that.
12. Some sort of talk show host named Toyah Wilcox interviewed Miss Martindale when she was acting as the public face of Aristasian. A lot of attempts to justify the physical punishment as nurturing and “providing comfort” or whatever.
13. To promote their brief enterprise of producing vintage reproduction stockings, Miss Martindale did this television appearance or interview. New Lady nylon stockings was designed to support and promote Aristasia, of course.
14. A short clip of Miss Martindale and some other Aristasians promoting New Lady nylon stockings by burning a pair of tights (hose to us Americans) in Piccadilly square, in a sort of twist on the idea of a bra-burning.
15. The Late Late Show, in 1988, did a short feature on the “Victorian Romantics of Burtonport,” who inhabited County Donegal, Ireland and lived as if they were in the Victorian era, allegedly. This is an Aristasian precursor group known as the Silver Sisterhood.
16. A video by RoseTintedSpectrum giving a retrospective summary of St. Bride's and their work as game developers, a topic I haven't really touched on yet. The video itself takes a rather dramatic, clickbait-y tone, so make of that what you will. I don't know much about text games.
17. In September of 1982, the Silver Sisterhood moved to Burtonport. This short video discusses their all-female commune there roughly a year later. In this video, like the earlier one, the broadcaster takes their word for a lot of things he probably should’ve checked into.
18. The Silver Sisterhood in their own words, mostly. Here also referred to as Rhennes, the name of an earlier precursor group. From November of 1982, scarcely two months after they arrived in Burtonport.
19. The fruits of the computing at St. Bride's included this infamous, ahem, X-rated title known as Jack the Ripper. This silent longplay covers the entire game, apparently. I haven't made it all the way through, but it's quite rooted in proto-Aristasian ideas from what I've seen. Weird.
20. Another title by the Silver Sisterhood was, of course The Secret of St. Bride's the story of a hapless visitor to their (IMHO largely fictitious/theoretical) holiday school who finds herself time traveling on a magical adventure.
21. Silverwolf is perhaps the game produced by the Silver Sisterhood at St. Bride's that most entwines with their extant lore, both about the matriarchal pseudohistory and the faith of Filianism/Déanism. It's apparently very difficult to finish without the booklet or knowledge of the story, which is reminiscent of the story of Sai Rayanna in Aristasian lore.

aristasia?

Though it no longer exists, Aristasia was a group of women who abandoned men and the modern world. Instead, they made their own country, just for ladies, with an elaborate belief system and mythology.

Fond of a unique form of roleplaying they called “life theatre," Aristasians were active online and in the UK for some three decades, with murky, secretive origins.

Oh, and early on? They also practiced in-character physical punishment, which they claimed was for correction rather than sadomasochistic purposes.

The group dissolved in the mid-2010s. Was it a roleplaying game, a unique fandom, a goddess-based religion, a lesbian separatist commune, or a sketchy right-wing cult?

why reminisce?

This unofficial guide aims to shed light on Aristasia by compiling archived materials, accounts, and context. I was part of the Second Life Aristasian community. I guess I was considered an outer-circle member.

Aristasia no longer aligns with my values, but I still miss the people involved. While I’m not endorsing Aristasia in any of its incarnations, it had a lasting impact, both positive and negative, on lots of people.

Even after its dissolution, traces persist, both online and offline. It introduced Filianism to the broader spiritual community and held other meaningful aspects worth further exploration.

Welcome

Welcome to the Aristasian Reminiscence! Since you've found this peculiar website, please consider signing the guestbook. You can also contact me if you've questions. To visit, and (one might hope?) follow this site on Neocities, click here.

While not featuring any overt nudity, nor pornography, this site is not appropriate for minors. It discusses sensitive subjects (such as sadomasochism, physical abuse, and even fascism) and presents links to archived material without content warnings. Proceed at your own risk.

As is traditional on neocities itself and the small web, I am providing the buttons above if one would like to link to this site. Please download them yourself. Do not hotlink, and do not link to this site from sites primarily featuring content for minors.

Keep in Mind

Regardless of what any past Aristasians or adjacent would've thought, this site and its webmistress will always be LGBTQ-friendly (obviously), and decidedly unwelcoming to TERFs, racists and other bigots (including misandrists). Lets all try to be better.

Aristasia's history as a queer women's movement is important to remember when trying to understand it, and that was how I originally found links to it.

Nevertheless, earlier Aristasian groups have been criticized for associations with right wing politics. Almost all of these criticisms are justified, and we will explore them. Read the Storm Clouds section for more on that.

I also want to say that the Aristasians I knew online (only) (circa 2000-2010) were, for the most part kind and genuine people. This situation is strange and complicated, and I admit I don't fully grasp how this all transpired.