Cultiples #3: Panopticon and the Gallifreyan Tradition Society

(AKA Cassandra Oakdown, Tilanay Vondrasal, Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, System of Rassilon, Apprehensive Acolyte, Etc.)

Introduction

Panopticon is a system who have gone by many, many
names; a comprehensive (but far from complete) list of their
handles is attached at the end of this book. They're mostly active
on tumblr and Discord, preferring fandom spaces for Dr. Who,
Homestuck, Fireﬂy, Heroes, Mass Eﬀect, Homestuck, and Elder
Scrolls Online, among others. From these communities, they
build role-play and pop culture pagan groups; RP is often the
gateway to more intense activities, be they explicitly religious or
wallpapered over as fandom or cultural reconstruction.

Panopticon portrays themselves as queer neurodiversity
activists who fght against cult abuse and undue inﬂuence, but
have admitted to running at least one "almost cult" themselves--
the Gallifreyan Tradition Society (2017, September 11). Ostensibly
a Dr. Who "cultural reconstruction group," GT mostly ran intense
harassment campaigns of Panopticon's critics, ex-friends, and ex-
followers. Though I was never a member, Panopticon tried to get
me to join in on two of their harassment campaigns, and I became
the target of another.

This write-up is not a full history of the Gallifreyan
Tradition Society, or the other groups that Panopticon has run.
Instead, it is a microcosm of Panopticon's misbehavior, focusing
purely on the harassment campaigns that they embarked on from
2016-2018, using members of GT as their attack dogs. Their
actions include stalking, spying, years-long trolling, inducing
victims to attempt suicide, and causing me to face threats of
physical violence at my workplace, and those are just the things
that Panopticon has publicly admitted to.

Panopticon is very good at saying the right things,
reblogging the correct sentiments, aﬀecting the posture of a
warrior fghting injustice, but strip away their words and their
actions are horrendous. Let's go through them together.

(The notes about pronouns and citations are repeated from Cultiples #2. Not bothering.)

Dramatis Personae

Due to Panopticon's reincarnations, it is very difcult to
tell who is a past life and who is a separate system member. I have
done my best to disambiguate, but readily accept I've likely made
errors. This is not a complete listing; I am referring only to system
members who are noted in this write-up.

Panopticon System Members

Cassandra "Cass" Oakdown: "acolyte to [Rassilon] Prydonius" (2018,
April 10). Nonbinary, queer, Time Lord. The host. Main fronter.
Fictionkin with past lives as Kaylee from Fireﬂy, Nepeta from
Homestuck, and Tali'Zorah from Mass Eﬀect, so they switch
between those names and handles. They seem to have reinvented
themselves as TZ. Involved in every harassment campaign I know
of.

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, AKA Taliesin, Tali, and TZ Gray: Pretty
sure this is Cass again, reinvented, but I'm uncertain enough that
I'm giving TZ their own listing. The current public identity; the
last name comes from Sylar from Heroes. They worship Almalexia
from Elder Scrolls Online. Also uses the same name as "Tilanay
Vondrasal" at times, but seems to be distinct from the RP
character.

Tilanay Vondrasal (AKA Tila or Nay): A self-insert RP OC from
Elder Scrolls Online (2018, November 21). In TZ's words, "tilanay
and I are two branches of the same tree. we share a source, but
our paths diverged long ago" (2018, December 21). Her name is an
anagram of "Tali vas Normandy" with the stray letters forming
"ALM," the canonical abbreviation of Almalexia.

R. [Rassilon] Prydonius: "main in-system authority | patron [god] to
Corvalis and Cass" (ibid.) main fronter. Took part in the Secretgal
harassment campaign and the AUK harassment campaign, while
the Toast and Trump Wanks of Rassilon were both staked on his
behalf. Seems to have gone underground with the fall of GT;
possibly integrated with Almalexia and other Elder Scrolls gods
that TZ worships (2018, December 15b).

Almalexia: Goddess of Compassion from Elder Scrolls online, TZ's
current primary goddess (2018, December 15b). Referred to as
"Mom" (2018, September 6). I don't know if she's an actual
headmate or not, but if Panopticon's pattern holds, she will
become one if she isn't already.

River: Main fronter, but seems to have gone underground with
the fall of GT. Involved in the Secretgal and HIY harassment
campaigns.

Astrid: "dating Cass sort of | precious conspiracy child"
(Panopticon, 2018 April 8) who seems to have gone underground
with the fall of the Gallifreyan Tradition Society. Involved in the
HIY harassment campaign.

Corvalis: "is lowkey an ancient gallifreyan) | they/them | acolyte
(sort of?) to R. Prydonius [...] debatably The Other" (2018, April
8). Involved in the Secretgal harassment campaign.

Signless: Cass is his descendant and Disciple (2018, April 8). Took
part in the harassment against Secretgal.

Sofa Lamb: "she/her | cult leader | psychiatrist | the literal Pythia |
everything the rest of us despise" (2018, April 8). Possibly part of
the Analog Theory, doomed to be overthrown for the Intuitive
Revolution.

Other Players (in order of appearance)

Secretgal: AKA Katrina AKA Shannon. A Christian fanfc writer,
Doctor Who fctionkin, and friend of Cass of Panopticon's, only
to be repainted as a pedophilic cult leader and targeted for
intense harassment.

ihasfandom: A friend of Cass and Secretgal, also accused Secretgal
of being a cult leader and child sex oﬀender.

Isa: Panopticon's roommate for roughly a year in the Gallifreyan
Tradition ofine house, which held at least one adoption
ceremony. President of the Gallifreyan Tradition Society from
March to September 2018. Part of the Secretgal harassment
campaign and the Trump Wank of Rassilon, but apparently not a
part of the campaign against me, which led to her leaving GT and
later calling it a cult led by Panopticon.

HIY: President of the Gallifreyan Tradition Society from July to
December 2017. Left under mysterious circumstances to create
New Gallifrey, becomes a target of a harassment campaign. Part of
the Toast Wank of Rassilon.

Shilo: AKA [ANATHEMA]. Involved in the Toast Wank of
Rassilon and the Trump Wank of Rassilon. Got declared
Anathema (excommunicated) and according to Cass baked
manipulation into the very foundations of GT. New Gallifrey and
the Gallifreyan Tradition Society displayed solidarity to try and
keep him from returning to their spaces.

AUK: Ex-friend of Panopticon, ended up in the mental hospital
and went public saying that GT was a cult and Panopticon the
leader. Became a huge target for harassment, stalking, and spying;
ended up mostly disappearing from tumblr for a year as a result.

Narvin: Claimed responsibility for the spying operation on AUK.
Seems to have left the Gallifreyan Tradition Society after its
official break-up.

The Gallifreyan Tradition Society

I didn't want to get into this, but it is impossible to discuss
Panopticon's harassment campaigns without a quick explanation
of the history and founding of the Gallifreyan Tradition Society. I
want to emphasize that the GT is not the focus of this write-up; it
is merely an appendage of Panopticon.

Cass was joking about creating a Doctor Who religious
group/cult as early as 2014. On their old Google+ account, they
asked, "What if we Whovians had our own religion?" (December
8). They also talked about trying to get their stepmother into the
TV show, saying, "she refuses to watch Doctor Who, but loves
The X-Files, and I think that Torchwood would be a good way to
convert her to our little Whovian cult" (2015, January 14). It's far
from the only time they joke about founding a cult (2015, March
18, comment #7) This could be passed oﬀ as innocent adolescent
joking, except that, well. All of it will eventually come true.

The Gallifreyan Tradition Wikipedia acknowledges on
their History page that "the frst incarnation of GT [...] presented
itself as explicitly religious in nature" (Unknown Date C). By
2015, Cass is posting on their sola-ai, "How would you react to
somebody telling you they started their own religion? (Just
trying to her an idea of how people w[ould react)]" (2015, May
7). When asked about it in the comments, they state their
intention is "to get everything in order before I go public with the
Tradition... however, I need a sounding board to make sure it all
makes sense" (ibid). In another post, they write that "one of the
main ideas of the Gallifreyan Tradition is to leave people alone
unless they're throwing oﬀ the universal balance: aka
discriminating against people who are doing them no harm,
taking a life for any reason besides self-defense or survival, or
unfairly exercising power. We have nothing against power or its
applications, only if it is applied selfshly or for unjust purposes"
(2015, May 16). This will become justifcation for the harassment
campaigns.

The Gallifreyan Tradition Society gets its tumblr account
(now deleted) created on June 5, 2015, but I don't see the tag
being used until a few months later (Lirija, October 14). By
December, they're advertising (Lirija, 2015 December 23), and a
few days later, Cass writes, "I have based my spiritual practices oﬀ
of a fctional society. Namely, the society of Gallifrey, as shown in
Doctor Who and its related media. I am part of a group (I guess
you could call it a coven, but we don't, we just call it our group)
of about fve others besides myself who hold similar beliefs. The
main entity that I work with is Rassilon. He's usually a villain in
any media featuring him, but I prefer to see him in the same light
as the Time Lords see him-- as a leader, protector, and bringer of
wisdom" (2015, December 26). A few days after that, Lirija is
posting about creating a real-life Gallifreyan Tradition commune
in Canada, which never pans out (2015, December 30)

Lirija, ex-followers tell me, was one of the co-founders of
the group, but they disappear within a year and a half, and the
2018-era GT Wikipedia only once mentions them, focusing more
on Cass of Panopticon as the founder. The context of Lirija's
departure is unknown. Despite talking about founding a
commune, their web presence seems comparatively benign,
though I didn't search thoroughly; they mostly post art and meta.
Later, during the Rassilon Trump Wank, they step up to stop the
harassment, expressing displeasure at GT's behavior and fixation
on protecting Rassilon.

By the time I become aware of GT, the group has publicly
sloughed its original religious roots, claiming to be a "cultural
reconstruction group" instead, focused on rebuilding Gallifreyan
culture and values on Earth. But I want to make it clear, this
group was originally religious in intent, and seeing how
Panopticon has now founded another church, this one for Elder
Scrolls Online (2019, January 11), I feel confdent in stating that
founding a religion was their goal at the start, and still is today.

In their initial discussion of creating the Gallifreyan
Tradition, Cass claims that, "I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing
this to improve lives, to help make the world a little better where
I can," (2015, May 7, comment #18). But I don't believe this is true.
As will become clear, over the years, Panopticon will use GT to
embark on harassment campaigns of their enemies, exhort
violence, stalk and infltrate and abuse, all in the name of
protecting neutrality and the universal balance. And then if
called a cult, they will claim they are the ones being maliciously
slandered, and that this justifes even more stalking and
harassment.

Now, on to the harassment campaigns themselves.

pirate_anon