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长月烬明 TILL THE END OF THE MOON China, 2023

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REYLO is the #1 ranked ship on Tumblr for 2020— it’s a first for the ship and it’s up six spots from last year! It’s also the 16th most popular tag this year overall in Tumblr’s Year in Review 🎉

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Court Archetypes: The Dynasty

Royal families are just one big chain of flaws and strengths. All dynasties have their issues. When writing your royal and noble families in your fantasy works, it is best to study some archetypical royal families.

The Wealthy

Some dynasties keep their power by money, splashing the cash in ways their counterparts cannot.

The Medici: The Medici began as simple bankers. Through the years they rose through the ranks, from merchant class to obtaining power in the Florence government and then becoming one of the most powerful families in Italy, perhaps Europe. The Medici remained at the forefront of all arts and finance, as well as intrigue. They were the richest banking family, backing other dynasties and kingdoms in their ventures.

House of Romanov: The Romanovs were a relatively unknown noble family until the reign of Ivan the Terrible. When Ivan died without an heir, the nobles of Russia chose young Michael Romanov to be the new king. The Romanovs were autocrats, building a vast empire on the backs of serfs and their expansive powers. Some Romanovs were brilliant (Catherine the Great, Peter the Great, Alexander II, Elizabeth I, Alexander I) and some less so (Nicholas I, Nicholas II, Peter III, Paul I). But all were fucking loaded. The Romanovs were the richest royal family for many generations. Their palaces were the grandest and their jewels were to die for. The Romanovs came to a violent end in the Russian Revolution, for a list of reasons but chief among them being the extravagant and lavish lifestyle they had lived while Russia suffered.

The Treacherous

You can choose friends but not your family. Some families backstab each other so much its a wonder their arms don't present as a bloody dagger.

Ptolemy: The House of Ptolemy was founded by the Macedonian general Ptolemy, friend and some say half brother to Alexander the Great. When Alexander died, his generals divided up the empire. Ptolemy was granted Egypt. The Ptolemys wed one another for centuries, uncle to niece, sister to brother, daughter to father. The Ptolemys were a treacherous bunch. They betrayed one another for the crown, murdered family members. Just look at the last four monarchs of the dynasty. Blood, incest, betrayal, fratricide, suicide, battles, beheadings. It's Game of Thrones on acid.

House Of York: The House Of York ruled over England for 25 years. Edward IV had two brothers, George and Richard. They had a cousin called Warwick, the Kingmaker. Edward married a woman not of Warwick's liking. Warwick deposed Edward, marrying his daughter to George. When the nobles refused to make George king, Edward regained the throne. In a second effort, Warwick and George crossed over to the enemy House of Lancaster. Warwick wed his daughter to the Prince Edward of Westminster. George betrayed Warwick and went back to his brothers, leaving Warwick to die on the battlefield. George was constantly betraying Edward, even hiring a wiseman to predict Edward's death. George was drowned in a vat of wine. Edward died a few years later and Richard became protector of the kingdom, Regent for the young princes. He seized the throne for himself, disobeying his brother's last wishes.

Julio-Claudian Dynasty: To say the Julio-Claudians were treacherous would be an understatement. The Roman Emperors were volatile. Even the wise Augustus is no exception, having exiled his owned daughter because she was promiscuous. His adopted son Tiberius may have poisoned him as well as the much loved . Tiberius then imprisoned Germanicus's wife and let her starve to death. He then murdered all but one of the sons of Germanicus. Tiberius then adopted the boy, Caligula. Caligula then may have had Tiberius smothered. Caligula then had the other nephew of Tiberius killed. Caligula was killed by his guards and his uncle Claudius became Emperor. Claudius then named his stepson Nero as heir after his son Britannicus was poisoned possibly by Nero or his mother, Agrippina. Claudius was then poisoned and Nero ascended the throne. Nero chafed at his Mother's influence had tried to kill her by sinking her ship. When she crawled ashore, a guard was sent to kill her. Nero was driven to suicide.

The Unhappy Family

Some royal dynasties are nothing more than unhappy families. Whether it be strained relationships between parents and children or between siblings, some families do not get along.

Plantagenet: The Plantagenets were never a happy family. Begin at the start. Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine and they had five sons. Henry II fought with his sons over ceding over any control over the empire. The sons went to Henry's enemy for help in their rebellion. Eleanor rode to join them but was captured. She was held prisoner until Henry died. Later down the line we have Richard II who was a bit of a tyrant. He hated his nobles and made their life hell. He had one uncle killed and conspired against his cousins. While he was in Ireland, his cousin Henry Bolingbrook stole his throne (haha serves the dickhead right. Karma is a bitch dickie). Henry imprisoned Richard in a cell where he starved to death.

House Of Windsor: Was there ever a dynasty with such destructive tendancies as Windsor? First we have George V who argued with his son David. David loved an American divorcee named Wallis Simpson and was not exactly the model royal. When he ascended the throne as Edward VIII, he gave it up to marry his love leaving his brother Albert or George VI to be king. George died after the strains of WWII and the remainder of the royal family blamed David for his death. Elizabeth II ascended the throne. Princess Margaret loved a palace aide and asked to marry him. The Church refused to allow the wedding to go ahead and allow Princess Margaret to keep her royal status. In the end, Margaret chose her royal status. She later went on to have an unhappy marriage with Anthony Armstrong-Jones. Elizabeth II's eldest son Charles loved an unsuitable woman, Camilla and was pressured into marrying a more appropriate bride, Diana. The marriage was terrible and they divorced. The cycle of unhappy marriages and family relations still play out before us even today.

House Of Hanover: The House Of Hanover never got on. George I imprisoned his wife for infidelity and fought with his son because he was more popular and stole his children. George II fought with his son and daughter in lawn. George III went mad and had to suffer his sons. George IV shagged and ate his way through the kingdom as Regent, before becoming king at sixty. His daughter died, the last legitimate heir. His brothers married to sire an heir, only producing one, Victoria. Victoria fought with her son, blaming him for her husband's death. The Hanoverians had issues.

The Incestuous & Problematic

These are the houses that have serious issues. As opposed to the last heading, these families love each other a little too much.

House Of Hapsburg: The Hapsburgs didn't begin as incestuous. As their empire began to stretch across Europe covering most of the German and Austrian states as well as Spain, they began to wed the two branches of the House together, the Austrian and the Spanish. These uncle-niece and first cousin-first cousin marriages resulted in deformity. Children born of these incestuous matches were stricken with the infamous jaw deformity, the Hapsburg jaw which made the lower half of the mouth stick out.

House Of Borgia: The Borgias may or may not have had an incestuous relationship between two of its scions, Lucrezia and Cesere. It was rumoured that the brother and sister pair were sleeping together and even more ludicrously rumoured that Lucrezia was banging her own father Pope Alexander VI. It was likely just slander. The Borgias were infamous for their affairs with poisons. Lucrezia alone was rumoured to carry the famous poison Canterella in a ring on her finger, being able to poison any unsuspecting victim. Cesere is rumoured to have killed his younger brother Juan or at least had him killed. The Borgias were a powerhungry and driven bunch, so all these rumours stuck like glue.

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I started watching the new cdrama “The Rise of Phoenixes” (天盛长歌) yesterday and I’m already in love. Word of caution it is a 70 eps series and we are only four eps in. However, even if it does dissolve into a flaming trash heap Chen Kun’s face alone should be able to maintain your attention for 20 episodes.

I’m so glad Chen Kun is finally back on a tv series.

Our OTP, Ning Yi and Feng Zhiwei.

Ning Yi is the sixth prince of the Tiansheng kingdom. We find out in the first episode that he has been locked up in prison (more like house arrest) for the past eight years since he was apparently involved in treason with the third prince Ning Qiao who was killed. Ning Qiao by all account was the one who should have been Emperor because he was great.

Ning Yi apparently spent his eight years leaning how to sew and make clothes. I kid you not, he became a super duper amazing tailor.

But the truth of the matter is that he has actually been planning and making connections, waiting for the day to he released so he can get revenge for his Ning Qiao. Ning Yi is so very smart but act like a broken harmless idiot to hide his goal.

So, the elephant in the room is that at this point the set up for the show has a tonne of similarities to Nirvana in Fire. However, Ning Yi in this case is both MCS and XJY. I love Chen Kun, and think he is one of the best Chinese actors in his age bracket. And his line delivery and expressions in this show is masterful.

There will be rain!

JUST LOOK AT HIM.

As I just finished ep 2, I can’t really comment on Feng Zhiwei except that I like her so far, and I’m super excited about the secrets her mother (played by LIU MINTAO) are keeping from her.

From all accounts Ning Yi and Feng Zhiwei has a pretty amazing relationship but we’ll see.

The production design team for this show is insane, and it shows in the beautiful sets and the gorgeous cinematography.

Etiquette consultant Li Bin: Nirvana in Fire, The Legend of Mi Yue

Costume designer and artistic director William Chang: The Flowers of War, The Grandmaster

Stunt choreographer Yuan Bin: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Cinematographer Li Xi: Love is Not Blind

And so many others.

I have hight hopes though I’m concerned at the length of the show. Hoping someone will sub this show.

And Bai Jingting is in it too!!!

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I’m planning to make more Star Wars and specifically The Last Jedi related art, but in the meantime, here’s a Kylo Ren I drew almost two years ago after seeing The Force Awakens (I think it’s actually my first Kylo portrait ever!) and never posted here.

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He do good profile

#31DaysofAdamDriver ↳ Day 1: Favorite Photo

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#31DaysofAdamDriver ↳ Day 1: Favorite Photo

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“I’ve got questions, man. I got questions…I thought it was going to be ‘Star Wars: Heirs to the Force.’ For some reason I just had that title in my head, that it would be something along those lines….This is just very specific: ‘Rise of Skywalker.’ And I don’t know what it actually means. Bearing in mind that I’m a part of it, but there were certain changes to the script while we’re filming and I’m not in a lot of the scenes that Rey has with Kylo Ren. So my curiosity just hit the roof.”

- John Boyega For USA Today

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I’m not sure which Kylo I like more

Romantic, cape flapping in the breeze, looking desperately forlorn Kylo

Or,

Battle Kylo, looking like a dark Alexander the Great conqueror king, wrecking havoc and commanding from the front.

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Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (via @thisdeadbird on twitter)

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Okay but consider the following,,

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Glorious hair

Adam Driver speaks during the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations on November 27, 2018 (x)