#Deryn sharp

[soranatus]

I just wanted to make a post showcasing some of my favorite illustrations by Keith Thompson for the Leviathan Trilogy.

The art went so hard in these books, it’s crazy. The plot is basically an alternate universe WW1 about the major two powers, the Darwinists, and the Clankers. The Darwinists genetically engineered animals to fight for them creating huge flying whale battleships, while the Clankers made huge robot mechs and powerful guns. A few historical people and places show up in these books, like Nikola Tesla.

But my favorite parts of the books were the art, truly breathtaking, it was beautifully grotesque at times. But that’s not unexpected, after all Keith Thompson helped create the design of Moder from The Ritual!

[gouachemole]

Dalek Week 2022 Day 3 - "There is no flag big enough to cover the shame of killing people."

-

AN ENTIRE YEAR LATER, I remembered that I did not post this piece from last year’s Dalek Week 🫣

Alek didn’t kill in the name of a flag, he killed for someone he loved. and that’s romance, baby!

[stop-no-go-away]

Desperately need someone to scream about this to

[kaereth]

Fanart for the book series Leviathan for a kofi!! I’ve loved these books for years and years and it was very fun getting to draw stuff for them :D

[leulah]

this came to me in a dream

[leulahart]

coronation day

leviathan au where the austrian monarchy somehow survives wwi and alek remembers he can do whatever he wants once he’s emperor 

[elliedearest]

I'm on Goliath (Book 3 of Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy series) and I just love how Deryn is the symbol of progressiveness/modernity.

I'm listening to Alek explain to Deryn the meaning of the Habsburg crest as it is used now by "modern" royals and I can't help thinking that Alek and Deryn are like the two heads of this bird. Different from each other, but better together and one without the other is like missing a limb.

I was going to write about how different Deryn and Alek are, but honestly, they share a lot of similarities too. Alek is all heart and Deryn is clearly the brains AND brawns, but they're both so equally smart and quick-thinking and loyal. Both orphans and thrusts into situations that are too big for them but managing and just looking for someone to call family.

I honestly forgot how much I loved them.

[theladysherlock]

Hear ye, hear ye!! We in the leviathan discord are thrilled for the return of Dalek Week for 2023! All art is appreciated and encouraged: drawing, fic, original music, mood boards, character playlists, whatever creative works you have in mind. We're so excited to see what you all come up with!

[ID: A white banner with the words "Dalek Week 2023" over a watercolor teal background.

September 24 - Lost in the Woods

September 25 - Surprises

September 26 - "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all" -Emily Dickinson

September 27 - "Only the Dead have seen the end of war" - George Santayana

September 28 - Ties That Bind

September 29 - Stolen

September 30 - Great Expectations

End ID]

[selkiestorytelleracademia]

If you were obsessed with the Leviathan trilogy by Scott Westerfeld as a kid/teen you're either bisexual or trans now

[foxinaflowerfield]

You ever see a piece of media and think, "I've already had my gay awakening, but if I was gay asleep that would definitely gay wake me up,"

[vertex-virtka]

The Leviathan Trilogy was a bunch of books that laid on my shelf when I was young back in 2013 that I never bothered myself to read, I wasn't really into books, and my sister just brought it for herself and eventually gave it to me.

I'm much older now and I finally took the effort to read through it and I got hooked on this hidden gem. I loved the fusion of WW1 diesel-punk and bio-punk, I loved the scheming and craftiness of Count Volger and Dr Barlow and I especially loved the growing relationship between the disguised Scottish soldier girl, Deryn and Alek, the son of an Austrian Archduke. The storm scene in Goliath was such a beautiful scene, you know the one. I never thought storms and lightning could be so romantic. Such a great pay off for the connection that was brewing for the entire trilogy that was founded off trust and the sheer tenacity to save the arses of one another.

Those two are one of the few characters that had me so emotionally affected and perhaps it was because I had this trilogy for so long and I wondered how the story would end while I left it unfinished on my shelf.

I'm glad everything worked out for the two.

+ "Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube." +

[stop-no-go-away]

Shout out to the bitches (me) who started doing this thing with their hands because they read Leviathan in middle school and it has since consumed their being

[boredsquirrel]

Jumping onto the meme bandwagon a few weeks too late😂

[ic3-que3n]

Inktober day 20: bluff

Scene from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

(I’m actually really proud of this 20 minute doodle…)

[gu4acc]

i did it .

so im extremely hyper-fixated on these two and the series in general i just HAD to compile a list of songs I THINK suits their relationship throughout the 3 books !

[maybeamiles]

Characters that made me realize I was trans

You ever just wanna make a comprehensive list of everyone that gave you gender envy from a young age? Yeah me too.

So here it is! A list of every character that made me realize I was trans, starting from when I was a little kid!

No. 1 - Aravis from The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

Okay, weird racism in this book aside, the amount I loved Aravis was probably the first indicator that I was not cisgender. I thought she was so cool for dressing up as a boy and rejecting traditional femininity and being so "not-like-other-girls" (i also had a big not-like-other-girls phase around the time I read this, go figure). Of course, she is cisgender, and seems to fall into a *slightly* more traditional role by the end of the book, but this isn't about C.S. Lewis' gender stuff and more on the fact that I related very heavily to Aravis and the fact that she didn't fit in with other girls, because I also felt the same way.

Her male co-star Shasta also gave me gender envy so between them both it's no wonder 9-year-old me loved this book.

No. 2 - Deryn/Dylan Sharp from Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Once again it's the girl-dressing-up-as-a-boy-to-fuck-with-gender-rules trope! Only this time, Deryn Sharp is actually treated like a man by her male co-star, Alek (up until he figures out that Dylan is actually Deryn, but then he's quite supportive of her gender fuckery). Deryn, like Aravis, doesn't actually feel any gender dysphoria. Her gender fuckery is a means to pursue her passion for air travel via joining the army. This does get fucked up by the last book and she ends up needing to leave the army, but we don't actually see how she presents herself when in non-millitary society so I will headcannon that she remains quite butch.

I thought Deryn was the coolest when I was 13, and even wound up copying her way of saying "barking spiders" for a bit. And her and Alek's romantic relationship was peak goals for me, probably because it begins while Deryn still presents masc.

No. 3/4 - Link, from TLOZ: Twilight Princess and Breath of the Wild

So, the Links! Let's talk about the Links!

Twilight was the first male character I remember projecting myself onto. So much so that I did not ship him and midna OR him and Illia (and didn't really like illia's quest), not because they didn't have chemistry but because I am very homosexual and did not like the idea of my self-insert being with a girl. Now, do cis girls project themselves onto male character? Idk but I'm not cis and this is something I did so *shrug*

I've lumped these two together because Zelda was a sort of twofer for me. I played Twilight Princess and then a couple years later played BOTW and began discovering what transgender people were. At the time I ID'd as nonbinary, and my Zelda obsession grew with my understanding of "shit I'm not cis." (I even named myself after a Zelda character for a bit). The links were my first *conscious* experience of gender envy, and hold a special place in my heart for it.

No. 5 - Aether from Genshin Impact

Last, but CERTAINLY not least, is the man, the myth, the legend, Aether Genshin Impact. And there is a STORY behind this guy's inclusion.

See, by the time I started playing genshin, I had long since accepted that I was not a girl. I called myself nonbinary, and thought I was okay with simply "not being a girl" and was fine doing what I saw all the other nonbinary people doing (binders, no testosterone, vaugely masc clothes, etc).

Then I booted up genshin impact, and had to pick between Aether and Lumine. And I still remember the "oh shit" moment I had when I realized that the default I expected to fall into would not make me happy. I had expected myself to pick Lumine, because I had previously thought that I was more comfortable with femininity than masculinity. I realized that I didn't just want "genderless." I wanted masculine. And I had this guy to thank for helping me come to that realization.

Anyways that's not all the characters that gave me gender envy or really even my entire "here's how I knew I was trans" but they are the most influential ones to me.