#White London

[ravencromwell]

some scattered disability and White London thoughts:

Schwab missed a hundred thousand opportunities for disability rep; this is a bleak, apocalyptic landscape where one of the prevalent currencies is blood, and both children and adults are frequently attacked for their power.

Sign language. Look. Most magicians need to speak to focus their power, though Schwab makes clear it's more a way to keep up concentration than a necessity (take Lila's tiger, tiger, burning bright. So I wanna see that taken to its logical conclusion: tongues removed because many. many people think they! are the source of power, or at least where immense magic will nest.

Therefore: A thriving culture of sign language, where everyone is at least semi-fluent.

Holland, watching Talya's hands trace the old stories in gorgeous, fluid arcs with her hands as her face takes on a million expressions. Later, finishing them beneath the blankets, fingers tracing words intohis skin in the dark.

Holland stands out as much because his Antariness has allowed him to avoid disability as for the power itself.

Way the fuck more prosthetics particularly prosthetic hands considering how so many people carve element-control runes directly on their skin. Take away your hands, and some enemies would think they could take away your ability to fight.

Lethally sharp hooks for hands, with the runes carved directly into the metal and the most ruthless fighters absolutely willing ready and able to gouge out your eyes with their prosthetics.

Consequently: prosthetic care. Eventually, you have to take your hand/hands off; moisturize the stumps etc. Who you choose to be that vulnerable with says a thousand things about your character. (and the moments when you don't particularly *choose* it but you need to anyway because you've had it on too long and the skin is blistering; infection in Makt would be deadly.

The irritations of amputations. I know from some other characters I've researched for: things like washing your hair with only one functioning hand: an absolute bitch.

Anemia. In AGOS, part of what Ojka says Osaron's powers does is "warm her blood". Everyone in that city must be A. constantly cold; and not cold like a coat can fix. Cold from poor circulation and generally "weak" blood. People who have an affinity with bone magic (Athos, Vortalis, Holland himself) would have a significant advantage because everyone else is moving just slightly sluggishly, always dragging at the weight of exhaustion. It's part of what would make Talya's dancing so fucking _impressive, that she moves like that even despite the headaches, dizziness, etc.

Holland as Antari: essentially a fucking human heated blanket to anyone who isn't afraid to be so close to y'know the extremely dangerous magician.

God, there's so. so much more, but my brain is swiss cheese. But I at least wanted to start the ball rolling, because I feel like this's a corner of fandom that's just _bursting with possibilities.

[crookedcrowclub]

the way adsom begins with “kell wore a very peculiar coat” and acol ends with “kell wore a coat that billowed in the wind” oh i’m gonna need a minute 😭

[badassbutterfly1987]

White London clothing redesign ideas

so I've mentioned I've been wanting to craft a more distinct visual look for White London clothing since I think that having a potentially wildly different history from the other worlds would have different cultural influences in values, food, clothing, etc. (Also I just have trouble with drawing Regency/Victorian style)

since some of the names have Swedish and Dutch influences (Holland having a Dutch sounding surname, Makt being Swedish for power), I decided to lean into that a little.

fun fact: we don't know how/why the author chose the names she did (could have been reflecting specific influences, could have been whatever sounded good) and they're kinda all over the place. So we have Nasi who has two potential meanings: in Hebrew it's a title meaning prince and in Indonesian it's a word for a rice dish.

if we lean into the latter, that opens up Southeast Asian influences like Indonesia and Thailand. Both have tropical climates and therefore less layered clothing, so anything there will need to be paired with a heavier layer to compensate for WL's cold weather. Indonesia also has heavy associations with intricate jewelry; makes for something White Londoners can use to trade favors or turn into amplifiers (also should incorporate bone jewelry, fits their vibe).

a lot of my recent art pieces have been inspired by Kdrama shows, especially those set in the Joseon era, so we can keep up with that. Womenswear of that period tends to be poofy and doesn't look all that practical for characters who always have to be prepared for a physical fight (might be wrong tho; could still work for Leta). The Mongolian deel has the right level of practical and aesthetically pleasing so that's on the list. (Also there are so many intricate and vibrant colors here).

it makes for a good starting point i think. now have to figure how the different styles can be melded together, which materials characters would have access too, which styles would appeal to which characters, how the class divisions affects styles, etc. then a consistent style and color scheme for each character, let's see how many months that takes lol.

[danielgrant]

Creepy London 🤍

[ineffabletaylor]

@paletmblr​ event thirteen: villains

ATHOS AND ASTRID DANE from A DARKER SHADE OF MAGIC by V. E. SCHWAB

[undr]

Philip Jones Griffiths. A young couple seek a tender moment in a doorway, London. 1960s

[voidstilesplease]

the way he translated half-royalty half-movie star, depressed gay, and hrh prince dickhead from pages to screen so effortlessly 🥲

[disease]

YOKO ONO WITH GLASS HAMMER from HALF-A-WIND SHOW [1967] @ LISSON GALLERY, LONDON PHOTOGRAPHY: CLAY PERRY

[semioticapocalypse]

Ralph Morse. ‘Love’ (American soldier and his English girlfriend). Hyde Park, London. May, 1944

I Am Collective Memories   •    Follow me, — says Visual Ratatosk

[inthedarktrees]

Cabaret dancer, eighteen year old Ann Sullivan enjoys a smoke on her way to work by underground. For two shows a night and one on Saturdays she is paid £12 a week.

Bert Hardy, “This Is How the Chorus Lives,” Picture Post, 1952

[newestcool]

Sandy Liang s/s 2023 rtw Creative Director Sandy Liang Photographer Nicole Saldana Source

[ravencromwell]

Current Shades Of Magic question haunting me: was Maxim Maresh working a deal with the Danes to make something comparable to an Inheritor for Rhy? (And by "working", I mean: he thought he was being real savvy while the Danes lied through their teeth for years and kept the credulous arnesian king on a fish-hook while they figured out how to rip a hole through time and space.)We know Tieren flatly refused to help him make one, and that Makt is highly skilled in binding magic. And Maxim's entire White London dynamic, especially in Darker Shade, never made a bit of fucking sense to me. Take, as exhibit 1: "Holland delivered a letter yesterday," explained the king. "But couldn't stay to collect the response. I told him I would send it back with you. Kell frowned. "All is well, I hope," he said carefully. He rarely knew the contents of the royal messages he carried, but he could usually glean the tone—the correspondences with Grey London had devolved to mere formality, the cities having little in common, while the dialogue with White was constant and involved and left a furrow in the king's brow." In scrupulous fairness, Schwab does give us an explanation for the involved nature of the letters, saying that the Red Crown was haunted by its decision to seal the doors between Red and White; that they wanted to provide magical advice as a kind of recompense and reparations. But we're also provided a very plausible explanation for how Vitari helps Lila move through the worlds, which gets very undermined by Lila as Antari. And living in the midst of the most nakedly imperial power of our modern age, I'm incredulous at best and scoffingly dubious at worst. With some very! rare exceptions, large, prosperous countries give small struggling ones shit either to look good, or because they want something out of the exchange.

Was it being _haunted that made Maxim Maresh send twelve-year-old Kell into the middle of a very violent country? Or was it _knowing by that time that Rhy most likely wouldn't be manifesting any magic. Kell says to Vortalis that this will be the beginning of "re-opening relations". Which makes sense, seeing as Antari are a dying breed, and Arnes hasn't had one for a while and Makt for even longer. It's not Maxim's bad parenting in sending Kell to White so young that has my antennae raising, but the bad diplomacy. Maxim's Kell flaw, after all, is that he sees him more as a political and propaganda tool than a person. And he's letting him go to Makt at twelve? When Kell could die, and a large reason Faro and Vesk are in line right then is because they believe Kell is integral to Arnes strength. I don't believe Maxim Maresh, who had the political cool to immediately think of how Faro and Vesk would react and demand secrecy about Rhy's near-death in Conjuring while everyone else is in knots of grief and he must be pushing down his own feelings with herculean effort decided to resume communications to salve his conscience. It just doesn't fit with the rest of who he is as king.

But, as several people wonder when Tieren chastises Maxim over the Inheritor: what wouldn't a father do for his son? Put his other son in jeopardy, if he thought he could make an attractive enough offer to get a (probably) ruthless king of a ruthless people to make him something? It would certainly line up with what he does throughout the series.

Finally: Maxim is adamant that "The Danes will pay" before he learns they're dead. Except seriously? How, Maxim? You planning to send the Antari who they already used as a pawn back as a one man army? Because no one else is going through.

Maxim Maresh, for all his faults, is too good a soldier to send Kell into that battle. So, either he's just blowing off steam and the threat has no teeth, or the threat has vicious teeth. Because the Crown has been sending the Danes advice: maybe instructions on relatively—to Arnesian thinking—small elemental magics like minor water redirection that have become integral to Makt's irrigation under the Danes, or something else entirely. There are a million little ways the Crown could've been helping; the question is _why. Why, in Darker, did Maxim, a a busy man, concoct a thick response within a day and send his best weapon into a violent place _after _dark when it could have waited till morning. Feels to me like a man hurriedly running after something the Danes are always "close to finishing" and that he wants, very, very much.

[humanoidhistory]

Lloyd's Building, London, designed by Richard Rogers Partnership.

(Simon Phipps)

[badassbutterfly1987]

Decided to finally commit to some faceclaims for the White London crowd (both canon and OCs). Sticking to the original trilogy for now, though Kosika and company will get their turn. One would think it to be straightforward, and yet.

To start, I decided to focus on East and Southeast Asian actors since I was already looking in that direction for fashion influences and it gives White London a more distinct feel than the other worlds (Grey London is just our world, Arnes seems to have a mostly dark-skinned population).

Okay, so that narrows the focus but is still broad enough to provide plenty of options. I've set an addition rule for myself that if the actor has a notable role in a recent or very popular movie/show in a similar genre to Shades of Magic, they're not an option (so no one from Shadow and Bone or Wheel of Time).

OCs and side characters are easy enough. Haylee Hottle has the right vibes for Nasi even if she's in her late teens now (fancasting a deaf actress means that would also apply to the character, which is an easy addition for Nasi). Elodie Yung makes for a good Ojka.

Past that it gets a little messy. The Danes are suggested to not be local to Makt, so how should that be interpreted. Obviously they're pale and blond and generally Nordic coded, so I guess they could just be white people in this context? Tho Dichen Lachman feels like a good Astrid, still looking for a matching Athos.

I have not found a satisfying Holland. I know Schwab had Mads Mikkelsen in mind when writing but he's 60 now and that doesn't work for Holland (tho I could see him as Vortalis). And it would be pretty iffy if the most humanized member of White London as well as their fabled hero was one of the few white people amongst a mostly Asian populace. Am I overthinking this? Maybe, but also it's just hard to find a fitting Holland. Considering Chai Romruen but that's a maybe.

I do technically have a faceclaim for Ros Vortalis but I cannot give a reasonable defense for it being Keanu Reeves aside from it just seems fun.

[pavementpulse]

Umbrella and Building reflection in the Rain. Bond Street. London W1

[undr]

Monty Fresco. Street Night. London, 1954