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yletylyf · 9 months ago

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Mysterious Lotus Casebook timeline

I put this together for my own use while writing my fic, but haven't seen anyone else share one, so here goes!

This is live-drama canon, not novel canon. I don't speak much Chinese; I followed iqiyi's subtitles which are rather awful. Additions/suggestions/comments/corrections more than welcome!

As should be expected for a comprehensive timeline of all pre-canon events, this is not spoiler free. Below the cut, as it's long:

Timeline

130 years ago:

Princess Longxuan is born, in the year of Ren Yin, Wu Shen month, Geng Jia day, at the hour of Geng Chen. [It could be any year of Ren Yin, but since it has to be more than a hundred years ago, this one is the only one that makes sense.]

100 years ago:

The night before Nanyin was overturned, Princess Longxuan marries Crown Prince Fangji, the eldest son of Emperor Xicheng, granduncle of the current emperor. Princess Longxuan becomes Consort Xuan. Consort Xuan secretly initiates the revival of Nanyin and plots to use the Rama Vessel.

Prince Fangji conspires against Emperor Xicheng and fails. He is ordered to commit suicide. Consort Xuan is sentenced to be buried with Prince Fangji.

Princess Longxuan writes a letter to magician Feng A-Lu asking him to save her son at the bamboo forest. She tells him to contact Jin Yu Huang Quan and revive Nanyin.

Nanyin craftsmen build their tomb and Nanyin sorcery hides it for 100 years.

The throne passes to Emperor Guanqing.

Feng A-Lu does not meet Princess Longxuan's son. He goes to kill the imperial family and falls in love with Consort Ying instead. They have a son who Consort Ying passes off as the emperor's son. Feng A-Lu is buried in the collapse of the Pagoda of Bliss.

Jin Yu Huang Quan did not revive Nanyin. They used the amassed wealth for themselves and passed the Rama ices onto the next generations.

Unknown time:

Li Xiangyi's parents save Qi Mushan.

Bandits attack the Li family; Li Xiangyi and his older brother are the only survivors.

25 years ago:

Teenage Shan Gudao finds four-year old Li Xiangyi and his older brother on the streets. Older brother dies.

Qi Mushan rescues Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi and brings them to Yunyin mountain.

20 years ago:

The Feng clan, having searched for Princess Longxuan's descendant for over a hundred years, learns that her grandson had a ten-year-old son who is presently studying under Qi Mushan.

[Note Shan Gudao is over twenty and Li Xiangyi is nine or ten at this time, but anyway:]

The Feng clan takes Shan Gudao as the long-lost descendant of Princess Longxuan.

Ostensibly 18 years ago, but probably more like 21 or 20:

[Note there is some debate about how old Fang Duobing is supposed to be. Di Feisheng claims he has a letter showing that Fang Duobing's parents broke up 18 years ago while He Xialan was pregnant, but other sources state he is 20 at the time of the show]

He Xialan was in a relationship with Shan Gudao. They break up while she is pregnant. Fang Duobing is born a few months later, and Tianji Hall announces Xialan has died of illness. Fang Duobing is raised by Xialan's older sister and her husband as their own.

15 years ago:

The Demon of the Blood Realm challenges Li Xiangyi and Qiao Wanmian begs him to give Li Xiangyi one more year.

14 years ago:

Li Xiangyi passes Qi Mushan's test. He receives the Shaoshi sword. He departs the mountain for the first time.

Shan Gudao and Li Xiangyi go to rescue the He family of the Changma Blade sect, who was massacred by Dongling Three Gang for the cloud iron. They find one survivor, a child, and take him to Louyang. Shan Gudao ditches Li Xiangyi and kills the kid.

Li Xiangyi defeats the Demon of the Blood Realm.

At an unknown time between 15 and 10 years ago:

Di Feisheng, Wuyan, King Bai of Fire, Four-faced Qingzun, and King Zunming of Yama found the Jinyuan alliance. Di Feisheng makes his first famous kill: the Monk of the Blood Realm, Kuang Jiezi. He removes the Golden Jade hoops from his staff and hangs them on his dao as a trophy.

Li Xiangyi fights with Wuyou and nicks the Shaoshi sword to avoid killing him.

The 12 Guardians join the Jinyuan alliance just before Jiao Liqiao does.

Jiao Liqiao was following Li Xiangyi around. A girl from Fengling Sword Sect provoked Jiao Liqiao and she massacres the Fengling Sword sect. Li Xiangyi stops her and attempts to kill her, but Di Feisheng saves Jiao Liqiao.

13 years ago:

Li Xiangyi establishes the Sigu Sect. Sigu sect makes an agreement with the court dividing the affairs of the people and the affairs of the jianghu. Everyone agrees to follow the legal code of Da Xi.

Scholar Sushou robs the imperial mausoleum in the south of the capital.

Di Feisheng rescues Jiao Liqiao from a gang led by Guishou Fenglie, whose martial arts techniques she tried to steal. Di Feisheng was just there to challenge the gang leader for his spot on the martial arts rankings.

12 or 11 years ago:

Just before Li Xiangyi turns 18, Shan Gudao gives him the Wenjing sword as a birthday present.

At the age of 18, Li Xiangyi acquires Yangzhouman.

11 years ago:

Sigu sect destroys the cult in Mobei and the sect's vitality is damaged. The Jinyuan alliance becomes more powerful. Di Feisheng and Li Xiangyi make a peace treaty: they won't interfere with each other or draw a war in five years.

The royal court agrees to ally with Shan Gudao.

Ten years ago:

[Depending on how old you think Fang Duobing is; he says this happened when he was ten] Madam He introduces Shan Gudao to Fang Duobing as her long-lost brother. Shan Gudao teaches Fang Duobing martial arts in secret before he can walk. Fang Duobing briefly meets Li Xiangyi, who gives him a wooden sword.

Li Xiangyi trespasses into the Royal Palace grounds on Mid-Autumn night to watch the Epiphyllum festival.

Lian Quan, Lord Of The Netherworld, is last seen in Shishou Village.

Shan Gudao tries to break into the Yipin tomb but cannot get past the Bagua (eight trigrams) Formation. The 14 Thieves of the Netherworld break into the tomb and die inside.

Li Xiangyi receives a message that the three kings of the Jinyuan alliance have besieged Shan Gudao in the Yangsha valley, the Jinyuan alliance's secret hideout. Meanwhile, the three kings receive a challenge from Shan Gudao but the letter was not his handwriting. The three kings arrive at the valley to find Shan Gudao already dead. Other members of the Sigu sect claim: they followed Shan Gudao to run some errands but were suddenly attacked by the three kings; Shan Gudao sent someone to go for help; Shan Gudao lured the three kings away to protect his subordinates.

Li Xiangyi cradles his shixiong's body and vows revenge. Shan Gudao's body is stolen in an ambush by the Jinyuan alliance. Li Xiangyi declares war on the Jinyuan alliance.

Li Xiangyi gathers Shan Gudao's belongings into a box in his room at the Sigu sect headquarters.

Yun Biqiu, at Jiao Liqiao's direction, administers Bicha poison to Li Xiangyi.

Jiao Liqiao and Fang Qing are working together. Someone from Nanyin purchases gunpowder from Thunder Hall in Jiangnan with funds from the Wansheng clan. Ding Yun, Wind and Thunder Emissary and Wan Renshan, Star and Moon Emissary used thundering fire bombs to trap the Sigu Sect and blow up the Jinyuan alliance headquarters. The 12 guardians of the Jinyuan alliance die. 58 heroes of the Sigu sect die.

27th day of the 12th lunar month, year of Xin Chou: Li Xiangyi and Di Feisheng battle at the East Sea.

Someone alters a corpse to look like Shan Gudao. He survives, under the influence of wuxin huai. Shan Gudao kills Qi Mushan and takes his inner power.

Li Xiangyi fakes his death and disappears. The Sigu sect disbands. Its surviving arm, Baichuan Court, rounds up the remnants of the Jinyuan alliance. Di Feisheng goes into seclusion for ten years.

Ten or nine years ago:

Xin Lie, Thunder Chaser of Jinyuan alliance, Five Poison Palm, escapes from prison.

28th day of the 5th month, year of Ren Yin: Shi Hun writes a letter to the Sigu sect to thank them for releasing him.

Unknown, between ten years ago and present day:

The Jinyuan Alliance surrounds Lian Quan's mansion for the Rama Heavenly Ice, he escapes with Li Xiao and Li Xiong to Xiaoyuan City to live in hiding.

Li Lianhua finds Scholar Sushou, helps him and lets him stay with him. Scholar Sushou passes away.

Li Lianhua saves Tiexiao, who jumped off a cliff and was buried; Li Lianhua heard him shouting.

Four-faced Qingzun dies in prison and gives the Rama ice shard to his wife, Liangyi Xianzi.

Fang Duobing takes bitter medicine; bathes in cold springs; pierces his 12 major acupoints every day and faints many times but refuses to cry. He can stand up, walk, and learn martial arts.

Five years ago:

The Hall of Wind and Flame took the Shi family's secret book as their own. This includes Qi Mushan's recipes.

Three years ago:

Fang Duobing takes the Baichuan Court entrance examination, but they refuse to accept him.

One year ago:

"Last March": Li Lianhua saved Shi Wenjue, third son of the Shi family (he faked his suicide because he wanted a career in public service and his family didn't approve, Li Lianhua saw it). The Shi family in Weapons Valley were the ones who forged Cloud Iron armor and the wind sword.

Present day:

The show begins sometime after the sixth day of the fourth month of Ren Zi year. [We know this because in episode 2, Wangfu is sixteen and we are given his birthday as April 6th of Bing Shen Year]

Red Mountains (Girls' Mansion episode arc) takes place on month 9 day 9 of Ren Zi Year.

Episode 37/38 is the ten-year anniversary of the dong hai duel, so it takes place on the 27th day of 12th month of Ren Zi Year.

#mysterious lotus casebook #reference guide #timeline

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f0xgl0v3 · 10 months ago

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Octavian headcanons :3

Another round of general Octavian headcanons, family edition! Would first like to state I’m not touching the legacy strands currently because stuff like Augustus Caesar and his demigod status in Pjo and all of that messes stuff up and I need more time to think about that and actually reading ToA and stuff.

Anyways, motivation for the Octavian post is to settle pre-audition jitters. Drama club beauty and the beast production, and auditions are tomorrow :,] gonna have to weasel my way through the singing part and hope my acting carries me the rest of the way through (in the words of Perseus Jackson; if I tried to sing I’m pretty sure it’d cause an avalanche.)

*Update because I’ve been writing this post for a day; we had dance auditions first! Pretty much just seeing where we are in dancing skills for this, it was really chill and fun and vibes were immaculate! Sorry this post is kind of ajifnsdb and I couldn’t get names down for these people, but I’d want to do that after figuring out.. naming work?

But ajdienajdjfneb whatever onto the headcannons!!

Big family, BIIIG family. In my head he has 8 other siblings (he is indeed the eighth child just for my amusement and it works for the little time before I work on how I think New Rome does naming, and I’m not touching that with a 39 and a half foot pole)

Old money family too. They’re descended from Emperors and they’ve managed to continue that legacy and have a family business, aware of Triumvirate holdings, may even have positive work relations.

Octavian is the 2nd youngest, in order his siblings go; 1st eldest, 2 kid, 3 child, 4&5 were twins, then 6,7,8,9. His poor mom has so many kids- but got solid breaks between them, though I don’t want to calculate ages at the moment.

Staring with his youngest sister. It’s Julia, that Julia. The one that’s Terminus’s little ‘assistant’. Octavian likes getting the opportunity to see her more often than most of his other siblings. She’s a little menace but gets away with it, nothing bad though, just mischievous.

Skipping Octavian we go to child 7. Who doesn’t have a name but just got out of the legion a few years ago, and moved out of the legion/New Rome. Bit of a rebel, but just wants to settle down with a family of their own and distance themselves from the family. They had a neutral-to negative relationship with Octavian. Octavian doesn’t like his siblings distance from Rome, and sibling likes Octavian but can’t help worry over him.

Kid 6 would be probably Gaius or something (again. Not about to go think too hard about what is gonna end up being Octavian’s Oc siblings. I can think about them later) he got out honorably after Mt.Tam, I like to think he’s still looking for a job and drifting in that University stage.

Kids 5&4 are twins, fraternal (maybe identical but I want more fraternal twins) and absolutely wild?? Jobs set up probably as something like loan sharks, they help upkeep the family fortune. Think like Ebenezer Scrooge or how Bob Marley are described in Christmas Carol. Taught Octavian everything they knew about blackmail, manipulation, etc. but they’re generally silly. Both usually try to charge people for various scams, think of the cartoonish dealer with the giant trench coat.

Child 3 has their own family and works for Bombillio’s (?) pretty comfortable with life. Fascinated with the mortal realm, slips on trips their parents take for business.

Child 2 and 1 have significantly branched off and live sort of anywhere, I feel like 1 is supervising that outpost in Canada (that’s another Hc I have that I talked about a LOOONG time ago) and then 2 probably lives out with their partner in San Fran and cats.

Okay a sorry I’m a little jittery because it is SNOWING!!!!! Where I am at least but still, SNOWING!! Sorry I couldn’t name anyone but still, wanted to get general family stuff down and writing posts like these calm me down when I’m feeling a bit aaaaaurgh.

Octavian has mostly good relationships with his siblings. Though he feels like he’s the only one really invested in being a citizen of New Rome and upholding the family name.

I’ll probably change around the siblings and their order whenever I decide how their ages work. But I feel they’re all relatively close in age and then Julia is just the odd one out.

His mother is a legacy from a newer family in New Rome, she’s pretty silly and generally just wants the best for her family.

His dad inherited the unnamed, unspecified family business/company and currently runs it, preserved his old crown awards and has them framed in his office, takes his family very seriously.

Okay, I’m working on the rankings research. It’s… a thing, but for now I might just make more of these random little hc posts, in between larger posts and passion stuff y’know?

Also maybe other fandoms? I’m still very much a Pjo person but I still wanna talk about other stuff lol,

Anyway here’s a quick Octavian thing I did, I’m still messing with his design, I feel like this might stick but I’ll still mess around with his hair, but I just wanted to add a little more to this post because it felt… pretty empty lol.

Also possible post on how some of the weapons characters have look? Would love to draw actual referenced things like IVILIS(? Don’t wanna go check but the Juno sword I think- Jason’s sword-) Reyna’s spear sword & dagger. Octavian’s Pilum & dagger, some hc stuff, maybe actual Camp Half-Blood stuff (because I wanna draw Backbiter)

Okay, I think I’m done now :3

#hehe :3 #pjo hoo toa #hoo #hoo headcanon #pjo octavian #hoo octavian #octavian headcanon #octavian pjo #octavian hoo #idk how to tag this #literally wish I could tell you more about his siblings but these are bare bone #forgot about his parents for a second lol #okay bye

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horizon-verizon · 5 months ago

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Many stans say that neither side won the war. What do you think? Did the blacks won? Did the greens won?

Aegon just comes out as losing out more than Rhaenyra either way you slice it, though we can't call what Rhaenyra and the blacks. His rival's descendant is going to likely if not completely destroy but greatly trouble and undo the precedent against higher female political power not just in Westeros but the entire world. So I'd say he loses.

I mean, he only also rules for a few months to Rhaenyra's few months...so...him being declared king over her was purely by the whims of sexist maester and regents. Rhaneyra was/is a Queen.

If we talk about each sides' goals (which is to both establish their candidates as the ruler AND to continue the dynasty/legacy through those people's lines/children/descendants), then it's obvious that the blacks and Rhaneyra won, but it was a pyrrhic victory:

is a victory that comes at a great cost, perhaps making the ordeal to win not worth it

Rhaenyra does have the entire Targ dynasty come from her & Daemon through Viserys II to our beloved and savior Daenerys Stormborn, Mother of Dragons, Slayer of Lies, the Silver Lady, the Breaker of Chains, the Silver Queen, the dragon's daughter, the dragonmother, the bride of fire, the Daughter of death, child of three, Mhysa, the prince that was promised, the queen across the waters, Azor Ahai returned.

However, she was murdered by her rival, Daemon died, her first three sons died, and she couldn't sit the throne as a ruler for long enough and uncontested enough for no one to even try to deny she was queen. The greens here lost utterly; their kids birthed no ruling Targ descendants. Jaehaera, Jaehaerys, and Maelor never had kids before they died and Jaehaera was the very last before she is also killed off. Aegon may have become king and stayed so for a few more weeks...but he contributes no direct "blood" to the current Targs and he's remembered as a bad king [below].

If we talk about the story's themes and what the deaths/how they happened happened, again Aegon doesn't even have a good reputation as "morally neutral" king. He's remembered as "grasping" & GRRM makes sure to compare Joffrey to him:

In comparison, the only person who has anything actually negative as opposed to neutral to say abt Rhaenyra has been Stannis. And he comes from the house that supported Aegon AND is trying to work towards his own succession goals over the Lannister-Baratheons (male primogeniture/denying Cersei's kids as bastards of her and Jaime).

Plus the Dance was the result of more than one succession crises that always included whether or not women should be considered unequivocal heirs even in the event of their being a younger brother. From the years of Targ assimilation into Andal-FM patriarchy/male primogeniture.

Which is why Rhaenyra dying from a gruesome femicide cannot rule her as an absolute "winner". Her coming into the throne and actually ruling for long would obviously have been itself a moment of precedent-making important for the political authority women can wield onto themselves instead of just on the behalf of men. Thus have Westeros on the track towards more political autonomy and protections for women, even with lower classed ones (Alysanne, Rhaenys the Conqueror). Rhaenyra herself probably wouldn't enact laws for the lower class like those two or Aegon V, but her being a woman ruler would allow for more altruistic female rulers to be able to come into power as well, instead of being shunted aside or abused alongside those women who are evil or just self-focused of different degrees & fluctuations.

And if we parallel Rhaenyra's struggle with the Amethyst Empress v her younger brother The Bloodstone Emperor (this legend of an unjust usurpation/disempowerment of a woman by her male relation ruled in the ASoIaF lore to have caused the first Long Night) AND group these with how Dany is the Azor Ahai/has had her own problems with her own brother Viserys/his abuse, I think that Rhaenyra is the 2nd "loss" to the Amethyst Empress' 1st "loss" that will lead to Dany's 3rd "win" (child of "three" can have multiple layers). And how the Dance is about sexism/about how women occupy their political landscapes beyond and in Westeros as being made subservient and objects to male violence while developing their own agency in resistance/victory to that context.

Male primogeniture also determined the rest of the successions that came up in the Targ lineage, so Rhaenyra "lost". That accompanied with more women, even non Targs, facing more emotional, sexual, and physical abuse from their male counterparts. Even relatives. At the same time, Aegon loses through Dany, who comes from Rhaenyra and is the embodiment of woman-taking-power he tried to completely vanquish for his own ends. So I take that as Rhaenyra "winning"...as long as GRRM doesn't make Daenerys lose something vital to this formula. Espe not her life or way to protect her way towards happiness or some sort of political authority. At the same time, Dany is a altruistic//revolutionary leader, Rhaenyra a more traditional-privileged//class-based one (which is part of why she falls, actually) so again, bound to lose in that way. But Aegon was BOTH gender and class based, SO AGAIN I'd say Rhaenyra takes the philosophical edge of "winning" through, again, a pyrrhic victory.

And then there is how Rhaenyra's own son prevents a woman from really being protected from her own husband's abuse...not once but twice--Naerys and Megette.

#asoiaf asks to me #the dance of the dragons #definitions #rhaenyra targaryen #daenerys stormborn #agot characterization #westeros succession #westerosi history

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livdaboba · 1 year ago

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Currently still 8%, 100k words demo

And silence spoke to you like a rat biting the rope holding you from falling into insanity.

Justice or your destiny?

All you knew was the cursed,

“Welcome home.”

Born as the son/daughter of the dethroned emperor, you lived much of your life in hiding, being trained to rebel against the current tyrant of a ruler.

However everything changed at the month you turned 16.

The elders of the rebellion decreeing you to gain fame at the upcoming tournament known as the election, you are forced to take your first steps in reclaiming your father’s throne.

Carve your own journey, a passionate rebel or a rebellious anarchist? Take down the tyrant that is nibbling on the lives of his people and discover the rottenness of the rebellion!

Chose your fate

Lead the rebellion/ Be a fugitive wanted by the tyrant and the rebellion/ Infiltrate into the depths of the tyrant’s court

Potentially be corrupt

Customize your pc

Combat centered/ Charismatic/ Wise/ mixed

Male/female

Determine your personality

Determine your self esteem

Dynamic gameplay

Betray and be betrayed

Convert your enemies into comrades

Be convinced to side with the enemy

Different branches of love with same RO

Discover secret routes

Encounter assassination attempts

Romance and rivals

3 Opposite gender RO

2 set male RO

2 set female RO

Adventure theme

Slowly descend into angst and darkness. From the first step of adventure. Enter the mind of your character and chose what to let go.

Customize your faith

Christian (struggling and reborn)

Christian Nazirite (struggling and reborn)

Unbeliever

Romantic options

Aden/Adina [M/F]

A brunette with a knack for decisive and violent response. Aden/Adina is one of the strongest rebel in your generation, with no serious flaws. You often wonder what your childhood friend hides behind those striking green eyes. Calm on the surface but a wreck inside, only you know of the tempest brewing.

*self esteem issues, may be manipulative depending on choices. Aden(distant, yet caring and respects you), Adina (Capricious, yet secretly caring)

Ronnie [M]

A blue eyed red head, Ronnie is charismatic oriented person yet actually a laid back guy who befriends everybody instead of a heart robber. You often wondered how he was so uncaringly positive until you noticed not everything is as it seems.

*Laidback yet protective (bro vibes)

Elias/Liana [M/F]

As mysterious as Elias’s/Liana’s mismatched eyes and as tantalizing as his/her sculpted olive build. Change how you meet this RO and explore three different dynamics with this character. And decide the flow of your relationship. (No spoiler).

*enemy to lovers/ friends to enemies/ lovers to enemies/ enemies to friends

(Elias- stoic|Liana- flirty)

[If you play female pc, Liana would exist as Elias’s siblings and vice versa]

Feiyu [F]

Doe eyes and a cute twin bun hairstyle. Feiyu is Innocent… or is she really? Tied to an organization that still brings goosebumps when you think of it. Deal with the complexity of the game when her allegiance to the rebellion surpasses yours.

*Just a really nice girl

Shanon [F]

Strong headed and a body honed for combat. She is a student part timing as a blacksmith, and partaking the tournament where the winner will be recruited into the empire. Dangerous sense of morals and those amber eyes which hides no emotions.

*strong personality

Zion [M]

The tyrant who started all the tragedy. Loving him would be everything wrong, yet there is something about him that pulls you under. Be it his immoral love and unchecked obsession.

*???

Mark

Potentially more to come.

Prove that black hair does not equal to a calm personality. Mark is dash of energy ready to irk the heck out of you. Mark is an adventurous agent of the Chatoyant who does everything exciting and often desires to drag you into his “marvelous” schemes.

???

An RO that I might scrap.

Demo link below:

#hosted games wip #wip #IF #Interactive fiction #interactive fiction wip #choicescript wip #Romance game #text game

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orthodoxydaily · 3 days ago

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SAINTS&READING: MONDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2024

october 15_october 28

MARTYR LUCIAN, PRESBYTER OF GREATER ANTIOCH (312)

The Hieromartyr Lucian, the Presbyter of Antioch, was born in the Syrian city of Samosata. At twelve years of age, he was left orphaned. Lucian distributed his possessions to the poor and went to Edessa to the confessor Macarius, under whom he diligently read Holy Scripture and learned the ascetic life. For his pious and zealous spreading of Christianity among Jews and pagans, Lucian was made a presbyter.

In Antioch Saint Lucian opened a school where many students gathered. He taught them how to understand the Holy Scriptures, and how to live a virtuous life. Saint Lucian occupied himself with teaching, and he corrected the Greek text of the Septuagint, which had been corrupted in many places by copyists and by heretics who deliberately distorted it in order to support their false teachings. The entire Greek text of the Bible which he corrected was hidden in a wall at the time of his confession of Christ, and it was found during the lifetime of Saint Constantine the Great.

During the persecution of Diocletian, Saint Lucian was arrested and was sent to prison in Nicomedia, where for nine years he encouraged other Christians with him to remain steadfast in their confession of Christ, urging them not to fear tortures or death.

Saint Lucian died in prison from many terrible tortures and from hunger. Before his death, he wished to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ on the Feast of Theophany. Certain Christians who visited him brought bread and wine for the Eucharist. The hieromartyr, bound by chains and lying on a bed of sharp potsherds, was compelled to offer the Bloodless Sacrifice upon his chest, and all the Christians there in prison received Communion. The next day the emperor sent people to see if the saint was still alive. Saint Lucian said three times, “I am a Christian,” then surrendered his soul to God. The body of the holy martyr was thrown into the sea, but after thirty days dolphins brought it to shore. Believers reverently buried the body of the much-suffering Saint Lucian.

Saint Lucian was originally commemorated on January 7, the day of his death. Later, when the celebration of the Synaxis of Saint John the Baptist was appointed for this day, the feast of Saint Lucian was transferred to October 15.

Although he was only a priest, sometimes Saint Lucian is depicted in the vestments of a bishop. The Stroganov Guide for Iconographers was published in Russia in 1869, based on a 1606 manuscript. There Saint Lucian is depicted wearing a phelonion and holding a Gospel. He does not wear the omophorion of a bishop, however. Another handbook, the Litsevoy Podlinnik, states that Saint Lucian is to be depicted with the omophorion.

It may be that the Russians thought of Saint Lucian as a bishop because of his importance to the Church, and so they depicted him that way. Similarly, Saint Charalampus (February 10) is depicted as a priest in Greek icons and as a bishop in Russian icons.

Source: Orthodox Church in America_OCA

St AURELIA OF STRASBOURG (Alsace-Gaul 383)

Saint Aurelia of Strasbourg was a 4th-century saint whose tomb in Strasbourg became the center of a popular cult in the Middle Ages. According to the legend, Aurelia accompanied Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins from Roman Britain to Cologne, where they were favorably received by Aquilin, bishop of the place. From Cologne, they traveled to Basel. From Basel, the travelers descended the Rhine to Strasbourg, where St Aurelia succumbed to a violent fever, dying after a few days. Three virgins were left to care for her. She was particularly invoked against fevers in the church that bears her name. Her three companions lived many years in the same place and were buried there. Some centuries later, their tomb was opened, and their bodies were found completely intact, marked with titles bearing their names. This legend is reproduced in the current breviary of the Diocese of Strasbourg.

Grandidier, who questions the legend's authenticity, observed that the cult of Saint Aurelia was already very popular in Strasbourg by the 9th century.

The church of Sainte Aurélie in Strasbourg is supposed to have been built over the crypt where the tomb of Saint Aurelia was situated. [3]

In 1524, Martin Bucer (a Protestant), soon after he was appointed pastor of the church, instigated members of the gardeners' guild to open the tomb and remove the bones, justifying this because the tomb had become an object of idolatry.

Philippians 1:1-7

1 Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.

Luke 9:18-22

18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" 19 So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again." 20 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." 21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."

#orthodoxy #easternorthodoxchurch #orthodoxchristianity #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #gospel #bible #wisdom #faith #saints

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nientedenada · 1 year ago

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On the Arrrant Lies of The Septims' Most Deplorable Toady, My Former Employer, Bertrand Rielle, Duke of Camlorn

Apocrypha/Microfic written for r/teslore. Read it here or on AO3.

This angry pamphlet was published in the early years of the Septim Empire, during the reign of Emperor Pelagius I. Our one copy of this text comes from the Archives of the Adamantium Tower, and bears the simple notation "This is most diverting" in the hand of a Direnni scribe. The fate of the author is unknown.

I, Bazile Guimard, am a historian of the First Era, a role which means I am constantly thwarted in my researches by the imaginative genealogical efforts of the Breton aristocracy. Nowhere in Tamriel will you find such a mendacious crew as the nobles of this land. Pedigree means everything to them.

Don’t mistake my meaning here, certainly all nobles boast of their pedigrees. If you’re ever invited to a Summerset country estate for the weekend, I advise you to decline the invitation lest you succumb to the boredom of hearing an enthusiastic Altmer host monologue about his ancestors back to the Dawn. Breton stories of ancestral glory are much more palatable; largely because everyone is aware that most of them are hogswash. There is a tacit agreement among us Bretons not to look too closely into the actual facts of other people’s ancestors. Our friends and neighbours repay us the favour by not looking into our own.

Yes, pedigree means everything to Breton nobles. This does not entail respect for their ancestors. Instead, it means that they make up their pedigrees out of whole-cloth to suit their situation. The frustrated historian is left to sift through the nonsense of centuries to get at the truth.

And still, I’ve never met such an arrant liar as Bertrand Rielle, Duke of Camlorn.

The man doesn’t lack a grand ancestry. There’s been a remarkable consistency in the Rielle rule of Camlorn over generations. Even if they’re thrown out on their ears, eventually they turn up again. I can trace Duke Bertrand’s lineage back to the hero of Glenumbra Moors, Prince Aiden Direnni himself. That, however, does not please Bertrand. Of late years, he has cozied up to the Septim family and with that, reinvented his ancestry to be more palatable to the current fashion. The last time I visited the Duke, he was boasting about his heroic Nord ancestress, Inge Blood-Swan. Bertrand knows damn well that Inge was the husband of the first Duke of Camlorn, Robert Rielle, and that he is descended from that Duke’s younger sister, Yselle. At least Bertrand knew it as late as last year before he met a so-called antiquarian who informed him that Inge could be a woman’s name as well and introduced to Bertrand the lure of a new more Nordic descent. The Septims will surely be impressed by this one!

In this new version of Rielle family history, Inge Blood-Swan, descendant of Ysgramor, (and as Bertrand tells it, most of the other five hundred Companions), inspired her Breton husband Robert Rielle to throw off the hated scourge of elven oppression. How utterly ridiculous, and what an insult to the memory of the First Duke of Camlorn, the wily opportunistic manmer who carved out his own chunk of the Direnni Hegemony.

Bertrand has revoked my access to his archives and disrupted my work of two decades chronicling the rise of the manmer polity of Camlorn. But In an instance of what I can only see as Divine Justice, he has also lost the boot-licking hobbyist who started him down this path. Scarcely a week into his new job, this idiot reportedly borrowed a late-Hegemony Levies Scroll for a bit of light bedtime reading. The servants report they had to scrape his viscera off the ceiling.

Duke Bertrand is in search of a new lorekeeper. Since no reputable Breton scholar will now associate with him, perhaps he can install a travelling Nord street magician next, as is the Septim-approved fashion.

Notes: Inspired by finding out Inge: a woman's name in Skyrim is more often male in Sweden/Norway. And by sorting through all sorts of dreadful amateur genealogy done by folks with big dreams of glorious ancestry and no skepticism or discernment.

The Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition, and the complaints of texts such as Frontier, Conquest, paint a picture of a period of Nord Fatherland nonsense in the early Septim Empire. If the Septims have loudly-declared roots in Atmora, would the Breton aristocracy pass up on acquiring some for themselves? The Breton aristocracy has a high turn-over and a strong self-aggrandizing streak. From the PGE1

Today, the social structure of the Bretons has divided itself into a poor middle class and destitute peasantry, a magical elite separate from their squalor, and an often incoherent jumble of nobility and ruling families above them all. It is beyond the small ambition of this pamphlet to address the latter in any better terms, for even the natives have difficulty distinguishing their leaders from one another. Indeed, it is an old joke among the Bretons: "find a new hill, become a king," and many have taken it to heart. Youths of all professions and trades in High Rock spend their free time in knightly pursuits, real and imagined, performing good deeds and the like for all and sundry, in oft-vain efforts to achieve, one day, a noble status.

Once you've found that new hill, you need a pedigree, I figure.

There are two more references to the PGE1 here: Altmer commenter YR's allegation that Tiber Septim hired a fake street magician to run his Thu'um college, and the dangers of trying to read Direnni Hegemony official documents without the proper ciphers.

#tesblr #High Rock #Bretons #tes fic #lore comedy #niente fic

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askbfdigta · 6 months ago

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The Secret Hero of Dreamlandia...

From a myth to a legend...

Only Four and Two knew about this legend... the legend about this legend because it was a myth of their lands (depends on personal interpretation, but for it, it's) Mathlandia! Mathlandia used to be the city where Algebraliens lived in: it was no peaceful plan, but it didn't resort to conquering others. This legend was often told by Seven as a myth and turned legend by Ten himself.

The myth started off fairly easy because Seven heard lots of stories and considered this to be a myth. It was all about a hero who would risk his life to stop the corruption of their city. The hero was never referred to as a she, but always a he there.

Six: Are you going to go another imagined story about that secret hero?

Seven: Six, it's real, and I can prove it! What do you think of our current leader? Does he have the qualifications for this?

Six: I don't give a shit about this! Just stop with the story!

Seven: That's what all non-believers say. This myth started many years ago with the Roman numbers. They are our ancestors and our blood. Their emperor was a ruthless person who enjoyed their torture. Every scream, every beg for mercy, everything! The emperor didn't care about his people, but nobody stopped him until an unknown Roman number did. He assassinated the cruel emperor and left. He was the secret hero of the Math Empire! If this didn't happen, then Mathlandia wouldn't be here!

Six: Still no proof.

Seven: You will be proven wrong!

And Seven couldn't be more right when Four noticed how the president planned to capture him and other powerful people. That's when Ten finally came to rescue them!

The Lucky Ten!

Ten saved people and told them to do well. That's how Ten became renowned as the secret hero. It was by fate that he was chosen, and it was by fate that he had to choose a descendant as the years would wear him out. Two wanted to become the chosen one, but Ten saw the evils within him. He refused, and that's how the great destruction of Mathlandia happened. Many Algebraliens dead, only a few alive. Four and X chose to wander Earth and create a society and a society he found and began to transform into the then peaceful city of Dreamlandia. Four and X formed the city as a way to escape this.

Four: I'm thankful for letting me look after your show, Announcer Speaker Box.

Announcer: I wouldn't trust you if it weren't for how exciting your show got. You aren't a bad president, after all. Take good care of your citizens, Four.

Four: Thank you for this gift...

[Weeks later]

Four: We did it, X! We created the society we lost, and we gave those people a peaceful life!

X: We really did it? We really freaking did it!

It was the happiest day for both of them... but not for long... until...

The Presence of a God

It wouldn't be a coincidence that Ten chose Taco as the secret hero of Dreamlandia. She was to defeat Two no matter what. She will lose precious people to her, but she will succeed with her friends' help... that's how Four knew that the legend was true... and that's how it's going to be...

To be continued...

There is still a lot Taco needs to learn about...

#bfb au #bfdi au #battle for dream islands: greed takes all #bfdi: greed takes all #greed takes all #bfb:gta #bfdi:gta #bfdi #bfb taco #bfdi taco #bfdi four #tpot four #bfb four #bfdi two #tpot two #bfb two

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tc-doherty · 10 months ago

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You reblogged that Fantasy Ask Game, right? I'm assuming, because you sent me one.

I saw your post about Silverwood and you threatening to never shut up. I am calling your bluff. For Silverwood: I know the answer to Hero will be insane. And I'm also going to Wizard you.

Have fun!

@unclear-contributions

I did indeed reblog it and, the consequences of this are entirely on your shoulders.

Before I get started I just want to say that there is nothing metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic, or referential in Silverwood to connect it to any events, people, cultures, or what have you on earth. Certain actions are the same as certain actions taken in real world history but my characters use them for the same reason the people in our history used them, because they work. It doesn't mean one side is representing any specific people.

I am also leaving out a lot of background and explanation but this is already plenty long enough. If you want more information about anything, feel free to ask because as I said, I truly am capable of never shutting up about this.

That being said, here we go!

HERO - What makes someone a hero in this world?

In order to understand what can make someone a hero in this world, I need to set the context a little bit. In brief, a few hundred years before the start of the story the Emperor of Sanirra (Human) desired the wife of Lord Sereman (Drezhein) and sent people to kidnap her. This sparked off a brutal and bloody war between the two races which ultimately ended in a humiliating defeat for Sanirra. However, although the war technically ended, the conflict between the two races never stopped.

So, then, who's a hero in this context?

The cool and calculating Empress Lyris is a hero to her people even though after the death of her first husband she formed an alliance marriage with the current First Lord of the Drezhein, Seilez. She had three children with him, but none of them ever saw the throne as two of them died in ~tragic accidents~ and the third vanished under mysterious circumstances. Her marriage did usher in a brief era of peace, mostly, between the two races and she encouraged Drezhein to move to Sanirra…while at the same time passing restrictive policies that controlled their behavior.

Lord Seilez is a hero to most of the Drezhein who practically worship him because he is incredibly charismatic and they think that he's about to usher them into a new era of prosperity and civility. They are willing to follow his lead when it comes to relations with Sanirra and with his prompting, many of them do move there, despite the increasingly more restrictive laws.

This notably does not work on Ithea because she was basically raised in a cult so she recognizes bullshit when she sees it, and was the only person who was even curious as to why he was working with Lyris on these obviously harmful policies. Unfortunately she is not a hero to anyone because although she did initially have the support of some of the oldest Drezhein who hate Seilez, her actions are erratic and baffling. Before her death she is the most hated person in both countries. It's only much, much later that people begin to understand what she was doing and why.

The human descendants of Empress Lyris are also heroes to their people as they continuously flexed control over Sanirra AND Cylli (with Seilez's help) creating policies designed to drive the Drezhein into extinction. They can't do it with military might but they can by disrupting their culture, separating them from their families and allies, suppressing their language, interfering with their reproduction, so on and so on.

Ro, who lived a quiet life during generations two and three, is considered a hero in generation four because she is the person who figured out how to break and modify the magical trackers that the Sanirran government was putting on the Drezhein to facilitate their control. (Her siblings are so proud of her, she finally became a true Silverwood by breaking the law. Ro is irritated by this, but like her adoptive mother Ithea before her, she was driven to act in order to protect her grandchildren).

And Rona is considered a hero for inciting the Drezhein to result and ultimately leading the charge to toppling the governments of both Sanirra and Cylli!

Taking a break from that conflict for just a second, Empress Tristira is also considered a hero to her people for killing her tyrannical father and restoring order to their country of Daemirra, but that's a whole other kettle of fish with a whole other multi-generational history.

So there's lots of conflict, and there are lots of heroes and villains on both sides!

WIZARD - Who is your favourite character in this WIP? Describe them!

Ithea is turning 20 this year! She's one of my favorite characters I've ever created, and has also been with me through the worst periods of my life. Even aside from that, she's just so much fun. She's complicated. She's arrogant, and she's violent, but she's also cunning and eloquent. She wants what she wants and she does everything to get it, but the things that she chooses to focus on make no sense to anyone else, and that's the way she likes it. She's incredibly glamorous, and also brutal and manipulative and unpredictable. I love her!

Aside from the obvious, I really do have a lot of feelings about Cyan Silverwood who, compared to the rest of her siblings, is not a particularly important character. She has intensely public persona styled somewhat after the glamour of her adopted mother, but she's a very private person and even her siblings don't know much about what she thinks about anything. Anthem and Ithea, one might say, were not particularly good parents. All of the other kids managed to move on and became well-adjusted and had families of their own. But Cyan ended up being put in a position in the past that she has never been able to move on from. After Ithea died, Anthem became increasingly violent and erratic. Cyan asked for help from other adults in their life but didn't end up receiving it and ultimately had to kill her father to protect her siblings. They don't know about that. No one knows about that. But Cyan was incredibly close to her father and although she did what she had to do, it's very difficult for her to live with it. We don't talk about her much but it doesn't mean I don't think about her a lot.

I also really love Ro because honestly she's just hilarious. She dropped out of school and ran away at 14, got married at 19, and lived her perfect little life with her farm and her community and her loving husband and their 10 kids, only to pick up the Silverwood mantle and commit treason much, much later in life. She honestly hates being connected to the Silverwoods. Although she likes her family, the fact that people always call her Ro Silverwood is a source of constant irritation. She just wants to leave her past behind her and be evaluated as her own person!

~Fantasy Ask Game~

#writeblr #writing #thanks!!#my characters #Silverwood #I pared it down a lot so hopefully it still makes sense #truly thank you I love talking about Silverwood

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ecargmura · 11 months ago

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Hirogaru Sky! Precure Episode 44 Review - The Princess And The Precure

The plot finally starts moving along! The Underg Empire’s ruler, Empress Underg finally reveals herself, but she’s very powerful to the point that Majestic Halation doesn’t even work on her. Somehow, the Majestic Chroniclon sends Sora, Mashiro and Ellee back in time 300 years ago.

First off, why did they leave Tsubasa and Ageha behind? They’re also the main characters, Toei! Way to tell the viewers that they’re scrubs compared to Sora, Ellee and Mashiro. These three don’t even seem that concerned that those two aren’t there. Why did they do this? Is it really because they aren’t that important or is it that they didn’t want to include these two because they’re the smartest characters and can figure out who she is and what’s going on if they traveled back in time with the others? Though, the most logical explanation is that Sora and Mashiro were the closest to Ellee when they were blown back. I just feel like this was a lazy decision on the writer’s part. Like, I get Sora and Ellee because they’re Skylandian, but Mashiro? She’s only quarter Skylandian and has been mostly raised on Earth so she’s not as attached to Skyland as the other two are. I assume it’s to show that Sora and Mashiro are the main duo.

The reveal of Empress Underg was surprising. I really like her design! The punk goth outfit is seriously cool. While she’s seen as powerful, there’s still little known about her other than that she despises Ellee and wants her gone for what happened 300 years ago. Why does she hold a grudge? Was it because of what happened with the Princess of 300 years ago? The Empress did seem nicer in the past where she looked like a sweet and kind girl. Did something happen to the previous ruler, Emperor Underg, that caused her to become the bitter woman she is currently? There’s also the fact that despite Spearhead’s constant failures, she has never once deemed him useless and continues to have him by her side. The flashback reveals that he used to be her tutor.

300 years ago, the Underg Empire was ruled by Emperor Underg, the empress’s father. He seemed like a ruthless man who only cared about flexing off how powerful his kingdom is to Sky Land. However, he did seem to care about his daughter as he didn’t want her to be on the battlefield. I do wonder why the Underg Empire has beef with Sky Land.

The Skyland of 300 years ago is interesting. The ruler at the time was Princess Elleelain. She’s not even fazed upon seeing Sora, Mashiro and Ellee. She even had no reaction when they told her about Precures and what not. I do feel as if she knew that they were coming and that’s what her reaction wasn’t there. If you look at the cast list in the credits, Princess Elleelain has the same voice actress as the First Star back in Episode 24. What happened to the princess after the Legendary Precure descended onto Skyland was never explained. Hopefully, this flashback will reveal it.

Even though the current Precures cannot transform in the Skyland of the past, Sora still does what she can to help the people. I seriously love the way Sora does parkour. The way it was animated was lit.

The legends of the first Precure always had the story as the princess prayed to the stars and that’s when the Legendary Precure showed up. There’s a twist in the story as the Princess and the Precure are one in the same. Cure Noble, the legendary Precure from long ago, is the true form of Princess Elleelain. Cure Noble looks beautiful! I honestly like her design more than Majesty’s. Though, it does make me wonder why she’s Cure Noble, but Ellee is Cure Majesty. If Ellee is supposedly the reincarnation of the Princess Elleelain brought to Skyland from the First Star, shouldn’t she be Cure Noble? Is Majesty a powered-up version or is she a watered down version of Noble? She even says “Descend, mystical nobility” just like Majesty. Noble’s transformation sequence is only brief, yet it feels more well-animated than Majesty’s. But, given that Majesty’s outfit is poofier, I feel like Majesty is the powered-up version of Noble? I guess it’ll be explained in the next episode.

While I’m glad the plot has progressed towards the end game, there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered. Hopefully, it’ll all be explained next episode. I do wonder why it took this long for the plot to finally progress, though. What will happen once Sora, Mashiro and Ellee obtain this vital information about Cure Noble and what happened 300 years ago? What are your thoughts about this episode?

#hirogaru sky precure #precure #sora harewataru #mashiro nijigaoka #princess ellee #princess elleelain #cure noble #empress underg #skearhead #emperor underg #review #anime #anime review

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sophia-sol · 1 year ago

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TGCF volume 1

Over on mastodon I'm participating in a group readalong of TGCF, one chapter per week, and a few weeks ago we finished the first volume of the official translation so I might as well crosspost all my thoughts over to here as like, my book review? Yeah okay here we go! Putting it all below a read more to save your dash.

PROLOGUE

I've read the whole book once before, and I just finished the prologue for this read-along, and it's fascinating to read now in the full knowledge of things that get revealed later; on my first read I absolutely did not realize how much backstory was just glossed over here!

It's fascinating how it both reads very differently and also still entirely the same when you know more!

this is one of the bits that uhhhh really strikes differently!!

[Only then did the crown prince realize that he had just encountered the Heavenly Emperor, who had personally descended to the Mortal Realm to subdue evil. The deities had already taken notice of this exceedingly outstanding God-Pleasing Warrior since his time in the Shangyuan Heavenly Ceremonial Procession. After the meeting at Yinian Bridge, they asked the Heavenly Emperor, "How does My Lord find this Royal Highness?" The Emperor answered, "This child's future is infinite."]

CHAPTER ONE

ok and now I've read chapter 1! ahhhh I just love xie lian so MUCH, what a guy, what an endless delight. Both the hint we get of wee baby newly-ascended 17 year old xie lian earnestly introducing himself to every single other heavenly official, and the current xie lian, cheerfully accepting of his misfortunes

Also: ling wen my beloved <3

also, this time I vow that I WILL keep Mu Qing and Feng Xin straight, no matter how much I have to work at it!

I also love in this chapter how indications given from early on that xie lian is unusually unlucky and also has no spiritual powers, but it's just breezily passed over as if it's no big deal and to be expected under the circumstances....oh ho ho

I do love how much xl and his pov just like....avoid noticing or expending attention on the things that suck in xie lian's life!

Mu Qing (tgcf) and Mu Qing (nif) have impressively divergent character vibes, to the point that I literally didn't even notice they have the same name until it was brought to my attention today!

CHAPTER TWO

Interested by the detail about how much extreme effort even a fairly well-placed lord has to go through in order to get the attention of any of the gods in heaven. Really checks out with respect to how much the heavens seem more interested in their own interpersonal dynamics than in, like, actually doing things for their followers!

It is extremely funny to me that Fu Yao is capable of criticizing the Nan Yang statue for 2 hours straight, and that that's how long it takes before Xie Lian thinks it might be time to change the subject

Kind of heartbreaking how completely Xie Lian doesn't consider that someone might be upset by seeing how injured he got from his fall from heaven! what? little ol' him might matter to someone?!

I was talking last week about how to keep track of which names go with which of Mu Qing and Feng Xin, and I'm very sad to report that my strategy does not completely hold up, because Ju Yang has a u in it, and is a name for Feng Xin. Mu Qing does not have a monopoly on u names after all :( RUDE

CHAPTER THREE

Fu Yao criticising the inefficiency of Ling Wen's palace...as if Mu Qing's palace is able to do anything useful in this situation!

Xiao-Ying is delightful. Willing and able to stand up for herself, but also happy to lend assistance to people who need help, if they were kind to her. But assistance only on her own terms!

hua cheng introduction!!

ahhhh when hua Cheng first finally encounters Xie Lian, he holds out his hand in offer, and doesn't demand or force anything. of course!

"If he was a real groom, then he'd genuinely be a most gentle and considerate one."

Xie Lian is just full of thoughts about how wonderful this mysterious person is, in character and appearance and action, despite the context of meeting him

what a meet-cute! lol

I am really loving #TGCFReadAlong ! such a good way to inspire lots of conversation about this book that I pretty much always want to talk about!

CHAPTER FOUR

I loved Xiao-Ying, how brave and how kind she is, how hard she tries to do what's right, and it's very sad that she ends up dying :(((((

This is the chapter where we get introduced to Pei Ming's womanizing misogyny. Xuan Ji....you could have done SO much better than him! What IS it that makes so many women actually attracted to him?!

But I also do wonder what it was that led Xuan Ji to such an extreme response to being abandoned and rejected by her lover. She was apparently a very capable general, previously, so what led her to all these bad decisions!

CHAPTER FIVE

I do find human face disease to be kind of a silly concept. Like it's developed in interesting ways over the course of the book but the defining symptom has always seemed just a bit silly to me.

I genuinely do not remember though how this kid ends up with human face disease though, all these centuries after the plague! too many things happen in this book lol

ahhh on first read of the book when you see xie lian's reaction to the boy's face, you're like, oh it's a combo of body horror plus fear of the plague that destroyed his home. On second read.....oh it's The Trauma.

It's so sad, too, that it means he doesn't manage to have a chill reaction to this kid who was so worried about showing his face!

on another note, I love how thoroughly hua cheng managed to trounce the 33 gods, and how thoroughly he punished them afterwards when they renege on the parameters of the challenge

it's so funny to me how it makes so much of the heaven terrified of hc, even though hc was behaving perfectly honourably. he issued a challenge and he abided by the agreements in the challenge, that's only scary if you plan to do dishonourable things yourself!

during this week's reading I went back and forth approximately a thousand times about whether Xie Lian has already recognized Feng Xin and Mu Qing or not! I just CANNOT decide. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for further clues as we continue in this book

CHAPTER SIX

it's so funny and charming how xie lian's efforts to engage with the communication array basically come down to those spammy email forward chains that old people used to send all the time!

(I suppose that that energy has been redirected to facebook or something these days?)

I'm also super charmed by how xie lian has basically made himself immune to feeling awkward about things he does. everyone else is super embarrassed for him, to be his own only worshipper, but xl is chill. And thinks "amusing himself could be fun"!

but ohhhhhh xl's inability to come up with anything to say about why he should be worshipped, when the villagers ask him about his shrine! this is what you need hua cheng for!! xl might be chill about many things but it's because his self esteem is in the basement

oh man thinking from hua cheng's perspective about this meeting between him as san lang and xie lian, it's so cute. He looks languid and carefree on the other side of the cart, seems to only start talking with xie lian out of boredom, but you KNOW how carefully he orchestrated this meeting!!! (him and his attractive legs in tight-fitting boots, which he absolutely chose to make sure he looked good for dianxia)

I've been wondering for a while already just how early on xie lian figured out the identities of fu yao and nan feng, but now I also need to remember to pay attention to how early I think he figured out san lang's identity! If he knows it right from the start, it's pretty cheeky of him to be questioning him so thoroughly about hua cheng :P

awwwwww interacting with san lang is the first time in centuries xie lian feels really embarrassed!! because san lang's good opinion actually matters to him!

CHAPTER SEVEN

I love how Xie Lian is already so sure that San Lang is going to be sticking around, that he's not just a transient part of Xie Lian's life. And throughout the chapter it's so clear how Xie Lian just likes San Lang so much!!!

he does his due diligence by testing sl and so forth, but doesn't let that stop him from simply liking and trusting sl regardless, and enjoying his mean streak too lol

and San Lang has such swagger, I love it. He makes it look like he couldn't enter the shrine with the seal on the curtain-door, but actually he just wanted the opportunity to flex. He's just like constantly showing off in this chapter, and making it clear that he doesn't care about anything except Xie Lian

Anyway it's time for the intro of the next plot arc, Banyue Pass, now that the ghost groom is resolved. Nan Feng and Fu Yao are sooo uncomfortable with the fact they're volunteering to help - whether it's bc of the specific mission or bc it's to help Xie Lian is unclear, but could well be both!

Also it's clear to me that nan feng and fu yao recognize san lang & vice versa and they're all mad about it. Xie Lian's uphill battle to get them to peacefully coexist begins!

One question I had was that earlier it seemed evident that Puqi Shrine was named after the fact that the villagers gave Xie Lian water chestnuts, but now apparently the village is named Puqi, so is the shrine just named after the village after all?

First mention of state preceptor Fangxin! If I'm remembering right, this is actually Xie Lian. Love the way that the complex parts of xl's history get seeded in from so early on without, like, making it clear what the actual situation is. This happens a lot in the book iirc, with things being casually referred to early on and then later when you get into it there's like a whole well of trauma for xl!

and one final small observation. xl's perspective on his own cooking: "unable to bear the sight of such a tragedy" ahahahaha

CHAPTER EIGHT

the ongoing attempts to unmask San Lang are sooooo funny

it reminds me a bit of the sort of fairy tale involving endless tests to try to prove that a character is actually a woman dressed as a man, which the character always passes easily but the testers are never convinced. same vibe!

the captain/general the stele is remembering is a guy who tried to keep civilians from being killed in war. this is very like the teenage Xie Lian wanting to save the common people! and Fu Yao criticises the captain's actions, which xl both expects and doesn't seem happy about :( though he doesn't say anything against Fu Yao

and then San Lang cheers Xie Lian up (who had been feeling "a bit woeful") by being mischievous and by convincing the merchants to prostrate before the stele! ahhh I love how attentive sl is, and how much he knows just what to do for xl!

and then San Lang's REACTION to xl being stung - and stung because xl was trying to protect sl! "the expression on the youth's face was /off/" and then the vibes remain off balance for the rest of the chapter and xl is toootally bewildered. what could have upset San Lang, xl???? what could it POSSIBLY have been?? don't strain yourself too hard in wondering!!

anyway I do not remember lots of what happens next in this particular arc, except BEEFLEAF and also chekov's pit of snakes, so I'm looking forward to reacquainting myself with the rest of it as we continue!

CHAPTER NINE

To start, I do not love the othering framing the narrative uses to discuss the Banyue people and language, which from what I understand ties into common stereotypes in China about northern people groups. Huge dark-skinned people who are beast-like, and the language is "ghastly, guttural, and heavy with tongue rolling." Not great.

xie lian your trauma is showing again 😭

[He stepped forward and said in a small voice, "Don't worry. If anything happens, I will go forward first." Xie Lian thought that if they all must fall, he might as well be the first one to check things out. It couldn't be worse than venomous snakes and beasts or menacing ghosts. He couldn't die from the fall, from getting beaten, from bites, or from poison. As long as it wasn't lava or fire, or some pool of corpse-dissolving water, it shouldn't be too terrible when he jumped down.]

San Lang continuing to act way too unbothered, then coolly throwing himself into the pit -- at first it seems to accomplish what xl wanted to do but couldn't (keep the mortals from having to be thrown in first) but then it becomes clear that sl is fully aware of how likely xl is to end up in the pit in short order and wants to be in there first to clean up the mess and CATCH XIE LIAN. (and then xl immediately jumps in after sl, no thoughts present, so good work there sl)

hahaha xl, head empty, taking the opportunity to feel sl up. and then he gets the opportunity to feel awkward for the first time in centuries. sl has inspired him to rediscover embarrassment!

[Maybe it was because the stench of blood here at the bottom of the pit was heavy and disorienting. Who knew what was going through Xie Lian's head, but his hands continued to roam upward until he reached a strong, hard Adam's apple. He snapped out of it in shock and immediately reprimanded himself, withdrawing his hands.]

ahh xl just finds everything about sl so attractive

["Don't worry about him," San Lang said, still holding Xie Lian tight. he made a small sidestep and spun around. In the dark, Xie Lian heard a series of fine clinking sounds: pleasant to the ear, clear and intense, swishing here and there.]

xl is sooooo not used to someone taking care of him!!!

["Why can't I get down?" Xie Lian asked in spite of himself. This guy couldn't possibly enjoy fighting while carrying someone, could he? He didn't need to go that far to look down on his opponent, did he? San Lang's answer was only two words: "It's dirty." "..." Xie Lian had never imagined that would be the answer -- and said with such seriousness too. He thought it was a little funny, but it also made him feel inexplicably strange, his chest growing slightly warm for some reason.]

and then xie lian and san lang's conversation after kemo is defeated!!!!! xl's main concern: making sure sl is safe in the future. sl's main concern: xl judging him for showing irrefutable proof that sl's not actually human. to the degree that sl actually prompts xl with a question about it because he's SO confused that xl isn't concerned!! SAN LANG!!!

Our first encounter with someone xl knew during his time of banishment in the mortal world! Poor Banyue had a rough childhood.

(but also: Banyue kingdom's state preceptor has the same name as the kingdom? Why was she named that? It does allow for xie lian to not realize until now who the state preceptor is, because he thinks people are referring to her by the kingdom she's state preceptor for, rather than by what her name is, but it's weird to me that she'd be named that?)

I had forgotten that xl was actually the general-captain of the memorial marker from the cave in chapter 8! I went back to reread the scene where the captain's story is told and xl's reactions are very illuminating in light of this knowledge. He's not just identifying with the captain for also being a person who wants to save everyone; he IS the captain

"around two hundred years ago, due to certain reasons, Xie Lian couldn't muck around in the east anymore and decided to stay out of sight for a while." HMMM I'll look forward to being reminded later of what those certain reasons were! Gonna guess: one of the various other horrible traumatic experiences from his past that he doesn't like thinking about.

or actually - does anyone know of a good resource that lists out all the relevant events xl's life in chronological order, unlike the reveals of backstory that happen in all kinds of different orders in the book?

CHAPTER TEN

Now that we are at the end of it, I feel like one of the main themes in the Banyue arc is about how much the heavenly court sucks. Which like. YEAH. and WHO'S ALLOWING that unpleasant culture to flourish, hmmm jun wu?!??

(context for the third quote is that Xie Lian is worried the Wind Master will put all the blame on Preceptor Banyue to protect Pei Jr)

["I knew that for close to two hundred years there was something causing havoc, but none of the heavenly officials cared, and no one dared speak of it. So there had to be someone no one wanted to offend keeping this scandal under wraps."]

[The Upper Court wouldn't bat an eyelash at something like this; everyone needed to spill some blood if they wanted to do great things. But slaughtering a city wasn't anything glorious, after all. If the story spread too far, it would affect the number of new believers, so of course there would be some cover-ups after ascension.]

[Xie Lian relaxed. "Much ashamed! I was suspicious." "It's normal to be suspicious," the Wind Master said. "There's certainly an unpleasant culture in the Upper Court, after all."]

The other thing this arc is about is solving a mystery from hundreds of years ago, and relitigating the past between ghosts and gods. Do I see thematic foreshadowing? :D

I love seeing Xie Lian get his first new human believer! and telling the kid his title is the Scrap Immortal - but taking so much convincing to give any name at all, and telling it in the narrative in such a sideways way that it took me a moment to realise what was even meant, lol. xl has Issues around being worshipped

and then of course I LOVE the name reveal at the end of the chapter. it's so them!!!!

[He turned to look at the youth next to him and smiled cheerfully. "He's not hungry, how about you?" San Lang smiled cheerfully back. "I'm starving." Xie Lian grinned and stood up again, before turning around and casually tidying the altar table. "All right, then. What do you want to eat, Hua Cheng?" Behind him, there was silence. Then chuckling. "I still prefer the name 'San Lang.'"]

but my favourite thing about this chapter is that BEEFLEAF ARE INTRODUCED. Hiiiiiiii beefleaf my beloved! Cannot wait to watch that spiral out in the way it inevitably must

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I did my reading last night for #TGCFReadAlong for this week, but what I did was take pics of the sections of text that I had thoughts and feelings about and wrote zero notes....so I am going to have to formulate my thoughts into something coherent now

In this chapter we got to explore a bit more about Xie Lian's current feelings about himself back when he was still the god-pleasing crown prince! Between his feelings about being called "Your Highness," his embarrassment at having told someone to make himself that person's reason for living, and how he reacts to the idea that he used to have as his goal in life to save the common people....it's a lot.

But I appreciate that Hua Cheng pushes back on all of these! hc calls xl "Your Highness" in complete sincerity, and tells xl that his goal was a good goal, and that it is not embarrassing for xl to be someone's reason for living. hc is just like: "you're worthy of being admired!" without ever coming on too strong about it.

It's interesting though - xie lian has complicated feelings he doesn't want to look at about Hua Cheng calling him "Your Highness" in earnest, but he flat out does not want Banyue to do the same thing.

(also, shout out to Ling Wen for not making a thing in any direction out of xie lian's title! she calls him your highness simply because that's his title and then moves on with things.)

can't not point out more content in my "heaven sucks!!!" agenda

[Hua Cheng replied quietly, "They're heavenly officials. Mortals are nothing but ants in their eyes."]

also my hualian being cute agenda!

[That's not necessarily true," Hua Chen said. "Besides, you can always kick me out." Xie Lian replied, "You're so powerful. Even if I kicked you out now, if you really wanted to do something bad, wouldn't you just change your skin and come back?" The two met eyes and grinned.]

[If anything must be blamed, it would have to be the look on Hua Cheng's face, like he was welcoming Xie Lian to test it out himself. Without thinking, Xie Lian raised a finger and poked Hua Cheng's face. After poking, Xie Lian snapped back to himself in shock, yelping /Oh no!/ in his head. He was only curious to see what a supreme Ghost King's fake skin would feel like, but apparently, his body moved faster than his mind and poked him! How extremely outrageous of him! To have someone suddenly poke him, Hua Cheng looked somewhat shocked too, but he was always calm and collected, so his expression cleared instantly. He didn't say anything, but his arched brow raised even higher, as if waiting for Xie Lian to explain. The laughter in his eyes was apparent. of course Xie Lian couldn't explain himself. He looked at his own finger then hid it away, betraying nothing of his thoughts. "...Not bad." Hua Cheng finally burst out laughing, and he crossed his arms with his head tilted. "What's not bad? Do you mean this skin?"]

[Xie Lian was thunderstruck. He flipped over and curled into a shrimp, wishing for another pair of arms so he could cover both his face and his ears. He groaned. "...San Lang..."]

I didn't quite understand this bit though - why does hua cheng laugh in response to xie lian's reassurances about hc's appearance?

["...Well, we're sort of friends now, right? So if we're friends, then we should be honest with each other. My wanting to see your true appearance has nothing to do with how you look. You asked what I would do, but of course I won't do anything. Don't worry, as long as it's your real face, I'm sure I'll... Why are you laughing? I'm being serious." When Xie Lian reached the last part, he could feel the youth next to him shaking. He froze for a moment, and thought, /Are my words so moving that he's touched like this?/ and was too embarrassed to turn around to see. But after a while, the soft laughter from next to him very obviously leaked out. Xie Lian felt rather deflated and placed a hand on his shoulder to give it a little push.]

and then we end with the RING!!!!!

#tgcf #mo xiang tong xiu #heaven official's blessing #book thoughts

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thethrillof · 1 year ago

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I wish you would write a fanfic where you completely unleash your star fox headcanons. you reblogging star fox stuff the other day unlocked part of my brain and i'm so curious now. even just a crumb of some thoughts...

hbhbg man. i just re-remembered it and got annoyed, as i do, about how basic and how much the games just retread. no fic sample b/c idk how yet but random just This Could Be Better thoughts:

krystal! how about she doesn't forget her entire life. actually keep looking for information about her family and/or dying world.

even if she needs to be stuck to another character about it, like...she has an english accent (for some goddamn reason) and wolf does sometimes too, right? give her being a native from her planet directly and him having left when he was a pup or being descended from them. a connection to someone beyond fox, and potential angst!

general villain stuff. andross is so flat. Evil Scientist Emperor yeah sure whatever. he cares about his family enough to get andrew onto star wolf. more of that. moments of checkin in on his nephew. exploring their relationship. andrew wanted to be important and andross put him where that could happen. or even just getting him out of the way but making sure it was where he could be protected by the other members.

pigma also being a flat greedy douche is so boring. have a dude who is generally nasty but sometimes acts uncomfortably nice to fox. because yeah he doesn't regret leading james to his death for money, and doesn't mind twisting the knife to get to peppy, but he knew fox as a kid, and that's all he's going to see. the kid. maybe even cracking some black humor, asking if fox is paying his current crew enough to not do the same.

falco being a gangster getting more than random mentions to jab at him. he can get into all sorts of nasty places on old rep as well as current star fox rep.

he even has informants in andross' army, which absolutely nobody expects. it's out of fear for some, but a lot more of it is he was a jerk with a heart of gold and his random kindnesses (giving cuts to the locals who needed it, warning others off when he could've just shot 'em) weren't forgotten so easily.

this isnt fic use hc this is just a thing: in a game like Assault, give fox all the flight stuff and krystal all the on-foot combat, to match their skillsets.

actually yeah just. developing a small rivalry with falco when she encourages hand-to-hand(ish) sparring and floors him immediately. (More Relationships With People Who Aren't Fox)

james haunting andross. venom is regularly plagued by sightings of a lone arwing that doesn't show up on any sensors, just visuals.

andross actually didn't give a huge shit before that. the original star fox had just been a nuisance in his eyes, and his offer of paying pigma more was for his cornerian information, not out of any particular concern.

the fucking ghost of james mccloud, though. that ratchets his stress and paranoia up. ghosts aren't real, he's a scientific mind and knows better. he must have dodged everything he threw at him. is surviving in venom's airspace even after andross drags the whole place back to another dimension and can't have access to any sort of supplies. there must be something. he is augmenting himself to avoid the weaknesses of flesh such as eating or sleep is coincidence.

#cageofpeace

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randomnameless · 1 year ago

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About the Lizard!Pan hc. I haven't decided on any names yet so he'll just be Pan for now.

To start off, he was at Zanado when Nemesis came around. He somehow survived but his crest stone got damaged, but not enough to turn him into a black beast. No one knew how this would effect him until his first battle in the War of Heroes. He faces one of the Elites, they injured him and he immediately transforms. Thankfully he only attacks the opponents, flails around a bit and collapses. Seiros has to come up with scriptures to cover That up. Pan is benched for the rest of the war and is more paranoid and depressed than ever.

After the war, all the other saints go off on their own, Seiros is building a Monastery and Pan does not trust himself to be around so many humans so he bids her farewell and goes off to roam the land and investigate how the whole relic thing happened. At first he finds nothing, but slowly he starts noticing some clowns trying to start conflicts.

Fast forward to the Faerghus rebellion, he knows the clowns will try to influence these people so he sneakily follows them around. Lo and behold, the slitherers try to interfere and he disposes of them. After following the rebels for so long, he grows sympathetic to their cause. Surely he can help them out a bit, right? So he joins Loog's Squad and becomes a strategist. Since we don't know a thing about the war of eagle and lion idk how to proceed, I just come up with random moments.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, if there's anything specific you want to hear let me know! I have so many hcs about pre-zanado life and relationship with other nabateans!

- Lizard Pan anon

oooh

I always wondered about the Bobs (the blue "natural" demonic beasts we meet, like on Sothis's paralogue, apparently their crest stone is damaged?) but it'd be too sad for a Nabatean like Pan to be afraid of going berserk :(

I wonder how he'd deal with the War of the Eagle and the Lion, Adrestia was their ally, but he grew fond of the Faerghus bunch! Did he try to talk some sense in the "emperor of that time" or asked Rhea to "do something" with the current Hresvelg Emperor?

Was Pan one of Sothis's direct kid, or a second/third gen Nabatean? Is he older than Rhea? Seteth? Did he dote on Cethleann like Macuil and Indech? Did he get along with Cichol, Indech, Macuil and Rhea before the WoH? What was his reaction to Rhea's transformation from "look Mother I made a :) doll!" to "Seiros the Warrior"?

If he was benched during the War of Heroes, did he try to cheer Cichol up after Cethleann went to sleep? Was on Rhea or Macuil's side when it came to "dealing with the descendants of the Elites" before joining them in Faerghus?

Was he some sort of scholar in Zanado? What was his pov about humans before Nemesis's party? Is he still around in the current Fodlan? Did he become a dad to any half-lizards?

and most important question of them all : did he dye his hair

#Lizard Pan anon #replies #u launched me anon #i won't stop anymore #lol #poor lizard!Pan though #he can't use his powers bcs he's afraid to become berserk?#and then he is benched :(#is flayn a half lizard in your hc?#FE16

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mneiai · 2 years ago

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Fic that I am currently working on:

The following is a list of the fic that I remembered to list that I am currently working on, planning on working on, or hoping to work on. A fic that does not appear here is not necessarily abandoned, but I cycle in and out of fandoms and back again with a few years between sometimes.

Fic I am definitely working on/currently updating:

A Coin Has Three Sides - ASOIAF no-Rebellion AU with Princess Rhaenys teaming up with Prince Aemon (Jon) to stop a plot to put him on the throne. Jon & Rhaenys & Aegon.

Is it so far from madness to wisdom? - ASOIAF/F&B/HOTD time travel crossover where Jon becomes the son of Daemon Targaryen. Jon & lots of people (but not Daemon).

Eventuality - GOT time travel AU where Jon ends up a trans man and Dany gets to be a King. Danaerys/Jon.

Fic I am definitely working on but maybe not updating for awhile:

Biding Time - TOG time travel AU with part-Valg!Dorian getting caught up in Valg politics and plotting. Erawan/Dorian, King & Dorian.

Play the Part of Savior - ASOIAF time travel AU where Jon travels back to the Great Empire of the Dawn to figure out how the Bloodstone Emperor starts the first Long Night. Bloodstone Emperor/Jon, Sarella/Jon.

Fire in the Rain - ASOIAF modern AU where the Targaryens no longer rule Westeros, but dream of the day they will retake it. Sansa/Jon, Rhaenys/Aegon/Jon.

No Peace No Rest (rewrite incoming) - BFA AU where Stormwind falls (again) and Anduin takes refuge with the Ebon Blade. Darion/Anduin, Bolvar & Anduin.

Cut Strings (rewrite incoming) - BFA AU where, because of the connections forged during the fight against the Legion, Anduin decides that Stormwind and its territories will become neutral. Wrathion/Anduin, Baine/Anduin.

King's Hero - FFXV AU. Somnus and Nyx make a deal, Nyx survives and Somnus goes with him on a quest to save the world and Noctis. Nyx/Somnus.

Lives Stretched From Sleep - FFXV/vsXIII AU. Attempting to mix VS rumors and XV.

Fic I'm hoping to get back to sooner than later:

The Spare - FFXV time travel AU. Noctis becomes Regis' younger brother. Nyx/Noctis, Ardyn/Noctis. Noctis & pretty much everyone.

How Not To Drown - FFVII-R AU. Sephiroth actually did die during the Nibelheim mission, but Cloud still spends four years in Hojo's tender care before getting back to Midgar. Gainsboroughs & Cloud. Andrea/Cloud.

Tearing Through The Seams - FFVII AU. The Turks save Zack and Cloud before Hojo can get ahold of them and they both stay at Shinra. Zack & Cloud. Cloud & Turks.

A Wolf In Dragon's Clothing - ASOIAF soulmate AU. Jon and Oberyn are soulmates. Future Jon/Oberyn/Ellaria.

Dig My Grave - FFXV vampire AU. Somnus and Ardyn are ancient vampires and rivals, Noctis is Somnus' last living mortal descendant. Ardyn/Noctis.

#my stuff #manyangledfics

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toxic-potions-productions · 22 days ago

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How does Zakiko have a descendent? Let's talk about it

So, I thought about this last night & figured I got nothing better to do since I started blood week & I'm too lazy to draw. So, let's do some ✨lore dumping!✨

Grab a snack, cuz this is gonna be a ride

I'm just gonna put some disclaimers & TWs here now! There's mentions of arranged & forced marriages, death, abandonment, light manga spoilers, violence, & just overall not the weak of heart. You have been warned -----------------------------------------------------

The late Sengoku era was here. Zakiko was already a half-demon, Michikatsu was missing & presumably dead from the demon slayer mark, & Yoriichi had died from "a demon attack" when he was old & brittle & "helpless". Zakiko was the only one still around. & she HATED it. She missed them so much, & all she wanted was to be left alone.

People were getting wed off & arranged by this time, & Zakiko was in no mood to be wed off. She outlived her parents by this point, so there's no way they can sell her off anymore. But, she can still be picked by others. & that would be horrible. So, that basically means she avoided every proposal & offer like the plague. They were all men, & Zakiko was not one for a man to be wed off to. None of the girls at this time really caught her eye, either. Guess she was really independent, or just really picky. Either way, Zakiko kept to herself knowing this was all going on around her.

But, eventually, her nightmare happened.

She was chosen to be married to the current emperor's son after taking the throne, & birth a precautionary heir. Zakiko was livid & chewed out EVERYONE involved, including the son, but she was still forced into this life she didn't want. The son wasn't exactly the most horrible person, perse, but Zakiko still despised him for letting this happen. He really tried to make her comfortable, but she dismissed him every single time, knowing she was angry at everything for this happening. But, despite knowing this wouldn't be the happiest of marriages, he still wanted to at least give her a chance.

So, a marriage later, Zakiko eventually had something growing in her. Something that was absolute HELL. She wanted to get rid of this baby by any means. She's good with kids, but being forced into a life she didn't want, a husband she didn't want or love, along with a new life growing she didn't like already was killing her. To make things worse, she was worried if people would know she's a half-demon this way when the baby comes. She didn't even know this could happen to her at all now that she's a half-demon.

Her "husband" tried to pamper her, care for her, & tend to anything she needed, but she continued to berate & belittle him just for her own protection & putting this responsibility on her. He grew to love her by this point. Zakiko only grew darker & hated these royals even more. Wishing death on them every single time.

She tried to get rid of this every time, but it was all in vain, as they eventually made it into the world. A healthy baby boy, completely human.

While Zakiko was relieved to see no signs of being a half-demon from this infant, she still resented him & her "husband" for this. This isn't what she wanted, this isn't what she needed. She just wanted to be with her actual loved ones again. Yoriichi & Michikatsu never would've let this happen if they were alive.

A few days went by, & Zakiko was exhausted from everything. From the delivery to the current events. She continued to stay there, purely due to how exhausted she was. But, knowing this was essentially her life, she knew she had one thing left to do.

She needed to get out.

She hates the fact she pulled the same stunt Michikatsu did, but it was all for her sanity. She had to leave. She needed to leave.

So.....She abandoned them. Her newborn, her "husband", her royal title, every single part of her life.

Her husband really begged her to stay, but it all went on deaf ears. This was around the time where she was finally perfecting Michikatsu's moon breathing, too. Guess being his Tsuguko was alot more helpful than she realizes.

When guards tried to stop her, she had already snapped & was too far gone. So, if they wouldn't let her leave, she'll force them to make her leave. & that's what she did when she had a stolen wooden sword in hand.

When they charged at her, she finally broke. & did an outward slash to try & shove them off. But, it ended in blood.

"Moon breathing! 1st form! Dark moon evening palace!"

The first moon breathing form she ever truly perfected. & she was actually delighted despite the accidental massacre. This is when she concluded to using his breathing style much more & perfecting it immensely. & with that, she was gone. & her "husband" & son never saw her again.

Her husband continued to raise his son without Zakiko, but he was so heartbroken from not only her absence, but from not a single ounce of reciprocation from how he really felt of her. Nothing.

He eventually died from esophageal cancer. Leaving his son to dismiss his new title & just live peacefully as a commoner. He still occasionally visits his old royal temple, but after knowing what his mother did, he didn't want to live there anymore. Since it reminded him too much of her. He never met her. But, he also somewhat glad he didn't. When your mother leaves everything behind when you're only a few days old, that really tells you alot.

But, Zakiko was just gone. Vanished into thin air. When in reality, she was finally at peace, genuinely a bit happy despite Yoriichi & Michikatsu not being here anymore, & dove herself in head first to moon breathing & practicing it constantly. & eventually, she forgot all about her old life.

Little did she know that this would ultimately lead to a chain reaction of events. & X-amount of years later, her descendent would be born. A shinobi with pink hair, living out in the entertainment district in Yoshiwara, who willingly chose to be arranged to the best kunoichi of this time. The second one arranged after another man with fluffy yellow hair & before the last one with black hair escaping his own wealthy lifestyle.

A split copy of her personality wise, in more ways than one.

Senko Matsumoto.

-----------------------------------------------------

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN

Okay, sorry for cooking too hard. I had alot of fun writing this Told you the triggers would be there for a reason, I'm not responsible for anything!

I'll put mature things on this in a few hours, so read this while you still can

#Demon slayer #KNY-sona #kny oc #oc backstory #tw: mental health #TW: Forced marriages #kimetsu no yaiba

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