#especially if non-guild members showed up and were like

[rain-day-today]

This is so so dumb but here me out

Natsu and gray entering a costume contest together

Everyone thinks that they did it because of Erza or something , and that their entry gonna be some half baked random apart duo.

Then…BAM!

They walk in

Full on crossdressed (and crossdressed well might I add) . like Cancer magic long hair, fake boobs (the things are actually real they just pushed up their man titties), the whole shabang and then some

as Starfire and Blackfire

ITS PERFECT

Natsu & Starfire =pink hair + green eyes + FIRE + childish feisty personality

Gray & Blackfire = black hair + dark (violet/black?) eyes + siblings rivalry + sarcastic personality

Everyone would be STUNNED JAWS TO THE FLOOR

[dduane]

Hi!! So, this has probably been answered in interviews, but as somebody in my late 20s who like JUST watched TNG: is there a reason the show dealt so often with themes of the sci fi equivalent of transracial adoption? There's Worf's whole arc, "Suddenly Human", and several other episodes where the theme of being adopted by someone whose experience in the world does not match one's own is explored with great depth. Was this in the news a lot when the show originally aired? Was there someone in the writer's room who was living this experience?

First of all: when Michael Reaves and I wrote "Where No One Has Gone Before" for ST:TNG in 1987, the formal "writer's room" concept was only just beginning to coalesce, here and there, out of the old producer/senior writer/staff writers structure. As was usual for freelancers of that time, our screen agent simply called the TNG offices and got us an invitation to go in and pitch our idea to Roddenberry and one or more of the senior producers. When they liked what we had, we were asked to submit a written outline. Then, after some notes from Roddenberry and Herb Wright (our story's producer), we were told to go to script. But there was no group/cooperative “breaking out” of the script’s scenes, or idea-sharing, such as you’d routinely see in a room today. Michael and I just went home and wrote the script, turned it in a couple of weeks later, and got paid.

In the seasons that followed, something corresponding to a room did begin to come together at TNG—mostly because it had no choice but to do so. Within its first couple of seasons, TNG had acquired such an awful reputation for the way it treated its pitching freelance writers—including wildly arbitrary notes and even uncredited, secret rewrites from Roddenberry's lawyer—that almost no one with Guild qualifications wanted to bother trying to write for Trek any more. (This is why ST:TNG became one of the very few series operations in Hollywood to start accepting pitches from non-Guild members. See the article here for some background on the situation.)

All of the above being the case, I have no real idea of what the staff writers / nascent ST:TNG room might have been thinking about transracial adoption, or when... especially since later in 1987 I relocated to the UK and then to Ireland, to live with @petermorwood. The move took me somewhat out of the US TV loop, and turned my attention more toward film and TV work (and books, of course) in Europe.

The right person to ask about this—and it's a pity he has no presence here—would be Ron Moore. If anybody has an answer to your question, I'm betting Ron would. It's possible the subject's come up in some interview with him, though, so you might want to look into that.

Anyway, sorry not to be able to be of more help.

[its-adeucen]

The once powerful eccentric guild Fairy Tail reduced to a laughing stock in the loss of their most powerful wizards, within their small numbers stands their last Dragon slayer–once one of four has now been reduced to the last. Hands dripping with ink, destruction left in their wake, uprooted trees and craters litter the ground. Scattered around sparsely, the bodies of bandits unconscious lay covered in ink.

“Ink Dragons Roar!” Inhaling deeply, your hands curl into a fist like shape–holding them up to your mouth, as if you were holding a flute–you inhale deeply before shooting out a bullet like wave of ink towards your opponent. The black coloured magic circle glowing brightly in front of you, and you watch as the bandit flies backwards.

Sighing, you throw yourselves backwards, splaying out on the cold grass beneath you. “Man, the reward for this won’t even make a dent in the guild rent…” Gazing up at the starry sky, you bit your lip before covering your eyes with your arm.

What am I supposed to do…The loss of your fellow guildmates hit you hard, there was no way your guild could keep afloat–that became obvious after the first few years–and after a while, people started to disappear. Guild members who used to ruffle your hair, give you tips on your technique, who would laugh and let you sit in while they played cards, who answered your nonsense questions. People you grew up around, started to leave. By the time you turned thirteen, your once renowned guild hall was reduced to a farmhouse and your family was barely keeping it together. Four years and still no sight of your lost members, you began to take on more and more—more jobs, more house work around the guild, more responsibility—three years later you stand as one of the guild top earners and it’s still not enough.

“Maybe if I pick up a few more odd jobs on my way back…” in the distance, you hear the sound of hooves hitting the ground and the rattling of carriage—the thought of a carriage, leaving you nauseous—groaning you resign yourself to getting up and cleaning the road before some angry merchant gets out and yells at you about road blockage. Just as you start to sit up, you are hit with a sudden feeling of vertigo, your vision starts to go black as you lose consciousness, back hitting the ground.

• You wake up in the coffin confused before resigning yourself to waiting, used to the ridiculous ‘adventures’ that come with being a Fairy Tail member, hoping that it would just be some Dark guild that you’d be able to pummel to the ground before going on your way–maybe grab a snack on your way back to the guild.

• Standing in a library at odds with a talking cat–not an eleceed at that–spitting fire at you, you know that your hope to just fight your way out of this and call it a day has been pulled right out of your hands and thrown into a blazing fire. Especially after some random crow man whips the cat up.

[ The nature of this one's soul is…how curious it appears as if there are two souls, one a childish offspring of the other. A roaring dragon and its child… fit for so many dorms, and yet, non at all–it would seem that this soul already belongs to another group there for, they are fit for No Dorm! ]

• Dorm? Soul? Did that mirror just call you childish?? Oh wait, the cats setting everything on fire. Watching as (nearly) everyone around you begins to run around like headless chickens, you step forward ready to cast a spell and take care of the cat before you find yourselves stumbling backwards–you haven’t eaten anything to replenish your magic yet.

• Soon enough the cats dealt with by a red head and a guy that smells strongly of seafood, everyone’s getting sent off, the bird man’s going to help you get back and what do you mean “What's Fiore!?!!??” You panic, pulling down the collar of the robe you’re wearing, showing your guild mark proudly displayed on the side of your neck only to be met with confusion.

Is this another world?? Is this another Edolas situation?? What am I gonna do?? Is there any way back??

• Later, when you’re lying on an old dusty bed with a flaming cat asleep by your head, in an old abandoned building that is infested with ghosts of all things, your heart skips a beat as you stare up at the crumbling ceiling. THE REWARD MONEY—

• The next morning, you’re presented with a dress shirt and some slacks—no blazer, on account of you being a janitor—and the bird man dodges any questions of pay or food before pushing you out of the house and onto the streets (more like walkways, really) of the school.

• Cleaning up was never your strong suit, considering the role models you had growing up, you’d even consider it the opposite of a strong suit. A Fairy Tail member cleaning up? as if.

• So when the flaming cat—Grim—torches the statue of some queen lady after being egged on by a random ginger, suddenly all feels right in the world.

• It feels even more right when you and your ragtag group of…whatever you all are, destroy an expensive chandler!

“What’s your name again? Juice or something??”

• Making it to the mines, you pick up Grim and begin to flail him around like a torch as you search for the Magic stone. Ace and Deuce bicker behind you and you feel a twinge of nostalgia hit you as you think back to Natsu and Grey.

• All this reminding is tossed aside in favour of running away from a giant monster in the mines, hurling attacks at you and the boys. There’s shouting and yelling before you stand your ground, instructing the boys and Grim to fight the monster.

• It’s only when you’re out of the mines and onto a field of grass, the monster's glass head shattered into a million pieces, the grass burnt, you notice the ink staining the ground. Bending down to dip a finger in it, you cautiously flick it with your tongue before your eyes widen.

What was that thing?

• You and Grim are enrolled into the school as one student—due to your ‘lack of magic’—and you are actually given a blazer, still no vest though, and a striped ribbon to use like an arm band. Grim looks at it and cackles, pointing towards his neck; “Look! We match, Henchmen!”

• Ace nudges at you with his elbow, jokingly calls you Prefect, before saying goodbye and heading off with Deuce. You smile as you wave the two off, finding the new friendship exciting.

• It’s less exciting when you throw your front door open at, way too early in the morning o’clock, to find Ace in his pyjamas, collar around his neck and a bag slung over his shoulder like a kid who’s just run away from home after a fight with his parents.

“Ace, why are you here at…whatever time it is.”

• School sucks, and Dormhead’s seem to suck even more seeing as thanks to Ace's rude interruption you weren’t able to sleep any longer. Sitting still was always, hard, not being able to move was like torture. Not being able to move while being forced to learn things was even worse.

• You barely managed to learn how to read from Erza, and that was traumatizing—you did not come out unscathed.

• Lunch is a godsend, finally some food—you barely managed to keep yourself from stealing and dismantling Deuces pen just for a quick little snack the class before. This too is horribly interrupted by another ginger as well as some green haired guy with glasses, giving you a run down on the school dorm.

• You tone it all out until you're shocked out of your thoughts by a shrill shout of,

“And You! Fix your shirt collar, and wear a tie that is horribly out of uniform—is, is that a tattoo!?”

• “Oh, I never noticed before…” Deuce mutters from your side, leaning in closer. “No way prefect, where’d you get someone willing to tattoo you so young?!” Ace also leans in, collar shining under the light.

• “I wanna know too, come on why don’t you tell upper class man Cay-Cay, I promise not to tell!” Ginger number two makes a motion to fake zip up his mouth as he stares at your neck. “I’m more curious as to what the tattoo means.” Glasses smiles at you, but he also leans in to look.

• Looking away as all the eyes stare at your neck, you place your hand over it to cover your guild mark as you laugh—trying to change the subject—before Redhead shouts something about tea and the subject it dropped completely.

• The week breezes by quickly, and before you know it, you’ve made some tarts, pissed off some guy with lion ears and a tail, got yelled at about said tarts, learned all about some magic history, alchemy and Redheads traumatic backstory.

• Finally, you stand and watch as Ace and Deuce try—and fail—to beat their Dormhead.

• And then you feel it.

Your heart jumps a beat, and the hairs on your neck stand up—the air changes, turns sharper as the feeling of bloodlust and anger fills the air. Your ears are ringing as you watch the Redhead warp and change, ink clinging onto his small form and a familiar bottle headed monster emerges up from behind him—people behind you gasp and run—you feel the Birdman grab your shoulder and shake you warning you to run as the monster behind the Dormhead lets out a roar before sending a wave of ink towards Ace.

“Prefect wait!—” There’s a shout behind you as you wrench yourself from the Headmaster's grip, throwing your body infront of Ace, taking the attack head on.

“No way…” Ace gapes from behind you, the attack disappearing, having been eaten by you. Licking your lips, you smile as you stare down Redhead, high on adrenaline—excitement rolls off you in waves—inhaling deeply, you go through the familiar motions of curling your hands into near fists.

“What are you doing!? Get out of there! You don’t have any magic—”

“Ink dragon…” The words leave your mouth easily, you plant your feet firmly on the ground as you lean back every so slightly before lurching forwards—a magic circle appearing in front of you. Magicless my ass.

Your lips curl into a smile as you shout out. “ROAR.”

I’m tired, and I picked this prompt from a wheel spinner—honestly, there were other options like KHR, KNY, Madoka, PJO and a few more on there so we’ll see if I ever go anywhere with those, maybe i’ll make another thing. (am open to suggestions for more ideas)

Originally, ‘Yuu’ was going to use Maker magic, like ‘Ice Make’ and the such but the idea of a cat companion was way funnier so dragon slayer it is! This isn’t proof read or anything so 🤷

ALSO i haven’t watched fairy tail since around the like, seventh grade and it’s been forever since I’ve seen the prologue of Twst

[primatechnosynthpop]

Bustin' meshi. Or something idk (click for full view)

[ID: drawings of fantasy versions of the real ghostbusters, specifically set in the universe of dungeon meshi. Peter is a cat beastkin and is sitting with his knees drawn up and a somewhat sullen expression. Ray is a half-foot who's reading with an excited smile from a book that's giving off magic energy. Egon is an elf who's wearing a cape and holding a staff, hair blowing in the wind as he casts a spell. Winston is a tall-man wearing armour and has a hand poised near his sword, but is otherwise relaxed. Janine is an elf hybrid holding a staff with a sly smile. The colours of their outfits evoke their designs from the show. Each drawing is accompanied by a short bio, transcribed under the cut:

Peter- His father had him made into a werecat as a young child so he could earn money as an attraction at the traveling circus his family worked for. He reluctantly agreed only because he and his mother needed the money. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, the spell didn't include the ability to switch between forms. After his mother died, he took up refuge in the dungeon, scrounging and scavenging to survive while searching for a way to remove the spell.

He bartered with adventurers for supplies and sometimes ripped them off, but never robbed anyone directly. When he got a little older he started working as a rogue for hire, but never stuck around with anyone for long until he met his current party members. He has solid fighting skills, and lately his teammates have been trying to teach him magic, but he’s largely disinterested despite showing aptitude for it. He doesn’t care much for monsters.

Ray- When his parents died deep in the dungeon, he was taken in by gnomes who were their former party members. They taught him gnomish magic, but his curiosity ran deeper and he began researching elven magic as well. He can’t use much offensive magic himself, but he likes learning about it anyway.

Apart from an impressive collection of tomes and grimoires, he also enjoys books of the non-magic variety. Lately he’s taken up blacksmithing as a hobby. He’s weaker in direct combat and often has to stay on the sidelines during fights-- much to his own frustration, as he’d like to see monsters up close

Egon- A top student at the country's leading magic academy, he's obsessed with magic of all kinds, including the forbidden sort. He knows all there is to know about monsters and the dungeon.

His parents were court magicians and wanted the same for him, but he chose to venture into the dungeon against their warnings because he wanted to see monsters up close and prove to himself he could defeat them. His spellcasting ability is tremendous, but his arrogance has gotten him in trouble often and his healing magic, though effective, is quite painful for the recipient. His long-term goal is to destroy the demon.

Winston- He wasn’t interested in joining his father’s carpentry guild but knew he had to support his family somehow, so he left home and spent some years as a soldier in his youth. When he returned home, he put the fighting skills he’d learned to use as an adventurer for hire despite not being especially interested in dungeons. His lockpicking skills also came in handy here, as some parties would hire him as a rogue if they already had enough fighters. He’s skilled in his trade and has a lot of valuable experience, but knows very little about monsters or magic apart from what his grandmother taught him as a child.

His father didn’t want him exploring dungeons or hanging around magic users, which deepened the existing conflict betwen them. His mother doesn’t mind as much long as he keeps himself safe, and even gets along with some of his party members. He had never gone deeper than the third floor before joining his current party.

Janine- Raised in a diverse community in the Southern Central Continent, she has gnome ancestry on her mother's side, which often leads to her being mistaken for a half-elf. Because of this, she has some hangups about her appearance, particularly her red hair. Her magic is largely self-taught and there’s a lot she still doesn’t know, but several parties have hired her as a healer/support caster, and she’s proven herself quite capable. However, she’s not content to stay in support roles, and tries to contribute to fights even if she still needs to work on aiming her fireball spells. Her healing magic is only mildly painful, but her bedside manner leaves much to be desired.

She's not too interested in monsters, let alone the dark arts, but she'll follow the person she loves down any path, no matter how dangerous it may be-- although not without voicing her complaints now and then.

End ID]

[fairybond]

Droy

Name: Droyan Berge Nickname: Droy Age: 26 Magic: Plant Occupation: Assistant Head of Outdoor Maintenance for the Council (main verse), Fairy Tail mage (timeline dependent) Likes: nature and being outside, reading, puzzles/games, DIY projects and crafting, art, painting Dislikes: fickle people, disorganisation, 

History:

He grew up in a small mountainside town, happy with his peaceful life with his parents and older sister. They lived on the family farm, using magic to tend to the land and help it prosper. Droy himself, being only young, had only just begun to develop his skill with magic when the roaming bandits came to town. The rogue mages took every available resource and crop, destroying all buildings as they did so. They attacked anyone who fought back against them, including little Droy and his family.

Droy was badly injured in the event, and woke to find that the bandits had left and his family were dead (among many others). The community never recovered and Droy was sent to the nearest orphanage, in Magnolia.

It was there that he met Sarusuke (later to be known as Jet). He learnt that the same bandits that had attacked his town, had also attacked the other boy’s village. They shared their pain and bonded.

Upon learning that it was the Fairy Tail guild that had stopped the bandits later, the two boys became fascinated with it and with magic. They practiced their magic and were soon able to join Fairy Tail. They got along well with the other young members of the guild but mostly kept to themselves. They would go on jobs separately however, as they couldn’t seem to work well together when it came to requests. It wasn’t until they formed a team with Levy that they were able to get in sync and become a reliable group.

Personality:

Hardworking, even as a child assisting his parents, he is not someone who shies away from a difficult task. He can be quite the perfectionist, and hard on himself, but he gets satisfaction from completing a job well and through seeking order. He can be meticulous and persistent about the things he’s got a passion for – his plants and gardening tools especially.

He’s always been on the more serious side (particularly in comparison to Jet), and more introverted than his friends. To those who don’t know him well, he can appear almost aloof at first, but it generally doesn’t take him too long to warm up and show his kind, friendlier side. He enjoys a good joke and pun and has a generous nature that prompts him to share with others.

He is the realist to Jet’s optimist and tends to lean on logic and his own perceptive skills. A practical sort, he prefers a sensible approach to most things and would often get annoyed by Jet’s more frivolous behaviour at times. He enjoys working on projects and figuring out how to make things work better.

Reading is something he became interested in after becoming friends with Levy in their youth. He loves to learn and prefers to read non-fiction books.

Despite being rather sensible, he can be prone to great stubbornness. When he was younger, such stubbornness often put him at odds with Jet (which contributed to some of their difficulties in trying to work together pre-Levy).

(Romantic) Feelings for Levy:

He came to truly admire her when she joined the team with him and Jet, growing a great respect for her and her abilities. He did not, however, develop romantic feelings towards her and instead sees her as on of his closest friends, more like a sister.

Magic:

His primary gift with magic is the ability to manipulate plants, particularly in the acceleration of their growth. He is also able to enrich soils to promote growth, however it takes a fair bit of energy and concentration. He is able to rapidly grow any plant around him and bend them to his will, even granting them some abilities, however he found it was more convenient to imbue special seeds with different abilities beforehand and them carry with him, as it takes a fair amount of time and energy to change the property of a plant in the middle of a battle. By carrying seeds, he is able to pick the ones that are most suited to his needs at the time, throw them, and use his magic to grow them in an instant.

X784 – X791

He and Jet were beyond devastated upon learning that Levy and the others on Tenrou were gone. For a while, everything just seemed to stop. The guild was quiet. Eventually, however, they had to move on, had to try to continue to live. They took jobs together, using strategies Levy had come up with and worked with them on. They were able to help keep the guild afloat for a little while, but the bills and troubles began to pile up, even with the acting guildmaster, Macao, doing his best.

At times, he considered leaving the guild, abandoning the sinking ship, but the thought was barely formed before it was dismissed. Some people did leave the guild, but while there were still members remaining, he couldn’t bring himself to leave too.

The years were difficult, he struggled to find the same joy in his plants and gardens as he used to, they no longer offered as much comfort as they used to. He began to indulge in sweets and treats, finding some temporary happiness from them. However, before he fell too deep into an unhealthy habit with such treats, Jet stepped in. Droy then discovered an interest in art and in painting (helped along by Reedus), something with helped distract his mind and heart.

When Jet began a relationship, Droy was supportive. He dated a few women himself at different times during this period but was never able to commit. When Jet’s relationship ended after 2 years, Droy was once again supportive of him and understood how things went wrong.

As the Tenrou team returned, he began to hope that those Fairies who had remained in the guild would start to live life properly again.

Appearance

You may note that I’m not including his post-Tenrou physical appearance as canon. This is for several reasons –

1)     I don’t like how it was handled in canon, I think at one point it’s said he was eating emotionally (I can’t seem to find it), which would make sense given the emotional pain he and the others were going through in losing their friends, however, it’s then not mentioned again (I know he’s barely even a side character so would never get that kind of development or screentime but still). His weight, especially if coming from such a serious issue, should’ve have been dealt with/written better and given some sort of closure. Instead, he is made into a joke several times and his character is reduced to simply being that guy that’s always eating. It’s disrespectful and harmful, and while I could still write him as being his canon size and have it be something that is developed better, I’m choosing not to (aside from him almost heading down the path of such eating habits) because of the next point (in addition to the fact that food related issues are not something I feel comfortable writing about). I think the other explanation in canon might have been that he simply ‘discovered he enjoys food’ which I find to be lazy writing and still not handled well.

2)     The way I see Droy in my mind – his personality is more like his first appearances, he’s cool, he’s kinda brooding looking, he’s serious about his friends. For me, during the 7 years, he was dedicated to trying to help keep the guild afloat, so he had to maintain his fitness and skill as a mage in order to do his best and do what he could for the sake of everyone. He also is highly attuned to nature and plants due to his magic and is aware of (and highly enjoys) the benefits of fruit and vegetables, so he maintains a healthy diet and is a vegetarian – so no, he’s not going to be snacking on a fried chicken leg at every opportunity. The way I see Jet also comes into play here – he is a fitness freak, and while he loves a good treat every now and then, he’s more than happy to burn it off with extra exercise. He would not let one of his best friends enter into an unhealthy lifestyle for very long.

Fairy Tail’s Disbandment:

Having Levy with him and Jet during this time was some comfort. They stuck together for a while, living together as a group and doing small jobs where they could.

Eventually, they talked about their options. They didn’t have it in them to join a new guild, instead deciding to try something different. Levy applied for a job at the council and was accepted, and she encouraged them to pursue their dreams. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for Jet and Droy and they struggled to support themselves. While keeping in contact with Levy, they did their best to convince her they were fine and she didn’t need to worry. Droy didn’t want to be a burden on her.

Luckily, through her work with the council, Levy heard of a few job openings for which they would be perfect for. Jet became a specialised courier for the Council, while Droy went to work for their ‘Outdoor Maintenance’ Department.

Fairy Tail’s Revival:

He, along with Jet and Levy, returned for the reinstatement of Fairy Tail, glad for the chance to catch up with everyone. They were all tempted to rejoin, however, decided not to in the end as they felt their time as guild mages had passed and they enjoyed their current jobs. Droy, and Jet, did decide to spend some time with the revived Fairy Tail and consequently became involved with the war and fought alongside everyone.

Job:

He joined the Outdoor Maintenance Department of the Council at an entry level position. Essentially, this department is about gardening and landscaping – they tend to the vast Council gardens as well as the outdoor facilities, and this extends to any Council related building. They also, however, are responsible for helping to repair the land and habitats that have been affected negatively by mages or magic related disasters – i.e when the ground is torn up or exploded during a battle. Following the war, they have a lot to do.

Droy became a highly valued member of the department during his first year, quickly moving up to becoming the Assistant to the Head of Department. The job is one he enjoys immensely – loving being able to be outside, working with his hands, and making an improvement on the land, it’s very satisfying for him to see progress and to help set things right again. He has been working with a lot of Earth mages and working on learning some of their skills, as his family had a lot of Earth mages and it would be a great addition to his skillset.

[qinyan]

Shamanism — one of the healing arts. Xiejie Liubo’s former involvement in the Shaman’s guild.

Disclaimer: Although some parts of this headcanon are referenced from real life lore, there are certain parts of it that are also either made up, or simply taken for its repetitive appearance in other xianxia universes. Therefore, they are not realistically accurate to a T. 

Shamanism and all words associating with it always had a negative connotation simply due to the fact that it was the Hans who wrote history after Confucianism and Daoism were introduced to the larger society, viewing it as an immoral practice due to the involvement of blood sacrifice and usage of human lives. Sometimes, it’s also viewed as (dark) sorcery, as Shamans are often regarded as people who held the ability to communicate with beings from the spiritual world, asking them for advise, prophecies, even favours. 

However, in reality it’s simply one type of the healing arts. Their ability relies on their extensive knowledge and know-how to use wild herbs in its natural form, not having to process them in order to form medicinal pellets, such as how the people of the Central Plains does it. In some cases, this does extend to ‘immoral’ practices* and where herbs are involved, they can kill as brilliantly as they can heal. 

When Xie’er first started out to be a Shaman, the aim was to become a physician, but it so happens that life took him down the other path and eventually shifts his focus to become a master of poisons. When he was still in Nanman, he was a member of the Shaman’s guild and served as an apprentice before he was forced to become independent after its destruction, spared only because their elders had decided to sacrifice themselves so that the younger ones could live. However, as a Man of Nanman Xie’er does not particularly hold any grievance against Han people for the destruction of his clan, as they were taught that the world operated in a way where it will eventually iron out all those who are too weak to survive. Especially as the son of a Khatun, he was also taught some politics that empires and lands rises and fall, so if one were to happen during his lifetime, that was simply fate that the stars has arranged for them.

This, however, doesn’t stop Xie’er from being proud of his barbarian origins, despite that it’s often the topic of contempt among the Han people which dominated the Central Plains. In spirit, he had always been a Nanman. He had their temperament, went by their culture, and held their beliefs. Though being brought up with Han culture eventually after being adopted by Zhao Jing had a vague impact on his beliefs, he is still more Barbarian than he was ever a Han. The way he dresses - a very non-Han, and presumably, Nanman hairstyle, but adorns himself with Han robes and jewelry - can testify that he still considers himself a Nanman, albeit in Han territory. His temperament is also very Nanman-like; he’s not interested in poetry or the four arts of civilized people (qin playing, calligraphy, chess, painting), but he shows passion in poison and crafting weapons that he’d adopted from the Nanman’s natural love for hunting. 

His 药人 (Medicinal live human subjects) is one of the immoral practices of Shamanism. The process involves using a live human and consistently bathing them in or feed them with poisonous insects or animals (snake venom, scorpions, centipedes, frogs), to cultivate their blood so that it may be used as either a powerful breed of poison to kill or to heal. The same works with feeding the live subject medicinal herbs with healing properties. Such practices are banned in the Central Plains, presumably by the Emperor, due to the tactic it requires to produce such effective but powerful substances. However, it’s still a common practice among the Barbarians, and Xie’er, especially, as a Nanman will never (IC-wise) understand what is wrong with it when his subjects are usually willing to offer themselves up as vessels. 

This is often where his opinions clashes with Zhao Jing during their discussions behind closed doors. Zhao Jing, he knows, does not particularly care about morality, but rather, his yifu simply does not wish to get his hands dirty by something so taboo in the Central Plains. More often than not Xie’er thinks Zhao Jing is a coward for being so squirmish, but he himself feels nothing but proud of his achievements. However, most of the times Xie’er will not push the subject if Zhao Jing insists to keep a tight lid on this ‘secret’, simply because he doesn’t want an argument to spark between them, but his opinions about the whole matter does not truly change.

...

*immoral practices: the usage of this term is strictly coming from the pov of Han people. The four barbarians, and in xie’er’s case, the Nanman people, would not find anything odd with using live humans as medicine. This will also be reflected in rp, depending on whether I write a Han or non-Han, the characters would have conflicting opinions on it.

[melbournenewsvine]

Was the Golden Globe killed because of scandals?

Then there were two dubious nominations for the Globes Emily in Parisincluding Best Television Series Musical or Comedy, which followed the Paramount Network which treated more than 30 voters on a lavish show visit in France that included two nights in a five-star hotel. Protests that followed the revelations included the return of Tom Cruise to his three Golden Globe Awards, a Times Up campaigning to protest the lack of black members, more than 100 public relations firms signing an open letter saying the association could lose access to the stars without reform, and a boycott by Netflix. Amazon and Warner Media. After NBC decided not to air “The Globe,” the association promised long-awaited reforms to improve accountability and increase diversity. They added new members, some of whom were black, banned members from accepting gifts, appointed a chief diversity officer, and created a credentials committee to reaccredit existing members. As NBC airs The Globes again in a one-year deal, there is still a power struggle in Hollywood over whether the reforms are enough. Craig Grewe, who has worked in marketing in Hollywood for decades, writes that the association now has “more rules, more watchdogs, more guidelines and more ethical separation than any other voting organization in Hollywood” and puts the boycott on “a select few leaders” public relations agencies, mostly white and mostly female, [who] I decided to take over the globe to seize power.” HFPA spokesman James Lee says it now has 200 electors and that the Globes “will now be the only major Hollywood award that will be voted on by a majority of women and racial minority electors.” but according to The Hollywood ReporterMany in Hollywood still consider the association morally suspect, noting that a quarter of its members voted against the changes and none were disqualified by what was promoted as stricter accreditation criteria. That reputation hasn’t been helped by news that sports and entertainment magnate Todd Boehley’s investment firm Eldridge Industries was taking over the association, turning it into a for-profit entity — philanthropic activities would continue under the not-for-profit arm — and members would receive an annual salary of $75,000. That raised eyebrows: these journalists would get a guaranteed salary before they even sold a single story? More than 100 new non-member journalists can vote at Globes, to increase diversity, but they will not be paid. Lee tells me that the HFPA will cease to exist soon when a new corporate entity takes over and its members will become full-time employees and may not be writing stories anymore. “Like any private for-profit startup, there will be a whole bunch of different jobs to be fulfilled,” he says. “It’s not just writing. It could be a whole bunch of other things.” loading Should the globe return to business as usual? It’s wise to remain skeptical since the same members are still voting, even if they are now outnumbered by a new, more diverse group of journalists. And the evasive behavior that he exposed Los Angeles Times It’s hard to forget. Although many in Hollywood are far from the worldview, they believe they need Globes because of all the challenges of the post-pandemic. “The Screen Actors Guild Awards aren’t even on TV anymore, the Independent Spirit Awards were dropped by its announcer, and the Emmys just hit an all-time low of 5.9 million viewers,” Lee says. So, if Hollywood is looking to market its products, especially to an international audience, so are the Oscars and Globes. There is nothing else.” But if the scandal didn’t kill the Globe, it wiped out the Hollywood Association of Foreign Journalists. Discover the next TV, series and streaming movies to add to your must-watch. Get your watch list delivered every Thursday. Source link Originally published at Melbourne News Vine

[audreydoeskaren]

Have you read Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim? Idk what Era precisely it's meant to be, but I'm curious if anyone in the Chinese fashion sphere has anything to say about the clothes making/designing portions of the book, re: what clothes making was really like, the job of a royal tailor/tailors in general (were they common, or did most people make their own clothes? Was it a respected job?), that kind of thing! Thank you for your work on this blog!

I don't usually read fantasy novels like Spin the Dawn but I can say a thing or two about clothing production in imperial China. The state of dressmaking was different for each era and I can only talk a little bit about the Ming and Qing. Obviously I don't know the complete details of every stage of production for clothing, I'll just share some things that I do have knowledge on. Most of my information came from Rachel Silberstein's book A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing, which could be read on JSTOR.

Royal dressmaking

Clothing that was meant for royal use was seldom created by one person alone, but rather the combined efforts of specialists and professionals in different areas. The designs would be made by artists in court, then textiles used for the clothing would be commissioned from state owned textile workshops, then sent to tailors to be sewn into garments and then to embroiderers if embroidery was required. Embroidery wasn't always necessary, since for most of the Ming fashionable and prestigious clothing was made from fabrics with woven patterns (e.g. brocades, damasks) instead of embroidered ones; embroidery would not become the dominant form of decoration until the Ming-Qing transition in the mid 17th century. Normal people wouldn't be able to purchase fabrics from the imperial workshops, but imperial workshops have been on the decline since the late Ming and commercial workshops were producing quality fabrics on a par with those from the imperial ones. Imperial workshop also frequently sublet their work to commercial ones.

As to the design aspect, formal court dress was heavily regulated as to what patterns and garments could be used for what occasion, so there wasn’t much room for artistic liberty. It was on informal clothing that more creativity could be exercised; embroiderers could choose what patterns and motifs go on garments and tailors could experiment with different proportions.

Source

Women’s 吉服 jifu formal ensemble from the Qianlong era. The patterns and their placement for such formal garments were fixed.

Source

Guangxu era informal 氅衣 changyi. The final appearance of this garment was still the combined efforts of many people, e.g. the weavers decided on the purple color, the tailor decided on the proportion and the embroiderers the floral motifs etc..

Home dressmaking

Common people prior to the 17th century mostly made their own clothes, particularly by the female members of the household. It was very common to make clothing from scratch i.e. the growing of cotton or grooming of silkworms, to fabric weaving, sewing and embroidering. It was considered a part of women's education to learn how to weave fabrics and sew garments together, but this doesn't mean that the entire dressmaking process was confined to women or one person either; men, who were expected to do farm work, would grow the crops necessary for the weaving of fabrics, and often assisted in the weaving process. Since the majority of the Chinese population lived in the countryside, many families produced fabrics from raw materials they made on their own farms and made clothes from said fabrics. Because of the difficulty in weaving brocaded fabrics by oneself, home dressmakers who couldn't afford to buy ready woven fabrics prior to the late Ming had to limit themselves to plain fabrics. In the late Ming and early Qing, the rise of embroidery as the dominant method of decoration meant that fashionable patterns became available to less wealthy people who couldn't afford to buy expensive brocaded fabrics, since they could reproduce all the fashionable patterns with just needle, thread and spare time. Embroidery books showing popular patterns and motifs were widely available and could be purchased cheaply. With that said, that doesn't mean that the entirety of a garment had to be made from scratch; many decorations and notions could be bought from shops, like trimmings, ribbons, buttons and prefabricated embroidery appliques. The seamstress would just need to buy the fabric, decorations and notions and put them together as one garment. In the Qing, women seldom went out of the house, and they relied on vendors or middlemen for vendors who brought products to their homes for sale. For women at the time, being a skilled weaver, seamstress or embroiderer was a highly desirable trait, not just because it symbolized "female virtue" whatever that means, but also because it provided work opportunities. Women who were otherwise not employed could take commissions from commercial weaving, tailoring or embroidery workshops as a side income.

Commercial dressmaking

Since the 17th century, the textile industry was increasingly commercialized and it since became more viable to purchase ready woven fabrics from commercial workshops, especially for people in urban areas.  These were usually owned by rural families as a side income, and they would often hire landless people to work in their manufactories. I don't know if owning a textile manufactory was a respected job (probably not, considering the literati's hatred for everything commercial) but these people did make serious money. Family operating businesses were often co-owned by wife and husband. Embroidery workshops making prefabricated embroidered appliques and tailor shops making ready to wear garments were also quite common, often relying on middlemen for delivering orders and negotiating prices between the workshop and individual embroiderers/seamstresses in the countryside. In Qing tailor shops, it was often the case that only menswear could be purchased ready to wear, whereas womenswear was made to measure or by the wearer herself. Within tailor shops, there were many subdivisions of labor, like some people did pattern drafting, some people cut pattern pieces and some people assembled the garments. The status of commercial tailors has historically been low, mostly because of the Confucian ruling class’ disdain for consumption, luxury and anything non-self sustaining.

Source

Ca. 1780s export painting showing weaving women.

Feminist tangent

In the Qing, most home weaving and embroidering were done by women, but the commercial workshops were male dominated and their guilds prohibited entry for women, because commercial dressmaking had become a lucrative business and men didn’t want to share employment with women. Male employees in workshops were considered artisans and better paid, whereas women who had to work at home were considered unskilled labor and paid less. Most commercial tailors in the Qing were also male, for reasons similar to why embroidery was male dominated. Whereas women commonly sewed clothes for themselves and their families, they were often prohibited from becoming professional tailors working in workshops or joining a guild. It’s that bogus thing where handicrafts are “women’s work” but when men see how profitable they are they suddenly become “artistic” and limited to men. 

Commercial tailors, who were male, were seen as a cultural abomination for doing what was historically seen as “women’s work” for profit. In order to elevate themselves to a higher, more respected status, they chose to throw women under the bus and revise the history of all things historically considered “women’s work” to make them more male centered. An example of this was the 露香园 Luxiang Yuan or Dew Fragrance Garden, a renowned Suzhou embroidery workshop built up by three generations of women of the Gu family, who owned the estate and was the namesake of their style of embroidery, 顾绣 guxiu or Gu embroidery. The male family head at the time, Gu Mingshi, later became the patron saint of the Suzhou embroiderer’s guild founded in 1867. The reason why Gu Mingshi was worshipped instead of the three women who made Gu embroidery famous was largely because male members of the Suzhou embroiderer’s guild needed historical justification for their exclusion of women and erasure of women’s contributions. Apparently late 19th century scholars also complained about this misogyny so this isn’t a new understanding.

Source

Gu embroidery by Han Ximeng, one of the three OG Gu women.

With all of this said, it doesn’t mean that women stopped working in commercial embroidery; women were actually the backbone of the industry, they just didn’t get any recognition from official, male written guild records and such. Many people in the 19th century observed that while the resident embroiderers in commercial workshops were men, a lot of their work was sublet to independent female embroiderers in the countryside, who were not credited on the finished product or advertising. 

Now I’m kinda inspired to make a whole rant about working women in the Qing and their representation (or lack thereof) in the Republican era, but there are some 20 unanswered asks sitting in my ask box so maybe later😅

[askkrenko]

Krenko’s Guide to Creature Types: Mutant

Art by  Luca Zontini

What is a Mutant (flavorfully)?

A Mutant isn’t what it is, but it isn’t something else. Mutants are creatures that, while originally their other creature type, have been modified significantly. Mutants are often larger, stronger, and have strange powers. They’re also hated and feared by a society they protect. Sometimes. Sometimes they just try to kill everyone.

While Mutants can theoretically show up anywhere, there are two primary sets of Mutants in the multiverse. On Dominaria, the power of a magical artifact called the Mirari warped creatures all around the island of Otaria, creating Mutants in the Onslaught block. These mutants exemplify their species traits, such as elves becoming more plantlike, goblins becoming more brutish, and zombies being even more twisted.  In Ravnica, the Simic Guild regularly uses biomancy to alter and augment creatures, inventing new types of mutants, many of which are perfectly happy about it. These ones are either hybrids that should not be or creatures with artificial enhancements, like land-fish, or merfolk that actually have a reason to have Flying.

What is a Mutant (mechanically)?

Otarian Mutants and Simic Mutants are two entirely different things and must be spoken of separately.

Otarian Mutants are just more powerful versions of what they were before. Elvish Abberation is a huge Elf that taps for three mana. Starlight Invoker is a cleric that shoots healing lasers from its eyes.  Krosan Cloudscraper, a Beast Mutant, is a 13/13 because that’s what happens when you make a Beast more Beast. There’s no unifying mechanic of these Mutants, they’re just ‘more’ of whatever they were before.

Simic Mutants, despite having three keywords among them, have a very clear designation. Green and/or Blue, Simic Mutants are about growth and +1/+1 counters. Graft allows the movement of counters from one creature to another while Adapt and Evolve both place counters on the creature in question.  Graft, especially, is a mutant-only keyword, while the other two both show up on many Simic creatures. Simic Mutants vary in size from 0/1 to 6/6, and get even bigger with various counter growth.

There are a few other mutants, but most of them fall into the Otarian flavor mechanically- bigger, nastier versions of normal things.

Can I make a Mutant deck?

While there are no Mutant Tribal cards, we’ve spent enough time on Ravnica that making a Simic deck with only Mutant creatures from the Simic guild is possible. For a 60 card deck, stuffing it full of Mutants is entirely reasonable, with various other Simic cards likely being better for the deck than anything that actually rewards tribal mechanics. Making an Otarian Mutant deck, on the other hand, is simply not viable. Otarian Mutants tend to have higher casting costs, are too spread out among colors, and are designed to be played with their other creature type.

For Commander, the Simic Guild was nice enough to provide seven Legendary Creatures, all of which work well with the primary Simic mechanics, and two of which are even Mutants. While any of them could reasonably run a mutant-filled Simic commander deck, if actual Mutant Tribal is your goal, I’d recommend Roalesk, Apex Hybrid.  Being a Mutant himself enables him to take advantage of cards like Icon of Ancestry and Cavern of Souls, and his abilities support your other mutants when he enters and leaves the battlefield. 

In this commander deck, many of the non-Simic mutants also become useful. Elvish Soultiller, designed for Elf tribal, works just as well in a Mutant deck, and Krosan Cloudscraper is just so very, very large.

Also, when searching to construct a Simic deck, note that War of the Spark gave a few Simic Guild cards without the Simic watermark. 

Is Mutant a good creature type?

Mutant’s great. It’s clear what a Mutant is, and though there’s two Mutant identities they’re both pretty clear: something bigger and more powerful and weirder than a member of its type should be. There’s even a Simic creature, Master Biomancer, that turns other creatures into mutants. As a creature type closely tied to the Simic guild, many Mutants have strong synergies with each other even without any cards that care about Mutants specifically. My only minor complaint about the type is that it feels like it should be applied to some of the Simic combination creatures as well. Sure, I appreciate the fun and crazy typelines of Shark Octopus Crab and Crab Turtle Crocodile and Fish Crab and… wow, the Simic REALLY like Crabs. Anyway, I like these, but I think I’d prefer “Shark Crab Mutant” and “Turtle Crocodile Mutant” to tighten up the creature type just a bit more. Still, that’s just me being nitpicky, as it’s clear that the Mutants have unique parts that aren’t just another creature type stapled on.

For the future, we just need to figure out how to get the Mutant type and the Ninja type on the same plane so we can finally have a Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Teenager will never be a real type.

[blouisparadise]

Here are all of the amazing bottom Louis fics that were posted or completed during the month of March. We really hope you enjoy this list. Happy reading!

1) Can You Believe The Audacity Of Them Two? | Explicit | 1011 words

Louis calls Liam while Harry fucks him. Liam is obviously not happy.

2) Chasing The Watermelon Sugar High | Not Rated | 1730 words

It's Grammy night and that leather suit just looks so damn good.

3) Pretty, Perfect Angel | Explicit | 2514 words

Harry comes home late and wakes Louis up. Louis does something he wasn't supposed to and gets in trouble.

4) Sweeter By The Day | Explicit | 2673 words

Note: The pairing for this fic is Louis/Pedro Pascal.

"Never felt this sensation, a kiss to every scar, eclipse my expectations, shock to my heart" - Hayley Williams

A one shot about domesticity, coffee, and love.

5) Cute Larry One Shot | Mature | 3305 words

Harry and Louis are living together in quarantine, and things happen...

6) My Ugly Mouth Kept Running | Explicit | 4005 words

Another seed, another try except they know what caused the first wilt. They will be careful, they will be kind and together they will nurture it to life.

Sometimes second chances are more important than the first.

7) So You Can Cut Me Up And Kiss Me Harder | Explicit | 4310 words

Harry is completely miserable at his job and Louis uses his body to help him realize he should quit.

8) Leather Daddy | Explicit | 4342 words

While Daddy was out winning Grammy’s, babyboy Louis was being naughty at home. Sweet watermelon sugar is nowhere to be seen, it’s time to teach his baby about the taste of sweat soaked leather.

9) Your Touch Brought Forth An Incandescent Glow | Explicit | 5420 words

Note: This is the sequel to this fic.

Louis was genuine in everything he did, everything he showed.

He would blush so red, smile so sweet, cry so wet and love so kind. Louis’ love was kind, it was eternal. You would never have to worry if he’d ever run out of love for you because he was that lovely.

“So soft, so good and so pretty for me, my darling wifey.”

10) Ain't Ever Been Vanilla, Honey (Just Wait Till You Get A Taste) | Explicit | 7315 words

Louis thinks his boyfriend is shit in bed but in reality it’s just one big miscommunication.

11) On The Tip Of My Tongue | Explicit | 8137 words

No one really wants to talk to Louis, his weirdness and nerdy appearance making him quite offputting in the cutthroat world of Life Foundation. Hopefully, the alien that escaped their facility will be interested in more than a friendly talk.

12) Baby Be With Me (So Happily) | Mature | 10407 words

Pop punk band, Owls On The Avenue just signed to their first label, Powered by Soup. Harry is assigned to do their hair. louis has a few problems with that

13) Sunshine On My Mind | Explicit | 12704 words

Seeing Harry as an actual professor will never get old to Louis as his eyes soak him in. The casual attire of a student-teacher is gone and now Harry’s got on a button up under a sweater vest that both have stripes on it because someone with a face like Harry’s can actually pull that off. His beige trousers ride up high on his waist, loose and wide around the legs like he’s been preferring lately. By the time Louis’ done taking all of him in, he’s got a smile stretched wide across his face, cheekbones feeling like they’re about to burst just from happiness alone.

“Hello Professor Styles."

The one where Louis visits Harry in Portland.

14) Before You Go, Can You Read My Mind? | Not Rated | 13415 words

Harry can listen to whatever is going inside of Louis’s brain and breaks up with him. Louis can never let it go.

15) Let Me Inside | Explicit | 17743 words

Louis is Harry’s boss, but Harry is the boss of Louis.

16) Keeping The Flame Alive | Explicit | 19706 words

Recording with One Direction never felt like this. There’s a couple reasons for that, Harry thinks. One is that they did most of their recording on the road, rushed and in busses and hotel rooms, never in one place long enough to really get an argument going. The other, larger and more important one, is that back then he had the sweetest, meanest little omega around to distract him from all of that frustration.

The first time around, when he’d been recording his debut solo album, it hit him pretty hard. He likes to think he’s better adjusted to it now, but frustration is warring under his skin nonetheless. He doesn’t want to be told what to do most of the time, and he especially doesn’t want to be told what to do when it comes to his music.

What he does want right now is that sweet, mean little omega right in front of him with his mouth on Harry’s cock. Unfortunately, the best he’s got is his own hand and a shared toilet. So. That’s really not going to work.

17) Yesterday Came Suddenly | Explicit | 48473 words

Harry, the deadliest member of the NYC assassins’ guild, is forced to face a seemingly impossible task in hopes of finally leaving the underground behind for good, but when ghosts from the past come back to haunt him, escaping the darkness becomes that much harder.

18) Quite On The Contrary | Explicit | 63818 words

Neighbors x High School AU where it all started with Harry moving next door to the Tomlinsons, a balcony break in, mixed feelings, a poorly thought-out initiation, several missing sweaters and a lot of non-platonic activities.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

You can find other monthly roundup fic rec lists here.

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Ok I want to know your take on the Magic Council. Because to me it’s one of the most inconsistent things in fairy tail. Like “the magic council is extremely powerful and fairy tails fears them” and “the magic council ain’t shit”, the council acts like a magic military but also guilds do all the actual work, the magic council holds significant importance and the magic council doesn’t actually do anything.

The thing that’s especially annoying to me is that the concept of the magic council had a lot of potential if it was explored and expanded on in a narrative way. If they had more structure and impact on the story. Especially if the effects of the council were mentioned throughout the story and not just brought up when narratively nessasary for some plot hole or something. I feel as if some great characters who were magic council members could of been written if the council was explored.

Anyway I want to hear your thought on the magic council. How would you fix it/redo it, anything, please. I’m begging.

What can i say except i wish the magic council was used more?

Like from day one it was established that the council is the main military force in universe and exist to monitor and police wizard and guild activity. They're also the ones who create and enforce laws regarding wizards as well as dealing out punishment.

They're basically cops for wizards only, and seeing as how in universe wizards only make up 10% of the overall population its interesting that theres a specific set of laws to deal with such a small percentage of the population (wizard racism? Its more likely than you think)

In universe they've even been around for a long ass time too. With them being noted as far back as Mavis' time a few years after the events of FT Zero (after the events of the second trade war where they passed the Interguild Dispute Interdiction Treaty which prevented guilds from participating in wars)

In my head the council is an extra branch of the government that exists outside of the jurisdiction of the royal family amd has far reaching influence to a few other countries outside of Fiore as well.

They have a large military consisting mostly of non magical people with few mages, they work to disband dark guilds, they confiscate forbidden magical items (they have the lullaby flute after that whole incident) alongside literal magical weapons of mass destruction ( face and etherion). To the general public they're a good force that doesnt sway under the influence of royal whims. To guilds they're a nuisance always on their backs.

But they do shady things. They plant spies in guilds to gather intel and to hopefully destabilize them into disbanding (I hesitate to think that Mest was the only council spy ever. I'd like to think that the council has spies everywhere in guilds). They use S class wizards as public examples of their power, see Erza being arrested in the way early series and do under the quiet shady research projects ( Brain from Oracion Seis was apart of the Bureau of Magical Development which did the experimentation on Ultear. While not canonically apart of the council i like to think that they are).

(I also like to think that Wizards who are possible candidates to become S class have to be tested by the council before the guilds can carry out their own trials. Because i feel as though the council should be involved in that process.)

Wizard Saints? Public figureheads to show companionship between them and the guilds but the saints only have power in title. Nothing more.

They're shady af, and who doesn't love a shady government in stories?

There could've legit been an ongoing thing in the background of the arcs of the council working to destabilize FT in the eyes of the public because FT is one of the few old guilds in operation present and is not only powerful but a inspirational figure that literally thrives on going against the law(wouldnt want more of those popping up would you?). If it goes logically others trying to follow in FT's footsteps will fall in line and be easier to control.

It could've gone on that the council got real close to their goal of tearing fairy tail down but due to the events of tartarus (see Jackal crazy murdering everyone) they literally lost almost all their forces and had to be built from ground up.

Mest, being one of the few original council members of a high position, gets promoted and having seen both sides of the situation from his spying days rebuilds the council by doing more work alongside wizards and guilds thus bettering the relations, law reforms, decomissioning the weapons of mass destruction, working with the royal family on stuff yadda yadda yadda resulting in good magic council in the end blah blah blah.

But thats just my 2 cents i suppose °3°

[alistonjdrake]

June’s World Building Cheat Sheet Part Nine: Multicultural

I kind of touched on these subjects before but as I’ve been doing lately I’ve had more thoughts and I want to do a deeper dive. 

Honestly while I’ve been thinking about this for a while and briefly mentioned it in a previous post, it really hit me when I was playing Crusader King’s 3 and my character became the Norwegian-Irish Emperor of Britannia and France, and a lot of my subjects had some qualms with my cultural identity and as I watched areas of England get Norwegian-nized and names changed I started thinking about cultural markers. 

To put it simply, a “cultural marker” is basically just something to quickly pinpoint where someone is from or what their heritage is. Of course these are not always super specific and there is overlap. Like, me saying I speak English does not immediately make it obvious that I’m American. But if I talked about what I grew up eating, regional slang, some things people wore commonly, you would probably be able to narrow it down. There’s also what I tend to refer to as the stereotypical cultural markers so if someone was to say “I’m from X” what’s the first thing that comes to people’s mind that they relate to that place and that culture?

I also started thinking deeply about language and language as an extension of someone’s identity. This also stood out to me in the case of empires or in places were dozens of cultures have blended. At some point, language either is or isn’t an extension of someone’s background but the language someone does speak can say a lot about them or the area they grew up as I mentioned in my last post with regional dialects or when a certain language might be considered the “default” among some characters.

Now, as always, I have to say I do not think it’s extremely pressing to give fantasy cultures so many layers. I don’t think it’s always necessary to have a throwaway line about people speaking multiple languages in your metropolitan city or the fact that the culture is either not a monolith on its own or new people have moved in. Do I think it spices things up a little bit? Of course. That’s why I’m talking about it.

The lack of especially falls short to me in settings, as mentioned, that are empires or densely populated or considered “centers” of the world. How many times have I read a fantasy university or guild settings or these expansive cities and all the characters were more or less from the exact same place, all spoke the same language, pretty much ate the same things, and had the same opinions on anything not a huge plot point. 

So Let’s Talk About Language (Again)

I’m not gonna lie. My nerd brain loved it when my Norwegian-Irish emperor took over England and instead of the names of familiar places changing completely they were just changed to sound slightly more Norwegian while still looking enough like what it used to be. I am upset with myself for never considering this before in my own work or thinking about it when I craft fantasy worlds, especially in settings where one group or place takes over another. The language would change or there would be shifts due to either

The sounds for the original thing they’re trying to say do not exist in their language

That’s simply how they pronounce it

Maybe they were feeling frisky that day and decided to change it just because. 

I think we see this most often especially with borrowed words. When a word more or less exists in several languages maybe because they’re taking on a title or a position, it’s not so much that the word changes but each one has to put their spin on it. Not always intentionally it might just be how they say it given either the limitations of their own tongue or how they heard it. 

In my last post I began to touch on this with the introduction of people speaking the same language differently in my Grazan Escan vs “regular” Escan dialect (the basis of this discussion just that people who live in Graza in my setting speak the language slightly different than non-Grazans which sometimes makes the language hard to understand for even native speakers). Last night I had another breakdown about how much I hate the common tongue and the concept of the common tongue and I’d like to also mention that if there is going to be a “common” language in a setting, I myself tend to use Escan as the common language because Escan is an imperial nation and have intentionally spread their language all over the place so a lot of my characters speak it, I think it is important to have some context as to why a language would be so widespread/ common. Someone would have had to go to these far places and teach people how to speak this language (and somehow walk away with it having no regional differences). Why would people in this setting think it a good idea to even learn this language if they have their own and rarely communicate with people outside of their community? What is the impact of a character having to take up another language in order to? In my recently finished draft of The Night Court, due to my own temporarily fleeting memory I forgot one of the main characters was going to a place where he could not speak the language and spent that entire half of the book asking for translations and not being able to speak to certain characters directly. Which, now that I’m done with the draft I appreciate more because I’ve definitely been in situations where I’m in a new place and my poor planning and education made me the only one who couldn’t speak the language and I had to have friends help me.  

This is where language as an extension of identity comes in. Could this character have assumed that his first language was dominant enough where he could travel to new places and not have to learn anything else? Or was it just bad luck and now he feels isolated in a setting where he cannot speak to anyone? What are the implications behind someone’s first language based on where they live? I just wrote two posts now talking about Prince Toli of the Escana Empire’s first language not being Escan and how that impacted his early life and how he appears by the time we meet him in the books. What does it say about the world characters live in where what language they speak and what language they learned to speak first has such an impact?

And in the reverse, what is the perception of someone being multilingual? It is expected in a setting? It is a bonus? A requirement of certain jobs or positions? A necessity to live in certain areas? Given how much court intrigue and political scheming I write I tend to have characters switch languages to avoid spies or eavesdroppers but on the other hand it’s also easier to make new allies if you extend the branch by speaking their language. 

Are there official languages? Court languages? Trade tongues? Coded languages you’d only learn for very specific purposes? 

Clothes And Culture: Sumptuary Laws & The Fashion Police.

This is a point I missed completely in my fashion post and I’m sorry about that. As with all my “advice” I feel it important to note I don’t ever expect anyone to go the extra mile nor do I usually think people need to. These are just things I like to sprinkle into a setting to give in breathing room or background information so it doesn’t feel like it was created just to serve a story purpose, but that it’s a world people live in. 

On that note. I’m very passionate about clothing. I’m encountered a lot of fantasy fashion in my day and I understand why people don’t ever find it relevant to mention certain things but as my setting is a late 18th century world in which the common people are starting to realize that royalty kinda sucks, it’s something I can talk about.

Like, the extensive labor that goes into making sure my royal characters have 100s of different outfits. Fashion is cheaper than its ever been but that was not always the case. There’s a reason why often see people in ye old days with only like 2 outfits for any given occasion. Characters and people who had constant changes weren’t just fashion forward, they were showing off wealth whether or not that was front of mind. To give some context as a lover of historical fashion and beautifully detailed garments, I did some quick math to see how long it would take me to recreate one of my favorite gowns by and. Given the intricate details, all the delicate beading and lace and all the fabric I’d have to buy (I didn’t even get into costs) it would have taken me at minimum 50 years. 

Now does anyone need characters going around talking about how Princess Zurina is wearing a gown that would have taken one man 50 years if not for the staff of seamstresses who likely work on her wardrobe? No. If a character in a setting is a seamstress or if the story has anything to do with wealth distribution and the extravagance and waste of the super rich, sure maybe throw it in there. One half of the book I’m working on is about political cartoons criticizing the royalty and wouldn’t you know if I go back to the time period I’m basing my work off of, you can find a lot of jokes and slights towards outrageous dress because people back then understand the labor that went into these garments. 

This is where I’m going to mention sumptuary laws. Basically, whenever I do my dives into fashion history I’ll find a lot of policing towards the way people dress. I mean we still have them now but maybe they’re not as apparent to us? And a lot of them used to be more class-oriented. One should not dress above their “means” or status which is where we get certain fabrics or colors meant only for certain types of people. But it also happened in the reverse where certain groups are designated things to wear so other members of the community know who and what they are. People not being allowed to wear certain things either because they would be related to deviance or offensive. Like characters in my setting cannot wear any shade of green around the king because dark green is the Escana mourning color and it would be considered as cursing the king to die.

Are there punishments for wearing the “wrong” thing? Is exaggerated wealth or having too many outfit changes something calls criticism if the character is at the top of the food chain (or maybe criticism them no mater social standing)? Are there any unwritten dress codes in a setting that people unknowingly follow? In settings where multiple cultures might exist or people from different backgrounds exist in the same place, do their choices in dress reflect cultural markers? And is there a stark difference between traditional (to a culture) clothing and modern dress? 

I think really I’m spewing this out because I want to see more culturally rich settings that reflect some of the stuff that I think is the most interesting things about a person which is what they wear and how they speak. But again, this is a personal preference and it’s just stuff I think about. 

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Magnificent Scoundrels- Let Us Begin

Here we go!  The first meeting!  If you have any confusion or want any clarification, feel free to ask.  If you have any requests, comments, concerns, questions, or criticisms, feel free to tell me those as well.  Enjoy the story!

“There’s no way that this is gonna end well.”

“Really?  You think?  Governments from nine different separate realities, crossing every political spectrum imaginable, from theocratic xenophobes to neo-socialist utopians to democratic federalists and everything in between meeting in the same space with a ton of guns?  What are you talking about?  There’s no way this could end poorly!”

“Are we ready to go?”  The cameraman gave a thumbs up.  The news anchor smoothed a back mop that was probably more gel than hair at this point.  “And here we are, outside the beautiful Citadel Tower, where the governments of the nine new galaxies are meeting for the first time!  We already covered their arrival on the station, and what an arrival it was!” he continued with intense fake-cheerfulness.  “Now, they are meeting to discuss policy and open diplomatic negotiations.  And while we aren’t allowed inside, I’m sure it would be a sight to behold!”

Well this is certainly a sight to behold, thought Commander John Shepard to himself.  Not necessarily a good one, but a sight to behold nevertheless.  The meeting had started out well enough.  The various governments had filed in accordingly, filling the enlarged space completely.  He had been shocked at the sheer amount of different factions and races; there were over a hundred by his last count.  Governments he worked for, governments he knew of, governments he didn’t, governments that he had been told to keep an eye out for: everyone was here.  Dear lord.  

They all had their own bodyguards, of course, so the Council had ordered the Spectres all back to the Citadel.  Most of them, Shepard included, were now standing watch over the meeting.  Guns were out, ready to fire if something should happen.  The bodyguards were all tense, accustomed to being watched by professionals.  Well, most of them.  The mercenary Pilots hired by the Frontier Militia and the IMC looked relaxed enough, as did Drake.  The Galactic Empire’s Death Troopers were completely unreadable.  And the Imperium’s Tempestus Scions?  They seemed to be lining up firing solutions, eager to kill a room full of heretics and xenos on the drop of a hat.  Bloody great.  

The meeting had started off as well as could be expected.  The Council had opened with a greeting, welcoming everyone to the Citadel in the name of peace and cooperation.  Most of the governments had responded in kind.  Shepard had to admire the Imperium, who had given a rather weak and sickly greeting, then settled back to give death glares at everyone else.  At least they were honest, for the most part.  (Or maybe not.  He still didn’t know what was on board their ship.)  

It had steadily gone downhill from there.  The United Federation of Planets had objected to most everyone else's governing practices, especially the exclusion of other species.  The Galactic Assembly had pointed out that they let everyone join, no strings attached, and the Federation had conceded the point.  The IMC and Militia had objected, stating that there simply weren’t any aliens in their galaxy, otherwise they would let them join.  The Imperium had taken offense to this, stating that if a galaxy was ruled by humanity, there should be no reason to give it away to filthy xenos.  

The Nova Empire diplomats and Asari Councillor snapped back that their governments were older than humanity itself, and much more advanced, so show some respect.  The “sit down and let your betters talk” was left implied.  The Imperium had pointed out that they were ten thousand years old and ruled the galaxy with a fist of iron, and had actually told their detractors to shut up and sit down.  Adam Vir had interrupted with an utterly magnificent speech preaching the benefits of tolerance and cooperation.  That bought some respite… at least until the New Republic pointed out that since the entire delegation of the Galactic Empire was made up of war criminals, shouldn’t there be some restrictions on them?  The Militia had quickly followed suit, saying that they would not deal with the entirely criminal Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation.  At that point, all semblance of order had broken down.  

Currently, it was a scene of complete chaos.  The Imperium of Man was alternating between very pointedly not speaking to any non-human diplomats and screaming at the non-human diplomats about the honourless nature of aliens.  The Militia and IMC were yelling at each other about territory disputes and war crimes, and threatening to air out each other’s dirty laundry while Cooper and the 6-4 bodyguards of the Militia talked in underhanded tones to Kuben Blisk, leader of the IMC’s bodyguard detachment.  Why that was happening, Shepard had absolutely no idea.  Cooper and Blisk seemed to have some sort of history, and the 6-4 seemed nice enough.  

Thomas Drake and the Merchant’s Guild were presently sitting back with shit-eating grins on their faces, probably wondering how much money they could make if they sold weapons to everyone there.  Getting involved was bad for business.  

The New Republic was relatively calm, any of their diplomats who seemed to be ready to start something being stared down by Leia Organa, their de-facto leader.  Luke Skywalker sat nearby, looking alternatively amused at the chaos and annoyed at everyone’s incompetence.  

Their opposite number, the Galactic Empire, was one of the calmest groups present.  Several of the obviously military members of that delegation were itching to join in the conversation, nodding along with the Imperium of Man’s points.  However, every time one of them seemed to be on the verge of speaking up, their leader, a neatly uniformed blue-skinned man (Grand Admiral Thrawn, if Shepard remembered correctly) glared down at them with such intensity that they meekly went back to their seats.  At least someone had control of what they were doing.  

The United Federation of Planets seemed to be split evenly into two groups.  One was arguing constantly with everyone, pointing out with shocked voices all the horrible things each group had done.  They wore the faces of people who believed that they were completely morally superior in every respect, and having groups whose idea of a good government was “if they’re different, they’re inferior” did not resonate well with them.  The second group was made up of Kirk and several of the more level headed individuals trying to keep the peace.  They had just convinced the first sub-faction not to bring up the subject of xenophilia; if they had, Shepard was almost certain that a war would have started.  So thank whatever gods are up there that Kirk can read a room.

The galactic Assembly was presently fractionated and trying to argue with just about every group present, including themselves, simultaneously.  Adam Vir sat with his head in his hands, hopeless expression on his face.  At least he tried, though Shepard, unlike literally every other person here.  

The UNSC delegation looked lost, clearly seeming to think that the human supremacists had a point but realizing that it would be politically unwise to say anything.  Master Chief stood behind them, gold visor as expressionless as ever.  In fact, if Shepard did not know for a fact there was a man inside that suit, he might have mistaken the Chief for a particular large and detailed green statue.  

And his own government?  The Citadel Council?  The Turian representative was vehemently arguing with Anderson over the issue of human military supremacy and treaty violations while the Asari and Salarian Councillors shouted at everyone present, including each other.  

Quill and his crew were seated in between the human diplomats from his galaxy and those of the Nova Empire, and kept trying to make probably snide and inappropriate comments every time someone said something, only to be slapped down by an annoyed Gammora.  Vir actually mouthed ‘help’ in Shepard’s direction, as if he could do anything about this.  

Utter madness.  Fun times.  

It was around the point where people began going towards the extremely hot topic of A.I. legality when Shepard noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  One of the Spectres, guiding a group of armed figures in black body armor and full face masks into the room.  He looked closer.  The Spectres weren’t supposed to leave their posts unless it was for a very good reason.  What the…  The black armored soldiers stepped into the middle of the room, and in one fluid motion, drew their weapons from their hips, each aiming at a different delegation box, ready to fire… and were promptly turned into red paste from at least twenty different points.

Every diplomat in the room stopped what they were doing, looks of utter shock plastered on their faces.  It was quiet for one single, eternal moment, then everyone began shouting at once.  The bodyguards still had their weapons raised, ready to open fire on command.  

“What is this?  You had us come to kill us?”

“Treachery!”

“You obviously paid them off!  No one except you would do this!”

“How did this happen?  How did they get in here?”

“Inside help!  Who did this?”  Aw, shit.  Guns were at the ready, various guardians and even some of the diplomats squaring off against each other.  

“Whoh, hey!”  A singular voice called above the din, startling everyone.  Thomas Drake, black coat billowing, hands raised placatingly, addressed the various stunned and still twitchy diplomats.  “Calm down, everyone.  If any of you decides to do something stupid, we all lose.”  At least that had bought a little time.  “Now, if any of you actually noticed before you started to jump to conclusions, there was at least one assassin aiming at everyone present.  They were planning on killing everyone here.  I know quite a few of you present, and I know for a fact that none of you had anything like this planned.”  A few more bodyguards lowered their weapons.  “The question is, who did this, and why?”  Some of the diplomats nodded along with him.  Shepard saw Vir and Quill moving towards his position for a better vantage point.  But before anyone could say anything, the console of the Council started rapidly beeping.  Tevos answered it with alacrity.

“Yes?”

“Councillor!  The Citadel is under attack!  We have unknown and armed hostiles in the open!  There’s some sort of fleet coming, too!”  

“Great,” muttered Shepard.  But before anyone could react to this new information, the message abruptly cut off, along with most of the power save the lighting.  

“Double great,” muttered Vir, as he slid into position next to him.

And here.  We.  Go.  

[peace-coast-island]

Diary of a Junebug

The snowy mountains of Dragonpierce

Crystal icicles can be nice to look at, but they are a pain to deal with. The mountains would be a good place to explore some more if it wasn't for the sheer cold. I applaud Connie and their friends for braving the cold and spending a good part of their vacation time here for team building activities.

Dragonpierce is one of those places where looks can be deceiving. Appearance wise it looks like any other snowy place. But when you step inside it's brutal, to say the least. Amber, Bennett, and Xiang are the real MVPs for keeping us from freezing to death with their pyro powers.

It's a shame, really. I want to explore more of the mountains - it really is a fascinating place that's full of resources we can use at the camp. The glacial gyroids were a nice find along with various plants and berries I've never seen before. But the risk is too much, especially for non-seasoned outdoors people like us. I doubt even an experienced adventurer would want to set foot in the mountains without at least three backup plans or something.

Connie and Pai are back again with their team for another retreat. Things have been going a lot better for them, especially now that they have more allies as well as no immediate threats looming ahead. In fact, it's been a little slow as things outside their control has forced them to put their main mission on hold for a bit. Though that doesn't make Connie any less busy, especially now that they're moving up ranks with the Adventurer's Guild so they're up for a promotion soon.

Turns out it's a good thing we planned this adventure because it's been a while since the original team last hung out all together. Luci and Amber have stepped back a bit to focus on the Knights so they've been eager to meet up with Connie again. Noelle, Seraphina, and Xiang have been stepping up the ranks as well, becoming part of Connie's main team for missions. Xingqiu and Bennett have been helping with the new recruits as well as building up their skills.

In terms of combat, Pai says they've improved by a lot. It also helps that they have more members as well as the fact that Noelle and Seraphina are powerful healers. They still have a long way to go in terms of being in the same league as other seasoned adventurers so that's something for them to keep working towards.

Not too long after Connie and the gang first visited the camp, Xingqiu's best friend Chongyun offered his assistance. He's a psychic exorcist with telekinesis and cryo powers. Connie had ran into him a couple times before, tagging along with him on investigations regarding reported sightings of evil spirits.

The next teammates to join were Meggie and Di, both who work at a bar/cafe. Meggie's a friend of Amber's from Stone Bridge, a neighboring town of Bonsai. Meggie is a bartender/astrologer who just moved to the city in hopes of a new start. She says she's not too keen about being a bartender but she has to pay rent somehow - she refuses to monetize astrology, something she takes seriously. Connie says whether you believe her or not, she does possess strong intuition when it comes to reading people.

I have to say, some of her observations about me were spot on. I barely know her and she managed to get a glimpse of me just by reading the stars. I don't know too much about astrology - and it's not something I want to overly look into - but I like to have an open mind. Even if astrology isn't real, I believe some people are highly intuitive - it's a trait that you can't hone in on, you either have it or don't.

Di is a waitress who's from Spring Valley, not too far from the city. She comes from a family of hunters and is a master archer with the power of stealth on her side. She's quite young so Connie has kinda unoffically adopted her. Apparently she's been going through some stuff at home, so that's why she started working at the bar despite being underage. It's not an ideal situation, particularly due to the fact that alcoholism is a thing in her family so obviously she tries to avoid falling into the same path. No wonder Connie wanted to take Di under their wing.

Then along comes Lan, a renowned captain/pirate who's traveled around the continent at least three times so far. She came to the rescue after a mishap with explosives temporarily put Connie out of commission. Apparently someone at the Adventurer's Guild thought it was a good idea to set off explosive barrels at a high cliff to extract some ores. Lan happened to be around the area when Connie literally landed in her arms.

Lan hardly spends time on land as she's always out on the open seas, so she's kinda a legend around these parts. She said she heard about Connie from Xiang as they often write letters to each other, so she was hoping to meet the honorary hero one day. And so fate decided to literally hand Connie to her, which is quite funny.

I mean, imagine falling off a high cliff and landing right in the arms of this badass pirate captain? If that happened to me, I wouldn't know what to say or do.

And finally, there's the newest team member, a conqueror of demons named Xiao. He's basically an immortal being who has been protecting the land for thousands of years, often lurking in the background. Pai never expected him to offer his assistance considering that he usually avoids interactions with others. Connie was surprised too, though they had been working together a lot since having to defend the city so that's probably why he decided to stick around.

Considering how he keeps his distance from mortals, it's also a surprise that he came along for this trip. He does admit that the only reason he reluctantly joined in was to take the opportunity to observe the team, which makes sense. Pai says he's been helping out a lot in terms of improving team combat skills so that's why he needs to know how well everyone fights and what needs to be worked on.

While the others are off doing various activities, Xiao stands in the sidelines, watching over everything. He seems like the type who takes their responsibilities seriously, the kind you shouldn't mess with at all unless you have a death wish or something.

As for this gyroid event, we're gonna use the gyroids to forge weapons designed by Luci, Xingqiu, and Connie. With the team growing and moving up in the ranks, they're in need of more advanced weapons. Noelle's claymore is pretty worn out while Di's bow isn't exactly meant for combat. Connie still has their trusty sword, but it'll be in need of upgrades later on while Xiang's looking forward to switching out her old polearm for something more sturdier. According to Connie and Luci's research, glacial gyroids can produce a range of high quality weapons. In short, it's something to take advantage of as forging weapons is expensive and hard to come by.

While the mountains of Dragonpierce are hard to navigate, Connie says it's nothing compared to the snowy mountains on the outskirts of Starcatcher and Bonsai Harbor. Over there, you can freeze to death if you're poorly prepared, so most adventurers avoid it like the plague. The sheer cold is strong enough to knock you out if you don't have adequate warmth, not to mention the fierce monsters that roam about. As a result, Connie rarely takes commissions to go there, but it's not something they can avoid entirely, not with their standing as of now.

I don't think I'd survive the mountains over there - Dragonpierce is already pushing my limits. I get that Connie and the others want to collect gyroids, but using the mountains for combat training seems a bit risky. Though it's kinda in the middle of nowhere so I guess it makes for a good training ground. Something about the extreme cold helps to put them in the right mindset? I mean, there's other places where they can train that doesn't involve them risk freezing to death but then again I know nothing about fighting and stuff.

I have to say, it's cool to watch them show off their combat skills and powers. Connie's come a long way as a leader - that's what I call growth! Pai continues to cheer on from the sidelines while offering commentary once in a while. I wonder if one day she'll join in on the field too but I feel like that's asking too much of her.

As much as Connie and Pai are thick as thieves, Pai can be a bit exasperating. Maybe that's why she gets along well with people like Connie and Jamie as they both are kinda jaded and have a low tolerance for bullshit, therefore they can keep her in rein. Also, it's funny whenever Connie roasts Pai because let's face it, she had it coming. Like Pai, we love you, but sometimes you need to step back and be quiet.

It's fun seeing them train and figure out their team dynamics. Like how Xingqiu and Chongyun work well together by coordinating their powers to freeze enemies. So naturally, Connie and Xiao want to utilize that. Xiang, Connie, and Lan also make a deadly combo with Xiang's pyro combined with Lan's electro causes an explosion. Throw in Connie's wind storm and you've got your enemies cornered in a pyro and electro tornado.

At the campsite, everyone's got their own thing going on. Amber's gliding around as usual, practicing her archery as well and bringing fruit for us in the process. Lan, Seraphina, and Xiang have been cooking up a storm in the kitchen and they really like spicy food. I mean, they literally eat hot chilis like it's nothing - it's kinda scary. I though Rika was crazy when it came to spice but I think these three are in another league.

It's a shame. really. Because if it weren't for the intense heat, I would be able to enjoy these dishes more. They taste good but the spice...why must I be weak?

Di and Noelle have taken an interest in finding materials like plants and rocks. They're really good at discovering new stuff like unusual seashells that contain iron that can be extracted or poisonous weeds that can be used to make potions. Di has her methods of handling dangerous plants safely by infusing her arrows with cryo and shooting at them to temporarily make them safe to handle by putting them into a bubble until they can be stored away.

Bennett and Xingqiu have been showing Chongyun around the camp, teaching him a bunch of stuff in the process. Apparently he doesn't go out much so things like camping is completely new to him, so he needed some time to get comfortable. He comes across as a serious person, kinda innocent and naive though, but dedicated nonetheless. I think with Xingqiu around and Connie keeping everyone in rein, he's been able to loosen up a bit.

Pai's been having fun - she's either off doing her own thing and getting into some sort of trouble or bothering someone. It seems like the others have joined in on roasting Pai when she finds herself in a mess that she caused. It's also nice seeing Connie loosen up too, probably since they've gotten comfortable in this unfamiliar world. Pai says they've been making friends and allies left and right - from ordinary citizens to people among high rankings, even some gods as well - it's pretty wild actually.

Of course, Connie remains humble and shrugs it off as it's nothing. They say the high ranking people are just like everyone else, but as for the gods, it's best to exercise caution and expect the unexpected. Also, Connie's at the point where if they hang around certain places for too long, then one of their new friends will whisk them away on some adventure or job. It's only happened a couple times so far but Connie has a feeling that as time goes on, it's gonna become a regular thing, much to Pai's frustration. Connie says they don't mind too much - at least for now.

Since the gang will be coming back in the future for another camp event, I wonder how much things will change by then. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Connie's friends as well as hear more stories about their adventures. I just hope no one insists on doing combat training in Dragonpierce again - unless they're gonna collect gyroids too.

Either way, I think I'll pass on the freezing mountains - I think that's one area I don't mind putting off exploring for a long while.

[writing-the-end]

LoL Chapter 14: Chimaera’s Championship

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU belongs to @theguardiansofredland )

Someone within the Council is a dark wizard. The hermits know it, but need proof. How can they infiltrate Milliara and the capitol without immediately being arrested? 

The olympics, of course.

__________________________________________________

“They know what we look like, we can’t walk up and go searching for dark magic. We shouldn’t even be seen together.” Xisuma whispers, leaning over his mug of tea. TFC brushes his lip over his beard, thinking. 

“Do you really think Magistrate Dolios wouldn’t want to know about this? About one of his own Council members breaking their own laws?” Mumbo glances at the others around the table. It’s not everyone, not by a long shot, but they have to go over this.

“I think he’d be more concerned about us breaking his law.” Cleo hisses, running a whetstone down her saber. “But we can’t just sit here and wait to be attacked. Last week’s assault was personal.” 

The whole group murmurs in agreement. “Galena warned us that the government was being complicit, and that there could be secret dungeons beneath the capitol. And now with this,” TFC raises the white and gold sash, “We know that someone in the Council is involved. That must be why Dolios wasn’t able to get legal help. Why he turned to us.” 

“And then turned on us.” Joe takes down notes, biting his lip. “There're six guildmasters in the Council. Six guildmasters that could be a dark wizard. How can we even get into Milliara without raising suspicions, much less get close to any of the council members and see if they’re the one who attacked us? And after that, we’d have to convince the entire council- nay, the entire kingdom- that they’re practicing dark magic.” 

“We need more proof.” TFC hisses. 

“Are we really getting into this?” Mumbo isn’t sure if he’s ready. This is...big. Bigger than just himself, bigger than his guild, his home. This is about the entire kingdom. 

And that’s why they have to. “We need a way into Milliara without being noticed.” 

“Not entirely easy when we’re an unlicensed guild that’s already drawn the ire of the arcane guard once.” Xisuma glances down the hill. It’s their day off, and most of the hermits have gone to the mainland for a supplies run. “Not to mention we have some pretty… conspicuous members of our guild.” Namely Doc. The ex-criminal and half automaton really sticks out. Grian as the only sky angel in existence also draws attention. 

“Mumbo!” The entire group snaps upright, and Mumbo splutters his tea all over his sleeves and shirt. It’s a good thing it’s not white. 

Scar and Grian run up the steps, out of breath as they enter the open-air guild hall. Both wizard’s eyes are sparkling with excitement, and Scar is clutching a paper. He slams down the parchment, revealing it to the others. The group leans in, confusion spreading across each face. Cleo speaks up first. “The Chimaera’s Championship? What about it?” 

“They’re letting teams join that aren’t established guilds!” Scar squeals. He’s always wanted to take part in the Chimaera’s Championship. He remembers watching it as a kid, amazed by the strength, the finesse, the pageantry of the competition. He always wanted to take part in the creative event, use his terraforming skills to make something beautiful.

“Are you serious?” TFC questions. It’s been a decade since they’ve allowed non-guilds to join. 

“It says right there, next to the Council seal.” Grian points, looking at the others. “We could crush it, we’re the best team out there!”

“We could get into Milliara without raising suspicion.” Doc adds, watching as everyone turns to him with his mismatched eyes. 

“Doc is right.” Xisuma whispers. “We could enter the Championship, and they’d have to let us in as a team. They couldn’t try to disband us, at least not as long as we’re competing.” 

“Of course I’m right. Even better, we can use the championship as a coverup.” Doc smirks. “While the Council is busy running and judging the tournament, and the arcane guard is looking after the crowds and whatnot, we can easily get into the capitol and see who is the dark mage.”

“Doc, you criminal mastermind.” Joe grins, jotting down notes in his book. “This is why we welcomed you here.” 

“This is also why I went to jail, but you know that story.” Doc leans back, grabbing his mug and taking a long sip of his beer. 

“So...does this mean we’re going to sign up?” Scar questions, trying not to be hopeful. But the way his voice rises betrays him. Everyone turns to TFC, waiting for him to make the final decision. 

TFC chuckles. “Let’s show Lairyon what the Order of Hermits can really do. But I think we need to do more training, as well as plot our...” He clears his throat, looking at Doc. “Our heist.”  

Grian and Scar aren’t listening. It’s a dream come true for both, becoming contestants for the championship. “Oh, I can fly in the aerial agility! Mumbo, you can do the tech event they introduced this year!” 

“Tech event?” Mumbo blinks, leaning over to get a good look at the flyer. True enough, an event in honor of Echol, the god of technology, was introduced this year. “I mean...I guess I can attempt. But you know how iffy my magic can be.” 

“Everyone will get to enter into an event, I’m sure everyone will have a place.” TFC reassures. He can already think of Stress in the pageant, as well as the strength event. Joe would excel in the riddles, seeing as he already speaks like one. “But we also need an infiltration team to do the heist. Doc, I’m putting you in charge of selecting the team. You know what will be needed best, who’s magic will be most beneficial.” TFC stands, patting Grian on the back. Hard, almost hard enough to send him tumbling head over heels. “Good find, kid.” 

Grian glows with pride, getting such a compliment not just from his guildmaster, but from his father figure. Scar and him had gone to the mainland, to the town closest to the Ashioll sea. Most of the other hermits were still there, enjoying their day off with what Cleo often calls ‘shoreleave’. Hermits that didn’t leave Eremita were enjoying a warm, sunny day on the beach, or catching up on well deserved sleep. 

Scar noticed the flyers first, plastered all along main street. They had just split off from the ZIT trio, who were busy looking for supplies to rebuild Zedaph’s barn. He promised he’d help them with construction, but he gets easily distracted. Especially when it’s about the Chimaera’s Championship. 

He’s dreamed of one day entering the event. He remembers sitting in the audience, bouncing on his mother’s lap and cheering on the Higharrows, a long gone guild. They were his favorite team, and he would spend evenings after watching the events trying to mimic what he saw in the family’s garden. His parents hated how he was always playing in mud, yelling at him that a wealthy merchant’s son shouldn’t roll around in dirt. But it didn’t matter to him, he didn’t want to be a merchant. He wanted to be a champion. And now he finally gets the chance. 

“Hey Grian, why won’t we go work on our magic? I want to work on my creative skills for the championship.”

[natsubeatsrock]

The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 25 (Ultear)

Was Last Ages a good idea?

Part of me wants to say that the answer is yes considering Opening 16 having my favorite visuals of any Fairy Tail opening. The clock twitch at the start is one of my personal favorite aspects of the opening and it wouldn't be there if Last Ages didn't happen.

Of course, pedantic issues like that aren't enough to blind me to the weight of what I'm advocating. Ultear is one of my favorite characters in the series. I wouldn't suggest essentially writing out one of my favorites if it didn't need to happen. 

But that's just it. Did it need to happen? (Don’t worry, we’ll get to talk about Ultear as a character.)

A good place to start is its place in the Grand Magic Games arc. The reason it needed to happen, as the story goes, is that multiple people need to be saved from situations and the difference of one minute, while also remembering what happened in the alternate minute, was enough to save the lives of multiple people. Most notably, Lucy was able to avoid being killed and Gray wasn't impaled by multiple dragons. It's framed as a sacrifice that caused other people to live.

At the risk of sounding callous, I'm not sure this was really all that much of a concern. For all the people who did get affected by the spell Last Ages, there is one important person who wasn't: Natsu. As sad as it might be to consider our favorite characters dying it wasn't like their actions stopped the Eclipse Gate even after Last Ages. Lucy knew how to stop the Gate, but she didn't destroy it. Neither did Gray, Juvia, Lyon, Meredy, Baccus, Romeo, Macao, Wakaba, Cobra, Gajeel, Wendy, Laxus, or anyone else whose name isn't Natsu Dragneel. It would have been tragic, but the result would have been similar. (An interesting "what if" scenario I may or may not consider.)

And consider the scale of the event in the arc. The entire world was set back by one minute. It's described as innocuous enough that it was barely noticed by most people. Of course, this is juxtaposed with how important it meant to the actual people at the moment. However, consider what that means for the majority of people in the universe. Ultear could have done nothing and it would have as much of an effect for the people within the series universe.

This is, of course, not to say that Ultear's sacrifice didn't matter past Grand Magic Games. This is to say that the idea that this sacrifice changed a lot isn't as true as Mashima would have us believe and that there might not have been much of a need to have Ultear get basically written out of the series.

After using Last Ages, Ultear becomes a part of the time stream, showing up at times when it gets messed up. (At least, that's the explanation I'm going with.) She makes two as her younger self in this form. We obviously need to talk about (read: you're going to read my interpretation of) these moments. But, I want to start with the second moment first and you'll see why.

The second meeting was Ultear's appearance during Wendy and Chelia's fight with DiMaria. Now, there are issues with their interaction in regards to the Third Origin, but that's for other reasons. This wouldn't necessarily be impossible if Last Ages didn't happen. After all, she's doing this in conjunction with the rest of Crime Sorciere. The only reason this comes off as shocking is exactly what she went through Last Ages. As long as they show up and Ultear remains a member, there's no reason for she shouldn't be in the fight. Heck, we may have gotten interactions between her and Gray.

And, with that totally non-bitter transition (I'm actually okay with that), let's talk about the meeting between Gray and Ultear during the Sun Village arc. This is part of a trend wherein Ultear, either implicitly or explicitly, serves as a reminder for the fact that you shouldn't sacrifice your life to save other people, even if you love them. Her sacrifice reminds Gray that he ought to continue living on for other people.

But, and I again recognize this does sound callous, that's stupid.

I mean, it's exactly the kind of message he ought to keep with him, especially in those moments. But, I'm not sure that this is a point that ought to be beating in the ground as much as it was, especially to the point it was in the way it was. In Gray's specific context, it makes symbolic sense that he is saved by her. But, shouldn't Gray already know that from as far back after Galuna Island?

It could be argued that Gray needs to have these lessons reinforced multiple times through his journey as they clearly haven’t sunken in. To a degree, I understand that as a realistic portrayal of depression. But, what happened to “I will seal your darkness away”? Isn’t it possible to have him remember that instead of Ultear sacrificing herself?

And that gets to another thing. What does this mean for Ultear's character? Much of the reason that she's willing to do this at all is that she believes that she is a terrible person at heart and can't make up for what she's done over the years. Therefore, she wants to use her life force to help other people's lives.

I don't think that is in and of itself a terrible motivation for an action like this from a reformed villain who thinks the way Ultear seemed to. I don't even think that she's entirely wrong to think so, considering she wanted to kill present Rogue to stop future Rogue. I could even understand our hypothetical character going through with his or her choice and going on to save a large number of lives, as Last Ages does.

However, this is a Mashima villain. He's stated in the past that he likes to make villains that are more than just evil. While we can talk about how he did with that goal, this feels like something uncharacteristic of his villains. 

And even if he wasn't open about his penchant to redeem villains, we'd absolutely know something is up. Jellal was in a similar spot during Nirvana - ashamed of his existence and ready to die - but he ended up being a better (not sure good is the right word) person. Meredy was convinced to become good and even was part of the reason Ultear started to want to change. Flare changes during the Grand Magic Games arc into Sun Village arc. Sabertooth becomes a good guild (not that they should have been evil anyway). A lot of Alvarez Empire arc involves Brandish's struggle of doing good and/or evil and Irene realizes she actually loved Erza before stabbing herself. Oracion Seis joins Jellal in Crime Sorciere (under duress).

In a sense, Last Ages is Mashima's way of saying, "This one's staying evil. They can't change." In another series with another writer, that wouldn't be annoying. With Fairy Tail, this is clearly purposeful. My job isn't necessarily to speculate as to why, but I can't think why that would make sense to him except that it makes the parallel to Ur for Gray. In a world where she doesn't come back to relevancy in the final arc, I might be to accept that as fine. Considering she did come back and that the continued relevance of Crime Sorciere past the Grand Magic Games, it’s not as if I can’t do things with her character if she were to stay alive.

Therefore, I'm actually going against canon in this regard. In the rewrite, Ultear wants to go through with the spell Last Ages but is prevented from doing so. (I’m debating who stops her.) With this, Ultear continues to be an active character during the series. What the circumstances are surrounding her not going through with it and what she does now that she's a part of the series are topics worth talking about. However, I'd like to save those for another time.

For now, though, I feel that it's worth mentioning is that not every villain has to be saved or redeemed. I'm not here to argue that every villain is equally deserving of a second chance, even though I absolutely believe such to be true on some level. Some villains will and should stay evil until the end. But if Jellal is going to struggle to do the right thing, I think Ultear should try to as well.

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18  | Part 19  | Part 20  | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24