#fantasy nerd shit

[riverrunsawaywiththelore]

What's in a Name?

Enjoy some bonkers naming conventions from some society I made up—Wraaklings, a bloodline-obsessed, semi-matriarchal culture. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blood and lineage are everything to a Wraakling. That much is obvious—though outsiders might not realize it at first. Wraaklings are trained to give their full name on first introduction, and it’s usually a mouthful. What seems unusual to others is, to them, a declaration of pedigree, lineage, and social position. Every piece of it matters.

Let’s break one down:

Aa-Rahlyi Vurvrath’ii Yentoling’a va Cuusuun sen Santhresh

Aa-Rahlyi is the individual’s name. It’s meant to be unique—chosen more for how it sounds than what it means.

Vurvrath’ii is his mother’s name, with ‘ii’ marking him as her child. As Wraakling society is matriarchal, the mother’s name comes first.

Yentoling’a is his father’s name. ‘Ling’ marks lineage from the father, and ‘a’ at the end indicates the parent is not Wraakling, marking Aa-Rahlyi as a half-blood.

va Cuusuun denotes his clan, named for the clan’s most recent Bride—a Wraakling chosen by the god Wraak to carry divine lineage. (Yes, that’s where the name Wraakling comes from.)

sen Santhresh identifies origin—Santhresh being the homeland or branch territory of the clan.

If both parents were Wraakling, the clan name would come from the side with the more recent Bride. And if someone mispronounces a full name? That’s not just awkward—it’s rude.

Life is complicated, and some happenings require specific notation. For example, perhaps a child’s parent is unknown. Maybe both died away from the clan, or maybe it was the result of a drunken hook-up where no names were exchanged.

Having an unknown parent is considered a minor disgrace, both to the child and their known parent (if any). It marks the union that made them as ill-conceived—breeding without selecting a worthy partner.

Aa-Rahlyi Vurvrath’ii Ashling’a va Cuusuun sen Sandthresh — A half-blood child with a questionable lineage. “Ash” marks an unknown parent, with its name location and attachments noting the gender.

Another variant occurs when children not of the race are adopted into the clan—usually brought in alongside a non-Wraakling parent, though foundlings and orphans find their way into Wraakling society as well.

Mary Elizabeth’ii’a Soorling’a Aa-Rahlyiling’vak va Cuusuun’vak — A non-Wraakling girl adopted into Clan Cuusuun.

Soor means “ not worth tracking”—a disavowed, discarded line. A discarded father in this case.

Elizabeth’ii’a marks her mother as a non-Wraakling whom has joined the clan.

Aa-Rahlyiling’vak shows that Aa-Rahlyi (a Wraakling) adopted her as father. All adoptees have a Wraakling patron, or parent noted in their name, ‘vak’ marking them as ‘accepted by’.

va Cuusuun’vak indicates she was also accepted into the clan, though not born to it.

In the case of an orphan or foundling, elements of unknown parentage and adoption blend together.

Mary Ash’ii’a Ashling’a Aa-Rahlyiling’vak va Cuusuun’vak — Mary, a non-Wraakling. Unknown mother. Unknown father. Adopted by Aa-Rahlyi into Clan Cuusuun.

These children are not looked down upon, but they are marked. Their names tell the truth of their origin—and it’s up to them to build the legacy that follows.

[the-balloon-shed]

look, people can have whatever headcanons they want (this whole blog is devoted to my own brainrot over icemav because I needed an outlet, I love all the different stuff out there and wanted to contribute) but I do have a hard time picturing Ice being the world's most upstanding student with his pencils sharpened and teacher's pet vibe that I sometimes see attributed to him. I get that he's ice cold, no mistakes, but that has to do wit his flying. I think when it comes to flying, yeah, he fucking knows everything about that plane, about how it flies, about what he needs to do. He's devoted to the act of flying, of being a naval aviator, of being the best pilot there is.

On the ground though? Yeah, he'll do everything textbook -- so long as it keeps him flying. But a guy who is willing to cause a class laughter by coughing "bullshit" into his fist as another student explains his process to their instructor is not a guy who is concerned with being a teacher's pet. I've seen it around here, so I'm not the first to note this, but honestly Ice looks bored in the classes. Hell he spends half his class staring at Maverick. The difference between Ice and Maverick is that Ice does care enough to know the rules and can be compliant when it suits his goals. Maverick will blatantly disregard rules he doesn't agree with and doesn't know when to keep a lid on his own perspective.

(Side note - People who climb the military ladder, I imagine as I do not personally know, don't do so merely by keeping their head down -- Ice has to take risks and challenges that get him noticed, which sometimes means pissing off people, with which how often he's a brat to Maverick he is clearly capable of doing. I think the difference between Ice and Maverick is that Ice knows how to play the game and knows when is the right time to piss off people and knows how to do it within the regulations and best tactics. Maverick -- Maverick can't keep an opinion to himself, and does things he feels are the right thing to do, regardless of the consequences. )

Also going based off of other knowledge I've seen on tumblr explaining what the Academy is which Ice apparently went to, it's (allegedly) a pretty prestigious school that's hard to get into. Which makes me think, personally, that Ice had exceptional grades for a long time, and probably even did advanced physics and aerodynamics already. These classes might be even easy for him, or at least nothing new. He pays attention as much as he needs to, but for the most part, he's already got it. (I personally like to headcanon that he would regularly get best scores on exams while at the Academy, or maybe even had a friendly competition with Cougar as to who would be the best academically, and maybe even helped tutor other students -- which would be a decent precursor to him being a teacher at TOPGUN)

Which I think is why Ice finds Maverick so compelling. Maverick gets all this, seems to be a damn good visualizer, and he didn't go to the academy. Ice worked his ass off, but Maverick had to overcome genuine barriers due to his family history, and did so while doing absolutely off the wall shit that Ice would have never even considered. The thing that draws Ice to Maverick? Maverick is the farthest thing from boring. Even if he is lying about flying upside down -- which despite Ice saying "bullshit" I think at least part of that is just reactive disbelief because holy shit, what if he actually did? -- it's still entertaining. Breaks up from the monotony. Catches his attention.

And then when he watches Maverick fly and realizes, jesus christ, he probably did fly his plane upside down. He flew his plane upside down and taunted the shit out of the enemy. And because this is the 80s, and toxic masculinity, instead Ice channels that feeling of kind of awe into antagonism because how else is he going to do it. So he asks Maverick, "who was covering Cougar while you were showboating?"

And the thing is that Maverick takes it in stride. He listens pretty politely. honestly, I think he notices the fact that Ice -- Goose's proclaimed "best" -- is paying attention to him. Even if it is by being an asshole, it doesn't stop the fact that Ice doesn't do that to anyone else. He keeps to his lane. They're teammates, they're all on the same side, but other than Slider it doesn't seem like Ice takes much of a personal interest in anyone. But he does in Maverick.

It's the fascination that makes the Icemav for me. The intrigue. Maverick asking Goose who he thinks is the best, and Goose points out Iceman, and Iceman backs it up because he flies textbook perfectly. Iceman having heard about Maverick, acknowledging that Mav and Goose were notorious, and discovering why and being compelled by it. The rivalry between the two that comes from really, being two sides of the same coin. They both want to fly, badly. They both want to be the best. They both have very different understandings and beliefs of how one becomes that, and even what the best means. They both recognize that the other is a threat to their own goal. And once the competition is over -- well. Damn. Who else do they want on their wing than this person who has earned their respect, impressed them, who they've come to understand, and with whom went through so much together?

(And if there's a hell of a lot of sexual tension and confusing romantic feelings along the way, well -- that's just even more fun)

[maysileedonners]

something about baron accusing adaine of being a bad friend to riz only for her to then save an isolated riz from him minutes later from an entirely separate room of the house. the elven oracle loves that little goblin guy!!!!

[utilitycaster]

this may seem needlessly finicky but I do actually believe it's important: calling Verin a himbo is just one of many examples where like, one of the cast says something off the cuff and it's not exactly the right word or it is highly contextual, and that is fine because no one is perfect especially in improv, but then it gets repeated ad infinitum within the fandom when it never really fit in the first place. We have Verin's stats and he's decently more intelligent than average with a 13 (smarter than most of Bells Hells for one; as smart as Pike); it's just he's the guy with a bachelor's degree with good grades followed by military service in a family where everyone has two PhDs - Matt said "himbo of the family" the way in a family where most people are exceptionally tall you'd call the 5'11" child the short one. In Call of the Netherdeep he appears as thoughtful and competent and promoted to a difficult position at a very young age, and in the campaign his appearance is simultaneously as a leader of troops in a dangerous mission, and someone who cares enough about poetry from a completely foreign and distant culture to have tried to learn more about it. I'm sorry, but if you're using the word "himbo" I don't think you're processing a thing about the character yourself; you're just the latest repetition in a game of telephone that's been going on since mid-2021.

And that's not deeply bad on the surface, and I'm using Verin not because he is the character most wronged by this sort of thing but because he's recent and it's really clear where the word came from and that it's not a good assessment, but something I happen to have a decent knack for is pattern recognition in language. I usually find it really easy to pick up on when someone's plagiarized because of the language and pattern shifts. I tend to remember urls and out of place words well. So I do tend to notice when everyone suddenly starts using a single turn of phrase and I tend to flag it. Sometimes that's not bad; sometimes it means everyone came to a similar conclusion and that's the best way to express that conclusion. But like, when Taliesin called the Yios episode a gas-leak episode and the entire fandom started parroting it? The line "bone-dry takes"? The fact that a lot of ship defenses I see were phrased precisely as "I have eyes"? without actually talking about the ship itself? the fact that I've seen a spike in the use of the term "ontologically evil" including in myself and not all uses are actually correct? And extending this beyond strictly language but consider any headcanon with minimal textual support that catches like wildfire (sidebar: remember how we make, or made fun of the SPREAD THIS LIKE WILDFIRE tendency on Tumblr a decade ago? same concept of repetition of a specific turn of phrase without internalizing) all sort of ping this.

And it's fine, truly, to come to fandom and turn off your brain. I know this will sound sarcastic from me, and that's because I don't personally agree, but I do strongly agree that you can do what you want in fandom and you don't have to listen to my opinions so in the end, yeah, it's fine because I am not the arbiter of "fine". But I think critical thought is a vital exercise and I think precision with language is part of it and so if you find yourself using the same exact words and thoughts as everyone else, that should, ideally, trigger a process of "but are these the right words? what do I see when I see this character and how would I describe them? do I agree with this assessment?" Fandom is an interesting and easier microcosm than reality in which to start doing that.

[jq37]

it’s really important to me that Oisin is not evil and adaine dates him i just think she deserves a nice dragonborn buff loser boyfriend

OBVIOUSLY I say this with the caveat that if Siobhan/Adaine aren't interested that's totally valid.

But also COME ON. How cute would it be?

-She gets another wizard in her social life who will actually understand when she says stuff like, "Abjurative grammar is prescriptive."

-Summer Nights "Tell Me More, Tell Me More" energy from the other Bad Kids and Aelwyn.

-Hot, dorky nerd who thinks she's really cool (because she is) to hype her up.

-She gets to shove his defection to their side in Kipperlilly's face which she'd love because she is a petty bitch first and a wizard second.

What's not to like? Also, Brennan is behind a lot of super cute romantic content in D20 (he's gotten lines I really love as Ayda, Esther, Hob, and Dale just off the top of my head) and I think Adaine deserves some of that as she's in the midst of her third potential apocalypse.

As a treat.

[spaceboyden]

are there any fantasy co09 fics??? i was thinking about a mermaid jeckole fic i wanna write but it feels so niche (im still gonna write it idgaf)

[mineralmeta]

More talking abt HTTYD, im re-obsessed w it

(Does anyone else find the allergy (western?) animators have w cross breeding feels a little Race Purity adjacent lmao)

ALSO, i go on in the next post to go “wait i forgor light fury isnt even the same species as toothless” so dw abt pointing it out

[tealfruit]

I'm sorry for continuing to reference the inheritance cycle but also I'm not bc it turns out the overall worldbuilding in those books for the most part fucks severely and also shaped my brain very much in my formative years

[cicadascribbles]

Behold, my pride and joy! SkyWarden!

With the reemergence of my Titan Uprising hyperfixation I had to give some attention to one of my favorite dragons and the first four star I’ve leveled up to full stars!

I put some twists on her design to make her look a bit more unique from her model and I think she turned out beautifully!

If you don’t know SkyWarden she’s a sort of matriarch Typhoomerang who protects and guides younger dragons and even Vikings on berk. She’s also fiercely protective of dragons and Vikings alike, which is why I wanted to design her with the look of a senior dragon.

[bruoche]

Finite State Automata defining spell syntax.

The spells use only three different characters to be written, "╭" (which can represent "0"), "ʌ" (which can represent "1") and a validation symbol "ᴎ" that can represent ";". When writing spells, spaces, indentation and parenthesis can be added to make them more readable. Those do not modify the spell meaning as only the three characters precedently mentionned matter.

A fourth glyph "╰" can be placed to signify the begining of a spell too, so indentations are more logical, but this character do not add meaning to the spell either.

This automaton is nearly deterministic, with the exception of the validating "root" state, that can only go back on itself to exit the current loop (an ongoing while, the spell itself or a function definition for exemple). The spell also cannot validate before exiting every ongoing loop, and can only validate once every loop are exited. Otherwise, the rest of the states and their transitions are entirely deterministic.

A more detailed version of the FSA :

[aeriondripflame]

did dinosaurs exist on planetos because if so valyria is just blood magic jurassic park. dragons never existed they just blood magicked them into existence using giant dino bones. this is true and totally canon source just trust me.

[wuzhere75]

Weird thing that I just realized ticks me off about WOFs worldbuilding is that we don’t get an impression of what the biome and climate of the OG Nightwing kingdom. Like it’s detailed as having a lot “a lot of canyons and caves” and it seems like it is at least wet enough that trees can grow there, but its mentioned in the wiki that the forests are artificially planted. I had always assumed that the area was at least semi-arid because the rest of the western side of the continent is arid, but I know that mountains can change weather patterns by a lot and the kingdom seems to have a lot of them. Just something weird I have thought about

[ectoviolet]

just found out diane duane co-wrote barbie fairytopia. idk what to do with this knowledge but i feel as though i now understand a greater truth about the universe.

[horridgoblin]

ok hear me out. having insomnia sucks ass but imagine staying up all night with gale (who also sleeps like shit i think thats beyond headcanon tbh) discussing lord of the rings lore and analysis. holy fuck that would be such a fun discussion and you know he's a massive lotr nerd.

"so did you know tolkien hated allegory?" id say to stir shit (i dont entirely believe this statement) and watch him just debate that. oh my god please gale dekarios become real right now.

[igottalottabugsinmysoup]

Anyone else ever feel the need to get a diary so that when their body is found decaying in their empty home investigators can find it and uncover the hidden complexities of their mind?

[blur-from-the-north]

Autumn 2005. Oulu, Finland. Wirgin Edixa Prismat, Porst Weitwinkel 1:3.5/35mm, Kodak Gold 200 film.