#fic research

[thenerdyalien]

So I was getting lost in a Merlin Wiki rabbit hole, as one does, and I stumbled across the page for spells. And turns out the writers actually put a lot more thought into it than I initially thought (they're not actually just shouting random words in Old English). But what shocked me the most was learning what Merlin was actually saying to Arthur while he was unconcious in the Poisoned Calice episode. I always thought he was trying to enchant some sort of protection spell to keep Arthur safe while he couldn't be there for him. But turns out he was actually declaring poetry, POETRY to Arthur the whole time!

That's right, Merlin was declaring actual POETRY to Arthur on his deathbed!! I kept seeing the wiki mention verses from a book called Beowulf and I got curious so after a quick Google search, I found out that it's actually one of the most famous epic poems in Old English and I just lost it!! I never thought this episode could get any gayer...

[scuderlia]

mood board.

[batcavescolony]

Since in #7 Bernard Dowd is seen to want to be a Chef and I've had culinary arts schooling this is my list of oddly specific things pertaining to that. Use it as you want (just from my experience)

Having a callous on the base of your pointer fringer of your dominate hand from using a chef knife

Funky patterned chef pants

DISHES NEVER END

when you are moving with a hot pan or heavy items ect you tell everyone like HOT PAN! BEHIND. GOING AROUND THE CORNER. BEHIND!

small batches are cute but in a restaurant/bakery/etc you're doing big batches in industrial ovens and mixers. A batch of bread dough we made had 12lbs of flour and like a half gallon of water.

Culinary arts isn't just making food it's doing math, converting recipes, going over OSHA rules and restaurant regulations

After awhile you have enough knowledge to the point where you see a recipe on the internet and go "hey... I can make that. Like really easily" like you can just make curry or scallion pancakes or fancy food

You will notice the shitty knife cuts in like pre cut packages of fruit and veg at the store

You're not allowed to have nail polish or false nails (unless you want to wear gloves all the time)

You start to realise how easy it's is to do somethings for yourself. Like you can just buy a chicken and break it down yourself or make stock at home

Their will be at least one class day where you cut onions all day and leave in tears because everyone is literally cutting onions

Sometimes stuff gets pushed back in the fridge or it's after break and the food has grew a putrid smelling mold. Cleaning it is part of culinary, it's...Fun

Everyday you wear chef pants, a chef coat, a closed toe non slip shoe and a chef hat.

Your hands will get chapped af because you're washing them all the time, lotion is your friend

You do refer to your head chef as 'Chef' or 'Chef ____' (or at least we did)

You will fuck up except it and move past it. (I once put too many chips in the fryer, it over flowed and we had to clean it up)

Kitchens get hot and you're wearing pants and a coat that are designed to protect you from like boiling water being pored on them, so drink water.

You will get cut/burned/stabbed/squished fingers it's part of the job just don't get bodily fluids on the food

You're standing like the whole time no matter what

You know that gallon conversation thing you learned in elementary? You will see that in your sleep. Gallon to quart to pint to cup. Also 8oz to a cup. 3t to a T. 16oz to a Pound ect it's ingrained into my head now

With a bit of knowledge you now know things and you can use it. Like add Xanthan Gum to a blended drink to emulsify it and it's just like Starbucks.

On the down side people want you to make things

You start wanting things for your kitchen like a KitchenAid or a portion scoop or dehydrator and having that feeds back into "I can make anything"

Figuring out exact prices for things is crucial and a pain. Like you have to take the price of baking soda and figure out how much a 1/4t costs. It's not horrible ig but when you're doing it for a whole recipe or menu it gets repetitive.

Ok that's all I'm putting you get the idea

[herrmannhalsteadproduction]

I watched Undrafted last night (totally justifiable research for the Grudge Match chapter) and man, I forgot how much I love that movie. It's ridiculous. Like...

Exactly the kind of energy I was looking for as I worked on that chapter. 😂😂😂

[beemovieerotica]

[adiduck]

...okay I am perhaps unsurprisingly not really turning this info up via the magic of google, so I thought I'd give tumblr a go.

In Top Gun: Maverick, how likely is it that the Daggers would be given time off after the uranium mission, and if likely, how much?

Like, I am prepared to Make Shit Up if I have to, but if there's instead a REALISTIC way to have at least a handful of them around for another... let's say two weeks, or longer even, I am all ears.

[sflow-er]

Some notes on the aristocracy in Sweden

I’ve decided to collect some of my research into the Swedish aristocracy into a post in case some of it could be of interest to other fanfic writers - or any other YR fans who want to learn or remind themselves how nobility works in Sweden.

I’ll start with some background info, move on to the current situation (with examples from YR), and finish with a couple of observations on names and emblems.

As always, any corrections and additions are much appreciated! I am sadly not Swedish myself, but my country was until 1809.

Some sources: Riddarhuset (logo pictured above), Ointroducerad Adels Förening and Ritarihuone, column by nobleman/author Niklas Natt och Dag, various history websites (e.g. this one and this one), Wikipedia (e.g. list of noble families and uradel), Svenska Dagbladet (e.g. book review and recent article), Adelsvapen Wiki, article on Scanian nobility getting EU subsidies and article on billionaires, history lessons in school, visits to historical sites, etc.

Relevant concepts & history

Adeln / the nobility: People belonging to the aristocracy i.e. the highest social class in a country.

In Sweden, there are two kinds of nobility: titled and untitled. I’d say the closest English equivalent is the difference between (titled) nobility and landed gentry. The latter aren’t considered noble as such under the English system but are basically the same as untitled nobility under the Swedish system.

The titles are greve & grevinna (count & countess) and friherre & friherrinna (baron & baroness); count is higher than baron. A handful of naturalised families of also bear foreign titles.

Hertig & hertiginna (duke & duchess) are reserved for the Royal House and are the only titles the monarch is allowed to grant today. (In the show, only Wille and Erik are close enough to the Crown to be dukes.)

Untitled nobility used to have different ranks, but they don’t anymore. Initially, they came from humbler/more recently elevated origins than titled families (e.g. knights, high-ranking public servants, successful bourgeoisie) or were otherwise less powerful, but this distinction disappeared in the early 1700s.

Most noble families go back to the 1700s or further. From 1865, ennoblement was reserved for special conditions, and no new families have been ennobled since 1902. The monarch lost this power entirely in 1974 (with the exception of the ducal titles).

Frälse: A term used in the Middle Ages to refer to the privileged classes. The non-clerical frälse became adel in the 1500s/1600s.

Frälse referred to exemption from tax and was granted in exchange for supplying fully equipped horsemen for the king’s army. It also included other privileges, e.g. eligibility for the highest public offices.

From 1420 on, frälse became hereditary. Families whose forebears were frälse before this change are known as uradel. One of them is Horn.

In the 1500s to 1600s, the requirements changed. The new adel were just ennobled by the grace of the king.

In the late 1600s, the Crown took back some of the land given to the nobility. This sped up their transition into an elite class of public servants, as some old families lost power and new ones rose up.

(Riks)stånd / estate (of the realm): One of the classes under the social hierarchy and political system that existed in Europe from the Middle Ages on.

There were four estates in Sweden: clergy, nobility, burghers/bourgeoisie (urban merchants), and peasants (only a small portion of the entire peasantry). The clergy and nobility held the most power at the ståndsriksdag (diet of the estates).

The nobility gained more power again in the early 1700s when the monarchy was weak, but the tables turned towards the end of the century. The monarchy grew stronger again and the noble houses’ privileges started to be stripped away.

By the time the estate system was abolished in 1866, the bourgeoisie had gained a lot more power (largely thanks to the industrial revolution).

Riddarhuset / House of Nobility: An organisation of noble families, established in 1626.

Under the estate system, a family had to be introduced into the House of Nobility to participate in politics. Some unintroduced noble families still exist, most of them of foreign origin.

Today, Riddarhuset is just an association that upholds traditions, grants scholarships, catalogues the families in Adelskalendern (the Swedish Peerage Book), etc.

Every three years, the heads of the families (oldest living men) gather to make decisions at adelsmötet, the Assembly of Nobles.

That feels like a fitting segue to the current situation.

Some current statistics

The aristocracy only make up 0.2% of Sweden’s population today.

There are about 28,000 introduced nobles belonging to 657 houses, plus about 450 unintroduced nobles belonging to 100 houses, alive today.

Out of the 657 introduced houses, 480 are untitled, 131 are baronial, and 46 are comital houses.

Approximately 50% of introduced nobles live in Stockholm and the surrounding region, 25% elsewhere in Sweden, and 25% abroad.

The overwhelming majority of nobles aren’t rich or powerful. The ones who are may be disproportionately rich and powerful, and even the ones who aren’t may still benefit from their ancestry.

Out of the 542 billionaires in Sweden, 32 are noble (6%). Their fortune is usually inherited, and many of them belong to the most influential families in Sweden.

The aristocracy are also major landowners. The days of them owning up to 40% of all land are long gone, but they still own roughly 400,000 hectares / 4,000 sqkm / 1,544 sqm south of the Dal River. Especially in Skåne/Scania, where their holdings amount to 46% of farmland. Scanian nobles are the biggest recipients of agricultural subsidies in the EU.

Nobles are also overrepresented in high-paying jobs and related fields of study, as well as elite schools (e.g. the ones Hillerska is based on).

Rules on who counts as noble

[Apologies for the binary language that cannot be avoided.]

Only noble-born men can pass their rank on, and only to their wedded spouse and biological children by said spouse. This rule is based on centuries-old orders, but the Assembly of Nobles has the power to change it. They simply don’t want to, so...

A nobleman’s spouse becomes noble, regardless of sex. They retain their rank after divorce/in widowhood but lose it upon remarriage.

If one of the Society boys - say, Henry - married a man, his husband would become noble. If they got divorced, the ex-husband couldn’t pass it on to his children.

August’s mother Louise was very likely a countess or baroness while married to Carl Johan, as most of the Horn family branches have been titled. Marrying Rickard will have cost her the title.

Noble-born children remain noble for life (nobility can’t be renounced). Women cannot pass it on, and men can only pass it on according to the rules.

Felice can only be noble if Poppe is.

Felice is noble for life, but her children won’t be, unless she marries into another noble house. If House Ehrencrona has no male descendants, it will become ‘extinct’ in the male line, whether or not Felice’s children have her last name.

Biological children can be ‘legitimised’ after birth. If August discovered that he had a son and the mother agreed to marry him, the son would become his noble heir.

Adoptive children cannot be ‘legitimised’ at all. If Vincent and his future wife decided to adopt a son and had a biological daughter later on, only the daughter would be considered noble.

The exclusion of children by anyone other than a wedded spouse means that Henry and his husband could not have a ‘legitimate’ heir even by going abroad for surrogacy.

So, by swearing to prevent the extinction of their noble families, the Society boys are actually swearing to marry a woman and have babies with her. Preferably male babies.

Firstborn sons

The emphasis on firstborn sons is more of a tradition than a rule today. The firstborn will become the head of the family and has historically been the one whose responsibility it is to continue the bloodline, but in most families, all children are considered noble. In fact, a count’s sons are all counts and his daughters are all countesses, even while their father is still alive! And when the time comes, all the children inherit their share of the family estate (with wills etc. taken into account).

However, there are two notable exceptions.

Families ennobled after 1809 are subject to male-only primogeniture. Inheritance works the same as in any other family, but only the head of the family is considered noble.

Around 15 landed estates are still subject to fideicommissum - an ancient legal instrument that allows the firstborn to inherit the entire estate. In the old days, these were very common. They were set to expire from 1964 on, but families could petition for an extension, with each generation arguing that their estate had particular cultural-historical value and should be kept intact. New petitions are being denied now; the number was still 25 in 2019.

So if most noble families don’t fall into either of the above categories and don’t even have any special privileges anymore, what does any of this matter?

Well, it matters to them.

Value of nobility today

Many aristocrats are very proud of their noble roots and want to pass those on. They have their own networks and clubs; e.g. Ridderskapet och Adelns Ungdomsklubb (RAUK) for 18-35-yo members of introduced noble families. The photo above is from their summer ball in 2016.

The quote by a young (presumably queer) countess interviewed in one of the SvD articles above is quite illustrative. Nobility doesn’t matter when she dates women since they can’t pass it on anyway, and lack of nobility is not a dealbreaker even when she dates men. But it is definitely a selling point if her kids could grow up noble and inherit their dad’s title.

The two noblemen interviewed in the same article are indifferent to the matter of passing it on, and one of them even says he can’t be proud of an ancestry that exploited those under them. However, it’s worth noting that these guys are outliers for talking to the reporter at all. The many land-owning nobles who refused, e.g. the guy who jokingly said “we’re doing well here at the top”, might see it differently. In general, it’s hard to get the elite to talk about their privileges - this was also described in Agnes Hellström’s book Att vara utan att synas about the real boarding schools, which I’ve posted about before.

Anyway, nobility also matters to the rest of the upper classes. The pecking order among those who all have ridiculous amounts of wealth isn’t just based on who has the most money. What matters is how long they’ve been able to retain their wealth, what else they have besides just money, and crucially, how much social capital they’ve amassed as part of the elite.

So-called upstarts who only just made their money lack connections, are ‘out of the loop,’ and don’t know the social codes necessary to fit in. A typical example is that the nouveau riche may be eager to show off their newly improved lot in life, while the established elite strive to act humble about it.

This disdain for new money is demonstrated in YR by August’s look when he introduces Alexander as “son of Ulf Bragé, owner of Bragé Investments” - and of course the way Rickard sticks out like a sore thumb at Parents’ Day. He shows up in a flashy car and expects valet service, unlike the alumni who parked their own expensive but nondescript cars, and he’s also very ungraceful at the table when Wille snubs August.

As seen in the show, information in the form of gossip and rumours, as well as connections in the form of who knows whom, are essential.

Old families haven’t just sat on their money, they’ve invested it in their estates and things like works of art over the centuries. Those are so valuable precisely because they aren’t strictly ‘necessary’ - it’s not real wealth if you have to keep it all at hand. It is considered an enormous shame to have to sell up, as seen with Årnäs in the show.

So maybe it does make sense after all. The nobility have been ‘in the loop’ since way before the bourgeoisie became a thing, and they are such an exclusive lot that the only way to join their ranks is by birth or marriage. That’s the kind of social capital that money can’t buy - directly, that is. Historically, nobles who fell on hard times often found a spouse among the rich bourgeoisie, trading some of their prestige for an economic lifeline.

Speaking of joining their ranks, I want to conclude this with a quick look at two emblems/markers of nobility, so to speak.

Noble names and coats of arms

There are a few different types of noble family names in Sweden, the most prevalent being compound names made up of two words. To distinguish from regular Swedish surnames, noble names often have rather lofty or unusual meanings. For example:

Gyllen - golden, Silfver - silver, Adel/Edel - noble, Ehren - honour/glory, Lejon/Leijon/Löwen - lion, Gripen - griffin, Adler - eagle, Oxen - ox, Lager - laurel, Ceder - cedar...

...stierna - star, crona/krona - crown, svärd - sword, sköld/skiöld - shield, hielm - helm, crantz - wreath, stråle - ray of light, etc.

These can also be combined with more commonly used parts: felt, gren, etc. Some of them may be in a longer, older form: Linden- instead of Lind-, Rosen- instead of Ros-, and so on.

Not all names made up of these parts are noble names! They can also be names that only survive in the female line, or names made up by people who maybe liked the sound of noble names. Furthermore, these are not the only type of noble names out there. A few examples from the long list on Wikipedia, which includes extinct names:

Very simple names: Horn, Grip, Sparre, Creutz, Uggla, etc. These are usually old names with meanings that were easy to paint on a shield.

Non-Swedish names: Walkendorff, Breitholz, Nauckhoff, De la Grange, Duwall, etc. Many of these belong to families who immigrated centuries ago, predominantly from Denmark, present-day Baltics, or present-day Germany.

Names that include a place of origin (town, region or estate): De Geer, von Hofsten, Svinhufvud i Västergötland, Wachtmeister af Johannishus, Hamilton af Hageby, Munck af Fulkila, etc. Or indeed names made to sound like this, such as von Essen.

Names composed of the preposition ‘af’ and the original family name, to signal that they are descended from someone: af Huss, af Sandeberg, etc.

Branches of the same family, distinguished by their estate names: Horn af Åminne, Horn af Kanckas, etc. I guess we can add Horn af Årnäs to the list for YR.

And so on. If you need a noble name for a character, you can look at the list for inspiration - or even just use an existing name. This is what the writers have done in YR with both Felice and August.

Ehrencrona used to be a real name: untitled family number 879, ennobled in 1675 and extinct in 1917. Another branch of the same family was ennobled under the name Ehrenkrona in the same year, as baronial family number 210, and that one is still alive today. Here are their coats of arms - untitled Ehrencrona on the left and baronial Ehrenkrona on the right.

Each family has a coat of arms, and a number in the House of Nobility. The first 100 numbers were drawn at random, the rest are chronological.

Noblemen often bear their coat of arms on a signet ring, like the one we see August wear in the show (the ring can also just be engraved with their monogram, or perhaps a combination of both). In fact, Chrille/Krille wears one too, if you look closely at the Society party scene! Here’s a screenshot of August’s:

The show may not be allowed to use the real heraldic imagery for legal reasons. Most of the branches of the Horn family are extinct, but the main branch, the comital family Horn af Åminne, is still alive. YR can probably get away with inventing a new branch as long as they don’t make the connection to the real family too obvious.

If the coat of arms was accurate, it should include a variation of the typical horn (left) and various things around it, similar to the Horn af Åminne coat of arms (right). I don’t know anything about heraldry, but titled houses often have a whole lot of stuff going on there, symbolising their history and position. 

An interesting detail about the signet rings is that in the article mentioned above, one of the men is described as wearing his ring all through their interview, but hiding it when it’s time to take photos. He says “it’s one thing to wear it privately and another thing to show it in a newspaper,” even though he uses it to sign his books sometimes. Which fascinates me - he’s the same guy who said he wasn’t proud of his ancestry and even wrote the somewhat satirical column on nobility linked above, but I guess the signet ring still isn’t just any old trinket to him.

So, that’s it! Thank you for reading all this way! As I said at the start, any additions and corrections are most welcome.

[sapsuckers-and-stardust]

For being such a massive part of Star Trek lore Pon Farr is such an infuriatingly underdeveloped concept. The rules seem to change every time it's mentioned (you can also kill someone to fix it! women get it too! you can fix it with endocrine therapy!) and there is precious little information about most of the details, which I get Vulcans don't like to talk about it but also we've had 50 years of content to figure this out people. For instance, does it ever stop? I know in Voyager it was established it gets stronger with age which makes sense with Tuvok being middle aged but I REFUSE to believe Sarek's 200 year old ass was ravaged by previously unknown levels of horny. Like what is the biological logic of the mating drive increasing linearly when reproductive capacity peaks in midlife? I NEED ANSWERS

[sadeyedlady-writes]

Man, 1866 summer outfits look so breezy and lovely.

[upsidedownwithsteve]

i’m having so much fun writing countryclub!steve but I have a question! I try my hardest to avoid writing y/n and usually i’m able to come up with some sort of nickname to replace it. however, I’m like, semi obsessed with the idea of rich boy steve calling you ‘miss xxx’ in certain situations. would we be mad if I had to make up and use a random surname for reader?

like:

[popcorn-plots]

doing some research for a fic and, Central Park is a 13 minute walk from Columbia University???

And a 16 minute walk from Bleeker Street? But Central Park is so big that it would be a 36 minute bike ride from Bleeker Street to Columbia University. A 2 hour and 16 minute walk. And of course, Metro-General doesn't exist so I can't find it on google maps but huh

[dramamelon]

*SIGH*

Skimming Lost Light for ficcing purposes.

I utterly forgot about this panel. 😂🤣😂

Did you now, Cyclonus?

[groenendaelfic]

Calling all Young Royals ABBA fans for aid for fic research purposes! Please Help!

this post will include spoilers for the setting of the hypothetical The Upgrade 'verse which @simonsapelsin and I have totally not been brainstorming, specifically for fic 3, so please skip if you don't want any more spoilers appart from the giant one already in the title.

Questions I need help with:

imagine you are Simon, having just had epic boat or island beach sex with Crown Prince Wilhelm during your second ever meeting, which ABBA song do you hum? - is Voulez-Vous too on the nose?

which part of ABBA The Museum and its many interactive experiences should Wilmon definitely not miss?

what is Simon's childhood defining ABBA memory which makes him want to visit the museum?

At said museum, what's Simon's karaoke song choice?

is there a more perfect karaoke choice for Wille than Take A Chance On Me?

which song would play in the background while they have sex during/after their tour?

Are there any cool places at ABBA The Museum to have sex at? (the museum will be closed for them and/or they'll visit before or after it opens for the public)

Dancing Queen was dedicated to the irl queen of Sweden the day before her wedding to the king. What does that mean for Queen Kristina and the Young Royal's 'verse? Was it dedicated to her? (ngl I had a minor mental breakdown over this) - timeline wise Pernilla August was 18 when the song came out, I think Queen Kristina is meant to be a bit younger than her actress, but also maybe not? - it could have been dedicated to her as a young Crown Princess - or years later, no one says a song has to be dedicated immediately

apparently ABBA's Frida is best buds or something with the irl queen, I know practically nothing about Frida. Would it make sense character and personality wise if she were also friends with Kristina?

Which ABBA song would be perfect to feature in a Young Royals fic? Why?

anything else which comes to mind which could be helpful re ABBA + Wilmon?

[fizzigigsimmer]

Imagine Harringrove Ballet Au

I am traipsing through the wonderful world of ballet, doing research for my Ballet School!Au. Bless this dancer and his Steve vibes for giving me so much inspiring material.

Imagine Steve was the runner up for the Regional New York City Dance Alliance (NYCDA) Outstanding Dancer Award and Billy was the winner. They're both going to nationals, but Steve has been super secretive about his routine. Not practicing with Billy like he usually does. Billy thinks it's just because he's in competition mode and doesn't want to be distracted. But really it's because Steve wants to show Billy how much he loves him.

[blacclotusss]

Mr. Dewayne Perkins!

a.k.a.

Louis' next boyfriend!

Can't wait to write their dynamic ☺

[royallyprincesslilly]

Question for y'all

Which 2 "celebs" (I don't care the field model, singer, rapper, actor, influencer etc) and or characters (book, movie, TV etc) would you have the HARDEST time choosing between (you know in what way I mean 😏) if you had to.