#harold they're necromancers

[bereft-of-frogs]

So as much as I love Camilla Hect and think she has slightly more brain cells than like 90% of the rest of the Locked Tomb cast, I occasionally see takes like ‘Camilla is the keeper of the Brain Cell’ and I just can’t get behind this. This girl is insane. She’s just as unhinged as the rest of them, and I think most of her perceived reasonable-ness is down to the fact that we have the audience perspective. Especially to the rest of the characters, she is decidedly off the deep end.

Like this is a woman who, we can infer, in between nearly bleeding to death in a fight with a lyctor and being captured as a prisoner of war, hauled ass through the ruins of Canaan House to scrape skull fragments off the floor.

You know she came back from meeting up with Harrow and told them what happened like, ‘hey so Harrow’s gone mad with grief’ and then they’re all like ‘yeah…right…Harrow’s gone mad with grief…sure, Camilla, sure.’

Like sure, we as the audience know that Camilla is being way more reasonable than Harrow because we know she’s right about Palamedes’s soul being in the skull fragments, but to everyone else who’s actually in the story, the two of them are on the same level (and that’s very sexy of them)

(And this is not even counting all the nonsense she gets up to in Nona including the whole of that duel scene which was spectacular)

[betterillusionist]

Necromancer Study Buddy

"Wha-? Hey! Mal, let go!"

But Malorn holds fast as he drags a panicking Duncan behind him.

"What are you doing?!" Duncan continues to complain, twisting and turning with all his might to no avail.

"I'm getting you out of the house, that's what I'm doing," Malorn replies, not bothering to turn to face his friend. "Just because Malistaire isn't here anymore doesn't mean you get to stop studying."

Duncan grits his teeth and reluctantly allows himself to be dragged along. Being pulled from his home was certainly not on his to-do list today; he very much felt more like becoming a vegetable than eager to study. But it's not like he was going to do anything else useful with his time. In a way, part of him is grateful for Malorn showing up like he did.

The longer the two walk, out of Triton Avenue and up the steep slopes of Olde Town, nearing the Shopping District, pins and needles dance across Duncan's entrapped hand.

"Dude, let go. I can't feel my hand."

"Sorry," Malorn mutters, promptly releasing him from his tight grip. Duncan takes a moment to nurse his poor hand before trudging along behind his friend.

"I'm guessing you have a plan in mind?" Duncan asks as they pass by the Wizard City shops.

"Sort of," Malorn admits with a shrug. "I've been going to the library and pulling books off shelves."

A frown plasters itself onto Duncan's face. "Seriously?"

"You have any better ideas?" Malorn retorts. "The Professor's gone. The classroom's gone. The textbooks are useless without a teacher. Might as well go poking around ourselves."

He makes a good point. Without a Professor to direct them and answer questions and explain concepts and spells as they arise, they're at a loss with the school-issued textbooks. But what good is pulling books off shelves at random?

"Boris has been pretty helpful, too," Malorn continues as they stroll, noting Duncan's skeptical scowl. "Trust me, it'll be worth it."

"Alright..." Duncan sighs skeptically.

They make their way around the lake of the Commons, heading towards the small-looking building that is the Ravenwood Library. Within its walls exists a seemingly endless supply of books and shelves, with reading spaces dotted about at random. The books within float about by invisible hands, constantly engaged in the complicated dance of rearrangement, as if they're constantly dissatisfied with where they rest on their shelves. As they enter, the kindly head librarian from Marleybone, Harold Argleston, raises his shaggy head to greet the two Necromancers.

"Ah, well if it isn't Malorn Ashthorn and Duncan Grimwater!" he says merrily. He leans forward in his seat, pushing aside the open ledger before him. "Is there anything I can help you boys with today?"

"We're just here to read some books about Necromancy," Malorn replies. "Is Boris around?"

"The lad should be somewhere in the back," Mr. Argleston chuckles. "You know how to find him."

"Great! Thanks, Mr. Argleston."

With that, the two students make their way into the maze of bookshelves.

"Doesn't he also have classes to attend?" Duncan can't help but ask. It always feels like Boris is hiding away in the library, buried in books all day, completely neglecting his studies as a Diviner. How come he gets to play in the library all day whereas Duncan hardly gets any time to himself?

Malorn just shrugs back at a loss for words.

As they take a few more twists and turns in the vast expanse of the library, Malorn finally cups his hands around his mouth and calls out, "Boris? Boris!"

For a long moment, there's no reply. Not even a shift of cloth moving nearby. No footsteps ring in the air. Duncan doesn't frequent the library; he hardly reads despite his own home library being fully stocked with all sorts of family tomes. He can't help but find Malorn's aimless calling a little weird.

But then the point of a long yellow hat appears, growing longer and longer until Boris Tallstaff is peering at them from behind a nearby bookshelf. He's smiling, as if he had been expecting them for the longest time.

"Hi there!" he greets them, stepping into full view. His arms are full with an assortment of books, but despite their number and size he doesn't appear too concerned by their weight. His gaze shifts from Malorn to Duncan, and his smile grows wider. "You finally dragged him along, eh?"

"Yep," Malorn replies with a slight chuckle. "Is the study space prepared?"

"Of course!" Boris answers, nodding his head in a way that indicates that they should follow him. Beaming, Malorn starts off after the Diviner, Duncan still in reluctant tow.

Boris leads the Necromancers to a small space between the bookshelves. A single table lined with two long benches sits in the center of the space, candle flames flickering with soft orange light in their candelabras. Multiple stacks of books, each one bound by black covers, litter most of the space on and around the table, leaving but a small space for one to actually sit and read.

All of this was prepared in advance? Duncan lets out an impressed whistle.

"I think I got everything you'll need for the next few days," Boris speaks. "If there's anything else you want, feel free to let me know."

"Thanks, Boris," Malorn nods. "I think this is good for now."

"Happy studying!"

With that, the student librarian returns to his previous work, disappearing around a corner. His footsteps continue for a short moment before falling silent altogether, as if he suddenly stopped existing.

Malorn gestures to the table way too enthusiastically for a study session. "Ready to get started?"

"We're reading all of this?" Duncan asks, once again looking over the mountain of books. The more he counts the spines, the less eager he is to sit and start.

"Pretty much," Malorn nods back.

Duncan can't help but let out a groan at the task ahead of him. Yes, admittedly, he's been neglecting his studies. It's easy to do when one no longer has a Professor nor a classroom to turn to. Even their teaching assistant - poor Dworgyn; Duncan sort of liked him... kind of... when he wasn't annoying - is gone, and the Headmaster hasn't bothered getting them a new one for the time being.

"Hey, if you're not going to study, you can always take the Headmaster's offer and switch schools," Malorn adds casually, turning towards the table.

"We had that conversation!" Duncan retorts as if it were a valid point. He's not switching schools. Period. It'd feel like a betrayal on his part if he ever did, so he doesn't allow himself to entertain such a thought.

"Then sit down and start reading," Malorn replies firmly. "Malistaire wouldn't want you slacking."

A little pang of guilt stabs Duncan's heart at the statement. Indeed, Professor Drake would hate to see one of his star students behind on studying...

His gaze sinks to the floor, his body feeling heavy. He wasted the last week doing absolutely nothing with himself. If the Professor saw him now, he'd be extremely disappointed.

Duncan takes his seat across the table from Malorn and picks up the first book within his reach. It's time to stop wasting his time and get back to work. He has people to make proud of him.

[chelseacattos]

Books I've read in the past month:

The Lost Queen by Signe Pike. I really liked this one! More magic realism than fantasy and based on actual historical accounts that influenced Arthurian legend. Essentially it's about Merlin's sister and her life. Some romance but mostly court politics.

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher. Also enjoyed this one! Modern magic realism with really fun characters! There's a heavy emphasis on family in this one (which I adore) but there's also a little romance. Loved the worldbuilding and lore!

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. I didn't realize this was the first of a series lol. Honestly I found it very predictable and a little too violent for my tastes. Set in Future England, where clarvoyants are hunted and killed for being "Unnatural." I liked the socio-political themes and the worldbuilding is really cool, but I predicted the entire series after one book so I'm not gonna read the rest. Definitely sci-fi, idk why it was in the fantasy section at the library.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I didn't finish this one :/ ... I did NOT like the main character but I wanted to push thru because the second book is about the character I DID like, but I couldn't do it. Sci-fi esque buy with fantasy elements (like necromancers). The main character is such an Edgelord I just couldn't get into it. Writing is good and the world seems really cool, also they're LESBIANS, Harold!!!

Currently Reading When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill and I am OBSESSED omg. Housewives in the 50s suddenly turned into dragons and ate their shitty husbands and flew away to be free but nobody is allowed to mention it.

[dapurinthos]

I posted 3,263 times in 2022

That's 422 more posts than 2021!

219 posts created (7%)

3,044 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@possiblythreefourthspeahen

@forthegothicheroine

@marzipanandminutiae

@bedlamsbard

@waricka

I tagged 1,021 of my posts in 2022

#the locked tomb - 107 posts

#statement of joe spooky - 55 posts

#the dead travel fast - 52 posts

#keeping up with the skywalkers - 48 posts

#my dearest jonah - 43 posts

#nona the ninth spoilers - 40 posts

#the adventures of sewing goblin - 35 posts

#harold they're lesbians - 27 posts

#i'd love to have you for dinner - 24 posts

#time and relative dimension in space - 20 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#i have an octopus cup; a lovely sistrum; a beautiful lady jug that pours water out of her breasts; and a delightful little cycladic face tha

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

congrats to the lettuce that beat liz truss and is *squints at notes* now the new pm of the uk?

86 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

#4

a family can be a myriad-year-old cavalier in the body of her dead necromancer, the necromancer and cavalier of the sixth house using the cavalier’s body as a time-share, and an amnesiac girl who wants to save as many furry friends as she can when they have to bug-out.

149 notes - Posted March 30, 2022

#3

really identifying with john gaius necrolord prime the man who became god and the god who became man emperor of the nine houses in this latest excerpt because i, too, would wage unceasing war on the descendants of elon musk and jeff bezos after they abandoned the dying earth.

193 notes - Posted June 29, 2022

#2

hey it’s out in new zealand, that’s my break and i’ve had this draft waiting for, like, two weeks.

some notes on the codenames (source x) that blood of eden uses for the lyctors

all of the blood of eden codenames for the lyctors are based on mythical weapons, the exception being source aegis (athena’s shield, sometimes featuring the gorgon’s head), but it does make sense upon reconsideration because gideon was not the person the codename was meant for, it was pyrrha, and what is a cavalier if not a protector of their necromancer? it makes much more sense for pyrrha to be the source aegis referred to as wake’s informant, especially since we learned that phyrra was the one who instigated the relationship, not gideon prime.

source piotra took me a moment because it’s a version of the name peter and i was just ??? about it because i was not exposed to anything to do with christian religion until i moved to newfoundland and had to start religious studies in the middle of fifth grade. however, there is a legendary sword that was used by the apostle peter, which is said by some to have been brought by joseph of arimathea to britain, at the same time the poznañ archcathedral (the oldest polish cathedral, settling why the name is piotra, the polish version of peter) displays the copy of the supposed blade itself, a roman gladius with a spaded end.

joyeuse for mercymorn—did blood of eden know her simply as the saint of joy first, given that mercymorn wanted their names to be forgotten and not used, and thus codenamed her after a sword containing the word ‘joy’? joyeuse itself is the legendary sword of charlemagne, the first holy roman emperor, and described in the song of roland. the blade used at the coronation of french kings is claimed to be joyeuse and has been altered over the centuries before being displayed in the louvre today.

cassiopeia continues the mythological swords theme by being named source gram after the sword of sigurd, known as gramr in old norse, which was used to slay a dragon in the volsunga saga. as for why? i’m going to go with the proto-indo-european serpent slaying myth to connect them, cassiopeia being the mother of andromeda who was staked out and left for the sea monster kētŏs (who is not a kraken, thank you very much for inserting that idea into popular culture, clash of the titans), who was also described as a sea serpent, given the similarities between serpents and dragons in greek myth.

now, as for cytherea, source chrysaor. i was confused because i kept looking at chrysaor the mythological person before smacking myself upside the head and recalling the faerie queene by edmund spenser where chrysaor is a sword wielded by sir artegall. sir artegall, the embodiment of justice, the champion of justice. and justice, to blood of eden, is ‘the vengeance of the ten billion,’ it is justice to ‘kill the emperor and burn his houses.’ in cytherea’s own words. (there is also demeter’s title khrusaôros, referring to the golden blades of wheat, and cytherea’s return to the first house is to harvest the seeds planted during the past ten thousand years, to cut down the heirs of the nine houses in the same way wheat is cut.)

255 notes - Posted September 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

are the lyctoral robes a descendant of lab coats, tazmuir??? are they??? did john wake up one day and go ‘you know what would be cool? if we tie-dyed our lab coats.’ ?????

661 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[nightingaletrash]

me and @andauril are chatting about vampirism and lycanthropy in tes and how ESO’s Priest of Arkay is mostly there for player convenience rather than a canonical cure, except then Anda mentioned how Falion’s cure uses a black soul gem and oops the Priest of Arkay is now a secret necromancer who uses the ‘donations’ provided by the vampires and werewolves he cures to purchase the black soul gems he needs as part of the cure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[radiant-flutterbun]

Muerto's familiars throughout the years.

All of the familiars that Muerto has had all exist in lore. The first familiar he had was a permafrost impaler he named Harold. He came across Harold by chance and the creature seemed to like him. Muerto figured "Hey it's a dead thing. I'm used to weird dead things. Sure it can be my pet. Why not." He named it after his zombie butler back in his world. Harold the Permafrost impaler stills exists in my lore. He mostly just hangs around Muerto's room in Ton Theon.

Kuaka is a Talonok whose role in her flock is to help the deceased reach the afterlife. Muerto stumbled across her one day while she was having the worse day of her life. She had lost the spirits she was supposed to be guiding. One moment they were right behind her, but when she looked back poof they were gone. Muerto sympathized with her panic. He was the God of Death in his world. Making sure spirits went where they were supposed to go was part of his job too. He offered to help her find the missing spirits. And with Muerto's help Kuaka did eventually find her lost spirits and helped them move on. Kuaka occasionally pays Muerto a visit at Ton Theon when she can find the time.

The two ferberuses don't have as much lore. The calico is MeowMeowMeow (or 3Meow) and the black one is Thirteen. They're part of his undead cat collection. The boy can't help himself. He sees a cat dead or alive and must take it home (he's a necromancer for those unaware).

His current familiar is Thirteen because they fit his aesthetic better than 3Meow, but in lore they're just two of his cats overrunning Ton Theon.

[bereft-of-frogs]

Anyways, so I did something super normal and very responsible with my grown up job salary 👻🐮💀🗡

[bereft-of-frogs]

catacomb saints | whumptober 2022

i. forget me not | 3. Hair’s Breadth From Death (Say Goodbye)

...C— doesn’t say anything. She’s afraid M— will stop her. So she says it inside, says it quietly, like a prayer. Goodbye, my friend. Don’t be afraid. I’m going to help us...

...Augustine is angry for a long time. He holds quite a few grudges, over what happened that night in the House of the First. He has many more regrets. His biggest is that he had not answered his brother’s goodbye...

...The last time they meet, after everything is over, there is already something of the sepulcher about Anastasia and Cassiopeia knows they will never see each other again.

Nine goodbyes.

ii. make me an ossuary | 5. Blood Loss / 27. Pushed to the Limit / 4. Dead On Your Feet (Can’t Pass Out)

With shaking hands she picks through the rubble and gathers up every fragment she can find. Her movements grow desperate as she claws through the rock. Her already stained hands are further bloodied as she shreds her nails and scrapes her fingers raw searching through cracked stone and broken glass. What pieces she finds, she clutches to her chest, gathering them carefully in a scrap of grey cloth.

Camilla Hect guards the bones, despite everything.

iii. found footage | 6. Proof of Life (Ransom Video)

Something crunches underfoot. The camera drops down to show the remains of a skull, turning to powder under a booted foot. The cameraman moans, makes a choking, nauseous sound, then spins the camera dizzyingly away. He keeps it focused on the center of the hallway as he moves from the landing pad down the hall, deeper into the tower.

Transcript of the video made by the organization known as the Blood of Eden, upon infiltrating Canaan House and the acquisition of several House assets.

Banner: The Osteology Lesson of Dr. Sebastiaen Egbertsz (1619), Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy. Banner and title inspiration come from Death: A Graveside Companion, edited by Joanna Ebenstein.

- - -

Happy Halloween, my spooky friends! Yes this is all I’ve been able to think about for the last two months, so it’s fic time.

I had a little bit more that I didn’t quite pull together in time, but I might post at some point in November. True to form, really, I usually post these in November anyways, but I figured given the subject matter it was appropriate to just toss these three up on Halloween, before digging into the candy corn and pumpkin beer.

So that’s what I’m off to do. As always, likes/replies/reblogs/frogs appreciated. Have a good Halloween ;-)

[bereft-of-frogs]

I think I know why this Locked Tomb spiral is such a whirlpool. Because all three books have such different vibes and I like all the vibes. Equally.

So when I get to the end of Nona I find I miss the murder mystery video game of Gideon, and when I get to the end of Gideon I miss the psychological fuckery and ghost story of Harrow and when I get to the end of Harrow I miss the apocalyptic intrigue (and the Sixth House) of Nona, and when I get to the end of Nona…

Anyway I’m nearing the end of the rereread and I need someone to come smack these out of my hands and force me to read something else.

[bereft-of-frogs]

This is going to be such a tease because I’m not actually going to say anything until I’ve finished the rereread (I’m about halfway through Harrow) and gotten a chance to gather quotes and organize my thoughts but

I think I know what happened during the original Lyctor ascensions.

[bereft-of-frogs]

Something I thought of on my commute, where mostly I just think about sad necromancers:

the thing is The Locked Tomb is basically romance for people who listen to Lord Huron’s ‘The Night We Met’, fully pay attention to the lyrics, have the full context from the rest of the album, and still think it’s kinda romantic and would put it on their theoretical future wedding playlist

[bereft-of-frogs]

It’s space necromancy marathon weekend! 💀🦴💀🦴 I finally have an uninterrupted chunk of time to read Nona and be emotionally devastated. (I had to stop reading on my lunch break yesterday because there were people around and I was Overcome with a line that I then could not stop thinking about for the rest of the day.)

(This thread will contain no spoilers, just emotions and drinks, but feel free to block tag ‘necromancy weekend’ if you want to.)

Status: 20% Drink #1: coffee in the star mug

Let’s gooo

[bereft-of-frogs]

Let’s goooooooooooo 💀🦴💀🦴💀🦴

[bereft-of-frogs]

Does anyone know if there’s like…*good* Locked Tomb fic? The fanart for this series is gold tier but I feel like satisfying fanfic would be really hard. (Very distinct authorial style, complex plot and intricate but also obscured character backstories, etc etc).

But also there are certain characters I am in desperate need of More from…

[bereft-of-frogs]

I’m trying not to be annoying in the tags of unrelated posts but please understand like 90% of what I’m reblogging right now is secretly about the locked tomb

[bereft-of-frogs]

ngl that person who spoiled Nona for me three months ago presumably based on an ARC is fucking lucky my friend is so good at deflection