#he who drowned the world

[eunuchboy]

portrait practice with the general

[ash-and-starlight]

one day, in a thousand years

[3cosmicfrogs]

Spring hunt.

[smokefalls]

A connection between two people existed only because of their shared belief in it as real. There was no such thing as a connection with only one end. There was no such thing as love, alone.

Shelley Parker-Chan, He Who Drowned the World

[ozymandien]

oh him? he's just a monk. no he doesn't harbor deep desires of greatness don't worry about it

[bleuarte]

Lord Esen in she who became the sun

And General Ouyang in he who drowned the world

[rabarbarzcukrem]

It's not a lot but it's weird that it happened thrice

Art credit: @teardew, @ash-and-starlight

[deaddove]

[teartra]

Give the design team a raise

[annie-handholder]

bro literally said:

[captainamsel]

Ma Xiuying from the Radiant Emperor duology!

Design/research notes under the cut

The characters read 馬秀英 (Pinyin: mǎ xiù yīng), her personal name, and 孝慈高皇后 (xiào cí gāo huáng hòu), her name as Empress.

There's certainly no dearth of material on Chinese clothing history out there. That is, if you can read Chinese, which I can't, so everything I have is from secondary and tertiary sources and/or relies on translation software. Fortunately, we're dealing with historical fantasy here, so some anachronisms are not only allowed but encouraged.

While Shelley Parker-Chan takes many liberties, the books are still set in a very specific time period, which is both a blessing and a curse. Most readily accessible resources will tell you about dynasties, which can span hundreds of years, and the duology takes place in a transitional period. So how to dress a Semu girl from the Yuan dynasty who lives with Nanren rebels wanting to revive the Song dynasty and who later becomes the first Ming empress?

Let's go through them one by one. The best resource was this book which is on the Internet Archive. I disregarded Mongol and Semu influences for the design since clothing is very much political and a way to either stand out or fit in with the surrounding society, see for example Wang Baoxiang wearing a topknot in Khanbaliq. Ma, I imagine, would want to fit in with the Nanren around her, so she's pretty much wearing the attire of Han women under Yuan rule. For the hair I went for something that looks youthful while being plausible, though I found very little on hair in this period, so who's to say.

The next one is from a specific scene in the book, so there is some description to go on: red, long sleeves with gold embroidery, high hair, red and gold ribbons. Since this is the scene where Ma declares herself queen and future empress in front of the Red Turban, it has to be a very deliberate dress. It therefore takes inspiration from Song aristocrats' broad-sleeved gowns as well as from 翟衣 (dí yī), the highest ceremonial gown of both Song and Ming empresses. (Some examples for 翟衣 are in this post, which also features the bird shaped crown I just had to include, and this post.) Her hair still has the loops, but it's much more sculpted.

Finally, Empress Ma! This is mainly based on the two actual portraits I could find of the historical figure that Ma is based on, with elements taken from other portraits and paintings. It includes 凤冠 (fèng guān), the phoenix crown, 霞帔 (xiá pèi), the sash, and 禁步 (jīn bù), the jade belt. This video shows how Ming dynasty layers are worn, but it refers to a much later period so it's not quite the same as Ma's.

(Some additional, historically irrelevant notes: I realized too late that a right-to-left timeline might be more appropriate. Oh well! Also, how the colours photograph frustrates me, I swear I did not make her this deathly pale. And finally, some of the characters look a bit smudged because my cat spilled water on them. I did what I could to save them.)

[3cosmicfrogs]

oh 12.65 litres of blood clinging to the outside of my body, we're really in it now

[smokefalls]

Sometimes letting go was so hard that it only happened when what you held was crushed, so the fragments fell from between your still-grasping fingers.

Shelley Parker-Chan, He Who Drowned the World

[ozymandien]

later, ouyang thought esen wouldn't even had noticed: the moment his stillness of anticipation flicked into the stillness of shame, as quickly as capping a candle. his blood ran cold; his body burned. it was the feeling of a blade slid gently into his heart.

[mispatchedgreens]

oh, to be an absolute ten while a repressed belligerent asshole administers to you the kiss of life

[eleni-anz]

General Ouyang 😤