#i ended up compiling a good bit of art ref also

[neathyingenue]

New fits for my Fallen London OC!

My love of historical womenswear was how I first learned of FL in the first place. So of course I'm going all out when it comes to my OC Silvia's wardrobe!

When I first started playing, I opted for a late 1880s look, as I wasn't sure what year exactly the action took place in. Upon finding out that it's 1899 (and indeed, has been for some time), a redesign was in order.

Silvia's daytime suit is adapted from this 1899 fashion-plate from Le Costume Moderne, specifically the cut at the top left. I added a cravat-inspired neck bow to make it a bit more androgynous. And of course, Silvia's hat is adorned with fungi rather than flowers.

Silvia's evening gown is a loose interpretation of this 1899 French piece from the Met's Costume Institute. Irises are my favorite flower, and I love art nouveau nature motifs, so I couldn't resist!

Of course, these are much nicer garments than what a low-level character could afford--particularly the evening gown. Perhaps a patron at court lent Silvia the gown when she showed up to a ball in a ghastly item from the last decade?

[unorcadox]

UNORCADOX

howdy, i'm mabel! it's the 3 year anniversary of unorcadox today, so i've prepared a decent bit of surprises. (and yes that means i started this blog in 2020, which is terrifying to think about.) i'll go into those new things under the cut, but first... check out the carrd linked in the header text of this post :3c

sooo soo so so so where on earth do i begin. uhh honestly let me just break down the new stuff first since i can talk about that more easily.

THE NEW LOOK! ok so like truth be told, i've been a faceless blog on purpose up until now. it wasn't until this summer where i actually liked how i looked or had any solid sense of my own aesthetic or what i wanted to look like. it also made it easier to protect against dysphoria and transphobes in the same breath, as no one could ever comment on any aspect of my appearance, or even the mere suggestion i even had one to begin with! but that all changes now, i'm going to actually have a presence on this blog, as it is MY blog and tbh i'm tired of being so faceless on here. that's why i've been doing more asks and non-edit posts recently, and those will increase in frequency. check out the carrd for more info, my sona's ref, and art credits for assets on here <3

mondays -> MUSIC MONDAYS! so it might come as a shock i'm actually a musician in addition to making stuff on here! i've promoted my music a couple of times by now, but nothing all that substantial. sooo, considering that, i'm going to be replacing monday oc posts with a music post! just a link to a song on my bandcamp and a little description about it. i don't really care if these perform particularly well, but i want to give people a chance to actually hear it without having to deep dive through my entire internet history to get it. i also will be releasing more soon-- whether via compilations of older work or new stuff altogether :3

MORE IN THE FUTURE! i have a couple other ideas up my sleeve, we'll see how they pan out but i wanna keep trying new possibilities on here. i think at this point i've proven my consistency, and it's about time i let myself have a little fun and explore my options. these will be announced individually but probably added here over time as this is the new pinned post lol.

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ok so anyways, i do wanna have the mandatory sappy segment because of course i do. i want to say a couple of things but i'll split them into bullet points again bc yeah i do that.

this year has been really good for me and the blog, in most ways it's been the straight up best year of my life uncontested. not everything has gone perfectly, i had other plans that fell through, but hey that's just how life goes huh. at one point, i was easily projected to hit 20k by the end of the year, and now i'll be happy if i hit 17k lol. tumblr has not been that kind to my blog's growth this year and it's making me consider other options in the future, but everything's so scary rn i don't wanna commit to anything.

as for the blog itself, i've kinda been in a weird spot with it for a while. i've been scraping by on here intermittently for the entire year on and off, and i might have some ways to help keep me on top of the ball during the next year, but i also do wonder how long i can really keep doing this, and how long people will still like weirdcore and my work in particular. i've been considering branching out in terms of my presentation, or format, or style, but i feel incredibly weird about doing so.

in my personal life, this is the year i finally started transitioning and seeking treatment for my most pressing issues. i've finally started dating the love of my life, my best friend of 10 years, and despite some interpersonal turmoil all around me, i think i'm finally finding safe ground and knowing what i wanna do next. i don't really talk about it on here because i'm very private about it, but i've been kinda slowly becoming like a Real Adult Person this year. i didn't really have much of a chance to prior and i still am struggling a lot, but hey i know what i want now!

it's really silly to say but this blog still means a lot to me! it's seen me through the craziest times in my entire life, it's brought me so much perspective and knowledge and opportunities i wouldn't've had otherwise. i wake up every day and go on here and never stop feeling starstruck that people chose to follow me. i know tumblr success means nothing but to me it's the only community i've ever actually belonged to, so thank you all.

ok so like i really just don't have much else to say anymore, so i think i'll end it there! thank you all again, i can't wait for year 4 as it's going to definitely be a crazy one lol. let's hope it's a good one too!

[cadriona]

Some tips for writing fighting scenes, or rather, some things that may happen in a fight:

Some of these tips and tricks are from personal experience and talking with people who’ve been in the ring, while others are compiled from other writing refs that I’ve seen floating around, or so this is just a post where I wanted to add my own two cents.

DISTANCE IS EVERYTHING: If nothing else, please remember that if you can’t reach your opponent with your chosen weapon, any attack is moot. If your distance is too short ad you can’t get anything in, that’s also useless. Do not try to elbow someone in kicking range, do not try to kick someone in grapple range. You will loose. Also, per a coach that I once had, “the best block is a city block”.

FIGHTING IS EXHAUSTING: Please judge the character’s stamina and endurance (mental and physical) before making them fight for ten hours nonstop

Different martial arts have different preferences: in our current world, there are Many different martial art styles, and they all share some aspects but differ in others. Better known examples are Aikido with its throws and joint locks, Taekwondo with its kicks, Muay thai with its eight weapons (fists, elbows, knees, and shins), and more. While some simple googling and videos will give an overview of whatever the form has, some other things that may be useful to note are the prominent stances, how they prefer blocking to parrying or dodging, the range that the style specializes in, and etc. Might also be interesting to note how practitioners of a particular style prefers to absorb a blow. Finally, please note that each style encompasses a VAST repertoire and not just their signature few.

Thinking during fighting: there is a reason why they run drills with repetitive combos and drills with randomized targets, because there really isn’t much time to think in a fight and reflexes are really, really important

Dodge vs Parry vs Block: If you want to dodge/evade everything, there’s probably more of a distance. Parry is a pretty good alternative that’s a cross of evade/block and works pretty good mid distance as well, but close up is much more blocking or just taking the blow.

Torque: With torque, one can add a lot more power behind their blows. There’s a reason why the twist at the ankle or the shoulder motion is so important when throwing a kick or a punch, it adds power. It also adds distance. And leverage. Torque and momentum are very important yall.

Stance: Ok i mentioned briefly that they will differ between styles, but one big thing to note is SOFT KNEES. some stances (like horse-riding stance or whatever its called) might have feet parallel and apart, which isn’t the most stable, but a pretty uniform thing is that knees are at least somewhat bent, both to absorb blows and prepare for movement.

Kidney blows hurt! but kidneys are also more located to the back, can be protected by ribs, and are harder to get to.

Sternum strikes can knock the wind out of someone, and they also hurt like heck, which is partially why sternum rubs are a way to check the responsiveness of someone in first aid.

a blow to the side of the neck can potentially render someone immobile for a bit to flat black out because the brain throws a fit and shunts all its resources towards protecting it and the spinal cord and neglects the limbs, but that’s dependent on a whole slew of other factors

joint locks are effective because normally joints don’t end in certain directions, but we’ve all had that classmate with amazing flexibility or double-jointedness and thus locks might not work on people like them.

That said, don’t hyper-extend limbs because that’s a quick way to getting things bent in the wrong direction.

Showing your back to an opponent is impractical, but there are circumstances such as a follow-up to a roundhouse kick where you can pretty much keep an eye on the opponent for the entire duration by whipping your head around really quickly. Still causes a blind spot though, so be careful.

Muscles and fat work as a very good cushion, so depending on the body type of the characters they may prefer to take hits as opposed to dodging. Along this line of thought, it is also very important to know how to take a blow, and where to take it.

As mentioned, some of these are from experience, some from listening to people with experience, and some from reading. I’ve only got to spar once before COVID shoved all further plans down the drain, but have almost a decade of accumulated non-combative martial experience otherwise? If anyone has anything to add or correct, feel free to do so! This is very much non-comprehensive because otherwise I’d go on rambling for much longer lol