#it’s in military bonding and has been for centuries

[rrr-is-gay]

Hello kids, today I’d like to preach to you about the deep eroticism of The Fight, because warriormale literally lives in my mind and compels me to speak.

When Ram and Bheem wrestle outside the governor’s palace, they are releasing so much sexual energy, it’s actually insane. Hell, even before the wrestling, when they’re exchanging punches, there’s this sizzling tension that they’re both too heartbroken to actually think about, but it comes out subconsciously, in how their bodies react to each other. Bheem takes each punch standing up, then fuckin smacks the shit out of Ram, knocking him to the ground, showing his dominance. Ram whips his head to the side to LEER at Bheem before deciding his next attack.

And what is his next attack? TO CLIMB UP BHEEM’S THIGH and THROW HIM TO THE GROUND so he can MOUNT HIM. Bheem does not kick out of this hold or push Ram’s body away, he ROLLS OVER, TANGLING HIS LEGS with Ram’s, keeping him close. He refuses to go on the defensive, he must stay on the attack, to overpower Ram with the strength of his thighs. This need, this primal masculine aggression, is shared by both men as they continue rolling over each other. It is such an intricate ritual!

They are so deeply, intimately familiar with each other’s bodies. Think of how Bheem yanks open Ram’s legs so he can get right between his thighs. He knows where Ram bends and folds. He’s been here before. Think of how Bheem shoves his hand over Ram’s face to hold him down, covering his lips and nose, feeling his heat and insisting upon his submission. Think of how Bheem LIFTS RAM UP dirty-dancing-style to twirl him around, embraced by his thighs, testosterone spiking like adrenaline.

There’s a raw physicality that is shared between sex and combat that’s difficult to describe to those who don’t feel it. It is so primitive, so base, it defies logic. Ram and Bheem have absolutely no reason to be turned on during this fight. They’re both utterly heartbroken, to a point where they’re basically dying inside. And yet their bodies tingle with desire; the desire to touch, smack, yank, bite, grab, hug, roll, spread, fuck. They can’t help it! That’s why they fight so close and tight, because the magnetism pulling them together is stronger than the betrayal tearing them apart.

Absolutely nobody on this earth can convince me that I’m wrong!

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Don't you think it's funny cause actual canon gay characters in BL manga will say "I love you" but only the shounen bromance can spew out some of the most romantic shit akin to a 19th century poet writing a letter expressing his surpressed love for his lover 😭.....

Genuniely can't tell if it's bait or not, but I'm going to treat this ask seriously anyway.

Here, have some examples of beautiful and poetic expressions of love in BL media!

I'm going to start with my favourite murder husbands, Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu from Word of Honor/Faraway Wanderers!

This happens in episode nine, less than one third into the story- it's that early, they've known each other for like a week and are already able to tell they're meant to be. They've made their decision to be together, and over the course of the story:

They defend each other multiple times and fight side by side in multiple episodes, sometimes protecting their adopted kid/mentee Chengling as well

Zhou Zishu is willing to go against the whole martial arts society for his boyfriend. With zero hesistation, might I add.

They both know the other has done horrible things (lots of murder on both sides here) and that's not only okay, it's a big part of why they're soulmates and get each other so well!

Zhou Zishu is slowly dying (poisoned nails in his chest, long story) and Wen Kexing can and will risk his life to save him. Don't worry, they get a happy ending both in the show and the novel even if the show's last episode is behind a paywall and Netflix didn't even include it for some reason?

But enough about them, let's move on to the immortal fantasy genre boyfriends Hua Cheng and Xie Lian from Heaven Official's Blessing!

Please note how Hua Cheng is ready to accept Xie Lian in whatever state he's currently in- as a god, a fallen outcast, even grieving and angry and at his absolute lowest. He's stood by Xie Lian in his worst moments, even if at the time Xie Lian had no idea it was him.

Hua Cheng has loved Xie Lian for 800 years, ever since he was a boy Xie Lian saved from falling to his death during a procession.

Xie Lian became a god, then fell due to horrible circumstances, almost committed a war crime against another nation that destroyed his country, spend 800 years wandering the mortal realm as a poor cultivator with his powers greatly reduced, and eventually ascended to become a god again. Throughout it all, Hua Cheng loved him and did his best to help him and then find him.

They're both adorable and the definition of a power couple once they're reunited- no spoilers, but they eventually fight an incredibly powerful god side by side and win & the last scene in the story is them reuniting for good since there's no more obstacles to their immortal love.

Let's move on to my favourite Japanese BL, Our Dining Table (also available as a series that came out semi-recently, but the examples below are from the manga.)

Yutaka is a lonely salesman who meets Minoru, a restaurant worker and his much younger brother Tane grieving the death of their mother.

Yutaka and Minoru hit it off by bonding through food they cook and share. The series is incredibly heartwarming, and as seen above Yutaka becomes a much happier person thanks to both his new relationship and big brother-like bond with little Tane.

As a little bonus, the whole found family together!

This post can't be complete without Golden Stage (or Golden Terrace, as the English official translation calls it).

Fu Shen and Yan Xiaohan aren't even in love at this point! This is at the beginning of the story, when their marriage has just been arranged by the emperor and they're still bitter rivals.

Yan Xiaohan is already protective of his future husband- later on, he also builds him a mansion meant to accommodate his disability (nerve damage in both legs, which requires a wheelchair and/or crutches). They're both incredibly powerful military generals, and the emperor was an idiot thinking an arranged marriage would humiliate them.

Of course they fall in love, of course they're a power couple, of course they send each other letters through trained geese when they're separated during the war, of course they run to each other as fast as they can across a wide cold river when they're finally reunited! Of course they're important to me!

....Aaand how about some Wangxian to wrap up this post? They need no introduction, an absolutely wonderful and complex relationship in a complex fantasy/intrigue story available in several forms - the books, the animated series (as seen above), the live action series, the audio drama, there's so much!

Some of their most beautiful moments:

Lan Wangji writing a song for Wei Wuxian and naming it Wangxian. Years after it's composed, Wei Wuxian plays it and LWJ is able to recognise him even in a different body.

LWJ begs WWX to come with him to Cloud Recesses, to safety, after WWX makes himself an enemy of the whole cultivation world for protecting innocent people.

They confront the final villain together, and work together to expose his crimes. This is also when their final love confession happens, and it's hilarious- in front of everyone's salad, WWX declares he also wanted to sleep with LWJ.

Despite censorship, the animated series was still able to allude to their wedding, showing them in red wedding robes (unfortunately can't find a gif rn)

Respectfully, if you genuinely think BL doesn't have beautiful love confessions and displays of romance, you need to find better BL.

[probablyasocialecologist]

As Sheila Ryan writes, from 1948 until mid-1973 “Israel had received the staggering sum of over $8 billion in economic assistance from various foreign sources, or $3,500 total for each Israeli – an average of $233 per year per capita in aid. Thus, an average Israeli each year received in aid alone more than double the per capita income of an Egyptian ($102 in 1969).” Between 1943 and 2023, the US has provided Israel with $160 billion in aid (with inflation adjusted reaching about $260 billion), without considering the regular loan guarantees extended to the entity that are worth billions. This aid to Israel is an investment in militarism for US-led imperialism. The peculiarity of the Zionist entity lies in it being a settler-colonial formation, as much as the US, incubating a mode of consciousness that promotes imperialist values and secures US hegemonic domination in the region. By acquiring nuclear weapons and through its numerous military attacks on and invasions of other countries of the region – i.e., such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Israel has been the major force behind imperialist capital accumulation and its corollary, Arab de-development. As the Palestinian leftist circles in the 1960s-70s consistently emphasised, Zionism is the spearhead of imperialism in the region. As much as the liberation of Palestine is a struggle against US-led imperialism on whose behalf Israel acts as a gendarme, an attack on Israel is an attempt to undermine directly the core interests of the US and its reactionary allies in the region. As per the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, the control of the ruling classes of these political formations guaranteed the supremacy of the US dollar at the international level through dollar-denominated oil sales, which were then being recycled in the purchase of US treasury bonds and weaponry. In recent years, following the various attacks on the sovereignty of secular Arab republics (Iraq, Libya, and Syria), coordinated with the money and weapons of the Gulf countries, the US has also pushed an agenda of normalisation with Israel. The more Israel is recognised officially in the region, the more secure the interests of US-led imperialism are.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

For quite a while, the section “The Bishop in the Presence of an Unknown Light,” was my favourite bit of Les Misérables, and this was my favourite line of that section:

“A cloud had been forming for fifteen hundred years; at the end of fifteen centuries it burst. You condemn the thunderbolt.” [1500 from at little before 1800 gives you somewhere around 300 A.D.; this is far too long to be referring to the Bourbon monarchy - thanks to a friend for the idea that it probably refers to the creation of a state church under Constantine in the A.D. 300s.]

N.K. Jemisin has a line communicating what is, I think, a very similar idea in her Broken Earth trilogy, in a world that is beset by great earthquakes:

When a comm [community] builds atop a fault line, do you blame its walls when they inevitably crush the people inside? No; you blame whoever was stupid enough to think they could defy the laws of nature forever. Well, some worlds are build on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.

And this us not, in some respects, all that different from what Bishop Myriel himself said in an earlier chapter:

“The faults of women, children, and servants, of the feeble, the indigent, and the ignorant, are the faults of their husbands, fathers, and masters, of the strong, the rich, and the wise…If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

As I’ve learned more detail about the French Revolution, I have become unconvinced of the conventionary’s assertion that it “loosened all the secret bonds of society, made the waves of civilization flow over the earth, is the consecrecration of humanity.” If it destroyed the old tyranny and oppression, it replaced it with a new tyranny and oppression (actual several new ones, from the partisan purge to the ‘managed democracy’ to the military dictatorship); if it removed the old religious intolerance, it replaced it with a new religious intolerance. It was more willing to kill people for following their consciences than the regime of Louis XVI that preceded it, and it encouraged ordinary people to kill not rich oppressors but ordinary neighbours (ref: Murder in Aubagne by D.G.M. Sutherland, a case study on the cycles of violence that came from it becoming socially normal to kill your neighbours for being associated with a different form of republicanism than yourself, and then normal to even kill anyone who agreed with you politically but objected to the murdering).

You condemn the thunderbolt, is, I think, the more convincing assertion - if pressure builds up to a certain point, it will break, like a dam, and the primary blame lies with those who allowed it build up to that point. The argument is not that the dam breaking is the ideal, but that under certain circumstances it is inevitable. Oppression should be fought; reform should be made, firstly for its own sake became it is good and necessary and just and compassionate, and secondly to avert the damage the thunderbolt would do to the innocent; and if that reform is not happening fast enough, the answer is not to say to the suffering, “Be patient!” but to say to the powerful, “Move faster!”

[hainethehero]

Stucky headcanon of Steve and Bucky meeting in the 21st century...

"The mission is simple, get in, get the containment, get out. Minimum casualties."

Steve nods at Fury's instruction, accepting the report he'd just been handed.

"Thought this was a one-man job?"

The sound of heavy, thick-soled boots echo throughout Fury's office. Steve turns to look at James Buchanan Barnes, otherwise known as The Winter Soldier. Natasha had given him the run-down on Barnes and according to her, he was the best assassin SHIELD had ever commissioned. With over two dozen assassinations, one being a U.S president and top World Court officials making up the rest, Steve had to admit that the guy's resumé was impressive.

He rises to his feet and holds out a hand, a gesture in greeting cos his Mama always taught him to be polite.

"Hello, I'm Steve," he says with one of his best smiles.

Barnes watches him, then his outstretched hand and then turn backs to Fury with a dry look of mild annoyance.

"I work better alone. You know that."

Steve's smile drops along with his hand and he returns to his seat a little put out by Barnes's hostility. He could feel his cheeks burn from embarrassment.

"Well, Captain Rogers has been added to the scheme. He is at your disposal. And when I say disposal, I mean, he's the reason why the mission is minimum-casualty-coded."

Barnes lets out a frustrated sound, a hand on his hip. Steve takes in his black combat gear, noting the probable location of several knives and guns. He's got a black hoodie on but only one hand is gloved. Steve assumes it's simply a training preference. Natasha never mentioned just how good-looking he was, though.

Steve usually kept his attraction to other people carefully hidden beneath a veneer of indifference. Barnes just shattered it. He was Steve's height, with dark, chocolate hair that was swept up into a lazy bun, strands framing his face fashionably. His eyes were a wolfish blue, deep and intimidating. He was thick and brawny where Steve was slim and agile. Steve found himself wondering how it would feel to be under all that muscle during training.

He blushes from the absurdity of his own thoughts and looks away while Barnes continues to plead his case.

"I don't need help-"

"These orders come from the top, so there's really nothing I can do, Barnes." Fury tells him tiredly. "Now, quit pestering me and help your newest teammate get acquainted with mission training. Goodbye."

Bucky rolls his eyes and stalks out of the room before halting at the doors. He doesn't even turn around to look at Steve, but grunts,

"You comin' or what, Spangles?"

Steve hesitantly follows, heart in his throat because it was obvious this Winter guy didn't like his guts. He assumes his rep as the legendary Captain America would have some of the top guys at SHIELD skeptical, hell, he wasn't even well-liked back in his day. He vividly remembers being attacked with fruit during the USO tours. Remembers the resentment on the faces of men like Hodge and Greg, and most of the unit he'd served with until he'd earned their respect when he brought back the 107th.

If he hadn't done that, he imagined he'd be a poster boy for war bonds for his entire miserable life. He'd been to the Smithsonian, seen his exhibit and how they emphasized his time in the military. It was almost as if they didn't know there was an actual Steve Rogers underneath it all. As if they just wanted the world to know that he was all gung-ho for the war. Like he hadn't joined because he'd just lost his mother and wanted to do his best to follow in her footsteps and protect people from bullies.

Suddenly all his nerves had gone out and he was left in a state of shocked despair and depression.

It made sense for Barnes to despise him. Everything he was screamed self-righteousness.

"You comin' or what?" Bucky asks gruffly, shaking him from his thoughts. The elevator had stopped, he realizes, onto a new floor. He follows Barnes, finding it suspiciously hard to keep up with the man's quick and powerful strides.

They enter a standardized training room that's already buzzing with what Steve guesses is Bucky's team. There are about ten men milling about, some doing weights while others are working on weaponry. Steve notices one guy he'd worked with during the New York invasion with the Avengers.

"Holy shit," the man cackles, approaching them covered in sweat.

"Rumlow," he greets with a more professional air. If Bucky's reaction to him was anything to go by, he figured it'd be smarter to be professional, rather than polite. He was used to people not liking him very much.

"Rogers, didn't expect them to bring you in already."

"You knew about this?" Bucky snipes in a pissy tone.

Brock shrugs, "Heard a rumor a couple weeks ago, didn't think of it til now."

"Great," Bucky mumbles while the other guys approach them. Steve takes a step back warily, feeling a bit like a specimen under a microscope.

Bucky glances at him, eyes narrowed for a second before he talks again. "Captain, this is my STRIKE team. I'm assuming you know Rumlow, he's second in command. After him, Rollins. Wilson is one of our newer recruits but we've worked with his team before. He's pararescue. And our two specialists, Lopez and Murdock."

Lopez signs "hello" at Steve and he signs back in greeting, offering her an easy smile. Then he glances at Bucky who's eyes seem to harden and his smile drops again. Great, now his team captain thinks he's flirting with the only woman on the team.

Keep it up, Rogers. You'll be kicked out within the week.

"We have roughly two weeks to prepare for this retrieval. And now, thanks to Fury, we also have to bring Spangles into the loop." Bucky announces, matter-of-factly. Steve winces at the nickname he can already see as a permanent moniker in the very near future.

"Let's get to work."

This is for @thebrooklynnway as per my last post about Marvel villains being absolutely enamoured with "the pretty blonde himbo with big tits and a nice ass."

Also, I feel like I should write a fic about this.

[baberoe-archive]

hiiiii everyone im going to make you look at art <3 okay <3

first up we got two photos from august sander's people of the twentieth century, a decades long project he never finished aimed at identifying and organizing the "types" of people in early twentieth century germany. in photos for this project he usually identified people along socio-economic and geographic lines. on the left we have officer, world war i, cologne (1914) and on the right we have boxers, cologne (1928). museum had a bunch of sander on display and they paired it with the shortcut to the systematic life: superficial life (2002) by tsui kuang-yu, which is outside the scope of this post but super interesting so i encourage everyone to look it up lol

up next: the junkers officer (1934) by george grosz, another artist associated with neue sachlichkeit/new objectivity. im not well versed in german art but recently i have been so intrigued by leftist art of the weimar republic and it felt simply serendipitous. unfortunately by the time i saw this the museum was closing in 15 minutes so i had to rush out </3 SAD

this is air war (1944) by ralston crawford. first time i heard of this artist! during wwii he served as chief of the visual presentation unit of the weather division of the army air corps in washington dc and southeast asia.

negro soldier (1945) by robert smullyan sloan. sloan was drafted in 43 and illustrated army educational materials and posters for war bonds. the wall label says the title was given by the artist, which makes me think sloan didn't personally know this guy, which makes me very curious about the circumstances of its production. no name is given to the sitter, but he served in the european-african-middle eastern campaign in the army and was awarded a good conduct medal. sloan has a drawing at the met (station hospital [1943-44] ), but unfortunately i can't find much else about him online that might help contextualize this painting.

i think it pairs really well with this horace pippin from 1943 called mr. prejudice. pippin served in wwi with the harlem hellfighters, and the soldier at center might be a self portrait. he has a pretty good amount of paintings about the war actually -- i normally associate him with landscapes for some reason, though i think thats just because the pippin at my local art museum is a landscape lmao. his illustrated war journals are digitized at the archives of american art if you want to check it out!

up next are some pieces of interest that i want to share but about which i otherwise have little to say

L: untitled (military maneuvers at an abandoned mine) (1940-42) by harry gottlieb

R: italy goes to war (1941) by arthur dove

L: christ before pilate (1949) by david aronson. wall text wants us to note the soldier's helmet is german

R: the funeral (1949) by francisco dosamantes

ending with this delightful 1914 the wrestlers by henri gaudier-brzeska, whom the label quotes as saying, "i went to see the wrestlers -- God! i have seldom seen anything so lovely... they fought with amazing vivacity and spirit, turning in the air, falling back on their heads, and in a flash were up again on the other side, utterly incomprehensible." something about wrestling/boxing that make men gay as fuck. beautiful

[tired-reader-writer]

Not me thinking about Doctor Elise's politics and worldbuilding as I reread it yet again (it's been a long while since I last read this manhwa, I only remember the broad strokes and fully conked out for the stuff after the war— but I do remember how it made me feel and lemme just say it's Not Good™) and I'm just gonna dump my thoughts randomly in bullet points:

So Brittia is an Empire

Based on the British Empire irl

(but the imperial family's surname is Romanov... siiiiiigh)

There's a France equivalent, and specifically it seems to be based on post-revolution France

Look, we all know Britain has a history of treating their colonies shittily

Brittia is also confirmed to possess colonies

Despite the author being Korean (Korea having been a victim of colonization by Imperial Japan, who also has a history of atrocities) the topic of colonies and how the imperial core treats the rest of them never comes up again

The Childe family is most likely multiethnic

Like

C'mon

Albert and Julianne (yes I'm choosing to spell her name this way), children and heirs of House Childe, have dark skin (nobody else in this manhwa does)

Their father, Marquess Childe, is a white man

?????????? Where's their mother, author?? Did Amsel de Childe marry a woman from one of the colonies???

I guess it kinda makes sense, Childe's faction is said to have massive financial influence throughout the empire and even in “foreign lands” (whether the aforementioned foreign lands refer to colonies or actual foreign countries, who knows)

How did everyone else take this marriage??

Is racism a factor in why Julianne/Yulian cannot be Linden's fiancee?

She's from an influential house, and in the 19th century (which uhhhhh judging from how Brittia has steam trains, seems to be the general ballpark of what era this was “historically” inspired from) the aristocrats intermarried with wealthy non-aristocrats as the latter's influence grew via finances, so I can't see why the same principle cannot apply here. It would've made for a powerful alliance.

(an alternative to engaging her to Linden would be to wed her to his half-brother instead— which, yeah, Mikhail and the Childe children are cousins but you should seen how fucked up royal family trees can get, that being said, let's just assume incest isn't a thing in this setting, not even for royals, so I understand how that didn't happen)

The Emperor did wrong his wife/betrothed who did a lot to support him by marrying another woman (I'll talk about how royal titles don't make sense in this manhwa but I'll get to it when my reread gets to those flashbacks) and that woman was Marquess Childe's sister, iirc, so like. C'mon who wouldn't be mad about that. Even setting aside familial bonds you don't just go and offend your allies/supporters like that. Binding the two houses again, this time with the intent that things don't go wrong, could've been a neat play of politics to smooth out any ruffled feathers.

But nope!

To move onto another topic:

Wtf why was someone from an enemy nation, one that Brittia is currently waging war against, someone who ranks up fucking high in not-France's military command chain, at the... prince's... birthday... banquet...

Ughhhhhhhhhh

The war arc was where I started to heavily dislike Linden in my past reads, so I'm... feeling some type of way rn since in my current reread that's the point I'm reaching now.

(to narratively frame an empire, a monarchy, as the good guys and a republic as the bad guys is also...)

Y'know what, I'm not gonna comment on that one.

I mean

We all know these manhwas tend to paint the monarchy/aristocracy system in rosy lenses.

I also have thoughts on the whole romance thing but as this post is about worldbuilding I'm not gonna talk about it here.

I'll be making another worldbuilding complaint post when I actually get to the war :)

[rontra]

i know yr abt the girlfailure teachers rn but do u perchance have any more thots on that rhea and edelgard comic from a bit ago where Edie said she needed a healer and woke up rhea??

are you ready for a long ass post? because this is a VERY! LONG! POST!

tl;dr yes i have a fair amount of thots, and theyre all serial-numbers-filed-off chop-and-screw-it final fantasy fourteen thots. i will recap that first, and then the AU itself (final warning for Long Post)

enjoy (or avert thine eyes. it's up to you)

oh, yeah! so that au (tagged "SETR" because they can't resist an unreadable acronym tag*) began with mostly just riffing on the Scholar job quests from final fantasy 14 before veering off in order to separate from "being in ff14" (<- i simply don't feel like keeping up with all that) (<- he's just now getting to stormblood). so it's pretty much a crossover where one half of the cross had its serial numbers filed off HAHA

so obviously people who are familiar with ff14 SCH lore have a head start on this one, but let's see…from the top, let's TL;DR the stuff from the game proper:

in ff14, Scholar is a type of healer you can play. lorewise, the original scholars belonged to an ancient civilization that fell centuries before the game begins, so their art is completely extinct and lost. but back in the day, their like, marine city-state nation was at Big Magic War with a couple others (bigger nations with stronger/more plentiful mages). their smaller nation's sorcerers, too precious and few in number to risk putting on the front lines, took up dual duty to serve as both healers and tacticians/commanders. to that end, they learned to form pacts with faeries; relying on these familiars to act as their co-healers, the casters were able to give more of their focus to Studying The Art Of War (and were given the new title of Scholar for their big brain tactical caster schemes)

however, this nation and their brilliant military tacticians were wiped out by calamities (the Big Mage War they were involved in ended in huge colossal devastating floods and stuff) and their arts lay forgotten……until centuries later as [PLAYER CHARACTER] gets involved…. because of course you do <3 that's not really important though

what IS important is that at the tail end of this civilization's existence, they also had to juggle a Fucked Up Arcane Plague that one of their enemies strategically infected them with. the plague ("green death", or simply the "sickness from the sea") transformed the people into monsters and more or less demolished the standing army. the mutant plague was contained by quarantining the infected behind magical wards, but attempts to find an actual cure were unsuccessful. tormented by their prolonged isolation and the outside world's rejection of them, the plague's victims gradually became consumed with resentment, eventually depriving them of all reason. after the calamitous floods, the sealed temple--protected by its warding spells--has remained intact, but lays submerged. its transformed population has been trapped inside, alive, for centuries. yikes!

(gameplay wise, what this means is basically you have a fairy pet from the bygone era who automatically casts a basic healing spell called Embrace whenever you or anyone in your party is missing HP (<- in easy content she can sometimes do your job by herself which is very funny) and also, there's a dungeon full of monsters you feel kinda bad about killing)

the main important materials here for us are the "ancient civilization" aspect, the familiar/caster bond, and the simultaneous war/plague problem . <- list of ingredients to add some 3H sauce on

(

*here's the connecting tissue that got us from A (ffxiv) to B (fe3h)

my funny NPC retainer in the game is an au'ra woman named au'rhea (here is a pic of her). she does my banking and sells wares for me. beautiful dragon woman

while dicking around with glamourer i accidentally disguised my character as au'rhea. it was rly funny to see her running around doing stuff for once (because retainer NPCs normally Just Stand There)

i (scholar main) started glamouring my fairy to look like au'rhea so i could drag her with me on adventures (she does not get paid for this extra work)

scholar fairies can't be glamoured in this way so i had to use the ingame petglamour function to change mine into a carbuncle first. i chose topaz carbuncle because yellow is cool

somehow in the intersection between everything that's going on with my game at this point, the log window begins referring to this entity as "Topaz Au'rhea"

the groupchat starts making jokes about topaz au'rhea and scholar edelgard (apropos basically nothing). because it would be funny for rhea to run around getting super busy and stressed about keeping edie's health up while edie is aggroing every enemy on the map or whatever. you get it

Scholar Edelgard + Topaz Rhea. "SETR". incomprehensible? absolutely

)

----

so with all of that context out of the way,

this story is not set in the normal fodlan setting, so it's unclear what everyone's up to / what the current societal climate (and international relationships) of each country is (<- this would probably be ironed out if the AU was more fleshed out than it is)

adrestia and hresvelg's shared history is also a bit different, namely due to incredibly heavy losses suffered during the war of heroes. after barely surviving the war with a devastating pyrrhic victory, the newborn adrestian empire was probably uh not powerful enough to rise up and control all of fódlan lmao

without the support of either seiros OR any big Ws to pick them back up, they're probably still a smaller country (and . maybe not really an "empire" since…idk if they have the means to take and control several territories unless they 1) made a Huge Recovery since then and 2) nobody else on the continent minded that sudden expansion enough to corral them back into their pen HSBHFDF)

^im spitballing here, obviously this would also get ironed out more thoughtfully if i did more work. but that's kind of the vibe it has atm. like idk how big they would be without any strong Ws, without seiros, and without the church

it would also be an AU where there is no empire-church war to fuss around with (due to the absence of. well. the church of seiros--at least in its canon form) and rhea is not a figure in anyone's lives at all, so edie's list of priorities is much different

however because she is still an edelgard and it's important to her swag, her predicted life span is incredibly short due to an Evil Blood Curse(TM) woven in her childhood by the ancient enemies of her family (the nefarious slitherers…)

her condition is unheard of and utterly arcane to adrestia's mages and healers, and attempts to reverse its effects have been futile

after finishing up whatever other shit she had going on in this AU (<-???) (again, would be fleshed out if i had more than 1 post in the SETR tag lol), with no big wars or anything on her docket, she's already free to pursue leads on how to remedy her situation and possibly brighten her prognosis

in a handful of surviving archives private to the hresvelg family, wilhelm I wrote about the old pre-"adrestia" hresvelg territory, the war of heroes, and the allies that shored up the first army's faltering strength

he also made notes about their enemy's tactics, which included sending Curséd Plagues Most Foul, a tactic that all but demolished the pre-adrestian forces

it's not much but it's the best lead anyone's got at this point

wilhelm occasionally referenced his contemporaries' progress in combating these arcane plagues

this and the war combined take up more than 100% of their resources. they are working at a noticeable deficit, war is going rapidly downhill, and wilhelm's notes become more fragmented as the situation becomes increasingly unsustainable and dire

around this time, he also writes about mages forming pacts with "[word untranslatable to modern fódlan languages]" (but edie uses context clues to figure out it's some kind of magic familiar or something) to aid them, primarily in healing

while much of his text is either obliquely phrased or just straight up faded by time, he does pass down a swaggy amulet to his descendants, which is now in edie's possession (the "crest of seiros", if you can believe it)

edie starts investigating, referencing the texts for Important Places To Search For More Clues. starting with a place wilhelm wrote about very often: the last standing stronghold of the first hresvelg army and their allies

the red canyon.

the ruins there are thousands of years old and entirely forgotten by time. but one stubborn emperor (or whatever her title would be) is determined to search every inch of Old Fódlan for Curse Clues

deep in the lost ruins of zanado is a warded sanctum, still protected by an ancient spell. according to wilhelm the first, this was the very last and most hidden warded zone in the red canyon, erected in absolute secrecy just before their forces left the canyon for the final battle at the tailtean plains

the warded zone was left behind to protect the victims of the plague and keep the curse quarantined while the few remaining mages continued working on a remedy

despite the ward still being active, it has grown quite weak and allows edelgard to pass through (likely due to her blood connection to big wilhelm)

exploring deep into the warded zone, she finds it pristinely safe but utterly untouched for god knows how long. eerily quiet, preserved in time but abandoned by it…

at the heart of the warding spell is its caster, who edelgard initially mistakes for a human mage but quickly realized is the "familiar" wilhelm wrote about. she is Not in fact a funny heehoo imp of some kind, but in fact, a tall as fuck , Whole Ass Woman

(the untranslatable word in wilhelm's writing on the topic was obviously nabatean, a proper noun, the long-forgotten name of a people who once lived alongside humanity but were wiped out)

(the nabateans, few in number but possessing astonishing magicks, invited the battered army to take shelter in what remained of the nabateans' home in zanado. wanting to help beat the agarthans back, they offered to join their own power with humans in "pacts"--special contracts between a human mage and a nabatean caster that was beneficial for both partners and allowed them to work in great synergy)

(the pact magic, innovated by the nabateans, greatly enhances the human mage's capabilities, and imparts a certain degree of mutual mind-to-mind awareness of their partner, which the two can use to strategically coordinate their movements. although very few were left alive at this stage of the war, the nabateans were extremely powerful and could flex into any role on the battlefield--but they were also greatly prized in the sick bays and quarantine zones for their potent healing magic)

(the tactical advantage of pairing a war mage and a nabatean caster is credited by wilhelm as the key to many victories that would otherwise have been crushing defeats. also, the remaining nabateans had a vested interest in allying up to beat the agarthans down, as this was their ancient enemy who recently laid waste to the red canyon and decimated most of their population--and was about to conquer humanity as dessert)

wilhelm, the leader of the hresvelg army, formed a pact with the leader of the nabateans . the two of them combined were a force to be reckoned with (excelling in both tactics and raw force, but also defensive maneuvers), but due to how thinly stretched their manpower and resources were, the two commanders were forced to part ways at the very end. one commander was to depart with their army and finish the war, and the other was entrusted with staying back to defend zanado and keep their most vulnerable people safe

for thousands of years, rhea has been casting the same spell, maintaining the final barrier around the sanctum. the plan was for wilhelm and his (hopefully victorious) army to return here, but that uh, did not happen, due to him and his forces being annihilated in the massive effort it took to bring the war to an end

and it did end. only barely. wilhelm's descendants and whoever was left of their supporters founded adrestia proper and continued the hresvelg line into the future, but big wilhelm was absolutely dead and never came back and neither did anyone else sorry

anyway.

edelgard knows that this woman is one of the healers who were working directly on the Curse Problems back in ancient times, and is hoping she will know a solution to the "wretched curse is killing me" problem

the crest of seiros edie carries breaks the centuries-long casting trance and wakes rhea up

the first words out of her mouth are, in essence, WILHELM THANK FUCK YOU'RE BACK, DID WE DO IT? DID WE WIN?

(edelgard voice) erm about that

she basically has to explain to rhea that the last thing she remembers before beginning her Long Watch was, in fact, thousands of years ago, and that wilhelm and everybody else she knew is dead (on top of all the nabateans and allies rhea already knew were dead ofc). the world did manage to survive the war thanks to their efforts, but that's like, the one positive note in all this, lol

rhea understandably distraught and more than a little bit overwhelmed

also quite at a loss for what to do, being a magic guy from an era that in its entirety doesn't exist anymore (and hasn't existed for a very long time)

for all she or edie knows, she might be the very last of her kind (since all records are lost, wilhelm's notes obviously stop kind of abruptly, and no one's heard anything in the millennia since then)

obviously the amount of time that has passed means the people she was holding the ward for are also long gone. she's pretty devastated about that too as they're going through the sanctum and quarantined zone

edelgard trying to tactfully rummage around for clues for her own problem while the big lady spirals

i straight up feel like one of those plants that evolved for a type of bee that doesn't exist anymore

however rhea sadly must return the favor when edelgard is like. so you guys had this curse problem. and you were a very prominent commander/healer at the time. it so happens that i have curse problem. what is the solution to curse problem. i need it badly

and rhea is forced to be like . well we very much did not solve curse problem in my time. sorry. i don't know it. i don't have the solution. we didn't find it in time before our whole shit collapsed

so it's really bad news all around

but because edelgard is wilhelm's blood descendant and has used the crest of seiros (which marks the pact between wilhelm('s blood) and the nabatean rhea), they are pact-partners now, Just Like Old Fódlan Used To Make

rhea can't crack Terminal Blood Curse right now, but she does have a lot of knowledge about it and its course/symptoms (and she can confirm edelgard's problem as being The Very Same Indeed)

she feels pretty strongly about finishing her work, and is suddenly edelgard's funny pact partner, and third of all has Nowhere Else To Go And Everything She Knew Is Gone--so she says she'll help lmao

edelgard is more or less used to not finding concrete answers to her curse problem at this point given the difficulty level of this investigation. so she p much just moves on to the next lead on her checklist. gotta keep it moving if she's gonna crack this thing in time

road trip!

rhea basically provides her with palliative care while they look for ways to break the curse. she does feel noticeably better with a more specialized healer (<- kind of an understatement) and it is buying her more time to work with which is good

strangers separated by millennia of history but slowly bonding!

maybe on the way they'll also root out the bitches who put the curse on her to begin with

if you are out there slithering in the dark. you better not be

finally,

edelgard is a big axe guy. she does not do healing magic. she is basically face-tanking everything and rhea is so busy casting heals and shields she barely has time to do any DPS of her own

im sure they run into other characters n stuff on their funny road trip too but that all is the basic concept

(rhea voice) i'll Embrace but christ alive

[mac-lilly]

Arranged marriage Juke AU

Let’s start the week with a juke au: An arranged marriage/enemies-to-reluctant-allies-to-friends-to-lovers au for juke. (Inspired by this whiny post.)

Won't be around for Juke Jeudi this week. So happy Lulie Lundi! (I blame @thedeathdeelers for that term.😛)

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆

Setting: ~18th century

The two kingdoms of Los Feliz and Hollywood have been at war for decades, and recently, Queen Rose's life fell victim to the armed conflict.

To end the war, King Caleb makes a shady proposition: A marriage should tie a bond between the kingdoms.

King Ray strictly opposes the idea, of course. But to his utter horror, his daughter, Princess Julie, accepts. After her mother's death, she's become a ghost of her former self. Since her mother's death, she's barely smiled and has banned music from her life. If this deal spares the lives of the innocent, she's happy to sacrifice herself by marrying the Prince of the enemy kingdom.

But since Caleb does not have an heir, he picks one of his minions to fill the role. For whatever reason, he chooses his most rebellious soldier.

At the age of 15, Luke runs away from home to pursue his dream of becoming a musician. As King Caleb has a reputation for valuing and supporting music, he travels to the capital.

Surprise ... It's a trap to lure in young people.

Upon his arrival, he's immediately drafted into Caleb's army.

Over the next three years, he attempts to desert multiple times. But he gets caught every time. And when he gets summoned to the king after his latest failed attempt, Luke's convinced that this time his punishment will be much more severe.

It is ... kinda. Luke isn't thrilled to become a pawn in Caleb's plan but ultimately has no choice. Either he plays along and marries the Princess, or his friend Bobby will be hanged in his stead.

So, the wedding happens. And it's an awkward and strange wedding with the atmosphere of a funeral. Nobody is very happy to be there – except for Caleb, who is sickeningly cheerful for the entire ceremony.

Afterward, both kings announce a truce, and to celebrate the fragile peace, the newlywed "couple" gets to tour through both kingdoms.

Which is even more awkward than the wedding because Julie and Luke can't stand each other. Even after volunteering, Julie still despises Caleb and his actions and believes Luke must be as bad as his king. Plus, his constant guitar playing and singing irritate her because it stirs up painful memories. (After her mom's death, she's banned music from her life.)

Meanwhile, Luke's too worried about his friend to care much about a moody and (presumably) snobbish princess.

However, despite their mutual dislike for each other, in public, they delinquently play their roles.

Until they get attacked.

Soldiers set an inn they were staying at on fire. However, Julie and Luke manage to escape the death trap and flee.

They argue about whose country is to blame. (Although Luke already has a sinking feeling regarding the identity of the real mastermind. But keeps his mouth shut.)

The duo proposes a temporary truce as they try to figure out what to do next. After all, the assassins are probably still after them.

The usual road trip stuff happens from here on.

As they travel aimlessly around the country, they get to know each other and eventually build trust. Julie confesses that she hates hearing him play because she associates music with her mother's death, and it hurts. To her surprise, he respects her feelings and doesn't play when she's in earshot.

Luke, in return, tells her bits of his story – that he left home to become a musician but then accidentally joined the military. He omits the real reason why he agreed to the deal, though.

As time passes, their alliance slowly morphs into a friendship which then evolves into a much more complicated and deeper bond.

Julie's fascinated by his personality. His charisma and charm, his passion for music, his untamable energy -- it's highly infectious, and suddenly she finds her heart filled with so much life and joy again. His support gives her the strength to enjoy music and eventually sing again.

And Luke's awe-struck by her voice. And her beauty. And her intelligence. And her bravery. And her kindness.

In short, he is totally SMITTEN with her.

Especially after she helps him write down his songs since he never got much education and his reading and writing skills are rudimentary. 

And at least once, they pretend that Julie's pregnant to hitch a ride to the next village.

While they travel, they make plenty of new friends who tag along: A runaway lord, a wannabe trickster, a badass huntress, and an ex-soldier.

They escape death a few more times, btw.

And every time, they celebrate their success.

And it's during one of these celebratory gatherings (and maybe they are a bit tipsy when it happens) that Julie and Luke share their first (real) kiss under a starry night sky.

And then they never talk about it …

There's also some betrayal happening because Willie and Bobby need a plot too. (Willie is a spy; Bobby is brainwashed, and Carrie leads a group of female bandits.)

Anyway, they eventually come across a small fishing town, which happens to be Luke's hometown.

Julie visits his parents for him and later assures him that they are alright, although they do miss him and are worried. Luke promises to return and talk to them one day.

Then they learn that Caleb is using their disappearance to justify another attack on Julie's kingdom.

Julie's mad at Luke, believing he's been in the cahoots with Caleb all the time. So, Luke tells her the truth. He also tells her about his rising suspicion that this has been Caleb's plan from the beginning: Kill Luke and put the blame on Julie. Then execute her for murder to break her father's will.

At first, Julie's furious that he withheld the information from her. But she understands that his intentions were noble. They decide to return to Julie's castle.

There, they get separated, and a very, very angry Ray is about to sentence Luke to death for kidnapping his daughter until Julie intervenes.

They explain the story, and Ray apologizes.

He also announces that the marriage will be annulled once the war is over, which shocks Julie and Luke because they've never talked about their feelings.

They FINALLY confess their love

JUKE KISS

Ray is super-duper proud of his daughter.

The marriage won't be annulled.

In fact, there'll be another wedding because Caleb's presence totally ruined the first one.

MORE JUKE KISSES.

AND FOREHEAD TOUCHES.

AND NOSE RUBS. AND HUGS.

And then, they develop a plan to get rid of Caleb.

(More plot happens here that's not really Juke-relevant)

They defeat Caleb, the war ends, and they all live happily ever after. 

(And maybe they travel the lands after they exchange vows again, and maybe this time they do not have to pretend that Julie's pregnant to hitch a ride.)

The end.

[oc-poll-tournament]

OC Poll Tournament Round 1 Poll 4

Propaganda below the cut:

Valerio Álvarez (he/him) @lieutenant-amuel: “Off-screen”: Valerio is a fandom OC. He lives somewhere in the 19th century in a fictional kingdom inspired by several Latin American countries. In my story where he’s one of the main characters he’s 35-42 years old.

About the character: Valerio is a history school teacher. The reason he’s decided to become a teacher is his wish to inspire other people, guide them, and help them fulfill their full potential. He’s kind, outgoing, warm, and very good at understanding other people’s emotions which makes him empathetic, open-minded, and compassionate. He’s extremely people-oriented and always makes sure to get to know everyone in every company he joins.

And why history? It was his favourite subject when he was a student and later on it became the main target of his study since history made him think and analyze a lot about the current regime of his kingdom.

As a young man, Valerio travelled a lot around the world, and one of the purposes of his adventures was not only seek out new experiences but also to discover and learn something new. He was curious and adventurous to the point of being a thrill-seeker (cliff jumping was one of his favourite activities). Despite being possibly the craziest among his friends Valerio had always been a shoulder they could rely on and a wise guide who could give them advice and comfort them when needed.

Besides he’s very responsible, has great strategical skills as he’s an amazing chess player and is also very good at planning. All of these qualities he’s kept to his current age.

At first glance he might seem way too perfect, right? Unless you learn about his past. It’s veiled in mystery, and to put it literally he wears gloves in order to cover his burn scars he’s got after surviving a fire.

Nobody in Valerio’s new surrounding knows that he was born in the military family. He’s a son of the reputable Royal Guard and always strived to do everything to make him proud even if he didn’t fit into the military environment and never thought being a guard was his true destiny.

He had a very strong bond with his mother and after her death he could finally realize how power-hungry and violent his father actually was.

He wanted to leave the guard but couldn’t due to his father’s high position and after graduating from the military school, he stayed there as a teacher, assisting his mentor who had a very big (and positive) impact on him when he was a student.

Eventually Valerio left the guard. But certainly not the way he wanted. He was driven away with shame. After becoming a fire victim he committed a crime the weight of guilt of which cannot release him from its grip even nowadays.

Valerio doesn’t want anyone to find out any details of his past, and whenever someone gets close enough to expose it, his dark side comes out. He tends to run away from his problems instead of dealing with them, he’s indecisive, aggressive, and prideful as he never listens to other people’s advice and thinks he knows better what do to. The fact he’s good at reading people helps him to inspire them but it also helps him to play with their feelings to direct them against themselves - he’s manipulative.

Anyway, to not make him sound like a redeemable monster, Valerio is also scared of being a burden which makes him keep his feelings to himself to the point of exhaustion because he doesn’t want to bother anyone with his problems and also because he’s deeply attached to people.

He had a close relationship with his late mother and late wife yet he never showed to anyone how much he grieved after their death. When he lost them, those periods of his life were the most directionless to him because he didn’t know what to do and who he was without them.

Will Valerio ever accept his past and stop running from it? Well, this is what his journey is about so he have yet to find out!

The main ideas I want to convey through his character:

A character with the dark past who tries to stay positive and kind to others.

A character stuck in his past but from a bit different perspective: he’s not captured by the thoughts about his past - he ignores his past and runs away from his fears which doesn’t allow him to accept it, move forward, and be himself.

A character who strives to help others yet is damaged himself.

I have a lot to say about him but I’ll stop here so I won’t reveal everything in one post. He’s my favourite among my OCs (and I have many), and as I developed him, he’s got to be very important to me on a personal level too so I’ll be very happy if anyone finds him interesting 🖤

Viper (she/her) @maple-writes: Loyal and devoted Viper is a member of a small band of mercenaries led by Winter, her definitely not girlfriend (neither have admitted it to the other) called the Aristata. Within the Aristata she is in charge of their horses, training, upkeep, and anything else that comes up, and she loves them all. Unable to speak around those she doesn’t know and trust, she can only manage a whisper with those she is able to talk to. She comes off as a stoic, strong silent type to those around her or in front of anyone watching her while she is actually very anxious around those she doesn’t know and prefers to have a friend she can lean on in social situations. Viper is observant, and smarter than she thinks she is but will swallow what she knows and any feelings of unease in favour of what Winter wants done and will protect her no matter what.

[lukedanger]

6, 9, 11, and 23 for the WOTR mechanics asks?

For Elaina:

6: What about their skills - what story is told by their skill and feat selection, or was it pure gameplay?

Between 14 INT, being human, and Fast Learner, Elaina had a full spread on Persuasion (her primary skill) and both Lore and Knowledge skills, with (Mythic) Skill Focus in Persuasion. She had a formal education in rhetoric, particularly as part of the Order of Heralds where she used it to challenge overzealous Inquisitors or to help get the minor orders working together. While not a full time scholar, she was extremely well read thanks to her upbringing and education at the abbey, which served to inform the rhetoric she used.

In terms of feats, Elaina going down Dazzling Display, Cornugon Smash, and Shatter Defenses was meant to build on her high CHA and Persuasion during combat. Story wise I see it as where she dips into the ‘Angel of Retribution’ branch of the Angel mythic path, putting the fear of Iomedae into those Abyssal bullies. The rest of her feat distribution I did not have a specific story behind, other than playing on her being in more of a supporting role such as Extend Spell to pair with the angel spellbook or Selective Channel later on to lean into Holy Champion maximizing CPE.

9: How does their Background choice reflect their character, and how does it play into their build?

Healer was more or less why Elaina’s archetype was Hospitaller instead of the standard Paladin or Divine Scion. Build wise, it was also so that she could add her INT bonus to Lore skills rather than using her average WIS. This being bundled under ‘Oblate’ also gave me the idea of her being raised at an Iomedean abbey.

11: How does their mythic path synergize with their build?

Angel naturally synced up well with being a paladin, as it gave Elaina a wider pool of defensive spells to cast on the party (particularly once the communal wards unlock), and Sword of Heaven stacks with Weapon Bond. By the end game, between both Elaina may not be using fancy techniques but when her sword connects it hits hard.

Bolt/Storm of Justice was flashy, devastating (especially with a maximize rod), and also just super fun to use, but ultimately didn’t really sync up with the way she fights.

23: What units did they pick in the Military Council (Infantry, Archers, Cavalry, Spellcasters, Grand Tier), and why?

Infantry - Conscripts. The idea was that they reflected the pragmatic reality of Mendev and the Fifth Crusade’s situation: this is an existential war that has gone on for nearly a century, and the rest of Avistan is (mostly) using the Crusades as a dumping ground for undesirables. Mendev can’t afford to turn those recruits away, especially now that they’re on the offensive and need more bodies to cover more ground.

Mechanically, they also are just absurdly over-tuned: four times the HP of Champions and twice that of Spearmen, only one less AC than Shieldbearers, and only a third/half the infirmary space of those two. For infantry they give really good bang for your finance points without instantly filling your infirmary when something glares angrily at them.

Archers - Marksmen. While conscripts were needed for numbers, with ranged troops vetting quality would pay more dividends as using warbows requires strength and training. Peasants with self-bows or slings would just not do the necessary damage to hurt demons past dretches or babaus. Besides, anyone who wanted to be an archer but couldn’t could be funneled into the infantry afterwards. Rangers were also a viable option, but those specialists were needed for scouting, screening, and skirmishing rather than pitched engagements. Thus, Marksmen.

If Odan had suggested crossbowmen instead of slingers (which would have actually fit the argument he presents), those probably would have been picked on similar grounds to Conscripts. Crossbows compensate for all the issues of using a warbow without training, even if they still need some.

Cavalry - Paladins. It’s not an Iomedean campaign without these righteous warriors and their sheer survivability. Their job of course was to directly engage the nastiest demons and keep them off of the bulk troops, being uniquely equipped for both jobs between Smite Evil and Lay on Hands.

Spellcasters - War Priests. Mechanically, spellcasting tanks that can also heal much like paladins, drawing damage towards a unit that can take it. Story wise, the idea was that they would support the bulk infantry and help them through alive with divine magic.

Also, it felt like a natural evolution of recruiting Priests as “mercenary” units in the first half of the game.

Grand Tier - Dragonslayers. In this case, it was looking to ensure they had specialists who could bring down large demons that were being deployed increasingly often as they closed on Threshold, and to have them as instructors for training troops. The Knights of Ozem would fill many of these roles as well, but they both have their duties in Lastwall and by this point the demons’ undead forces like their ghouls have been eradicated.

[Link to Ask List]

[aldbooks]

A Strange Melody - Chapter 9

@sunshinebingo

Read on AO3

Azriel fidgeted in his seat as his brothers discussed the report that had been delivered that morning from Windhaven. He hadn’t really been needed for this meeting, he never was for such things. Cassian was the military expert for all that they had been training together for centuries. There was a reason Cassian was the General, Rhys the king and Azriel the lone spy. Still a part of his job involved the gathering of intelligence and if something was brewing in Illyria, he needed to be apprised of it.

He had been unable to keep his mind off of Gwyn all morning. Truthfully, he’d been unable to stop thinking about her since last night. Once he’d had time to process the change in his feelings for Mor, it was as though the last obstacle holding him back from Gwyn had disappeared. His need to be around her increased tenfold and he was finally able to put a name to the feeling that had been plaguing him since she’d first arrived. The thing his shadows had been quietly chanting since they first saw her.

Gwyn was his mate. 

He’d spent most of the night contemplating how to handle this. Had Rhys known? Was that why he’d bargained with her? He still did not know the particulars of that bargain. Had Gwyn sought him out or had Rhys found her? And why? Did Gwyn know? If she didn’t, should he tell her, or wait until he had courted her more so as not to scare her? It would already be a chore to tamp down his instincts enough to properly court her instead of claiming her as the bond wanted.

He needed his brothers’ advice.

Finally, Cassian and Rhys wrapped up their discussion, the feeling in the room becoming more relaxed as they moved away from the discussion of business. Azriel was about to open his mouth when his shadows suddenly became frantic. 

Noticing their erratic behavior, his brother’s turned toward him in concern. “What is it?” Rhys demanded.

“I-” Azriel’s panicked gaze met his brother’s. “Gwyn.” Without another word, he shot from his chair, barreling through the door and into the hall. He followed the insistent tug of his shadows as they led him down two flights of stairs towards the flight balcony- where his heart stopped at the sight that met him through the open doors.

Bright red hair whipped in the wind, a vibrant spot of color amongst the gray hues of the morning. He watched in stunned horror as she climbed atop the railing, dropping the cloak around her shoulders - his he realized - revealing her naked back to him as she lifted a foot, and stepped off into open air.

A scream tore out of him as he sprinted after her, his boots slipping on the slick stone of the balcony. He did not stop, even as his brothers shouted at him from behind, leaping off the balcony after her.

The water was shockingly cold for midsummer as he plunged through the surface. The fall should have hurt more from such a height but the storm had broken the waves enough that he fell through them with ease. As soon as he did, however, he realized that hitting the surface was not currently the greatest danger.

He was immediately disoriented as a the churning tide tossed him about like a ragdoll, his wings scrapping painfully against the jagged rocks near the shore and he desperately attempted to right himself, only to be tossed about some more. Pain streaked through his temple as his head smashed against the rocks, stunning him enough that he stopped trying to swim momentarily.

In that dazed moment as he stared into the yawning blue sea before him, his vision blackening at the edges, he caught sight of shimmeirng scales, and a flash of red. Gwyn’s wide eyed gaze appearing before him followed by- was that a tail? - before he succumbed to unconsciousness.

Energy and magic has rushed through Gwyn’s veins as she hit the water, her body transforming in an instant as the joy of returning to the sea filled her. She allowed herself to float for a moment, reorienting herself to no longer having legs before giving one last look at the palace, blurred through the rippling surface, and turning away towards home.

She hadn’t made it far at all before her vision was obscured by a cloud of ink. No- not ink, shadow. It whipped frantically around her head tugging on her hair to turn her attention back from the direction she’d come. Following some gut instinct, she looked back, nearly choking as she saw what had garnered their concern. 

Azriel was floating a few feet below the surface, blood streaming from the side of his head and his body terrifyingly still. Racing back towards him, she watched his eyes slide closed, an alarming amount of bubbles escaping his mouth as he fell unconscious just before she reached him. Hooking her arms beneath his, she heaved him towards the surface with a mighty slash of her tail. Coming above the waves, she fought to keep his head above water while she tugged him to shore as best as she could without the use of legs and shouted for help.

Her words were lost in the storm and she reached out mentally, praying Rhysand would hear her. Rhysand! Bargainer! Please! 

She had no stone to trade this time, but she’d grant any favor in return if the bargainer could save him.

A whirlwind of darkness appeared not far form her on the shore and Rhysand sprinted out onto the beach, hurrying to help her drag Azriel onto the sand. Another massive shape landed nearby and Gwyn looked over her shoulder to see Cassian staring at her with his jaw hanging open.

“What the hell?”

“Later, Cassian,” Rhysand snapped, the general jumping to assist him as they supported Azriel’s massive body between them.

“Help him, please,” Gwyn begged. “He hit his head, I don’t know if he swallowed any water, but he was bleeding-”

“Easy, little syren,” Rhysand soothed. She was too worried to bother correcting him but did not miss the way Cassian stiffened. “We’ll take care of him. You take care of yourself. It will be no safer for you in this storm if you’re spotted by sailors. Go. We’ll look after him, I promise.”

She watched helplessly as they hoisted Azriel between them before Rhysand’s darkness swallowed them up and they were gone. Rhysand’s voice still floated to her mind on a tendril of darkness left behind. Go. 

Heart pounding, she swallowed her fear for the man she had come to care so greatly for, and crawled back beneath the surface.

[rock-and-compass]

Precursor - I wrote about the fifth season of Angel many years ago - probably around the time that the season 8 comics were first being published. I originally published these meta essays over on LiveJournal and I've decided to re-post them (as written), mostly for archival reasons. I love season 5 of Angel. It's such a shame it got axed before it could get the envisioned 6th and 7th series

Episode 5.2 – Just Rewards

On the surface, this episode is about an opportunistic necromancer who has been robbing the dead for countless years finally getting his ‘just rewards’, his comeuppance if you like, courtesy of the dead in the form of Angel and Spike. But the term ‘just rewards’ is also associated with the ideas of moral victory or deserved punishment; when a person gets their ‘just rewards’ they get what they morally deserve as a result of their actions whether that is a reward or a consequence. This episode offers plenty of opportunity and scope for contemplation of the phrase, particularly in relation to Angel and Spike. 

When we last left our heroes, Spike had just made his dramatic re-entry into the world, a mere nineteen days after the Sunnydale operation (see BtVS 7.22). Angel’s anger is again obvious. The very thought of Spike makes him angry, the fact that this much despised, former ally is now standing in his office has his blood boiling. Angel’s anger is understandable, yet not completely justified either. Alright, so the last time he saw Spike in season one’s In the Dark (A1.03) Spike did have Angel tortured in order to locate a particular ring that would render the vampire wearing it invincible. And, yes, going way back, Angel’s ‘daughter’, Drusilla dared to bring home a very special creation of her own in the form of William (a.k.a. Spike) and then have the audacity to expect 'Daddy' to raise him and teach him the ways of the vampire. So, yes, Angel and Spike share a particular bond; mentor and protégée, ‘father’ and ‘son’, companions in the kill, partners in crime... Spike is, in essence, a very unwelcome reminder of Angel’s former life as the greatest mass murderer the world has ever seen. No wonder he’s angry. Spike’s like the proverbial bad coin, showing up at an inappropriate, inopportune time and place.  

Except . . . that in the intervening four years since his last visit to L.A., Spike has been fairly busy; Spike returned to Sunnydale only to get captured by a covert military organisation and have a behaviour modification chip implanted in his brain. It fundamentally ended his days of hunting humans. With the very basis of his vampire existence pulled out from under him, Spike had no option but to adapt. Luckily, it is a particular strength of his. So he chooses a bold course of action, he goes to his natural enemy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and requests protection in exchange for the supply of information and so begins his prolonged association with Buffy and her Scoobies. While never a completely accepted member of the gang, (Spike is the outsider’s outsider) he does share a particular bond with Buffy. They think in a similar way, they understand each other, he ‘gets’ her and understands her ‘job’. Kinda helps that he’s been obsessed with slayers for over a century.  But it is when Spike falls in love with Buffy that he really begins to change. His character provides a stunning conundrum regarding his capacity to love and feel where other vampires are not capable of such human emotion. On the surface he seems to be motivated to do good only to gain Buffy’s affection and appreciation but this is regularly contradicted with completely selfless acts, particularly towards Dawn, Buffy’s little sister. She that once would have been a first choice, tasty victim is now protected above all else and so their association provides his character with acres of space to develop and grow. 

When Buffy returns from the dead and feels alienated from the world around her, she turns to Spike, the only person for whom she feels any affinity, for comfort and companionship.  The relationship turns sexual but it is good for neither of them. The sex is amazing but it comes packaged with conflicting emotions, contradictory feelings and subverted behaviour. They both battle with who they are, while trying to be what they once were and it’s killing them. The final straw comes when Spike, trying desperately to [re]kindle their relationship by exploiting their physical compatibility, goes too far and attempts to rape Buffy. She kicks him across the room ending the ordeal. Both are shocked and dismayed at the turn of events. Spike responds with some deep, personal self analysis:

What has he done? 

Why didn’t he do it? 

What is he? 

Sick of being nothing, neither man nor monster he resolves to make a change. Find a solution. So he heads to Africa, seeks out a legend, goes through untold trials and torture, wins himself his soul back; His choice, his reward.

The Spike that returns to Sunnydale is a new man but not actually all that different from the old Spike. He just has that little extra something, the spark to make him fit. Initially he’s crazy, yes, but Buffy has faith in him, she makes him use that soul, she knows he can be a good man! And he responds. Their relationship in season seven is nothing short of beautiful. It’s trusting. It’s compassionate. It’s intimate. It’s deep. It gives them strength; strength enough to enable him to be ready and willing to sacrifice himself to save the world, his amazing journey finished.

Except that it's not…

Spike finds himself surrounded by faces he doesn’t know in a place he doesn’t recognise. Yet some of them know who he is. Wesley betrays his Watcher’s Academy factual know-how, while Gunn’s recognition suggests a more anecdotal association. Maybe Angel does tell the odd story from the ‘good old days’ sometimes? Wesley begins to explain to the uninitiated who Spike is by ranking his proficiency as a vampire as second only to…

Angel finishes the sentence by saying “Me”, and instantly claims superiority and reminds everyone, including Spike of how the hierarchy works, once a vampire, always a vampire, despite the presence of a soul or two.  Angel then adds, “But you’re dead.”

With how much of Spike’s recent history Angel is reasonably au fait, we can only guess, though one suspects that he doesn’t have all the facts. He obviously knows that Spike died in the final Sunnydale showdown. From where this information came we can also only speculate. But regardless of the whys and wherefores, Angel is clearly dismayed to see him. In Chosen, when he learnt of Spike’s change of allegiance and acquisition of a soul, he was sceptical of the younger vampire’s motives and displayed a petty annoyance at no longer being the only member of the souled vampire club, and Buffy readily admits the bond they share; Spike is in her heart and she chooses him as her champion in the final battle, not Angel.  Spike was a complication he didn’t expect. . . .  all which might lead to the assumption that Angel would view Spike’s death as a problem taken care of, quick and easy. But alas, probably the most important lesson Angel is yet to fully appreciate is that there is no such thing as a quick fix…

On seeing Angel, Spike’s first instinct is to attack but instead of clashing physically Spike literally goes through Angel and discovers that he is in fact a ghost (or something fairly similar). Bugger.

In the questions and confusion that follows Buffy’s name is mentioned. Instantly Spike wants to know about her, first and foremost is she alright, did she survive and then once satisfied with that, where she is. Angel is parsimonious with the information. 

“Europe, last I heard from her” is all the information he’s willing to give. Angel’s body language as he says this is interesting. He looks sideways, shifts his eyes as one does when they are guilty or trying to get away with misinformation or. . . or trying to seem more knowledgeable than they actually are. Could it be that Angel and Buffy have not communicated in the intervening nineteen days since the destruction of Sunnydale? Has Angel already got his Wolfram and Hart resources tracking her moves? Is it possible he knows as little of Buffy’s movements as Spike currently does?

Spike says he wants to see her, talk to her. Angel basically forbids any such contact. The competitiveness and rivalry that bubbles beneath the surface of his contempt is particularly obvious whenever Buffy is mentioned. It doesn’t matter that Angel is not actually in love with her anymore, Buffy still functions as a ‘what if’ for him; she’s part of the prize reserved for that distant day when he’s finally earned his redemption. Spike’s association with Buffy is annoying and inconvenient. It’s another case of Spike invading his territory. When Spike was dead, the relationship between him and Buffy became ancient history, not worthy of further mention. But now that Spike’s back their close association is not so easily ignored and so Angel resorts to his traditional role of dominance over Spike and denies the possibility that Buffy and Spike had a meaningful relationship at all. Angel’s denial of the relationship doesn’t make it any less real or factual, it just makes Angel feel better about something of which he has little understanding.

Angel has also been pretty circumspect with the information given to his team too. Wes has a few details; that Spike was an “ally” of Buffy’s for “some time”, but that’s about it. It is quickly revealed that they know nothing of his role in saving the world and nothing about the reclamation of his soul. Spike has in fact been denied his ‘just reward’ of a hero’s reputation for his part in saving the world. Angel’s silence and lack of recognition saw to that. Gunn queries if Spike is a “good-guy vampire, like Angel?”

“He’s nothing like me” Angel responds, causing a rare moment of agreement with Spike as he adds “Got that right”. This idea will be explored with great effect in the later episode Destiny. Fred raises the possibility that Spike has been brought back for a purpose, a gift from the Powers That Be (PTB) to help them fight evil. And so we get the seed of suggestion planted, but we don’t notice it so much because we get distracted by Spike’s distinct lack of enthusiasm for the idea of being a toy in the games of the ‘High and Mighties’. It provides an interesting contrast; Angel saw the possibility of a higher purpose as destiny, as direction, something to justify his existence and help him achieve redemption while Spike sees it as intrusion, interference and presumption. He doesn’t need a ‘prescribed’ destiny, he makes his own. Though Spike does observe the connection between Angel’s hero status and material gain; it makes an uncomfortable illusion to Angel’s need for reward (both material and spiritual) for all he’s done. Angel tries to dismiss this as Spike not knowing what he’s talking about. But as Spike points out, he doesn’t need to know the details, he can read the facts; Angel has been compromised:

Spike: I'm not the prat here. I know you, Angel. What do you think you're doing? Made some devil's bargain to take over this company? Thought you'd use it to fight the evil of the world from inside the belly of the beast. Trouble is you're too busy fighting to see you and yours are getting digested.

Angel: Not gonna happen. 

Spike: Oh, you think you're in control here? Guess again, mate. You're no more in control than I am. Except I'm not gonna bloody stand for it, 

Angel is, at the moment, in denial that anything bad will happen as a consequence of their going to work at Wolfram and Hart. It will be on his shoulders if it does, he’s the one who bought them here. 

Unfortunately, Spike discovers that his incorporeal state makes him useless, unable to affect anything. It highlights the similarities between Spike and an infant, determined, yet unable to do anything but yell and scream for attention. This in turn further highlights the symbolic father/son relationship between Angel and Spike. Spike determines to leave L.A., resolute in not letting his ghostliness be a limitation but discovers he can’t. He’s trapped with 'daddy' at Wolfram and Hart whether he likes it or not. But Spikes presence has got Angel thinking:

Angel: Could have been me, Wes, was supposed to be me.  

Wesley: You're not feeling guilty? 

Angel: About Spike? He's not—that's not—that's not—  Wolfram & Hart gave me the amulet. They must have expected me to use it. And they had to have known it would've done to me what it did to Spike, so—

Wesley: Why bother handing you the keys to the kingdom?  

Angel: Doesn't make sense. What are the senior partners playing at?

Wesley: Maybe there's dissent in their ranks, or maybe there's another player in the game they—and we don't know anything about. Then again, maybe they got exactly what they were after. 

Angel: Spike. 

Wesley: He may be the one they—

Angel:  What are you doing here? I thought you left town

He may be the one… Wes comes very close to a very interesting topic but as is becoming custom, Spike’s presence distracts them from further contemplative discussion and besides, there are other pressing matters at hand. Novak, a young lawyer had been sent to talk to Hainsley, the earlier mentioned necromancer, but returns from the visit as the slushy content of three buckets. Angel’s term as CEO has already had a rather damaging impact on the attorney and it foreshadows the impact that the tenure will have on them all, despite Angel’s blind faith that this situation won’t have any repercussions.  Angel decides to talk to Hainsley by himself with little discussion or consultation, just as he’s done in the past, just as he’ll do again in the future. This decision is made despite the fact that Hainsley, being a necromancer, has power over the dead...

This episode shows Angel that the recipe for success is teamwork. Gunn’s new legal knowledge provides an alternative stratagem, Wes provides caution (an invaluable asset in the high risk world of heroics) while Spike provides information and strength (of sorts). Yet Angel doesn’t learn the lesson, not properly, and time and time again he attempts to ‘go it alone’, a practice that will have dire consequences by the end of the series.

Angel goes to confront Hainsley accompanied by Spike who is already waiting in the car. Angel is not impressed. But Spike, ever the adapter, is already trying to make his new situation work for him. Not for this one is 100 years of moping about in self-tortured isolation.  

“Fancy a road trip. This’ll be fun eh? You and me together again. So…where are we off to?” Spike says, seemingly wanting acceptance from Angel more than just about anything, deliberately positioning him and Angel together, reminding Angel of their history and linking their connection to adventure and fun of the kind experienced in buddy-buddy-type-road-trip-tales. The metaphoric infant is demanding attention and recognition from the non-responsive father.

It is interesting then that once at Hainsley’s mansion, Angel involuntarily begins to introduce them as  “We’re” but then swiftly amends this to “I’m from Wolfram and Hart”. The second is correct, Spike isn’t from Wolfram and Hart but the habitual teaming with Spike ‘back in the day’ must also seem like second nature to him. As much as Angel doesn’t want to admit it, they did form half of a very formidable foursome that ran amuck across Europe for some twenty years. His history with Spike is long and eventful. While Angel is hesitant to acknowledge this history, Spike is downright determined to claim it, going so far as to describe himself as Angel’s “date”. 

While waiting to see Hainsley, Angel and Spike have an interesting exchange that again highlights the meaning of ‘just rewards’

ANGEL: What is your problem?

SPIKE: You are, ya ponce! You're my problem. You got it too good.  You're king of a 30-floor castle, with all the cars, comfort, power, and glory you could ever want, and here I save the world, throw myself onto the proverbial hand grenade for love, honour, and all the right reasons, and what do I get? Bloody well toasted and ghosted is what I get, isn't it? It's not fair.

ANGEL: Fair?! You asked for a soul. I didn't! It almost killed me. I spent a hundred years trying to come to terms with infinite remorse. You spent 3 weeks moaning in a basement, and then you were fine! What's fair about that?!

So Angel obviously knows about Spike’s time in the basement and that knowledge could only have come from Buffy (or, at a stretch, another Scooby). They both seem to think that the other has it better. Spike sees that Angel has reaped ample rewards and, more importantly, has the glorious reputation to boot, while Angel envies the speed with which Spike has been able to reconcile with his soul. Angel seems to recognise that because Spike asked for his soul it is less of a punishment than his own soul by curse. It is interesting that Angel still sees his soul as a punishment, but one that must be endured and suffered in order to ultimately win redemption. Spike sought his soul voluntarily and because the process of self-analysis began before gaining it back, his soul inherently carries more reward-like associations.  

When they do finally meet Hainsley, the controller of the dead has the upper hand. Angel institutes plan B and freezes Hainsley’s assets and notifies the IRS of his ongoing tax evasion. Not the usual way of doing business but equally effective. Angel leaves satisfied, but Hainsley summons Spike and proposes a deal; a corporeal body in exchange for help with his Angel problem. Spike seems very enthusiastic indeed.

When team Angel reconvenes the “Spike situation” is top of the agenda. Angel wants it dealt with and true to form; he wants it done quick and easy. Wes suggests destroying the amulet as a means of setting Spike free. Spike overhears some of the conversation including Fred’s opinion that it would be akin to murder. Angel seems keen and latches on to mercy as a reason to do it. But, to his credit, Angel decides to sleep on the decision rather than just eliminate all reminders of the past as has been his usual custom (see: Darla (the first time), Penn, James, Elizabeth and later, Lawson).  Spike pays a visit to Angel’s apartment and we learn that if Angel is about subterfuge then Spike is all about the forthright. He lets Angel know that he knows about the group discussion regarding his future. But it also brings the more surprising news about the proposed deal with Hainsley. 

 Angel: Tempting. So what'd you say?

Spike: You see, right there, that's the problem. You having to ask me that.  I don't play for that side anymore, or haven't you heard? Besides... even if Mr. Death could do what he promised, I trust him about as much as you trust me.

Angel: What do you want from me?

Spike: I can't live like this, Angel. Being useless.  Being nothing. I want it to end.

Besides being affronted that Angel cannot accept that he bats for the good-guys now, Spike reveals that he can’t live with ‘being nothing’. It’s understandable. He’s been there; done that, found the cure. Accepting this would be a compromise, worse – it would be going backwards.  And so he determines to be useful even if it means going to his frenemy for help. Been there, done that too. 

So they hatch a plan together, just like old times. It involves a double-double cross and the pretence that Angel will shatter the amulet. During their ‘goodbyes’ Spike, for the first time since his reappearance, reminds Angel of their familial bond, that Angel is his grand-sire. This ‘family’ relationship plays a very important role in the sub-text of the entire season and this is our first subtle reminder of it.  It is also noteworthy that Hainsley refers to Spike so cajolingly as ‘son’. The necromancer offers tempered praise, acceptance and a solution where Angel can barely bring himself to care. Spike has everything to gain from Hainsley’s deal. He owes Angel and co. nothing. Yet he refuses to take what’s on offer because the price is too high. It would mean compromising what he is; a stark contrast to Angel who has accepted compromise and made a much bigger deal with much bigger consequences for everyone involved.  

The plan goes well. Teamwork works. By working together Angel and Spike are able to defeat Hainsley permanently.   Finally, Spike goes to see Fred and asks for help. He says he is being pulled into hell and he doesn’t want to go and could Fred try and find a solution? That he would go to Fred is, of course, beautifully obvious. Fred is the one person who has expressed faith in him since his return – something that is incredibly important to the often insecure vampire. She’s the one who spoke up against smashing the amulet and she is, after all, female.  Spike has a stunning history of having women take the role of his saviour, his mother, Drusilla, Buffy . . . and now Fred.

Coming up next - 5.3 - Unleashed

[desertleviathan]

I'm still not particularly adept at Gposing, but spent most of today making a gallery of all my FFXIV alts as they stand on the last day before the servers go down for Dawntrail on Friday. I guess so I have something to compare them to when figuring out whether or not I'm happy with how they look after the graphics update?

Anyway. Here's the whole crew.

1.) SIEGE ZABAC, Captain of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates and my Warrior of Light. An absolute garbage fire of a man, but an unparalleled tactical genius and god-slaying machine. Also featured: the Major-General, mascot of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates.

2.) R'KHSANA JANNAT, First Mate of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, the ambitious and talented granddaughter of the legendary pirate lord who preceded Siege as captain, biding her time until it's her turn to take command.

3.) GRIEVER STRZYGASCH, Quartermaster of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, an old smuggler who talks a big game about retiring any day now, but clearly loves what he does too much to let age slow him down.

4.) AUBERONT GEVAUDAN, Master-at-arms of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, Gelmorran Royalty (for whatever that's worth) cursed with something like Lycanthropy, who's developed impressive spiritual discipline to keep the Beast Within on a short leash.

5.) PENITENT CORMORANT, Chaplain of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, a rank that's something like "chief sorcerer." In a world where ghosts and demons and sea monsters are definitely real, having a full-time spook wrangler on board is indispensable. Also, she's Captain Siege's ex-wife. But it's an amicable split. Mostly.

6.) LOCKPIX BURGLEBANKS, Engineer of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, a Lalafell orphan raised by a crew of Goblin thieves, and a genius magitek expert on par with even the Empire's best and brightest.

7.) USUL HARAGIN, Navigator of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, an eccentric mystic who followed signs and portents across half the star to find and join the Warrior of Light. Also the Second Azure Dragoon in my continuity, as per the DRG Job Quests (Siege's DRG powers come from his bond with Midgardsormr instead.)

8.) PANDORA JARNVIDR, Doctor of the Amaranthine Maw Pirates, but not really a member of the crew. Just a civilian passenger... who in all ways acts like the chief medical officer on the ship. Possibly over 300 years old. Was married to the old captain, R'kshasa Nunh, and is the only one of his wives to outlive him.

9.) ERIS DONOVAN, Rogue Ascian. She wasn't one of the Thirteen, but she was high-enough ranking to get an idea of what the whole Master Plan was, and she wanted no part of it. Honestly, they only recruited her because her Ancient predecessor had been a fierce political opponent of Venat's, forgetting that that was back when Venat was herself a member of their cohort.

10.) LUNATICIA CERISE, Demon-Engineered Apocalypse Weapon. A tribute to my favorite City of Heroes character, here reimagined as a byproduct of the Demon Princess Lilith's experiments, too volatile for possession, but too powerful to be set aside, taken as an "apprentice" by Eris.

11.) BEATRIX LEBLANC, a tribute to General Beatrix from Final Fantasy IX. An officer in Amdapor's military who was sealed in a crystal of light for centuries, then rescued and recruited by Eris (whose pre-awakening incarnation had been Beatrix's Mhachi rival) to oppose the Ascians.

12.) COLUMBO LALUMBO, Master Detective. I created him for a friend's Book Club style MSQ replay, which has mostly ground to a halt, but I enjoyed playing him enough that I still log into him every so often and do stuff.

13.) DESERT LEVIATHAN, not really a self-insert, I just realized that my handle was a lore-compliant Hellsguard Roegadyn name and decided to name my EU server alt after myself to make it easy for my friends in the UK to remember that that rarely-played name on their Friend List matched the guy they knew on Discord.

14.) NOT SHOWN, hopefully my final alt, who will be waiting for information on Female Hrothgar names before Fantasia-ing into one. Was going to be based on Madeen from FFIX just like Griever was drawn from FFVIII, but it looks like Madeen is an inspiration for some of the Pictomancer powers, so I'll be waiting to figure that out for sure.

[darkworkcourier]

saw your tags about liking reyes...tell me ur thoughts i love him but i haven't seen anyone talking about the handsome canadian gentleman...

(he's the only handsome operator i have unlocked i keep playing as him)

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM SO MUCH HAVE SOME HEADCANONS ABOUT MY BELOVED

also because this is my NSFW blog, you're getting some nastay headcanons, too

OKAY LET'S GO

He's canonically a history nerd, but if you know irl history nerds, you know how insufferable they can be about their special interests. Everyone in his part of CSOR (and eventually SpecGru) learned very early not to ask him questions if they didn't a two hour infodump sesh. (Two hours is the abridged version.)

He does have Slides and PowerPoint presentations prepared for just such a occasion.

However, there is no way to get out of the full presentation on the Alberta Rat War. It's vital to know that story if you want to befriend him.

If he hadn't joined the military, Reyes thinks he would have been a hella good history professor.

(If not a very enthusiastic one. Just real life siege warfare demos.)

Loves hiking and camping. The more rustic and backwoods, the better.

Tattoos! He's got a bunch! Half the fun of being with him is finding all of his tattoos.

If you hear him talking to himself and pretending he's an 18th century voyageur, no you didn't.

He knows how to knit and crochet, and his sewing skills aren't half bad.

That said, he's the person to go to if you need stitches. One of his C.O.'s commented that he would have made a pretty good medic and Reyes has preened about that ever since.

On the flip side, he has an awful tendency to correct people. Like very 'um, actually?'. That's what got him into so much trouble in CSOR.

On the freak chance he ever meets with Calisto, they can hardly understand each other. Her French is very proper, and his is very... Canadian.

Once he's in SpecGru, he and Soap adore each other. They're like two Golden Retriever puppies. He also gets along well with Gus, Nova, and Gromsko. (He learns about Gromsko's Hussar thing and does not leave him alone.)

Has an odd but good friendship with Ghost, too. They bond over wilderness skills and constantly compare their camping equipment and hunting supplies. They're also in on an inside joke directed mostly at Soap to make increasingly more outlandish survival tips. (They go backcountry camping together once a year, but that's classified information.)

Wilts in hot weather. This isn't ideal when he needs to go to warm weather locations, but he deals with it.

Extremely ticklish. No one knows this. No one needs to know.

If there was a ranking for best laugh in SpecGru, he'd win by a landslide.

Vancouver Canucks fan. He doesn't know anyone who is a fan of the Edmonton Oilers.

He did play hockey as a teenager, though. Even now, pond hockey can't be beat.

Also goes ice fishing a few times a year, if he can.

Plays D&D.

Not-so-secretly a hopeless romantic.

Designated the friend who has everything in his bag. Bandaids, chapstick, firestriker, hygiene products, granola bars, etc. He's ready for anything.

Worst bedhead ever. Ever, ever, ever.

NSFW STUFF

He doesn't have the biggest dick (you try showering next to some of the guys in SpecGru and see how you feel about it), but he knows how to use it well.

His stamina in bed is unmatched. Be prepared to go four, five, potentially six rounds. Let him take a nap and get a snack in his system and he's ready to go all over again.

Pretty big on outdoor sex. Not exactly an exhibitionist, but he likes fucking with a view.

He also likes experimenting with positions. He's pretty flexible!

Loves having his hair pulled.

Also loves giving oral. Receiving's great and all, but he gets incredibly aroused by how much his partner is enjoying it.

Super into roleplaying. This shocks no one.

Pain/impact play's cool and all, but it's not his favorite. He'll do it if his partner likes it, though.

He can fill the full spectrum of romantic sex to outright kink. He is a man of multitudes.

If you're the pegging type, he's ready, willing, and prepped before you even get to the bed.

On the tattoo front, he's got some in interesting places.

Very much a switch. He enjoys restraints, but he thinks his partner looks damn good in them, too.

Constantly doing check-ins. You good? Do you need anything? Lube? Snack? Beverage? He's pretty sure he has a GoGurt and something with plenty of electrolytes around here somewhere.

Be prepared for beard burn. (Don't worry. He has lotion you can use afterward.)

[togglesbloggle]

War’s End: the Rise of Propaganda and the Fall of States from 1914 to 2228, Author Unknown

Chapter 3, fragments.

Warning: Contains discussion of Avatar 1, Avatar 2: the Way of the Water, Avatar 3: the Daughter of Eywa, Avatar 4: the Mists of Pandora, and Avatar 5: the Bonds of Earth. Students of the period wishing to experience these films as intended by their original creators are advised to forego reading this analysis until they have viewed these forgotten gems of 21st century storytelling on their own terms.

—

…though all three major transitional ideologies had contributed new styles and techniques (with special consideration to the Mussolinic Triumph of the Will and Marxist Metropolis, among others), demotists remained the undisputed masters of the cinematic form from very early in the war. “Hollywood” was a term referring to both the production center and surrounding urban community of many demotic films, and throughout much of the late 20th century, could be taken to mean films in general, especially those intended for mass consumption (i.e. all propaganda films). Birth of a Nation, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Casablanca, Star Wars, and many other notable benchmarks in the history of propagandistic war films are all demotist projects, and contributed substantially to demotist war victories and popularization. Late in the war, demotist military projects began to adopt filmic nomenclature, such as the Reaganite Star Wars orbital defense laser, or the USS Enterprise, a mobile aeronautical platform.

Even after the final cessation of the first World War in 1991, cinema (and particularly demotic cinema) retained its essential character as a tool of wartime propaganda, such as in Lord of the Rings, with characteristic exhortations to mass violence, manichean absolutism, and ethnoprotagonism. Previous treatments of the subject have claimed that the demotic film project was largely abandoned during the 21st century peacetime; however, this claim would seem to neglect its many artistic and technological contributions…

—

…of these is the Avatar Quintet, directed by James Cameron. Though largely overlooked today, the film was wildly popular upon release. Scholarship is often confused on this point; it is true that the film has only a minor noötic shadow, but recent efforts in fiscal archaeology provide an estimate of between 350-500 million viewers per film, a substantial fraction of the contemporary global population. This discrepancy can, perhaps, be accounted for by noting that the Avatar Quintet was, unusually for the time, a wholly original narrative. Cultural norms of 21st century propaganda had pivoted towards the refurbishment of existing, popularized characters; the first of the cinematic commedia had emerged in 2008. Late generations of theater attendees may have been unprepared for conversations and community contributions to films which lacked a pre-existing frame of reference to structure such efforts, despite their enthusiasm for the core experience and the novelty of encountering an unfamiliar protagonist.

However, it is precisely this quality of original narrative which makes the Quintet a valuable object of scholarship in the history of propaganda. Which is to say, it is one of the few films that may be said to represent authentically twenty-first century storytelling. Here, we show that not only is the film an exemplary effort of late demotist propaganda, but that it consciously inherits and extends the legacy of 20th century war films towards a post-demotic frame of reference- in other words, that it constitutes true artistic innovation and plays an important role in the formation of Indo-Euro-Sinic identity during the Long Peace.

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…Michael Bay, among other influences. In this its visual style was distinct from the era’s dominant cinematic commedia, Marvels (though both still used the visual and narrative language of wartime propaganda). Marvels relied on live-filmed human actors to convey character actions, as in the early stages of cinema, but it had matured to the extent of using fully synthetic sets and background visuals otherwise. The Avatar Quintet, on the other hand, relied on a careful mix of synthetic and live filmed representations, semi-textually using synthetic techniques to illuminate the biosphere of its setting, Pandora (including its ethnoprotagonist group, the Na’vi), while leaning as much as possible on live-filming to represent textual humans and human-controlled environments. This was neither arbitrary nor trivial to accomplish; the challenges of producing the Avatar Quintet were noted even at the time. Hence, it must be examined as an artistic and propagandistic choice.

Consider that limitations in style and even in technology in the early 21st century meant that synthetics were often unsophisticated, lacking details and partially breaking narrative immersion. Though less flexible and visually flat, live-filmed settings and actors often carried greater nuance, and could draw the eye as a ‘primary’ feature of cinematography and framing. The live-filmed actors of the wartime-conceived Marvels served in part to advance the core demotist virtues of individualist heroism- simply by virtue of live-filming a character rather than constructing the character synthetically, they could be framed as the central source of agency within an otherwise synthetic scene. To the contrary, the (chronologically postwar) Avatar Quintet’s choice guides audience sympathies in a far more complex way. It begins, as in Marvels, with live-filmed actors representing humans in an alien, synthetic environment, but rapidly adds complexity to this distinction by transitioning the characters’ locus of consciousness to new, synthetic bodies, which hybridize human and Na’vi forms. The films then use fully synthetic (both character and setting) visuals for the middle period of the film, during which both the protagonist and the audience acclimate to the setting and ultimately demonstrate mastery within it, before fully reversing the format by framing the (now totally synthetic) protagonist within live-filmed sets and engaging in warfare against live-filmed antagonist humans. While still fully accommodating the cinematic framework of wartime propaganda, the film visually undermines the assumptions of heroic individualism, aligning the emotional catharsis of narrative to a framing that causes the world, not the individual protagonist, to seem most important and sophisticated. Thus, Avatar anticipates the 21st century’s post-demotist reintegration of Buddho-Christian thought, actively creating a bridge away from the more simplistic heroic individualism of demotism’s classical…

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...but this confusion of identity pervades the Quintet on all levels. The titular Avatar bodies are textual and literal hybrids- represented synthetically, but with motion inputs from live-filmed actors. The fictional Na’vi way of life incorporates its own breakdowns in individuality, textually merging nervous systems with other characters within the setting (most notably for use as battle-mounts.) Even from the very beginning, the (still fully human) protagonist is caught in a confusion of self, participating in the events of the film because of his genetic replication of his brother, and in tension between his personal role as a soldier and his brother’s position as a scientist. The spiritual guardian of the setting (Eywa) is essentially a transcendence of boundaries- she is a plural entity expressing the ecosystem as a whole, containing both living and dead spirits, and is seen to move souls between Na’vi and human bodies as early as the first installment- the “Daughter of Eywa” plotline, climaxing in the third installment with both the (Christian) mortal sacrifice and (Buddhist) no-self transcendence of Kiri, weaves both value systems in to an emergent whole reflected in the setting itself by the merging of Pandoran and Earth ecosystems.

Early in the second installment, Cameron creates a scene highlighting the quintessential ironies of his film: a human being, dressed in war paint and a thin loincloth, beating against the walls of his cage and hissing like a Na’vi, while a Na’vi-bodied character dressed in 20th century military fatigues watches on impassively, sipping a beverage from a metal cup. “He’s gone completely feral,” the blue character says. Where, in this scene, does demotist propaganda assign moral agency? Where does it place the locus of identity? Like the film as a whole, this scene is a koan. Every element of the form is there; the film is ‘correct’ in its construction of wartime propaganda, but it nonetheless points towards a philosophy of the postwar.

It must be emphasized that this irony is entirely within the scope of wartime propaganda itself; to say that this propaganda advances a philosophy of the postwar is not to say that it is postwar propaganda as such. Recall that some of the very earliest examples of world war era propaganda, we find the common phrase “the war to end all war.” Cameron’s Avatar inherits this same purpose and scope- the film is not simplistically pro-war or pacifist, but rather, like the radio addresses and leaflets of 1914-18 from which it emerged, the film argues that war is a necessary component of its own dissolution. Thus, the Avatar Quintet glorifies war even as it undermines the distinctions between persons that make war possible. This is no mere lurching reproduction of demotist patterns in a dying art form. It is genuine artistic innovation, extending and elevating the core social role of cinematic propaganda even as it looks forward to a future where its own format is superceded by…

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...naturally at odds with the Racial Hygiene movement, which was at its peak from 1807 through the 2130s (widely considered a lagging indicator to the increased mobility enabled by advancing industrial technologies). Boosted by early misunderstandings of the role of natural selection in human development, the Hygienists argued that ancestry was a primary element of human attainment and moral value, and took the preservation of ethnic distinctions as their primary organizing principle. Essentially, they discarded the heroism/individualism axis of demotist philosophy, relying wholly on its ethnic components and striving to minimize ethnic strife through careful use of taxonomy and segmentation of global populations. Though they are not generally counted among the great transitional ideologies, since they failed to establish governing states of their own, Racial Hygienists were nonetheless instrumental as factions within other such bodies under a variety of different names. Even today, many modern transpol ‘plexes can trace core ideological themes directly back to the Hygienists, particularly Mormons and the Free Metropol Network.

The Avatar Quintet, with its core themes of admixture between species, was positioned in part as a conscious refutation of contemporary strains of Racial Hygienics. However, any hoped-for debate seems to have been minor at best; recall again Avatar’s relatively small noötic shadow. It is certain that its opponents would have correctly interpreted the challenge; the mystery is why (despite a viewership in the hundreds of millions) there is so little response during a century when ethnic separatism was a primary diagnostic tool. It is possible that its opponents simply decided that the film was not an opportune battleground- owing to the tremendous social power leveraged in its production, as well as its comparative popularity. They may have reasoned that a debate would counterproductively raise the profile of the film, preferring instead to ‘freeze out’ discussion by simply changing the subject…

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...despite this, any relationship to The Smurfs must remain circumstantial pending further scholarship…

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...returning, as it must, to the Earth itself in the fifth installment of the work. Here, Avatar scholarship is at its most controversial. Though the film is replete with discussions of the ‘balance’ and impartiality of Eywa’s spiritual oversight, the analogy to actual egregore-class telosic intelligence remains loose at best- despite the extensive discussions in installment 4 (“the Mists of Pandora”) about Eywa’s own past as a cultivated entity.

It must be noted, at least, that James Cameron’s own work takes the development of telosic intelligence quite seriously- his famously obscene Terminator film (itself a product of the late war period) was instrumental in raising public awareness of the immanent development of telosic minds, albeit through a genocidally alarmist lens. The director was, unambiguously, aware of the development of what he called ‘artificial’ intelligence. Is it possible that, if his early Terminator represented the alarmist view of telosic intelligence, then he intended Avatar to represent a more hopeful approach to the same question? Did his experience of world peace and optimism post-1991 allow him to find more compassionate attitudes towards the still-nascent children of humanity?

We cannot, in the end, truly answer these questions. Without those answers, we cannot fully interpret the full Quintet as either primitivist or technopian; the climactic planting of the world tree on Earth can represent both a rejection of technological progress, and the perfection of that path as mediated by the once-alien. But then, the same ambiguity may have been felt by contemporary audiences themselves...