#me about the borgias

[earlgodwin]

I don't want Naples yet. I want my sister.

[lesbicastagna]

crossdressing is always the answer for anything. if a fictional character is missing smth they should crossdress and all of a sudden your story will be good

[brother-emperors]

The Borgias, The Assassin (S1E2), The Purge (S3E2) / Rispetti Spicciolati XXV, Angelo Poliziano

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Love watching very inaccurate period dramas. A real "Yes And" approach to history

[useyourtelescope]

Palm to Palm

The Borgias Fanfiction | Cesare/Lucrezia 7k | Explicit | Canon Divergence

Annulling Lucrezia's marriage requires an additional piece of evidence, and obtaining it has lingering effects for Cesare and Lucrezia.

read on AO3

[locked to archive users]

[monstraduplicia]

the borgias 2.03, the beautiful deception / william butler yeats / supernatural 2.11, playthings

[crueldesire]

Neil Jordan pay for my therapy I’m so fr rn

[teecupangel]

Consider:

Not a specific story idea or pitch. An overarching umbrella idea with a common set of rules, like Yew Branches.

Desmond Miles has come unstuck from reality.

Of course, there are many versions of Desmond Miles, and many have ended up on other worlds, in other stories. AO3 can attest to that, you can attest to that. The Eye makes such a handy button for throwing Desmond headlong at the barrier between realities until he breaks through somewhere interesting.

What unites this Desmond, these Desmonds, all under one theme, is that he doesn't travel alone. Whether he ends up in Westeros, in deep space, flying dragons in a war with France or trying to take down the Shinra corporation, he always arrives with a companion.

A *small* companion. One might even say, a toddler-sized companion. Because they are, in fact, toddlers.

ie, imagine that whenever and wherever you try to cross Desmond over somewhere after the Eye, he ends up with one or more other characters from the AC canon as toddlers dragged along in his wake.

Rules for the companions:

- They always start out somewhere in the age range of 2-5

- only people who at some point handled a piece of Eden can be companions

- They don't start out remembering their entire first life, but gradually remember it as they grow older, at about the age they experienced it. ex, Ezio would remember the hangings when he's 17. But once they reach the age where they first made contact with a piece of Eden, they remember the rest of their former life all at once.

- Desmond instinctually pings as "safe" to them, even if they have no idea who he is

.

But yeah I don't have a specific story idea I'm throwing your way

I was just sitting here thinking man

it would be really interesting if in all the various let's crossover Desmond with other properties fic

he wasn't alone

and then I thought, I know, let's make him responsible for small children he has a pre established emotional attachment to in dangerous environments

that will be fun for everyone

If you add in ‘pre-established emotional attachment’ then we’d be cutting off any character after the Desmond saga. Although…

To be completely honest, Desmond would be dumb enough to form an attachment to a random baby he finds next to him because of his own sucky upbringing and you did specify that this could have crossovers so just imagine (on the top of my head)…

Desmond taking care of a very curious and prone to wandering around baby Altaïr while trying to wonder where the hell all these weirdass creatures are coming from? Oh… and apparently there’s this dude who has this weirdass dagger that can control time for a bit but Desmond and Altaïr are immune to it? “Also… who the hell just calls themselves ‘Prince’? Do you not have a name?! Altaïr, don’t touch tha-! Ah, crap.”

Really, really, reeeaaaallllly out there idea: So Ezio’s voice actor also voices Sonic in most games… how about Desmond and Ezio being stranded in one of the Sonic games and Desmond is still human so he’s super confused at what the hell is happening but Ezio seems to like the blue hedgehog who really goes fast which is nice, he guess?

Put Desmond and Ratonhnhaké:ton in Hamilton! Like, it acts and feels like they’re in the right timeline for the American Revolution but there are no Assassins or Templars and Desmond can’t even find Ratonhnhaké:ton’s village so he doesn’t know if Ratonhnhaké:ton even exists in this world. Hell, Davenport Homestead is just a goddamn empty field that Desmond got after asking around and now he’s building a homestead, he guesses??? Then comes the singing! Just singing coming from different places at different times like it’s the goddamn musical episode of Scrubs and Desmond and Ratonhnhaké:ton are just there going “What. The. Fuck.”

It would be so easy to push Desmond and baby Edward into a Pirates in the Caribbean crossover and, yeah, it would definitely work but… if I may… Desmond wakes up stranded in a small boat with baby Edward in his hands. The first ship to find them? the Revenge… being sailed by Captain Bonnet… who was kind enough to let them stay and be part of the crew. Also, Bonnet just being awkward around Edward because baby Edward thinks something is terribly wrong, that this isn’t the Bonnet he knows but that’s weird because he doesn’t know any other Bonnet. He only knows Desmond will keep him safe. Then they get first-row seats of Thatch and Bonnet falling in love and… well… they’re definitely not in Black Flag, that’s for sure. XD

You know, I was thinking of maybe one of the Joan of Arcs movie could be a good backdrop to punt Desmond and baby Shay in it. Then I realize… how can I make Desmond just go “fuck it, I’m done. I’m just done with everything. We’re going to live as hermits.” and I realize that throwing him into something that has fantasy-bullshit in it would be fun. Like… Jeanne d'Arc video game… complete will all those monsters as the backdrop for the Hundred Year War XD (and maybe, just maybe… Desmond gets his own transformations as well much to his chagrin)

Desmond having to deal with baby Arno while there’s a freaking rat plague in A Plague Tale: Innocence and joining forces with Amicia and Hugo as they run away from… well… pretty much everything. (look, it’s not set in French Revolutions but I kinda like the idea of Desmond and Amicia interacting. Otherwise, go Les Mis I guess?)

Desmond becoming a better father to Evie and Jacob Fyre while he’s in some kind of gothic-inspired setting like maybe Dishonored or Bloodborne? Dishonored would be entertaining because he would definitely be the stabby-stab-stab option that even Corvo goes “… maybe tone it down a bit?”.

And now, for something different: Desmond waking up in the middle of the desert surrounded by dudes in black robes and a baby in his arms that he’s pretty sure is named Bayek but he doesn’t know why he knows that’s the baby’s name. Then he finds out he’s in Egypt and he’s being interrogated by these people called the medjays if he knows anything about a curse and someone called Imhotep and he’s just confused. Then he finds out he’s in freaking 1926 and apparently there’s some mummy dude who can do the nine plagues (really? Like why? How???) and he gets sucked into this whole deal for reasons he doesn’t even understand.

Now, it would be easy to, you know, push Desmond and Kassandra to something like Disney’s Hercules or maybe 300 but, if I may suggest, throwing them into the world of Ubisoft’s Immortals Fenyx Rising? Hey, it’s made by the people who made Odyssey so Kassandra would be in her element and Desmond would be the tired dad just trying to stop his daughter from flying into the goddamn sun… literally. (And if you’re itching for a Percy Jackson x Assassin’s Creed AU with Desmond in it, there’s one in AO3 :))

Look. I was bound to make a God of War crossover idea and it was either Kassandra or Eivor. I had been contemplating a The Last Kingdom crossover with Desmond and Eivor but that’s mainly just me being a Harry McEntire fan so GoW crossover with Desmond and Eivor it is, with Kratos now having to deal with being a single dad to Atreus AND helping Desmond be a single dad to Eivor who may or may not like kicking Atreus for some unknown reason.

Of course, this doesn't just have to be crossovers.

You can have something like:

Desmond being the single father of Ezio and Ratonhnhaké:ton while the Third Crusades is happening and it's really hard not to get sucked into that, especially when Ezio brings Altaïr to their little house just a few weeks after his demotion because he looks 'lonely'

The entire plot of AC3 gets derailed because Desmond is there with a baby that Haytham is pretty sure is his father having been reincarnated

The angst potential of baby Arno growing up knowing only of papa Desmond and uncle Shay and getting his memories of Shay killing Charles Dorian later on.

Becoming part of the Alamut Assassins and having to go "No, Eivor, stop kicking him!" every time his adopted daughter sees the new recruit. What was his name again? Basil? Was it Basil? Desmond is pretty sure it's Basil ("It's Basim." "Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Roshan.")

Elijah being able to resurrect his supposed father but now has to deal with the fact that he apparently has three younger brothers and, seriously, being a Sage did not prepare Elijah for the strange family he's supposed to be a part of

[desultory-novice]

!!!!!!!! 

:furiously writes down “Marx and Magolor in Cantarella” in my list of things to draw once my wrist recovers:

[bredforloyalty]

what are the real incest shows you ask? why, of course they are soup of natural, suck session, brick and mortar,

[castratedvader]

[earlgodwin]

"Both Oakes and Grainger have always done well when given the right material, and each has some terrifically frightening silent moments: an uncontrollable clenching of fists from Juan as he is exiled to Spain, a subtle grin from Lucrezia as she hears her brother's groans of pleasure shift to agony." — The A.V club

[girl-bateman]

why did people make machiavelli sound so cool and evil? he's literally just a guy

[brother-emperors]

The Art of Dreams: Reflections and Representations

The Tomb of Caterina della Ratta and the Iconography of the Reclining Reader in Renaissance Sepulcharl Art, Yonni Ascher

Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Harriet I Flower

okay so just. play connect the dots with me for a second. Girolamo Basso della Rovere is Giuliano della Rovere's (Pope Julius II) cousin. Ascanio Sforza was a long time rival, and later ex-enemy of Giiuliano's. this kind of familial mirroring in the tombs, the way that Ascanio is being subsumed into a matching visual with someone of della Rovere's family is. interesting. because it goes well beyond the expected patron-client relationship between the pope and his cardinals. like, these were companion monuments.

there's also a kind of tragic romantic violence to it, given Ascanio's persistent loyalty to his family and Milan, and Ludovico's plans to have Ascanio's body brought back to Milan in the event of his death and interred in the same chapel as Beatrice d'Este.

[markiafc]

embrace incest narratives 👍

[thelostpocket]

Finally gotten around to watching The Borgias (and I haven't finished it yet so this Longpost could all mean nothing) but currently ruminating on the way Lucrezia and her illigitimate son, Giovanni, are treated by her family. Like she tells Cesare she's pregnant and, oops, her husband isn't the father and... no anger, no screams of whoredom, no threats of punishment. Cesare's instant reaction is concern for her health/welfare and to find her somewhere safe, with full medical support (for the time), to get through the pregnancy. Although this is before Cesare and Lucrezia get very VERY chummy, it's clear their love for and dedication to one another is something apart - but Cesare looks at Paolo (lucrezia's baby daddy) and, no matter what he might be feeling, treats him not as an enemy, but with respect as someone Lucrezia loves. The same with baby Giovanni - Cesare adores the baby and cares deeply for it because it's a part of Lucrezia, whom Cesare loves more than anything else in his life. In a time where I, at least, was expecting wild jealously towards paolo and cold indifference to the child of another man, Cesare looks first for what he loves: Lucrezia.

And as far as we see, it's the same with lucrezia's father, Rodrigo - no matter what might have happened 'behind the scenes', what we DO see is: Rodrigo helping Lucrezia get an annulment from her great steaming turd of a husband (on the grounds of impotence, even though we can plainly see that she is pregnant at the time of the trial, suggesting that Rodrigo knew that the baby wasn't the product of a borgia-sforza union); Rodrigo eagerly and lovingly welcoming the birth of his first grandchild, and in fact attending when comments from his family suggest he wasn't supposed to; Rodrigo taking an active and joyful role in the care of the baby, including carrying it to his papal throne (bearing in mind the child's humble parentage on the father's side); AND, when Cesare says something very like "you married her to a brute who misused her and pushed her into the arms of a stable boy for affection", Rodrigo not only does not disagree or try to defend that decision, but he allows it to persuade him to break a Big Catholic Rule (giving a suicide a Christian burial), all for the sake of his daughter and grandson's wellbeing.

Like, say what you will about them (although, again, I haven't finished it, so who's to say if this will change), but that's actually really kind of admirable. There are families about today who wouldn't behave so amicably and open-mindedly in such a situation.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I just kept expecting someone to come down like a ton of bricks on her (I mean I guess juan did but he's fucked off to Spain and hasn't come back yet and as far as I'm concerned he can stay there) - like expecting some jealous row with Cesare. But no, he says your new Borgia baby? OUR Borgia baby, sis. Or expecting Reprimands and Off To A Nunnery hypocrisy from the holy daddy. But no, he's just happy the family is growing and, hey, you know what, while myself and all my holy boyz are off on tour dealing with this mess with France, I'm going to leave Lucrezia, the only person we can wholeheartedly trust, in my place as pope in loco parents while I'm gone. Oh, sorry, what's that, she's a woman and I can't do that? Too late, already done, and I'm already out the door, so I guess you can take your complaints to God or his right-hand-woman, sitting on that golden throne right in front of you, k bye. Giulia Farnese, la Bella Farnese, the Other Powerful Woman in the show and Lucrezia's life? Surely she'll make a move, try to use her absence or most recent mistake to manipulate her into something? But no. She helps Lucrezia escape her cruel husband the second she works out lucrezia's pregnant, encourages lucrezia's political aptitude, and seeks her out as a co-conspirator (alongside the pope's former mistress, lucrezia's mother, whom Giulia replaced) in her schemes to Keep The Cardinals Under Control Honest.

Like, there's an awful lot about this show and this family that's. . . Dicey. . .and I know there's more (and worse) to come. . . But this, right in these longer-than-i'd-expected paragraphs above? I can really respect that.