#the campaign for camelot

[20genderchild]

shamelessly stealing Hazel's bit but she said it was alright lol

[jacks-wierd-world]

May article.🗞️

[caughtinthera1n]

Can I have some help brainstorming ideas for a DnD character based on Merlin? It can be the BBC show’s version of him or the legends themselves. I’m leaning towards Tiefling (bc in some legends he is the son of a human and a demon), but honestly, I could go any direction. And I am torn over his class! Please! Any suggestions/species/class combinations would be amazing, and I would love to hear your reasoning!

[tallmadgeandtea]

Rip Peggy Shippen you woulda loved this song

[livvyofthelake]

hm. private dinner with arthur arc is off to a rough start considering he has merely gotten servants to bring food to a different room than the normal dining room instead of a true romantic gesture like cooking for her. does he even know how to cook. what do you pay your servants arthur. do you give them bonuses for extra tasks such as these. how far from the kitchen is this room we’re in. how far did this poor kitchen maid have to walk so you could have a private dinner with your girl. does the kitchen maid sleep on a mattress or the floor. do you even know the living and working conditions of your staff. and why don’t we ever talk to them. why don’t you ever name them. do you not know the name of your cook. what about your maids. who washes your clothes arthur. who cleans your stupid little private bath. answer quickly.

[lesbiancosimaniehaus]

I just realized the only woman I’ve seen campaigning for the tony is Jessica Chastain—which is funny—and naught from Jodie Comer or Audra McDonald who imo is the only other real contender.

[katherynefromphilly]

for the DVD commentary thing:

“Did you ever?” Arthur asked.

Merlin lifted his gaze to the top of the canopy. Right, he thought.  He’d promised he wouldn’t lie anymore.  Why in the hell had he done that?  Oh, that’s right, because he was the world’s biggest idiot.

“In Camelot?” Merlin asked.  “No.”

Arthur made a brief humming noise that sounded to Merlin like approval, which was both worrying and confusing, because he’d not shown any sign of disapproval about Gwaine and Percival.  So why should he be different?

“Me neither,” Arthur said.

Merlin felt his eyebrows raise.  He couldn’t remember the last time Arthur had volunteered anything of such a personal nature. He’d always had to drag such things out of him.

“Crown Prince… then King…”  Arthur shrugged his shoulders.

Crown Prince and then King what, Merlin wondered.  But Arthur didn’t elaborate. 

“What about not?” Arthur asked.

“Not?”

“What about not in Camelot?”

The crisp ‘t’ sounds on his words made Merlin wonder how drunk and how sleep-muddled Arthur really was. 

“Not in Camelot,” Merlin repeated. 

“Yes.”

“I… That’s… personal,” Merlin said, feeling more like a coward than he had in centuries.

“That’s a yes, then.”

Merlin closed his eyes and tried not to hyperventilate.  “Yes.”

“Your friend Will?”

Hearing that name after so long was so startling that Merlin’s gaze snapped to Arthur. Arthur’s brows were pulled together over his closed eyes, his lips pressed thinner than they should be if he were relaxed.

“Will?” Merlin repeated.

“You seemed… close.”

“We were. Yes.  But not… not like that.”

He watched Arthur’s features relax.  Saw his small nod against his pillow.  And that same small humming sound of approval.

“After Camelot, then,” Arthur said.  As if that was fine.  But the idea of Will was not. 

“Yes,” Merlin said, without really thinking, because he was too busy being perplexed by Arthur’s reactions. “You know he wasn’t a sorcerer, right?  That was me?  What happened in Ealdor?” 

“Yes,” Arthur said. “I know.”

“Right,” Merlin said.  So that wasn’t it, then.  Arthur’s problem with Will.  It wasn’t about magic. And why would it be?  He’d seen how Arthur reacted to his own magic.

“So those companions of yours then.  After Camelot.  Them.”

Merlin frowned up at the canopy, unable to begin to imagine why Arthur was asking all of this.  “Not- I mean- Some of them were… men.  Yes.  But not all of them.  I just… after living so long, I guess, I’m just… open minded.”

“Like Heath,” Arthur said. 

“Yes.”

“But not Danyl.”

Merlin lifted himself up onto his elbows, frowning down at Arthur now.  “Why are you asking me this?” he asked, because he couldn’t help himself.

“Seemed relevant,” Arthur said.

For context, here’s the definition of “DVD commentary” from the original prompt and reblog: “what i was thinking when i wrote it, why i wrote it, what’s going on in the characters’ heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else you’d expect to find on a DVD commentary track.”

Oooooo this is a good choice. Thank you for submitting this one. I wrote so many words in We Begin Again but I definitely remember being very, very intentional about this scene.

This scene could be entitled “The One In Which They Finally Talk About Their Sexuality — Sort of. Except not really. LOL.”

In my head, I always imagined that Arthur had known about same-sex activities. He knew the knights had sex with each other on battle campaigns to work out their nerves or ease sexual frustration. Even the Romans did that, under certain circumstances, depending upon social rank and age. Arthur would have heard about that too.

Arthur though, could never engage in those activities himself. Could never even let himself entertain those thoughts if he had them. That path was always closed to him. That’s what his comment of “Crown prince… then king…” means. First as Crown Prince, he had to maintain a pristine reputation as an eligible bachelor, and then as King, he was already in love with Gwen, and his focus was on her, and the kingdom, so there was no opportunity.

(Oh, and by the way, Arthur is totally not as drunk as he’s acting. That’s why the “t” is landing so hard when he speaks. He’s a bit tipsy, yes, but he’s dramatizing it a bit to get a pass for his line of questioning.)

Anyway.

Merlin in this scene is terrified of Arthur rejecting him once he finally tells the truth about his own sexuality. Not only that he’ll be kicked out of the sleeping-together-but-not-sleeping-together, but that it will damage their friendship. It’s a big deal for him to tell the truth here, so of course I made it as painful as possible for him to do it. He doesn’t understand why Arthur is focused on Camelot — but Arthur is actually only curious if Merlin acted on his same-sex attractions during the time they’d known each other, because that would be one more thing Merlin had to lie about.

(Plus, okay, Arthur is a teensy weensy bit jealous, imagining Merlin with anyone he’d known.)

Mostly, though, Arthur is honestly trying to understand his own sexuality, and the various types out there, through the lens of people he knows. He hasn’t yet become Master of the Internet, or looked up the words that help us all define who we are at a particular phase of our lives. So he’s holding up examples in his head, and thinking “Am I like Heath? Am I like Danyl? And what is Merlin, exactly, after all these years?”

I thought a long time about how Merlin would answer that question. Arthur wants to know. And Merlin wants to tell him. But Merlin is not a “labels” guy, and he’s lived so long, as a man and a woman, being with all sorts of people, that “Open Minded” was where I landed. Arthur would understand that, especially not yet having been on the internet.

“Why are you asking me this?” Merlin asks, and he’s panicked here, and ready to be kicked out of bed.

“Seemed relevant,” Arthur says, meaning himself, and his own feelings, and the people he’s seen around him.

Merlin of course immediately freaks out right afterward, thinking that Arthur means “seems relevant to my letting you sleep in my bed”.

But Arthur of course comforts him, saying that there are no labels for them both, except the ones they make. And Merlin goes to sleep dazed but in his king’s arms. You know. As best friends do.

;)

Thanks for the ask!

[zykamiliah-temporal]

nah bro the thing is gwaine saw merlin as the brave man that was more noble than any highborn. And also the best friend he could ever had. Whether he knew about the magic or not it's up for debate and. in some way that's also how elyan and percival and leon and arthur saw merlin too. and no wonder! the purge and uther's campaign against magic created a great prejudice against magical beings. how could someone as good as merlin be a sorcery when sorcery is evil? if he knew any sorcery it would be like what gaius knows, so he's able to identify dark magic and do something about it.

and gaius knew about merlin magic but was always telling him how to use it, to hide it from anyone and to ONLY use to protect arthur, the king or camelot.

and freya new the boy that was born with magic, but it was cut too short so she didn't get to know the man well

and arthur himself knew the man the friend but never the sorcerer that carried the weight of destiny in his shoulders

and then there's lancelot. who knew everything about merlin. the boy the man the warlock the greatest sorcerer who's ever walked the earth

and they took him from merlin

[lancelought]

Angraxaethe Sevsarstra, also known by her nickname Angy, is a Nova-turned-Protege I play in a game of Masks:A New Generation, a ttrpg about teenage superheroes.

Angy is a dragon from Avalon, a dimension of myth and legend and the source of many arthurian knights and wizards that became superheroes in the setting. Dragons are not well loved, and Angy herself was the only remaining egg from the hoard of the ancient avalonian Queen of Dragons, a terrifying beast the size of a mountain range that famously took hundreds of knights to defeat decades ago. In the aftermath of this campaign, all of her eggs were destroyed - except one, which was saved through the interference of one Archwizard Misaurystes of Anfwynn Tor, the headmaster of Avalon's best-known magic academy. She was allowed to keep the egg to raise herself under one condition:

Once hatched, the dragon would be shackled, in magical manacles, bound in humanoid form until such a time the magic deemed her no longer a danger to the people of Camelot.

So Angy grew up, with her adoptive mother and sister (Morgan le Fay), knowing she wads a dragon but not what she really looked like, not what that meant, nothing except that dragons were dangerous and so was she. The only stories she knew of dragons were from books on their terrors and their defeat - all except for a scant few stories of good dragons, the white ones and the sky blue, who appeared on scant few occasions to help the kingdom.

She knew she was not one of those, so she decided to be the other kind, and overcompensate.

Angy is kind of a bitch. She doesn't know how not to be, because it's what she thinks she is supposed to be. She is mean and vindictive and openly desires to be a tyrant. Of course, she never directly hurts anyone, tends to think of excuses to go out of her way to help or defend people, and when given a pocket dimension full of humans with no choice but to follow her spends most of her time making sure they are fed and happy... but that's not important, she's totally evil.

Without the use of her draconic form, Angraxaethe spent her childhood learning to channel her innate dragon magic into wizardry, and she is an accomplished wizard with specializations in defensive magic and dimensional magic, and a natural talent for burning things.

With the help of her girlfriend Mistilteinn (Misty), a personification of the mistletoe from norse myth (superhero settings are WILD), she eventually managed to break free from her shackles, and she is now capable of becoming her dragon self. Still, she spends most of her time walking around the city in humanoid form.

It's just more convenient, and has nothing to do with the fact that she can hold her girlfriend's hand, and look people in the eye.

[tedkennedyswife]

February 6, 1961 - Camelot meets Carrollton: Just two weeks after his brother, John, was inaugurated President of the United States, Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy and his wife, Joan, came to New Orleans. They arrived Sunday Feb. 5 and were met at the airport by Mayor de Lesseps S. "Chep" Morrison. After viewing a carnival parade, Kennedy spoke at a $100-a-plate Kennedy-Johnson victory dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel. Later the couple was presented at the Krewe of Carrollton ball at the Municipal Auditorium, shown here ahead of Mayor Morrison greeting King and Queen Carrollton XV, Earl A. Nobles Sr. and Linda Lee Normand. During the 1960 campaign, Ted had been manager of the Kennedy efforts in the western states. The following year he was elected senator from Massachusetts, taking his brother's seat, which he held until his death August 25 at the age of 77.

[cbk1000]

do you have any fic recs? i absolutely love your writing and everything you blog here and i was wondering if you had any

Well, there's @aemelia's work, which I need to be uploaded at a rate faster than one chapter every 84 years, so please join me in bullying her. (She does have some short, complete fics written for Kinkalot. I've seen a couple of people in her comments note that her work reminds them of mine, and she herself has said it's basically just fanfiction of my fanfiction, so I think that would be a good place to start. Also, again, I would like some help in my campaign to bully her into writing more.)

I also really enjoyed Gibraltar May Tumble by shes_gone, which is a reincarnation fic featuring Victorian-era ghost!Arthur haunting a cottage Merlin moves into. (Don't worry, they figure out how to bang.) Gibraltar May Tumble - shes_gone - Merlin (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

Quickening Days by Fahye, canon-era, a sort of Groundhog Day scenario wherein Morgana is inadvertently keeping them trapped in the same day because she's dreamt something terrible is going to happen to Camelot. This is basically an episode, except Merlin and Arthur get to have actual sex instead of just eye sex: Quickening Days - Fahye - Merlin (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

Take the Reins by anonymintea, featuring bottom!Arthur my beloved and smut with feelings: Take the Reins - anonymintea - Merlin (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

The Future Soon by lady_ragnell, modern AU, Morgana makes the group scry for funsies, and Arthur and Merlin both see a vision of themselves married to one another and try to do everything they can to stop it. They do not succeed: The Future Soon - lady_ragnell - Merlin (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

[livvyofthelake]

hate this fucking game. the baker just told me i can have a cake for free if i pass the Test Of Virtue and choose which among us is most deserving of a slice of cake and the options are just myself, arthur, or lancelot, (those are also romance options btw) or all of us. BRO THIS SUCKS I’D GIVE IT TO THE BAKER what kind of lame ass test of virtue or whatever is this. i don’t even want a free cake i’m literally standing next to the goddamn king he can pay for the fucking cake…

[eveninglottie]

state of the charlie 2024

hello babes I know I've been quiet on here for a while, so I figured I would update y'all on some things I'm doing soon because while normally it would be bad if I were quiet, it's actually quite good! I've been having like, a weirdly great start to my year, and while I have been hibernating for the past two months I am gearing up to overextend myself soon getting back to work and I am gonna do the excruciating thing and tell you what I'm doing in the hope that you might support me (this is just the update. the begging will come later.) so, what am I doing?

first, I am going to be posting my book, wilderblood, here on tumblr! I realize that's kind of weird and silly but I feel very connected to tumblr and I am scared of trying to self-publish it right away. I also don't have the money to commission a good cover (that's part of the later begging) and I refuse to put a naked man and a moon on a generic night sky background on my cover. no shade to the people making bank with those covers but I just can't.

I will be posting it on a separate blog dedicated to the book (reblogging here, of course), so if you're interested in keeping up to date with it, you can follow me over there at wilderwolves. obviously there's nothing on there yet, but I'm going to be posting the first chapter in the next few days. I will also be restarting my patreon to hopefully make some money which would allow me to commission a gorgeous cover. also, for like. money in general. because capitalism has forced me to monetize my hobbies. patreon will get early access and bonus stuff, but the book will be free to read.

speaking of, I am also going to start making candles! super random, I know, but it's something I've always wanted to do and writing this book made me want to find something else that isn't writing that could allow me to do something fun with my hands that isn't playing final fantasy fourteen. it's called Wilder Candle and I'm gonna be putting it up on etsy so if anyone wants some candles for sad girls (gender neutral) that are darker and less cheerful than other candles, that's something I am also doing. yes the candle company has the same name as the book series. yes I will eventually be making self-indulgent candles of the characters of my book. no I will not be taking any criticisms at this time.

in other, non-money things, I have recently gotten back into dming and am currently running an End of Camelot king arthur campaign that has so far been WILD and everything I could have hoped for. my players are level 20+ and the game is broken and it's great. my friends are such freaks, I love them. I am also currently ill with what is probably the flu (but not covid, thank christ) and feel like my head is going to explode, but I managed to get out of my bed today so everything's coming up charlie over here. my cats are flourishing and they're beginning to tolerate me trying to pick them up, so really 2024 is starting pretty swell.

I hope your new years are not too stressful, and I'm really excited to show you what I've been working on. <3

[yesimadeanotherblogfuckoff]

GO S2 OPENING ANALYSIS PT 1 (also Potential GO spoilers idk)

I haven't really seen anyone go in depth on the opening for season two yet so I'm making to this to point out all the things i spotted and some theories this is SUPER LONG POST SO BE WARNED

Crowley crawls up while Aziraphale floats down which is fitting but there's also storm clouds in the distance so there might be a scene after the flood or it's a sign of impending doom

right after crowley and aziraphale go through that dark tunnel Gabriel(?) can be spotted with that infamous box

they're in the middle of a scorched village and crowley sets goats on fire which pretty much confirms that they are somehow going to be involved with the story of Job if not directly involved

here we have that Gabriel statue from the trailer and a gravestone with "EVERYDAY" written on it, the reoccurring song that somehow related to the mystery

here's another gravestone with something written on it, this was the best photo i could get and i tried lightening it but i can't figure out what it says so if anyone has any ideas feel free to share

gravestone with jane austen on it, this author has been referenced quite a bit from the info we have about s2 so far and is on the cover for the episode "The Ball" so looking forward to that

"HERE LIES THE FORMER SHELL OF BEELZLEBUB" so i guess that's Neil's explanation for them having a different actor? Beelzebub molted? gross but very creative

also im pretty sure that bottom one says "Here Lies ADAM" as in antichrist Adam? oh man i hope he isn't dead he was such a sweet kid

there's a guillotine in the far back during their walk through hell hope that isn't foreshadowing anything 0-0

they also have this office on a pillar above the fiery pit of hell which i find very funny but this could also maybe be related to Shax? where she used to work maybe??

a sign for an underground train station so i guess we'll be expecting a train station scene of some kind?

the group walks through this gate with "GENTS" at the top no idea what that implys but i'll put it here anyways

there's a "WINGS FOR VICTORY" sign on the side of this bus which is a reference to British saving campaigns during WWII so confirms more WWII era stuff with aziraphale and crowley

there is this poster for STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN and my first thought was the LED ZEPPLIN song but actually it's a reference this 1946 movie

in which a British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl

so thats INTERESTING and COOL and totally doesn't imply ANYTHING about aziraphale and crowley's relationship or (potentially) maggie and nina's

but there is also a Zeppelin (it looks more like a blimp but whatever) and later on they go into a theater which looks very similar to the album cover for Stairway to Heaven

so I'm not gonna rule it out

there's a poster that says "THE FABULOUS LADIES OF CAMELOT" which is probably the group name of the show girls we saw in the trailer it says they are performing at the Windmill Theatre in London which is real and very famous for its Windmill girls who performed as nude living statues

i think this box is part of that saw a person in half trick and i can't wait to see Aziraphale attempt this trick and miserably fail like he always does, lot of laughs for sure

here's aziraphale on stage in his magician's outfit from the trailer but crowley is there as well so maybe he's his assistant? if so thats super funny and explains why crowley is not a fan of his magic act later on

very cute moment of crowley and aziraphale twirling around each other in the stars (this could be a nod to that moment that people spoiled for the first two episodes will know what im talking about )

this bridge they're walking on could potentially be the Humber Bridge near Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England (?)

or just a random ass bridge lol i do love to theorize tho

this airplane has "THY KINGDOM AIRWAYS" on its side very funny gag

these cotton candy hearts appear to be raining from the sky which im not sure what that implies but this season is focusing more on romance so it fits (also crowley and azira sitting together on the roof cute <3)

here we have maggie's record shop and nina's cafe right next to each other with record banners on the street, maybe a promotional party for the store? there's also a jukebox with records stacked in front of it. there's a promotional image of aziraphale holding everyday on vinyl (that i can't find sorry) so maybe he's gonna use this jukebox to play it?

i believe this is Gabriel(?) holding the package and going down an elevator from Heaven so he wasn't lying about needing to deliver something to Aziraphale something must've happened to him on his way over

one of the group is holding a sign for the "The 2nd Coming" as in the second coming of Jesus Christ?

A bar called The Dirty Donkey, new location for aziraphale and crowley to dine at? there's a smaller sign there but it's impossible to read HOWEVER

it looks like a holy figure standing in front of the opening of a cave, maybe an angel? considering the clothing maybe Jesus Christ?

I'm at my limit for photos so I will continue this in my next post!

(edit: here's the link for pt 2)

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hi, any recs on books where either of the leads is a politician/ambassador? Thanks!

I hope you don't mind me publishing this!

Kennedy Ryan's All the King's Men Duology is a great example. The heroine and the hero meet when she's protesting his dad's oil company, and then re-meet years later when Things Go Down (including him). Then they meet again when she's an in-demand political consultant hired to manage his brother's campaign. It's super hot and super compelling.

New Camelot by Sierra Simone. The trilogy I'll recommend literally anytime to anyone. MMF erotic romance, King Arthur/Lancelot/Guinevere but make it the president, the first lady, and the VP. Everyone has history with everyone, there's a good bit of kink, and honestly amazing character development. Most of it takes place in or around the White House. People do suck dick in the oval office. Which. Is what anyone should want out of this premise. Angsty perfection.

The Art of Scandal by Regina Black. The heroine is the mayor's wife, and he's ascending. On page 1 she realizes he's been cheating, and she promises to stay until his campaign is done in exchange for the house. This is complicated, however, when she begins falling for her frenemy's son, who's a good bit younger than her.

These two didn't work as much for me but are still perhaps worth checking out:

First Lady by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. This one is basically about a recently widowed (in office) first lady who ends up dipping because she's so done with the White House bullshit, and finds herself in an RV with a grouchy man and two kids who belong to his dead ex wife (not him) that he's somehow taking care of.

Delicious by Sherry Thomas. Historical romance; the hero is a rising politician (this is a big part of the plot) and the heroine is his chef, who he had a fling with years ago--but she keeps hiding herself in increasingly insane ways to try to keep him from finding out it's her, lmao.