#the idea is that the nightmare is ancient rome themed

[cchipollo]

magma doodles im too scared to share on twitter (including a nurse tom by tumblr account romanroyandtomwambsganshavingsex sent to me by my friend but im way to scared to tag people so sorry this is me pussying out aaah)

[brother-emperors]

hi! i cannot say i have read too much about brutus beyond the ancient sources, so i was wondering what your opinion is on him and specifically in relation to cassius? i saw your take about how cassius is often used to make brutus "look better," which i definitely have picked up on and is clear in the texts, although i was wondering if you have any posts you could direct me to, or could recommend anything in general that expands upon this idea? its really interesting, and i had not considered it very much before since i enjoyed the dynamic as it is presented

YES!! YES!!!!! this is what I live for, oh man because

and I love untangling them from each other.

so as far as modern reception for Cassius goes, a lot of the opinion on him comes from three places: Shakespeare (and by extension, Plutarch, although Shakespeare does subvert popular characterizations of Cassius in JC) and Dante (or more accurately, a fuck ton of really complex renaissance scholarship around the republic/empire, including and largely focusing on, but not limited to: Dante’s placement of Brutus and Cassius in hell). To absolve Brutus of Cassius makes for interesting themes, but it kills the nuance of the fact that these men knew each other from childhood, and Cassius had effectively married into the house Junia. Shakespeare has Brutus see Caesar’s ghost, when the ancient source that records Caesar’s ghost has the ghost appear to Cassius. Ancient sources were pretty hostile to him as well, and even as close to his life as Augustan era writers, there was a tendency to sanitize Brutus at the expense of Cassius. It was acceptable to tolerate the memory of Brutus, but to do so, you had to push all of Brutus' harsher traits off to Cassius.

a lot of that contradicts aspects of Cassius as a person from the glimpses of him we can catch in those sources. In Plutarch's Life of Brutus, he laughs and jokes, his exchanges with Cicero are covered in affection while Cicero's own opinions of Brutus vary, and Messalla Corvinus was the one who stubbornly kept the memory of Cassius alive, despite his own closeness to Octavian's circle of friends. Titinius killed himself on Cassius death, calling himself a companion in Cassius' fate (valerius maximus 9.9.2).

Which isn't to say that he's without flaw, he is, along with literally every political figure out of ancient Rome, but instead it’s about that the fraction of information we have of him gets whittled down further to reinforce an image of Brutus that's unfaithful to his historical person, so both Brutus and Cassius suffer for it.

And I don’t have anything particularly against how popular tradition portrays them, or how a lot of people tend to enjoy their dynamic, since it’s less about them historically and more about

(M.L. Clarke)

but specifically untangling Cassius from Brutus compels me because it feels lonely that so much of him gets lost to Brutus, and also I crave variety in their portrayals. I also have an insatiable curiosity and so far haven’t hit a wall with this topic.

Alright! Enough of me, I’m getting off track, let me give you some texts that I think about daily from people who are significantly more qualified to say things than I am! This is going to get long, but I’m going to do my best to stay on the topic, so under a cut:

also so sorry for the visually inconsistent citations, I was using the beta post editor but apparently it cuts you off at 10 images so I switched back to the regular post editor and gave up using the small text, but I could not figure out how to un-small text the rest without going into the html and oh boy was that a nightmare, so all the texts are also cited in the bibliography in order of appearance!

ON CASSIUS AND SHAKESPEARE this is going to be real quick, so I'll do it first

has cassius been misinterpreted?, david klein

M.L. Clarke, The Noblest Roman: Marcus Brutus And His Reputation

CASSIUS, THE MAN, NOT THE MYTH OR LEGEND, AND HISTORY

Cassius and Brutus: The Memory of the Liberators, E. Rawson

servilia and her family, susan treggiari

alternative memoirs: tales from the ‘other side’ of the civil war, kathryn welch (PLEASE, THIS ONE IS ONE OF THE BEST ONES ON THE ENTIRE SUBJECT OF CASSIUS' RECEPTION I CAN'T RECOMMEND IT ENOUGH)

ON DECONSTRUCTING BRUTUS' REPUTATION

a comparatives post I made, another comparatives post I made on the exact same topic

M.L. Clarke, The Noblest Roman: Marcus Brutus and His Reputation

senatorial wealth and roman politics, israel shatzman

ON ABSOLVING BRUTUS FROM CASSIUS AND HOSTILITY FROM ANCIENT SOURCES

Shakespeare’s Cassius: A Critical Re Appraisal, Dean Anthony Alexander

Empire and Memory, Alain M Gowing

Brutus, the Noble Conspirator, Kathryn Tempest

ALTERNATIVE TAKES ON THE “SEDUCTION” OF BRUTUS

has cassius been misinterpreted, david klein

brutus the noble conspirator, kathryn tempest

conspiracy narratives in roman history, victoria e pagan

Shakespeare’s Cassius: A Critical Re Appraisal, Dean Anthony Alexander

(for fun: this video)

CASSIUS, ANTONY, AND THE EAST aka Antony And The Ordering Of Names

Cassius and Brutus: The Memory of the Liberators, E. Rawson

(for a more in depth discussion regarding slavery, Cassius and Antony in the East (43-40 BCE), Fabian E Udoh)

The Bibliography

-Has Cassius Been Misinterpreted?, David Klein -M.L. Clarke, The Noblest Roman: Marcus Brutus And His Reputation -Cassius and Brutus, In Memory Of The Liberators, E. Rawson -Servilia and Her Family, Susan Treggiari -Alternative Memoirs: Tales From The 'Other Side,' of the Civil War, Kathryn Welch -Senatorial Wealth and Roman Politics, Israel Shatzman -Shakespeare’s Cassius: A Critical Re Appraisal, Dean Anthony Alexander -Empire and Memory, Alain M Gowing -Brutus, the Noble Conspirator, Kathryn Tempest   -Cassius and Antony in the East (43-40 BCE), Fabian E Udoh

Bonus Round! Media that has Interesting Dynamics at play

-The City War, Sam Starbuck -HBO Rome -Cléopatre La Dernière Reine D'Egypte (listen, I can justify this one, I swear) -RSC's 2012 and 2017 JC Production -Takarazuka Revue's Rome At Dawn -The 1908 Julius Caesar short film -The Destiny of Rome...."documentary," but just the Brutus and Cassius moments

an EXTRA bonus round, the brutus, cassius, and homoeroticism text I wrote that has some more recommendations in it, including the title for that Voltaire text where Brutus doesn’t even show up for the assassination and Cassius plays the main character and it gets delightfully homoerotic in parts

I have most of these things as pdfs, so if anything here is hard to find, let me know off anon!

[evilkritter]

Author Wars: Primordial Age

I’m running into the “ocean of backstory” problem here. I wanted to do a Timeline Summary in a single post but it became more of a complete Timeline Recap, and since the working-timeline I have for personal reference is ~15k that’s too long for what I want this to be. Lore isn’t immutable, the canon gets reshaped for the story, and there are a LOT of ideas I’m playing with that might get the axe within a few books. Especially when it comes to the Ages. Early, Middle, and Late is a common historical analytical lens, but for the Tumultuous Realm specifically it is a based on the Dominions 4x series. Those are the playable Ages, and there is a progression with Nations changing over time and the overall technological advancement of the world. But before any gods get established the world has to exist, and that’s when the Primordial Age comes in.

The Primordial Age, literally the first beginning Age (it’s such a good word) is where the really weird stuff happens. I’ll have to backfit so many things here when I come up with ideas. Myths and legends in more classical style happen here, and very literally. The World Flame Spell creates the Surface in very genesis-myth style. Took some inspiration from the Silmarillion, such as hundreds of years passing with only Fire Children and magic providing light, the Suns being created at the Surface Capital after a few hundred years. Still playing with details about who makes which Sun, there might just be two at first sitting stationary in the sky and dimming for night.

The Elemental Races are created as a result of the World Flame spell, but they are all sub-surface and don’t really reveal themselves until after founding the Elemental Courts. Fire, Earth, and Water each have their own court and make up the Three Elemental Magics. Having Air be a type of magic but not an element, because it doesn’t spawn elementals, is very funny to me and I have some ideas of how to play with an Avatar crossover homage. Fire Children being more aligned with Life magic than Fire, maybe even having no affinity for Fire, is also funny to me.

A lot of things counter intuitively don’t happen here also. The Surface Capital (later to be the Frozen Capital) is established when the Citadel lands. The Ark of Souls is reactivated and it begins collecting the Souls of anyone who dies, and it begins collecting the Souls of Fire Children, though the Humans of Before don’t notice that until later. The major human afterlives don’t get created until the Middle Age.

Large chunks of story happen pre City-State, and anarchy/nationless thinking survives to modern day because of how recent that was. 3k years as opposed to 100k of humans existing. Not gonna get into how it still exists for populations in the real world, that’s a rabbit hole.

The earliest nations have roots in the Primordial Age but aren’t recognized by most diegetic historians until the Early Age. Pythium is established, the Snake/Hydra-Themed Rome analogue that becomes a Oligarchic disaster in the Middle Age, and Undead Apocalypse Nightmare in the Late Age. The Avkari Empire which is monkey-people with Dominions-based Hindi inspiration heavily diluted by all the Furry Shit that I am pouring in.

I pushed a lot of major players up to be Late Age newcomers so there’s not as much here as there used to be. I think that having major players be super ancient/entrenched is a writing decision that a lot of writers (myself included) make without considering the implications. Which doesn’t tend to bite them in the ass until they start writing prequels and then it bites their entire ass off. It’s a big part of why I went with the “new world made of magic” approach way back in high school. Now the artificiality and malleability of the world are major influences on the themes and concepts I want to write about.

The youth of Mother Nilra is the biggest story thread in the Primordial Age. Might get a book at some point but probably set in the Late Age with a lot of looking back/reference rather than being about the Primordial Age. Spoiler, she comes from the future and gives birth to herself, Old Mother Nilra mentors Young Nilra and then dies. The Tumultuous Realm: Goddess post covers that. Then Nilra gives (virgin) birth to the first of the Nagaran race, and her brother Oriro is weird and jealous about her having her first kids without him. Mother Nilra gives birth to many races, most of which can interbreed, then she marries Oriro because mythological Goddesses are all about that incest. Also she thinks it will help him chill. It does not. A bunch of important goddesses are born (worth noting that the default term is goddess rather than god, in reference and reverance to Old Mother Nilra), not gonna list them here and also the list will probably grow over time.

The marriage isn’t really working out and Nilra sort of wanders around practicing philosophy and religion while Oriro tries to bully people into letting him rule the world. Lots of sacred texts and lost sacred texts from Nilra’s early writings and the works of his collaborators/peers, any disciples or apprentices tend to move on to their own works fairly quickly or become groupies too awed to really appreciate her work.

Primordial Age ends when Oriro escalates to declaring himself the goddess over all other goddesses and declares himself Pantakrator. The creation of the title inspires his opponents to contest it. The Early Age dawns.

[chalky-charlie]

WIP MASTERLIST

Hello, friends!

I finally decided to share my works with you all. Most of these were written during my prime (aka middle school) and let’s just say I wasn’t thriving socially but boy was I pumping out a lot of these garbage filled bundles of joy! Either way, keep in mind that most of these are re-writes or ideas that never left the drawing board, so don’t take the summaries too seriously (they’re actually pretty vague tbh).

Without further ado, meet my babies!!

Genre: Contemporary, Teen Romance

Age Range: YA/ NA

Status: On my 5th re-write; Currently focusing on it

Themes: Romance, LGBT+, alcohol abuse, art, friends with benefits to lovers, emotional immaturity, coming of age

Summary:  Follow Charlie through his High School senior year where he: photographs things, lies to himself, avoids homework, drinks himself into a coma, believes relationships shouldn’t come with strings and learns that the first step to finding oneself is admitting that you’re lost.

INTRO || TAG || PINTEREST || WE ❤ IT 1 2 3

Genre: Contemporary, New Adult Romance

Age Range: NA

Status: Sequel to LB, not entirely plotted yet

Themes: Romance, substance abuse, mental health, art, family-related troubles, autism (maybe??? Not sure yet)

Summary: Follows the story of Camilla and Jeremiah, secondary characters in LB, as they move out of their parent's house to pursue their dreams and learn to deal with their nightmares.

(This is legit so bad, but I can't be sure about what's gonna happen until I finish LB)

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism, Contemporary Fantasy (?)

Age Range: NA

Status: It's kinda outlined (kinda...)

Themes: Religion, Demons & Angels, Magic, LGBT+, Gore

Summary:  Ana is having the worst time of her life and she’s sure things can’t get any worse. Except they can. Because an ominous looking man decked in all black shows up at her door, holding a cat and claiming to be the Devil himself, informs her that he is owed a soul and due to a very old (like centuries old) contractual loophole she is the unfortunate warrantor. Unless she’s willing to work out a deal. So in exchange for keeping her afterlife all to herself, Ana must catsit for the goddamn Devil. Pretty sweet deal, huh? Except…. Is the cat changing colors?

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Comedy

Age Range: YA

Status: hahahahaha

Themes: Pining, Plus size MC, emotional constipation, aggressive flirting (in the sense it is v obvious, not non-con), high school setting, 

Summary: Victoria is a bitter bitch. Leo is a fuckboi. James is a spoilt bitch. A personal attack on one’s manhood and a cruel prank later, Bitter Bitch gets bitterer, Fuckboi gets a crush and Spoilt Bitch gets jealous.

OR: A story involving lots of pining, endless trips to the convenience store and messages in unexpected spots.

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Range: YA/NA (not sure)

Status: I kinda know what I happens

Themes: War, Ancient Rome, Roman Mythology, Female Empowerment, BAMF MC, Gladiators, Royalty, Gore

Summary: I’ll make it rain heavenly fire at my command. I'll release the anger they kindled in me. But for now, I am a girl and girls speak meekly, smile and show immaculate pearls among rose petals lips. You might forget that girls become women and some women ascend to goddesses, but I do not. I did not forget. 

My time is near and before I die, I will have my vengeance.

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Age Range: YA

Status: lol

Themes: Murder, Childhood trauma, mystery solving, LGBT+, Gore, infantilization

Summary: Merely 5 months away from prescribing, the Canmore Factory Murder remains an utter mystery. Lucy still looks for clues about the confusing night she witnessed pure white milk turn strawberry-pink with her parent’s blood. Time is running out for Lucy to get justice but the mysterious voice that keeps leaving cryptic messages everywhere might help bring together all the puzzle pieces.

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Contemporary, Urban Fantasy

Age Range: NA

Status: I have a vague idea of what happens

Themes: Drug abuse, alcoholism, ghosts (?), mental health issues, long lost love

Summary: When Nick woke up a random stranger’s house with a pounding headache, taking a couple of pills from the non-descriptive tablet seemed like a good idea. Now, a trip to the hospital later, sitting bare-ass in a hospital gown at John’s Pub, he really starts to regret it. Especially because there’s an invisible man behind the counter, stealing liquor and blaming it on Nick. Seriously, can nobody else see the bloke? He’s right there, he swears!

Or, Nick takes some pills and starts seeing people that, apparently, nobody else can. 

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Range: YA/NA

Status: I wrote this in 8th grade.

Themes: Friendship, friends to lovers, friends with benefits, mental health, college setting

Summary: A bunch of cliché archetype students answer an ad to share an apartment. Shenanigans ensue. 

Featuring: candy for breakfast, punk rock makeovers, a gym addict, pretentious art students, one night stands, multiple night stands and personal interpretations of classic archetype characters.

TAG || Pinterest || We ❤ It

[tripstations]

The 13 Most Overrated Tourist Traps on the Planet

Whenever I’m on vacation or visiting a city on a short break, I try and soak up as much of the real, local culture that I can – I find it the best way to really explore a new place.

I’m not a huge fan of crowded tourist sites where people aren’t people anymore, they mutate into clumsy beings with cameras attached to their faces – the best way to enjoy a vacation is not through a camera lens.

There are of course some exceptions to this rule, there’s a list of what I would regard as ‘stereotypical’ tourist spots that I’ve loved and would visit again (The Eiffel Tower, Ground Zero, Vatican City etc), but the majority of the ‘must-see’ tourist traps out there are overpriced, oversubscribed and ultimately overrated.

  Want to know the ones to avoid? Or are they overrated, still iconic and definitely a must see?

Read on:

  The Louvre Museum – Paris, France

Let’s face it; the only reason you are inside The Louvre Museum in Paris is to see Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ painting, right? Well save yourself the considerable entrance fee because the thing is just tiny. I mean like miniscule, barely bigger than a postage stamp. If you want a preview of the kind of view you’ll be getting, this second image in the gallery illustrates it well!

As that image accurately demonstrates, not only is the painting small there are also a ton of other tourists blocking your view, who are desperate for their picture of probably the most disappointing piece of art in history. Be warned.

  Stonehenge – Amesbury, UK

What is essentially a bunch of big stones in a field, Stonehenge is yet another ancient monument completely mugging off unsuspecting tourists. Don’t expect to get near let alone touch the stones (you can’t), don’t expect to see anything interesting in the immediate vicinity (there is no accompanying museum or tourist centre), and certainly don’t expect good weather (it’s England).

  The Colosseum – Rome, Italy

We continue our stay in Europe by ‘visiting’ the impressive Colosseum in Rome. Unlike visiting Stonehenge the weather will most likely be good as it tends to be, all year round in Rome, but you’ll have to consider queue times and predict what the climate will be like when you actually get inside – average queuing times can be 6 to 8 months (okay not quite that long, but it’s a seriously long time to wait just to get into a building site). Plenty of time for the notorious local pickpockets to strike, then.

Do you like queuing? We do not! Read here how to avoid long queues for sights in Rome.

  The Leaning Tower of Pisa – Pisa, Italy

What’s that? You have a genius idea that you’d like to go to Pisa and take a picture of yourself leaning against the tower? Nice. No-one’s ever thought of that before.

  The Statue of Liberty – New York City, USA

The Statue of Liberty in New York is an iconic and symbolic monument, but yet another massive disappointment. You’re better off spending your time looking around the infinitely more interesting neighbouring Ellis Island, the gateway for millions of immigrants to the US during the early 1900’s.

Still want your classic tourist photograph of Lady Liberty? Take the (free) Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan to (you guessed it) Staten Island to see fantastic views of the New York Bay as well as your beloved Statue of Liberty.

  Mannekin Pis – Brussels, Belgium

One of the most photographed statues in Europe, featured on practically every postcard in Belgium, the Mannekin Pis really ought to be a lot more impressive that it is. It’s just a little boy taking a leak into a fountain, right? Or am I missing something?!

  The Astronomical Clock – Prague, Czech Republic

The Astronomical Clock located in beautiful Old Town Prague, is apparently the third oldest astronomical clock in the world – very interesting. What is not so interesting and is in fact incredibly irritating are the huge crowds that swell at the base of the clock every hour in preparation for the bell to chime. Seriously, that’s it. Anything that boring that results in such needlessly big crowds has to earn a place on this list.

  The Great Wall of China – Badaling, China

Wherever on this planet you happen to call home, you’ll probably be familiar with the concept of walls. If walls interest you, then perhaps the Great Wall of China is an advisable vacation destination. If, like me, you don’t regard walls as all that impressive and certainly not visit worthy, I’d give this particular excursion a miss.

The section of the Great Wall at Badaling is especially well known for being a tourist nightmare – merchants harass you non-stop to buy their overpriced tat. It’s probably more interesting to look at from space than up close and personal.

Find here the best place to see the Great Wall.

  Las Vegas – Nevada, USA

Las Vegas seems to be a popular destination amongst tourists, for absolutely no logical reason at all. Want to lose your savings gambling? Want a place to have a cheesy, shotgun wedding? Want to visit a place that is wall-to-wall soulless casinos and tasteless hotels? A city that is no more than a tacky theme park with neon lights? Las Vegas is the ticket.

  The Grand Canyon – Arizona, USA

While you’re in Nevada not visiting Las Vegas you can also take a 6 hour drive east and not visit the Grand Canyon, too (this guide is helpful if nothing else). I presume that the recent opening of the ‘Skywalk’ attraction (pictured here) can only be to tempt the paying customers into ending the sheer boredom forced upon them whilst visiting the Grand Canyon.

Better have some more time and do the Rim to Rim hike.

  Little Mermaid – Copenhagen, Denmark

Mention to anyone that you’re planning on visiting Copenhagen, and you’ll probably be advised to check out The Little Mermaid statue located on the coast of the city. My advice would be, don’t. What’s so special about it? Perhaps the mermaid is in some way related to the Mannekin Pis?

  The Hollywood Walk of Fame – Los Angeles, USA

Don’t expect any glamour on this famous street in the heart of the City of Angels. It’s an otherwise ordinary street with huge crowds taking pictures of the sidewalk. Around them are celebrity impersonators and tacky souvenir shops – no, you won’t spot any real celebrities, just other clueless tourists as confused as you are as to what they’re doing there.

  London, UK

Okay, so maybe it’s just me having lived in London for a time and also having frequented it many times in my life, but seemingly everywhere I go, there are tourists EVERYWHERE. What’s the deal?

Seriously tourists, London’s not all that special; it’s crowded (no thanks to you), it’s stuffy in the summer, freezing in the winter, its transport system is notoriously slow and unreliable, people are not friendly, traffic is a nightmare, things are expensive and the traditional tourist sites are frankly boring. Buckingham Palace? Really? I wouldn’t bother if I were you, but I hear that Paris is beautiful this time of year…

But maybe these travel tips are worth visiting London.

  Travel tip shared by Harry Peters www.justtheflight.co.uk

The post The 13 Most Overrated Tourist Traps on the Planet appeared first on Tripstations.

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