#theda cromwell

[necile]

So this screenshot shows Theda as a regular sim and not a vampire, which.. is confusing to me, a year later. I don't know if I intentionally cured her or if the game bugged out at some point, but I made her a vampire again when I was checking on the save recently.

[threecardtrick]

💐 au where Ari is happy

The Imperial Divine (or to those outside of Tevinter, know as the Black Divine), had attended the meeting at the Conclave. Wolsey would not miss such a monumental event —heaven forbid he be left out of the pages of history. Certainly, he would not let the Andrastian Divine be the one to represent all those faithful across Thedas. Though they did not acknowledge each other, the current issue was too great to let that squabble overshadow things. It felt like the fate of mages was what was at hand. So, why not form a little alliance while one happened to be there? Thomas Cromwell, a recently made magister (orchestrated and purchased by the Black Divine), whose low born roots would keep him as an outsider in Tevinter society. Part of the nouveau riche who could only hope to buy prestige. And for her family, their hold could be expanded past Orlais, the beginnings of roots in Tevinter, and perhaps in a few generations they might become a formidable force there. It is no different than the tactics of kings and queens. And of course, for now, they would gain a great ally in the Black Divine, who served as a makeshift father figure for Thomas, whose well-being he had looked after since he was a young boy. As he stood there, signing the marriage contract, knowing it was for the greater good (his grand aspirations), he cannot help but feel he was signing his life away. He stole a glance at his bride to be, a beautiful young woman who looked so very unhappy. A sad songbird placed in a gilded cage.

[angel-princess-anna]

Downton Abbey - References to Historical Figures + References to Other Fictional Characters and Works

The following are two lists; one are real people who where mentioned on Downton Abbey, and the other is fictional characters and works that were also mentioned in the show. I complied these two lists together (because sometimes I had to research what was indeed being referenced!). As I didn’t know if I’d ever been sharing these lists, I don’t have the episode numbers listed out, but they do go in order by mention.

Real Historical Figures Mentioned in Downton

* means that the person was not contemporary of the characters and there for famous or well-known to them. Others without it may not be known personally by them, but are their contemporaries. Some of these have made it to the character list, if for sure they did indeed know the Crawleys, or other any other major character.

- Lucy Rothes (Titanic survivor, friend of the Crawleys) - John Jacob "JJ" Astor (business man who died on Titanic, friend of the Crawleys) - Madeleine Astor (not mentioned by name, but as JJ's wife, Titanic survivor, Cora did not like her) - Sir Christopher Wren* (architect, designed the Dower House) - David Lloyd George (politician and Prime Minister starting in 1916) - William the Conqueror* - Mark Twain* (author) - Queen Mary (wife of King George V) [mentioned in S1, appears in S4CS] - Queen Catherine of Aragon* - Oliver Cromwell* - Bishop Richard de Warren* - Anthony Trollope* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1882) - Piero della Francesca* (painter) - Franz Anton Mesmer* (scientist) - Thomas Jefferson* (politician, inventor, third president of the United States) - Léon Bakst (Russian painter and scene- and costume designer) - Sergei Diaghilev (another Russian artist) - Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (sounds like the Crawleys did attend her parties from time to time) - Emily Davison (suffragist) - Herbert Henry "H.H." Asquith (politician and Prime Minister until 1916) - Kaiser Wilheim (ruler of Germany; Sir Anthony personally visited him a few times) - Vincenzo Bellini* (composer) - Gioachino Rossini* (composer) - Giacomo Puccini* (composer) - Karl Marx* (philosopher) - John Ruskin*  (social thinker and artist; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1900) - John Stuart Mill* (philosopher) - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria - Guy Fawkes* - Gavrilo Princip (member of the Black Hand and Franz Ferdinand's assassin) - H.G. Wells (author) - Major General B. Burton - Heinrich Schliemann* (German businessman archaeologist, died in 1890; deleted scene mention) - General Douglas Haig (later a field marshal) - Belshazzar* (King of Babylon) - Mabel Normand (actress) - Plantagenets* - Eugene Suter (hair stylist) - Alexander Kerensky (Russian political leader) - Vladimir Lenin (Russian communist revolutionary) - Florence Nightingale* (nurse; died 1910) - Czar Nicholas II and the Romanov family (ruler of Russia) - Jack Robinson (footballer; he stopped playing in 1912) - Frederick Marryat* (author) - George Alfred "G.A." Henty* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1902) - Maximilien Robespierre* (French revolutionary) - Marie Antoinette* (French queen) - Erich Lundendorff (German commander) - Sylvia Pankhurst (suffragist) - Jack Johnson (boxer) - Commander Harold Lowe (Fifth Officer of the Titanic; if P. Gordon was really Patrick, he would have known him personally) - Theda Bara (actress) - Robert Burns* (poet, read by Bates; name is not uttered on screen, but it is clear on book cover) - Jules Verne* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1905) - Marion Harris (singer of "Look for the Silver Lining"; name is not uttered on screen) - Edward Shortt (Home Secretary from 1919-1922) - Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of York (one of the first actual historical figures in the show; married Matthew and Mary, visited Downton Abbey for dinner) - King George V (king of England) [mentioned in S3E1, appears in S4CS] - Charles Melville Hays (president of the Grand Trunk Railway that Robert invested in; died on the Titanic) - Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts) - Lady Maureen Dufferin (socialite, friend of the Crawleys) - Georges Auguste Escoffier (famous chef and restaurateur) - Marie-Antoine Carême* (famous chef) - Queen of Sheba* - Napoleon Bonaparte* - The Bourbons* - The Buffs* (famous army regiment; "steady the Buffs" popularized by Kipling) - Croesus* (king of ancient Lydia; mention several times starting in S3 and through S4) - Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix (Wild West picture star) - Dr. Samuel Johnson* (English writer; quote paraphrased by Carson) - Jean Patou (dress designer; maker of Edith's S3 wedding dress in-show) - Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff-Gordon (dress designer of "Lucille"; a survivor of the Titanic) - The Marlboroughs (famous family; mentioned like the Crawleys knew them personally, Sir Anthony did) - The Hapburgs* (rulers of the Holy Roman Empire) - Maud Gonne (English-born Irish revolutionary) - Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (Irish revolutionary) - Constance Georgine Markievicz, Countess Markievicz (Irish revolutionary and politician) - Lady Sarah Wilson (née Churchill) (female war correspondent) - Gwendolen Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk  (real person and friend of Violet's) - Pope Benedict XV - Lillian Gish (actress) - Ivy Close (actress) - Alfred the Great* (9th century ruler of England) - Oscar Wilde* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1900) - Nathaniel Hawthorne* (author) - Charles Ponzi - Walter Scott* (author) - Charles Dickens* (author) - Virgina Woolf (author, one of the first actual historical figures in the show, was not actually mentioned though, just a background guest at Gregson's party) - Roger Fry (artist, one of the first actual historical figures in the show, was not actually mentioned though, just a background guest at Gregson's party) - Sir Garnet Wolseley* - Phyllis Dare (singer and actress) - Zena Dare (singer and actress, sister to Phyllis) - Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett (the second son of the 2nd Viscount Esher, Zena Dare's husband) - King Canute* (Cnut the Great, norse king) - Nellie Melba (opera singer, one of the few actual historical figures in the show) - Al Jolson (singer) - Christina Rossetti* (poet) - Marie Stopes (feminist doctor and author of Married Love) - George III* (ruler of England) - Lord Byron* - Arsène Avignon (chef at Ritz in London, actual historical figure in the show) - Louis Diat (chef at Ritz in New York) - Jules Gouffé* (famous chef) - King of Sweden (whoever it was when Violet's husband was alive) - Rudolph Valentino (actor) - Agnes Ayres (actress) - Lord Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington* (Lord Chancellor and abolitionist) - Albert B. Fall (US senator and Secretary of the Interior) - King Ludwig* (I’m assuming of Bavaria) - John Ward MP (liberal politician, actual historical figure in the show) - Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (Royal Navy, Blake and Tony served under him) - Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (bandleader at the Embassy Club, his band appears on-screen but it's not pointed out who he is) - The Prince of Wales (David, who became Edward VIII when King) - Freda Dudley Ward (socialite and mistress of the above) - The Queen of Naples* - Wat Tyler* (leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England) - Edmond Hoyle* (writer of card rules) - Ramsay MacDonald (Prime Minister Jan-Nov 1924) - Archimedes* - Boudicca* (Queen of the British Iceni tribe) - Rosa Luxemburg (Revolutionary) - Charles I* - Douglas Fairbanks (movie star) - Jack Hylton (English band leader) - Edward Molyneux (fashion designer; Cora has a fitting with him in S5E3) - The Brontë Sisters* (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, all authors. Anne's work The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was the charade answer in S2CS.) - Leo Tolstoy* (author) - Nikolai Gogol* (author) - Elinor Glyn (author of romantic fiction) - Czar Alexander II - Prince Alfred (son of Queen Victoria) - Grand Duchess Maria (wife of Alfred, daughter of the czar) - Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian jeweller) - Ralph Kerr (officer in the Royal Navy; Mabel mentions a man by this name as a friend) - Keir Hardie (Scottish socialist, died in 1915) - The Moonella Group (formed a nudist colony in 1924 in Wickford, Essex) - John Singer Sargent (American painter, died in 1925) - Rudyard Kipling (author and poet - often quoted starting in S1, but first mentioned by name in S5) - Mary Augusta Ward (Mrs. Humphrey Ward - author; I'm not adding her to the character list, died in 1920) - Adolf Hitler - Pola Negri (film star) - John Barrymore (actor [Drew Barrymore's grandfather]) - King Richard the III (of England)* - Hannah Rothschild and Lord Rosebery (British socialites Violet knew; Hannah died in 1890) - General Reginald Dyer - Lytton Strachey (supposedly was at Gregson's party) - Niccolo Machiavelli* - Adrienne Bolland (aviatrix) - The Fife Princesses (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - Duke of Arygll (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - The Queen of Spain (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - Lady Eltham (Dorothy Isabel Westenra Hastings) - King John* - Neville Chamberlain (Minister of Health in 1925, later Prime Minister; appears on-screen in S6E5) - Anne de Vere Cole (Neville Chamberlain's wife. Fictitiously, she is Robert's father's goddaughter. Her father is mentioned has having served in the Crimean War with Robert's) - Horace de Vere Cole (Anne de Vere Cole's brother) - Joshua Reynolds* (painter) - George Romney* (painter) - Franz Xaver Winterhalter* (painter) - Sir Charles Barry* (real architect of Highclere, cited here as one as Downton Abbey) - Tsar Nicholas I* - Teo (or Tiaa)* - Amenhotep II* - Tuthmosis IV* - King Charles* - Clara Bow (actress) [To my knowledge, the Ripon election candidates in S1E6 were not real people, as were not always the case for military personnel Robert referred to.] Fictional Characters and Works Mentioned in Downton - Long John Silver (referenced by Thomas) - Andromeda, Perseus, Cepheus (Greek mythology) (referenced by Mary) - Sydney Carton (A Tale of Two Cities) (referenced by Robert) - Princess Aurora, and later Sleeping Beauty (the ballet I presume) (referenced by Robert) - Horatio (Hamlet; Thomas quotes a line in a deleted scene) - "Gunga Din" (poem by Kipling; quoted by Bates and later quoted by Isobel) - Little Women (referenced by Cora) - The Lost World - Elizabeth and her German Garden (book given to Anna by Molesley) - Wind in the Willows (referenced by Violet) - "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" (sung by Mary, Matthew and cast) - "The Cat That Walked By Itself" (short story by Kipling; quoted by Matthew) - Iphigenia (Greek mythology, may be referenced in The Iliad but I cannot confirm) - Uncle Tom Cobley ("Widecombe Fair") (referenced by Sybil) - Alice and the Looking Glass - "The Rose of Picardy" (only a few strains played, possibly the John McCormack version which was out in 1919) - Zip Goes a Million and "Look for the Silver Lining" (song played by Matthew) - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (title used in The Game) - Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Angel Clare (referenced by Mary) - Lochinvar (from Sir Walter Scott) (referenced by Martha) - "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (played at Mary and Matthew's wedding) - "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (sung by Martha and cast) - "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" (English folk song sung by Carson) - Way Down East (film) - The Worldings (film) - "Molly Malone" (Irish song) - The Scarlet Letter (referenced by Isobel) - Lady of the Rose (musical) - The Lady of Shalott (ballad) - The Puccini pieces from S4E3 - The jazz pieces from S4E4 sung by Jack Ross ("A Rose By Any Other Name") - The Sheik (film) - The jazz pieces from S4E6 sung by Jack Ross ("Wild About Harry") - "The Second Mrs Tanqueray" (play and films) (referenced by Edith) - "The Sword of Damocles" (Greek myth) - Dr. Fu Manchu - Mrs. Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) - A vague allusion to Wuthering Heights (talking about the Brontë sisters and moors) (referenced by Rose) - Vanity Fair and Becky Sharp (Molesley reads this with Daisy) - "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (sung by Denker) - "The Fall of the House of Usher" (short story by Edgar Allen Poe) - Madame Defarge (A Tale of Two Cities) - Ariadne (Greek mythology) - "Cockles and Mussels" (Spratt sings a few bars in S6E5; this is also called "Molly Malone") - Elizabeth Bennett and Pemberley (Pride and Prejudice) (referenced by Violet) - Mr Squeers (Nicholas Nickleby) (referenced by Bertie) - The Prisoner of Zenda (adventure novel by Anthony Hope) (referenced by Tom) - "The course of true love never did run smooth" (quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream) Not included are proverbs or sayings (which Anna says a lot of), nor Biblical references. Do note that there's a lot of scenes with the characters reading, but we don't know exactly what.

[sunspeared]

first time asker and longtime suffering fan – I would love to know any detail about "common tongue" about anything/everything to take in my greedy little hands?

Hhhhhhhhello! Hi! Common Tongue sure is a fic that resonates with a lot of people, I am surprised to this day. Here, have some tidbits:

I have said many times that I had to outsource Leliana’s #roast of Dorian to my friends on Twitter, but I will say it again here. 

If we are necessitated to break them is a turn of phrase shamelessly cribbed from an Oliver Cromwell quote that floated around Tumblr many years back, the best source of which I can find here.

“Nasal Voice” and “Snotty Voice” are Ellarie and Ser Alana, two OCs that show up in “By Hubris of Their Making.”

I had to go like 20 pages back in my gmail history to find the e-mail where klickitats roasts me over my complete lack of focus in the second draft of this, and they were completely right. “Maybe… this may be a radical idea, but maybe… a little… more…. Dorian content?” This fic + the fiasco of a writing process that was its eventual sequel, Least Resistance, made me determined that the conceit of my next Adoribull fic was going to be WHO CARES WHAT THE CONCEIT IS GOING TO BE, JUST PUT THEM IN A FUCKIN BOX WITH NO OTHER CHARACTERS AROUND THEM. 

There was a more explicit tie-in with “Flowers for the Victor” in the original draft, which I cut later on to Improve my Focus, and because it really was not that interesting: 

Inquisitor Lavellan was waiting for him, perched on the edge of his stool.

“You, me, Vivienne, Varric,” she said, “back up to the Storm Coast, stopover in Crestwood. I have a really unfortunate Crestwood fixation. It’s not even a particularly interesting or pretty region of the game!!! wtf!!!! You interested?”

“Switching it up, boss?”

The Inquisitor’s eyebrows rose. It wasn’t often that someone questioned her decisions, on fieldwork–it was good for her, to be forced to talk through it. Shut up, Bull. The advisors let her do whatever she felt like, as long as it made the Inquisition look good. “My Seeker needs a breather,” said the Inquisitor. Her Seeker. We get it, Past Sam: Herald, they’re lesbians. And she was leaving Cassandra behind.

But the Inquisitor went on, because she liked a good speech: She really doesn’t. Not this one, at least. I do, though, and I like characters who like making speeches. "Vivienne is the next most unstoppable thing. You and Vivienne might as well be one person. I had Dorian in the War Room the other day giving me an earful over taking Sera to Crestwood, so no Sera for a while. This would not have happened. If it happened, this Lavellan wouldn’t have listened to him. She likes Sera, but she doesn’t pay Dorian any mind at all. You, Vivienne, Varric. Are you in?“

"Hell yeah,” (okay first of all, there is no hell in Thedas, so this had to have gone anyway) Bull said. “Think we can take down that giant, while we’re there?”

“No,” the Inquisitor said flatly.

“Think we’ll find a dragon?”

“No,” she said. He hadn’t thought she’d say yes, but he’d hoped she would smile. She chewed on one of her knuckles, staring at the opposite wall. Didn’t want to stay, didn’t want to go wherever she needed to be. Literally why is this here? Who cares? They weren’t nearly close enough for him to ask her flat-out what was wrong.

In the final draft, all that happens is Bull seeking Lavellan out to get Dorian an invitation to her mage turn-ups in the rotunda. There’s also a cut bit where Josie/Dorian and Sera/the squad leave for the party/Crestwood respectively, and Dorian and Sera tell each other not to get killed, but again, it was not that interesting. 

He ran made a gesture over an oilcloth cloak–that sure was ten minutes on Wikipedia researching old timey waterproof materials and what, exactly, oilcloth is. 

“Solas is a cock.” I wrote a ficbit once upon a time with a Lavellan teaching Sera horrible things to say in Dalish to get on Solas’s nerves. It never went anywhere, and this is the only line that I’ve ever salvaged from it. 

[necile]

Hurrah, mastery.

[necile]

Yaaay, productivity.

[necile]

This interaction is adorable. <3

[necile]

So the first of several changes is that because there was so much bloat in the house, which led to multiple sudden crashes, I decided to just age all of the kids up. In super shocking news, Theda got chosen as heir. She had the best blend of her parents' genetics. The spares and their parents are still in the town, but they're no longer in the same house. My computer wept happy tears. This also means I technically "failed" gen 4, since there wasn't really a way to complete Ritchie or Opal's LTWs with the way the game was crashing. Who would have guessed that 12 Sims and a pet would be too much for the game to handle.

[necile]

Theda rolled this as soon as she got home, so I obliged. She then immediately rolled the want to join the alchemist career again, so that was a waste of time. Free points though.

[necile]

A prime reaction to your wife telling you she's pregnant. A+, Dru.

[necile]

Theda rolled the want to get a tattoo, and who am I to say no? It also turns out that Fancy Molasses is Moonlight Falls' resident tattoo artist.

[necile]

True to form, Ritchie showed up super late and proceeded to ignore everyone.

[necile]

I really do love the bond between these two. They're closer to each other than they are to any of their actual siblings.

[necile]

At some point, Jett showed up and started watching TV.

[necile]

Even though they're siblings, I think this was the first time Theda and Draven had interacted with each other, which is kind of sad.

[necile]

Theda got a lawn flamingo and a lump of coal.