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I’ve been gone

It’s been over a year I think. Many things changed in my life. Still writing, still not finishing shit. Not living with my parents anymore but with my boyfriend of over one and a half year. In love with my two german gigant bunnies. Not at uni anymore. Trying to figure out how to get to September to start an apprenticeship. Luckily been able to avoid Covid up to this point. Battling depression more succesful than ever before.

I’m okay. Life is okay, as much as it’s a challenge. 

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Me is back. Hello in this new year. I dyed my hair, I’m at uni and everything is going well.

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Thought: I do NOT think that 50% of the world’s billionaires should be women. I think there shouldn’t be any billionaires at all.

So you are saying 0% of the world should be billionaires?

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frankly? ban all plastics. require all public buildings to be solar powered. public community gardens in every neighborhood. ban all pesticides. ban fossil fuels. put wind turbines on every sky scraper. gardens on every rooftop. tax cars and fund public transportation. build bike lanes across every city. train/railroad infrastructure across the country (tear down highways). every state mandated to have a certain percentage of land be a wildlife preserve. local/organic farms get huge tax breaks. raise the minimum wage. aquaponics farms in every city. every family has chickens in their backyard. community composting. jeff bezos’s body for fertilizer. i have a clear idea of what i want the world to look like and i want it now. hire me

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You forgot the part where everyone just fuckin runs away

me on election night: The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They’re coming.

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Judging by the look on his face there's something else rising too

you guys wanna see the most accurate and blasphemous representation of the words ‘catholic shaming’?

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Worldbuilding: The Government & Politics

Each land has somebody in charge. Be it Monarchy, Senate or theocracy. Let’s have a look at what you should consider when building your government.

Styles of Government

Absolute Monarchy: The state is run by one person and one person only.

Constitutional Monarchy: This style means that the monarch only has a figure-head position of the government while the government rules the kingdom.

Senate: Elected officials sit and debate over matters of state.

Theocracy: The Church rules the land

In Service to the People

All governments are there to provide the people with different services and are there to service their interests. At least they are supposed to do that.

Governments are meant to ensure that people are provided with leadership, healthcare, protection and trade. It is up to you to assign politicians to oversee each of these issues.

Taxation

All of these services had to be paid somehow. So taxes must be levied. If you have some issues in thinking of taxes, feel free to borrow from history and even now. Some governments will place taxes on merchants who import foreign goods. This is put in place to protect national trade. Some governments tax nobility in order to keep them from getting too powerful.

Positions in the Government

As I have outlined above, some parties and politicians are granted the right to rule over different services the government provides.

But how are these positions filled? Whenever election seasons comes along, we have officials hammering at our doors, holding up children and splashing their faces everywhere. A modern practice? Nope. Roman politicians used to hold games, feed the people and make rousing speeches in order to get elected. Remember one thing: the politicians may wield the power but the people have the real power.

This is only if the post is elective. Some governments are focused on hereditary or appointment. In mediaeval times, the government would be made up with the monarch and a council of lords. These lords were chosen for their nobility and power over their merits. In England during the Tudor era, Henry VIII made a ruckus by appointing two councils one who was son of a butcher and the other who was son of a blacksmith. The nobility hated them despite their success in administration.

For most nobles and wealthy, a place in office is seen as one way to power. In Ancient Rome and Greece, politics was one of two career choices for noble men. The other being war.

Might and Right

How powerful is your kingdom? Is it relatively powers or weak? You should always make a study of the hierarchy of power in your world from most powerful to least. In real world history, we always favour the larger and richer country as being the most power. Of course throw in the army and we got a superpower. Look at America for a second. Strip away the military, the corporations and trade, and what is it? It needs all of these to be powerful and without it, it is just a land where crazy shit occurs.

Monarchies

If you gave your land a monarchy, there are some things you must consider. Look at any of the monarchy posts I made here. You will need to look at succession laws, regencies, protecting your monarch, their reach of power.

Politics

Politics makes the world go around. Nah, it doesn’t but it’s supposed to at any rate. Politics is always one issue that is difficult to address in worldbuilding. It’s a great beast that none of us really understand or think is important. Unfortunately it is so let’s have a look at worldbuilding politics.

Major political factions

Turn on the news and find the politics tab. They will talk about different parties which all seem similar but are slightly different. Not all politics is like sheep in a pen. You’ll have groups who believe one thing that contrasts the other.

In Ireland, we have Sinn Fein, Fine Gael, Fine Fail, Labour, independents and some others my teachers failed to mention.

In America, you have a simpler version with your Democrats and Republicans.

In Ancient Rome, they had a Senate where two political parties who sit: the people and the nobility.

In Tudor England, we had am interesting one. Spain and France were allies waiting to be had so some nobles supported relations with one or the other, which led to nobles arguing over the best option while Henry VIII fucked everyone and ate himself from an Abercrombie model to a middling whale. Then you had the entire RELIGIOUS crisis shit but let’s not go there.

When making different factions, give them each a number of the same number of time thinking. Give them goals, notable members, reasons that they are there, followers and goodies and baddies. Note which factions get on with one another and which ones hate one another, this can be used for plot later on.

Money, Threats and Bribery

Let’s take another look at the real world. What other groups sometimes influence politics? These groups don’t necessarily have to be evil. Some of these groups might lobby politicians to change laws that effect them or to make laws to suit their needs.

In Italy, mostly in the period of before and during the Renaissance, the Pope had some pull in each city state and each ruler of the city states had pull with the Vatican. A Pope might be involved in a plot to take down a pair of powerful brothers (I cannot watch you die, not again Bradley James) and a family might take over the Vatican, like the Borgias and Medici.

During the Wars of the Roses, London merchants tipped the scales of power by disallowing the Queen of England to enter the city and claim residence meaning she had to go somewhere else. When the new claimant arrived, they crowned him king. Why did they do this? Margaret of Anjou had an army of Scottish and the ability to keep the war going. Edward of York could stop the war, letting the merchants get back to making money.

Of course, Ireland has Catholicism sitting on the shoulder of the government and influencing every major decision.

Relations Abroad

All politics are both prevalent at home and abroad. All kingdoms and countries have relationships with other lands. And always remember: knowledge is power so have your spies at the ready. Some relations are good and some are terrible. When choosing how your kingdom sees their neighbors, look at your map. Are there any borders that might be in dispute? Any resources like mines and rivers? Or is there any reason when they ought to be friends? A greater threat that threatens your nations?

Going back to Tudor times, Spain, France and England had a funny sort of relationship. They would all take turns being friends and then the vilest of enemies. France would make a friendship with Spain to take down England. Then Spain would be friends with England to ensure that they could take down France. Then France would ally with Spain to end England. This tomfoolery kept the balance of power in Europe for years.

To make or keep a good relationship or any relationship with another country you must communicate with them. Sending ambassadors of gold standing is seen as an excellent try for peace. If you send a shitty ambassador who is of bad standing, this may effect relations and could lead to bad blood between the nations. Most courts included permanent ambassadors who dwelt either in or near the palace who acted as a mouthpiece between rulers ad governments.

Treaties are also things you must think about. These are documents that bind nations in agreements. These can cover peace, war and trade. Some treaties can also cause trouble. The only reason why England and Russia got involved in WWI, was because Russia had a treaty with Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian empire invaded them putting Russia at war. When this happened, England got involved and declared war on the empire. Make sure to mention a few of them that are in place or in talks.

Always ensure that you make note of which countries have traditional rivalries or alliances. France and England were always at each other’s throats. Well, England was at everyone’s throat because they couldn’t stop invading other countries for five fucking minutes. (*clears throat*) So I suggest making lists of which countries have rivalries and which have always been friends and why. Of course speaking of alliances, which monarchs are related by blood or marriage? Think of Europe at any stage in time. All the monarchs were related to some degree, no more prevalent after Victoria pumped out all her kids and married them off. Look at how these relationships effect the running of the country.

For @el-queen

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can someone please draw this with fawkes as an owl?

Fawkes the Phoenix was based on a harpy eagle, howmcute would a kestrel phoenix be with a peacock tail and train?

this is a Good Opportunity considering i was never a big fan of fawkes’ movie design how about

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Breasts. Are. Not. Necessarily. Sexual.

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Let's see if this works. If it does I'll inform y'all

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This is important

About an hour ago, I was in Walmart looking for my conditioner because today is wash day for my hair. As I’m looking for my product, this older white lady approaches me and she says, “Excuse me, miss. Please don’t be offended by this.” And usually when white people tell me not to be offended, 9 times out of 10, whatever they are about to say is going to be offensive af.

Anyway, she follows it up with, “My husband and I just recently won our custody battle with our foster daughter and she means the world to us. She’s a beautiful African American girl and her hair looks a lot like yours. But I’m afraid because I don’t know what to do with her hair. It’s a lot different from mines and our other children and we are at a total loss. I’ve tried looking up the YouTube videos and my husband went to the braiding shops so they can teach him how to properly braid her hair, but he’s still pretty new and it will be a while before he gets used to it. Do you have any tips you can give me? If you don’t have the time, it’s okay, really! I just needed a little advice because I want her to look beautiful.”

Y’all. swear I almost started crying on aisle 6. So for the last 30 minutes, I spent my time talking to her and what products to use and how to properly detangle and comb her hair with the proper tools and what not to do with natural hair. And I showed her a bunch of easier to follow natural hair tutorials on YouTube and saved them for her. (I also had to create a YouTube account for her so she could save it for later.) but omfg, she was so sweet, and I could tell that she listened to every single thing I had to say and she took little notes on her little notepad.

And what really filled my heart was the fact that her husband actually taking classes from African braiding shops. And she showed me a picture of him wearing a little sweater vest and loafers in a little shop surrounded by beautiful black women showing him how to braid black hair and even the lady he’s braiding on is guiding his hands. And omfg. Bless these old white people and their black daughter who I know have new loving parents because they are willing to step out of their comfort zone just to make her feel and look beautiful.

I really hope our paths cross again one day, Mrs Cicilia. 💖💕

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see you space cowboy

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*softly headbangs*

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I didn’t expect mushrooms being that satisfying to look at??

Steve Axford Captures Strange And Undocumented Australian Fungi 

Steve Axford is a photographer on a mission to discover a thread of alien fungi, which has never been captured before. Axford lives in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and has ample opportunity to explore the undisturbed habitat and wildlife located in that region. Armed with his lens, Axford travels in the latter territory to photograph species of mushroom and fungi that science has no name for yet. He snaps images of fungi. lichen, moulds - each distinct in color, shape and texture. 

Sprouting from the damp soil like exotic corals and psychedelic umbrellas, their shape conflicts with the native fauna and flora, which gives us a small sense of the overwhelming way in which nature operates right under our noses. 

Axford aims to exhibit the aesthetic beauty of nature that is often sadly eclipsed by science. He takes his fascination for exposing obscure ecosystems, which have lived in isolation. He eliminates the objective aspect of nature by highlights its physical beauty through photography. 

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I know this isn’t related to my blog at all, but if you saw my latest post, I just got let go from my job, the only source of income to pay my bills, including food and medicine for my kitten. I wasn’t given any notice, so as of right now, and for the time being, I will be job-less and therefore do not know how to pay my bills. being a full-time college student on financial aid, it’s difficult for me to get a job and this one job, the one I was let go from, I relied on to pay bills. it was my only source of income and until I find another, I have nothing.

feel free to ignore this, but if you can in any way help, my paypal email is oliviaelmo97@gmail.com. I hate asking for help but I currently don’t have enough money to pay my bills and I’m scrambling to find a job, but the process can unfortunately take much longer than I have the time for. if you can’t help, then reblogging this post to spread the word would be helpful as well. thank you so much to anyone who has sent me kind words.

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a 20 year old: yeah she’s 17 but she’s technically legal in-

me:

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Gives the line "put a gun against his head" a whole new meaning

a unicorn but instead of a horn it’s a gun