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[c-h4nn]

Hi ! I was wondering something that you’ve might’ve already answered but I’m new to your blog, why don’t you ship Mizrak and orlox? As someone who’s middle eastern I’ve always assumed mizrak was some sort of middle eastern Christian that moved to France bc of imperialism. (I assumed he was Palestinian or Lebanese/ any of the Levantine area). I love how you draw orlox and his lover!! Also if you’re not comfortable with this pls don’t respond!

I don't like mizrox for a mix of personal, historical, and canon reasons. I'll break each one down as succinctly as I can below!

I am from a tribe with a long and hostile period of contact with Spanish Catholic conquistadors and settlers. There's a couple hundred years there. Refer to don Juan de Oñate's mission to colonize and convert New Mexico, the Pueblo Revolt, the entirety of the Spanish period of the Navajo Wars, Spanish scorched earth campaigns and slave raids, and Massacre Cave. I am also descended from a Hwéeldi (Long Walk) survivor, as many Diné are. Hwéeldi was a continuation of the Navajo Wars and was meant to fragment, relocate, assimilate, and exterminate my tribe. I am further a grandchild of Catholic residential school survivors. As a result of those schools, no one in my immediate family speaks Diné bizaad or practices our traditions. You can see why I'm not fond of Christianity, especially Catholicism.

The colonization of the U.S. Southwest was an extension of Spain's conquest of Central America. This is what Olrox would have endured. He would have seen these Spanish Catholic conquistadors bring European-born diseases and decimate the Indigenous population. Across the Americas, around 90% of all Indigenous people were killed, owing mostly to disease. He would have seen the collapse of the Aztec empire and Tenōchtitlan, his home, at the hands of Cortés, and how it was looted and buried under a cathedral and Spanish monuments. He would have seen the implementation of the encomienda system, which aimed to convert and subdue the Indigenous peoples, killing thousands upon thousands and crushing Indigenous traditions. Did you know that in the Maya area, due to a libricide enacted by Spanish Catholic priests, only four Maya codices remain? This doesn't even touch on the similar destruction that settler-colonialism and Christianity left on the rest of North America, which Olrox also would have witnessed. I could go on for ages. Nothing could ever, ever summarize how utterly devastating the colonization of the Americas was in the name of God, Gold, and Glory.

And then for Mizrak to spit the same genocidal rhetoric at Olrox that he has undeniably heard for nearly 300 years? When the gears of colonization turn on the dehumanization, eradication, and erasure of Indigenous peoples, for Mizrak to say "You're an animal which lost its soul centuries ago"? For him to blame savagery for the genocide of Olrox's people and the death of his past lover? For the writers and for Mizrak to make Olrox into a villainous seducer (the snake tempting the forbidden fruit) when Indigenous people have long been cruelly stereotyped to be sexually promiscuous and dangerous to Christian purity? For Mizrak to uphold Christianity and preach it in the face of an Indigenous man who lost everything to it, who dared to open up about this haunted past, believing Mizrak to be a good enough man and Christian to understand?

I regrettably don't know enough of Middle Eastern history to contextualize Mizrak's own character better, nor has the show really given the fans much to work with. But regardless of Mizrak's background, he is Christian, and he uses his religion and a colonial perspective against Olrox, who has already been resisting this for centuries. I'm weary of "Olrox can fix him!" or "It's Mizrak's religious trauma! Let them be happy!" or any other variation where Olrox is a tool to help Mizrak reconcile with his sexuality and religion. We get an interesting Indigenous character whose story could easily stand alone, and he instead becomes a platform for the Christian man.

So, I'd much rather think about Olrox and his past lover!

[c-h4nn]

entwined

[c-h4nn]

I love your fic and I’m glad you had annoyance by Olrox story in castlevania and I’m glad you are writing the story of his lover and not jumping to ship him with a white person Alucard it so frustrating to me cause I believe that the period of his life is fascinating but will never see animated. Though I gotta say as someone who Algerian Mizrak story is confusing to me cause there a lot of things that don’t make sense but I don’t think the creators care a lot about the portrayal of middle eastern characters which is so unfortunate but no surprise I’m used to it.

Thank you!! I love Olrox and all his complexities, but I actually don't think he is good Indigenous representation. At least, not in the way the show has designed and written him with what feels like just surface-level research. That's partly why I've latched onto him and his past lover - there is so much potential there for a beautiful, respectful, and distinctly Indigenous exchange of love, which is far more interesting to me than whatever is happening in the show LOL.

I'm not a fan of mizrox or Mizrak due to the way he treats Olrox. It's an exhausted dynamic, and it isn't entertaining for me to watch when my community and many other Indigenous communities have endured his same rhetoric for 500 years. However, I do think Mizrak has similarly been served injustice by the writers. It's shallow and stereotyped research that was put into these two characters that do deserve more for the sake of a compelling story and for the history and cultures involved!

[c-h4nn]

i want to ask if you have trusted sources on the Mohican people?

Sure! The name "Mohican" is thought to stem from confusion on the part of James Fenimore Cooper and his book The Last of the Mohicans. Historically, there was the Mahican (Mohican) tribe of New York and the Mohegan tribe of Connecticut (2 entirely separate tribes), which were likely conflated in the book and during its reception. "Mahican" is more common in historical references. "Mohican" is used more often today.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians does use Mohican, which should be respected. I must emphasize that the Mohegan Tribe is, again, entirely separate. I will also stress that there was never a "last of the Mohicans" - these two Tribes have persevered and have active communities today.

The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians already has quite a bit of historical and cultural information available on their website. Always refer to them first, if possible.

Language resources: 1 2

Here are four textbooks, if you're really invested: 1 2 3 4

Some information about the Seven Years' War (the French and Indian War).

Hendrick Aupaumut's Letter to the New York State Legislature.

Some of the history behind the Last of the Mohicans. Don't use Cooper's book as a reference, though.

The Stockbridge Mohicans/Indians: 1 2

Besides the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians' website, there is little other cultural and spiritual information available. With caution, I suggest referring to the neighboring related Algonquian tribes for that, such as the Lenape. But do take care to not generalize groups and blend them like Cooper did. Natives are not a monolith.

I will also urge you to research the broader context of colonial settlement, westward expansion, and Indigenous displacement during this period, as well as the role of Christian missionaries/preachers and praying towns, wars and colonial policies (e.g., the Indian Proclamation), and tribal relations. There are many nuanced reasons as to why the Stockbridge-Munsee Community is presently located in Wisconsin and not New York.

The first image is of a Stockbridge Indian revolutionary. The last three are of Etow Oh Koam, a Mohican diplomat and one of the four Indian Kings. (The other three were Mohawk.)

[c-h4nn]

white people are on some other kind of shit i swear

[c-h4nn]

Hello I just recently found your tumblr and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your fanfic, you can feel the loneliness of these 2 men, Sioketa feeling even more lonely somehow(isolated might be a better word), also I love aztec culture being treated so well, while I'm no expert I do know the correct mythology but somehow apparently no one else, whenever they make Olrox refer to HIMSELF as a dragon I just think "he would not consider himself a dragon, he's a feathered serpent", also love how you included Huitzilopochtli like yes Olrox IS a warrior he would pay his tributes to him, everyone else just mains on Quetzalcoatl and don't even try to look further into the culture

Sorry for the rant I just wanted to say how much I loved your fic, one can tell when something is crafted with care there's many other things I'd like to say but this is already long enough

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! I love reading people's thoughts :)

A gripe that I definitely have about Olrox fans is the dragon thing. As a mutual of mine on instagram puts it, equating Quetzalcōātl/Olrox's plumed serpent form to a dragon is a Westernized generalization that dismisses how culturally significant this Teōtl is.

I'm from a Southwestern tribe, so I'm not an expert either, but ignoring the rest of the Tēteoh would also be a shallow representation of the belief system of the Mēxihcah and Aztec peoples, especially as it all would have been interwoven deeply into Olrox's daily life. He would've held onto everything he could!! Regarding Olrox's tributes to Huītzilōpōchtli (and the other Tēteoh), this is how Olrox's world - and the Mēxihcah world - turns. Indigenous rites have been demonized and exoticized for so long, and I wasn't going to contribute to that.

And I'm sick of "killing the Indian, saving the man" narratives. To portray Olrox (and his past lover) as having left/forgotten most or all of his roots, or to quietly ignore his cultural background, is too close to that, imo.

[c-h4nn]

rip olrox past lover you would've loved frybread dipped in honey

[c-h4nn]

also Plains Indian Sign Language. Literally no one ever mentions Hand-Talk/PISL when discussing ASL/American Deaf culture. ASL was influenced by PISL. Yes, PISL was notably a lingua franca, but there also were Deaf/HoH Indigenous people who used it, and there still are some who do!!

i know hearing people on this website love to pass around those posts with links to free sign language lessons but you know you need to actually put effort into learning about Deaf culture, too, right?

[c-h4nn]

There are two types of writers:

1. 'It's fiction, it doesn't need to make sense!'

2. 'I didn't account for the rotation of the planet and how that affects the constalations while my characters stargazed at different times of year, I have failed as a writer, and this entire thing is trash'

[c-h4nn]

Sugarcane (2024, Emily Kassie & Julian Brave Noisecat)

An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school sparks a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.

[c-h4nn]

Sugarcane (2024, Emily Kassie & Julian Brave Noisecat)

An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school sparks a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.

[c-h4nn]

there is no hate quite like Christian love

[c-h4nn]

Chapters: 3/3

Series: Part 1 of 3(?)

Fandom: Castlevania Nocturne

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Relationship: Olrox/Olrox's Unnamed Past Lover (Castlevania)

Characters: Olrox (Castlevania), Olrox's Unnamed Past Lover (Castlevania)

Additional Tags: Historical Fantasy, American History, Historical Accuracy, Native American Character(s), Pre-Canon, Drama & Romance, Mystery, Vampires, Blood and Injury, Animal Death, Religion, Colonialism, Minor Original Character(s), Liberal application of headcanons, written by a Native author, Medium Burn, Pining

Summary:

In the newborn sunlight, his almond eyes reminded Olrox of xocolātl, and an unexpected swell of homesickness rose in his still heart and subsided just as quickly. But an emptiness lingered, as if his heart were carried away in its wave, and it left him wanting to chase after that longing. “Somehow,” Sioketa said, “although I don't know you, I sense you are the only one who truly does understand.”

Olrox winds up near the Mahican praying town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, chasing an epidemic of disease and disappearances that reeks of vampiric involvement.

Sioketa, a disillusioned Mahiikaniiw man fighting to preserve his culture within the theater of colonialism, owes Olrox a favor.

[c-h4nn]

olrox nosferatu redraw

[c-h4nn]

just a suggestion but if you're writing about "the ancient world" please don't include societies that existed from like 1300 to 1521

AZTECS AND INCAS WERE NOT ANCIENT I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL

[c-h4nn]

Lakota Nation vs. United States (Jesse Short Bull & Laura Tomaselli, 2022)

[c-h4nn]

People who can't handle seeing a girl's ugly boyfriend on Valentine's Day are weak. Try being a Mel Medarda and Olrox fan.