#It just isn't more interesting that an international powerful secret organization would be if they showed up in the news

[unrelatedtobears]

I asked my friend if she'd heard of the iilluminaughtii scandal, and she thought I said Illuminati, and now I'm like, "dang, this story is gonna be a let down now."

[darkpoisonouslove]

Could you tell us about the witch and witch hunter fic!

Well, like many other of my ideas, it started when I watched a review for a book that executed the witch x witch hunter premise (I think) badly. So naturally, I went "I can do it better!" only to take the very basic premise and run with it.

The idea is that Valtor was "raised" (read: held captive (just like Rapunzel)) by a witch (Belladonna) until he killed her and completed a ritual that transferred her ability to do magic to him. However, he wouldn't be classified as a witch but as a demon instead due to the specifics of the ritual. He became a witch hunter because he wanted to get rid of the other members of Belladonna's coven. However, looking into it, it turned out to be a huge, international organization that is constantly recruiting new members by making use of the current political climate.

Because of the Coven, all witches are perceived as a threat so witch hunting is completely out of control. The Coven only pours oil into the fire to force more and more witches to seek the protection that only they can grant and thus expand and become even more powerful. There are few independent witches that haven't joined them yet and they're all in hiding to avoid being executed.

Because of the reach and scope of the Coven, Valtor figured he cannot destroy them alone. He will need more resources so he decided to join the most openly witchphobic kingdom, which would be Eraklyon. He cannot stand Erendor but sacrifices have to be made for the sake of hia goal. He's pretending that his magic isn't dark and due to his efficiency, Samara is pretending to buy that even though some people in court are openly suspicious of him. However, despite his effectiveness, the Coven remains ever elusive.

Enter Griffin, who was on track to steal something important from Eraklyon (I haven't figured out all the details yet). She would have handled any other witch hunter but the uniqueness of Valtor's abilities proves to be too much for her and she gets captured. She gets offered a deal, however. The Crown has designed a new plan for infiltrating the Coven. Instead of getting burned at the stake, Griffin can choose to marry Valtor in order to act as his cover when they attempt to join the Coven's ranks. After all, a witch hunter would never marry a witch.

Griffin accepts, not so much for herself as much as because of her mother who's afflicted with a magical disease and needs intervention from Griffin's magic to continue living. That is a secret, however, that Griffin is trying to keep. She does marry Valtor and the two of them travel to Andros where they are supposed to get help from Crown Princess Layla and her own inside man that has already joined the Coven - Riven. The Coven is full of young magic users and is led by the Trix (who may or may not be possessed by the Ancestral Witches or are their reincarnations - I haven't decided yet).

I haven't figured out the rest yet but the Coven has plans for Domino's Dragon Fire (which incidentally, Valtor's power is identical to because the ritual he used to gain magic powers allowed him to pick any kind of power he wanted and he chose the one Belladonna was after - to spite her). Griffin and Valtor are, of course, going to fall in love over the course of their mission and uncover each other's secrets to leave them at a precarious position once the mission is over since it's unclear what Griffin's fate will be. No one promised her freedom after the end of the assignment. In fact, their most efficient witch hunter will be more useful without being married to a witch.

... I had kind of given up on this idea because I was having structural problems with it but... I think I just solved those while answering your question. Thanks for being interested in this premise, anon! You might have just helped me revitalize it! 🫶

Ask me about my WiPs

[yukipri]

Following from your tags on the Galidraan post, there's actually a canon(-ish) source that states that the Darksabre was chosen by VIZSLA as their symbol of the Mand'alor: Tor Vizsla's in-universe Ba'jurne Kyr'tsad Mando'ad, which is included at the end of the real-world book, The Bounty Hunter Code. Direct quote is: "To ensure we would be led by the most powerful, we decreed that any could challenge the Secret Mand'alor for leadership of Death Watch. And, as our symbol of authority, we chose the Darksaber, an ancient weapon liberated from the Jedi long ago." (Please ignore my editing in the image.)

(The whole text of the Ba'jure Kyr'tsad Mando'ad is on google sites: https://sites.google.com/view/bajurne-kyrtsad-mandoad/title-page)

Yep, I have that book, it's actually a really fun reference, all the books in that series are! <3

But yup, see, this is another part where I see how Legends doesn't quite match up with current canon. The info in this book is Legends, specifically Legends as published in 2013. But in New Canon, given how the Darksaber is treated in Rebels and now in the Mandalorian, I feel like it being solely the symbol of "the Secret Mand'alor" is kinda BS—it's much more treated as the symbol of ALL of Mandalore.

Of course, one could interpret all of this through the lens that Clan Wren is part of House Vizsla so all of Sabine's story is biased (I'm still not happy they made that association...), and Bo-Katan used to serve Pre so of course she's got Vizsla bias, and Din was rescued by Death Watch + Paz is in his covert so presumably his covert also has strong Vizsla/Death Watch bias.

New canon is so incredibly Vizsla/Death-Watch centric, perhaps "Vizsla's Mand'alor" is the only Mand'alor that matters anymore. Which. Ugh. But kinda feels that way.

Anyway, while it isn't based on anything official, I do feel like if the Darksaber existed when Open Seasons was written, there might have been some more history with it there. Because keep in mind, even though they're both Legends, Open Seasons still predates the Code book by over a decade, and much of Legends isn't consistent.

My own take is that IF we go by the premise that the Darksaber is the symbol of the rightful leader of all of Mandalore and NOT just Death Watch, then it should make sense that at different points of time between the Darksaber becoming the symbol and the "present," it would have passed between different clans, especially since modern Death Watch is an extremist terrorist organization that has not been depicted as being the rightful anything tbh.

Therefore to me, the Darksaber is more interesting if it's a neutral symbol planetary leadership, which may have originated from Tarre Vizsla, someone who is not synonymous with Death Watch of the Clone Wars~onwards eras. Vizsla may claim that it's only a symbol of them and their Mand'alor, but again then that makes a distinction between that and a leader who unifies all of Mandalore.

It's more interesting if Jaster and Jango once had the Darksaber and were recognized as leaders, and perhaps that too was part of why Tor Vizsla was so determined to take them down, if he felt they were unfit to wield it. His underhanded tactics in getting rid of them would then mean that he didn't win the saber in fair combat, which means that when Pre presumably inherited it, its current presence in his family isn't rightful in the first place, and perhaps he never knew. That then leads to the question of whether any current claim to the Darksaber is legitimate if the last true wielder was taken down by Vizsla manipulating Jedi from the shadows, never lifting a finger himself. That kind of moral debate of honor, of understanding the messy past of Mandalore...that kind of juicy drama, I am all for.

To be clear, I'm biased, and none of the above is me saying "this is the right way to interpret this media." This is just how I, personally, am choosing to internalize it. I don't like Death Watch and don't think they have been depicted as honorable in ANY media they're in. It does not make any narrative sense, at least to me, to put them on a weird pedestal while stripping Boba, Jango, Jaster, and the other True Mandalorians of all historical and cultural relevance. IF the Darksaber is a symbol solely of Vizsla leadership, then I cannot imagine WHY anyone would want to make it into a cool fun symbol to build a franchise around and give to a hero character. So I'm hoping that canon will eventually lean a bit towards my personal interpretation, even though I have little faith that it will.

If it doesn't, eh, that's alright! I'm more than capable of making my own lil stories and entertaining myself!

Anyway, this response went a bit longer than I expected but yeah, those are my thoughts on the Darksaber and how I've personally chosen to combine Legends + New Canon!

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

[bcbdrums]

now, if what you were actually asking for is elaboration on what a college series might in fact look like? send me another ask.

How would a college series might look like?

Ohhh boy, you're making me really think about it... Okay. And yes, someday...I will write this as a multi-chap. It would start pre-series with Kim and Ron deciding, sadly, to attend different schools. I think Ron would start in a community college and Kim would go somewhere prestigious but also run of the mill. Stanford if USA perhaps, maybe Oxford if overseas... Nothing too extreme, but it's gotta be a top school to satisfy her Kim-ness. Ron would not declare a major. Kim would pick something in international relations and stick it out, but ultimately discover in the end she's not happy with it.

I think the world-saving would continue. I think like Sitch in Time, Ron wouldn't always make it, but he'd try. I think his grades would suffer immediately, and then I think he'd justify it with saying he doesn't need to go to college. But in reality he'd know he should go. I think Kim would encourage his sticking college out. I also think he'd still work at Smarty Mart for a time, and this would also get in the way of world saving. He'd live with his parents.

Kim meanwhile would live in the college dorms and have a roommate. (Not an apartment because she'd need to afford it on her own. The babysitting job suggests her parents did not in fact buy her everything.) Whether the roommate is friend, foe, or irrelevant, I've not thought about yet. Kim's grades would suffer too, albeit not as quickly. But within the course of that first year it would become pretty obvious that the separation isn't working out for world-saving, and that college is a whole different ballgame that they can't be as casual about as high school.

Year two, Ron would solve his failing out college problem by quitting his job and moving to Japan for ninja school. They'd have an academic program too, not just ninja stuff. But he'd seriously need to get more training in the Mystic Monkey Powers. And his joining Kim would become less frequent. Kim would have to take less missions and deal with college life more. Wade would turn fourteen at this point and probably be solicited by some top secret organization and go to work for them at a six figure salary, as well as have diverging interests himself, and so he'd be a less frequent presence in Kim's life too. No one would "drop" anyone, they'd all stay connected. But there would be more day to day "being an adult human" challenges as part of the show. I also think they should up the villainy from one-off episodes to continuing story arcs. Ron and Wade can help Kim more with research in that way to keep them part of the missions, and Ron would fly out occasionally to still help and of course for date nights.

Getting deeper into this year would find Kim struggling to be the girl who can do anything. Having to say "no" for the first time in her life, not even understanding that that's an option... Ron would be pursued by Yori and while initially resistant, over time find that he can't help but want to explore the "what if." It would be very organic and he would be very, very distressed by it. This would be the catalyst of him talking to Kim less and less. And eventually having to have that difficult conversation. This would be the end of a second season.

A third season would deal with Kim having to find new friends. She would still be friends with Ron, but it wouldn't be the same. I think she'd feel confused and guilty if she found other guys attractive. And I think she'd have to seriously examine whether or not she liked what she was studying. She may even put the world-saving on hold for a little while to start figuring herself out. This is where the identity issue would really come into play. Ron meanwhile would be studying ninja things, and I think as things get more serious with Yori is when he'd realize that yes, he likes her, but Kim is his forever. And he'd be the one to realize this and end that relationship. He'd quit ninja school and move to wherever she is and enroll in a community college there so he can be close to her. It wouldn't even hit him until he's going to find her that she may have moved on herself...

*grins evilly*

Gonna leave you with that cliffhanger. I do have more, but I can't spoil my entire Kim/Ron epic before it's written...

Thanks for the ask!