#Naismith

[usnatarchives]

Dr. James Naismith (middle, in suit), a Springfield College P.E. instructor, is credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1891. This is his first team.

Maybe the NBA will bring back long pants, side parts, and mustaches? 〰️🏀

[oldschoolfrp]

Imperial dreadnought suits, aka Imperial battle armour, mech suits, or mech armour, available to most Imperial forces in the Rogue Trader era; designed by Bob Naismith for Citadel Miniatures:

"Dreadnought: Blood Angel chapter," from Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, 1987

3 suits of dreadnought armour with order guide, from White Dwarf 95, November 1987; £3.50 each; when ordering direct you could specify the desired weapon arms, body style, and legs; the 40mm square base was standard

2 examples of dreadnought armour painted by Paul Benson, with additional details from 1/35 scale WWII plastic model kits, from Book of the Astronomican, 1988

Also from Book of the Astronomican, these appear to be the same 3 suits from WD95, now with additional painted details to liven up the large panels

[summersofsalt]

cordelia, shards of honor era

[pulpsandcomics2]

Gandalf and Thorin

[minutia-r]

wait a minute

Alys Vorpatril is probably young enough to be Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan's daughter

[umbershift]

I made even more Vorkosigan memes

Part 1 Part 2

[alcnolien]

More Vorkosigan doodle comics, cross-posted from my daily doodle account on Bluesky.

[chell-sea-art]

It was not the dead Miles needed to talk to, in the dark, he realized. It was the living. Useless to confess to the dead; absolution was not in their power. But I'll trust your Speaking, Harra, as you once trusted mine.

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold. A book that will never fail to grab me by the heart and twist.

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[call-me-rucy]

Small Vorkosigang

(I have probably messed up someone's uniform's colours but shhhhh)

[bonaesperanza]

Okay, last headcanon and I'll stop harassing y'all after this.

So you know how Mark Vorkosigan has been trained to have the same body language as Miles Vorkosigan, whose body language is really a less effortless rendition of Aral's? And then Dono is told to just imitate Aral whenever he's scared he isn't passing well enough and, well, do you ever imagine these four men being somewhere together and just accidentally striking the exact same pose or making the exact same gesture at the same time?

Like someone is explaining something and they are listening attentively, brows elegantly furrowed, hands in their pockets and feet spread apart in a manly, assertive way, and when the particularly complicated part comes along they all rub their chins in contemplation and it goes from manly dignity to absolutely fucking ridiculous?

[sylvanmigdal]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58768081

Lunch at the Imperial Residence

[cookie-nom-nom]

Reading Barrayar I felt trapped in Cordelia’s head. It’s incredibly effective for the dread of war as a civilian. Plans and machinations happening beyond you, with no input. Hearing of things happening that seem far off and like yeah that’s awful but then suddenly it dominoes in a way that destroy your life and it’s not your fault and you could've done nothing at all to prevent it. Especially the tension of being hunted in the Dendarii mountains with no idea how the war is going, if they’ve already lost, if it is already too late. Cordelia is doing actively important things in service of the war by sheltering Gregor, yet there's this pervasive feeling of helpless lack of control. She spends most of the book with this dread of not knowing when the next threat to their family will come, and I don’t think it could’ve been done so effectively if we had access to the information Aral had. I found it frustrating at times, since it felt like Cordelia was swept up in events with little agency (at first; obviously our dear captain didn’t remain there). I wanted so badly to be with Aral seeing and knowing and making the decisions.

But that’s the point! Most people have absolutely zero agency in those situations and little information and it’s terrifying. Barrayar captures the feeling of being a civilian in war where so many narratives narrow in upon the heroes and 'men of history' that control conflicts. That's what readers expect. I think that’s why I loved the ending so much. After so long trapped with Cordelia, just trying to survive the larger machinations of Barrayar’s bloody politics, it felt so, so good to finally be on the offensive, to have information the opponents don’t, to finally have power and the means to control what happens. It's a relief to the constant tension of having no agency in a giant conflict that frankly Cordelia had no business being affect by, yet was swept up in because of her love of Aral.

Which is the second thing I deeply enjoyed in Barrayar. I love how the war is made so human. A messy tangle of human relationships control it. I can’t stop thinking about the hostages. There are just so many children being used because the war holds the future hostage. Tiny precious Miles utterly incapable of comprehending how large a pawn he is. Young grieving Gregor vital to the plans of both sides whether dead or alive. Elena, who should be of no importance but she is because that's the kid of an unimportant soldier, just like every other hostage is another piece in the web of the war. I keep thinking about the relatives of Aral’s men caught in the capital. The hostages that Aral refuses to take. Everyone just trying to take care of those they love, and the points where they must put other priorities over their relationships are heart wrenching.

Barrayar looks dead on at how little people try to survive a civil war. From the mountains where the fighting seems so far, and information is slowed to a trickle of the singular mailman. The invasion of forces that disrupts people who may not even know there’s a war yet. The scientists and the genius lost in a single blast that goes unnoticed. The urban populations trying to sneak in food and people and keep their heads down. Random citizens debating who to sell out, weighing risks and bounties, if it will get them the favor with the occupiers that will help them survive. All so small in the grand scheme of things, and yet they are who Barrayar concerns itself with.

Cordelia’s uncertainty and fear would’ve been undermined if we were allowed to see in the heads of people driving the conflict, because Barrayar isn’t about those people. It is the desperation of two mothers, powerless and kept in the dark, that topples the regime.

Addendum: Cordelia’s relationship to Aral firmly places her in an upper class position that is important to note when discussing the role of civilians/‘little people’ within this analysis. But as a woman on Barrayar she is extremely limited in the power she is allocated, especially compared to someone like Aral, which would be the military leadership POV that novels more focused on the grander scope of war would utilize. Again not to say Cordelia has no agency or power, but it is not to the degree of the people in charge. Thus I place her alongside the average people swept up in a war outside their control. Still, her position as a Vor Lady gives her some access knowledge and connections that she turns into power, which while limited are far more than the average citizen. Her significance to Vordarrian is exclusively viewed as yet another hostage, an underestimation that Cordelia readily exploits, but still afforded only due to her status. Cordelia occupies a position of importance but not power beyond the scope of the people she’s formed direct relationships with, which only further ties into the essay's thesis.

[mizeliza]

I think a lot about how in one of the later books someone says something along the lines of really the only person who simon illyan is afraid of is cordelia, due to the lasting power of first impressions, and remember that when they met, cordelia was free aboard a barrayaran ship and covered in the blood of a dead admiral

[mouseinamushroomhouse]

Cordelia & her boys

[bastardtrait]

3.

"...my son my son my son. my Noah. I have never known a love like this before. in this, the autumn of my life, I never thought that I'd feel so fulfilled again; I was so convinced that the end of my miserable, sorry work was going to be my magnum opus, my crowning jewel."

"I was wrong, Noah. it's you."

"may nothing take you from me too soon. I want to be a father for as long as I live. a husband. a brother. a son." "stay with me. dad still has work to do."