#and Butcher just…goes for it in terms of only mildly plausibly deniable borrowed characters and creatures

[zahri-melitor]

Okay mentioning some of this again as I’ve got some newer Vorkosigan fans around here, who are not familiar with the Lore (TM):

- LMB is a Fandom Old. If you’re ever squinting at something in the books and going “surely that’s not a reference to X?” Yes. Yes it is.

- Captain Simon Illyan is an acknowledged expy of Ilya Kuryakin from Man from UNCLE. The serial numbers are still pretty visible in the early days.

- “Let me help. Rhymes with I love you, right?” - yes this is a The City on the Edge of Forever ST:TOS reference, she’s very much a Trekkie.

- if you’re missing extra published Cordelia and Aral content and you’ve run through AO3, they can also be found as acknowledged expies in Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera. You’re looking for High Lord Placidus Sandos and High Lady Placida Aria, if you really want to see Aral and Cordelia as badass fire mages.