#and some pronunciations and a map later

[dragoneyelashart]

teacher! sabrina and the classes she teaches

smut/fluff ୨ৎ

warnings: math 😖😖 a/n: some of these are meant to be silly🙏

french teacher! sabrina:

french teacher! sabrina who says everything with a sultry accent, even when she’s just asking for the attendance sheet, and you’re sitting there trying not to squirm

french teacher! sabrina who gives you private tutoring sessions after school, and sometimes you forget any french because she’s sitting too close, whispering “répète après moi, baby”

french teacher! sabrina who corrects your pronunciation by murmuring in your ear, her breath warm against your neck, her fingers brushing yours as she turns the page for you

french teacher! sabrina who wears sheer tights and button-up blouses and leans just a little too far over your desk, smirking when she catches your eyes drop

french teacher! sabrina who kisses down your spine and says “tu es à moi” in between each one, then fucks you slow and soft, calling you “ma chérie” the whole time

french teacher! sabrina who makes you croissants from scratch on the weekend and teaches you dirty phrases in bed just to hear you moan them with a terrible accent

french teacher! sabrina who gets off on being called “miss carpenter” even outside the classroom, especially when it’s while she’s pinning your wrists above your head

french teacher! sabrina fingers are inside you, slow and deep, whispering “dis-le encore, ma salope…”

french teacher! sabrina who edges you over her desk with your panties stuffed in your mouth so no one hears you moaning her name through the thin classroom walls

french teacher! sabrina who teaches a full lesson like nothing happened, while you sit in the front row still aching, thighs sticky, her lipstick smudged across your inner thigh

french teacher! sabrina who places on your her lap in her office chair, telling you how to conjugate words, rolling your hips so you can feel her strap.

french teacher! sabrina who comes home from a long day of teaching, throws her bag down, pulls you by the jaw and says, “on your knees. now.”

geography teacher! sabrina:

geography teacher! sabrina who has a huge wall map in her classroom and lets you put a pin in every place you say you want to go, then later, she kisses you breathless and whispers, “i’ll take you there someday”

geography teacher! sabrina who quizzes you by tracing lines down your arm, softly asking, “where’s the andes? where’s the danube?” like a game that always ends with her mouth between your thighs

geography teacher! sabrina who wears glasses and talks about gets excited when you ask her questions, you stop listening halfway through and just stare at her lips

geography teacher! sabrina who books a cabin in the woods for “field research” but you don’t bring anything except lingerie and snacks

geography teacher! sabrina who marks your body like a map, one bite for every place she wants to go with you, soft bruises along your collarbone like coordinates only she understands

geography teacher! sabrina who moans your name into the crook of your neck and says, “you’re my whole world, baby. every last inch of it.”

geography teacher! sabrina who spreads you out on her desk and says, “we’re doing hands-on learning today,” then traces your body with a ruler like it’s a topographic map

geography teacher! sabrina who makes you label different parts of her body while you kiss them, “this is the valley. this is the ridge. this is the peak. and this? mine.”

geography teacher! sabrina who keeps a globe in her bedroom and spins it, telling you to pick a place  “wherever you land, i’ll fuck you like we’re there.”

geography teacher! sabrina who fucks you in a car overlooking a canyon, one hand on your throat and the other up your skirt, saying “tell me where you want it, use your words.”

geography teacher! sabrina who marks bite-sized “landmarks” down your chest like a dotted path, following them with her tongue until you’re begging for her to reach the “final destination”

english teacher! sabrina:

english teacher! sabrina: who smells like coffee and old books and always has lipstick slightly smudged from sipping too fast between classes

english teacher! sabrina who teaches you to love poetry again, quoting sappho with a smirk and a wink like she knows exactly what she’s doing

english teacher! sabrina who invites you to her office to “go over your writing” and ends up bending you over her desk while the door stays half-open

english teacher! sabrinawho reads aloud in class, her voice low and slow, and every time she says “love” your stomach flips

english teacher! sabrina who annotates your body like it’s her favorite book, kisses down your thighs with whispered praises like “excellent use of imagery” and “10/10 climax”

english teacher! sabrina who gets possessive when she sees someone else quoting shakespeare at you, and later she punishes you by making you recite lines while you ride her

english teacher! sabrina who says “words matter” but still groans when you go speechless with your hands in her hair

english teacher! sabrina who ties your wrists with her scarves or ties and makes you read poetry out loud while she sits between your legs, tongue slow on your clit

english teacher! sabrina who calls it “oral analysis” and won’t let you come unless you quote your favorite line from a book while she has her mouth on you

english teacher! sabrina who makes you write an essay on how she makes you feel and reads it aloud while fingering you, breath hitching when you use words like “ruined” and “obsessed”

english teacher! sabrina who keeps a notebook of all the things you say when you’re begging, and calls it “your best writing to date”

math teacher! sabrina:

math teacher! sabrina who wears tight pencil skirts

math teacher! sabrina who gently taps your notebook with her red pen and leans down way too close to fix your mistake, and you can barely hear her over your heartbeat

math teacher! sabrina who texts you equations with flirty answers like “69 ÷ 3 = how many times i want you tonight”

math teacher! sabrina who gives you “extra credit” assignments that somehow always end with your legs shaking over her desk or in the supply closet

math teacher! sabrina who wipes your tears when you don’t understand a topic, quick to reassure you that she’s here the whole time to help

math teacher! sabrina who teaches you ratios by making you come in different positions and calling it “a balanced equation”

math teacher! sabrina who gets breathless whispering “fuck, baby, you do the math” when you ask how many times she’s already finished

math teacher! sabrina who pins a sticky note to your shirt after class that just says: “you + me = detention ;)”

math teacher! sabrina who makes you do mental math while riding her strap, every wrong answer gets you edged harder until your voice is cracking

math teacher! sabrina who says “you wanna count? count how many times i make you come before class ends” while your hands claw at her blouse and her thigh presses against your soaked core or while she leaves a vibrator in you while she lectures

math teacher! sabrina who uses her whiteboard marker to draw positions and says “you’re gonna demonstrate this next” then wipes it off with your shirt

math teacher! sabrina who fucks you with a ruler between your thighs, whispering “measuring progress, baby. stay still.”

math teacher! sabrina who won’t let you finish until you solve a word problem while she’s fingering you  “if i have two fingers inside you and a tongue on your clit, what’s your answer?”

taglist: @amara-eilish @bilswifee @iamnicoke @jayjaywetforbils @bittersuitekim @bxllxebxtch @bitchesbrokenpromises @ijustlovemaths @ilovealiceosemann @bilssturns @peytonneilish @chrissv4mp @too-sapphic-to-function @thebluediner @aka-persephone @vijaxx @thinkshespretty @emi-inspace @lilnini777 | send an ask or comment if you want to be added to my taglist!

[qilingxiong]

(subjectively, non comprehensively) reviewing chinese input methods

for reasons which still bewilder me some days, it seems that i have, over four years and the study of two chinese topolects, shuffled through trying/using a fair few input methods (IMEs) for writing chinese on a device. since i'm currently procrastinating at work, let's go through them!

(note: this is all from the perspective of a native english speaker and semi-fluent cantonese + mandarin speaker who learned to read/write chinese later in life. people who grew up writing in chinese will probably have differing opinions on things like ease of learning.)

i've split the following list into 3 categories: phonetic/sound-based IMEs specific to putonghua, ones specific to cantonese, and then shape-based IMEs, which can be used regardless of spoken topolect.

phonetic-based IMEs (putonghua):

hanyu pinyin (漢語拼音) - probably the most well known IME on this entire list, given that pinyin is the romanization standard for putonghua in many places, and both native speakers on the chinese mainland and non-native putonghua speakers learn it. romanization-based IMEs tend to be quick to pick up, because after learning the rules of the romanization scheme, all you need is basic skill with a QWERTY keyboard. pinyin in particular is easy enough to cross over to for english speakers, as many of the represented sounds correspond.

pinyin is the first IME on this list i learned, and is for now still my default for writing putonghua on both my phone and computer, as i'm still quickest typing in latin alphabet. however, one frustration i've had over the years (and this applies to more than one IME on this list) is that the lack of specificity when typing makes it a bit clumsy when dealing with rarer characters. chinese has a lot of homophones. typing something like 'yu' and then having to scroll endlessly through the selection menu can get frustrating.

bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ/注音符號) - bopomofo is a phonographic script used for inputting characters and annotating pronunciations, invented during the chinese republic era and now primarily used in taiwan. each symbol corresponds to one possible part of a syllable in putonghua, e.g. b-, zh-, -ang, etc. these are typed to form full syllables and therefore words. although typing in bopomofo requires a bit of mental recaliberation in how sounds can be visualized, if one is used to pinyin, it's overall not difficult to cross over to. the sounds of pinyin can be mapped fairly straightforwardly onto the bopomofo script. it took me about 2-3 days to get used to typing with it.

i really like bopomofo, and if i didn't frequently write in both putonghua and cantonese, i would probably make this my default input method. not needing to type out each latin letter of a syllable makes bopomofo faster to use than pinyin once you're used to it, and bopomofo has the addition of tone indicators on its keyboard. being able to specify a character's tone when typing can vastly cut down on the amount of menu scrolling one has to do. the only personal downside i've found is that bopomofo uses the overhead number row as well as a few punctuation keys to input its symbols, which can make it feel rather spread out on a regular keyboard if you have smaller hands.

phonetic-based IMEs (cantonese):

firstly: cantonese does not have a broadly accepted romanization or phonetic IME on the level of what pinyin is to putonghua. there are multiple romanization schemes floating around and different ones may be used in different contexts (official names, classrooms, etc), but many native cantonese speakers don't learn them and instead use shape-based IMEs. using IMEs like the following should be more common among non-native cantonese speakers/learners who had need to learn a romanization scheme.

jyutping (粵拼) - this was developed by the linguistic society of hong kong, and has become a standard for romanizing cantonese in some classrooms and learning texts. i was taught jyutping in my university classes, and it's currently my primary method for writing in cantonese. you probably wouldn't see things like place names transcribed in jyutping, but for the sake of learning to pronounce new characters or inputting, i find it's very accurate at transcribing sounds. i believe it's also easy for putonghua speakers to cross over into using.

however, the way some sounds are transcribed may take some getting used to; for example, an equivalent sound to 'yu' in pinyin/putonghua would be 'jyu' in jyutping, and 'lan' would be transcribed as 'laan'. also, jyutping (and this goes for yale as well) being a romanization without tone specificity falls prey to the same weakness as pinyin, which is the endless scrolling for lesser-used characters.

yale (耶魯) - yale is still a default for transcribing cantonese in many places, and predates jyutping as a well-used romanization. you'll definitely see it for transcribing cantonese in older texts, and it lines up more with how you might see place and individuals' names romanized.

i don't know exactly how many people out there are using it as an IME. at least android offers it as on google keyboards though, so i assume there's some usage. overall however, i find jyutping a more phonetically accurate system. when i was using yale romanization for classes i also found its way of marking tone numbers to be more finnicky.

shape-based IMEs:

on to IMEs which do not rely on phonetic input! these can be more common for chinese speakers who have need to write in more than one topolect, or for those who don't use/learn romanization systems. this gives users of shape-based IMEs an advantage in not needing to switch keyboards between languages, but the learning curve on average is quite a bit steeper than for phonetic IMEs. if you can't recall the components/radicals or stroke order of a character (character amnesia), you won't be able to write. as a result, you'll absolutely see more native chinese speakers using these IMEs, as opposed to non-native learners. however, if you're one of the latter and want to level up your character recognition, maybe it would be a fun challenge to learn one of these.

cangjie (倉頡) - one of the more well-known shape based IMEs, cangjie is more common for people in areas where traditional chinese is used (hong kong, macau, and taiwan), although the newer version allows you to write in simplified as well. cangjie uses a system of 24 character/radical keys (+ 2 special keys), each mapping onto a letter on a qwerty keyboard. each radical represents both itself and an assigned number of possible shapes found in chinese characters. writing is done by inputting these radicals in a specific order, which together builds characters. once you're used to it, cangjie is fast, with any given character requiring a minimum of 1 keypress and maximum of 5 (most are 4), and writing characters out through radicals means that each combination of keys will have only ~2 possible resulting characters, maximum. i'm in the midst of teaching myself cangjie, and i'm having a lot of fun with it. i hope it (or sucheng) will eventually replace both pinyin and jyutping for writing chinese in my daily life.

however, a lot of people consider cangjie a beast to learn. aside from remembering which characters represent which strokes/shapes, cangjie does not break down characters in the same order or logic as handwritten strokes. for example, 里 in cangjie is 田 + 土, and 過 is 卜 + 月 + 月 + 口, with the radical for 'walk' being put down first. that's not how you'd handwrite either of those characters. learning cangjie requires learning a different writing order that you won't find anywhere else. cangjie also has some additional rules for input that can make starting off rather confusing, and there aren't quite as many english-language resources for it online.

sucheng (速成) - sucheng is a modified, simplified version of cangjie, which only requires the user to input the first and last radicals of a character before selecting it from a menu. it can mean a little more character scrolling, but it cuts down on typing time and needing to memorize the more complicated rules of cangjie. for this reason, a lot of people favour using sucheng. initially i set out to learn sucheng, but after trying it out decided to go back and learn the logic of full cangjie first. i might end up switching to sucheng in the future, we'll see.

wubihua (五筆畫) - wubihua is a very simple system that can be used on a regular number keypad, and relies on written stroke order. each key represents a directional stroke, and these are pressed in sequence to "write" out characters. some people consider this a fast writing method, especially if you're using simplified chinese, as most wubihua users are— traditional can get complicated due to the extra strokes involved. the fact that wubihua doesn't require a full qwerty keyboard also makes it less complex to work with.

i tried learning wubihua some time back, but as a personal difficulty, i wasn't able to fully visualize stroke order and translate that to pressing keys on a numberpad. if anyone writing with wubihua sees this, let me know your thoughts on it please!

handwriting (手寫) - probably the most technically straightforward shape-based IME. if you have a smartphone, you can just handwrite characters with their usual stroke order, no memorization of other systems needed. a lot of people do write this way today, and you can be fast if you're used to handwriting. smartphones are also intelligent enough to course correct for you if you make a writing error. i do prefer typing IMEs myself, but i keep a handwriting keyboard on my phone for searching up characters whose pronunciation i don't know/can't guess.

bonus:

voice-to-text - speaking can be quicker and simpler than any writing/typing method, so i know people who write chinese with voice-to-text wherever possible. chinese people also loooooove texting via voice recording for similar reasons. i don't do this often, but if i'm very tired and my brain isn't thinking very well i'll use this method.

of course, there are many more ways of inputting chinese out there (wubi, dayi, zhengma, shuangpin, etc) which you can check out if you want, this was just me writing down thoughts on the ones i myself have attempted to use/do use in everyday life. if you made it all the way down here, i hope you found it interesting, or learned something new. thanks for reading!

[pianocat0-0]

To Change Or Not To Change a Mind

Yandere Advisor x Dictator MC x Delusional Queen

(It’s giving the henchman in love with the evil boss)

(Listening to Tommy February’s Lonely in Gorgeous and can confirm- weirdly fits.)

Tw: spying, implied diagnosis of mental illness (the person does not have it, rather it's an irrational diagnosis), slight manipulation, delulu, mentions of child labour, murder

——————————————————

When the former king and queen died to an unfortunate accident on their way back to the kingdom, their only child was left to care for the kingdom. You would probably pity them, but they were eager to rule the kingdom.

Since they were a child the only thing they knew was to gain power and make everything go their way. They wanted the gains of war, so badly. Now, their parents were very sweet. It’s just that their child read one too many books on warfare fantasies.

When they ascended as head royal, they had to pick some advisors. It took forever, primarily because they needed an advisory group who supported war and gaining more power.

That’s where they met Farik. Farik was from a far land, who used to be a street rat, but managed to learn how to read. He worked as a scribe later on. There, he spent his teenage and earliest of adulthood years recording the sales of the river as the boats passed through.

Since he oversaw sales, he quickly had to get accustomed to economics. Despite being very knowledgeable and having a decent salary, he wanted something new. Something fresh to awake his blank mind.

So he moved to a new country.

It was a struggle to learn the new language because of how complex the pronunciations were. But he managed. Learning the culture was a whole new obstacle. After a few years, he wasn’t completely imbedded into his new society, but thriving well.

He then learned about the heir rising to head royal and needing a group of advisors. When he heard the announcers screaming through the streets, he immediately became interested. Increase the power and wealth of the nation? That meant he would get those assets too.

He quickly applied.

You were enthralled that he had very similar views as you. Within a few days both of you were in front of a map, discussing who would be the first target. The kingdom had a sizable military, and could easily take down some small kingdoms and get a couple resources. You decided on a kingdom down south east.

A month later, you and your army marched down to the kingdom and destroyed it completely into flames. While also stealing lots of their resources, and children. Oh yes, immoral child labour exists in your kingdom.

While you and Farik were relishing in the new adrenaline of gaining power, a Queen far north heard about the news. She was devastated that kingdoms were attacking each other once more.

So she sent a letter to the royal, asking them to not use violence. That she would be happy to trade with each other.

——————————————————

“Hah! As if. She’s pitying me, Farik! No one pities me. Maybe we should go to destroy her too.” MC complains as they rip up the letter. They glance down at the map on their desk, looking for her kingdom.

“Ahaha, indeed your majesty. She does have a sizable amount of resources with access to the sea. You know how much water can hold a kingdom’s power.” He sipped some tea, imported from his homeland.

“Good thing she doesn’t really have an army. She preaches her ‘peacekeeping’ way too much.” They got out a piece of paper. They took a quill and started to engrave the ink into the paper.

“Your majesty? What are you doing?” Farik’s voice was softer than what was needed. But he adored his ambitious royal, completely. He leaned over them, trying to read what they wrote.

‘Dear idiotic blondie,

Leave me and my kingdom alone. Unlike you, I have more instantaneous methods of getting power. Efficiently too. So keep your peacemaker teachings away from me.

My kingdom just runs differently than yours. My people work in hopes of conquering their peers. Conquering your peers equals more power and safety. Clearly your methods don’t fit.

Try anything again and I will make your kingdom my slaughterhouse.’

The royal laughed evily, signing their name in the messiest way possible. "Farik, go fetch the messenger." They grinned, folding up the paper.

Farik nodded, "Of course, your majesty. Anything you want, I will get." With a small flutter of his clothes he left the room, calling for the messenger.

MC looked out the window, quietly reciting to themselves, "This kingdom will become my playground."

——————————————————

Back in the northern kingdom, the queen was enjoying her afternoon coffee when a servant stumbled in. He scrambled over to her and gave her the letter, he left without uttering a single word.

She blinked in confusion and surprise for a second before tearing open the letter. It didn't even have a wax seal on it. As she opened the parchment, she noted that the ink seemed to have multiple stains all over the canvas. It seemed the writer had no care for neatness.

As she read the letter, her frown grew deeper. She was an eye-catching lady, with blonde hair and olive eyes. Now, with her expression embedded into her face, she looked 20 years older. She set down the decorative cup she had in her hand and spoke to herself, "Oh my, they're a troubled person."

She stood up, walking over to her bookshelf, reaching for a book she receieved from the doctor who retired several years ago. She opened the book to the table of contents, looking for a certain part. Once she found it, she fluttered through the pages until she got to her destination. She started to reread the contents, trying to remind herself of the concepts she learned years ago.

After a good 10 minutes, she hummed cheerfully and shut the book in a dramatic way. She slid it back into the shelf, before opening the door to the study. She needs to help this troubled person, and she needs to figure out what supplies she needs.

——————————————————

It was a hot summer night, the moonlight cascading upon any open window. Farik was in his chambers, the window wide open. His gaze was locked on the buildings and the far mountains. The scenery was nothing like his homeland of sanddunes and round donkeys.

He turned away to stand before a wall. On the wall there was a painting. A cheap, simple painting you would get at the market for a few loaves of bread. He lifted the painting off of the wall, resting it on a nearby table. The wall now had a visible hole. A hole that led to the royal's bedroom, next to their ginormous vanity.

As much as he loved his royal, they were quite stupid. They didn't think anything about the hole the size of a small fist. Definitely no stalkers.

Wrong. It was his favourite thing to do other than bullying the local peasant. He would just stare at his majesty and admire every little thing about them. Including the most unknown habits. He knew that they wrote romance fantasies in their many journals. He wanted to read them, so badly.

He believed that if he were to read the journals, he would learn exactly how his royal wanted in a lover. Then, he could paint himself to be that lover. They would get married, and conquer all the lowly people: together.

He leaned forward and peered into the hole, he let out a shaky sigh as he saw his precious royal sleeping away peacefully in their bed. Covered in a mountain of expensive, fluffy blankets. The ones he suggested. He found that so adorable. He should get them more fluffy things.

His eyes lingered on their form and hair, even the way they breathed. He found it so utterly cute. The little royal tried so hard to be fierce and blatantly chat about murder and taking from the people. Despite this, Farik could see. He could see that they were trying to get someone's attention. He was happy to oblige, and could give them all the attention they would ever need.

——————————————————

One morning, MC decided that they needed to bully their citizens. So they went out to the street, and demanded the poor to give up their clothes to become the palace's cleaning rags. The poor obliged with defeated, hopeless expressions. Silently handing over what spare clothes they had.

As the royal continued to walk around, they heard some nearby commotion. It sounded like joy? Which was rare for their kingdom. They stepped into an alleyway and treaded across until they could peak over the wall of a shabby cottage. Up ahead, they saw an extravagantly dressed lady handing out snacks and little presents. The little children were giggling as they took some sugary gifts.

"You!" MC exclaimed angrily. Unhappy with the fact the queen was meddling in their kingdom's affairs once more. They stomped up to her, their crowd sliding around on their head. "What did I say about bothering my land???"

The queen blinked before laughing lightly, "Oh, I know you just said that for jokes. Please, I know that you are struggling, and I only want to help. Do you not see? Your people love the presents." She paused, petting a child's head. She stared at them directly in the eye and eloquently explained, "They are happy. If they are happy, you will become happy too."

MC blinked for a few seconds before screaming, "You bitch!" Right then, they were shushed up by a gloved finger.

The queen had a smile as she softly scolded, "Desireé, sweetie. We really need to get your troubled mind fixed up." With a hum she started to push them towards their palace.

In response, they sputtered, "You! Stop this!"

"No, no. You're sick. Don't worry, I've come to heal you." She cooed as she practically dragged them.

——————————————————

Farik was brewing some tea from his homeland. He was awaiting the royal, ready to spend some tea time with them. It always felt so intimate to him. Sure, they would mostly talk about murder and some cruel jokes, but it's what he liked. When the doors opened, he chirped, "Your majesty, I've brewed your favourite: Karkade-"

Who was that.

Farik immediately felt rage flow throughout his entire being. He rushed forward and unhanded the royal from the queen's hands. "What are you doing here? We told you to leave us alone." He spat. He put emphasis on us. His eyes glared at the queen.

She laughed once more. She did not care if this man was trying to stop her plans. "I'm only planning to help them. Don't you see? They're a little troubled. Nothing a little love and care won't fix." She took off her sun hat, placing it on the tea table.

MC stumbled but Farik caught them. They huffed and puffed before telling to Farik, "She's mad! She says I'm ill and she's going to fix me!"

Farik wanted to hug them tight. He loved it when they complained to him. They trusted him so much that they were willing to share anything with him. They should just get married already. "Oh, we simply cannot have that. You'll be alright, your majesty. I will get her out of here. Then we can continue our plans."

Desireé frowned. She clicked her heels as she walked towards the pair. She tried to pry the royal back to her. "No. An evil man like you won't understand. They are troubled, ill. You won't be able to help them. But I can."

Farik and Desireé glared at eachother. It seems the royal would have to make some adjustments to their palace.

——————————————————

(This one is much more mild. Also I love delusional characters. They literally are trying so hard to be nice)

(Lowkey why is the story all over the place tehe)

(Gang should I make a part 2? Lowkey I want to write about how the two try to carry out their "battle")

- Celina

[ihavedonenothingright]

Captive Prince: Historical References and Naming Conventions

Hi all! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and I finally had some time (and an Ancient Greek dictionary), so I figured I'd give it a shot. I've always been fascinated by Pacat's worldbuilding, particularly the naming conventions, and as a classicist myself, I wanted to dissect them. So that's what this is. My focus is mainly going to be on Akielos since I don't have as in-depth a knowledge of French, but I'll go through some Veretian names too (je n'ai pas étudié le français depuis deux années, mais Arles… je voudrais parler d'Arles…)

I'm not approaching this with any kind of formal, academic structure, so if something wonky gets through, please let me know! And lastly, I have no idea how many of these are intentional on Pacat's part. This analysis is less about authorial intent and more about how the associations inherent in these names can lend to our interpretation of the work. I'll also be doing this analysis over a few different posts since there is a lot I want to cover. For post #1:

Country Names

This post will solely feature Vere and Akielos since that's already a lot, but I will tackle Patras et. al. later on. There's some very interesting stuff there that I would be remiss not to look at. Of our subjects for today, Vere is the simpler, and the one I am absolutely certain Pacat intended, so I'll start with it.

Vere

Disclaimer: I am in love with this choice. The word itself is actually a Classical Latin adverb derived from the adjective "vērus," meaning "true," and in Latin it's spelled "vērē" (though you will not see those macrons in extant texts, those are a modern pronunciation and differentiation aid). Vērē can be translated a handful of ways; often it's used for emphasis, and in that case it's usually translated as "indeed," but "truly," "rightly," "exactly," and "truthfully" all work in different contexts. Extrapolate vērus and its derivatives for around a thousand years and you get the Old French word "verai" (ouah c'est vrai !) which means, well, "true."

It's also close in spelling and pronunciation to the modern French "verre," which means "glass," which isn't entirely relevant, but is cool. It makes me think of shiny, fragile displays of opulence like the Galerie des Glaces in Versailles. 

The first reason I really like this name is that it calls back to Artes, the Roman-inspired kingdom that we're told once encompassed all of Vere and Akielos, while still fitting current Veretian (aka half-old-half-modern French) grammar and pronunciation. The second is, naturally, that it fits so well into the series' themes of truth, deception, and verisimilitude. The second we're introduced to Vere, and by extension Laurent, there's a subtle hint there that both he and his country are, at their core, more real, genuine, and truthful than Damen and Akielos. We're already building towards Damen's Kings Rising line, "I have never known a truer man." Even if you don't recognize the Latin, your brain will make the connection between Vere and verisimilitude later. It's perfect, 10/10 Pacat, could not have done it better.

And just for fun: a Latin example!

Commentarii de Bello Civili, 2:27. Latin and English available here. 

Hi, sive vere quam habuerant opinionem ad eum perferunt, sive etiam auribus Vari serviunt…

Loeb Translation: "Whether they convey to him the opinion that they really held, or whether they only flatter his ears…" (165)

Slightly more literal translation (by me): "Whether these ones truly convey to him the opinion as they held it, or rather are subservient to Varius' ears…"

Akielos

The name "Akielos" is a lot more… nebulous. I don't know if there is a Greek print of Captive Prince, but my guess is it would be spelled Άκιελος (modern Greek speakers please weigh in, I'm only a year or so into Ancient Greek so I haven't really touched accent marks). That doesn't map neatly to any modern or ancient greek word—at least that I know of. What is does remind me of is Ἀχιλῆος (Achileos) from Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), aka, Achilles. They're so close that I actually realized lately I had unconsciously been pronouncing Akielos as "Akileos" for a while; and in fact, this makes the Veretian spelling "Achelos" make a bit more sense. English and French both use a hard "ch" to represent χ in Greek words; so I imagine, in universe, that the word might actually be spelled Άχιελος. It wouldn't even surprise me if this was the way Pacat originally wanted to spell it, but had to change it for ease of comprehension.

I did have some other interpretations of the name, but I think this is the strongest. Because in addition to the obvious association, the name Ἀχιλλεύς is thought to be derived from the words ἄχος, "distress/grief" and λαός, "people," making it either "the grief" or "grief of/to the people" depending on who you ask (you rely on cases for that sort of distinction in Greek and they're not exactly present here. iykyk).

I really like the idea of Akielos being associated with grief; we're first introduced to it as a country in mourning, and then later on, as the cause of grief in Delfeur. And then you have the association with Achilles, himself a prolific brother killer, who Pacat references later in 'The Fall of Inachtos,' our in-universe Iliad. Insane levels of grief on grief on grief. Plus, because it looks closer to the genitive form, I automatically associate it with the opening line of the Iliad:

μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος

menin aeide thea Peleiadeo Achileos

Sing, goddess, the anger of Achilles, Peleus' son

So we can throw a little rage into the equation. As a treat. 

Also important to note that the -os there is a masculine ending. It doesn't have the most bearing, but it does mean that if we want to be strictly accurate to Ancient (and modern!) Greek grammar, I have to throw a quick article in front of it, making our final "how do the Akielons spell Akielos?" answer: ὁ Άχιελος ("ho Achielos"). The ὁ here is equivalent to le in French, with the major distinction being that in French, you don't typically need an article in front of a proper noun, whereas you do in Greek.

That's it for today's analysis! See you guys next time around for Patras, Artes, and (maybe) Arles, Ios, and Delfeur/Delpha.

Part 2 >>

[gumnut-logic]

John Tracy hated taking public transport.

He hated the cramped seats, the invasion of his personal space, the fact the bus stopped every few minutes to pick up more passengers and the noise.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

But the astrolabs were too far from the dorm to hike it or bike it, so bus it was.

He mapped out the most direct route, left early to avoid the crowds and handled it the best he could. Earphones helped and he never travelled without his tablet and a network connection.

He made do.

He made do for over a year. Every morning and every night.

The work was fascinating and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He considered getting a car, but it wasn’t practical and parking was non-existent, so he stuck with the bus.

Despite the fact he hated it.

Every trip he buried himself in his own world whether it be his work, research, a good book or even a movie. He shut the world out and more importantly anyone who sat next to him.

Sometimes this was not possible.

Because sometimes they spoke to him.

John had been brought up polite. His grandmother would have slapped his wrist if she found out he was ignoring people. So, he always replied. Often concisely, but always watching his manners.

That often opened the floodgates. Because if there was anything common between big cities it was the people who were lost in them, desperately alone in a sea of faces.

John liked being alone to a certain extent, but he was blessed with a close and large family.

Some people had no one.

So, ever so reluctantly, he found himself answering their call for help.

The first was Mrs Bucklin. She was a tiny woman, well dressed, but slightly scented with mothballs as if her clothes hadn’t been out of the closet in a long time.

She sat right beside him and immediately enquired as to what he was doing.

At the time he was coding a new game and her sharp voice startled him enough for his fingers to slip and enter a chain of commands he had not intended. He would have sworn if he was alone, but the program righted itself and the new commands, instead of corrupting and crashing the function, actually appeared to improve it. He frowned and hastily input some bridging structures so the code wouldn’t fragment, idly wondering if the error would improve the game, ruin it, have him need to rewrite the whole section or be the spark that would initiate sentience.

Great, his tablet would rise up and eat him while he was distracted by a random bus passenger.

She did apologise and he did reassure her that it was all okay in the hope she would let him be.

She didn’t.

He learnt she had three cats, a niece in another country (he didn’t gather which because the woman’s pronunciation defied translation), that she had lost her son in the Global Conflict, she liked his hair (that was a first) and that he looked like an intelligent young man.

He acknowledged her quietly and politely as he eyed his code and the results of an initial compile test. How did it do that?

Her cats were named Scottie, Gordy and Allie.

He did blink at that, but didn’t comment.

Eventually, she said goodbye and got off the bus at her stop.

He would have forgotten about her, except she sat next to him the next day and the day after that.

Apparently, this was her route to work, and he was such a polite young man.

Three weeks later she admitted he made her feel safe just by being there. She had been mugged three times in her life and public transport was as much a bane for her as it was for him.

He actively kept an eye out for her after that.

Gus was a different matter.

Gus didn’t have a home and he often rode the bus just for the air conditioning and comfort.

He sat on the other side of the walkway to John. He didn’t say much and would likely have never said anything if it hadn’t been for the gang of boys who decided to throw verbal potshots at him one day.

John had had an all-nighter with exams coming up, so he was cranky. His latest project had stalled – the same game he had been tackling when Mrs Bucklin had startled him. The core of the program had become a little unpredictable and he couldn’t work out why.

So, when a group of teenagers crawled to the back of the bus and started needling a fellow passenger, it was not only a situation where the innocent man appeared to need a bit of a rescue, but it also pissed John off.

There were four of them. Teenagers flocked in groups apparently. He’d never been one for that formation himself, but he knew of them, had encountered them and Virgil had kicked a few of their asses for him.

John was in college now.

He could kick his own fair share of ass quite happily.

“Leave the man alone, or I will call the police.” He raised his voice, but not his head, transmitting all the body language of how beneath his notice they were and how he might respond if they didn’t comply.

“Mind your own business, kook!”

There was always a brave one amongst the group, usually the ringleader, the head dickhead.

At least they were only teenagers.

This time he did look up and put all that communication theory into the coldest stare possible. “Excuse me?”

All four of them froze. Hell, they couldn’t be older than fifteen, somewhere between Gordy and Alan. If either of his brothers acted like this, there were three older brothers who would quite firmly re-educate them on proper conduct.

Not that he thought either of his younger brothers would do such a thing.

In any case, all four of them stared at him wide-eyed. The eldest swore and climbed out of his seat just as the bus pulled up at the next stop. He snarled at John as he stalked past, spitting profanities. His cohorts followed and they climbed off the bus.

It was lovely and quiet after that and John went back to tackling his misbehaving program.

“Thank you, sir.”

John blinked up at the unkempt man who had been the centre of the teenagers’ torment.

A small smile. “You’re welcome.”

Was this variable being changed by the program itself? How the hell could it do that?

He didn’t fail to notice after that incident that Gus, as he introduced himself the next time they met, always sat near John on his rides, morning or evening.

John met other people. Mrs Magarey and her three young children always needed a hand with her pram. John sometimes took advantage of this and stuck the pram in the footwell of the seat next to him so no-one could sit there.

That made Mrs Bucklin sit behind him and whisper her stories in his ear.

He wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with that either.

Two other students from his faculty took the same bus as well. Ridley was in the year behind him and always had a friend on the phone. She chattered a lot and he learnt to tune her out.

Well, until the day he boarded the bus and found her crying into her tablet.

She had lost her entire thesis in a computer crash. He was polite. He enquired and she answered, staring up at him as if she had never seen him before. Which was entirely possible. John didn’t like to draw attention to himself.

He accompanied her off the bus that day and delved into her damaged computer. He dug up her thesis and she gushed all over him, even crying into his sweater.

He hugged her awkwardly and wished her all the best.

After that, she always said hello and had a smile for him.

John smiled back, but his program was still not behaving. It acted as if it had a mind of its own and it was very distracting.

Mrs Bucklin said it sounded like cat number two, Gordy. Never behaving, but always loveable.

John stared at her when she said that, and wondered if she knew more than she was letting on.

The day Virgil landed in the seat beside him on the way to the labs startled him enough to drop his tablet.

“Hey, Johnny.”

He fumbled between the seats for the device. “Don’t call me Johnny.”

“Sorry.” But he could tell Virgil was anything but.

His fingers touched the cool metal of his tablet and he scrabbled for it. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a brother drop in on his brother to see how he is doing?”

John eyed him. If it was Scott sitting next to him or Gordon, he might have been suspicious of any double meaning his brother might be communicating. But this was Virgil and although the engineer had a sense of humour that could cut when necessary, this wasn’t his style.

“I guess he can. But why the bus?”

Virgil shrugged. “Didn’t catch you early enough. Barely caught the bus behind you. I thought your classes didn’t start until later.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why are you up so early?”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “Just avoiding the crowds, I guess.”

Virgil eyed him with a slightly worried frown.

“And who is this lovely young man who has taken my seat?”

Oh god.

Virgil stared up at Mrs Bucklin as she bustled in to sit behind them.

An internal sigh. “Mrs Bucklin, this is my brother Virgil.”

“Your brother?” She eyed Virgil as if inspecting him for sale. “Doesn’t look like you at all. Where’s the red hair?”

Virgil arched a dark eyebrow.

“Nevertheless, Mrs Bucklin, Virgil is my older brother.”

“Then how come we haven’t met before? You’ve been travelling this route for a year now and we haven’t seen hide or hair of him.” She continued to glare at Virgil as if he was a threat.

Virgil was shifting in his seat, his expression decidedly wary.

“Virgil has been assisting my father on a project. He’s an engineer. I’m unsure what he is doing here right now.”

“Hmph, well, in my opinion, he should have been here earlier.” She addressed Virgil directly. “Did you know your sweet little brother has been a bastion of this bus route, defending and assisting all?”

What?

John’s head shot up. “Mrs Bucklin-“

“Don’t you go all humble pie on me, young man. I saw what you did to those teenagers and how you help young Mollie every week. That girl is going to work herself into an early grave. And poor Gus, you’ve given him a new reason to try. Did you know he has enrolled himself in a course? Got himself a grant from the government and everything. Got help from that employment assistance group. Not to mention that doe-eyed young student who stares at you with love hearts floating about her head. I don’t know what you did for her, but I have no doubt she would do anything for you if you asked.” She turned back to Virgil, accusation in her eyes. “Why haven’t you been looking after your brother?”

Virgil’s wide eyes darted between John and the older woman.

John had no idea what to say.

“Well?” Mrs Bucklin’s glare was determined.

“Ah-“

“Is this man harassing you?”

John looked up to see Gus looming over Virgil.

You know, the Virgil who lifted weights that weighed more than his brothers on a daily basis.

John frowned. Gus had a new coat on and was looking much healthier than the last time he paid attention. “No, Gus. This is my older brother Virgil.”

And Virgil was subjected to another staring glare. “Doesn’t look like your brother.”

What?!

“I can assure you that he is indeed my caring older brother and he is not neglecting me in any way.”

Gus grunted, still glaring at Virgil. He nodded in John’s direction. “Make sure he eats more. He’s too skinny.”

That started Mrs Bucklin off again. “My goodness, yes. John you do not eat enough. Have you tried any of those recipes I recommended?”

Gus was still eyeing Virgil.

Virgil appeared to be regretting several recent life choices.

“I’m fine, Mrs Bucklin.” He raised his hands. “And both of you, Virgil is not responsible for my wellbeing.”

His tablet beeped. A glance and he found a text message from Ridley. You okay over there?

He looked up and found her at the other end of the bus staring back at him worriedly.

A sigh.

A flick of his fingers. I’m fine.

He turned back to Virgil who was literally cornered, only for his tablet to chime again.

You free tonight?

Oh, for the love of-

“Guys, Virgil is my big brother. He looks after me. He cares. I’m fine. He’s here for a visit. I don’t know why yet. Stop glaring at him.”

Gus grunted again and wandered off to his seat. He didn’t stop eyeing John’s brother for a second.

Mrs Bucklin let off a slightly miffed sound before leaning back in her seat. “He better. Or I have a mind to bring Scottie with me next time. Or maybe Gordy. To teach him a lesson.”

What the hell?

“No need, Mrs Bucklin. I assure you.”

Virgil was staring at John as if he wasn’t sure what planet he was on.

John sighed.

Yeah, he hated public transport.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

His tablet pinged again. This time it was the program he was working on. It was claiming it was dawn despite the fact the sun had risen an hour ago. He let out an exasperated hiss.

Virgil was still staring at him.

Damn public transport.

-o-o-o-

[navibruh]

smth about Astolfo, Otto/Offa & Charlemagne

heyaaa so i mentioned to a couple of friends that i probably could guestimate Astolfo's (before his travels that sent him all across the world) British accent!

Introduction - Who is Astolfo's Father?

To start with, we need to pinpoint where (and when, but that is the easy part) Astolfo was born or from where his family originated and that begins with a little explanation of Anglo-Saxon Britain.

Anglo-Saxon Britain was not unified like Britain today but a collection of kingdoms that would only be unified later in part by King Alfred when he rallied against the Vikings in 878 but later fully by his grandson Æthelstan in 927; the map above shows an estimation of England by the death of King Offa of Mercia (796)!

Why have we chosen the height of Mercia under Offa? Well, Astolfo's father was said to be King Otto of England leaving us with the task of tracking down who this character might have been inspired by...

Otto of England most likely refers to King Offa who had on-and-off positive and negative relations with the King of Franks including one of the first major trade agreements in English history between mainland Europe and also complete correspondence cut-offs (angst for the angst lovers) (it was about giving their children off for marriage) (eeyikes medieval independence wasn't all too strong).

Offa was believed to have been born around the year 730 whereas Charlemagne was believed to have been born around 747 to 748 granting Offa 17 years at the minimum over him - the likelihood of him, therefore, having been able to have a kid around the same age or younger than Charlemagne is highly probable (I would reckon Astolfo to be a little younger than Charlemagne).

The dates of birth for Offa's actual kids is pretty much unknown but Astolfo is fictional so all we need is basic chronological possibility!

Continuation - What was the Mercian dialect and what is it now?

The differences of Anglo-Saxon (or Old English) and Modern English at large are simultaneously vast and really not too large depending where you look - gendered variations (masculine, feminine and neuter) existed alongside far more inflections but the basic syntax of the English language (subject, verb, object) remained the same! Accents and dialects are much the same, some things persist and others don't.

Furthermore, the sound of the language will have been a little different than what we hear today due to progressive changes in pronunciation overtime.

That is not to say that there are no surviving vestiges of Old English and the Mercian dialect in modern day England that we can pin onto Astolfo. The Mercian linguistic survivors can be partnered to existing dialect in the 21st century right in Offa's favoured stomping grounds (the West Midlands, once Mercia!)

What remains of Mercia is, well, nothing because England is unified buuut right above Birmingham you'll find Staffordshire in which Tamworth (the ancient capital of Mercia) rests! This town held a great deal of importance to Offa with him staging Christmas and Easter celebrations there, erecting a palace once deemed a wonder of the age on the land and signing numerous charters from this royal seat of influence.

Tamworth lies very close to the Black Country & sits within what is recognised as the Brummie part of the West Midlands - the accents and dialect here are a total blend of everything around thanks to simultaneous growth and resistance to change, rich history in all ages of England pulling either which way!

Let's cross some similarities with the dialect surrounding the heart of Mercia nowadays with the dialect of Old Mercia! The primary similarities you'll find between the Mercian dialect and a modern dialect are within the Black Country where Mercian-derived vowel sounds (an /o/ in place of an /a/) survive.

Across the West Midlands (albeit concentrated most in the Black Country as a region that has resisted phonological change more than the surrounding Brummie areas) are where we can find some trace of what British Astolfo might have sounded like in what survives of his most probable Anglo-Saxon dialect.

Continuation - Astolfo's sound

While there is no true surviving Mercian speaking Englishman (nor a recording of such a figure) for us to point at for what a 'real' Astolfo, be that him in even greater youth or throughout his life if he retained an English twinge to his voice, would sound like, we can look at how people who've inherited that sound speak!

Here's an excerpt of the Black Country dialect where Mercian features most prominently emerge!

Here's a ton of data for the current dialects in Tamworth where a more modern touch has broken past the Mercian wall without totally eroding its presence.

Conclusion - Did ya expect this?

There you have it! Astolfo would have, most likely, spoken via the Mercian dialect (if all my little guesses about Otto being a fictional spin on Offa and Astolfo preserving any sense of the Mercian tongue) which is nowadays found in the hodgepodge of the West Midlands!

Of course, Astolfo wouldn't sound 1:1 with neither of the examples above! The Mercian dialect is long gone and those are far older folk who certainly do not portray themselves with near enough a hint of the gender fluidity.

But did you expect this sort of sound? Probably not...

Thank you for reading! This is all just the fun of an aspiring linguist who loves their local Mercian history and Astolfo, duh, so please do NOT take any of this as total gospel... I do my study and none of this comes without a proper source, I love what I read but I am by no means a total expert. Happy birthday Astolfo!

[empyrean-thrones]

Finished OS a couple weeks ago and just wanted to get my overall feelings out of the way before I publish an actual review later down the line. In no particular order, here it goes:

They didn't even bother to fix the Scottish Gaelic pronunciations in the audiobook after the backlash so what little respect I had for the publishers/author is now nonexistent. No, I didn't buy the audiobook (I refuse to give this author a single penny after that one Instagram post about Gaza), I found it on YouTube. After hearing the way the narrator says Tàirn in the first two chapters, I immediately turned it off and listened to something else. That's how angry it made me.

The gods suddenly becoming relevant halfway through the series with little buildup from the last two books felt jarring. I genuinely thought they were worshiping dead gods or at least ones fucked off eons ago

Andarna says Violet will have to commit crimes and do things she doesn't like in the prologue but these "crimes" are barely important and have no consequences whatsoever. I was hoping she'd do something heinous that would make her friends turn against her :/

I like Aaric and how unbothered he was about everything. Hopefully, his signet makes it so that he's capable of seeing multiple overlapping timelines/futures, but I don't have high hopes

King Courtlyn was my favorite new tertiary character. I found him much more enjoyable to read about than Xaden. The head platter scene felt like it could belong in asoiaf 💖

Talia is by far the most realistic feeling character out of everyone in the cast. It's fairly evident that she's trapped in an abusive relationship with men who don't value her and I wish this was explored more.

That being said, I don't care about Xaden at all. I was hoping he'd get some character development but he was mostly brooding about being a venin and lusting after Violet. I felt disappointed at the end when he became an asim because I didn't get a sense of… wrongness, I guess is the right word. He was the same as before personality wise and that cheapened things.

Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the things he did in this book were just typical Xadeness or the veninism. I'm still unsure if this was intentional, but he reads like someone unstable who's teetering on becoming abusive. I worry for Violet's future.

I'm glad there's no miscommunication between the two anymore, though

Violet's tic of blurting out fun facts is gone and I don't know why. It was such a staple part of her character; seeing it vanish feels weird.

I will forever despise the art department for not adding a map of the isles (a major setting) due to it being a "spoiler"

Violet's lightning growing to be an AoE attack instead of it being single target was pretty cool to see

The irids were an interesting addition, but I wish there was more of an in-depth conversation with them regarding war and pacifism. They are right in a way about dragon culture being based on violence and bloodshed (see: book 1) but they also seem like people who are all like "violence is never the option" when the alternative is to face death at the hands of the oppressor

Andarna being a literal child soldier is never properly addressed or given the weight it deserves. The adult dragons intentionally let a baby bond and enter a war zone with what seems to be little pushback from the other elders. Her accelerated growth and subsequent wing deformation is a perfect allegory for child soldiers/children growing up in war being forced to mature faster at the cost of their innocence. The irids should be more appalled by this imo. They should've called Violet out on the fact that she continues to bring this child into war even after finding out about her gift. Yes, she didn't know before but now she does. What's her justification for this? Why should they help a society that willingly lets children fight and end their wars for them?

Violet and Andarna dehumanize themselves by saying they're "the weapon" and I find that to be a testament of how society's failed them both

Naolin is mentioned once and never again. If he remains as Tàirn and Brennan's Dead Wife for the rest of the series, I'm going to rewrite every book myself to fix this

Theophanie was ultimately a pointless character since we never learn what it was she knew that Violet needed answers for

What is dedication and why is it so bad? Did Asher try to do what Hannah did with Samuel in the Bible?

Signets are apparently Pokémon types and we never find out this basic information until halfway through the series and it's treated as if it's basic knowledge

No one important died at the end which makes the stakes feel hollow and pointless

The only time I felt anything for Violet was towards the end when she had that conversation with Brennan about saving people. It's the one time I felt she was an actual person instead of a self insert power fantasy. Couldn't care about her afterwards

The venin have no nuance whatsoever. I cannot recall a single venin with complex motivations for what they do (Xaden doesn't count)

Yarros didn't even try to give Colonel Aetos any type of complex motive for why he does what he does. It's like mothers can be redeemed because of their "love" for their kids, but god forbid a man get the same treatment in the same series. He would've made a nice parallel to Lilith but alas

Tairn casually mentions that dragons draw on magic for their source and this is never mentioned ever again. So the dragons and gryphons look like a bunch of hypocrites rn

I fear this is becoming more and more of a white savior plot with the way Violet's so obsessed with saving Xaden. I hope Naolin comes back and drop kicks them both into the sun.

On the topic of Nao, I just know Yarros is going to make him insufferable if she goes through with making him relevant in the last two books. Please, I just want him to be like a depressed college student working retail who genuinely doesn't give a fuck anymore. Don't give me another Xaden. I'm so sick of that man 😭

The ending was personally worse for me since I saw the leaked images on TikTok before the book released. I was hoping we'd get more context for the Xaden chapter but no.

I will not acknowledge that whole second signet bullshit with the Marked Ones as canon. Fattest retcon I've ever seen; it pisses me off to no end

Please show us a dream where Brennan dies and gets resurrected in a future book Yarros. I still need answers as to wtf happened there. It's the only thing keeping me going

[mors-pulchritudo]

Hiligoras — guardians of an ancient civilization.

Pronunciation: “heel-eh-gore-ah”

Origin: the ancient kingdom of Masozalima

Danger level: ★★★/5

Back to masterlist

Hiligoras are a type of creature thought up by fairy tales and old stories, and some have even said that they might not even exist or be real. But, they very much are.

Nestled in a fertile land with dry seasons and great rains in the later seasons, was the kingdom of Masozalima. It was said that after Ifreau was founded, this kingdom was not much farther behind. Many came from all over to settle here, and it became a great, powerful nation.

But, many also seeked to take over the kingdom for themselves. And so, to protect themselves and prevent devastation, the people of Masozalima needed a protector. They built their own.

Fifty feet tall, made of red brick and concrete, emerged the first Hiligora statue, positioned outside of the city’s gates. It was a sight to see.

The guardian creature had the head of a human, ears of a lion, twin tails of a leopard, feet of a dragon, and antlers of a deer. It was a fearsome force to any outsider that dared to try and enter the city under malicious intentions.

Whenever The Protector was needed, the Hiligora statue would morph into a human like form, and fend off the opponent that tried to enter the kingdom. It was as safe to say that most did not live to tell the tale. If they would even be believed. In most places, the Hiligora was just that, a legend. No one took it seriously, unless they saw it with their own eyes.

And so, for centuries, the kingdom of Masozalima was safe. And for centuries, the Hiligoras would faithfully protect their kingdom, teaching their children their ways.

But, a few million years ago, the last Hiligora fell during a great war. And with it, the kingdom disappeared. It wasn’t destroyed, it simply vanished. Was gone from all maps, and no one could even find its entrance.

Some say the kingdom is still there, hidden. But, until it is possibly found, it remains shrouded in mystery, lost to time.

Taglist : @drowning-in-cabbages @theirstarsaligned @ramshackle-thorned-rose

[jeannereames]

If you could choose a soundtrack to be Alexander's theme, what would you pick? Both the historical Alexander and Dancing With the Lion's Alexandros

Ha, already did!

Alexander's Playlist

For those unaware, the books have a website Alexander's Macedonia. There are links in the back of the books, but not sure how many readers actually notice those things? There's a fair bit of backmatter the publisher didn't want to put in the novel. I insisted on the map, and the author's note at the back of book 2 Rise. (Also reproduced on the website for those who want to read it after readinb book 1.)

But some things I wish they'd included aren't there (as some readers complained at NOT having them). The glossary and list of characters, gods, months, etc. What's under "Guides for Readers."

The website also has pronunciation of names, what they looked like (statues), vlogs of Macedonia, etc. These do actually work better on a website as they include both audio and visual files.

The playlist, however, was just for fun. It fits the historical man as much as the fictional. In fact, the playlist was constructed to reflect his entire career, not just the novels. Yes, it's heavy metal because, you know, Alexander.

Finally, there are some cut scenes that didn't appear in the novels, together with some "extra" scene I wrote later, that would fit in the year between the books.

So if you read the novels, or even just the first book, and weren't aware of all this "stuff," there you go!

And now, because I AM actually curious if/where people find out about the website, a poll!

[lune-de-miel-au-paradis]

Meet my OC from Star-crossed :

*drumroll*

Nina Cerasus

Pic from artbreeder

Pronunciation of her name : Nee-nuh

Family stuff:

22 standard years old born in Naboo (in Heavenbound fic she is 32)

she has a rare heart disease HCM

when her mom got sick her dad left them

her mom died when she was 7 years old

she was raised by her grandmother

she goes to law school

her best friend is Polina who is a vampire

and Anfisa a who is a fae

Appearance:

female

pale skin (comes from her disease)

160 cm, 5'2 feet

skinny but fit and flexible (side effect of her meds and pilates classes)

her cheeks looks blushed (side effect from her meds)

she has freckles

she has diastema (visible gap between her two front upper teeth)

she wears glasses at home and contact lenses when she goes out

she has brunette straight hair, mid length and with curtain bangs, she wears it in different up dos and braids like Nabooan women and likes to clip pearls and star clips in the locks

her hands are always cold (comes from the meds from her disease)

she smells like cherries, almond and mint tea (inspired by tom ford's lost cherry perfume)

she has tattoos: one is on her spine shows different phases of the moon, also it glows in the dark, several ones on her fingers she has tiny dainty stars and constellations, and on the inner side of her hip is a loth wolf in a tribal style art, and a quote on her bacl ankles "Ad astra, per aspera."

her style includes gem colored light fabric dresses, mostly pant suits with cut outs

she has a bracelet a red string with a star shaped lucky charm (gift from her gran for protection)

she has a pair of jade droplet earrings, and an enchanted red amber pendant (both gifts from Maul)

she likes sparkly make up and nailpolish

she has a raspy seductive voice (inspired by sofia bush's voice)

Personality:

she is rather introvert and close to herself

likes to argue, good at keeping information to herself (she is to be a lawyer duh)

she has trust issues, and abandonment issues

says that she doesn't believe in love or relationships but secretly hopeless romantic

only dates but never in a relationship till she meets Maul and later Wolffe in my Heavenboun fic

doesn't like jedi or any Force user, she thinks they are snobs and dogmatics, but later she'll like Master Plo and his wolf pack

she isvery inteligent speaks in several languages

she enjoys art, music, dancing and reading

she is a bit of a nerd when it comes to astronomy (not the horoscope one)

she is currious and patient (especially with Maul)

she looks down on men, she thinks they all liars, and cheaters, and only good to manipulate/to be an acessory/ to please her in bed till she founds love

she will do everything to her friends and loved ones

she has a soft spot for Anfisa (my other OC)

hard to open up but actually super sweet

maybe a bit impulsive, but at same time she has a 5 year plan already

they call her the "ice queen" because her specialty is freezing out people and always looks calm and collected but under the hard shell she panic a lot

Other:

she is a party girl but only because she loves dancing

her hobby is star gazing and her dream job is to be a star cartographer

she never left Naboo before, but dreams to travel the galaxy and make star maps in Star-Crossed fic, in Heavenbound she leaves in Couruscant

she is allergic to tooka cat fur

she can't drive a ship

pretty good in self defense and shooting (both comes from Polina's idea to join self defense classes)

she collects celestial themed jewelry

she is terrible at cooking

to quit smoking she learnt how to tie a knot with her tounge from a cherry stem, so she always carry some cherries with her

AN: So that's all I could collect in this moment. Sorry for any mistype or bad English this is not my first language. Other character deep dive list and mood boards are in plans so I hope you'll like her as much as I do.

I plan to make one about what characters and persons inspired her personality, looks and name (no it not comes from mine even though it's similar to my nickname)

💖

Nika

Taglist: @hellhound5925 @cloneloverrrrr @stardustbee @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @firstofficerwiggles

[stepswowdsen]

【KHR AU】 XanLena & Selena Rambles ❤️💜🍷🪷

Sen's KHR OCs

Nguyễn Selena (Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên)

Lê Thiên Linh

Selena Doodles (Quick redraws) 💜✨

I resketched Selena's hair 💜

Oh and I also used the eyes from the Selena wearing Vietnamese traditional clothes, Việt Phục (áo tấc) drawing.

Both look nice but I think it fits my art style more

I resketched these quickly so it's not as refined but I'm still experimenting/trying to decide how I want Selena's hair to be drawn, whether I want to keep the curls in the back or not

I also wanna give Selena a TYL (Ten Years Later) design like the rest of the KHR cast has.

I feel like Selena's ponytail is pretty iconic to her design?

So I'd just add a bun on top of the ponytail in her TYL design (whenever I get the chance to design it in the future)

Also put the rest of my WIPs and rambles under the cut

Btw I've drawn Linh before but I need to redraw the sketch sometime

I love gradient maps! They've really been spicing up my arts. I looove choosing colours. It's so fun to play around with them

(Excuse the old art of Selena I still need to redraw it)

Examples with my beloved Selena and my beloved KuroEne 😘💗🫶

Selena and her NB swag 💜

XanLena ❤️💜

XanLena chibis and a quick Selena chibi I sketched recently

Trying to experiment… I think I should redraw the Xanxus and Selena chibis at some point

I'll keep the core features like the eyes and colours! I'll just fix up some stuff

Drawing chibis is actually harder than drawing normally for me 😭

I also drew another quick Selena chibi

Selena 💜🪷

1: OG colours 2: Hue Shift + Gradient Map 3: Gradient Map

I prefer the 2nd one best because I love the purple + pink gradient, but the muted pink one (last one) is also cute.

These drawings are old btw

KuroEne 🖤💙

Selena's Name 💜🪷

"Japan has a custom called 'ateji' which is to give foreign words kanji characters based on their sounds, and this tradition is used to create kanji names for people with non-Japanese names."

So for example, just based on what I know, when Viet names are translated to Japanese, they're either written in katakana, or, if they're Sino-Viet (use Chinese characters), then you can either make a JP reading of the name (if possible with the characters), or write the pronunciation of the name in furigana on top of the kanji.

I learned new things recently on how to translate Vietnamese names to Japanese too.

C: Oooh I see :D That's cool!

...

For example, the unorthodox/non-standard reading that I chose of Selena's Viet name, Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên (阮月雲蓮), is Gen Suzuha. It uses the same characters.

Because I wanted to give Selena a JP alias as well since she travels a lot. The multiple names are for ease when she travels

阮 - Ruǎn (CN), Nguyễn (VN), Gen (JP)

The most common Viet last name Nguyễn is translated as either Gen (阮) or Guen (グエン) in JP

In VN, Nguyễn is not pronounced with a hard English -g like that btw. It's hard to describe unless I make a video but in EN it's pronounced more like "Nwehen" or "Nghwin," said as 1 syllable

Sino Viet = Part of the Vietnamese vocabularly of Chinese origin

Furigana = Furigana are the characters on top of kanji that gives the pronunciation in Japanese.

…

At first I was conflicted whether to write Selena's name as セレナ (Serena) or せりな (Serina) in Japanese

Cuz I pronounce Selena's name as Seh-lee-nah. Though Seh-leh-nah (JP pronunciation) is fine too

Though these EN names are often romanized/transliterated like this in JP:

Selena: セレナ (Serena) Selina/Serina: せりな (Serina)

I went with the 1st one at first, but I ended up choosing the 2nd one cuz it matches closer to the pronunciation of Selena's name

Selena's Name (Continued) 🌙🪷

Selena's names:

English name: Nguyễn Selena (グエン・セリナ)

Vietnamese name: Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên (阮月雲蓮)

Japanese alias name: Gen Suzuha (阮月雲蓮)

The most common Vietnamese last name that about ~40% of Viet folks have, Nguyễn, is written as either グエン (Guen) or 阮 (Gen) in JP. It doesn't match the Viet pronunciation, but it's the closest we can get in JP.

I write my KHR OC, Selena's name as セレナ (Serena) in Japanese, to match the spelling of her name in English, but the pronunciation of the name Selena in English is like "Seh-lee-nah." That's how I pronounce it.

I pronounce XanLena's ship name as "Zan-lee-nah" personally.

Cuz I just checked the Wikipedia pages of famous people to see how Selena is written

I don't mind if others pronounce it as "Suh-lee-nah" or "Seh-leh-nah." That's why I was wondering if I wanted to write her name in katakana to match the spelling or the pronunciation...

Ideas for Selena's name spellings:

セレナ (Serena) → Selena

せりな (Serina) → Selina, Celina

セレーナ (Sereena) → Selena, Serena

セリーナ (Seriina) → Serina, Selina

So any of these spellings could work. English words have stressed syllables, but Japanese doesn't really have that and has pitch accent instead.

Cuz Selena's Viet name, Liên (蓮) means "lotus." In Japanese names, the character 蓮 for lotus is read as "Ren."

So one hand, this spelling ends up being closer to her Viet name. But the other spelling is closer to the way her name should be pronounced.

I've seen せりな (Serina) be used for "Selena" before, because the 2nd is usually used for the spellings, "Selina, Celina," so I went with the 1st one at first. But then eventually chose the 2nd one.

I'm still deciding on it though... Also you can go against the conventional spellings.

Misc Rambles

Me: Was checking the automated Google Translate of my fave ships for fun

FGO:

リンぐだ (RinGuda) → LimGuda

(Google Translate: RinGuda)

WATGBS AU:

イダ竜 (IdaTatsu) → IdaTatsu

(Google Translate: IdaRyu)

KHR AU:

ザンレナ (ZanRena) → XanLena

(Google Translate: ZanRena)

MAGI:

ジュダアリ (JudaAri) → JudaAli

(Google Translate: JudaAli)

KAGEPRO:

黒コノエネ (KuroKonoEne) → KuroKonoEne

(Google Translate: KuroKonoe)

...

These are actually pretty close but IdaTatsu turning into IdaRyu and KuroKonoEne turning into KuroKonoe 😭

S: Idate I didn’t know you were dating Tatsumiya’s genderbent version Ryuki

Me: Cuz I was just reminded of how Cinna said Google Translate would turn GokuTsuna into Tuna's prison 😭

S: TSUNA'S PRISON

Me: TUNA... 🐟

S: 🐟

Me: IdaTatsu yuri and yaoi would be based!

Kanji for 竜 (Dragon) in Tatsumiya's name can be read as Ryu or Tatsu depending on the reading

S: Oh my

Me: Oh and Google Translate turning my MMBN/EXE ships, BluesRock into BullRock, or EnNetsu (Enzan/Netto) into Flame Heat

S: I guess in this reading they took Ryu Ahahaha IdaTatsu Yuri 🤭😳

S: Just like how that refrigerator caught on fire

Me: LMAO

I'm curious to see more funny Google Translate versions of ship names

S: LOL

Kinda miss when ship names were like Flame heat or Ice heart but also maybe I’m kinda glad it’s just their names fused now

Me: WSDSHSS they have a cute charm to them but thank god the ship names that are just portmanteaus (two charas' names together) are not impossible to remember. From Cinna before:

C: I think it's insanely funny when Google TL translates GokuTsuna as "Tuna's prison" like yeah Tuna prison that's my ship!

S: HELLO HELP

Me: Reminds me of KuroKonoEne/KuroEne getting translated as Black Kono Energy sometimes

S: Man I love my ship, oh their name? Yeah it’s TUNA’S PRISON, hope that helps!

C: I have Tuna's prison for GokuTsuna and Homo bull for EnBlues 👍👍👍👍👍

S: Maybe we don’t need creative ship names we just need whatever Google translates

Me: It's so funny cuz KHR's EA/JP fandom mainly used numbers for ship names cuz the syllables in charas' names sound like numbers in JP or CN, depending on the reading

(Btw I'm just putting the context for any mutuals who aren't familiar with KHR)

Like they're easy to remember if you're learning the language

So the fandom puts these numbers or letters together for ship names

Ex.

2 = Tsu

5 = Go

7 = Na

9 = Kyu

Ex.

18 = Hibari

59 = Gokudera

27 = Tsuna

...

S: RIP to me cause I don’t know Japanese but Wowie

Me: Cinna was like "The numbers are impossible for me to remember I swear if I tried remembering them I'd one day be logging into my bank account with them" 😭😂

S: LOL

Google passwords? Nah just give me a password with the ship name in numbers in Japanese and I’ll be set for life

Me: For charas who don't have number representations (non JP names), they use letters

X = Xanxus (ザンザス, Zanzasu)

3 = San (Sounds the closest to "Zan" that we can get)

S: Ooooo

Oh I’ve just been pronouncing Xanxus as Zansus LMAO 💀

Me: HELP WSSHDSH

S: LOL

Me: I remember Cinna's reaction from back then 😭😂

S: First Idate, now Xanxus, so who else will fall victim to my American pronunciation

LIKE I HAD BEEN PRONOUNCING HIS NAME AS EYE-DATE (I DATE) INSTEAD OF THE JP PRONUNCIATION 😭

Me: 😭😭😭

S: LMAO

Me: Tbf Xanxus is probably a cool made up name made up by Amano

S: Oooo probably

Tho I didn’t assume so cause Ik there’s a lot of foreign names that sound made up but they aren’t

Me: All of the other Varia members are named after the 7 Deadly Sins, except Xanxus cuz his name is special 🤭💖🫶

S: Xanxus is a special little boy 🫶

Me: But yeah with the 7 Deadly Sins theme-ing of the Varia, that includes Belphegor (Bel)

S: Would Selena notice that his name is not a deadly sin and call him special for that

S: Ooooooo

Me: That'd be cute! I think she'd notice that his name is special and especially fitting for him 🤭

Xanxus was named for his flame as a kid, since he was born on 10/10, so he has two of the Roman numeral X's in his name, and so believed from birth that he'd become Vongola 10th boss

Xanxus manifested a really rare and special flame, the Flame of Wrath

S: He was born on 10/10 to be a 10/10

Me: Saur true!!! 💖

Me: Let me see if I can find the Varia being 7 Deadly Sins themed

Here

Source: (X)

S: “To join Varia you must speak a minimum of seven languages“ what are they doing with seven languages, Mr. Worldwides???

Me: YEAH THAT'S CRAZY WSSDSHDSSH

I imagine Selena knows 4 languages:

Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Italian

But then gets taught the rest cuz they seem ""lax"" on this rule

I MEAN I CAN SEE SQUALO BEING STRICT ABOUT IT AND PESTERING HER AS A TIRED CHAOTIC "OLDER BROTHER" FIGURE

But I don't see it as the ultimate requirement or whatever.

So then Selena gets given a tutor to learn the rest

S: OHHH omg if they were strict on it fuckkk

Me: Vietnamese, English, Japanese, Italian

I just assume it's obviously not the most important requirement to become a Varia member tho cuz they wanted to hire a ~10 y/o kid Fran for his illusionist skills, because Fran is one of the best illusionists. And I doubt this kid knows 7???

So yeah they care more about the member being able to work well with them as an assassin.

AKA their skills, being proficient in killing people, ability to adapt with them in fights... Basically what really matters.

S: Selena my girl you gotta get the last of the 7 Dragon Balls of languages or something I actually don’t know how many are there

I would be sweating bullets if I were her and I didn’t know seven languages only to be met with a “Oh yeah dw about it you can learn the rest“

Me: So yeah Squalo probably gets her a tutor and tells her to learn the rest ASFFGFHJKLL

S: Who put the 7 language there as a rule anyways ‼️‼️ I’m kidding but omg 😭

S: She can always learn Spanish, if she already knows Italian it’s gonna be a breeze

Me: I just remember that this trivia has always existed since I was 12 but I could never find a source for it? Might come from some old JP magazine of KHR

I'm not very sure.

S: Oooooo

Me: OHHH so true!

S: Saur true!!! Amano goes into a magazine interview, “Oh yeah Varia members need to learn 7 languages to join“ doesn’t elaborate, never does

Me: Also in one of the KHR omake side stories, Lussuria tries asking Xanxus "if the rumours of Xanxus knowing 12 languages are true"

(.) 🧍

S: HELP

Me: And grumpy assassin leader Xanxus just doesn't answer. So typical! /pos /endearing

7 IS ALREADY CRAZY, BUT 12, BRO???

The Varia members, Xanxus especially, are definitely linguistically gifted.

S: By the time he’s old he’s gonna learn every language in the world

S: So true‼️‼️

S: It’s okay on the positive note he can always tell Selena he loves her in different languages

Or he’s more of a acts of service kinda guy

S: IKR 12 IS CRAAZZYYY

I could barely grasp 2

Me: He's definitely more of a Gifts and Acts of Service guy so he'll gift her gifts like flowers she loves ❤️

Like Xanxus probably has the servants wrap flowers for her and gift her her favourite ones. Lotus flowers, Wisteria, Peonies, etc.

S: Awwww so romantic 💖

Me: Oh the fact that Xanxus would learn Viet for Selena is very cute

Like he just learns it without telling her, and just surprises her when he suddenly starts speaking fluent Viet to her

S: OOOOOOO

Choosing the Spelling for Selena's Name

S: Oooooo I like Serina

Me: Yeahhh I like it too cuz it matches the pronunciation of her name. I've also seen some people use せりな (Serina) for Selena as well, it's just not as common as Selina and Celina

Though you can also go against conventional spellings in JP!

Like I read peoples’ rambles and one person brought up an example of a “Sarah” who hated the standard サラ (Sara) and instead uses セラ (Sera) so it’s not an issue

Me: Also ty Snow for your input and for chatting with me this morning, bestie!

S: Of course!! <3

Oomfie Osmosis

S: I'm just following your blorbo rambles through the oomfie osmosis but where does KHR take place? Is it in Japan?

C: It's mainly in Japan, but Italy is very plot relevant

Me: The main cast lives in Japan. So, the protag, Tsuna, and his Guardians (Vongola 10th Generation members).

But secondary characters like the Varia, live in Italy, and come to Japan when necessary/for work/for plot reasons. They also like to go to Japan on vacation

Me: LMFAO

Also even for series that my friends are into where I don’t know the series, my friends' faves become my faves too by association, through the osmosis, and my comfort characters and skrunklies in law

Comfort character/skrunkly in law through the osmosis, to skrunkly of mine!

[summaryi]

When the Moon Hatched - Sarah A. Parker

reluctant 2/5

ok i havent finished yet but

the world is interesting so far

not enough known about characters

-------

but the one thing that might push this into DNF territory for me DESPITE THE INTERESTING WORLD

is the fucking fantasy spelling of known and existing concepts

like fucking dae and day

if you make up a creature person place concept whatever

yeah have it your way

use the beautiful spellings of faerie instead of fairy

but fucking

having to read dae which means day when the word day already exists and dae just means day

not my cup of tea

but i press on

wanna know about these moons

and the POV switches are in such tiny font compared to the rest of the text i was flipping back and forth to find it

and something just happened but im like?? i didnt have the time to get invested

so this doesnt mean anything to me

---

ive kept reading and im really torn???? some parts are breathtakingly sweet and soft, like a nostalgic memory

and some parts are

so

disjointed

huh??

i feel like a third of it is lovingly crafted

and tbe other two thirds are just slapped together to fill pages

its a weird fucking experience

-----

im fucking incensed what the hell

one of the chapters ripped my heart out and tore it into shreds

and three chapters later there are so many fucking unnecessary made up fantasy words just crammed together holy hell

was this written by two different people

and if youre going to use your own made up words

give us some fucking explanation or show and tell

if i dont know whats going on because none of the words make sense how can i fucking read jesus christ

what the hell is going on in this book

im actually pissed because the quality of the writing is so inconsistent

----

ok i finished it

am i fucking stupid? is it the kindle editions? or do all these books keep fucking putting pronunciation guides and glossaries at the back with zero indication they're there, not even a * or page at the front

maybe its a me problem but holy fuck

put the map at the back and the definitions and pronunciation at tne FRONT

AND THE FUCKING TRIGGER WARNINGS TOO WHY ARE THEY the last possible item

is it me??? am i the problem???

but like, ok, have the separate pronunciation guide and the glossary or definitions at the end

i still want some kind of BRIEF in-story explanation

people DO this to GREAT effect

it's fucking practical

and it does NOT break the stupid "show, dont tell" rule to have a character just do a quick "oh, MC is new/amnesiac/willfully ignorant, here's a 2 sentence primer"

anyways

overall, hate this book

it is NOT for me

i can sort of see why its paced and split the way it is? but also i cant

it feels very.......... it just feels like only a tiny sliver of the entire book is well polished

and the rest of it is slag, just tossed in

like????

the parts that i enjoy were enough to get me to finish the book but holy shit im pissed off

it could be so good!!!! but it's not!!!! overall the idea and the plot and all the strings are very good!!! but its so badly woven!!!!!!! except for a few shining hero moments

but what the fuck!!! it should all be equally good!!!!!!!!!!!

am i just a hater??? idk everyones fucking sucking this books dick and like

its like

a delicious meal that got dropped in a puddle full of shit

like there are pieces i liked! they were good! i see the potential! but fucking christ it was not a michelin experience and those tasty bites were not worth the rest of this meal??????? aaaaakrslhbgliugraiaubefigawrlharfk

[styrmwb]

Favorite Final Fantasy Music (FFXIV - Stormblood)

I don't think the copypasta has reached Stormblood yet BUT ANYWAYS 2ND EXPANSION LET'S DO ITTTTTT! This is when I started playing XIV! Lots of fond memories of TP (0 fond memories of TP). Something Stormbloood does, very similar to XIII, is the main motif. That shit is EVERYWHERE. And luckily, it's Amazing, so I literally am not complaining about hearing it all the time (spot #1 on this list goes to the stormblood quest accepted tune).

Something I will preface with is a lot of the music I love here is in the Omegascape raids but it's all (mostly) remixes! I love all of those songs but it would be doing this soundtrack a disservice to put any of them in this list (That Dancing Mad version is fucking dope though)

5. Crimson Sunrise Easily my second favorite main city theme. I feel like I can't say much about the melody, cause it is The Stormblood Motif and I'm probably gonna say some more about it later down the list, but I will say I love the instruments used here. The flute and plucking (I think it's a shamisen) is really calming, and the slow tempo of the drums (taiko?) add to this, while also giving that grand nature befitting of a huge city.

4. Dangertek Completely different vibe from the last song. This was originally introduced in PvP, but I more commonly experience it in treasure maps. It's an absolutely banger techno remix of Hard to Kill, the FATE Boss theme, and it's my favorite version of the two. The melody is sick, the guitar playing it rocks, and that heavy beat is a bop. I also really love the interlude section that I can only describe with the BADADUNBADADUNBADADUN noise going back into the Hard to Kill riff again but from a distance, it's so coollllllll I love this song

3. Triumph Part 2 of The Stormblood Motif; but I think this version is the most stand out example. This also includes the Ala Mhigo anthem for an epic combination of both sides of the expansion, a lot of eastern instruments included. I love the start of this song with the japanese flute and the more middle eastern sounding guitar (I have learned that this is called an Oud!) again, showing that combination of two ends. The Ala Mhigo anthem played by the brass builds up the intensity of the song, and then The Stormblood Motif rockets it into pure hype. It's so hard not to sing along to it every time it plays! The finale of this song sounds like a spiral wind down while still keeping the energy. It's impossible to hate any dungeons in this expansion when you know you're gonna hear this at the end. (STORM OF BLOOD, BORN FROM BLOOD, OF OUR FALLEN BROTHERRRRRSSSS! BORN UPON OUR HANDS, CRADLED IN OUR ARMS, SWELLING IN OUR HEAAAAAARTS! RAISE YOUR WEARY HEAD, HEED THE CALL TO ARMS, RINGING IN YOUR HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!)

2. Amatsu Kaze Bringing in that classic Primals rock to this list in my favorite way, Amatsu Kaze is a song I literally liked so much I learned to sing to it despite not knowing Japanese (I'm sure my pronunciation is horrible don't worry I keep it private). That fucking bass at the start is legendary, not to mention the electric strumming and the strange vibraphone like pongs creating a super unique sound. It's not a very high speed intense rush song, but that slower deliberate nature is perfect for Byakko being this massive brutal creature. To the main meat of the song, I love how it's the first lyrical song in XIV to be in Japanese! I mean, like, I don't see why they wouldn't cause it literally takes place in the Far East, but I still love it. The verse sounds like he's holding in his anger, the refrain getting more angry, and then finally screaming in the chorus (I looked up music words for this I hope I'm using them right). The very end of the song before the loop sounds like an absolutely mindless rage, looping and spiraling before calming down once more. What else is really cool about the lyrics is it's actually telling Byakko and Tenzen's story (also shoutouts to the XI reference let's goooo), which the next of the Four Lords' song also does. This song is addictive to listen to, only getting more hype as it continues. In the Primals version, it even has Yoshi-P singing it which is fucking outstanding. (KAZE TODOROKE KAZE TODOROKE KAZE TODOROKEEEEEEEEEE)

1. The Worm's Tail COME DON THE MASK OF BLIND BETRAYAL E'ER DOES THE HEAD DEVOUR ITS TAIL AS IRON BENDS TO STEEL O'ER MY RIVALS I PREVAIL! This song has a beginning so fucking epic, they use it twice in the game (granted the second time was a medley BUT UHH SHUT UP). The Worm's Tail is my favorite final boss theme out of all of the XIV expansions. As you can probably tell, I fucking love that intro. The massive choir setting the stage as you fly into the heavens on a giant fucking dragon that you're literally trying to kill, the drums slamming to raise the song further, I hate using this word so much, but it's fuckin epic! The final note brings tears to my eyes. When the song actually starts, it goes into this really really cool melody that's very bouncy and I THINK it's waltz like? please feel free to correct me on this I need to expand my words but I hope you get what I mean. It's a very unique rhythm. I love the middle part between it looping, continuing to raise the song even higher, almost like that audio illusion that keeps going up despite not actually going up? It gives that illusion of height as it should. The entire way through, the orchestra continues to sound heavy and grand even during the "calmer" parts, which for the size of this fight and Shinryu himself, I think is perfect. Finally, we reach The Stormblood Motif Part 3. The finale of this expansion HAS to fucking have it. The melody itself already sounds uplifting, it already stokes the fires in your heart. Combine it with the sound of this song and the context of the fight, and it brings it to the highest level it could possibly go. Last thoughts, cause I couldn't put them anywhere else, but while the base version is mainly gibberish vocals, the official orchestral version actually adds lyrics (same with Ultima and Heroes), and this song is essentially sung By Zenos. It talks of rising above, it talks about being the beginning and the end, and it's even partly sung in latin, befitting the Garlean Empire. The entire song is Zenos's victory chant against you, but you almost combat him equally with Storm of Blood overtaking the entire song. It's fuckin poetic, man.

Honorable mentions are: Prelude - Long March Home, Heroes of Stormblood, Gates of the Moon, Beauty's Wicked Wiles, Answer on High, Wayward Daughter, eScape, Sunset, Sunrise, and From the Dragon's Wake. (and again like every song in Omegascape and Return to Ivalice (those songs are just straight ports but tactics music fucks))

[supersabbatical2024]

4/25/24: Come ON…word from the home front is that we are now missing one chicken, “Poppy,” the grey one. The Maplewood Fox was seen chasing “Agent 99” (another chicken) inside the coop area, but my BRAVE sister chased the fox 🦊 out of the henhouse 🐓 What is going on with our animals in Maplewood? Take good care of your creatures, people. 🐴 🐕 🐱 🐒 🐠 🦛

A few days ago it was time for the Spa portion of our vacation. We had a recommendation for spa treatments from our VRBO host ( whose house we are staying in). So rather than go to one of the 10,000 salons nearby, we took the challenge and drove out of town to seek out our host Carole Boulet’s personal salon…quite the adventure! I was impressed with our tenacity and Claude’s ability to do numerous K-turns in THE tiniest parking lots EVER. The spa ladies wore little uniforms and everything, and they were very nice about my French. The facial was lovely. Then, for Part Two of the pampering, Claude sent me out on my own for my manicure…I guess he had had it with hauling me around to my various beauty appointments. SO for the first time, I ventured out on my OWN, with specific instructions from Claude AND Google maps, and ended up at a little shop on Rue Gambetta, called Sunny Nails! They spoke no English, but I met a French gal who was also getting a mani, and she helped me tell them what I wanted. Mon amie Sophie The French Gal, my new BFF, has an uncle who is “very rich,” and lives in Massachusetts. We chatted, Sophie taught me some French, and I taught her how to pronounce the word “pittoresque” in English—picturesque—which is a tough one, when you think about it: PIK-CHER-ESK. I feel like there are not a lot of CH’s in french, am I right? C’est vrai? Feel free to tell me I’m wrong in the comments (I don’t know how to comment on a tumblr blog but I think you can). My brave sister I’m sure will not hesitate to let me know if my grammar/pronunciation/tense is wrong…That reminds me of when my sister and I were traveling together a couple years ago, and we were chatting with a gal and we asked if she had a sister. The gal said “no…” so my sis, Pammy, said, “if you don’t have a sister, how do you know what’s wrong with you??”

That was sort of a random story, and I guess you kind of have to have a sister to understand. Or a really close friend who’s not afraid to tell you what’s what, or that you have your shirt on inside out. But there ya go 👩‍❤️‍👩. I’m thinking about ya sis! She’s probably not reading this blog, as she is actually back at my house in NJ, taking care of our mom, Normie, for two weeks. David took the first shift, and now Pammy has taken over. Don’t forget to keep the fox out of the henhouse Pammy, and THANKS 🙏

Yesterday, we did basically nothing except shop and eat 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 🥐🥐 🥐 and I’m having trouble even remembering right now, so I will set that aside and post some photos of two days ago, when we had a travel day and drove to Cassis…more later. We have received more bad news from NJ about Oreo…he is really struggling. He’s a good dog, and he has had a really amazing run. I’m grateful to my friends who are helping him and us to figure out the right thing to do, and get through this…

[indecisive-gm]

TTRPG Setting Idea #3

Been a bit since I've done this, but I need something to distract myself for a bit, I don't feel like doing much creative writing at the moment, and I'm pretty sure I'm free to share this map now.

Basically, what happened with this setting, is a friend had asked me for help with better filling out the world he ran his campaigns in by making maps for them. He'd said pretty shortly after I made this map that he probaby wasn't going to run any more campaigns afterall, and that I was free to use the setting myself (especially this particular map, since this was an area *fully* made by me, and he hadn't even mentioned it in-world yet). But, I decided not to do anything with the setting partially because I already get too many ideas and partially because I didn't want to mess to much with the setting in case he changed his mind again later. It's been a bit by now though, so...

The Elven Lands

(Pronunciation guide included because I got too carried away with developing the language(s) of the region when making the map, and my friend had insisted that I add a pronunciation guide so he could read it)

In the northeasternmost reaches of the continent lie the various elven nations. Since this was mostly just meant to be filler lore initially and I had other things to do at the time, I tried to restrain myself somewhat with the lore, so the different places can kind of sort of a little bit but not quite be mapped to real world cultures:

Krmthwn- Industrial China but with magic instead of machines (mostly)

Sjfk- Cold Sparta/dwarves (not actually dwarves, of course, just more similar to the typical fantasy idea of dwarves than elves)

K;mlt Nomads- Mongolia with less conquest and more druids

Paiftale- Falklands if they had as many people as Iceland and were slightly less reliant on sheep (not actually elves, btw)

W'sn-Fzpi- I don't really remember them very well. They're centered around a lake and are meant to be kind of a counter to Krmthwn's power, though

Tklpn- Scandanavian peninsula + Greenland if the countries joined together out of percieved necessity

Polnizwac- Inuit + Poland

I know I wrote down some extra info about the language somewhere that would probably have more lore information, but I'm not about to go digging for it right now. They're the elven lands, so a lot of places (emphasis on places, not things) are just kind of vaguely passively magical, like Chw'l Vi Znw (the Forest of Two Colors), where trees continue to live and grow even in the permafrost of the northern half.

The mountains separate the elven lands from the rest of the continent, a long string of islands inhabited by red dragons mostly isolates them from overseas travel to the east, and the ocean is just too frozen to the north to reliably sail through (lots of ice bergs). There's a way around the mountains to the southeast, controlled by Krmthwn, and a survivable way through the mountains to the south, also primarily controlled by Krmthwn, but unless that empire decides to suddenly start being a lot friendlier to its neighbors, that pretty much leaves this region disconnected from the rest of the world (minus the human colonization beginning in Paiftale).

Realistically, this area would still need some work on it to make it a proper campaign setting, but it has a bunch of places to explore, potential problems for the players to run into, and a few possible campaign hooks, depending on what direction you take things in.

[eopederson]

I have given this map more attention than it perhaps deserves, but I find it fascinating. It does not correspond to my levels of difficulty learning the languages. I learned some Norwegian as a child, and thus I have at least a minimal comprehension of Danish, Swedish and even Icelandic from that. If I had to start from scratch, however, I think Danish and Icelandic would be among the most difficult West European Languages to learn, especially to speak.

I studied German for about a decade as a child and young adult, and while I consider myself somewhat fluent, it is painful on occasion to follow or contribute to conversations. By contrast I picked up a tolerable level of French fairly rapidly, and minimal proficiency in Spanish came even more quickly. I have subsequently used Spanish a great deal, so it is now my "second language," and after a few days in a French speaking area I can "get by." In contrast, I still have not mastered even a tolerable minimum level of spoken Italian despite much more effort than I remember investing into learning French or Spanish. I have invested no formal effort into learning Portuguese, but it is similar enough to Spanish that reading it is no problem and simple conversations can be followed. Ditto for Gallego and even Catalan. [Unlike those, I am having fun trying to learn a little Euzkara (Basque) a language totally different from all of the others I have been in contact with. Euzkara is not included on the State Department list, as it is not used in international relations.]

Spanish may be considered more difficult by the FSI because has a number of variants/dialects (ditto French). After an initial introduction via Mexican Spanish, I was fortunate to study Andean Spanish (Peru/Ecuador/Bolivia) which may be the easiest to master. I later even picked up some porteño, the peculiar dialect of Buenos Aires and Montevideo heavily laced with borrow words, mostly from Italian, and unusual pronunciations. With several extended periods in España I can also do a tolerable imitation of castellano, as the language is called there. I make no pretense of being truly fluent, however, emphasized when I am attempting conversation with a woman of Honduran origin who works for us for a few hours every couple of weeks.

About my only agreement with the map would be Dutch-Flemish which, if one speaks English and knows some German, is fairly easy if a little difficult to get out of the mouth. Aside from knowing the Cyrillic alphabet and the words for beer in Polish and Russian, I am ignorant of Slavic languages. I do not even know the word for beer in Finnish and Hungarian. Do not get me started on English. I sometimes feel I need an interpreter listening to a white person with a "southern accent." Despite having lived at the northern edge of the South for much of my adult life, I find the dialect of "Dixie", and the cultural references embedded in it, more alien and harder to understand than idiomas from almost any West European country save the Basque Country, Finland and Hungary.

US State Department moves Spanish to a higher difficulty ranking (750 hours) than Italian, Portugese, and Romanian (600 hours).