#avalon high X merlin

[squidistired]

Take my yap and chat but don't throw any tomatoes or brick walls at me or ill cry.

So wait imagine this. And I'm doing this on spot. I need a merlin bbc x dc crossover fic. I apologize but once you get into crossovers, the voices never stop.

Here the thing. I don't know where I should set it mainly. I thinking maybe the modern age, somewhere England at first, obviously. NOW here's the thought, who do we know that is based there? That's right BUH DUM, JOHN CONSTANTINE!

HEAR ME OUT

Okay okay I looked it up. Liverpool is 3 hrs from Glastonbury.(where they theorize where lake of Avalon is bc most stuff points there)

Be aware I am not fully integrated into dcu so this is all pure finger crossing and Google. BUT merlin, oh man I've been slightly obsessed with Arthurian Legend since a child and I blame that on Disney ngl specifically Avalon High. That's the soonest I think vividly remember seeing anything.

Okay back to the program. Don't yell at me. Also fck the sht about Liverpool. WE bring house of mysteries into this. So if I remember it like kinda makes portals to different places? Like the door of Howls moving castle? I LOOKED IT UP. It's cracked version of if the Howls moving castle and tardis(dr who spoilers ig??? if we remember its actually sentient from a short arc but i dont think they continued it, but my theory from that is because it has been mixed up with different tardis's and switched mutiple times.... also splits...) had a baby is how I'm taking it.

Oh gosh where was I. OKAY okay. Where EVER the fuck that lake is, maybe Glastonbury, it has been having power fluctuations. If you read Merlin fanfics you know people usually put a lil cottage there and say it's where merlin is waiting for arthur.

(Hey just discovered that dcu has its own Arthurian Legend shit. Not suprise but now I have to figure out if anything would connect to any main plots in dcu, and how to get around it... also, discovery: Madame Xanadu is fcking NIMUE, ive vaguely heard of the name Xanadu but I'm in AWE. Wow(also if anything since in merlin bbc, she is dead. We can use the after affect of the lightning strike to imagine that part of her magic afterthought of her with her soul manages to attract itself to the lake of avalon where it becomes stuck in a stasis of reimagining her soul. We can imagine that something merlin did, did not let her to cross fully into the land of the dead as part of it serves. We can make up that some family or a run away mother on the run to protect her baby runs into the lake after the downfall or ceasing to exist of Camelot, takes a drink from the lake. Finally managing to find relaxation and some source of water convenienly close by. I imagine that she manages to absorb whats left of nimue into her babies soul or maybe even becoming the baby itself (if we think the possibility of unknown still born) the child lives normally, with small glimpses of memories. I imagine the full development of somewhat remembering mightve killed her mother and along with a potential aggression that mightve been happening at the time. But I imagine her not remembering specifically around knowing of emrys/merlin, so I think that she wouldnt remember any specific parts of it even if told by the mouth, it says she was there. So she couldnt tell you any specifics about it. Beep boop imagine the rest.)

[Start here for any semblance of actual plot]

So imagining this it's either that the house just materializes beside the cottage, across the lake from the cottage, or shapes itself into it. When leaving a artifact in the house constantine feels a shift in the houses integrity. It hums, or it sings, but the shift sounds like pure magic. The shift is so subtle but aggressive enough he feels it throught his magic, his blood, and his possible soul. He runs to the door ,hesitates, opens it. He's met with a lake? He looks across and sees a cottage. Looking back to the lake it starts to shake? No not shake. But there are ripples if you look close enough,with every second the ripples grow. "Shit- shit- shit-," he closes the door grabs the closest alcohol, then opens the door. The scenery had changed. Not understanding what he was seeing, he takes a heavy swig. Then mutters a bunch of words about getting sloshed and drowning some bloke in a lake.

I imagine that he is puzzled about what it happening. Not being able to find the exact place as if its being hidden. He somehow gets side tracked by some important magic shit. Then it is calm. Then, it happens again, but this time. When the justice league watch tower manages to float directly above where the lake should be when floating in space. John is there in the tower for some type of demanded business that was finishing up. As being connected in some way to the House, it demands his attention. The world shifts as he stands. One minute he is in the tower, the next, whoever of the JL and him materializes into the House of Mystery. Ah, he knew he was forgetting something.

Everyone is disoriented from the change. Trying to get into a defense position. He looks to the door already knowing the feeling of its changes. Turning to the door he swings it open. Waves, Ripples, and pure magic is pulsing through the lake. Seeing a light specifically concentrated in the middle so bright the shine it gives makes the lake look almost pure white. The light rises. "Ready yourselves for what's coming! I sure as hell am NOT ready". Positions are taken. Which is cute. Since it's a possibility what ever fucking thing that comes out of this lake is so powerful, and pure magic it can take anything out. Then the lake calms. The light is still there but everything is: calm. Not a bird, or the wind, not a whisper of noise from above or below is heard. As this happens the light slowly creeps closer, and closer, to the edge of where they are.

With this the light is slowly fading, as it inches. Till its finally close enough, the light disappears but something is definitely there. Then a splash is seen. With it an arm, then another arm, like it is trying to claw itself to the surface and reach land. Finally, as it feels like every second taken is a million more and every breath that is given is stretched. A head breaks through the water. With blond hair, so blond even the water couldn't hide how golden it was.

Finally we have our king, but the question was: where's merlin?

(This last part is another idea for it, but honestly it can be anything)

[the-king-and-the-druidess]

what are your headcanons about Arthur x Morgana (or Morgause) in the arthurian mythology? How would you picture an AU where Morgana had won? Would she have killed Arthur? Would she bring him back to life again? Would she find a way to keep him alive without him being a threat to her rule?

Hi, Anon ☘️ it's going to be a long ramble.

Subconsciously, I always like to reference Arthurian Armor when I'm talking about the BBC, it gives a broader picture.

The Wild Huntress and the Golden King, the High Priestess of the Old Religion and the Lord's First Servant(give a listen to The horror and the wild by the Amazing Devil, it's their song); memory and destiny, love and hatred, struggle, guilt and eternal redemption, they are perfect. They can love other people but the one is always for each other. Arthur and Morgana are perfect together and even more perfect when apart...

She is his darkness, the attraction of the old and wild and true; he is her light, the hope of bright and good things, challenge she can never win but can never lose either.

They long and yearn for each other and what the other represents, but destiny clashes and lets them not. They are like this because they are not together. The Kingdom crumbles because they were together, because of their forbidden love and its fruits. Guinevere and Lancelot think they keep the most dangerous secrets, that their love is the most forbidden and bittersweet, but their Master and King keeps something even more dark and profound: he loved and loves his own sister, the mortal enemy of everything that is noble and good. Only he knows that Morgana's heart wasn't always so frozen.

Armor is the very definition of Stars-Crossed lovers, a villainess x hero. Their impact is huge, even Disney's Ursula and Triton are built after Armor.

Their chasing to undo each other is more like seeking for. Arthur is the reason of Morgana's downfall. If Uther hadn't forced Ygraine to sleep with him, Morgana would have remained a princess, happy with her true family. If Arthur hadn't pulled the Sword out of the Stone, she would have stayed in peace, the only heiress, but then she would never have known love and destiny so great. If Arthur had never known Morgana, he would never have become the king of legends.

The first and most important is Avalon Afterlife, where they can live together and 'rule' the magical island, where they can have what they couldn't before.

Or: they hide the fact of their relation and get married legally. Only Merlin knows the secret, and glares at them sinisterly from time to time, muttering some ominous prophecies.

Or: they didn't know, but Merlin separates them, leaving them forever bitter, starting the whole struggle.

As for an after Camlann victory, Morgana, having imprisoned the childless Guinevere in a monastery, can claim the throne for herself, ensuring her claim by the Saxon army. I can see her using necromancy to rise Arthur from the dead or bring him back from Avalon to destroy the prophecy of his future return...or have him by her side as well.

Our if she didn't, if he's out of her reach and fell by her or other's hand, she can realise the queenship doesn't bring her joy anymore, that life is hollow without Arthur.

Or: Arthur burns Guinevere at the stake (on Morgana's advice, as I like to headcanon); or does not pursue her and Lancelot, or kills them — any way where Gwencelot is over for him, and Morgana returns to regain his heart and her place in Camelot. What if they stand against Mordred, their rebellious son, together?..

If we go with some pre-Camlann victory with the help of sorcery and intrigue, then Morgana can keep Arthur as a noble prisoner, seducing him with their former love. Arthur, though deeply upset by her evil deeds, could never bring himself to truly hate her and hold her accountable for what she did to his knights or his own wife. He kept forgiving her.

Or: what if Morgana kills King Urien, or somehow ignites a war between their kingdoms in order to free herself and bring Arthur back?

[winter-leftovers]

Til The End Of Eternity || Chapter twenty three: How To Fix An Amulet (23/?)

(Douxie Casperan x f!reader)

Summary: Y/n is trying to figure her life out but is going to be hard since her brother is the new trollhunter and she is plagued by dreams and feelings she doesn’t understand.

Chapter Summary:The trollhunter team manages to escape Merlin’s tomb. Y/n doesn’t know where she stands with Jim.

Word count: 2514

Warnings: some angst, ptsd if you squint?

(Season 3 Episode 8 )

Song?: I’m Your Man by Mitski

Previous - Next

Masterlist

“I have missed you, father” Y/n smiles, taking one of Merlin’s hands.

“Whaaaaat?” Toby squealed.

Merlin squeezed his daughter's hand back, caressing her cheek with his other hand; Her soft skin pulled him back to the day they met for a moment. He held her cheek and kissed her forehead just like he did the day they said goodbye, only this time the smell of dead bodies and the screams of war weren’t so overwhelming.

“Father?” Y/n heard Jim’s confused voice.

She pulled back before the whispers could grow into a full on interrogation. That could wait until they were back in Arcadia.

“Well, where might my staff be?” Merlin looked around “Staff of Avalon About yea high? Emerald at the top. It is rather dashing” he continued after the lack of response.

“We might have lost it a little” Toby’s face contorted in fear.

“Lost it..a little?” Merlin turned to Y/n.

She looked down at her feet.

“Gunmar took it” Jim explained.

“Oh, is that all?” Merlin walked up to the trollhunter team “Well, it’s not the staff that’s lost, then. It’s just hope” he sighed, turning back to the stone where he slept the last century.

Y/n frowned, her eyes still glued to her feet, her fingers twisting each other trying to squeeze out the anxiety out of her body. She could feel her father passing glance, his cold gaze freezing her, mocking their attempt to get the staff. His voice was as sharp as it was in her nightmares. Merlin's irony was sharp as a knife. Always able to stab and twist in her gut without even trying.

“How’d you know we were gonna come looking for you? I mean, your staff?” Jim followed him.

“Because, Jim” Merlin stood tall, his face serious “I am your father”

A gasp erupted from Jim's chest. He looked back at the wizard, his mother’s face coming back to him. How? The little memories he had…

Y/n laughter filled up the room. Her right hand clutching her stomach, her left hand finding her father’s right arm grabbing it for balance, trying not to fall. The team’s confused faces weren't helping her.

“Kidding!” Merlin chuckled, he sat down on the table “I can glimpse into the future. It’s not a perfect gift, though”

“You expected me to be older”

“And taller” Merlin remind him

“Clearly, he foresaw our arrival here to rouse him from his slumber” Blinky got closer.

“Why were you sleeping in the first place?” Claire got closer.

“It was the cost of battle, my dear” Merlin explained.

“What battle?” Aaarrrgghh and Toby got closer too.

“The Battle of Killahead” Y/n stood behind the table.

“Excuse me, your wizard-ness, but Aaarrrgghh and I were present at Killahead, and neither of us recall seeing you there” Blinky lifted his hand “And I’ve read volume upon volume of history books, and none mention…”

Merlin nodded

“History is just an account of what supposedly happened,” he stood up and rubbing his hands together, a circle of green smoke appearing between them “but it’s rarely the full story, if ever”

“What’s this now?” Toby asked, transfix by the light

“I’m opening a window to the past”

“This is gonna be very cool if we don’t end up dying” Toby said as the light grew bigger and bigger.

After the light died, the darkness was replaced by a dark forest.

“Where are we?” Jim asked.

‘Camelot’ Y/n though. She took the lead along with her father as she looked around. Before these woods were a battlefield they were her backyard. Even if it was in her father’s memory it was still strange to be back.

“Still in the Geode Caverns. This is all an illusion” explained Merlin.

“I’ve been here…Great Gorka, this is the forest of Killahead” Blinky said

“As well as I remembered it, at least” Merlin said without turning around.

A white light blinded them and the war began. Weapons clashing, warriors screaming, cursing, praying. Through Merlin’s illusion they barely had to live the battle, they could see still frames of the creatures that were there and Y/n thanked him for that. She walked with her father, not interested in seeing more than she needed to see. She could hear Blinky reliving his glorious moment, Jim’s and Toby’s laughter. She felt her stomach turn, Killahead was something she had chosen to forget.

“I’m so sorry” Y/n heard Jim cry.

She turned and saw Jim crying to the memory of Draal. She didn’t know what to say to make him feel better, if such words existed.

Merlin looked down to her and saw in her eyes what he needed to know. He walked up to Jim, Y/n close behind.

“Come now” Merlin grabbed Jim’s shoulder “There is more to see. The real battle is over this way”

Y/n took a deep breath and followed Merlin through Killahead bridge.

“While you were focused on the battle, there were events unfolding that you were unaware of” Merlin explained.

“I supposed fighting for our lives would be a little distracting” said Blinky.

“What? That’s her! That’s…” Claire screamed.

“Morgana. Yes, the Pale Lady, The Mother of Monsters” completed Merlin.

“Ugh! I could add more names to that list” cursed Claire.

Y/n felt the roots of the trees wrapping around her ankles forcing her to watch the spectacle again. Merlin and Morgana, Morgana and Merlin. Both halves of her heart fighting against each other, both for noble reasons at heart. Y/n curses the day Morgana was led astray.

“Hey! Is that Y/n?” Toby shook Aaarrrgghh’s arm.

Behind a stone, guarding the battle was nineteen year old Y/n with her staff in hand, she remembers how much her hands were shaking. The dirt along her scared face and dress could tell you how long that day had been.

The troll looked back at her with a confused face.

“How old are you?” Toby turned back to her, horrified.

“I…” Y/n opened her mouth to talk but quickly closed back up. She didn’t know how to respond.

“None of the history books speak of this” Blinky whispered, scared to disturb the scene in front of him.

“Well, books don’t talk, for one thing” Merlin walked to the still frame of him and Morgana fighting and turned to the trollhunter team “This was the true battle of Killahead”

“You and Morgana?” Jim was confused.

“She is as ancient as I am, perhaps more so”

Y/n rolled her eyes. He had to be joking.

“Craving chaos, she sowed the seeds of dissension between humans and trollkind” Merlin continued, turning back to Morgana.

“I know her well. She’s a real headcase” Claire crossed her arms.

“Hence the Eternal Night. She realized if trolls could not survive in daylight, what if night were everlasting?”

“Gunmar and his forces could do whatever they wanted” Jim said.

“Morgana had to be stopped at any cost. It turns out…” Merlin turned back.

“That cost was your magic” Jim walked to Merlin.

“Aye. The only way to stop her was to expend almost all my power and confine her for as long as possible”

“I’m guessing “as possible” ends right about now” said Claire

“We’re doomed to wage battle once more thanks to the work of Gunmar” said Merlin

The illusion was over and they were back in the cave.

“Well, all fun things must end” Merlin rubbed the leftover magic off his palms.

Y/n shook her head trying to get the image of the battle of Killahead from her head.

“If we’re going to do anything about it, we still have to get out of here” Jim insisted.

The cave quivered.

The trollhunter team turned to the tunnel they came through.

“What’s this now?” Merlin complained.

“How is it raining underground?” Toby’s voice was shaking.

“The cave-in must have diverted the waterfall into the mountain” Blinky explained.

“So we’re not trapped, but we’re gonna drown?” Toby screamed.

The cavern growled.

“That sounds like a lot of water” said Claire.

“Centuries later, it never gets easier” Merlin sighed.

“Bet you appreciate me a lot more now” Y/n chuckled and looked up to Merlin from her place in the ground.

He looked down and rolled his eyes playfully.

“We could really use some of your awesome wizard magic to, you know, get us out of here” a big drop of water hit Toby’s head.

“I suppose that would be quite lovely. But weren’t you listening?” Merlin knocked Toby’s head “I just said I used most of it to trap Morgana. Kids these days”

“But you just took us to the Killahead Battle?” He insisted.

“That was a mere parlor trick. To escape, we’ll need the power of the amulet” Merlin turned to Jim

“That might be a little difficult” Jim scratched his head “I destroyed it to get the map so we could find you”

“Hand it over” The wizard extended his hand.

Jim pulled out the broken pieces from his pocket and handed them over to Merlin.

“Oh” the wizard was appalled “you really did a number on this thing”

Jim nervously chuckled

“Can you put it back together?” Claire asked

“Of course he can. Those very hands forged the amulet in the first place…”

“Four arms, six eyes, but he talks as if he had ten mouths” Merlin interrupted Blinky. He walked over to Claire “Of course I can, my dear. These very hands forged the amulet in the first place” his voice softened.

Y/n chuckled. Forging the amulet was something that took more than two hands. She saw her father walk over to the table she was leaning on and start putting the pieces back together.

The cave growled again reminding them that their time was running out.

“Would you please be quiet?” Merlin screamed.

“I don’t think the mountain is going to listen to you” Y/n stood up and turned to her father’s work, all the pieces were piled together impossible to distinguish from each other.

“It’s not us it’s the rubble” Toby explained, desperation dripping out of his mouth.

Merlin ignored the boy and kept fiddling with the amulet.

Y/n looked at his father's unkempt surroundings, everything would go smoother if she tightened things up and looked back at the trollhunter team doing everything that was possible to keep water as far away as possible from them. She sighed, starting to fix the pieces of metal from important to least important.

“I feel we haven’t much time” warned Blinky.

“I’m doing my best. It’s been centuries, do you understand?” Merlin kept working.

“Can we get an ETA on the fixing there, Merle?” Toby asked the wizard “do you mind if I call you Merle?”

“Not if you mind spending the rest of your life as a cockroach” Merlin turned back.

“Father” Y/n warned.

He ignored her and went back to the amulet.

Y/n sighed, making a mental note about explaining the team, especially Toby, on how to behave around an old man a thousand years ago.

A sudden wind entered through the cavern’s opening.

“Well, that felt like a breath of fresh air, huh? It was getting stuffy in here” Toby smiled.

“That wasn’t a breath” Claire said, worry all over her face.

“That was a floodgate!” Warned Blinky

Jim ran to the wizard

“You have to fix it”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? Twiddling my thumbs?” Merlin snapped back “It’s an amulet forged by magic. You don’t just snap it back together” he put down the amulet to observe his work so far.

“A piece is missing” Y/n observed.

“I gave you everything I had” Jim panicked

“Guys? The water is getting louder!” Toby screamed.

“Focus” Merlin grabbed Jim by the shoulder “We need a small piece, something that can fit right here” He pointed to the center of the amulet.

Y/n turned to Claire, her hair clips illuminating like a message from god.

“Claire, your hair clips!” She pointed out.

The girl quickly took one out and handed it to Merlin.

“Thank you, fair Claire” Merlin finished the amulet with a swift move “Here”

“Now, what am I supposed to do?” Jim took the amulet and looked back at the wizard.

“You’re the trollhunter, and you alone must tap the amulet’s true potential” Merlin said

The rocks gave in. Violent waves of water started to pour in threatening to take them apart. Jim stood in front of the water, his friends behind and Merlin behind him. With all his trust in Merlin’s words he lifted the amulet

“For the glory of, well, you, Daylight is mine to command! And Daylight will protect us!” With Daylight in hand, Jim parted the flood in half keeping everyone alive and dry.

“You’re doing it, Jimbo! I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it!” Toby cheered.

Jim moved his sword, breaking an opening with the pressure of the water.

“Awesome” Y/n whispered when she felt the cold air of the trees.

“The instrument of our deaths has been turned into the means of our egress!” Blinky celebrated.

“Are you a troll or a thesaurus? I’m genuinely curious” Merlin lifted a brow.

Y/n looked back at Jim, he was kneeling down, still trying to catch his breath.

“Are you okay?” She kneeled next to him.

“How did he know I could do this?” He panted “Did you know I could do this?” He said more aggressively.

Y/n looked down. She was barely able to look at the anger in his eyes.

“I know you can do more things that you can realize, Jim” she looked up “I know you must have questions and I…probably don’t remember the answer, but Jim, I swear lying wasn’t in my plans. I lost my memory and…”

“You lost your memory?” Merlin walked up to them.

“It doesn’t matter right now” Y/n stood up, bumping with her father’s chest “I…”

Merlin grabbed her chin and checked her pupils.

“Mmmh…interesting”

“No…” she jumped away from his touch “Jim…has questions” she pushed away, walking to the border where the rocks met the trees.

“Careful” Aaarrrgghh said

Y/n nodded.

She looked up and saw the moon and wondered if Douxie’s was watching the moon too. Y/n pinched her nose. She ruined it. She found a nice family and she ruined it. What was she going to say now? She wishes Douxie could be there. She wishes Archie could be there to make a joke or some sarcastic comment that Douxie would shut down to not make her feel bad but actually, Y/n would find it funny. She wishes Al could be there. Al always had something to say about everything and nothing, so there’s never a moment where you feel alone. Maybe that’s why she leaves Al with Douxie every time.

Y/n plays with her bracelet and wonders if there would be a time where she won’t lose someone she loves.

A/n: sorry for the delay 😭😭 should i tag it as full angst or some angst is ok??

[megashadowdragon]

redraw of emerys son of merlin and gudako

source : www . reddit . com/r/grandorder/comments/199cxqc/redraw_of_emerys_son_of_merlin_and_gudako/

original bio:

Gudako X Merlin: Son

Name: Emerys

Age: 17

Personality: Annoying to the people who don’t like him, but reliable to his allies. Emerys is a smooth talker who can worm his way out of almost any situation with just his words alone. To the unaware, his words and logic make sense, making him win almost any argument, but to those as smart as him, he is a sly fox who they know from the start not to engage with a verbal debate with. While he is no stranger to a fight, he prefers to avoid combat if possible. Mainly due to the fact he would rather avoid pain. This however comes into conflict as he can’t help but rile people up. He also likes to do things that are cool and not exactly practical.

Other Stuff: Born due to Merlin having fun aka [REDACTED] with Gudako . He specializes in elemental and dream magecraft. Using several staffs that he plagiarized made himself. Because he is a smooth talker, he is better at High-Speed Incantation than his father, this is useful when his is running from someone and he needs to cast a spell quickly in order to escape. Speaking of which, running is the one practical thing he excels at. While Myriam is someone who prefers to teleport away and get herself immediately out of danger, Emerys will simply outrun his chasers. As he enjoys the feeling of leaving them in the dust. This has worked 70% of the times he was running from someone.

Bio: Of the many children of the Fujimaru family. There are six the stand out as being a special case due to their relationships with each other, or more specifically, the parents and their connection to the Land of Paradise and Hope. The two children of Morgan: Timothy and Calisto, the two children of Castoria: Cayde and Alina, and finally, the kids of both the male and female Merlin. Through this loose connection, they are known as the “Children of Avalon”.

With the birth of Emerys, the power balance settled. With one boy and girl for each “person” associated with Avalon. Naturally, alliances and relationships vary. And on a spectrum of responsible to troublemaking, the Morgan kids occupy one end, the Castoria kids occupy the other, with the Merlin kids somewhere in the middle.

When compared to his “sister”/cousin Myriam, Emerys is a natural strategist with a diverse set of skills that makes him unpredictable. Meanwhile, Myriam has untapped leadership potential and more powerful magic circuits, she has less ways to use them. Emerys on the other hand is an all around who uses elemental magecraft as well as dream magic that he learned from his father.

Emerys likes to accessorize, to an often unnecessary degree. He carries things in his coat that he generally does not need, from things like mystic codes, to a small magnet. The most obvious example of this is him owning multiple staffs. Rather than use a single staff for all his spell casting, he has around 6 that corresponds to a specific element or magecraft. But since he can’t carry them all at once, he had a special vault made where he keeps them, and has the ability to send the specific staff he needs anytime he calls.

However, once it was learned that his staffs he made were all just ripoffs of one that already existed. The owners fo the originals were less flattered by these imitations and more slighted by them.

There is a reason why Da Vinci won’t allow him in her workshop.

Quotes:

“I must warn you, I have developed a secret technique, one that was passed down from father to son. A skill that is brilliant in scope, and highly effective in execution. And its name is-”

“You like my staffs? They’re totally original BTW.”

“They say my smile is worth a thousand words, all I have to do is speak and I have already won this conversation.”

Relationships:

Father: Father is father. I learned some of my best tricks from him.

Mother: Mother will never admit it, but she gets so flustered around dad, I bet that even without Incubus blood, he could have seduced her in seconds.

Carina: My closest friend and family member. Sure her ego is through the roof, but I can’t call her out since I have one as well. I’m confident in saying we’d make the most powerful sibling duo in our entire family, in theory anyway.

Myriam: We often joke that we are genderflipped versions of each other. Heck we even tried disguising as one another with illusions to see who could keep up appearances the longest.

Calisto: She considers herself Myriam’s arch-nemesis. And I can agree with that statement, those two are gonna be very close as sisters growing up. Just in a different way.

Timothy: Do I consider him my rival? Maybe, if he was anywhere near as good as me….whats that? He’s standing right behind me?

Cayde: He tries so hard at being a ladies' man, he often wishes he had my smooth voice. Although that might be more trouble than its worth if he had my way of speaking

Alina: Why is so serious all the time, I get having Calisto for a sister is rough, but its not the worst thing in the world.

Lavender: I once tried to borrow her staff, but then I remember her mom is a vengeful Goddess who doesn’t like people messing with her kids.

Finn: He made me an offer to make high-quality unique staffs if I did some favors for him. Just what were they? Sorry, the clause in the contract says I can’t tell.

What people think about him:

Da Vinci: I started copyrighting all my stuff once I saw his newest “staff”.

Morgan: *Statement removed due to overuse of vulgar language and insults*

Miles: He can run fast, thats for sure

Carina: He may not be a child of my father, but if anyone says he is only half my brother, I will paralyze them for a whole day. He is the greatest brother I could ask for!

Timothy: I heard you were talking %$#@ about me.

Victoria: There is a reason why Myriam is the court mage and not him.

Duran: I honestly wished big sis made him the court mage, he makes the best jokes.

[theothersarshi]

Also, looking at this:

There have been superheroes, vampire/supernatural shows, fantasy shows, movies, books, the list goes on, that feel like they were generated out of Tumblr's desires for ideal fandom media

I think fandom is a bit like relationships in a way: sure, we really want some things, but an ideal partner/fandom will usually be different from what we think we want, because our ability to truly analyze what brings us to love a person/show is usually limited.

It's the "I want someone exactly like you - but not you" thing, but for fandoms.

I could talk about why I didn't imprint on Killing Eve, despite thinking it'd be right up my alley, but let's avoid the possibility that I might be unconsciously anti-f/f, and go for another show that I was hyped to try: Merlin.

Merlin:

is a British TV show and I'm a fan of their general insanity in shows (from Dr Who to Blackpool).

It's about King Arthur and I love things that have to do with that. Sign me up for the Wife of Bath's Tale, Sir Gawain and the Greene Knight, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "The Sword in the Stone", "The Mists of Avalon", "First Knight" - you name it, I'm there!

magic!

dragons!

drama! and relationships!

pretty boys!

strong fandom!

Perfect. Media.

Except I couldn't get past episode 2 or 3. I spent some time pondering about why I hated it, and this is what I've come up with: I don't like that they're all teens; I dislike that this feels like a supernatural high school drama in a fantasy setting (as opposed to a different time, a different world); I want mystery with my magic and this didn't feel dark and mysterious; Merlin is supposed to be wise! he feels more like a dumbass!

It all amounts to: I absolutely would love a story about King Arthur, Merlin, the court at Camelot, teenage drama, pretty boys, magic, dragons and so on - but not this one.

The problem with "I want exactly this - but make it X" is that there are always more elements changing than just that X. Lower budgets. Different acting styles. Different atmosphere. Different sense of humor. Different types of storytelling.

(Also, if you want a fandom where femslash >> slash > het, Arcane (2021), over 16k fics on Ao3, the main f/f ship has over 6000 fics; the main show is complex, has a big budget, is amazingly beautiful, it's got great (voice) acting, lovely worldbuilding, complex themes. They've thrown money and talent at it in heaps, and it became a hit beyond anything expected prior to its launch. It's one of my fandoms, and I love that story to bits.)

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/746553097204203521/the-fandom-hates-women-response-to-lack-of-ff

The "fandom hates women" part of it comes from the fact that fandom as an entity just doesn't watch the kind of media that draws femslash, even if it ticks all of the boxes of things those very same people say they like. There are so many times I've watched a show that I've seen mega-popular Tumblr posts wishing existed, and then the fandom is so, so small comparatively and often in general. There have been superheroes, vampire/supernatural shows, fantasy shows, movies, books, the list goes on, that feel like they were generated out of Tumblr's desires for ideal fandom media, and everyone knows they're never going to attract anywhere near the same attention for fandom and fanworks because the common denominator just tends to be that if there isn't a full ensemble of attractive men to ship either with each other or with the women, fandom's not interested.

So it's not about prioritizing women in that sense, it's about people witnessing hypocrisy over and over again the second a show doesn't have a mostly-male ensemble. The people who are in these fandoms are frustrated that good faith attempts to get people interested are met with every excuse in the book that all eventually boils down to "I don't like watching stuff with women in it as much as I like watching stuff with men in it." And if that's how people feel about it... sometimes the conclusions are going to turn into the more uncharitable take of "fandom hates women."

--

Maybe, but whenever I see a "fandom hates women" reblog of my stuff, one or two reblogs further down the chain I get an overt TERF. I just had to go block several people today, in fact.

The first person to reblog with a comment like that is usually subtle, but their friends and friends of friends are not. The rhetoric that very quickly starts is the fandom equivalent of that "All the butches are becoming trans men! We're losing lesbians!" stuff.

Here's the thing: I've been in ten billion fandoms that were so awesome and fit fandom's supposed tastes to a T and yet no amount of promoting them could get anyone to try the canon. This goes for canons that are all men or all white men or all majority ethnicity men or whatever else.

The default state of media is to not engender a big fic fandom.

I agree that the rare outliers mostly follow certain patterns, but we extrapolate too far when we say that a lack of those patterns is why a fandom is small.

A fandom is small because that's the near-universal default.

--

Yes, a small slice of fandom consists of guilt-ridden queer fujoshi who say they want more f/f but don't make much of a move to make that happen. I tend to run into that a lot because of my own tastes and having friends who share those tastes.

Far more of fandom is people talking generally about how representation matters without saying they would personally join these fandoms if they existed.

Neither group is large enough to be the real reason some woman-heavy canon fails to take off to HP levels.

The real reason is not hypocrisy but the fact that most things don't take off like that. Most things without massive, massive audiences especially don't take off like that. And the very few things that do are flukes and don't actually predict that another similar thing will take off in the future.

--

Go to AO3's tag search. Search for all canonical fandom tags. Sort by uses and descending order.

Right now, I get 64,390 tags.

The first page, 50 tags, goes from HP with 497,845 works to the Thor movies with 59,266 works. By page 6, we're below 10 thousand works.

By the end of page 10, we're down to Labyrinth with 3,906.

Somewhere in the top 500 AO3 fandom tags (many of which are just franchise metatags for each other), we go all the way from megafandoms to medium size and down to relatively modest ones.

That's not a lot of room for a big f/f-heavy fandom given the trends in mainstream media and that mainstream media is where most really big fandoms come from.

--

I also notice that you're conflating a lack of desire to watch something that's primarily about women with a lack of desire to watch something that includes women.

There are tons of fans who want something more like The Mummy with a leading man and leading woman they love.

Granted, that's not me and that's not a lot of my fujoshi/slasher audience, but it's extraordinarily common. I know plenty of people who don't like canons that are only dudes, but since they also don't like canons that are only ladies and they don't ship f/f, this gets spun into "fandom hates women".

--

Let me be clear:

Conflating "lesbians" and "women" is a radfem position.

[emu-lumberjack]

Merlin visits

Merlin finally felt his power resurface and decides to track it down. Arriving at a highschool and running into an old friend.

-----------------------------------

Hi yes I should be working on my other fics, butttttttttttttt I wanted to write this.

--------------------

“Merlin.” The shadowy figure said from the corner of the room.

“Mordred. It’s been a long time.” The wizard’s hair was grey with a matching beard to boot.

“Yes. seems like it took a toll on you. How long has it been a few centuries?” the shadowy figure sat forward revealing a man with cropped brown hair in a three-piece suit. The classroom was just opening back up from break so no students had come in yet.

“At least I don’t look like a prat.” the old wizard never lost the laughter in his eyes.

Mordred was growing impatient with his former savior. “What are you doing in my classroom Merlin.”

“Well, it should be obvious. I’m here to teach!”

Mordred let out a laugh, “Looking like that! Anyway, remember when you tried to teach Gwaine maths. teaching a room of high school kids is even worse.”

“Trying to scare me off eh. Well too bad it won’t work. And To your first point who says I’ll be looking like this.” He smirked and pulled a magical girl pose, in a flash of light his grey hair darkened and his beard rescinded. His skin smoothed and cheeks became more flush. There stood the young twenty-some Merlin Mordred first met all those years ago. “Meet your new student teacher Percy Pendragon.”

“Percival too on the nose for you?”

“Slightly.” the bell rang. “Looks like the students are going to come in, shall we begin.”

“Right this way Mr. Pendragon.”

-------------------------------

Allie’s first day was going interestingly. First running (ha) into Will again, then finding out he had a girlfriend. Now she was walking into a class where she has to studies her parent’s textbook. Oh yeah, life’s going great.  

“Now students other than just having a new student this semester we’re also going to have a new student teacher. This is Mr. Pendragon.” He gestured to a black-haired man wearing a sports jacket, white shirt, and jeans. He surveyed the room, pausing when he saw a familiar mop of blonde hair, only to dismiss it seeing the mop was attached to a young girl.

“Good to met you all.” He said, leaning into his British accent, “I know very ironic my last name being Pendragon and we’re studying the Pra-- King Arthur first coincidences. But I think you’ll find I’m very knowledgeable in the field.” Allie was too busy focusing on her day to notice his little slip-up, her day just got weirder when out of a knights helmet she chose “The Order of The Bear” something her parents had never mentioned.

Merlin on the other hand was focused on trying to find Arthur, there were too many people in the room, but Merlin was positive that Arthur's reincarnation was in here. He could cross off a few names on his list, mainly girls because although it could happen Arthur reincarnating into a girl was highly unlikely. Then he could also cross off the boy Lance, clearly Lancelot. Finally, he crossed off the boy Miles, Merlin could feel his own power coming from the boy. Since the old mage never died he instead passed down a portion of his power so that whoever would inherit it would be able to protect the king. Plus he now he could always find the boy who was supposed to be his reincarnation. There was one candidate, Will. after all he appeared to be best friends with Lance and was dating Jen who had to be the reincarnation of Guenivere. He let out a small smile thinking about her who was also a friend to him and a good queen to her people.

He was so lost in thought he nearly missed catching Miles after the bell rung. Running after him quickly Merlin put a hand on his shoulder to stop the young boy.

“Miles right? Could I uh... Have a word.” Merlin was out of breath he wasn’t exactly a runner in his older age.

“Sorry, Mr. Pendragon but I have to get to class.” Miles looked nervous not wanting to be late to his next class.

“Don’t worry about that I can write you a note. Plus there’s a little something magical We should talk about.” Miles poked his head up eyes alert.

“How do you know about that I haven’t told anyone.” his voice was faster the topic freaking the poor boy out. Merlin noticed this and with the empty hallway, he figured a small demonstration couldn’t hurt. Slowly as to not scare the boy he put his hand out and muttered a few words. Soon after small gold dust flew up from his hand landing in the shape of a flower before settling back down into his hand.

“I know about your powers Miles because I gave them to you.” Merlin thought that was a pretty cool way to respond. Miles on the other hand was freaking out.

“I.. what… how…. Not possible… no way.” he devolved into just sputtering out random syllables whilst Merlin was contemplating whether he should have waited to show the boy his power. “I think I need to go to the nurse because I’ve got to be seeing things.”

There was his opening, “Like how you saw Ms. Pennington’s shoelace untied, at track tryouts.”

“How did you?” Miles began.

“I saw it too. I didn’t think much of it but I figured you would’ve gotten the same one. Now I can either excuse you entirely from class now and we can chat or I can have office hours with you later today and write you a note to class. Your choice.”

“There is no way I’m gonna be able to focus in phys-ed after this.”

“Excused it is. Whose your pe teacher, I’ll give them a ring to let them know you won’t be in class and I have you instead.”

“Yeah though I have about 200 questions.” Miles was baffled, who wouldn’t be after finding out your teacher is a wizard.

“Okay. you can start asking on the way back to my office.” Merlin forgot how nice it was to have someone interested in magic rather than trying to kill it.

“Well to start which Wizard are you? Because there are tons throughout history and the only name you gave was Percy Pendr---- Oh you have got to be joking.” it finally dawned on Miles. Pendragon, Arthur.

“Figured it out all on your own. You are clever, good.” Merlin’s smile widened.

“Wait that means you knew Arthur. I think my question count just went up to about 500.”

“I figured it would.”

“OK next question what was Arthur like. Because none of his mythos that I’ve read and learned about has ever had a consistent character for him.” the duo had gotten to Merlins office, which was a converted broom closet. No other teachers wanted it so the student teachers were able to snag it.

Merlin thought back to his long distant past and laughed at old in jokes he had with the young king. “He was a Prat, but a good one.” with that he opened the door to his office, and to his past.

[dillpicklestanley]

Merlin + Incorrect Quotes || Avalon High

[virareve]

While languishing over the fic exchange, I recently noticed that some of the first few times I shared some drabbles/one shots I posted from a collection of short J/B writings I’ve put up on AO3, I was just sharing a link to the main work and not the specific chapter. I wanted to reshare some of the ones I was most proud of/cared about the most that I didn’t properly link to previously. 

For anyone who prefers, I’m posting the text to the chapter below as well. :)

Summary:  In the shadow of Harrenhal, she runs along the shoreline of Gods Eye Lake, calling for the Old Gods, looking for the Isle of Faces. She has to save her husband. But there is no island as far as she can see.

The day The High King returned to Harrenhal to seek The Isle of Faces, where The Old Gods were once said to have roamed, the sky poured the heaviest it ever had in all man’s known memory.  

Queen Sansa had come with him. Had brought him really. And now she stood in the shadow of the long abandoned castle. How mad must she look running up and down the shoreline of Gods Eye lake? Calling for Gods with no names?  As a girl, she was raised in the faith of the Seven by her mother. Then, early on she had renounced the faith of her father. But her Seven had brought about the destruction of the kingdom. By invoking them, declaring them the the true Gods of her lands, Westeros had lost the protections of The Old Gods and evil had been quick to step in and poison their realm. Today, she stood before them, at the old religion’s holiest place, begging their forgiveness so she could save her husband’s life.

“Help me! ” she screamed out into the misty void, “ You, you who sent your wizards and witches and prophets and said my husband would bring a Golden Age upon us save him! Help our people!” She had not changed clothes since she’d fled from the castle, immediately after the battle. It showed. Her gown, roughspun of wool and left without any decadent coloring to better hide amongst the servants, was ripped at the arms when she’d been briefly caught by soldiers in that false King Joffrey’s armies. The hemline of her dress ran red with blood that it had brushed upon in the floors of the castle as she had run to evade capture. “Please,” she yelled, hoping someone would hear her prayer from the heavens. “The High King is dying, save him, please! Save him!”

A ways away, where she had left them deposited in a copse of pines, the head of the King’s Round Table, Lord Commander Jon Snow kneeled deep into the mud and cradled his liege, holding his head carefully in his lap. The man who had raised him from his bastard status, had been his mentor and closest friend, lay so near death. Jon Snow could do nothing.

“Your majesty, we’re here, just as you asked. We made it to Harrenhal.” When he received no response he cursed out. “Godsdamn you, we’re here, your majesty. Wake up. Wake up.”

The king didn’t wake. His eyes did not open. His mouth did not twitch. From afar, Jon could still hear Sansa screaming to the Gods of the Old Faith. Perhaps it had been useless to go to them. Perhaps like The Seven, they were also false lies to con coin from the people and control the crown.

Or perhaps they did not answer to sinners. Jon knew he had broken the most sacred of oaths, betraying his King, the man he loved most, by lying with his Queen and laying with her in their own marriage bed. Even though he and Sansa wanted to save the best man in all of Westeros, the most honourable of them, perhaps they sentenced him to die by being the ones who interceded on his behalf before the Gods.

At the shoreline, Sansa had run into the same conclusion as she stumbled in the mud, nearly tripping over a rock. She was losing energy and hope. Again, she looked to the lake, seeking out for the Isle her husband had told her would be there. She could not see it. She could only see the dark shape of the opposite shore’s edge through the curtain of torrential rain. He wouldn’t lie to her. Despite the little known early days when he was still a duke, she had never known him to be anything but honourable. She had told him so on occasion when he had done an act so kind even her own heart had leapt, but he would argue that he was one of the worst sinners in the world. It was only by the grace of meeting a savior, he claimed, that he was now trying to atone for his sins.

A turn in the wind cause the rain to fall furiously against Sansa’s back and she fell forward. Her knees sank to the wet rocks. Head low, she reached forward, hands sinking into the freezing water, and prostrated herself before the Gods in one last supplication. If they didn’t answer now, she decided, she would take Jon and her king and they would seek a maester. She couldn’t waste what little chance her husband had. “Please,” she whispered. Her lips hovered just above the lake’s rolling water. “Please, take my life if you must, but spare him. I invoked the Seven. I brought upon our ruin. The fall of our Kingdom is not his fault.”

“Your majesty,” came a sound from all around her, “the Gods need not your blood. This is a path the King was fated to take.”

Sansa looked up and jumped back in surprise, scrambling in the rocks and tearing the soft skin of her palms as she backed further away into sharp-rocked soil.

“Who are you?” she asked, frightened. Was it really her husband’s deliverer? Or her executioner in disguise?

The woman who stood before her was everything beyond what Sansa had ever imagined from her Gods. She was beyond beauty and ugliness and existed to some realm of her own standard that Sansa found herself unable to comprehend. She glowed without bringing light. She was warrior and woman and Sansa had never met her likeness in all her years as a Lady and then as a Queen.

The woman smiled gently, “They call me many names, but now I am simply a guardian of The Isle.”

“My lady,” she stuttered and fell into a low bow so that her forehead nearly met the muddy floor.

Gentle hands fell to her arms, leading her to rise. “Come to your feet, Sister.”

Sansa did. She looked up and was struck again by this woman.The figure who came from the mists could only be described as otherworldly. Sansa, a mere mortal, had never seen such a likeness. Her body swathed in drapes of white, her hair the lightness of the old Targaryean High Kings and their children, and her eyes a blue more intense than the richest hued sapphires.

This was the Lady her husband had always seemed to seek when he looked past Sansa. This was the Lady whose memory he could never erase. Whose love he had always missed. Whose name had been the final word to leave his lips.

Tears well in her eyes. “You should kill me,” she murmured, “everything your king hoped to achieve, I’ve ruined. How can you not want me dead?”

“You could not change what the Gods had predetermined.”

“It was not the gods that chose to betray my husband, nor was it the Gods who made the decision to allow a man who was not him into my bed. I failed him for not being able to love him. I failed our country by not providing an heir. I failed everyone by bringing about the worship of the Seven. He’s dead by my faithlessness and disloyalty to all he stood for.”

The being above her hummed. “Are you Cersei? Did you bewitch your brother? Bear his child without his knowledge? Raise your child to overthrow his own father?”

Sansa shook her head.

“Those who try to fight against fate, often find themselves in worse troubles. Your husband understood the risks when he accepted the choice of the dukes. He faulted you not. I know him. He never would.”

Sansa shook her head. “You don’t know that, milady. He was so good, so kind to me, and yet, when he left, I strayed. I loved another man far more strongly than I ever did him.”

The woman made a sound of understanding, “But he was not the man you truly chose,” she said, conciliatory. “You, a mere child then, took up the duty to bridge your kingdom when your brother failed to uphold his obligations to the people. You married a man you did not know. For all you could have known, he might have hurt you, but you took the risk to save your kingdom and create peace. Love finds us in the least expected places milady, but to hope for the highest love in marriage is a rarity. He would have understood.”

“You...you,” Sansa stuttered, “you know him. I know you do. How can you be so kind?” She burst into tears, “I wronged you as well.”

“Shhh…” the lady murmured, laying hands upon her to calm her. “Now where is he?”

Hiccuping, Sansa grasped the woman’s hand and pulled her along, taking her to the pines that decorated the furthest edge of the lake, far from the reach of that dreadful castle. Under the boughs, Jon, who’s eyes she could still barely meet, held his king tightly in his lap. The blood from his open wounds continued to mix with the rainwater.

Jon looked up to see the mysterious woman beside Sansa. His eyes widened in surprise. “He will not last long.”

Her husband had somehow worsened more than Sansa thought possible. When Sansa left them beneath the trees, she’d believed him the nearest to death a man could go. Yet, surrounded by reddened mud and scarlet puddles, he appeared ghastly white. Bruises under his eyes had darkened to shades of violet. His joints and points looked more prominent under his tunic and breeches. His skin almost seemed to recede in on itself and he looked smaller, less magnificent than Sansa had ever known him to be.

The Lady gasped, “Jaime,” she breathed, expelling all breath within her. “Jaime!” She wretched her hand from Sansa suddenly, running through the tall, wild grasses that separted them from the men. All her pretence of otherworldly regality dropped at the sight of The High King. She fell to her knees beside him.

Jaime, who had not woken since giving his plea that Jon and Sansa deliver him to Harrenhal, shifted and groaned. “Brienne,” he tried, though the sounds of his voice were garbled by hoarseness. “You are here.”

The woman, Brienne, who Sansa was beginning to think was more than just a guard for a mystical island, reached out her hand. She allowed her fingers to fall gently over Jaime’s. The same fingers that were clenched around his sword, Oathkeeper. No matter how much Sansa and Jon had begged him to release it, to provide his body ease during their rush to Harenhall, he refused to let it go. Brienne used hers to emulate his own, grasping his hands in the same firm way he still held on to that wretched sword. No one had known when The High King had run into that sword. As a duke, he was not known to wield it. As a man, he would let no one handle it but himself. It had not been there, and then one day it simply was. Sansa, the few times she had asked him, had been brushed off. But beneath the branches of water laden pine needles, he allowed this woman’s fingers to glide across his own, filling the cracks between his fingers that left the grip exposed.

“Yes.” Brienne smiled. It was a familiar smile filled with warmth and history and shattered experiences. In that moment, Sansa felt herself a voyeur. “I’ve come to take you home.”

“Home,” Jaime echoed, “I would so like to go home. My mother loved being there. I did too. In the short time I was allowed.”

“Then I will take you,” she assured.

“May I stay?”

“You never have to leave again. I shall never force you to.”

Jaime looked to her, “I’ve dreamt of you for so long, my Lady of the Lake.”

“And I of you.” Speaking softly to Jon, she leaned further down into the dirt and slid her arms beneath The King. Carefully, she pushed her feet against the earth, straightening up with The King cradled in her arms.

“He will be coming with me, Queen Sansa,” Brienne informed her and Sansa nodded.

“Can you save him?” she asked.

“He shall know rest,” Brienne answered instead. Her skin glimmered even as the hazy mist turned steadily into an encroaching darkness. The unseen sun was slipping beneath the horizon.

Sansa came up to Jaime, her husband and king. Sorrow filled her heart. That they had never been able to love each other as lovers aught. That they had only been able to, at best, be friends and companions who knew their duty.

“Jaime,” she whispered, “This is all my fault.”

Jamie opened his eyes to look at Sansa fondly, if a bit wearied by their final adventure. “How could you ever love me when I never allowed you my heart in the first place?”

She returned his look with an equally affectionate expression, relieved. How freeing it was that for once they could acknowledge their inability to love each other in the way they ought.

“Sansa,” he continued, voice still raspy, “you are my heir. My hand, Tyrion, and all the dukes have sworn that should I perish, you will succeed me. Joffrey is no longer here to taint the country with his malice. Please. I know you can bear the burden.”

Again, Sansa thought she might cry. Years ago, when she’d barely flowered, she had trembled under the weight of pledging herself in marriage to the older duke from House Lannister. But Robb had been a fool and Sansa had seen no choice but to clean up the mess he made. They’d needed to seek an alliance with the Lannister duke before all hell broke loose. In her marriage to Jaime, she’d struggled to affirm her own weight in court, to gain respect of the Southron Lords who did not know a woman’s worth. As a woman, she began to believe herself a failure after over a decade had passed and she continued to bear her husband no sons or daughters. She, who had struggled with the weight of her womanhood, blinked at this unexpected gift. Sansa had already resigned herself for a trip to the silent sisters after this was over.

“Of course,” she whispered. “I will not let your memory be in vain. No one will ever forget your name.”

Jaime smiled and looked at Jon who had always stood steadfastly by his side. “Jon, you have been my brother in all but name. Please. Keep Sansa safe. Protect the kingdom.”

The Lord Commander bit his lip. “Of course, your majesty. I will never again lead it astray. Westeros will have my life.”

Jaime looked at each of them. His eyes were gentle. “Westeros will never ask you to conflict your head and heart again. Please you two, you have been my world in the mortal life. For all that has happened, for all the love you have shown me, live. We’ve lost too much.”

The pair made their promises, murmuring soothing words until they were interrupted by Brienne.

“His hour draws near,” she announced, nodding her head to the lake “It is time for us to depart.” At her words, a path seemed to clear for them in the mist and rain. And at the end of it, there was an island in the middle of the lake that had not been there before.

Yes try as she might, Sansa could not see it clearly. There seemed to be a veil over it, as if it was not meant for her eyes.

Sansa and Jon followed the Lady Brienne in a slow procession. Jaime had fallen back into his near death state but color seemed to have returned to his cheeks as he lay in the Lady’s arms. When they reached the shore’s edge, she turned to them.

“The Old Gods will return when the Golden Age of Westeros comes again, but it will not be in any of our lifetimes,” she pronounced. “But when that day comes, we will all meet again.”

As Jaime left them, in the cradle of his Lady’s arms, the mist seemed to close in around them until they were no more. For a long while, Sansa kept watching, hoping to catch one more glimpse. Instead, the rain faltered and the skies opened. And when the lands had cleared, the Lake was shimmering, unmarred in the sunset light.

There was no island to be seen.

[avallcnis]

*    𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧     !

›    basics

name  : Myrddin Emrys Merlin nickname  : n/a. age  : Over 1,500, though appears to be in his 30′s. species  : Cambion (human x incubus) | Beast.

›    personal

morality  : lawful good religion  : n/a sins  : greed  /  gluttony  /  sloth  / lust /  pride  /  envy  /  wrath. virtues  : chastity  /  charity  /  diligence  /  humility  /  kindness  /  patience  /  justice. known  languages  : Some form of brythonic, thaumaturgical, most modern dominant languages (english, japanese, spanish, french etc), sumarian/akkadian (i forget which one Fate uses).

›    physical

build  : scrawny  /  bony  / slender /  fit  /  athletic  /  curvy  /  herculean  /  pudgy  /  average . height  : 5′8″ (152 cms) scars  /  birthmarks  : None to speak of. abilities  /  powers  :  

Shapeshifter: Merlin can change himself into any animal, person, or fantastical creature. Whatever he is becoming must be real though, be it in this realm or Avalon etc. He cannot just imagine something random and decide to become that. He can change the form of others just as he can change his own.

Illusions: He’s capable of creating illusions as vast as a village. These illusions appeal to all of the senses and thus would seem entirely real even under close scrutiny, leading to a near flawless display. In line with this he can make people believe things are/have been done to them even if they’ve not been.

Clairvoyance: He can see everything as it is happening along with everything which may come to pass. The future tends to be more unpredictable as he can see everything which may come to pass, meaning there’s countless possibilities and he doesn’t usually know exactly which will occur until it is occurring. Usually he can determine which is the most likely to pass.

Magic: Merlin can preform all manner of generalised Magic and, being from the Age of Fae (which is the Age of Gods), his Magic is far older and very different to the modern versions. He can do the impossible, which is the very nature of Magic. 

Independent Manifestation: A skill exclusive to Beasts Merlin, who cannot otherwise be summoned due to being alive, is able to ‘summon’ and project himself as he so desires. He can also straight up just go back in time evidently, though I thing his ability to do this has specific parameters around it.

Immortal: Merlin will die of neither age or sickness, and nor can he conventionally be killed. There are ways to do so, but they’re few and would require a great deal of effort.

restrictions  : 

His Magic vs Modern Magic: Merlin cannot learn modern Magic (the five True Magics). He can achieve things which are similar, but would not be classed as the same and would be achieved by different means. These True Magics are a modern construct and, inherently, disconnect from Magic as he would use it. Even if he could learn them he would have no interest, finding modern Magecraft and Magic vulgar.

Doesn’t tend to use Magic: Outside of shapeshifting Merlin will default to swordplay, which is not where his true strength is. Due to this individuals who would not be able to beat him otherwise are able to. Unless someone is actively trying to kill him he is unlikely to use Magic in retaliation. 

Cannot just yeet certain creatures with Magic: For the sake of allowing action threads not to be boring I go with creatures of fantastical nature (wyverns etc) being resistant to him shapeshifting them/casting illusions on them.

›    favorites

food  : Fruits. pizza  topping  : Doesn’t tend to eat it due to the cheeses on it (vegetarian). color  :  Blue. music  genre  : Wide range of music. likes things from classic to pop. movie  genre  : So-good-they’re-bad, high fantasy, animated, rom com. curse  word  : Doesn’t swear. scents  : Any sort of floral scent which isn’t overpowering, musky scents.

›    fun stuff

bottom  or  top  : Whatever the other party involved wants him to be. He’s a switch through and through, though by personal preference is a somewhat bottom leaning one. sings  in  the  shower  : Yeah. It’s the only time he will outside of certain things. likes  puns  : He lives for them.

tagged by  : these gay little hands of mine took it tagging : anyone

[fate-inspiration]

Thanks for taking the time to do this, I really appreciate it! I'll take any suggestion you can give me ^^.

(And I'm sorry for the wait. I had started to answer quite a while ago and I had left it aside to resume later… but I forgot. -^- Pinch my cheek, please!)

0. Fool: from your description I would agree, but I have a much more negative description of this card, like duality, inconsistency and lack of faith. Something that doesn't know where it's going and has no control. So I have mixed feelings.

I. The Magician: For me this is the card of the experimenter, the one who progresses, the starting point of everything. Ko-Gil seemed appropriate to me.

II. The High Priestess: At least for Morgan, we agree XD

III. The Empress: If not Arturia, I only see FemGil. But if I really had to choose a default character, it would be Arturia. This card is for me the card of inspiration and protection.

IV. The Emperor: The man of power I would say, the one who commands and keeps his positions. Arthur Alter inspires me well for this role, paired with the Empress FemGil would probably be perfect.

V. The Hierophant: I agree, but maybe more Siduri.

VI. The Lovers: So, here I will not agree, because it would be rather the card of choice. Double direction, doubt. Hence the choice of Gilgamehs between Arthur and Arturia. But your suggestion to make a double-sided card is very appealing. But it would be unusable in tarot... In this case, maybe make a double card :)

VII. The Chariot: here the choices are multiple... mmmh, I thought about Lancer Alter too, so think about it ^^

VIII. Justice: don't forget that the King of Knights represents a significant principle of justice. Return to balance, experience, teaching, rigor, sentence. So to think of Arturia is obvious with Excalibur. But what would be interesting to do is either to make a double version of this card, or to give it a front and a back. The scales drawn on the right side would indicate the direction of the card, while each of the characters would be drawn on the top or bottom of the card. To be seen.

IX. The Hermit: Merlin seems perfect to me. But I really like Gil in search of immortality. It makes me think that the cards could also represent situations and not characters. But I had to choose a character, it would be Merlin.

X. Wheel of Fortune: So while I would be fine with the suggestion, I am annoyed because there is the circle principle on this card. Hence my suggestion with the Babylon gate.

Mmmh

XI. Strength: it was mainly the illustration that inspired Gil and Humbaba. But I reread the definition of the map and the meeting between Gil and Enkidu would be perfect. I'm unfortunately not informed enough about Vortigern :/

XII. Le Pendu : Je voulais respecter l'illustration de la carte avec Enkidu et ses chaînes. Mais je prends note de la suggestion

XIII. Bien sûr, je suis tout à fait d'accord avec cette suggestion. Ereshkigal est un choix facile 1- c'est une déesse du royaume du sud 2 - car la carte originale représente un personnage lié à la mort. Choisissez donc une version symbolique des histoires ou choisissez le personnage.

XIV. C'est aussi la carte de l'échange, de la communication. Siduri me semble un bon choix car elle est l'intermédiaire entre Gilgamesh et le peuple. Pourquoi pas aussi la Dame du Lac.

XV. Hmmm dans ce cas je resterais peut-être sur Ishtar

XVI. Certes, Avalon est un choix par défaut… il n'y a vraiment aucun autre monument qui correspondrait à cette carte.

XVII. Arturia Lily la meilleure

XVIII. Ah oui, je comprends le débat. Dans ce cas ce serait plus le réglage qu'il faudrait travailler. Surtout la réflexion dans l'eau est très importante.

XIV. mmmh Oh ou la version d'Arturia du destin/Stay night où elle n'a pas sorti l'épée, dans les champs sous le soleil (attention, pas où elle est en avalon où elle attend shirou -^-)

XX. I take note, even if Enuma Elis or EA remains for me the best option :)

XXI. Okay, add an extra presence for more strength in the card. I must admit that this card was hard to imagine. I think we already have a very good base for the cards. X3

TAROT GilArt/Gilthur

Hey guys, I wanted to unload with you. I'm an unbelievable lover of GilArt Gilthur ships (well, mostly Gilthur at the moment, forgive me XD)

And I wondered what it would be like to have a Tarot around the ship King of Knights and King of Heroes.

So I made the small list with a first impression of the characters appearing on these cards.

Don't hesitate to say if you agree or not and/or suggest me something else :)

(There are some cards where I didn't find what to put ;) )

List of cards :

- The Magician : Ko-Gil

- The High Priestess : Morgan / Casturia?

- The Empress : Lancer Arturia / Alter Arturia / FemGil ?

- The Emperor : Lancer Arthur / Alter Arthur / Arthur Saber ?

- The Hierophant : Merlin / Casgil?

- The Lovers : Gil hesitates between Arthur/Arturia (but he would take both haha)

- The Chariot : Dun StallionxLancer Arturia (alter?)?

- The Justice : Arturia holding Excalibur and the scales / Lancer Arturia ?

- The Hermit : Merlin / Gil's quest for immortality ?

- Wheel of Fortune : Gate of Babylon

- Strenght : Gil vs Humbaba

- The Hanged Man : Enkidu

- Death : Ereshkigal

- Temperance : Arthur / Siduri ?

- The Devil : Ishtar

- The Tower : The tower of Avalon

- The Star : Lily

- The Moon : Arturia

- The Sun : Gilgamesh

- Judgment : Enuma Elish

- The World : Graal ?

- The Fool : Mordred / ProtoGil ?

[dawnlstott]

Reading List for a 15-year-old Girl

This weekend, a friend asked me for book recommendations for her niece who is about to turn 15. I don’t consider myself a reader, and thought I was not up to the task. Four hours later, I had this:

Bibliography for your niece. I put this in the order I would read it, or assign it as a syllubus to my high school Literary Overview course.

0. If she has not read Norton Juster’s, The Phantom Tollbooth - this is a must! Start here.

1. Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

2. P. L Travers - Begin the Mary Poppins series (excellent!!)

3. L. Frank Baum - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

4. Ursula K. Le Guin - The ‘young adult novels’, The Earthsea Trilogy: The Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, and The Farthest Shore. (If she likes them, she can continue on her own with the next 3 in the series. Or move-up to, The Compass Rose: A collection of short stories, and novels with a bit more science fiction/existential/anthropoligical themes: The Lathe of Heaven, and The Word for World is Forest.)

5. C. S. Lewis - The Chronicles of Narnia (For ‘extra credit’, begin *The Bible: Old Testament - Genesis, Adam and Eve, and, New Testament: The Gospel. These are all you ‘need’ as a literary reference.)

6. Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Extra credit: His short stories, Extracts From Adam’s Diary and The Private Life of Adam and Eve, are good accompaniments with, The Bible’s Book of Genesis. Then, his posthumously published essays, Letters from the Earth, is an excellent expression of his disdain for Christianity).

7. Carson McCullers - The Member of the Wedding, and/or The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (short story).

8. Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Extra credit: Alice Walker, The Color Purple.)

9. Amy Tan - The Hundred Secret Senses, and/or Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife.

10. Marion Zimmer Bradley - The Mists of Avalon. Or anything of the King Arthur Legend (a necessary literary reference for just about everything that is written) of Merlin the Magician, Sir Lancelet, Excaliber, and the Quest for the Holy Grail. (If she likes this, there is also a science fiction/fantasy series by M. Z. Bradley about a planet called, Darkover, which is great summer reading.)

11. A. S. Byatt - Possession: A Romance (well-written literary mystery revolving around a series of romantic letters).

12. Begin One Thousand and One Nights (also known as, Arabian Nights). An excellent lifelong Persian adventure tome that cannot be begun early enough. A mad Shah who fears infidelity, keeps executing new wives before they can betray him. When he runs out of prospects, Scheherazade (shara-zawd) agrees to marry him. For 1,001 nights she weaves stories that are ‘to be continued’. At the end, he pardons her. Some of the stories she tells are familiar adventures about Alladin and the Magic Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sinbad the Sailor. The book can be read from beginning to end, picked up in the middle, just a few parts here and there, it jumps around, some tales never resolve, some refer back to others, it twists and turns, and can always be re-read many times with new understanding. Better than the Bible and the Iliad, put together!!

13. Homer - Odyssey, (if they only give her Greek Tragedies in school or just the Iliad).

If she is not assigned these for writing essays and papers, make sure she knows about them: 

Strunk & White’s - Elements of Style, free online here, https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Elements_of_Style (ESSENTIAL for writing Engllish). 

Peter Farb - Wordplay: What Happens When People Talk 

Natalie Goldberg - Writing Down the Bones

*The Bible as literature, especially Genesis and the Gospel. The Old Testament first poem, The Book of Job - teaches us to always question ‘the guru’, especially the one who claims to be ‘God’. The Sibylline Oracles - the roots of almost all modern ‘fairy tales’. Then the stories of Enoch, within which is housed much wisdom of the ‘ancients’ who did not write their stuff down before they were ethnically cleansed. So many literary references throughout the Old Testament make it an essential reference guide, as well a ridiculously hilarious romp throgh speculative human histories. 

The New Testament is mostly about Jesus, and can be enjoyed purely for its many poetic interpretations of what he was about, which is love. While Jesus was possibly a real person, or group of real persons, the one in the Bible is a concept: Love yourself as you would have others love you, others as you would love you, those from whom you must walk away, and those you want to keep around. But love you and take care of you most of all, because then you have more to give to others. Love is Jesus, Jesus is love, don’t listen to what anyone else has to say about that. The new testament is, overall, a romantic poem dedicated to our humanity: Basically advisng that we hit the reset button every day by turning the OS off and then on again. One can easily replace the word ‘God’ with ‘water’ or ‘oxygen’ and still get the same value from this prose.

Each thing above is a great launch-pad into all sorts of places she might like to ride her rocket.

Summer reading during high school:

Age 15 

Rudyard Kipling - Everything. 

Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and everything else.

Shakespeare - A Midsumer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Merchant of Venice 

J. D. Salinger - Nine Stories, (better than, Catcher in Rye, which they cram in us at U.S. schools). 

Begin, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Ages 16-17

Jonathan Samuel Carroll - The Land of Laughs, Outside the Dog Museum, his Weblog is also quite compelling https://jonathancarroll.com/tagged/short-story.

Kurt Vonnegut - Slapstick, Welcome to the Monkey House, and Breakfast of Champions <— which might be assigned at school—{{{. 

Begin, Geoffrey Chaucer - The Canterbury Tales 

Toni Morrison - Beloved

Age 18 and up 

George Sand 

Colette 

Sappho - Though much of her work was destroyed, what little that remains is a good introduction to greek poetry and philosophy. She was assigned the homo-erotic labelling, but she was more ‘platonic’ in reality, loving educating the minds of young women and men. She is also the first documented female writer in ‘modern’ history. Maybe good to introduce her when your niece begins learning about Greek tragedy and Shakespeare. 

Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. 

Jack Karouac - Anything/Everything

Suggestions: If and/or when she wants to take-on Proust, it can be completed in precisely one year of 10 pages per day. (Another great literary reference which is way better than James Joyce.)

If she wants to read comic books, start her on X-Men. (Excellent characters, great for coping with ’teen angst’ and that ‘misfit’ phase. Also wonderful female characters that promote a healthy sense of self and personal empowerment.)

If she absolutely must get on-board the vampire craze, begin with Anne Rice’s, Interview with the Vampire, which takes place in an apartment on Divisadero in SF.!! 

DO NOT LET HER READ ANYTHING BY STEPHEN KING UNTIL SHE IS 25, IF EVER. And, I don’t care what anyone says about Neil Gaiman, he’s a Scientologist hack full of crap. !!

[jetfuel-cantmeltsteelbeams]

“West World?”

Timeline: New Court 

Location: Ashlae Summer’s rooms inside the Drigulian Castle

Characters: Arik Avalon, Ashlae Summers, Jaxon Mile 

Song Used: None

Summary: Arik checks in on Ashlae, finding a putrid smell and more hardware than he’d delivered. 

Arik Avalon walked with his hands resting in his pockets. The directions Jake had given him had been complex, the pack leader even confusing himself at times, but really- it had just been a formality. Arik knew the layout of the kingdom as well as he knew the breakdown of his own computer system back at home. Some areas were dark to him, but they were few and far between.

He whistled as he made his way down the thin hallway, knowing exactly how he appeared to the hired help. His jeans were faded and worn down to the threads, though his dressy button down screamed wealth. The gadgets he wore were a startling contradiction to his permanent five o’clock shadow and messy salt and pepper colored hair. There were lines on his face, but his skin was healthy as it was dark from the sun.

He’d just finished whistling on the final note of the Song of Exile when his hand reached for the handle and turned it.

“Holy shit, Rave.”

Ashlae didn’t turn from where she sat at the desk against the far wall, her face uptilted to the five stacked monitors that constantly bled information in the traditional black and green. The room was dark, but everywhere there was a monitor, light poured in just enough for him to see what an utter disaster the room was.

Her desk was pushed against the far left corner, with motors and routers and the Gods knew what else mounted flat against the walls in a maze of wires. To the right corner was a bed under multiple piles of blankets, another monitor mounted so that it hovered over. In the middle of the room sat some sofas and chairs surrounding a coffee table that’s surface reflected a computer with loaded apps.

From where he stood, he could see into the open bath chamber to the right. The entire wall mirror looked like a reflective monitor itself, with marker remains of a half-finished formula hovering mid air.

And in the remaining corner of the room, a literal pile of junk sat piled high as his waist. It all looked like scrap metal and motherboards; the kind even he had trouble getting his hands on.

But it was the smell that hit him hardest. Covering his mouth and nose with a hand, Arik stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “When was the last time you took a fucking shower?”

Ashlae rose slowly, her eyes never leaving the monitors, as she unfurled from the chair. Her curls had been tied back into a greasy bun, the fly aways matted down with natural oils and a headband he knew must include some new tech gadget she’d incorporated into the design. Her pants were baggy materials- what might have been white sweats once- and held stains of every color on the lap. Her shirt sported an old X-Men logo from the early 2000’s, but it was too dark to really make it out.

Finally, she peeled her eyes off the screens, but he could tell she was having trouble focusing on something that wasn’t back-lit. “Merlin?”

“Come to make real magic happen,” he answered in a choked cough. “This is really disgusting, Ash. You need a bath.” And bleach, but he kept that note to himself. “And where’d you get all of this from, anyway?” She’d only sent him requests for the type of hardware only he could provide, but nothing as big as multiple monitors and full tech gear.

“Jaxon gave me his black card.”

“Did he also show you how to work the shower? Or is that beyond your skill set?” Keeping a healthy distance away, lest the smell overpower him, Arik used both arms to show her the open door to the right. “In your go, before this room is condemned with you still in it.”

Without a fight, she led the way into the bath. Arik followed, stretching his hand as far as he could for her to set her non-waterproof tech in his palm. Both earpieces, the bands around her ankles and wrists, the health patch on her neck and hip.

As she stripped, he rummaged around in the other room for wipes to safely clean the grime off of her gear. “Would you like to catch me up to speed on what exactly it was that kept you from obeying the natural law of hygiene?” As his hands worked to wipe away what looked like days of dirt and grime, he explored and probed around the mess she’d lived in for weeks. With the toe of his boot, he lifted a piece of scrap metal to find what looked like a poorly rendered mechanical spine lying beside the mechanical rendering of a human skull.

He’d always known the caramel goddess had a morbid side, but this was a bit much even for her.

From the next room, he heard the shower turn on. Over the sound of falling water, she shouted her reply. “There’s cats everywhere. Big cats. Like lions.”

Moving to stand by the door, he was careful to keep his eyes averted from the see-through shower curtain while they talked. “Sounds like home to me,” he mumbled to himself as he grinned down at his task.

“There’s angels too,” she continued, “-with wings. Big wings.” In his peripheral, he saw her bend down to pick up a large bottle of what he hoped to be bleach. “I’ve written them into the database for years, Arik. I just… never saw one in person.”

In what he hoped to be a casual tone, he replied, “You’ve known me for years.”

He didn’t have time to duck the bar of soap that came flying from behind the curtain. “Yeah- and thanks for that. I had to find out from Jaxon Mile that you’re one of them.”

Setting the cleaned gear on the counter, Arik picked up the soap and lightly tossed it back over the lip of the curtain without focusing too much on the details of her naked body. “Does that change anything? Are you any less in love with me than you were a few months ago?”

Her scoff sent him into a bout of low chuckles. “If you keep saying shit like that, people are going to think I’m unavailable.”

“Oh, now. That hurt.”

She drew the curtain back to look at him. It was a true test of will to keep his eyes locked on hers. “Can you do it?”

“I can do it very well, from what my partners have told me.”

Her colorless eyes rolled- though he knew there was color in them, if you looked hard enough. The lightest hazel he’d ever seen in the irises of a woman. “Can you shift into… into-”

Leveling his eyes, Arik lowered his chin just a fraction of an inch. “Do you want to see?”

He could see her throat bob as she swallowed, then finally gave the tiniest of nods.

Arik waited until the tension between them built before letting his lips turn up in a feline grin. “Sucks to suck, doesn’t it? I don’t shift without a damn good reason away from my alpha. Those are the rules.”

“Convenient.”

“Disappointed?”

“With you? Always.” She returned the shower curtain as she ducked again under the water.

“Hey- what are you working on in that corner? Are you going West World on me?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“The sexy kind of surprise? Are you making a sex robot? I’m only a call away, you know. I can upload my data into your software anytime, with only a few strokes of my hard drive-”

“This is why I hate men. You’re all pigs.”

“Oink oink.”

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Artoria Caster Analysis

Arts is inevitable

Artoria Caster Max HP: 14,406 Max ATK: 10,546 (Effective ATK: 9,491) Star Attribute Star Absorption: 50 Star Generation: 11% NP Charge ATK: 0.54% NP Charge DEF: 3% Death Rate: 36% Traits: Arthur, Humanoid, Saberface, Servant

QAAAB Quick = 3 hits, Arts = 3 hits, Buster = 3 hits, Extra = 5 hits Quick = 1.62%, Arts = 1.62%, Extra = 2.70%

Charisma of Hope B Increases party's attack for 3 turns. (10 -> 20%) Charges party's NP guage. (20 -> 30%) Cooldown: 8 -> 6 turns

Protection of Vivian A Charges one ally's NP gauge. (10 -> 20%) Increases party's NP generation rate for 3 turns. (20 -> 30%). Cooldown: 7 -> 5 turns

Caliburn: Sword of Selection EX Increases own ally's Arts performance for 3 turns. (30 -> 50%) Increases their damage against Threat to Humanity enemies for 3 turns. (30 -> 50%). Grants them Invincibility for 1 turn. Cooldown: 8 -> 6 turns

Magic Resistance A: Increases own debuff resistance by 20%.

Territory Creation EX: Increases own Arts performance by 12%.

Independent Magic B: Increases own critical damage on Arts cards by 10%.

Around Caliburn / Round of Avalon Arts Increases party's Attack for 3 turns. (30 -> 50%, NP Level) Removes party's debuffs. Grants Party Anti-Purge buff for X times, 3 turns. (1 -> 5 times, OC)

Primary Role: DPS support, Defensive Support

You probably have heard about ten thousand viewpoints on how good Artoria Caster is, and I'll be honest, I'm probably not going to bringing too much unique to the table here. It doesn't take a genius to see how powerful Caster Artoria is, being by far the best Arts support in the game and having great generally usability as well. No matter how you feel about the existence of a meta in F/GO, it's pretty hard to argue that she isn't game-changing.

Starting from her fundamentals, you might find that's she actually isn't amazing in that regard. Her statline is positioned well enough, having high HP and a lower ATK, which is good for what she does, but her NP Generation leaves a little to be desired at first glance. Her Quick card is also pretty much useless, as she won't generally make many crit stars no matter what her chain, with a maximum of 12. Her AAA chain will generate 55% of her NP gauge on average, which isn't bad since having a natural Arts chain is always useful. If you use her 2nd and 3rd skills, she can charge her NP gauge to max in one turn, although she will only generate 79% of her gauge for the next two turns, since she needs the 20% charge. All things considered, her NP generation is perfectly fine, thanks to her skills. It just looks more mediocre on its own. Similar to Merlin in all honesty.

Going onto her skills, they're all amazing. She has a better version of Merlin's 1st skill, generating more NP but coming at the cost of an extra turn of cooldown. She also now provides the largest party wide NP gauge charge on a skill, which is quite notable, although going from 20% to 30% is a bit situational in terms of the difference it makes. Her second skill provides a targeted charge and a party wide NP gen bonus, and while Nero's targeted charge is bigger and her targeted NP gen is also larger, this skill is very synergistic with Artoria's kit, providing a 50% NP charge to one Servant. Her final skill is a 50% Arts steroid that also boosts damage against a pretty specific niche of enemy, and to top it all off it's also a targetable Invulnerability too. All on a 6 turn cooldown. These skills make Artoria the best Arts support in the game, not only providing both NP Generation and Arts performance, but very strong NP charges on top of it.

Her NP is also extremely good as well. It provides a strong Attack boost that gets even better with extra NP levels, removes all debuffs from the entire party, and provides a special Anti-Purge buff, which is Invulnerability but also ignores Pierce Invul. She even provides extra hits per OC level, for a maximum of 5 hits of Anti-Purge for 3 turns. It's a really good NP since all of its effects are very good, and even sticking it at the end of an NP chain gives what is essentially a super Protection from Arrows effect. She fits incredibly well into defensive teams because of it, able to protect the party from damage unless the buffs get removed. This NP is even good in Arts teams who typically had problems dealing with NP damage if a boss could instantly charge their NP.

Support Options: Artoria Caster is more, the support to other Servants and not really a Servant who really requires supports in any way. Using Double Artoria will turbo-charge a big number of Arts Servants, allowing them to do a ton of damage and get a ton of refund from their NPs and basic Arts cards. Tamamo is very synergistic as well, since she provides healing which is something that Artoria Caster also lacks. Servants who provide Buff Removal resist, such as Murasaki Shikinu or Beni-Enma can also provide the perfect defense set-up where it becomes impossible to deal damage once Artoria uses her NP. Medea Lily provides both healing and buff removal resistance to a more defensive team as well, in addition to some Debuff resistance.

Command Code: Artoria doesn't require Command Codes at all to function, so there main recommendations are Command Codes that will allow her to support the team, either through specific buff removal, generating critical stars, or boosting party crit damage. She will work just fine without any Command Codes though, so you can skip over her.

Craft Essences: In an Arts team, Castor Artoria typically doesn't need specific CEs. Looping teams can use her with a CE that boosts QP, Master EXP, MC EXP, or Bond points since they won't typically do much in the way of attacking. More defensive Arts teams can use Arts boosting CEs, Prisma Cosmos, or starting NP CEs in order to get to her NP faster or on demand, and stall teams will enjoy Prisma Cosmos or Maid in Halloween. Her Bond CE can also be used effectively as well. If you want to stick her with a Servant that wants to crit as well, Fragments of 2030 is recommended, since she cannot generate crit stars well on her own.

Competition: Caster Artoria doesn't have competition per se, she's at the top of the food chain. But it's worth comparing her to Tamamo and Caster Gilgamesh specifically. Tamamo is more defensive and works better in longer battles, providing healing and skill cooldown reduction, and Caster Gilgamesh is far better with Art Crit servants since he boosts their crit star generation, and can do a good amount of damage on his own. Paracelsus isn't competition per se but is often the 3rd Arts support in a looping team.

Jeanne occasionally is better in stall teams thanks to her Stun, and Ruler advantage against Riders, Moon Cancers, and Alter Egos, but she's generally worse than Artoria in the stall department.

Pros: -Incredible support kit that activates pretty much every Arts servant in the game -Double Artoria presents some of the cheapest looping set-ups in the game -NP is incredibly powerful -Great general use thanks to large NP charge numbers -Is very cute and her smile cures cancer

Cons: -Provides no crit support what so ever -No healing or defense buffs means she's more frail against normal attack damage -3rd support isn't as cute or good as 1st or 2nd and if you're using random Ascension options that can be disappointing, at least to me personally I love her 2nd ascension outfit

Artoria Caster is, at least in my eyes, probably the best Servant in the game at this point, but it's worth keeping things in perspective for a moment. She massively boosts Arts as a playstyle, but both Buster and Quick are still very viable and have different pros and cons compared to the Arts playstyle. She's not perfect either, she just provides something that no other Arts support has in the past: a lot of NP charge. That's enough to really equalize the Arts playstyle and allow a ton of Servants to function far better than they have in the past. She is game changing though, and definitely the first immense hit of powercreep the game has had in a long time.

All hail the Arts overlords.

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Keys to Other Doors, Xenophile, Skylark of Space, Roger Zelazny

Pulps (The Pulp Net): When I was first involved in the pulp fandom world in the late ’90s, I saw ads for Keys to Other Doors. Subtitled “some lists for a pulp collector’s notebook,” it was put together by John DeWalt. There were at least two versions, a first version in 1995 with a revised version in 1998.  I believe the 1995 version has a blue cover and was done for Pulpcon.  I got the 1998 version which has a red cover.

I didn’t get it at the time and only recently got a copy. I wish I had gotten a copy back then, as I had to work to find some of the information, and thanks to the Internet and various websites, a lot of this information is now easy to find. But, there is information here I was not aware of despite that. So there still is value in getting it.

  Publishing (Chaosium): Chaosium, Inc., publisher of the celebrated roleplaying games Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest, announces the relaunch of their fiction program.

The Chaosium fiction line originally launched in 1992 and was suspended in 2015 during a general company restructuring. Subsequently, Chaosium management brought on publishing and gaming industry veteran James Lowder as a consulting editor to help resolve any outstanding contract and payment issues with authors, editors, and artists.

Lowder then drafted new, creator-friendly contracts for the department, worked with SFWA to register the company as a qualifying professional market, and then commissioned a schedule of new, creator-owned fiction releases, in both print and e-book formats.

  RPG (Jeffro’s Space Gaming Blog): The RPGPundit is back with another video in his series on “Things They Taught You Wrong on Purpose”, this time on the topic of equal spotlight time for all players no matter what. He is absolutely correct that this is antithetical to the rpg medium. One thing I will add here is that the returning to “3d6 six times in order” for attributes produces a far better outcome at the table than going along with the conventional wisdom on this.

Here’s why: When D&D is played this way, most people tend go with the class that has a prime requisite that matches their highest attribute. When combined with a challenging, high death scenario, this results in each character niche being frequently redistributed almost at random. People that would normally play a bombastic high charisma fighter end up playing a scruffy, sneaking thief with hilariously low hit points. People that prefer to play the stout, law-abiding cleric can very easily find themselves in a situation where they have the privilege of making that choice between Magic Missile, Charm Person, and Sleep for the party’s one and only spell!

  Writers (Don Herron): In the course of researching his book on the boxing world of Robert E. Howard, Brian Leno keeps tumbling to interesting tidbits — such as the news item above.

Brian notes, “As far as I know, this is a first — printed at a time when Howard was still alive after shooting himself, and his body was fighting to keep him alive.”

  Pop Culture (Walker’s Retreat): A few days ago, I made a post where I point out that we have sufficient independent media outlets (each with sufficient audience sizes) that we no longer need to put up with the mainstream. We can–and we should–network among ourselves henceforth and cut the MSM out entirely.

So I decided that right now we’re in a position where the various clusters I see as being close enough together to benefit from this sort of move, and this morning I did take that first step: I made sure I was in the livestream for Morning With Pop Culture, the new morning show that World Class Bullshitters now puts on during the week. I lucked out today; Jeff (the host) decided to do an Ask Me Anything segment and I got the question answered.

  Comic Books (Of Wolves and Men): Haven’t posted anything for a while so I figure I’ll share some of the old covers I saved on an impulse.

  Fiction (RMWC Reviews): Star Wars casts a long shadow across science fiction and fantasy. For most people in living memory, it is THE example of the power of Space Opera on audiences. But George Lucas stands on the shoulders of another giant: Alex Raymond, the creator of Flash Gordon, and Raymond stands on the biggest shoulders in all of Space Opera, a humble food engineer specializing in donut mixes from Sheboygan, Michigan, named Edward Elmer “Doc” Smith (1890-1965).

  Fiction (John C. Wright): I have notice more than one fan of mine (I have at least two, counting myself, and my mom) lauding elements in my stories which I shamelessly steal from better authors. As a public service, I would like to mention those authors, and lead you to the original of which I am but a shadow:

I suggest that if you like the family infighting, larger-than-life superhumans, and intrigue, you read yourself some Roger Zelazny’s deservedly famed Amber series. It is a delight: a film noir detective tale (starring my personal favorite character, an amnesiac), which morphs into a fantasy and a Jacobin-style revenge drama.

1970 Nine Princes in Amber

1972 The Guns of Avalon

1975 Sign of the Unicorn

1976 The Hand of Oberon

1978 The Courts of Chaos

The Merlin books take place in the same background, but they are terrible. Avoid.

  Comic Books (Injustice Gamer): There’s a lot of talk of the markets shrinking in sff and comics from the tradpub sources, and here’s a bit of my theory on the comics side.

I think Marvel and DC, with some help from Diamond(active to a point, but I have trouble believing they’re that dumb) might be actively colluding to close the comic book stores. Diversity and Comics has made a good amount of noise over the fact that over 60 shops have closed this year alone.

Marvel is being overshipped, and the stores have to pay for the books. DC had a few exciting and high selling things early in the year, but their more recent moves are really bad from a sales standpoint, and the stores would be more inclined to take those chances after the big early sales.

  RPG (The Mixed GM): Some in the OSR complain about skill systems, particularly due to the introduction of the Thief character class. I understand that with the 3.X/Pathfinder and 5E, skill systems have gotten out of control. In response, I have even heard a call to remove Thieves from the game!

  Pulp (Pulp Flakes): Index to the fanzine Xenophile – part 1

Had the good luck recently to acquire a complete run of the fanzine Xenophile. Have been reading a few issues, shocked by the low prices and high dudgeon evinced by subscribers at price increases of pulps to as much as $3 for a late 1930s Black Mask issue. Didn’t find it indexed, so this is my take on the index, which i plan to submit to FictionMags once it’s done. Will post a few articles from it once I’m done indexing.

  Sensor Sweep: Keys to Other Doors, Xenophile, Skylark of Space, Roger Zelazny published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[nero-the-fallen]

Deck Recipes

Seeing as how dueling is constantly shifting, turning, and modifying, I figured there’s no harm in sharing this info.

First off, for those new or unknowing: A deck recipe is the term given to the specific cards a player uses to build their deck. Each player tends to have a name for their own theme. Never understood the origin, but them’s the breaks.

First Recipe: “Darklords, Dark World”

Main deck

Spells: 15

Trade-In

Lightning Vortex

Into the Void

Dark World Lightning

Dark World Dealings

Cost Down

Banishment of the Darklords

Mystical Space Typhoon

The Sanctuary in the Sky

Mystic Plasma Zone

Dragon Shield

Shard of Greed

Card Trader

Attraffic Control

Trap Cards: 13

Windstorm of Etaqua

The Forces of Darkness

The Transmigration Prophecy

Raigeki Break(2 copies)

Kunai With Chain

Half Counter

Darklord Rebellion

Dark Scheme

Divine Wrath

Nightmare Wheel

Forced Requisition

Doppelganger

Monsters: 29

Hanewata

Goblin King

Damage Eater

Magna Drago

The Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams

Lancer Archfiend

Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World

Zolga

Snoww, Unlight of Dark World

Zure, Knight of Dark World

Dark Valkyria

Dark Blade the Captain of the Evil World

Magical Marionette

Sillva, Warlord of Dark World

Goldd, Wu-Lord of Dark World

Darklord Edeh Arae

Latinum, Exarch of Dark World

Darklord Amdusc

Swordstalker

White Night Queen

Reign-Beaux, Overlord of Dark World

Chaos Hunter

Dark Armed Dragon

Grapha, Dragon Lord of Dark World(x2 copies)

Darklord Superbia

Darklord Asmodeus

Darklord Desire

Raviel, Lord of Phantasms

Extra Deck: 1

Coral Dragon

Side Deck: 4

Phoenix Wing Wind Blast

Fiendish Chain

Spell Shattering Arrow

Gateway to Dark World

Dragon deck, Main Deck:

Spells: 13

Swords of Revealing Light (x2 copies)

Summoner’s Art

Red Medicine

Polymerization

Photon Sanctuary

Goblin’s Secret Remedy

Earthbound Whirlwind

Burst Stream of Destruction

Scapegoat

Pendulum Shift

Mountain

Attraffic Control

Trap Cards: 12

Pendulum Back

Mirror Force

Magic Cylinder

Half or Nothing

Dimensional Prison

Bottomless Trap Hole

Champion’s Vigilance (x2 copies)

Roar of the Earthbound

Pixie Ring

Dragon’s Rage

Bad Reaction to Simochi

Monsters: 26

Turbo Booster

T.G. Cyber Magician

Maiden With Eyes of Blue

Flamvell Guard

The White Stone of Legend

The Calculator

T.G. Catapult Dragon

Kaibaman

Stealth Bird

Armed Dragon LV3

T.G. Jet Falcon

Earthbound Linewalker

Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke

Armed Dragon LV5

Red Eyes B. Dragon (x2 copies)

Odd-Eyes Dragon

Fusilier Dragon, the Dual-Mode Beast

Armed Dragon LV7

Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon

Blue-Eyes White Dragon (x3 copies)

Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon

Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon

Earthbound Immortal Cusillu

Pendulums: 8

Stargazer Magician

Dragonpulse Magician

Oafdragon Magician

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon

Wisdom-Eye Magician

Nobledragon Magician

Timegazer Magician

Dragonpit Magician

Extra Deck: 13

Rune-Eyes Pendulum Dragon

Formula Synchron

T.G. Recipro Dragonfly

Underworld Fighter Balmung

T.G. Wonder Magician

X-Saber Wayne

Ally of Justice Catastor

Ancient Fairy Dragon

Stardust Dragon

Black-Winged Dragon

Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon

T.G. Halberd Cannon

Shooting Quasar Dragon

Side Deck: 4

Stardust Shimmer

Pendulum Call

Metaphys Armed Dragon

Junk Synchron

Noble Knights, Main Deck

Spells: 25

Swords of revealing Light (x3 copies)

Reinforcement of the Army

Last Chapter of the Noble Knights

Gold Sarcophagus

Dian Keto the Cure Master

Dark Hole

Swords at Dawn

Mystical Space Typhoon (x2 copies)

Book of Moon

Noble Knights of the Round Table (x2 copies)

Xyz Unit

United We Stand

Noble Arms of Destiny (x2 copies)

Noble Arms-Excaliburn

Noble Arms-Caliburn (x2 copies)

Magnum Shield

Mage Power

The A. Forces

Field Barrier

Traps: 13

Torrential Tribute

Mirror Force (x3 copies)

Malevolent Catastrophe

Magic Cylinder

Dust Tornado

Dimensional Prison

Avalon

Solemn Warning

Call of the Haunted (x3 copies)

Monsters: 22

Lady of the Lake

Gewnhwyfar, Queen of Noble Arms

Junk Snychron

Merlin

Dawn Knight

Noble Knight Gwalchavad

Noble Knight Bedwyr

Skilled White Magician

Noble Knight Medraut

Noble Knight Borz (x2 copies)

Knight Day Grepher

Noble Knight Drystan

Noble Knight Artorigus

Skilled Dark Magician

Noble Knight Peredur

Noble Knight Gawayn

Noble Knight Eachtar

Ignoble Knight of Black Laundsallyn

Dark Magician

Buster Blader

Black Luster Solder-Envoy of the Beginning

Extra Deck: 4

Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn

Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons

Artorigus, King of the Noble Knights

Sacred Noble Knight of King Artorigus

Side Deck: 8

Noble Arms-Arfeudutyr

Noble Arms-Gallatin (x2 copies)

Foolish Burial

Release Restraint Wave

Timegazer Magician

Stargazer Magician

Honest

And that wraps up the three decks I currently can easily find. I have a machine deck lying around, but eh, not in the mood to dig it up.

[dillpicklestanley]

Avalon high x Merlin a blessing

Haha thanks. I might make more.