#because technically he's an imperial consort but it's a secret :)

[ladypepperofdavenshire-archives]

Got an idea for a composition from a wine label I saw at work, so here’s some ✨symbolism✨ with Judd

[thethronezone]

High Consort Pt.2

Because I could not stop thinking about this mess of a relationship and if I have to suffer, so do everyone else... Here's more.

The Emperor promised to marry his Consort once he had successfully conquered Terra. And credit where credit is due because Big E actually kept that promise. Him in his armor, you in your finest clothes (specifically made for this occasion) and with only the Legio Custodes to witness the ceremony. There wasn't an exchange of vows, no reception or officiator. He simply declared himself Emperor and that you were, from this moment on and till the stars died out, his High Consort. The Custodes didn't sing, did not cheer, but stomped the ground, slammed their weapons agains their shields, all as one, making the air vibrate and the ground shake.

Guess what? You own Luna! Aka the fucking moon. Yeah, it was a wedding gift. I mean, technically the Emperor rules over it but in name? It's yours!

Like I said in the first part, if you want to work, then it's mainly administrative duties. It's actually quite important work, since you oversee some real secret government stuff. Not the worst of it, nah, the Emperor leaves that to Malcador.

Something Big E does leave to you? Organizing banquets, feasts and other festivities. Sounds more fun than it is, considering the fact that this also entails overseeing the guest list. Do you know how many people can fit in the (multiple) imperial ballrooms and gardens? A fuckton. And as the 'host' of the party, you get to greet most of them! Isn't that wonderful?

More things the Emperor calls you instead of your name! "Spouse", "my starlight", "dear one", "treasure". Those last three are only in private. Majority of the Imperium don't know your actual name and calls you High Consort. More accurately "the revered ruler of Luna, First Lord/Lady of the Imperial Palace, Keeper of Terra, the one and only High Consort to the one and only Emperor of Mankind". The title somehow gets longer each time.

You make the Emperor a bit less of a douche. He's still a bastard but you make him just a smidge more bearable. Probably because he does care about you. Will he steamroll you in every conversation? Yes. Does he not take your arguments seriously? Yep. Will he dictate every part of your life from the shadows? Yeah. But he does like seeing you happy so he refrains from doing some stuff that he knows would upset you. At least if you're there to see it happen.

The fights you have are fucking wild. You can be absolutely furious, screaming, throwing things at him, and the Emperor will just stand there and be like "You done yet?" which will make you scream and throw some more thing. Big E might try and placate you a little, "Dear, you are acting irrational, calm down", but most of the time he just waits until you get tired. And when you're all out of air he'll go "Good thing we solved that" and LEAVE. Fucking prick.

When Malcador ain't available, you vent to your personal Custodi bodyguard. Yes, they are ultimately loyal to the Emperor and will never badmouth him but this one Custodi will nod along when you call your husband a "rat-fucking-bastard".

It's not all bad of course. The Emperor can be downright romantic when he wants to. He knows all your favorites and always has this in mind when he gives you stuff or does stuff with you. New garden? Filled with your favorite flowers. Anniversary dinner? Your favorite food. A piece of jewelry he acquired on his resent battle on some distant planet? Your favorite color. When you reunite after a long time apart, he kisses your hands. The Emperor loves your smile, loves seeing you happy. All the art work he commissions of you depicts you smiling, from a subtle smirk to smiles where all your teeth shows.

In canon, the Primarchs were made out of the Emperor's and Erda's DNA (with some major gene manipulation in there) and yeah, that's still the truth in this scenario. Except there's also parts of you in there. Because if the Emperor likes you enough to marry you, then you probably have a bunch of traits that he likes. Wisdom, tenacity, courage etc.. So congrats! You now get to co-parent 20 18 of the strongest humans in the Imperium! At least one of them has your smile.

[discordiansamba]

like. it's just truly so funny to think about the domestic life of the new Galran imperial family. Emperor Shiron and his human husband, the black paladin of Voltron. Emperor Shiron's younger brother, the half-Galra druid Keith. Their mother, the Blade's second in command Krolia. The cosmic wolf that Keith found in the quantum abyss. That one Altean named Romelle who is always hanging around the palace for some reason.

(No one knows what her deal is. She's just always kind of around. Speculation about her relationship with Keith runs rampant.)

Talk of Shiron being formerly human is less common than it used to be. They just assume that Adam and Shiron fell in love on the battlefield. While they were still enemies. The Galra nod to themselves. This is common. Everyone knows that Vrig the Great's consort was his greatest enemy at first too. Adam at this point has given up on correcting them and Shiro thinks it's kind of funny actually.

By virtue of Shiro being the Emperor, Keith is technically a Prince now. But he doesn't seem all that interested in being a prince, much more content to help out the Blade of Marmora or just spend entire days engrossed in magical study. He often works in tandem with Queen Allura, trying to find ways to combine Altean alchemy and druid magic. Sometimes he just wanders off for days at a time and no one even knows where he is.

Shiro is a little worried, usually, but Keith always comes back. He's not used to being public figure. He needs his alone time- though sometimes his wanderings are more about trying to unlock the secrets of what druid magic was like before the war. Before it got corrupted by Haggar.

Sometimes, temporarily, Krolia takes over the Empire. This is usually because Adam and Keith are forcing Shiro to take a break. Imagine. You're at a beach on Earth. Then all of a sudden, the Galra Emperor, his brother, the black paladin, a random Altean, and a cosmic wolf all teleport next to you. They're in beach wear. They are here to chill. You cannot stop them.

commander and druid AU is great because no matter what time period you're at in the AU, there's juicy content for it.

Keith and Shiro becoming the druid Karrion and Commander Shiron? great. good food. excellent. Shiron and Karrion fighting against Adam and the paladins? *chef's kiss*. delicious. Keith and Shiron hitting that redemption arc and slowly learning to become the people they once were? incredible. a delicacy.

after the war, after Honerva, when the dust has settled and Shiro ends up becoming the goddamn Galra Emperor? that actually, I think. is the best part somehow.

[rise-above-the-grave]

[smashes down door] who is Bail and why do you like him? I could look it up but I'd rather you gush over him

OH BOY.

So first off, a quick (canon) history lesson: Bail Organa was the Senator and Viceroy (aka Prince Consort) of Alderaan. If you don't know what that means (because old titles are Weird - I'm not judging the only reason I know this is because of this very character), it means that Breha, Bail's wife, is ruling Queen of Alderaan and was the heir to the throne. She married Bail, making him a ruler by marriage, though technically she still held the crown. He, at some point, was also elected Senator of Alderaan, and was Senator leading up to and during The Clone Wars (and after, but we're getting to that).

So Bail, we come to find out, became (best) friends with Padmé Amidala. We see him in a couple of scenes in Attack of the Clones with Padmé, just kinda vibing and making the occasional commentary. We know he stood with her on the Opposition bill (the bill Padmé was nearly killed over at the beginning of AOTC, which was against the formation of a Republic military), though we don't learn much about the rest of his politics until later.

So he's kinda...there, but obvs isn't the focus of the story, and is really just a minor background character. The first real insight we get into Bail is, actually, a really tiny character moment right at the end of AOTC, when Palpatine and some of the Senators are looking down at the Clone troops loading up onto the ship, watching their new military gear up for war.

Bail looks away. While everyone else is staring down at the (slave) army, some of them smiling (like Sheev), some of them just serious, Bail looks away from them and makes this tiny little hand gesture: a simple, closed fist knocking against the banister of the balcony.

It's this, I think, that first piqued my interest in this character. He was the only one not triumphant in that situation. He was the only one who saw things for what they were: a tragedy, and a horror, and that this wasn't something to celebrate but to mourn.

Then we come to Revenge of the Sith, and boy howdy. The man may have like 10 minutes of screen time, but does he make those 10 minutes count!

A quick bullet point of the Important Things Bail Does in ROTS:

When the Jedi Temple is burning, what does Bail do? He flies to it to figure out what's going on and see if he can save anyone. He then watches as a youngling is shot and killed by Clone Troopers, and manages to escape because he's a fucking badass.

Please note, to our knowledge, Bail is the only one who actually goes to check on the Jedi Temple.

As soon as he escapes the Temple, Bail immediately - like immediately - takes his ship and goes to find any surviving Jedi. He is almost certainly the reason both Yoda and Obi-Wan don't walk into the trap that is the Jedi Temple, or are captured - and even if that's not true, he most definitely is the reason they manage to sneak safely onto Coruscant and figure out what happened.

He's the one who rescues Yoda (again) after Yoda's failed duel with Palpatine in the Senate. Which, let me rant about the SYMBOLISM of that for a second please. Because holy shit, the entire duel between Yoda and Palpatine takes place in the Senate, with the Senate building and pods. Here Palpatine proves to Yoda that yes, he is the Senate, he controls it, the new Empire is under his control and no one can stop him. But then - but then - Yoda escapes, and who saves him? Bail. Bail sneaks in with a speeder, saves Yoda, and gets him back to safety. Which is such a huge fucking metaphor for the fact that Bail will be the one who, ultimately, is responsible for Palpatine's defeat. But, more on that later.

Bail is there when Padmé (remember, his best friend) gives birth to Luke and Leia. Bail is literally one of 3 sentients in the galaxy who canonically knows about both Luke and Leia.

Bail instantly offers to adopt one of the children, saying "She will be loved with us." (And then she absolutely is.)

And he does all of that in line 10 minutes of screen time.

He shows up again briefly in Star Wars Rebels, and again in Rogue One, but I'm going to take a trip down a side alley here into a territory that is grossly unused in the SW EU: the founding of the Rebellion.

So we don't actually know much about how the Rebellion got started. What we do know is that Bail was one of the (if not the main) Founders. Bail was the mastermind behind the Rebellion, by all accounts knowing...everything about it: who was who, who did what, where they were located, etc. He knows (and controls) Fulcrum in Rebels, as just one example, and Fulcrum is considered by that text to be one of the most powerful Rebel operatives at the time. In Rogue One (regardless of whether you liked what they did with the Rebellion which, side note, I did not), we see he certainly has a position of great authority and power. People respect him, and listen to him, and he's on an even footing with Mon Mothma (or Mom Mothma as my autocorrect tried to say) who is canonically one of the most powerful people in the Rebellion, according to ROTJ.

More than what he did, though, we can look to his character as a reason I love him. He is a good, kind, honorable man who does (or at least tries) his best. We see again and again, throughout all of SW media he's in, that he consistently chooses the right path, regardless of whether or not it's the easy one. He fights corruption, fights for justice, fights for freedom, fights against tyranny.

He is also, canonically, an amazing father and (according to EU content, since Breha literally doesn't have a spoken line in any media content) an incredible husband. We know he's well-loved by his people, and by the Rebellion, by the extraneous texts and mentions about him in the wake of his death on Alderaan. He's also respected by many Senators during his time in the Clone Wars (Padmé makes a comment in a TCW episode about how he's the best and most respected speaker and Senator she knows), and regardless of how people felt about him after the Rise of the Empire (which is, unfortunately - or fortunately maybe, because I don't trust Disney to do it right - up to headcanon), the fact remains that Bail played an incredibly tricky position as an Imperial Senator, having to balance fighting for his people, the people of the galaxy, and setting up the Rebellion, with not making himself too much of a nuisance, or too much of a traitor, that Palpatine straight up had him executed.

Which, speaking of that, can we also take a moment to appreciate the fact that Bail knew almost every single secret that Palpatine and Vader wanted??? He knew where Obi-Wan was, and possibly where Yoda was. He knew where both of Anakin and Padmé's children were. He knew everything about the fledgling Rebellion. Like...that man, had he been captured and interrogated (and had he broken) would have damned the entire galaxy. Yet he never was. He played his cards perfectly, and was either never suspected, or was able to somehow hide all of the information they wanted to know from being found. Personally, I suspect a mixture of the two.

Furthermore, Bail Organa is a great father and husband. He is directly responsible for Leia being the amazing woman we know and love. The one shot we get of Breha, you can practically see and feel the love and adoration Bail has for her radiating off of him through the screen. Literally the most unproblematic ship in Star Wars. I have never seen a single person say they aren't amazing (unless they just want to break them up to make Bail gay? Which, come on, bisexual and polyamorous people exist, y'all. But that's a talk for another time).

If you're still not convinced, the only thing left that I can say is: I'm a raging lesbian and like, while I definitely wouldn't fuck him, Bail/Jimmy Smits (his actor) is handsome. Have some pictures that I have saved on my phone for when I'm feeling sad.

Tl;dr: Bail Organa is singlehandedly responsible for putting into motion the events that secure the galaxy's freedom, not only by being one of the founding fathers of the Rebellion, but also by reaching Yoda and Obi-Wan before the new Empire can, and getting them safely to Coruscant. He is a good, kind, and noble man who does his best in shitty times, and even if he has to make hard choices, he always makes them for the right reasons. He is a loving father, husband, and ruler, who does right by his people and his family. He fights for what's right, even when that fight is nearly impossible. He's a badass, and arguably a literal genius (you'd have to be, to do the kinds of things he does in canon).

Anyway, Bail Organa is great and I love him - and you should too.

[queenetoilewrites]

Survival Guide For Ladies/Maids in Waiting

So you're a noblewoman at the imperial/royal court, when you and your family receive word that you've been selected to become a lady/maid-in-waiting for the Empress/Queen/Princess by the Emperor/Empress. Problem is, you have an idea of what the job entails, but no idea how to survive and hang on to your position at court. According to @inky-duchess​ (thanks for the help!), the key is to remember the acronym LOCS: Loyalty, Obedience, Comportment, and Secrecy. Be loyal to your mistress, know how to follow orders and directions (she says jump and you ask "How high, your majesty/highness?"), know how to behave, and always keep your mistress' confidence. Follow these basics of being a lady in waiting and your female character will quickly become a favorite of her mistress and hold her position for a long time.

Know your place: There’s a pecking order for a reason

Even among the ladies/maids in waiting, there’s an established hierarchy that you're required to follow without question, this hierarchy governs who gives orders to who and who has permanent access to the empress/queen. The textbook ambitious lady will use it as an excuse to kick up a major fuss about precedence when she feels that her treasured position as the favorite is being threatened by a newcomer. For example, the hierarchy for the ladies/maids-in-waiting tasked with serving the Queen of France/Empress of the French goes:

Mistress of the Robes

First lady of honor

Dame d'atour

Dame d'honneur/Dame du Palais

Filles d'honneur/Demoiselles d'honneur (maids of honor)

Première femme de Chambre ('First Chamber Maid')

While the mistress of the robes was the highest ranking in the hierarchy of the ladies serving the Queen, the first chamber maid was the only woman in the queen’s household aside from the maid of honor allowed to have the keys to the queen’s rooms and permanent access to the queen. This gave her the opportunity to filter requests of meetings, audiences and messages to the queen and made her a de facto powerful person at court, where she was often flattered and bribed by the courtiers. Any lady or maid-in-waiting worth her salt will know that she has to be clever and useful to her mistress in order to get far at the imperial/royal court, and willing to know when to concede to those above her in the pecking order. Many court ladies in my WIP have received the honor of being promoted to where she directly served the Empress Consort because she either proved herself to be clever or demonstrated loyalty to the imperial family.

Loyalty: Don't be like Littlefinger

A lady/maid must always be loyal to her mistress, otherwise she could experience a major fall from grace, even more so if her mistress the empress/queen/princess is on the exact same page as her husband the emperor/king/prince and she's not his mistress. That means absolutely no following orders from anyone outside of the imperial/royal household, she was hired to serve the empress/queen/princess only. Without royal favor you are just as expendable as anyone else in the service of the imperial/royal family, they can easily replace you with a new favorite if they discover that you've been disloyal, and if you don't like that and have the audacity to try and read the empress/queen/princess then there's being reassigned to lower in the hierarchy under the excuse that you're still technically serving the empress/queen/princess. Loyalty can earn you honors, jewelry, or an advantageous marriage. Being disloyal could earn you being distanced from the inner circle of the empress/queen/princess. Good examples of ladies/maids in waiting (and good inspirations for a loyal lady-in-waiting character) who were loyal ride or dies to their mistress include Catherine Champernowne of Kat (Kat Ashley; lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth I), Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria (lady in waiting to Queen Mary I), and Maria de Salinas, Countess Willoughby (lady in waiting to Catherine of Aragon).

Obedience: No, that wasn't a request

A lady/maid is required to obey her mistress regardless of what her mistress asks of her, even if her orders are ridiculous or dangerous, her maid/lady could be asked to jump and her response is required to be: "How high, your majesty/highness?" Your character does what her mistress asks, when her mistress asks it of her. No back talk, and no refusing, otherwise she'll fall from favor. She speaks when her mistress tells her to speak, and she doesn't speak out of turn. Once again unless she's the mistress to the emperor/king, has an influential family that her mistress' husband the emperor/king doesn't want to alienate, or she can't be banished from her mistress' inner circle for a reason (such as the husband of her mistress using her as leverage against her family because he suspects them of plotting treason), she's just a mere lady/maid who can easily be replaced with a new favorite who will obey her orders without any questions.

But sometimes obedience can lead her to the execution block. If her mistress is sneaking a lover into her bed, and she had a hand in getting the lover there to begin with, she had better pray that her mistress or her lover don't implicate her as thanks for her help because saying "The queen (or empress) was the one who commanded me to help her sneak him in and I couldn't deny her request!" doesn't absolve her of her integral part in helping her mistress cheat on the emperor/king and potentially muddying the royal bloodline since people are going to doubt that the king's kids are truly his if his wife had an affair. If her mistress wanted to make her and her fellow ladies into spies whom she slips into the beds of her enemies to gain intel like Catherine de' Medici did with the Flying Squadron, guess what she’s doing?

Comportment: Mind your Ps and Qs at all times

A lady/maid has to know how to behave herself both in public and in private with her mistress. She can be friendly with the royal she's serving, but she can't hang off her or call her mistress names then claim that she was "just joking" when her mistress takes offense to her behavior, being friendly is okay until you cross the line. The Empress/Queen must be respected even by her best friends, especially if they are in public. Think of it as like being friends with the wife of your boss, you can be playful with her, but up to a certain point. While the lady might be a subject to the monarch or his mistress, her mistress is his legal wife and the crowned Empress/Queen (especially if her husband is the type of man to reproach his mistress for flagrantly disrespecting his wife and her position), you have to play nice with her in order to retain the favor of the Emperor/King. Now if the Empress/Queen is a monarch in her own right, this complicates the matter because she’s not just disrespecting her mistress, she’s basically disrespecting the monarch of another country.

Do not let her behave like Sarah Churchill did to Queen Anne (your husband writing in a letter to you that the Queen “should make good political use” of his victory in battle isn’t a good excuse). A lady/maid is not allowed to verbally abuse her mistress or tell her to shut up about jewels and unlike Sarah, she would (and should) know better. Anyone else would have dropped her from her inner circle on the spot the very first time she verbally abused her. She can argue with her mistress, but only to a certain point. It should never, ever elevate to a shouting match for any reason, especially if the empress/queen is ruling in her own right. Any empress/queen who is ruling in her own right can ultimately spell the end of your social and political advancement, seeing as her favor depends solely on the Empress/Queen.

Secrecy: Don't spill the tea sis!

A lady/maid will be expected to keep secrets for her mistress, no matter what the secret is, even if she doesn't approve of it. The empress/queen has just found out that she's pregnant with a son and wants to keep it a secret so her husband's mistress can't sabotage the pregnancy since the son of the crowned empress/queen will be the heir regardless of if his mistress has a son? Is she planning to switch her seven children to the school that traditionally educates the Imperial/royal family because the former best friends of her eldest daughter have all turned on her and the girl behind it all tried and failed to get her expelled? Has she confided to you that she's worried that if the prime minister finds out about her plan, he might intervene in his capacity as friend to the monarch and convince her husband that it wouldn't be in the best interest of the crown prince and his siblings to abruptly transfer them out halfway through the school year over one child having problems with her friends? She had better keep that secret, otherwise the empress/queen can and will hold you personally responsible for the loss of her son and the long-awaited heir to the throne or if the prime minister does intervene with her husband. This involves anything like leaking letters alluding to a love affair (looking @ you, Sarah Churchill; you’re lucky you weren’t around for Henry VIII) between her and her mistress or anyone else.

The trust of your empress/queen is like a mirror, once you crack it you can put it back together with but her trust in you won’t be the same and she will begin to confide in another lady/maid about her personal matters, seeing as her former confidant has already proven that she cannot be trusted. Her loose lips make her a massive liability to the monarch and the state and any emperor/empress/king/queen who is worth their salt will recognize this and put her in a position where she is virtually useless to those seeking intel on the monarch from the get go.

He's not worth it: Don't bang her husband if she's calling the shots

Listen to what I'm about to say very closely: It doesn't matter how hot the prince consort is, or how nice he is to her, not one bit. If he takes her as his mistress and parades her around openly, the reigning empress/queen will not be very amused with her, and will definitely make sure she doesn't progress socially or in regards to precedence. He may lavish her with money and gifts, but he can't do much aside from that without openly insulting his wife. Yes, he's allowed to see her as the apple of his eye, but she's still banging the husband of her monarch. Everyone at court will ostracize her for disrespecting the monarch, even more so if she's being a pain in the ass for the imperial/royal court and kicking up a fuss about precedence and favoritism. Her lofty position as mistress/favorite to the prince consort only lasts as long as he's consort to the monarch. Once one of his children succeed their mother as monarch, they have no real reason to extend their father the money to keep his mistress once they hold the purse strings, unless they stand to gain something from it.

It's even worse for the lady/maid if her mistress is the reigning monarch in her own right and he's her consort, seeing as if her husband is only her consort, she can only get so far on his favor alone since his wife is the monarch. She's the ruler of the country, and he's nothing at court without being married to her. If she's the mistress/side piece to the prince consort, she'll be openly ostracized by everyone at court save for the prince consort seeing as she's being a pain in the ass and openly disrespecting her monarch/mistress by hopping into bed with her husband. The more powerful people at court (who are favored by the empress/queen herself) will not hesitate to throw shade at her family seeing as the prince consort can’t really come to their defense on account of the fact that doing so would be an open/major insult to his wife.

[ottomanladies]

Hi! Can you explain me ( geographical as well, i would like to know where this palaces set up) difference between Old Palaces? I remember, that firstly ( before Murad.iii) in one of them lived women of decreased Padishah and in a another lived harem of present Padishah. But then harem of present sultan moved to Topkapi. And what happened to both old Palaces? In which one of them lives exiled Valide Sultans? ( Safiye when rebels demanded that, Kösem while second half of Ibrahim reign).

Hello! I think there's some confusion here because there are not two Old Palaces. There's just one and it's located in what is now the main entrance of the Istanbul University in Beyazit Square.

(sorry Topkapı Palace is in Italian but the rest isn’t for some reason)

The Old Palace was the first palace to be built by Mehmed the Conqueror when he conquered Constantinople. It was a large palace that extended until what would become the Süleymaniye Complex.

In 1459, construction began for what would become Topkapı Palace: the Tiled Pavilion was built first and it was here that Mehmed II moved. Most of the harem (and the royal family) stayed in the "Old Palace", as it began to be called. Inside Topkapı indeed there were only the present favourites of the sultan, that is the concubines he was bedding at the moment. As soon as one of them got pregnant she was transferred back to the Old Palace, where she would raise her child. If it was a son, her sexual role would end and she would raise him until it was time for him to become a province governor; at that point, his mother would follow him and she would be his most trusted adviser. If it was a daughter, on the contrary, she could go back to the sultan's bed until she conceived a son. She would also raise her daughter in the Old Palace until it was time for her to get married. If the sultan had got tired of the concubine or if she could not conceive, she was married off to a palace steward or another male member of the palace. In fact, it was a great honour to marry one of the sultan's former concubines.

This system meant that the female members of the royal family permanently lived in the Old Palace: the sultan's mother, his unmarried daughters and sisters, widowed princesses of any rank all lived in the Old Palace.

The first woman to move permanently to Topkapı Palace was Hürrem Sultan after her marriage to Süleyman I. Suleyman had already begun harem renovations at the end of the 1520s but after he got married in 1534, he had to build apartments for his official wife. It is not known when Hürrem moved: Necipoğlu says that she moved right after Hafsa's death and Mahidevran's departure for Manisa. Peirce is more cautious and says that the move was gradual:

The more plausible reality is that Roxelana remained a significant figure in both royal palaces, moving back and forth between them but gradually making the New Palace her primary residence following her marriage. — Peirce, Leslie. Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire

In any case, her apartments were splendid:

Writing in the late 1530s, the Venetian [Luigi Bassano] informed his audience that “the palace of the Sultana is within that of the Grand Turk, and one can go through secret rooms from the one to the other.” Some fifteen years later, the ambassador Bernardo Navagero supplied further details: “In the middle [of the magnificent garden] are the rooms of the Grand Signor and of the Signora Sultana, whose room is separate; to go from one to the other, one must pass through a small walled garden belonging to the Grand Signor, and thence to another garden belonging to the Sultana, which is also walled.” [...] Bassano provided details of Roxelana’s quarters in the New Palace. “Like those of the Gran Signore, the chambers of the Sultana are most splendid,” he wrote, “with chapels, baths, gardens, and other amenities, not only for herself, but for her damsels as well, of which she keeps as many as one hundred.” — Peirce, Leslie. Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire

Süleyman's son and successor Selim II lived in Topkapı with his haseki Nurbanu and possibly with the mothers of his other children. Since Hürrem had died before his accession to the throne, there was no valide sultan to house somewhere. The problem presented itself when Selim II died and his son with Nurbanu became sultan: for the first time in 50 years, there was a valide sultan and it was someone who had previously lived in Topkapı, at the centre of the power. She was not going to the Old Palace quietly, far from everything that mattered. Murad III was also a very domestic sultan: he had a nuclear family with his haseki Safiye and did not seem inclined to take more concubines; he was also very close to his mother, and considered her the best adviser he could ever have. It was only natural for him to transfer everyone to Topkapı: mother, haseki sultan and children. At this point a place was needed for the mothers of Selim II's younger sons (who had been - in the meantime - executed): the Old Palace seemed the perfect place. From this point onwards, the Old Palace would become the residence for retired concubines or women who had displeased the sultan. It became to be known as the Palace of Tears.

But what happened to the sultan's former consorts before the advent of Murad III? There were two options and they were based on the children they were mothers to: mothers of sons who had graduated to a provincial post (Mahidevran, for example) would retire in Bursa, the old capital of the Empire.

The mother of a prince who either died at his provincial post or was executed in a contest for the succession did not return to the imperial palace in Istanbul. Instead, she retired to Bursa, the first Ottoman capital, and the place where, until the conquest of Constantinople, members of the dynastic family were buried. In retirement she occupied herself with pious works. Often she undertook the construction of her own or her son's tomb. Befitting her role as senior member of her son's household, she looked after members of the deceased prince's suite and assured that they were given appropriate new posts. — Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

Mothers of princesses stayed instead in the Old Palace:

Ranking lowest in the 1555–1556 register were ordinary concubine mothers. The stipend of Shah’s mother, a former consort of the mighty Selim I, was only seventy-five aspers daily, and Huma Shah’s mother received a mere thirty. — Leslie P. Peirce, Empress of the East: How a European Slave Girl Became Queen of the Ottoman Empire

As none of Selim II's younger sons was dispatched to a province (because they were too young but also because Murad had been already singled out as the heir), at his death their mothers were still in Topkapı. The same would happen at Murad III's death: only his eldest son and heir was dispatched to a province, his other sons were living in Topkapı with their mothers in a limbo in which they were technically adults (I think the eldest was 17) but they were not recognised as adults either because they had not graduated to a provincial post and for this reason could not acquire concubines or father children. In the Ottoman mentality, someone who did not have children was also at the base of the hierarchy (this is also why they stopped fathering children with noblewomen and foreign princesses: without children, those women were powerless)

In sum, I think you mistook Bursa with a second Old Palace.

As for your last question: Safiye was indeed sent to the Old Palace for a couple of days but Mehmed III recalled her right away after the rebellion had died out. Kösem was instead sent to the gardens of Iskender Celebi:

Ibrahim even tried to banish his mother. He planned to have her exiled to the island of Rhodes, but this indignity was resisted by his hasekis, and the sentence commuted to exile in one of the imperial gardens in the capital. According to the historian Naima, [T]he valide sultan would sometimes speak affectionately, giving counsel to the ... padishah. But because he paid no attention to her, she became reluctant to talk with him, and for a long while resided in the gardens near Topkapı. During this time the padişah became angry as a result of some rumors and sent the grand vezir Ahmed Pasha to exile the valide sultan to the garden of İskender Çelebi, thereby breaking the hearts of all, great and small — Leslie P. Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire

[malkaleh]

If I was writing a rough summary for my ideas for the revamped version of Into The Fire it might go something like this. cc @giadesstrin if interested. 

The one thing I know for sure is that Henry Tudors public/court persona is basically like ‘amusing witty cynical party guy who doesn’t give a fuck and sleeps with everyone’ 

Obviously this is not the truth because Scarlet Pimpernel vibes but it’s for the protection of everyone around him. 

This might be somewhat Sarah J Maas inspired as well. 

It’s a modern AU. 

Maybe in space? Or at least there’s Other Planets (tm) 

Jasper basically took over in a coup and probably killed H7 off quietly because it would have been a scandal for definite. 

All the siblings have different court personas but I know for certain that 

Arthur: scholar, only interested in being in his tower and books and old old histories

Margaret: LESBIAN WARRIOR PRINCESS. Married off in an alliance marriage, is considered to not have any thoughts in her head beyond fighting/drinking and sex having. 

Mary Rose: Pretty princess who loves dancing and flowers and new dresses and music. 

This is obviously a fairly different universe but basically H7′s line had been Space Rulers for centuries and he married Jaspers mother who is from a fairly um, Evil Non Diverse Space Empire (Jaspers mother is actually a decent person she was just Very Trapped and had no involvement in raising him). The Empire was very much planning to take over Earth and associated civilisation(s). 

Elizabeth of York is like, Old Earth Royalty probably? (If this is a magic world she’s definitely half water fae royalty) She and H7 actually fell in love and because in whatever world this (sci-fi/modern au but magic or some combination of both) is poly marriages are just normal she and H7...are some kind of married? Possibly what it is is that there is a formal alliance marriage made for having a heir and then you can marry for love but the children of that marriage are not in line for the throne.

The Tudor Kids are basically hostages to their families/worlds good behaviour and vice versa. Jasper getting attached to them was a bonus because it meant he would really really hold on to them tightly. 

Technically at this point Earth And Associated Planets are allowed to govern themselves but it’s a balance hammered out by the continuing hostage situation of the tudor family and them behaving themselves. 

Anne Boleyn is the ambassador to the imperial courts youngest daughter and secret resistance member/spy though not a warrior like her sister Mary. Instead she’s a lady in waiting to Arthur and KOA’s only daughter (they are the same age) which means her time in court has been restricted to their wing mostly. 

Thomas Cromwell is the leader of the resistance who unfortunately gets captured. But no one knows his actual identity and instead, Jasper wants him as a consort concubine. 

...Oh shit Henry, Anne and Thomas fall in love. 

[coe-lilium]

What's this about Nero and Britannicus, Coe?

Britannicus was Claudius’ biological son by his third wife and empress consort Valeria Messalina and by all intents heir to the empire (when he was born his father coined money with the inscription “hope of the imperial family” and once he got a little older Claudius proudly brought him everywhere).

Then Messalina latest adultery got out of hand, she and her lover were executed and Claudius had the incredibly stupid idea to marry Agrippina, who then convinced her husband first to marry his daughter Octavia to her teenaged son Lucius Domitius and then to adopt Lucius, whose name became Nero Claudius (honestly, I have quite a high opinion for Claudius government, but he really was an idiot while dealing with Agrippina).

Technically speaking, the adoption shouldn’t have changed the dynastic succession because even if Nero was older (and had received a better education) the emperor already *had* a male heir. But Agrippina didn’t got her son adopted into the imperial family for shit and giggles. She worked her ass off to drove away Britannicus supporters, gave him bad tutors and councilors and did her best so that when both boys appeared in public together Nero would came out better (which he did). Claudius wasn’t completely blind tho, and in his last Senate address he commended both boys but “admonished his son to grow up quickly, implying that everything would be righted when he assumed the toga virilis” (the toga that meant a boy was of age). Not even few months after this indirect warning to Agrippina and Nero and Claudius was dead, likely poisoned.   

Stuff gets a bit confused when Claudius dies but to make it short, his death was likely kept a secret from his biological children while Agrippina and her supporters corrupted the Praetorian guards and convinced the Senate and next you know, Nero’s got the throne.    

Some months later Britannicus had had enough and denounced his step-brother for the usurpation. Nero had him killed in late 54 to early 55 a.C., few months after Claudius’ death and right before Britannicus’ could reach his 14th birthday.      

[padawansuggest]

Could you tell us more about your Mandalorian temple au? Maybe specifically the temple, and how living there differs from the Corusant?

This ones got a bit to it so hold with me a moment.

Okay so general fandom (? I think it’s fanon but at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out to be canon, because places like Jedha exist and that’s TECHNICALLY a Jedi temple too so 🤷🏼‍♀️) that I tend to follow, is the idea that there are like 50+ Jedi temples scattered all over the galaxy (if it is canon that there are multiple in use, I doubt there are that many, and I also follow the idea that there are other non-Jedi related force schools out there, but that ones pretty much squashed by the canon that Jedi are evil child stealers and so what’s the point of having non-Jedi force schools if the Jedi are just gonna steal your kids anyways 😒) and so tbh, to start with, the Mandalorian temple is one of MANY in the galaxy.

In this AU, they DID start off with Coruscant as the main temple. But in this AU, Palpatine takes over the galaxy around ten years earlier, so, when that happens, the Jedi leave Coruscant (they aren’t killed because the clones aren’t around, and there was never a war going on... maybe... tbh idk the exact details on how the Empire came to exist yet, but I know that Order 66 never happened) and scramble quick to find a place that’s not Empire related to touch down on and eatablish a new place.

It was actually Qui-Gon that suggested it. When the Empire came down on them, the council told her to become a council member and for once, she didn’t argue it, because shit just hit the fan hard and she needs a higher position in the order to keep them from doing something stupid. For once, the council isn’t trying to get rid of her, because she IS the most experienced in battle combat in basically the entire order, and they need her help.

So, in this AU, two important things have already happened: Obi-Wan (left the order when she was 19, so about 10-11 years ago) is already dating Satine Kryze, and she also had to leave Alderaan (just like in canon, I agree with Alderaan’s decision to pretend to be Imperial, simply because of their specific place in the galaxy meaning that they’re very likely a target if they step out of line,) because force sensitives and former Jedi, are also being hunted down. So of course, her first thought was to go to Mandalore, who’s not Imperial and with a very strong government in this series, and the second thing that’s already happened in this AU; Qui-Gon has already adopted Obi-Wan.

So, Qui-Gon’s first thought when they’re looking for somewhere to land the order is the exact same thing as Obi-Wan. To see if she’s okay and also that Mandalore/Concord Dawn (in this AU their governments are basically combined) is anti-imperial and would POSSIBLY harbor them. So they land there and start setting up shop in their rarely used Mandalorian temple.

So, thats backstory for why they’re there. Now, since the temple there is rarely used (I headcanon that it IS used no matter what, but mainly by Mandalorian Jedi and support staff and corps staff that wanted to be a part of the Jedi order, but still wanted to stay on their planets, and tbh that sounds hella fun) that means that culturally, it doesn’t end up being much different from the Coruscant temple.

Differences include being pulled into the outside-of-temple Mandalorian culture itself (ceremonies and events, because I imagine that Mandalorian are kinda showy people who tend to drag anyone they like into their fun) but also, being a general pain to the actual Mandalorian government, which mainly consists of Jaster Mereel and his 5000 children and grandchildren and also like 3000 True Mandalorians and people like that.

Also, sidenote, lol, Death Watch AND New Mandalorians are basically the Nazi parties lol they can choke and rot, and no one in the royal fam is associated with them, and their meetings are broken up regularly because that shit is whack and I hate it.

Anyways. While living there, the Jedi make friends with the True Mandalorians (aka: people who like blowing things up hon) and they do regular raids on imperials near their systems and plan an entire fucking resistance.

An idea that came to me a week or two ago: Obi-Wan has DEF slept with Breha Organa. Like, abaolutely def. She was Breha’s favorite dancer back on Alderaan. Anyways, so, Satine met her once, and she just immediately KNEW, and so now Satine (Very Possessive) just absolutely hates her. So, one of the most hilarious moments of Alderaan saving face and pretending to be imperial, is when Breha travels to Mandalore to join an Alliance meeting (this is the last time they sent HER instead of Bail) and the imperials question her about it when she gets back and Breha doesn’t know what else to say so she’s all ‘well, you’re men are hunting force sensitives for sport, so my latest consort had to move to another star system, and I get So Lonely sometimes, so I paid her a visit’ and honestly???? Satine will kill that woman if she ever comes back to Mandalore, it’s hilarious.

Jaster nearly had a heart attack when he heard that one. But like. From laughing. Satine knocked over a statue. It was great. Mandalore used to be so peaceful before all these renegade assholes showed up to ruin the peace.

Anakin is only like 13-14 when this all starts, so Padme is going to be finishing her first term as queen in a year or two, but then after her second term is finished, she’ll be headed out to start her own secret alliance meetings, and then things will get REALLY gay like hon, she’s a top and Anakin is gonna love her instantly. She’s like. Prime lesbian material. Do y’all KNOW how rare tops are?????? Hon.

Ahsoka is smol bb who got rescued from the crèche with all the other kids but she’s adorable and probably makes friends with some of the Fett children.