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commsroom · 9 days ago

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this is a sensitive topic for me, so i really hate that i have to make this post, but unfortunately it keeps becoming relevant: stop infantilizing hera, and stop making excuses for it.

"well, she's literally four years old" she's been fully conscious with an adult mind for most of that, awake for most of that, and in multiple places at once for most of that. do you think that is comparable to a child's life experience, or is it maybe representative of something else?

i assume you understand why it would be wrong to call lovelace "literally two" because the fact that she is a clone is textually representative of the trauma she's been through. i also assume you understand why hera occasionally making flippant or frustrated comments about her own struggles living as an AI is different from the text telling you who she is or how you should regard her. it's science fiction, and it's a show that uses science fiction concepts in ways that resonate with real ones. the ultimate fact of the matter is that hera could've been in a lab for 30 years, or for 200 years, in a different setting, and be written the exact same way: as a sheltered, isolated adult woman without real life experiences.

hera is not a child or teenager in a natural stage of development. she is an adult who never went through the usual stages of development or life milestones, who has adult friendships and responsibilities, but who feels she is permanently ill-equipped to handle her life because no one ever taught her how, or gave her the space to make mistakes. if you don't understand why this distinction is important in discussing her trauma, that there are real, adult people who feel the same way, people who feel they've only been alive for four years, women who were never girls... then i really don't know what to say to you.

and i guess i have to say it: it's inherently infantilizing to say her peers see her the same way they see an actual child, or to say she needs them to be parental figures, especially eiffel of all people. "adult women have parents too" not ones that are 30 year old men! and parents have responsibilities to children, even adult children, that are different from the responsibilities two unrelated adults who care about each other have. it fundamentally reframes hera's most equal relationship in a way that diminishes her autonomy within it. (and if you're arguing it's all equal anyway, then what does it add? why don't you consider friendship as important?)

i know some people will dismiss that point because i view eiffel and hera romantically, but i've never argued you have to. if you want to go down that road, it says some pretty awful things about the couple of writers and actors who also view it romantically if you think she was meant to be viewed as a child, much less comparable to his child. you're inventing problems that don't canonically exist.

i just don't understand why you would make it about eiffel at all - and eiffel does not have the right to be a parent; the only thing that will heal his relationship with his real actual child is in relation to his real actual child - instead of discussing what a disabled, isolated, traumatized adult might be able to offer a disabled, traumatized kid. isn't the whole point of hera not being like pryce about breaking cycles? why make her a passive figure in her own story when her entire story arc is about taking control of her life?

there's no utility to this line of thought that doesn't further demean and alienate her, while implying she isn't ready to be a fully autonomous adult person. i don't think most people mean to be ableist, but hera is canonically a disabled woman, and i don't like where that line of thought leads. and yes, she's just a fictional character and can't be hurt by it, but everyone brings some real-world biases to how they engage with fiction. she's written as a marginalized adult person, and her womanhood is textually tied to defense of her personhood and autonomy (as well as a parallel to lovelace, also a marginalized woman.) to paraphrase minkowski - "you are going to show [that woman] some goddamned respect."

#wolf 359 #w359 #hera wolf 359 #hera w359 #i could say more but frankly i'm sick of this argument. either you get it or you don't #i'm not interested in arguing with people who keep reducing it to shipping and won't understand what i'm saying in good faith #i'll never get over the person who drew her as a child because 'it's the only way her personality makes sense to me'#like really think about the implications of that.#really think about what you're suggesting. do you think hera would actually fit in better with children than with her canon peers?#do you see why that's infantilizing?#or else are you kinda just treating her like she's permanently socially damaged and will never belong anywhere?

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astheworldgoesonitswickedway · 2 months ago

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As the ASoUE fandom, we need to acknowledge the drastic differences between the books and show more often. I love them both though I do prefer book canon on this particular subject. The schism. The timeline can be confusing. And it's so important to recognize that while in the show, Beatrice accidentally killing Olaf's father incited the schism and Olaf's villainy, in the book, Kit tells us the schism happened when she was four. If we are assuming all our main generation of V.F.D. members are probably within a few years of each other in age, this happened when they were all young children. This changes a lot, but most importantly it means that the death of Olaf's parents and the great schism, were two different events. And also, this means they all grew up in schism V.F.D. essentially this environment of warring factions. They didn't get to experience a maybe healthier version of V.F.D. They grew up in an atmosphere where their lives would much more often have been at stake. Well I've been thinking about that night at the opera, since the schism had already happened, it could have played a part in the events. The show says it was an accident, but the books never clarify. To be honest, the books make things sound much more like an assassination...not saying it was but I won't say it wasn't. We see the Baudelaires themselves come to the conclusion their parents weren't who they thought they were. Why would they have poison darts if they didn't intend to use them? Kit says she snuck them past Esme to the Baudelaires. (Which is another thing. Seriously, if this was an assassination, Kit participated in the murder of her fiancée's parents...Olaf didn't seem to blame her like he did the others, did he not know, or did she not know what they would be used for so he didn't consider her complicit?) And for the record, the death of one person with a dart like in the show, could be an accident. Both of Olaf's parents died in the book and that's a lot harder to answer for. So why would the Baudelaire parents assassinate Olaf's parents? Would "noble" V.F.D. really condone something like that? I mean, I guess they were messing around with the medusoid mycellium...planning to use it against their enemies. Could the Baudelaires actions that night relate to their reluctance to tell the kids about their organization? As for why they would do that, is it possible Olaf's parents might have been villains on the other side of the schism? Were they planning something horrible? We are basically told that night is why Olaf switched sides, could he really have been on the noble side at a time when his parents weren't? What did Olaf see that night, how did he know who to blame? Did he watch his parents die? Could his parents have been planning to strike first? Could they have meant to kill his friends, an event which would also drive Olaf insane, just in the other direction, against his parents? Is there any way his parents could have been innocent? I have a really hard time believing that if the Baudelaires did what they did, though it was still not okay. This is all wild speculation I know, but the book canon just opens up worlds of theories, unlike the show which seems to sacrifice the plot a bit, in order to keep our important characters hands clean. But if Daniel Handler taught us anything, its that no one really keeps their hands clean, everyone participates in treachery at some point, and you never know how horrible someone's treachery was, you can't necessarily trust someone just because you care about them. Can I just say how absolutely gutsy it was for Daniel Handler to deliver a thirteen book series, the plot of which is driven by the great split of this secret organization, only for him to never tell us what happened? He never explains the schism? I know he loves to leave unanswered questions but. But this. Then again, it's written from the Baudleaires perspective and for many reasons, they don't get to know. It is fitting that neither do we.

#a series of unfortunate events #lemony snicket #count olaf #v.f.d.#asoue #kit snicket #beatrice baudelaire

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bitethedevil · 6 months ago

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Raphael the Cat (Character Analysis)

I’ve thought a lot about the whole cat and mouse metaphor from his Cormyrian rhyme, even when I first started playing the game and hadn’t developed my unhealthy obsession with Raphael. It is an odd thing isn’t it? Why a cat?

The mouse thing makes perfect sense for his character. He often refers to others as ‘little’ or something to that effect (such as ‘pipsqueak’). You are small and he is big. That’s always the gist of it. Of course, the ‘mouse and cat’-trope is pretty common, but why not identify with something bigger and scarier? He does it by calling himself a ‘devil’ instead of what he really is: a cambion.

We know that he doesn’t just do it with us. In the Devil’s Den at Sharess’ there is a book where someone had written about winning over a devil in a poetry contest and the devil is clearly Raphael. We know because he has circled it in red that his ‘down came the claw’ line is mentioned in it. Which means that this loser (affectionate) reuses the same old material for clients.

He’s not a lion, or a wolf, or whatever absolutely terrifying creature you can find in the D&D universe. He’s a cat. That’s what he’s chosen as his fursona, if you will. Why though? The more I think of it, it makes complete sense, and it is such an apt metaphor for his character.

“Is there anything duller than a loyal dog?”

Raphael says that line and then says ‘I much prefer a cat. Meow.’ Iconic, honestly. It also says a lot about his character. What is a dog’s role in a house? They protect their owners because of some sense of fondness or at least because they are trained to it. What does a cat do? It kills mice.

Not because of any sense of fondness or duty to its owners, but because it is nature for it to do so. It is specialized to kill mice and rats. A cat does what a cat wants, which is exactly what Raphael does.

It’s written somewhere in the Devil’s Den that he sometimes doesn’t even really need to claim someone’s soul or help them, but simply does it because he feels like it. Cats are notorious for killing even though they don’t even really need to.

Considering how ordered and hierarchical the Hells are, I really think that Raphael is a bit of a wildcard. It comes with his nature, I think. Most cambions are loners and solitary by nature. He does what he wants. It certainly takes some balls to directly hand over an opportunity to fuck over the literal Archdevil of Cania by telling us about Cazador’s ritual.

No matter how much he claims that he loves order, I think order is mostly what he personally deems as order. It’s whatever he feels like, which is the general theme with him.

Master of the House

A cambion isn’t seen as much in the Hells. Don’t get me wrong, he still seems really successful for a cambion, and he certainly is higher in the hierarchy than most of his heritage. In the Hells he really is a cat surrounded by lions and tigers. He might see himself as a lion, but which cat doesn’t? Though, he is still aware of his place in the Hells, or he would not have lived for so long.

A cat might not be the king of the jungle, but they certainly rule their tiny kingdom of the house they reside in (ask any cat owner). It’s the same with Raphael. The House of Hope is his little kingdom where he rules. It’s obvious from all the plaques you see around his house.

He has created his own little space where he is the most fierce and dangerous thing there is, and all the little mice who enter buy it. To a mouse, a cat might as well be a lion, which is why I think Raphael ‘dotes on mortals’. He likes feeling important, big, and scary, and mortals see that image of him.

The Cat

Though they are small, cats are apex predators. At the same time, they are irresistible to humans. We pet them, we take them into our homes, but compared to a dog, the attention you get from a cat is very much dependent on the cat and not the owner.

Raphael is the same. He comes and goes as he pleases. He appears and gives you attention, nuzzles up against your leg, making you feel special for even getting his attention. Remember what he said to Mol if you help her win?: ‘She won, you know. She’ll be the one who comes to me.’

He wants people to want his attention, so when he gives it to you it almost feels like a gift. He keeps talking about us knocking on his door as well. We know that he has most likely talked to Voss before we arrive to Sharess’ because Voss knows he has the hammer. Still, he seems very uninterested when Voss is actually there, practically on his knees begging for his help. Peak cat behavior.

However, we know what happens if one chooses to spite Raphael. It becomes very clear that he is not a cuddly and patient pet, and you suddenly realize that you were the mouse all along and that you never were in any control over the situation.

He was that apex predator all along, you just never quite realized just how small you were. Again, a cat is a lion to a mouse. He actually even alludes to this idea himself if you have tried hurting him: ‘Like a mosquito nibbling at a dragon. Begone.’.

He’ll tell you that you can be friends with him, pretending that you are something that could resemble equals, but it is all smoke and mirrors. Everything he does is to pretend that he is less intimidating that he is, and he even refuses the notion that he is the cat in the lullaby in the beginning. But if you happen to get too comfortable or think you can best him, he reminds you just how small you are and that’s a theme throughout all his interactions.

#bite yaps #raphael bg3 #raphael the cambion #bg3 raphael #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

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nevermeyers · 3 months ago

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Yeah, I know I said I'd keep quiet about it because I plan on ignoring the ending. I've done it plenty of times, even with books I consider my favorites. "Oh this book is so good, it's one of my faves... How does it end? I don't remember." I'm going to do that with jjk because I've done it more times. Anyways.

Seriously, where's the character development? Why dedicate an entire chapter to showing how much criticism affects you and making excuses for your narrative instead of fixing it? Gege could have written about the characters and their problems, their worries, their evolution even while talking about how the politics of jujutsu world are changing rn.

What are Nobara's thoughts right now? There could have been an entire chapter dedicated to her character to fill in the gaps and finish defining her, what about her mother? How does she feel about her childhood friends? What are her plans now?

What about Megumi? Yeah, seeing him laugh was therapeutic, but honestly his character hasn't had the development/ending I expected. The timeskip was weird, his acting is literally the same as the beginning of the manga. It feels like I'm reading the same person who appeared in chapter one and not a traumatized boy who is learning to live. Where is Itadori teaching him that it's actually worth moving on? Where's the whole PTSD thing I'm sure he has? (fuck megumi haters btw fuck them, and fuck the way they victim blamed a kid). What are his thoughts about Gojo? About Sukuna?

Yuuji... Our mc. I was expecting to see him mourning Choso, mourning Gojo. But no, apparently it's more important to explain that there was a secret society (lmao) than to have him show respect and tears for those people he loved. His family, who he never got to spend time with, and his sensei, who decided not to execute him and who taught him almost everything he knows. I wanted to see him taking his friends to the movies to see some B-movie horror instead of going through the horror of watching characters insult him and tell him that it's better if he were dead.

And yes, I know there are two chapters left and some of the things I mention here might appear, but we've already wasted our time with one chapter, that's many pages. There won't be time to fix whatever is this. I feel bad :/

Now, one of the things that bothers me the most is that there are characters that were implied to be dead and now suddenly appear alive. I thought this was about letting the new generations create a fair world, but no. Do you know which character bothers me the most? Mei Mei. No, I'm not against someone writing sa/csa in fiction as long as it's not romanticized (I accept the unreliable narrator because that happens a lot irl and it's sad). The thing is that Mei Mei literally embodies the values of the jujutsu world. In the jujutsu clans there was everything, sexism, abuse, neglect and most likely incest since (at least that's how I see it) they are like the monarchies of the Middle Ages. Mei Mei is the embodiment of all those rotten values that Gojo hated, that the new generations are destined to eradicate. Seriously. What is she doing alive? Take her out rn. Gojo didn't die for this.

I read someone saying that maybe the point of this chapter isn't to break the cycle, but to repeat it. I have to say that I'm a big fan of that trope! It reminds me that humans repeat the same mistakes, but even if that were the point I think it wouldn't be well written.

There came a point in the story where both options: love is worthless and love is worth it were acceptable by the end of the manga. This is the ending where love is worth it, but why hasn't anything changed? The characters we saw in 269 are almost exactly the same we saw in chapter number one.

If this is a story about how love is worth it, accept the consequences and write characters who, thanks to love, move forward and build a new world instead of neutralizing any kind of development

#damn it :(#jujutsu kaisen #@meyers #jjk 269 #jjk spoilers

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livelaughlovesubs · 9 months ago

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what do you think bsd men would be with a girl who is really hyperfeminine (ex loves sanrio, short skits and stuff) but still loves topping?

It literally does not matter what you like and how you look as long as you click. (Also tell me if you want any specific characters I didn’t mention)

I imagine them not minding it neither way, because you can wear a skirt or pants and still fuck them into oblivion. Though there are some that might get fooled by your appearance. It’s the first impression after all.

Dazai would probably tease you about it from time to time, “when I first saw you, I thought you were such a nice and innocent girl! Who knew you were into such freaky stuff?” He’d joke about it all the time, just to provoke you. Then he’d add, “but I love all woman, even if you are a beast in bed.” And wink at you. Now it’s your choice what you will do to him later, maybe you should punish that cheeky tongue of his.

Atsushi would probably be a bit embarrassed, that he needs a girl to take care of him, especially if you are shorter or look younger than him. You just have to assure him it’s alright to feel this way, and it’s alright to show emotions, cry, whatever. He gets embarrassed easily, or flustered, so it’s almost the same no matter what body Typ. You could be taller than him and hug him from behind, he’d blush already. Or as mentioned be shorter and nuzzle into his chest, and he’ll turn red. Also if you flirt with him, and he does catch on, then it really doesn’t matter if you look very feminine or not, he’d be nervous and fumbling with his thumbs the entire time.

Kunikida, I gotta say, he feels like the traditional reserved type of person, though secretly (unbeknownst to him) also a freak. Probably wrote in his book something about a nice and healthy relationship, a girly girl who is mature and gentle, and vanilla. Maybe someone who works part time so that they could take care of the household? He works full time after all. So consider him surprised when he found out about you, cuz your appearance made him believe you were very.. well, basic. (There is nothing wrong with basic) though to think you’d make him so such humiliating stuff.. you better not leave him now, not after seeing all those sides of him.

Sigma likes people who knows what they want and want to be, who can decide. Because he has a few problems with his identity. That’s why he really admires how you carry yourself, and know what you like. Fashion wise or others. You know what you like and you stand behind it, go for it girl. Also, I think sigma likes the high fashion, like a small hobby he has, so he’d love to go shopping with you and discuss outfit ideas. He probably enjoys a wide range of styles.

Fyodor also thought you would be a total sub, he just guessed. Turns out he guessed completely wrong, his mistake, can he make up by drinking a shot? Anyway, as long as you are useful, he doesn’t really care how you present yourself. The skills are what’s important. But to be honest, at first, he was trying to find a very traditional partner. It’s what he believes in. A good wife who cooks and takes care of the house, and obeys. That’s what he was looking for, if he wanted a relationship in the first place. It’s what’s written in the bible, he wanted to follow it. After spending a night with you, he had to think about it again. It felt too good to give up, and honestly, just because you top or dom doesn’t mean you won’t fulfil the requirements, no? Even if you didn’t, well, he was god’s chosen one he can make a special case just for you.

Nikolai would ask you to dress up as a clown with him. If you refuse, he’ll keep asking. So yea, he doesn’t really care what you like or look, he will make you into clowns and magic shows. It’s a part of getting closer to him, there is no roundabout. (Rip those who have a phobia against clowns, but if you do why would you like Nikolai in the first place) jokes aside, I’m sure he won’t really force you into liking all that. Probably…

Chuuya would find it pretty practical, cuz similar to sigma, you know what you like or who you are so you are easy to read. He doesn’t need to think that long to guess what kind of stuff you’d like, it’s practical. But he’ll still take ages to find the *perfect* present for you. Most of the time he’ll buy more than one, if you don’t like it throw it away. If you are even shorter than him, it’d boost his ego, cuz, yea, short people struggles. Though that ego would be gone after you show him who’s top, and he’d be pouting for a while. He thought he could finally stand over someone! He was taller but somehow he didn’t feel like he actually was! It’s not a negative feeling though, not at all. And you being girly didn’t matter, you look gorgeous anyway. Just say the word and he will silence anyone who thinks otherwise.

#sub bsd #sub bungou stray dogs #sub character #sub!character #dom reader #dom!reader #sub dazai #sub dazai osamu #sub chuuya #sub fyodor #sub nikolai #sub sigma #sub atsushi #sub kunikida #bsd fluff

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xortstories · 7 months ago

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Contrary Writing Advice: Tell, Don't Show

Wherein I give advice that runs contrary to commonly shared writing tips, because some short bits of advice get repeated without context until they become actively detrimental to the process.

Today, we're looking at a common adage: "Show, don't tell."

On the surface, this seems to be (and often can be) good advice. "Showing," in the context of writing, is all about description. Don't say "He was sad because he had to go to work", say "His shoulders were slumped and he walked with slow, trudging steps to his cubicle."

It paints a picture with words. It implies the sadness, allowing the reader to interpret it by picking up on the cues in the writing, thus increasing engagement in the story.

It's not always that simple, though. For the most basic problem, let's compare word counts. In the example given it's not that egregious—10 words for "telling" vs 14 words for "showing," but that's still a 1.4x increase to the word count of your book, and it could get much more than that. There is value in shorter, telling sentences. For starters, they break things up and can be used to punctuate the end of a sequence. Let's have an example paragraph, which we'll then try two final sentences for.

He desperately raised his shield as his foe rained down a series of heavy blows on him. Once, twice, three times the knight's mace collided with the shield, splintering the wood and driving him to his knees. His shoulder ached, and the shield began to fall low enough that his head would soon be exposed. Then, out of nowhere, another soldier—one of the many allies whose names and faces now bled from his mind as adrenaline washed away all conscious thought—appeared as if from nowhere, colliding with the knight and thrusting his dagger frantically at the weaker parts of his foe's otherwise impenetrable armor.

Probably not the best fight scene I've ever written, but it does the job of being a very strong example of "showing." Now let's look at two ways to follow up this paragraph.

#1: Showing

He turned, heedless of his ally's struggle, and dashed away. His heart pounded in his chest and he struggled to keep his shaking limbs steady, stumbling and faltering every few steps. The sounds of battle surrounded him, overloading his senses, and he narrowly avoided several errant strikes from others embroiled in conflict as he raced through the battlefield.

Again, not the best, but a pretty good paragraph. We'll talk more about it in a moment though, as now we're gonna look at a second followup:

#2: Telling

He ran for it, leaving the battlefield far behind him.

So, let's examine what each of these followups actually does for the story.

For starters, we need to consider what we want this scene to accomplish and how important it is. If this is meant to be a defining moment for the character, the culmination of several chapters of buildup where he trained for the upcoming battle, grew close to his allies, struggled with his fears and insecurities, and now in the heat of the moment loses his nerve?

Yeah, it might be worth it to drag things out and continue "showing" what he does.

But let's say instead that this, instead, is meant to be an establishing moment for an already-true fact about the character. Let's imagine that this is from the opening scene in a story that, we will soon learn, is about a cowardly soldier. The buildup of the main paragraph above sets up a suitably intense, epic fight scene. It paints the main character ambiguously, as someone who is fighting but unable to hold his own, but it leaves open the possibility that he'll join his ally and finish off the knight that was hammering him down.

And then comes the rug pull. Just when the reader expects the intense fight scene to continue, nope! He's running away. The short and to-the-point nature of "telling" what the character does there leaves things unambiguous and drives the idea home immediately. We see that the character is a coward, and that sudden rug-pull creates a great moment where the reader goes "Oh, I see. He's a coward."

Basically, it's a punchline. And a punchline has to be... punchy. You can't draw it out with sentences and sentences of "showing." You just "tell."

Let's also consider the fact that ending a long series of "showing" paragraphs with a short, simple "tell" can be a great way to transition out of a scene. It signals that that sensory feast is over, wraps it up and puts a bow on it, and lets the author move into another discrete chunk of writing.

"Telling" is also great to summarize boring, inconsequential parts of the story. If your book is about political machinations, where the draw is the characters going toe-to-toe with clever enemies in social scenarios, then it's totally fine—sometimes imperative, even—to just say "After three weeks of travel, where x, y, and z, happened, Bobson finally reached his destination."

I could go on, but this post is long enough already. Remember, the point isn't that "showing" is always bad, just that you need to understand the benefits of telling and know when it's best to do one or the other, because 100% of either does not make for a very good story.

Also I'll probably write more of these in the future. I've got plenty of beef with common writing tips.

If you like my posts, feel free to buy me a coffee!

And if you're interested in seeing what I'm working on, check out my Blood of Dragons master post!

#writers #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing advice #writing tips

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somethingclevermahogony · 4 months ago

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Updated: Kishite-Shabalic Script and a bit of the Kishic Language: Basics including an expanded list of nouns and verbs

I made this before but looking through it again I missed some things and made some mistakes, and so here is an updated version of this for y'all! As with the Kishite spoken language, the Kishic script descends from and is largely identical to the Shabalic script, thus the term Kishite-Shabalic. Kishite-Syllabic is one of three scripts used in Kishetal along with Kishic hieroglyphs (reserved for religious/cultic purposes) and the logographic Shetalic script, which has fallen almost entirely out of favour.

The Kishite-Shabalic script is syllabic, thus each symbol is representative of one syllable composed of a consonant and a vowel. In addition there are characters which serve as punctuation used to symbolize the conclusion of a thought, in similar fashion to the Latin "." and "?", and the presence of a proper noun or divine status. Though it should be noted that these are not always actually used.

Unlike the Shetalic script which is traditional formed using styluses pressed into clay, Kishite-Shabalic is typical written either through carving or the use of charcoal/ink.

Shetalic is shown below on the left with Kishite-Shabalic on the right, both say the same thing.

Keep reading for more linguistic babbling!

Vowels

As a general rule when transcribing the Kishite script, when two of the same vowel are put next to one another, they are treated as a single vowel, rather than elongated as we might see in English with words like book or meet or feat. Two different vowels, such as O and E, E and A, and so on, are almost never put directly beside each other. In the rare instances when this does occur the "stronger" of the two vowels will cover the other. The order of strength from least to greatest is as follows:

i-e-a-o-u

The vowels of the Kishite language are pronounced phonetically

Thus:

I as in sweet or pin

E as in egg

A as in palm

O as in coat

U as in tool

e.g. the substantive adjective "the Mighty" Urjali- + -ul (substantive ending) Urjaliul Urjaliul Urjalul (OOr-Jahl-OOl)

Special Note: One important differentiation between the Shabalic language and the Kishite language is that the Kishite language allows for the placing of multiple consonants in sequence. Take for example the Kishic name Ninma, in its original Shabalic form it would be Ninama (NI-NA-MA). Because of the fact that Kishite does have this trait, it has developed its own unique form of punctuation, the vowel drop. When placed below one of the syllabograms shown above, it cancels out the vowel, in essence rendering it mute. Ninma could alternatively be spelled using the formulation NI-IN-MA, similar to how Narul was spelled above, this is largely a matter of personal preference. The more traditional (Shabalic) form is often times considered more in keeping with nobility.

Sentence Structure

The Kishic language primarily follows a subject-object-verb structure.

Naru(u)l Nina(a)ma kimagiga(a)s Narul Ninma kimagigas. Narul Ninma carried. Narul carried Ninma.

Tamel kim(u)unur fabiguta(a)s Tamel kimunur fabigutas Tamel gates broke. Tamel broke gates.

Otilya (there is no -ia symbol in Kishite) Korithub luku ga. Otilya Korithub luku ga Otilia Korithia from is. Otilia is from Korithia

Enni Wi tuba chi Jahubur horu jawishaga The wind down the Mountain hard blows. The wind blows hard down the mountain.

Noun and Adjective Declensions

The Kishic language system consists of the following cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and possessive (the Shabalic language includes an instrumental case), and distinguishes between two numbers (singular and plural) and four genders, Masc/Neutral (undefined groups or individuals), Feminine, Inanimate, and Divine.

Divine beings such as gods and certain spirits as well as the Sun, Mountains, Rivers, and the Sea are always referred to in the Divine gender. Some monsters also fall under this category. (Water Bi (Inanimate), Lake Bi (Divine))

Objects which are not and have never been alive are rendered in the Inanimate gender. This can get confusing in some instances, for example while the word corpse Nahoku would utilize the masc/neutral form, the word bone, hashudi, would utilize the inanimate. Another example of this is the word Oli which can mean either blood or wine based on whether it utilizes masc/neut or inanimate declensions.

Not all inanimate objects are rendered into the inanimate. Words like spear shukala use the masc/neutral. This group typically consists of weapons and tools. The stem used will depend on the root word.

Plants as a rule are always rendered into the feminine.

Cities and countries are neutral.

Royal Titles have a specific declension.

A few examples of declension are given in the tables below.

Sample Verbs

Verb stems always end with -i. The exception to this is the verb to be, which rather takes the form of the conjugation, thus the first person singular indicative present sample or "am" would be wa.

Talk: Akki

Breathe: Ki

Eat: Ushki

Struggle: Nari

Sleep: Eshsi

Fight: Orishri

Hunt: Pabakazi (Literally Bow art(ing))

Dance: Irteti

Kiss: Mishuzi

Copulate (and the more vulgar equivalent): Seshiti/Tu(u)ki

More verbs will be provided below.

Verbal Conjugation

There are two conjugation groups within Kishite verbs, the ha/za/hi-conjugation and the wa/ya/wi-conjugation. Which conjugation is used is dependent on the verb in question, typically words with a Shabalic root use the wa -conjugation while words derived from native languages more often use the ha -conjugation.

Within the Kishite language there are two voices (active and medio-passive), three moods (indicative, subjunctive, and imperative), three aspects (perfective, imperfective/continuous, and simple), and three tenses (Past, Present, and Future)

The present tense can be identified by -i/-a/-u/-o, past by -as/-os/-us, and future by -ad/-id.

Indicative: Used for Stating facts and thus the mood of reality.

Active: The Subject is the agent of the verb.

Mediopassive: The agent acts as a reflexive agent of the verb (acting upon itself) OR the subject is the target of the verb.

Present Simple Active: Narul is hungry Past Simple Active: Narul was hungry Future Simple Active: Ninma will not be hungry Present Simple Mediopassive: Narul is accompanied by Ninma/ Narul cleans (himself). Past Simple Mediopassive: Narul was accompanied by Suru Future Simple Mediopassive: Narul will be accompanied by Mikrab Present Perfect Active: Narul has slept Past Perfect Active: Narul had slept Future Perfect Active: Narul will have slept. Present Perfect Mediopassive: Bop has been carried Past Perfect Mediopassive: Bop had been carried Future Perfect Mediopassive: Bop will have been carried Present Imperfective/Continuous Active: Narul is walking Past Continuous Active: The Deep Sun used to speak Future Continuous Active: Zatar will be fighting Present Continuous Mediopassive: Bop is being carried Past Continuous Mediopassive: Bop was being carried Future Continuous Mediopassive: Bop will be being carried

Subjunctive: Used for stating "unfacts", wishes and prayers, possibilities (may or might), hypotheticals, and opinions/judgements.

There is no Future conjugation for the Subjunctive, rather future events are expressed in the present through the use of may or might.

Additionally the Subjunctive is used for the following:

Jussive: used for suggestions and negative commands: What "should" or "should not" happen used only in the first person," we should leave/we should not leave" esh = should, na(e)sh = should not

Indefinite clauses: (if/until/whenever/whoever/however) ek = if, ekib = until, kowa(a)b =whoever, bowa(a)b = whenever, lowa(a)b = wherever, mowa(a)b = however

Purpose Clauses: "So that/ in order that" am = so that/in order that

Doubtful Assertions: "May not/Might not" er = may/maybe, na(e)r = may not, eb = might, nab = might not

Certain Future Assertions: "There certainly will..." erna = certainly (literally without maybe), na(e)rna = certainly not

Present Simple Active: We should run/ Narul wishes for rain Past Simple Active: Narul wished for rain Present Simple Mediopassive: If Ninma is stopped Past Simple Mediopassive: If Ninma was stopped Present Perfect Active: Narul has wished for rain Past Perfect Active: Narul had wished for rain Present Perfect Mediopassive: If Bop has been carried Past Perfect Mediopassive: If Bop had been carried Present Imperfective/Continuous Active: Narul is wishing for rain Past Continuous Active: Narul used to wish for rain Present Continuous Mediopassive: If Bop is being carried Past Continuous Mediopassive: If Bop was being carried

Imperative: Used for orders or commands/strong requests

Imperative is only conjugated in the second and third person singular or plural. Imperative is only used in the present and future, not for the past. Orders in the past are expressed as indicative. There are only Perfect and Imperfect Imperatives.

In the mediopassive form the imperative is translated as "Let them/you" for the first person of this the subjunctive is used "I/We should"

Present Perfect Active: Stop Future Perfect Active: You will stop Present Perfect Mediopassive: Let it stop Future Perfect Mediopassive: Let it be stopped. Present Imperfective/Continuous Active: Always stop Future Continuous Active: You will always stop Present Continuous Mediopassive: Let it be stopped (continuously) Future Continuous Mediopassive: Let it be stopped (continuously)

Additionally, the verbal system displays infinitives and participles in the present and past tenses.

Prounouns

There are four genders of pronouns; Masculine, Feminine, Neutral, and Divine. Objects with the Inanimate designation are given neutral pronouns. Only deities receive divine pronouns, other entities and places in the divine categorization will typically receive feminine pronouns, with the exception of celestial bodies which always receive masculine pronouns.

It is considered improper to address both royalty and deities with pronouns, as such there are no specific first or second person pronouns for the Divine category.

Articles

As with pronouns there is no "inanimate" article group, rather inanimate subjects are given masc/neut articles.

Stay Tuned for the ridiculously long Dictionary post that will be coming soon(ish)!

This post and the dictionary post are why, despite being back, I still haven't been all that active. I'll respond to a couple tag games tonight and I'll try to do more tomorrow. I'm still planning on doing the Korithian Recipes! Money is just tight at the moment so I'm waiting for paychecks!

If y'all notice any mistakes or typos in this, send me a message so I can fix them! Same goes for if you have questions!

@illarian-rambling, @mk-writes-stuff, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @willtheweaver, @patternwelded-quill

@elsie-writes, @elizaellwrites, @the-ellia-west, @the-octic-scribe, @the-golden-comet

@finickyfelix, @theprissythumbelina, @autism-purgatory, @diabolical-blue , @tildeathiwillwrite

@katenewmanwrites, @leahnardo-da-veggie, @paeliae-occasionally, @melpomene-grey

@drchenquill, @marlowethelibrarian, @winterandwords, @phoenixradiant, @pluttskutt

@dyrewrites, @unrepentantcheeseaddict, @roach-pizza, @rivenantiqnerd, @pluppsauthor

@flaneurarbiter, @dezerex, @axl-ul, @surroundedbypearls

@treesandwords, @the-golden-comet

#testamentsofthegreensea #writeblr #fantasy writing #worldbuilding #conlang #conscript #writing #fantasy #narul #fantasy world #world building

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mrsportgas · 5 months ago

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Ghost Ridders Cap.1

#Special Note: Not my pics, all them will be tag to its actual owner. Also not my characters. Please be patient, it´s my first time writing and englihs it´s not my first language. Feel free to interact!!!!

#Summary: Eight years ago, you were taken against your Will to Mary Goise to become the new slave of Saint Roswald, or rather, to living a hell on earth. One day, while you go with him on a visit to a New World´s island in the New World, but a familiar face appears. This creates the perfect opportunity for you to escape, join the Whitebeard Pirates, and discover more about your past, your abilities, and who you really are. All while you try to endure your new crewmate, Portgas D. Ace, who is incredibly annoying... or perhaps incredibly irresistible? You haven't decided yet.

This story is based in the world of One Piece, with the same characters and timeline. Of course, this story is fiction created by me. Some of the timelines, names, and characters might be the same, also some names, characters, stories, or even personalities may be altered. The story is happening pre-time skip, while strawhats are in sabondy for the first time.

The first chapter is an introduction to the current story, which begins with Ace as your central romance. (This romance may shift to other characters as the story progresses, but don't worry, there's still plenty of Ace to come.) The story is written in first person. Female gender, Y/N, but feel free to change the gender, name, or anything else that makes you more comfortable.♡

YOUR POV:

You are walking. Or at least you think so. You don’t remember exactly how long it’s been, but it’s been long time since you’ve been practically going on autopilot. Walking, eating, and just going through the motions.

You just land in an island in the middle of the New World. All because Sand Roswald your lord and celestial dragon wanted to "buy" a jewel for his daughter that was now being sold in one of the best jewelry stores of the Red Line. I say "buy" because, of course, he would take whatever he wanted without caring what the store owner thought, and anyone who got in his way would be the one to lose. Just like what happened to me, but that’s another story.

All I could see were the yellow, worn cobblestones of the main street in the capital. I heard the screams and whimpers of people as they knelt, trying to avoid his gaze, and I could even hear footsteps as people ran, trying to hide somewhere else, trying to stay as far as possible. Mean while, in my head words repeated over and over: “Walk, look down, and everything will be fine.”

After so many years, the Sea Rock shackles hanging in my wrist where like part of my own body; I had learned to live with that weight. With that pain.

MARCO’S POV:

“All this will cost you 200 berris,” said the owner at the medicine shop.

“Alright, give me a second. Ace, hand me the bag.” The silence made me look back; Ace wasn’t there, and somehow I wasn’t surprised. The damn idiot had gotten lost again. I can’t take it anymore. Now I have to go look for him, and to top it all off he took all the money with him.”

The Whitebeard pirates had just landed that day, looking for supplies, and they had to set sail again quickly to complete an important mission. So they had just enough time to grab what they needed and leave.

“My friend has gone with the money; hold this for me, and I’ll be back for it.” Just as the owner was about to respond, a wave of people running and screaming in desperation rushed past the store. “What happened? What’s wrong with the people?”

“From what I understand, a celestial dragon is coming to the city today. If I were you, I’d stay inside until it’s gone. As far as I know, it’s Saint Rosward. They’re one of the cruelest families out there… if any of them could be considered merciful,” the man explained with kindess.

“I don’t have time for that. I need to find my berries and leave as soon as possible. Don’t worry, I’ll be back,” I replied with a friendly smile.

I stepped out into the deserted street. There was no one left; people were either already hiding or kneeling in the main street.

This could be dangerous. I need to be careful. I thought, and that’s when it hit me… If I were Ace, ¿Where would I have gone?… ¡THE MARKET! Which, of course, is on the main street…

Hidden under my cloak and trying not to draw too much attention, I made my way to the main street and knelt down with the rest of the citizens. Moving quickly, I tried to get to the front rows so I could take a better look at the market area. As I got closer, I saw three armed men and a girl in the middle, all at the entrance of a jewelry store. Through the window, Saint Rosward with a jewel on his hands. I looked around and suddenly, I SAW HIM. The idiot was on the roof of that same building, gesturing at me while laughing and eating an apple.

“What an idiot…” I thought as I signaled for him to come down. At that very moment, the atmosphere changed, and the entire scene around the street shifted. A single element was enough to send a chill down my spine. Something was about to happen, and that made me look towards the store’s door. The girl was looking up, at me to be more specific, straight into my eyes, and that’s when I realized.

I looked her up and down, inch by inch, for seconds that felt like hours. The girl was young, practically a child to me, though it was hard to tell since not a single inch of her body was visible. An old, tattered cloak, almost like a sack of potatoes, covered every part of her body, except her bare feet, covered in blood and mud, and her hands, which were bound by sea stone handcuffs. Her long, tangled brown hair and dark brown eyes were the only visible parts. I scanned her nose, cheekbones, mouth… eyes… those eyes.... so familiar, and then an image came to mind: my mother, and this girl was the spitting image of her.

“Y/N…” I sighed. But it was impossible; my sister was dead. Or so they told me, I think. I don’t know. It’s impossible, what are the odds anyway? Exactly… None.

The girl looked at me, freeze, staring deeply without breaking eye contact, and then her expression changed, as if she had seen a ghost. The truth is, my face must look similar right now.

Her facial expression changed yet again and her tear-filled eyes brought back memories, memories of my childhood, which I’d rather forget.

A blow. A weapon struck her head, and blood began to flow.

“What’s wrong with you? Stop crying. Shut up,” one of the guards shouted. “If Saint Rosward sees you… ¿You won’t want to spend another week in the box, eh, slut?”

She didn’t take her eyes off me, and then a voice echoed in my head, saying, “Now.” I don’t know where it came from, perhaps from within me, from the deepest part, but I listened to it because next thing i know is that I stood up and ran, ran as fast as I could towards one of the guards, ready to hit him and steal his weapon. At the same time, almost as if she knew what I was going to do, the girl stood up, dodging the guard’s blows with ease, kicking him several times, and stealing his weapon. Without using her hands.

“Right!” she shouted, and tossed the wepon to me. I turn right and the weapon falls into my hands. I manage to shoot the guard in front of me.

Another guard falls behind me from a bullet entering his forehead. As I turn around, I spot Izou looking at me with an alarmed expression, probably thinking that I’m crazy.

Meanwhile, Saint Rosward and the rest of his guards and slaves come out of the store due to the commotion at the entrance. They find three guards on the ground, and me standing right in front of him.

“Damn bitch, if I didn’t need you, I’d kill you right here. Come on, grab her and kill the others,” Saint Rosward shouted furiously. I swear, at that moment, it seemed like he could have erupted into flames all over his body; his expression was one of pure rage. In fact his clothes began to catch fire, flames rising from the bottom of his tunic. ¿Does he have that power?¿ Has he eaten a Devil Fruit?¿ Which one? But then it hits me: !!!ACE¡¡¡¡

Saint Rosward begins to scream and jump around like a madman while his guards try to put out the fire now spreading across his clothes.

“¡Run! I´ll see you guys on the ship,” Ace says as a grin formed his lips.

Without thinking it much, I look at Izou; we both nod. I quickly head towards the girl and take her hand. The three of us run towards the port amidst the commotion of the people; no one does a thing, no one moves except us.

Y/N POV:

I’m still on autopilot. ¿What just happened?

Run. It’s the only thing I can think of; my whole body is trembling, numb from so many years of being unable to move, and though my feet, my legs are doing their best, the sea stone cuffs are hard to ignore now. The broken and unstable cobblestone ground makes me trip, and fall to the ground, unable to catch myself as my hands are bound.

Everything around me is shaking; I was so close to escaping, a glimmer of hope in my heart, and now I’ve lost it so quickly.

“¡She’s my sister!” I hear footsteps ahead. Strong, big arms lift me up. A silouette in a pink and purple kimono lifts me onto one of its shoulders and starts running without saying a word.

I let myself be carried, and for the first time in eight years, I feel safe enough to close my eyes and let my body relax. So much that I even passed out.

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

I open my eyes. My whole body hurts; my muscles and bones ache so much that I let out a small groan when I try to move. My eyes slowly adjust to the light. I’m in a room, an infirmary, and although the room is small, it has the basics: a bed, a sink, and cabinets with countless shelves and various potions. Next to me, a blond boy in a lilac shirt sleeps in a chair. He slowly begins to open his eyes.

“Y/N ¡You’re awake!” he shouts, not realizing the volume of his words. "I mean… well…¿ Are you Y/N? ¿Who are you?”

“Marco… I…”

A deathly silence filled the room. Just for a few seconds, before voices behind the door interrupted the conversation.

“Ace, stop it. You can’t go in there, get lost idiot.” An unfamiliar voice spoke behind the door.

“Come on, Thatch, I’ll give Marco the food, don’t worry. We’re a very close crew and need to help each other out, so let me help by delivering this food to Marco.” This time the voice was more familiar, though I didn’t know why it seemed so familiar…

“All you want is eat that food yourself. Give it back to me…”

Suddenly, the door bursts open with a loud bang, a reven hair boy with a very peculiar hat enters the room. Behind him, a man in a chef’s jacket follows and you could tell that he wants to kill the young man in front of him.

“¡MARCO’S SISTER IS AWAKE! ¿Are you hungry? Here. I brought you food,” he said with a cocky smile.

“Ace, get out of here, I need to talk to her,” Marco replied with a frown, pushing the boy out of the room and closing the door with a bang. “I’ll bring you some food later.¿ Are you hungry?”

“It’s okay, it doesn’t matter. I’m not hungry,” I replied, looking down. The truth is you were straving. But thats a feeling you long ago abandon.

“¿Are you really Y/N?”

“Yes,” I replied timidly.

“If you really are, prove it. Show me the mark.”

"Never say who you are, never show them…" those words came to mind forcefully, too forcefully. But it was Marco, I was sure. It had been 15 years since I’d seen him, and although we were children, I knew it was him, that face, that hair… unmistakable. Besides, it was my only chance to dont go back, to never go back.

I turned around, giving my back to Marco, who looked dubious at the girl in front of him. I lowered the cloak, letting him see my completely bare back. Marco let out a gasp. There it was. Right on the neck, that symbol, which identified me unmistakably. Below it, another mark: the mark of the celestial dragons slaves.

A shiver ran down Marco’s spine, and terror invaded his body. Immobilized, unable to make a sound. I turned around: “Now show me yours.”

Marco turned around quickly, lowering his shirt to show me his.

“Bathe and dress, in a few hours we’ll arrive at the Moby Dick,” he said, tossing a towel into my arms. And before I could utter another word, he opened the door and left.

The idea of a bath sounded good; I can’t even remember the last time I bathed… in a pleasant bath of cause, since the cold water hoses of Marie Geoise... I wouldn’t know if they could be considered a bath.

With some reluctance and embarrassment, I opened the door, ready to find the bathroom… ¿How could Marco leave me alone? ¿Couldn’t he have shown me where the bathroom was?. I walked down the hallway, looking for something indicating to be a bathroom, and suddenly, the sound of running water reached my ears. “There it is.” At the end of the hallway, a large open door led to long and large bathtubs, the air condensed with all the steam from the hot water. “¡Hot water, finally!” I couldn’t believe it, nor could I wait to immerse myself in it. I quickly entered, touching the water with my foot, and suddenly I felt my whole body tremble, all the energy, the little I had, vanished. The sea stone cuffs. I had completely forgotten about them, they had become part of me, so much that I didn’t notice them. “I should better wash at the sink.”

I headed to the sink, and at that moment, behind me, a lot of water started to flow upwards, and with a great crash of water against the walls, a tall, muscular figure emerged from the bathtub.

A stifled scream escaped my throat; I managed to stop it by covering my mouth with my hands and instinctively hid under one of the sinks. The figure slowly emerged from the water; it seemed to be difficult for him too… It was the boy who entered the infirmary with the food. I started to scan his muscular tan body, naked… :¿¿¡NAKED??!! At that very moment, I woke from my trance. I better get out of here immediately. Crawling, I managed to reach the door and leave the bathroom, running down the hallway back to the infirmary, locking the door and hiding there. SHIT.

NEXT CHAPTER

#onepiece #one piece x reader #portgasace #portgas d ace #portgas d ace x reader #portgas ace x reader #portgas ace x you #portgas ace x y/n #portgas ace smut #fire fist ace #portgas d ace x y/n #whitebeard pirates #whitebeard one piece #whitebeard crew #op whitebeard #white beard pirates

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alpaca-clouds · 6 months ago

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High Fantasy Conundrums: The Diversity Paradox

I have some thoughts on High Fantasy and the way it currently is shifting in terms of the mainstream depictions. Meaning: No, this is not about books that much. It is more about the big franchises. The stuff with money behind it. Because those have stuff in common right now. I am talking about Dungeons & Dragons, The Witcher, Dragon Age, The Rings of Power and other more budget heavy fantasy.

Many words have been written, said, and screamed into the void of the internet about how these days you will usually see diversity in those. Most notably people that are not white.

And the self-proclaimed "conservatives" (who are actually white supremacists) will cry about how those are "medieval European worlds" and that hence there should not be Black or Asian people run around in them. Ignoring, of course, how there were Black and Asian people running around in medieval Europe.

And there will be leftists, that will defend any decision in this regard, on pure principle.

I will count myself among the second kind no doubt. I think it is good and important to see non-white characters in those big franchises. And frankly, I couldn't give less of a fuck whether or not whatever writer originally wrote a book that stuff was based on did imagine the world to be inhabited by people who did not have cheese-skin. I really don't.

Especially as the entire "realism" and "historically accurate" argument falls apart rather quickly if you consider one very important fact: There were no elves in medieval Europe. There were no dragons in medieval Europe. And there sure as hell was no actual magic in medieval Europe. So... Yeah, somehow I actually do think that Black and Asian characters inhabiting those fantasy worlds is less of an issue, when it comes to stuff being "historically accurate".

And yet...

There is something about this, that still very much irks me. Especially when it comes to some recent franchise stuff, like most of what Wizards of the Coasts did in regards of Dungeons & Dragons 5e in terms of lore - and something I am starting to expect from Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

And that is the lack of any actually non-white cultures within the world - and the lack of worldbuilding in this regard.

See... High Fantasy has generally speaking one big struggle in regards of the worldbuilding. A struggle that can be found in high fantasy world after high fantasy world: For the most part, the cultural worldbuilding is often lacking. While humans are often allowed to have a couple of different cultures, everyone else is usually treated like this: "This is dwarven culture", "this is elven culture", and "this is halfling culture". There is no variation in it. The dwarves in the high north have still the same culture, as the dwarves living in the south of the continent. And while humans do have a bit more in terms of different cultures, it usually also goes in broad strokes. Like: "This is the horse culture, this is the very noble culture, and this is the peasant culture". Am I saying I am blaming Tolkien? Yeah, maybe a bit.

This is one of the reasons I fell so in love with Dungeon Meshi. Because Dungeon Meshi literally is the first time I have seen that someone actually came up with differences between different elven and half-foot cultures and stuff. And I love it.

But Kui is the one writer I can think of, that really did that.

So... Let me talk about DnD, because I know my DnD Lore and I can tell you a bit of why this is bothering me here.

See: Dungeons & Dragons has this whole ass world in the Forgotten Realms as the main setting: Toril. Toril has a variety of continents. Just as you can see:

Now, originally half of those continents did not exist, I might add. Most of them were added during 2e and 3e. Especailly 3e and 3.5e did some worldbuilding in regards of those other continents. Even though, yes, if we are honest those continents are very much: Fantasy Asia, Fantasy North America, Fantasy Middle America, Fantasy Africa, Fantasy Arabia, and Fantasy Australia (about which, I might note, we know next to nothing).

But while 3e and 4e did make some use of those other settings, 5e did something else. 5e very much reverted back to focusing on Faerûn and the Sword Coast once more. But because by the time 5e released it was 2014 in the real world, they knew they could not make Faerûn this super white world. So Faerûn became diverse. There are Black and Asian and Brown people living there now. But... culturally it stay in the "generic fantasy Europe" sphere.

And that is my issue: The lack of different cultures.

I will talk a bit more about the issues with the High Fantasy "Medieval Europe" culture tomorrow, but today let me say this: Even these days, when non-white characters will be included into those fantasy worlds, they still will only be allowed to exist within a supposedly white cultural context. They are not allowed to have a non-white culture.

While this makes some sense in prescribed worlds - so worlds based on books that never had any intent on depicting anything but their "white" pseudo-European culture (like Lord of the Rings and The Wheel of Time with their respective Amazon Prime adaptions), this is less the truth for worlds that are designed around whatever they represent today.

Wizards of the Coast absolutely could put some effort into creating those other continents as good, lived in settings - and allow folks from those other continents who live in Faerûn to bring parts of their own culture with them. They could pay some PoC to actually do that worldbuilding Own Voice style. You know?

And the same is true with Bioware and Dragon Age. While I am by far not as familiar with the worldbuilding of DA, as I am with the worldbuilding of DnD, I am under the impression that there is not a lot going on in terms of non-white cultures from other continents. There are non-white people hanging around in the main plot and what not, but it does not seem as if there is a lot going on in terms of them having cultures of origin. Correct me if I am wrong. Some of those cultures seem to have names, but that is where the worldbuilding ends.

And that... You know, that is an issue. Because diversity, especially ethical diversity, is not just about the skin color. It is about culture. And somehow the culture aspect of it gets ignored a lot. Doesn't it?

#high fantasy #worldbuilding #fantasy worldbuilding #dungeons & dragons #dnd #dnd lore #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #lord of the rings #the witcher #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #the wheel of time #the rings of power #diversity #representation #medieval europe #cultural diversity

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trainsinanime · 11 days ago

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I'm still considering whether I'll do any non-vague posting about this, but let me just say: Writing long and erudite posts about what you think is wrong with a French children's TV show does not absolve you from the accusation that you're doing… let's call it entry-level analysis. A post can be long and well-written and still just regurgitate the most basic, boring points, and some of them plainly wrong.

Actually maybe don't read this, it may be too salty itself.

"Adrien is sometimes too pushy", "Marinette is sometimes a stalker", "Alya is a bad friend because she's unwilling to bully a random new girl just because Marinette said so", yeah, yeah, we've heard it. More than once. Way more than once. Yes, even with receipts and quotes. Trust me, it's been discussed. These are the kind of standard hot takes of someone who is doing their first attempt at critical analysis, and I actually think on some level we should encourage that. I do believe fandom should be beginner-friendly in all regards.

But man, it can be annoying to read sometimes. Especially when someone uses these hot takes to justify the existence of salt fics. Let me be 100% clear here: Salt fics are not a reaction to flaws in the source material. Salt fics are materially different from fix-it fics. This becomes more clear when you track these patterns over fandoms, and in particular look at my favourite example over in Fairy Tail (sic).

That fandom has a number of fandom-specific plots, like some "angel of death sends main character back to relive the origins with the knowledge they had later" (also very popular in Harry Potter back in the day), but also one that is just 100% salt specific: It's about Lisanna, a childhood friend of the male lead Natsu, coming back from the alternate universe she was trapped in, and displacing Lucy, the female lead, who eventually leaves, sad and depressed, while nobody cares about her. The sentiments are all the same: Feeling depressed, feeling annoyed that your friends are suddenly interested in the new girl, feeling like you don't belong anymore, leaving your friend group to punish them and so on.

There are some differences as well. This whole thing was back in the days of Fanfiction.net, when crossovers were in a whole other section of the site and thus not easily findable, so the whole "…I'm going to run away to somewhere where people want me" never had the frankly hilarious addition of "…and when I'm there I'm going to marry Batman!", which spawned a whole sub-fandom in ML (its fans tell me that it's not all salt; I haven't bothered to check).

But the most important difference: The inciting incident never happened in canon. People just thought it might. In canon, Lisanna did return from her alternate dimension… and then immediately became a forgotten background character. Lucy and Natsu remained just as in love as they always had been, which is to say, very much except they don't seem to notice it. Their relationship was never strained even for a moment.

And still people wrote these stories that are functionally salt fics, with the same storylines, same emotions, same beats. Because salt fics are not about fixing what is wrong with the show. If they were, they'd spend all their time discussing the terribly fucked-up metro map. Salt fics are about exploring feelings of loneliness, isolation, "why are you hanging out with here when I told you she sucks" and just pure spite, in a way that you don't really see outside of pop songs. That is the end goal. The characters and plots are just a way to get there, and they will get twisted as necessary.

This is critical for understanding and discussing the phenomenon of salt fics. Alya is not actually getting demonised because she acted a bit stupid in one episode where everybody but Marinette acted a bit stupid. It's incredibly weird to hear this argument, and then all the supporting quotes for it, in the same post, right underneath, are all:

Alya: Okay, but do you have any proof? Marinette (angrily): Arrghlwargl! No!

Like, come on. Alya is getting demonised because people really want to. Because it works for the kind of story. These stories assume that it's Alya's job to always support Marinette unconditionally, and that any deviation from that, no matter how minor, is a highest order betrayal. And then they go full Count of Monte Cristo on her.

(Well, not really, that could almost be fun. Nobody ever has Marinette imprisoned for fourteen years, get out with the help of a hypnotist monk, use a buried pirate treasure to buy an island, then manipulate a telegraph line to… It's all just torn notebooks and such. Boring.)

The idea that people hate Alya for mostly valid reasons is just plain wrong and shows that you've missed a huge part of what's happening in the fandom. You could use all the Alya hate as an entry point into analysing what her role is in the show, how people in the fandom perceive her role, how people in the salt dom perceive her role, how her role and her personality shift depending on the needs of an episode at the expense of a consistent character and so on. There is some great analysis in that direction out there already, but more wouldn't hurt. "Alya is a bad friend sometimes because of Chameleon" remains an uninteresting take no matter how well you word it, though.

And that's just Alya. Adrien hate, for example, is its entirely own field. In short: Yes, some characters in this fandom are over-hated. Try digging deeper next time.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fandom salt #this ended up being longer than I intended

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charmwasjess · 4 months ago

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Hi Jess! I have been reading the Darth Plagueis book, wherein he says that to get a true Sith, you can’t just corrupt a Jedi, you have to go a lot further… as much as Dooku was the right hand man of Palpatine, I think he was a lot less “true Sith Lord” and a lot more “fallen Jedi”… thoughts?

P.S. what do you think would’ve happened if Obi-Wan and Dooku joined forces? I’m not sure if you have written about them yet

Always good to hear from you, bud! :D What a fantastic question!

I’ll start off by pointing out that Sidious, who as The Big Sith Master is the only dude who gets to say who is or isn’t a Sith, seems to consider him one, in an official capacity. But I TOTALLY see what you’re saying, and I tend to agree with you (and with Plagueis!) I think Dooku’s storytelling role, his identity in the saga, is that of a fallen Jedi, not characterizing the typical qualities in a Sith Lord. He might be officially a Sith, but narratively, it almost doesn’t matter.

You know, it’s Dooku: Jedi Lost, not Dooku: Sith Rising. There’s no denying that Dooku is an unconventional Sith, to say the least. He only flashes Sith eyes once. He still uses his Jedi lightsaber form - a lightsaber form which is all about disarming, not deathblows. He has a notoriously difficult time killing, and seems to put off important kills out of blatant sentimentality, or get someone else to do them, often halfheartedly. On the sliding scale from “moments where he visibly looks miserable” in Clone Wars to some of the Legends novels where Dooku as a POV character outright describes his own life in excruciating terms full of regret and desperation, we as viewers are to understand that Dooku’s decision is the ultimate sunk-cost fallacy, one he pays for again and again. A miserable dance that concludes on his knees with that very expressive final look at Sidious. We see that he has wagered wrongly, and more, in that moment, that he finally knows it – just as much as we do.

And of course, there are plenty of reasons for the conflict in the character - everything from his motivations of corrupted idealism to the simple fact of old habits. I mean, Anakin spent 23 years as Vader as opposed to 14 years in the Order; Dooku, a mere 13 years as Tyranus, with a 60 year Jedi career hardcoded into his body.

But I think it’s more than just how Dooku feels about his identity as a Sith. Some of it is surely how Sidious treats him.

To Sidious, Dooku is a servant and a patsy, a stopgap solution to his Maul -> Anakin apprentice problem, and certainly not ever as an heir to his and Plagueis’s Sith line. He is not training Dooku to carry on the legacy and knowledge of the Sith after he’s gone. (It’s arguable that Sidious doesn’t think anyone will NEED to carry it on, as he himself will be immortal.) Still, it’s not hard to see that Sidious does not have a lot of motivation or time to thoroughly sithize Dooku or give him an equal stake. Dooku himself behaves unreliably, is resentful and argumentative, can’t stop collecting minions, and plotting to overthrow his Master seems to be the one part of being a Sith that Dooku actually enjoys. He’s a liability to Sidious- and teaching him more Sith lore and powers just makes him more of a threat.

Dooku himself articulates it well, so I'll give the last word to him. Here he is talking about what it’s like to be a Sith apprentice from Yoda: Dark Rendezvous:

#count dooku #yoda: dark rendezvous #darth sidious #oh I realize I forgot your Obi-Wan question because I was so busy rambling about Dooku #in a word: YES :D but let me think a little longer and put together something more interesting #Dooku and Obi-Wan are one of my favorite team ups and there's so much there #I haven't written much with them but there are so many good fics out there exploring their dynamic #actually I think rochen (on Ao3) has got a great one cooking with his upcoming fic Gone with the Light #star wars meta

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remidyal · 10 months ago

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What is Fig Doing? - Mechanical Discussion edition

So! I know a lot of people who watch D20 are relatively new to DnD, or may not have much experience with the game itself at all, and as a lover of exploring weird and mechanically ineffective multiclasses I thought I might dive in in advance of whatever the hell Emily's about to do to Fig's character sheet following episode 7. Spoiler alert: Weird it may end up being, but this is absolutely NOT going to be anything like an ineffective multiclass.

First, here's Fig's character splash screen as of episode 7:

In addition to the information shown here, we know that she's currently subclassed into a Hexblade patron and into being a Lore bard. The Lore bard part is less important, but Hexblade is an incredibly common subclass for multiclassers into warlocks and might actually be the most common multiclass subclass in the entire game for reasons we'll get into.

There is a very small elephant in the room: Multiclassing into or out of Barbarian would, by the rules as written, require 13 strength; multiclassing into or out of Paladin requires 13 strength and 13 charisma. The charisma Fig has in spades, but she's short on strength, and in fact I would actually argue that Fig's overall stats are the worst of the entire party - she has a whole lot of 0s or +1s, where most everyone else either has multiple +3s or higher or has almost all +2s past their primary. However, the multiclass requirements have been consistently ignored in Dimension 20 as a whole and have been ignored in Fantasy High in particular in the case of Gorgug going into Artificer back when he was at 8 int; I think it's safe to say that if Fig/Emily wants to add Paladin and/or Barbarian that either they'll move around stats to allow for it or just ignore the requirement, because that strength stat is, in fact, completely irrelevent to this build.

So let's get to the meat of this: There is almost no combination of bard, paladin, and warlock that Fig could end up with that is not going to be an incredibly effective build, as long as she has pact of the Hexblade and is at at least two levels of Paladin for access to Smite (the first level of paladin gets her almost nothing). There are some that are going to be better than others, but mostly it's going to reflect different strengths and focuses, and the reason for this is this little section of the Hexblade level 1 abilities:

The influence of your patron also allows you to mystically channel your will through a particular weapon. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can touch one weapon that you are proficient with and that lacks the two-handed property. When you attack with that weapon, you can use your Charisma modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls. This benefit lasts until you finish a long rest. If you later gain the Pact of the Blade feature, this benefit extends to every pact weapon you conjure with that feature, no matter the weapon’s type.

Fig is a one-trick pony, statwise. Being a hexblade allows everything she would want to do in combat across all of these classes to use that trick. She'll have dials she can tweak across the three classes, and they're going to impact just what she can do, but if she's really decided to leave being a Bard behind it wouldn't surprise me to see her ditch Bard levels for Paladin and Warlock ones over the course of the season.

For those dials, one key thing to consider is the spell slots she'll have, which are WEIRD to calculate for any warlock multiclass with another caster. For every other caster class in the game, there is a pool of spell slots that go up as you level any of them that refresh on long rests. Warlocks, however, have a seperate pool from any of those, so her warlock spell slots are seperate and refresh on short rests. If she stays at level 2 in warlock, this pool will be two slots of first level. If she levels in warlock, the level of these spell slots go up but the number of them doesn't (unless she somehow were to end up at level 11, when warlocks finally get a third slot.)

The paladin and bard combo is a little simpler to look at - she's going to have spell slots from the table that a primary caster would have at the level equal to her bard level plus half her paladin level. Just as an example, let's say she by the next combat were to drop two bard levels for two paladin ones and she were to end up 7 bard/2 paladin/2 warlock. She would end up with the two warlock first level spell slots that refresh on short rests, and 7 + .5*2 = level 8 from the primary caster spell slot table. (4 1sts, 3 2nds and 3rds, 2 4ths). A very deep pool for using Divine Smites - a full paladin wouldn't be able to match this until level 16, and that's not even counting the warlock first level spells!

Key level breakpoints that might be worth looking at: At level 5 of Paladin, she would have multiple attacks; at level 6 Paladin gets one of the best abilities in the entire game, an aura where she and allies within 10 feet get her charisma mod as a bonus to ALL saving throws. In Fig's case this is an absolutely incredible +5 - at their level, this is a bigger boost than being proficient is! If she really wants to guard her president, this would allow even Kristen to have a +2 on dex saves! I'm not certain I could overstate how good this ability is in general; with a +5 it's completely insane.

She can also get multiple attacks through either Bard or Warlock, but neither is automatic. For Warlock, she would have to choose to take Pact of the Blade at level 3 (warlocks have, somewhat confusingly, two more-or-less subclasses, and Hexblade and Pact of the Blade are in fact different things) and Brennan has been HEAVILY hinting at wanting her to take Pact of the Chain so that Baby can be a class feature instead. She'd then have to get to level 5 in warlock and take the Thirsting Blade eldritch invocation, which are sort of little bonus powers warlocks get. I think this is the least likely path to multiple attacks but it is there. (Mechanically, while it's all still fine, I also think leveling warlock would be the worst of the three in a three-class build.)

Bard CAN get multiple attacks at level 6 but Fig would need to change subclasses to either Swords (which is what Fabian is) or Valor (which is, frankly, a worse version of what Fabian is, though it's still fine.)

Getting multiple attacks is a really big deal - Paladins can smite multiple times per round, and given being able to lay on mid to low level spell slots for ages Fig would likely want to.

I have no idea what Oath Fig would pick for a paladin if she gets to level 3, but honestly the level 3 subclass features for Paladin are mostly not that big a deal; she'd need to get to level 7 for the subclass aura for it to really matter all that much.

You'll notice I haven't been talking much about Barbarian above. If Fig dips into Barbarian mechanically at all, it's almost certainly just for one level given how spread thin she might be. This is a level she won't get any spell slots for, but she will get two rages per day, which will add 2 to damage rolls if Brennan allows it (technically it wouldn't apply normally because it does specify only to rolls made for attacks using strength) but much more importantly will halve quite a lot of incoming damage - bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage, more or less all of the physical attacks in the game.

Barbarian is a massively bad combination with caster classes in general because you can't concentrate on spells or cast them while raging; there's been a lot of in-character noise made about Gorgug's multiclass being unique and a bad fit together for exactly this reason. The exception to this, as Porter demonstrated to Fig in their last scene together, is that Smiting things is burning through spell slots but is NOT casting and you CAN do it while raging.

So, if by the end of the season, we see some wild 6 Paladin/5 Bard/2 Warlock/1 Barbarian build, know that it's going to be an absolute menace. And if Fig and Gorgug keep trending the directions they are, where she's adding heavy hitter abilities and he's shedding Barbarian levels for Artificer ones, don't be surprised if on the last boss she's the one up on their face and he's casting spells next to Adaine or casting the key Revivify.

#fhjy #fhjy spoilers #figueroth faeth #gorgug thistlespring #fantasy high #mechanical discussion #dimension 20

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goldensunset · 20 days ago

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hi! I know next to nothing about kingdom hearts but could you tell me a bit about Strelitzia? she shares a name with my favorite flower that I was kinda rebranding to at the same time I saw you talking about her (back in october. cough I've been so busy 😭 cough) so I was caught really off guard lolll

but you seem to like her a lot and I'm really curious to learn more! I'd love to hear all the blorbo thoughts :)

hello tumblr user the—plant. i hope this ask finds you well. attached please find nearly four thousand words about a two dimensional mobile game character. best, goldensunset

blorbo brain ACTIVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE

hi ok so strelitzia is a character from kingdom hearts union x (but the x isn't really an x but don't worry about the titles in this series just don't worry about them trust me.) she doesn’t have a lot of screen time but she is SO important like she is actually foundational to the plot it is insane. gist of her personality? she’s quiet and shy, considers herself weak, doesn’t have a lot of friends (she has like one named acquaintance but otherwise just clings to her older brother), is kind of odd (she likes sitting on top of the roof lol) and can be somewhat spacey. to me she is like the naïve young beautifully tragic heroine of her own little fairytale

anyway one day strelitzia.... doesn't really meet but more like just notices the player character of the game (your customizable avatar) from afar. she thinks they're really cool for the way they start to like question things around them and think for themselves (bc the town they live in is kind of cult-y where everyone is loyal to one of five factions (called unions) that compete but like even the five factions are under the order of one greater cult. but that's not important rn lol). especially bc she's so shy all the time it's an inspiration to see someone so brave and unique like that. this is me kinda projecting but it might also partially be loneliness bc i think she recognizes that they are lonely too like her

the player never sees her though like they never even learn she exists until it's too late but she starts having a kind of like parasocial relationship with them. like a platonic crush. a squish, if you will. every time the two of them end up in the same place she reeeeeally wants to work up the courage to go say hi so they can be friends but she's too shy every time. my poor darling

so i mean. i lied i do have to mention some plot stuff for this to make sense of course. i promise it's interesting. there is a War approaching. bc the tension between the five unions is getting ugly. they're all convinced everyone else is evil. which is by design of the true mastermind sicko behind all this. he created problems on purpose but set himself up as a good guy and then left to go get milk and his naive homunculus furry children (his students, who each have a deadly sin for a name and an animal for a mask) (they’re the leaders of the five unions) almost all decided to take his words at face value and stick to the peacekeeping instructions he left them. which actually is what causes the war lol. they were never meant to get along! the mastermind sicko claims that that was written into fate (bc he can see the future) (or so he claims). but they still played their part. so is fate or free will responsible for this? well this is all a complicated and juicy section of the lore that isn't really necessary for an infodump about strelitzia. don’t worry about it

anyhoo only one of the naive homunculus furry children was actually fully intended to properly do the job she was told to do. like she's far and away the most important of them all. her name is ava (from avaritia, latin for greed) (so pronounced kinda like short for avocado lol) and she's the coolest of them all bc she's got a pink fox outfit. the instructions given to her were basically like hey so the war is definitely coming and almost everybody here is gonna die bc they're gonna stay loyal to their unions to the end and get involved in these petty fights like the obedient little sheep they are. (is this a good time to mention that they're all children?)

but it's ava's job to try to recruit as many strong and good-hearted people as she can to a sixth, neutral-party pacifist group. these guys are called the dandelions bc the idea is that like the seeds of a dandelion, they'll scatter on the wind and fly away to another world... poetic. that is to say daybreak town is getting massively screwed over by this battle (and arguably some other things lol) so they can't stay there anymore. you either fight and die in a stupid useless war or you say goodbye to everything and everyone you know who wasn't recruited and you run away, basically. the dandelions will be responsible for essentially rebuilding the world. like the survivors of a massive storm

the other thing is that the current union leaders won't be there in the new world either. they're about to disappear (to this day we still don't fully know exactly what happened. we can verify they're all alive though. except ava.. who knows what happened to her). so all these literal children are responsible for governing themselves now yippee! so there have to be five new chosen union leaders to replace the missing furry homunculi. this isn't ava's call though-- she's given a specific list of names she has to recruit. (ava mostly accepts fate and follows instructions instead of her heart! mostly. except when she doesn't)

these guys are understandably a bit unsettled bc as new union leaders they're warned in advance a bit more thoroughly about the imminent fate of daybreak town than the regular dandelions. like everyone has heard by this point the rumor that there could be war on the horizon and some people are in denial about it and others are like yup sounds good let's fight! some people think ok i'll only fight in self defense to stop the other people who are trying to fight! you fools. you're making it happen. the dandelions are like basically people who both believe the rumors they're told and who agree that it's a stupid idea to even get involved or to die loyal to your union. iirc some were personally recruited by ava and some just got recruited by other dandelions

but the union leaders were specifically and personally approached by ava-- lady ava, master ava, a foreteller, basically a member of the nobility-- with an ominous warning that's like 'fate is written in stone. i've read the prophecy of the future that our master saw and wrote down. the war is a guarantee. if you stay here you will die. i need you to help form the foundation of a new world. here's this cool book it serves as your id and proves you're a legit chosen one leader ok enjoy the responsibility don't tell anyone about this until afterwards ok byyyyeeeee'. not fun

FINALLY back to strelitzia. so as you might have guessed she's one of the five names on the list- she's been recruited to the dandelions AND now she's receiving a very special honor. she's kind of amazed that someone introverted and unremarkable like her could be chosen to help lead the new world. my little skrunkly. but then she panics bc she realizes that her parasocial best friend, her squish, the player character, isn't a dandelion! oh no! she doesn't want them to fight and die she has to convince them!

(and honestly as a side note it’s really fascinating bc this story as a whole primarily revolves around the new union leaders as its protagonists and yet the person you play as is someone who was warned and invited to join the dandelions multiple times but explicitly turned down the offer bc they felt like it would be a cowardly or traitorous move to abandon their friends. which is sweet of them to be worried about, and really interesting bc fr, how did recruitment work actually? did everyone actually get the offer or were some people just left for dead bc they weren’t strong or cool enough? the player takes issue with the concept. again- props to them for rising up and challenging authority and fate. but dude are you really going to join the child military instead???)

strel doesn’t know any of that though she’s just determined to reach out and be a friend. she knows that this is her last chance to finally work up the courage and reach out to this person and be friends, although it’s too bad the circumstances are so dire… like social anxiety is strong but the fear of losing someone who means a lot to her is even stronger. like she HAS to warn them and save them. she receives her official rulebook/warning/nomination what turns out to be the day before the war officially begins. that night she almost goes out running in the dark to go find this mystery person but realizes ‘wait that’s stupid i’m not gonna go out at night alone and i don’t even know where this person lives or would be rn’ so instead the next morning she sets out on a mission to find them. yayyyyy she’s finally found her courage!

yeah uh. she doesn’t find them though … what she does find is an ominous dark abandoned house (it was her little magical cat’s idea to go look in there bc it was pretty sure it saw the player around there a moment ago. i mean it was right but they were already gone smh). no little flower girl don’t go in there! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! first person to die in a slasher movie type vibes. yeah there is Someone or Something in there and in the first iteration of this scene the screen just goes dark and we hear a slash sound and then we see strelitzia on the floor. and a shadowy hand picks up her book that fell to the floor and leaves her there. in the like ‘updated’ version of this flashback she cries out for her older brother. AUGH. she manages to stumble to her feet and limp to the door, knowing that she’s dying, and in her last moments, she reflects on all those missed opportunities and expresses her regrets… ‘ i wish i’d had the courage…’ Augh. then her body fades away into sparkles bc this is kingdom hearts

so like… she’s the center focus of a murder mystery. but the characters don’t even know there’s a murder mystery. but the audience does!!! it takes a loooong time for anyone in the story to learn she’s even dead. her older brother (yes that’s right! this tragedy will not go unmourned!) realizes that he hasn’t seen her in a while but assumes she’s simply missing. i mean people in daybreak town take extended leave to work on their own little missions all the time. it’s not like the siblings can spend every day together. his name is lauriam and he’s a very nice refined polite young man who is going to have the most delicious fall from grace negative character development in the series eventually

ik you asked about strel but like i can’t talk about one of the flower siblings without the other and clearly you like flowers and plants so it’s worth mentioning. lauriam has tons of plant and flower imagery going on. the tattered edges of his vest resemble a leaf rotted by plant blight. his name is arguably supposed to resemble ‘laurel’ (although it’s actually an anagram of something else so like that couldn’t have been the original plan). his keyblade is rose-themed. the scythe he later gets is named graceful dahlia. his original appearance in the series gave him cherry blossoms and his remake-appearance gave him rose petals. plus he’s one of the new union leaders of the dandelion and his sister is obviously named after the bird of paradise flower… you get the gist. we could make a whole bouquet for this guy. his concept is supposed to be like a graceful, beautiful grim reaper of sorts—he’s associated with both flowers and death. goes crazy. so it makes perfect sense that retroactively they gave him a backstory where his flower-themed sister dies and he goes mad with grief over it

anyway he goes asking around trying to find her and slowly gets more and more worried bc oh shoot he actually hasn’t seen her since the war… for all he knows she might not have even made it to the new world… oh this isn’t good… he meets up with strelitzia’s only named acquaintance who provides a bit of useful information (and sees something incredibly ominous. basically like a digital flashback into the past of strelitzia’s final moments. like a vision of a ghost of sorts).

eventually the other new union leaders start realizing that lauriam’s little personal sidequest to find his sister is actually more important than they thought bc something is up with her. this isn’t just some random girl that went missing. they eventually realize that she was supposed to be one of the new union leaders (cuz it turns out one of them actually is in possession of the original list of names that ava received. why precisely did she even bother giving that information to him when it would become evident who the new leaders would be very shortly? who knows… maybe she knew something like this might happen). and the fact that she’s missing is therefore VERY ominous bc obviously a dandelion union leader wouldn’t have fought and died in the war so we can’t write it off as a probable casualty. something is very very wrong here.

the replacement. the name that wasn’t on the list. the shadowy hand. if one leader dies then we need a new one. someone who wasn’t supposed to be there. an impostor among the five. uh oh.

that kid though. that unusual boy. ventus. he swears up and down he has no idea what happened or why he’s not on the list. he swears he was personally chosen and given the book by ava but his memory is a total blur. his friends are nice they don’t like accuse him or murder or anything they just want to understand how the switcheroo happened. for all they know strelitzia is still alive and just gone somewhere. and then ven starts having some horrible flashbacks and nightmares. a nightmare where a shadowy demon shapeshifted into ava and led him into this dark abandoned house… a nightmare where he was possessed, brainwashed, whatever you want to call it… where in the blink of an eye the darkness within him lunged out at this unknown girl in that dim room and she collapsed to the ground and he was commanded to steal the book she dropped… augh.

and at the same time that all this is happening. lauriam is once again off doing his own personal thing which is picking a fight with someone but unfortunately he’s a toothpick and gets beat up so badly he starts hallucinating. thennnn we get the really heartbreaking flashback of happy memories of lauriam and strelitzia… she’s like venting about her day and how tired she is but her brother is someone she trusts and can go to… she’s like i’m not strong enough on my own can we please pair up in battle? and he’s like pffft leaning on me like that isn’t gonna help you grow y’know. then they talk about the dandelions and strelitzia talks about her squish and lauriam teases her about it (in english he explicitly asks if she has a crush and she’s like NO NO NO) and it’s so adorable AUGHGhhh. basically the scene is him reassuring her how much he loves her and looks up to her and saying if something happens he will come running to protect her (are you dying like I am yet. the tragedy………) and she’s like no yknow what? you’ve given me a challenge to get stronger and be able to protect you and i’m gonna do that someday! (augh.) then the flashback turns into a nightmare and she disappears then reappears in an ominous white cloak and starts floating and it’s really freaky and then he wakes up yay! it gives lauriam a really bad ominous feeling…

back to ventus the killer-not-killer. ven isn’t guilty of anything bc it wasn’t really him but like. he thinks he is. he thinks he needs to confess. lauriam is already in an incredibly unstable mental state (and physical state. he’s limping) when he enters the room where all his other friends are and he overhears them saying strelitzia is probably dead. he starts basically attacking and fighting them demanding answers. then in walks this innocent eleven year old saying ‘it was me i’m sorry…’ do you think lauriam handles it well? noooo. no he doesn’t. remember when I said he was a very nice polite young man? yeah uhhh the only thing stopping him from straight up killing the guy is the fact that the shadow demon pops out and ven collapses and uhhh wat going on here

after some battle stuff lauriam is finally successfully convinced that it wasn’t ven’s fault he got possessed and he never wanted any of this and he feels horrible for having attacked and blamed ven. after waking up ven basically reabsorbs the shadow demon bc there was no other way to defeat that monster and that knocks him out cold again for the rest of the entire story. and they never get to meet ever again aughhh. there’s a scene where lauriam is like watching over ven as he sleeps and he’s apologizing while grieving but then he questions like. if the shadow is in fact inside ven then in order to get revenge he almost considers violence again- but then he hallucinates strelitizia!!!! ARUGHGHGHG. she stops him she’s like ‘this isn’t you… you need to let it go… whatever happened to my kind and loving brother?’ and then disappears. AUGH. then lauriam feels such horrible pity for this little kid and vows to take care of him… like his big brother instincts are still there…

and then a whole bunch of plot stuff later long story short everyone gets separated from each other forever and most of them lose their memories of all of this! YAYYY! khux is so evil. lauriam’s future self, having lost his memories, knows there is something he’s missing. he knows there is someone he’s grieving but doesn’t even know who. he becomes a villain in an attempt to get something or feel something again. he thinks if he can manipulate other people’s memories he’ll be able to understand how memory itself works and maybe he’ll be able to unlock his own. he gets the cool scythe he gets the death motif and he gets this massive like.. monster., familiar.., jojo style stand if you will. he gets this specter that assists him in battle and dude i swear the thing looks JUST like strelitzia it’s ridiculous. like some part of his heart still knows her. and the most insane thing!!! remember in the flashback i mentioned how they were talking about what it would be like to protect each other and fight by each others’ side? the way in which the specter assists him is exactly like how strelitzia said she would… ouhhhhh

what actually happened to strelitzia after death though? well in kingdom hearts it can get pretty wacky. there are a lot of ways to die and a lot of different things that can happen to you afterwards lol. for the longest time we had no idea at all and presumably she was just Gone. our beloved tragic fairytale heroine, lost to the sands of time… quietly faded away along with her world with almost no one left in the world who would even have a chance at knowing she ever existed… the most hope we had being the fact that another white-robed figure (like the one that appeared in lauriam’s hallucination) appeared and seemed to have been rescued and sent to the future. that person being referred to as ‘the true dandelion’. but a few years ago we got a pretty substantial update. and it’s driving me bonkers bc i can’t make sense of it yet and we’ve gotten no news since. i would go into detail about what appears to have happened but it would be way too much for someone who didn’t know kh lore to grasp

long story short it appears she somehow ended up in like a parallel plane of existence-- the same place that the main character of the series has ended up in. that’s right- literally the most important dude in kingdom hearts + girl who used to be considered an obscure one off character from a game that’s looked down upon are about to be a duo! afterlife besties! will they ever get back home? is there even a home left for strelitzia? it’s been hundreds of years. did I mention that when everyone got separated at the end they were also sent forward to random points in the future. yeah daybreak town is gone. also did I mention the person she had a squish on and was desperate to meet also dies at the end of khux. but then they get reincarnated and live a long fulfilling life! but then they die again. but like maybe they got reincarnated again maybe there’s another chance!! but in any case i just KNOW strelitzia will find her brother again someday and he will remember her and they will be happy again oughghghhg

ANYWAY

sorry that was a lot of lore. i love that your interest in the plant has stimulated interest in the character bc for me it was the reverse! bc I love strelitzia I’ve become obsessed with the bird of paradise flower. it’s such a cool plant for being so vibrant and unusual it’s symbolic of like freedom and victory and a bunch more bold and beautiful and striking things i don’t fully remember the details. it’s such an interesting namesake choice for a girl who is very quiet and shy, who doesn’t draw attention to herself, who most certainly isn’t free and most certainly does not achieve victory or glory or anything. khux’s plot was released on an episode-by-episode basis and it was pretty iconic in a horrible way for them to introduce her in one episode, make everyone fall in love with her, and then kill her off in the very next update. like it’s both hilarious and incredibly sad. they told a whole entire short story, a self-contained narrative arc, a tragedy with a moral to the story, in two episodes. that is why i fell in love with her. she lives a short quiet life and then dies in secret and is washed away with the rest of her world, lost to time for now. with just a few scattered seeds of hope that she is still alive in some way in some world in the future. but like that flower is such a specific choice it has to mean something. me personally I think it’s a sign that she’ll have a bright and glorious comeback. that shy forgotten girl will finally rise from the grave for real and become someone again. she’ll be vibrant and loud and beautiful and loved… i know it….

#:) it’s ok you can hit readmore the ask won’t hurt you come closer——#strelitzia #kingdom hearts #khux #i spent 3 and a half hours typing this. what am i doing i have to give a presentation tomorrow-#sorry you can’t just mention one of my absolute favorite kingdom hearts characters and not expect me to go insane #asks #the—plant #khposting

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