#canon is a sandbox and im building a sandcastle

[rimzieiei]

I HEARD FATUI KAVEH AU AND PLS TELL ME EVERYTHING I KNOW NOTHING. GIMME ALL THE DETAILS PLS

HI OKAY I DIDNT EXPECT TO ACTUALLY GET ASKS BUT ILL DO MY BEST TO EXPLAIN MY AWFUL BRAINROT :3

(im so sorry any die hard kaveh fans because this au fucks him up beyond comprehension this is NOT your babygirl anymore)

(also, ive made up a LOT of characters and lore for this au so bear with me while i explain it all)

brighella, the beast (4th of the 11 fatui harbingers)

he is in charge of the realms investigation division, aka fucking around with the abyss/the elements/celestial stuff and finding out

kaveh was recruited to the fatui right after his mom moved away to fontaine. the fatui had an interest in studying his unique constitution. during this time, he worked closely under the innamorati (the previous 4th harbingers). going so far as to become a right hand man.

after a tragic incident where one half of the innamorati attacked and killed their partner (before being taken out by kaveh), he was promoted and took over his old boss's position.

kaveh stays in sumeru (instead of working from snezhnaya) because its the easiest place to access irminsul, and (before the sumeru archon quest) it was a hot spot for abyssal activity.

also, with how awful the fatuis reputation is, id make a bet that most nations try to keep as many of them out as possible. but they cant really get rid of someone that was born there and has citizenship. dottore probably got his citizenship axed after his crimes against humanity or revoked it himself because he could just live in snezhnaya. tldr kavehs the only harbinger that can waltz in and out of sumeru without any problems which gives him an intensive to stay and manage the fatuus stationed there.

id say kaveh has a generally good relationship with the rest of the harbingers. he gets along well with sandrone. he often exchanges information with signora and dottore (plus they both attended the akademiya) so theyre friendly. with pulcinella and tartaglia, they just exists together. generally positive i guess!

the closest harbinger to a friend is definitely columbina! (columbinas role in the fatui is a historical archivist because i believe the theory that shes a seele so shes old as hell) most of the motivation for kaveh ending up as a harbinger had to do with understanding the fuckfest that is his family history so columbina would have been a big help to him! which would then lead to them becoming friends not friends (also i think them talking shit about the other harbingers together is such a fun concept) (you CANNOT tell me columbina isnt a mean girl LOOK at her)

and because capitano and columbina are basically mother and son (this originated from a theory video about natlan lore all in all i think theyd be pretty close due to their lore intertwining) kaveh and capitano are friendly.

anyways! onto the harbingers hes not on good terms with...

pantalone would dislike kavehs because the abyss is dangerous and verrry expensive to deal with safely (paying out the families of fallen agents...). he didnt have this problem with the innamorati. kaveh would despise pantalone for making it incredibly difficult to get funds.

scaramouche hated everyone.

and ohhhh boy arlecchino... these two have the craziest beef with each other. if they werent both harbingers, the other would be dead. ill probably make a separate post at some point that describes their eternal feud. but in simple terms: theyre like each others twisted mirror version.

i dont really know what else to add to this??? but i will definitely be posting more about it :3

[camsthisky]

Ughh ao3 tim drake tag is slowly killing me. Like can tim drake be anything other than a fragile damsel in distress in this fandom? Plus i HATE the stereotype of damian "ya know an abused 10 year old" be the villain in most of these fics.you have like 500 villains in dc plus oc villians but still choose the child! Im not saying stop writing this write what u want dear fandom but PLEASE make tim anything other than a sexualized fragile princess.Its tiring T^T sorry just needed to rant how u doin?

i’m going to try to be careful in how i respond to this, mostly bc i don’t want to respond just for the sake of drama. i sort of want to actual give my thoughts on this, because it’s actually something that’s been creeping up more and more often over the past few months.

in a way, i think you’re right. i don’t keep up with comics and fanon much anymore, but from what i have seen, people tend to treat tim drake as a character they can interpret to be whoever they want. and in fanon? honestly, that’s fine. tim has some distinct character traits, and a lot of people still hit them, even when they’re writing tim in a way i don’t agree with. and more power to you. there’s a reason that it’s called fanon. you have the ability to take the characters you love from the media you consume and metaphorically play in that sandbox.

maybe you end up using the sand in a different way than people expect. i think that’s still okay, brcause every person is different, and i think characters can be seen through many different lenses, and if one person builds a sandcastle, and another person builds a sandmansion, that doesn’t mean we should belittle someone for not creating the work that we would like to see, you feel me?

on the other hand (and this is just something i’d like to address to balance with my point from before), it’s also not your job to cater to anyone’s interpretation. i think a point of a lot of people on the internet don’t really get anymore is that “don’t like, don’t read” is still the best route to go.

a creator is absolutely not entitled to kudos, comments, or critiques, and in my opinion, i really think if something is not your cup of tea, not your jam, just stay away from it. instead of attacking a characterization (an anon, i am not saying you are, because i do understand being frustrated by the lack or abundance of a certain characterization, and i do believe it’s okay to feel that way), i think sometimes you just have to walk away.

i’m not the biggest tim drake fan. i’m a very big dick grayson fan, and i’m pretty sure you can see it from a mile away, and i don’t consume a lot of content where tim is the main focus, so i don’t know how much of a leg i’ve got to stand on with this subject.

but, with comics being what they are—meaning going through so many timelines, iterations, universes, creators, and fans—i think that interpretation can end up warped in many directions, and at some point you have to find a characterization that works for you, and hold onto it. curate your tastes to certain content creators.

(i understand the hardship of ao3, since it’s hard to curate there if people don’t tag probably, but also just because interpretation of characterization is a hard thing to tag, so it’s sort of a minefield.)

moving onto damian. i had this conversation with matina a few days ago, but it seriously sucks. compared to bruxe, and dick, and tim, damian is a much newer character, and between morrison and glass, there has been some damian hate within comics.

glass writes damian like he’s trying to write a redemption story, when damian’s already gotten past that? he’s already come out the other side of all of that rottenness, so i understand the frustration of not being able to consume damian content where he hasn’t regressed to a past characterization we thought we’d already moved past.

like i said before with tim, there are a few characterization points that you really should be hitting in order to feel like the character you’re reading is actual some version of that character, and the fact that canon is just not, makes damian not feel like damian.

which—because it’s now based in canon, people in the fandom, who have maybe only read a few damian stories, are influenced to treat damian like he was before he and dick had the batman and robin run. and it’s frustrating. i know.

of course, i can’t be the be all, end all to these concerns, since a lot of this is just my opinion, but i understand where you’re coming from anon. i really do.

tldr; respect canon to a point, respect fanon’s intrepretation to a point, and curate your own fandom experience to the best of your ability.