#ddas

[hum--hallelujah]

the duality of my Dr. Benzedrine is that he's incredibly effective and ruthless at what he does (saving lives, need not concern himself with the consequences as long as the subject/victim/patient is still alive by the medical definition of the term) and he's terribly smart and has a great sense of humor, but he's also a rather confused, genuinely brain-damaged individual. like. he's scary when he's in his element, but when he's not, he sometimes can barely string a full sentence together, has panic attacks over loud noises, etc

[entnoot]

Dusk has been through a few changes, here’s her most recent look as well as a couple older versions! Character art for RyconRoleplays’ Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead series on yt 🌱

[dramaticadora]

Não é repetitivo voltar a se sentir no fundo do poço depois de ter prometido a si mesma que nunca mais ficaria tão no fundo? engraçado como cada nova queda consegue encontrar um lugar mais escuro, mais gelado e agonizante. hoje eu não queria dizer que estou desabando, mas é isso que está acontecendo, não é? pessoa do outro lado dessa tela, você que leu e releu todos os meus textos e se um dia chegou a acreditar que eram pura liberdade poética, saiba que toda dor e todo o amor foi real. toda dor, toda partida e toda indecisão, foi real. então, afinal de contas, estou desabando novamente ou simplesmente desisti de tentar levantar?

[hum--hallelujah]

I hit tag limit on this reblog btw

also this one for Sandman I think. Sandman in all his relationships.

(I'm going bonkers about the boy geniuses rn sorry I do this every year around the first snow skfjskfjs something about them is just fall/winter music to me)

AUGH. FUCK. THIS ONE I DONT HAVE WORDS FOR RN BUT YOURE RIGHT. I TAKE IT BACK I WANTED TO STAY. CRYING. MY BOYS MESSED UP BUT HES OKAY. HATE AND LOVE AND FEAR AND LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE AND LETTING PEOPLE IN AND. AHH

[gingersnaptaff]

HI me again back with another Welsh law bonanza. For some reason I don't know, u guys really liked the Gwenhwyfar divorce post I did a few weeks back, so allow me to shed some light on how divorces worked as well as marriage payments, and the role of a queen in Welsh law. (Which doesn't have much on it but is FASCINATING.)

Also, I am SUFFERING from cramps so I apologise if I ramble.

First off, Marriage Laws.

So, as previously discussed there were two ways a woman could marry: she could either be given by her family, or she could elope. Now, a woman who eloped would still be entitled to the same monetary payments as a woman who was given in marriage by her kin,

So, the Dues Payable are as follows: Amobyr, Cowyll, Agweddi, Gwaddol, Argyrfreu, and Wynebwerth.

I'm gonna cover Amobyr and Cowyll today, as well as do a lil write-up about Queenship so yeah.

It's a maiden fee! Now, this and the Cowyll are BOTH maiden fees, however, they differ as Cowyll - and we'll get onto it later - is a fee maybe to the lady herself. Sort of a wedding morning gift, I guess. 'Sorry I slept with u, or not, have some money.' Which, is extremely crass.

The Amobyr was fixed to a lady's status and it goes from King, Chief Bard or Storyteller, Chief Officers (so a Distain, which is what we Welsh would call a Seneschal), Minor Officer's daughters, Uchelwyr (so knights or lords), and then your middling noblemen, to peasants, foreigners, and slaves.

It's essentially equal to the revenue the father would get for his land, but EVERY SINGLE WOMAN would get it, regardless of status. High-born or low. The amount's payable regardless of whether you have one penny or seven thousand.

Now, amobyr could be recovered by suit as it was payable to the King and was essentially like protection money. If you made off with somebody's amobyr you were in BIG TROUBLE. HOWEVER, and I really love this fact, the King's daughter's amobyr would be payable not to him BUT TO THE QUEEN, as well as other daughters of high rank like your Pencerddau, chief groom, etc.

Amobyr was payable once a couple had cohabited for the first time, and even had to be payable if a man boasted that he'd shagged a woman and gotten her pregnant, but actually hadn't. Presumably because a) these laws are BIG on honour bonds and things and because you'd lied you'd tarnished that woman's honour and your own, and b) you'd kinda claimed that Lady as yours because you've made her unchaste.

Because it's a maiden fee it - like the Cowyll ' could only be paid ONCE. No more, no less. If you were a widow or wanted remarry, you can't get the amobyr again. Also, if you'd eloped with a dude and your family had caught you before you'd consummated your relationship they didn't have to pay cuz you're still a virgin. Also, if you were raped then the rapist had to pay amobyr to your family in recognition of that.

Finally, a lady who'd had a fling which had resulted in a bastard child* but she hadn't declared who the father was, then she was responsible for the amobyr. However, if she HAD declared who the father was then he had to pay the amobyr instead.

The Cowyll, as I've already said, is a personal payment to the lady that's made on the first morning after marriage.

Now, in North Wales it's always given as money even if you're a King's daughter, BUT if you're in the South then you get la lovely chunk of land. So if you married a prince of Gwynedd, bad luck, just money for u. If you married a Prince of Deheubarth then you are QUIDS IN! (THAT'S YOURS FOR LIFE BABYYYYY)

(Ignore the Agweddi for today. Or don't. Think of it as a tantalising glimpse into the next law I'm gonna cover.)

Cowyll is both paid to just married women AND those who were violated against their will. The wife / lady who had been violated had the right to specify what they wished for their cowyll to be in service of. If she didn't then it just went on stuff for the couple, so I'd imagine whatever the medieval equivalent of IKEA flat pack furniture would've been, that would've been what they'd have chosen.

Also, it's kept entirely separate from the husband's property so he Could Not pinch from it, or use it in service of himself. You couldn't even be deprived of it if you'd had an affair or did any naughty business. That's YOUR MONEY AND BY GOD YOU CAN KEEP IT. Even if you divorced your husband or he you, you would be allowed take your cowyll with you.

Now, finally, QUEENSHIP.

(Particularly handy if you are, like me, doing an Arthurian-inspired, Welsh-set novel and you GOTTA KNOW WHAT GUINEVERE DOES.)

There is not a lot on it because it isn't something that's studied that much (idk why. Wales has tonnes of cool Queens even if they didn't become regent) but we make do with what we can!

You, as King, could marry ANYBODY (Within reason, nobody is marrying a peasant girl) within what would be termed your Cenedl (that's your family.) or out of it.

Kings, we know, often married their first cousins, or second cousins to keep the balance of power within Wales (you gotta remember Wales wasn't united back then! Gwynedd, Powys, and Deheubarth fuckin squabbled like dogs over bones, and Do Not get me started on the littler kingdoms like Arwystli or Senghenydd.)

Seriously, Gwenllian ap Gruffudd ap Cynan (Gwynedd) eloped with Gruffydd ap Rhys (Deheubarth) and they were like distantly related. Or, Gwenllian's brother and v famous boi, Owain Gwynedd married his first cousin, Cristina (and, in doing so, ensured that after his death Gwynedd would have a power vacuum because of squabbling that wouldn't be sorted until Llywelyn Fawr took the throne and overthrew his uncles. It's always fuckin Gwynedd. Even Gwenllian's son, The Lord Rhys, married one of his first cousins, who was also named Gwenllian.)

*Gets slapped with a wet fish* Sorry, I was rambling.

Now, kings did also marry for political alliances. Gruffudd ap Cynan himself married Angharad ferch Owain (can u sense a theme with the names?) because she was from a well-off, noble family who had ties to the Anglo-Saxons when Gwynedd was in a bad spot with the Norman's. Llywelyn Fawr married Joan, the illegitimate daughter of King John of England, when relations became... tense, shall we say.

So, lemme go over some stuff regarding laws real quick before I tell u why I've highlighted these three ladies. (Cuz they're fun and I'm in love with them- uh, you what?)

So all the Codes (North, South, Mid) attach the following to the Queen: a steward, priest, chief groom, door-keeper, and a handmaiden. In Gwynedd she was also given a page, a separate cook (presumably because of poisoning attempts), and a candle-bearer (would LOVE to be that. No joke.) Whereas in Deheubarth she was given a groom of the rein, a sewer, and a footholder. (For all u lovers of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi out there this is a win for u.)

The line of Cunedda which (and, fuck me, I can't believe I'm saying this) IS BASICALLY ALL OF THE KINGDOMS OF WALES allowed for transition of royal dignity through a the female as well as the male. That means u could contest ur throne using your mam's blood and status as well as your dad's. Owain Glyndŵr, as I have previously mentioned, did this when he started his rebellion against Henry IV, as his mother descended from both the houses of Gwynedd and Deheubarth and his father descended from Powys. Truly, the people's Prince.

Now, a queen had her own privy purse (Go her), and one-third of the income the king received went to the Queen for her personal use. She also received land grants that went directly to her.

Now, finally, why tf did I highlight those three Queens that I spoke about earlier? Okay, so, Queens couldn't be regents, BUT they absolutely could and did use their power in any way they could.

Angharad ferch Owain was the mother of Owain Gwynedd, Gwenllian, and Cadwaladr. Owain Gwynedd ruled Gwynedd after his dad died in 1137 and led Gwynedd to become Wales' most successful kingdom at that time. He is also the reason why the Prince of Wales is called the Prince of Wales. ANYWAY. He and Cadwaladr had a falling out in 1143 and Angharad, not liking the way Cadwaladr was being treated, took his side. (Dunno why, he killed her step-grandson, Anarawd. Like, Angharad pls. Priorities, del.)

So, Owain ordered his son, Hywel, (yes him of bardic fame) to BURN DOWN Cadwaladr's castle in Aberystwyth. Cadwaladr, enraged, hot-footed it to Ireland where he and the Vikings invaded Gwynedd in an attempt to make Owain give him his lands back.

Angharad supported Cadwaladr by allowing him to beach his forces in her lands of Abermenai in Ynys Môn (Anglesey.) and also tried to intercede on her son's behalf with his brother. Anyways, the brothers were reconciled (for a brief period. Cadwaladr was aligned with the Normans so he remained a thorn in his big bro's side.) and Angharad lived until 1162. Her death led Owain Gwynedd into a melancholic spell.

Gwenllian ferch Gruffudd ap Cynan waged war against the Normans during the Great Revolt. Fighting against the Normans was very much a family affair for, you see, her brothers Owain (previously mentioned cousin-marrier) and Cadwaladr also waged war against the Normans at this time, and their dad, Gruffudd ap Cynan also fought against them SO HE COULD BECOME KING OF GWYNEDD. After her husband left Deheubarth to go and plead with her father for troops and aid men flocked to her and they waged a guerrilla war against the Normans until 1136.

This pains me to say but a Welsh lord betrayed Gwenllian after the Normans - seeking to win back the territory that Gwenllian and Gruffydd ap Rhys had recovered - waged war against them. She and her two eldest sons, Morgan, and Maelgwn died. Morgan in battle, and Maelgwn and Gwenllian were beheaded at Castell Cydweli.

After her death, South Wales rose in rebellion against the Normans. Her brothers, once word reached Gwynedd, invaded Norman-controlled Ceredigion (which was Deheubarth's territory.) and won back Aberystwyth, Llanfihangel, and Llanbadarn. The Welsh battle cry for many years was 'Dial Achos Gwenllian!' Revenge for Gwenllian.

Finally, Joan, Lady of Wales. She's referred to as Siwan in Welsh. She was the daughter of King John (as previously said.) She often mediated between her father and her husband, Llywelyn Fawr. The Brut y Tywysogion writes: 'Llywelyn, being unable to suffer the king's rage, sent his wife, the king's daughter, to him, by the counsel of his leading men, to seek to make peace with the king on whatever terms he could.' I'll probably do a full post about her at some point but yeah, she's cool!

Anyways, hope u enjoyed this!

Okay, hywl fawr!

[mensministry]

NOT A HOTEL ANYWHERE,

Base Camp: Aoshima, Miyazaki, Japan,

DDAA / DDAA LAB,

Cooperation with SOUP DESIGN Architecture,

Planting: Yard Works Inc. Textile Design: onder de linde Artwork: Hiroshi Takizawa

Photo: Kenta Hasegawa, NewColor inc

[di-n]

THE MANDALORIAN (2019-)

Chapter 17 | The Apostate

[foxgirlinfohazard]

love this game

[gawrkin]

The French Arthurian Narratives really, really, really don't gel with Welsh Law.

So basically:

Morgan would have just divorce Urien using any bullshit excuse, backed up by magic.

Lancelot would've just paid blood-money for damages done to Arthur and Gawain's kin. (Not that it would stop Gawain if Gareth - and specifically Gareth - is killed, but still)

Guinevere would have just been divorced, beaten and/or humiliated like Rhiannon, but death penalty would have been unnecessary and excessive, especially if Arthur's sympathetic to his wife.

Arthur and Guinevere could've initiated divorce anytime for any reason. Especially, when there's a seven-year time period of cohabitation that determines whether or not Gwen is entitled to half of Arthur's property. Childless!Guinevere really makes it even questionable that Guinevere could've kept her queenship past three years, much less seven.

So, all in all, the Arthurian story we know and love only works if its culturally the French High Middle Ages (12-13th Century)

[videogamepolls]

Requested by @tony-the-toe

[tonycamonte]

dog day afternoon - sidney lumet // screenplay draft - frank pierson

[hum--hallelujah]

no wait so what would happen for a monster AU is that while still training in the City Benze gets selected to be a member of an elite experiment — he's already shown himself willing to go out on limbs, applying for residency at the research hospital instead of a proper surgical residency, already tested things on himself when he thought no one was looking (they're always watching) — that goes wrong. and he's the only one who survives and it's because he turned on the rest. so he runs, like he does in every universe, muttering something about starlight and coffins, blood and bite wounds. he's not quite human anymore.

but the elite selection wasn't the only batch of test subjects. another test, the original even, was done on a group of captives, dissidents from the slums and 'Joys brought in from the Zones. instead of just Drac'ing them and being done with it, BLI employed them in their biological weapons program. the entire point of this was to create a living breathing force of enforcers. but it went wrong the whole way down. the first as the last time, only one survivor in the group who got away. it seems to be a theme. that survivor was a desert-born Killjoy who called himself Sandman, and back to the sand with fangs and blood on his hands he went.

when Benzedrine found himself in the desert he also found himself found by Sandman, a creature of the night, rumored to be some kind of spirit haunting the desert looking for vengeance. older 'Joys call him a vampire. what he's actually looking for is a way out for an old friend.

(I think this is gonna end up being just a vampire AU)

Donnie, as in my mainline AU, was caught and turned into a Draculoid. Sandman's theory is that turning him, like all the old vampire stories people like to pass down like folk tales, would undo that. he's just gotta find the guy first, and the masks don't really help. he finds Benzedrine at some point and there's almost an instant telepathy between them. not like, mind-reading, but these senses that they can predict what each other is thinking a split second before they say it out loud. they recognize each other as The Same Kind Of Monster. so they stick together. they both think the other is totally weird but like whatever, they're the most Other things in this desert so what else are they gonna do?

Benzedrine is the more ruthless when it comes to feeding but Sandman finds it easier. he's been out here longer. he's more willing. Benze fights it until he's in a frenzy and then tries to analyze it, figure out what precisely the physiological alterations to them that have been done are, because if he doesn't perform clinical about it he will lose all control. he's constantly teetering on the edge of going full feral vampire, whereas Sandman is chill about it, accepts it (except for in the long days when he can't sleep and he wonders what it means to be human). they're monsters, the both of them

and they're trying to add another to their ranks.

Benze is against purposefully turning someone else. Sandman needs to test his theory. there's another theme there. these kind of tests never end well.

except this one does.

Benze refuses to participate. he will feed but he will not turn someone else (until he does, in fascination, but that's another story for another time that certainly can't end well. there's mercy killing involved at that point.). so Sandman does it and pulls the mask off his former best friend and daydream mechanic, suffering from sudden whiplash as BLI programming is overwritten by vampirism. Donnie doesn't speak for nearly two weeks. it's pretty much withdrawals. and at some point they've gotta find someonething to eat.

enter one H. Shoe Crab, Esq. Donnie's cousin, a vague acquaintance of Sandman's, and the cat about to be killed by curiosity. what can he say, he spent a year tailing Dr. Death Defying's radio crew and pestering the hell out of Cherri Cola and ended up with a fascination for research and radio interviews. 'course, he can't write so it took him a while to find a working tape recorder, but now occasionally he's a source for the radio crew (whenever Cherri isn't belligerently refusing to take the offer of fresh content. they've literally had petty beef for years this is my comic relief subplot lol). he's way too curious for his own good and at some point decides to track down his old acquaintance, Mr. Sandman, former golden child of the crash track and current desert cryptid.

Crabby boy stumbles into the other three's """lair""" (as in my main 'verse, it's an abandoned firehouse, bc I find the layout and designs of those places a super fun setting to have characters hang out in skskskfjs) one day and is met with three sets of should-be normal eyes that flash red in the light. after a LONG, CHAOTIC explanation (mostly done by Sandman, because Benze is Confused™️ and Donnie is not having a fun time getting yelled at by his cousin who thought he was dead) Crab just. makes himself at home. he's like ok so two out of the three of y'all I have history with so obviously we're a crew now. so what you're all weird failed experiment vampires that's fun we should hang out. who's the nervous little guy in the corner? (the nervous little guy in the corner is, of course, Benze, who has all the ferocity of one of those little fluffy dogs with needle teeth)

(Crab is SUCH a little shit in this AU I'm so serious. I haven't had a chance to play with that side of him in my main stream of writing but part of that is because my dude is VOCAL. like he's not mute in this version and he's making that everyone else's problem fr. he's still lowkey a voice of reason at the same time though in some ways though, just... also a total TWERP. let's just say there's a reason Cherri Cola has beef with him)

so I'm thinking if I write this it would be four separate short intro pieces on each character that start out with individual backstories and lead into them all meeting and becoming a crew. it takes a while to figure out the collective dynamic, but once they do they're unerringly loyal and absolutely dedicated to each other. found family at its peak with three vampires and their human buddy/one reasonably normal human and his three vampire besties who are all in some form of existential crisis at all times

none of them want to feed on Crab bc he's THEIR PERSON but also. for added angst potential?

it might become necessary someday

[sonnyworttzik]

My favourite scene

[gfriendunited]

© 따소 | do not edit

[bivampir]

idk what about dog day afternoon made me go so insane but like. the fact sonny is a character who tries to make everyone happy so bad but he's a terrible person and the efforts always go wrong. every decision he makes is to make someone else feel better but it doesn't fix anything, it doesn't fix his mistakes it doesn't fix their problems it doesn't fix the whole situation he just slaps a bandaid on a broken bone and says there, i helped! im trying my best can't you see! and the whole time he's digging his grave deeper and deeper and he wipes the sweat off of his brow and says there, it's fixed now, it's working, we've been doing so well, why did you broke it when it was going so well, because he's incapable of seeing that he's standing in the grave he dug himself. he keeps trying and it's all for nothing. masterclass

[gingersnaptaff]

(Okay, so I know I said I was gonna do marriage laws and queenship stuff in regards to welsh laws - and I will! - but here is a nice, quick round-up about BARDS

*SHREDS ON A HARP*

Okay, so this is inspired by @gawrkin 's recent posts on bards because the laws surrounding them are SUPER FUN. And Wales LOVES LOVES LOVES their bards. (Myself included.)

Right, so, without further ado, ONWARDS.

*shreds harp aggressively again*

So the 'spurious triads' the author is referring to are presumably to do with IOLO MORGANNWG *ominous thunderclap*.

I shan't go too much into him as suffice to say, we gotta keep this shit SHORT, but he was a massive forger from Glamorgan (that's what Morgannwg means. It's his bardic name. Iolo is Edward.) who made up a bunch of triads and Celtic / medieval manuscripts including some of the Welsh Triads. Also, he is the reason why the Eisteddfod has the Gorsedd of bards.

So a mixed bag, y'know.

ANYWAY. They're very high-rank on account of being the literally Yellow Pages of Celtic and medieval Welsh societies. If you had a question that needed answering you'd ask a bard. They were like Google. They would know a man's lineage (and Welsh lineages are confusing. There were men named Dafydd ap Dafydd ap Dafydd ap Dafydd. No, I'm not joking.) battles, monarchs, myths, songs, stories. Anything.

And they had to SING. And play an instrument. Namely either a harp or a crwth.

This baby is crwth! It's a little like a violin but much darker in tone. They were extinct for a while but they've undergone a revival and they are FUN!

Also, the court bard had to SING to the queen about Camlann 'in a low voice.' I've heard various reasons suggested as to why and one of them is to remind her that Gwenhwyfar's infidelity was the main reason for King Arthur's downfall, but I think it's probably because of The Slap. Idk though. I'm just guessing, buddies.

Still, it's cool that the queen got a special sing-song.

Also, the bard being 'invested with a chess board' suggests to me that the game of Gwyddbwyll that Arthur and Owain play in the Mabinogion signals that they're bards. Gwyddbwyll being the type of chess the bards would've been familiar with. Plus, we know Arthur is somewhat of an amateur bard (Culhwch and Olwen being the prime example where he sings his terrible englyn about Cai to his face. Arthur, ur a fuckin BASTARD.) so it's in keeping with his character.

Also, I think it's adorable that the harp 'always descended to the youngest son.'

If you want a story that deals with bards and their privileged position in Welsh society and also wants ur heart RIPPED OUT may I suggest 'The Assembly of the Severed Head' by Hugh Lupton. It deals with a bard in a monastery after he's almost perished in a raid and the monks writing out the Mabinogion so they can give it to Llywelyn Fawr. It deals with war, love, loss, and also stonking good historical context. Also lots of poetry!!!!

Final fact: bards in Wales weren't wiped out by Edward the First. That's a fuckin myth. Don't come round here with ur fuckin myths. Old Longshanks has done enough already. May he eat shit.

(Also, Taliesin gets all the good rep but what about my boy Aneirin?)

Okay, BYEEEEE!!!!

P.S.: have an Eisteddfod chair!