#edmund reed

[artbyramen]

[busy-squid]

I love a traumatised Victorian detective and his deeply loyal right hand man

[politicaldilfs]

Maine Governor DILFs

Paul LePage, Clinton Clauson, Edmund Muskie, Angus King, John Baldacci, John R. McKernan Jr., Robert Haskell, James B. Longley, John H. Reed, Joseph E. Brennan, Burton M. Cross, Kenneth M. Curtis

[mariocki]

Man in a Suitcase: Web with Four Spiders (1.23, ITC, 1968)

"Why me? With your name all you have to do is pick up your telephone, you'd be up to your neck in nice, keen, young Harvard-trained security boys. Probably drum and bugle corps to boot."

"Yes, and those photographs would be in the FBI dossier."

"Or a private one. I could make copies. See what they'd buy me."

"Oh no, you've already answered that. My name is Norbert; you are a discredited American agent. No one will accept your word against mine."

"Good. But I'm expensive. I call it my self-respect bonus."

[alightinthelantern]

Movies on Youtube:

Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)

Opening Night (1977, John Cassavetes)

Close Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)

Taste of Cherry (1997, Abbas Kiarostami)

The Song of Sparrows (2008,  Majid Majidi)

Russian Ark (2002, Alexander Sokurov)

Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)

Dersu Uzala (1975, Akira Kurosawa)

The Idiot (1951, Akira Kurosawa)

Drunken Angel (1948, Akira Kurosawa)

Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujirō Ozu)

Early Summer (1951, Yasujirō Ozu)

Late Spring (1949, Yasujirō Ozu)

The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice (1952, Yasujirō Ozu)

Good Morning (1959, Yasujirō Ozu)

An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Yasujirō Ozu)

Sword for Hire (1952, Inagaki Hiroshi)

Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)

Thunderbolt (1929, Josef von Sternberg)

Larceny (1948, George Sherman)

Among the Living (1941, Stuart Heisler)

Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Mirror (1975, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Solaris (1972, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Ivan’s Childhood (1962, Andrei Tarkovsky)

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)

Fitzcarraldo (1982, Werner Herzog)

Medea (1969, Pier Paolo Pasolini)

Medea (filmed stageplay)

Is It Easy To Be Young? (1986, Juris Podnieks)

We'll Live Till Monday (1968, Stanislav Rostotsky)

Ordinary Fascism (aka Triumph Over Violence) (1965, Mikhail Romm)

Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)

The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)

Johnny Come Lately (1943, William K. Howard)

Mister 880 (1950, Edmund Goulding)

Beethoven’s Eroica (2003, Simon Cellan Jones)

Katyn (2007, Andrzej Wajda)

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004, Brad Silberling)

Mean Girls (2004, Mark Waters)

The Neverending Story (1984, Wolfgang Petersen)

The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (1990, George T. Miller)

The Thief and the Cobbler (Richard Williams)

Osmosis Jones (2001, myriad directors)

Megamind (2010, Tom McGrath)

Ghost in the Shell (1995, Mamoru Oshii)

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004, Mamoru Oshii)

Steamboy (2004, Katsuhiro Otomo)

Badlands (1973), Terrence Malick

Wargames (1983, John Badham)

By the White Sea (2022, Aleksandr Zachinyayev)

White Moss (2014, Vladimir Tumayev)

The Theme (1979, Gleb Panfilov)

The Duchess (2008, Saul Dibb)

Bed and Sofa (1927, Abram Room)

Fate of a Man (1959, Sergei Bondarchuk)

Ballad of a Soldier (1959, Grigory Chukhray)

Uncle Vanya (1970, Andrey Konchalovskiy)

An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977, Nikita Mikhalkov)

Family Relations (1981, Nikita Mikhalkov)

The Seagull (1970, Yuli Karasik)

My Tender and Affectionate Beast (1978, Emil Loteanu)

Dreams (1993, Karen Shakhnazarov & Alexander Borodyansky)

The Vanished Empire (2008, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Winter Evening in Gagra (1985, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Day of the Full Moon (1998, Karen Shakhnazarov)

Zero Town (1989, Karen Shakhnazarov)

The Girls (1961, Boris Bednyj)

The Diamond Arm (1969, Leonid Gaidai)

Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965, Leonid Gaidai)

Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (1973, Leonid Gaidai)

Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1974, Eldar Ryazanov & Franco Prosperi)

Office Romance (1977, Eldar Ryazanov)

Carnival Night (1956, Eldar Ryazanov)

Hussar Ballad (1962, Eldar Ryazanov)

Kin-dza-dza! (1986, Georgiy Daneliya)

The Most Charming and Attractive (1985, Gerald Bezhanov)

Autumn (1974, Andrei Smirnov)

War and Peace: Part 1 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 2 (1966, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 3 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

War and Peace: Part 4 (1967, Sergei Bondarchuk)

The Red Tent (first half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

The Red Tent (second half) (1969, Mikhail Kalatozov)

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939, Sidney Lanfield)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939, Alfred L. Werker)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942, John Rawlins)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Spider Woman (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Pearl of Death (1944, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The House of Fear (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: The Woman in Green (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Pursuit to Algiers (1945, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night (1946, Roy William Neill)

Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill (1946, Roy William Neill)

If any of the links don’t work, try looking up the film in this playlist: link

[missladym1981]

Ok let’s try this again shall we? Marcus Pike kept getting cut out of my damn photo but I finally got him to stay . Again, sorry. Here once again is the damn ledger.

Top row from left to right

1. King Lear- Edmund

2. Lobby Hero- Jeff

3. Much Ado About Nothing- Don John

4. Maple and Vine - Roger

5. Sand- Ahmed

6. Hamlet- Horatio

7. Trolius and Cressida- Thersites

8. Lorenzaccio-Piero Strozzi

9. Orphans - Phillip

10. Graceland - Juan Badillo

11. Nikita- Liam

12. Red Window- Jay Castillo

13. The Sixth Gun- Special Agent Ortega

14. CSI - Kyle Hartley

15. Old Comedy from Aristophanes Frogs- Diony

16. Body of Proof - Zach Goffman

Second row Left to Right

17. The Mentalist - Marcus Pike

18. Burn Notice : the fall of Sam Ace- Comendante Veracruz

19. Wonder Woman - Ed Indelicato

20. Law and Order SVU- Special Agent Greer

21. Charlie’s Angels- Fredrick Mercer

22. Brothers and Sisters - Zach Wellison

23. Lights Out- Assyrian

24. The Good Wife - Nathan Landry

25. Law and Order- Tito Cabassa

26. Without a Trace- Kyle Wilson

27. Law and Order CI- Reggie Luckman

28. NYPD Blue- Shane “ Dio “ Morrisey

29. Touched by an Angel - Ricky Hauck

30. undressed- Greg

31. Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Eddie

‘Third row Left to Right

32. TWMT- Javi Gutierrez

33. If Beal Street Could Talk- Pietro Alvarez

34. The Great Wall - Pedro Tovar

35. We Can Be Heros - Marcus Moreno

36. WW84- Maxwell Lord

37. Bloodsucking Bastards- Max Phillips

38. Kingsman : The Golden Circle- Agent Whiskey

39. The Equalizer- Dave York

40. Prospect- Ezra

41. Triple Frontier- Frankie Morales

‘Row 4 left to right

42. The Bubble- Dieter Bravo

43. House Comes With A Bird - Nico

44. Strange Way of Life- Silva

45. Freaky Tales- Clint

46. Drive-Away Dolls- Santos

47. The Uninvited- Lucien Flores

48. The Mandalorian - Din Djarin

49.Game of Thrones- Oberyn Mother Fuckin Martell

Final row of epicnessssssss left to right

50. The Materialist- TBA

51. Narcos- Javier Peña

52. The Last of Us- Joel Miller

53. Gladiator lol- General Marcus Acacius

54. Merge Mansion- Tim Rockford

55. SNL- Mr. Ben

56. Fantastic Four- Reed Richards

57. The Wild Robot- Fink

58. Housebroken- Claude

Sorry again for the fuck up. Sometimes shit happens but they are fixed now. Thank you have a good night

[queenlucythevaliant]

the stories are true

i. Caspian’s nurse told him a story about a dwarf and a talking badger who were best friends.

ii. As Dwarf and Badger returned from a long walk through the wood, Dwarf noticed that a button has fallen from his jacket. Dwarf and Badger retraced their steps in search of the missing button, and together they found five buttons, none of which were Dwarf’s. Dwarf grew angry (as Red Dwarves are wont to do), and eventually returned home in a rage, only to discover the missing button sitting on his threshold. In apology to Badger for the afternoon wasted (and for his temper), Dwarf sewed all six buttons they had found that day onto his jacket and gave it to Badger for a gift.

iii. Caspian did not understand what a talking badger would do with a dwarf’s jacket, but such mysteries of life were best left to grown-ups, like his nurse.

iv. She told him other stories too: centaurs that had conversations with the stars. Giants that built and guarded bridges. A naiad who made a basket of reeds so perfect that it could hold the wind. They were light, almost frivolous sorts of stories: the kind that make good sense to a child.

v. When Nurse left, there were no more stories. Caspian invented his own sometimes, and whispered them to himself while he played with his toys. When his aunt caught him at it, she struck him.

vi. Doctor Cornelius's stories were not like the ones Nurse had told. They were solemn, grand tales that sounded almost like they might have really happened. In his stories, there were two kings and two queens who ruled Narnia together.

vii. Caspian imagined King Peter like a high tower, all straight lines and immovable might. He knew better now than to tell the stories where he might be overheard, but at night he whispered them to himself as he sank into sleep. King Peter, who was like a tower, went off to fight the Giants in the north. Queen Lucy and King Edmund sailed over the sea on a ship to another country. The water was blue like the sky, and it glittered. Queen Susan kept a light burning at home.

viii. Part of Caspian was afraid of not telling the stories. They were like strangers’ hands reaching out to him in darkness. He was afraid of not reaching back, of letting those strangers fall away into the pitch black night.

ix. On the castle’s highest tower, Doctor Cornelius threw back his hood and declared himself the blood of Old Narnia. The stories are true, he said.

x. All of them? Caspian wanted to ask. What about the naiad's magic basket? If dwarves were real, then why shouldn't the old Kings and Queens be real too? And if King Peter was real—if his stone-heavy feet had really trod on Narnian earth— then why shouldn't every fanciful thing he'd ever heard be just as true too? It made Caspian giddy to think.

xi. The night Caspian’s cousin was born, he fled the court with Queen Susan’s horn hanging from his saddle. It made him think of lights in windows as he rode away from the only home he’d ever known.

xii. When he woke, he found himself gazing into the faces of Dwarf and Badger from his nurse’s stories. They were arguing over what to do with him, but Caspian thought, absurdly, are you missing any buttons today?

xiii. They went about the next day, issuing invitations to the Great Council on Dancing Lawn, and Caspian put out his hand to greet centaurs and fauns, talking Mice and talking Bears. Each one of them reached back. No wonder Caspian woke the next morning half-convinced he'd been dreaming.

xiv. King Peter was real too, and there was King Edmund at his elbow. Caspian greeted them, inclining his head and saying in a voice that only trembled a very little, "Your Majesty is very welcome," and it felt like carving his name on the bones of time.

xv. And soon he knew that King Peter really was a tower, facing Miraz with the kind of stalwart might that Caspian had been imagining for years. Queen Susan was a light in the window: her horn had called them all home.

xvi. And Aslan. Aslan. Wonder of all wonders, he was real too.

xvii. Caspian said farewell to Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, and it felt like reaching out across the planes to a world he would never see, except for a few minutes— but that wouldn't be for many years yet.

xviii. In the end, Queen Lucy and King Edmund sailed over the sea on a ship to another country. King Caspian was with them.

[firsttarotreader]

Special Series - Pedro’s Characters as Tarot Cards

(Ongoing)

Major Arcana

Dieter Bravo - The Devil

Agent Whiskey - Judgement

Oberyn Martell - The Sun

Din Djarin - The Chariot

Joel Miller - The Hanged Man

Javier Peña - The Emperor

Dave York - The Moon

Javi Gutierrez - The Star

Silva - Temperance

Frankie Morales - Strength

Marcus Moreno - Justice

Pero Tovar - The Tower

Marcus Pike - The Lovers

Ezra - Death

Max Phillips - The Wheel of Fortune

Max Lord - The Magician

Mrs. Flores - The Empress

Zach Wellison - The Hermit

Lucien Flores - The Fool

Marcus Acacius - The Hierophant

Nico - The High Priestess

Charlie - The World

Minor Arcana

Reed Richards - King of Swords

Pedro Pascal - King of Wands (Special)

Fink - Page of Swords

Comandante Veracruz - 7 of Swords

Jay Castillo - Page of Cups

Shane “Dio” Morrissey - 5 of Swords

Omar Assarian - Page of Wands

Ricky Hauk - 3 of Swords

Clint - 10 of Wands

Claude - Knight of Wands

Unnamed Character (Fire Meet Gasoline) - Knight of Cups

Billy - 2 of Wands

Pedro - 7 of Pentacles

Mr. Ben - Knight of Pentacles

Pietro Alvarez - 6 of Swords

David - Ace of Cups

Steve - 2 of Cups

Ted Garcia - 5 of Wands

Eddie - 8 of Wands

“The Thief” - 9 of Pentacles

Paulino - Page of Pentacles

Tim Rockford - Ace of Swords

Edmund - Knight of Swords

Nathan Landry - 7 of Wands

Unnamed Character (Hope) - 4 of Cups

Ed Indelicato - 2 of Pentacles

Kevin “Kip” Green - 5 of Cups

Robert - 6 of Cups

The Wanderer - 7 of Cups

Mario - 9 of Wands

Dan Landry - 4 of Swords

Unnamed Character (Wing Pit) - 3 of Cups

More characters on the way!

All art made by my lovely friend who wants to stay anonymous EXCLUSIVELY for the blog.

[queersrus]

request for cottagecore + sad-ish? id pack? please + thanks!

here's my attempt!

assuming id pack includes more than just the usual npts i'll throw in a few cottagecore and sad related labels i found

(nick)names:

ambrose, amos, ansel, acacia, ada, adelaide, arwin/arwen, ava, avery/averie, aviva, amaranth, able, arbor, art, arty/artie, asher, ainsley, acheron, adalia brandy/brandi, branwen, billie/billy, bryony, bill, banner, booker, bram

barley, brion, brian, bryce chloris, chandra, cyrene, cayenne, cade, clyde, chester, cliff denna, diana/dianna, diona, donna/dona, derby, dallas, danica, daphne, dixie, dawn, dylan

edmund, elenore, elodie, eudora, elenore/eleanor, ebony, erica, eila, eira, eve, eithne, everlee, elize, eliza, elizabeth, everlyn, elwood, emerson, elowen finnegan, freddy/freddie, frederick, fallin/fallon, florance/florence

fable, frank, frankie/franky, franklin/franklyn, faine, filbert, finneas ginny/ginnie, gale, georgia, george, georgina, granger halcyone, hana/hanna/hannah, harriet, harry, hayley/hailie/hailey, halie/hallie, heather, harlowe/harlow, harrow, hadar, hawl, hayes,

huck, holden, huso ilana, illiana/iliana, ingrid, ivory jane, janet/janette, jesse/jessie, josie, jose, jack, jackie, jackson kingston, kodi/kodie, kodiak, kylan

lupin, lian, liana/lianna, liane/lianne, linc, linden, lyle, lucius maisie, matilda, maude, mabel, merle, marin, mica/mika, mason/macon, martin, miller, miles nellie, nyssa, ned, nick, ness

opholia, oliver, olive, olivia, oleander, odell, oriel, oscar paisley, poppy, posie, phineas, parker rose, rosemary/rosemarie, rosy/rosie, rory, rosette, rosetta, rue, rosabel/rosabell/rosabelle, rosa, rosabela/rosabella, rosella, rosaria,

rosario, rob, robert, ray, reed, ridge, ryland, rowan, roan shiloh, sharon, scarlet/scarlett/skarlett, sam, samantha, samuel, sunny/sunnie, sawyer, shaw, shay, steve, stevie, stevia, sorell/sorrell, seb, sebby/sebbie, sebastian, saddie/sadie, sade

theodore, theo, tori, toria, tamie/tammie, tawny, terra, timber, tim, timothy, tanner, teddy/teddie, trevis/travis, trevor, tyler, tristan/tristin, tristah/trista, trystia verginia, vicky/vickie, victor, victoria, viola, violet/violette,

violeta/violetta, valerian, vernon winnie, willa, winston, winifred, winslow, will, william, willow, wade, wagner, warren, watts, watson, wilhelmina yvonne, yves zephyr/zephyre, zara, zinnia, zion

surnames:

appleyard, ashton, ashwood baker, brookstone, butterfield catkin, cobbler, cooper, copper, copperwood, copperfield, crestfallen dogwood, direwood, direbrook, direfield, desperfield, downyard

doleman fenlon, falkner, forlorn greenwood, greenfield, golding, goldwood, goldfield, griefman, griefwood, gardner

hilbrook, holbrook, heath, horsewood, horsefield, hawksley, harrowing, hawkswood, hawthorne, hawkner, hawkfield, holloway, hallowood

larken, limewood, lockhart, lovejoy mourner, mournwright, mournman nettleship

plowman, penrose, penwright redbrook, rosedale, redwood, rosewood, redfield summerfield, sweetnam, seawright, sorrowfield, sorrowbrook, shamewood, shamewright

thacker, thatcher westfield, wainwright, write/wright, wagonwright, woodsman, wyrmwood/wormwood, winterwood, winterrose, wretchwood, wretchman

system names:

the cottagecore *system, the sorrowful system, the melancholic cottage system, the mourning flowerbed system, the gloomy garden system, the tearful system, the harvest system

1st p prns: i/me/my/mine/myself

ci/cotte/cottagy/cottagine/cottageself hi/he/hy/harvestine/harvestself gi/garde/gardy/gardine/gardenself si/sade/sady/sadine/sadself si/sorre/sorry/sorrowine/sorrowself mi/me/mely/melancholine/melancholyself

2nd p prns: you/your/yours/yourself

co/cottager/cottagers/cottagerself ho/harvester/harvesters/harvesterself go/gardener/gardeners/gardenerself so/sader/sadders/sadderself so/sorrower/sorrowers/sorrowerself mo/melancholer/melancholers/melancholerself

3rd p prns: they/them/theirs/themself

co/cottage, cott/age, cot/cottage, cot/tage, cottage/cottages, cottage/core har/vest, ha/harvest, harv/est, harvest/harvests gar/den, gar/garden, garden/gardens, garden/core farm/core sa/sad, sad/sads, sa/ad, sad/sadden, so/sorrow, sor/row, sorr/ow, sorrow/sorrows, sorrow/sorrowful mel/melancholy, mel/ancholy, melan/choly, melancholy/melancholies, melancholy/melchancholic

titles:

the weeping gardener, the mourning farmer, the sad cottage dweller, the melancholic planter, the sorrowful woodsman

**one who lives a sad cottage life, one who mourns within ones cottage, one who weeps amongst ones gardens, one who copes with sadness through cottage life

book titles:

the sad little cottage, a melancholic villager, the weeping willows, the mourning garden, the sorrows of an old cottage, a pitiful harvest

genders:

buncottagecoric(link),

cottagegoric(link), cafdreamian(link), cottagecrittean(link), cottagecoric(link), Cálidatierramielgender(link)

epuisetristic(link)

gendersob(link)

Sadnostacatgender(link)

orientations: (n/a)

other:

cottagecore bpd(link)

many can be found by searching cottagecore genders/mogai/liom as well, there are many versions of cottagecore flags especially for lgbt related labels so they should not be hard to find if you feel like looking!

*system can be replaced with any alternative (ex. cluster, collective, hoard/horde, etc)

**one can be replaced with any prn

[sirenjose]

Character Relations Thoughts/Theories

Part 1 - Character Relations

(Wrote everything down for reference from looking around, as I didn't have everything unlocked myself and had trouble finding images anywhere. Also, when I say "Unknown connection" that just is to symbolize the ? relations, not that we literally don't know, as we do know some answers to those, like Arthur Byer's connection to Hastur is likely them being the same person in a sense in game 6.)

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

Game 0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Ada

Employee to Father Duke

“Colleagues” with Lorraine (who Emily “advised”)

Daughter to Dr. Mesmer

Cooperated with Orpheus

Couple with Emil

Unknown connection to Helena

Emil

Unknown connection to “Roy”

Couple with Ada

Helena

“Saved” Galatea, who has affection for Helana

Daughter to John Adams

Student to Sullivan, who hired by John Adams

Sullivan is “pen pals” with Orpheus

Unknown connection to “Roy” and Ada

Galatea

has “affection” for Helena

employed to Orpheus

Orpheus?

Unknown connection to Roy, who has an unknown connection to Emil

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

Game 2

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Jack

Interviewed by Keigan

“Murdered” Keigan

Sheriff “doubts” him

Student of James Whistler

Philip

Siblings with Christina

“Mistook” Belinda as Christina

Christine and Belinda “replaced”?

“Appreciates” Jack

Keigan

“Interviewed” Jack who “murdered” her

Siblings with Harold Nicholas Keogh

Aunt and Niece to Bessie

“Murdered” Dr. Mesmer

Edmund Reed, Sheriff

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

Game 3 (Andrew/Antonio/Sangria/Polun)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Sangria

“Lady”

Andrew

“Buried” Sangria, Antonio, and Polun

“Employed” to Percy, who was “resurrected” by Burke

“Backstabbed” Mr. Marshall

Antonio

“Vigilant” of Sangria and Andrew, who “buried” Antonio

“Affection” for Polun

“Avoiding” Princess, who “confined” Antonio

“Fantasizing” about “Demon”

Polun

“Jealous” of “Catherine”

“Invited” by Max

Antonio has “affection” for Polun

“Buried” by Andrew

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

Game 3 (Aesop/Victor/Annie/Ganji)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Annie

Daughter to Wendy Lester

“Murdered” by Aesop

Aesop

“Foster son” to Jerry Carl

“Murdered” Annie and Ganji

“Targeted” Victor

Ganji

“Dominated” by Lord Elgin, who Ganji is “disgusted” with

“Murdered” by Aesop

Victor

“Acquaintances” with Wick

“Targeted” by Aesop

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

Game 4

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kreacher

He “betrayed” Emma, who “hates” him

He abused Robbie and Dolores

Worked for Father Duke

“Disapproves” Freddy, who “hates” Kreacher

“Despises” Emily

“Hates” Mr. Macallan

Emma

“Helped” by Orpheus

Daughter to Martha Remington and Leo

Sought help from Emily, who “sympathized” with Emma

“Hates” Father Duke, who “abused” her

“Hates” Freddy

“Hates” Kreacher, who “betrayed” her

Freddy

“Cooperated” with Dr. Mesmer

“Investigating” Emily

“Lovers” with Martha Remington

“Deceived” Leo, who “hates” him

Emma “hates” him

“Hostile” to Kreacher, who is “hostile” to him

Emily

Martha Remington was a “medical accident”

“Advised” Lorraine Miller

“Despises” Kreacher

“Sympathizes” with Emma, who “sought help” from her

“Investigated” by Freddy

Leo

Married Martha Remington, father to Emma

“Hates” Father Duke

“Hates” Freddy, who “deceived” him

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

Game 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Vera

Sister to Vera Nair

“Influenced” Kevin

“Ex-collaborator” with Jose

“Vigilant” of Edgar

“Hostile” to Patricia, who “sacrificed” her

Kevin

“Mourning” Angelina, daughter of Cherokee Chietain

“Guilt” towards Cherokee Chieftan (about daughter and lying), who is “Friendly” to Kevin

“Influenced” by Vera and Jose

“Friendly” to Edgar

“Protective” of Patricia

Patricia

Foster daughter to Mary

“Sacrificed” Vera, who was “hostile” to Patricia

Jose, “ex-collaborator with Vera, is “hostile” to Patricia

“Sacrificed” Edgar

“Faith” in Papa Legba, who has “contracted” Patricia

“Protected” by Kevin

Edgar

“Friendly” to Kevin

Ella is his sibling

“Influenced by” Jose

Vera is “vigilant” with him

Sarai was his tutor, who he “murdered”

“Sacrificed” by Patricia

Jose

Son of “Old Baden”

Old Baden “traded” with Lord Melbourne

Lord Melbourne is the “sponsor” of Sam Bourbon

“Drinking buddies” with Sam Bourbon

“Searched” for Wu Chang (umbrella)

“Ex-collaborator” with Vera

“Influenced” Edgar

“Hostile” to Patricia

“Influenced” Kevin

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

Game 6a

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Grace

Unknown connection to Arthur Byers and Fiona

Hastur

Unknown connection to Arthur Byers and Yidhra

Yidhra

Unknown connection to Darren, Fiona, and Hastur

Fiona

“Vigilant” of Arthur Byers, who “charmed” Fiona

Unknown connection to Yidhra

Commissioned by Volcker Berglund, brother of Darren Berglund

Investigating Luchino, who “deceived” Fiona

Unknown connection to Grace

Luchino

“Deceived” Fiona, who is investigating Luchino

Colleagues with Duquein Thompson

Unknown connection to Arthur Byers

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

Game 6b

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Luchino

Eli “vigilant” of Luchino

Unknown connection to Demi

Demi

Unknown connection to Luchino

“Step siblings” to Sam Bourbon

Unknown connection to Eli

“Framed” Martha, who is “Scheming” against (?) Demi

Unknown connection To Miles, Spouse to Michiko, who Martha “deceived”

Michiko

Unknown connection to Eugene

Unknown connection to Martha, who “deceived” Miles

Miles’ “spouse”

Miles Donald

Martha Behamfil

Unknown connection to Michiko, who is the Spouse of Miles

“Deceived” Miles, who has an unknown connection to Demi

“Scheming” against (?) Demi, who “framed” Martha

Apprentice to Evelyn Mora

Eli

Unknown connection to Luchino

“Engaged” to Gertrude Vandergaw

Unknown connection to Demi

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

Game 8

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Violetta

“Tolerates” Joker, who is “hostile” to Violetta

“Acquired” by Bernard

“Influenced” Margaretha

Murro and Mike “sympathize” with Violetta

Employed by Max

“Rescued” by Tracy

Margaretha

“Influenced” Violetta

Eugene Hayward and Marjorie Hayward are her Uncle and Aunt

“Fears” Mike, who is “disgusted” by Margaretha

Murro is “vigilant” of Margaretha

“Relies” on Sergi, who “controls” Margaretha

Joker “murdered” Sergi, who has an unknown connection/arrow to Joker

“Exploited” Joker, who “adores” Margaretha

Joker

“Adores” Margaretha, who “exploited” Joker

Arthur Russel “investigated” Margaretha and Joker

Arthur Russel “commissioned” Mike, who “doubts” Joker

“Hostile” to Violetta

Son of Gwynplaine and Thea

Mike

“Sympathizes” with Violetta

“Disgusted” by Margaretha, who “fears” Mike

“Adopted” by Bernard Morton Jr, Uncle of Murro Morton

“Assisted” in Murro’s escape

Arthur Russel is “pursuing” Murro, who “trusts” Mike

“Employed” by Arthur Russel

Arthur is “investigating” Joker

Murro

“Vigilant” of Joker and Margaretha

“Sympathizes” with Violetta

Nephew of Bernard Morton Jr., who “adopted” Mike

“Trusts” Mike, who “assisted in his escape”

Arthur Russel “commissioned” Mike and is Naib’s employer, who “murdered” Murro

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

Game 9

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Servais

Apprentice to John who Servais “murdered”

“Doubted” by Kurt and Naib, who “murdered” Servais

“Searched” for Murro

William “witnessed” Servais murder John

William

“Witnessed” Servais murder John

Kurt showed William “kindness”

“Trusts” Naib, who “exploited” William

“Punished” by Bane

Bane

“Employed” by Mr. and Mrs. DeRoss

“Punished” Naib and William

“Colleague” with Burke

“Companion” to Black Nose

Kurt

“Doubted” Servais

“Murdered” by Naib

“Searched” for Murro

“Cared for” by Lorraine, employee of Father Duke, who “disapproved” of Kurt

“Kind” to WIlliam

Naib

Murdered Servais, Kurt, and Murro

“Doubted” by Servais

Employed to Arthur Russel

“Punished” by Bane

“Exploited” William, who “trusted” Naib

(Murro)

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

Game 10

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Luca

Son of Herman Balsa

“Malice” to Charles

“Alert” against Tracy, who is also “alert” with him

Student of Alva

Tracy

“Alert” against Luca, who is also “alert” with her

“Unusually trusted” by Charles

“Curious” of Bonbon

Being “surveyed” (watched) by Burke and Bonbon

Daughter of Irene Reznik and Mark Reznik, who is “curious” of Carl Taplin, who watched (surveillance) Mark

Charles (sorry I didn't have his character relations page)

Bonbon

“Invented” by Burke, who’s employed to Mr. and Mrs. DeRoss

Watching Tracy, who is “curious” of Bonbon

Burke

“Invented” Bonbon,

Employed by Mr. and Mrs. DeRoss

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

Game ? (maybe 11?)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Alva

“Close friends” with Herman Balsa, who was a student of Professor Kaiser with Alva

Herman is the father of Luca, who is Alva’s student

“Shares the same faith” as Ann

Luca (same as in Game 10)

Ann

“Shares the same faith” as Alva

Relative of Laura

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

Final Game

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Orpheus

“Cautious” of Melly, who’s “cautious” of Orpheus

Unknown connection to Sam and Frederick

“Investigating” Alice, who “suspects” Orpehus

Unknown connection to Norton, Burke, and Bane

Mary

Unknown connection to Mary Kreiburg

Mary Kreiburg is a “distant relative” of Frederick

Amalia Kreiburg is the mother of Frederick, who is also a “distant relative” of Mary Kreiburg

Mary Kreiburg’s spouse is Manus de Capet

Frederick

Son of Amalia Kreiburg, who is distant relatives to Mary Kreiburg (as is Frederick)

Unknown connection to Orpheus

Alice “doubts” Frederick

Alice

“Suspects” Orpheus, who is “investigating” Alice

“Curious” about Melly, who is “curious” about Alice

“Defect” from(?) Lord Melbourne

“Vigilant” of Norton

Unknown connection to Burke, Bane, and Evelyn

“Doubts” Frederick

Melly

“Cautious” of Orpheus, who’s also cautious of Melly

“Curious” about Alice, who’s also curious of Melly

“Vigilant” of Norton

Unknown connection to Sam Bourbon

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

Not Yet Confirmed (what game they're in)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------Qi Shiyi (maybe game 1, if she brings Wu's umbrella, it needs to be at the manor before Jose aka game 5)

“Close Friend” of Tang Si

Evelyn Mora

Mentor to Martha

Lily (maybe game 1 or a game close to final?)

Matthias

Florain

Robbie

Joseph (maybe Final Game?)

Brother to Claude

Percy

Employer to Andrew

Ithaqua (maybe game 6 with Fiona/Hastur?)

Ivy

Jeffrey (maybe game 3 with Antonio/Andrew?)

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

Part 2 - Points of Interest

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

"Roy", who is mentioned with the game 0 group and has some type of connections between them and Helena, Emil, and Orpheus/Novelist

Sullivan's "pen pal" is confirmed to be "Novelist" aka Orpheus

Philip involved in game 2

"Mistook" Belinda as Christina, and whatever is meant by "Replaced" (between Christina and Belinda)

Keigan "murdered" Dr. Mesmer (that name is listed in the relations as being Ada's father

Andrew "buried" Sangria, Antonio, and Polun

Polun's connection to "Max" who "invited" Polun

Emma was "helped" by Orpheus

Patricia "sacrificed" only Vera and Edgar

Jose was "drinking buddies" with Sam, who is "sponsored" by Lord Melbourne/Vilhelm

Grace and Yidhra are involved in game 6a with Hastur, Fiona, and Luchino

Luchino "deceived" Fiona

Demi "framed" Martha, who was "scheming" against Demi

Demi is "step siblings" with Sam (shared either a Father or Mother? Likely Mother?)

Demi is connected to Miles somehow

Martha "deceived" Miles

Joker is only listed as "hostile" to Violetta, doesn't mention "murder" unlike elsewhere when a character is killed (same about Norton)

Margaretha is "exploiting" Joker

Tracy “rescued” Violetta (likely being the mechanic who gave Violetta her prosthetics in Violetta’s backstory)

Melly has some connection to Sam

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

Part 3 - Thoughts/Theories

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

“Roy” is not mentioned anywhere that I’m aware of (though a “Roy” is mentioned in Mary’s letters, but I think this is someone else?). I did wonder, even though we know “Orpheus” is apparently involved in game 0, if Roy could be 0-1-0 if it isn’t “Orpheus”. Helena’s 3rd letter, as most experiment letters, should be written by Orpheus as a record of his “experiments”, so it’d be odd if he’s talking about himself as 0-1-0. We know from Helena’s letter that No. 0-1-0 had "multiple tests" done on them before “interventions in stages” on Helena, as well as 0-1-0 is someone Helena considered an "ally".

I’m confused about it saying Philip “mistook” Belinda as Christina. Nowhere in his letters or deductions does he say the name, though it does in his relations page. Her name was first revealed in a Q&A, where they said Philip “forgot the name of the woman on his shoulder, he only knows that she is his sister”. Well, based on his 2nd letter, he does call her “Belinda”, unless he’d already forgotten and this was what he thought her name was. I assume that body is still “Christina” but he just forgot what her real name was, which… is really saying something about Philip if he doesn’t even remember his sibling’s name. I doubt that the body wasn’t actually Christina’s but instead someone else with the name “Belinda”, but this definitely leaves me more uncertain than I’d like. Or another possibility is the figure on his shoulder is just a wax creation (not actually his sister’s body) and his sister’s been gone long enough (and he’s traumatized enough) where he either repressed the memories of his sister or has forgotten, with the wax figure on his shoulder his constant reminder of simply the fact his sister was taken from him and he needs to avenge her. And due to his forgetting, he’s named the wax figure on his shoulder “Belinda”.

I’m assuming Keigan killed Dr. Mesmer sometime after her discussion with Bessie, her niece and had married to her brother Harold Nicholas Keogh. We learn Bessie was unsatisfied with the marriage, and he wasn’t even accompanying her to the doctor despite her pregnancy. Keigan learns due to Bessie that Harold has a substantially larger than normal savings account than he should have based on his monthly income. We further learn Harold was involved with Dr. Mesmer, who had paid Harold for helping “resolve baseless accusations” against him. Based on what we know of Keigan from her backstory, deductions, and trailer, it isn’t unreasonable to say she decided to deal with Dr. Mesmer similar to how she dealt with her brother due to the threat they posed to Bessie.

Antonio’s game has 5 people mentioned in the letters, but the relations page only shows 4. We know that 3-0-1 is Andrew and Antonio is 3-1-3. We know Antonio felt “affecton” for Polun, and Antonio’s 3rd letter mentions he showed “affability” to 3-?-2 and 3-1-5. We know from Polun’s letter that he was likely affected by drugs during their “feast” based on the mention of feeling “dizzy”, and Antonio’s 3rd letter mentions 3-?-2 felt the effects of the drugged wine (and Polun’s 2nd letter does mention wine). Therefore, Polun is likely 3-?-2. As for Sangria, we know he felt “vigilant” towards her.

As for 3-1-4 and 3-1-5:

we know 3-1-4 was:  “consistently polite” to Andrew, had a “shared attitude towards faith” with Andrew, had “superior communication and expressive abilities” but their past experiences hindered their ability to establish meaningful connections with others and were too “absorbed in their pursuit of friendship and salvation” causing a lack of awareness of their surroundings and made them be manipulated by 3-1-5 and utilized his familiarity with the mansion to start an arson under the stage and cause 3-1-4’s demise. Also, 3-1-4 was effected by the drugs with polun

while 3-1-5 was “adept at disguising their true intentions”, “skilled at sensing others’ emotions” which he used to form a “temporary alliance” with Andrew, “subtle manipulations” of 3-1-4, had hostile feelings towards Andrew, and “spun lies” praising Andrew’s work (façade via acting) and determined Andrew’s “fate” in the “temple”. Also, 3-1-5 was affable with Antonio

My best guess is 3-1-4 may be Sangria, who we know was “buried” by Andrew as well as Sangria is someone tied to a “stage” and “fire”. She would also fit as someone who would be “polite” and good at “communication” and interest in “faith” and “salvation. This would leave 3-1-5. Considering this game has a lot to do with “acting skills” and performance, I wonder if 3-1-5 could be the Goatman, Jeffrey (and with his connection to animals, I could see him being good at sensing others’ emotions and due to the performances he had to put on potentially good at hiding his “true intentions”).

Max “invited” Polun. I assume this was likely after they left St. Catherine’s theater. We have no knowledge of whether Polun spent any time at Max’s freakshow, but as they seemed focused on finding their parents and the wording of “invited”, I assume they declined the invitation.

I have no idea how Emma was helped by Orpheus. We still haven’t figured out the truth behind Emma’s 4th letter, which seems to happen after her game (with Freddy, Kreacher, and Emily). Her “new friends” are aware of their memories being tampered with and warn her to secretly keep a record of everything. It’s possible Orpheus “helped” her to reunite with Leo via that invitation with the Thistle. Or it’s possible he did something during her actual game. We aren’t sure.

Regarding Game 5, we seem to have confirmed the only 2 that were “sacrificed” were Edgar and Vera. We know Kevin drank the drug and as a result didn’t participate in the game at all. Jose, based on Wu Chang’s 3rd letter and the latter half of Jose’s 3rd letter did seem to participate in the game (especially with Jose’s letter implying the manor owner “treasured” the opportunity to use Jose in his experiment and thus wouldn’t want to miss out, thus why he was willing to stop the experiment if it looked like Jose wouldn’t make it). We have no knowledge then of Jose’s or Patricia’s fates. Jose mentions finding the umbrella in the garden, where it still is during the final game. This is seemingly after the game and Vera and Edgar, who he references in his 4th letter, are already gone and he seems to be getting ready to leave. Patricia’s 4th letter doesn’t leave us with any potential hints as to what happened, though the way Jose seems to have made it through the game, yet only mentions Edgar and Vera, I wonder if something happened to her during the game, potentially something caused by Wu Chang if Jose was influenced by him.

Sam being "drinking buddies" with Jose... The only place Sam is referenced is in Jose’s 2nd letter in reference to the signature on his father’s ledger of goods the day Joaquin Baden vanished. We know Jose was drank both to help him sleep (due to his trouble with panic attacks/night terrors) and other times that led to him “missing the tide” and not boarding the ship. We know from his background in the relations page that he was delayed at Liverpool the day his father vanished. It may not be true, but what if he was drinking with Sam that day in Liverpool, or something else with Sam? Especially if Sam signed off on the ledger of goods for that voyage. It’s also curious how it specifically states Jose was in Liverpool that day. If he was just drinking normally, they didn’t have to specify. He could just drink anywhere, but it gives a specific location. So there’s a good chance there’s a reason for it, and as Sam is tied to Joaquin’s disappearance, it's possible Sam could’ve been with Jose that day too. Maybe Sam was even the person Jose’s father asked in Jose’s deduction 8 to help fix Jose essentially, even if it meant Jose wouldn’t “remember how to be a good man”. I don’t know if Sam would’ve been the person to leave that “spiritual anchor” via deep hypnosis referenced in Jose’s 3rd letter, but we don’t know nearly enough about Sam to be completely certain.

It makes sense for Grace and Yidhra to appear in the game with the supernatural theme and taking place at Lakeside. So far, we know Fiona is 6-1-3, Luchino is 6-1-4, and Hastur aka Arthur Byers is likely 6-0-5. This leaves 6-1-1, 6-1-2, and 6-1-6. The only info we have is 6-1-2 lost their life in an “unfortunate accident” and was replaced by 6-1-6, as well as Luchino was the only one not to vanish after the game. So, there’s not enough info to argue that Grace and Yidhra aren’t possible. Though, as we know 6 individuals are involved in this experiment, that does mean there’s 1 other person we don’t know of in this game. My best guess at this time is that it could be Ithaqua. As for Luchino’s deceit against Fiona, I assume this ties to how her 3rd letter says she “missed a crucial piece of ‘divine insight’” to lose her chance to escape.

Regarding Martha “deceiving” Miles, we do know from Michiko’s 2nd letter that she supposedly was helping him find the “keepsake” of Michiko’s (likely the hatpin) he was looking for, and then in Michiko’s 3rd letter, he mentioned Martha should’ve arrived at the manor 3 days ago yet there has been no news of her. Miles does get the hatpin at the manor, so that leaves the question of how exactly she “deceived” him. It’s possible it had to do with he didn’t know who Martha actually was, or she potentially deceived him to lead him to the manor (possibly lying about the keepsake being auctioned off or something, I’m not sure).

I have 0 idea though how Demi is possibly connected to Miles, unless it’s because Miles may end up being in that game with her, Martha, Eli, and Luchino (though only 4 individuals are referenced in the letters for that game so far). We do know Miles is confirmed to be in some game due to Michiko’s 3rd letter, just not which one yet.

Demi “framing” Martha, I wonder if that could relate to why Luchino believed Martha was the “liar” that would cause the final “tragedy”. This is then what leads to a “tragedy” between her and Luchino, which could relate to Demi’s 3rd letter talking about not bothering to discern truth from lies (which is the issue with Martha in this game as she first lied than was truthful, leading to confusion about her) and instead decided to “destroy” truth and lies, aka Martha herself potentially. As for the scheming, it’s possible Martha schemed because of being “framed” by Demi, unless Martha was planning something before Demi “framed” her. There’s not enough info to be certain.

I have 0 idea how Sam may be connected to Melly. The 1 possibility is from Melly’s 3rd letter, which is an “investigation record”, yet it’s not written by Orpheus considering the author specifically references him (“From this, I learned she knew Mr. Orpheus for many years before coming to the manor and was full of praise toward him”). So the author is someone who knows Orpheus at least (as well as Norton based on the mention of him further in) and this person knows Melly came to Oletus Manor, so it’s potentially someone who could be at the manor during that time? Especially as they comment on Melly’s fear of Orpheus being even stronger than her fear of Norton. Which is curious as I wonder if that implies he’s somehow monitoring the Final Game.

[forkingandcountry-if]

The Great Houses of For King and Country

House Wynd

Title: Lord Paramount, Emperor Edmund Wynd

Ancestral Seat: Wyndham Castle

Region: The Wetlands

Coat of Arms: Partizan Spear with Grey Cloth tied to end

Motto: “Strike True, Strike Once”

Vassal Houses: Gray, Freymen, Cole, Dustin, Courtney, Cadfael, Douglas

House Radwell-Cadderly

Title: Lord Paramount Cade Radwell-Casterly

Ancestral Seat: Two Prince's Crossing

Region: The Princeland

Coat of Arms: Two Inverted Golden Crowns and a Golden Sun Between

Motto: “Only One Crown Above Ours”

Major Vassal Houses: Royce, Roy, Vardy, Barclay, Harvey, Godwell, Radwell, Carter, Cadderly

House Merivale*

Title: Lord of the Vale, Lord Paramount Lancet Merivale

Ancestral Seat: Kingsport

Region: The Vale and Great Lakes

Coat of Arms: Golden Crowned Falcon and Golden Buck on Split Green and Blue Background.

Motto: “Honor From On High”

Major Vassal Houses: Uplands, Greenspan, Flowers, Merivale-upon-the-Lake, Achillande, Lunete, Grenplace, Cessair

House Abbey

Title: Lord Paramount Finneen Abbey

Ancestral Seat: Oldchurch

Region: The Midlands

Coat of Arms: Silver Crown in White Star

Motto: “Steel to clean the hearts of men”

Major Vassal Houses: Morrel, Coffer, Abney, Woods, Arden

House Chamer

Title: Warden of the Hinterland, Lord Paramount Ornold Chamer

Ancestral Seat: Mount Reave

Region: The Hinterlands and Firth

Coat of Arms: Bucking Horse

Motto: “All things can be ordered”

Major Vassal Houses: Cramer, MacAffey, Mulholland, Vicar

House Champion

Title: Warden of the Greater Realm, Lord Paramount Hal Champion

Ancestral Seat: Guard's Round Hall

Region: The Borderlands

Coat of Arms: Knight in a Field of Wheat

Motto: “Faithful Unto Death”

Major Vassal Houses: Daunt, Gallant, Richard, Radclyffe, Reeds

House Fischer

Title: Stewardess of the Royal Woods, Lady Paramount Moira Fischer

Ancestral Seat: Diver Castle

Region: The Greenwood

Coat of Arms: Wooden Keep

Motto: “Swift to sow! Swift to swords!”

Major Vassal Houses: Keats, Trent, Pole, Diver, Greenwood, Hart

House Parish

Title: Lord-Governor of the Plain, Lord Paramount Merritt Parish

Ancestral Seat: Fortress Merill

Region: The Plains

Coat of Arms: Burning fortress flanked by rivers

Motto: "First to Fury"

Major Vassal Houses: Murgatroyd, Everly, Eccleston, Farnham, Gladwyn, Dane, Dwerry

House Galagar

Title: Lord Paramount, King o' the Rock Brent Galagar

Ancestral Seat: The Rook

Region: The Highlands

Coat of Arms: Heraldic Eagle flanked by Lions

Motto: “In Our Own Right, Kings”

Major Vassal Houses: Aron, Link, Broeker, Burnes, Arrowsmith, Keeper, Fletcher

*You are an heir of House Merivale up in the Vale and Great Lakes.

[muralconservator]

when Edmund Reed identity v finally releases I will be rejoicing in the streets btw

[isiaiowin]

GOetry - Grab your spencer we're doing Spenser.

Welcome to GOetry! A weekly poetry club.

Every Monday, you'll receive a new poetry prompt and have until the following Monday to submit your poetic creations. Come join the fun! Post your finished work under the #GOetry and don't forget to tag me @isiaiowin so I can see your work.

You can also add your work to the AO3 collection here.

You all did an EPIC JOB with all the stunning poems that you wrote last week. Thank you! This was so much fun.

This week’s prompt:

To continue on our EPIC journey: A Spenserian stanza.

Theme: Spencer - or any other cosy clothing item.

What is a Spenserian stanza?

Invented by the poet Edmund Spenser for his epic poem The Faerie Queene, it consists of eight iambic pentameter lines, with the last line being an Alexandrine: a 12-syllable iambic line, bringing the total to nine lines. 

The rhyme scheme is ABABBCBCC.

Example:

Edmund Spenser - The Faerie Queene

Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,

  As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,

  Am now enforst a far unfitter taske,

  For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine Oaten reeds,

  And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;

  Whose prayses having slept in silence long,

  Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds

  To blazon broad emongst her learned throng:

Fierce warres and faithfull loues shall moralize my song.

Have fun!! 💚 Moon

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

9 Lines 9 People Tag

Thanks for tagging me, @theprissythumbelina and @sarahlizziewrites! :D

This is a lot more than nine lines, but anyway. Behold, the prologue to Uneasy Money:

The funny thing is— and isn't that just the summary of my life. I could write my autobiography and use that as its title. The funny thing is, I'm the first to admit I'm not a good person. The funny thing is, I owe my existence to Gilbert. The funny thing is, I really did want to ruin them all. Well. In this case, the funny thing is that I never meant to kill anyone. I thought it was a game. Just a fun club to join after school. Somewhere to go when I didn't want to go home. Somewhere I belonged, when I've never belonged anywhere. It was silly and insincere and nothing but a social club. I continued to think it was a game right up until the bullets started flying that August evening. You remember the damnedest things afterwards. Someone dropped a cigarette and the smoke curled upwards in ghostly wisps. A quiet splash in the river where a fish had snatched a fly. Cows mooing in the distance. I didn't hear the gunshots. That's another funny thing. Jack fell back against me with blood spurting out of the hole in his forehead. My leg felt like it had caught fire. I looked down and saw my blood pouring out of my thigh. The other boys yelled a million miles away. But all I heard clearly was my own heartbeat. On the far side of the river I saw the reeds move when there was no wind. That was where the gunmen were. Hidden behind Jack's body, I pulled my gun from my holster and fired at each one. They hadn't expected us to fight back. They ran. I shot two in the back before they could reach the cover of the trees. Smoke, blood, dogs barking in distant houses. My leg hurt too much to move. I'd have stayed there for the rest of the night if Edmund hadn't come back for me. He dragged me back to his house. His dad looked at my leg, then at me, then at Edmund. "I fell on a stick," I said. "It was a very sharp stick." The bullet had just grazed me. Gone through the skin and out the other side. Bled like hell, though. Edmund's dad wasn't stupid. He must have known the truth. He said nothing. I told my mum the same story. She didn't believe me. That was why she kicked me out. That was why I was sixteen, homeless, jobless, and desperate. That was why I decided blackmailing my dad's other family was the best option. The funny thing is, I can trace almost everything that's happened since, in my life and everyone else's, to that terrible evening in 1914.

My name is Thomas McGeown. (Or Thomas Millner, a name which I have a moral right to — twice over! — but no legal right to. You'll hear all about that later.) This is only partly my story.

Tagging @blind-the-winds, @akiwitch, @akindofmagictoo, @antihell, @aether-wasteland-s, @rose-bookblood, @ahordeofwasps, @writingdeliberately, @chayscribbles, and anyone else who wants to do this! :D

[racefortheironthrone]

Just to clarify you think Sir James Tyrrell was innocent or his guilt is in serious doubt?

So as I alluded to before, Sir James Tyrrell confessed to murdering the Princes in the Tower on Richard's orders under torture, and confessions given under torture are notoriously unreliable. That doesn't mean that he didn't do it, or that he didn't do it under Richard's orders, only that any or all of the elements of his confession could be false, because that's what he thought Henry Tudor wanted to hear and thus would make the torture stop.

Moreover, there are some weirdnesses about the acocunt that have given various historians pause over the years:

Tyrrell could not give information about where the princes had been buried, and claimed the bodies had been moved later, which seems unlikely.

Tyrrell's confession has not survived - and the only contemporary account that mentions it is Thomas More's, which is a bit odd when you consider that we have quite a few contemporary sources who mentioned the princes' disappearances and the rumors of their murders at Richard's hand.

Moreover, Tyrrell's confession came about significantly after the fact - while he was a Yorkist and in Richard's service, he was in France at the time of Bosworth and was pardoned by Henry Tudor repeatedly. He was only questioned almost twenty years later, after his arrest for supporting Edmund de la Pole, the "White Rose," in 1502.

These and some other issues have led some historians to question the reliability of Thomas More's account. Ricardians point to these factors to argue that Richard was innocent, and that the Princes might have been killed on Buckingham's orders, or even on Henry Tudor's orders if they had still been alive in the Tower after Bosworth, given how unclear the timeline of their deaths is.

I'm a bit skeptical of the "strong" Ricardian case: it was certainly contemporaneously rumored that Richard had killed the Princes in the Tower, and if he had wanted to scotch those rumors, he could have done so by presenting them alive in front of witnesses, but didn't do so - which suggests an earlier date for their deaths. As to the "weaker" case, it is true that Tyrrell's confession is rather a thin reed - which is why most historians say that Richard is the most likely suspect, rather than conclusively stating it.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 31, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

APR 01, 2024

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order instructing the National Park Service to “highlight important figures and chapters in women’s history.” “Women and girls of all backgrounds have shaped our country’s history, from the ongoing fight for justice and equality to cutting-edge scientific advancements and artistic achievements,” the announcement read. “Yet these contributions have often been overlooked. We must do more to recognize the role of women and girls in America’s story, including through the Federal Government’s recognition and interpretation of historic and cultural sites.”

In a time when American women are seeing their rights stripped away, it seems worthwhile on this last day of Women’s History Month to highlight the work of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who challenged the laws that barred women from jobs and denied them rights, eventually setting the country on a path to extend equal justice under law to women and LGBTQ Americans.

Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, 1933, in an era when laws, as well as the customs they protected, treated women differently than men. Joan Ruth Bader, who went by her middle name, was the second daughter in a middle-class Jewish family. She went to public schools, where she excelled, and won a full scholarship to Cornell. There she met Martin Ginsburg, and they married after she graduated. “What made Marty so overwhelmingly attractive to me was that he cared that I had a brain,” she later explained. Relocating to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for her husband’s army service, Ginsburg scored high on the civil service exam but could find work only as a typist. When she got pregnant with their daughter, Jane, she lost her job.

Two years later, the couple moved back east, where Marty had been admitted to Harvard Law School. Ginsburg was admitted the next year, one of 9 women in her class of more than 500 students; a dean asked her why she was “taking the place of a man.” She excelled, becoming the first woman on the prestigious Harvard Law Review. When her husband underwent surgery and radiation treatments for testicular cancer, she cared for him and their daughter while managing her studies and helping Marty with his. She rarely slept.

After he graduated, Martin Ginsburg got a job in New York, and Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated at the top of her class. But in 1959, law firms weren’t hiring women, and judges didn’t want them as clerks either—especially mothers, who might be distracted by their “familial obligations.” Finally, her mentor, law professor Gerald Gunther, got her a clerkship by threatening Judge Edmund Palmieri that if he did not take her, Gunther would never send him a clerk again.

After her clerkship and two years in Sweden, where laws about gender equality were far more advanced than in America, Ginsburg became one of America’s first female law professors. She worked first at Rutgers University—where she hid her pregnancy with her second child, James, until her contract was renewed—and then at Columbia Law School, where she was the first woman the school tenured.

At Rutgers she began her bid to level the legal playing field between men and women, extending equal protection under the law to include gender. Knowing she had to appeal to male judges, she often picked male plaintiffs to establish the principle of gender equality. 

In 1971 she wrote the brief for Sally Reed in the case of Reed vs. Reed, when the Supreme Court decided that an Idaho law specifying that “males must be preferred to females” in appointing administrators of estates was unconstitutional. Chief Justice Warren Burger, who had been appointed by Richard Nixon, wrote: “To give a mandatory preference to members of either sex over members of the other…is to make the very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” to the Constitution.

In 1972, Ginsburg won the case of Moritz v. Commissioner. She argued that a law preventing a bachelor, Charles Moritz, from claiming a tax deduction for the care of his aged mother because the deduction could be claimed only by women, or by widowed or divorced men, was discriminatory. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit agreed, citing Reed v. Reed when it decided that discrimination on the basis of sex violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

In that same year, Ginsburg founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Between 1973 and 1976, she argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court. She won five. The first time she appeared before the court, she quoted nineteenth-century abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sarah Grimké: “I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

Nominated to the Supreme Court by President Bill Clinton in 1993, she was confirmed by a vote of 96 to 3. Clinton called her “the Thurgood Marshall of gender-equality law.”

In her 27 years on the Supreme Court, Ginsburg championed equal rights both from the majority and in dissent (which she would mark by wearing a sequined collar), including her angry dissent in 2006 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber when the plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, was denied decades of missing wages because the statute of limitations had already passed when she discovered she had been paid far less than the men with whom she worked. “The court does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination,” Ginsburg wrote. Congress went on to change the law, and the first bill President Barack Obama signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

In 2013, Ginsburg famously dissented from the majority in Shelby County v. Holder, the case that gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The majority decided to remove the provision of the law that required states with histories of voter suppression to get federal approval before changing election laws, arguing that such preclearance was no longer necessary. Ginsburg wrote: “Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” As she predicted, after the decision, many states immediately began to restrict voting.

Ginsburg’s dissent made her a cultural icon. Admirers called her “The Notorious R.B.G.” after the rapper The Notorious B.I.G., wore clothing with her image on it, dressed as her for Halloween, and bought RBG dolls and coloring books. In 2018 the hit documentary "RBG" told the story of her life, and as she aged, she became a fitness influencer for her relentless strength-training regimen. She was also known for her plain speaking. When asked when there would be enough women on the Supreme Court, for example, she answered: “[W]hen there are nine.”

Ginsburg’s death on September 18, 2020, brought widespread mourning among those who saw her as a champion for equal rights for women, LGBTQ Americans, minorities, and those who believe the role of the government is to make sure that all Americans enjoy equal justice under law. Upon her passing, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton tweeted: “Justice Ginsburg paved the way for so many women, including me. There will never be another like her. Thank you RBG.”

Just eight days after Ginsburg’s death, then-president Donald Trump nominated extremist Amy Coney Barrett to take her seat on the court, and then–Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rushed her confirmation hearings so the Senate could confirm her before the 2020 presidential election. It did so on October 26, 2020. Barrett was a key vote on the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, the Supreme Court ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion.

Ginsburg often quoted Justice Louis Brandeis’s famous line, “The greatest menace to freedom is an inert people,” and she advised people to “fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” 

Setting an example for how to advance the principle of equality, she told the directors of the documentary RBG that she wanted to be remembered “[j]ust as someone who did whatever she could, with whatever limited talent she had, to move society along in the direction I would like it to be for my children and grandchildren.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON