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acertainmoshke · 1 year ago

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Happy WBW Moshke?

Can you tell me a bit more about Fae in Cold Iron? How common are they, what powers do they have, just what flavour of Fae are they?

It's very important to me that the Fae not be sexy magical elves, but have the air of mystery, lack of logic, and general danger that one gets from older legends or, say, @elsewhereuniversity. So Fae all look different than humans with no real pattern and no regard for genetics. They are generally humanoid but their skin can be different colors and textures, their eyes range from differently colored to blank and empty to full of stars, they may have horns or claws or fangs, numbers of appendages are negotiable, etc. Some of them have hollowed out backs full of plants. Some look almost human but just different enough to seem Wrong and dangerous but also painfully, enticingly beautiful.

That last bit is mostly glamour. Fae as a general rule twist the truth rather than lying, but it doesn't hurt to make yourself more attractive to gain trust and distract the target. It's also part of the image of beautiful and intimidating beings and they have a reputation to maintain.

Fae are made of dreams and nightmares and lore, so they can change. Most of them don't know this. They spend most of their time in their own realm (in which dream logic applies, twig forts seem like castles, clouds are made of cotton candy, and Things lurk behind every corner--it can drive an unprepared human mad).

Human children are prized, and it depends on the Fae how they are used once acquired. Some are mere servants who grow at a human rate but are status symbols because of the sacrifice and difficulty in obtaining one. But they've never known any other life and, honestly, they're more second-class citizens than slaves. They work hard and can't leave but have time to themselves and their own social structure, although the Land of Faerie is extremely dangerous to them. Other humans are treated more like adopted children or entertainment. It is not uncommon to freeze their aging based on what they are wanted for, and eternal human children with all their laughter and innocence are particularly popular.

Fae are not immortal, by the way. They just may as well be. As long as they live in their own realm, time bends and stretches and loops around and passes so differently that they might take a nap and have 100 years pass among humans. Fae that leave their own realm to live here have lifespans of anywhere from 300-2000 years, but they do age and die.

Which brings me to Wild Fae and changelings. It is the ancient rule that human children may not be stolen, only traded. This may be through deals or the trade of something so precious it needs no deal--their own children. Fae children are not common or it would become too crowded, but they do exist. It is usually the weaker ones that are given up in trade, so many of them die a natural death young and the human parents never know their child still lives. Sadly, most of the remaining ones are mistreated from the moment their parents realize that their own child is gone. They appear as human babies and the truly noticeable Fae traits don't begin until they are they reach 8-12 (this is true only among Fae children raised here, as their true appearance is masked with a complex glamour that wears off over time). But their behavior and needs are not quite human and others can tell they aren't right. Very few of these children live to be old enough to discover that their aging slows when they reach 15. Generally after that, they will age 1 year for every 2-5 that pass. Changelings that live longer than 500 years are unheard of even in the best of circumstances, what with all the iron exposure in our world. Adult changelings provide some proof that Fae can change their nature, if anyone were to look at the data: they tend to have more human motivations than is in the nature of other Fae and, more obviously, they can lie. One of Shakatra's main tricks is to order something and then convince the person they already paid for it.

Wild Fae are very different but there is a bit of overlap. These are Fae raised in their own realm who chose to move to ours. These are not the Fae that wander the woods tricking people, providing a night of passion with eternal debt or making impossible deals with desperate humans. Those tend to be more noble Fae with more freedom and power (the more magical power a Fae has, the more social power they have. This is a direct correlation because horrible things tend to happen to someone who tries to take more social power than they can fight to hold onto). Wild Fae may be after wealth or the kind of power they cannot get at home, but most of them live on the fringes, preying on vulnerable people and living in rough groups. Most of them were either banished for an offense or treated so poorly they would rather be anywhere else, because most of our world is poison to them for long periods. I need to figure out more of what they do with their time later, but I do know that sometimes they take in abandoned changelings, but they don't treat them kindly. Kris ran away from such a group when he was 7 because being alone was preferable.

Annnnnnd I just re-read your ask and realized I didn't answer either of the questions you actually asked. So: all Fae have some glamour ability, some Sight (not necessarily of the future, but of the truth of things), and a natural tendency towards trickery. Most have some other magical ability, but they vary widely, from fire/ice/other elements to plants to speaking with/controlling animals to making words/images become real to shapeshifting, and on and on. They follow no more logic than their appearances, but generally there is overlap between the weakest Fae magic and the abilities of the strongest human sorcerers. Shakatra, having honed their ability in a fight-to-survive kind of way, is strong for a changeling but that still puts them on par with the lowest of the 9 noble ranks. Changelings build up some immunity from direct iron contact, but the constant exposure keeps them relatively weak.

As for how many, it is literally impossible to say how many exist, but there are small clusters of Wild Fae in most human cities. Few people notice them and they tend to cause fairly minor mischief.

Oh, and of course Names have power. So every Fae has a true name--which tends to be long--and something they are called. Fae have a natural attachment to a single true name and do not need to change their moniker, but changelings and humans with common Fae interactions do because we are likely to get attached to something we are called for too long until it begins to describe us.

Thank you SO much for the chance to infodump about this!!

#moshke writes #writeblr #worldbuilding wednesday #Cold Iron

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campaignskyjacks · 2 years ago

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Recent Greenheart descriptions are, if I'm connecting the threads correctly, explaining the "Don't let her take me!"/entire Ortwin situation in Part 1 of Courier's Call - Last Breath in the most delightfully horrific way.

Also enjoying how many incredibly obvious hints I failed to put together re: general nature of the postmaster general.

Huge fan of both shows, very rewarding to have them lend so many bonus bits of information to each other.

Yes, you have connected the dots! Ortwin is playing a dangerous game by leaving Thornvale. I thought that Last Breath made what was going on with him pretty obvious, but not everyone is as deep in the weeds with this lore as Drew and I.

A funny thing is originally I didn't even want greenhearts. They were a Couriers Call invention. I think I actually found out about them while listening to an early cut of the world building for Thornvale. I was like "what the fuck, I said we were only doing humans."

One of the first things we decided for Spéir in our worldbuilding was that we weren't going to do elves and fairies and shit. All of the fantastic things would be people or other things becoming people. All of the folklore around fae creatures would still be valid but it would apply mostly to the queen who is a different kind of thing.

Anyway, I told Drew that we couldn't have these guys and he said they were people who tied themselves to plants or trees. I was like " don't think that will work because then they will belong to The Queen and they would not fit into your all ages show."

"Unless Thornvale is different."

Then we went on a much deeper dive on how Thornvale works and what makes it so special and safe.

Needless to say, the Thornvale greenhearts are not under the command of The Queen. To be a Courrier, Ortwin is taking a massive risk. And now everyone knows just how big that risk is.

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loganofthenorth · 2 years ago

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Puzzle Piece

It's a cruel kind of irony,

That the puzzle piece is used to represent,

The struggle to fit in disorder.

It's even more ironic, for me,

Because of how I present,

Because of my lack of rules,

Lack of resentment,

Lack of interaction or tools,

Lack of culture.

See, my mother's great grandfather and grandfather were indigenous.

Her great grandfather was a residential school survivor

Both of them were drunks.

Her father was raised as white

He was also a drunk,

but unlike the other two he stuck around with his family

Or... tried to

It's a whole mess of complicated really

My mother's family tree is a chaotic mess

We aren't strangers to adoptions,

Divorces,

Multiple marriages

It's hard to know who's related to who

Especially when there's thousands of people with our last name

See Johnston is a last name that was given to my Mom's great grandfather

Because they couldn't pronounce his real name

We don't know much about him

We don't know much about them because they were never around, and the other members of the family didn't like to talk about them.

So, we might as well be white.

My Mother is more indigenous in appearance than I am

She was raised with religion, but it never made sense to her.

It's funny really

I don't think anyone was there to teach her the spiritual beliefs that indigenous people had

She just came to the conclusion that she wanted to believe in that on her own

But she doesn't know the rituals, the rules, the culture

She just does what feels right for her.

And that's great

And she taught me to do the same, to decide for myself what I believe

So the only thing I know about religion is from what pop culture tells me

What I know about Angels comes from fantasy stories

I thought Elves were just humans with pointed ears that lived longer

But apparently there's something religious involved

I thought Fairies were just humans with wings and magic

But Fae are more complicated, and again, religion is involved

The more I learn about Fantasy, the genre I love to write, and the more I learn about politics and other cultures,

The more I become overwhelmed wondering

What am I allowed to write?

See, when I first heard about cultural appropriation, it upset me.

It upset me that people would get upset with you if you did something from a culture that didn't belong to you.

I wasn't sure why it upset me so much

I dismissed it as being an ignorant white girl that needed to dismantle my beliefs and rebuild them

I know what oppression feels like because I'm disabled. I don't want to accidentally be oppressing someone else by stealing their culture

But, the more I learned about other cultures, and all their rules, and all the every day things that had to come from somewhere

The more I realize how much culture is tied to everything

And the world is not a free for all where you can choose what you want to believe

If you want to be part of a culture you have to learn and follow all its rules before you can apply anything from it to your daily life

At least that's what it seems

And that's all so overwhelming to me

Because as an Autistic Person learning basic social rules was already a traumatizing struggle

I do feel a calling to spiritual beliefs

But my skin is white

My features are Scottish and French

My eyes are light coloured

And I can't learn other languages for the life of me

I feel like I'd be intruding if I tried to learn the indigenous culture

And I'm not saying that anyone who holds such strict barriers to their culture is making me a victim

Nor am I saying my Mom was wrong to not teach me a religion

If I were taught the Christian Religion, the one that I suppose is appropriate for a white English speaking person to learn, knowing how I was as a child I would have become extremely committed to it, to the point where both religious and non religious people shut me out.

It would have become my special interest,

But I probably would have been deeply hurt and betrayed by those who took the message of 'Love Thy Neighbour' and instead spread hate.

If I were raised Christian, I would likely see a large percentage of my religion as a traitor.

And I would feel expected to shun that religion completely in order to feel accepted by communities that also reject those people

So I would be alone regardless.

That's why I'm always trying to find the right label to use for my sexuality

Because I don't feel properly connected to the rules of each label

I don't feel connected to the LGBTQ+ community because they all seemed to know their identity from the beginning, where I never did because I was so busy trying to understand what normal was that I didn't even know being gay was a thing.

Then at around 10-13 I learned what that was and thought I was a straight ally (which, only knowing LGBTQ things from pop culture made me a terrible straight ally, as I know now looking back. I thought it was enough to just want to accept people for who they are, because that's what I knew I wanted, but I didn't know any of the rules so I often got myself into a lot of conflict.) because I didn't have any crushes on girls

I'm still trying to figure out my sexuality really

Still trying to figure out if any of my crushes were crushes or if I just wanted to have a crush so I made one up and turned it into a special interest

Still trying to figure out if the co dependencies I always formed with my friends were me having romantic feelings for them or if I just have really strong romantic love

I'm not sure if I'm aro/ace because I can feel flustered, and I can be attracted to people but it comes and goes

And when friends talk about people they find hot I just become a deer in headlights

And I tend to have trouble writing romance on my own

But that could just be because I don't have enough experience in romance?

It's hard to say...

I grew up in social isolation, on top of all that

My Mom had really bad social anxiety,

And between that and my Autism we didn't attend social events often

And we didn't have enough money for anything outside of school

There was the one year where I had ballet classes, that was the first year I had a real birthday party, with friends and games and cake and everything. I was twelve.

I grew up in an Autism Program

Six kids per classroom, most of them were boys, I was lucky if there was another girl in the classroom, and if there was the teachers would always mix up out names

We only saw the mainstream students when they were misbehaving in the halls or when we went out for recess

Most of the kids in the program were satisfied with just staying friends with others in the program

Not me

I learned social skills from television, and was extremely extraverted

I wanted to be ✨popular✨

What a sad dream that was

I wish I had just been satisfied with befriending the other weird kids

Then again, the weird kids often found me annoying too

See, I could never fit in with Autistic people either

I'm always trying to find out what about me makes it so hard to fit in

The extroverted Autistic with ADHD and severe anxiety, as well as C-PTSD and depression due to trauma.

The white girl with hair too thick to run my fingers through, and thick black hairs found all over my pale skin

With eyes that change colour, from green to brown to gold

With a button nose and round face and crooked teeth and eye teeth that grew in wrong so they look like fangs

Too poor to go to the dentist regularly, but I have a house and a family that can support me in adulthood so I'm technically privledged

Mentally ill but hates horror movies and gore and is sensitive to a good chunk of the things mentally I'll people like to talk about

Doesn't help that I'm an empath

Doesn't help that watching a tv show is extremely draining for me

I'm the white girl with a speech impediment that sounds like an accent

With flapping hands and buzzing sounds I make that people repeat back to me

With a stutter that my brother and father criticized constantly

I talk too fast and too much or I don't talk at all

I get overly attached to things and to people, or I don't care for them in the slightest

I'm not cynical enough to be an athiest

Not faithful enough for religion

Talking about my experience is hard and traumatic and I hate it so being an activist is hard

This was supposed to be a poem but it turned into a rant

Because I always write poems about things that upset me

It's hard

It always feels like I'm doing something wrong

I can never get the rules right

And I've tried not caring about what anyone else thinks

Now I spend my time in the basement of my parents house in the middle of nowhere, writing books that I hope one day can give people the community I didn't get to have growing up

Maybe I'll get a community too for it one day

I have a community now, kind of. People I can share my stories with, who tell me about theirs, and I love that

And this rant isn't because I'm not grateful for that

My life has just been a difficult path to navigate

And I know I should consider myself lucky

For having paths at all

For having food and water as I make the journey

For having shelter along the way

But that doesn't change all the mountains I've climbed

The storms I've walked through

And now I still feel like I'm getting nowhere.

Hopefully, one day, I'll find out where I fit

Until then, I just have to hope that I'm not just the last price of the puzzle that someone lost one day

And will never be found again

#disability #autistic #adhd #writer #nerodiversity #actually autistic #poetry #vent #vent poetry #generational trauma #part indigenous #rant #long post #questioning sexuality

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thisloveforyourmom · 3 months ago

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review of acotar: solid 4/10, read it all and DNF'd the second book because i got off the plane and had better things to do LMAO. it's not very good but its also not so hilariously awful or off the wall that it becomes entertaining in its badness.

feyre as a main character is really not very inspired. everything before her going to fairy land is basically katniss everdeen with sisters who suck more - hunting in the woods, starving, one useless parent one dead parent, sibling who won't/can't help them survive, etc etc etc. and her name isn't pronounce 'fairy' but come on. she doesn't really shine until very late in the book, but she's a mildly interesting POV so whatever 5/10 for her.

tamlin is a complete nothing burger of a love interest. there's literally nothing about him and feyre's interactions that is at all compelling. at one point he goes feral and bites her and it's supposed to be all erotic and i don't know who that scene is for, considering if you want a dark romance this aint your book and tamlin never does anything like that again. all of feyre's attraction to him is explained by that bullshit romance authors sometimes do where it's like "and i didn't know why....but i wanted to see him again" girl i don't know why either

the entire setup for the curse is so. contrived. like wdym it's a lengthy and complicated curse but feyre JUST SO HAPPENS to have met every single weird requirement EXCEPT.....she doesn't do the last thing needed to break the curse! and even by her own admission she didn't know why!

the worldbuilding is...a Problem. the high fae aren't fairies they're elves. idgaf. they can lie no problem, they can touch iron, eating their food is totally safe, time passes the same way in the fairy land, etc etc etc. there are seven courts because SJM wanted to bring up the whole seven is a magic number, but she does that by making them autumn, winter, spring, summer, day, night, and...dawn? why not twilight? twilight applies to dawn and dusk, why have we just totally punted the dusk court into oblivion? the main villain does that whole "i said i'd free your love, but i didnt say WHEN!! i'll free him LATER!! he can be freed by DYING!! -evil laugh-" thing except we already established she CAN JUST LIE, so there's no reason to play word games

rhysand and lucien are by far the most compelling people feyre talks to. i think SJM is good at writing enemies-to-lovers because it forces her to actually give them scenes where they find common ground and have meaningful interactions to overcome their hatred.

i do appreciate how she takes the risk of actually getting into some dark stuff in the end of acotar and the beginning of the second book - i thought feyre wasn't going to go through with that, but then she did, and it actually eats her up from the inside out instead of just becoming a woe-is-me-pity-party situation, so props for that. i also don't think many authors would have been willing to toss out the whole LI of the first book, but she committed to that too, so good on u SJM taking risks.

THAT SAID she did him dirty. i would have liked it better if feyre and tamlin truly just became incompatible after their trauma and were forced to admit that loving each other wasn't enough, but it seems like they're full sending tamlin being some kind of villain, which i really hate. in general i think his and feyre's relationship should have been done better - i could absolutely see feyre not loving him, but feeling as though she SHOULD love him because of what he did for her, which solves the whole 'i didnt say i love you' thing AND gives her a reason to go save him and then break up with him as well. overall he is just. really a nothing character until the second book.

acotar as a whole feels like the drudgery SJM had to get through before she could write the second book. it really picks up there. but not enough for me to keep reading lmao see yall

#acotar spoilers #acotar

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mcwentfandomtraveling · 9 months ago

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Not important stuff below

Just feeling lonely so I'm gonna dump whatever's on my mind

So my sister is super busy and I miss her 😢

We have a few fictional worlds we made just the two of us...and characters for thoes worlds...

We've had this as a special thing for just us since we could talk...(identical twins btw)

And recently (in the last 1-2 years) we decided to make a bookkeeper universe to look after our fictional worlds when we're too busy XD

Because why the hell not XD

And the bookkeeper universe has characters of its own!

And a few weeks ago I got us both stuff that reminded us of our bookkeeper universe (dolls, plushes, all sorts of stuff) and I just found out that I accidentally spent all the money I had on toys by accident 👉👈

Good thing I got some money today (about 300$ because SHIT would've been awful)

Anyways...now I gotta be mature and not a toddler with a credit card and cut back on the spending...

BUT I have enough to get my sister one more toy because I really wanna and I'm going to do one last farewell shopping spree to end my toy shopping every other week and save that toy for her birthday so we can have fun in the summer when we have more time together! XD

Anyways lemme tell you my characters in mine and my sister's bookkeeper universe!

I have four! (Plus three but not important atm I may or may not return to that)

Basically all kinds of fantasy creatures exist in this universe...Fae, High Fae, Fairies, Elves, Yokai, Mermaids, Mermen, ect ect!

And there are different types of each creature too like for example High Fae :

High Fae of Fauna

High Fae of Light Magic

High Fae of Dark Magic

Or just some magical concepts like :

High Fae of Fire Magic

High Fae of Healing Magic

High Fae of Electric Magic

Ect ect

Same concept applies to different fantasy races like :

Yuki Ona and Kitsune hybrid Yokai

Lamia and Dragon Yokai

Pretty much you can fuse anything you see it if you want and anyone can learn magic

And everyone has a job they're destined for in this universe...

My characters are :

Nixie (still thinking up a full name for her) she is a simple Fairy of life magic and binds the souls of each of the ocs representing me most to eachother as a way to balance eachother's happiness, luck, and unseen stuff like that...she has a girlfriend who is another character of mine! Nyfane a half mermaid half dragon character that works as a veterinarian to magical and non magical creatures! And they're both really cute together! (Got a doll that reminds me of Nyfane!)

Then I have my other characters! Nyfane's mentor Emperiven who is a High Fae of Healing magic and mostly treats people but can also treat animals...

Emperiven makes sure no one dies both in the bookkeeper universe and the other universes! ^-^

Then Emperiven's lover is a High Fae of Fauna named Lyalli! She owns the place where all these characters live! Called the Keltoron cottage castle inn! It's a castle with a a cottage esthetic! ><

Lyalli let's anyone weary from traveling stay at it like an inn! ><

Lyalli can also transform into a swan! :D

And Nixie, Nyfane, and Emperiven just kinda ended up staying!

Emperiven decided to stay because the forest is a little long and treacherous to get lost in and incase anyone needed medical attention upon arrival...he also ended up falling in love with Lyalli! <3

Nixie and Nyfane ended up falling in love with the place and Lyalli just let them stay! (On top of doing thier actual jobs they also help out by working as employees of the inn!)

The technically three other characters are Emperiven's three other brothers...but I'm not quite finished workshopping them yet...

One is named Eion though...he's the youngest and a cinnamonroll...

Anyways...that's some of what's on my mind

Geez I miss my sister...

I ended up getting her a bunch of her favorite shiny pokemon to give her in Scarlet and Violett too!

I guess other then missing my sister...

My heart can't decide what fandom I'm obsessed with rn XD

Like there's this cool Ikevamp and Piofiore crossover I wanna write...but also I started One Piece and wanna simp over my newest addition to my husband collection! ><

And Glorfindel has been siren song-ing me when I'm sad to come read fics about him...

My mind is EVERYWHERE rn

And I'm lonely

Sending hugs...anyways thanks for letting me rant 😅

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not-in-the-library · 2 years ago

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So I’m thinking about how the fae court system works and I think I’m gonna start at the top and say all fae are kin to each other regardless of origin, they see humans, animals, and the dead as related and equals, but they are still distinct from each other the way a house is

From there the difference in region and court come into play as far as responsibilities go

Each region has a court responsible for overseeing all affairs, to them a business meeting is as remedial and necessary as making sure the sun rises and moves across the horizon on time

There are four courts for each region, with many members, and are divided by season, for example my fae lady from yesterday belongs to the spring court and is the lady of the dew. She’s responsible for making sure things are jeweled each morning in the spring. She has many fae attendants and the like who are the ones actually going out and placing water droplets everywhere

The main body of the population aren’t necessarily controlled or ruled over by any court members, though they are well respected. thanks to them being kin, it’s generally agreed that if one faefolk is hurt, any and every individual may step in to save them, or punish whoever hurt them, with court members usually being the ones to respond simply because they (1) are kinda bored when it’s the off season and (2) are powerful enough to not have to fear being hurt in the process

The less magical power a faerie may have, the more free they generally are in the sense they don’t have a fundamental responsibility integral to their existence

Think like pixie hollow vs fairytopia

The lower tiers of fae include inchlings/borrowers, dwarves, elves, non elemental giants, imps, nymphs, satyrs, centaur, mermaids, all of that, and since they’re not born straight from any wells of pure magic or anything adjacent they tend to have more human tendencies, being more earthly, and are more likely to seek out human companionship than their court affiliated counterparts

All fae are a part of the court in the region, simply as far as citizenship goes I guess that’s the best way to describe it

All the protection they receive apply to members of their family, regardless of heritage, this includes pets and the like, so now looking at inchlings and borrowers who have mounts that humans would consider strays it makes them a respected and protected class of animals, as it’s a safe bet to assume that all animals are either owned by faefolk, or may be a courtier in disguise

Generally speaking humans and fae are homies, but of course there are weirdos out there who have beef

Chad borrowers who are known and very well respected by humans and fae alike

#gt

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prokopetz · 3 years ago

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In your "Aliens are more believable than Tolkien elves in 'historic fantasy'" post, what about other fey creatures? Fairies (of all types), dryads, gnomes, trolls. I think the only damning thing about all of that is people only cared to draw the line in the sand when depicting all those creatures when fantasy as a genre started to make money.

(With reference to this post here.)

Those aren't "other fey creatures". Historically, words like "elf", "fairy", "gnome", "troll", "goblin", etc. were used interchangeably and without any particular consistency; the exact same folkloric critter might be called by any or all of those names, even in the space of the same story, and conversely, the same name from that list might be applied to a wide range of completely different folkloric critters. As with the overarching concept of "the Fae", any firm taxonomic distinctions between, e.g., an elf and a goblin are typically modern literary inventions.

#media #literature #folklore #tropes #swearing

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panlight · 3 years ago

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The Cullen's HS disguise kind of works because of the mortals going "VAMPIRES" they instead go "WEIRD RICH INCEST ANOREXIC SQUAD". the only thing that really matters is that they don't get Vampire.

That's certainly true! SM wasn't wrong when she tried to justify making the Cullens ridiculous billionaires because society allows rich people to be "eccentric" while poor people who are a little strange are considered dangerous outcasts. So, yes, I mean being rich and weird is better than being poor and weird in terms of keeping the secret, but have they just tried NOT being weird at all? You don't HAVE to publicly date your foster siblings. You don't have to sit at lunch, visibly not eating anything and throwing your full untouched tray away. Like, a little effort here, guys!

It just seems like it would be a whole lot easier to just not go to school at all. You can't convince me that Rosalie or Jasper or Edward are invested in being part of Forks society. They'd be perfectly happy staying hidden on Cullen property tinkering with cars, composing melancholy piano lullabies and . . . idk what Jasper does all day. And then go to Seattle or Vancouver or whatever at night for things they actually want to do. Alice and Emmett strike me as more social, but Emmett's 20, he has no business being in high school just say he's graduated idk. Alice is tiny, but she's 19. She doesn't have to be there either unless she WANTS to be, which IMO she's the most likely to want to do it because she's trying to vicariously grasp at a humanity she doesn't remember.

What's funny about the whole "as long as they don't figure out they are vampires" thing is that SM leans into this herself, but at the same time her mythology is so different like, HOW would anyone figure out they're vampires? Bella only gets there because Jacob flat-out tells her, and he only knows because of a personal family history with them (which at the time he doesn't even think is true).

The big dramatic climax of New Moon is Edward exposing his sparkling flesh in Volterra, but why would anyone seeing that go "omg a VAMPIRE!?!" (Okay in MS she retcons it a bit to make Edward in the sun seem more like 'a man on fire' but that's not at all the description we got from Bella [diamonds] or even Bree [disco ball]). The sparkling thing isn't an in-universe known myth. In the story people still know all the typical vampire stuff, but hardly any of it applies to the story's vampires so let's imagine Eric starts to get suspicious of the Cullens and tests them with garlic and religious imagery. Nothing. He checks to see if they have reflections in mirrors and show up in photos. They do. So Eric is like, "okay, not vampires, then," and looks back at his conspiracy whiteboard where "Fae" and "LOTR-style elves?" and "Aliens" are circled with lots of other options crossed out.

#asks

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ethrildragon · 3 years ago

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How can yuo like Harry Potter when it's so racist and has so much bigotry?!? Goblins are caricatures of jews, lycanthropy is aids, and house elves are african slaves!

*puts clasped hands to mouth and takes a deep breath* Ok. Let's deal with this one step at a time.

First of all, let me say for the record that I firmly believe that there should be equality amongst all people regardless of their race/religion/sexuality/gender/etc. I do not support JKR in her beliefs. I DO support the fandom and fandom creators that have taken the world of Harry Potter and have raised it up to be more than the author and her views.

I like Harry Potter because it helped me to learn how to enjoy reading. When I was a kid, reading was difficult for me and my teachers had made it so that reading was more of a punishment than something to enjoy. I'll never forget reading Harry Potter for the first time and how that series opened my eyes to how much fun reading could be. Children rarely see the subtle racism or bigotry in a story, so I didn't even think about those things until I was an adult. Now that I am an adult, I enjoy Harry Potter mostly because of the nostalgia. There are things I hate about it, and I will look to fandom to fix those issues.

It's like with sweets. You love them because they made you happy as a child, but as an adult you know just how bad they are for you, but you just can't help but to indulge once in awhile.

Ok. Now that that's out of the way, lets start with goblins. The mythology of goblins is much older than the 'caricature' of the Jewish people. The term 'Goblins' applies to a great many creatures from all around the world. Different goblin creatures are said to be both related to the faerie races and the demon races (depending on where you are and what mythological culture you are studying from). Tengu, a Japanese creature, is often described as a type of goblin or demon. Goblins in general are defined as tricksters, trouble makers, or malicious creatures.

'Goblin' is a blanket title for a large variety of creatures. It's used instead of naming off the dozens of types of goblins in the world. When international travel became a major thing (think Middle ages) it was easier to say goblin instead of naming the various trickster and trouble making creatures from different cultures. This was especially important when the language barrier came into play and people wanted an easier way to pass on their folklore.

I will not deny that certain mythological creatures have been used to terrorize and humiliate certain cultures and peoples. But just because one author has done it, does not mean that the creature was created solely for that purpose. To me, who has extensively researched my Irish heritage and the myths and legends of my heritage, goblins are a fae race that have been around far longer than most religions.

Next up: Lycanthropy. JKR has already admitted that in the world of Harry Potter, Lycanthropy was the muggle version of aids. Back before JKR turned into the TERF that she is, she said she wanted to use Lycanthropy to show just how horrible people could be towards a disease that a person has no control over. The thing is though, Harry Potter was a Children's series. Children aren't going to understand just how complex the Aids epidemic was or how people could hate others because of their illness. Children have a different way of looking at the world and many would see something like aids, or lycanthropy in this case, as just an illness that people could get. We all saw Remus Lupin and sympathized for him and what he had to go through. That's what we need to focus on, how we all wanted to love Lupin as a character and not hate him for his disease. That's what we need to focus on and not the fact that she attributed Lycanthropy to aids.

Last but not least, House elves: Slavery has always been a major topic in literature, whether it be in fiction or nonfiction. It's one of those topics that even children know about so it's a theme that is easy to include. Modern morality tells us that 'Slavery is bad', but there will always be people who will ignore morality if it's in their favor to do so.

I see what JKR was trying to do when she created House elves. She was trying to include mythological creatures that she herself grew up with. Brownies, which House elves were inspired by, were creatures that were described as helpers. They would be the ones who made shoes, cleaned houses, left little gifts, etc. In all honesty, JKR went about things the wrong way when she made house elves.

Maybe she'd been planning on having a resolution to the House elf problem, like Hermione actually freeing them all or something, but JKR lost that sub plot point as she continued on with her stories.

The problem with literature is that there will always be aspects and themes that are racist and bigoted for one culture and completely acceptable to another. Literature evolves with the times and something that was written a hundred years ago and was perfectly acceptable then will come across as completely different to a different time. When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, it was normal for young girls to be engaged, but in modern times it is seen as completely unacceptable.

Sometimes a goblin is just a goblin and a witch is just a witch, and sometimes they represent a very racist view. If you find something to be racist, then do something about it. Sign petitions, make people aware of the racism, fight for equality, but don't harass people about it. I know several Jewish people that have rolled their eyes over the whole 'goblin' issue and I have seen people with aids use the lycanthropy comparison to their advantage. People have even used Dobby the house elf as a mascot to fight oppression.

The point is a person can love Harry Potter, but also fight against the racism and bigotry that can be found in the stories. They can love the story and still stand up for what is right. Take the stories and worlds that you love, and make them better.

#long rant #fandom #harry potter #ugh #come on guys

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incandescent-creativity · 8 months ago

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Gorier I do say

Originally I had it as "All magic has a cost, but the caster can choose the cost," which would tell you a lot about the caster and what they value/are willing to sacrifice. Things like "I forget a word for every spell I cast" and "I lose chunks of my hair for every spell I cast," things like that.

Now... I think I'm just going to make magic primarily have a physical cost. Casting Spells Hurts You, and there's nothing you can do about it.

This still comes to play in very fun ways. For example, this would mean the most skilled casters are able to direct the blood price in a way convenient for them, which is often just. open lacerations that are very easy to clean and treat. So the best casters are going to be covered in scars.*

But if you're not as skilled, you kind of roll a dice about how you will be hurt. Obviously the bigger the spell, the bigger the hurt. That's why it's so important to start baby casters off with small spells that will give them rashes and paper cuts, and not rituals that will break their bones or lose them limbs.

It even has plot implications, not all of which I want to share, but I think it will also be a handy way to establish things about a new character right away. For example, a monarch who casts spells all the time, but doesn't have any visible scars despite wearing clothing that bares as much of his skin as possible, but also doesn't fall down dead from organ failure... would be intimidating! How is he doing that!

Also re @if-only-we-could-read-it tags:

#is this related to the colour coding? #bc i remember that blood was involved for demons at least 👀 #or is this more about the howww than the what kind?

*Remember the scars I was talking about earlier?

I think I'm going to have the scars that form come in those colors. So you can also tell at a glance if someone casts a bunch of different spells (rainbow of scars) or has focused in on a specific field (covered in blue scars).

The other ways the colors come into play (fae light glow, for example) still apply, with one small note: I think that, because tattoos are technically wounds (needles, yk?), I'm going to neatly slot in the punk elf tattoo culture into this new mythos by saying the elves figured out a long time ago that the pain price can be paid through tattoos, and have adopted that practice ever since. They are going to be appalled when they find out how the rest of the world has been doing it.

Me, braced against a bulging door labeled "LORE SERIES INSPIRATION" with all my strength: NOT UNTIL I FINISH A SOLE PROJECT DRAFT

#talking with writers #my worldbuilding #lore series #punk elves

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sidespart · 4 years ago

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The Fall of King Romulus Part 6

Summary: Twin Princes Remus and Romulus are cursed at birth with Honesty and Obedience. When Romulus, who cannot disobey any order, is told to kill his brother the next time he lays eyes on him, he changes his name to Roman and runs away. Roman joins up with a misfit group of adventures and plans to never return to his homeland. But the fae have other plans for him...

Warnings (for whole fic not necessarily individual chapters): Violence, mind whammying/memory altering, curse of obedience related consent issues, references to sex, references to war related injuries/PTSD, references to child abuse/neglect (YMMV on that one but just in case), antagonstic-but-not-exactly villian!Janus, Extremly-moraly-dubious-but-not-exacty-unsympathetic-Remus

EXTRA WARNINGS - this chapter is pretty much unrelenting whump and the violence and consent issues (past) tags strongly apply. I have put more detailed (spoiler heavy) warnings at the bottom so if you’re particularly sensitive to that stuff and want to scroll down to check before you read you can do so.

Feedback appreciated.

NOW ON AO3 :D

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

In a tavern just outside of Leovan the crowd roars another! And Roman laughs and gamely starts to play another jig. He’s been playing for hours and he drinks in the attention happily, even as the cheers of the crowd become a ringing in his ears. The night is long and his throat is raw and his stomach empty and it’s harder and harder to keep his eyes focused, but his hands are steady on the strings. He sways in place, sweat dripping into his eyes, but it doesn’t matter- the crowd adore him. They sing and dance and laugh along, and after each set they call another, another, another until the room is spinning and his throat is bleeding and the audience’s laughter had turned cruel and high and lilting and-

Roman woke with a gasp and immediately regretted it.

The underground room was still pitch black, the humidity still cloying. At some point during his fitful sleep he had slumped to the floor, Lucius’ ill-attempt at binding having come loose enough to allow him to slide his arms down the length of the pipe. He was awkwardly sprawled at the base with his wrists still pinned above his head and his legs twisted underneath him. He tugged experimentally at his binding and got a sharp spike of pain down his shoulders and spine for his trouble. Whilst he had wasted time sleeping, the silk had become sodden from the moisture of the room and shrunk tight against his wrists, making even Lucius’ knotwork impossible to pull apart.

Not that it would have made much difference if he could get it loose.

Stay here until I come back with your transport.

Grunting with pain, he managed to untangle his legs out from under him and sit up. He pushed himself up on his knees as best he could, trying to relieve some of the pressure on his wrists, but gave it up quickly as the pain lacing down his shoulders intensified.

This was bad.

He chewed on his bottom lip, trying to think, but the heat was making it almost impossible. The black of the room kept swirling back in to crowded tavern, the rush of water into the jeers of a crowd…he could feel the raw burn on his throat and his mind scrambled desperately for another song-

Except it hadn’t happened like that. He shook his head furiously, his hair flicking sweat into the room, trying to banish the tavern from his mind. He had already started traveling with the others by the time he sang in Leovan and if he’d tried to perform so late into the night Virgil would have come stomping down the stairs to tell him he was being ridiculous and to go and get some sleep.

Or Patton would have sat up listening, playing bodyguard, until he couldn’t keep his own eyes open and sweetly suggested that the crowd might want to be getting home to their own families.

Or Logan would appear, pocket watch in hand, demanding he finish within a set time frame in order to allow for optimal sleeping hours.

Roman could almost hear the lecture, relief at a chance to escape the crowd mingling with exasperation at the scholars ridged scheduling.

In the dark Roman glanced over to where he thought the door should be.

The only sound was the gentle hiss of water.

He tried pulling at the rope again.

***

“Hey! It’s you!”

The man blocking Roman’s path back to the ballroom was clearly drunk. He stumbled towards Roman, half leaning on the hallway wall for support, a big dopy smile on his face. “I saw you- I saw you back there – wow!”

“Thank you friend.” Roman smiled brightly and took a step backwards, but not quickly enough to prevent the guy from grasping onto his sash.

“You’re so pretty.” The guy breathed, his eyes unfocused but his grip firm, “I saw you lookin’ at me when you were singin’.”

Roman squirmed. He was almost certainly better trained than his admirer, and he had had a lot less ale, but he was also shorter and skinnier. With the man pressed so close in the narrow hallway it was almost impossible to find the leverage he needed to push him off.

And. This was a nice place. And by the quality of the man’s clothing he was an honoured guest not a servant. Roman had been the one to convince his new companions to accompany him to the local lord’s house for the ball, he had wanted to give them to a chance to relax whilst he performed. He didn’t want to get himself, and them, kicked out by causing a scene- not when he was half hoping they would allow him to continue to travel with them even though the job he’d been hired for was done.

“I look at everyone-” he said, smile fixed and polite ”– engaging the audience is actually very important for-“

“Shush.” The man whispered.

Roman shushed. Grinding his teeth in frustration.

His assailant brought one hand up to paw at his face in a clumsy attempt at seduction, thick rings knocking against Romans jaw. His other hand released the bard’s sash to grip his wrist instead.

“Kiss me,” the man breathed, the stink of ale on his breath making Roman gag.

Face burning with mounting frustration and embarrassment, Roman attempted to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, but the man twisted his head at the last moment to meet his lips with his own. Pressing Roman back against the wall with a slobbering assault as he attempted to pry Roman’s lips open with his tongue.

Panic flickered in Roman’s belly and then just as quickly dulled. It was generally easier to let these things run their course.

And then, suddenly, the pressure on his mouth – and wrist and chest - was gone.

Roman blinked open eyes he didn’t remember squeezing shut to see Patton with an expression so furious Roman had to fight the instinct to cower.

“What.” Patton snarled “Do you think you’re doing?”

“I di-didn’t mean to-“ Roman started.

“Well?!” Patton roared and Roman realised he wasn’t speaking to him – but rather the rich man who appeared to be rapidly sobering up in Patton’s grip. The warrior held him by the scuff of his neck, his toes just scraping the floor. When Patton shook him, the plethora of chains around his neck clinked together musically.

“Roman,” Patton asked, his voice still shaking with an anger that made Roman draw his shoulders up instinctively “do you…know this man?”

“Well…no.” Roman glanced at the chains again, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as his heart rate started to return to normal “I think he might be the mayor though Pat, put him down!”

“I don’t care if he’s the King of the elves! Did you want to kiss him?”

“Well no, but – but its fine! These things happen!”

“You call yourself a Prince and this is how you carry on?”

Wait. What?

Roman blinked, feeling strangely hot in the cool hallway.

Patton wasn’t supposed to say that. Patton was supposed to ask what he meant. And Roman would backtrack and feed him some lines about people often feeling entitled to performers time off stage – which was not untrue – and Patton would look at him wide eyed and tell him that would never happen again –

“You’ve been told over and over, to keep yourself to yourself.”

- that Patton would stand guard at every performance from now on if that’s what it took.-

“If you insist on putting yourself into these situations, don’t come crying to me when the inevitable happens.”

-And Roman would be so elated at the implication that they were to keep travelling together that he would almost forget to feel embarrassed at the situation.-

Patton’s lips narrowed into a thin disapproving line, “Don’t be naive. You are far better off alone, Romulus.”

“Dad?” Roman whispered.

“He doesn’t look much like the Prince.”

“Oh, like you’ve seen him.”

“Well he’s meant to be handsome right? This guy’s not winning any contests.”

Roman opened his eyes, squinting against the light. Three men stood around him, illuminated by the glow of an oil lamp. For one wild moment elation flooded through him - his friends had found him after all!

And then their conversation registered and he scowled. Disappointment robbing him of a witty comeback to their insults.

Still. Let them travel almost non-stop for three weeks, spend a night standing out in the middle of a field whilst an old woman sang at herbs, march for five days through a forest - including a detour through he thickets brambles known to man- and then follow that up with an entire day wandering around the city, have two panic attacks and be left to sleep tied up in caller. And then see if they looked their best.

With the gag still in his mouth, Roman’s attempt to covey this sentiment were mercifully muffled.

“I don’t know.” The biggest of the three stepped forward, grabbing a handful of Roman’s hair and yanking his head back painfully, abruptly cutting off his complaints. “I can kinda see it.”

“Be careful Niki,” the one who had first spoken whispered, he was holding the lantern and keeping well back from Roman. “His nibs thinks he’s got devils with him.”

“In here?” Niki cast a glance around at the iron cage of pipework that covered the room. “If he does they’re not coming out.”

“Still.” Lantern-boy whined.

“Well let’s test it.” Niki grinned down and Roman spitefully and released his grip on his hair. In one quick movement he had produced an iron dagger, not unlike Roman’s own, and pressed the flat of it to Roman’s cheek.

Roman stared at him.

“There you see? If was possessed he’d be screaming.” Niki said smugly and pulled his knife back, twisting it slightly as he did so, leaving a shallow cut along Roman’s cheek, making him wince.

“Careful,” lantern-boy said meaningfully “he’s still the Prince’s brother.”

“Oops.” Niki smiled cheerfully down at Roman. “My bad.”

“He needs to drink.” The third man stood far enough back from the lantern that Roman couldn’t see his face, but he saw the way the other two responded to his soft voice, their posture automatically stiffening.

“Here,” lantern-boy stepped forward after a moment, holding out a water skin to Niki who rolled his eyes but reached down to rip the gag from Roman’s mouth.

Roman coughed, swallowing air greedily. His throat was painfully dry, all moisture sucked out by the silk, but he still hesitated when Niki held the skin up to his mouth.

“Listen to me.” He croaked “you-“

“Just drink it.” Niki snapped and Roman surged forward despite himself, swallowing a few precious mouthfuls before the skin was yanked away again.

“You’re from Notaleveale.” he whispered. “Right?”

“Obviously.” Lantern-boy muttered, taking the water skin back from his companion.

“Well then,” he drew himself up as much as he could, ignoring the pain the movement caused “ – as true men of The North I must implore you to assist me. The Marquis has been embroiled in some- some conspiracy of untruths, is perhaps plotting against the very crown itself and-“

“The Marquis de Orenlla couldn’t plot his way out of a paper bag.” Niki snorted contemptuously.

Roman opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“Isn’t he your Lord?” he asked eventually feeling bizarrely offended on the Marquis�� behalf. Niki and lantern-boy were both wearing chest plates embossed with the three peaked mountain range that signified allegiance to Orenlla, the royal kraken of Notaleveale floating above. They were clearly guardsmen brought with Lucius on his journey south.

The third man, who hadn’t spoken since he mentioned Roman needing to drink, wore no identifying uniform.

“It’s not an insult.” Niki shrugged, “personally I prefer an employer too daft to organise a coupe.”

Lantern-boy nodded in agreement, “It’s a, whatcha call it - a positive working environment, innt?”

“…alright.” Roman decided to change tactics. “I’ll double what he’s paying you.” This time both men laughed.

“With what?”

“Well, I. I’m still a Prince I’ll have you know - I have many rich and influential friends who would gladly-“

“Oh really. Where are they then?”

There was an unpleasant pause whilst Roman desperately tried to get his brain to think. He was supposed to be more creative than this!

“You’re no Prince of ours anyhow.” Lantern-boy stepped a bit closer to glare into Roman’s eyes. “Traitor.”

Roman flinched back at the pure look of venom on the young man’s face.

Little fae touched traitor.

“Listen to me. Whatever you’ve heard – it’s not true. My father-“

“Don’t you dare speak his name!” Niki surged froward, pulling Roman up by the neck of his tunic. Their faces were close enough that Roman could feel the spittle from the man’s mouth land on his cheek as he shouted: “After your despicable actions you would dare to-“

“Nicolas. Don’t upset yourself.”

The third man was barely visible to Roman over Niki- Nicholas’- shoulder, but as soon as he spoke the large man stilled, lowering Roman slowly back to the ground.

“Marcus. Some more light if you will.”

Lantern-boy -presumably Marcus– quickly produced a box of long matchsticks, almost tripping over himself in his haste to light more lanterns around the room. By the time he was done the room was brightly lit, the glow from each lamp bouncing off the metal pipes until it filled every corner.

The third man did not look especially Notalevealean, with skin almost as white as Virgil’s and pale white blond hair. He was dressed plainly, with pale grey robes and soft shoes, and carried only a thin walking stick. If he hadn’t spoken, he could have quite easily faded into the background - camouflaged against the dull back drop of pipes.

“Nicholas. Marcus. Go and guard the passages.”

“But we already have a dozen men out there-“

“And I’m sure they’re in need of leadership. Go now.”

The two men glanced at each other. Roman thought for a moment that they would stand their ground, but then Marcus snatched up his original lantern and headed for the door, Niki following after one last reluctant glance back.

“W-wait.” Roman called. “Is my Father alive?”

They disappeared into the gloom of the next room.

Left alone with only the quiet grey man, Roman found himself wishing they’d stayed.

The grey man smiled at him as he shuffled towards the kneeling prince. His smile was an awful thing that did not touch his eyes.

“The young Marquis de Orenlla is a rather silly boy.” He told Roman in his soft papery voice. “Much like yourself.”

Despite himself Roman let out an offended squeak, but the grey man continued unhindered. “He has very little idea how to survive alone, can barely function without his servants.”

Roman caught himself staring at the floor and snapped his gaze back to the grey man’s face. He didn’t want to miss any information he might let slip but looking at him was-

It was difficult.

When he tried to look at the details of his face they seemed to slip away. Was he young or old? What colour were his eyes?

The whole time he had been talking, had his mouth actually moved?

“What are you?” Roman whispered.

The grey man smiled again, Roman shuddered.

“But also like you, he is not wholly stupid. He has started asking some inconvenient questions.”

Within the blink of an eye, the grey man was next to him a knife in his hand. Before Roman had a chance to do more than flinch, he had cut the ties biding his hands, and was back across the room.

Dazed, Roman rubbed his wrists, trying not to wretch.

Up close, the grey man smelt of death.

“Now. Sit there, and listen to me until I finish.”

Romulus whimpered.

“Your father is dead.” The grey man told him bluntly. “You killed him.”

“No.” Romulus- Roman shook his head. Used his newly freed hands to cover his ears. “He was sick.”

“You poisoned him over many weeks.” the grey man whispered. “Disguised it as a common sickness. You tried the same on your brother but he was too strong to succumb.”

Roman lowered his hands. They were pointless anyway- the grey man’s voice seemed to be inside his head.

“That’s not how his strength works!”

“And so instead, you allied yourself with a traitor to the fae court and placed a curse of madness on the crown prince, rendering him unable to rule. You hoped to take over in his place, but luckily your father’s advisors found you out. You were forced to flea with your fae companion.”

Roman stared at him, eyes wide. “That’s insane!”

“That’s the truth.” The grey man insisted. “When The Marquis asks you for the truth, that’s what you’ll say.”

“No.” Roman shook his head. “No, no, no.”

The grey man reached forward, resting his hand gently against Roman’s cheek. Romulus stared up into his eyes.

“Julius?” he whispered.

“In a way.” The grey man’s face seemed to twist. For a single moment, it was Julius’ face that looked disdainful down at him, rendering Romulus mute with terror. And then with another twist to reality it was gone, back to the grey man’s blank visage.

“I’ve had eyes all over looking for you Romulus. I was so sure you must have died in the mountains and yet –“ His fingers tightened on Roman’s face, nails digging cruelly into his skin. “Here you are. Like a little cockroach.”

With a shove he released Roman’s face and walked swiftly to the centre of the room, where the largest pipes rose out of the floor. “Stay on your knees and come here.” he ordered. Face burning, Roman shuffled after him, knees bruising on the stone floor.

“Put your hands here.” He gestured to one of the larger pipes. Even before his hands touched the surface, Roman could feel the heat radiating from it. It was far hotter than the one he had been tied to and although he braced himself he couldn’t hold back a yelp of pain when his hands made contact.

He snatched them back quickly, his palms an alarming shade of red. And without pausing, sprang to his feet, aiming a punch directly at the grey man’s immobile face.

“Stop moving.”

Roman felt his muscles lock, momentum sending him crashing to the ground as the grey man easily sidestepped his swing.

“Don’t move until I tell you too.” The grey man added, leaving Roman frozen on the ground where he landed.

Slowey the grey man stepped around him, crouching down by his head. “Look at me, Romulus.” Roman did so, only moving his eyes to stare at the flickering mirage of the grey man’s face.

Up close, the smell was so bad Roman felt the remains of his pastry threatening to make a reappearance.

“I am going to ask you some questions. You are going to tell me the truth. Nod if you understand.”

Slowly, Roman nodded. The grey man – Julius – whatever it was, had already told him what it wanted him to consider the truth. But even so, ‘tell the truth’ was an easy enough order to get around. Truth being in the eye of the beholder and all.

“And if you don’t, I am going to tell you to hold onto that pipe again, and I am going to tell you to keep holding it until I am satisfied with your answers. Do you understand?”

Roman swallowed. He nodded again.

“Did you kill your father? Tell the truth now.”

“No.” he said quickly and then bit his tongue, cursing. Franticly he looked up at the grey man “You, you said that was a truth for The Marquis, not for everyone I can’t just –“

“Raise your left hand.” the grey man said mildly. “Bring it here.”

Romulus felt tears of frustration and fear spring to his eyes. He was stupid for thinking he had a chance at this. Julius’ tests were never designed for him to pass.

***

Roman wasn’t sure how many hours passed before the grey man seemed satisfied.

Fortunately, he had methods of persuasion beyond just the pipe. When Romans’ left palm had become completely coated in blisters the grey man had handed him walking stick and instructed him to bring it down hard on his own back instead. And then his shoulders. The side of his face. His left palm.

The grey man never touched him himself.

He didn’t have any need to.

Whenever there was a pause between punishments he ordered Roman to stillness. Time which Roman happily spent fantasising, first of smashing the stick down across the grey man’s head, then of pressing his own eyes to the hot pipe.

Even if they took him home – he could not allow himself to lay eyes on Remus. That was the one thing he could not fail on.

“Did you kill your father?” asked the grey man.

“Yes.”

The stress of raising Romulus, of hiding the curse; there was no doubt he’d contributed to his fathers early death. It was true, at least to him.

“Did you curse your brother?”

“Yes.”

When he was a little boy there had been a phase where he tried to put a curse on Remus daily, and Remus him. The kind of curses they dreamed up were for itchy feet and stinky farts, and none of them had worked, but it was still technically true.

“Why?”

“I was jealous of my brother.”

If Roman had only been born a half hour earlier he could have avoided a lifetime of being second best. He could have avoided his curse. Grown up with his Father instead of Julius. Not that he would wish any of that on Remus but. It was natural, surely, to be a little jealous of his brothers freedom.

“Good.”

Julius’ face smiled down at him. He reached out with the grey mans hands to stroke Romulus’ hair, like he sometimes did when he was a child. “You see Romulus, there is always a way to work within the confines of your curse, so long as you are willing to look for it. I taught you that.”

“Where are you?” Romulus whispered.

“I am waiting for you.” he smiled. “I have no sons Romulus, no one to pass the Stewardship to. And we must think about the future of our kingdom. When you are back, we can write a new story.”

“You…you’re ruler?”

Romulus frowned. There was a missing piece here but he couldn’t find it. The heat and pain were making his brain slosh against the inside of his skull. He found himself leaning in to the hand in his hair, even as revulsion rippled through him. “If you’re ruler then where’s –“

“Where’s the serpent?”

Roman blinked. Looking up, he found that Julius was gone again, the grey mans expressionless face staring back at him.

“What?”

“The serpent. Where is he?”

“I don’t – I don’t know what you mean.” Romulus held his injured arm close to his chest, curling over it protectively.

He heard the disappointed sigh and flinched even before the grey man brought his other hand to Romans’ bruised shoulder, squeezing hard.

“Look at me.”

Romulus did, eyes bright.

“I know he has left his prison. I know he was with you at that inn. I sent that stupid boy to get him and he found you.”

“I don’t know what you mean!” Romulus wailed, hating the childish wobble in his voice. “There wasn’t anyone else at the inn.”

“No?”

Julius eyes were peering out of the grey man again, a cruel glint to them. ”You were alone?”

“Yes.” Roman told him. Voice steady.

He’d entered the inn alone. He’d sat in the room alone. Climbed out of the window alone. Anything else was none of Julius’ business.

Before the grey man could speak again, a clatter from the next room made them both jump.

“Hmph. He’s early.” the grey man murmured. “Get back to your place.” He gestured to the pipe Roman had originally been tied to and, haltingly, Roman crawled towards it, sprawling at the base.

“If The Marquis asks, tell him nothing about your injuries.” the grey man added lazily, taking up his position in the centre of the room, fading back into the background.

Roman grunted. It wasn’t a bad plan: his most visible injuries – the burns on his hand which he couldn’t stand to look at – could be explained away as being caused by the very pipe Lucius had tied him to. As usual, nothing could ever be pinned on Julius.

They waited. But neither the Marquis or his men appeared.

The grey man stood across from him, gazing out into the darkness of the next room. Roman wasn’t even worth looking at.

He slumped further against the pipe and tried to focus on breathing. There wasn’t a single place on his body that didn’t hurt, though the worst by far was his hand. He shivered from cold, which, given the heat of the room, couldn’t be a good sign. He let his eyes slip closed. Exhaustion threatening to take him again.

And then he felt a soft pressure on his lap.

“Mrrp.”

Roman opened his eyes. Then he closed them again.

He opened one eye. It was still there.

“Mister Mittens?” he asked, slightly hysterically.

Romulus and Remus had grown up with dogs. He wasn’t sure if cats were supposed to be able to feel smugness, but this once clearly did. It butted it’s head against Roman’s chin with another self-satisfied “Mrrp.”

“What?“ The grey man was staring at the pair of them, looking as confused as his expressionless face could manage. “Where did that thing come from?”

Roman was saved from having to answer by a crossbow bolt. One that came through the open door, burying itself in the grey man’s skull.

Chapter 7

Extra warnings

Consent stuff – Roman relives a memory of being sexually assaulted (he doesn’t necessarily think of it in those terms). A drunk man kisses him and pushes him against a wall. The man tells Roman to ‘kiss me’ without knowing anything about Romans curse. They are interrupted before it goes beyond kissing. (whether anything else would have happened, or whether the man would have stopped if he had known about the curse, is not shown in the text). It is implied that this sort of situation has happened to Roman before, and that it has gone further, but this is not explicit.

Violence stuff – Roman is tortured in this chapter. This includes cutting, burning and beating with a stick. The majority of this is not described in explicit detail but it’s certainly going on. Due to the nature of his curse, most of this takes place due to another character ordering him to hurt himself. Roman briefly contemplates burning his own eyes (for ‘trying to get around my curse’ reasons rather than ‘self harm’ reasons) . Someone also gets shot in the head with a crossbow. Roman also spends most of this chapter dehydrated and suffering from heat stroke .

I’m not totally sure what this falls under but its grim stuff – a character from romans past spends a lot of this chapter tyring to gas light him/ manipulate him into believing a set of false memories. Roman retains his correct memories but gets hurt a lot in the process. Meeting said character causes Roman to dissociate (I think this is the correct term but please correct me if I’m wrong), he continuously switches between his name and his childhood name during the chapter and at some points reacts as if he was a child.

#ts roman #roman sanders #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #creativitwins #sidespart writes

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the-ethereal-serpent · 5 years ago

Text

Familiars VS Magickal Pets

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This article was written by "Dead" on the Pagans And Witches Amino. I have permission repost this. Link is at the bottom.

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What is a "Familiar"

First thing I will say, that many might not like: Familiars in folklore are spirit beings. Not just any spirits, but ones that a witch has made a pact with for various other tasks usually in exchange for offerings, lending of power, a foothold to the physical world, and sometimes protection as well.

They were also in folklore inherited from other witches, given/assigned to a witch by a more powerful spirit being (most often Fae Royalty, Divine Beings including God, or the 'Devil'), or show up on their own offering assistance in times of need. However, they still perform the tasks and expect reciprocity.

Familiars can and do in folklore, leave. They are not permanently bound to the witch and so will leave if their the relationship is no longer beneficial. A witch could also have more than one Familiar in their lifetime or at a time.

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Embodiment

Familiars did not always look like animals, they also could be plants or humanoid. Some are said to be capable of shapeshifting or possessing living creatures with the help of their witch. Interestingly, in my research, I found more accounts of humanoid Familiars that could shapeshift or had some beastial traits (they also ranged in size) in early folklore than I did actual animal Familiars.

Also, in the literature, I encountered they were about 8/10 times referred to as ‘Familiar spirits’ instead of just Familiar. They are also often described as imps, fairies, or demons. However, they seem to be closer or more often related to Fae lore. * Which when you take away the Celtic cultural context from the classification of ‘Fae’ it is basically distinction-less meaning any liminal being not human or divine. *

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History

“In the early 1970s, Jeffrey Russell noted that 'The small demons that became the witches' familiars of the later Middle Ages were originally dwarves, trolls, fairies, elves, kobolds, or the fertility spirits called Green men, any of whom could be either frightening or funny' and Keith Thomas claimed that the cunning man's fairy helper belongs 'to the same genre as the witch's familiar or the conjurer's demons?'

In 1971 Keith Thomas lamented that the English animal familiar was 'largely unaccounted for'.Despite such references to formality and fear, a large number of relationships between magical practitioner and familiar spirit were informal and intimate” (Wilby).

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Common tasks they performed?

Tasks included but were not limited to spying, shapeshifting, attacking or protecting others, give knowledge, warn and aid in times of danger, help a witch develop abilities, and travel between worlds.

What did they get in return?

The most common offerings mentioned in folklore was blood, energy, and a stable foothold in our realm. However, modernly people offer what one would standardly offer a spirit. Things like milk, honey, incense, food items, and items work just fine.

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What is a "Magickal Pet"?

A Magickal Pet is a physical animal that lives with a witch, that said witch uses for magickal purposes, involves in ritual work, and/or feels spiritually connected to.

This connection really isn't uncommon in pet owners in general and you could involve any animal in magick, so what really makes a Magickal Pet? Well, it is the belief that the pet is interested in the witches craft. Most modern witches cite things like seeming interest in their altar or actions during ritual work, as well as divination forms like interrupting tarot sessions.

Getting A Magickal Pet

You can get a Magickal Pets the same way you get any pet. You don’t need to have these animals from a young age to have a deep connection with them.

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JUST A NOTE ON CONSENT

There is a bit of an ethical dilemma when it comes to using your pets in your craft. This is that using your pets energy, fur, etc. and involving them in rituals can open them up to the same dangers you face during all spell work.

This like overextending their energy, spell blow-back, and connecting them to the work can and do occur. There isn’t really a way that they can expressly consent so if you are going to involve them then PLEASE ward your fur, scale, or feather babies.

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Calling a Familiar Ritual

Step 1: Introspection & Planning

This is when you ask yourself why you want a Familiar? Are you ready for one? What kind of Familiar do you think you can handle? As well as think up what your basic terms and negotiate terms are. This introspection period is often paired with meditation.

Plan your ritual. Time, place, tools, etc.? Take into account the weather of the day and be sure not to trespass. Maybe you want to make new portable wards or make/acquire a vessel, anchor, or conduit for the spirit (some spirits refuse to be bound to them and they are not mandatory).

Step 2: Wards, Circles, & Area Setup

Ward yourself and, if you use them, cast your circle. I recommend warding both your self and the space. Here is a pretty good wiki if anyone needs ideas or is confused: Wards

Step 3: Offerings

Lay out your offerings. Offerings can include food items, incense, burning herbs, etc. But if you are going to be doing this outside then I recommend non-toxic and biodegradable materials. Milk and honey are always an easy and safe bet.

Step 4: Incantation

Call to potential spirits. You can use the one below or make your own.

”Spirits of the forest, I pronounce my intentions to thee.

Come forth and seek me, and equal we will be.

Not master and servant, but familiar to familiar, to share our knowledge, our spirit, and our traits.”

Step 5: Meditation/Trance

Meditate and wait for a spirit to answer your call. This may take a bit and they may not show until you enter the astral plane, are sleeping, or at all. Just like in the show, spirits might not come to you right away and that's okay. However, if they don't come within about 3 days then you might want to try again.

Step 6: Negotiation

If/When a spirit shows you then negotiate your terms. Tell them what you want and expect of a Familiar and allow them to say their terms. Get a feel of the spirit and judge whether they are the right choice. Be flexible, but also know the terms you will not move on. Many spirits will take a mile when you give them an inch.

YOU CAN SAY NO AND VICE VERSA

The first spirit might not be your best choice and that’s okay, be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. For example, if you are a witchling or new to spirit work then you should probably respectfully decline powerful spirits like Aos si or mid-level demons (I don’t know how to express that better, sorry demonologists and workers).

Be realistic about what you can handle and try to avoid power/experience imbalances. * I personally have turned away spirits that I felt I was not ready for and there is no shame in it. * Don’t become disrespectful if a spirit decides to say no. They are sentient and often sapient beings that have the right to refuse.

Step 7: Vessel/Anchor/Conduit

Part of your negotiation may have included a vessel or anchor for them (you may make one and they refuse) and this would be the time for you to bind them to it.

Conduits are physical objects used to channel a spirit beings energy and a spirit may prefer that over an anchor/vessel. For example Sigils, the spirit might give you -or you can ask for- a sigil to represent them in ritual and for easy communication. Possibly bring a notebook and pen, just in case.

Step 8: Closing & Cleansing

End your communication with the spirit, close your circle (if you use them), and cleanse yourself to avoid having parasitic or negative spirits attach to you. Gather your stuff as needed.

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Conclusion

Many modern witches equate these two things but unfortunately, a Magickal Pet simply isn’t capable of many of the things a Familiar is. They can’t consent and they rely on you for spiritual and magickal protection.

If it wasn’t for the tasks and capabilities then I would be completely fine with people applying the label to their pets. I have no problem with people involving pets in their craft and I think it is great that so many people feel so connected to their pets as it tells me they are well loved, and that’s always great to see.

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Article Source : http://aminoapps.com/p/t2dah6

Image Source : https://pin.it/7kp+qqR]

#Familiar #Familiars #Magical pets #Magickal Pets #Witchy animals #Witch animals #Wicca #Wiccan #Witch #Witchy #Witchcraft #Animals and witchcraft #Pagan #Paganism #Spiritual #Spirituality #Witchblr #Wiccan familiars #Animals

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