#garach jedao shkan

[invariant-ice]

op turned off reblogs, but, jedao

[syeniites]

🌱 vs 🦋 flavor of genetically-alien humanoid construct

[tin-tweezers]

read “Ninefox Gambit”

I’m dead serious. the “Machineries of Empire” series - buy and read them immediately.

Do you like intricate genderfucked sci-fi world building powered by arcane mathematical space magic

Do you like raw characters careening back and forth between despair and mania, who want to make the world a better place, but commit atrocities and sacrifice the lives of millions in the name of that dream

Do you like piercing analysis of imperialism, empire manifested both in violence and in culture, the ways entire cultures are swallowed by empire but also resist and thrive in hiding and exile

Do you like mind control

Do you like characters who crave mind control and the security of conformity, a found family that would die for you, and have it taken all away

Do you like people being made into weapons, objectified to the point they can’t conceive of themselves any other way

Do you like immortals playing games of mutually assured destruction, cat and mouse enemies-to-allies-to-I-would-kill-you-but-I-need-you-you-are-the-only-one-who-understands-me-and-I-love-the-way-you-hurt-me

Do you like quiet little green onions growing in quiet little pots, kept on the desks of dictators to remind themselves that they are human

Do you like questioning the definition of human

Do you like unreliable narrators

Do you like conflicting factions and political alliances and backstabbing and assassins

Do you like canonical edge play dubcon sex scenes that expand the reader’s understanding of the characters’ emotional topography and motivations, and which ALSO scratch a deep and vicious Dead Dove Don’t Eat itch deep inside you

Do you like cats

Listen to me. This series is 50 content warnings in a trench coat. I read all the books and short stories in two weeks over the summer. I think they rewrote me on a chemical level.

You need to read “Machineries of Empire”

I am extremely normal about this

[adurna0-art]

Change status to: obsessed with Shuos Jedao

[dreamsatdusk]

On Sartorial Choices

I mentioned this on a Discord server a while back, but realized I don’t think I ever posted about it here.  So!

*

Hexarchate Stories; “Omens”:

(Jedao’s mother preparing for a first date with Jedao’s father.)

So Ledana donned a tasteful necklace of onyx and black pearls that she’d inherited from her gran, matched it with black pearl earstuds, and slipped into a dark gray dress with a diagonal slash of lavender.

Hexarchate Stories; “Honesty”:

(Jedao as a child.)

The slight figure in a lavender jacket belonged to her brother.

Hexarchate Stories; "Silence”:

(Jedao on a visit to his family while on leave.)

Jedao’s shoes were decidedly unmilitary lavender loafers.

(snip)

Right now Jedao was wearing informal civilian garb in violet and gray, a loose, short-sleeved tunic over well-tailored pants.

Raven Stratagem:

(Cheris, in the scene where she reveals to Brezan and Khiruev that her calendar reset is going to happen in fifteen days.)

She had changed her clothes:  an unexpectedly festive lavender dress and a raven pendant, the one Khiruev had seen once before when she played dangerously with her gun.

*

When I first read Raven Stratagem, I thought the dress mention was very interesting, mainly because I wondered why Cheris made that choice at this point in time.  But after reading the various short stories about Jedao, I came to think the colour choice was even more interesting. 

Did Jedao grow up liking lavender and gray because his mother did?  Perhaps she selected that jacket for child-him even. 

Did Cheris decide to wear a fancier outfit on the eve (or near to) of a triumph over the hexarchate that Jedao had been working toward for centuries and combine a colour choice significant to him, along with her own raven luckstone?  Jedao’s mother was murdered after Hellspin Fortress.  Cheris’s mother had just recently been murdered by the hexarchate, along with a great many of her people.  Her outfit selection here calls back to both Ledana and Dzera.

[edpizzahands]

i am not doing entire facetober but if im out of ideas and there’s a neat prompt i’ll do it.. day three was: pattern, long bob, plants so here’s a Cheris!

[image description: a colorful pencil portrait of Kel Cheris from The Machineries of Empire books. She has a round face, full lips, monolid eyes colored with dark blue and purple, and her skin is colored randomly with pink, bright purple, red, and lime green. Her hair’s a bob length just below her chin, and its colored randomly with purple, dark green, brown, dark blue, red and yellow spots which make it creamy over the other colors. She is wearing a Kel uniform, supposed to be black but colored with same dark colors as her hair. Her pin is a shuos eye and wings above it, yellow with gold rims. The background is a flower pattern, petals shaped like blank eyes. The flowers are white, background behind them is soft blue. /end description.]

[dameronalone]

look as a disclaimer im not changing my url i love my current one too much

however

i just saved the url goosejedaoshkan. and am understandably over the moon about it alksdjf;lka

[sickeningradiances]

i miss him........

[redsixwing]

Machineries of Empire Week: Fave Friday

In case it isn't very clear already, my favorite is Jedao. So why, in a situation where I have Brezan (loyalty-driven fish out of water!), Khiruev (tragic self-sacrificing Good Boss!) and Cheris (conflicted smol bean!) do I latch on to the Immolation Fox?

In case I wasn't sunk by the time Cheris has become an anchor and wakes up with this dry, witty stranger inhabiting her mind, the scene where Jedao was bugging her to go to bed really did me in. Finding the short stories about him has only made it worse better.

To begin with: I really like twisty, sneaky characters. (I play Scorpion for a reason.) There's that post going around about lining up all your favorites and realizing you have A Type? Jedao is my type in lots of fun ways.

The Hexarchate is an awful dystopian society, and Jedao is one of the few people to stand against it. For that alone I like him. Yes, he does horrible things; those are so heavily overshadowed by the atrocities of the Hexarchate at large and Kujen in particular that I can hardly consider him an outlier. But this isn't an essay about fandom morality.

No, I like Jedao because not only can he plan at the large scale, he demonstrates a level of care we see from literally nobody else in these books. He's the one encouraging Cheris to take care of herself: to sleep when she's tired, to step away and do something else when she's disassociating, even to pursue games or fencing when she's stressed out. He shows even more care for his family in the short stories, and I winced when their fates were rubbed in his face throughout the books. Jedao shows caring when he doesn't have to, when it might even be easier to overrule his anchor, seize control, and force what he needs. Instead he tries to teach Cheris, befriends her, and supports her.

I'd go so far as to say that he's not a foil to Cheris, or not entirely - he's a foil to Kujen. Also immortal, sadistic and fully capable of designing an entire society to depend on his whims, Kujen is the mastermind of not only Jedao's hardships, but of the Hexarchate's, and those they invade and force to conformity with the high calendar. He's a suitable target for Jedao, and the coming showdown between Cheris!Jedao, Kujen, and revenant!Jedao ought to be fascinating. 

In short, Jedao is the best mass-murdering spacefox momfriend a person could have, and I hope (however thin the hope) that something happy is in store for him in Revenant Gun.

[lemonadesoda]

blorboing book characters is hell actually because unless it's like an absolute mainstream hit, nobody fucking knows who the hell you're talking about so you're just sitting there by yourself Rotating Them In Your Brain

[redsixwing]

Some WAFF is definitely in order and I can hardly wait to see what you write!

The fridge thing really got to me, too. I spent three quarters of a book trying to figure out: was the fridge the black cradle? Was the fridge where Kujen was stashing Jedao's body (hahahaha NO.)

No, the fridge was the price for which Kujen was bought, that and something to put in it. That was what he thought was his price, and then he turns around and does the exact same thing to Jedao, but it's okay, because Kujen bought him a nice fridge and he'd want for nothing.

Nothing, but ethics. The choice of what he might like to do. Nothing but freedom, and the room to be himself.

Kujen and Jedao as foils make me very happy, for all the ways their situations rhyme if not match (mostly thanks to Kujen).

Cheris and Jedao and Kujen as mutual foils make me /really/ happy because they expand the target space. Because Cheris' arc parallels Jedao's so neatly that I can't help but think it might have been planned that way, and she diverges as wildly from him as he does from Kujen. So here's to that.

I'd be very interested in any meta you'd like to write about the differing trajectories of Jedao-the-revenant and Jedao-not-the-kitten. :3

I … will reserve judgement but I’m not yet sold on canon kujedao.

over half way done with the book, kind of never want it to end

[makimacult]

hi, i’m garach jedao shkan, 17 and i never fucking learned how to read do math

[ciaran]

Chapters: 1/1

Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Garach Jedao Shkan & Jedao Two, Garach Jedao Shkan/Kujen

Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Guilt, Mind Meld, Suicidal Thoughts, Angst, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Summary:

“We’re too different to integrate seamlessly,” the Jedao-that-is-not-Jedao says. “His memories and personhood are stronger than mine, though, so it’s easy for him to take over. I’m sorry.”

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Chocolate Box Author

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but mods should be able to contact me if you have any questions.

Dishonored | Fullmetal Alchemist | Machineries of Empire | The Penumbra Podcast | Simoun

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity; stories whose resolution isn’t the sex scene.

A note: if we matched on an / ship, I generally don't require you to include a kiss, sex, or overt romantic language if you feel that you'd have to shoehorn it in. I'll trust that you wrote it with shippy intent.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships.

—

Fandom: Dishonored

Ship(s): Delilah Copperspoon/Billie Lurk; Breanna Ashworth & Kirin Jindosh; Emily Kaldwin & Delilah Copperspoon

I find Delilah such a fantastic and fascinating villain, and I'd love to read more about her relationships with Billie or Emily. I’d love to know more about Billie’s time in Delilah’s gang - what does she see in Delilah, or Delilah in her, beyond using each other to get ahead, what do they want from each other? I imagine it might fascinate and please Delilah to have Billie’s submission and maybe even some level of trust - to do what? It'd be neat to read an AU of the end of KoD where Billie stays in Dunwall, whether she's won or lost against Daud - or even of the end of Brigmore Witches, if you want to AU Delilah's plot into something that doesn't put her into a child's body. Something addressing clothing (given the iconic costumes of both the Witches and the Whalers) and/or nudity? Something in the timeskip or DH2 timeframe? With regard to Emily, I'm specifically interested in adult Emily here - what happens if Emily doesn't escape at the beginning of DH2? (Or is captured at some point, I guess.) Delilah seems happy enough to keep her alive - does she make her a witch, want her in court as her niece? How does Emily feel about any of this as she learns about Delilah's past? Or, does Emily maintain a relationship with her aunt after the end of DH2, whether because there's a way to visit or communicate with her or in an AU where she's defeated differently and sticks around? How might Delilah's art fit into any of these scenarios? The differences in how they fight?

I would also love fic about Breanna and Jindosh's terrible friendship/working relationship. Is their distaste for everyone else enough to overcome their distaste for each other? Put them at a fancy party (Luca's or otherwise) kvetching about other people. Tell me more about the lead-up to the seance, or mutual projects where Breanna contributed more of the magic and Jindosh more of the science - or vice versa! Breanna's got a very scientific mind and career herself and Jindosh isn't above dabbling in Void shit. Get them drunk together one night. If you can futz with the numbers enough for it to make sense, write me an AU where they're in an arranged marriage and end up as a (secretly? idk) platonic power couple. (If you go with this version I'd prefer that you write Jindosh as gay or asexual.)

Fandom-Specific DNW/Exception: Please do not touch on Jindosh's nonlethal option in any way whatsoever. With regard to Delilah/Billie, I have dubcon in my general DNWs but with Delilah’s...everything it seems potentially unreasonable to categorically DNW it here. Billie going along with things because she feels like she should or must is fine (although I’d also be very game for fic about her desiring and wanting Delilah/this), but I still don’t want to read anything involving altered or removed ability to consent such as mind-altering magic, sex pollen, drugs, etc. Additionally, Delilah/Breanna is an exception to my unrequested ships DNW - feel free to include it in any of these requests.

—

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Ship(s): Scar & Original Ishvalan Character(s); Scar & Miles; Olivier Mira Armstrong & Miles & Briggs Soldiers

One of the things that really hit close to home about canon was the Ishval plot; I like that it’s important and not just backstory or setup for other stuff, and that there are multiple characters who are Ishvalan or of Ishvalan descent, rather than a genocide plot being a convenient reason to have one or no Ishvalan perspectives in the story. I’d really be interested in reading anything about, well, what do you do during or in the wake of a genocide: Miles’s seemingly increasing identification with his Ishvalan background; one or both of them in the post-canon rebuilding; what is is to be Amestrian *and* Ishvalan; what Scar (or OCs) are able to keep from their culture and community and what was lost (and what evolves), whether that’s in “Amestrian” cities and towns during or after canon, or in post-canon Ishval; saving the testimonies or the culture. Doesn’t need to be angsty if that’s not what you’re into; indeed, surviving/building a new life/finding joy/celebrating one’s culture and heritage after that kind of thing are meaningful too.

Or, Briggs and its mixture of heartwarming and id-satisfying loyalty kink. (The watch! Buccaneer handing Olivier a clean pair of gloves after she kills Raven! Constant and deeply sincere saluting! And Olivier's lack of patience for anyone's shit.) Either ordinary or extraordinary circumstances - daily life in the fort, a battle with Drachma where they work together seamlessly, surviving a storm or the typical winter cold - would make me happy, but I especially love those shows of loyalty. Entire Briggs Is Gay would also non-ironically be neat, as would other ways of exploring the idea of Briggs being a united wall made up of people with a lot of secrets and/or racial and gender differences.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Please don’t give Scar a name; I personally am fine eliding any narration issues with “how would he refer to himself in his own POV?” in my brain. I would also prefer that Ishvalan culture be worldbuilt rather than borrowed wholesale from a real-life culture.

—

Fandom: Machineries of Empire

Ship(s): Ajewen Cheris & Garach Jedao Shkan; Ajewen Cheris & Original Mwennin Characters; Ajewen Cheris/Neshte Khiruev; Moroish Nija/Shuos Feiyed; Vauhan Mikodez & Zehun

I've just recently gotten into this fandom, and I love the loyalty kink and the worldbuilding so much - I just want more! I'm partway through Revenant Gun now, so my prompts are somewhat unspecific, but I expect to be done with Glass Cannon by the time of reveals, so don't worry about spoilers.

Anyway, as I said, I love loyalty kink, including platonic loyalty kink - trust, gestures of loyalty, the times that trust or willingness to follow/lead is put under severe situational strain and holds, or the places where these things get thorny instead of straightforward because one character has to betray or hurt the other for the larger goal that they both believe in and work towards, or to keep the other safe. Some of the things I like in canon along these lines are Mikodez's showing Zehun the contingency plans in Raven Stratagem, and everything with "I'm your gun" (which I'm vaguely aware that I'm going to love even more by the time I'm caught up). Any story for Cheris & Jedao, Cheris/Khiruev, or Mikodez & Zehun that involved these tropes would be wonderful.

I'm also interested in the Mwennin subplot. I would love to know more about Cheris, Mwennin culture, and other Mwennin at any point before, during, or after canon. I also like the idea of Nija and Feiyed staying in touch after Feiyed rescues/recruits Nija, and Feiyed gradually learning about Mwennin culture as they start/continue a relationship - we know it can be adoptive, so does she even at any point start to consider herself part of it? (Or have them work together on a covert mission, no reason we shouldn't get loyalty kink in here too.)

Fandom-Specific DNW: I have dubcon in my general DNWs and would like to reiterate that I don't want to read formation instinct playing a part in a Cheris/Khiruev relationship.

—

Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast

Ship(s): Miasma/The Proctor

What can I say? Criminal older female academics would be a GREAT ship. I'd love to see their first meeting at some conference or academic event (or criminal thing), or their first date, or the two of them working together on some scheme - does Miasma "consult" the Proctor, or does the Proctor want to create an exam based on Miasma's field of expertise, or are they both going for the same goal? What do they like about each other, or find frustrating about each other? (If you need to fudge the timelines to make it work, that's fine, but I'm definitely interested in the characters as middle-aged or older. Also fine by me if you want to somehow AU their fates to get them together in the "present" timeline.)

—

Fandom: Simoun

Ship(s): Any (Aaeru & Neviril & Paraietta & Rodoreamon & Floef & Vyuraf; Aaeru/Neviril; Mamiina & Neviril; Mamiina/Neviril; Neviril/Aaeru & Neviril/Paraietta; Paraietta & Neviril; Paraietta/Rodoreamon)

This is a perennial request for me and anything (other than, I guess, the slice-of-lifeiest slice-of-life) would make me very happy, but I'm particularly interested in the military side of the canon - how the war changes all the characters and their relationships with one another, how Everything is Beautiful and Then Shit Gets Real but amidst the war-is-hell there’s still the creation of bonds of trust and loyalty and chances to do what’s right (the bits with the Plumbish priestesses, for instance). Every character gets a chance to develop and make choices that are all brave in different ways. I'd love loyalty kink here, but I'm also up for Magic, for an exploration of the characters' adult lives on the other end of the series's coming-of-age, or nearly anything.

Some ideas - what happens post-canon if Neviril and Aeru make it back to the main world when war is brewing again, but Neviril has no one from the old cohort to lead because they can’t fly anymore? What does she do, or see her role as being - a leader for peace, for war? How do she and Aaeru interact with Paraietta, Rodoreamon, Floef, and Vyuraf?

What happens if due to magic or time weirdness, Mamiina is brought back? What happens between her and Neviril late in canon or post-canon? How do they see or value each other as fighters and leaders?

What's Paraietta and Rodoreamon's post-canon relationship like? They're building a life together and finding purpose in helping the war orphans, but they're also both veterans and neither of them is the other's lost love. Or I'd also love to see a during- or post-canon look at a situation where Neviril has relationships with both Paraietta and Aaeru, how she maybe needs different things from them, and how they also work together differently on the battlefield - or just a story about the relationship of Neviril and her long-loyal second-in-command Paraietta.

[dreamsatdusk]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Garach Jedao Shkan/Lirov Yeren/Vestenya Ruo Characters: Garach Jedao Shkan, Lirov Yeren, Vestenya Ruo Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence Summary:

In the wake of a shocking betrayal that rocked the heptarchate and high calendar alike, Shuos Jedao confronts a long-awaited reunion and the weight of necessary lies.

[sophiegaladheon]

Dear Yuletide Writer

Hello!  Thank you so much for taking the time to create something for me.  I really appreciate it.  Below the cut I’ve included some of my likes and dislikes as well as some prompts and thoughts on each of my requested fandoms.  But if none of my prompts tickles your fancy and you have something else you’d like to do, go for it!

General Likes:

found family

domesticity

hurt/comfort

angst with a happy ending

mutual pining (omg do I love mutual pining)

backstory exploration

fics that explore gaps in canon (missing scenes, etc.)

loyalty

competence

worldbuilding exploration (especially social/cultural stuff - food! clothing! mass media!)

repression and denial (and what happens when these things fail and have to be confronted)

asexual characters

General Dislikes / Do Not Wants:

infidelity

eye trauma

hand/finger trauma

character bashing

breakup/divorce

(non-canonical) character death

pregnancy

sad endings

humiliation

AUs (canon divergence is fine)

hurt/no comfort

NSFW Likes:

praise kink

blindfolds

bondage

light dom/sub

loyalty kink

generally anything with kindness and caring and consent and lots of emotion, however that is conveyed (like, sex should be an overall positive experience for the characters involved, even if that includes things that not everyone would consider fun and even if there is some of the emotion is angst)

NSFW Dislikes / Do Not Wants:  

rape/non-con

bestiality

water sports

A/B/O

humiliation

I am happy recieving works rated gen through E, as well as both ship fic and gen fic.  Please don’t feel obligated to include all of the requested characters in the fic.

Machineries of Empire (Ajewen Cheris, Garach Jedao Shkan)

I love the worldbuilding in this series, it’s just fantastic (also, like, horrific, but fantastic). I’d love to see something about daily life in the hex/heptarchate because frankly I find this universe terrifying and the question of how do people just live day to day in a world where the threat of being publically tortured to death is omnipresent. 

I’d also love to see pre- or post- canon fic.  Jedao’s early days as a Shuos assassin?  A young Cheris deciding to join the Kel and dealing with her family’s reaction? 

Competence is a huge thing in this fandom which I love (Jedao is so good at tactics! Cheris is so good at math!) so that is always a huge plus. 

I’d also love something where we get to see one of the scenes from the books from another characters POV than in canon - getting Jedao’s perspective of the events of Ninefox Gambit, or Cheris/Jedao’s persective of Raven Strategem.

Green Rider Series (Karrigan Gladheon, Estral, Laren Mapstone, Lady Estora)

I would love to see something exploring one or more of the female friendships that are in this series! (Obviously for this one especially don’t feel obligated to include all of the requested characters if you do not want to).

I would love to see a story about Karrigan and Estral’s time at school together.  What did they do together in their free time?  What was it like the first time Estral introduced her friend to her father?  What was Estral’s reaction when she found out Karrigan had run away from school?

Something about Captain Mapstone and Lady Estora working together.  These two are a formidable pair and I’d love to see them working together whether it is to outmaneuver a political opponent or to persuade Zachary on a certain issue.

The Goblin Emperor (Cala Athmaza, Deret Beshelar)

Again with the worldbuilding - I love it and anything that explores the world of this story would be fantastic.  Clothing, customs, education, infrastructure, religion, any of it, tell me I want to know.

I would love to see some hurt/comfort (physical or emotional, both are great!), preferably either Cala or Beshelar being the one hurt and the other doing the comforting.  I love their relationship (I love it both platonic and shippy) and hurt/comfort puts them in the situation where the protector has to become the one who is being cared for and that is just so delightful to read.

Thank you again for taking the time to create something for me!  Happy yuletide!