#i've been back on tumblr and created this account not even 2 years ago so i never expected this??? wtf

[eddiediaaz]

i feel very unworthy holy shit, thank you????

[neil-gaiman]

hey mr gaiman. i saw that this post got revisited and wanted to address it.

i submitted this ask over a year ago on my old account and it was one of the stupidest things i ever did. it was my first tumblr account. id only been really online for a few weeks. i was 13. i was just coming back to school after a global pandemic.

ive been a fan of good omens for years and a fan of yours for longer. i was brought up reading odd and the frost giants and fortunately the milk, and as i got older i fell in love with your norse mythology book, good omens, snow glass apples, the sleeper and the spindle, and more.

i was excited to see one of my favorite authors on tumblr and tried to come up with the most bold and interesting ask i could think of.

i was rude and misinformed and it was a stupid choice of me to send it in with no thought.

but i got feedback. some in the form of kind suggestions. quite a few in the form of death threats and people telling me to kill myself.

while those specific messages were rude and hateful, the point got across. i educated myself to the best of my abilities, and eventually came back online.

not only did i misuse the term queerbaiting but i also implied that you were not an amazing supporter of the queer community. that’s absolutely incorrect. you’ve done so much for us with activism, representation, and overall kindness.

i wanted to address this ask that got so much attention because despite moving accounts i still feel guilt and shame every time i see it, or even when i interact with any of your posts at all. i need to actually address it.

also, i wanted a proper apology to be made. by no means am i now a saint. but im trying to be more thoughtful about thinking before i speak.

whether or not you decide to make a public response to this, i think ill find some peace knowing you’ve received this. ive needed closure on this for a long time.

im overjoyed and thrilled that season two is so close. thank you for tolerating the dumb questions of pretentious kids and thank you for helping to create a world where we can grow to be better than we were.

First of all, and most importantly, I'm really sorry that people were mean to you. That's awful. And nobody should ever have to deal with death threats or online threats and attacks, let alone a thirteen year old.

And secondly, you do not owe me an apology. I figure I have a Tumblr account, people ask things. Mostly they'll get nice replies, occasionally (normally when I'm being asked the same thing over and over) the replies will be terser. There has to be a certain amount of rough and tumble though, and occasionally I'll grab an ask that represents all of the asks I've had on that subject, and try and reply to all of them. That's what happened to you. I was getting tired of being accused of Queerbaiting for the occasional answer about a Season that was not yet released and about which nobody knew anything. And I needed to tell everyone who was doing this that they had to stop now. You had the misfortune to be the representative of all of the other people.

If you are not making mistakes you are not human and you are not learning anything.

(I wish there was tone of voice on the internet.)

And I think you are growing and learning and will make a fantastic adult.

I really hope you enjoy Season 2 when it drops.

[fairyhaos]

ᜊ : WELCOME TO FAIRYHAOS’...

hello beloved whimsies! we're finally nearing the end of another year, and just like we did in 2023, it's time to review everything that happened in 2024 ^^ here in this post i'll go back over some general stats, some "top (x)" categories, and also a shoutout to all the lovely people i've met here on tumblr <3

but first, the general stats!

the fairyhaos account was opened 603 days ago (as of new year's eve)

crazily, we have a total of 4382 followers already - which is 1505 in just this year,

and the total number of moots has risen to over 40 !

in 2024, ive written 34 works (+1 for tubatu!!),

created 21 gifsets (+2 for zb1!!),

made 3.6k+ posts in general,

received 325 posts in my tracked tag #useryenas (thanku guys so much for that)

and wracked up 62.7k+ notes in this year alone!

(which brings the total note count to 169.8k... LITERALLY INSANE)

statistics-wise, this year has been absolutely incredible, despite how inactive i've been, so thank you everyone!!

now, how about the top post stats?

total word count in 2024: ~87,000 words!!!

top fic of 2024: no such thing as too perfect // jww (2,300 notes)

top fic of all time: 04:15am // csc (4,514 notes)

fav fic from 2024: all mother nature's fault // hjs

top gif from 2024: joshua | arena x barrie (407 notes)

top gif of all time: gyuseokshu | babygirls (658 notes)

fav gif from 2024: yujin | prettiest person in the world

this is all absolutely amazing, but genuinely, this wouldn't have been possible without the support and love i've received from all of you: moots, followers, and everyone else who has been so, so kind.

so finally, here are my thanks!

first port of call is of course, my most beloved writer moots who i've known since day 1! thank you to @blue-jisungs for being so bright and friendly, to @weird-bookworm for being the biggest, kindest supporter i could ask for, to @etherealyoungk for being so lovely all the time, to @icyminghao, @hannyoontify, @wheeboo, @slytherinshua, @haecien, @wollycobbl3-blr @gyuswhore @arafilez @eternalgyu @idubiluv @wonwoonlight @odxrilove @leejungchans @joonsytip @mirxzii @trblsvt @reikaryu for just being so sweet and so fun and making me grateful every day that i found you. i talk to u all with varying degrees of frequency, but still, i love you all so much. thank you!

and ofc, there are my incredibly talented cc moots who have been w me since last year :( our main content may be different, but i'm so thankful to have known u all bc you're all the friendliest, most talented people in the world! to @sugurugetos for always being so kind since day one, to @vcrnons for being the sweetest, to the always friendly @soonhoonsol, to @meowonhao @h-ao @seokmins @joshuas, thank you for being here because you brighten up my dash, without a fail, all the time!

then to all the moots i made this year, hello and thank you!! thank you to @chwedout for being so silly and kind, to @96z for your loveliness and being the caratblr glue, to @jeonwon-wonwoo for being the kindest soul ever, to @planetkiimchi and @eoieopda for being fun and sweet and so, so nice. and of course, thanks to @pookiez, @p1harmonie @rosieposie @y-eontan @fabulaee, because we even though the only interaction we have is reblogging the same stuff and me putting things in your tracked tags, i love seeing you on my dash and you make my day so much better, genuinely. <3

it feels strange to put this in, but i also want to thank the people who i follow, even if they don't follow me back: because i love your posts, and i think it's important that i say it! you all form a key part of my experience here, so thank you: @jeonghanic @soobinies @lee-sanghyeok @yeonjune @db2k @hoshingi @wnjunhui @renjunniez @myungjaehyun !!

but there's no way i'm forgetting everyone else!

to @melodicrabbit @caratsandpotatoes and @minhui896, whose rbs i always look forward to whenever i post; to @chocoreads and @k1eev for being excited about yeoubi since the start, thank you so much. to the people who tagged me in their fic recs post, thank you too!!!

to 🍒 anon, vernon anon, glasses shua anon, 😼 anon, and any other named anons ive forgotten, thank you for popping into my inbox and making my day. to any unnamed anons, or anons who appeared once and then left, or those who came back without an emoji: i see you, and thank you for interacting with me!

and then to anyone who i haven't called out—all of my lovely supporters, beloved yena's fairies, thank you! i see you all, and i'm so grateful for all your love and i'll look to repay it in kind with much more content to be released next year. 2024 has been a busy year, both personally and for fairyhaos, and i'm where i am right now because of all of you.

happy new year everyone, and i hope you're all nothing but happy and healthy in 2025 💗

[peachglumpear]

twitlonger doesn't work anymore so i've decided to compile my thoughts on tumblr.

there are two reasons why tvskyle being arrested for csem enrages me aside from the obvious of the matter.

tvskyle was a known predator for years. if you google his name and "callout" there are troves of information about his harassment and predation to women. back when i had a professional art account despite that i was not an animator or heavily in animation circles this was public knowledge even to me.

2. this is what happens when people refuse to acknowledge predators can and will co-opt GOOD GUY / BAD GUY language to infiltrate and stay in circles.

anyways, that is the short version. this is the long version where i get into topics regarding abuse and harm that may be triggering.

first off, let's get over how using the word "paraphile/paraphilia" has become fearmongering and taking the words away from what they actually mean. "paraphilia", at its most base level definition means "a paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals."

if you like BDSM, you're a paraphile. if you like bondage, you're a paraphile. if you like pregnancy, you're a paraphile. if you like fictional brothers kissing, you're a paraphile.

considering the DSM used to characterize homosexuality as a mental illness until 1973 (51 years ago, not that long in hindsight!) if you are not a cisheterosexual white man and like anything that is not cisheterosexual sex intended for the sole purpose of procreation with the intent to create children, you have a paraphilia.

paraphilia/paraphile in both proclaimed 'anti' and 'proship' spaces is becoming the new 'pedo', which is really just BAD PERSON. do not interact with me if you are a BAD PERSON who does BAD THINGS. BAD PEOPLE get away.

the reason why i do not have any disclaimers about "antis/pedos/zoos/etc dni" in my bio is because to me this is the same thing as saying "serial killers dni" ...i don't mean to sound snarky, this is just what it boils down to. if a person is out there harming someone, human or animal:

i do not know why they would proclaim this information publicly.

if someone is harming real beings, i do not think they would respect text on a screen if that very prominent line in the sand has already been passed.

tvskyle fits the mold for animation dudebro who was established in the industry of his choice despite the open knowledge of his predatory behavior. i cannot testify to if anyone knew he was possessing csem before he was officially arrested, but it was definitely open knowledge that he was the kind of man you wouldn't want left alone with female coworkers. some of this behavior was bad enough that even male coworkers would avoid him.

tvskyle also coopted proship/anti terminology.

this isn't me knocking on someone for their age, but when i first saw tvskyle posting about of all things, invader zim yaoi, my first thought was "why in the world would a 45 year old man who is an industry professional be so obsessed with arguing online about cartoon smut."

i guess you can argue about stupid things on the internet at any age at any level of industry success. but it was bizarre to me because it's not as though cartoon smut of any problematic variety should be news to someone working in animation in their 40s. The animators on the original Beetlejuice made jokes that BJ's fingertips were red from fingering Lydia on her period. The rugrats storyboarders drew horny jokes. There's infamous posts about animators finding the secret smut vaults for their shows. Cartoon smut has basically existed as long as cartoons have existed.

and then you find out tvskyle also drew pokemon porn that involved may (age 12), brock (age 15) and max (may's younger brother, age 8.)

wow, kyle! a threeway between a 12 year old and her 8 year old brother! that seems pretty problematic! incest and shota combo!

but i guess that's not an issue. it's not problematic when i draw it because i'm not a BAD PERSON.

tvskyle became weirdly obsessed with calling people out for cartoon smut despite that he drew smut you could categorize just as problematic in nature. and then he was found possessing some of the worst csem you can be found possessing. and he was found possessing over *600 images* of csem. that isn't something you gather overnight.

so there is the uncomfortable truth of the matter that predators can and will co-opt terminology to blend into any space. and this can happen anywhere. if someone wants to get under the radar in anti circles, they will rave about how bad cartoon smut is. if someone wants to get under the radar in proship spheres, they will adapt and use the appropriate terminology for that sphere.

and this is why to a whole, i find it incredibly reductive to use terms that reduce people into bad person / good person because at its most harmful, all it does is protect people who are continuing and perpetuating harm to real people.

i think everyone needs to acknowledge their capacity to harm as much as their capacity to heal. and before you think "wow peach that is a really wide assumption i would NEVER hurt someone like [x]" yes, i know, imaginary stranger in my head, this is not what i am saying.

what i mean when i say we all need to acknowledge our capacity to harm is because i believe the choice to be a good person or a bad person is a choice you make every day. if i am a "good person" my whole life and then one day...i don't know. i steal money from a homeless person, or i throw a drink made wrong in an overworked barista's face. all of the "good things" i have done would not cancel out that in those theoretical moments, i was not a good person. in fact, in these hypothetical scenarios, i was very nasty.

there have been days where i've had to be the friend who sits another friend down and talks with them about how something they said or did really hurt me. and likewise, sometimes i've had to come face to face with when i wasn't the good friend. it hurts both ways but let's be honest, someone hurting you doesn't come with the same fearful sting of "i hurt my friend. do they think i'm a BAD PERSON. am i the BAD PERSON now?"

and none of these conversations would have been productive or involved growth or greater understanding if they had come from the angle of YOU, a BAD PERSON, hurt ME, a GOOD PERSON. (on either end.)

i think acknowledging your capacity to harm simply means acknowledging you're human. you won't always be right. you will mess up and that's simply a part of the human experience. but being able to take accountability and examine when your actions have caused harm will be more beneficial to yourself and your loved ones in the long run.

the person who groomed me would not admit they had groomed and exploited a minor because in their mind, they are not a BAD PERSON.

the person who abused me would never admit to these things because in their mind, they are not a BAD PERSON.

to be a BAD PERSON is to lose everything because being a BAD PERSON is not to be any person at all.

of course these people never took responsibility for the harm caused to me.

only BAD PEOPLE do BAD THINGS.

the uncomfortable truth is there is no way to ping with 1000% accuracy someone intent on predation and harm. there are predators in white vans lurking outside of high schools, but the predators were also the charming and well spoken teachers who were very popular with coworkers, parents and their students. some people are simply better at adapting and blending in the system they want to exploit than others.

i think tvskyle fell somewhere in the middle. other inappropriate behavior of his was well known, but this wasn't enough for him to be blacklisted. as we all know, sexually harassing women is not a firable offense. for people missing the 50's, feel assured some thing have not changed. (<- very biting sarcasm.)

tvskyle is definitely not the last predator in animation, but what do you expect from circles that are essentially glorified high school cliques that only require ego stroking and circlejerking.

tvskyle may have been the most recent predator found, but he is definitely not the only one and anyone acting otherwise is just leaving the door open for these people to continue perpetuating harm.

[duxbelisarius]

Back to the Dance Part One: Targaryen Law and Governance, 1 AC-129 AC

Welcome or welcome back to my blog! If you've not read through them yet, here are my Military Analysis of the Dance and my First Dornish War Analysis master posts! This is Part One of a rewrite/revision of the former series, but more on that below.

I wrote my 14 Part military analysis of the Dance a year or two ago following season one of House of the Dragon. The show got me back into the ASOIAF fandom and I had just read Fire and Blood, and wanted to do a critical analysis of what I believed were the flaws in how the war was written. If the response I got on Reddit, AO3, and here on Tumblr is any indication it seems to have been well received, but much has changed since I completed that series. HOTD Season 2 seems to have had a polarizing reception, but more importantly I've analyzed other events from Westerosi history like the Velaryon Blockade and the First Dornish War (Daeron's Conquest too!). Between researching and writing those analyses and receiving feedback from those following, I decided I needed to change my approach. Reading more secondary literature and even primary sources showed me that my conclusions in the Dance series needed serious revisions, and that there were areas I hadn't properly covered in the Dance which could give new perspectives. I also needed to find a better way to critique, since castigating the writer of a work can only go so far before it gets tedious, boring, and distasteful. I'm more than a year older now and wiser I hope, and intend to apply my experience and further research to create a more detailed, informative, and hopefully constructive analysis of the Dance of the Dragons.

For those of you unfamiliar with my Velaryon Blockade and Dornish Wars series linked above, my approach consists of analyzing aspects of the event/subject in question to identify issues in the writing and worldbuilding, after which I offer a 'fix-it' section to show how the scenario could be mostly if not completely retained with revisions. The 'theme' of my Dorne series which will be carried over into this one is that of scale and managing it: as should be well known in the fandom, George has problems identifying and judging scale which stem partly from his wanting things to be bigger and more grand in his fantasy setting. I believe this scale problem can be tied to issues of perspective more broadly, stemming from his self-described 'gardener' style of writing as opposed to being an 'architect.' George has talked about how most writers have elements of both in their approach to writing but will tend towards one extreme or the other, and George is very clearly in the 'gardener' camp. This seems to consist of keeping a general idea of the progress and end point of a story in mind while otherwise writing the story more from the ground up, with 'pruning' and 'uprooting' taking place as needed while still allowing for a return to those ideas or concepts that were excised later in the plot. This process gave us ASOIAF as we know it, so I can hardly dismiss it's effectiveness, but when it comes to TWOIAF, F&B, and the short stories that were incorporated into the former two works, the faux history premise he set out with clashes with this 'gardener' style.

In George's faux histories, the POV characters that he uses so effectively to tell his stories become historians or chroniclers writing an account of events based on sources, which already give them a sense of where the 'story' is headed and how events will unfold. I believe this creates an unfortunate tendency to treat the characters featured in these narratives as mere plot devices, tasked simply with moving events in their predetermined direction without adequately developing their motivations or reasoning for taking those actions. The result is that many of these characters act in ways that cannot be justified on a Watsonian basis, ie why did the character act this way in their world, leading the reader to look for a Doylistic justification, ie why did the writer need this character to act this way, which breaks immersion and pulls us out of the story. At it's worst the writing becomes narrowly focused on progressing the plot from point A to point B, leading characters to display ignorance and a lack of perspective of their own setting and surroundings in pursuit of the pre-determined outcome.

The piecemeal nature of the Dance narrative plays into this unfortunate tendency, since the final product as portrayed in F&B is an amalgamation of different works: The Rogue Prince, The Princess and The Queen, and segments of TWOIAF that have been fleshed out and expanded upon such as Aegon II's short reign and the regency of Aegon III. Events and characters appear in one part of the narrative that are not accounted for by another while the implications of one action or character's presence are never acknowledged or realized. This is perhaps the biggest downside of the 'gardener' approach: a lack of perspective resulting from a story being built from the ground up with a limited viewpoint in mind, leading to the implications or magnitude of an event or action appearing vastly understated or underwhelming if they are even acknowledged at all. If I could take back anything from the first analysis it would be my harsh treatment of George, when it's clear that his editors, proofreaders, and other aides did him no favours in compiling the narrative of the Dance.

While there are still areas of the Dance which are fundamentally flawed outside how the narrative was edited together, I hope to demonstrate that with some revisions and a more concerted effort to tie the strands of the plot together, the Dance could have been a much better story and served George's purposes more effectively. Doing this will require a much more detailed approach to account for different aspects of the Dance; the Dorne series was twice as many words as the Dance analysis despite having half as many chapters, and F&B devotes only 10 pages to the First Dornish War versus over 200 to the Dance! Expect this series to be a long one, as I've got a lot more to say than I did before; without further ado, once more unto the breach!

Although this series will still maintain a significant focus on the military aspects of the Dance, seeing as how it was a war, Part One is concerned with the political origins of the conflict in the succession crises of Jaehaerys and Viserys. My aim is to paint as comprehensive a picture as possible of how Targaryen government and law functioned in the lead up to the Dance, making the fairly disparate information we're given by the books accessible to the reader and to illustrate why the Dance came about as a failure of governance. This is important since it directly affects our perception of how the great houses of Westeros responded to the beginning of the Dance and whether or not George was able to effectively develop that perspective. Do we get the sense that the characters of the Targaryen court and their contemporaries appreciated the stakes involved in the build up to the Dance, or are their responses conditioned by what the writer demands for the plot?

Analyzing Targaryen government requires us to start with the Conquest itself to get a sense of how Targaryen authority was established based on what we're told and can reasonably infer. The first step in establishing Targaryen authority over the Seven Kingdoms is one which we know surprisingly little about in George's writing, that being the creation of the Crownlands. We know from TWOIAF and F&B that Aegon requested the lands that became the Kingswood alongside Massey's Hook and the lands east of the God's Eye to the shore of Blackwater Bay in return for his allying with Argillac Durrandon, and these lands end up becoming the territory of the Crownlands. We have little else about how they were created exactly and how they were governed, and what little there is requires some digging outside of the faux histories. The Mystery Knight actually gives us the best glimpse into how the Crownlands are organized:

From Maidenpool had come Lord Mooton, from Raventree Lord Blackwood, from Duskendale Lord Darklyn. The royal demenses about King's Landing sent forth Hayfords, Rosbys, Stokeworths, Masseys, and the king's own sworn swords, led by three knights of the Kingsguard and stiffened by three hundred Raven's Teeth with tall white weirwood bows. (A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, 348-349)

Although this quote refers to events taking place centuries after the Conquest, the outline it gives us is consistent with the 'high school textbook' style of feudalism in George's series. Excluding Maidenpool and the other Riverlords involved in Bloodraven's army, we have the Darklyns of Duskendale whose lands are in the Crownlands but who appear to have marshalled their own forces. We then have the 'royal demenses' about King's Landing which include the Houses Hayford, Rosby, Massey, and Stokeworth, followed by the Targaryen sworn swords led by the Kingsguard. Demesne is an Old French title for lands directly controlled by the lord of a manor, and was brought to England after the Norman Conquest when the feudal structures of Normandy began to be implemented across the Channel. We can reasonably infer a hierarchy from this passage within the Crownlands, with the Targaryens at the top as would be expected, followed by the Darklyns and other lords who are sworn directly to the Targaryens but appear to possess their own demenses, followed by the Hayfords et al who appear to be tenants that have ceded their demenses legally to House Targaryen but still administer those lands on their behalf, with the sworn swords at the very bottom likely being governed directly by the Targaryens on the land immediately surrounding King's Landing.

The picture which emerges suggests that the Crownlands northwest and north of the Rosby road possess their own demenses, including Darklyn, Celtigar, Velaryon, and the houses of Crackclaw Point, while the rest of the Crownlands along the coastline of Blackwater Bay is the Targaryen demense including Dragonstone. Significant also is the fact that the Crownlands mainly encompassed territories that were disputed between the River Kings, Hoares, Durrandons, and Gardeners rather than territories that those kings had ruled consistently such as Tumbleton, Maidenpool, or Felwood. the Targaryens carved out their houses' own kingdom and did not annex large swaths of their new vassals territory, instead establishing a more or less stereotypical feudal monarchy, the government of which only reinforces this impression.

F&B makes it clear that Aegon did not seek to fundamentally overturn the existing norms and structures of the newly subjugated kingdoms:

Each of the conquered kingdoms had its own laws and traditions. King Aegon did little to interfere with those. He allowed his lords to continue to rule much as they always had, with all the same powers and prerogatives. The laws of inheritance and succession remained unchanged, the existing feudal structures were confirmed, both lords great and small retained the power of pit and gallows on their own land, and the privilege of the first night wherever that custom had formerly prevailed. (F&B, 42)

Aegon was recognized as the final authority in the realm, although he relied upon Rhaenys, Visenya, and his small council for day-to-day governance, since he spent half the year touring the kingdoms with his court including one of his queens and half a dozen maesters. These visits were clearly important for the Targaryens since they allowed Aegon to be seen by his subjects and to establish relationships and network with his vassal lords, having spent most of the Conquest itself campaigning in the Riverlands-Blackwater Bay region. The fact he was accompanied by maesters to inform him about local laws and custom also indicates he sought to be accommodating to his vassals and respect their authority, as it could have been easy enough for Aegon and his queens to travel simply using their dragons. Traveling with their court indicates that they governed through their advisors and vassals rather than imposing their authority arbitrarily as individuals, and this is in keeping with the feudal nature of the Targaryen monarchy.

Much like the creation of the Crownlands, the structure of the royal government itself requires us to do some digging in order to determine how it functioned. We know Aegon appointed Masters of Law, Coin, and Ships as advisors from the outset and established the post which came to be known as the Hand of the King; he later established the post of Grand Maester, and also sought the advice of the Grand Septon and other members of the Faith regularly. When Jaehaerys arrived in King's Landing following Maegor's death, we're told he had the King's Justice, Lord Confessor, and Chief Gaoler confined to the Black Cells, and with the end of Rogar Baratheon and Queen Alyssa's Regency we know he replaced a collection of lesser offices: the Keeper of the Keys, the chief steward of the Red Keep and his under stewards, the harbormaster of King's Landing, the Warden of the King's Mint, and the King's Justice among others. Tyrion IV of ACOK also gives us a list of royal officials and positions answerable to the Master of Coin:

The Keepers of the Keys were his, all four. The King's Counter and the King's Scales were men he'd named. The officers in charge of all three mints. Harbormasters, tax farmers, customs sergeants, wool factors, toll collectors, pursers, wine factors; nine of every ten belonged to Littlefinger.

We'll discuss the Master of Laws when we cover the legal system, but we know that the King's Justice, Lord Confessor, and Chief Gaoler are responsible for executions, interrogation/torture, and incarceration respectively. All the other offices mentioned are administrative posts concerned with the King's own authority or with collecting revenues owed to the Crown. Master of Ships is concerned with the Royal Fleet and may have some oversight of the Celtigar and Velaryon Fleets since they are also pledged to House Targaryen; Harbormaster and Purser are both connected to naval affairs despite coming under the Master of Coin's authority, the former office being responsible for overseeing the operations of King's Landing's port facilities while the latter is likely based off an Anglo-Norman office that was responsible for the financial upkeep and personnel management of royal naval vessels.

The rest of the offices mentioned above are concerned with fiscal matters: Tax farmers, customs sergeants, and toll collectors are responsible for collecting royal revenues through tax collecting, tariffs and duties on foreign goods, and use of public roads respectively. Wool and wine factors are wholesalers who deal in textiles and wine as their titles suggest, but their function is unclear; they could be responsible for selling textiles and wine that the Crown possesses through in-kind taxation, splitting the profit between themselves and the government, or they may be obtaining textiles and wine for the Royal Household's consumption and obtaining financial information in the process that the Crown can utilize for levying taxes. Keeper of the Keys, Warden of the King's Mint, King's Counter and Scales are likely connected to the Royal Treasury the Keeper of the Keys being responsible for accessing the treasury vaults and coffers, Counter and Scales being responsible for valuing their contents, and the Warden of the King's Mints is presumably in charge of supplying royal coinage and would have some connection to Westerosi mines which supply the precious metals. While most of these titles come to us via Tyrion's POV, I don't see any reason to doubt that royal finances were handled similarly in the days of Aegon and his successors; by comparing Tyrion's POV with F&B we know that the Keeper of the Keys has gone from one position to four between the reigns of Jaehaerys and Joffrey Baratheon, and there are now three royal mints instead of one.

The importance of Masters of Coin like Edwell Celtigar and Rego Draz post-Aegon suggests that fiscal unification was begun if not well under way by the time of Aegon's death. This makes sense given that Aegon was establishing his house at the top of the new feudal hierarchy of Westeros, and would have needed to collect his incomes in order to further establish his authority and that of his house over his new vassals. The existence of the Master of Coin and the rest of the Small Council does indicate that the approach of the Targaryen monarchy was to formulate policy with the council's aid and with respect to their vassals. Even when this wasn't the case as with Celtigar's taxes, the feudal tax system of the Seven Kingdoms was such that many lords avoided paying these taxes altogether, illustrating a need for the consent of the vassals in order to rule effectively.

This need for some degree of consent and the use of the council to govern is best demonstrated by the evolution of the Targaryen legal system, although we first should clarify what the monarchy's powers were. F&B gives us a clear indication of this in its discussion of 'Queen Alysanne's Laws,' where Gyldan states that unlike Rhaenys or Visenya, Alysanne did not have the power to "enact laws, issue decrees, make proclamations, or pass sentences." Passing sentences and enacting laws are relatively straightforward concepts to grasp, since we have examples of both in F&B: The Rule of Six and the Widow's Law. In the case of Rhaenys' Rule of Six, a dispute was brought before the court involving a dead woman's husband and her two brothers, the latter accusing the former of having 'chastized' (ie beaten) her excessively for adultery and causing her death. We're told that Rhaenys consulted with maesters and representatives of the Faith before passing sentence, establishing a precedent that became part of the common law (more on that later). We can clearly see a form of legal process being used and counsel solicited, and this is also at work in the enactment of laws such as the Widow's Law. Widow's Law did not come about arbitrary but through Alysanne's 'women's courts,' which provided her with information about the plight of widows throughout the Seven Kingdoms which she subsequently used to persuade Jaehaerys of the need for laws to protect them, which he then promulgated (again, more on this later).

Issuing decrees and making proclamations are more difficult to get a handle on; search of Ice and Fire turns up only two uses of the word 'proclamation,' while 'decree' and 'proclaim' are heavily used in a more colloquial sense which complicates determining their legal usage. We can say that they differ from laws which are enacted as opposed to issued or simply 'made,' while 'A Question of Succession' in F&B lists them alongside court documents as records available to the historian or chronicler, indicating they are not simply verbal orders or commands by the monarch but are written documents. Regarding decrees, Sansa V of AGOT gives us clues as to how decrees function as Joffrey orders Pycelle to "read" his decrees (confirming them as documents), while Pycelle concludes each reading with "So the king has decreed. The small council consents." When Kevan Lannister reads out Joffrey's decrees in Sansa VIII of ACOK, he also concludes with "To all this, the King's Hand and the small council consent." In ASOIAF we see royal decrees made to appoint new members of the small council, grant new titles as rewards from the crown, legitimize bastards (which can only be done by royal decree), and order punishments such as the loss of a limb used to strike a member of royalty as referenced in The Hedge Knight.

F&B offers some other examples which I believe get us closer to the role and power of a decree via the reigns of Aegon, Maegor, and Jaehaerys. We know that Aegon allowed his vassals to keep much of their old powers and prerogatives, but he was also able to issue decrees regularizing customs, duties, and taxes which was previously in the hands of the lords themselves. He also issued a decree establishing the King's Peace, making it illegal to conduct warfare without the king's permission and obligating vassals to abide by the adjudication of their liege lords in disputes. We then have Maegor's decrees referred to in ASOIAF as "Maegor's Laws," which punished and disarmed the Faith Militant for taking up arms against the Crown, although F&B credits Maegor's new High Septon with actually dissolving the Warrior's Sons and the Poor Fellows. Finally, we have Jaehaerys' decree recognizing Baelon as his heir in 92 AC, which was made after consulting with his small council and especially Septon Barth, although Alysanne dissented. Based on these examples and the information we have from the books, I believe that issuing a decree is how a king exercises their power and prerogatives which they possess via the law or laws of the land. Decrees are formulated and drafted with the aid of the small council to ensure their consent to it's contents, but do not appear to have the same force as an enacted law. Maegor was not enacting new laws but was punishing the Faith Militant as their actions were objective violations of the King's Peace, nor were they acting on behalf of the legitimate claimant Aegon the Uncrowned. Likewise, Aegon was using his own powers to ensure the economic unity of his new realm, while Jaehaerys was clarifying the status of his new heir under the law.

Based on evidence from F&B and the other books, making proclamations appears to serve a different purpose than issuing decrees. Thus in F&B we have Aegon proclaiming the Faith to be exempt from taxes with the power to try their own members in their courts; TWOIAF speaks of Jaehaerys' proclamation as rightful king of the Seven Kingdoms at Storm's End, with F&B crediting Rogar Baratheon with proclaiming him king; while Jaime Lannister and Lord Crakehall exchange words over who shall proclaim a new king and whom it shall be in the throne room following Aerys' death in Jaime II of ASOS. Proclamations appear to be a way for the king to make announcements to the realm as a whole with the added legitimacy granted by the monarch's own voice; they can serve a legal purpose of drawing attention to an action being taken, whether proclaiming the succession a new king or official acknowledgement of an heir, which appears to be consistent with how proclamations are defined under English law.

Now that we've got a rough idea of the legal powers of the Targaryen monarchy pre-Dance and how that power was expected to be wielded, we can get into how that legal system evolved. As previously mentioned, Aegon kept the laws and customs of the Seven Kingdoms largely the same after the Conquest, hence why he brought maesters with him on his progresses who were knowledgeable in local laws and customs. The lords were made responsible for settling disputes and adjudicating within their own territories, while F&B states that Aegon was responsible for adjudicating disputes between the kingdoms. F&B and TWOIAF may unintentionally provide us some evidence of the workings of this pluralistic legal system via the Rule of Six and Widow's Law. F&B states that the Rule of Six became a part of the common law from that day onward, while TWOIAF says the Rule of Six is "now part of the common law;" since the Seven Kingdoms did not possess a single common law before Jaehaerys' Book of Laws, this suggests that the Crownlands possessed their own common law separate from the individual kingdoms. This helps to explain why Jaehaerys is described as promulgating the Widow's Law in 52 AC, prior to his codification project: to promulgate means to promote or make widely known, although it can mean to make known a law or enforce it, andf he would have had to promulgate the law if he wanted his vassals to adopt similar laws in their own jurisdictions. This is both interesting and unfortunate from a world building perspective, since we have no idea what formed the basis of these laws: did it use Dragonstone's laws? Were they derived from Riverlord laws, and did Stormlands and Ironborn law have any influences?

With the political and fiscal unification of the Seven Kingdoms already well advanced by 48 AC, it was under the new king Jaehaerys that the Seven Kingdoms were legally unified. We're never given a date for when the new code was completed, but the evidence is unanimous that it was completed while he was king. F&B calls the Book of Laws Jaehaerys' greatest achievement while TWOIAF credits him with giving the realm a single set of laws. The process of researching the laws of the individual kingdoms began in 55 AC and was completed two years later, while the actual codification was said to have taken decades. F&B refers to the code as the Great Code of Septon Barth and heavily credits him with the completion of the Book, so the Book of Laws was most likely completed between 67 and 98 AC or a decade after the research was complete but prior to his death. The research phase is also significant as it clearly indicates that written laws were available to be researched, from the kingdoms themselves and/or the records of the Citadel; this is important because codification refers not to the writing down of laws but the organizing of laws according to a system or plan. No one would seriously suggest that the Roman Empire and it's predecessors lacked written laws prior to the Theodosian Code and Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis, rather its constitutions and sets of laws had not been brought together systematically despite past attempts.

Creating a single code for the Seven Kingdoms would certainly have increased the power of the monarchy, now that a Targaryen ruler could enact laws and pass sentences which would have direct influence over all of the kingdoms. Nonetheless, the lengthy codification process indicates that a serious effort was made to reflect the traditions of all the kingdoms by consulting their laws during the process rather than simply grafting some of the laws onto the common law as it existed in the Crownlands. We can safely assume that the Lords Paramount were aware of this project and broadly supported it in light of the two years spent by Jaehaerys and his "smaller council" of Alysanne, Barth, Grand Maester Benifer, and Master of Laws Albin Massey collecting and researching all these laws. As we said regarding the tax system, consent of one's vassals would still have been important for enforcing the new code since it fell to the lords and their lieges across the kingdoms to apply it and adjudicate in the absence of the king. With that being said, establishing the broad strokes of Targaryen government, law, and their functions now allows us to assess the lead up to the Dance.

One of the first issues with discussing the origins of the Dance is the way in which the decision of 92 AC is made out to be less straightforward than it objectively was. While Prince Aemon was the Prince of Dragonstone and heir apparent to Jaehaerys at his death in 92 AC, we have no indication that the title of Prince of Dragonstone was deemed hereditary and could pass on the position of heir to his own children. To use a historical example, Edward III was succeeded by Richard II, the son and heir of Edward the Black Prince, Edward III's eldest son and heir apparent who pre-deceased his father. This put Richard II ahead of Edward III's other surviving son John of Gaunt, but this was the result of letters patent that the king had issued before his death rather than the operation of the law. On the other hand, the decision of 92 AC did not deviate from male-preference primogeniture, favouring Jaehaerys' surviving and eligible son Baelon over Rhaenys who was the king's granddaughter via Aemon. This is also how the succession was determined during Robert's Rebellion, as following Rhaegar's death his younger brother Viserys became the heir over Rhaegar's son Aegon. Nonetheless, "A Question of Succession" seems confused over this idea:

If the precedent set by the Great Council of 101 was followed, a male claimant must prevail over a female. In the absence of a trueborn son, the king's brother would come before the king's daughter, as Baelon had come before Rhaenys in 92 AC. (F&B, 358)

This seems to be George's lack of perspective creeping in, as it should not have mattered in 92 AC if Rhaenys had been born a boy or a girl; Baelon was the king's son and not his grandchild, so the succession passing to him was the correct decision.

It is to the Council of 101 that we ought to look for where things went wrong with the Targaryen succession, as it resulted in serious breeches of legal precedent by the king and his vassals. Owing to Baelon's death in 101 AC, Vaegon Targaryen's refusal to foreswear his maester's vows, and Jaehaerys' only surviving daughter Saera being disgraced and in exile, the king was left with no heir to succeed him. The choice was between the heirs of the heirs, with Viserys son of Baelon on one side and Rhaenys daughter of Aemon on the other with her children Laena and Laenor Velaryon. F&B makes it clear that those who spoke out against Rhaenys' and Laena's claims outnumbered those who spoke in their favour 20:1, but that Laenor's claim from his grandfather via his mother was deemed valid enough for the succession to be decided by a majority vote between himself and Viserys. More importantly, we know of legal precedents from Westerosi history that should have had bearing on the decisions of Jaehaerys and the Great Council, those of Joffrey Lydden and Mern VI Gardener. TWOIAF tells us that Joffrey Lydden became the first Andal King of the Rock after Gerold III Lannister died without male issue; in this case a council crowned Lydden king as the husband of Gerold's only daughter, but he was required to take his wife's family name with his claim deriving from his marriage to her, even though she was not made queen.

In the case of Mern VI Gardener, his predecessor Garth X also died with no male issue; his two daughters were married to Lord Peake and Lord Manderly respectively, and the idea of a woman succeeding was not the issue here but whether the Peakes or the Manderlys should be the ones to have their claimant sit the throne. The ensuing conflict nearly tore the Reach asunder until Ser Osmund Tyrell, the Andal Steward of Highgarden, rallied House Gardener's other bannermen to defeat both factions and place Garth's second cousin Mern on the throne as Mern VI. In this case, Garth's daughters clearly had better claims that Mern but he was chosen so as to reward neither of the warring factions for having brought ruin upon the Gardener kingdom. Mern's presence also means that there were male relatives in Garth's family at the time of his death, whereas this seems not to have been the case explicitly when Gerold III died. It appears that Garth X having male relatives would ensure that the male line of the family would continue even if a daughter held the throne, whereas the council that chose Joffrey Lydden seems to have created a new male line for the Lannisters as it would otherwise have died out with Gerold III.

This is important for assessing Jaehaerys and the Council of 101's decisions, since these historical cases clearly show that the First Men and Andals were willing to contemplate female rulership under certain circumstances. F&B also gives us examples of ladies governing great houses under the Targaryens despite the misogyny inherent in male-preference primogeniture laws, such as Jeyne Arryn during the Dance and Ellyn Caron during the rebellion of the First Vulture King. It can also be argued that Jaehaerys and even Alysanne helped the 101 dispute become the crisis it was, firstly by failing to find suitable matches for Saera, Viserra, Gael, and Daella Targaryen. This is an indictment of both Jaehaerys and Alysanne, as the matches were inferior (either men from lesser houses or far older men who already had heirs) and failed to produce Targaryen relatives in positions of power throughout the realm. This in turn meant that there was no Mern VI-style candidate who could have been selected in place of the two quarreling parties to avoid favouring one faction over the other, while also meaning there were no family ties that Jaehaerys could leverage among the great houses to de-escalate the situation, ensuring that Jaehaerys' vassals flocked to one claimant or the other, leading to division and near war.

The other way in which Jaehaerys and Alysanne helped create the crisis of 101 AC, although in this case Alysanne was long dead, is that the historical cases discussed again show that inheritance through a female line was not so great an obstacle provided some 'finessing' was done. Rhaenys' and Laena's claims might still have been set aside, but in light of Rhaenyra's later betrothal to Laenor to strengthen her claim this should have been the obvious solution for Jaehaerys. He could have declared Laenor his heir on the condition that he took his mother's family name as monarch, and that the 3-4 year old Rhaenyra would be betrothed to the 6-7 year old Laenor to unite Rhaenys and Viserys claims. A further step could have been to make Rhaenys, Corlys, Viserys, and Aemma responsible for setting up a regency council along with Jaehaerys, to help govern the realm once the king died and until Laenor came of age. This solution would have been in keeping with past legal precedent and would have offered both parties a measure of satisfaction, while allowing Jaehaerys to assert his authority as king and the final authority over the realm. Instead he abdicated his role and took the out that Vaegon offered him by leaving it up to his vassals to decide, leading to a result that both upended the existing laws of Westeros and laid the seeds of future discord, with Jaehaerys effectively handing the realm a poisoned chalice through his death.

The problem moving from 101 to Rhaenyra's succession and the Dance itself is that while George's handling of the succession issues in 92 and 101 is somewhat shaky, his handling of Rhaenyra and the Dance crisis is suspect. It doesn't help that George's own comments in Hollywood Spotlight Magazine suggest his grasp of male-preference primogeniture is tenuous at best:

Would it have made a difference if Rhaenyra and Aegon were full siblings, only a year apart? If they were full siblings, regardless of age, the son have inherited rather than the daughter. I had to make it more complicated than that. Two children by different mothers, different wives? First wife and second wife? I always look to history for inspiration, and if you look at Henry VIII and his six wives, he had a daughter by his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and that was Mary Tudor, Queen Mary I. And then he had a daughter by his second wife, Anne Boleyn, and that was Queen Elizabeth. Then by the third wife, Jane Seymour, he finally had a son, Edward VI. He was third in line, but he was the first to become king. History is full of these kinds of conflicts.

Just so we're clear, Henry VIII's line of succession was fairly straightforward at his death. While there was some controversy over Mary being his daughter from an annulled marriage, once he died his crown passed to his only son Edward as expected. Edward's death without issue saw the crown pass to Henry's eldest daughter Mary, and her death without issue saw the crown pass to Henry's only surviving legitimate child, Elizabeth. This line of succession is not unclear or confused from the perspective of male-preference primogeniture, it's George's perspective or lack thereof which is at fault here.

This questionable perspective is where the issue lies, as we quoted F&B earlier on the subject of how 92 and 101 AC were seen as obstacles to Rhaenyra's claim versus Daemon, when they should not have been. 92 AC was the king choosing between his son and his granddaughter, 101 was a contest between his grandson, granddaughter, and great grandchildren via said granddaughter. 92 AC favoured the king's child while 101 was an issue because the king had no children able to succeed him, but Viserys has no such issues aside from the plot making it appear so. Given that the decrees of the council are just that, decrees and not enacted laws, it makes no sense why they should have applications to situations which are not at all analogous. We also have proof from the narrative itself that this is not the case: "The Blacks and the Greens" suggests that Jeyne Arryn might not be disposed to support Aegon since his claim against Rhaenyra might call into question her own claim, but this would have been a far greater issue decades ago had this been the case. We know that Yorbort Royce attended the Great Council on behalf of Jeyne as her regent and protector, and she tells Jace that her cousin Ser Arnold Arryn sought to replace her three times in the past. Viserys and Daemon are also tied to the Arryns and Royces by marriage since 93 and 97 AC respectively; if the 101 decrees were truly so far reaching and favoured the male claimant over the female in all circumstances, Jeyne's continued status as Lady of the Vale would have been a threat to Viserys' rule. We also have to think that Daemon would have seized on House Royce's support of her as reason to have his hated marriage to Rhea Royce annulled; the best answer in-world is that the Council's precedent is nowhere near as far reaching as is suggested.

The plot of the Dance is further hampered for reasons which I discussed in Part One of the first series: based on the inheritance laws of the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaenyra has no claim to the Iron Throne as of Aegon II's birth. Declaring her the heir made complete sense after Aemma's death and to fortify her claim with oaths, especially given how clearly unfit Daemon was to rule. However, Viserys unwillingness to declare an heir while Aemma was alive and able to bear children clearly shows he was aware of how the law worked, and I must stress law. Elio Garcia claimed in a 2015 Forum of Ice and Fire post that primogeniture is "customary, but not binding" in the Seven Kingdoms, and yet F&B which was published in 2018 clearly gives lie to this assertion. Aside from Aegon confirming the laws of inheritance and succession of the realm, as Maester Gawen reminded Maegor when he usurped the throne from Aegon the Uncrowned, Rogar Baratheon also reminds those arguing for Rhaena over Jaehaerys in 48 AC that "this is not Dorne, and Rhaena is not Nymeria." "A Question of Succession" reminds us that it was Aegon and not Visenya who was the first ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, and then there's the fact that by 98 AC at least, all of those inheritance and succession laws have been brought together in a single legal code, the Book of Laws. This would include the Widow's Law, which affirmed the right of the eldest son to succeed, with daughters only being able to inherit if there was no son to do so. It also made it illegal to disinherit the child of one marriage for the wife and children of another, but this clearly means taking from one son to give to another or from one daughter to another since putting a daughter from one marriage before the eldest son by another wife would contradict the law itself.

By the time of Aegon II's birth, male-preference primogeniture is well established as the law of the land, but Rhaenyra's claim was secure so long as Viserys had no sons. With not one but three sons born to Alicent, Rhaenyra's claim is supported only through Viserys' ignorance of the law and his failure to govern. For starters, if Rhaenyra's claim can be placed before those of her own blood brothers, then how do the decrees of the Great Council of 101 have any legal basis whatsoever? What is the justification for favouring a king's grandson over his granddaughter, great granddaughter, and great grandson when a king can elevate his daughter above his own sons? Unsurprisingly, these implications are never even considered since the decision of 92 AC and the Council of 101 are only ever brought up as justifications for Aegon II's claim, not that they (the latter at least) form the legal basis of Viserys' own reign and that he is undermining his own legitimacy. Yet Viserys only compounds his error in ignoring the law by refusing to govern: he never calls on the lords of the realm to renew their oath to Rhaenyra despite her now having brothers; he never issues a proclamation to clarify his intentions before the realm; he enacts no law(s) with regards to the Targaryen succession to secure Rhaenyra's claim; nor does he issue any decrees either cementing Rhaenyra's position or removing Alicent and her children from the line of succession.

This situation is made even worse when we consider the wider context of Viserys' reign and the fact that he is threatening a succession crisis by not clarifying his intentions and ignoring his council. No one points out to him that there has not been a seamless succession to the Iron Throne since Aenys succeeded Aegon, as Maegor usurped Aegon the Uncrowned, Jaehaerys overthrew Maegor, and Viserys was made heir by a majority vote of lords of the realm which was subsequently recognized by Jaehaerys. By ignoring the law, Viserys is only guaranteeing that this lack of stability will continue after his death, while the message he sends to the realm by his treatment of Alicent and her children is also disastrous. After all, the Hightowers are not just one of the most wealthy and influential families on the continent, they have also been strong supporters of the monarchy since the conquest. Alicent is now the second Hightower consort to be treated with disdain despite her marrying into the royal family, and with the exception of Rhaena, a trend begun by Maegor is effectively continuing through Viserys by disrespecting his non-Valyrian consort. What message does this send to the rest of the realm that the Targaryens insist on incestuous marriages or marriage with cousins and their Valyrian vassals, while their treatment of even their greatest supporters is contemptuous when it comes to non-Valyrian matches?

Alicent's treatment is also important because it suggests a more sinister side to Viserys' character, aside from his horrific treatment of Aemma Arryn of course. It's unthinkable that Corlys Velaryon would allow Laena and her potential children by Viserys to be disregarded or that Rhaenys would tolerate further insult from her cousin were that the situation. This alone may explain the Hightower match since F&B claims there were murmurs that Otto had desired and sought the match, but only Grand Maester Runciter's suggestion of Laena is explicitly stated in the text. While a member of House Hightower, Otto was also a second son whose power stemmed entirely from being Hand of the King, a position he could lose if the king so chose. As a knight he also lacked the personal wealth and 'hard power' of a Corlys Velaryon, while Oldtown being much farther away from King's Landing than Driftmark means Viserys could get away with more against Alicent than if he married Laena. F&B describes Viserys as amiable and not strong willed and reliant and his council for decision-making, but in the case of the Alicent match "His Grace had his own notion, and no amount of argument would sway him from his course."

It's hard not to see sinister intentions in Viserys' actions, that behind the affable, weak-willed man was a deeply insecure, almost calculating individual who utilized uncertainties and grey areas in any situation to exercise power over others. It would certainly explain why he calls Alicent's children "her blood" despite being their father, while allegedly threatening to make Aegon his heir in order to compel Rhaenyra to marry Laenor. With the exception of Daeron and Tessarion being sent to Oldtown, Alicent's other children are essentially at Viserys and Rhaenyra's mercy; Aegon and Helaena's marriage means they cannot seek allies in other houses or obtain outside income, making them and Aemond entirely reliant on Viserys and his heir for their future livelihood, while the presence of Alicent's children and their dragons also means that Rhaenyra must cleave to her father to maintain her status as heir apparent and secure her own future. From this perspective, Viserys comes off not as a well-meaning, weak-willed king forever mourning the loss of his beloved Aemma as HOTD chose to depict him, but as an abuser and manipulator seeking to maintain his power at all costs. This perspective is not entertained by the narrative however, and subsequent events show little concern for how the rest of the realm might perceive the failed governance of the King.

The disputed parentage of Rhaenyra's three eldest children is the best illustration of the failure of Targaryen government prior to the Dance, and the absence of any kind of response from the kingdoms as a whole. HOTD confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jace, Luke, and Joff were bastards, but the evidence in the books is already overwhelming: Rhaenys children Laena and Laenor show no Baratheon colouring in their hair or eyes (despite Orys Baratheon being a Targaryen bastard), and neither of Laena and Daemon's daughters are anything but typical Valyrians in appearance; Rhaenyra is conventionally Valyrian by all accounts despite her mother's Arryn heritage, and Viserys children by Alicent are likewise despite their mother being a Hightower. Yet when Rhaenyra marries Laenor, a known homosexual who she was forced to marry, and leaves court for Dragonstone in the company of her sworn sword Harwin Strong, all three of her children with "Laenor" look nothing like their parents and are dead ringers for Harwin Strong. This situation suddenly changes after Laenor and Harwin die and Rhaenyra elopes with her uncle and rumored past lover Daemon, whereupon she has two more sons who are conventionally Valyrian in their looks.

This situation means that in addition to becoming king through objectively flawed and bad-faith means, in addition to undermining his authority and Westerosi laws by placing his daughter above his sons as heir, in addition to refusing to use his powers to clarify the situation, and in addition to disrespecting one of House Targaryen's most important vassals, Viserys is allowing his daughter to flaunt the law by claiming her bastards are true born and placing them in the line of succession, while sitting by and allowing her to humiliate another steadfast supporter of House Targaryen in House Velaryon. Despite all of this, the only real blowback from the realm itself comes from Vaemond Velaryon, Corlys' nephew in the books, and his five cousins (the future 'Silent Five'). Corlys takes ill in 127 AC and members of his house gather at Driftmark to discuss the potential succession, with Rhaenyra requesting that Lucerys be made heir to Driftmark since Laena and Laenor are dead. Vaemond presses his claim based on the assertion that Rhaenyras boys are bastards, and she retaliates by having Daemon decapitate him before feeding his corpse to Syrax. When his cousins flee to King's Landing with Vaemond's wife and two sons to plead for justice from Viserys, the King has the tongues of the five removed in keeping with his punishment for claiming that the Velaryon boys are bastards.

Not only was Vaemond's death contrary to the King's decree, which specified muteness and not execution as punishment, but Vaemond is Corlys' bannerman not Rhaenyras. It is the duty of Corlys or the King to deliver these punishments, not hers or Daemons, which renders Rhaenyra and her consort murderers by default. Not only do we have the laundry list above of all the failings of Viserys and Rhaenyra, but we now have the heir to the throne and her husband being guilty of murder and the King refusing to acknowledge the crime or deliver justice. This is where the edited nature of the narrative completely undercuts the writing, because the implications of Viserys and Rhaenyra's actions here and prior cannot be adequately addressed in the Dance itself. A member of one of the oldest houses in Westeros and one of House Targaryen's most steadfast bannermen has been murdered by the heir apparent and her consort, in full view of the realm, and the King took the side of the perpetrators over the victims. The absence of the Silent Five in the narrative of the Dance until after the war ends, combined with the widespread support Rhaenyra enjoys at the outset of the Dance, cannot be reconciled with the scale of this event and Viserys' previous failures of governance. Vaemond's death alone should alter the course of the Dance given the terrible message it sends to other vassals, but because The Rogue Prince was preceded by The Princess and the Queen and no alterations were made to better edit the two together for F&B, this cannot happen.

The 'fix-its' for this part are fairly simple, since my opinion hasn't changed since I wrote the conclusion of my military analysis series: Rhaenyra must be an only child and Viserys legal heir. Rhaenyra and Viserys transgressions are easier to accommodate if the law is on their side in the matter of the succession, meaning that the conflict between Rhaenyra and Aegon's camps becomes one of politics from the start and thus a more genuinely complex and complicated scenario. George's scenario as it stands requires us and the setting to completely ignore how the laws of the Seven Kingdoms work, because the plot is at odds with the world-building. This is not a problem if Aegon, son of Baelon lives to adulthood and is the one to marry Alicent and father Aegon II, Helaena, Aemond, and Daeron instead of Viserys. Alicent's husband can die and Viserys can either marry her to silence those calling for him to remarry and have more children, or simply point to Alicent's four and say that his youngest brother already gave him 'spares.' The fact that the Council of 101 set aside the female claimants can be used in Aegon's favour, while also pointing out that Rhaenyra is the King's own child and thus a direct heir, with the issues truly arising with Rhaenyra's bastards. Obviously George placed himself in a bind since Stannis says Rhaenyra usurped her brother's throne in ACOK, but making them step-siblings could at least mitigate this problem.

That wraps it up for part one; I hope you've what I've written thus far! Part two onwards is when we'll get into the military dimensions of the Dance in greater detail than I managed to do originally. Having established the nature of the Targaryen political system and the issues with it that led to the Dance, we'll step down a level to discuss some of the overarching factors that should govern how the Dance was fought. Stay tuned next time for "Environment and Logistics in the Dance!"

[mymiraclebox]

Hello :)

This is going to be more of a comment than a question but I felt like I couldn't articulate what I wanted to say in a comment because of the word limit.

I wanted to post this because at some point in the next few weeks there is going to be 1 year since I discovered your account.

I have no idea how to express this so I'm just gonna say it. Your story has become my canon. I'm not kidding. I've been practically obsessed with this account and the book "Crimson & Noir" ever since I found out about them, which isn't a long time but it's honest work :)

Your fanfics are the reason why I have a Tumblr account in the first place, and in the first 2 days after finding it, I went through years of posts up until 2020/2021. I ended up creating 2 google docs where I would copy - paste answers that I believed would be important for the story so I could go back and find them easier. I've never done that before with any other one.

Later on, I ended up creating another google Doc with all the Kwamis bios so I could go through them easier (because I could search any word I wanted). In these bios, I also added the Miracle Boxes each kwami is in, from all 3 generations (colour coded too).

You would usually post around 4/5 am for me, so I couldn't see them until morning. There would be times when I would dread going to class, and seeing the notification that you posted actually made me happy. Your posts have literally turned into my own personal Lucky Charm. 😀

The thing is that I only ever had an obsession like this one years ago so I started to wander what exactly is that attracted me to the stories and I realized that it's because you managed to put into words exactly what I wanted from the show. Like to a T. What I love the most is the way you portray the Kwamis. These little cuties are the main reason why I started watching the show in the first place but I believe that the way they were portrayed (as clueless kids) was pretty underwhelming considering the were supposed to be this powerful beings, some older than time.

From what you have said in the past, the structure this series (My Miracle Box) is going to have is so smart. Like to have multiple little plots with an overarching bigger one that you can find snippets of in all the stories is something that I and many readers I watch really appreciate and praise.

The story "Crimson & Noir" is the first and only book I ever annotated. Does my annotating suck? Yes. But I am still so happy to have done it. :) During breaks if I am stressed or tired I would whip out this story and just read some random parts. I am truly happy that I found your account.

I can imagine that there are some people that ask you when are you gonna update the story or start a new one. I'm not gonna sit here and claim that I didn't think these things too, but I trust you and the vision you have for them (how 🧀).

What I'm trying to say is take your time and write something you are proud of, even if it takes months or years to get an update. I will patiently (not really, but I will try) wait for them :)

This ask has really made my week! ❤ Thank you so much for the kind words, it really does mean a lot!!

This blog really started out as a place to throw out random ocs and headcanons, I'm glad that you've enjoyed what it's become. :D I have had a lot of fun creating stories in this fandom, and it means a lot to hear you've loved it as well. I hope you enjoy what's to come, and thank you again for this sweet message, it was heartwarming to read!! ❤ 💕 ❤

[inventedfangirling]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

ah finally after a gazillion years i've been able to get around to doing this after being tagged by the ever sweet @fiercynn , so lemme straightaway get down to it.

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc.

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

hello there, i'm a 24 year old gray-ace panromantic desi on the romance positive end of the arospec (im still undergoing the wonderful but also often difficult and long journey of discovering myself so this is subject to change :3), i prefer going by my username so i'm not sharing my name.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

i watched bad buddy exactly 3 months ago on the 15th of May, 2023. i watched all the episodes all on the same day and i know the date because after finishing the show i sent a 7 minute long audio note gushing about the show to my best friend. i ADORED it that much. and that's where all of this started. i loved the show so much and the lack of people i knew irl who were interested meant i had to find other people in the fandom to freak out with. i kept posting one after another favourite bad buddy edit of mine on my twitter page, gushing about it, but i got barely any response and that's when i reminded myself that tumblr exists and i should get back on here. and that's how i made this account 2 weeks after i watched the show and voila here i am surrounded by people who are as crazy about the show as i am and i couldn't be more delighted about it :')

favorite ship(s)

patpran and inkpa ofc

favorite character(s)

i love pat with all my heart, the man he ends up becoming along the course of the show is one of my most favorite portrayals of any man ever BUT pran is my actual favorite, he is my baby, (somehow both) my elder and younger brother and my best friend and he has my whole heart. his love, his hesitance, his anxiety, his bravery, his dimples, his FOREHEAD, his striped shirts, his precious heart i would DIE for him no questions asked.

favorite episode(s)

episode 11. each segment had something for the heart, i adored every single second of it...the sheer volume of beaut quotes from this episode is mind blowing! ("being with you already feels like freedom", "i can be anywhere as long as i have you", "we have been happier a lot too", "thankyou for trying to make a silly guy like me happy..." "i wrote this song for him", "one man can't change the world, but this world can't change me too"), and the soft loving looks of adoration making me clutch my chest, but also there was the quintessential patpran banter and bad buddy humour and wisdom i LOVE this episode with all my heart.

episode 5 is perfection. it comes second for me, but that kiss will always be number 1 <3

favorite scene(s)

rooftop kiss, balcony phone call, episode 7 ending when pat comes to save the day and the play, episode 11 red shirts commitment expression scene, and the final credits and post credits scene

one thing you would change about the show if you could

i wished the gangs didnt bully eo or anybody else even in the beginning, i get it shows growth but still i wished that was shown differently. also i wish we got a conversation where they talk about the guitar. and while we're here i wish it was somehow longer, i could have watched ohmnanon be patpran for HOOOURS.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

traffic was slow for the crash years by @fiercynn aka the creator of this meme. i absolutely adored every single second of the fic. despite it giving me a WORLD of pain. all the pain made it more beautiful and everything was worth it in the end. like i said before you took a great thing and made it even better <3

every piece of art that @hereforlou comes up with. you are a GEM!

all of nanons gorgeous gifsets!!

same page video edit that even p'aof tweeted about. SO good.

enchanted (aka patpran's official song) and other patpran edits by this same SO very talented editor

mudhal nee mudivum nee - another beautiful edit but desi so its even better <3

this super clever edit of patpran to message in a bottle. it's an instant serotonin booster for me.

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

you can hear it in the silence - bad buddy bet era fic (the only one i've written till now)

my bad buddy textposts collection

my pran and pat's growth posts

this post that took me 20 mins to write but is one of my fav things ive written about the show

my long treatise of bet era patpran that took me a week!

list of accounts (hopefully i haven't forgotten any) whose meta and analysis and brainrot i absolutely adore- @miscellar , @telomeke-bbs , @grapejuicegay , @aroceu, @dudeyuri, @dribs-and-drabbles, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @sharingfandoms, @waitmyturtles, @ranchthoughts, @lurkingteapot, @lurkingshan, @thegayneurodivergentagenda, @kenmakaashi, @absolutebl, @charthanry, @bengiyo, @mahuhumaling, @panickedbisexualwatchesbl, @jemmo, @patspran, @fiercynn, @midnightfreeway, @fierceeyesanddimples and a couple more im sure ive missed. it was {and continues to be} a pleasure reading their thoughts about the show (or any other show that we've mutually watched).

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

message in a bottle because of this edit

daylight cos of this edit

enchanted, because of the infinite edits we've got from it and if im not wrong pat ohm has acknowledged it too

and basically all other romantic songs in the history of romance i guess :3

alrighty then i think i'm done with this tag. this was a LOT of fun to compile <3

[saintdesnoyers]

journal entry #2 - dear 2023... (and what i want for 2024)

you were a hot one, 2023, i'm not going to lie. you challenged me creatively the most but it was a good a reason. you reminded me that i could write, that i could do whatever because it's my writing.

remember? i was sick for like 473829749237432 months. but i did a 30 days of writing challenge while being sick and it helped me get that little magical challenge that i like to take.

i left some ships/players behind for... personal reasons and yet, i created some other dynamics and i didn't just write romance. i proved to myself that i was able to create some beautiful (yet unpopular) stories without romance in it.

i wrote over 40k+ in november, i wrote so many stories that i'm proud of. here are some of my favorites:

now you know why ghosts spend their whole lives floating (haunted x family, my first over 25k words fic!)

he's just kent (kent/owen)

if we make it through december we'll be fine (kent with richie&carts)

love is nothing stronger than a boy with love (6167)

kiss my scars (josh/connor)

i also did a rarepair challenge and i wrote like a crazy person in june for like 6 or 7 fics, if i remember it clear.

i restarted an ao3 account and reclaimed my identity as a writer. i know that i disappeared from tumblr and i came back then deleted everything again.

but as the mcfly song says: another year over, and we're still together, it's not always easy but i'm here (forever)

i'm here. i will be here. i learned my lesson to protect my mental health even if i'm here. i will continue to write. i'm sure that i will have more stories to come.

i hope for myself that i will continue to improve my writing. that i will achieve some of my goals for bigger projects because i know that i can do it. i hope that i will take time for myself when i'm not feeling like writing and that i will accept it.

for 2024, i want to write the superheroes au as it was supposed to. i'm finally going to dip into the dystopia au & the wjc fantasy au. these are my goals but i'm also looking forward to write some smaller projects.

& i hope that you will stick with me. if you read this, that's because you trusted me enough and that you've been here since i've started writing prompts, that's how it started for me about two, almost three years ago.

cheers to another creative one!

[kaeru-kobold]

Kaeru Kobold-Dear Tumblr #1

I finally decided what I'm going to do with this Tumblr Account! Aside from the typical reposts of my art, self-promotion and such, I'm going to use it primarily as a live, public diary of my adventure in Vtubing, streaming and content creation, so here goes my very first entry. I think I'm going to try to do this daily, at the very least I'll make one weekly and on big events.

Dear Tumblr,

it's currently 1:22 AM, 12/11/23. I've been interested in becoming a Vtuber for roughly a year now, and have slowly done tons of research, watched hours of Vtuber content for fun and advice, built up art and assets, came up with a new Sona design, customized models, and have spent hours upon hours of work making art and assets related to that goal. Boy they really don't tell you how much work it is to be a streamer/content creator, especially when you're broke and doing it all by yourself. Speaking of broke... I'm currently out of work, money is very low, and I'm very stressed out. I made the mistake of leaving my old job for a new one that I hoped would be a good opportunity, but I had to leave on day one for moral and public health reasons I won't get into. I have put in dozens of applications the last two weeks and have mainly only received automated emails; I have done 2 Zoom interviews for two different jobs, and then was never given a call or email back. My old job won't take me back for reasons beyond me. I admitted this in an OkayDonuts stream a day or so ago, and he said similar issues motivated him to start streaming. This gives me so much hope that I can have the great community and career success that he has that I so desire-If he could do it, so can I! Right? I just really like making stuff, I've always liked learning new techniques both physical and digital; crochet, clay sculpting, wood carving, painting, graphic design, 3D modelling/Texturing, game design. I wasn't good at much as a kid, but art was my passion, and the best part was seeing how happy it made other people. I just want to make cool things that make people happy and create a community of similarly creative people to share our passions and bring more kindness and cool creations into the world. I don't want to be an uber rich Mr. Beast level celebrity, I just want to make enough that I don't need a menial job I suffer at. Simply making a decent living in this world off my art would be a blessing, it would be so much better for my mental health. Speaking of which, if you're reading this....did you know I take commissions? Please commission me, I hungy :'( But seriously, as of writing this, I have $43.20 in my bank account. My phone bill alone is $45. My partner and I have family support, so we'll get by ok, but the struggle and having to ask for help is really getting to me. On the bright side, since we should count our blessings- I have a really nice microphone since my partner tried streaming a couple years ago and is letting me use it whenever I need! I have a really good laptop from my college days that can run everything I need without getting TOO overwhelmed. I have a really good drawing tablet that I bought a couple years ago when I was doing a little better financially (It's much easier to save money when you're living with your parents and work 40 hours a week for $13/hr and your parents pay for everything) Losing my job may be a blessing in disguise because In my stress I have gone into a manic state and began going crazy getting my custom stream Overlays done, fully animated Stream Opening, BRB and Closing Screens, stinger transition animation, a functioning PNGTuber, and multiple drawings/animations for alerts/emotes/rewards/etc. and yes that includes things I didn't know I needed to be a Twitch Affiliate to even use...lol...I'm currently working on an animated lore video for my debut that I will also record a voice-over for. Lastly, a more recent thing-My partner found a gamer chair in the dumpster at our apartment last week after I had spent a couple months trying to find one-the cheapest ones on Facebook Marketplace in our area were like $80-and it's in near perfect condition, only a bit of scuff/rip on the seat and arm rests. How crazy is that? I gave it a good scrub-down and its good to go. I choose to take that as a sign from the universe that I'm on the right path. Wish me luck! With lots of love, Kaeru Kobold

[lebonah]

With this post, my friends, I woke up to three important contexts:

1 - the 30 brazilian people being held in Gaza by Israel (who liberated some European and US citizens this week to cross the border to be saved) are suffering indirect punishment because the Brazilian government requested for a cease-fire and that Israel stopped the War crimes. Its revenge, purely because Brazil asked for peace. And If the government cant do anything despite repeated attempts, what could I do?

2 - North americans in general are not interested in stopping the Wars, they are way immersed in mighty eagle propaganda and money talks loud. Its been like that for the whole of 20th century. UN could have solved this a long time ago. It all started with an english politician that I cant even remember the name. And if the USA citizens arent doing anything for real (alas, there are people supporting the genocide like those 700 Hollywood idiots), what could I do?

3 - As op said, posting wont make any change. I've had my share of crying with images of children dying, I've had my share of disgust with images of Israeli celebrating Palestinians deaths. And posting about these things made clear to my followers how aware I am of whats happening, and that's ALL I could do.

In conclusion: A- Im a 42 year old actress/musician/cosplayer/seamstress who is not famous (so I dont really have a voice that will reach many) *sigh* Im not even social media famous for that matter, so I really AM a nobody. And B- I made this Tumblr account in 2011 to post stuff I liked, beautiful stuff, fun stuff, about one year after coming out of my second su1c1de attempt, and this thing here helped me find a escape from the awful reality of the world and help me pick myself up in my worst moments of depression. The finest moments here where the begginning with a lot of Beatles and around 2015 with a lot of Doctor Who. And reading op's post now made me realize: If Im impotent and lost in my own personal world and want to escape It, how could I be of any diference for this hugely fucked up world?

I wrote a song about wars the other day, called "the Game".

But songs dont end wars.

So probably the best thing I do is starting doing my self mental care, going back to my escapism, and leave to the big fish to solve the problem they created (I personality think It will not end well for Israel with Hezbollah around overlooking everything - and even worse for United States because we all know about 9/11, but hey, theres really nothing I can do.).

So yeah, maybe youll see another post If I decide to repost anything but I dont think I have anything else to say about this. At least nothing that will make a difference.

Words dont end wars.

Firstly - Yes, it is a necessary part of the struggle against the genocide to engage in protests, boycotts, 'awareness raising' and 'holding accountable', etc. That being said, however, it does absolutely nothing on its own, and far too many people are being far too proud of themselves for an outsized belief in their action.

These things - peaceful protests, boycotts against brands, letters to senators, literally posting - do nothing whatsoever to impact the pace of the genocide being carried out. They have not slowed the advance of Merkava tanks or the flights of F-35s by even a minute. They are effective if and only if they are carried out in conjunction with and support of actual direct action against the war machine. Work stoppages at ports, blockades of weapons manufacturers, these are the bare minimum of actual opposition to the genocide. Further action, like solidarity strikes in the states providing diplomatic and military support for the occupation, general unrest, etc, are sorely needed - and, ultimately, are the only things to be done not premised on appealing to the good conscience of those committing genocide. Your governments do not care what you think of them, they care if you stop working - and they will only stop sending weapons if you physically stop them.

It feels like 2020 taught a lot of people nothing. Massive protests, unthinkable levels of outrage - even met with apparently cowing of the state, overwhelmed with public opposition to their policies. Ultimately, none of the movement's goals survived, and the gestures (which is all that were gotten) faded. Roads were renamed and painted back over. Cops still kill people exactly as much. They know exactly how much you oppose it, they always have. Telling them isn't going to do anything, because it's not news. They don't act this way because they're misguided or have wrong ideas, they do it because it's profitable and in their material interests. The only way to make them act differently is to make them act differently. Either directly, by blocking their actions, or indirectly, by making the endeavour too costly through strikes and other leveraging of the fact that we, as workers, produce all their wealth. Each dollar going to buy IDF missiles ultimately comes from you. You want to stop it? Organise and strike. Physically block weapons movements. Yes, propagandise, talk about it, but for the love of god, don't trick yourself into believing that's the end of it.

The Palestinian resistance isn't limiting themselves to posting and raising awareness. They know that those committing genocide are plenty aware of what they're doing. No, the resistance is taking up arms. They would kill the soldiers of your country if they came across them defending the occupation, and they'd be right to do so. The soldiers of your country would kill you for striking. There is only one war, here.

[an-ocean-viewer]

I swear. Using tumblr on my phone is arduous work... You create a huge list one day and accidentally remove it from your recent apps and boom.. you need to rewrite everything.

Yet, a lot of good things happened in this long while so I musn't be lazy in documenting it.

Once again, these are in no particular order.

Things I liked about these days #23

1. I got first place in the nationals🥳🥳! I didn't expect to be the champion at all. I even got a minus 2 on my final score. What a lucky break

2. Adding to the first one, I have been given both a medal and a plaque. I'll need to give the plaque to my university though.. sadly. It's the first time I ever got first place in a competition. It was in a nationals no less! I didn't even get first place in the regionals. I was only able to enjoy this opportunity due to the one who got first place in the regionals backing out.

3. Extra emphasis on that minus 2 haha! It wasn't enough to stop me MUAHAHAHHAA!

4. MY FATHER IS FEELING WELL AGAIN! WOOHOO! EAT DIRT TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA!

5. My father recovered relatively quickly. That carbamezipine is really strong. I hope that whoever invented it gets like triple the applause that the greatest inventors got

6. My friends are friends again (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠). It's so nice being able to help my friends get together. Hehehe.

7. Our thesis concepts are coming along nicely. I'm such a smart thinker-thunker :3

8. Our zombie apocalypse has come to an end on it's 50th night. It was the most fun I've ever had in gaming that didn't feel like I just wasted 30 mins of my life watching another "teammate" run it down after a few games.

9. Now, I've created another Minecraft modpack – a fantasy adventure one with spells and classes. We're a few days in and it's setting itself up to be even better than the zombie apocalypse since there's no stress and it's mostly just us vibing.

10. Gaming with friends is nice. I just love how we're 3 idiots trying to figure out what in the flying megazord caused a zombie to get 13 thousand health. It's a blast to deal with these 'intentional' enemies (I am a very smart modpack maker that takes into account all situations possible).

11. I know for certain my friends are there for me. It feels warm. Everyone is trying to push the other up then reaching down to pull to another up. It's weird being in a healthy friend circle, but I like it!

12. I accidentally oneshot a friend of mine while playing the modpack. Turns out my dash deals a lot of damage. My friend also oneshot me... by jumping on my head.... This modpack is wild. Needs a lot of rebalancing tho. Stupid modpack maker can't even balance one class lmfao

13. Finished all 6 quizzes in two subjects in one sitting. EZ 😎

14. Turns out I still know how to do derivatives and slopes. Did not expect it since it was nearly 3 years ago. Then again, I'm having an easier time learning trigonometry in this last year so perhaps this is my luck pushing itself to the limits

15. The lessons thus far in our competency appraisal are easy to understand and brain digestible. Managed to discover a calculator technique for dividing matrices easier

16. I like the little things. For example, my friend usually tells me to correct my posture.

17. We reviewed in my friend's house and we got free fud

18. It feels nice to get along with everyone in a classroom setting. There hasn't been much face-to-face classes, sadly. But now that we have exams, all of us are meeting. I think I'm getting along with everyone (at least, I hope I am)

19. I suck at crimping wires. It's definitely fun to try it. I felt much, much better when my friend (who is good at crimping) had a hard time using my cables. It was like some wave of relief washed over me with the message "Not all skill issue" in the sea weeds

20. I got new shoes! Black shoes hehe. I luv them. Simple and stylish

21. It feels nice teaching my friends and classmates about electronics for the exam. Or maybe it's just an ego thing.

22. We watched the FNAF movieeeeee. To be completely honest, plot-wise, it sucks ass. However, for a fan of the series such as myself, it definitely is an enjoyable watch. It's true to the theme of being stupid but entertaining. The biggest shame in the world is that Markiplier was not in it. I am massively disappointed

That's all, umu. We have exam weeks now so it might be harder. Starting now, I'll probably be posting pics.

I hope everyone has a great year~

[tinnitusdiaries]

10/29/2023 Pt. 2

Today, I spent time looking through my Tumblr that I created back in 2013. Inevitably, I cringed. Then, I felt sad for her. After deleting a load of words that I didn't know the meaning of when I wrote them (luckily nothing worth losing my job or being canceled over), I deleted the account altogether.

I thought it would show progress and growth to continue using that account, and then I realized it shows progress and growth to start a new one.

I felt the same way looking back at my journal entries. Specifically, the ones from mid-September. I've been journaling for over a year now, though I started in a much more distressing way on September 19th, 2023. This was 40 days ago. Just two days after Riot Fest in Chicago, Illinois.

I feel sad for her, too.

After Riot Fest this year, nearly 24 hours later, I sat in "silence" in my bed. I heard a high pitched ringing in my left ear that sounded like a poorly tuned, soprano singing bowl. I sobbed. I was devastated. I was alone. I think I have always had very mild tinnitus. I would rest my head on my pillow, hear a ringing or dial tone of sorts, go, "Hmm, that's neat," then fall asleep. This ringing, though, she was relentless.

For the next two weeks, my OCD and tinnitus would join together to create an absolute hurricane of emotions. There is nothing a doctor could tell me because I already Googled it ten times. I did, though, still see a doctor. More than one doctor. I saw two Urgent Care doctors, an ENT, my PCP, an Audiologist, my ENT again, then my PCP again.

No one could tell me anything, and no one cared to. My audiologist had a casual conversation about hearing loss with me despite me not having any, then asked what my tinnitus sounded like. When I told her I hear three tones simultaneously, she started vigorously writing and said, "You should see your ENT again." I did just that. When he noticed I didn't have hearing loss and my inner ear function was well, he said, "I don't want to talk about the tinnitus anymore. But, your ALLERGIES." This was disappointing, for sure. My PCP was less cold about this all, but still couldn't do anything for me.

I wasn't kind to myself at all throughout this. The words I said to myself, I wrote in my journal, and thought were so, so unkind. I blamed myself. I still do, but the difference now is that I forgive myself and take responsibility for my emotions. No one gets to tell me how to react to this situation but me.

After placing a sticker in my journal every time I wanted to Google a symptom, "processing" when I was really digging myself a deeper hole, and indulging in tinnitus forums (I would not recommend doing this), I have decided to be soft. I've decided to be gentle and kind to myself.

This isn't to say I'm perfect. It's only been 40 days of ear ringing and my OCD has latched onto it like an opossum to its mother. I still Google spiral, I check in with my tinnitus, I check in with environmental sounds, I flinch when someone laughs too hard, and a slew of other unhelpful activities.

I do, though, take care of myself. Since the tinnitus has become chronic and noticeable, I have loved myself like I never had before. I don't drink alcohol anymore, I haven't had any caffeine, I'm taking care of my allergies (though I did consider doing the opposite to spite my shitty ENT), I drink more water, I sleep for 8 hours a night, I walk, I meditate, I do yoga, I don't skip therapy, etc.

I hate silver linings, but there it is. It's the glare of the passenger's phone blinding you for a second while you're driving. It's there even if I want to act like it's not.

[akookminsupporter]

I don't know why, but seeing Jungkook with the little manbun almost transported me back to 2020. I feel a little nostalgic. 2020 autumn was my first time being more active in the fandom spaces and now remembering back really brings me all kinds of feels. Mots on:e was two years ago (TWO?!?!), I remember how we all lost it when My Time came and then followed by Filter. Many of the blogs I followed back then sadly aren't active anymore. Then the Be promotions, Jikook in their ponytails. And then the award season, it was so stressful to experience for the first time, but so much fun. I sometimes miss the early days of being in the fandom, even though I'm happier and more settled as an army now. I guess I miss the community that we had on tumblr back then, you're one of the only ones still active from the blogs I followed. It's kind of strange how we don't even know each other, but somehow even seeing someone's posts on your dash can feel meaningful (I mean yes I'm lonely). Anyways, Jungkook's long hair did this to me, made me go down a memory lane a bit. Sorry it's a ramble.

Oh anon, we were born basically at the same time as ARMYs! ahahaha although you are older than me by a few months, you were already born for the MOTS concert.

I understand what you're saying, although I unfollowed a lot of accounts shortly after creating my blog, I understand that feeling that a lot has changed and nothing is the same. I'm almost two… wait, it's been two years since I became a BTS fan!!!! OMG, I just realized ahahahahah, I digress.

I think I've been lucky because I kind of created my own community here on the blog, it's helped me a lot and well, I don't follow many blogs nowadays but I still understand you. The first months or rather weeks after I became ARMY were exciting because there was so much to learn, to see, and to read. Besides, I arrived shortly before a comeback so a lot of things were happening.

It's amazing to think how much has happened in the 2 years I've been here and how much I've learned in that time.

And yes, it's a bit strange how we don't know each other but in a way, we are part of each other's lives. All thanks to 7 wonderful men.

It's funny about Jungkook with long hair because I think the first Live I saw of Jungkook was one he did on Youtube and in it, he showed how long his hair was and talked about it. And here again, we have Jungkook with long hair, I wonder if he won't cut it this time.

[kainablue]

That's super nice to hear! I've been seeing you on my dash a lot more and I was like "I wonder how they are?"

It's been so long and I only vaguely remember Valeri for example (because I drew him a couple of times lol so I guess that's why he stuck the most). Oh dear, I'm so sorry your diagnosis came in late. I really hope summer break will help and than medications will slowly help you recover 💙 Oh that's awesome, I will check the post you mentioned asap! Hahaha, just a couple of days ago I decided I don't want to keep a dead character dead. That's why I'm gonna put her in some magical state of coma so that she could awake and create a rather angsty situation *evil grin*. So I feel you very much on that. Enjoy the prequel torture then for as long as you can :') Yep, I'm working on it. Even after 5+ years I'm not giving up. I took tumblr hiatus because I was focusing too much on other people's work and not enough on my own. I started working almost full time 2 years ago so my free time took a big blow. Even though I enjoy n*sfw content on twitter I really want to move forward with my wip especially here on tumblr. I think I progressed enough with art style (I mean, I know there is always room for improvement, but I will never finish my story if I only draw and focus on art skill). So I started redesigning the sprites and that's the main thing right now. @howl-of-the-blood account is active and running and right now I'm fixing the tags. That account will also be dedicated to Old Slavic mythology and culture (I bought so many expert literature on the topic of old deities and monsters and I am so excited to slowly translate it all!).

For now, I will avoid getting on too many taglists. I am on two-three already and I would like to get back on yours if possible. For now let's keep it only for BCC because I don't want to overwhelm myself again and I hope you understand ⊂(・﹏・⊂) But I will check out your other wips too!

Please tag me for tag games! That way I can talk about my wip more and maybe push myself more to finish this thing finally 😅

Helloooo, honey! I have abandoned writeblr community for the last year or so. How have you been? What are you working on? 💙

Hello!!! <3

I was very happy to see you here again! I totally relate to abandoning tumblr/writeblr community for an extended period :D I also did it last year (and honestly most of the pandemic) and now I'm slowly worming my way back in XD

I've been honestly pretty burned out for a year now. I had a big ADHD burn out year ago and right after that I finally got a diagnosis and medication, but it was a little too late :'D So after that I've been just trying to survive uni and work and now I'm working on my bachelor's thesis, which is a little too much, but I'm going to take a proper summer break, so that's keeping me going right now :D

Because everything mentioned above, I haven't been writing much, but after two years I've taken Bear Castle Chronicles from the shelf and I've started working on it again! I've done some significant changes so I'm currently re-plotting it and going some re-structuring of the world too. I actually just a moment ago happened to post a re-intro to it in my attempt to get back to the whole writeblr thing :D It's here if you want to check out some of the things that have changed. (No pressure or hurry, I fully understand not always having enough brain juices to read a long post. I also did an earlier post, if you want to see what changes I've made to the characters since I go over some major ones in that. It's pretty long too, so again no pressure, but written in very casual bullet lists.) For a past days I've been fixating on Marcus and Julius and I've written scenes about them that are pretty much unrelated to BCC and at most could end up in a prequel if I ever made one. I love them so much and now I'm mad at myself for setting up this story in a way that Julius has to be dead the whole time :'D But at least I can have very tortured Marcus then...

But how have you been?? I think I saw something that made me think you're still/again working on Howl of the Blood? How is it going? It's nice to have you back!!

[exit-path]

3 Years on Tumblr: A Tribute, a Biography, a Farewell

Hello! My name is peysi. I created my tumblr blog on August 21st, 2019.

Wow, it’s hard to believe that for the past three years, besides a single name change, I’ve been using the same exact tumblr blog! I’ve seen blogs purposefully deactivating, blogs accidentally deactivating, even people deleting their earliest (awkward) posts. Yet my blog has remained largely the same. Even the blog title, “peysi blog,” and description, “i have no idea how this works,” from day one have remained there to this day.

These four images symbolize some of the greatest moments of my blog—all of which happen to be Minecraft-related. First, there's the Skyblock image, which I made by copying and pasting images of 3D block renders until it resembled the actual Skyblock island, and in Feb 2020 it was my first tumblr post to pass 1,000 notes. Second, there's "building houses in UHC," a trick I learned and pulled off in multiple Hypixel UHC games, and edited together a video showcasing it.

Third, there's a meme image of a player's inventory filled with buckets of axolotl, and it's in my most popular post with an original joke (partly because I took the screenshot), gaining over 10,000 notes. Fourth is an artwork, my magnum opus, where I combined all of the art tricks and skills I learned during my years on tumblr alone: brushes, shading, action, and the mathematics of perspective involving Minecraft blocks.

Unfortunately, good things don't last forever. You see, I start college classes in 2 days, and I know I can't handle college while using tumblr, at least not on the same level I used to. Plus, it's not as fun for me to use tumblr anymore when I've been using it nearly daily for 3 years straight, with my longest ever break being two weeks. So, I'm going to take a pretty long break from tumblr. There's a chance I'll return. But right now, it's good to have this behind me.

Last year, I gave an autobiographical recap of the first two years of my blog. Now, I'm going to do the same for the last year. Finally, I'll be doing a face reveal at the end of this post. I'm a little short on time writing this, so there may be some moments I skipped. But without further ado, let's dive right in.

6. Aug 2021–Mar 2022: Electroman Adventures

One difference you might notice between last year's post and this post is the change in naming convention. Gone are the days of naming "phases" after singular popular posts anymore—a consequence of little happening back then. In the final year of my blog, my phases are named after entire sideblogs I created. Also, as "mineblr" and the topic of Minecraft continued to wane in popularity on tumblr, I was looking for other reasons to continue using the website.

Inspired by seven-oh-four naming her Geometry Dash sideblog after an official level, I created electroman-adventures on Aug 26th, 2021. (Sidenote: this was just five days after my last year's blog anniversary. The next day, one of my posts from Oct 2020 passed 10,000 notes. A lot has happened so far in just a few days after my last anniversary! Today, I have 8 posts with over 10,000 notes.)

I was already very interested in GD, having posted about it on multiple occasions on my main blog, but this was the first time I gave myself a space to fully indulge in the hobby. Only a few other people here played the game professionally too, and I got to meet them: i-want-it-weird-and-wonderful and her sideblog, joelymammoth, dragonfruuit, raspberreeee, and mad-hatterene.

In Dec 2021, I became the first person to discover that mad-hatterene was actually the tumblr blog of "Blitzer," a person that's currently a GD moderator, a List Leader of the Demonlist, and verifier of the update to "Tenth Circle" by DeniPol. They designed the thumbnail for paqoe's "Silent Clubstep" verification, and their current verification project is "Deimos" by ItsHybrid and more, an upcoming main-list extreme demon. Apparently they made their tumblr account 6 years ago, and only returned to tumblr because the GD community here grew after I started posting about GD. What a find!

In other news, Deltarune Chapter 2 came out in Sep 2021, and since I liked Chapter 1 back when it came out, I embraced the popularity and culture of Chapter 2 unfolding on tumblr. In Dec 2021, I joined Koicraft (World 5), a Minecraft SMP by popular mineblr mega-taiga. After one event on this server gave players special items, I fought with a friend named GoGlitch using potions of Slowness V, which I memorialized in this artwork.

7. Mar 2022–Aug 2022: World Heritage MC

It's hard to describe the state of mineblr at the time I created world-heritage-mc. Despite how strong the "Minecraft renaissance" was in 2019, these days the #mineblr tag dwindled to just one """popular""" post a day. Discontent with the current situation, along with discovering a new trick, I had an ambitious idea: create a Minecraft blog to browse tumblr as it was in 2019, like I was still in the past. And thus, on Mar 2nd, 2022, world-heritage-mc was born.

This isn't the original blog that world-heritage-mc runs on today. To explain why that's the case, and where the original blog is today, I have to go back to early March. Originally, it was just me running the blog, generating dashboard links for me to browse. It also became the de-facto "heritage post" blog of Minecraft content, which was a second responsibility I gave myself. Eventually, I realized that all of it was too much work for me to handle alone. So, I opened up moderator applications.

In total, four other people would end up joining the project. These legends were obsidianapple, seven-oh-four, aylt, and lunagaron. I created a discord server for the five of us to talk in, designed a new group blog for world-heritage-mc, made personalized emails and tumblr blogs for all of us (including turning the first iteration of the blog into my personal blog), taught them how to use the blog, and handed the new accounts over to the mods. This was my first time leading a group of people, and I was very nervous.

However, as if by divine intervention, on the very first day of our operations, pokemonlove4ever was created. This satire blog, which got a laugh out of everyone for the brief time it existed, including the mods in our team (for we had no part in it), placed a deep-rooted fear in me regarding group blogs. Also, naming the blog "world-heritage-mc" put it in my head that we were competing with other "heritage post" blogs, such as sonicheritageposts, undertaleheritageposts, tf2heritageposts, pokemonheritageposts, etc.

In June 2022, tumblr half-patched the trick we were using by preventing group blogs from viewing posts on our dashboard older than 7 days. This prevented us from carrying out both of our tasks on world-heritage-mc: reblogging posts from "old" dashboards, and stumbling upon posts from 2019 that we could deem "minecraft heritage posts." Normally this patch shouldn't have stopped us, as we could easily have found a workaround, but the event gave me a moment to pause and second-guess my ability as a leader.

This whole time, despite all of the mods in our group being my friends, I never learned on a personal level what each person excelled at. As a result, I couldn't delegate responsibilities that matched up with their talents. By the end, all of them were doing the same-old monotonous tasks, and they felt bored. So, we quit doing the two tasks, switched the main role of the blog to being "just five people controlling the same mineblr," and that's what you'll see currently when you view world-heritage-mc.

In other news, on Apr 25th, 2022, zetexkindasucks led an exodus from GD Twitter to tumblr. Overnight, the size of "gmdtumblr," as the community here was now called, grew tenfold, and I got the chance to meet many new people, players so skilled I never could have imagined them being on tumblr. raspberreeee created a new group blog comprised of pre-exodus gmdtumblr members called "dear-nostalgists," inspired by world-heritage-mc but instead being for GD. However, due to there only being a few real members of gmdtumblr, there was no audience for the group blog, and it went under.

But, just as quickly as the Twitter users came, they all left (the reason being that they realized Elon Musk wasn't going to buy Twitter), and tumblr was empty once again. In Jul 2022, I decided that for the first time, I was going to join Twitter. I know, shocker, considering that I'm probably the biggest proponent of tumblr. But I found out now that I turned 18, I was finally mature enough to handle Twitter, and despite my worst expectations, I actually had a lot of fun there.

I finally talked to the people I'd actually wanted to meet for so long, and the event spurred a new moment of creativity in me. When I returned to tumblr, I reposted what I created back here. Because tumblr will always be my home. Also, while I was gone, raspberreeee silently deactivated, and dear-nostalgists went with it. I'm sorry he's gone, and for the unfair attitude I treated him with while he was here. I hope he finds opportunity elsewhere on the internet.

*   *   *

And now, we finally return to my face reveal. When I announced a long time ago I would do this on June 2022, nobody wanted it because it stressed me out so much at the time that it scared everyone else. But now, two months later, I am at peace with myself. This is what I always wanted. This post is tagged #personal, so fair warning to everyone, if you don’t want to see anything IRL, you should filter “#personal”.

As a closing note, it begs the question: given that it was my blog description for 3 years, do I have any "idea how this works" yet?

...

Nope :) not yet.

Thank you. We’ll meet again.

(photo taken 5/21/22)

[kissalopa]

I posted 994 times in 2022

355 posts created (36%)

639 posts reblogged (64%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@satureja13

@ravensim

@kimbr3

@minty-plumbob

@oswanily

I tagged 994 of my posts in 2022

#reblog - 630 posts

#not mine - 393 posts

#simblr love - 367 posts

#sims 4 gameplay - 271 posts

#ts4 gameplay - 271 posts

#sims 4 - 271 posts

#ts4 - 271 posts

#rainbowsin - 191 posts

#rainbowsinchallenge - 191 posts

#rsgreed - 176 posts

Longest Tag: 46 characters

#all of these are recolours or swatches updates

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

A Little Update

Hi, everyone! Hope all of you are doing well!

I am still in countryside, trying to enjoy it here being a city girl. My boy is having fun, and that's the main reason why we are here.

See the full post

39 notes - Posted June 28, 2022

#4

I am finally back! 🏙️🥳

I have returned from my countryside trip and got back my blog. My account was terminated while I was packing and going home, so all of it was very stressful to me 😵

But I feel so... uplifted (is that the right word, I'm not sure), I want to play the game, I already started to update all my mods and even some CC (I heard CC beds were broken). And even more I want to get back to recolouring, I also want to try something new. Maybe recolouring in patterns, or hair conversions or maybe custom cas background recolours 🎨

I also need to do some catching up, but this will take time. And please don’t take it personal, if I won’t catch up on your posts! I follow a lot of blogs, and I can’t keep up with everything that happened in those 3 monthes that I was away.

I hope none of your blogs will ever be terminated like this! 🤞‍

43 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

#3

Hi, everyone! 👋

Sorry for disappearing without any notice.

Last time I posted, I said that my baby got sick. And then I got sick myself, I think it's some sort of a flu. I've never been so sick in my entire life (it was very like when I was pregnant though).

And while I was still lying in bed, my marriage started to fall apart. I don't want to get into details, but I don't know what future holds for me and my baby and that unsettles me.

But no matter what I am not leaving simblr. This is my safe place, my hobby. So I am planning to start posting again soon (but don't quote me on that). I also have some asks to answer and recolours to finish, but that will have to wait until I feel better.

I am not fully back yet, but I will be here from time to time, and will be fully back when I feel better (hopefully in a few days).

I missed you all a lot! I hope you all had a great Simblreen! 💜 🎃 I am sad I missed everything, but I will be looking for public treats to enjoy 👻 🦇

46 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

#2

Hi, everyone! 👋🏼

Today is my Birthday 🥳

It's already evening at my place, so birthday is almost over. It was a good day today. I am still a little depressed though (not related to birthday or today).

I have this blog for three years now, and never shared when my bday is. But today I decided to celebrate it with you all 💜

48 notes - Posted August 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Hi, everyone! 👋🏼

I probably spend too much time here lately, but I just really miss you all and your sims stuff 💜

A few days ago a homeless kitten appeared at our place, he's so cute. We want to adopt him, we already started to take care of him. Can't come up with a name though. I will gladly hear your ideas for a pet name, if you have some. 😺

See the full post

48 notes - Posted July 14, 2022

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