#idk her surname changes sometimes

[peachy-bunnies]

two jolynes, how bizarre

[y-rhywbeth2]

Naming Systems

For the humans and tieflings of Baldur's Gate (and half-orcs and half-elves who follow human naming systems rather than that of their non-human culture) Dwarves, elves and others will be done another time to save space.

Obviously I imagine you've all named your Tavs and Durges by now, but idk, I felt like doing this and maybe you've got random background OCs to name.

Sometimes people like to name their kids after gods. Like "Helm" and "Torm".

Chondathan

By far the most common names and surnames in Baldur's Gate (including non-human names).

Quite often people have no official surnames and use locations and vocations as surnames, like in real life (Blackgate, Cliffgate, Tumbledown, Tailor, Gardner)

Families of Cormyrean descent usually favour portmanteau surnames: Evenwood, Breakwood, Ironwinter, Summergate, Amblecrown, etc.

Residents of the Dalelands who move abroad often use the name of their Dale and shorten it. For example, Barantra from Tasseldale upon moving to Baldur's Gate would call herself "Barantra Tassel" and her descendants might continue to use that as a surname.

Dales: Archen, Scar, Tassel, Deeping, Harrow, Battle, Feather, High, Mistle, Shadow, Moon*, Sessren*, Tarkhal*, Teshen*, Dagger, Merry* *These dales have fallen to history. In the case of Merrydale, the name was changed to Daggerdale after an incident involving a brutal vampire infestation that led to a lot of violence and made everybody suspicious and hostile, so these surnames would indicate it's been a long time since your ancestors left the Dalelands.

Sembian families like to invent newer and grander surnames, in an attempt to make themselves look rich and important. This is less likely to be seen in the Western Heartlands, but I suppose it still may occur. Families often hyphenate their names so you might meet "Shandri Clarandal-Tarlroyal", or "Roakyn Dauncrown-Sardar"

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Canon common given names: Masculine: Darvin, Dorn, Evendur, Gorstag, Grim, Helm, Malark, Morn, Randal, Stedd. Feminine: Arveene, Esvele, Jhessail, Kerri, Lureene, Miri, Rowan, Shandri, Tessele. (Plus a few dozen more I'm not typing out)

While the following isn't exactly canon I feel like you can get a name that "sounds about right" by breaking the syllables down and shoving on a syllable that goes on the end.

Like with the names "Lureene" and "Arveene", the ending is "eene" and you get the syllables "Lur" and "Arv". Then you could get new names by taking, idk, "Kerri" and "Miri". Ker+ri, Mi+ri = Lurri and Kereene and Arvri. Mieene doesn't really sound right, but idk.

Syllables Dar, Dor, D, Even, Gor, Gors, Gr, Mal, M, Rand, Ran, St, S, Arv, Esv, Jhes, Ker, Shand, Bev, Tes, Al, Ald, Alvae, And, Gal, Galag, Cath, Coran, Bold, Bol, Elbas, Ind, Jath, Ont, Prend, Baran, Coel, Dar, Em, Shar, Galiy, Hael, Saldv, Dal, Torv, Varan, Joy, Sar, Pip, Nan, Zor, Nok, Rorn, Far, Soor, Mi

Endings Masculine: -in, -vin, -orn, -dur, -ur, -tag, -stag, -im, -ark, -al, -dal, -edd, -arl, -rel, -rus, -us, -or, -ion, -stion, -ond, -dor, -yn, -dyn, -yk, -ryk, -ke, -il

Gorion, Darvin, Malryk, Tesor, Jathstag...

Feminine: -eene, -ele, -sail, -ri, -dra, -tra, -ra, -la, -ria, -ara, -arra, -one, -ue, -due, -syl, -ala, -ys, -ae, -naem, -ice, -e

Shandra, Miele, Darla, Arvone, Sarice, Cathtra, Bevra...

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Alzhedo

The second most common group of names heard in the Gate, although early in the city's history I suspect Calishite and Illuskan names were more common. I note that "Jaheira" is likely an Alzhedo name (which makes sense, she's from Tethyr).

So, Calishite filial piety and subsequent naming standards are very detailed and specific: "A person is worthless without the identity gained by his name and that of his family."

A slave will have their given name and the name of the family that "owns" them. A large part of the population of Baldur's Gate are descended from former slaves, exiles and dissidents of the Calishite Shoon Empire, and would likely have originally borne names under that system.

In this case it's [name] adh [master's surname] So for example, Hamlil adh Tahandral. It's possible that it Hamlil had migrated northwards with her family that one of her descendants might be Miri Tahandral or something.

A freeman would list their title/s, their given name, their matronym or patronym, their family name, and their home town.

So if your name is Aseid, your father is Haseir, you're of House Dumein and you live in Baldur's Gate then: your full name, in the traditional manner, is "Aseid yn Haseir el Dumein yi Baldur's Gate," while if you have a sister, Ceidil daughter of Atala is called "Ceidil yr Atala el Dumein yi Baldur's Gate."

Adding your hometown onto the end is usually not necessary, and using it all the time is a sign of civic pride.

Diaspora, such as the Baldurians, usually drop the articles. Aseid Haseir Dumein Ceidil Atala Dumein.

Aseid may chose to use a matronym, Aseid Atala. This deliberately draws attention to her identity over her husband's which is unusual. It implies that his mother is particularly high ranking or infamous. Likewise Cidil may name herself Ceidil Haseir.

Clergy traditionally replace their family with their god, so if Aseid decides to go to the Rose Portal shrine and take up life in service to Lathander, he will be "Aseid el Lathander" or "Aseid Lathander".

Syllables As, Am, And, Bard, Has, Khem, Khe, Meh, Sud, Sudei, Zash, At, Ceid, Cei, Ha, Ham, Jah, Jas, Mei, Meil, Seip, Sei, Yash, Bash, Dum, Jas, Khal, Kha, Most, Mos, Pash, Amj, Tah, Tahan, Bhal, Mjo

Endings: M: -eid, -eir, -ed, -med, -en, -men, -man, -ad, -id, -al, -ein, -an, -ar, -ein, -san, -ir

Amen, Mehsan, Khemad, Zashein...

F: -ala, -edia, -eira, -eda, -il, -a, -ma, -al, -lil, -ida, -eina, -ana, -ara, -eina, -sana, -ira

Jaheira, Bhalil, Yashana, Tahma...

?: -sha

Canon common names: Masculine: Aseir, Bardeid, Haseid, Khemed, Mehmen, Sudeiman, Zashtir. Feminine: Atala, Сеidil, Hama, Jasmal, Meilil, Seipora, Yasheira, Zasheida. Common house names: Dumein, Jasan, Khalid, Mostana, Pashar, Rein.

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Illuskan

Third most common group.

I can't find much of anything about how naming systems are supposed to work for Illuskans.

Some don't use them at all.

Some go for patronyms and matronyms: -sson and -sdottir, so you get like, Malcersson and Cefreysdottir. These do not seem to be common. Some surnames are: "Kurth", "Helder", "Rethnor", "Stornar", "Rhuul"... This is entirely headcanon/guessing, but maybe they're patronyms and matronyms with the suffix removed? Luthin Cefreysdottir -> Luthin Cefrey?

Some gain names for themselves, self-bestowed or bestowed by reputation, based on aspects of themselves or their deeds that they're proud of or that give them fame: Nimoar "the Reaver", Ornar "of the Claw".

Most have surnames of some kind, some are portmanteaus: "Tenfeather", "Hornraven", "Windrivver", "Hathwinter", "Brightwood", "Lackman", "Stormwind", "Gnarlybone." This seems to be the most common form of surname. I'm entirely hypothesising, but Illuskan cultures value bravery and strength (particularly in battle) so I'd assume those are deed-names, possibly inherited from a famous ancestor?

Syllables: And, Bla, Bl, Br, Fr, G, Lan, Land, L, Mal, Malc, Sto, Tam, Am, Ama, Be, Beth, Ce, Keth, Mar, Ol, Sili, West, Wes, Or, Alas, Aga, Jaun, Von, Oj, Ost. Uth, Nash

Endings: M: -er, -ath, -ran, -eth, -uth, -der, -or, -an, -nar, -gar

Nasher, Oruth, Landgar, Ander, Vonor, Westran...

F: -frey, -tha, -ra, -ga, -tra, -da, -in, -ya

Agatha, Ojya, Malda, Stoya, Ceda, Luthin...

Canon common names: Masculine: Ander, Blath, Bran, Frath, Geth, Lander, Luth, Maler, Stor, Taman, Urth. Feminine: Amafrey, Betha, Cefrey, Kethra, Mara, Olga, Silifrey, Westra.

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Rashemi (Gur)

The Gur still speak a variant of the proto-Rashemi tongue amongst themselves in private, so depending on how much they assimilate or not I imagine at least some of the names might be similar?

I can find even less about Rashemaar surnames than I can anyone else right now.

Surnames used by Rashemi are: Chergoba, Dyernina, Itazyara, Murnyethara, Stayanoga and Ulmokina. Names like that might be Gur tribe names?

Syllables: Fyev, Bori, Bor, Faur, Hulm, Hul, Jand, Jan, Im, Kanith, Kani, Kan, Madi, Mad, Nav, Madis, Ralm, Shau, Shaum, Vladis, Vlad, Dyna, Min, Tam, Yul

Endings: M: -vik, -gar, -ik, -ar, -islak, -ak, -evik, -insk

F: -arra, -mith, -ith, -zel, -el, -dra, -ra, -heir

Canon common names: Masculine: Borivik, Faurgar, Jandar, Kanithar, Madislak, Ralmevik, Shaumar, Vladislak. Feminine: Fyevarra, Hulmarra, Immith, Imzel, Navarra, Shevarra, Tammith, Yuldra,

[thyandrawrites]

Some language and translation trivia from episode nagi

So, I recently reread episode nagi 1-3 in japanese, and since I enjoy translation trivia a lot, I thought I would compile all my observations in a post. Please don’t take this too seriously! While I do have a language degree, I’m not a professional translator. In no way this is meant as a dig towards the professionals working on the official release! These are just some fun facts I thought I’d share. 

without further ado, let’s delve into it!

On top of his already limited (kinda childish) vocabulary, Nagi’s speech bubbles often forgo complex kanji and favor writing the words out in hiragana. He sometimes does the same with (foreign) words that should be written out in katakana (example: Barou’s beloved “king”). We know this is a quirk of Nagi’s because he sometimes uses kanji for the same words. The most notable example is his favorite one, mendoukusai, “hassle”—mostly written in hiragana, sometimes shortened, sometimes elongated for dramatic, whiny emphasis, and rarely written out in kanji.

Since kanji are taught by grade in japanese schools, the foregoing them in a certain character’s lines can hint that the guy doesn’t have a higher education. However, in Nagi’s case, I think it’s meant to make him come across as unsophisticated or a bit childish. Or maybe just lazy. I think the former, though, considering how all his compliments always circle back to the same, like, 4 juvenile variations of "amazing". 

(more under a cut for length):

Still on the topic of speech patterns, Nagi talks in plain form. For those who don't know what that means, it's an informal register, very common between teens. Nagi seems to use it with his elders, too, though, and that's a bit less common. You're supposed to talk in polite form to strangers and to your elders. Then again, pretty much everyone in blue lock talks that way. There's not a lot of respect for your elders in this series. Or for your peers, lol 

As for Reo, he talks in male speech! Still very much informal and common, particularly between rowdy teens, but if plain form can still be acceptable in a lot of social situations, male speech is distinctly cocky, self-confident and impolite, so not what you'd expect from the distinguished heir of a billionaire who prides himself as a businessman in the making, ahah. He talks that way to Ego as well, btw. 

Both of them tend not to use honorifics. Reo more so. In all three volumes, Reo used them once, to calm Nagi down while he was angry at Barou. Nagi mostly goes without too, but he sometimes uses them, when the situation calls for it, or a bit ironically. If you're curious, here's what I noticed: he uses "san" for Baa-ya when talking to her (when he leaves Choki in her care), but not when he's talking to Reo about her. He calls Zantetsu "dentist-san" when the latter drops his backstory, and "Zantetsu-kun" when the guy scores after listening to Reo's advice. And when all three finally link up, Nagi tacks on a "sama" to Reo's name while calling him a king (in the chess sense. Fun fact, it might or might not have been a pun, since Reo's name contains the kanji for king btw). That's pretty much it for epinagi so far. He just uses surnames without honorifics (or nicknames) for everyone else normally. Same for Reo. 

When talking to Nagi, Reo refers to his mother as 母親 (hahaoya, "mom") and to his father as 親父 (oyaji, "old man, pops") and クソ親父 (kuso oyaji, "shitty old man") respectively. Idk if that changes when he's talking to them tho, as he hasn't yet in epinagi. But so far his contempt seems to be only directed at his father. 

Upon seeing Kira, Reo describes him as "Japan's gem", but the word he uses for "gem" is 宝 (takara), treasure, pretty much the same he uses for Nagi (= 宝物 takaramono, or treasured thing, prized possession). Hence Nagi looking up, unimpressed: 

To check out what the fuss was about. His face dhsvbdhdhdhsbs When Nagi thinks Reo's talking about Isagi, then, Reo corrects him by pointing his face toward Kira and saying not the dark-haired one, but that "really good looking guy". He calls him an ikemen btw, lmao.

I'm not sure if this was in the eng version too, but Reo calls Nagi and Zantetsu's team up the "neet combo". It's pretty self-explanatory how this relates to Nagi, but I wonder what about Zantetsu screamed "neet" to him.

When Zantetsu adamantly refuses to take Reo's advice, Reo gets super mad and calls him "obaka-sama", which. I can't with his pettiness ahah. Okay, let me explain. He's tacking on an honorific prefix ("o") and the highest honorific suffix ("sama") to an insult. 😂😂 Normally, you use honorifics to pay respect to and elevate the status of whatever or whoever you're tacking them on to. In this case, Reo's using them sarcastically, but he goes extra out of the way to be scathing. Zantetsu hates being called an idiot, but Reo feels he's acting unreasonable with his holier-than-thou attitude, so he upgrades his regular insult to mock that, basically. He's more or less saying, "oh great, revered moron".

Not a linguistic trivia, but. Nagi has a weekly planner for his bread eating habits. The day Reo joins his class to spy on him was a tuesday, cause tuesdays are melon bread days. 

When he's making a confident remark, Reo occasionally speaks with a sing-song in his voice. 

During the match against team X, Barou mocks Reo and Nagi's coordination and mutual dependence with a jab. He calls them a couple who wear matching outfits. Still laughing about this one tbh 

now onto my favorite one

Ever wondered why Nagi’s response here doesn’t come across as reassuring to Reo? Well, I think I have finally figured it out! 

While the translation above is 100% correct, I feel like the miscommunication lies in a matter of contextual ambiguity. When Reo says, quote, “You were supposed to team up with me,” in japanese it’s more like, “But teaming up with me is a must!” To which Nagi replies, “You and I are going to be the best in the world. That’s a must.” 

The theme (=what is being talked about) of Reo’s sentence is the “must” (zettai) part. Meaning, something that is absolute, unconditional. Reo is making a conjecture, the assumption that they’ll work with each other as they promised, but he’s also implicitly expecting Nagi to agree. He’s saying our combo is the unchangeable condition here. You know this. 

Nagi responds with something he means as reassuring, as a confirmation that he has their promise in mind. But since he echoes Reo’s word choice (zettai), and applies it to something else, it comes across wrong, more like he’s correcting Reo on what the “must” actually is. Not teaming up with each other until the end like Reo posits, but the simple agreement that they’ll be world class one day. With or without each other. 

This miscommunication is made worse by the fact that Reo’s declared ego is making Nagi the best striker in the world. So when Nagi follows this with a remark about how their team up wasn’t the strongest, Reo of course takes the “correction” to mean “someone else can better help me become the best instead of you. bye. nice hanging out with you till now. see you at the world cup, xoxo”

Simply put, Nagi thought he was explaining himself, but what he got across was that he was rejecting Reo’s ego altogether and moving on. That’s why the art then shows Reo’s ego chains falling apart. 

When Bachira asks Nagi if he’s secretly the “super cold type” right after leaving for the 3v3, in japanese it’s a neat, direct callback to the scene in chapter 2 where Nagi tells Reo he's okay with him teaming up with someone stronger than himself, and Reo calls that “heartless.” Both times the word used is the same, 薄情  (hakujou), cold-hearted, heartless, though iirc it was translated differently in english

They both say they feel lonely after their split up. Nagi in response to Bachira’s line as per the previous point (here’s a post I made about it a while back). And Reo when he thinks about Nagi’s change in chapter 13 and says he feels lonely, scared and weak. I will go down with the idea that they’re each other’s first friend. 

Ending this on a less sad note, when Rin calls Bachira “bowlcut”, the original phrasing reads okappa, from the mythical creature’s hairstyle. Now please google what an okappa looks like, lmao 

__

More epinagi language and translation trivia you might enjoy: 

notes on Nagi’s line “I’m gonna say something selfish”

notes (and misconceptions) about Nagi and Reo calling each other “partner” 

[makingshortstorieslong]

I just finished episode 9 of Konya Sukiyaki Dayo

!!!!!!!!!

I would be happy enough if it ended here - I can't believe I get 3 more episodes! Looking forward to seeing what's next.

I really love when they mix up the end credits to get the boys in there. Shinta I have loved from the beginning; Yuki had to grow on me but now I adore him.

I like this living in the same apartment building deal... I do imagine a 3 bedroom apt/house scenario and wonder how that would work out. After seeing how Aiko sleeps (lol) I want her and Yuki to please please get a bigger bed (I recently shared a like king sized bed in a hotel with a friend and omg ??? There's so much space we may as well have been in separate beds) (not sure you can find apartments in Japan with room for that though idk) in one room but also still have separate rooms like they talked about. And of course I want Tomoko and Aiko to keep living together. What I'm curious about is how Tomoko and Yuki would feel about living together... would that work out or would everyone dislike it? The current arrangement seems good, I just wonder.

it's a shame hyphenating their surnames doesn't seem to be an option. I mean ideally they could get married with no one changing their name but if the rule is registered families must share a name it seems like Ota-Seguira could be an option. But I guess that just isn't done. But I also wondered if they can't legally change their name and then keep using their old surname professionally and personally. But anyway pulling out rock paper scissors at the family dinner was fucking iconic. Seguira-soon-to-be-Ota Yuki you are a legend. He really said "if the Seguira family traditions are going to make Aiko unhappy then we will simply not be the Seguira family" and I respect him for it greatly. (also I feel like I'm spelling that surname wrong am I missing a vowel or inserting an extra one? Idk)

also I hope one of these remaining 3 episodes gives some more room for Shinta. He's a star.

also also: shoutout to Japanese dramas making up fun new ways to say "queerplatonic partners" / "platonic life partners". Kazoku kazu kakari / Family (Subject to Change) has a deeply special place in my heart to the point that genuinely if I did ever form a partnership I would probably refer to it that way sometimes. But Clownfish-Anemone makes me smile a lot :) yes! Mutualism! Symbiotic partnership!

[lumilasi]

I originally meant to first make all 4 House staff for Harrow's manor (the dad of my story's protagonist) before posting, but I decided to plop this out already. Did this a bit differently by basically just using the sketch again, no lineart.

IDK exactly why I decided that in this new form (while not born there) he comes from Romania, but I'm guessing its because I've seen glimpses of content related to the country a lot recently (A documentary on tv, that tumblr post about Romanian nuns helping out that kid scared of vampires, a game taking place there, etc), so it was in my brain when thinking of his origins lol

His bio below(W.I.P)

Name: Mihail (His surname is not an actual surname of his, he's just started using it jokingly when people ask, it is just the Romanian word for dog. Mihail has no surname as he doesn't recall his birth family)

Age: Unknown, but he is likely between 50-70, so among Grimmhounds he's considered to be an adult in their mid-to-late 30's, if converted to human years (Generally in this story, beings' lifespans tend to be measured in centuries, so they have a "true" age, and "human equivalent" age)

Family: birth family unknown, honorary little sister figure Scarlet Duffy

Friends: Harrow Araknos/Blackthorne (Soul eater & his boss) Thalia Swanson (The butler/head of staff) Roman Bosco (later, a former member of the same Grimmhound pack he was in)

Love interest: Aiden O'kelley (Human, their gardener)

Occupation: The chef/guardian of the Blackthorne Manor

Abilities:

Regeneration: His kind regenerate most injuries insanely fast, and are generally among the most durable land-dwelling beast types outside non-flying drakes.

Transformation: He has two forms; The humanoid skull-hound form, and a full black dog form the size of which he can change at will. He is insanely fast, stealthy and durable in these forms, with the skull-hound form being physically strongest, and the full dog form being fastest.

Shadows: He can merge with shadows to hide himself very well even in human form, and can attack you through them.

Bite force/claws: He has very strong bite force and can actually tear people's throats open even in human form. His claws can also be used to easily cut limbs off and damage metal.

Keen senses: Being a predator type of beast, his sense of smell is about as accurate as you'd expect from a trained bloodhound, he also has excellent night vision, and can pick up the faintest of sounds from hundreds of meters away. Also he's generally just very aware of his surroundings.

human weaponry: He's good at whipping out a knife and stabbing your eyes out with it when you least expect it.

Weaknesses:

Due to his disdain for his past self, Mihail tends to hold back too much in some situations, where he might get hurt needlessly. The same time though, in other cases he might use too much force, which may require some clean-up help from Harrow and Thalia.

He still has some bad habits from his past, namely he tends to come off as really rude and crude/blunt to people who don't know him well, even when he's not intending to do so. That's just how the group he was with talked. He tends to not realize when he's coming off rude either, and needs to be told about it.

Light magic spells are naturally effective towards his kind, as they tend to dispel the skull-dog humanoid form and force them to turn back to full humans, which is their weakest form. It does specifically need to be some sort of sacred type of light, you can't just whip out a flashlight to force them to transform. (Unless it has somehow blessed light-bulb I suppose...)

he's very protective over Scarlet, and would do anything for her.

Personality:

Mihail is very stoic most of the time, coming off very intimidating to most people. Despite this he is a fairly chill guy with a good - albeit sometimes morbid - sense of humor. He is mischievous and absolutely takes advantage of 1.) his natural intimidating vibes, and 2.) the fact he's attractive to many people (Within reason of course)

He has a fairly strong moral backbone nowadays, perhaps to atone from his past behavior, and generally tends to be willing to help people with things they don't want to do, even if he'd find the chore boring as hell and would rather be stabbing his eyes out. (he will admit this point-blank if asked whenever he actually enjoys doing the chore in question)

While he seems quite relaxed once you get past his intimidating exterior, Mihail is always keeping an eye out for any dangers, especially around Scarlet who is a troublemaker.

Fun Facts

He began flirting with Aiden pretty soon after they met, he just didn't realize Mihail was doing so, because it was disguised with jokey comments, such as the ones about the "Ghost Dog" lurking around the manor grounds. (Also Aiden is kinda oblivious)

He ended up in the Blackthorne manor, because Scarlet wanted to go steal something from there and they got caught. The house owner (Harrow) was amused and impressed enough by her bravery and trickery, that he ended up hiring her after finding out about her situation of not really having a home.

Mihail wasn't hired properly until later, when they found out he's a good guardian AND a cook, freeing Thalia from having to be responsible for so many things at once as the only staff Harrow initially had.

He has a Slavic accent, but no one can ever place exactly where its from, not even native speakers of the language family.

The languages Mihail knows include Romanian (naturally), English, Italian, and Japanese.

His name was given to him by the old woman & her daughters Mihail initially stayed with when younger, before they were killed in a house-fire that was accidentally lit by a stray spark. (Mihail was out at the time)

He and Roman had some tension between them initially, because while Mihail was never one that personally bullied him during his time with the pack, Roman was afraid of him due to him being one of the strong ones.

[estbela]

I've always lamented the small female cast in hetalia so the idea of Nyo!Ro is really intriguing to me! Do you suppose you can share some headcanons about her?

I am glad you asked I love her so much eudfhsjshebsb

Honestly, I don't make her much different than (my probably canon divergent portrayal of) hws Romania but there are differences, of course.

I would see her as slightly more serious than her male counterpart, honestly. She's still just as silly and weird and whimsical, though.

I feel like she'd be considered in some ways "one of the guys" tbh.

I do see her as slightly more tomboyish/boyish than Ro is actually.

She probably pretended to be a guy a lot since it was like. Easier to do whatever you wanted as a guy in the past. And also tbh she likes wearing clothes that in the past were worn mostly by men

So much genderfuckery going on with both Ro & Nyo Ro tbh

Her & Hungary are toxic yuri (don't have many thoughts on them tho)

Take me to war is one of the songs that really reminds me of her. Also Tongues & Teeth is so her (tbh I have a whole playlist for her & hws ro lol)

Her human name (in present times since in my HC nations have different human names over the years) is Ilinca Ioana Păduraru (Păduraru is her surname). I don't think she has a strong preference for her first name or middle name(maybe she did in the past tho), call her whatever

Perhaps at one point she was probably named something like "Maria". Maybe sometime in the middle ages. Idk it's a very popular name and I think it was pretty popular back then too, being a religious name.

Appearance wise, very similar to Ro but maybe shorter. I think her hair is of similar length to his, but I do think she probs regularily changes it up and has worn it at different lengths in the past

Idk thats it for now!

Thanks for the ask!!!! :]

Talking about her made me really happy!!!! ♡♡♡♡♡

[queenmeriadoc]

I had this OC that I created when I was maybe 10-11 years old, I could have been younger but I'm not sure, anyway my point, this OC I created when I was very young that has evolved in a lot of ways, her name,

Katarina, I will not reveal her surname right now, although she did go by Katarina Drake, but pronounced like the old Norwegian word for dragon. So, I created a character that was half-human, half-fae, (also so I don't forget, she is immortal) from a planet that have moved around, sometime it's in our solar system, sometime it isn't, sometimes I decide it's a version of Earth from an alternate dimension, this is because on this planet they have something I refer to as "The Mirror" it allows you to travel across the multiverse, sometime I also refer it to the tree. It has changed shapes, a mirror, a tree, idk. Anyway she is from this planet, her mother was Queen until she "died", I decided to make her mother alive, but possible the main villain of her story. Her father is human, a human father she never seem to be able to find, it's the whole reason she went to Earth in the first place but she never seem to find him. She was raised by her power hungry grandfather, who is technically not her grandfather, but he is the uncle of her mother, who wants the throne for himself but can't get it, at some point Katarina leave taking the coronation crown with her, and unknowingly starting a Civil War on her home world. I have given her several love interests, here are the main ones, - Christopher Darling, tried to kill her. - Elizabeth Pan, turns out she is a type of dragon that can change shape, a changeling if you will, from humanoid to dragon. Also has a sister who can somewhat see the future. - Aramis and Anne from The Musketeers, I was going through a phase I guess.

There was one point where I decided that my character would be sent back in time. And the only way back was the slow way.

There are lots more to this character, but it's like a 15+ season long show in my head and I can't write everything down right now.

[shrinkthisviolet]

14, 15, and 20 👀👀

14. At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

At the beginning! It’s always subject to change, but usually it’s pretty steady (idk why but I can’t write without a title 😂)

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Definitely tags, but summaries are hard too 😭 titles can be sometimes, but not as much

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I love this question!

—Astra’s surname, Kadar, was Lando Calrissian’s original surname in one of the early scripts (glad they changed it tbh, Calrissian suits him better, and it works in this case for Astra). Unfortunately I can’t tell you why that’s significant yet (spoilers!), but it’s intentional, and I promise I’ll explain it when I can 😂

—Morgan’s name comes from her mother’s maiden name! Took inspiration from my headcanon of Jesse Chambers Wells’s mom’s name being Tess Chambers.

—I was originally stuck on James’s surname, but a friend suggested using a hyphenated surname, and “Bennet-Evans” sounded good to me!

—The sword that Bumi uses in the time travel AU? A gift from Izumi, which was initially given by Zuko (Izumi is still very reliant on firebending, so she doesn’t really like using actual weapons. Zuko still holds out hope that she’ll come around one day 😂).

—Sam’s middle name when she first time travels is Lucille, but after the time travel, one of the changes to the timeline involves Daniel making her middle name “Mary/Marie” when she’s born to him after the time travel (haven’t decided which yet 😂 and yeah, he finds out! Eventually…😉)

—I think this is stated in-fic, but the reason I named Lucy that instead of like…Luna or Lily or something is as a reference to Lucy Pevensie! I didn’t realize until later that it’s basically the same name as Luke, so I distinguished their names within the world of Star Wars 😂

(There are probably more, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head!)

writing ask game!

[heartc0ffin]

Trying to draw my Clerks s/i, but it's turning out to be a real pain in the ass. So in the mean time I wanna talk about their lore so far!

- Her name for now is Averie Harper. Not sure if I like it enough to keep it though. I might change her surname.

- In my version of the canon for View Askewniverse, not all the movies exist. My self insert is from the first Mallrats and Clerks movie. She is also in Dogma and the animated Clerks series, but I think they'd be slightly alternate versions of her and her lore is tweaked to suit them.

- (For Mallrats, Clerks and animated) She works at a pet store, in the same mall from Mallrats. She works there part time while also juggling art at college.

- Jay and Silent Bob always stir trouble and try to deal outside the store, so her boss often tells her to make them leave. This is how she met them.

- Of course, Jay was a total jerk to her at first but Bob was indifferent.

- I feel like Averie is in an on and off type of relationship with Jay. It's not exactly linear. So throughout the series they're sometimes dating, or on a break. This is mainly because Jay isn't super responsible and she can only handle so much of his crap.

- In Mallrats they meet, in Clerks they're dating, in Dogma they're on a break. In the animated series its a complete mess (don't ask them about it).

- I think in Dogma she might be an angel or something?? Idk yet. She's been living among humans for a while by then though and lives mostly like regular humans. She probably left heaven on her own accord.

[show-us-kaidenshenandoah]

ill eventually make a proper, pretty intro-post

but hello, hi, i am Kaiden-Shenandoah Knapp

also, yes, Kaiden-Shenandoah is my first name. the hyphen is optional, but you still have to type/say the whole thing. no, you may not call me "Kaiden". yes, i am aware it is a mouthful lol

(probably gonna change my surname is "Knapped" in a few years. i wanna distance myself from some shitty family while making the Indigeneity in my surname more apparent. dont be surprised when that happens. im just putting it off bc i got a lot on my plate rn lol)

(also if you knew me as "Kayleen", hi, hello, i no longer go by that childhood nickname. it is retired, wave goodbye, better to have loved and lost and all that)

this is my messily mindless "welcome to my head" blog, we do things very casually here. im making it my new Main (as of 24 March 2024). my professional/art blog is @kaidenshenandoahknapp

but the real point of this post is: i am not a bot lol

and also, stuff is on a queue (until i do a mass-reblog binge but, typically, i am on queue)

everything in my queue is now 2 post per 24 hours (as of: 20 April 2024)

ive been on tumblr before, but since this is a new Main, im just going through my favorite content-creation blogs i know and mass-queueing loads of the op's projects. (if you are one of those said blogs and find this nth new notes a day from me annoying, please let me know; and i will just spam them all to Post Now so i can get out of your hair asap) i'm also just not good at regularly keeping up with creators' new stuff week-by-week, so instead i generally mass-queue because i assume mass-reblogging is a bit more overwhelming, idk, maybe im just overthinking lol

tags guide: (mostly for me, ngl lol i need reminders of what i tag what when i do my mass-queues)

#me - me posting something

#relatable - "omg that is so me" at someone else's post

#aesthetic - me just really liking the vibes, which sometimes just also happens to be pretty to look at lmao

#canines wolves and werewolves i love - i know what i am about. ill probably have more "niche My Special Interest tags" as i find posts that fit them

#nutty nutcrackers / #the nutcracker - another Special Interest tag. pretty self-explanatory, i like The Nutcracker a lot lmao

#betty boop - you would think this belongs with fandom tags, but no. part of why i am obsessed with her (and have been since i was, like, 14) is because she was the popularization of the very next tag's trend

#infantalization in animation - it's when you apply baby facial proportions to an adult bodied character, it's most often done in female characters. i'll be using this tag outside of animated stuff btw. but yeah, anything that examines that visual design choice i am all 👀 over lmao

#other people's art - any individual person, not counting final version of studio work (like ill tag "Lilo and Stitch"'s exploratory concept art with this, sure, but i wont tag stills of the "Lilo and Stitch" film)

↳ #animal art

↳ #background art

↳ #oc art - is all "my original character in a canon piece" kind of ocs, not the "my original character in my original story" type

↳ there are also specifically listed artists here and there if they have influenced me/my style in the past or recently (such as but not limited to: #rvsa). almost all of them are indies with social media (aka: no Van Gogh, no Hayao Miyazaki. if they have their own fandom, i tag said fandom and not the specific artist, usually. it depends. there are some gray areas)

#brushes - the (digital) brushes people i like use

#art tips

#writing tips - is about actually doing the practice

#on writing - is the philsophy about the practice

#[insert fandom here]

#[insert fandom here] analysis

(here are the tags i chose for some fandoms that had multiple possible tags. this is not all of my fandom tags)

● #studio ghibli, #[insert studio ghibli title here] (i tag both the movie itself and studio. because sometimes i want something from the original movie, so i go into those tags; and i also go to the studio to look at overarching things since the studio has such a strong overall aesthetic/visual brand)

● #[insert disney title] (here, i do tag the specific movies and i dont just use the studio. because im usually looking for specific things this one disney movie has)

● #moomin (as opposed to "moominvalley", "tales of moominvalley", or the like)

● #my hero academia (so many different options for one work)

● #trigun (so many different branching creations from one source lmao im just gonna lump them together)

● #into the spiderverse (i dont use "across the spiderverse" for simplicity's sake, and i don't use the hyphen/space between "spider(-)verse" also for simplicity. its easier for me to be consistent if i just go "nah, its all one word")

● #marvel comics (i do not tag the mcu specifically)

● #dc comics, #batman (i tag both. but i dont tag any other dc comics property. i just know im esp obsessed with the batfam enough that, sure, they should get their own tag)

[etoilebinaire]

1, 10, 14 for Rasha!

Bless

1 How does your OC feel about their full name?

Her full name is Rasha Adaar (mountain goat o Redhold). The surname Adaar was one of the first choices her parents made when they left the Qun, so Rasha kind of cherishes it. No matter her relationship with her parents now, she's proud of that. The mountain goat name/title is somewhat of a joke somewhat of a compliment and Rasha would battle whoever tried to challenge that title in mountain climbing.

10 What is a weird quality that they have (ie their hands are always cold, they’re always hungry, they snort when they laugh, etc)?

Incongruent emotions. Is that weird or just concerning idk.

Rasha has this thing where any time she has a strong (emotional) reaction to anything, she just blanks. To quote Elsa: conceal don't feel. And sometimes the emotion changes into another emotion.

Anyway now Rasha thinks she doesn't feel fear cause the most her fear ever expresses itself is through mild annoyance.

14 What attributes do they have that are inherited from their parents or shared with their siblings/other relatives?

Curved horns, light coloured eyes, a healthy willingness to question authority and an unhealthy distrust of strangers. She only knows her parents and is unaware of any other relatives.

[microwaving-my-ocs]

Character Profiles (2023 Feb 7)

Sam(antha)

Sammie's older sister by a couple of years

used to be annoyed by his clinginess, but upon their entrance to the hostile ducal household, became more consciously protective and open with her affection

was meant to become a spy at an all-female organisation, but switched places with her sickly younger brother and entered the army to give him a better chance at survival

was given a strong magic charm by the old granny so she wouldn't be violated, but it made her kind of unpopular and she'd get beaten up instead

prodigy at the sword

a terror on the battlefield and made a name for herself at a relatively young age

died in battle (assassinated)

ribcage deformities from improper chest binding

no one ever truly knows how she really felt about her life and how she felt marching to her death.

Sam(uel)

nickname: Sammie (Sam took the cooler and more mature nickbame first and refused to give it up)

partial to feminine attire and hobbies since young (think Shu). would play dolls with Sam

charismatic and great at making ppl feel comfy with him.

switched from being a crossdressing spy to a businessman in his own name (no surname) bc it was just very tedious to keep crossdressing. his business is secondary, though. mostly he endears himself to others by doing good deeds / getting win-wins (and reporting the intel he got from their interactions)

always looked up to and idolised Sam, so he irrationally believed that she must be fine in the army as she claimed

when he grew older and could no longer deceive himself, he vowed to quickly get her out

wants to give Sam whatever happiness and positive feelings that she had sacrificed so much for to give to him

his sister's death seriously destabilised him. did not necessarily believe the best in people, but had always wanted a win-win situation. stopped having the energy and will to keep doing so

he came out of Sam's death slightly wrong. a little too focused on becoming her, very focused on keeping her memory alive. very cognizant of the loss and the danger that he is in. jumpy, wary and on the defensive, unlike his confident past self.

Granny

luckily for him, most of his support system is still intact and know his identity. he acts and thinks like his old self around them, but he often is in his Sam persona trying to get things done. he feels more and more alienated from his old self.

beginnings of a crush on Bestie before they went their separate ways and he went to the army. then shit hit the fan and he hasn't quite had the headspace for his feelings since

leader of one of the houses in the spy network

was a lot more heartless as a young adult, but now she just wants to chill and raise these children well

knows she might get punished for helping the sams switch, but she's gonna die soon anw of old age so she doesn't care

saw herself in samantha. failed to save someone when she was younger and it haunted her ever since. (idk what abt sammie tho.... sammie will hv to live w that regret now. in fact its a miracle samantha lasted that long)

she tries to check in on samantha, which is how and why a stronger intelligence link between her hse and the army was formed. the sams send letters thru it sometimes.

Bestie

endgame

met Sammie after he has already acclimatised to crossdressing

her moral compass mostly works like this: this will make sammie happy -> do it. this will trouble sammie -> don't do it.

initially fell for him before she learned that he was, in fact, crossdressing.

has not confessed yet. having her love requited was never a big deal for her bc they had a v secure r/s

very secure in her friendship with Sammie. She won't ever sacrifice herself unless it's necessary to prevent an even greater sadness to Sammie. she won't let MC sacrifice herself either.

left the orphanage to receive training at the magic tower. when she reunited w Sammie, it was to deliver news of his little sister. personally witnessed the drastic change from normal sammie to overwhelmed sammie. she never wants to see that happen again.

she's a little yandere because sammie is so good at making you feel seen, but they've both been actively working on establishing & keeping to boundaries. it's just that prioritising sammie's happiness still tends to be what brings her the most happiness

will eliminate anyone and anything that makes him sad. this means she will not go after MC even though she sometimes feel jealous, bc Sammie wants MC by his side. does not begrudge this bc she wholeheartedly wants Sammie to be as happy as possible

later became friends with MC personally

from the magic tower. discovers the brainwashing.

MC

marriage of convenience w Sammie.

a little fucked up by how her family treated her. internalised the idea that she should sacrifice her happiness for others' sakes in order to be acknowledged/be moral.

she very badly wanted to be the pinnacle of morality bc she wanted to be a gd spouse for the ex.

mistakenly believes that she should sacrifice herself so that Bestie and Sammie can get together. Bestie saves her bc she knows Sammie wouldn't want her to sacrifice herself. Bestie has seen how much Sammie hated that his sister chose to sacrifice herself without considering his feelings. Bestie knows better.

"why are you saving me? our marriage has alr more or less done its job giving him legitimacy. if i'm gone, you can marry him no qns asked." bestie pausing to give her an incredulous look. gg i mean yeah theres the whole marriage of convenience thing, but more than that, he alr sees you as one of his ppl. he'll be crushed if you die for him. / and besides, she doesnt need him to dote on her like a lover to continue wanting the best for him. it may be necc for others, but its always been this way for her. this is how she honours her feelings for him, and has been for years.

eventually gets back tgt w her ex after he was freed from brainwashing

Ex

family's superpower is the instictually know right from wrong. naturally, this lands them into a hereditary clerical role (leaders of the national religion)

born with the strongest of this superpower in many generations

so when he announced that his powers told him he was meant to wed MC, no one argued and they were engaged p young. they spent a lot of time tgt and fell in love and built a very strong and trusting r/s

no longer trusts his own judgement OR power after waking up from the brainwashing. yknow the feeling when ur entire worldview gets destabilised? yeah

(Half-)Sister

main antagonist

mom had an affair w a siren and that's where she got her brainwashing powers

was born with a frail body. family was so focused on her health that they accidentally neglected MC. neither of them knew any better and thought it was the natural way of things.

passively used the brainwashing ability without knowing from the moment it manifested when she was a toddler. which means that everyone who spent a lot of time w her was infatuated with her and listened to her every whim. this fucks her up bc she has no concept of boundaries now. sees it as her right to take and take and for others to bend over backwards to fulfil her requests, even at their own detriment. grows up w the mentality of a toddler bc no one has ever scolded her

idk possibly the biological dad comes in and decides to use her to gain political power. he has natural immunity to the charm. possibly the first person to ever school her. maybe she gets development here.

terrible maturity levels bc she has very very rarely ever been told no. the few ppl who have were also immediately punished, so surely it was THEY who were wrong, right?

[justwilfee]

Answer to all this? ":D Well, okay, I'm an artist (A bit a writer, but… Not much)

Oh… Those were the distant times, when there was probably no 1.8.1 version of Minecraft yet. I just found the skin of some fire-water girl and it was my OC called "Ognennaya Nyasha(rus)" (Eng. Fiery Cutie). I had it until the moment when I found creepypasta and "Nata the killer" appeared, who is now better known as Natalie Wilfred. And she changed maaaany times, her design was more unstable than my mood. She had the same name all the time, but the surnames changed with each new fandom.

Newest OC… So, he seems to exist, but the concept? The base is there, but the character himself is not there yet. There is no name, no exact appearance. I liked my angelic cat, which I drew out of boredom, I want to keep him, but maybe change him a little.

Eh… IDK, what does that mean? :"D

Natalie loves different music, she is a music lover. Of course she won't listen to EVERY song, just what she likes. Hmm… Barney likes something calm, not too rushed music. The exception is if he is at some events and holidays(It doesn't matter what genre, although one of his favorite genres is jazz)

Natalie is a total fear, she is afraid of a lot of things. She is afraid not to be afraid and get into trouble(XD) But one of her big fears is spiders… Barney is afraid that something will happen to his friends and loved ones and he will not be able to help them.

Probably not. Except for the cat, who doesn't exist yet, haha. I usually try to create stories for the characters, no matter how cringe they are.

Oh, Barney and Natalie have a warm relationship despite their different personalities. But I can’t even call them a couple, because they aren't. They are very close partners and both have reasons not to be lovers, and yet they are nice to each other.

I didn't think about it. Unnamed parents haha xD

I can't pick one! I love Natalie and Barney. There are only two of them, of those hundreds of abandoned characters that I created before, they are the only ones that I have for so long ;-;

So far, this is Natalie, because it took several years before she had an eternal surname and appearance.

Purple star, it's probably about stories. I will say that both stories and art I have a lot of unfinished works and they will not be finished XD

Eh… I don’t know, I had the story of my BatIM au in my head, but at one moment I realized that I was too lazy to do something about it XD

Eeeh, next question

... Can I kept silent?(If I understand the question correctly. I have several word files. And almost all of them aren't finished… I will only talk about one… 39242... Yeaaah, I got really carried away writing fanfic… Cringe fic…)

Yes, all. I doubt I'll finish anything. Because it's just for fun, most likely I'll delete them sometime

I have so many fanfictions behind me, haha, I don't know

There will definitely be some kind of demon and some kind of mental trauma for the characters

Huh? ":D

Games, movies, other stories and cartoons. (One of the stories I really have is not related to Bendy or anything else, rather inspired by one film, but it was not taken as a basis)

None XD

A long time ago, I loved to draw in kindergarten and always wanted to become an artist

Mostly digital, just sketches on paper, I rarely draw with paints. And I also didn’t have to draw works in some style (Cubism, impressionism, etc.)

Eh, no.

Yesyesyesyesyes. It would be nice. And I actually want to be a graphic designer

IDK ":D

I don't read much, BatIM books are the only ones I've read (Although I still can't read "The Lost Ones", I'm constantly busy)

Don't know. I rarely watch movies. I watch TV shows and if it's a detective, then I'll probably watch it.

A lot of. Actually I'm listening to Electro Swing right now, IDK why. My musical taste is strange, the first song in the playlist is "Fur Elise", and the second is in the genre of Hardstyle or DeathStep.

I don’t know… Although… It was either Creepypasta or Minecraft (Who knows or remembers Minecraft myths? Herobrine for example, haha) and yes, I was already drawing then. I wrote stories and drew art.

Hehe, I'm fine, thank you.

I didn't answer some questions… Because I didn't understand them XD Well, who also wants to answer?

Writer (& Artist) Ask Game

Reblog this and let your pals ask about your OCs, stories, or about you! Remember to check your inbox, and feel free to tag someone you want to see play :)

* Who was your first ever OC? Do you still “use” them? How have they evolved over time?

Who is your newest OC? Why did you make them?

Biggest self-insert OC?

What kind of music do your OCs listen to?

What are some of your OCs biggest fears?

Do you have any OCs without stories? Will you ever create one for them?

What are your favourite relationships between your OCs? (romantic or platonic!)

Do you have any OC family trees?

Favourite OC?

OC you most struggled to make?

* Sum up one or more of your wips!

Which story took the most research?

Which story has the most lore?

Current word count of all your main wips?

How many projects do you have going on right now? Are there any that you doubt you’ll ever finish?

What was you first major project? How far along is it?

What are some tropes and character dynamics found in your wips?

Describe the setting of one or more of your wips

What are some things that inspired your stories? Real events? Maybe a dream?

What story are you the proudest of? Why?

* When did you start considering yourself a writer/artist?

What are all the “kinds” of writing/art you do? (short stories, poetry, screenplays, digital, painting, clay, etc.)

Are you in any writer/artist groups? (Ex: discord server!)

Do you have/want a career in your medium? If not, what do you do/want to do instead?

What’s your favourite genre to write? Is it also your favourite genre to read?

What are your favourite books?

What are your favourite movies?

 Favourite songs at the moment?

What was your first fandom you were in? Did you make any art/fanfic for it?

How are you doing? <3

Ask away!

[the-fae-folk]

Hello! I am writing a story that involves the Fae Folk and I have a quick question in regards to sharing your name. So, I know that you should never tell a faerie your name as it gives them a certain amount of power over you. What my question is, do they obtain that power if it is just your first name, or do you have to give them your last name, too? Or, is it that they have a bit of power over you if they only have your first, but then a much stronger hold if they know your last? IDK, curious!

Okay. A fair question. A Prosoponym, also known as a full or personal name, is the name or set of names by which a person is known or called, and that when used as a word group it is with the understanding that they refer to a single specific person and no other. In many cultures, this is synonymous with the birth name or legal name of the person. Names come in a number of different types.

Titles such as Lord, Lady, Imperial Highness, Sir, Doctor, etc. All meant to convey what role and rank a person holds within society. Sometimes the nobility of Europe held names that referred to places which they ruled over. For example Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch Gilbert du Motier, known also as the Marquis de La Fayette, was the owner of the fief of La Fayette in the historical province of Auvergne in central France. As you can see, the name La Fayette refers to the place over which the House of La Fayette held power. But far too many people mistake it for being the name of the family, but it was not. In fact, the family name was Motier. A name passed down from long before their distant ancestor Pons Motier de La Fayette, a knight of the Seventh Crusade. Surnames such as Motier above are often referred to as Family Names. But their purpose is to indicate the group to which a person belongs; such as their family related by blood, their tribe, or even their community. Some have called them Last Names, but that is a very European idea and other naming conventions place the Surname in the first position instead of the last. In truth, Surnames do not have a simple and consistent history. The practices have varied around the world and even in Europe, the focus of our current interest, the hold of them began during the reign of the Roman Empire and died out again during the Early Middle Ages. The practice made appearances sporadically, such as in Ireland and Spain, but it did not take hold in England until the 12th Century, but was still very rare deep into the 13th. In fact, many places, such as Scotland and Wales, did not adopt the practice until the 17th century. Without Surnames, there were different ways by which people would be known. They each had a Given Name. A name by which they would be called by family, friends, and anybody who knew them. If you know a person's given name, you can call out to them to gain their attention, drop their name in casual conversation with someone else who might know them, and send them a message with that name on it so that they know it is addressed to them. But what happens when you have multiple people who have the same Given Name? You could have several Richards and more than one John in the same city. How to tell if you were referring to this particular Richard? Or that specific John? This led to the use of epithets known as By-Names. You've heard things like this before. For example the King Alexander III of Macedon was often known by the by-name of Alexander the Great. Was he great? Well certainly, his accomplishments changed the very course of history with his vast empire. But what's the point? Why not just call him Alexander? Well say you had a brother named Alexander, and perhaps you knew another boy in school by that name, and your father's business associate has Alexander as his middle name, and your grandmother likes to speak to you of her late husband, whose name was also Alexander. Now if in school your teacher was to ask you if you knew about the history and deeds of Alexander, you might ask "Which one?". Your teacher, possibly flummoxed and desperate to answer something, might say "The GREAT one. Alexander the GREAT." And you would know precisely which Alexander they meant, because as nice as all the Alexanders you know personally are, none of them has done anything particularly great or noteworthy, not compared to the Alexander who created an entire empire that stretched From Macedonia to Egypt to part of India. You could have a by-name that referred to all kinds of things. Such as qualities of your person like "the Great" or "the Bald" or "The Strong". But the problem was that people are very easily changeable and that it's likely old "Richard the Bald" wasn't always bald, and that "John the Strong" won't stay strong as he ages. You could refer to someone by the place in which they live, or perhaps the place they came from, such as the name "Richard of Coursey". But that too had the problem of people moving about and no longer knowing what to call themselves

because they no longer lived in the same places or had moved away a long time and wasn't sure they wanted to be known as the person who came from somewhere else. They might even take a name from their trade. John the Smith, or John the Butler. But by-names were not easily passed down. If you weren't a smith, but you'd taken the by-name of your father who WAS a smith, then you might cause confusion. Eventually when last names became more fashionable, by-names were still in use and quite popular. You could have John Smith the Short (his great grandfather had been a smith you see, but nobody else in his family had carried the profession since), or his cousin John Smith of the Mill, who works in a mill as his current profession. And the further you look into the history and use of names the more tangled it becomes. Married Names (called Maiden Names if used in some cultures where the wife is the one who assumes the surname of her spouse's family), Pseudonyms, Religious Names, names given only to people while they are children, names given to people when they become adults, names passed down from from the father's side of the family (Patronymic), names passed down from the mother's side of the family (Matronymic), Middle Names, Nicknames, titles given to people for great deeds, noble families who simply make up new names to be passed down for the sake of appearances. At this point you might be wondering what all of this has to do with your question. Well the answer lies in another question entirely. Do you understand WHY a Faerie gains power at all from learning your name? Names are like maps or signs or instructions. They tell us something about the person to whom they refer. Given names are often arbitrary. Chosen by parents based on a place they'd been or how nice they sound or a particular meaning they hold or passed down from late relatives. Some Given Names are less powerful than other ones, because the power of a name lies very much in it's ability to accurately describe the thing it names. Look at Sankt-Pieter-Burch, a city established by the Tsar of Russia, Peter the Great. He had named it after the patron saint who was the source of his own name. However due to the influence of his own ambitions to modernize Russia, his foreign advisors, and his own Dutch Mistress Anna Mons, he gave to the city a name styled after Dutch naming conventions but with subtle German influences as well. Later the name was standardized as Sankt-Peterburg under the German influences. But after the outbreak of World War 1, on 1 September 1914, the city was renamed Petrograd (Peter's City) in order to remove the German styled words of Sankt and Burg. Then on 26 January 1924, the city was renamed Leningrad after the recently deceased Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, the leader of the Soviet Union who went by his Alias of "Lenin", a name taken from the River Lena in Siberia, the place where he'd been sentenced to exile for three years earlier in his life. On 6 September 1991, the previous name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned by citywide referendum. The change was widely and heavily debated, and though many Veterans of the Second World War and the Communist Party resisted and protested against it, the name it had held for two hundred years was restored by its citizens, many of whom had always quietly called it by the name Pieter anyway. It still stands with that name, Sankt-Peterburg, or Saint Petersburg as its called in English. Saint Peter's City. But it has other names too. It is the "Window to the West" and the "Venice of the North". It is even called "The City of the White Nights" due to natural phenomena caused by its close proximity to the Polar Region. So you see, if you know the name, Petersburg, you have a tiny glimpse into its history. A fragment of its identity as a city. But if you learn more of its names, the changes in language, the renaming, the nicknames, the fond epithets, the name of the captured Swedish Fortress that occupied the space it was founded upon (Nyenschantz)... You begin to know more of what it is, what it truly

is. That is the power of names. The nature of naming. Without even knowing it, people are creating stories of places and people. They draw from the world to grant names, and in doing so they bestow the stories of all those things to the thing which they have named, giving it a history which is then built upon by all that comes after. You may not see it when you think of your own name. You'll likely wonder how it has anything to do with you as a person. But its connections and roots go deeper than you know. Names influence people over countless generations, and a name can even influence who you become or were once. Some keep their names their whole lives, others might choose to take new names for reasons of their own. But taking on a new name doesn't make it less of a true name, just as restoring the name Saint Petersburg to an old city didn't make the name Leningrad any less real of a name than Petersburg. Both are names for the city, reflecting different histories and different ideals, but building upon one another. That old city is Petersburg, but that name now carries the very memory of Leningrad, of Petrograd, and even a distant reflection of the venerable Saint from which it draws its first name. Do you understand? If the Folk learn your given name, they have some power over you, yes. And perhaps if they learn your Surname they might gain even more power over you. But it's not the words, it's not the sounds or the order or the letters that give the names the power they hold. It's all the things that have led and contributed to those names from the very beginning of time to the current moment, it's all the things you have done and said and felt that have added power to those names. If you have loved a nickname greatly, it becomes powerful in that way, if you hate your given name because you do not like how it makes you seem other than what you feel you are inside, that too becomes part of its meaning and power. This is the reason we are warned to keep our names from the Folk. Any name, every name. Tell them to call you by a name that isn't yours. It is still a name you have chosen, and thus your name, but because it has not long had much to do with you, it holds very little power over you, not like names you have kept all your life, held close to your heart, hated, loved. With each name they catch, they can feel the power within, the kind of name it is matters not, but the power it holds and how much influence it has over you as a person whether you are aware of it or not, that is what is important. That is what we are afraid of the Fae taking advantage of. And with magic, you can do far more with a name of such power than any mortal ever could. Terrible things, frightening things. If the Folk learn your name, they could take it from you, or if they were truly truly angry with you, they could use its power to strip away everything that makes you yourself. Everything tied to whatever name they got hold of. Memories, scars, good deeds, ties with other people, other people's memories of you or the things you've done, anything and everything you had because of that name would be gone. You would still exist, of course, but missing a vital part of yourself and unable to restore it. They could also use your name to control you, or change you, or influence you without you knowing. Names are powerful, we have always known this, whispered this in the shadows. But to consider what that means is a truly frightening thing. (Please note that much of this is more related to a philosophic analysis of the power of names, rather than an analysis on why humans in Folklore would take different names when dealing with the Faeries. Based on my brief forays of research into Onomastics and the Philosophy of Language, I believe the central ideas I've presented concerning the inherant power of names are accurate. But you should be aware that the above answer contains much conjecture on the reasoning and purposes of the Fae when seeking out the names of humans. And that there are many different philisophic worldviews that have been

debated historically about the nature of names. Like any good subject, the more you delve into a thing, the more you find how tangled and complex it really is. Personal Names is one of those kinds of subjects, and Faerie Folklore is another. I do hope this answer is of help to you, since I have striven to offer an explanation of what could make a name powerful and why having one or the other would be more powerful than the other or why having both would give you even further power over a person. The truth is that Folklore's reasoning for hiding your name from Faeries is unknown. They never actually state why. And the answer is likely something mundane such as making it harder for them to find you if they don't know your real name or anything about where to look for you. Taking your name could be similar to how throughout history, for a variety of reasons, humans have been known to change the names of people they've enslaved. But the modern trend of fantasy literature is leaning more towards a magical explanation, an inherant power in names. Thus my answer aims to fulfill that expectation.)

[silverloreley]

One of the best things about DuTP is that it prompts me to look up the historical figures we meet in the stories. The downside is that I end up racking my head trying to figure out when some events took place exactly (because I’m terrible with remembering dates and numbers) and how old are the characters at the time of the story and so on. Sometimes it’s very easy, sometimes it’s not.

Case in point: The Perfect Storm. I found a few interesting things and I want to share, just in case someone wanted to write a fic on it or just out of curiosity.

First of all, I’m almost sure it took place in 1720 and I’ll tell you why.

Rackam’s mutiny happened in 1718 and his death, clearly addressed in the story as a recent event, was in 1720. Coincidentally, Mary Read died in 1721 (in real history she was part of Rackam’s crew, along with Anne Bonny) after being involved in the same trial as Rackam, at 31 years-old.

This lets us understand how old is Charles Vane when we see him in TPS. He’s supposed to be in his late 30s (almost 40, actually) as the story is set the year before he was executed! Also, he has been a captain on his own for mere 5 years at that point, meaning he got to his fame in less than 3 years. His bragging to Cordelia is sort-of moot because she rose to fame way faster than he did, lol. On the other hand, the age gap is huge!

We know the average age of marriage for women in 1700 was around 19 years-old, but it could go up to 25 (or down to 12, since the law allowed it). If we assume Cordelia’s parents didn’t have a rush to marry her off/ were looking for a good party/ allowed her time to grow, we could say she is around 23-24 at the time of the story, it sounds reasonable given the times. It also means she really is a kid compared to Vane, lol. This doesn’t mean I won’t ship them, I still ship them, especially because in DuTP Vane looks 35 at most but I’m willing to pull down his age further because, hey, that’s just a story! Also, with Cordelia involved, just like it happened with Queen Marie’s good endings, his execution won’t happen.

Sort of same with Keats, although he isn’t based on a real person (he shares his surname with the poet and that’s about it), as far as I found. Estabilishing Keats’ exact age is a bit more complex because without a set schooling system in place at the time we can’t be sure when he finished his official studies, plus, even if we knew, we aren’t given enough info on how much time passed between his graduation and the moment he decided to prove himself to the Royal Society through field research. Let’s say he’s in his late 20s/early 30s.

There existed an Admiral Hawke, actually two, in the British Army’s history, but both younger than Vane, one born in 1705 and another in 1726, so neither could have been his father, (although we can suspect of a brother with the same name? idk). The Admiral of the Royal Fleet from 1718 to 1733 was George Byng, in case you were wondering.

Thomas de Vere, as far as I found, was created specifically for the game’s plot. Same with Governor Hamilton (apparently there was never a governor named Hamilton in Jamaica). That, unless I didn’t look in the right places in my quick search, in which case I’ll be happy to be corrected.

In any case, those three (Hawke, de Vere and Hamilton) may be inspired by other historical figures but didn’t exist irl.

Anyway, since DuTP story world isn’t quite the same as ours, that it was estabilished ever since Queen Marie that the MC can and does change history and that some characters are different from their real life counterparts (in this case, to say one, Read has the same backstory up to a certain point, but was never in Rackam’s crew nor is pregnant during her adventures with us and actually seems to be still in mourning of her late husband and not have another lover, nor she knows personally Anne Bonny here), we can alter and play with ages and history as much as we want.

TL,DR: The Perfect Storm is likely set in 1720, where Read is 30 y-o, Vane is 40 y-o, Keats around 30-something, Cordelia is any age between 12 and 25 but most likely around 24. Governor Hamilton, Thomas de Vere and Admiral Hawke may be based on historical figures but not of that time/area and are more likely just characters.

[celestemagnoliathewriter]

Hello hello!

I am wondering if I can trouble you for Director's Commentary on "Declaration" or another piece of your choice that features a lot of dialogue between two characters: I am working on that myself and it makes me curious about the process of other writers regarding that.

Ooh yes, director's commentary coming right up! Declaration was written for that writing comp. I remember having zero inspiration that week. However, I do write a lot of dialogue and that's usually my starting point when I have writer's block.

IDK how to do a director's commentary but I will try with some highlights. See the colors as highlights and my commentary afterwards.

“Tonks.”

“Go away,” she snapped, wiping tears away from her face with her hands. “I get it; you don’t want to be with me. You didn’t need to come out here to tell me again.”

Remus blinked at her rapidly, startled. “I never said I didn’t want to be with you.”

“You didn’t have to. If you had wanted me,” Tonks bit her lip, tearing her eyes away from him, “we could’ve made it work. You didn’t even give us a chance.”

“I was afraid.”

“ Was?” Tonks turned her head back to face him. Remus had his hands in his pockets, looking downcast.

“I still am,” he mumbled, though he moved closer to meet her along the lakeshore.

“So nothing’s changed, has it?”

Remus stood above her, frowning. “You’re bleeding.”

*Commentary one*

Blue - I have a love/hate relationship with the word "said." I like adverbs too much. A happy medium between not saying "said" over and over is to use an action verb like this. However, doing this repeatedly might take away from the conversation. If it's heavy on dialogue, I use action verbs like this sparingly.

Green - To break up a conversation and not make it back and forth, I add in a lot of actions that show (rather than tell) how they feel. I had Remus blinking rapidly - he does this in the last chapter he's alive in DH, when Fleur asks how Teddy is doing. It's part of his character to blink rapidly when startled.

Purple - I often use italics when emphasizing something. I don't love using all caps, so if I want to emphasize speech (and not make it OoTP Harry angry, lol) then I use italics.

Red - splitting up dialogue like this is a great way to simulate a pause in a real conversation. I can do it through ellipses or breaking up a sentence. It gives you the image that she is pausing here, which is exactly what I wanted.

Pink - sometimes, standalone lines like this are beautiful because they get right to the point. "I was afraid." That's the entire life story of Remus. It's punctuated by space around it - you can't miss it.

Orange - dialogue is an amazing way to characterize. These two words tell you a lot about Remus - he's uncomfortable with the conversation so he deflects.

Snippet 2:

When he’d finished tying the sleeve, he sat back and asked, “How have you been?”

“You don’t give a damn how I’ve been, Lupin,” Tonks said coldly. The scent of the lake water filled her nostrils, the almost sulfuric, acrid smell intermingling with the freshness of the summer grass. 

“Yes, I do,” he croaked, his voice heavy with emotion. 

“You have a funny way of showing it.” Tonks’ hasty retort was crueler than she intended it. Remus’ face fell and he hung his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he turned his face away from her.

“I never said I didn’t love you, Tonks.”

*Commentary two*

Red - a great way to show relationship - names! This is told from Tonks's POV. In her head she's been using Remus, but when she addresses him here, she goes by his surname. The HP characters show their closeness to others by the use of their names. Having her say "Lupin" out loud is making a statement.

Orange - Here's my adverb. I use them too much.

Green - Even when you're doing dialogue, you can add lots of sensations to describe what's happening inside the character's head, again without spelling out every little emotion they have.

Blue - I love describing body language while doing dialogue. I'm really obsessed with what people's heads, hands, or other facial features are doing. Curled lips? Crinkled eyes? Furrowed brow? Open lips? Scrunched nose? I'm all over that.

Pink - another point for characterization! Remus is telling her he loves her, but in his ass-backwards way. (On a semi related note this is why I love Jane Austen. Her dialogue/characterization and dialogue/plot is perfection.)

Snippet #3

“That’s not it at all. I want to be with you. I’ve never wanted anything -  or anyone -  so much in my life. But you know I’d only ruin you,” Remus said, rambling on, “I can hardly support myself. I’ll be nothing but a drain on you and your finances. I’m 13 years your senior. You will outlive me. I’ll always be a burden, needing care, and you’ll resent me for it. I’m dangerous to myself and to you. I’ll ruin you, your career, and I’ll constantly be a hazard to your health and safety. I’m a monster! Being with you would mean I finally live up to werewolves’ bestial reputation. I can do nothing for you but place you in harm’s way. I will destroy you.”

His chest heaved with uneven breaths. Tonks gaped at him, speechless.

“I love you too much to do this to you. I can’t -  not in good conscience.” Remus put his hands up to his face, covering it.

Tonks felt a flicker of hope in her chest. “But you do love me?”

Remus wiped something away from his eyes and croaked, “If I loved you any less–”

“Be with me, Remus,” Tonks blurted out. “It doesn’t have to be so hard.”

Remus shook his head slowly. “You’d live a life of fear.”

“I’ve been afraid of losing you for a year,” Tonks pleaded, putting her hand on his knee. “I’m more afraid of losing you than I am of losing my job, my money, and my reputation combined.”

“Am I worth losing your life over?” Remus said quietly.

“ We are worth losing our lives over.” Tonks gesticulated wildly between herself and Remus. “I want to live in a world where you and I can be together…where I can love a werewolf without being judged and where a werewolf can love me without fearing for us both. That’s what I’m fighting for and if I lose my life because I tried to make our world a better place, then so be it.”

*Commentary three*

Red - okay, this is a LONG piece of dialogue. It's broken up very briefly with "rambled on." I don't like to have huge speeches in my writing because I don't like writing huge paragraphs. As a reader, it's overwhelming to see a wall of text on my iPhone, which is how I usually read fics. I end his speech with an observation about his chest heaving - this helps break up everything he's saying, too.

Orange - I didn't use a said here, because he's still the same speaker. Sometimes I use said too much.

Green - Tonks has transitioned back to calling him Remus - there's been a shift in her mind and heart, and she's showing it through her speech.

Blue - I need to control my love of adverbs.

Pink - this is interesting because I could've said "asked." It's obvious he "asked" because there's a question mark. But I noticed in JKR's writing that she uses "said" when there are questions, so I followed the same style.

Purple - and here's another long piece of dialogue, split apart by a phrase.

*Snippet #4*

“Tell me I’m not being selfish.” His voice was thick with emotion and his eyes downcast as he held her hand more tightly. “I don’t want to let you go.”

“Then don’t,” Tonks urged. “You can be with me now. It’s not selfish to want love and it’s not selfish to take it from someone who feels the same. We love each other, Remus, don’t you see? This can be simple.”

“Simple,” Remus repeated faintly, his premature lines no longer rippling his face into fear and worry.

“We’ll start like this.” Tonks lifted their joined hands in the air triumphantly. “You and I. Us. ”

Remus nodded and repeated, “Us. Together.”

*Commentary four*

Red - just like I don't always use said, I try to keep dialogue from the same character in the same paragraph. It's funny - when I read books now it's not just for pleasure. I take a look at how other writers write and this is how dialogue is written in a lot of books. I liked it so I kept it.

Orange - look! an action verb AND an adverb! what am I even doing with my life.

Green - This is good - ok, so I've got Tonks making. an. emphasis. I could've done an ellipsis. You and I...us. But that's a pause. You and I. Us. That's very declarative. She's saying what she wants (a reflection of her brash personality)

Blue - and Remus REPEATS what Tonks says, not only in words but in the way he speaks. They are getting on the same page - literally - and he is mirroring her words and sentiment. He too is saying what he wants, even if it took a bunch of rambling to get there.

Hopefully you enjoyed this ridiculously long director's commentary! Good luck with your dialogue, @turanga4!!