#making family trees and timelines and relationship maps and all sorts. it has been Bad.

[faebriel]

fellow oc haver here! what’s ur process like when it comes to coming up w/their lore/writing?

hiii fellow oc haver!! honestly i have chipped away at my ocs for. a veryyy long time but here is how i've gone about it for my main set

those guys are all inspired by different characters from 1-3 fairytales (snow white rose red, red riding hood, snow white) so for me a lot of their lore comes down to 1) applying the beats of the original fairytale(s) into a different context and 2) looking at how the different roles they play blend together. having this kind of inspiration gives me a little boost personally because it starts to lay out some ideas about how all these characters fit. and i had some ideas for context already (insp from fantasy stories + fairy folklore, setting that's more close to home for me, playing with ideas around changelings and such) so it was kind of like tipping a toybox into a "fairytale" pile and a "vibes/context" pile and trying to combine them.

observe my silly chart below. i have highlighted my two special girl guys for emphasis

so like let's look at bea for example. as one of the main two guys, she lands in all three fairytales - each of which give inspiration on different ideas for traits and relationships for her:

rose red from snow white rose red has a sister that she's very close to (obviously), is the rowdier sister of the two and a worse homemaker, likes to faff around in the bush, is rewarded for being a kind sweetie pie

red riding hood from... red riding hood does NOT listen to her mum and is far too easily taken in by strangers. now i know it's a trope but it almost wouldn't be a red riding hood retelling/inspired story/whatever without some charmingly suspicious stranger to get too attached to. dies either figuratively or literally. sometimes gets to kill a wolf (or wolves) on her way out. is NOT rewarded for being a naive sweetie pie.

as the mirror from snow white, she has to be the one who knows where snow white is and tells her stepmother about it. so presumably she has some kind of confidant dynamic with the stepmother, even though the stepmother treats snow white poorly... who is, from the snow white rose red connection, her sister in at least some sense. what does that say about her? is this more naivete and willful blindness at work? also - as a mirror, she's a reflection of the stepmother to some degree. what does that look like?

this is lowkey cheating because it is a bit of a launch point for character goals and things. for example: you just know bea as a red riding hood inspired character is Going Into Those Woods. but then you can add fun modifiers like "bea's family has so much fkn drama and she is so sure bringing her lola home will fix it (her lola is so fkn dead bro i am sorry)"

and then i kind of like to twist things a bit for funsies. for example - the "fairest of them all" thing from snow white gets all tangled up with "the fair folk" from the context/vibes box. for this story, this means that snow white is not only fair as in beautiful, but fair as in fae-like - to the point where her family, her stepmother especially, believes she's a changeling. and in that context the wicked stepmother attempting to have snow white killed as a changeling takes on these additional elements which get to sprawl out. like now snow white (scott) has a whole Thing about not evening knowing what she is and unpacking the potential horror of being the cuckoo bird in the robin's nest. and you know what i find that fun i am having fun

i am also a huge "i listened to a song and it has given me character inspiration in a whole new direction" look i won't say it's the most reliable way to build a story but it is what happens

i would not say i am super great at developing coherent oc worlds and stories i have a very slapdash approach... but these stories are mostly about fun and sharing for me so that's okay. and the more you think about the ideas that interest you the more they flesh themselves out over time!

as a thank you for reading all that i put sillycute art under the cut if all else fails you can just draw your ocs being sleepy and cute and it will heal your soul sevenfold

so bea and cassian meet when bea traipses off to the fae realm to retrieve her bestie when she goes missing and cassian is assigned as her guide (suspicious) essentially.... they do a lot of random traipsing to abandoned buildings and camping and so on. anyway they are not supposed to get along quite so well but well they do. QPR realness in the making

[staghunters]

Thoughts on Stephen Fry’s Troy

Sorta review/critique. A thing to keep in mind is that I‘ve not read a direct translation of the Iliad so this really is my first experience of the epic besides general knowledge of it that is present in pop culture and such.

It’s a long one so I’ll put a break here

First off, there’s a little preface, map, olympian family tree, and timeline of the entirety of ancient history. Very nice to include, though I used these very little in my reading. Nontheless they can be useful for people who are very new to mythology and the layout of the ancient world.

I think I read the epilouge section titled myth and reality after the preface. Not sure why they put it in the back, perhaps for spoilers, but it functions good as a disclaimer before stepping into the main story. There is also a list of actors after this, which are again useful but not something I used a lot personally. 

Now for the main story! I’ll not be going over everything, just the things that stood out for me. Again disclaimer that this is the first time I read a version of the fall of Troy, so my impressions may deviate from ‘canon’ but be sure to correct me/add where you like.

I did not know Helena was a daughter of Zeus or that she had any brothers oof. (Arguably the brothers leave the story very early so I don’t think it’s that bad of me).

I like the idea of a lottery to determine who will marry Helena, but also think that Menelaus is an obvious choice. Given that they have lived together and know each other for a long time, they have a good foundation to build a relationship on.

Agamemnon comes across as an honourable man, but does not shy away from showing his emotions. Iphigeneia in Aulis is a touching section where he stalls the sacrifice of his daughter as long as possible and comes with counterarguments to make it not happen. Fry picks the version where Iphigeneia is spared by Artemis, but does not tell where she is taken which is a bit of a shame.

Odysseus is a smart bastard. I like that.

Paris goes from a kind boy to a selfish man, something that is adressed by characters in the story. I would not go as far as to say that he is Bad, but his morals are very grey.

His siblings and Hebe and Priamos are on the contrary quite reasonable the entirety of the story. They try to make things the best for Helena given the circumstances, and stand up to Paris when needed.

Hector is amazing wow.

I think Kassandra is the most present after him, but I’m not sure if I liked the way Fry chose to depict the whole seeing-the-future-but-nobody-listens because it is done quite literally. At key moments Kassandra is there to cry out her observations but is just not adressed by the others around her. It stands in contrast with Laokoon, who is acknowledged but also ignored. I feel like Fry could’ve brought some more creativity in this case. In general Kassandra feels like the odd one out of the Trojan siblings, not really seeming to be one of them.

Kind of continueing on Kassandra, Helenus is briefly mentioned at times and his foretelling of things is even more minimal. It would’ve been an easy step to make some sort of connection between him and Kassandra, but again I’m not sure if that is in the original text.

Achilles and Patroclus are very well done in my opinion. Achilles has his moments of anger and honour, and Patroclus is not a softboy standing on the sidelines. I always thought Patroclus took Achilles’ armour in secret but here he discusses it with Achilles and he agrees to let him borrow it. When Patroclus dies, there is a section of how fierce the battle for his body is, signaling how all the Greeks cared for him.  

Briseis also seems like an addition to Patroclus and Achilles, if that is the correct phrasing. The dynamics they have can make you interpret them as either Pat and Achilles acting like big brothers of Briseis, or a “X has two hands” kind of thing (where they all hold hands). 

Diomedes and Odysseus act like colleagues mostly, frequently going on missions together to get someone or infiltrate Trojan outposts. I thought it odd that when they steal the Palladion, Odysseus suddenly has the desire to kill Dio as to take the honor for himself. It is brushed of by Odysseus as being an influence of the Palladion, but seems more ambiguous in Fry’s wording. Regardless, seemed out of character regarding the bond the two have.

Helena has regrets later of going with Paris. Fry leaves the options open wether she acted under the influence of Aphrodite or if it was her own decision. Aphrodite does pop up at times to force something upon Helena. While not a sympathetic characterisation of the godess, it does serve as an example that the gods generally do not care much for the wellbeing of those involved in their “games”. This is underlined by Fry in regards to Thetis by saying that the gods generally do not feel much empathy for mortals and that Thetis is very much an exception in the case of Achilles.

Thetis is a bit of an overbearing mom in this, but it does not feel wrong per se.

The other gods come on the stage at some moments in the first half. After that Fry draws a line with Zeus further prohibiting them from interfering with the war.

The Trojan Horse has some detail and is not just ships in the vague shape of a horse a la Troy 2004. It’s got colours, expressions,  a very funky horse.

The siege from within is Brutal. Neoptolemos is definitely not his father and much more aggresive. Fry points out moments where some good was done but emphasizes that the party we have been with and somewhat rooting for the past pages is not free of commiting atrocities. Kassandra predicts her own death and Agamemnon’s to him. Fry did make him say that Klytaimnestra would probably understand/be happy for bringing back Kassandra as a slave. All in all adding to the fact that he does not hate his wife like some other adaptations/people like to suggest, but is instead oblivious or just naive for the fact that the sacrifice of Iphigenia harmed their relationship.

The main story ends with the gods being Disgusted by all of it. I’m assuming Fry will save a bit of the return of the Greeks for a book on the Odyssey which is fine I guess but leaves this one a bit open ended. 

Would recommend this if you’ve never read an Iliad story before and want something that provides you with extended information as well as fun facts about the events. It’s a very accesible read despite some of its flaws.