#most of them translate as like
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random name thoughts+headcanons
"françois bonnefoy" is something that he came up with when he was the nation equivalent of 10-12, because it really sounds more like a medievalbrained Cool Title than a real name.....hello i am a frenchman of the good faith. d'accord jeunehomme! people might have already been calling him something like The Frank or the frankish child (in their various dialects) so he really just....took this to the logical conclusion. (side note: i like the idea of his roman cognomen having been flavius/flaviulus, "yellow" for his hair)
"veneziano" is pretty self-explanatory, just a place-of-origin name, in fact iirc there were some people historically who having no last name, just used this one, like the painter bartolomeo veneziano. "feliciano" is apparently not a real italian name(?correct me if this is wrong?) but could have come through any number of vulgar latin takes on "felix" ("happy") i'm very attached to feliciano as a name of his even though its linguistically questionable, because i think it makes so much sense for this name to have stuck with him...sometimes it's happily accurate and sometimes its darkly ironic.
"romano" is another one that probably rose from a nickname given to him by others. i'm not sure if the italybros ever even met their "father" and romano's primary childhood memories would probably be of east rome/byzantium (who imo is a separate character from rome) and an aging mama graecia, if she's still around. (southern italy had been greek-influenced for awhile and was controlled by east rome for a time after the fall of west rome) but these older nations would have known who this new nation-child is, and perhaps called him romulus ("little roman" basically) in remembrance of his father.
"antonio" is a pretty obvious descendent of "antonius" or "antoninus" in latin. i hc antonio to be one of the characters who remembers rome the best, so it makes sense his name would be relatively unchanged. ive toyed with the idea that "fernandez" is from one of his kings (there were a LOT of iberian kings called fernando) but its just as likely thats a story he tells to justify the name after picking it up randomly.
for my florence OC i was considering something like simonetta or clarice after famous florentine women, but eventually i was like....why fight it. her name is fiora/flora, depending on inconsistent medieval spelling. fiorella if she's being babied or teased. i think it would have grown naturally out of the name of her city, with people calling her "the florentine girl" or "the little florentine" before it slowly became less of a title and more of a name.
imo rome is lucius (taken from @absolvtely-barbaric who is so so smart) but he could have any number of cognomen (in roman naming conventions, thats the name you're more likely to be identified by) from the ever popular romulus (little roman. little rome man. little guy from rome. lmao) to marius (for mars, his patron god/probably dad) to my favorite, crispinus ("curly-top", basically, which is funny and also connects him to the italies with their special curls)
#my headcanons#text#hws france#hws veneziano#hws romano#hws rome#hws florence#hws firenze#sorry for sneaking my OC in there oopsie#hws spain#roman cognomen are really funny#most of them translate as like#fatty/baldy/bignose/blondie/chatterbox etc#just very juvenile nicknames based on the first thing you notice about someone
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C'MON TO THE THEATER!
I love these guys so much. forget NRC, I want to attend their terrible disaster school for disaster children that might actually be plastered on top of the smoking remains of an actively sinking ship. I may or may not actually learn anything, but I will have the time of my life.
#art#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland spoilers#stage in playful land#stage in playfulland#unique magic posters#so it was fellow after all and not gidel? whoops#i was merely overthinking it#me? overthink fictional characters? surely not#god though#i can't not love a guy who gets the cutest most adorable power#and instantly goes 'i shall use this for Crimes'#also every time he was like 逃げる! my brain auto-translated it as CHEESE IT!#accompanied by twst's running-away sound effect which is just the quintessential sound of someone cheesing it#if i could have (1) twst spinoff it would be the adventures of these two idiots trying to do an education#they would have a stodgy bureaucrat antagonist who keeps trying to catch them in their sleazy corner-cutting ways and shut them down#(OF COURSE there would be a bit where they are trying to host an unforgettable luncheon but egads! their roast is ruined!)#and all while they're trying to evade being hunted down by the playful land investors#the hijinks would be SO wacky you guys#i've made myself sad now because this will never exist#it's real in my HEART
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one thing u can count on me for is being normal about Some Guy
process under cut where u can see me losing my mind trying 2 figure out what i was doing in real time! :3
#mine#cats#original#i started colouring this last night and could NOT . get my brain to work#i like knew the vibes but i couldnt translate that into an actual physical colour palette AOAUGH#but i did kind of pop off w this one ngl. anyway#ive been listening to you cant do that podcast very good very funny hockey girls !!#i do need to listen to a boring white man podcast though so i can get . information . and not just who has been the most cunty nhl player#what else happened today. my tamagotchi evolved ! i love them so much#and i completed sm more crochet blanket! maybe i should post pictures of that bc its going to take years off my life i might as well get#sm clout for it
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think. artists resemble their work the same way dogs resemble their owners
#no but like hear me out#i just started art uni and almost everyone looks like the art they draw#its either the aesthetic or the faces#we even have a professor that literally has the same face shape as her art#you could like#easily translate her face onto her art#even her cheeks are like pinkish-red in the sam way she draws them onto her characters#its insane#i often forget that i also look like my art#most of my characters have curly hair and square faces with big eyes#i dont see it but i think anyone else could look at me and and say i also resemble my art#its not true in EVERY case but i think we learn from what we know the best and what we know the best is ourselves#so thats why a lot of people look like their art
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idk man i dont really wanna pay upwards of ten dollars for a pattern people say is poorly written and wasn’t test-knit in my size lmao
#nowadays everyone on ravelry thinks theyre a pattern designer but like. most of them aren't and im not paying that lol#if i have to resize everything and fix their fucked up stitch counts and basically do their job for them. well then i am not doing that.#i know people argue about it being rude to riff on patterns based on their pictures but. i will be doing that and you cannot stop me.#i am not paying twelve dollars for a google translated pdf of a top down sweater. peace on planet earth.#knitting#~~~
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kurunthokai, 168 — “what the hero said to his heart”
#i did this in a rush. that's why some things look wonky and weird and T-T#me drawing vague shapes then scribbling over them#here is some pavayatri for you#goldenmodel#pavitr x gayatri#literally whatever you call them#i tried translating slash rewriting the original kurunthokai poem#but it's in pure tamil so most of the words don't really line up with modern tamil/english#so i put my degree in bad writing to use. hopefully this does the poem justice#anyway yeah. have these babies#i love pavitr and gayatri so much!!!!!#i saw this poem and immediately thought “you know what would be absolutely sick. asm121 redraw”#and then I DID IT#no i am not sorry. not really. dw i gave myself psychic damage while drawing this#“the night gayatri singh died” be like#gayatri singh#pavitr prabhakar#spider man india#atsv#atsv pavitr#spider man#artoftheagni#its 1am rn if you have any beef with me please wait another six hours. i hate staying up so late
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there are all of 6 fics on ao3 that come up when you search the word “disabled” in the dead boy detectives fandom. I’m dealing with a fibromyalgia flare up rn so I’ve decided to come up with some (potential!) disability/condition/syndrome/etc. headcanons. enjoy!
(oh and just to note: I stayed away from conditions with obvious facial / appearance difference as no actors with facial / appearance difference were cast in the show and I was unsure if it would be appropriate. while I have experience with a lot of the following diagnoses, I do not claim to be an expert on any of them and do not intend for this to be used as a diagnostic tool. if you feel any of these are offensive/inappropriate, please message me and I’m happy to talk about it :) this is more just to encourage broader disability representation within the fandom!)
Edwin: autistic, PTSD (from hell), chronic pain/fibromyalgia (from his death/hell), minor visual impairment (not enough to need the hard-to-come-by testing needed for glasses when he was alive and so assumed the various limits/effects were normal. was told otherwise by Niko), would’ve had shingles if lived long enough
Charles: ADHD, PTSD (from his father/growing up in an abusive household), dyslexia, Reynaud’s syndrome (either already born with it or as a result of his death—both angsty), was in the beginning stages of an ED prior to his death, post-concussion syndrome, near-sightedness (never given glasses bc he wasn’t about to tell his dad the board looked a little blurry sometimes)
Crystal: cPTSD (reminder that neglect is also abuse :), bipolar 1, IBS, endometriosis
Niko: autism, depression, POTS, hEDS, anxiety, sprite-induced agoraphobia, epilepsy, lactose intolerance
Monty: Depersonalization-derealization disorder, selective amnesia (this is not the first times Esther has messed with his form/killed and revived him, but the experience is traumatic and so his brain decides not to remember it), recurrent arrhythmia, synesthesia
Jenny: OCD, BPD, ED recovered, Celiac’s disease, diabetes type 1, anemia
TCK: autism, NPD, lactose intolerance, colourblind
Esther: chronic pain (I’m choosing to believe that the cane isn’t just for show!!), NPD, endometriosis
Tragic Mick: cPTSD, depression, HoH, arthritis, diabetes
(The Night Nurse , the Dandelion Sprites, and various other characters felt either too supernatural and/or not developed enough to assign anything to lmao)
#maybe I’ll give edwin fibromyalgia to project on him again#also just to be clear none of this is meant to demonise or speak poorly on any of these conditions !!!#ppl are just varied and have varied bodies and I think it’s fun to explore that with fictional characters :)#lmk which you agree/don’t agree with !!!#also while I don’t see most of the characters as deaf/HoH I do think Charles and Niko have the potential to be CODA(s?)#like I think Charles’s mom and Niko’s dad could’ve been deaf/HoH#granted idk if Charles would know any BSL bc of his father#but I think Niko would know JSL!#she loses her dad and then has no one to use it with :((((#like her mom maybe stops signing or was never great at signing with her husband’s death#and Niko’s father’s friends don’t really hang around even before she’s sent to the states yk#let the record show I was very tempted to give Edwin all sorts of chronic shit that was popular at the turn of the century#but like polio felt a bit too far#TCK is based on how cats are ofc#I think Crystal having manic episodes and having to come to terms with the fact that it doesn’t make her a bad person would be interesting#also Monty is roughly based on how crows be but like how it would translate wrong if that makes sense#like crows can see more colors than humans so I think that screws with his senses in human form => synesthesia#you could give most of them here ptsd just from the events of the show but that felt too repetitive so I kept it to pre show traumas#lmk what yall think#dead boy detectives#dbda#edwin payne#charles rowland#crystal palace#niko sasaki#monty the crow#jenny the butcher#esther finch#the cat king#tragic mick
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Re-watching wakfu for the first time in years and s1 Yugo was so silly???
dude discovered he could make portals at will and his first thought after actually acknowledging it is "i can do so many cool pranks with this"
#he was just a kid..... guys he was just a kid....#HE WAS SO SILLY#also the fact that after eva told him they used to call amalia princess gobball he just laughs at it ☠️#was he 12? i think he was in s1#why dont they ever celebrate characters bdays tho#thinking over it now there was little to no chill time for these guys#sure there was a good amount of non plot stuff to get to know the characters but like#idk? ummm like in the first ova they gave them some chill time and i wish they had done that more#s4 was an amalgamation of “FUCK NOT AGAIN JFC”#OH ACTUALLY#there was (1) episode with chill time and i loved it#despite having gone thru alot of effort to be like look!!! chibi and grougal!!! theyre bros!!! yugo spent like. 5 minutes of screentime#with them. like actually being their brother.#and like it was kinda funny because imagine like the world sorta blowing up a little and then ur child comes back just to say#'dad im rlly fucking upset. ive been to the house of the gods btw. and i met my mom.'#alibert mustve been so fkn confused hdhdbd#then again. its like. average shit for his son#alibert went from gay dad with his lil guy from a species he does not know of who basically works a farm inn to like#a literal demigod. he def has made some enemies#i remember the most abt yugo bec the hyperfix was strongest on him#current thoughts on the others in the brotherhood:#tristepin: yugos nickname did not translate well into en lmao. also my guy pls stop harrassing women?? he gets an arc ik but like. my guy.#yes specifically s1 them#amalia: i mean. she does in fact act like a spoiled 13 yr old. but like. girl they did u kinda dirty.#eva: they also did you kinda dirty. love that your the only one just sick of everyones logic defying shit.#ruel: yk what. no notes. that is the most realistic old man ive ever seen. hes hilarious#az: this mf gets his ass in trouble every five seconds. u can tell he grew up with yugo. also according to s4 he gets bitches so XD#wu's rewatch notes#thats what im calling this#wakfu
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when he see me, he wanna to-to-touch🎶
#the heart killers#thk#khaotung thanawat#joong archen#th: the heart killers#gmmtv actors#you guys#i already love them#how do i put this#joong is so .... google translate says jaunty#and khaotung has no tiktoker skills#so put them together it's amusing#i really really like them together#i hope they are the most annoying siblings who never do what the other tells them but they still love each other#bibi gifs
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touch my heartstrings, aka kotone's gay duet with aigis
(imperfect) english added by me :)
#hamuaigis#persona 3#aigis#kotone shiomi#persona 3 the weird masquerade#mine#fellas is it gay to sing a duet the first time you meet someone about how you feel like you've known them forever#and how you want them to be by your side forever.#is that gay fellas#god i could listen to them sing forever#I KNOW I fucked up some parts I’m transcribing this all by ear of course I’m gonna fuck it up#so yeah sorry about that#persona#one day I’ll update this with the most accurate translation but 4 now have this#my translations
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dekho mujhay urdu mein lineay marne nahi aati meri taraf mat dekho yeh sanji ki galti hai
#i made a post on twt about how sanji needs to use terms of endearment like pyari or meri jaan cuz english ones arent sappy enough#this is the result of that bhfkdj#if his line in the second one doesnt make sense then blame it on him ok#I DONT FLIRT#IDK HOW IT WORKS#next step is to put them into shalwar kameez#usopp in a white kurta..................#op#one piece#sanuso#usosan#sanji#usopp#black leg sanji#vinsmoke sanji#god usopp#mintart#my art#i was gonna write this in the reg script but also my handwriting sucks in both languages but moreso in urdu so i didnt want it to be#completely illegible#anyways ik most ppl seeing this dont know urdu so to translate:#(first image) usopp: what is your PROBLEM ??? sanji: jaaannuuuu#idk how to translate jaanu cuz it directly just means life or soul so he's calling usopp his life but ig in eng it would be like deaarrrrrrr#and meri jaan would be 'my life' so u can see that as 'my love'#(second image) sanji: my love what can be sweeter than you? usopp: shut up#THEY'RE SO CRINGE
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Been getting really into the whimsygoth aesthetic lately..... and now I want to make a fantasy dca au where YN is a wizard of some sort. Maybe the boys are like. Spirits that are bound to an artifact that yn gets or something. Or maybe yn attempts to summon a familiar but gets it wrong and summons two magic creatures far more powerful than they were expecting
#i want to keep the whole vibe of the dca being like. robots you know?#like most fantasy aus gives them a lot more agency than theyre afforded in canon and as much as i like those aus#i prefer it when the whole 'theyre objects owned by a shitty corporation' thing is translated into aus
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musing about what a translation of the silt verses would sound like and immediately running headfirst into the problem of whether and how to translate 'Sister Carpenter'
#Faulkner too but i feel like his reads less immediately like an occupation#for him i think 'broeder Marlon' has the right vibes and still alludes to falconry without being too in your face about it#but carpenter... oof. a literal translation doesnt work A) because its basically the surname of a v well known politician#and B) it ends in man#dutch has too many compound words that prevent most trade names from the possibility of gaining the extra meaning of a proper name#or at least make that more difficult. or maybe its cause im not natively english but i did know what a carpenter was#however smthn like 'furniture-maker' would never work as your protagonists name. but thats how most of these names are in dutch#so far ive got Molenaar (:/) Coster (sounds better but the meaning is off) Kuiper (sounds like a football stadium) or Tichelaar#(good cadence and an actual trade but idk if the vibes match 'carpenter'#)#tsv#the silt verses#de zavelverzen#joos yaps#dutch#broeder Valkenaer kan ook wel eigenlijk#i already found yet more options for carpenter... but none of them rlly snap into place#Zuster Sagher? (zager)
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hi, i haven't read the iliad and the odyssey but want to - do u have a specific translation you recommend? the emily wilson one has been going around bc, y'know, first female translator of the iliad and odyssey into english, but i was wondering on if you had Thoughts
Hi anon! Sorry for the somewhat late response and I'm glad you trust me with recommendations! Full, disclosure, I am somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to translations of the source text of the Iliad + Odyssey combo wombo, which means I tend to prefer closeness in literal verbiage over interpretation of the poetic form of these epics - for that reason, my personal preferred versions of the Odyssey and Iliad both are Robert Fitzgerald's. Because both of these translations (and his Aeneid!) were done some 50+ years ago (63 for his original Odyssey tl, 50 flat for his Iliad and 40 for his Aeneid) the English itself can be a bit difficult to read and the syntax can get confusing in a lot of places, so despite my personal preferences, I wouldn't recommend it for someone who is looking to experience the Iliad + Odyssey for the very first time.
For an absolute beginner, someone who has tried to read one or both of these epics but couldn't get into it or someone who has a lot of difficulty with concentrating on poetry or long, winding bits of prose, I fully and wholeheartedly recommend Wilson's translation! See, the genius of Emily Wilson's Iliad + Odyssey isn't that she's a woman who's translated these classics, it's that she's a poet who's adapted the greek traditional poetic form of dactylic hexameter into the english traditional poetic form of iambic pentameter. That alone goes a very very long way to making these poems feel more digestible and approachable - iambic pentameter is simply extremely comfortable and natural for native english speakers' brains and the general briskness of her verbiage helps a lot in getting through a lot of the problem books that people usually drop the Iliad or Odyssey in like Book 2 of the Iliad or Book 4 of the Odyssey. I think it's a wonderful starting point that allows people to familiarise themselves with the source text before deciding if they want to dig deeper - personally, researching Wilson's translation choices alone is a massive rabbit hole that is worth getting into LOL.
The happy medium between Fitzgerald's somewhat archaic but precise syntax and Wilson's comfortable meter but occasionally less detailled account is Robert Fagles' Iliad + Odyssey. Now, full disclosure, I detest how Fagles handles epithets in both of his versions, I think they're far too subtle which is something he himself has talked at length about in his translation notes, but for everything else - I'd consider his translations the most well rounded of english adaptations of this text in recent memory. They're accurate but written in plain English, they're descriptive and detailled without sacrificing a comfortable meter and, perhaps most importantly, they're very accessible for native english speaking audiences to approach and interact with. I've annotated my Fagles' volumes of these books to heaven and back because I'm deeply interested in a lot of the translation decisions made, but I also have to specifically compliment his ability to capture nuance in the characters' of these poems in a way I don't often see. He managed to adapt the ambivalence of ancient greek morality in a way I scarcely see and that probably has a hand in why I keep coming back to his translations.
Now, I know this wasn't much of a direct recommendation but as I do not know you personally, dear anon, I can't much make a direct recommendation to a version that would best appeal to your style of reading. Ideally, I'd recommend that you read and enjoy all three! But, presuming that you are a normal person, I suggest picking which one is most applicable for you. I hope this helps! 🥰
#ginger answers asks#greek mythology#the iliad#the odyssey#okay so now that I'm not recommending stuff I also highly highly HIGHLY suggest Stephen Mitchell's#Fuck accuracy and nuance and all that shit if you just want a good read without care for the academic side of things#Stephen Mitchell's Iliad and Odyssey kick SO much fucking ass#I prefer Fitzgerald's for the busywork of cross-checking and cross-referencing and so it's the version I get the most use out of#But Mitchell's Iliad specifically is vivid and gorgeous in a way I cannot really explain#It's not grounded in poetic or translationary preferences either - I'm just in love with the way he describes specifically the gods#and their work#Most translations and indeed most off-prose adaptations are extremely concerned with the human players of these epics#And so are a bit more ambivalent with the gods - but Mitchell really goes the extra mile to bring them to life#Ugh I would be lying if I said Mitchell's Apollo doesn't live rent free in my mind mmm#Other translations I really like are Stanley Lombardo's (1997) Thomas Clark's (1855) and Smith and Miller (1944)#Really fun ones that are slightly insane in a more modern context (but that I also love) are Pope's (1715) and Richard Whitaker (2012)#Whitaker's especially is remarkable because it's a South African-english translation#Again I can't really talk about this stuff because the ask was specifically for recommendations#But there are SO many translations and adaptations of these two epics and while yes I have also contributed to the problem by recommending#three very popular versions - they are alas incredibly popular for a reason#Maybe sometime I'll do a listing of my favourite Iliad/Odyssey tls that have nothing to do with academic merit and instead are rated#entirely on how much I enjoy reading them as books/stories LMAO
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We all know Timmy is Wanda’s mama’s boy but we need to keep in mind he’s still Cosmo’s kid too and that Cosmo would love him just as vehemently as Wanda
#fairly oddparents#not that anyone has portrayed him different#certainly not distance he loves Timmy he probably says it the most in the show and in fanon#but still- watching New Wish there felt like there was a disconnect with Cosmos character-like he wasn’t as well defined as he was in OG#that’s in part due to them toning him down from being an idiot plain and simple but I feel like it wasn’t fitted with something else it was#simply taken away#just to say he didn’t have as much of a presence to me in New Wish as Wanda did and I crave spinning Cosmo around in my brain#I want to see Poof being his Dad’s Boy yknow and I want to see cosmo doting and I want to see when he gets like. parental rage for the sake#of his kids#yknow? Yknow? part of him feeling detached in a new wish has translated into him not wanting to get as close to Hazel as he did Timmy-#to try and play it more like godparents are supposed to- just a presence for a couple months#but also because like. he got SO attached to Timmy and he’ll never regret it and he’d never do anything different#but idk. if it were me I wouldn’t have the capacity to go through losing my godkid again after becoming that attached#that’s not even mentioning that they don’t HAVE to be in hazel’s life the same way they were in Timmy’s because Timmy was going through#neglect and Hazel has loving family and friends all around her at all times- her blocks are mental#in that way cosmo and Wanda just have to do the Typical Godparent Job of aiding her- not becoming people she desperately needs in life#which also bleeds into why I think Peri was having such a. difficult time#godparents aren’t supposed to be attached the way his family was to Timmy and that how he learned it#but his first godkid is Not Easy and lends immediately to the issues Timmy was having where he HAS parents he HAS things (though . Timmy#was not rich and would sometimes not be fed… dev’s dad also forgets to feed him but dev is still able to eat you know)#and how he grew up with his parents as godparents and how he’s been taught are conflicting and it’s nature vs doing a good job quoteunquote#I didn’t mean to ramble so damn much in the tags I’m really sorry#told myself if I had more to say I’d write it down and post it later but I must be heard.
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Can you tell us more about the Usoma-Hibitte
The Usoma-Hittibe is a sister (typically the eldest) of the Usoma, the Wardi monarch.
((IMMEDIATE LINGUISTIC TANGENT: The phrase Usoma-Hittibe could be functionally translated "king-sister"- Usoma has been the word used for Wardi monarchs for much of their history, which does not actually Translate as 'king'. The word Usoma stems from a now obsolete concept-word referring to death as a 'catalyst of the cycle' (referring to death and birth as dualistic forces that sustain life via their perpetual cycling). This gradually became closer in meaning to 'benefactor of life' or just 'benefactor', which began to be applied to kings as an epithet, and eventually became their titles as sovereign with most other uses falling into obsolescence (though it also appears in the name of the Face Kusomache). Hittibe straightforwardly translates to 'sister', though dead literally is a feminine form of a word meaning 'of the (same) womb'.))
The modern day role is largely a remnant of traditions of the oldest Wardi monarchies and their lineage structures (most significantly the Ephenni, who developed the first monarchies and TREMENDOUSLY shaped all following models of Wardi kingship). All Wardi tribes had patriarchal systems of power (though with greatly varying intensities) throughout their recorded history, but not all have been patrilineal.
The Ephenni (and a lot of the other west-southwest proto-Wardi tribes) had matrilineal kinship structures for the vast majority of their history, with kinship passing from mother to son. This translated to a system of royal inheritance where kingship was passed from a king to his sister's eldest son, rather than to his own sons. The king and king-sister would each be wed to their own consorts, but only the king-sister's children would be potential heirs under normal circumstances.
In a societal context where power is patriarchal and inheritance is matrilineal, this system is Very effective for both ensuring inheritance remains in one family AND to prevent succession crises (which the incest approach to keeping rule within a family doesn't accomplish). A child's father generally cannot Technically be completely certain in a world without genetic testing, which in patrilineal kinship opens the door to claiming illegitimacy of heirs. A matrilineal structure where kingship passes from a man to his nephew via his sister negates this- the mother the a child is unambiguous (you can see her being pregnant and giving birth), and even if the child WAS born out of adultery, the illegitimate father does not ultimately matter to the child's status as legitimate heir. The child will bear the mother (and thus the king's) family name regardless, thus keeping power securely in one family with no avenues to dispute legitimacy.
The Usoma-Hittibe thus had profound importance as the mother of kings, outranking the Usoma's actual wife in significance. A Usoma's own sons would instead live out their lives as noblemen with no claim to the throne (though technically would be 'reserve' heirs in catastrophic failures where a Usoma-Hittibe and any other king-sisters fail to birth sons).
This matrilineal kinship structure was lost over the course of history through a combination of internal societal changes, centuries of occupation, and the assimilation of the various pre-Wardi peoples into collective Wardi identity. Imperial Wardi culture now exclusively uses a patrilineal kinship structure. However, before this change could fully occur, the Usoma-Hittibe's role had extended into numerous ceremonial and political roles and was deeply entrenched into the identity of Wardi royalty, and the position was thus retained even through her reproductive obsolescence.
The most obvious shift to the role of modern Usoma-Hittibe is that they are Not Only no longer the mothers of kings, but have absorbed the cultural 'celibate woman occupying positions of power' archetype and now remain unwed and ostensibly virgins for life, as well as having slightly 'masculinized' elements of their performance (their etiquette and some of their regalia is considered masculine, though not to the same extent as Odonii). This parallels the importance of celibacy and 'de-feminization' in Odonii, partly conceptualized as allowing a woman to retain strength in bodily and spiritual integrity that is otherwise deemed only natural to men. Like Odonii, the bodies of Usoma-Hittibe are politicized into symbols, imagined here as physical representations of the health, strength, and integrity of the royal family. She will be used as a proxy for the entire royal family in rites intending to bless and protect them. She is the public female face of the royal family, and serves ceremonial functions in most rites that would normally be taken by a family's wife.
In addition, a Usoma-Hittibe has a significant degree of hard political power. She is the default regent in case of an Usoma's early demise, has the ability to take action in his stead during absences, and can freely make appointments to the lower court (but not the council), giving her potentially tremendous influence over the court. Her power is still ultimately limited- a Usoma has absolute veto over any of her actions, she is prohibited from issuing military commands (even when acting as regent, this must be in coordination with the council), and the inner council has veto power by majority vote on actions she makes in a living Usoma's stead (though the council does not have generalized veto power over regent Usoma-Hittibe).
There has also been a significant shift in recent history to the Usoma-Hittibe gaining significant control over the state priesthood of the Face Kusomache (which is Partly assigned a role as the protector and legitimatizer of royalty). The Usoma-Hittibe is currently THE person who appoints a high priest to Kusomache as an aspect of her ceremonial roles, and the past few Usoma-Hittibe have negotiated privileges to perform rites otherwise exclusive to the priests (which is unprecedented, as this priesthood (and all other core cults to the Faces save for Odonii and Galenii) is closed and all-male). This has contributed to internal fracturing among this priesthood- cult traditions surrounding Kusomache focused on this Face representing death and safe transitions to the afterlife (as well as sacred mysteries and the movements of the cosmos), and the additional 'protector of royalty' trait was rather inorganically assigned by the merging of an entirely separate tradition. Many members of Kusomache's priesthood feel the Face is being warped and defiled, resent the Usoma-Hittibe's appointments of puppet high-priests, see tremendous insult in these royal lay-women integrating themselves into the cult's structure, and fear that these king-sisters will attempt to take over as high priests. Some have even broken off to form a separate sect to Kusomache in response, which by official decree are illegitimate, but is gaining public favor as one of many symptoms of growing distrust and dissatisfaction in the royal family.
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SIDE NOTES ON THE QUEEN-CONSORT
The queen-consort's modern role is somewhat expanded in that she is now the mother of Usoma's heirs, but in few other capacities. Her powers are limited to those natural to her social status, and she has no hard political power whatsoever, even within the scope of the court (though some queens gain indirect power via personally influencing their husbands, sisters in law, and council). Imperial Wardi royal families have generally sought to display themselves as the ideal perfection of the familial sphere with the Usoma as the epitomical protective household patriarch, and thus a queen-consort typically lives in the utmost of feminine cloistering within the palace and is rarely (if ever) seen by the public (in the limited cases in which she travels outside of palace grounds, care will be taken to keep her out of sight within her carriage or litter). This functions to emphasize her privilege as the highest status wife within the domain, and by extension to show the invulnerability of the royal family as a whole by the unseeable and therefore untouchable nature of its Vulnerable wife/mother.
(The concept of a wife being able to exist in protection exclusively within the family home is considered an ideal, which isn't really attainable for nobility and is out of the goddamn question for the lower classes. You'll notice 'women's bodies being heavily politicized and abstracted' being a recurrent cultural theme here- the wife of a household is the vessel for a family's continued existence and conceptually the vulnerable representation of the family's survival, which must be controlled and protected. The social privilege of royalty allows for this to be utterly realized in the case of the queen).
The queen-consort is (apart from being known by name) functionally the abstract concept of the idealized wife and mother and the womb of kings rather than an individual person to most of the public. Attention is actively Drawn to her physical absence via a queen being represented in effigy in the vast majority of public appearances by the royal family (represented in statuary, and in abstraction in the form of the lotus sceptre held by the Usoma-Hittibe). Statues representing each current queen-consort are placed in major temples to Kusomache, Ganmache and Anaemache to gain the protection of these Faces and to be honored by the visiting public.
#Should note that there are varying levels of social conservatism wrt 'Should Wives Leave The House' and it's actually kind of#a minority among the nobility who believe that ideal should be universally and firmly enforced#(and this is Only attainable for nobility. Lower class women have to leave the house to like. work and run errands and fetch water and etc)#This should not be confused for the less conservative crowd having a Significantly more progressive viewpoint (a lot of them are#operating on a 'you're wife is still under domestic protection when you bring her somewhere with you under your watchful gaze' basis)#The most relaxed common viewpoints are like 'yeah it's an IDEAL but chill out a little'#I would like to emphasize again that married couples in this sphere sometimes do like each other and enjoy one another's presence#and that can translate to some men being okay with flexing idealized social norms if it makes their wives happy#Still a TREMENDOUS power differential between men and women in this society ESPECIALLY wrt the structure of marriage and being a#kind and loving person does not automatically translate to unlearning deeply ingrained misogyny or other learned cultural norms#(Which Women Learn And Absorb As Well)#But just like. remember that people are human everywhere
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