#please stop creating royalty if there is no interest in exploring how that character relates to sovereignty and leadership

[potionwine]

Thinking about Margrace as Joshua's name post-Phoenix Gate.

Mar-grace.

In FFXVI the Undying choose their own names (Cyril explains this in-game), and many of them have names drawn from Final Fantasy XII, including their leader 'Margrace' himself, from Al-Cid Margrace. The page for Al-Cid notes that Margrace is likely an alternate form of the title 'margrave', an old title for military commanders on the border.

That aside. This is the name chosen (by the boy himself?) for the boy who should have rightfully been known henceforth as 'Your Grace', 'His Grace'.

Grace (style of address), from the Oxford English Dictionary:

With a possessive adjective: a title of respect, esp. for a person of royal or noble rank. Frequently (in 'your Grace') as a form of address. Now archaic or historical. Formerly (in England until the reign of Henry VIII and in Scotland until 1707) used for a monarch or prince; now replaced by Majesty or Highness. Even so, "Majesty" for the sovereign of England was not used exclusively; it arbitrarily alternated with both "Highness" and "Grace", even in official documents, until "Majesty" finally became the official style to the exclusion of others (source).

Grace (other meanings):

1. Divine favour, benevolence, or providence bringing about worldly benefit or advantage. 2. A person's lot, destiny, or fate; luck, fortune. 3. The quality of being pleasing; attractiveness, charm; esp. (in later use) refined elegance of manner, expression, form, or movement, esp. regarded as natural or effortless; gracefulness.

Whatever the etymology of margrave, the name Margrace in-game is probably meant to call to mind the meaning of 'mar' as in damaged, spoiled, ruined. All the grace that ever belonged to his family, his home, his birthright—marred, of course.

Mar+Grace, the last heir of the oldest unbroken ruling dynasty in the Twins at the time of the opening events of the game**.

The living ghost, carrying the desecrated corpse of his legacy in his new name. Introducing himself by his humiliation: "Hello, I am Margrace", "Hello, I am the ruined dignity of my house." "Call me Margrace", "Call me the wreckage of one fallen from divine favour." "My name is Margrace", "My name is blemished fortunes and diminished nobility".

It's appropriately brutal and dramatic for such a character, especially since the game is frustratingly silent on how Joshua personally feels about the loss of his duchy which is a rant for next time.

**Footnotes:

In the Year 860 (Prologue year/Phoenix Gate), Rosaria is about 260 years old (est. Y600). Older, if you count from the time of the Rose Alliance (est. Y550). The Rosfields have been on the Rosarian throne since the inception of the duchy in Y600, and prior to that House Rosfield was already known to be the chief of/the preeminent house of the Seven High Houses that united to found the duchy. House Rosfield has held ruling power for 260-310 years at a minimum.

For reference, England's longest-reigning dynasty was the Plantagenets, who held on for 300+ years. Rosfields aren't doing half bad!

Veldemarke would have been older had it not been overthrown by Barnabas; therefore Waloed is the youngest nation state at the time of the prologue (only 17 years old). Also we do not know much about the governance of Veldemarke, although as a 'kingdom' it was likely some type of monarchy.

Sanbreque was formed 100 years after Rosaria, and at any rate is not actually a hereditary monarchy. The Holy Emperor is voted into office by his fellow Cardinals, likely the five who form the Council of Elders. We are also explicitly told that Sylvestre 'won his throne' in 865; there is no indication either way that his predecessor emperor was a Lesage. The wording suggests the throne is not Sylvestre's by lineage or birthright. How this is supposed to relate to the concept of Sanbreque having a 'crown prince' (Dion) is unclear and contradictory, since an emperor by election should probably not have the authority to unilaterally decide on the succession of the throne, and his issue—legitimate or no—should not automatically be in the line of succession.

Dhalmekia is a republic with elected officials.

The Iron Kingdom apparently has a royal family, but nothing else is known apart from it being impotent and sidelined by their state religion.

The Northern Tribes likely do have hereditary rule, and Jill is referred to as a princess, but once again little is known.

Ergo—and I am ceaseless in this propaganda—Clive and Joshua are really, properly posh! Absolutely baffling that Anabella would allow anyone to put down the pedigree of her sons when they are so blue-blooded precisely because she is! For someone with such entrenched ideas of blood purity she should not stand for it, no matter how she feels about her eldest.

[eviemdrake-art]

Evaluation for FMP

For my FMP I created and directed a stop motion animation which focused on the end of life journey- death. The intention of my animation was to show that death does not have to be feared and that it is an inevitable journey for everyone. This is represented by the friendship built between the characters ‘Evie’ and ‘End’ and Evie’s acceptance of her fate presented to her by ‘End’. The title of the animation ‘Journeys: Accepting the End’ was inspired by the physical end/ death that occurs in the animation and could also be interpreted as the arrival of the character ‘End’.

The character Evie is autobiographical to myself, ethically modelling the character on other people could cause offense and upset due to the sensitive nature of the theme for the animation. The character ‘End’ is based on multiple personas of death; Thanatos the Greek Mythology personification of death and the Grim Reaper. Ethically I did not want to refer to Thanatos for the character ‘End’ to make sure I did not misinterpret Greek mythology and offend Greek culture audience. 

Initially the intention for my FMP was to look at ‘Journeys’ in life that surround global or quotidian (everyday) issues- however as my research developed I realised that I wanted to focus on the quotidian issues which included; loneliness and isolation, suicide, parenthood as a journey and the journey of death. The journey of death interested me the most. Prominent areas of research for my FMP  comprised of watching other death themed animations which include; ‘The Life of Death’, ‘Life is Beautiful’, ‘Coco’ and ‘The Book of Life’. All of which informed the final narrative for my storyboards and finished animation. 

Other prominent areas of research included animation and non-animation based artists/ films; Edward Hopper, Shaun Tan, Ron Mueck, Donald Rodney, Jan Svankmajer, Aardman, Laika studio, The Quay Brothers, Alfred Hitchcock, the film Amelie and Louise Bourgeois. Key books for research included ‘Stop Motion Animation- How to make and share creative videos’ by Melvyn Ternan and ‘The Art of Aardman’ by Aardman Animations. All of which are not death related but allowed me to explore ideas for my characters design and making, set design and filming techniques. The dark blue hues and grey hues palette of my domestic styled set for my animation was inspired by Edward Hopper’s oil paintings ‘Hotel Room’ 1931, ‘Nighthawks’ 1942 and ‘Automat’ 1927. Whilst Laika, Aardman and the previously mentioned books informed my method of constructing my set. 

To film/ take shots for my frames I used an LED clamp light, a tripod and phone clamp. A professional camera was not needed as the quality of my phone camera was sufficient. Angles for filming; the tripod and phone camera allowed a 180 degree horizontal view of the set, zoom in scenes were taken after the initial 180 degree view of the set was complete- the tripod was moved inwards to the set and turned left at a 90 degree angle. To edit my animation I used the Stop Motion app instead of my initial intention of using Adobe Premiere Pro- this was due to easier importation of frames from my phone into the editing software. My finished animation took a total of 603 frames at a rate of 10 FPS. The finished animation has the duration of 1:06 minutes. The film quality itself is clear in some scenes and slightly fuzzy in others- this is due to the cameras altering concentration on different areas of light within the set- however I like the difference of concentration as it makes the film appear older much like traditional stop motion animation films. 

In terms of music for my animation the film Amelie inspired me to use piano music- a somber and well paced instrument; I discovered bensound.com a royalty/ copyright free music site that allows you to download tracks for free and use them for animations. I decided to use the song ‘Sad Day’ from bensound.com- as it fit the pace and morbid atmosphere of my animation. 

Overall, I am pleased with the quality of the finished stop motion animation but if I had more time the animation could have had a longer duration and more technical filming techniques. 

[lostinthewinterwood]

Worldbuilding Exchange 2020

Hey there, friend! So, first of all, an apology: this letter is very late and I’m sorry to have left it as a placeholder for so long.  If you’ve already started on something, that’s great—feel free to ignore this.  But if, like me, you’re still not sure what exactly to do for your assignment—this will hopefully be of some help.

Other exchange letters can be found here.

Some of the segments of this letter are longer than others.  Please don’t feel bad if we matched on a shorter one, or hemmed in if we matched on a longer one; I like them all differently but equally and as always, optional details are optional.

  General DNW

Rape/non/dub-con; non-canonical major character death; smut/graphic sex scenes; heavy angst; hurt no comfort; graphic depictions of deliberate and methodical self-harm*; graphic depictions of suicide; gore; heavy gender dysphoria; grimdark; complete downer endings; character bashing; incest; cringe comedy; a/b/o; mpreg; full setting AUs (canon-divergence is fine); graphic eye trauma; graphic and/or permanent hand trauma (unless the setting can provide a more-or-less fully functional prosthetic or equivalent); issuefic.

*I don’t include things like, say, punching a wall in a fit of emotion under this. however, something like cutting would not be appreciated.

    General Likes

·        Magic systems

·        Family, found or otherwise

·        Friendship

·        Secrets

·        Disguises

·        Spies, spy networks, spycraft

·        Secret agents

·        Undercover missions

·        How Does This [world thing] Work

·        How Did This [world thing] Come To Be

  Fandom-Specific prompts/comments

  Tortall – Tamora Pierce

·        WB: Healing gift vs learned magical healing (Tortall)

·        WB: kitchen magic (Tortall)

·        WB: spies & spy networks & spycraft (Tortall)

·        WB: the Sight (Tortall)

  ·        Alianne of Pirate's Swoop (Tortall)

·        Any or No Characters (Tortall)

·        Myles of Olau (Tortall)

·        Numair Salmalín (Tortall)

·        Original Character(s) (Tortall)

·        Varice Kingsford (Tortall)

·        George Cooper (Tortall)

·        Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau (Tortall)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

Summary

  Generally I’d prefer not to have a heavy focus on ships, but if they’re going to be there I’d rather they be canon.

In Wolf Speaker, it’s a bit of a plot point that Numair can’t heal at all; but in Tempests and Slaughter he’s got considerable talent as a user of learned healing magic.  Alanna has a healing gift, and doesn’t need to learn detailed information about the workings of the human body in order to use it; or at least we aren’t shown such things.  I’m interested in the similarities and differences there, including whatever it is about learned healing magic that makes it so a person can just completely lose the ability to use it—personally I suspect it has to do with power, and having too much of it, but who knows?

Kitchen magic!  How does that work?  What does Varice do, exactly, to food that changes it/the process of creating it?  Is it commonly looked down upon, or is it unusual that Varice’s family doesn’t really want her to pursue it?

I’ve always been rather fond of the spies and subterfuge of the Tortall world, and anything about any of the spy characters I’ve asked for—or about any of their underlings—would be great here.

The Sight is relatively weird, imo, as Tortall magic goes; it’s got its own particular rules and restrictions, and I think it would be interesting to see it further explored.

    Frozen (Disney Movies)

·        WB: Arendellian mathematical understanding given that they have the concept of fractals (Frozen)

·        WB: extent and limitations of Elsa's powers (Frozen)

·        WB: Magic elsewhere in the world (Frozen)

·        WB: Life in the Enchanted Forest while cut off (Frozen)

·        WB: Geopolitical implications of magical royalty (Frozen)

  ·        Any or No Characters (Frozen)

·        Honeymaren (Frozen)

·        Original Character(s) (Frozen)

·        Anna (Frozen)

·        Elsa (Frozen)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  So, if you offered the Arendellian mathematical understanding, I’m somewhat presuming that you had something in mind for it already, and I’m interested to see what that is!

Otherwise, I really like the magic systems in the films and their interactions with the characters and the world’s other nonmagical elements, and I’d really enjoy an exploration of that.

As a side note: I’d rather not have a story focused on non-canon ships here.  I know that Elsa/Honeymaren is fairly popular, and of course it’s not in my dnws and this letter is incredibly late, but while I don’t particularly dislike the ship I’m also not at all invested in it.

  Harry Potter – Books 1-7

·        WB: Folklore and Literature (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Grindelwald's War (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Magical Medicine (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Ministry Legislative Process (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Music (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Spells Research and Development (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Wards - How Do They Work (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        WB: Wizarding Higher Education (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

  ·        Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Any or No Characters (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Bill Weasley (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Harry Potter (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Merlin (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Original Character(s) (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Original Non-UK Wizard (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

·        Original Witch Academic (Harry Potter Books 1-7)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  One of the things I like most about the Harry Potter books is how they give the impression of being set in a larger world; sometimes, it’s a bit of a whimsical world that doesn’t make perfect sense, but it doesn’t seem like the world the stories are set in is just a bubble; it feels like a small part of a bigger world, and I’d really enjoy something expanding into that—I mean.  Obviously.  I’m participating in this exchange, after all.

I don’t really have any broader things to say here; I think the worldbuilding areas are all enough of prompts in and of themselves.

As a side note: for the character tags which specify “wizard” and “witch”, I don’t care what gender a character of that type might be.

    Valdemar Series – Mercedes Lackey – 750-900 AF  

Tags

·        WB: spies & spy networks & spycraft (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        WB: Loss of the Herald-Mages (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        WB: loss of magic from Valdemar (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        WB: creation of the Herald’s Collegium (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        WB: Artificers (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

  ·        Any or No Characters (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Stefen (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Original Herald Character(s) (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Original Character(s) (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Nikolas (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Mags (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

·        Abidela (Valdemar – 750-900 AF)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  Honestly, I put the time limitations in because this is the era I’ve read the most in; it’s a suggestion, not a hard and fast rule, especially since some of the prompts I’ve given could easily spill outside of its bounds.

But it just seems like a time of such intense change—the old system of Herald-Mages more or less collapses and everything changes there, and not long after the Heralds switch to the Collegium system, and all the while there are non-Herald non-mages just going about their lives as they always have.

    Original Work – Fantasy/Sci-Fi

·        WB: Chosen Ones (OW - F/SF)

·        WB: in-universe fictional narratives (OW - F/SF)

·        WB: Magical education (OW - F/SF)

·        WB: original magic system (OW - F/SF)

·        WB: spies & spy networks & spycraft (OW - F/SF)

  ·        Any or No Characters (OW - F/SF)

·        The Chosen One (OW - F/SF)

·        Female Magician in Tower (OW - F/SF)

·        Female Magician's Apprentice (OW - F/SF)

·        Original Character(s) (Original Work - F/SF)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  I don’t really have much to say here; I like fantasy! …obviously, given my uh choice of requests.  And I like sci-fi!  And all these tags are more or less prompts in and of themselves.

    Original Work – Urban Fantasy

·        WB: Avoiding witch hunters in modern society (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Folklore that is more life-changing than expected (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Function of Practical Magic in Public Infrastructure (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Laws And Law Enforcement Relating To Magic (OW-Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Libraries that include magical works (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Magic & Murder Trials (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Unexpected animal encounters of a useful nature (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        WB: Use of Magic in Special Effects and Theater (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

  ·        Academic studying the field of magic (Original work - Urban Fantasy)

·        Any or No Characters (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        Engineer (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        Original Character(s) (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        Person Accused Of Murdering With Magic (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

·        Witch learning her magic (Original Work - Urban Fantasy)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  Honestly this is more or less the same as the above.  They are all Good Prompts and I would enjoy any of them.

    Star Wars Section

The quintessential space opera; I love this universe and its characters and ugh it is great.  I’m generally less fond of TLJ than the movies that came before it (though I am… far less salty about it than I was two years ago) and I enjoyed TRoS more although it’s still a bit of a mess.  But that should by no means stop you from integrating elements into your fic from those films.

Generally, about Star Wars, I’m going to say that I’d like for writings to fit into one of the three categories; that being said, feel free to bring in ideas from other sections, especially when there’s similar ideas across subcategories!

  Movies Only

·        WB: Ahch-To (SW Movies)

·        WB: Exegol (SW Movies)

·        WB: Force Dyad (SW Movies)

·        WB: Living on a Rebel Base (SW Movies)

·        WB: Living on a Resistance Base (SW Movies)

·        WB: Luke Skywalker's Jedi Training Temple (SW Movies)

  ·        Any or No Characters (SW Movies)

·        Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SW Movies)

·        Leia Organa (SW Movies)

·        Luke Skywalker (SW Movies)

·        Rose Tico (SW Movies)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  I’m afraid I haven’t much to say here, since as is so often the case the tags seem to be prompts in and of themselves.

But if I must say something, I’m especially curious about Ahch-To and Exegol, their histories, and if there’s any connection between the two of them.

  Sequel Trilogy

·        WB: Confusion/Curiosity/Fear about The Force (SWST)

·        WB: Fathier racing (SWST)

·        WB: Relationship between Force and Science (SWST)

·        WB: The New Government Now That The Resistance Has Won (SWST)

·        WB: The New School of The Jedi (SWST)

·        WB: Using Force To Bring The Dead (Exploring The Force Ghost Phenomenon) (SWST)

  ·        Any or No Characters (SWST)

·        Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SWST)

·        Boy at fathier racetrack (SWST)

·        Finn (SWST)

·        Original Character(s) (SWST)

·        Poe Dameron (SWST)

·        Rey (SWST)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  I still am at a bit of a loss for what to say here, honestly.  I will say that I’m not the one who nominated “Boy at fathier racetrack”.  I interpreted that as being the Force-sensitive child we saw at the end of the film, but of course it could be any of the children we see.

  New EU

·        WB: Different ways of knowing the Force (SW New EU)

·        WB: Force ghosts (Star Wars - New EU)

·        WB: Jedi Culture (Star Wars - New EU)

·        WB: Knights of Ren (Star Wars New EU)

·        WB: Legends and Folklore about the Jedi Order (SW New EU)

·        WB: Sith Lore Regarding Rule of Two and Force Dyads (Star Wars New EU)

·        WB: The World Between Worlds (SW New EU)

  ·        Ahsoka Tano (SW New EU)

·        Anakin Skywalker (SW New EU)

·        Any or No Characters (SW New EU)

·        Asajj Ventress (Star Wars - New EU)

·        Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (SW New EU)

·        Hera Syndulla (Star Wars New EU)

·        Obi-Wan Kenobi (SW New EU)

·        Original Character(s) (SW New EU)

  ·        Fanfiction

·        In-Universe Meta

  Obviously, this is the New EU as a whole, but I will say that my greatest familiarity lies with the animated series: I’ve seen all of The Clone Wars and Rebels by now (and I hadn’t seen all of Rebels when I signed up; feel free to include other Rebels characters, I can’t be spoiled anymore since I’ve uh seen it all).

Which isn’t to say don’t include other things!  Include whatever you want.  But if it’s not at all related to the animated series or the movies, you should know that I may be lacking some context.

…for possibly the One And Only specific prompt I have in this entire letter, and this shouldn’t be taken as an indication that I like the idea better than anything you may come up with; it’s just all that’s coming to mind right now and this letter desperately needs to be finished—I’d definitely be interested in combining Hera with legends and folklore about the Jedi Order, and have something set around the time of A New Dawn, and how that colors her interactions with Kanan.  That would be nice.  But like I said it’s just one idea please do not feel bound by it.

    Thank you ever so much for writing for me!