#pretty Spartan prince

[iamp1ayer0ne]

hyapollo please :3

I am SO glad you asked anon <3 I love them so dearly.

[variousobsessions]

I absolutely adore the fact that Apollo and Hyacinthus, as far as I know, had such a genuinely good relationship. Hyacinthus had no obvious talents or passions that could attract Apollo's attention. He wasn't a musician, poet, healer, aspiring prophet, or anything like that. He was a gorgeous Spartan prince that adored the hunt (more of an Artemis thing) and liked sports. Apollo took one look at his pretty face and decided that he'd make it work. He went hunting and played games with him and in return, Hyacinthus learned the lyre and practiced his archery. It wasn't a one sided relationship where it's all what Apollo wanted or all what Hyacinthus wanted. It was a give-and-take between two people that wanted to take part in the things that made the other happy. Apollo literally left his center of power in Delphi to spend time with his prince and I like to think that Hyacinthus may or may not have been slacking off in some of his princely duties to hang out with his god. (Visiting all of Apollo's sacred spaces took time okay)

All I'm saying is, they are absolutely in love and it makes me so happy to see how equal their relationship is, especially for one between a god and a mortal.

[quitealotofsodapop]

So how does courtnapping work??

"Courtnapping"; a mix of "courting" + "kidnap", is basically the demonic version of a proposal.

When demons were still scattered clans/prides across the mortal realm, it was very difficult for clans to interact without a lot of violence involved. Either because of competition for food, or because someone mistoke a glamoured demon for a mortal animal and starting biting.

What's a prospective lover to do if their beloved's family won't let them near without a fight? Easy; steal their lover away so that they can court them (among other things) in private.

As society grew; "courtnapping" became part of the demonic consciousness as a legitimate dating strategy. It was a loud way of announcing your intentions to the intended's family that you wanted them as a mate, whilst also showing off some muscle/magic.

However, demons are not animals. And if the kidnapped party rejects their captor's affections, it is considered polite to let them go. Only *uncouth* demons dare to lock their beloved away without contact with their family. And only truly vile ones (like Kui Mulang or Sai Tai Sui) keep them as forced spouses.

It's downright expected that a demon whisks away their future spouse - after all, who doesn't want to be swept off their feet?

Among wealthier Underworld clans who've adopted celestial/mortal practices, courtnapping isn't as common. Imperial China-style arranged marriages were the norm for the longest time up until a certain Bull Prince fell in love with an Iron Fan warrior, changing the desire among noble demons towards love matches. Courtnapping is considered a legitimate way of declaring "I object!" to an arranged marriage by giving the bride/groom a second option and a moment to rethink the arrangement.

Some wedding parties even hold a mock courtnappings between the new couple so that they can run off from the festivities and enjoy their honeymoon. Think how Spartan weddings involved the groom "kidnapping" the bride from their own ceremony.

Also because of some hilarious idea sharing with @soniclozdplove, we agree; People were kidnapped by demons so frequently in the Imperial era, not because of demon's eating them - but because of *marriage fraud*.

Think of it like this:

China is under strict Confucian and filial piety ideals. If your parent wants you to marry a specific person, you have pretty much no say in the matter.

Unless.

You just so happen to be kidnapped by a demon who wants to keep you as their legally binding spouse.

Human: "Oh no~ I'm captured by an hunky demon who wants to marry me! Guess I'm going to have to stay here and miss out on my arranged marriage." ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Demon: "And we can no-fault divorce at any time!" Human's Family: "We'll just take them back!" Lawyer: "Actually you can't. It's a legally binding marriage. Unless the captive expresses their rejection or wants to leave; it's legitimate." Human's Family: "Crap. Well, we'll just hire a mercenary or warrior to reverse-kidnap them back!" (*Later...*) Mercenary: "Avast foul demon! I have been sent to reclaim your stolen bride/groom!" Demon, turns to "captive": "Yay or nay, hun?" Human, looks at mercenary: "Ew. Nay. He's older than my dad." Demon, turning on dramatics: "LEAVE THIS PLACE YOU SOLIDER OF FORTUNE! ONLY ONES WITH PURE HEARTS SHALL TAKE THEM BACK!"

Heres a PortSherry comic I feel is very appropriate.

In more serious scenarios, a courtnapping can be faked to safety remove a person in an abusive home. Abusers can't control you if you're behind a giant lumbering demon with a prenup.

DBK got into this in the Tang-era when he and Princess Jade Face were "married". He was just helping her claim her inheritance, since her dad's will would only pay out if she was married (the Underworld Earth-Fox Clan are the "mimicking human/celestial"-trends types). PIF knew of this arrangement, but was still jealous af and nearly blew the whole of Thunder Mountain in her rage (it was how they learned she was pregnant with Red Son).

Zhu Bajie is an odd duck in this case; since he married Gao Cuilan the normal human way, but his instincts told him to steal her away when her family suddenly became hostile towards him. Cuilan didn't really object because she truly loved him, but was upset that contact between her and her family was cut. Even after the couple are legally divorced; Bajie still considers Cuilan his wife - because in a demonic sense, she's still his willing mate. Lots of stories written about the Pilgrims post-Journey have Bajie go back to her so that they can (in human sense) remarry.

Courtnapping still occurs in the modern day; just with a lot of pre-arranged consent involved. Racing, mock-battles, and the spat with between the lovers' parents - demons do love the thrill of the chase after all. But unplanned kidnappings of desired spouses do still happen.

In Red Son and MK's case; they've accidentally been courting each other for a long time. Mostly because they're dorks who don't realise what their rivalry looks like from the outside - especially during the Season 1 era.

Red Son, showing off his plans: "Here is my current brilliant idea for reclaiming our power! Step 1; We engage Noodle Boy and his friends in battle. Step 2: While you two are occupying Dragon Girl and his fathers, I capture Noodle Boy. Step 3: I keep him hidden in my old base in Fire Wind Cave. Step 4: I have full access to the Staff and all of Noodle Boy's magical abilities! It's foolproof!" DBK & PIF: (*share knowing smiles*) PIF: "Dear, I'm glad that you've finally developed an interest in romantic matters - but our current goals do not align with planning a marriage just yet." Red Son, confused: "Huh?" DBK: "And while it would be advantageous if you married Sun Wukong's heir, I feel that tensions between our families are too high to consider even a superficial union." PIF: "It's really sweet that you considered it though." Red Son: (*turns back to planning board, realises that his plan to capture MK resembles a traditional courtnapping*) Red Son, nearly magenta from embarrassment as he tears up the plan: "Err... never mind then."

In season 3 when Red Son saved Mei, Sandy, and MK from the dessert; DBK & PIF weren't mad that they had enemies at the dinner table - but because at a glance it looked like Red Son had stolen himself a spouse without warning them! And he brought some of his spouses family members to hammer out the details!

If the gang hadn't immediately brought up the Samadhi Fire; DBK's next sentence would have been asking them; "What are your intentions with my child? Do we need to provide a dowry? Is there plans for grandchildren?"

Red Son might have died on the spot. XD

[honoringthor]

I got curious about Apollo’s lovers after someone pointed out there wasn’t just Hyacinth or Daphne so I looked.

I found out that one kid can have a lot of different candidates for their mother.

Disclaimer: a lot of this comes from Wikipedia. I’ve included their sources in italics. It’s a long, incomplete list.

🎵🎶male🦢

There is Ademetus of Pherae in Thessaly. He was an Argonaut and hunted the Caledonian boar. His wife loved him so much that she exchanged her life for his so he could live until she was supposed to die. She did this with the help of Apollo. At one time Apollo was sent to work for Adementus as punishment for killing Delphyne, the serpent at Delphi. Apollo fell in love and after his punishment served Adementus out of affection.

Maybe Hymensias (Hymen*) god of marriage ceremonies. He’s also a Erotes**. In most stories he’s a son of Apollo by one of the Muses. Sometimes Dionysus is his dad, sometimes it’s Magnes. There seems to be a lot of instances where someone is either a son or lover depending on who’s telling a story. When he’s the son of Magnes, Apollo Falls in love and stays at Magnes house for a while. (Megalai Ehoiai) Unrelated but he and a bunch of women get captured by pirates and he and the women killed thier captors.

Adonis who it’s said “acted like a man with Aphrodite and a woman with Apollo”. (Ptolemy Hephestion, New History Book 5)

Maybe Boreas 🌬️ who’s the personification of the north wind, storms, and winter. You may know his name from the Hyacinth myth. Some of Boreas’ sons, Zetes and Calais, described Apollo as “beloved of our sire”. (Valerius Flaccus)

Branchus was a former Shepard in Miletus in what’s now Türkiye. Apollo gifted him with prophecy and he introduced the worship of Apollo to Didyma in the Ionian part of Türkiye then mysteriously disappeared.

Carnus was Acarnanian Greek and seer who was taught divination by Apollo who helped raise him. But in some stories they are friends and/or lovers. Unfortunately Hippotes used Carnus’ obscure prophesies as an excuse to murder him. And that’s how the Dorians got a plague, Apollo got a new cult, and the Spartans began celebrating the Carnia.

Cinyras was mentioned by Pindar as “beloved of Apollo” and priest of Aphrodite. (Pindar, Pythian Ode 2) Mars murdered him supposedly because he posed a challenge to Apollo. No idea why Mars would be involved, I’m pretty sure Apollo could handle it.

Cyparissus was loved by Apollo. He also accidentally killed his pet stag and turned into a cypress tree. The cypress then became associated with mourning and now it’s found in many cemeteries. The tree is also sacred to Apollo.

Helenus of Troy/Scarmandrios was a son of Priam and Hecuba and twin of Cassandra. Like his sister he was also a prophet. His name was changed from Scarmandrios to Helenus. (Photius Bibliotheca excerpt)

Hippolytus of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus (Plutarch, Life of Numa 4.5)

Iapyx/Lapis was a lover of Apollo who chose healing as his gift instead of prophecy. He became healer to Aeneas and founded the city of Apulia/Puglia in southern Italy, the stiletto part. He may be the brother of Icarus. (Aeneid XII 391-402).

Maybe Phorbas/Phorbaceus, son of Triopas and Hiscilla, prince of Thessaly, and hero of Rhodes. He was either a rival in love of Apollo or actually his lover.

🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🔮🦢🦢🦢🦢🦢🌿🌿🌿🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐺🐺🐝🐝🐍🐍🐭🐭🐭🐬🐬🐬🐬🐂🐂🌻🌻🌻🏹🏹🏹🎵🎵🎵🐀🐀🐀🤧🤧🤧

🌿female🐍

Acacllis/Acalle, a princess of Crete. A daughter of Minos and Pasiphae and Ariadne’s sister. She may have had multiple children by Apollo and maybe other gods. Acacllis was a Cretan name of A narcissus flower.

Various Muses. Apollo is their leader and occasional lover who has father multiple children by some of them.

Aegle/Coronis the Lapith*** was a princess of Thessaly and mother of Asclepius. Coronis was turned into the constellation Corvus. (According to Istrus).

Celaeno of Phocis mother of Delphus by Apollo. Phocis is the area of Greece that Delphi is in.

Melaens/Melena was the sister of Celaeno and may have been the mom of Delphus by Apollo instead of her.

Aethusa was a daughter of Poseidon and Alcyone. She bore Apollo Eleuther and Linus making her the great grandma of Orpheus. She’s usually identified as a Thracian****

Chione daughter of Daedalion, By Apollo she bore Philammon, maybe. She’s also mother of Autolycus by Hermes. Then she got cocky and bragged that she was hotter than Artemis. Artemis shot her through her tongue, killing her. Her dad didn’t take it well and Apollo had to turn him into a hawk to save him. Philonis has the same story.

Alciope mother of Linus by Apollo. Maybe.

Chrysothemis maybe a lover of Apollo, she was a poet. She’s also the daughter in law to Dionysus and Ariadne.

Rhoeo was mother of Anius by Apollo. Her mom was Chrysothemis by Staphylus making her grand daughter of Dionysus and Ariadne.

Anchiale according to Servis, she was the mother of Oaxes by Apollo. Maybe.

Areia was a nymph from Crete, daughter of Cleochus, and mother of Miletus by Apollo. (Apollodorus, 3.1.2)

Arsinoe may have been mother to Asclepius instead of Coronis. She also had a daughter by Apollo. Arsinoe was honored as a heroine in Sparta.

Corycia was a naiad from the springs of the Corycian cave on Mt Parnassus in Phocis. She had a son, Lycorus, by Apollo.

Cyrene/Kyrene the lion killer was a Thessalian princess and queen of Cyrene. She killed a lion w/her bare hands and Apollo thought it was hot. She had Aristaeus, Atuchus, and Idmon by Apollo. Idmon was a seer, Aristaeus became a god. Apollo made her queen of Cyrene in NE Libya.

Dia may have been the mother of Dryops by Apollo.

Evadne, Apollo was her first love. She conceived a child, Iamus, on her.

Hecuba was queen of Troy and may of had 2 kids with Apollo, Hector and Troilus. According to Stesichorus,Hecuba was rescued by Apollo during the sack of Troy. She may have been turned into a dog in 2 different stories, one because of her reaction to being given to Odysseus as a slave. In either story This allowed her to escape, now she travels with Hecate.

Hyria/Thyria/Hyrie/Thyrie was mother of Cycnus/Cygnus. May have been turned into a swan like her son.

Issa/Amphissa. Her story was woven by Arachne during her contest with Athene. Achilles may have used this name when he pretended to be a woman.

Leuconoe was a daughter of Lucifer and mother of Philammon. Maybe.

Othreis was an oread in a relationship with Zeus and Apollo. With Apollo she had Phager.

Parthenope of Leleges*****daughter of king Ancaeus of Samos and Samia. She had one of the Lycomedes by Apollo.

Phthia was mother of Doris, Laodocus, and Polypoetes.

Psamathe her chile was torn apart by dogs sometime after she abandoned him. Her father had her murdered for some reason and Apollo avenged her and the child’s death with a plague.

Rhodoessa bore the hero Ceos.

Stilbe was the mother of Centaurus and Lapiths. Centaurus is the ancestor of Centaurs.

Syllis was mother of Zeixippus.

Thero, daughter of Phyla’s and Leipephilene, mother of Chaeron

Thyia is associated with the cults of multiple gods. One of the candidates of the mother of Delphos by Apollo.

Zeuxippe is daughter Athamas and maybe mother of Ptous. Ptous is also an epithet of Apollo.

*no relation to the body part.

**In some myths, Eros is separated into multiple deities called Erotes collectively.

***Lapiths were a legendary ethnic group who lived in Thessaly in the Pineios valley. They were related to centaurs and were excellent horsemen. Unlike their centaur cousins, Lapiths looked like regular humans. They were descended from Apollo. They also fought with the centaurs and won. (centauromachy)

****Thracians were cultures that lived in Bulgaria, Romanian, N Greece, and NW Türkiye. It seems to be an umbrella term, like Celtic or Slavic.

*****Leleges we’re president Greek inhabitants of parts of Greece

[olympeline]

You ever get struck with an idea for a multi-chapter, 100k+ word fic out of nowhere and you’re just: Damn, son, if only I had the free time to devote to bringing this word child into the world. It would be glorious

I was going about real life and I suddenly thought: #ScotFrUK #Enemies to Lovers #medieval kings and princes AU #Slow Burn #Angst With A Happy Ending. It would be so mmm *chef’s kiss* So good

Like, imagine it’s the early days of the Auld Alliance but it was much more of a big deal than in our world. To the extent that the king of France sends one of his sons to wed the Scottish king, Alasdair, to cement their pact against the English. Francis is reluctant, but obeys. Happily, he and Alasdair turn out to have what TV Tropes would call a Perfectly Arranged Marriage. A real opposites attract deal. They had to marry out of necessity, but soon neither would be with anyone else.

So, there’s the lovers. Where’s the enemy?

Arthur: 🫡

There we go. Arthur is a prince too. But, unlike Francis, he’s both an only child and the heir. Meanwhile Francis is a second or third son. Hence why he was sent away to wed sexy scotsmen instead of staying home to rule. Anyway, Arthur’s father is still alive, but old and sick and noone expects him to live much longer. Arthur comes back from leading England’s army on the continent and his Evil Uncle™ (who has been de facto king thanks to Arthur’s dad’s illness) immediately sends him north to Scotland. Deliberately misleading Arthur about the strength of Alasdair’s forces in the hopes of getting his nephew killed. Then Evil Uncle™ just has to wait for the old king to die and presto: England’s throne is his

So, Arthur and his men get fed some story about Scottish barbarians pillaging northern English villages and cross the border to try and break up this ragtag bandit hoard. Only to be met with the full force of the highlands army, led by the dreaded King Alasdair himself (gee, I wonder who could have tipped them off? Oh Evil Uncle™ you incorrigible scamp, you).

The English troops are badly outnumbered and are soon crushed and scattered. Those that aren’t killed are sent fleeing desperately for the border, Arthur among them. But he’s captured before he can get to safety and dragged before Alasdair. Arthur is smart enough not to reveal his true identity and manages to pass as a knight. Alasdair takes him back to his castle as a “gift” for his beloved Francis

See, despite their instant connection, Alasdair still worries life in the highlands isn’t enough for Francis. That his love will eventually tire of a life that’s more rugged and spartan than he’s used to. Tire and long to return to the rich splendour of France. Spoiler: he won’t. But Alasdair still worries and so gives his king consort a captive English manservant to torment. Hoping it will distract Francis from his (imagined) homesickness. Oh Alasdair, you silly soft headed twit. Francis doesn’t need distracting. Not when he has you ❤️

Either way, Arthur - still hiding his true identity - is presented to Francis. After that it’s the slow burn, enemies to lovers between all three of them. With plenty of ups and downs, and tension and drama (relationship and political) mixed in. Francis, still so in love with Alasdair, but sweating bullets over how attracted he is to Arthur. Alasdair, trying to quash his own attraction to their “guest” while also drowning in longheld feelings of inadequacy that are only getting worse. And Arthur wrestling with the guilt and self-loathing over the fact that he is indeed falling for his captors: the enemies of his people. Give me all that angst and drama and other good stuff! Pretty please

And pretty please also give me the eventual first sexy time. With royal husbands Alasdair and Francis seducing Arthur together, Arthur getting the full 👉👌👈 losing all his inhibitions, and loving every minute of it

Urggh. I want to write it. I really do. I shouldn’t, but I really, really want to

[tsoa-incorrect-quotes]

Guys I got another idea,

Meanwhile in a certain tent two brothers are having a very deep discussion.

"The Myrmidon camp should be our easiest way to get close to the gates of Troy." Menelaus said, to his older brother.

"Yes, but the problem is that we don't have enough soldiers stationed there." Agamemnon replied.

"The ones we have are strong enough. Didn't you hear about that monster, with the golden spear? They say he appears in the nightmares of the Trojan soldiers, even the Spartan armies near the camp fear him." Menelaus informed him.

"Yeah, and he's pretty useful too... If only we could find another one of those little menaces. It would make things so much easier for us." Agamemnon told his brother.

"TRANSFER ME TO THE MYRMIDON CAMP!" Achilles' suddenly said, while ripping the curtains of the tent open...

___

The chariot stopped abruptly. "We have arrived."The chariot driver told the passenger at the back.

Achilles jumped out of the chariot excitedly.

"Finally! After all those years of waiting. After all the pain and suffering I had to go through. After all the loneliness I had to endure. I would finally see my beloved Patroclus again." He ran towards the camp awaiting the sight of a dark haired boy. However the camp was completely empty. It was a desolate place other than a few tents and campsites it was all empty, not a single soul in sight. "Well this is disappointing." He murmured.

"O-oh my! Prince Achilles. I certainly wasn't expecting you here." An old man spike from the shadows of a nearby tent.

"I was transferred to the Myrmidon camp, just recently. I'm here to help storm the gates of Troy and take part in a glorious battle" The prince replied.

"Oh, well I suppose your a bit late." The old man said.

"What do you mean?"

"Recently there has been a bit of a panic. The soldiers of Troy have attempted an ambush. They were planning to make a surprise attack on the soldiers of the Myrmidon camp. I am far to old to continue fighting so they left me here to keep guarding the camp." The old man informed him.

At this Achilles panicked. "What!? An attack!? An ambush!? Where have the soldiers gone?"

"They have left to hold off the soldiers, though I have doubts they can last for long, they weren't exactly prepared for it. There is a big chance that some lives might be lost. Oh well... We're not above making a few sacrifices." The old man said.

He turned to Achilles, and instantly he thought that he might die of a heart attack right then and there. His eyes were covered in shadow, his hands were in fists, you could see the veins popping out his skin. "Where are they..."

---

It was the middle of battle, soldiers were screaming left and right. Spears were being thrown, arrows were being shot and swords were being clashed. The ground was stained in blood. It was chaos. The Spartans were not doing well.

"This is unfair!" "This was an ambush!" "You sorry, cheating Trojans, do you have no shame!" The soldiers would cry. It was no use, this was a big army against one small camp.

"This is a mess" Achilles thought as he found the battle field, he could see the Spartan soldiers dying around him. "One of them was Patroclus!" He didn't want to think about it, but that one fact was his only thought. The boy who kept him awake for nights. The boy who was the treasure within his memories. The boy whose smile would shine brighter than the sun. The boy who he has kept him from going insane, through all the suffering here has faced within these past few years. "I will allow this battlefield to burn, I do not care for the lives of these soldiers, I do not care who has to die. I will ensure that my Patroclus will be in my arms once more."

With that thought in his mind, he jumped into the battlefield. He was like a rock thrown at a flock of birds. His presence was enough to cause discord. His onyx armor would reflect the horrified faces of the soldiers. His copper shoes would walk through the blood and bodies of the dead. And his dark helmet would be the last thing that they saw. He held a spear in each hand and carved his way through the armies. Nobody was safe, Spartans, Trojans, he did not care. "Where is he!" His mind wasnt even focused on the screams of the dying warriors, he was distracted with the thought of his lover, who might've already been stabbed through a sword. "No, he is alive he is strong, he is MINE!"

Suddenly a spear would appear from out of nowhere. Achilles made the mistake of turning his head. It would have slipped through the eye socket of his helmet, and it would leave him blind.

The spear was caught, just moments before it could reach his eyes. The hand belonged to a boy with dark skin and silver iron armor. He threw it at the soldier who shot it. It went straight through his head. And the incompetent man was left for dead.

The dark haired boy looked at the man in dark armour. They stared at each other, despite the anarchy and the chaise around them they both stood still. It was as if the screams of the dying soldiers around them were clogged too their ears, the splashes blood were dripping slowly, and the spears were moving in slow motion.

( Guys the man who was left back at camp was supposed to be the old guy, who was friends with Hercules but I forgot his name)

[flowersforhyacinth]

( PLEASE READ )

Haii!! This blog is devoted to the silly fun blorbo the Spartan prince we all know and love, Hyacinthus !! This ask blog will work like any other, so here’s a few rules I want to lay out first.

RULES & DISCLAIMERS — 🌿

Please keep asks PG ! As the mod running this account, I am a minor myself and will not be entertaining asks that are too far!! (Other than that, you can pretty much ask him about anything, himself, favorite things , Apollo, zephyrus, etc.)

You can interact with Hya (such as giving him presents and hugs) !! don’t be shy !!

The blog might be slow so don’t expect content at least everyday, ^^ mod has school to run from

Hyacinthus’ personality will be my own envision of him!

This blog is sent after his death, where he is immortalized by Apollo ::) ! Thus explaining the hyacinths growing from the discus hit ::/

This Hyacinthus has relationships (platonic) with others too! (Ganymede, Adonis, nerites, Ariadne, psyche, etc.) feel free to ask about them.

This blog is open to asks that circle around TOA as well.

that’s pretty much it for now, please have fun asking our silly prince your fun questions !

[olympiantea]

Coward.

The word is reverberating troughout the Greek camps and the streets of Troy.

Is Priam’s long-lost boy a coward, or was there godly intervention?

Sources tell me that a dense fog covered the plain of Troy. Perhaps, to give the two privacy. An opportunity to end the war for good. Supposedly.

The Spartan King and self-proclaimed husband of the year wasted no time in reminding the pretty prince that this is all for Helen.

"We could talk." Paris told him as he struggled to lift his shield. The archer isn't yet comfortable in the heavy armor of the foot soldier, it seems. Alas, the time for talk is over.

Menelaus knocked the poor boy to the ground, and just as he was about to land the final blow, Aphrodite swooped down from the heavens in a cloud of perfume and roses.

Not today, mortal. Paris was reportedly swept from the battlefield in that cloud and dropped him into his bedchamber. Others claim that he was seen fleeing through the legs of the Achaens.

Helen isn't pleased. A servant heard her say that she is ashamed. Why couldn't he just face Menelaus like a man?

[authortobenamedlater]

While writing For Better Or Worse and Messy Together I Google Image searched Anna Popplewell for some reference on Chyler’s facial expressions. Have a little fun with me.

—

This would be a perfect wedding picture template. Except in my headcanon, Lasky and Silva didn’t really have a wedding, so.

(This is actually Anna and Ben Barnes at the Prince Caspian premiere)

If they’d had a wedding, maybe Chyler would have looked like this.

Or this.

(At this point I was just having fun looking at the pretty dresses on Reign)

Here, Chyler is done with Tom’s BS.

She can’t believe that much brilliance and stupidity could reside in a single body.

Most wives feel this way at some point. Chyler feels it on a literal galactic scale.

But Tom’s still brave and honorable and blah blah blah and he looks good in the dress whites.

Chyler would 100% go scorched earth on anyone who tried to hurt him.

She just wishes he would cool it with the bat$#*! stunts.

If he did, though, he wouldn’t really be the man she loves anymore.

She’s still giving him this look, 30 years after Forward Unto Dawn.

And he’s still not having it.

It was harder to find an “I’m not having this” image for Lasky than I thought it would be.

This is from Halo 5 but for my purposes it’s Lasky looking between his wife/XO, Spartan complement commander, and maybe his ship’s AI all of whom are trying to talk him out of doing The Thing.

[talenlee]

CoX: Bael

This is an explanatory writeup of one of my Original Characters (OCs). Nothing here is necessarily related to a meaningful fiction you should recognise and is shared because I think my OCs are cool and it’s cool to talk about OCs you make.

So he’s an incubus? Is that the word for a boy one?” “Succubus and Incubus refer to ‘bottom’ and ‘top’, you know.” “Whoah, really? Then which one is he?”

“I’m RIGHT HERE.

Bael really doesn’t like the word ‘sidekick.’ It hovered over him too long – first as a Demon Prince’s human-world emissary, then the caged pet of a Thorn mage, and finally as the protege of one of Paragon’s heroes. It was a tightly-packed few years.

Now the leader of the Young Spartans, Bael makes it his job to get the best out of his entire team.

Bael is a shirtless swaggering demon hero, covered in magical runes that glow as he fights. What he does has so many of the hallmarks of a ‘demon’ ability in a story, being able to ‘poof’ from point to point, short teleportations, making deals, and of course, the danger represented by a character who is both immune to fire and capable of pulling souls out of bodies. Not that he does that much. Bael is a melee combatant who deals with ranged opponents by just teleporting into them; appearing behind someone with a puff of smoke and a crack of an impact.

Despite being extremely tough and capable a fighter, Bael is also a tactical thinker and a leader who believes it’s important to understand his friends extremely well. To that end, he spends time studying them, training with them, but also, supporting them emotionally and ensuring they trust him. This means he wants to position himself in the middle of fights to be able to create opportunities for his more powerful, more specialised friends, and to take hits so they don’t have to.

Bael has a few weaknesses he can’t route around. Thanks to being a devil there are locations he can be literally warded out of. It’s hard to sneak around in a church while your skin is burning. He’s completely unable to be subtle about his body – thanks to his incubus nature, people notice him, he is captivating to the eye. There are whole disciplines of magic designed to attack someone like him, too.

Mechanics

Bael is a Fire Armour/Dark Melee tanker, one of the most survivable combos you can have out of the gates. It’s a really strong build because both your armour and attack sets overlap on ways to keep you alive. Two self heals, two endurance recovery tools, two damage boosters, and a resistance armour that ties into a -tohit defense set, it even has a big area damage attack in Fire Armour’s Burn to compensate for what was, at one time, the weaker area damage in Dark Melee.

Bael’s build, which is pretty expensive, has:

45% melee defense

35% smashing and lethal defense

25% cold and fire defense

90% resistance to smashing, lethal, and fire damage

66% resistance to energy and negative energy

165% global recharge, so permanent hasten, and almost permanent Soul Drain

It’s an undeniably pricey build. Purples and ATOs! But it’s also a build that leans heavily into my existing laziness. He has Physical Perfection instead of fireball because I really didn’t want to care about managing my endurance.

Exports still don’t work on Mids Reborn, so no link for you. RIP. That’s for the best, it means you haven’t seen the way he hasn’t been rebuilt since the change to Flight a year ago.

History

In character, Bael is one of the founders of the Young Spartans supergroup, of which we’ve also discussed Brand and Hext. Bael, the former sidekick of the Robot Superhero Evocatus, was found once upon a time as an errant demon child summoned accidentally by Hellions. A few heroes considered the task of rearing him, and he was eventually adopted by the robot hero Evocatus. Evocatus, as an entirely inhuman entity, was immune to a lot of the demonic magic the boy had. Over time, Evocatus, who was very good at extremely dense, theory-led visions of ethics and morality, helped to contain the boy’s magic and taught him to be a good hero, a good leader, and a good friend. Evocatus is also why the boy is covered in runic tattoos – safety wards that protect other people from the his magic without consent. When he achieved majority Evocatus gave him a stipend of cash to help him strike out on his own, and assured him he would support him when he could.

It’s the single best relationship between mentor and sidekick that exists in the Young Spartans.

The history of the character though, well, that’s much longer.

What a thread this character has taken. In the true Loachevsky litany of names tradition, the story starts with a demon boy called Conspyre. Conspyre was a blaster who, back on Live, was created to be part of a friend’s supergroup project that wanted prestige for base building (Conspyre even one day became the character Brand). Inspired by this character and while waiting for others to play, I made him a villainous fire/fire dominator brother, Expyre. Expyre fell in with a roleplay group, that treated him badly and disintegrated, so I tried again, rebuilding the character and remaking him as a martial artist channelling a dragon’s energy. Then, that fell through again and I found myself with the project to make the Young Spartans.

A detail missing between here, I suppose, is that Expyre’s build, in the context of the in-game economy, was absurd. It was very hard to level a Dominator, I had a lot of time to play around in the marketplace and he wound up being an expensive build in an expensive time. Without access to Incarnate material, he was still fantastically powerful.

The Young Spartans was kind of an act of personal defiance. A lot of my characters had entered RP spaces, and then been ghosted or abused and rather than delete them when I left, I used my resources to rename and rebuild the characters and put them in their own RP SG that ultimately, was just me and just my characters. Perhaps a little sad to say ‘hey, I have solved the problem of other people treating me badly, by withdrawing from everything’ but I feel like the result was a lot of stuff that makes me happy and can serve as a good example to other people what I like about superheroes. The Young Spartans are a supergroup composed of former sidekicks, all having left their former mentors happily or otherwise, and it was in this group that I decided my over-built, expensively crafted Dominator was going to be an important, central character in the group.

That remake was Bael. The noble demon, the devil boy, the heroic leader of a group of rejects and losers holding themselves together, and damnit he’d be bloody hot.

Then the game shut down.

I played Bael a bit in G4 RP, post-City superhero RP. With a whole bunch of dollies to rebuild and put together I could take some ideas and explore them in a lot of different ways. Some of these ideas worked out really well when I shared them with other friends – undeniably in my mind, Bael was massively improved by the idea of having had a Robot Mentor! That’s something that comes from Cass and it’s now 100% bedrock to how he wound up being so well rounded and sensible. Bael’s whole wing of powers working on consent, meaning that sure, he could do cool demon things to people as long as they wanted him to was a big part of it too, which is in no small part informed by Cae.

When we got City back in Homecoming, I resisted for a bit remaking the characters, but couldn’t stop myself because I had their costume files and I liked them a lot. That meant I brought back Bael, and because now I had the character much more solidified in my mind, I made him with his new build; a Tanker, which meant that he was taking point ahead of his friends.

It’s such an unnecessary detailed backstory for ‘hot demon anime big brother figure.’ But here we are.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[themoomoorn]

LA SAGA DE BAGUETTE PART TROIS: JE SUIS UNE PETITE FILLE TRES TRISTE

...Sigh...

...when we last left our little ingenue, he stumbled across a bizarre bracelet that was spit out of a nebulous void called the "Dee-Ell-Cee," and apparently it had three entire Emblems inside of it. These three Emblems are quite infamous in the sense that one of them doesn't really qualify as what FEE defines as an "Emblem."

The definition in this case is a "Hero of Yore."

─.─||

Emblème, engager...whoo...Dieu aide moi...

We get off the wrong foot immediately, because even when the Fodlan games and spinoffs asserted that these three would be great together, they show the exact opposite...sort of. The two guys are distant at worst and get along well enough at best, while the five-head elephant in the room looks down on both of them and ignores them. So in that sense, Edelgard is correct in her statement involving appearances.

Case in point: "Claude, you have the intelligence of a cockroach." Seriously, other than their bogus alliance in Hopes, when has she ever spoken politely to him?

And what's more, while 3H's graphics are pretty bad, the models for these Emblems, even compared to the others, are downright ugly.

Koei: "We would've done another soft reboot for Fodlan to make you like Edelgard more, but IntSys didn't want us in the developer's room this time ლಠ益ಠ)ლ"

The Engaged color palettes for all of the DLC units bar Tiki are much darker compared to the canon Emblems, and no matter which of the House Lords is up front, the Engaged unit will be wearing an Officer's Academy uniform. While this Emblem bracelet is probably better in terms of utility compared to a few of the ring Emblems, I've found the 3H bracelet to be pretty poor in the mid-to late game - for one, the swap gimmick doesn't even pan out since you need to fully upgrade the Bond ranking in order to even access Areadbhar and Failnaught (even if Dimitri or Claude are leading, you're stuck with Aymr as the Emblem's main weapon until you reach said ranks, and this version of Aymr operates like a Great weapon, which are very piddling weapons overall unless an Armored unit is using it), and you can just freely pick one of their Gambits no matter who's leading anyway. Their combined attack is okay, but it's otherwise a basic super attack that doesn't even move you elsewhere (Sigurd, Celica) and it can't be done at a distance (Lyn).

As far as their actual inheritable skills...other than Lineage (it's extremely cheap to inherit - 200 SP - and accelerated EXP growth is always welcome in a game that encourages early promotion/reclassing), they suck.

Man ;_;

In one of several instances of Fodlan's canon being wibbly, Alear-Baguette calls Claude by a title he doesn't obtain until Part II.

Everything about Fodlan is very malleable...except, ironically, with Byleth, who has a very meshed out personality not only like they do in Heroes, but it's consistent!

Le sigh...

With some Skirmishes, grinding, and smithing out of the way, we make our way across the border and into Brodia, the austere, autumnal kingdom that sure does love its strength. The economy boons in the face of strength! Not in a darwinistic kinda way, but more in a Spartan kinda way. They're ambishus and want to expand dong territory...

and yet they're somehow remarkably less shitty about it than Almyra.

...I either am going to like you enough, or not like you at all.

This is Alcryst, the second prince of Brodia. After threatening Al and Baggy with self-defense-mediated murder for broaching the border, Baggy flashes his divine creds, leading to the events of the image above this statement. I am honestly shocked that Alcryst doesn't have a crop to self-flagellate himself with at all times.

Alcryst giving off A-1 off model vibes in this image.

The two ladies are his retainers (Citrinne and Lapis). They're among the game's better characters, but also wind up as victims of its very weird balancing system.

The weird "system" in question is that in Engage, the majority of units you recruit in succession will almost always be objectively better than the ones you began with, with very few exceptions. Even factoring in the low growths across the board, multiple units that come after Chapter 10 or so not only maintain higher bases with good EXP scaling, but the Personal Skills they come with are, again, objectively better than those who came before you.

For example, Clanne and Framme's synchronicity of their personal skills works well in the early game (they get specific buffs if they're adjacent to Alear), but they ultimately pale in comparison to the likes of the free range debuffing abilities that the retainers of the Elusian princesses carry with them. Clanne and Framme also have very odd growths that require reclassing in order to tinker with (Clanne makes for a poor mage despite starting off as one, but also has a poor Strength growth).

As we cross the bridge to meet with the king, we discover that the vaguely "Satanic" winter kingdom of Elusia is mounting an invasion - excuse me, a counter-invasion, as Brodia had attempted to invade Elusia in the past due to their "barbarism" of...worshipping the Fell Dragon.

I have some issues with this little nugget besides the fact that it goes about thirty feet before stopping, but that's for another post.

This little cotton candy clown with all the model clipping is Hortensia, the second princess of Elusia, and the childish and bratty one amongst the nobles in this game. She scores some points for A.) Actually acknowledging how odd Alear's looks are, and 2.) Having a little spat with Alcryst that actually bothers to go steps beyond the tepid "ideals" spiel that 3H forces at us (Dimitri's actual logic on CF 17 notwithstanding).

Yes, the spat is "Brodia invaded us and is hurting civvies" vs. "You're barbarians who worship a giant snake that destroys everything and little more," but it goes a step beyond if we consider that the Jesus figure in this world is an actual, living person walking among them! Alear is the child of God slated to become God, you know!

After a fairly okay map of gunning down fliers galore, we see Hortensia call a retreat to...her retainers, and no one else. I will give 3H credit in that the addition of battalions and larger armies does add meat in terms of battle scaling.

Veyle-Waif is here again, seemingly unable to remember how she got here. How Very Mysterious(tm). In any case, here's her casually dropping a plot twist.

Alear is her brother, in case you haven't played an FE game ever.

And now's the moment we've all been waiting for!

DIAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT I LOVE HIM

If Alear weren't our main character, I'd love for Diamant to have been our Lord! He fits the classic archetype with a few fun twists wedged in. He's handsome, he's an adult, he's perfectly simple and complex, both language voices fit him beautifully, and his design is fantastic (all of the Brodians have decent designs, actually, although Alcryst's random barrette is dumb). His combat utility is decent enough - it has some issues, but further into the game he doesn't drop off like a boulder the way the Firene units (bar Alfred) do. Speaking of Alfred, these two are fun to see together too.

Diamant, being Brodia's responsible Crown Prince, isn't 100% on board with razing Elusia and their not-Satanists, but Elusia's invading and since their king wants the Fell Snek back in action and the Fell Snek eats babies, they're kind of in a corner. What's more, our very own Jesus-Bagel is explicitly on a holy mission to collect all the nations' Emblem Rings because they're the key to stopping Snekky, and that unfortunately includes Elusia's. As Brodia is allied, albeit distantly, with Firene, they opt into helping Baguetty-Spaghetti on his quest.

Despite being responsible for causing a lot of trouble for Elusia, King Morion is actually a good father to his two sons, which is why Alcryst's self-esteem problems can come off as...uh...well. As we will see later on, he is unfortunately not the sharpest tool in the shed, and this lovely little interaction combined with that fact points to all signs that he's a goner.

Brodia seems to only have one Emblem Ring, and it's Roy's. He throws it to his son like a dog playing fetch.

"I bet you don't wanna watch Cocomelon with me later, huh?"

With our objective at hand, Elusia rears its head once again. While the next map's primary objective is to defeat a boss, it's also a defense map, which is a nice change of pace. It is also here that we are introduced to...

...the sensual woobie of the cast (and Crown Princess of Elusia), Ivy. She's a stone cold, magic-casting wyvern flier who's dutiful and driven to server her father, King Hyacinth. It's nothing personnell, kid, she just wants the Emblem Rings.

She also somehow hasn't stabbed herself in the neck with the kind of jewelry she wears, is somehow able to see past the giant fascinator on her head, has no thigh chafing despite her concept art clearly emphasizing that she's going commando underneath that dress, and is able to ride sidesaddle on a wyvern without falling off. The suspension of disbelief set by Claude being able to pull a Parthian shot/stand upright on the saddle/do backflips on his white wyvern has some serious competition.

(I actually do like Ivy as a character...but her design is silly even by this game's standards. Same for Hortensia. I'm also just tired of the specific trope Ivy falls under in FE as a whole).

One of Diamant's retainers, Amber, talking like a toddler for some reason (his other retainer, Jade, will be introduced in the following Chapter). One of the funny things about Amber is that his English voice sounds like...

uh

V*c Mog*ana

But in a slightly lower pitch.

ANYWAY -

-Ow, now that's the edge!

With the castle successfully protected and rings/bracelets in hand, we prepare to march on Elusia. Despite the foreshadowing striking us with the force of someone being flung out of the windshield after a car crash, this moment is surprisingly touching. It's something more FE parents ought to think about, ya know.

Unfortunately, King Morion hears none of it, and is anticipating Alear going all manakete once they succeed in wiping out the Snekkists.

...man. And I'm actually enjoying this guy's vibe. Shame it's gonna end soon ;_;

(This moment is also another underrated one, because Alear has a mini-crisis where he asks himself, "wait, can I turn into a dragon??? Help???")

Next time on ManaketeBall Grand Tour, we march on Elusia, where bad things will definitely, absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, happen. But first, some odds and ends!

Alfred is the first character I got a gold wax seal on. These share hobbies, talents and backgrounds, and comes with a very soft picture of the unit in elegant costume.

This is also the first hint about his health.

ಥ﹏ಥ

Brodia's favored edible fare include meats and starch. The princes both like haggis, which is a dish originating in Scotland whose real life equivalent closely matches the description shown above.

This is more me being salty towards my IRL coworkers in regards to cuisine.

Out of all the inexplicable traits that doesn't seem to really show through, Citrinne having Resting Bitch Face is in the Top 5 for this game.

Damn, Diamant doesn't like horse manure either.

'Till next time.

[gritandpowerarmor]

Saying Goodbye to 9th Edition

The last Rogue Trader tournament of 9th at the nearby FLGS. They’re (hopefully) moving to a new location, aiming to (hopefully) be ready for a June tournament before a proper reopening. I hope the store survives. Moving tends to be the death knell for a lot of game stores (I’ve seen it twice). There are others in the city, but they’re all the way across town through traffic I can’t stand anymore. Spending twenty four hours trapped in a car in crawling traffic really, really screwed my head around on just how long I’m willing to crawl along. 

So, to hope!

I went 1-2. Not a triumphant note to go go out on, but I had a great time. Brought my Night Lords with a alright 1,805 point list. A Land Raider Spartan, a Chaos Land Raider, two squads of Cultists, three squads of Slaaneshi Legionaries, two separate Obliterators, two Rhinos and a Warpsmith as warlord.

The other 195 points were a fun, totally intentionally imposed handicap squad of shooty Tzeentch Legionaries who did nothing in every game they were in. In the one game they did do something, they did the job of Chaos Cultists could have done far more easily and then failed to hurt anything. It’s an overcommitment to a bit: Legionaries (the Slaanesh Legionaries die when you give them a mean look, but mostly did their job). The best one would have been a Nurgle Daemon Prince with G’holl’ax and Dirty Fighter for trouble shooting. 

Three matches, three short write ups.

Game 1: Thousand Sons and Daemons, Recover The Relics 

Went second. A lot just went wrong this game.  Land Raider was exposed got got Infernal Gateway’d (which probably wasn’t in range, but sigh for not asking). Three mortals to the Raider, three to the Spartan, and three to my Warlord. Wasn’t a huge hit, but didn’t help. Just kind of muddled along after that. Only managed to skill a few stray Rubrics here and there, alongside Ahriman. Ended turn three to lose at 30-87.  The Daemon Prince troubleshooter would have been immensely useful here.  Bad secondary picks didn’t help. 

Highlights:

Just utterly wailing on Ahriman turn 1. Shouldn’t have gotten that close!

The Lord of Change just absolutely refusing to die, no matter what I threwea at it. 

Game 2: Death Guard, Abandoned Sanctuaries 

Went second.

This kind of set the tempo here. Spartan got deleted turn 1 by mass fire from Plagueburst Crawlers and a pair of Contemptors supported by a Tallyman. If I’d gone first, I could  have stayed on top of the Death Guard’s firepower and kept thing a bit more even. As it was, there’s just not much you can do about twin Contemptors with exploding shots who just pick up your units without trying. A long bomb charge from the center Blightlord didn’t help things and fouled up my board center to an unrecoverable point.

Secondary plan kind of worked, a little. Sanctuaries doesn’t allow you deploy in no man’s land, but you can Deep Strike with From the Night turn one into the opponent's deployment zone.  Behind Enemy Lines mostly worked as an easy score here. But the Blightlords cleaned house (what little wasn’t blasted away by the Contemptors). 

The highlight of the match for me was assassinating the enemy daemon prince with a fights twice from some Slaaneshi Legionaries. The math here was pretty simple. The prince only had six attacks and a claw. Not enough to kill the whole squad. Dice broke my way a little on its hits and wounds, which helped, but enough of the squad survived to do the job. Not a useful move, but hey, if it works. 

46-84

Game 3: Leagues of Votann, Greater Thurian League, Death and Zeal

Went. Second.

Which worked out for me!

The loss of the first turn was a Rhino to the Land Fortress, but that was fine, honestly. Scored some early points with a decent charge from a disembarking Rhino squad, which got points off the mission tertiary and The Long War, and wiped out a squad of League bikers, scoring an easy six points at the start. Dropped my first Obliterator and forgot to shoot with it. Not great!

Fun thing happened though. My opponent thought Leagues had lost their AP reduction. If this is gibberish to you: GW gave a bunch of factions Armor of Contempt, which reduced modifiers on armor saves by one. They yoinked it at the start of the season. Leagues have a separate rule, called Void Armor which does the same thing. My opponent had ben playing it wrong all day, on top of not knowing their bikers were obsec (though that’s pretty well hidden in the League codex)

Anyway. This was more of a game. I was able to keep up the pressure and mostly trade up. Highlights include:

1. The Spartan destroying the already damaged Land Fortress, where it promptly exploded. It deleted six Hearthkyn warriors and spread mortal wounds around. 

2. A squad of Slaanesh Legionaries breaking the line and getting in the enemy HQ ruin. Swept hrough the ruins, and over two turns killed the Kahl and the remaining Hearthkyn, tied up the supporting Thundekyn, then fell back, wore down the Grimnir and came in clutch for another double dip on tertiary on the fourth turn, and holding the enemy rear objective with the dazed Aspiring Champion on one wound. 

3. Both Obliterators getting deleted in turn by rail rifles that cut right through them. 

4. The last Thunderkyn getting fleeing in terror on a six. The Night Lords morale snipe does happen from time to time. 

5. The Tzeentch Legionaries utterly wiffing their only chance of glory,, and getting schooled by the Hearthguard. Truly a waste of points.

Had a blast, and was also the absolute last game finished. A nice end to a long (sweaty, mostly literally) day

So, that’s 9th, probably. It wasn’t the worst edition, but it was very, very killy. 10th is purportedly trying to fix that. We’ll see. For now, time to do some more painting and wait for (dawn/dusk/eclipse, delete as appropriate for the new edition). 

[cacaesar]

Thanks for tagging me @brisim-claimhte! And hi @littlesparklight! For a quick intro: I read Classics at the University of Oxford, and I specialise in Homeric lit and archaeology (basically, the Iliad and Odyssey and all the accompanying traditions, and the Mycenaean archaeology we associate with the sites mentioned in Homer, PARTICULARLY involving Spartan history!). I am also writing a Myth retelling at the moment of Apollo and Hyacinthus, which is where this is extra relevant to your question! Hyacinthus, being an ancestor of Helen and Tyndareus, has meant that I've spent a lot of time outside of even my degree having to research these later Spartans (no less because they show up in later chapters of my book!) We get quite a satisfactory answer from early on in epic tradition - actually from the Epic Cycle itself (the traditions surrounding which pre-date Homer's works, which are already VERY early, quite significantly!), and with the help of our best-friend Apollodorus as a more specific reference where he recalls these very early (canonised) traditions (Apollodorus 3.10.9): Thanks to the oath which is sworn over Helen's marriage (that the suitors shall protect her chosen husband from any quarrel over her), Menelaus receives the unanimous support of all of the palatial states through sacred oath. Placing him on the throne of Sparta only secures Sparta's safety, and essentially makes Menelaus the most glorious "son" of Tyndareus, so Tyndareus resigns his throne to him. That's the oldest variant I am aware of (coming from the epic cycle despite Apollodorus' record date being later; it is also in the Loeb on Greek Epic Cycle Fragments but I unfortunately do not have that to hand at the minute!), and it's the one which holds up with Homeric honour codes etc. Tyndareus has, by this point, already faced a (temporarily) successful attempt on his throne. If he can prevent it again by placing a unanimously agreed upon leader (and the other kings/princes had all agreed that Menelaus should marry Helen and be under their protection) there in his stead, then the kingdom is secured. It's quite a neat little wrap-up within the Epic tradition itself!! Though just to address the issue of the brothers Castor and Pollux for completeness:

firstly, take into account the very real concern of being overthrown. If Menelaus is on the throne, at least Tyndareus' family have the royal seat.

It is also possible that Menelaus was made king AFTER Helen was taken. The Tradition does not say WHEN Tyndareus gave up his throne to Menelaus, and there is a rather important incident right after Helen is taken by Paris (in fact, the beginnings of the incident allow for her to be taken!); the death of Castor (and Pollux).

The brothers died in an altercation with their cousins (again, issues re. brothers taking over thrones that Tyndareus might have been worried about) after Helen was taken and while their father was in Crete. It is more than reasonable to assume that in order for Menelaus to make war on behalf of his stolen wife, he needed the status of a βασιλευς (Basileus, roughly 'king') and, without any legitimate heirs to lay claim to the throne - with Agamemnon already ruling in his own kingdom (somewhere in the Argolid, the traditions all vary!) - Menelaus is the only choice left. Helen is of course entirely unaware of her brothers' deaths as we see in the Iliad, when she wonders why they're not there fighting for her. In short, if you take your Apollodorus reference with an earlier one in book 3 which references the actual epic cycle fragments and scholia, and the claims of which we see in the epic cycle fragments and Homeric epics themselves, you have your answer pretty well defined from a very early canon! Hope this helps in some way, even if just to say you already had the answer there? It's a 1am post, so apologies for it perhaps being a little clunky or poorly formatted! :) I am tired, and so too are my fingers from typing! TL;DR - the most easily-explained (and evidenced in the epic cycle itself, later recalled by Apollodorus) timeline is: Oath sworn, Helen abducted, Castor and Pollux die, Tyndareus hands down to who is now his only heir so the battle can be led as he is too old and the oath supports Menelaus not him; Menelaus crowned king. Then Trojan War

I was checking something quickly on Wikipedia but being there got curious about something else, namely, how Menelaos gets Sparta/Lakedaimon's throne.

This won't be exhaustive, because I only know of these three mentions that I'll discuss. If someone knows of others (especially scholia?) I'd love to see them!

Anyway.

Hyginus' Fabula #78 says this: She put it [the garland] on Menelaus, and Tyndareus gave her to him in marriage and at his death left him his kingdom.

The Bibliotheke has two separate statements, the first one earlier, in the third book (3.11.2): And when the Dioscuri were translated to the gods, Tyndareus sent for Menelaus to Sparta and handed over the kingdom to him. The second one in the Epitome (E.2.16): And Menelaus married Helen and reigned over Sparta, Tyndareus having ceded the kingdom to him.

The thing to note with the Epitome is that it only survives as summary of already short/summarizing statements - this is important. The Epitome's version of how Menelaos got the kingdom looks different than the Bibliotheke's third book at first blush. It's also not like the Bibliotheke doesn't contain many different accounts of a single myth, either (the compiler/author is often rather thorough). So we might have two different versions in the Bibliotheke, in contrast to the Fabula; one where Menelaos only gets the rule after the Dioskouroi are dead, and thus only right before the war, another where it seems he gets to rule right from marriage, with Tyndareos stepping aside and the Dioskouroi ignored.

We can't really know that, though. The other option, since the Epitome' statement is a summary of the actual paragraph, might well harmonize with the one in the third book. There's nothing to argue against that!

And frankly, to me it makes a lot more sense that Menelaos would only get to rule when the Dioskouroi are already dead, and Tyndareos only then turning to him - or, as with the version in the Fabula, only when Tyndareos has died. And we don't really know when the fabula imagines this supposed to happen, or the circumstances. Some myths and tragedies obviously have Tyndareos surviving until post-war (implying a/the version where he stepped down at some point pre-war in favour of Menelaos), but that's not always the case.

[bosspigeon]

want 2 talk... about my hades ocs...

[dearlyfictitious2]

I've been thinking on this particular scene for a while, I thought it might be fun to post a draft of it here as a teaser of sorts.

Set in the past, before the death of Pallas.

A large group of mortals were circled around two combatants, one with a bronze spear and another with a sword. They weren't anyone of importance, but their brutality was enough to garner the attention of a pair of gods.

That is to say, at least one of them.

"This isn't what I'd consider 'worthy' enough to leave my comfortable realm."

"Tsch, if it wasn't for me you'd never leave the damn oceans. Put some sun on your back sometime would you?"

Prince Triton let out an airy laugh, "I don't suppose you'd ever care to repeat that in front of your brother Apollo, would you?" he mocked.

The other god gagged, "And let him lord it over me? No thanks." he grabbed a fistful of dates from a servant and popped one into his mouth. He glanced down from their lookout atop a cliff, "So, who's your money on?"

"You ask as if I care about the outcome."

"Come on!" the larger god threw his hands up in exasperation.

"If it doesn't concern itself with the oceans, then I have no interest."

"You gotta admit, that guy's technique with a spear is pretty impressive. I bet you're gonna try and replicate it as soon as you go back to Atlantis."

"Hmm, it seems I shall."

The other god watched as Triton tossed his long silky hair from his shoulders, it fell into place perfectly rearranged at the small of his back. Most spartan warriors grew their hair out long, but none came close in length to his companion. The Sea Prince had the longest hair of any male in their pantheon, it swayed gently in the wind as though it was still underwater. For a Son of Poseidon, he was on lankier side, but well built; it suited his stern but lovely countenance much more than the burly build that he sported.

Not that he'd tell Aphrodite, but he also had the longest lashes he'd ever seen on a deity.

Triton caught him staring and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Ares, what are you thinking about now in that violence filled head of yours?"

"That you're kind of weird for our kind." the other War God answered honestly.

Triton let out a sharp huff, "As if that's something I haven't heard before." he reached for his servant's platter, grabbed an entire live crab, and ate it whole. Shell and all.

"Tri... that was disgusting."

Ares' disgust quickly morphed into amusement as Triton wiggled the still twitching crab claw from his mouth in place of his tongue.

Yeah.

They were pals...a long time ago.

[aikoiya]

DB AU - The Gyū Kingdom Legacy

DB au where Gyū Maō gets back the Gyū royal fortune by entering cooking competitions. And winning.

(Note that his Chinese name is Zhōng Chùn (忠犉) & Mówang (魔王) is his title. His Japanese name is Tadashi Gyū (狩野牛) & Maō (魔王) is his title.)

Toriyama canonically says that Ox is one of the 2 greatest chefs in the universe. The other being Yamcha. So, I say, let them exercise that skill. Also, why did ChiChi need Hakakke to teach her to cook when her dad was so good at it? As such, I hc that that was the one thing she didn't need to be taught &, as such, there's another best cook in the universe & her name is ChiChi.

Also, ChiChi & her sons, then later Pan, having to learn etiquette & whatnot because they're royalty of the Gyū Kingdom.

Like, I wanna see ChiChi as the future queen & Goku as her consort, but him being completely out of his depth. Gohan especially, considering the fact that he's the Crown Prince of the Gyū Kingdom & is one day expected to be the new Ox King.

I've only ever seen 1 fic ever go into this sort of thing & I wanna see it more.

I'd like to add on to this, ChiChi's mother being an Amazon from Themyscira who had been sent to touch base with their Chinese branch in Jusenkyo before eventually meeting Tadashi & starting a family. Therefore, Chi-Chi would've inherited her warrior race capabilities. At the same time, I believe that her father, Tadashi Gyū, is descended from Oni or Ushi Yōkai, meaning that his horns are real. So, she's also part yōkai.

This would give Chi-Chi access to yōki, something pretty different from regular ki, as well as mahō or magic. I actually think that the armor she wore as a kid was probably of either Amazon or yōkai make. Either or.

I want ChiChi to eventually learn some of her ancestral techniques, such as the Όπλα της Αράχνη (pronounced: Ópla tis Arákhnē | literally: Arms of Arachne). Made to honor Athena's humbling of Arachne by turning her into a spider. This technique works much like the Shiyōken, but instead of just 2 extra arms, the Amazon is granted 4, giving her a total of 8 limbs when including legs. The thing about the Arms of Arachne is only women of Amazon descent can use it.

Amazons also have a much more 'Spartan' fighting style. Meaning that they exploit certain weaknesses that most everybody has.

DB Masterlist