#probably because his name is eustace

[mizsmitz]

winner winner eustace dinner

[blue-mood-blue]

I’ve given it some time and some thought and, while I am not going to call him that, I think I can forgive the name Eustace. It has grown on me (slightly) by positive association. My boy cannot help what they (the world and also his father) have done to him, so I will be strong and also supportive.

“Winner” though.

“Winner” is gonna be a hard sell.

But I was thinking about it, and there is a situation where I would buy that as a last name, particularly in this universe and for this family. This is Blaise we’re talking about, whatever his name will eventually be, and he knows Von Karma. He knows Von Karma and Von Karma’s Perfect, Shiny, No-Loss Record, probably because Manfred has made a point of bringing it up every time they’ve seen each other for the past however-many years, which I’m certain has been plenty. 

Every time there’s a new case, probably.

That’s a lot.

Blaise seems pretty easy going on a day-to-day basis (on the surface) (usually), but that’s got to get annoying eventually and never let it be said that Blaise will miss out on an opportunity to escalate a situation. Also he’s the Chief Prosecutor. Also he keeps waving around that lighter like he’s threatening to burn the office down, do you really think whoever is in charge of legal name changes in the unnamed, unholy conglomeration of a country these games are set in is going to argue against his decision? That paperwork is going through just as soon as it can be processed at the speed of “fast” lest whoever is throwing up red tape finds themself at the wrong end of a little accident.

The next time Manfred Von Karma walks through his office door to brag, Blaise will have the pleasure of tapping his brand-new nameplate and the satisfaction of watching the prosecutor scowl. Winner, right there in the name! Just like it says on the tin! Undeniable! Yes we are just a couple of shining success stories, aren’t we Manfred, just a shame that you have to toil over that reputation to keep the Von Karma name perfect whereas all I have to do is make sure no one makes a typo, am I right! Incredibly, infuriatingly annoying, a constant source of joy until that perfect win record is eventually tarnished.

(Plus, free bonus psychological warfare on his son! Win-win all around. Appropriate, what with the name.)

(I also like to think that later, once all of the dust settles after a tense few years in the legal world, the new Chief Prosecutor helps put through another name-change document: “Sebastian,” with his mother’s maiden last name.)

[janearts]

Roisia Lydgate: Character Overview

This is really more of a background introduction to her character, but I'm trying to put as much information in one place for future reference or for anyone who wants to get a better idea of her character. Details underneath the cut!

Meta-Knowledge

Roisia is my Source Hunter from Divinity: Original Sin, but I recreated her in Baldur’s Gate 3 as a way to continue her story albeit in a completely different universe. The story and events of DOS have since become part of her backstory, and tweaked to fit the world of Faerûn.

Name Pronunciation

I’m honestly none too fussed about pronunciation. Her name is an 11th century mediaeval name that would later become “Rose” in Middle English. Roisia is probably meant to be pronounced something like /ɹɔɪːsiːɑ/ (Roy-see-ah) based on other name variants found around the same time. Her nicknames, as given to her by her parents, include: Rose, Rosie, petal, pet, rosebud, bud, so on and so forth.

Personality

Roisia is charming, adventurous, with a voracious curiosity, and a deeply analytical mind. She believes that taking care of the dead and providing a voice for the dead is her life’s calling. She was formerly raised to be a Cleric of Kelemvor, but believes that her god has disowned her since she reanimated her father. She now believes herself to be deemed among the Faithless. She’s compassionate to those in need and is willing to break rules (and the law) to help others. While she is generally a law-abiding citizen, she is dogged in pursuing the whims of her curiosity and will likewise do whatever it takes to solve a puzzle, a mystery, or a murder… or simply answer a question that has occurred to her. She is sociable, prefers when everyone gets along, and will try to talk her way into and out of most situations. This includes charming, reasoning, intimidating, and/or deceiving others to get her desired outcome. Ultimately, she finds solace and comfort in the company of animals, the dead, and books. Her favourite animal is the noble spider, and she breeds and raises some species in her spare time.

Spells and Such

I tried as best I could to replicate Roisia’s DOS character. In DOS, she was classed as a Witch. Witchcraft spells in DOS are a mixture of Necromancy spells and Enchantment spells, and I chose my spells in BG3 to imitate the ones that you get in DOS. As a witch in DOS, Roisia also had the ability to talk to animals and summon a spider. (I cheesed this in BG3 with the Find Familiar spell—technically a Conjuration spell—and having her drink a potion after every long rest.) To be more in keeping with her backstory, I gave her a Guild Artisan background and invested skill points in skills like Medicine.

Backstory

Roisia grew up in Eastway of Baldur’s Gate. Her father worked in the Gray Harbor shipyard as a shipwright and her mother was a Mortarch, running the Eastway Cemetery & Lydgate Funeral Service. She was raised to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a Cleric of Kelemvor, and specifically as a Mortarch, from an early age. She assisted her mother in managing the burial customs and rites for the Lower City’s diverse community (from embalming to ritualistic cannibalism to poisonings), comforting grieving family members of the deceased, and tending to the dead buried in the cemetery.

Her life took an unexpected turn when her father drowned during a sea trial. Grieving for her father, Roisia made her first attempt at Necromancy. She unwittingly used a wish spell in the process and reanimated him as a skeleton. Because it was the wish spell, not her first attempt at a necromantic ritual, that bound the soul of her father to his bones, Roisia is determined to master the School of Necromancy and truly resurrect her father.

She is interrupted in her early studies by the appearance of Eustace, who recruited her into the Source Hunters, an organisation dedicated to eradicating dangerous magic users (like… Necromancers). “We need you,” he said. “… and you need us.” Roisia & Eustace (or Roy & Stacey as they became known to each other) investigated the mysterious murder of a town counsellor and uncovered a Necromantic cult in the process. As they adventured together, Roisia began to develop feelings for Eustace, but as their adventure concluded and they returned to the Source Hunter Academy, Eustace did not return those feelings. Dejected, Roisia left the Source Hunters and returned to her home in Baldur’s Gate.

To “cure” herself of her heartbreak, Roisia drew up a list of lifelong goals for herself. They are:

1. A cemetery or plot of land of her own to oversee. 2. “Tenants”/”Residents” (aka The Deceased) to house and tend to on this land. 3. To master Necromancy such that she can extend indefinitely her own life and the lives of her loved ones. 4. One (1) Spouse (*not of the squeamish variety) 5. Children (*ideally 3-5)

Refocused aggressively on her list, Roisia returned to her duties during the day and her studies during the night. She was abducted by the nautiloid one night while she was off to dig up a new test subject.

Playlist

[pad-wubbo]

All AAI2 official English character and case names rated based on whether I think they're better or worse than the fan translation equivalents:

Di-Jun Huang > Di-Jun Wang - It's the same.

Horace Knightley > Bronco Knight - Worse.

Ethan Rooke > Bastian Rook - Worse.

Nicole Swift > Tabby Lloyd - Much better.

Raymond Shields > Eddie Fender - Slightly worse.

Jay Elbird > Rocco Carcerato - Much better.

Simon Keyes > Simeon Saint - Slightly worse.

Sebastian Debeste > Eustace Winner - Sounds worse, fits better.

Justine Courtney > Verity Gavèlle - Much better.

Sirhan Dogen > Bodhidharma Kanis - Much better.

Patricia Roland > Fifi Laguarde - Much better, they've already done "patrol" twice.

Jeff Master > Samson Tangaroa - More unique, less punny. Not sure.

Katherine Hall > Judy Bound - Slightly worse because no food pun.

Isaac Dover > Artie Frost - References his nature as an artist, better.

Pierre Hoquet > Paul Halique - Same as Japanese name, no longer parrot.

Dane Gustavia > Carmelo Gusto - Worse, doesn't sound as awesome.

Delicia Scones > Delicia Scone - It's the same.

Karin Jenson > Florence Niedler - Much better. Florence Nightingale and needles.

Bonnie Young > Hilda Hertz - Better, because alliterative.

Jill Crane > Rosie Ringer - Better, alliterative. Different nursery rhyme.

Blaise Debeste > Excelsius Winner - The absolute Winner among these names. It's so pompous, contains "celsius" and "excel" and just sounds like he went to Oxford.

John Marsh > Shaun Fenn - It's the same. Shaun means John and fen means marsh.

Amy Marsh > Amelie Fenn - It's the same.

Dai-Long Lang > Da-Long Lang - It's the same.

Jack Cameron > Alf Aldown - Better, only because it's a Deid Mann tier awful name rather than a boring realistic name.

Turnabout Target > Turnabout Trigger - Better, sounds more like a presidential assassination attempt.

The Imprisoned Turnabout > The Captive Turnabout - Better, less long-winded.

The Inherited Turnabout > Turnabout Legacy - Better for same reason as above.

The Forgotten Turnabout > A Turnabout Forsaken - Sounds more pretentious, but probably better because less confusion with The Lost Turnabout, where Phoenix forgets.

The Grand Turnabout > Turnabout for the Ages - Worse, I think. It sounds cooler, but doesn't have any chess connotations. They should have called it "The Grandmaster's Turnabout" or "Turnabout Checkmate", I think.

Also, have updated case cards to help you get used to the new names.

EDIT;

Some extra things:

* iFly Airlines in AAI1 has been reverted to its Japanese name of "GoYou". This was probably done because iFly is the name of a real Russian airline with global sanctions against it since 2022.

* As a result, Hugo Ifly is now Ugo Hughes and the tanuki called Mr. Ifly is now Captain Ugo.

* Moozilla is now Taurusaurus, which I think is a better name.

* The Grand Tower is now the Bigg Building, suggesting that Big is not merely its size, but a Mr. Bigg is its proprietor.

* The Zodiac Hall galleries are now referred to as seasonal "Wings" rather than "Palaces". Makes more sense.

* Edgeworth Law Offices is now referred to as Edgeworth and Co. Law Offices, the Co. being Eddie Fender (aka Ray Shields). Again, makes more sense.

* Rocky the bear is now Teddy, since his owner is now already Rocco as a Rocky reference.

* Anubis the hunting dog is now Helmut, a lame pun on "hell mutt".

* Astique the elephant is now Azea, like an "Asian" elephant.

* Ally the alligator is still the same. Regina Berry is not very good at naming animals.

[elodee]

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 13

Cubfan135 x Courage the Cowardly Dog

For Cubfan I picked Courage the Cowardly Dog! Courage has an unusually high mad scientist per capita so I wanted to do either Cub, Doc or Zed in this style. I chose Cub because a scientist creating talking horns that mimic people and end up terrorizing a neighborhood sounds like something that would happen on the show.

To learn more about Courage the Cowardly Dog and see my style references, continue below the cut.

Courage the Cowardly Dog was one of my favourite cartoons as a kid, which probably explains more about me than I'd like to admit. It's a comedy-horror with a lot of genuinely disturbing and surreal moments.

The show is technically safe for everyone, but anyone who watches it will be altered forever by the Return the Slab guy. If you know you know.

The show centers around a little pink dog named Courage who lives with an elderly couple, Muriel and Eustace Bagge, in a farmhouse outside of the town of Nowhere. They are also figuratively in the middle of nowhere. Courage is scared of everything, but constantly thrown into life or death situations where he needs to save his family from often supernatural threats that just show up for some reason.

The visuals of the show are creepy and at times even upsetting, but the stories are nearly always about how Courage overcomes his fear out of love for his family (Muriel specifically). The show has a lot of different visual styles and even uses different kinds of animation, but for Cub I designed him in the style you would typically see in recurring characters. Style references:

The characters in courage usually have large heads and spindly limbs. The settings often look aged and discolored.

For Cubs shape and features I pulled a lot of influence from Freaky Fred, who is a barber with severe serial killer vibes that I think might be a Sweeney Todd reference. I didn't want Cub to be that scary, though, so I gave him a normal smile.

One of the Courage the Cowardly Dog TV logos

[fraeuleintaka]

I really like how Portsman's self-obsession comes through in so many different things. He seems so much more focused on sports and training than his actual job (probably because he seems very good at it). He treats his partner as an accessory who's mostly there to prop him up (giving the same nickname to all his partners as if they were pets because it "sounds better" with his own name!). He fills his entire office with his trophies and awards. (Which I also expect Sebastian (Eustace) to do until a certain incident in I2 btw.) He comes across as really friendly and chummy at first but that's only surface-level. Even with the way he "mourns" his partner: He instructs one of the forensic officers to take pictures of him saying goodbye to "Jim". He's entirely focused on looking good and looking like he cares but has zero honest interest in anyone beyond himself. In that way I also read Portsman's complimenting of Miles upon their initial meeting as his attempt of buttering him up (with the underlying thought being that Portsman himself would love to hear something similar if he were in that position) to "make friends" but with no honest intention behind it.

We don't know much about Faith and his relationship with Portsman from his perspective but the way he was killed suggests that he wouldn't expect his own partner to be corrupt or to shoot him dead should he discover it. I wonder what Faith was like and what he thought of Portsman's shadier actions (like refusing to prosecute certain cases or some evidence suddenly being missing). Their conversation in the case intro mirrors some of Miles' previous beliefs (Portsman states that he needs to get defendants declared guilty) and Faith questions how far Portsman's willing to go for that. That would imply that he has some idea about Portsman's actions not all being above board but that he's accepted what he's seen so far because he saw them as necessary or justifiable in pursuit of a "noble" goal (and not the result of corruptness that they actually were). There's also no implication (though that could be because of circumstances) that Faith really minded the way Portsman treated him. Their relationship could be read as a distorted version of Miles' & Gumshoe's own, a well-meaning and trusting detective puts his faith (ha!) in an arrogant prosecutor surrounded by rumours of forged evidence and shady dealings who doesn't treat his partner as well as he should - with Gumshoe's faith being justified because Miles is a good person at heart who corrected his wrong course while Faith's was not and ended with him being killed because Portsman is fundamentally selfish and egotistical.

[wormconsumer]

Based off a post I saw with the idea that Robert Smirke had fourteen friends, each falling too/representing a different entity, with Smirke himself being the Extinction.

To get the obvious ones out of the way: Jonah Magnus as the Eye, Mordechai Lukas as the Lonely, Maxwell Rayner as the Dark, and George Gilbert Scott as the Buried; these ones are all canon. Not directly canon but a pretty reasonable assumption is Simon Fairchild as the Vast; we know Simon had Maxwell Rayner help him with his Awful Deep ritual in 1853, which was only a few years before Smirke died, and Smirke hung out with Rayner a ton, so it makes sense for Simon to be part of the group (though by a different name; he only started going by “Simon Fairchild” in the 1930s). Another fairly reasonable assumption, in my opinion, is John Franklin for the Hunt. Franklin is canonically a Hunt avatar in The Magnus Archives, his real-life timeline overlaps with Smirke and the rest, and Rayner was canonically interested in his expedition, which was probably because he wanted to use Franklin’s knowledge of arctic exploration for his ritual, but could also imply they knew each other, and therefore, Smirke’s gang.

For the Corruption, my first thought was John Amherst, but he only became an avatar during the Second Boer War, which was about half a century after Smirke’s time. Instead, John Snow is a better fit. He was an English physician who lived during the same time as Smirke, and he had something going on; his descendant Neil Thompson has a syringe that belonged to Snow that had Corruption properties, so Snow fits. For the Slaughter, we could go with Charles Fleming. We know he was in China from at least the beginning of the First Opium War in 1839, and Smirke and Jonah and the rest were up and active on their supernatural studies since at least the 1810s, so it’s theoretical Fleming could have hung out with them, even though he didn’t become touched by the Slaughter until he went to China. Maybe he came back later, though he was in China at least until 1862. Alternatively, William Hall, the actual captain of the Nemesis, could be an option, his lifetime overlaps pretty well with Smirke’s, though there is no evidence he interacted with the Slaughter besides his interactions with Fleming and the Nemesis. Still, he was probably a bit more high-society that Fleming, so I kind of prefer him. Finally, for the more reasonable ones, we have Joey Grimaldi for the Stranger. Grimaldi’s timeline overlaps with Smirke’s, and we know he was affected by the Stranger even before he was turned into Nikola Orsinov. The reason I’m choosing Grimaldi instead of Gregor Orsinov or Nikolai Denikin is that we know for sure he was in England while Smirke was, unlike the other two.

Now for the more out-there guesses. For the Flesh, there are a few options. One is Eustace Wick, the Lutheran priest-turned-cannibal, who did live at the same time as Smirke, but he became an avatar in 1832, died in 1845, and has no evidence that he’d even been to England, considering he’s American. The other options would be Benjamin Carlisle, Benjamin’s unnamed wife, or possibly some other relative or descendant of theirs. I find this one the more likely choice, because Jonathan Sims specifically wonders how Benjamin Carlisle’s wife was able to give her statement to the Magnus Institute, considering she starved to death in a cave on the Oregon Trail in 1845, as well as the fact that an apparent descendant of her, Toby Carlisle, is living in England by the 21st Century and has enough of a connection with the Flesh to be pretty severely affected by the failure of the Last Feast ritual. The unnamed Mrs. Carlisle being the Flesh representative does mean she presumably gave in and cannibalized her husband, and the timeline only gives her about a decade to have hung out with the rest before Smirke’s death, but I think that fits, considering what Smirke said about just coming up with theories about the Flesh in his statement.

The Spiral has similarly not a lot to go on. I would just say the Distortion, seeing as it’s an immortal manifestation of the Spiral itself. We know that Ivo Lenshik’s father was tormented by the Distortion in a human form, and apparently Lenshik’s great-uncle did too, implying that the Distortion did assume a humanoid form sometimes, before it was forced to by the failure of the Great Twisting ritual. Plus, Jonah Magnus clearly knows who the Distortion is, which yes, he could have learned at literally any point from the past two hundred years, but seeing as we’ve got nothing else, I’ll choose to believe. For the Web, the only older avatars of the Web we’re aware of would be the historical owners of the house at Hill Top Road. We don’t know who owned it during Smirke’s time; the closest we have are the unnamed blackmailer who died during the English Civil War in the mid-1600s, and Walter Fielding, who died in 1923. Walter’s son and grandson both owned the house for about thirty years before dying, so with the same amount of time applied, Walter couldn’t be our Web avatar. Honestly, the answer might just have to be “whichever Web avatar was owning the house at Hill Top Road during the first half of the 19th Century.”

For the Desolation, we have even less. Diego Molina founded the Cult of the Lightless Flame at some point prior to World War II, but we have no idea when, and it couldn’t have been that long, considering what Eugene Vanderstock says about the immortality of Desolation avatars having some kind of limit. The same is true of the End. The only known End avatar who was alive during Smirke’s time was Nathaniel Thorp, who was a Death at the time, and didn’t become human again until 1970. It’s unlikely that Deaths got breaks to socialize.

So, in summary, we know for sure about:

* Jonah Magnus — The Eye

* Mordechai Lukas — The Lonely

* Maxwell Rayner — The Dark

* George Gilbert Scott — The Buried

We can make some reasonable assumptions about:

* Simon Fairchild — The Vast

* John Franklin — The Hunt

We can make educated guesses about:

* John Snow — The Corruption

* William Hall — The Slaughter

* Joey Grimaldi — The Stranger

We can make complete guesses about:

* Mrs. Carlisle — The Flesh

* The Distortion — The Spiral

* Owner of the house at Hill Top Road — The Web

And we have nothing for:

* The Desolation

* The End

If anyone has ideas or things I missed, let me know.

[gatesblue345]

Seofon rambles (Backstory Edition)

Thinking about Potential Seofon's backstory is fun to think about because Cygames is clearly hiding it for a reason because every other eternal we've gotten either enough of glimpse of their past to extrapolate about their life growing up or detailed examination in the case of someone like Seox.

Seofon is the one exception to that rule because his entire past in pretty shrouded in mystery the most amount of his past we get is from "And You" and all we learn is that Seofon is a bit of a cynic and a loner which just fits perfectly based off what we knew before

But his actual backstory is still veiled in mystery because Cygames probably wants to milk an event out of it sooner or later alongside Sietien't (I can never get his spelling right).

But as what his backstory could be I think Seofon is going to be someone like Eustace because their both loners who opened up to people after meeting some good friends. We just get to see Eustace's arc of that onscreen. Seofon already went that character development mostly.

And like Eustace his backstory is probably going to be sad and tragic and were Eustace lost one of his eyes as a result of his backstory as for Seofon it seems very likely that Seofon will gain access to the "Sea of Stars" as he originally called it as result of his tragic backstory.

As for my personal headcanon for what his tragic backstory is I feel like it's going to be along the lines of Seofon probably around the age 10-12 is living a relatively normal villiage life on some random Island.

Until everything goes wrong because Sieten't makes it a point in his fate episode that no matter the world Seofon always ends up grabbing the sword and the fact that Seofon can't imagine himself another future.

I think shows how fundamental the inciting incident of Seofon's life was that no matter he knows that he'll always be a fighter.

Which is why in my opinion Seofon tragic backstory is what leaves him an orphan with a name he no longer cares about I also feel Seofon had a mentor figure in his life could be family or a random stranger just somebody who inspired young Seofon to care more about swords and the finer points of sword play and why he likes collecting swords so much

But going back to my imagined backstory I feel like monster attack feels the most likely and young Seofon unable to properly defend himself against fearsome, but desperate to live to where his desperate earnest please allows him his first glimpse of the "Sea of Stars" and he goes blue for the first time kills the monster and promptly collapse waking to see his entire village and home in complete ruins with bodies of the dead surrounding him.

And from here you can honestly go anywhere, but genuinely I feel like no matter what Seofon's backstory is going to be sad and he is very much going to be an orphan.

After all if a person doesn't want to talk about their past it's because they got a good reason not to want to.

[wolfstarr-the-sequel]

Yo what are your guy's headcanons for the TF2 characters FULL names? Like first and last. I'll share some of mine

Scout - his first name is Jeremy so I'mma take a wild guess and say his last name is Jones (his mother's last name) . Its a common last name and let's be honest he probably convinced himself that he's related to Tom Jones in some way.

Soldier - Jane Doe (canon)

F.Pauling - Francine. I just like the name. Out of all the girl name that start with F, Francine is my favorite. Probably goes by Frannie or Franny or Fran for short maybe.

Pyro - TFC Pyro's name is Beatrice so maybe something that starts with the same letter such as Benny. I'd say that's a pretty genders neuteral name. And for the sake of alliteration let's say their last name is Baker or something because ya know, heat.

Demoman - Tavish Finnegan DeGroot (canon)

Heavy - Mikhail is a very common name so let's give him a common last name like Mikhailov. Sure it's almost the same as his first name but it rolls off the tongue.

Engineer - Dell Conagher (canon). I like to think his middle name is Radigan, after his grandfather

Medic - Mr (not doctor) Ludwig. Fritz Ludwig. Blame Emisis Blue

Sniper - Mick Mundy. I think his middle name is Eustace or something. Y'know like courage the cowardly dog.

Spy - I've seen many people headcanon his name to be Jacques and honestly I'm vibing with it. For last name perhaps Laurent. Flows nicely.

[isfjmel-phleg]

Because absolutely no one demanded it but I wanted to talk about this anyway:

Most of the designs for my main cast are holdovers from the earliest version of the story, written when I was fourteen and still deluding myself about drawing.

The character that would become Rachel was originally an authorial insert, so she basically looked like fourteen-year-old me. Later on, I hated having a self-insert, and it took me a while to decide to revamp her into someone who does have things in common with my younger self but has been allowed to take on an identity of her own. This included giving her strawberry blonde hair, making her look more like my youngest sister, or Dorothy Gale in John R. Neill's illustrations, which pairs well with some visual associations of Rietta and Ozma that I wanted to make.

Rietta has lots of dark curly hair because of some drawings I had made as a child of someone called Rietta fitting that description. No idea what that original context was, but I liked it enough to reuse both name and hair. I haven't changed because it's become an iconic part of how I picture her, and the springy curls reflect her personality so well. Her having some Mediterranean features (thanks to her pseudo-Italian mother) was a later development as I better defined the nations' cultures. It's a way of visually emphasizing her outsider status despite being the queen.

Delclis has reddish-brown hair for incredibly dumb reasons. I'll spare you the full story, but the short version is the original incarnation of the story, which was overtly fantastical in painfully derivative ways, drew from some thing my siblings and I made up as kids, including a concept of my brother's of a nation where the monarch take as a ceremonial name the name of a type of snake. That was a thing in Corege in the earliest draft, and Delclis's ceremonial name was...Copperhead. So I literalized it and gave him reddish-brown hair. That horrific detail got dropped, thank goodness, but Delclis's design stayed and morphed into his having a coloring and build and features that I could tie to his love of plants. Hair like the color of certain trees in autumn. Much better. It also contrasts him with the rest of his family, showing his disconnect from all of them.

I originally made Elystan a dark-haired puny little person as a vague nod to illustrations of Eustace, because original Elystan was just there to be a bratty character with a redemption arc (badly executed!). That connection is practically nonexistent now, but I like the visual of him with the high contrast between hair and complexion, a bit eerie-looking. The black hair, pale skin, and blue eyes also accidentally make him resemble a) a character from Tenthragon and b) quite a few comic book characters, and I'm fine with that. His originally being described as very short and thin was what led to the creation of his health issues as the story developed into what it is now. It makes him very different visually from his father, Delclis, and Josiah, and that's necessary.

Amarantha's design didn't have any references or reasoning behind it. I was fourteen and drew a brown-eyed brunette probably because that was my description. Her distinctive hairstyle comes from a later attempt to ground the story in more historicity. At this point, it was set in a pseudo-1540s, so Amarantha's hairstyle was inspired by styles meant to be contained under a cap. Fortunately, it translated decently well into the current setting and has become a visual symbol of her uptightness.

Tamett originally had a very bland brown-haired design with no distinctive features, because I didn't bother to put much thought into him. Later, I realized I needed a visual contrast to Josiah and made him blond. I can't remember if I did that before or after deciding he was from pseudo-Scandanavia. (His Noriberrian heritage is actually a very recent development.) The blandness of his design has become a feature, reflecting his role as professional shadow.

The basic designs of the Liennese royal family came from a royal family in an imaginary city that my brother and I created as kids; beyond that, there wasn't a lot of thought put into Josiah's design. The more distinctive features came later. It's important to me that he look very ordinary, not conventionally "good-looking," to emphasize that he's not as perfect and exceptional as he has been raised to think he is, and it's significant that he more strongly resembles his father but the features he gets from his mother will become more prominent with character development. His greater height and larger build also make him almost a comedic visual contrast with Elystan, which is fun to picture.

[atopvisenyashill]

What if Laena Velaryon had been born a boy?

this one is a stumper for me because it changes a LOT (bc, and I cannot emphasize this enough, but Laena is important to the plot and to Rhaenyra as a character!!)

The great council still sides with Viserys because Laenor was alive, and Rhaenys pushed his claim in canon, so having a slightly older son isn't going to do much for that.

Where this really starts to affect the plot is when Viserys is looking to remarry. Laena is pushed forward as the "correct" match because she is Valyrian, and it would soothe Corlys and Rhaenys' ruffled feathers from the GC 101. But if they have no daughters, that clearly doesn't happen. This also means there is straight up no Valyrian woman able to marry and have children except Rhaenyra during this time period which is a little wild (Rhaenys and maybe Jocelyn are alive, but past child bearing years, and these people just refuse to marry Celtigars which is deeply funny). Viserys has some room to pick whoever he wants to marry in this situation though, and I think it's not unlikely that more than Otto tries to take advantage of that (but Otto is still going to win).

HOWEVER. Especially after Rhaenyra is named heir, I think Corlys starts pushing that a boy Laena (obviously she's called Laenor, and probably actual Laenor is called like, Lucerys or something) marries Rhaenyra. I think it's likely he throws himself behind Rhaenyra hard, insisting that Laena and House Velaryon will uphold her claim, protect her birthright, "We Will Be Strong As We Were In Old Valyria By Joining Our Blood", etc etc, and since Viserys is not snubbing Corlys by refusing to marry Laena, I think there’s a non zero chance Laena and Rhaenyra are engaged very young.

But what does this mean for the Dance? Well…

Rhaenyra is probably less hostile to her marriage. Laena is a daring dragon rider who adores his mother & supports Rhaenyra and, most importantly, can give her heirs, so I think Rhaenyra pushes against this marriage much less. However, part of Rhaenyra’s anger over the engagement isn’t just the risk of marrying a man who may not give her children, or easing her father’s political headaches, but the idea that Rhaenyra is not allowed sexual freedom while Daemon and Viserys (and later Aegon) all are. So whether Rhaenyra is hostile to the marriage largely depends on how well she gets on with Laena and whether she feels like has control over her sexuality. In canon they are close, but in canon Laena is a woman and that does make a difference. There’s also The Criston Cole And Daemon Of It All - if Rhaenyra has a fiancé looking out for her, does Rhaenyra get so attached to him? Does whatever happens the night she goes to Daemon & Criston still happen?

It’s all kind of hard to say considering both Eustace and Mushroom are full of shit and Gyldayn is a raging misogynist. And regardless of the fallout of that, what Laena gives Rhaenyra is incredibly important - Valyrian looking heirs. With at the very least a Jacaerys that looks like a Velaryon (because he is by blood this time), a large part of the Greens propaganda falls apart. Yes, she’s a woman, but she has a Valyrian heir with a husband she probably likes & takes an active role in her life, and the unwavering support of the Velaryons. PLUS with the dragon twins gone, that frees Jace up to marry literally anyone - like, say, Helaena! Or potentially, one of the storm sisters! And if anyone gets too cute with Rhaenyra, well, Laena has Vhagar!

Again, the wildcards here are Criston and Daemon. Daemon especially has no way back into the main Targaryen line because there are no Valyrian women for him to marry. I think that makes him much more erratic when Rhaenyra marries, because he can see his hopes of being “accepted” slipping away and he has no other option to turn to.

So….Rhaenyra is theoretically better off by the time her father dies. If she cares for Laena as a man the way she cared for Laena as a woman, she will have the full backing of House Velaryon, a legitimate heir who is free to make a great political match, a husband happy to back her claim, and once again, Vhagar on her side and Aemond defanged. The question is if this marriage stays happy or if it sours because Rhaenyra feels stifled, or Daemon/Cole does something particularly deranged about it at any point.

[ihhfhonao3]

OKAY. SO. Regarding the “wtf do we use to tag this shit now” issue on ace attorney ao3, I found a solution!! As well as a good little thing that helps with html and switching names which I’ll link.

So I think what the solution is gonna be is to have the tag be (using Sebastian/Eustace as an example) “Ichiyanagi Yumihiko | Sebastian Debeste | Eustace Winner” like so:

I say this because not only does it give him his new official name, but….. if you click on it…

It just redirects to the tag for sebby that we’ve been using this whole time! Almost in a similar fashion to how every “no beta we die like etc” tag redirects to “not beta read” when clicked. I’m sure they’ll be used interchangeably or they’ll be merged or SOMETHING but for the perfectionists like me who want to have as many names for recognition possible, you can probably put that as well as the regular Sebastian tag for now (since that one is the only one that is an official character tag that you can use to search with)

forgot to fucking link the thang here it is

[noeverse]

Lady Aurynn Mormont and Lord Rodrik Mormont, a brief story according to Maester Eustace;

Despite Aurynn being the eldest, she was never once treated as the heir of Bear Island, but rather her younger brother Rodrik. Both grew up in different circles: where her ladyship was proud, fierce and cautious, Rodrik was hedonistic, strong-tempered and highly ambitious. Having been left orphaned at just 14 and 11, their guardian, not having economic means to raise them both, sent the young, pretty Aurynn to be raised among Princess Rhaenyra's children, a promise to one day attend the much desired daughter of the princess. During that time, Aurynn made lifelong connections, such as her future husband Jacaerys, the Dragon Twins and many of the princess' party. She was probably the most comely and lovely of the girls at the princess' court, with a sharp wit, incredible sense of humour that delighted the princess and an unique fashion sense, for her hair was so long she could very well sit on it and was often in complex coiffeurs, and favoured purple and navy blue, as well as expensive fur made from the fiercest bears of Bear Island, a yearly gift from her lord brother as a way of ensuring that she didn't forget her house. At age sixteen, Princess Rhaenyra changed her chess pieces and instead married the beloved and most elegible Aurynn to Jacaerys, and Baela would marry her brother Rodrik instead.

It took Prince Daemon a while to accept this, but after cunning Aurynn wrote a witty and comedic poem to the couple, he accepted her and asked her to love well his son, which she bowed deeply and promised to give his grace nothing but the very best. The double wedding was celebrated three weeks after, and the prince seemed enamored by his bride, which surprised nobody. Baela seemed reluctant because of Rodrik's hedonistic and queer lifestyle, but the morning of their first day as a married couple dropped to his knees before his in-laws and declared that the moment he was promised to Baela he had sworn off such boyish behaviour and would be a new, better man for her, which delighted the couple.

Soon, Aurynn was with child, and Prince Jacaerys, overjoyed, asked for his mother for a joust in such honour, which she gladly granted. Lady Aurynn proved to take pregnancy with poise and grace worthy of a future queen, and if she payed any mind to the symptoms, she said no such thing aloud.

Prince Jacaerys was sent to fight some battles in his mother's name, and kissing heavily pregnant child goodbye, went off to war. Rodrik accompanied him, not before announcing alongside Baela that they too were expecting their first child. Sadly, Prince Jacaerys perished, and everyone at Dragonstone heard Dowager Princess Aurynn's howls of pain. Fearing that the Greens could target her, Rodrik asked the Sea Snake for a strong ship to carry to safety the heir and its mother to impenetrable Bear Island.

Lord Cregan Stark, fulfilling his promise to Prince Jacaerys, started to march down, and heard of the famed beauty Princess Aurynn having stopped in the Riverlands after escaping a storm, and demanded to meet the princess whose beauty couldn't be kept from every man's mouth, and when he saw her, he was struck by her beauty and intelligence, and instead offered Winterfell as a refuge, reminding the princess of the bond with her late husband, which she accepted.

Now leaving for Winterfell, the dowager princess went into labour three days after arriving to Winterfell to a beautiful baby girl, whom she named Visenya Velaryon, and was healthy enough to write to Queen Rhaenyra about how the princess had the late Prince's sweet features and soft brown hair. Sadly, said joy was short-lived, for the babe contacted an illness that killed her in her mother's arms. Her wails of pain and sorrow were heard all over Winterfell, and felt all along the north. Not even sweet Sara Snow's comforts could cure the princess' pain.

During the Hour of the Wolf, Rodrik and Baela, alongside their baby daughter Laena were held hostage by King Aegon II, and chained, for they feared that they might attack the king in an organised attack.

After the deaths of both Queen Rhaenyra and King Aegon, Rodrik was brought into question by Cregan himself, and he, having learned the cunning ways of his sister, used Lord Stark's feelings for his lady sister as a way of getting away from a punishment, and was sent back to Bear Island with a large fine and the promise of Aurynn's hand in marriage in exchange of him giving up Alyssane Blackwood.

Cregan Stark rode back to Winterfell, looking forward marrying Princess Aurynn, to whom upon arriving, went straight to her bedchambers and dropped to his knees and swore love and fealty to her, declaring he had loved her from the moment they first spoke. She accepted with the condition that he never once involved himself in such wars unless it affected Winterfell. Three months later, having recovered from childbirth, they both were married in a lavish wedding, for Lord Cregan paid no expense. One could tell he was deeply enamored by Princess Aurynn, and she had begun to love him as well.

They were married for a decade and four years, Aurynn delivering a child every year, but only four daughters survived infancy: Lyanna, Shireen, Judynn and Ayrin Stark. Lord Cregan loved them very much, but many feared that he had only one heir. Indeed, Rickon's death changed him, for Lady Aurynn caught Cregan red-handed with his distant cousin and who would be his third and last wife. After a heavy argument, Aurynn packed essentials and sailed towards King's Landing, where she exposed King Aegon III her case for a divorce, a formal separation at best. Aegon, seeing that she had no male sons and Cregan had been unfaithful, compared to virtuous and beloved Aurynn, accepted the divorce and signed it himself. In exchange, feeling indebted to who had been once his sister-in-law, offered her a new marriage prospect: Alyn Velaryon, a man that seemed to match the lady's character. The lady accepted with the condition that it'd take the next year so all divorce could be settled.

And thus, Aurynn and Alyn were married in front of King Aegon's eyes in a handsome and elaborate wedding, where Rodrik walked Aurynn for the last time, his daughters Laena and Rhaenys as flower girls. They soon moved to Pentos, away from Westeros and Cregan's jealousy. Aurynn became pregnant once more, and delivered a strikingly beautiful girl, Daena Velaryon, whom they sent to serve to the new queen, Daenera Velaryon. She seemed to enjoy being there, for often Aurynn commented to her husband about how she enjoyed being with her cousins Laena and Rhaenys, and to see Rodrik's only son Aemon become a grown, handsome man.

However, the marriage proved to be incompatible, and when Alyn wasn't gallivanting with a lover, he was at sea, where he was eventually lost. Swearing off a fourth marriage, Aurynn instead moved to a quaint house in King's Landing, where she sought the close friendship and companionship of Princess Visella Targaryen, soon attached to the hip, maybe too close for Westerosi society. She lived her remaining life by giving prosperous matches to her daughters and spoiling her nephew and nieces rotten, all with Visella close behind.

As for Rodrik, he and Baela were a never-ending fairytale, riding dragons together and enjoying a quiet life with their three children and staying away from politics. Their daughters were married to prominent houses, and their son married later in life, having built for himself an impressive career. @blood0fthedragon @mini-kunoichi (inspired by @emilykaldwen & @huramuna )

[iwriteasfotini]

Letters

Sirius POV, first year Rating: Teen Unsure ;-) These are letters Sirius sends and receives at various points during his first year at Hogwarts.

Reggie, 

I’m sure mum told you, but I got sorted into Gryffindor! Totally wicked. I really like my dormmates. And I haven’t had to speak to any of our dear cousins yet. So life is good. You are going to love it here. The food is great. And the castle is huge. I want to explore it all. Stay sane baby brother. 

X Sirius

P.S. wait until you see my new sunnies!

>>><<<

Reggie,

School is still great. We met a really depressing ghost. My classes are mostly interesting. History of Magic is the worst. And Herbology is not my favorite. How are things? Did you get my last letter? Please write back. And Reg, I have friends! I can’t wait for you to meet them. They are amazing. Their names are James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew.

X Sirius

>>><<<

Sirius, 

Thanks for sending your friend’s owl. Mum isn’t allowing me to use Eustace or Willow at all. I think she is trying to keep me from writing to you. If you send me any more letters, send them with this owl at night. I’m glad you like your classes. School work here has been so dull without you. And meals are a nightmare. Mum and Papa talk a lot about some bloke who goes by “Dark Lord.” That sounds really promising. 

I miss you, especially when I have one of my bad days. Kreacher tries to help. But he isn’t the same as you. Please write me again! Remember, Mum reads any letters she gets her hands on. I can’t wait to see you at Christmas.

X Regulus

>>><<<

Reggie,

I was so relieved to receive your letter. I was worried about you. We had our first flying lesson today. It was amazing. The school broomsticks are ancient and so slow. Still the feeling of soaring through the air is incredible. You will love it. I wish when you are having a bad day, you could jump on a broom and go soaring. It makes all of your problems literally fall away. I really want my own broom. What do you think the chances are of mum buying me one, probably zero. My friend James is a really good flier. Don’t tell him I told you though. He is going to be on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team next year, I know it. He trains really hard. Like every single morning at six. It is actually quite annoying. Sharing a room with so many people was an adjustment but I’m getting used to it. Our bathroom gets really gross though. Thankfully Hogwarts has like a hundred house-elves and they come in and clean every few days. I’ll write again soon!

X Sirius

>>><<<

Sirius, 

Today was a bad day. I feel like I am getting worse. The little ghost, she came back. She skulks in the corner, never talks. I cannot tell mum. You remember what happened last time I told her? I wish you were here. I wish you would tell me a story. I wish I could get out of this creepy house. I have been sneaking into your room at night sometimes. Kreacher is really helpful and wakes me up before mum might notice where I have gone. These days she acts like you don’t exist, unless something about the family heir gets brought up. Then she gets a pinched look on her face and quickly changes the subject. Send me some light Sirius, it is so dark here. 

X Regulus

>>><<<

Sirius

Today was a bad day. I blacked out and woke up on the floor of my room. I do not know what happened and I do not know how long I was out. No one found out. I am getting terrible headaches, and not sleeping well. Kreacher keeps bringing me lavender tea. Mum is upset because I have not made as much progress in my school work as she expected. There isn’t really much she can do about it, but she is scary when she’s angry. She stung my calves with stinging hexes the other day when I couldn’t properly do my recitation. I need to get to Hogwarts!

X Regulus

>>><<<

Reggie, 

I hate thinking about you all alone. I will be home for Christmas and maybe we can make a plan.—What kind of plan, Sirius had not a clue but he wanted to sound hopeful.—School’s been good. I hate nothing worse than Astronomy because it always reminds me of the family. I am really good at Charms. Professor Flitwick, the Charms Professor, has given me extra work. We finally had to write our first essays. They were a piece of cake compared to what Miss Foster made us do. I hope you have a letter ready for me. I want to hear you are okay. 

X Sirius

>>><<<

Reggie,

Write me back, I want to know you are okay. 

X Sirius

>>><<<

Sirius, 

Please stop contacting me. I am very busy with school work. And I haven’t time to read about your embarrassing escapades. I am studying our family history now that you are no longer in a position of inheritance. I hope to make mother and father proud.

Regulus Arcturus Black

...

These letters are from various points throughout The Heir and The Spare.

[fieldbears]

Hi! Thank you for doing this AMA! How did you get started in on your career path? I feel like I keep hearing either "know somebody who has faith in your ability to write technical documents" or "write technical documents for fun" both of which I'm not certain how to start.

Great question! In grade school, my friends and I were little nerds who wrote and traded stories with one another. We were giving honest feedback, learning, writing more, rinse and repeat. A couple of summers, we took writing workshop classes. We learned the general style of workshop critiquing. Being able to deliver and receive criticism is a valuable life and career skill.

Fast forward, I went to college, majored in English with an informal focus on modern literature, and took more creative writing classes! Having been in a workshop environment as a kid REALLY helped prepare me for the ones in college. Not everyone in those classes knew how to receive even very gentle criticism. Learning how to re-calibrate for them was its own learning experience. Another skill!

Fast forward again and I'm in the job market. I thankfully had a friend whose company was hiring, and that started my personal ball rolling. I got in through a friend, yes, but my career advances have been because I'm incredible. :)

But don't get it twisted. Most of the stuff in my background was completely unnecessary to getting an entry-level position. They helped me keep the job, and get more jobs, and get promotions, but nobody is expecting all that workshop experience. If you have average or higher people skills, you can teach yourself how to gently deliver the news that someone is functionally illiterate and you need to fix their work.

What you should have: a 4-year degree majoring in English, a relevant STEM field, or Communications, in that order. You should be ready to clean up a "test" document as part of your interview. You should probably pay close attention to the job description you're applying for, because 'technical documentation' is a really broad field and you need to be able to prove you're ready for whatever flavor they're asking for. Are you writing instructions (how to operate a device)? Processes (how to onboard an employee)? How much of your job will be interviews with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts)? Are you writing a new document at all or updating something that's outdated or untested? You can do some light testing of software, right?

If the interviewers are smart, they will ask you your plan when you're asked to make a new document. Have an answer ready. The information I always want first is: who is this for? Let's say it's an internal guide for some software your company uses. Is everyone on the project an engineer who's very familiar with computers? Or, is it a more generic office, where a 64-year old named Eustace will need very clear instructions on where the start button is? That information is a starting point for figuring out what your document should be.

So tl;dr: 1) Have a relevant degree. 2) Know the specifics of the position. 3) Be ready to walk interviewers through the steps you'd start taking to make a requested document.

Hope this helps <3

[castleofcuntdracula]

So I've been watching The Great (shout-out to @just-a-silly-little-guy for dragging me into it!) And watching hoult playing a guy obsessed with his baby is making me really want postcanon Renbecca babies. Not to be comphet about this but I DO love fankids and babies ever after... and I think it would be something he'd genuinely want? There's happy families on his vision board, and we know how much he regrets his failure as a father. Ramblings under the cut.

I think it would be a big step forward in his recovery, too- being stable enough, financially and mentally, to even consider having another kid. And I think Rebecca has considered it before, but never seriously- she doesn't have a mom, so it would probably be difficult for her to picture being one.

Once they're committed and have their shit a bit more together, I think she'd agree to it- and then they'd be on WILDLY different pages for a hot sec, because "starting a family" for Rebecca means 2.5 kids and a dog, and for Robert it means "I sure do miss hanging out with my sister and her THREE BACK TO BACK SETS OF TWINS". It's hilarious to me. She'd ask how many he's thinking about and he's like "Well, I know birthrates have fallen significantly since I was last married 🤔 so probably not more than five?"

They agree to one-maybe-two. The first pregnancy absolutely blows his mind because the sheer amount of progress that's been made in prenatal care. He'd 100% cry his eyes out at the first sonogram because he's just awed that you can SEE into the womb. He'd be taking this blurry incomprehensible black and white picture everywhere, showing it to everyone he knows like "🥹 that's our baby..." and his friends are like "that's great man, it looks like a bean."

It would also basically give him another anxiety disorder. There's been a lot of advances in maternal health since the 1920s, and his ex wife probably smoked a pack a day and drank while pregnant, because nobody knew that you shouldn't do that yet! Rebecca has to confiscate his phone so he doesn't go on Instagram and get himself hysterical over her eating pepperoni on pizza or candies with food dye. On the plus side, she will DEFINITELY have prenatal vitamins just completely on. Lock. (He brings them to her on a little china plate). The fretfulness would definitely bother her- it's not like she's suddenly made of glass! But he'd make up for it by being equally indulgent of her the entire time.

I think he'd be incredibly happy to have kids in the modern world, too- there's so much less they have to worry about in terms of disease and dangers, and they'll get to go to school all the way to 18, no matter what! If they have another daughter, she'll be able to do anything- she could be a doctor or an astronaut or even the president! Can her nursery be space or medicine or government themed?

All of his ideas for baby names are horribly outdated and all of Rebecca's are from a list she made when she was 14 and daydreaming about marrying one of the boys from supernatural, so they're out of luck there for a while- she doesn't want to name her baby Agatha or Eustace, but she also doesn't want to explain why they can't name it "Castiel".

I also don't think Rebecca would like being pregnant much- she likes that you get a baby at the end, and it's an exciting time for anyone, but that's hard to keep in mind when the little snot is kickboxing your organs all night. And she really wouldn't enjoy the way it alters/reduces her mobility, especially in the second half- she's pretty much five foot nothing and the average newborn is a third of that, let alone Renny's NBA all stars "one week old in 3mo clothes" sproglets. At one of the scans, the ultrasound tech says their baby "looks like they're gonna be tall! :)" and Rebecca just GLARES at him because she has to haul the kid around for another few months still.

They have a little girl and are both instantly besotted. Never shut up about her, total first time (for Rebecca at least) parent madness where the baby blinks in a new way and they both burst into tears of joy and grab the cameras. Robert having been on the night shift for a century means he's very useful in the newborn phase- he's sleep deprived anyway, waking up every two hours for feeds is nothing compared to a week stalking the streets all night for victims.

He'd probably be the stay at home parent, given that he doesn't legally exist- he's the absolute talk of the town at daycare dropoff and has to go full wife guy to defend his honour. This means that everyone at baby sensory and what have you had a fantastic impression of Rebecca before they meet her, because he can't stop gushing about how cool she is after he's started.

Rebecca is more neurotic than she'd expected about babies, and it causes her a lot of stress at first- she's the youngest sibling, so she has very little experience with them, and her daughter is so tiny and fragile and squishy! She gets better about it once baby is a bit less wispy looking and newborn-lanky, which I think would happen by 2-3 months. Kiddo has a lot of growing to do, and consequently gets delightfully chubby before shooting up like a weed as a toddler. Neither of them want to put her down EVER, to the point where she takes a little longer than average to be crawling and walking because she can only make it a few feet before someone scoops her up and transports her expeditiously to her destination.

Baby two is a couple years after the first, once they're confident that they can get a kid to running-around age without completely fucking up. Her older sister, thanks to the accidental attachment parenting from the sheer amount of snuggling and carrying, would be confident to the point of being slightly feral. By the time baby 2 is old enough to play with her the dynamic is very much as so:

They're smart on their own, but get them both in a room at the same time and their collective IQ is halved and someone ends up with their arm jammed to the elbow in the VCR tape slot.

Despite this, Robert manages to beg and plead his way into one (1) more, just one, this is the last one he P R O M I S E S, three is lots!

They have twins.