#reader/camilla hect

[createacamillahect]

waking up to feel camilla already inside you. (you were really nervous when you asked her to do this, but she seemed to like the idea.)

she's warm against your back and warm and wet between your legs.

you fleetingly wonder if she warmed it up inside herself first. you've done that before and there's something unbelievably alluringly dirty about having something she used secondhand.

it reminds you how, if you think about it right, you are one of her playthings too. you moan at the thought.

your shiftings must've alerted her because she goes from slow rocking into you to harsh snaps into you. you press back into her, with one hand tweezes your erect nipples while the other reaches around and flicks your clit. you moan as you come around her in soft waves racking through your body, milking her for what she's worth. with a few deep presses inside you, she follows you over the edge, her moan vibrating through where her lips are pressed against the top of your spine. you both go limp and laugh as you share a languid kiss afterwards, enjoying each other's company in the firey warm post-coital tendrils

[bestqprshipbracket]

Best QPR Ship Group 1 Round 1

[a-big-apple]

Hello fellow Tombers! Boners! TLT enjoyers! Fandom creatives of all stripes!

Alectopause driving you feral? Harness that energy for the greater good with @fandomtrumpshate, an annual fanwork auction raising money for progressive nonprofits!

You can read all the details in the FAQ, but the tl;dr is this: if you're a fic writer, fanartist, beta reader, podficcer, fanvidder, or just have specialist expertise like Britpicking (Kiwipicking?? Please?) or can give someone's story a sensitivity read, YOU CAN OFFER YOUR WORK AND CREATIVITY FOR FELLOW FANS TO BID ON!

Last year, 12 people offered fan work for The Locked Tomb. (One of them was me! I wrote this NtN found family fic for my highest bidder in thanks for their donation.) imo this number does not reflect the ravenousness, talent, and intensity of our fandom! So I've volunteered as a Fandom Ambassador to spread the word and get more folks involved.

CREATOR SIGNUPS OPEN ON FEBRUARY 5TH!

You can see the rest of the calendar here, but the other key dates for creators are March 9th, when bidding closes, and December 31st, when fanwork is due. That's ten months to create, agonize, erase, redo, agonize more, procrastinate, daydream about Camilla Hect, and finally finish up whatever kind of work you've offered, knowing all the while that you helped to raise money for your choice of these excellent nonprofit organizations.

🦴💀⚔️💀🦴show them what the Ninth House does!! 🦴💀⚔️💀🦴

[friendamedes]

locked tomb fic, to be updated whenever possible.

ao3. alt.

RATED T:

the same mistake: campal slice of life, 2k.

drama in the library consumes palamedes, and camilla gives him a manicure to make up for it.

my love, i am the speed of sound: campal relationship study, 15k.

In which Camilla is upsettingly prone to injury; Palamedes experiences his first fictional crush; wounds are tended; childhood honor is defended; research is conducted; and baths are taken. (Or: a 5+1 exploration of Camilla's various scars, from Palamedes' perspective).

leftovers: corona pov campal, 4k.

Coronabeth Tridentarius observes, waits, and wants what she can't have.

hold close & snug: campal fluff, 1k.

Unfortunately, Camilla has morning plans.

intricate rituals: campal slice of life, 5.7k.

Palamedes attempts to convince Cam to pierce his ears.

the hands that beckon: cam-centric campal, 3k.

Camilla Hect takes a bath, thinks about the Warden, and has an awkward conversation with Nona.

some moments last forever: pyrrha pov musing on cam's suicidality, background campal, 3k. part one of a series.

A post-Nona no-Paul AU.

a white and soundless place: nona pov campal fluff, 2k. part two of a series.

Nona has a nightmare and seeks Camilla and Palamedes' comfort.

as in a mirror, dimly: campal, 2.5k. part three of a series.

Some time after his resurrection, Cam wakes Palamedes in the middle of the night.

grasping organ: griddlehark post-canon AU, 3.7k.

Gideon and Harrow discuss her newfound state of being (dead), the weather (rainy), and their relationship to each other (honestly, who knows).

something about mouths: campal pre-canon fluff, 2.6k.

An attempt is made.

snip snip: gideon/cam university AU, 2k.

“Uh,” she says. She traces her fingers down the curve of her own skull, brushing through her neglected undercut. It's getting way too long. “If you have time this afternoon.” “I do.” “Could you—if you’re down—” Cam quirks a single impatient eyebrow. “Shave my head?” finishes Gideon, her words running into each other anxiously. “Please?”

RATED M:

not quantum physics: campal demi4demi headcanon, 4.6k.

It becomes obvious to Palamedes that he approaches relationships differently than his cavalier. Cam entertains a lady friend. Juno hosts office hours. Internal Affairs does not yet secure their comeuppance.

introductions: reader/abigail/magnus with a healthy helping of worldbuilding, 4.8k.

Your relationship with Abigail changes. You can't help but get a little nervous.

kissing lessons: campalnona That NTN Hand Kiss But On The Mouth, 16k.

PALAMEDES SAYS A BAD WORD - NONA VISITS THE LAUNDROMAT - CAM DOES A CROSSWORD - EXPERIMENTING WITH BRAIDS - SOME KISSING - PYRRHA FINDS OUT - THE JOYS OF ICE WATER

Consensual Workplace Relationship: campal pre-canon fluff, 2.8k.

Tipsy closet makeouts. That's it. That's the fic.

put your sweet lips (on my lips): jodybeth pre-canon practice kissing, 4k.

Judith attends Coronabeth's eighteenth birthday party. Coronabeth tells her a secret, and together, they do their best to remedy her problem. Judith is repressed. Coronabeth is not.

Curtain Call: whumptober campal & campyrrha, 2k.

The Sixth's Grand Lysis goes wrong. Pyrrha Dve is left to pick up the pieces.

RATED E:

move (like grey skies): campal dom/sub, 10k.

“I have been,” says Palamedes crisply, the minute Camilla enters the apartment, “a very bad boy.” Cam spares him a side-glance, a flick of brown eyes toward him as she sets down her bag on the kitchen chair. She looks unimpressed. Her bangs are glued to her forehead with sweat; her tank top clings to her skin, soaked through the back. The line of her sports bra is clearly visible through the fabric. “All right,” she says.

taste your beating heart: campal somnophilia, 5k.

Cam is still asleep when Palamedes wakes up. He takes the opportunity to adore her.

A Titty Nature: camgideon, 1k.

Kissing, et cetera.

Standard Procedure: campal medical kink, 3k.

In the end, Cam doesn’t wear a nurse’s outfit: she borrows a white lab coat from some unspecified department, ties up her hair into a short, bobbing ponytail, and clips a pen to her breast pocket. She is wearing a pair of reading glasses that sit low on her nose—Kiana’s, Palamedes thinks, but he’s not certain. The whole of this does more to him, vis-a-vis the situation in his trousers, than he’s willing to admit.

Look At This Photograph: camgideon, 10k.

Cam's other girlfriend, a hobbyist photographer, enjoys taking erotic photos of her when she gets the chance. Gideon wants in.

C. familiaris: harrow/alecto petplay, 4k.

“Yes,” says Alecto. She speaks with a strange cadence, a sort of half-nervousness that sparks somewhere beneath Harrow’s sternum. “I have been an abomination, and I have been a human girl—I would like to be a dog.”

fearful passage: kiriona/ianthe necrophilia roleplay, drabble.

Ianthe and Kiriona play a game.

What the Doctor Ordered: campal genderfuckery, feat. transmasc pal in a femme nurse's outfit, 5k.

Palamedes gets a package.

Good Girl: tridentariicest petplay, 1k.

Coronabeth is Ianthe's big dicked bimbo puppy. Ianthe's into it.

the soft animal of your body: camnona omegaverse, 3k.

Nona goes into heat.

[laiqualaurelote]

💖 🥇 🧠 🌝

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

I feel like I have a pretty good handle on character voices!

🏅 What is something you recently felt proud of in regard to your writing (finished a fic, actually planned for once, etc).

the saviour of the broken, the beaten, and the damned - it was the most experimental fic I had ever written (I knew the early readers would be confused by what was happening and am glad some of them stuck with it anyway) and also quite possibly the darkest - anyway, not in the least like anything I'd ever done before.

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

Locked Tomb modern AU in which Palamedes Sextus is secretly a fandom BNF. By day he is a rising star in academia, locked in a fierce departmental rivalry with Harrow (she thinks they're mortal enemies, he thinks they are peers with camaraderie); by night he posts reams of torrid fanfiction on AO3. Camilla is his long-suffering beta. Gideon is an avid reader of his smut and leaves him long unhinged comments, unaware that her favourite author is in fact Harrow's nerdy colleague. IDK what fandom they would be in. OG Lyctor RPF maybe.

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

Camilla Hect! I don't understand why I have never written anything for her, I love her so much.

thank you for the asks from this ask game!

[wordingg]

I got kind of busy and forgot to put together a little blurb about Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. This is the third book in the Locked Tomb series, a sort of surprise book that came out of instead of Alecto the Ninth, pushing the Locked Tomb series from a trilogy to a tetralogy. I really enjoyed it, just like the other two books! I continue to be impressed by how these books can continue to be so different, have such different tones and feelings and settings and yet still keep telling a cohesive story.

This book follows the character Nona, a complete unknown when you start reading. She is occupying Harrow's body, but nobody (including her) knows if her soul belongs to Harrow or Gideon. She is childlike, impressed and in love with the people and places that surround her. She's being cared for by Camilla Hect (currently sharing her body with Palamedes in a sort of timeshare system) and Gideon the OG whose body is currently occupied by the soul of Pyrrha Dve. The three of them live in a small apartment on a slowly dying planet filled with refugees who are trapped between a fight between Blood of Eden (rebels) and the Cohort (the empire). Because the whole story is told from Nona's perspective, we don't know a lot about what deals have been made between her friends and Blood of Eden. Most of the mystery aspect is you, the reader, trying to piece together what happened, how they got to where they are now, and what's about to happen next. All of this is spliced with periodic cutaways to the emperor on an empty, dead planet with Nona and talking about how he came to be the emperor in the first place.

This book was such a wild ride and there are so many gut punches in it, especially at the end. I also really enjoyed how we get to see a part of this world's society that we haven't even seen a glimpse of yet, the people who have to live at the bottom, the people who really get squeezed the most by this system that the emperor created of constantly killing planets. It really puts what the Blood of Eden is doing into perspective, as well as the other Lyctors, showing the dirty ugly under belly of the empire.

This series really has me by the throat, I am so crazy invested in this series. I can't wait to read the last book! UGH!

[sofipitch]

Does the characters sharing a body in tlt ever have an element of mysticism to it? Is it more of a cool thing that happens? How do you see that aspect of the books on a metaphorical level/ the work it does in the story?

If mysticism is defined as an altered state of consciousness due to fusion then yes, when Palamedes and Camilla come together they are new and unique person. Nona tries to pick apart their movements and determine what is part Cam or Pal and notices there are decisions/actions Paul makes that their component parts would not. However using it in religious terms, so far no. In HTN Palamedes tells Harrow he is working on a new Lyctoral theory that doesn't involve the cavalier dying. They state after transformation that Paul is that. This happens late enough in the story that we don't know if Paul is immortal or has all the benefits the other Lyctors do, but that's very clearly not why they did it.

Within NTN Camilla and Palamedes share a body, Cam's body. However unlike most body sharing stories they cannot talk to each other, there is no Ling and Greed arguing in a void space. When one is conscious the other is not. The only way they communicate is writing each other notes or recording themselves talking, then switching. Or by telling someone else what to tell the other. It is made clear that this arrangement does not make them happy they miss each other terribly, but it's the only way to keep Palamedes on this side of the river.

It is hinted very early on in NTN that a fusion (sorry old Steven universe fan just gonna call it that) is something they've considered, however Pyrrha disapproves of it. In one scene Pyrrha toasts, "Here's to Camilla Hect, one of devotion's casualties". Because Camilla is sacrificing her body to accommodate Palamedes, and lyctorhood requires at least one of both of people dying. Which sacrifice and who it's for and what is good versus "I never asked for this" sacrifices look like, is a big thread running through the series. Two characters die for other ppl in this book adding to the total sacrificial body count and there is also this question of was it good for the person who chose it, and was it fair to the recipient. All relationships require some sort of compromise or sacrifice but it should be mutual, and something both parties agree on. So while Pyrrha and Nona and many audience members feel like Camilla and Palamedes effectively dying to be together to bad it's also something that both wanted and were willing to give to each other. It is theorized that Nona may be a fusion of both Harrow and Gideon, and Coronabeth and Camilla both say they would be jealous of them if that is the case. By contrast after Paul is born, Paul tells Ianthe this is their lyctorhood and that she could still save Naberius's soul and she waves it off, she isn't destroying herself for Babs, and it's pretty clear Babs wouldn't have wanted to die for her either. But as Camilla later tells Palamedes, "love and freedom don't coexist". Everyone has to determine what levels of that they are capable of or would want in return.

The second theme it hits on is the inevitability of change. There is a really good post I've reblogged at some point talking about how this one permeates the series, they said it a lot better but I'll try and hit the highlights. You see it in characters never getting over grief, you see it in Gideon not wanting to change her relationship with Harrow in GTN, you see it in the way John wants to hold all his lyctors to his chest and have shitty dinners of spaghetti Os for 10k years. Also as that post pointed out, the series does it to its readers, you enjoyed GTN and want something exactly like that, too bad HTN is very different. You only care about Gideon and Harrow? Too bad, they are barely in NTN. Paul is a part of that change, this is the one where Nona and Pyrrha (and me) were also upset over Paul because it means that you never get to see Palamedes and Camilla anymore. The characters are resistant to change even though it's better than both being dead. And it can/has been read the opposite way, that Palamedes and Camilla should have accepted Pal's death, rather than alter Cam to preserve him. No matter which way you look at it you just want to go back to before Palamedes experienced rapid unscheduled disassembly, but it's not possible.

On a similar vein to the change theme, Nona's reaction to Paul can also be viewed in the lens of how some people react to someone in their life transitioning. Where they are afraid that bc this person is changing they won't know them anymore, this is a whole new person, etc. But while yes Paul has changed how Cam and Pal exist, it didn't get rid of the love between them.

In terms of gender, Paul is referred to with they/he/she. They is the most common but it's not really something that is brought up the way you might expect regular media to go "are you a boy or a girl now?" Because TLT operates on the basis of a queer norm, Gideon and Harrow never have to say, as most lesbians do, that they is not interested in men because the assumption that a woman must be interested in men doesn't't exist. You see that with a lot of the body swapping, a character's gender is respected no matter what the present as. TLT's commentary on queer topics is found in noting not only what an absence of prejudice looks like, but what an absence of assumptions looks like. And especially with gender it's something you see with a lot of characters in NTN.

Okay sorry if that was long-winded, I'm sure there's other stuff (ppl have pointed out a connection to Paul from the bible who also underwent a conversation and subsequent name change) but also Paul only shows up like the last 15% of NTN and I am so excited to really meet him in ATN

[chthonicmoons]

@voyagerbxy tagged me in this cute ask game thing and i’m currently bored at the train station so i’m gonna do it hehe ty for the tag :3

last song: you are here by novo amor, it’s from antarctican dream machine which is an instrumental album and it’s very chill and good for looking out the train/bus window to

last show: i thiiiink mandalorian s1 i’ve been watching it with my partner recently :~)

last movie: pride and prejudice 2005!!! just watched it at one of my bestie’s bday party last night!

currently reading: nona the ninth (yes still lmao. worlds most inconsistent reader lajdhssh i’m almost done tho!!!) and also the taz graphic novels!!

current obsession: camilla hect tbh

what hobby/craft are you working on right now: hmmMM good question both of the things i’ve been working on are gifts for ppl who follow me here so i cannot say :^) but i’ve also been working on doing visible mending on my favorite jacket (the sleeves/cuffs are disintegrating lol) and i’m very happy with how it’s coming along :,)

the rules are to tag 9 ppl but i can only think of a few rn so @arialebenthal @unhauntedghosts @el-michoacano @xboygeniusx and anyone else who’d like to do it 😌

[iviarellereads]

Nona the Ninth, Chapter 12

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Fruit tree icon)(1) In which we get proof-of-life on someone many readers haven't met at all.

Everyone behaves as the BOE "kidnap" them to another building, though Nona protests that she's got school, just once, on principle. Eventually, Nona and Cam are left in a room long enough that Crown comes in, and all Nona's discomfort disappears.

Crown, in her heavy boots and stained zip-up jacket and tough canvas trousers with bulging pockets, was the most beautiful woman in the city and maybe on the planet. She filled up the doorway like a light-up sign. She had skin like amber and wonderful hair exactly the colour of golden sugar, and if she had ever been in a queue to get something from a shop everyone would have asked her where she had been all their lives. You could have sold tickets to see her. When she smiled at Nona, like she did now, her purple eyes(2) crinkled up at the corners. She was always happy to see Nona. Nona was regularly the only one happy to see her.

Crown frees Nona, and gives her a wonderful hug. Cam frees herself and asks where Pyrrha is. Crown says "he" always needs to be scanned before "the others" will deal. Cam catches the misgender and says Pyrrha's not a Lyctor. Crown says not everyone has the security clearance to know that, and there's more going on than it appears.

Cam remarks that Crown is "still wearing the sword."(3) Crown says it makes her think of home, and it's an aesthetic. Cam says it's not Crown's to wear, but Crown says if the owner asks, she'll give it back. They banter some more, joking about "the Captain" getting hung out in one of the cages even, and Cam finally drops Coronabeth's name in rebuke for familiarity.

Crown still says it's nice to see them, and this isn't official business, We Suffer just wants a chat. Cam is skeptical they have anything worth saying to each other, and slips on a pair of sunglasses.(4) Nona doesn't like the glasses, as they make Cam look like a mercenary.

Crown leads them down some hallways, to the same room they're always led to here. A meeting room, perpetually scattered with pens and bits of paper, with portraits on the wall, though one of an angry redhead has more flowers below it than the others.(5) Pyrrha is there, in a special restrictive chair, staring at Wake's portrait.

The BOE are all dressed in heavy disguises, obscuring body shape, face, and voice. They always do this. Only, usually there are a dozen, and today only two.

Crown pressed one hand to her chest in a formal salute and said, “Crown Him with Many Crowns Thy Full Gallant Legions He Found It in Him to Forgive,(6) representing Ctesiphon-3, acknowledges We Suffer and We Suffer of Ctesiphon-1. Troia cell reporting in, Cell Commander.”

Pyrrha prods at We Suffer, and then Cam and the still-anonymous BOE member spar verbally over the victims of the port riot. Crown asks if anon is questioning Troia Cell's(7) and thus her unit's loyalty, but We Suffer breaks them up for business.

We Suffer said, “Please listen calmly to what I have to tell you, Hect. The negotiator is in orbit.” Camilla stood up.

We Suffer and Pyrrha discuss the state of politics in the BOE while Cam sits down. The anonymous bodyguard gets a projector in the table going, so that We Suffer can show them a shuttle, obviously a House craft, spotted in orbit almost six and a half hours ago. Cam asks how long the nearest House installation has been abandoned. We Suffer confirms it at three months.

Cam is concerned that the ship isn't big enough for a stele, might not even be big enough for subluminary(8) travel. Crown says it's Ziz-class,(9) not a Cohort standard. It's mostly engine, just a little crew space, but it can "get to sublume" easily enough, even without a stele. She knows because she once had a crush on a boy who liked shuttles, so she learned all she could to try to catch his eye.(10)

The bodyguard and We Suffer argue about whether it even matters, with the bodyguard taking the side that only a few "zombies" could do massive damage. Pyrrha asks Crown what the fuel economy is on Ziz class, and she confirms, it's very thirsty. Only one day's travel in subluminary mode. Cam offers that it could have traveled by the River, which sets the bodyguard off as they don't have clearance to know what the River is.

Pyrrha redirect the conversation, asking who the negotiator is. We Suffer doesn't know, but says many factions are delighted that John Gaius is taking them seriously. Pyrrha asks what this means for the due date.

We Suffer asks for a progress report, looking significantly toward Nona. Crown says she's come along wonderfully, but there are other ways and means for now. We Suffer says they're low on both of those, and Cam replies that their dealings with Lyctors haven't gone very well to date. We Suffer says that's not exactly true, as their dealings with Source Joyeuse and Source Piotra(11) were quite fruitful. Without Wake and Source Aegis(12), they'd know nothing of the Resurrection Beasts. At this, Pyrrha's mouth does "something strange". And, adds We Suffer, Source Chrysaor(13) taught them about obelisks and steles, and took out a number of high ranking House personnel and a monster.

Pyrrha points out that Cytherea took out a few adults, some kids, and an old science project. Now, what does We Suffer mean about progress with Nona, do the BOE plan to weaponize her, or negotiate with her as leverage? Cam points out that the kind of person who would rank two fourteen year olds as "high-ranking House personnel" wouldn't care about Nona as a person.

We Suffer and Cam proceed to debate the finer points of what happened at Canaan House, until Cam says even if they could deliver the one they want(14), hive exposure would limit usefulness to say the least. The bodyguard gets in on the argument, accusing Cam of only having "zombie" sympathies.

Crown slapped the table so sharply that everyone jumped, except Pyrrha. “Oh, shut up! Just shut up … I’m sick of your fake bravado and bloodlust. Leave my wing alone. I can’t stand listening to you rark.”(15) The room fell silent, the bodyguard too. Crown and the guard stared at each other through a layer of air-toggle mask and welding goggles with a hate that was genuine. “You’re only boobs, hair, and talk, Crown,” said the guard. “No,” said Crown. “I’m boobs and hair and talk and a hell of a sword hand.” “Did you think that sounded cool?” said the guard.

We Suffer punishes them both, assigning them to "bullet duty" in their free time today. She adds that this is an old argument, and everyone knows both sides by now. If she says Nona has made no progress, she'll be taken captive and added to the Sixth's sixteen negotiators. If she says Nona is almost read, the others will want proof.

Cam asks for proof of life, to make sure all the sixteen are still alive and together. We Suffer says she made assurances, but Pyrrha says the BOE aren't exactly a united front right now. We Suffer offers a video on a chip, saying she was going to offer it today anyway, and plays it on a panel in the room.

Camilla was still again, chin in one hand and pen in the other, more like a picture of Camilla than Camilla herself. There was a sudden noisy crackle from the speakers in the walls, and then a disembodied voice— “Master Archivist Juno Zeta(16) reporting, remaining as representative of the Oversight Body in lieu of the Master Warden. I count six days, seven hours, and forty-six minutes since the last recording. In answer to the previous question, the article title is Heteroscedasticity in Viscus Models for Long-Term Data.(17) Head count standard. All well within the house formerly identified as Sixth. Awaiting further instructions.”

Cam provides the next proof-of-life question: how many pages in her Scholar's thesis? We Suffer asks for something she can work with, in the BOE. Cam assures that there will be a Lyctor, or equivalent, if they can wait. We Suffer shows no emotive response, but asks if there's anything else. Nona pipes up to say she needs the bathroom.

We Suffer acknowledges that, then leans back in her chair, and says they must think her cruel or traitorous, or naive. She simply never thought they'd be given such an opportunity, and she must act wisely on it to maximize her side's outcome. She is prepared to give an answer to John Gaius's negotiator as to what the BOE is willing to give, and she's sure the BOE will stand by her decision in this matter if given the right reasons. They (the found-family) must help We Suffer give them the right reasons. With this, she dismisses them.

=====

(1) How does this chapter change what we think this icon could mean? Before, it was used when talking with the children... and about Hot Sauce potentially joining a group that might have been the Blood of Eden. Eden, the garden of creation, where Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and were cast out for it. Which, if we stop to think, is a very interesting name to choose. But yeah, the fruit tree icon may have been a misdirect in its first use. Clever play. (2) If we had any doubt left, before the name drop. Though, "Crown" is easier to type than "Corona" for my brain so it's sticking in my notes. It'll still be Coronabeth in my tags though, for search indexing. (3) Gideon's rapier, of course, as we know from As Yet Unsent (and a hint in Harrow's one-chapter encounter) (4) So that Pal can come out to play as needed, of course. And, these are once again Gideon's glasses. The one thing that truly ties the series together: Dave Strider's Ben Stiller's aviators. (5) Memorials to former BOE leaders. Wake, the most recent, is also the most remembered, respected. (6) She got a whole BOE styled name. Crown Him With Many Crowns from that hymn I mentioned before, L'Abidjanaise (or The Song of Abidjan) which is the anthem of the Ivory Coast, and the song Dominion Road by a NZ band known as The Mutton Birds. You may see a pattern in the names, and you'd be right. I expect we'll see some notes on it in the Nona paperback in a few months from when this goes up, though I believe Muir's touched on it in interviews as well. (7) Likely from Troy, of "Trojan War" and "Trojan Horse" fame, given the others are mainly named for ancient cities the same way the members are named for ancient literature and song. (8) Within a luminary, or star, system. (9) A ziz is a great mythological griffin-bird from Jewish tradition, big enough to block out the sun with its wings. Ironic for such a teeny ship. (10) Over and over, Corona sets herself aside to earn someone's heart and consideration, and over and over she fails. The shuttle boy, her sister, Judith. (11) Joyeuse, French for "joyous", as in saint of joy. Piotra I'm slightly less clear on, as all I can find is that it derived from Greek petros for rock, which I suppose implies a sort of patience. (Curse the ongoing fall of useful search engines.) (12) Aegis, literally shield, but also protection, control, guidance… duty, if you will. (13) Chrysaor (which means "he who had the golden sword") was the twin of Pegasus, born of Medusa's neck stump when Perseus cut off her head. No firm idea how this relates to Cytherea/Cythera, birthplace of Aphrodite, and we never got Cytherea's "saint of" name that I recall or can locate, to make a deeper connection. All we can say for sure is that the epithets were for the cavaliers, not the Lyctors, and Loveday more or less wanted everyone dead… which may connect to ol' gold sword after all, really.

(14) Harrow. (15) "To rark up" is to either give a strong reprimand or get excited. (16) Palmom! Who lots of readers haven't met, per my intro, because Doctor Sex isn't nearly as popularly shared as As Yet Unsent. (17) Buckle in, pals, I'm gonna ELI5 this sucker (which means oversimplify and piss off the people who know better. Sorry, I'm more concerned with the ones who don't). Heteroscedasticity is a description of data points. Are you familiar with scatterplot graphs, with all the dots that sometimes have a line drawn where the researcher wants you to see that there's a pattern? The term I have in my copy-paste and am absolutely not typing out by hand refers to a certain kind of distribution of dots in those, where the data doesn't fit a certain expectation. Viscus is in reference to viscera, as in, the organs of the torso. So, the article is likely in reference to a hypothesis about why something about the viscera doesn't fit a certain kind of distribution in a scatterplot when measured. What could the proof-of-life question have been? Will it matter? (At this point in the story, I can honestly tell you, some of the questions I ask have not been answered yet, though some have been answered by the end of this book, and I will not tell you which are which.)

[createacamillahect]

camilla hect going back in time to fuck you at your worst

[dabblingreturns]

I like how in the locked tomb, a series with so much to argue about, and so many interpretatuons of so many charecter...(both in universe and and for readers) Two truths seam universally agreed on

Pyrrah dve is a stone cold fox

We are absolutely weenies over Camilla Hect

[apelyon]

I don't think Camilla Hect, the independent entity exists. I tried to think of who she is outside of Palamedes and I've got nothing. for the longest time my connection to her as a reader was that she loves Palamedes and so do I. maybe this series isn't trying to say what I thought it was concerning codependency. individuation is not a solution anyone wants.

[thunderon]

Please summarise what we know in the last few chapters of gtn. I mean about lyctorhood and the end of the world (not all the deaths)

-🦁

i will do my best! i am writing this with a working title of “So You Just Finished Gideon the Ninth and Want to Know What the Fuck is Up with the Epilogue and Lyctorhood Before You Embark on Book Two”. this isn’t an analysis post but more of a comprehensive summary of everything we’ve learned about lyctorhood and the war specifically in the final chapters Gideon the Ninth. this will remain spoiler free for Harrow the Ninth, but will point out some points that readers should take particular note of.

im going to start with chapter 34. this chapter can also be known as: ianthe reaches new levels of being a terrible girlboss. in this chapter we see ianthe trientarius use naberius tern’s soul to ascend to lyctorhood and she duels the eighth. and we learn a lot.

forgive me if it’s unnecessary but just so everyone’s clear about lyctorhood here’s the 8-step megatheorem as explained by ianthe:

preserve the soul

analyze the soul

absorb the soul

fix the soul in place

incorporate the soul

consume the flesh

reconstruct the flesh and soul

get the power flowing

after hearing ianthe’s monologue about the 8 Simple Steps for Ultimate Power, column asht remarks:

“To walk with the dead forever … enormous power, recycled within you, from the ultimate sacrifice … to make yourself a tomb.”

which is a *coughs* accurate description. silas and column are (ironically) horrified and decide to fight ianthe, a fight that is very illuminating .

first ianthe squares off against column in a sword fight. gideon describes it as follows:

“It was only then that it hit home to Gideon what Ianthe had done. The bizarre sight of a necromancer holding a sword—a ghost fighting inside the meat suit of his adept—made it real that Naberius was dead, but that he was dead inside Ianthe. It was not that he had taught her how to fight: it was him fighting.”

so we learn that the necromancer will inherit the cavaliers swordsmanship. cool. ianthe is able to hold column at bay and silas realizes he must engage ianthe in a necromantic duel. we then see ianthe and silas face off. ianthe is wiping the floor with him when silas then attempts to siphon her, but it's shown she is unable to be drained. ianthe tells him “you can’t take it faster than I can make it”. so this confirms what we already suspected: the soul of the cavalier is being used to create an everlasting battery of power for the necromancer.

another thing we also now know from watching ianthe is that lyctorhood isn’t immediate. ianthe is ‘fighting’ naberius’ soul and her eye color switches back and forth from his and her own, indicating the soul incorporation is incomplete. ianthe appears at various points to be in pain or fighting with naberius, at one point even verbally saying "stop. listen, babs, listen". this later comes into play when ianthe duels cytherea.

speaking of, as described by gideon, "A fight between two Lyctors was a swordfight on a scale beyond mortal". even severely wounded, cytherea proves to be an excessively formidable opponent. at first ianthe seems to have the upperhand, but cytherea tells ianthe: “You aren’t completed, are you? I can feel him pushing … he’s not happy. Mine went willingly, and it hurt for centuries.” and then siphons from her, healing herself. ianthe gets rocked after that and loses her arm. i will not say anything more on this particular fight because it’ll get into spoiler territory. but everything i said here is important.

so to summarize, here’s what lyctorhood gives us:

cavalier is an everlasting battery for power

rapid healing/superhuman reflexes and strength/etc

cavs swordsmanship ability

immortality

now what do we learn in the epilogue? well harrow gets to meet God! harrow is not a happy camper and wants him to undo the process, but God says her and gideon's souls are intertwined and it would kill them both. harrow is not pleased. also, God tells harrow things are apparently not going so well for him right now. he’s informs her that he's been fighting a war since the resurrection and that he is losing. we don’t know who/what he’s fighting yet, but he says he has lost most of his lyctors and that is why he called for more. God tells harrow he has three teachers for her if she decides to join him, which harrow accepts.

now onto the matter of our characters: only harrow and ianthe ascended. harrow inquires about the survivors of canaan house and God tells her that camilla hect, coronabeth tridentarius, judith deuteros, gideon nav, and some of the remains of palamedes sextus remain unaccounted for. additionally, God promises to renew the Ninth (which is curious because harrow never told john about the ninth house population crisis) by doing something he hasn’t done in “10,000 years”.

i really can't say anything more than that without spoilers, but everything above should be all the major points we know heading into htn.

[momentary-ecstasy]

While I'm at it (drunk) here's what I love about The Locked Tomb series:

- world building, a fucking master class in world building

- every character felt important. Even the Eighth.

- Camilla Hect

- the way the reader found stuff out with the characters and how long the secret of the Ninth was kept hidden, though it was alluded to

- the Gideon name thread through the series

- how everyone name corresponds to their house number and they're all corresponding to the real life solar system and the gods that they're named after

- Coronabeth Tridentarius

- Sex Pal

- how Corona ugly laughs at puns

- let me guess you take it black

- it's just so good jfc

- I'm dad like what the fuck even

[trisshawkeye]

Yuletide 2020 - what I received and recommend

I’ve had Ambition on my requests list for a couple of years now, and was hoping for some interesting world- and relationship-building. My author did not disappoint, and I got a great story about two unconventional people finding each other and figuring each other out. I also got a lovely little Locked Tomb Pal & Cam banter treat (Sixth House vs windows) in the Madness collection!

Centripetal Force - Ambition, Master & Apprentice, 3466 words, G

Did they really know each other?

Window Dressing - The Locked Tomb, Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus, 198 words, G

Camilla ponders one of mankind’s mysteries.

And here are a handful of other fics in the collection that I really enjoyed:

Afterlife - 17776, Original Characters, 3566 words, T

A young man dies six months before the end of human death; his loss saves five lives, which end up much longer than anyone expects. (A series of worldbuilding vignettes about original characters in the 17776 setting.)

RE: Thesis defense issue - Snake Fight Thesis Defense, Original Characters, 2954 words

It is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and a student needs a snake for her defense. 

(Successfully captures the horror and dread of academic email chains.)

Gain Our Freedom When We Learn - Pride, Cliff & Gethin/Jonathan, 3032 words, G

“It’s not exactly a date,” Cliff said, awkwardly. “It’s a day trip with the Poetry Society.”

Adverse Event - Nirvana In Fire, Lin Shu/Xiao Jingyan, 4818 words, M

What a pitiful man must he have become, if the only thing he could provoke in bed was a monologue on his character flaws.

or, the famous strategist mei changsu plays xanatos speed chess against truth serum: the fic.

here i will carry, carry you - Nirvana In Fire, Lin Shu & Xiao Jingyan, 2000 words, G

"Enough," Jingyan said, coming to the decision. He turned his back to Mei Changsu and squatted down. "Get on my back, please, Sir Su."

Records of the Land of Xiang - Nirvana In Fire, Lin Shu/Xiao Jingyan, 18787 words, M

In service to a very-much-alive Prince Qi, Jingyan dons a Jianghu-typical disguise and infiltrates the Jiangzuo Alliance to suss out this Mei Changsu fellow and see if he might be useful in helping them re-open the Chiyan conspiracy case. Basically, a slightly ridiculous premise where everyone is running around the Jianghu with masks, multiple identities, and secret agendas.

(What if you looked at Nirvana In Fire and thought, hmm, needs at least twice as much identity porn?)

A Beginner’s Guide To Locked Tomb Mysteries - The Locked Tomb, Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus, 2534 words, T

“If you're going to analyze impossible situations,” Camilla said, “why discuss fantastical fiction?”

“Because,” said the Warden, frankly, “we’re in a science fantasy story, and we don’t fool the reader by pretending we’re not.”

publish or die - The Locked Tomb, Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus, 4201 words, G

Not long after Palamedes and Camilla crack the case of Dr. Sex, another mystery arises in the Sixth House, and this one is going to take a few Houses' resources to work out.

[nocerealmilk]

Harrow the Ninth Timeline + Synopsis + AtN Predictions

Ok So I know I wasn’t the only one really confused after reading HtN, so when I reread it I made a bunch of notes so I could try to piece together the timeline! Here’s what I got, it’s as accurate as I could make it.

The universe is dominated by the force that is called the Cohort at the behest of the Necrolord prime AKA John AKA God AKA the Emperor, a man who resurrected all of our solar system to use “thanergy” (dead stuff energy) instead of “thalergy” (alive stuff energy). For unknown reasons, instead of just living in the galaxy, the Cohort overtakes planets by “flipping” them from thalergetic into thanergetic, allowing the arrival of necromancy. This is achieved by front line Cohort non-necromantic soldiers indiscriminately killing enough of the creatures on said planets that the Cohort necromancers can then use that energy to perform necromancy which causes the planet to die, releasing thanergetic material that can then be used for necromancy. It should also be mentioned interstellar travel is apparently only easily achievable for regular people by obelisk, which is a structure that must be bathed in fresh blood daily. They are, basically, super evil. 

They are at war with Blood of Eden, a rebellion insurgency of people who want to cleanse the universe of necromancy, which was (ambiguously?) created at some point by God and then betrayed him.

 Wake, the previous leader of Blood of Eden, was sent by Mercymorn and Augustine, who had betrayed God to work with BoE, to the Ninth House to take samples and look for signs of life within the locked tomb, which contains The Body (AKA A.L., Annabel Lee, or Alecto), God’s cavalier. Because the locked tomb is only accessible by God’s genetic material, Mercy gains God’s genetic material via menage e trois, and uses it to make foetal dummies, which all die, leading to Wake carrying God’s genetic child to term. 

Gideon the First, Lyctor, is sent to intercept her - he does not and betrays god, Because both him (Gideon) and his lyctor (Pyrrha), who both share Gideon’s body, were both separately having an affair with Wake, and believed the child to be theirs. Wake crashed to the Ninth and died, but the baby lived; as Wake died she said “Gideon”, so the child was named Gideon, although she was referring to Gideon the Firsts name when she said it. (Note: I don’t believe it is ever mentioned what happened before Wake came crashing to the Ninth, only that she was intercepted by Gideon1, who failed to kill her.) 

Wake’s hatred of necromancy is so strong that her ghost remains a revenant, haunting first her old bones, then haunting a two-handed blade, which the child of hers and God’s, Gideon9, the Ninth raises wields and loves. 

When Gideon9 and Harrow are 10 years old, they get into a fight - it’s important to note that Harrow says specifically that Gideon9’s skin was under her fingernails, because she is able to bypass the wards that only God (or a genetically similar being) can access. Harrow looks inside of The Locked Tomb and sees Alecto’s body, who she both falls in love with, and is haunted by her via auditory and visual hallucination.

8 years later, Gideon9 and Harrow go to Canaan house, all of the events of GtN happen. Gideon9 dies and something (which I will speculate on later) happens in the time between. 

Harrow the Ninth starts with Harrow not remembering Gideon’s existence, having made a debt to Ianthe to compartmentalize her memories of Gideon so as to avoid truly absorbing her soul. (Harrow does not remember this either). It is important to note that Harrow feels none of the rapid healing benefits of lyctorship, although her soul/body is a void like other lyctors. 

The body of Gideon was not recovered, neither were the living Coronabeth, Camilla, or Judith, who ended up with Blood of Eden (It is easy to extrapolate that Gideon’s body is probably also currently in possession of BoE).

 In the meantime, Wake’s soul haunts the two handed sword Harrow possesses, which her past, cognizant self has told her to never let leave her side, and not allow it to come in contact with flesh. (Harrow’s past self is evidently aware of the sword’s haunting; she also is aware the revenant wishes to leave the sword, and apparently that was not intended) During a moment of sleepwalking or possession, Harrow stabs the sword into the body of the dead lyctor Cytherea, whom the ghost of Wake leaves the sword and possesses the body of. 

Later, Harrow is on a faraway planet, murdering it, when Camilla Hect and the other two who survived Canaan show up in a spaceship. Harrow’s letter to herself tells her to seal Judith Deuteros’ mouth shut, which she does just as Judith attempts to tell her someone has betrayed God and that she is a “prisoner of war”. She also successfully restores part of Palamedes Sextus’s body, creating an articulated hand for his soul to possess. Important to note, Gideon9 is not there, alive or dead. 

In the meantime, in the River, which is basically a limbo-type place souls go after they die, and also where alive people can go if they know how, Harrow has been reliving an incorrect version of the events of GtN within her mind, using the trapped ghosts of those who died to re-enact the story. The story, however, goes haywire when The Sleeper, AKA the ghost of Wake, attempts to kill Harrow (and the others) in this dream-bubble esque world. Wake’s ghost changes the parameters of the story, causing Canaan to fall apart, be plunged into freezing cold, blood raining from the sky etc. Abigail Pent, a spirit caller who is also a ghost now, helps Harrow’s memories return and then awakens the Sleeper/Wake.

 In the real world, Harrow has been fatally stabbed by Mercymorn, who attempted to kill her because she didn’t want Harrow to go insane and suffer as a resurrection beast, the soul of one of the nine originally resurrected planets, approaches them. Instead, Harrow’s memories are restored and she is trapped within the simulation she created, fighting Wake’s ghost, while Gideon’s soul is able to overtake her body.

 Shortly before this, Harrow’s visual hallucination of The Body AKA Alecto vanished.

 Gideon9, in Harrow’s body, is able to fight off the heralds of the resurrection beast easily, and has wicked regeneration powers - her thumb grows back entirely within seconds, something that was directly stated to not be possible for normal lyctors. Mercymorn and Augustine have a big reaction to seeing Gideon9’s eye color inside of Harrow’s body. 

Gideon9 and Ianthe find God, Mercymorn, Augustine, Gideon1, and a tied up Wake-possessed Cytherea having a discussion. Mercymorn and Augustine confront God about Gideon’s yellow eyes, which God does not have but Alecto has. The only possible way Gideon9 could have yellow eyes like Alecto is not because she is the child of Alecto, but because she is the child of God, and Alecto is God’s cavalier, whose eyes were perfectly swapped with God’s, and Gideon9 is God’s daughter. Previously God told the Lyctors that to become immortal they had to kill and absorb the soul of their cavaliers, but since Alecto/The Body was still alive after the eye swap that took place before they all met, it was apparently a lie and perfect Lyctorship was possible the entire time (in which both parties absorb and share the combined power of their souls, resulting in a reversal of their eyes, and remain living). 

Wake tells God that Mercymorn, Gideon1 and Augustine betrayed him and had had prior contact with her. Mercymorn also, importantly, notes that when she checked Gideon’s body at Canaan house she neglected to open her eyes, implying that Mercymorn was at Canaan house and worked with BoE to ferry Corona, Camilla, Judith, and Gideon9 out of Canaan.

 Mercymorn explodes God. Augustine and Mercymorn express a hope for the death of necromancy in the future. 

God somehow rematerializes (will get into my theory on that later), and explodes Mercymorn back, who does not rematerialize, because she is dead. God admits the resurrection beasts cannot kill him, and he lied to their faces for 10,000 years.

 God offers to spare Gideon9, Gideon1, Ianthe, and Augustine. Augustine instead plunges the entirety of the space station into the bottom of the River, attempting to throw God and the rest of them into the stoma, which is basically just Hell or Nothingness. Augustine and God fight; Gideon1 tells Gideon9 (still in Harrow’s body) that Gideon1 actually died, and who is taking through Gideon1’s body is his necromancer Pyrrha, whose soul was compartmentalized similar to how Gideon9’s was. Ianthe chooses to push Augustine into Hell and save God, which is very evil of her.

 Gideon9 decides she would rather try to save Harrow’s body and brave the river, a futile act. In her last moments, Gideon9 sees light, and then sees the face of Alecto leaning over her saying to perform chest compressions despite her shattered chest (Which, I believe, is Gideon’s soul returning to her own body)

 At the same time, Harrow has defeated the sleeper and everyone has left the dream bubble except her and Dulcinea. The bubble is falling apart. Dulcinea tells her something left intentionally ambiguous to the reader, which leads to Harrow popping the bubble. In Harrow’s last moments she walks into a coffin that has Gideon’s sword and spicy magazines inside of it, and falls asleep with a smile on her face. Important to note it specifically says this happened in a “faraway place”. This is happening, I believe, in tandem with Gideon seeing that final vision. 

The epilogue describes an unknown character with unusual healing powers (most likely in the body of Gideon), living in a faraway land (Harrow is also there, possibly?), who is given bones and a sword but does not understand what to do with either of them, and Camilla Hect is there, but her eyes are gray, the color Palamedes’ eyes are described to be. The narrator notes their specific love for those eyes.

Ok now ~predictions~ which I mostly wanted to put here to look at later when the new book comes out.

Dulcinea is the character that we see in the epilogue. Honestly, I’m not completely sure; I think Harrow or Gideon both could love Pal’s eyes, they did care about him, but it feels kind of like a weird thing to point out unless it was relevant. If it was Alecto, like i’ve seen some speculation on, why would she comment about the eyes of someone she doesn’t know? Dulcinea also alludes to an understanding of perfect lyctorship in HtN: “Goodbye, Palamedes my first strand, Goodbye Camila, my second...One cord was overpowered, two cords could defend themselves, but three were not broken by the living or the dead”...One by itself was very strong, two could defend (as a cavalier defends their necro in the river), and three were not broken by the living or the dead (essentially, true immortality with invulnerability). This, and the board in the Lyctor room at Canaan in GtN also describes the pinboard as having numerous clusters of three pins. (Granted it is not stated completely what perfect lyctorship between three people would entail, or if the pinboard in GtN was alluding specifically to lyctorship.)

I don’t think Harrow is in Harrow’s body right now, if she is, I don’t think she is lucid. Harrow also states “There’s a difference between saving a shred of dance card, and saving the last dance” Dulcinea gave Harrow the information that crawling into that coffin, whatever it means, would allow Gideon to survive. That is what she wants above everything else, I think knowing that is the only way Harrow would be content at the last and go without fighting.

Harrow planned the entire thing. I actually do think this is possible. I don’t think Harrow does anything irrationally. I think she erased her memories knowing that it would cause her to forget a plan she made at Canaan with the others, agreeing to go with Ianthe to the First. She did specifically give instructions to her future self to seal Judith Deuteros’ mouth shut, to stop Deuteros from giving her the information required to stop the attempt on God’s life. My personal prediction here is that Harrow always meant to reconvene with BoE at the end, and Wake’s revenant leaving the sword and Mercymorn’s failure to kill god compromised all of that.

Harrow and Gideon are currently occupying Gideon’s body together, but neither of them are at the wheel.

Alecto is not dead, and maybe never was dead. I know she is literally called The Body and is described as being dead. However, I don’t think she’s in a state of death she can’t come back from. I believe that “perfect” lyctorship involves one body being able to remotely protect the other, hence why God reformed from complete paste and Alecto is who Gideon sees. I think God being dead would involve somehow killing the both of them, or killing one and then stopping the other from reforming while you kill the other.

Alecto is not human, she’s a robot or alien? She is referred to as a monster most of the time, and originally had the black and white eyes of God.

God’s three person Lyctorship is him, Samael and/or Anastasia and Alecto. Still not totally sold on 3 person lyctorship being the goal, but I think if it is the case that’s it. I know Gideon says Alecto’s voice is “wrong twiceover”, which is what made me think it was two people, and neither were Alecto.

I don’t think Alecto is the main character of the third book. I think Gideon will still be the speaking character, but I think Alecto will be the pivotal character.

The Cohort is bad actually. I think it’s one of those things where it seems glamorous because the main characters are brainwashed a bit. I mean as far as I can tell, it’s outrightly stated in the text that the Cohort murders innocents and overtakes planets. Real Empire vibes!!

BoE is also bad actually. I think we’ll learn Cohort bad, then BoE good, then BoE bad as a twist at the end, that they have some kind of hidden agenda or something like that.

Corona kills Ianthe. Most people just suspect this because of the whole Cainabeth and Abelle placeholder names and I’m also in this camp. I think Ianthe is pretty morally gray so I don’t necessarily think she will end up being killed because she’s straight up a villain, but I think she will be killed.

Harrow comes face to face with Alecto

Necromancy goes byebye, God is Kill