#reverse necro

[thermodynamic-comedian]

the fact that the harrow nova universe implies that gideon is now the necromancer makes me crave a true role reversal au. like, one where everyone's roles are reversed.

just imagine. ianthe and coronabeth as cavaliers. babs as a necromancer. palamedes as a cavalier. camilla as a necromancer.

fuck it. go even further;

lock john in the tomb.

idea: alecto locked him in the tomb when she realized he had too many powers for one human to have, and had become an active threat.

now, this leaves us in a universe where....alecto is the emperor. and to be completely fair, her overall personality and demeanor fit the role of god much better than john's. which leaves us with two very different versions of mercymorn and augustine. a mercymorn and augustine who are, for one, absolutely terrified of the emperor of the nine houses, and a mercymorn and augustine who know they can't threesome their way into a betrayal. and maybe, just maybe, they're not too fond of the whole "locked our friend in a tomb on pluto for 10 000 years" thing.

as for john himself, idk man. maybe some time in the tomb would do him some good. a few thousand years to, like, y'know. think about the whole "destroyed the universe" thing. also, i just like the idea of him, at the end of the nova universe's version of ntn, walking out of the tomb and saying something stupid like "what year is it?" "10008" "damn it. my alarm didn't go off."

oh, also, pyrrha in control of g1deon for the entirety of htn, only for g1deon to emerge at the end. haven't given this idea that much thought, but i'm sure there are g1deon enthusiasts who could do it justice.

[vertiiir]

Idea: Necrologist attempting to casually mention Vertin's magazines to others and Vertin still managing to hear and stop her

Vertin's got her eyes on her and gives her the most violent side eye known imaginable and whenever she tries to mention it especially if it's around the more innocent arcanist ahem ahem sonetto ahem ahem

[lesbiancientforesttroll]

Think about Harrow's AU Bubbles

Thinking about Harrow's AU bubbles, not as fanfic references, but as expressions of her subconscious fears and desires, is so fascinating.

The Harrow Nova one is pretty obvious. Harrow's parents were obsessed with her being a necromancer, were willing to kill for it. It's only natural she'd wonder, "What if I hadn't been?"

And the answer Harrow gives herself is: Your parents and everyone would reject you (except, wildly, for Crux). Also they'd be alive cuz you'd never opened the tomb, and you'd be an unpopular orphan they'd abuse (Just Like Gideon). And you'd still be just as devoted to serving the Ninth with a blade. There's a lot there. But the other really telling bit is her relationship with Gideon. Harrow Nova professes to hate the reverend daughter even as she seeks to (re) create the necro-cav bond with her. But that hatred doesn't seem to be mutual. And the bit about the daughter intervening when Harrow was whipped…

That's Harrow's subconscious saying if their roles had been reversed, "Gideon would have treated me better than I treated her. Gideon would have protected me."

The Ball AU also seems like a reasonable extension of Gideon's childhood query: "What if my other parent is the most important guy in the universe?" Answer: Emperor Dad would throw a big party.

But also… it's a bride-finding ball! That's so very telling. It could have been anything, but Harrow invents another scenario where she's fighting, competing to get to Gideon, to be awarded the role of her sworn partner (first cav, now bride), while outwardly claiming not to want it.

Now The BARI Star AU often gets described as a "coffee shop" one, but it's actually set in a cohort cafeteria. And normally I wouldn't split hairs over that, but I think the cohort setting is actually really significant. The Cohort was Gideon's dream, and also Harrow's rival for Gideon's attention. It's what she kept trying to leave Harrow for.

So now Harrow dreams that she's left Drearburh to join the cohort and will meet Gideon there. Not fight or compete for a role where they're bound to each other, but just meet her there. That feels like yielding. Like compromise. It makes me think Harrow's subconscious has matured past trying to keep Gideon with her always and is instead looking for ways that SHE can be with Gideon. Meet Gideon where she is.

(Also this may be a stretch, but I always find it low-key funny that Harrow imagines Gideon in the cafeteria… I like to think her brain is skimming lists of hypothetical military jobs like... what sees the least action... ah, coffee-adept, she'll be perfectly safe there...)

[txttletale]

could you elaborate on your thoughts on boom and 73 yards ( i agree with you i am just struggling to put into words why.)

boom was whatever. the initial conceit of the doctor being trapped and having to stay calm was really cool! i really like that. the ambulances that euthanize you if you're not deemed worthy of medical care and the tacky chatgpt hologram ghosts were both really cool ideas. it just doesn't stick the landing for me, the twists are contrived and fall apart given any thought whatsoever. like what the fuck were any of the soldiers Doing if there just straight up weren't any enemies. it's a twist that sounds cool to say more than it has any meaningful impact on the story or the stakes. i guess 'the arms manuifacturer created a fake conflict' is the intended emtional stakes there but that would hit like a hundred times harder if it was an actual conflict between two factions and people were dying, right? like if anything sending a christian militia to blow themselves up tae fuck on a nowhere planet instead of presumably killing actual living people is an improvement, surely?

also the resolution was dumb as fuck lol i am a huge hater of power of love saves the day shit not because i'm a cynical misanthrope but because it never fails to make me say 'oh so i guess nobody ever loved anybody before lol' and this is no exception like if one chatbot can shut down the whole operation beacuse he loves his daughter are we meant to believe that no other parents or hell nobody who loved anybody else for any reason died in this fake war before? it's cheap and schmaltzy and unearned. anyway the first twentyish minutes of this are all-time great doctor who and gatwa/gibson were incredible in it but it absolutely falls apart into a confused pileo f some of the worst Moffatisms at the end

73 yards on the other hand was incredible! obviously like it requires you to approach it with a different mindset to most of doctor who, right, doctor who usually furnishes you with the big explanation scnee where the doctor says 'well the ghosts were actually particle wave vectorforms created with the necros radiation from the god-king's techsceptre' or whatever--this is the usual narrative mode of sci-fi--but 73 yards is fantasy, right, this is the twilight zone, this is 'wouldn't that be fucked up?'. i interrogate the technical and logical specifics of boom so much when i think about it because that's the language boom is speaking, boom is framing itself within this logical, a-to-b worldview, the satisfying click-together puzzlebox. but 73 yards is a nightmare or a folk tale, right? kate stewart¹ says it herself, 'when faced with the inexplicable, we make up rules and apply them to it'.

so yknow reading it that way it all clicks together beautifully, right, (apart from russel t davies' embarassing swing and miss at Political Commentary in the middle. we get it davies you wrote years and years. we know. trust me we know). the doctor and ruby disrupt the binding circle, free mad jack, and are punished -- the doctor, as perpetrator, with being banished (perhaps in jack's place) and ruby with her worst fear coming true constantly, until ruby defeats mad jack, re-sealing him and fixing what she broke, at which point the circle rewards her by reversing the punishments. and the core horror i think is very effective and unsettling! the idea that there is something that someone could say to turn everyone against you, the closest people to you in your life, your own family, the institutions that are meant to deal with the exact problem you're having--that's fucking terrifying! and yknow i think especially as an autistic trans lesbian something that speaks to me a lot

so yeah. i think that boom establishes its logics and framework and then trips and falls onto its face while 73 yards does the same and then makes perfect use of them. that said i think in 20 years people who are autistic about doctor who will be like 'did you know in the 2020s there were two episodes in a row where the doctor caused the entire plot to happen by stepping on something' and thjatll be the main thing they're remembered for

[nyaa]

Love your blog! Where do you find so many wonderful pictures?

flickr usually. I would add more links but I get weirdly overly-conscientious about necroing old forgotten accounts of people that contain all sorts of personal information and maybe stuff they didn’t really want to share with a large number of people (like sometimes I’ll end up in the file index of someone’s personal website from like 1999 and it feels positively voyeuristic orz) . Usually it isn’t too hard to find those sources though anyways with image searches.

Otherwise I find things just by going down 6 hr long ADD rabbit holes through the web archive, and also by playing this game I made myself where you take an obscure low quality photo of an anime girl or whatever from an unknown vn or photograph and feed it into google reverse image search then just click through all the completely random stuff it throws at you u_u

[starberry-cupcake]

I've been reading, but didn't have time to sit down and do this, so you're getting a bit of a mess in this one, sorry about that!

I want to clarify, before starting, that if I ask questions to the void in these posts, or if I wonder very loudly about something, I'm not really looking for answers immediately nor am I doubting that things will be explained later, I promise I trust the process. If something's going to be explained, somewhere in the books, I'll get there eventually, I promise I will. You have probably noticed by now but, if you give me a hint, I'm gonna grab onto it for dear life, so better not give me anything at all. Just leave me here to die, I beg you.

previously, in harrowberry the ninth:

this happened

currently, chapters 17-19:

I'm gonna start by the end, actually

which maybe is fitting for this book

but I'll start by the end because I have a new theory and I feel this one in my bones

(pun intended)

I might be totally off but I'm gonna say it anyway because I'm excited about this one

so much so that you'll get no memes while I explain it

it's about G and P

yes, I know, I'm fixated with that, but hear me out

I think Lyctortus isn't actually called Ortus

I think his name is Gideon

let me explain

at the end of chapter 19 (I'll get there, but I need this off my chest, I really do) harrow asks mercygirl why ortus the first wants her dead

to which mercygirl distractedly answers "who?"

that's the last thing I read so far, but it got my wheels turning so fast I came running to write it down

I thought "wait, what if, just like ortus is replacing gideon in the gideon-less re-telling, the name is also a replacement?"

so I went to the character list and lyctortus's cavalier was called pyrrha

so what if they're G and P

Gideon and Pyrrha the Second

and what if the Gideon in the paper was this guy

so this is not a case of Ortus 1 and 2 but of Gideon 1 and 2

not!dulcinea told our gideon "you're very brave—a bit like another Gideon I used to know. But you're prettier in the eyes"

which is, all things considered, actually funny, because it's a reversal of what mercygirl was saying, that yandere twin and harrow aren't as pretty as their predecessors

I'm gonna risk looking like a fool later and calling this now because I really feel this one

again, let me clarify, I'm not asking you to tell me whether I'm right or wrong or anything at all, I'm just placing my bets with myself

and I know starting by the end isn't really the best way to go about a recap, but I think I'm on to something

MOVING BACK, to chapter 17

harrow starts looking into mercygirl for her new and probably not improved diary, because she knows less things now

augustine the saint of annoyance tells harrow that mercygirl and him are the oldest lyctors in the band and that it took generations for these space planet destroyers to assemble

emperor john silver tells harrow that his stupid nicknames that don't fit were meant to represent the cavaliers and not the necros

of course augustine's brother was patient, he had to put up with augustine

mercygirl is also a body expert

an anatomist, if you will

which will come in handy later/earlier (later in the reading order, earlier in the timeline order)

augustine says that he didn't bother learning that because the only use for it would be to kill lyctors

tbh it'd come in handy right now that I want to kill him, but I digress

here, harrow again mentions that ortus the first (also known as lyctortus, also known as allegedly gideon the first, also known as I'm super super sure of this you guys) wants her dead

CHAPTER 18

we're back on canaan house in the gideon-less version

these are the chapters I'm having the most fun with, which wasn't what I expected

I don't know why, I really like this whole re-written mystery thing

the slasher film vibes have doubled this time

I keep drawing parallels and enjoying my time with these old and new friends

and, talking about old and new friends, judith is dead

remember judith? remember how she died?

it wasn't like this

in this gideon-less version, instead of becoming besties with the sixth, harrow and ortus have become besties with the fifth

because 1) the fifth didn't die and 2) the fifth is in a polycule with ortus

with gideon there, they befriended the sixth because gideon saw camilla fight 5 seconds and was like "she's friend shaped :)"

so, the fifth and the ninth are taking care of judith's corpse

she was shot repeatedly with a carbine rifle

harrow says "it would have been like being set upon by a ghost out of time"

gonna put that in the 3d model

martita is outside and she's the only pseudo witness to this situation

the gideon-less version of the deaths so far is being handled like this

martita says to harrowbean "why am I here?"

she explains that they were doing the two door test thingy and, while she was in the other room, judith was shot

now, here's the thing

I thought the Sleeper that had been mentioned was the construct thing but no, it's not

it's a new thing

I'm picturing sorta this

it very well could be a person though

it's person shaped

huh

it's in a coffin where it sleeps unless it's woken up, but they don't know how it wakes up, because martita went to town kicking and punching the coffin after judith was obliterated and nothing happened

and what keeps it contained, snow white style, isn't plex glass, plex or glass

ortus proceeds to say a eulogy

martita says "Is this really how it happens?" like we've been hearing all this time

harrowbean tries to make her feel better by telling her that, at least judith died quickly

mmm...about that

martita says "No. That's not...Don't know why I thought...No."

martita doesn't know judith died slowly and painfully and wrong about everything btw, she died first, it memory serves

but still, savage

harrow regrets not telling ortus to take the pledge of silence and says "but only a very obedient idiot of a cavalier would have stuck to that"

she's your obedient idiot, though, harrow

so, the rundown is this:

the sleeper can move

the sleeper can pass necromantic wards

the sleeper shouldn't be waken

people don't know what wakes it

it has a rifle

the sleeper is lying on top of sword that's a two-hander

me, having breakfast while reading this

I didn't mention this but

harrow and abby say that judith was killed by a deadly shot and then was subsequently used for target practice and left like a colander without any reason for it

judith disrespected camilla, so

that's what you get, bitch

CHAPTER 19

we travel in time, but in the timeline of the emperor's bolthole

because WHY NOT, AT THIS POINT

we're keeping track anyway *picks back up the timeline I keep discarding and re-using*

this one is 10 months before the emperor johnny boy is ended, so this is before what we've been reading

we are told the following essential info:

harrow has written a letter for yandere twin in case of harrow's death that says: "Get what joy you can from my corpse, you devious bitch"

filed under potential resignation letter drafts

apparently a lyctor can live without food but not without water

so harrowcita is getting herself a sopita

and then lyctortus also known as I'm sure he's gideon the first stabs her

this tiny baby kitten with her sopita

man has no heart

no decency

no decorum

not his real name, according to me

mercygirl helps harrow with a lot of skill (those anatomy skills we talked about) but not much empathy

she tells alleged gideon who goes by ortus, when he says "I do things face-to-face" that "that is what got you into trouble nineteen years ago"

HELLO TIMELINE

nineteen years ago takes us back to the whole leader of the BOE going missing and gideon's mom drifting into space and the person sent with the eggs and all that

well, the eggs thing isn't directly related yet but I'm relating it

especially since there were lies involved and somebody sent to placate another somebody

DUDE CAN YOU IMAGINE

IF HE WAS INVOLVED WITH GIDEON'S MOM IN SOME WAY

AND OUR GIDEON IS NAMED AFTER THIS GIDEON????

LIKE ON PURPOSE????

HELLO?????????

AGAIN, NOBODY TELL ME, I'M ASKING AT THE VOID

YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE IMPULSE OF TELLING ME BUT DON'T DO IT

I'm making up telenovela theories about how this gideon could be involved into our gideon's mom business and our gideon being named after him

and gideon's superpowers of being hercules having something to do with all this

I need to stop before I say too much and then feel embarrassed at my theories

ALSO

gideon ortus wants harrow's sword

harrowbean doesn't want to give it to him

it is at this point when mercygirl says "who?" at harrow's question about "ortus", so we end how we begun, because today it's that kind of day

also, another day without her coming home

I may be late but boy do I have theories. And yeah, nobody tell me any spoilers, please. Let me make a fool of myself.

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

Lyctorhood

Worldbuilding/Lore

<< Previous: Necromancy | Masterpost

-

You become a Lyctor by utilising the "Eightfold Word" and absorbing the soul of your cavalier. At least, that's what all the current and hopeful Lyctors thought before the revealing chapter at the end of Harrow the Ninth. There appears to be a way that you can gain Lyctoral power without killing cav or necro. Though so far, only John did this with Alecto, who is a special case. Anastasia almost managed, according to John, who admits to killing her cavalier. John is probably lying about some or all of this - maybe Anastasia got too close to doing it right, and he couldn't risk all his secrets being unveiled, so he killed Samael in order to save face. Maybe if he'd let Samael live, they would have attained perfect Lyctorhood.

I'm reasonably certain that you can also attain Lyctorhood by fusing souls in the body of the cavalier. A current example of this is Gideon the First, and Pyrrha, who mentioned Gideon "took more", and he is described as unusually buff for a necromancer. Could it be that they attained Lyctorhood "in reverse", using Pyrrha's body? Or is their body an unholy fusion of the two bodies? It's not made entirely clear - Pyrrha refers to it as "his body", which leans towards the second option, but her eyes are described as suiting the face more, which favours the first.

It's said that the cavalier part of the Lyctors have no sense of self, only fighting muscle memory. I highly doubt that this is even a little bit true. It's at least partially untrue - Pyrrha is an example, as is Gideon the Ninth. What about Naberius, then? Alfred and Cristabel? What about Alecto?

(Alecto is a special case, again, we'll get to her.)

I'm fully not ruling out the possibility that the cavs are all still in there, and while the necro parts are dipping into the river to hunt revenants and make wards against Resurrection Beasts, the cavaliers in the bodies could easily be plotting. The cavaliers could all be on Eden's side, for all we know - we don't know where Pyrrha's allegiance lies. And we Know that all Lyctors have had dealings with them at some point. (I'm still very much expecting that to include Ianthe and Harrow, btw.)

I think all those times when the souls of the necromancers were in the River, the cavaliers were busy plotting with each other in their necromancers bodies.

All that aside - in what we see as "normal" Lyctorhood, the only visible part of the cavalier inside the necromancer's body are the eyes. This leads me to believe that Lyctorhood isn't just a fusing of souls, but a fusing of brains.

Anatomically, the eyes are a part of the brain. We've seen people with golden yellow and with lilac eyes, unusual colours for eyes to be. Could be a result of genetic altering? But in Lyctors, the eyes change, and in Ianthe's case, keep fluidly changing - in Harrow and Gideon's case, and evidently in Gideon and Pyrrha's, the eyes are an indicator of which soul is "present", awake.

Narratively, souls and brains are inherently linked. Brains and minds are basically interchangeable. In order to kill something - a planet; a revenant - you have to kill its body, and you have to destroy the brain in the river. You can go into the River as a mind only, or take your body with you. Oh, speaking of...

>> Next: The River

[jbm04]

Harrow the Ninth from Harrow Nova's POV once Gideon forces reverse lyctorhood onto her in that Pyrrha-G1deon way.

another edit: I need to clear that up. Harrow keeps her own body. At the end of Harrow Nova's gtn AU, necro-Gideon dies protecting Harrow (in my head, Gideon always dies protecting Harrow in every AU). Gideon figures out some way to reverse-lyctorhood Harrow. So the Cav becomes the lyctor instead of the adept.

Haven't worked out how she stops the process yet. Probably Ianthe. Ianthe would be my constant in all the AUs. She's always herself. Always becomes a lyctor. She's too good the way she is to change any of her bits.

I just want you to imagine Harrow Nova on the Mithraeum with all those silly dinks.

Instead of the memory-loss plot, I'm going for a Harrow Nova murder spree on the Mithraeum.

I think that works.

edit:

And because Gideon was her adept, Harrow can no longer die.

This realization is what tips John off to something being different.

[chthonicophanim]

Rootchat / Forestchat

[PT: Rootchat / Forestchat]

A gender under the genderchat system (coined by @local-yurei) connected to forests/root systems and chat(s), chatting and forests/root systems, chats that are connected to forests/root systems, chatters that like forests/root systems, how forests/root systems chat, forest/root chatters, etc

[ID: Two flags with seven horizontal stripes. From top to bottom they are green, medium-dark brown, medium brown, light brown, medium brown, medium-dark brown, and green. The top and bottom stripes have a bumpy lace pattern in darker green. The left flag has a rectangular speech bubble in the centre in light green with a dark outline, while the right flag does not. end ID]

Ghostchat

[PT: Ghostchat]

A gender under the genderchat system connected to ghosts and chat(s), chatting and ghosts, chats that are connected to ghosts, chatters that like ghosts, how ghosts chat, chatters that are ghosts, etc

[ID: Two flags with seven horizontal stripes. The stripes go in a gradient from darker blue-gray to a light gray in the centre, and then reverse from the middle stripe going down. The top and bottom stripes have a bumpy lace pattern in darker gray. The left flag has a rectangular speech bubble in the centre in pale gray with a very light gray outline, while the right flag does not. end ID]

Hivechat

[PT: Hivechat]

A gender under the genderchat system connected to hives and chat(s), chatting and hives, chats that are connected to hives, chatters that like hives/hiveminds, how hives/hiveminds chat, chatters that are in hives/hiveminds, etc

[ID: Two flags with seven horizontal stripes. The stripes go in a gradient from medium yellow to a light yellow in the centre, and then reverse from the middle stripe going down. The top and bottom stripes have a bumpy lace pattern in dark yellow. The left flag has a rectangular speech bubble in the centre in off-white with a dark outline, while the right flag does not. end ID]

Flag IDs courtesy of @radiomogai

DNI: bigots, radinclus, radexclus, pro-endo, if you’re going to try and argue with me on any of these points, if you demonise mental illness, pro-transid (eg; transabled, transage, transrace, etc), proshippers/anti-anti, MAPS/NOMAPS/necro/zoo (full DNI in pinned)

[paradoxcase]

@eye-lantern:

To the origine of necromancy, yes. Like I believe he has access to so much in life, death, organic manipulation and many other things related to the laws of the world that the normal necros can't even imagine. They have to study because they gained powers thanks to a mutation. He got an invite to look at the rulebook. I think if he had been less of a vindictive bitch he could have manipulated the acidity of oceans, force-grown forests, created algae capable of Absorbing carbon dioxide in the water, purge all heavy metals from people's bodies and "solved" the human made impact on the planet.

I'm sure he could have, but it still seems like the only power source he had, or maybe the only power source he realized he had, I guess, was death energy/thanergy, and the whole reason he killed everyone was to have the power to do the things he wanted to do. Do you think there was actually another power source he could have used, and he just noticed thanergy first because he was surrounded by dead bodies at the time? Because if the only power source is thanergy, I can't see how it would have ended any other way, even if he was trying to use the thanergy to reverse climate change instead of killing some trillionaires. Obviously, once he ate Alecto, his power source is her and there's no reason for him to investigate if he could have used something other than thanergy originally

[yunimayie]

NSFW WRITING (mdni).

i dabble into taboo content all the time! what i read or write does not perceive my reality. i'm more likely to reblog dc stuff, rather than write it 😚 but there are limits too ofc! i will not engage in discussions regarding dark content/anti dark content. keep that shit off my blog and outta my inbox.

i don't believe in realism around here. everything is big dick supremacy or eldritch horror monster fucking.

this is a sub reader x dom chara blog. i will be writing the reverse as well, but the former is the predominant one.

nsfw 'm comfy w; (un)protective + penetrative sex | ssc bdsm + insane bdsm | dom leaning reader | sub leaning charas | (non)consenual cuckholding | consenual noncon kink | praise + degradation kink | emotional sex | masturbation | brat taming | pet play | d/s dynamics | sensory deprivation | impact play | slight feet + piss kink | multiple orgasms | monsterfucking | sounding | soft + hardcore yanderes | omegaverse + hybrid dynamics | sadism + masochism | soft + hard humiliation | squirtings + creampies | multiple rounds | sex pollen + aphrodisiacs | etcetc!

uncomfortable with; scat | necro | vomit | saliva sharing/passing around | pedophilia | pegging | rainbow kiss or anything like it | age ups | incest | feederism | hardcore dom reader x sub chara | excessive body hair | raceplay | tba!

will int w but won't write abt; noncon | tba!

@ yunimayie—everything is owned by mayira, she doesn't appreciate copyright breaches.

[eyepatchdate]

if i had a gamefaqs i'd necro this thread but.

releasing the kids upon returning to reverse hills is a -2. i can't speak for what leaving them is, but releasing them HAS to be -2 based on this guy in the thread and me. based on HIS points he knew the kids had to be -2 or -5. he knew they weren't -1 because they shifted his alignment with the cynical man, and he knew they weren't a -10 because then it would've messed him up too much.

I am at 12 points right now. If the kids were a -5 I would've shifted to neutral but I haven't, I am still Law. that means, they HAVE to be a -2.

[pinky-ghostface]

not a request; I just got curious after remembering your comment on kitchen witch! sugarboo and learned something very interesting apparently, cinnamon can be a spiritual ingredient to bring protection, prosperity, and healing ❤️‍🩹 and on top of that, it can also be used as an aphrodisiac

sugarboo pulled an uno reverse and literally put a spell on seth it would seem :}

defff gotta incorporate that. I was a witch for a couple years so this lil ficlet will be a good way to put that knowledge to use. I imagine it'll be mostly smutty, if that's alright w you, but I am planning on incorporating a little of your original "necro-scryer Boo" idea as well.

also, thanks for this ask! and for being such a good mutual to my new little blog. this is really good motivation, and I really needed it seeing as I took over a month long break after finishing my lil valentines piece😴 it took a lot out of me, that was the biggest thing I've ever written! but I'm looking forward to being more consistant, posting more small stuff like hcs, and interacting w my fandoms more as a whole. AND I think I'm gonna open requests, so keep em comin!💖

[adolin]

the locked tomb holiday exchange rec list (part 2)

Some favourites from a first partial skim of works posted for @tlt-holiday-exchange. Find the entire collection HERE. Find my first rec list HERE.

art fills

Do you know, Ninth, I've always wanted to challenge you? “aka a little sketch of a sweaty mid-practice moment:” Gorgeous, fierce Coronabeth.

hold their lives from a string. “God and his two dead kids.” John, Ulysses & Titania. Haunting and gorgeous.

John is actually cybersmith, send tweet. Or: memes. For the prompt: “ John trying to tell Gideon the specifics of a ten thousand year old internet drama that he thinks people on twitter had incorrect opinions on” :D

oh, to be proud of one's handiwork! Harrow/Ianthe, art of Ianthe’s makeover of Harrow in HtN.

The Birthday Supper. Nona is at the beach. it's her birthday. The composition looks suspiciously reminiscent on da Vinci's The Last Supper. Varun is there.

fic fills

Bar the Doors (Let the Games Begin). Corona/Ianthe, pre-canon, codependent incest ft. vaginal fisting.

bluebells. Modern AU, Mercy/Cytherea. “There is Cristabel, and then there isn't. Mercymorn is in therapy about it when she meets a woman named Cytherea who likes to garden.” Beautifully written, 10/10 will murder you.

Both halves sword and shield. Camilla/Palamedes role reversal; backstory fic up to GtN with necro!Camilla and cavalier Pal.

Can it really hurt you if you’re already dead? HtN canon compliant for the Canaan House river bubble. While Harrow is away, Magnus and the other ghosts have begun to realize what's happened to them. While Harrow is away, the silent specter of her true cavalier drifts through the halls.

composed of shadows, surrenders, offered love. Pre-NtN, Camilla and Palamedes navigate bodysharing and looking after an amnesiac body on a refugee planet. Cam/Pal (bodysharing masturbation ftw).

Elision. Immediately after NtN, Corona/Ianthe. Codependent incesty twins + smutty angst.

i will stay here when she goes. Anastasia/Alecto, set on the Ninth before it was the Ninth and before there was a tomb. Really beautifully written, this is going to stay with me for a while.

i’m almost me again (she’s almost you). The story behind Ianthe and Kiriona’s friendship bracelets. Ft. Gideon/Harrow feelings, pining, tentative friendship of convenience between two deeply messed up women, casual slut shaming of God. I absolutely adored this one!

Incident Report. Judith/Coronabeth, written as a mission report from Judith’s POV of that time Corona seduced her. This is HILARIOUS, in the best possible way.

John 69:420. Look at those numbers. Look at them. This fic is pure delicious crack and Tazmuir would be proud

lay all your love on me. Nona/Camilla, Nona/Palamedes, sort of Camilla/Palamedes. “Palamedes and Camilla exchange more kisses with Nona’s help. The kisses turn into something more.” Set pre NtN, absolutely lovely.

rest your head for just five minutes. Camilla and Palamedes through the years, three first nights spent in new lodgings together. Bittersweet and fluffy, canon compliant.

some assembly required. Paul/Dulcie, Paul and Dulcinea build IKEA furniture in the River. Smut, flesh magic, lots of feelings.

Technically a boner. Gideon/Harrow. “Camilla and Palamedes make an attempt to make Gideon and Harrow be less stupid about their feelings resulting in Harrow making a big dick skeleton to absolutely rail Gideon.” (YES it’s exactly what you’d expect from the summary :D)

ubi tu gaius. John/Alecto, or: a love story to end the universe. “You wrenched out my heart, put out every flame between our joined fingertips. With newly made eyes I raised my gaze to meet you, and I thought—here you are.” Gorgeous writing and wonderful Alecto POV.

you haven’t changed a bit. Jarpedon crack treated seriously, I haven’t laughed this hard at a fic in months. Also it was my gift for the exchange, give it love <3

your churning, wracking wheel. “ Lord Magus John Gaius has some with his entourage come to Rhamnous House because they have miracles, but need money, and the people at Rhamnous House have money, but need a miracle.” John and the Lyctors as a creepy Victorian cult, ft. inhuman Alecto. Temporary death, love as destruction, gorgeous, haunting prose

[recs part one] [exchange wrap post]

[meeeeeeese]

Gimme 1, 2, 3, and all of the Engie and Necro ones for Rugie and Falx respectively! (@commanderhorncleaver)

1: Why did they choose their profession?

Rugan

He was always a pretty bright kid, and after a fahrar field trip to the artillery array surrounding the citadel, he knew for sure what he wanted to do. Luckily, since he was an iron legion cub, he was in one of the best places to learn combat engineering!

Falx

For Falx, the profession really chose him rather than the other way round. He was naturally attuned to death magic and even cast his first spell before he entered the fahrar! And since he never had any desire to suppress his magic and choose a different path, he just kept learning necromancy.

2: Did they have a teacher? If so, who were they and were they good instructor?

Rugan

Rugan didn't really have one teacher. In the beginning he was taught by the instructors at the fahrar, but beyond that he never really stopped learning. He's pulled from a thousand different mentors and texts and reverse engineered dozens of devices to the point where no one person could be considered his teacher.

Falx

Falx's natural talent means he can be considered partially self-taught, but he does have a trail of exasperated fahrar instructors left in his wake that have all tried their best to drill in the more refined elements of necromancy into his head.

3: Have they dabbled in any other professions than the one they ended up with?

Honestly neither of them did much dabbling, Falx was attuned to necromancy from birth and Rugan knew pretty early on that he wanted to be an engineer.

7: What was their first invention? Do they still use it today?

His verrrry first invention, back in the fahrar, was small miniature catapult built out of sticks and rope. It was perfect for launching things at annoying cubs but he's since moved on to far deadlier means of projectile assault. Doesn't stop him from getting a little nostalgic when he sees the troublemaker kids in Amnoon launching water balloons at coin-collectors

(already answered 7 for Falx so moving on)

(already answered 8 for 'em both so moving on)

9: What’s their engineering style? (for example; steampunk, magitech, futuristic, jade tech)

Rugan's style definitely leans more towards steampunk and scrap-core, owing to his legion roots. But over the years he's adopted techniques from all over meaning he's as likely to pull out a jade tech mech as he is to deploy a steampunk turret.

9: Do they use minions much? If so, do they rather mass-summon disposable soldiers or handcraft sturdier creations?

Falx loves his minions, he considers it one of the best parts of necromancy that he can call forth servants to do things for him. And he's definitely more the mass-summoning type, he'd rather yank whatever he can find out of the ground in the heat of battle rather than go seek out suitable bodies for a personal bodyguard.

10: What’s the biggest engineering accident they’ve had?

there are two incidents I've talked about, one did more physical damage while the other was more emotional damage. The first was a time when Rugan was experimenting with using brand crystals to power his photon forge for an extra Kralk-slaying punch and underestimated their volatility. He still has scars from the mini-brandstorm he accidentally caused. The second was way back in the fahrar, where as cubs do, he was plotting vengeance against a pack of bullies by laying stink-mines in their path. Unfortunately he failed to perform proper explosives safety practice and ended up stepping in one of his own mines. The stink took days to wash off but what was worse was the howling laughter... from his own warband! But it was an important lesson for him and it was better it happened before he started working with actually dangerous explosives.

10: Has their necromancy impacted their feelings on death and loss at all?

Honestly not really, Falx is... not the most considerate person overall so he hasn't really thought about death and losing people much (yet.), so his thoughts haven't been affected by his death magic since he hasn't had those thoughts to begin with!

[camgoloud]

i’m very curious about lyctoral reversal and der rosenkavalier!

excellent choices!

'lyctoral reversal' is the one 'title' on the list that isn't actually a title because i still haven't decided what to actually call the fic, so the folder containing all the documents is just a pun about the central concept. which is what it sounds like: lyctor role-reversal. specifically: the canaan house necro squad are the og lyctors (and, theoretically, in a second entry to the series which i haven't planned out at all beyond a few vibes, the og lyctors/cavaliers would end up at canaan for the trials as seen in gtn). it's basically just a week in the life of john and the four surviving lyctors, who've reunited on the mithraeum for the first time in a while. an excerpt:

Hangovers are not difficult to alleviate with necromancy. Judith can do it fairly well herself, and she only very rarely has any occasion to practice. The last time she can recall drinking to true excess was perhaps at some point in the weeks immediately following the death of the Saint of Courage, two millennia previous. But the Emperor has always been strange about things like this. He hardly ever applies necromancy to his own person where not absolutely necessary, and he never allows anyone else to do so on his behalf. The Saint of Reliability always thought his continual hesitancy to remedy any number of small pains that he need not suffer very strange: it was not as if the necromantic society he’d built from the ground up was overflowing with taboos regarding interference with the natural functions of the body, after all, Dulcinea argued; why his own reluctance to participate?  The Saint of Compliance viewed the issue from a different perspective: there was a purity and a nobility in pain, he said in reply, a comfort to be taken in it. It did not go over particularly well when he said this to Dulcinea within the hearing of Palamedes, of course, but Judith has always privately agreed with him on the matter nonetheless. She’s never been much for religion as a rule, but she understands—she thinks all the Saints, of all people, ought to understand—something about the appeal of seeking solace in penance. Eternity is such an absurdly long time to live with oneself and one’s own mistakes: even, she suspects, for the man who has become God.  It may technically be heresy to think this way, but, again—Judith has never been much for religion. She would die for her Emperor’s cause without hesitation; still, she’s seen him burn dinner too many times to embrace any doctrine that considers him incapable of error.  And even the Saint of Compliance was pushing fairly hard for the House that was his legacy to drop their literal interpretation of the infallibility verses by the end, anyway.

and 'der rosenkavalier' is the tlt music grad school au i've alluded to in tags a couple of times! basically what happened to me is that i ended up one night reading the plot summary of an opera on wikipedia (as one does) and said plot was basically about a love triangle featuring a cougar, a young count (en travesti role) obsessed with said cougar, and the new girl who catches his eye. and then i was like 'oh my god imagine if... dulcie/gideon/harrow...' and also there's a whole ROSE MOTIF and it literally has cavalier (german edition) in the TITLE and before i knew it i had cast the entire production. oops. anyway:

They argue as fluently and intensely as only people can who have spent as many months and years as they have rehearsing together, in classes together, constituting most of each other’s social circles together. Even when a load of nervous-looking freshmen undergraduates show up for some orientation event and they get kicked out of the auditorium they keep it up, all the way down the aisles and out into the blinding late-summer sun flooding through the floor-to-ceiling glass wall of the lobby. Gideon participates as much as any of the rest of them, slotting herself perfectly into the rhythm of the conversation, never missing an opportunity to knock Harrow down a peg or two, because that’s just how good at multitasking she is. Really, her mind is elsewhere: stuck back on the other thing Harrow said a few minutes ago. Three guesses who’ll be singing the Marschallin. There was a bitterness in Harrow’s voice that Gideon didn’t fail to notice—she’s just as jealous as Palamedes is of Silas Octakiseron, probably, knowing she hasn’t got a chance at the best soprano role in the show on account of how no one, ever, would buy her tiny little baby-faced frame as the smoking-hot cougar who snags an Octavian twenty-five years her junior. But for Gideon’s own part, there’s a thrill that runs up her spine every time she plays the words back in her head.  Because, of course, none of them actually need any guesses at all to know just who’ll be singing the Marschallin opposite Gideon’s Octavian. And—if Gideon is being entirely honest with herself—that’s one of the things about this upcoming production that excites her most of all.