#selfproclaimedunicorn

[hotd-bigbang]

Author: @nyctophilic0vitnir | Artist: @selfproclaimedunicorn

Title: Body and Blood | Category: F/M, F/F, Gen | Rating: Mature | Word count: 6.2k

Warnings: Implied/referenced sexual assault, implied childhood sexual abuse, religious trauma, internalized misogyny.

Summary: The shifting notions and fears of the Green Queen as she braves life in the capital's menagerie of beasts; an accounting of dissipating hopes, growing fears, and aching realizations of all that will never be. (Canon-compliant missing scenes and highlights of Alicent's life through the years)

Read the full story on AO3.

Created as part of the House of the Dragon Big Bang '23 event on @hotd-bigbang

[vamprlestat]

HOSPITAL fjsjfjwjd, ARE YOU OKAY????

skfjdjgskg yeah, i was just worried about some symptoms i was experiencing (mostly nausea and fatigue) 😭😭 so i came to the hospital and now they’re doing some exams to see if there’s anything wrong with me. they gave me an iv drip with something for the nausea hahahaha

overall i’m okay, just feeling a bit strange

but thank you for asking 💜💜💜💜

[mercurygray]

8 & 17 for the 2024 in review ask?

8. What fic meant the most to you to write?

I already answered this one here, but I realized there's another fic that meant a lot to me. I wrote Orders For The Day for @shoshiwrites birthday because she said once she thought it would a fun ship, and managed to mostly keep it a secret the whole time. And it was fun!

17. Share your favorite opening line.

answered here and here!

[sshireens]

7 & 12 for asoiaf (books or got, I don't care which I just want to see the hot takes)

THANK YOU MISA!! 💓💓💓

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

oddly enough i typically always end up liking characters the more i see content of them.. actually thats not odd i think that’s science. BUT! robb stark……… its not that i Hate Robb Stark um but i think fandom perception of him is very bad and people want him to live too much. Love that boy, but i love him dead! 🫶 much love! like the more i see people talk about him im just like god can we move on already who cares. he fulfilled the narrative purpose and that was what he was meant to do. yes i cry thinking about the red wedding but thats besides the point. robb stark gets a 2/10 on the Sshireens Rating Scale because some people ruined it for everyone else

i answered #12 here but i’ll copy and paste it!

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

what qualifies as unpopular. also what do we consider like. because i consider like as in ‘this is a fun character to see interact with the world’ and NOT!!!!!!!!! ‘i support this guy’. just to clarify for any other viewers at home. a character ive seen a lot of people Dislike but i think deserves to be heard out is criston because he’s funny and thats it thats why everyone should like him. but i dont consider him unpopular? hmm tough tough …… will i get flayed if i say larys like i mean he’s just sick i love wondering what is going on in that head. in regards to characters i think are not given enough attention: jaehaera targaryen. ‘she’s a little girl shes a non-character’ SHUT UP. she’s a little girl exactly. she didn’t get the chance to be her own person she is alicent’s pain helaena’s pain and her own. GOD MY BABY GIRL….. she names her dragon death…… AUGH DONT EVEN TALK TO ME DOONNTTT EVEN. um also rhaella, daughter of rhaena the lesbian AND! mother of daenerys. bc first of all rhaella and aerea switches thats true. so like. rhaella septa rhaella wondering if that was meant to be her. wondering if maybe it would have never happened if she hadn’t traded places. is it kinder to force her twin into the faith or to let her die? Augh. also daenerys’ mommy just… why dont we know about her i need more people on here like me willing to band together to make up canon. i guess thats not really a reason why people should like them. ALSO SHIREEN BARATHEON I DONT KNOW IF YOU CAN TELL BUT IM THE BIGGEST SHOOTER FOR SHIREEN THATS BABY THATS MOTHER THATS THE PRINCESS THATS MY DAUGHTER THATS ME I LOVE HER SO BAD OH NY GOD SHIREEN PEASE COME HOME THE PEOPLE MISS YOU. and i know everyone dgaf about baby boy bowl cut brown boba eyed broken bran. but i gave birth to him. and thats why you should like him.

[cerseiwexler]

For Myrei: “For you, I would do anything.”

"Your aunt Cersei became queen just after a war," Myrei said, combing a brush through her daughter's thick, dark waves. "The realm was ready for peacetime, then. People viewed this new era with the hope of tranquility." She sighed, lightly tapping the back of the brush twice against her palm before returning to work. "You, my darling, are becoming queen in the midst of a war. Things will be different for you."

"There is no tranquility for the people to hope for this time," Elsei murmured, elbow braced on the armrest, chin propped in her hand. "And none to be found within these walls, either. Around every corner, there seems to be a threat. Anyone's ears may be the wrong ones in which to whisper." Ring-jeweled fingers tap a rhythm against the vanity table before her. "How could a queen possibly be safe here, in such times of unrest?"

Combing her daughter's hair into a low braid at the nape of her neck, Myrei tilted her head to one side, thinking. "Queens have managed to do so before you," she said eventually. "And they will do so after you, many years from now." One hand cupped Elsei's cheek, raising her face to meet her gaze. "For now, focus on your environment, on those around you. There are some who have proven themselves trustworthy to you your whole life -- stick with them, heed their guidance. And know this, my sweet: for you, I would do anything. The merest hint of trouble, and you tell me, mm?"

Elsei drew her braid over one shoulder, standing to face her mother. Already, she stood a little taller than Myrei -- not much, but enough to notice. A soft smile tugged at her lips. "You'll be the first to know."

[noeverse]

aaahh!! cool moot noticed me!!! hiii 🥺🫶🏻

[rhearoyces]

Does your OC feel any abiding connection to their place of birth?  Has this ever been challenged by conflicting loyalties?  How are they viewed by those currently living in their society of origin? -- for Cassana!

cassana doesn’t like king’s landing much. she feels like she has a responsibility to the city and its people to remove joffrey from power before he can destroy everything, but if she had a choice she’d live in stormlands, specifically storm’s end. she has a somewhat romantic view of the stormlands, but she’s got lots of positive memories from there and feels more of a connection to that part of westeros. she fairly well liked by the court and the people of king’s landing, but after robert’s death and the beginning of the civil war, opinions in king’s landing sour towards her thanks to court mandated propaganda against her and her allies.

[bouncehousedemons]

tag game! post the most recent picture in your camera roll with only a sentence for an explanation

Thank you for the tag @nightlydisease 💕

This is Alex Hassell as Vicious in the live action remake of Cowboy Bebop. I…um…I don’t know why I saved this…

No pressure tags: @vampire-exgirlfriend @emilykaldwen @selfproclaimedunicorn @rottengrowls @dr-aegon @aneurins-barnard

[emilykaldwen]

FFWAD 24 - Sins of the Father by @selfproclaimedunicorn

For my first foray into this yearly celebration with @renegadeguild, I picked the brilliant and fantastic story, Sins of the Father by @selfproclaimedunicorn. Misa has taken the fantastic AU premise 'What if Daemon Targaryen and Rhea Royce had kids?' and has run with it in the most delicious and satisfying way. The story isn't complete, but the first 'arc' has a good stopping point at a whopping 160k words, which made for the chonkiest book you could imagine.

This was the twelth book I've bound (both fic and rebinds of old favorites) and I tried several new techniques for it including rounding and backing the spine. I also stretched my legs in the formatting department and went all in with the interior. That meant ordering some special springhill paper to do these fantastic maps for the endpages. Full details behind the cut!

Typesetting: Normally I've kept my settings pretty minimal as I got used to the ins and outs of InDesign (during this, I did purchase Affinity Publisher and might end up moving to that, but I'm finally getting the hang of ID and you can pry it from my cold hands). I really wanted to mimic some of the interior of Fire & Blood for this, so I hunted down the fonts used and took an image of the decorative banner you see on the sides to use for the chapter openers. I also wanted to include timelines and family trees in true historically inspired fantasy tradition.

The family tree was created based off of the author's spreadsheet in Google Drawing, which I found to be the easiest thing to use when it comes to creating chaotic family trees like this (In the past I'd used lucid chart for a printable version, but google worked better here).

the timeline is honestly my favorite thing and I learned how to use tables in ID for the first time. I'm incredibly pleased with it. The formatting is based upon the line of kings in the source. The timeline covers the events of the first arc as printed in this particular story.

The chapter openers are some of my favorite! As the children are proud to be House Royce, I wanted to reflect that. The runes you see behind the Chapter number and title are the Floki font and name the character whose the POV for each chapter.

Since there's plenty of High Valyrian spoken and the author doesn't include the translations within narrative, it was the perfect moment to set up footnotes. I'll absolutely be doing this for my own story when I bind it!

Rounding and Backing: So this was a total adventure, but I really wanted the old book feel. I made the mistake of pressing the book for too long and lost a lot of the swell in the spine to round but it worked out AND I managed to back it a little bit. Since I wasn't doing cord tapes for the spine (this was a version of the three piece bradel), I had to troubleshoot. I ended up cutting strips of the leather cord I bought from michaels and laminating those pieces together and placing them on the oxford hollow on the spine (given how thick the book is, I wanted to give it as much structural strength as possible). The 'leather' covering you see is actually the craft leather (polyester) from Dollar Tree and it's pretty awesome but definitely has difficulties staying put with glue. I followed the normal procedure and slathered both sides up and used twine to compress the bookcloth along those leather pieces. there's a little gaping in some places which I think would help if I'm able to properly apply backing paper to the polyester.

HTV do's and don'ts: Hi! don't be me and forget to apply your teflon sheets before applying the HTV because then you fuck with the polyester but it's not too bad. The other pro-tip is to gently apply the iron to the cover so it's warm before applying the HTV so it can start to stick. I had to apply the front cover in three pieces and do the title twice. Also, it's really difficult to apply HTV to a rounded spine so I'll have to figure out how to set up the spine and cover before applying (since there's a certain amount of stretching the bookcloth over the spine). The spine might end up having to be regular adhesive vinyl for that. Also, it's stupidly hard to find metallic HTV in bronze.

Front matter and final thoughts: The bronze dragon was a lucky find through an extensive google search, and the runes surrounding it are 'we remember with fire and blood', a combination of House Royce and House Targaryen's words. Seems fitting four Yorick, Ella, and Aemon! The copyright page is mimicked off the source's style, including the AO3 information, the creative commons and fair use information, the guild stamp, a QR code to the AO3 page, and my own press stamp! The summary is pulled from AO3 as well.

All in all, I made this book twice and I loved it and learned so much every time.

I'm so happy with this project and I'm so excited to do the next arc! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful story, Misa!

[murmel-malt]

I did want to add some more and not share them until december or until at least until @rainwingmarvel7 was done with her 'give me 6 OCs to draw' project but I feel like we all need a bit of a pick-me-up rn. Hopefully these doodles will make today suck a bit less.

from left to right, top to bottom: @darkwolf76 's Deidre Strong @selfproclaimedunicorn 's baby Yorick Royce @sikudastoner 's Blythe Coldwater @rainwingmarvel7 's Elinor Hightower and another one for @/selfproclaimedunicorn of Alicent and Aldreda

if anyone would like their doodle as a seperate file/image just say the word!

[mermaidslabyrinth]

Thank you HotD Fandom

I have been writing since I was around 11. All my works would stay in notebooks, on my word document, or printed out on paper and stashed away. I did post my first fic when I was around 13. Then sporadically through the years. The last time I posted any writing of mine was 10 years ago. But I’m trying to open up more with my writing, creative thoughts, by exposing my work little by little. And out of all the fandoms I’ve been in, it was the HotD fandom, the people I found, that made me feel comfortable enough to do so. Also, I’ve never been more proud or had more love for an OC I’ve created before Rhagerys. I’ve commissioned pieces of art of him, something I have never done with an OC before, and I am quite excited for that. 

So my thanks to all the HotD fans that I have had the pleasure of interacting with (following, being mutuals, reblogging their posts through someone I follow). I have had such a wonderful time and do hope to continue to do so.  I decided to write this because who knows what the future will bring. And I wanted people to know just how much they can make an impact.

Many thanks to: 

@emilykaldwen her ask started it all and I will always be grateful for that. for she was the one who helped me step away from the corner and join in with the other creators. It’s a slow process but I am getting there. 

@selfproclaimedunicorn seeing your OC tags on regular posts emboldened me to start doing the same. It’s another, subtle, way for my work to be put out in the universe. Doing so has even helped me flesh my OMC more in the tags of certain posts. 

@happilyhertale for her wonder writing (I will reblog them. They are on my list). And her continued supply of Daemon/Matt posts. They keep me going with writing Daemon scenes.

@ewanmitchellcrumbs for that ask she answered very recently about just going for it with your writing. It inspired me.

@thought--bubble for being such a lovely person. Your writing skills are top notch (your stories are on my list). 

@vhagar-balerion-meraxes you helped me from being a wallflower to slowly coming in and joining along with the rest. You were the first person in the HotD fandom to extend a hand and pull me into the fun. You make beautiful gif sets. You are very sweet. I appreciate that I was able to find your blog. 

@sylasthegrim I know I don’t show it but I am so happy I follow you. You are slowly converting me to a Cregan appreciator. Like I get it. Your stories are so creative (I will read them they are on the list) and you are so open and kind in your inbox. 

@multiverse-of-multifandoms your fantastic gif making. You help me feel comfortable when I’m joining in on the fun. 

@livmondcole you are one of the sweetest ppl I’ve been lucky enough to follow. You show patience and kindness through your words. 

@dr-aegon you are one of the reasons I was able to get a commission of my OMC. I checked your blog one night and you had a reblog of someone who opened up commissions. They are working on it now, I’ve seen the line work and I’m excited, and I have you to thank for it. Besides that you are one of the reasons that I started to really like Aegon. I see how much you care for him and it warmed my heart and the little disaster did as well. 

And even though she is no longer part of the fandom: peachysunrize was such a wonderful person to follow and read her stories and read the asks ppl would send her. 

Honestly all my HotD mutuals. 

Also shout out to the artists, your works are amazing to see. And shout out to the other fic writers, your writing is enjoyed by many people who like reading about their favorite characters. And the gif makers, the creativity and patience you have. The sets I have seen have blown me away. I know all of these are talents that need to be praised more. The work you all bring to the fandom is always such a gift.

[vamprlestat]

Let’s spread a little sunshine ☀️ drop this sunflower 🌻 into the inboxes of the blogs that make you happy! 💛

MISA HOW DID I MISS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you so much 💜💜 sorry it took me almost a month to answer 😭😭😭

[maryonaccross]

Dear fellow team green fans, I’ve finally managed to make a list of fanfictions on AO3 that every team green fan should read;

(Most of these aren’t aggressively team green but focus on team green characters and explore them in interesting and respectful ways )

Fist we have the holy trilogy:

1. Burning Jasmine by our national treasure @scalyfreaks and literally anything else that she writes (BJ is a beautifully written Aegon centric alteration of the dance of the dragons)

2. See, what happened was by @daylander1000 / Daylander on AO3 (the best Aemond centric fanfic I have ever read. If you dislike the strong boys and how Baela and Rhaena were done dirty in the show and love angsty preteens and “dark fluff” as the author herself describes it this is the jam)

3. All of @dulcewrites fanfictions are an absolute must for any team green fans (she handles the characters with such care and the humor is amazing)

Then we have the category that I like to call JUSTICE FOR ALICENT:

1. Springs end by Navree (long one shot that explores Alicent’s feelings at the beginning of her marriage to Viserys, beautifully written, I cried)

2. Give me back my girlhood it was mine first by JustA_Person (beautiful multi-chaptered fic that dives headfirst into Alicent’s depression at the beginning of her marriage and does not shy away from roasting the fuck out of Viserys and is currently heading towards a rekindling of the relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra)

3. In your grave by 136108 (short but brilliant one shot on what Alicent should have told Viserys on his death bed)

Then we have Daemon and Viserys haters must read section staring;

1. Sins of the father by SelfProclaimedUnicorn ( ABSOLUTE MUST for any Daemon haters out there, this is the best there is. This fanfiction centers around two children Daemon has with Rhea Royce at the beginning of his marriage and follows them in their childhood and teenage years (the children are the same age as Rhaenyra and Alicent). This is one of the best written team green fanfictions I have ever read and it tells the story in such an intelligent and thought out way with some perfectly seasoned Daemon bashing sprinkled all over it. It also holds up so well considering that its plot is unlike any other team Green fanfiction out there and centers around characters that aren’t really explored enough. Oh and it also addresses the suffering Aemma went through trapped in marriage with Viserys which is always a great touch)

2. Out of the mouth of Babes by UnknownEnigma ( beautiful six chapter fanfiction exploring Aemonds relationships with Viserys that shows Viserys’ neglect and cruelty in all its glory and ends in a very satisfying way)

And then we have a few more brilliant fan fictions that I don’t really know how to sort into a category:

1. Lose your Ego by Fjlh (this series just started and is about Aegon USING HIS BRAIN and fighting for his claim. Very promising so far)

2. The sky is always red above Valyria au by Aifsaath (beautiful series of one shots about Aegon x Baela that explores the trauma of growing up with a father that maritally rapes your mother)

3. Lady Dreamfrye by Ai_Megurine (story about Sansa Stark being reborn as Helaena)

4. I’m never gonna love ( again ) by @crescenthoax (very interesting Aegon x oc fanfic )

5. My hand was the one you reached for by haught_hightower ( explores Alicent’s relationships with Criston and her children )

6. a poison tree by Juliet_Capulet ( very detailed and well written story about the younger brother of Daemon and Viserys returning to the capital with his daughter, after the death of his wife and witnessing Viserys’ brain dead decisions unraveling while forming a bond with his nieces and nephews. Full of Daemon and Viserys Bashing)

I hope you enjoy, it took me a real long while to find some of these gems

[darkwolf76]

The Legacy of House Strong

The male line of House Strong went extinct during the Targaryen civil war known at the Dance of the Dragons. Some said it was due to the curse of Harrenhal, while others said it was their hubris in thinking they could entwine their fate with Targaryen dragons and avoid getting burned. Whatever the case, the male line of the house was extinguished, but the bloodline found a way to survive through the house's daughters, letting the ancient lineage of House Strong to continue to flow through the veins of Westerosi nobility for generations to come.

An edit honoring the daughters of House Strong:

Abrogail, created by @emilykaldwen

Deidre, created by @darkwolf76

Cassana, created by @selfproclaimedunicorn

[cerseiwexler]

For whichever of your babies you feel like infodumping about most -- [4] How physically and emotionally affectionate they are? [13] What kind of sense of humor do they have, if any? [29] How do they deal with loss, stress and anger? [33] What are one of their fondest and most treasured memories?

HMM let’s do myrei!!!

4. extremely… i just talked abt this in the tags of another post a bit sry for being repetitive but she’s pathologically unable to be normal about someone lol. if she’s a hater the hate runs through to her core, but if she loves someone she’ll lavish them in affection and attention to whatever degree they can tolerate (and sometimes even more). she’s a big hugger, a big cuddler, a big forehead smoocher. HOWEVER. the mushy stuff is mostly in private. in some cases that’s bc it has to be lol ~*forbidden love*~ but in other cases her affection for her family, friends, and lovers just manifests in a different way — ironclad loyalty, backing her loved ones up unconditionally. which is important for morale once they have to go to war lol

13. she loves to laugh! her sense of humor is somewhat dry in a lannister-typical way, and a little bawdy. having so many kids also gives her an appreciation for the deeply silly things they can do and say when they’re young and still figuring out the world lol.

29. not well!!! loss utterly devastates her, she gets physical pains from the emptiness left behind and sort of oscillates between being overcome with emotion and numb. and sometimes really pissed off at this turn of fate. it makes her short-sighted. stress she tries to tamp down by overcompensating w/ an aggressive version of optimism, like (grits teeth) i am gonna be fucking happy if it’s the last thing i do. it doesn’t always work so well and often stresses her out even more when the happiness doesn’t come so easily. and anger makes her violent 💀 rarely does she act on it but she has a sick mind about her enemies. some of them deserve it! some of them don’t. when she does act on it, it tends to be in a less spectacular way than she fantasizes about.

33. she treasures a lot of childhood memories from before joanna died — they all have this warm golden haze over them. definitely a bit of rose-colored nostalgia glasses going on there, but it was a more peaceful time than she comes to be used to in life, and it was before she developed all her complexes (she only developed some of them lol). an easy to idealize time, yk.

[mercurygray]

2024 Blorbo Wrapped

Thanks to @blakelysco-pilot for the tag on my 2024 Fandom Wrapped!

Since I'm not a very shippy person in the regular fandom sense I did something different for the second list and picked my top five on rotation in my brain ships (most of which are mine but w/e), AND then made a new page of my top five OC ships by other writers.

canva template for first two pages available HERE

tagging @emilykaldwen, @selfproclaimedunicorn, @orlissa, @broadwaybaggins, @tortoisesshells, @bitchofdarkness, and anyone else who wants to be unhinged on main about the characters in your brain this year.