#spent too much time worldbuilding

[awkwardgtace]

Forgotten Pasts

day 10 Ancient.

Today we have an ancient being trapped for who knows how long and two explorers who come along... maybe finding him.

Forgotten Pasts

Corus tried to stretch. He could barely move before touching the walls again. This prison was small and cruel. If it were his choice he’d be deep in a stupor. His brother had called to him and forced his consciousness back to awareness. He hated that it happened, but knowing that the bond was still there made it worth the numbing emptiness. Zeke could have left him. Gone home and been bound to another being of destruction. All his prior cages were big enough for Zeke to visit. Not this time. They left barely enough room for him. He just had to wait for the mortals to need him again, he’d be free and they’d both make sure he was never trapped like this again.

He forced himself to focus on the words that woke him up. To put the struggles of his cage away. The first thing said to him in a century, “Someone’s here.”

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Ok maybe you were right about this,” Kaya said as they walked out of the houses they found on the wall. Mira had walked away to look around while they were inside.

“I told you. Any danger would be one we could handle. The best archeologist and the best cave diver weren’t going to fail now,” she smirked. Ash kicked up around her feet as she walked. Kaya wouldn’t be able to walk on their own during this. The ash would make them sick.

Mira left the flashlight’s glow behind her as she wandered. It was easier to see in the dark for her than in the light. Kaya needed it though. Rootlings had terrible night vision, but Mira was better than even other humans. It was why she had been able to visit more places than anyone else.

She stared up at the ceiling. It was so high even she couldn’t see the end. Mira pulled her zipline gun from her hip and aimed. The anchor would reach the ceiling and she’d send one of her glow sticks up. She pulled the trigger, watching as it flew up and up and up. It could go over a hundred feet, nothing should be this high. Especially when the entrance was maybe a foot taller than her.

As soon as it started to fall she panicked. “Kaya!”

“What?” they called. Mira flinched, missing the anchor as it fell. The heavy object landed with an echoing crack as soon as it hit the ground. The coughing told her that Kaya had come running. Mira took a long stride to scoop them up and away from the ancient ash. “What did you do?”

“Kaya, the ceiling is over a hundred feet tall. There’s something off. We… we need to stay close. I don’t think going in the walls is a good idea.”

Kaya’s folded arms fell to their side. They stood on her palm and looked back towards the ancient homes. She could feel their reluctance, fingers digging into her skin. A sigh joining the feeling. She watched them nod and made her way over to retrieve the flashlight. She brought her hand with them to her chest, the shoulder felt dangerous right now.

Mira grabbed the flashlight and clipped it on her shoulder, a guiding light for her and Kaya. Although she’d see more without it. She went right back to where her anchor fell, crouching and blowing away the ash. Once clear she set Kaya down, fixed the flashlight angle, and grabbed the anchor to add it back to the gun.

“Mira…” they whispered. She grunted. “This thing, it’s the old script. Back before we used human languages. I’m pretty sure it’s a name.”

“What?” she holstered her zipline gun and leaned forward. Kaya shooed her back. If she hovered they would lose their light.

“Look, it’s too big for a house or something similar. Too big for a grave marker too. It… it almost looks like a human wrote it.”

“That’s impossible. Humans didn’t even know Rootlings were sapient back then.”

“Look at it!” 

Mira reached down for it, contact with it caused her to shiver. A strange feeling entered her heart, almost like she knew this. As if it belonged to her. Curling her fingers around it cemented that feeling. Kaya gave her a strange look, but in her mind she knew this was hers. She pulled it from the ground, carefully wrapping it in protective cloth and dropping it in her pocket.

“I guess we found our proof then?” she tried to sound happy. It was what they wanted. Proof this is where Rootlings had been. Where some had died, possibly because of humans. 

“We can’t stop now!” Kaya’s conviction made her nervous. She didn’t like this place. Instead of answering Mira pulled out her zipline gun and replaced the anchor. The new one had a spot for Kaya to clip a carabiner.

“We won’t stop, but be ready to reach the loaded anchor and escape.”

“We won’t need that.”

“Kaya, this place is wrong. I… I need to keep going, but I need you safe too. Can’t put my favorite sibling at risk.”

“I’m your only sibling.”

“Doesn’t change anything, so promise? We’ve done this before. This time you won’t be relying on a flimsy set up. I got the actual Rootling clippable ones.”

“Fine.”

Mira holstered the gun again and set a hand down for Kaya. She moved them to her shoulder and stood to her full height. Something was going to happen today, she just hoped it left them alive at the end.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Corus clutched his heart. Something had hit his binding. He couldn’t place it, but… it was the spirit who summoned him. She’d come back. It meant he could go free. All she had to do was find him. She’d seen them trap him like this. She would know where to look. For the first time in centuries he reached out to his brother. A single phrase pushed with all his strength through the seals. “This one.”

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mira walked in silence for at least an hour. A few times Kaya would notice something. A relic of a bygone past that was swiftly tucked away for further study. There were more markings of the old script, much smaller than what she’d cracked. Kaya could even translate the others. The one they found first was different for some reason.

“Mira, I want to study this area. There’s so many residences,” Kaya said. Before she answered there was a click of the carabiner releasing. She held a hand up, moving to what looked to be the center of a town.

Mira crouched, lowering Kaya to the ground. “Did you bring a mask? I might have one in my pack from the last time. The ash is thicker down here.”

“Don’t worry. I got it.”

Mira watched Kaya walk off into the darkness. She started to set the flashlight down, angled towards the houses for Kaya. A chuckle escaped her as their little light came from behind a house. She shut her own off, taking the chance to see what stood out in the darkness. It felt heavy in her hand as she stood.

No stalactites, no stalagmites, nothing to show any passing of time. It seemed like the place was frozen after the fire. Maybe even before it. She took a step away from the soft light and closer to the darkness. Staring into the emptiness seemed like nothing else would or could ever exist. She could walk and walk and walk without ever finding the end.

A feeling started to pull at her heart. She took one step, then another, then a few more. Something wanted her in that emptiness. She could disappear, just like the stories. There was a burning against her chest, where she put the thing they found earlier. For a moment the darkness terrified her. She quickly hit the flashlight, illuminating the end of the cave…

“What the…?” she whispered. 

She walked to the edge and ran a hand across the smooth stone that hadn’t been there. It wasn’t like this before. She knew that… Mira’s eyes went wide as she spun around. Kaya’s light was moving, they were safe. Mira tightened her hold on the flashlight, quickly sweeping the ground. A glint caught her eye. 

She stepped cautiously over. The feeling of the darkness weighing on her mind terrified her. If she lost the flashlight she might actually be lost to it. Each step brought her closer to some strange reflective surface. It was small enough she could hold it in one hand. So small that even Kaya wouldn’t be too comfortable in it.

When she aimed the flashlight away it blended into the darkness. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and a shiver ran down her spine. This was wrong. It didn’t belong. It shouldn’t exist. She grabbed the strange object as soon as it was in reach. It made her feel wrong… Shaking her head, she set the flashlight on her shoulder and rushed back to Kaya.

She didn’t have to say a word. They felt her steps and met her back in the town center. She knelt in front of them, holding the egg-like object. Kaya ran up to it, but for some reason Mira didn’t want them to touch it. She pulled it away just as their hand would have made contact. Kaya looked hurt by her action. An action she couldn’t explain.

“Mira? What is that? It almost looks like one of those rocks that you break open for a geode,” Kaya said. She shook her head, and they reached out again. She couldn’t let them touch it. She… she had to protect this-this whatever it was. She had to… to do something. “Mira? Mira talk to me! We… I-I think we found enough we should go!”

Mira shook her head. She didn’t want to leave yet. Kaya… she needed Kaya safe. She shot her hand out, curling her fingers around them. Kaya yelped, they never yelped when it was her. She just… she needed them safe and on her shoulder was safe. She didn’t give them a chance to ask before dropping them on her shoulder and climbing to her feet.

“Mira! What the heck!? What’s wrong with you?” they shouted. She heard the carabiner click. They were safe. Perfectly safe. 

The spot on her chest burned again. She brought the egg thing close to her face before reaching for the carefully wrapped plaque. As if she’d done it a hundred times she pulled it free and set it against the object. Kaya was talking, but she couldn’t hear them. It was the right thing to do. She held the egg and slab of writing at arm’s length.

The cloth burned away, but her fingers stayed safe. The long forgotten script glowed with an eerie black light. A blue and red mixed together slowly filling in what must have been letters. As each filled she could hear a voice in her mind, one that sounded like her own, chanting a name again and again. 

As the red and blue reached the final marking, Mira’s mouth moved. “Corus.”

A flash of the black light shot out from the egg thing. It knocked out the light of her flashlight. The feeling that pulled her towards the darkness, the feeling that nearly swallowed her, reappeared. She finally moved her hand that had once held the nameplate and used it to press Kaya to her neck. Their fingers dug into her skin, she curled her fingers around them to keep them safe.

The energy from the egg didn’t stop. She almost wanted this to be some weird energized geode from the past. As the light finally started to fade and she was able to breathe, she noticed the feeling of the egg thing was gone. Instead she felt a weight she knew almost too well. The weight of a Rootling.

It took a few more seconds for it to end, for her other arm to move. As her eyes adjusted she found a small man in her hand. He didn’t look the same as Rootlings. His ears weren’t tapered, and there was no sign of leaves in his hair. It made her worried. If he wasn’t a Rootling what was he, and how did he get here?

The small man groaned. Mira pulled her hand from Kaya to add another beneath the man. Kaya gasped, the carabiner clicked, but they didn’t climb down. Mira felt them climbing around her neck. She knew what they were doing, the click shot a bright light onto her hands. A light that was enough to make the man open his light blue eyes.

“Are you alright?” Mira whispered. The man glared at her as soon as she spoke. A part of her wanted to let him go and run. The way he stared at her, the too human traits on him. It all made it hard to stay calm. “I… where did you come from? Were you inside that egg thing?”

“Who are you?” the man asked. His voice was commanding and almost painful to hear. It didn’t fit the size he was.

“I think I get an answer first. You are sitting in my hand.”

The little man climbed to his feet and looked around. “I suppose that is true and that merely adds to the problem. Tell me now. Where is the woman who freed me? I know very well it can’t have been you.”

Mira narrowed her eyes. She curled her hand into a fist around the man, other Rootlings panicked when she did this. He just glared at her again. Suddenly she hoped he couldn’t see Kaya there was something wrong. She shifted her head to use her hair to hide the flashlight. She wanted the advantage here. 

Mira brought him close to her face and stared at him. He was a bit cute, pale skin and a solid build. The lack of concern that she was holding him in a fist was weirdly reassuring. Kaya was the only other Rootling to trust her like this. Except this wasn’t trust, it was something else. It was like… like he knew he could get free in no time.

“I suggest you return to your previous hold.” 

“Or what?”

“Or my brother will be quite angry when he arrives. His patience will only go so far for your kind human.”

“I don’t think I’m scared of a rootling or his brother.” A bluff through and through. Rootlings had magic, they could be terrifying. Except she was the kind of human they hated. The kind immune to it.

“Humans do fit all the stories don’t they? Not a single doubt that you’re right. Maybe I’ll make you regret it on my own for handling me like this. I need to find the one who freed me and you are halting that.”

“It was you though,” Kaya whispered. 

Mira tried not to show a reaction. The man had caught on to something with her. He grinned, she almost wanted to keep this dance going. Who would actually succeed in the bluff contest they had going? Unfortunately Kaya was her bigger concern. This wasn’t a normal Rootling and Kaya was already smaller than him. She couldn’t do this.

“Whatever. I got what I wanted from this.”

She had every intention of walking away. Setting Corus down and leaving. The first successful expedition here. He was probably just another adventurer who chose to explore. When he realized she wasn’t a grave robbing human he might even let her give him and his brother a lift out. Except she couldn’t move. The grin on his face faltered. If she didn’t know better she’d say he looked worried.

A blinding light filled the cave. There was no remnant of the darkness that once tried to devour her. The ash even began to clear out around her. A clean, well lit city surrounded her. Kaya pressed themself against her neck, whatever froze her didn’t touch them.

“I warned you,” Corus’s voice was morose. It made a pit form in her stomach.

Mira blinked and a man at least two feet taller than her appeared. She was relieved for whatever had frozen her then, there’s no way she wouldn’t have jumped and thrown Kaya. He glared at her, green eyes burning. His look filled her with the same feeling as the darkness she almost walked into. Something told her this was the brother.

The man held his hand out to her. As much as she fought it her fingers started to loosen. All her bravado fell as finger by finger she let him go. Her voice wouldn’t work anymore. All she wanted was to beg the new man to make this stop. Not to let her drop Corus. There was nothing that would ever make her actually hurt someone so small.

Corus didn’t even look bothered. He was completely fine falling to what could very well be his death. The last finger holding him to her palm moved and he… stayed where he was. The new man reached out and grabbed Corus. The man cupped his hands in front of his face and all his anger fell away.

“Corus,” the man whispered. 

“Hey Zeke,” Corus said. Tears fell from the strange man’s eyes. Mira felt the muscles in her body relax, she could move.

“I was starting to think you’d never get out.”

“Thanks for not giving up. They would have found someone else to bind to you.”

“As if I’d walk away from my brother.” Mira tried to take a step away, but both sets of eyes were locked on her immediately. “Do not leave that spot.”

Mira tried and failed to ignore the order. Her feet had been glued to the floor. The eyes left her and she tried to roll her shoulder without knocking Kaya off. Words would draw attention. Kaya might even draw their attention. A small hand tapped three times against her neck. They knew what she wanted. As soon as their small weight was on her arm she felt like crying. They knew, all she had to do was watch for the two monsters in front of her for their attention.

“Did the human hurt you? I can deal with her,” the other man, Zeke, said. Mira tried not to start panicking at that. What would dealing with her mean?

“I thought I was supposed to be the one causing chaos and destruction,” Corus laughed. Mira tried to hide her fear. Corus looked at her, the gaze making her heart race. This man could somehow see straight through her. “She didn’t hurt me. It seemed more like she didn’t trust me. I don’t think we need to be worried about her.”

“I haven’t forgiven the humans for what they did. To you or them…” 

“...How long has it been? Where is she? It was her who let me out. I know it was.”

“Corus… It’s been more than a few centuries. She… she died not long after you were sealed away. I found her body on my first trip away from you. She didn’t die alone, both of us failed.”

“But… but I felt her. It… it had to be her. She can’t be gone. We… it was going to work. We were… We did it Zeke… Both of us there’s no way they can be gone…”

Mira felt a tap on her leg. Kaya was ready. The two in front of her had entered a silence that made her nervous. None of this was going to end well for her. As long as Kaya got out she wouldn’t care. They’d make sure this place was locked away. That her death would keep others safe.

Zeke closed his eyes and she moved. A quick tug to free the zipline gun. A half turn of her body, aim at the entrance. Her only goal was to get Kaya as far away as possible. Then she fired. The noise of the anchor firing felt deafening. There was no way the two hadn’t heard. She just needed to hope they’d ignore it.

Unfortunately both she and Kaya had no luck. Her body froze up painfully this time. The anchor froze in the air. This was her idea, her plan, and now they’d both die. Zeke walked by her, depositing Corus on her like she was a table. His look only made her angry. Pity wouldn’t save her sibling.

“I hate you,” she whispered. She hadn’t expected her voice to work. Corus looked hurt. Good. She had to use her voice while she could. “I don’t care what you do to me, just let them go. I convinced them to come here. Pushed us forward. Opened your stupid fucking egg.”

“You let me out?” he whispered. She couldn’t move, but it was clear he didn’t expect an answer. He walked up her arm to her shoulder and set a tiny hand against her face. If she could move she’d grab him in a tight fist. Anything to get Kaya away.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now,” Zeke’s voice drew her eyes from Corus. The look on his face was different than when he took Corus close. Almost loving. She stared in fear as he lifted Kaya from the anchor. Their carabiner didn’t do anything to stop him. He carried them back over in a loose fist. They were shaking, that was always the worst way for them to be carried.

“Please,” her voice croaked. Corus’s fingers dug into her skin. “Don’t hold them like that. They get scared. Please…”

Zeke actually looked shocked at her. He changed his hold to a flat palm with the other hand around like a railing. Mira felt tears fall from her eyes. At least he listened. The hand on her face disappeared. She felt somehow cold without it. Like it was a promise that things would work out.

Zeke stood in front of her. He felt bigger this time, as if he could crush her under his foot. She swallowed all her words as he stared at her. Corus’s feet left a burning trail down her arm as he walked away. There was a part of her that didn’t want him to be gone. Zeke set his hand with Kaya near Corus.

“Are you hurt?” Corus asked. He held a hand out to them, but they shied away. Mira just wanted them to get out of this. It was her idea, her fault.

“Why won’t you let us go?” they whimpered. Mira felt more tears trail down her face.

“I am doing what we were summoned for; keep humans from trapping you again.”

“They aren’t-” Mira tried to argue, but the glowing eyes from Zeke stopped her voice again. This shouldn’t be possible. 

“S-summoned? How did we summon you?”

“Zeke, you said it had been a long time?” The man who honestly felt like he grew each second nodded. She wanted Kaya away from him. Safe with her. “Then… was the method lost? They can’t have you transcribe my name anymore? Bind us both?”

Mira closed her eyes and tried to think of something to say. It wasn’t as if these two would let her talk. Corus almost seemed to follow Zeke’s actions blindly. It would possibly get Kaya out if she could talk to him without the man taller than her around. A feeling of a burning warmth ran down her spine. She snapped her eyes open, this time seeing Corus with a glow all over his body.

The burn flowed through all of her body. A strange sensation that made her muscles relax as it moved. Slowly she moved the arm Corus stood on. She left her hand flat next to Kaya, the burning had only grown more intense. They scrambled off Zeke’s hand, jumping the inch of space she hadn’t filled yet. 

As soon as Kaya was on her hand she sped up. Corus didn’t flinch at all at her speed, despite standing on her forearm. Kaya grabbed her clothes as soon as they were close enough. They climbed faster than she moved her arm. She followed their path up to her shoulder with her other hand. Corus kept glowing long after Kaya had hidden themself with her hair.

“You let me out?” he asked. Zeke’s eyes widened as Corus stared up at her. “Not the one on your shoulder?”

“It was me…” Mira was tempted to use whatever Corus was doing to free herself. Run and get Kaya out. They’d hunt her down, but she didn’t care.

“Then that ancient contract worked in the end. I wonder… Zeke, if they’re together and this is her then the other must be your bound… right?”

Zeke actually looked away. The feeling of his form continuing to tower over her fell away. He nodded, a sheepish almost sweet movement. Wind blew near her, moving the hair Kaya had hidden with to reveal them. “I felt it as soon as I saw them… I thought, you truly haven’t been trapped by this human?”

“We’re siblings!” Kaya’s anger bled out. They were always angry at anyone who questioned them. Some people thought Mira was using them, others thought they paid Mira off. Neither would ever be true. “Humans aren’t bad, they haven’t been bad for centuries.”

“Humans and Rootlings live together, they have since the fires. The fires that brought us here to find the history that was lost back then.” 

Corus moved on her arm again. He walked closer, staring at her in a way that made her heart flutter. There was something with him that made her want to believe he wasn’t some monster about to kill them. That he’d let them both go home, give the two a chance to pretend none of this ever happened.

“Humans invaded, they had knowledge of the people here,” Corus explained. The fire burning in her body faded, but she could still move. Zeke had given her freedom. “They knew what I was and trapped me. Only one person could set me free, but she had been taken.”

“She died trying to get back here, at least that’s what I assumed when I finally went to seek her out,” Zeke added. “She died with her closest friend beside her. The two had been the only ones who showed either of us kindness.”

“Most treated me like a tool. They treated Zeke like a monster because he tends to be human sized. It didn’t help that he could get bigger. We wanted to stay together so we made sure it would happen. If they died by any means they’d come back.”

“You two would be who had come back.”

“What?” Mira’s voice was quiet.

“No… that was supposed to be a myth,” Kaya’s words shocked her more than the other two. “A being of chaos and destruction, bound to a girl of lavenders. A being of order and control, bound to one who was at once both and neither…”

“What the hell? Are you trying to insinuate that after the threats and fear you just put us through we’re some ancient lovers of yours or something!?”

Zeke knelt in front of her, bowing his head. Corus jumped from her arm. He landed gracefully on Zeke’s shoulder, taking his own bow in turn. Kaya stood on her shoulder, grabbing the hair that had finally returned to hide them. She could feel the way they shuffled to look at the two. 

“What now?” they whispered. Mira gave the smallest shrug she could. They stumbled a bit from her movement. She had no idea what to do now.

“The contract holding me has been broken. You have freed me now as you had many times in an ancient past. I beg that you give me a chance to prove my love for you… To give me a chance to show I am not a danger to you or those you deem worthy,” Corus’s words filled Mira with a flame again. She wanted to say yes.

“If you my small love will give me a chance,” Mira could feel Kaya’s body freezing as Zeke started to speak. “I would like a chance to show I am safe for you. That I will not use my power against you or those who you trust.” He lifted his head, giving Mira a look. “Human or otherwise.”

“We humbly request to stay by your sides.” The two spoke in unison. The words sent a fire down Mira’s spine that made her fall to her knees. Kaya was an ice cube on her shoulder, hanging on only because of the precautions they always took.

All of this was insane. She and Corus were basically threatening each other. Zeke probably wanted to kill her. Kaya was terrified of both the men they faced. Yet she could tell that saying no would rip out a piece of her essence. A life of pain and misery, only changed by Kaya being there for her. She brought her hand up to them, if they said no she said no. That would be it.

“We have that extra room,” they muttered. Mira couldn’t stop herself from laughing. The dry stains of her terror induced tears forgotten. After all of this they were taking ancient embodiments of order and chaos home.

“I guess we did what we came here for then,” she said as she quieted her laughter. “The long abandoned history is right in front of us. I’d be a failure of a search and rescue cave diver to leave them behind.”

“I don’t think I’d be able to be the best archeologist if I let living relics walk off on their own.”

“Does that mean…” Corus started, hope in his voice.

“You’ll let us stay with you?” Zeke finished the question, his own voice filled with relief.

Mira stood up and grabbed Kaya. The carabiner clicked before she pulled them away. She held them to her chest and faced potential monsters. Everything could fall apart. They could use whatever power they hold to destroy everything. 

“Come on, we ignored some places Kaya wanted to look at on the way in. All of us can go home after that.”

[haganenoyuki]

part 2 of looking for uses for the yuutaone fonts. the matsubara logo is in pop stencil regular

[arc-archernar]

.

[occasionally-victor]

idk some designs an au (good ole Sun&Moon type of story) that i maybe will be developing more, but i might just never talk about it ever again

couple of notes:

1. Grian and Pearl have wings because they are Sages of Sun and Moon respectively (note one thing: its not "becoming a Sage -> getting wings", its "being born with wings -> you can become a Sage if you want and theres a place". Something something, wings - closer to sky - closer to god, tho they cant fly, maximum glide) (Also, in a main story of an au whatever that means, Pearl does not become the Sage until the end so yeah) (maybe i will elaborate on who the fuck are Sages anyway)

2. Also, it the moment of the start of main story, the relationship between Moon region and Sun region (i forgot to give them names apparently oh well) are... not good, and not good for a long time. Maybe, i dunno, some conflict happened between those two a long ass time ago, and now theres disconnect (this is important because its not hatred (at least, for a lot of people). disconnect is more accurate in here) between. Might expand on the whole thing later.

3. also i did a little line up so i could give them some shoes lmao (literally the only reason)

[convexicalcrow]

Guess who finally got around to finishing these pages lmao. XD tbh the watercolour pencils I used to colour the illustrations aren't ... quite the right shade for Vexes, but it is what it is. The photos kind of make them look slightly better tbh.

There's part of me that's not entirely happy with the conclusions this piece comes to, but the best thing about an iterative grimoire like this, for those who have never kept a grimoire or have no idea what grimoires are and what they include, is that there is room to revisit a topic, and I do plan to do something on the masks later, so there will be more expansion on this and on my thinking and how that's changed since I wrote this piece. Which does tell you how long ago I wrote this lol.

Also a note on my approach to this: I'm attempting to emulate Scar and Cub's voices and energy and vibe through these pieces and the style of handwriting I have chosen to use for each of them, rather than do any kind of (weird stalkery tbh) form of copying their actual handwriting. And I think that approach is a good one, because it wouldn't matter how close my handwriting was if their voices didn't sound right. So that's the choice I've made here.

Alsoalso: Scar is the Vex with the tail, bc of how much he said he wanted one in that bit where they were setting up ConCorp in s6, and Cub was like, wtf would you want a tail? So it gives me an easy way to distinguish the two of them in their Vex forms.

The transcript below has been tidied up and spaced out a little more than it is in the book itself, just to make it easier to read and you don't have to have a wall of text to deal with.

Glamors Scar: Honestly I'm not convinced I should be writing in this book but Cub insisted that I had to write about how I do glamors. The problem is, I'm not sure I can explain it! It just happens! I think about what I want, and channel that through Vex magic. But it's not even something I really think about consciously, it just happens!

So much of it is about knowing what you want and who you are dealing with, and then you just project that outwards like you are wearing a mask or a costume. The clothes are just as important as the will and the magic. It's about set dressing! Immersing your target in the world you create in order to make them see your side of things.

Obviously you can do it without that, of course. But you need exceptional confidence and a sense that you will get your way. But it isn't just about that either. you can use glamors for all kinds of reasons. You can look like a wet puppy, or a clueless redstoner, or someone who has no idea what they're doing to disarm threats and make them come on side.

Projecting a face and an energy that you think will get you what you want. Like I said, it's hard to describe how to do it because so much of this is on you. It's about your will and desire and the image you want to project by lacing that with vex magic to make it work.

But the one thing to know is that the magic can only do so much. If you can't sell it, no amount of magic will help. Beware! And use carefully!

Oh! And you make be wondering why I call them glamors! it sounds like such a silly word, but I use it for a reason. These glamors are like masks. They change how people see you, but they don't change how you are at your core.

It's like when I wear the Vex mask. Kinda. It isn't a glamor, but it can be used like one. Do I want to make it clear the ConVex are in town? Then me and Cub wear the masks. They don't always have to transform us into our Vex forms or allow the vex to use our bodies.

Cub: Ehh, I wouldn't say the masks are like your glamors, Scar. Those masks serve quite a different function than you making someone think you're a wet cat. Those Vex masks are us, they aren't some fakery or pretense. The magic's different.

We are Vex at our core, the masks simply allow us to acess different magics, transformations, and powers. Plus, we don't really choose when to wear the masks, the Vex do that. It's just not the same, Scar, is all I'm saying. -- Cub.

Scar: Okay, look, it might be imperfect, but you know what I mean! I did tell you that I am bad at explaining these things! I did warn you! It's very difficult to explain something that I just do instinctively. It just happens, Cub, I can't teach it.

Also the Vex masks are definitely glamors! You can definitely use them that way. We just don't do that because the masks have different uses.

Cub: That is true, yo ucan use them like that. But the fact is we don't use the masks like that. They serve an entirely different purpose to simply being masks or glamors. They're sacred ritual objects that connect us to our power. It's very different!

Scar: OH hey Do you like my Vex drawings? I think they look so cute!

Cub: They're adorable, Scar, yeah!

Scar: I think I really brought out your mischevious face! Yeah!

Cub: For real, though, Scar, think about it. The masks reveal us, not conceal us. They reveal something true about us that most don't see, or want to see. These humanesque bodies? These visions or forms of who we used to be as players? Tht's not who we are anymore. Those are more the masks than the Vex heads are. The vex heads bring us back to our true form as Vexes.

Whereas what your glamors do is mask our true identities, and project something else that suits our needs and desires. It's a mask, nota mirror.

It's why the masks demand that we master them, not the other way around.

Scar: You know what, Cub? They're all masks, and that's about as much as I can be bothered with. I'll leave the deep thinking to you on this one! Goodbye!

[pillareternal]

Spitballing an alternate timeline

Imagining a different Philippine Revolution.

July 9, 1896. William Jennings Bryan, a populist (and avowed anti-imperialist), campaigns for the United States presidency. He was making his "Cross of Gold" speech. While popular, it wasn't enough to win him the White House. A party tied to his candidacy, the People's Party, petered out. The urban electorate seemed alienated by him. Maybe it's because of something in the speech:

"Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again; but destroy our farms, and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country."

August 23, 1896. After being discovered, the Katipunan convened in Pugad Lawin. Tearing their cedulas, they began the Philippine Revolution. Most Filipinos tend to know how it went. The leader of the Katipunan, Andres Bonifacio was overshadowed by Emilio Aguinaldo and later executed. After a protraced war, Aguinaldo made a pact with the Spanish to go to Hong Kong in exile. The Revolution came back in full swing during the Spanish-American War, declaring independence from Spain and a republic. It eventually got curbstomped by the United States after buying the Philippines from Spain who sold it to save face. Aguinaldo surrendered. The rest, some say, is history. It's a pretty horrible one.

So like, what if it wasn't?

Heavily armed zoomers isekai'd to the Victorian times

POD: In July 9, 1896, Bryan does a quick fib and doesn't say the aforementioned line in his "Cross of Gold" speech. He wins big in the elections. Now, here is where it get's absurd.

At the exact same time in the other side of the two young Filipinos from the future, an Anarchist and a Marxist, wake up in the past, in Balintawak. They have nothing in common other than a) they're well read on history, and b) have lofty, albeit conflicting visions for the country. With them is a big shipping container filled to the brim with M14s, Chinese AK-47s, RPG-2 rocket launchers, and enough ammo to last over a year.

They have no idea how it got there, no idea how they got there, or who one another is. But this gives them an idea.

In days, our time travellers (aka the "uptimers") meet Bonifacio and talk to him about the cache. The guns were demonstrated in private, and offered training in the new arms. The two are inducted into the Katipunan, and eventually, endeared themselves to its leadership's inner circle as advisors.

The Light of Liberty shines upon the East

The Revolution proceeds as scheduled. The Katipunan is discovered, mass arrests and crackdown lead to anti-Spanish riots and sentiment, the Cry of Pugad Lawin happens. The Katipunan wins San Jose del Monte after ambushing Spanish reinforcements. A mix of modern guerilla tactics, firearms, and the power of hindsight allowed for more victories around the "Eight Revolting Provinces".

As Spain sustains losses, native regiments defected and throws Madrid into disarray. Jose Rizal would be freed from Fort Santiago, but states that he wouldnt join the Revolution. Without the losses that led to Bonifacio's downfall in the Tejeros Convention, a different convention in Calamba confirms the Tagalog Republic as is, united under a triumvirate of Rizal, Aguinaldo and Bonifacio (Aguirizbon). They establish local governments, held elections and dialogue with the people under revolutionary rule.

Delegations to the United States, China and Japan were organized, years earlier than IRL. This becomes a factor for Bryan's administration to intervene in the Philippines during the Spanish American War. Thanks to greater anti-imperialist sentiment in both the public and Congress (albeit colored by anti-immigration rhetoric), notions of invading the country is more easily dismissed. Thanks to greater successes on the ground, support from fellow East Asian countries is magnified, from arms shipments (see IRL Nunobiki Maru) to volunteers from the Revive China Society and Japan.

By 1898, the Revolution has the upper hand, even taking some ships from the Spanish. It had also spread to all parts of the country; In Zamboanga, Katipunero Vicente Alvarez manages to unite the Lumads, Christians and Muslims to siege the Spanish stronghold in Mindanao. In Iloilo, the comite conspirador forms a provisional government. In Negros, a mock military march was all it took for the Spanish to fold. A three-front maneuver from the south in Cavite, the north in Bulacan and the east in Morong (modern Rizal province) attack Manila. A final push sieges Intramuros and finally takes the city. A declaration of independence, drafted before the final push, is signed on June 12, 1898 in the Manila Cathedral.

America still deploys the Asiatic Squadron to the Philippines and, after a standoff with the German Navy, batters what is left of the Spanish Navy in the Battle of Manila Bay. Seeing Manila fully controlled by a "Tagalog Republic", the better perception spurs the American forces to negotiate with the Filipinos. Spanish control over its Empire ended in 1898, after an alternate Treaty of Paris recognized Cuban and Filipino independence. Since the United States still wants something out of this, Washington and Manila agreed for trade privileges and a naval base in Subic.

While independence is ensured, internal cohesion was still a pressing matter. The Tagalog Republic still relied on the Katipunan's bylaws (the dakilang kautusan) and the governments in Visayas and Mindanao, while pledging allegiance to the Katipunan, sought autonomy. A national convention was held and agreed to a federal system comprising the states of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. A special status for the Moro sultans was stipulated, and Sulu, by dint of legal succession, remains a protectorate of the new nation. In 1899, in a Congress held in the Ayuntamiento de Manila, the Philippine Republic is declared in Spanish, Tagalog and Hiligaynon.

Immediate ripple effects

In America, Bryan's populist credentials opened the floodgate for other progressives to rise to prominence, from John Peter Atgeld, Henry George, Daniel de Leon to Eugene Debs. Bryan is still however hobbled by his government; parts of his agenda, such as rail regulation and banking reform would still have passed. With a tempered (but still assertive) foreign policy and a public receptive to populist ideas, much of the hallmarks of American imperialism and the surveillance state wouldnt take shape. Hawaii's annexation is averted, though it remains a special territory under an alternate Jones Law.

Urban migration is slower thanks to Bryan's rural leanings. Labor and class conflicts remain conventional and increasingly skewed in favor of workers. Later red scares are weaker and and civil rights causes are more popular despite Bryan's ties to Southern Democrats. A stronger Industrial Workers of the World is founded in 1905, competing with the American Federation of Labor for dominance and backing both Populist and Socialist Labor parties. With Populist Eugene Debs reaching out to George and de Leon, and the IWW's electoral backing, an old alliance is rekindled: the United Labor Party.

Back in the Southeast Asia, guns seized from the Filipinos surprised involved Europeans. How did backwards "indians" get ahold of such weapons? A new arms race begins; with auto rifles and submachine guns from WW1 and WW2 being invented decades before IRL. Japan even converted their bolt action rifles to semi-auto to stay ahead of the curve. The warfare of 1896 would be unknown to Europe until much later, however, with Russia still losing to Japan in 1905 (with minor help from the Philippines). Other technologies were much more freely given, such as when the uptimers, while visiting the US for the Olympics, sold Thomas Edison a license for their electric engine (see next section), while introducing Nikola Tesla to the transistor.

Licking their wounds from the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing Dynasty's continued resistance to change kept them at risk for unrest and invasion. The Xinhai Revolution happens as scheduled; with the lessons of the Philippine Revolution still fresh in their minds, the Tongmenghui (United League) organize a stronger Republican force. An agreement elects Qing general Yuan Shikai as president, though later sidelined by a still-living Song Jiaoren as prime minister. The Chinese Republic would later rebuild and develop, eventually giving Tibet, Mongolia, the Muslim lands and Manchuria autonomy under the principle of Five Races under One Union (wuzu gonghe). Korea however remains taken over by Japan, though due to Ito Hirobumi surviving (his would-be assassin dying sometime in the Russo-Japanese War) and clamor from Koreaphile sentiment at home and overseas, the Treaty of 1910 instead led to a personal union, with Emperor Meiji becoming the ruler of a Japanese-Korean Empire (to the tune of Austria-Hungary).

The events in the far east prompt Amsterdam to enact a more thorough Ethical Policy in their East Indian colony (modern Indonesia), fearing that poor conditions of the natives might lead to an equally devastating revolt. Education and public services are rendered to the natives more greatly, and while the Philippines assured that they have no interests in spreading influence into the DEI, the Dutch still tried their hardest to integrate Indonesia to their sphere. For the Filipinos, they simply encouraged wholly political activism down south—a diplomatic overture, essentially agreeing with the Dutch thesis that violence and "separatism" is an outcome of social neglect.

Developments in the Philippines

With Bonifacio, Jacinto and Rizal alive, they are able to formulate a distinctly Filipino politics after the Revolution. Jacinto completes his work Liwanag at Dilim (Light and Dark), forming a basis of a populist and Marxian liberalism called democracia nacional. The Katipunan dissolves in 1900, divided between Aguinaldo's and Bonifacio's factions. Rizal, fearing a crisis, refounds the Liga Filipina as a kingmaker party and a "check" on the states and parties. His fears, fortunately, would not come to pass; the government, in direct continuation of the old Tagalog Republic before it, proved stable.

Friar lands were redistributed, while pro-Revolutionary landlords in Luzon were encouraged to sell their lands and build industry in the cities through various incentives. Loyalist haciendas were broken up and awarded to Katipuneros. Some, like in Negros, managed to keep their lands in exchange for continued loyalty to the Republic. Most of the incentivized landlords transitioned well into new businesses, largely in brewery, tobacco and manufacturing raw materials, backed by American, European and Japanese investors. By 1905, the Philippine economy was booming and cities growing, thanks to a transitioning agrarian-industrial economy, exporting cotton, textiles, coffee, tobacco and sugarcane.

Industrialization was still a pressing issue, as uptimer advisors scrambled for ways to help the government catch up with its neighbors while maintaining the environment and keeping the growing business elites in check. One such effort was to push for nationalization schemes and labor regulations, including the institution of "national workshops" to guarantee employment and spur industry. Major infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric dams in Angat, Ipo and Caliraya became national priority to electrify the islands.

Despite this, both have used their party apparatuses outside Congress (the Marxist joining Bonifacio's party, the Anarchist Rizal's) to ensure their economic visions would come to pass should reforms didn't. The Anarchist uptimer went around the country to teach and found industrial cooperatives (farm tools, machinery, bicycles and guns), credit unions and schemes to buy and distribute surplus rice all around the country; while the Marxist helped found farmer's associations and labor unions, even organizing factory-workshops owned by said groups. These schemes often went in conflict with the haciendero conglomerates; the political system slowly began skewing and pillarizing, between the rural Aguinaldists, the urban, populist Bonifacians and the "cantonal" Rizalists.

Using future knowledge, the uptimers sought to create means for industry and communications in rural communities, from small-scale water turbines, earlier solar panels, efficient flow batteries, CB/ham radio (a similar device would be patented by Nikola Tesla), and LED lamps, to more low-tech solutions such as hydraulic power or pedal-powered systems and machinery to support and develop local economies as per Kropotkin's suggestions. Their greatest invention, a multi-use electric motor based on modern EV tech was manufactured and used for power generation by the cooperatives themselves to help with the manufacture of cheap but sturdy machinery. The invention of e-bikes would later lead to the proliferation of EVs in the country, defined by motorized pedal cars.

Philippine growth was modestly positive throughout the 1900s, though cultural ingenuity (discarte) and the uptimers adopting modern methods ensured that the country would make the best of it; fostering a thriving internal market while still profiting from exports. In the international stage, the Philippines gained prestige as a trade nexus between the East and the Americas, a veritable link that gave them the moniker the "Gate to China". With an economy based on people and an political system skewing populist, the inequality seen in Japan (ie. Zaibatsu) is largely muted in the Philippines.

Unlike in the Dutch East Indies (whose nationalist movement was still in its infancy at the time) Filipino radicals were much more inclined to interfere in the British and French empires, even secretly aiding groups such as the Jugantar, the Ghadar Party and the Quang Phuc Hoi. Linking with Pan-Asian groups in Japan and China, they established a clandestine political network that held a common, anti-colonial agenda.

Butterfly chaos in Europe

In Europe, the effects were profound. After Spain in 1898 lost against the Philippines (and Cuba and the US), Russia followed in 1905 against Japan, and then Italy in 1910 against the Ottoman Empire. All said countries suffered turmoil, especially Russia, whose loss marked the Empire's slow decline until their revolution. Spain had a dramatic transformation in the interim; pivoting to its remaining holdings in Africa, but later falling to its own uprising in 1914 after protests against conscription in their 1913 war in Morocco. Italy was essentially bankrupted by their 1910 escapades in Libya, and by a stroke of poor fortune, decisively lost against a plucky Ottoman Navy, leading to radical polarization between the Left and Right. In all cases, alongside China's own revolution, signaled to the West that Eastern Powers were on the rise.

The Young Turks manage to prevent the coup of the Sultan Abdül Hamid II, forcing his abdication and the Ottoman Empire swinging fully to democracy. While discrimination remains a problem, the Armenian Genocide is averted, and the Ottomans even federalized, allowing for Armenians, Romans (ie. Christians west of Constantinople) and Arabs to attain nationhood while still under the Sultan. The relative stability afterward becomes key to keeping the Balkans and winning against Italy, who, after losing the Italo-Turkish War, fully integrated with its Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The ensuing Spanish Revolution of 1914 (often referred to as the "Second Cantonal Rebellion") led to the second Spanish Republic (and inadvertently, the Portuguese Revolution). Their disavowal of all colonial holdings opened a vacuum that would be fought betwern France and Germany the following year. A fatal naval standoff around the Straits of Gibraltar between the two powers leads to the Great War in 1915.

Great War, Red Triennium

Due to the nature of the "Gibraltar Incident”, both the Ottomans and the Russians stayed out of the war. Even a neutral Philippines implored Japan-Korea and China to follow suit. However, due to new developments in the arms race, the war still proved devastating and wide-reaching. The Americans, largely ambivalent over the war, remained entirely neutral, only giving the Entente financial aid through loans. Germany, long interested in keeping the Entente bogged down, began to support nationalist movements in India, Indochina and Ireland, with tacit assistance from China and the Philippines. When the War became more brutal and that of attrition, Germany also mulled fomenting chaos in its unstable east.

Britain and France hoped that Russia would join the war to turn the tide for the Entente. Due to the war, however, foreign investments have dried up in Russia, leading to significant economic distress. Public opinion was largely against joining the war, seeing it as a conflict between "Western nations". However, in late 1918 Russia was beset by another 1905-style wave of unrest due to the Czar expressing intentions to join the war, Germany organized to send an entire trains' worth of Russian political exiles to exacerbate the situation and essentially keep Russia out of the War. Among them is Vladimir Lenin.

Unlike 1905, by 1919 the Russian government have collapsed, and the Romanovs put into house arrest (later exiled to Canada in 1921) by the provisional government. Due to the presence of other figures, from Anarchists to Mensheviks to rival Bolsheviks to Socialist-Revolutionaries, Lenin wasn't in a position to foment a Bolshevik takeover as he would IRL in 1917, instead the Revolution plays out as a contest between the Provisional Government and the soviet-backed Constituent Assembly, with the latter winning. Without the October Revolution, most parts of the Russian Empire, save for (parts of) Turkestan, Transcaucasia, Poland and Finland remain in Russia as full-fledged states, while other ethnic groups establish new ones, such as the Tungus and Mountain Republics.

Inspired by the events in Russia, frustrated over the Flu Pandemic (called the "Kentucky Flu" since it was first recorded in the US instead of Spain) and struggling with the stalemate of the war, both Germany and France fell to strikes and mutinies months after a pressured Viktor Chernov convened Russia's Constituent Assembly. The "Strasbourg Commune" was declared by mutineers on both sides as they began to turn on their commanders, the first sign of revolution. While a truce was called by their governments, it was too little, too late.

All of Europe collapsed over mutinies and strikes in a span of 3 years, hence being named the "Red Triennium" of 1919-1921. First was France, Germany and the Low Countries. Left wing groups began to act; a living Jean Jaures, sensing the tides, sided with the mutineers and strikers, while the CGT called for a "Second Commune". The German Social Democrats, including Rosa Luxembourg, also seized on the opportunity. The absence of Friedrich Ebert (dead in 1914) allowed the Social Democrats to lean into the emerging "Worker and Soldiers' Councils". By 1921, what is left of the German Empire has fled to a rump East Prussia, while France managed to retake Algiers the same year.

In 1920, Italy, the Low Countries, and Britain followed in the domino effect. Italy was beset by polarization for a decade; Mussolini died in the Libyan War, in his place the more radical National Syndicalists emerged: his friend Filippo Corridoni. Allying with the nationalists of Gabriele D'Annunzio and the Communists of Antonio Gramsci, the nascent "Italian Social Republic" took over the country in an earlier and more violent March on Rome, later backed by the Franco-Germans to consolidate their power in Italy. In Britain, a contentious general strike turns violent after Prince Edward in Black and Tan clothes shot a civilian. As the strikes become revolutions and London overrun, the second British Commonwealth was declared in 1921. In the Netherlands, the Red Week is much more successful, effectively forcing the Dutch to leave for Batavia (modern Jakarta).

The resultant socialist states of Europe would later form an alliance during the 1922 Extraordinary Congress of the Socialist International; France, Germany, Austria and the Low Countries in particular agreed to form a USSR-like union called the Social Federation of Communes, the constituent states renaming themselves as such. Europe has been turned upside down, but the cascading effects of the war weren't done.

They really weren't

Suddenly cut off from Europe in 1921, the United States quickly fell into an economic depression. By this point, the ULP's Populist-Socialist alliance—held together by the IWW and the party leadership—has since formed a concrete social pillar, comprising a pillarized quasi-countersociety through union-owned factories ("Wobbly Shops"), credit unions, tenant unions, cooperatives and a strong bloc in Congress.

Years prior, in 1918, the country had suffered a general strike and a wider era of discontent (the "Red Summer of '18") after the conservative Democratic administration expressed a desire to join the War, a punitive labor law was passed, and ULP candidates-elect in New York City (including a Populist mayor) were physically barred from being sworn in by Tammany Hall goons with tacit approval of the President. Most of the striker's demands were fulfilled after backdoor negotiations with the ULP in Congress; repealing the law, affirming neutrality and allowing the NY ULP to be sworn in. It showed the strength of the Populist bloc.

While the Bolshevik revolution IRL led to a red scare, the ensuing depression after the "Red Tide" of Europe was easily and squarely blamed on the President and the "robber barons". The ULP-IWW members and voterbase largely cushioned from by quasi-countersociety institutions, used their relative benefits to campaign, winning the LaFolette-Debs ticket in a very contentious 1924 election by a whisker. The election of "Reds" prompted American proto-Fascists—the militarist American Defense Society—to concoct an earlier Business Plot, led by general George Van Horn Moseley. Just a year in office, they immediately overtook the White House, killing LaFolette in the process and staging a coup.

The surviving cabinet reconvened elsewhere and agreed that a Second American Revolution is necessary. The IWW immediately mobilized its unions and shops into a war footing, reorganized its security forces into an army, and the Home and National Guards were called upon in ULP and other loyalist-held states "to defend the Union". The Second Civil War lasted two years; in July 5, 1926, with European volunteers and aid, the Unionists retook Washington DC, and a new constitution was ratified. Holding direct continuity with the old US (keeping the flag and government), the new America is still an ostensibly Socialist one, with the economy organized along the lines of Daniel DeLeon and Henry George. Among other reforms, the Senate was abolished in favor of a syndicalist chamber for the Industrial Unions, and the Electoral College is done away with. Treaties with key Native American tribes are reaffirmed, and some, such as Alaska, Oklahoma and the Navajo were admitted to the Union as states. In 1927, after the refoundation and second Continental Congress of the United States, they aligned themselves to the Socialist International in Europe.

The world, by the 40's

The Philippines has become a stable and independent republic, one directly descended from the Katipunan. Industry is distributed throughout the country while urban density is embraced; thorough land reform and land use kept the dense forests and other natural habitats of the country flourishing. Due to its presence and influence, it managed to maintain a clearer link between East and West, sporting a composite, pluralist, and almost Swiss-style identity where it is both Hispanic and Asiatic. Economic interventions early on prevented the inequality defined by Korean Chaebols and Japanese Zaibatsu from taking shape, offering a counterpoint to Japan's more elitist vision of Pan-Asianism. The (admittedly) haphazard federal structure has also allowed for better rights and representation for indigenous peoples as they are able to appeal to states more receptive to their plight instead of a faraway centralized government.

There is no WW2 but wars continued to happen in that period; from the 1940 Amazon Wars between Colombia and Brazil, the 1930-40 "War of Three Suns" contest between Japan-Korea, the Philippines and China, the 1940-1944 Indonesian National Awakening, the Sino-Russian War of 1938, the Indian Unification of 1936, and Liberia's wars of conquest from 1923-28. For most of the time, the new world-system has largely set.

The West, defined as the Europe and the Americas (minus Brazil's sphere) are defined as a wholly Socialist bloc. Unlike the dogmatic and centralized USSR, the Social Federation acts more like Australia, and are largely defined by the tension between Syndicalist unions, worker councils and the Socialist parliament. The SF and the US are intensely modernist societies (even using a 13-month calendar!), and forms the core of the Bloc. Anti-Jacobin Brazil serves as a counterweight. Russia, while having sympathies to the West, do not consider themselves part of the Socialist bloc, seeing them as skewed towards urban workers. Speaking of the Americas, there has been an effort to form a more cohesive union between Hispanic America ("la patria grande") with anti-Socialists accusing it of being a tendril of US hegemony.

Socialism is much more diverse here, a common tendency with a spectrum between Marx and Proudhon (the SF skews more middle); in turn representing a clear "proletarian" and "agrarian" spectrum that define the Socialist world's political debate. Due to the influence of the Syndicalists, the Fascists are much more left-wing and has garnered controversy within the international movement. There is also Monarchist Socialism, a tendency in the Ottoman Empire, Sweden and Japan-Korea that are also generally accepted as part of the tradition. Americans and SFians scoff at the notion, still.

Due to Europe turning red, most of the colonized world were left rudderless. Some colonies, such as the Cape Colony, French Central Africa and German East Africa simply reformed themselves into independent governments (the Boer Wars were averted in this world). However, colonized peoples also reasserted themselves in other places, as with India and Indochina, but also the Tuareg Confederation in the Sahara, the Khivans and Bukharans of Turkestan, and the native states in West Africa. There is also a Black Nationalist state in the latter region, inspired by Marcus Garvey's ideas, encompassing IRL Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Guinea. Algeria, after protests to the Social Federation, is separated from France and declared its own Commune (hey, at least). For what its worth, New Imperialism was shattered by the Great War.

There seems to be a trend towards superstates and federations: there is Russia, the Social Federation, the US, Canada, Australia, China, the Tuaregs, the Philippines, maybe India, Iberia (Spain + Portugal), and the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire (and its buddies, Egypt and Persia) are thriving after a bout of being the "Sick Man of Europe". Due to their influence and economic power (swimming in oil profits; while EVs dominate, shipping and planes still run on oil). India on the other hand, is a bit more like revolutionary Indonesia IRL, united by a more inward-looking nationalism. China, like Brazil, serves as a counterpoint bloc in East Asia.

Alternate technological innovations have led to the proliferation of alternate technologies. Transistors are innovated on earlier, leading to earlier advanced radios and television and computers. Better communications (ergo coordination) and earlier computing in the Socialist world prompts theories of cybernetics to influence policy. The internet as we know it wouldn't exist. EVs continue to be mainstream since the 1900s as gas vehicles don't take off, thanks to the invention of a more efficient battery and the multi-use motor. Trains, however, due to their sheer mass, still use oil. "Low-tech" coupled with radio and transistors predominates industries in the East, especially in India where things are still manufactured by hand.

The world is still rather unstable given the competing interests between regions and the world, but generally most of the fighting has subsided in favor of asymmetric interconnectivity.

I'm only sure about the events from 1896 to maybe 1921. The further I go from there the vaguer/broader it gets. But it's still a good place to start.

[eggbagelz]

I will say tho the little personal scenes with the companions are the best part of the entire game like THAT is why im playing it

[weaksspot]

what i’m trying to express is like… “monsters aren’t just lurking in the woods, they’re living among you looking like people” is a cool and interesting concept and spn did basically nothing with it

[smolghostbot]

🍄 for patch?

Short answer: Strawberries! Or really any berry (Random shoutouts to the Blueberry art), but particularly strawberries, with the seeds removed of course. They also enjoy chocolate, but it has a strong caffeine effect on them which doesn't mix well with their anxiety, so it is a sometimes food. I would say they love when Mel bakes things, and might try to help, but sprites are traditionally more scavengers and foragers.

Some Sprite Lore(™) for funsies: Sprites are herbivorous, and most of their nutritional needs are sugars and fibers, so they tend to gravitate towards fruits as their favorite foods (although fruit can be hard to get sometimes thanks to the pesky invention of the refrigerator). But they can eat pretty much anything green, even things like leaves and grass which humans can't digest. Conversely, meats and eggs make them pretty ill, and too much milk is not great.

[lwieserce]

i won't lie i liked the belobog story better than luofu's

[thedreamparadox]

Super super super excited for the dream guide fic!! May I have a crumb of plot

Sure! It's a pretty straightforward plot, really. Owl invites a bunch of other Dream Guides over for tea as an informal-formal meeting type deal and it's a bit of me trying to flesh out what the Night Dimension looks like past the scope we see in the games (because there is no way an entire dream world is limited to just Nightopias and Nightmare when we get teased with the Dream Gate as a centralized location even though barely anybody is there, dreams are way more complex then that and I am enough of a nerd about the Jungarian concept of the collective unconscious that there is no way I'm not leaning into that idea in some capacity).

Includes a cameo from a priorly mentioned Guide who didn't get a proper in fic appearance because I won't lie, I'm extremely entertained by the idea of a giant bear walking around with little glasses and making potions and tonics for people.

(NiGHTS does put in an appearance, to mixed reactions from the Guides.)

[circuitcircus]

in defense of kabumisu……..

addressing things I see people say about why kabru being shipped w mithrun is ‘bad’ or why their canon relationship ‘doesn’t mean anything’ while also clearing up misconceptions of the characters some fans have

listen it keeps popping up and I just gotta do this or my brain will melt (if you don’t see it around then god I wish that were me) there’s an age gap!- erm there’s also an age gap in farcille (ily), the most popular ship in the series...also chilchuck looks like a kid but a lot of fans recognize him as a dilf because of his relative age, so there should be no age gap discourse among adult characters because it feels so conditional tbh

kabru taking care of mithrun is racist!- marcille likes to take care of others as well. is that sexist, or just an aspect of her character?

kabru isn’t treated like a servant, waiting on mithrun hand and foot…I mean he gives mithrun a foot massage but no one told him to do all that lmfao

he's also not the only one to care for mithrun. pattadol is shown to worry for him and milsril was the one to start taking care mithrun in the first place after he…...y’know. speaking of which-

they probably met when kabru was a kid!- neither of them showed signs of recognizing each other the entire time mithrun was introduced nor when they were together. and im pretty sure KABRU of all people would show some kind of recognition if they'd met before. it's kabru!!! the people person!!! mr. "i-noted-down-50+-characters-in-this-dude's-backstory-for-fun-and-actually-enjoy-social-gatherings"

you would think some kind of memory would come back to him especially after hearing mithrun’s backstory if milsril had even told kabru about him as a kid. but nope. it’s just fan speculation unless there's a side comic suggesting otherwise that i haven't seen

mithrun doesn't care about kabru, his shapeshift double looked like shit!- it's obviously because of mithrun's (then) lack of desires that it looked like that, but they really grow on each other

i think it's safe to assume it'd look more like kabru after they spent so much time together (also laios can barely even remember kabru's name..also saw his face multiple times and didn’t recognize him when they talked for the first time)

mithrun is racist!- he’s actually the least likely character to be racist since he lost his desires and that includes a desire for superiority over others. he even calls his past self out on that part of himself. the other elves in that side comic were being just as racist to shorter lived races but just didn’t use ‘outdated slurs’

(unfortunately literally every main character in dunmeshi is at least a lil prejudiced, but I believe it’s worldbuilding and a sign of the times rather than a reason ryoko kui is giving to hate each character)

taking care of others is a pain in the ass!- saying this as a reason kabru and mithrun shouldn't be together is basically saying disabled people shouldn't be allowed to have romantic relationships because they're a "burden"...if someone is actually willing to put in the work, then let them be.

that's not even all of their relationship, mithrun is the fighter of their duo and kabru would've been killed by the shapeshifter or something if he'd fallen down the hole on his own since he sucks at fighting monsters. mithrun helps collect ingredients for cooking every time, too (barometz fruits and griffin egg). he pulls his weight and then some!! i feel like people forget that part of mithrun a lot somehow.

+senshi literally cooks for everyone all time. it's kind of an important aspect of the narrative.

+also, while it is a popular fan thing I see around that kabru handfeeds mithrun, he literally never does lol this is mithrun using his own hands to eat:

also here we have him washing his own body

just saying because people like to treat mithrun like a baby even though the narrative respects him as a capable adult who also has special needs because of an accident. he’s captain for a reason

kabru hates taking care of mithrun!- not exactly, he was initially surprised and put off but got used to it quickly. i’m sure he’s grateful for all the times mithrun saved him from a monster and teleported them out of danger as well

he even starts doing “unnecessary” things for mithrun’s comfort and safety like when mithrun pushes himself too hard fighting, even after his mission to take care of him was complete when the canaries came back

here is even kabru resting while mithrun keeps watch (mithrun let him sleep for 5 hours before waking him up from the nightmare earlier, too):

there's nothing more to their relationship!- they actually have had a very tight and consistent dynamic since they met and they incite the most change within each other by the end. kabru is the one who inspires mithrun to create new desires so he doesn't waste away, and mithrun is the first person we see kabru being genuine with and it leads him to be more honest with others by the end instead of tiptoeing around everyone all the time (that mask was also the reason some ppl initially disliked kabru…)

kabru’s relationship with mithrun is honestly so important for his character and vice versa, but it’s often disregarded because of one over exaggerated aspect of it (an aspect that isn’t even the first way they interact with each other) or because people want to just straight up ignore it for some reason 🥲🥲

kui dedicates many panels to them that don't particularly serve the narrative as a whole in order to demonstrate this and i think that's pretty significant

you're taking this too seriously!- as if i'm the first person in the world to be crazy about a ship or the characters 😭 i love analyzing text and it's upsetting to see them mischaracterized when kui lays out the characters so clearly and deliberately

also they end up touching each other like all the time and have the kind of canon validation most ppl can only dream of lol i feel so insane look at this:

and this is just when they're first getting to know each other cuz there's a fuckload more

kinda hard to explain how i don't actually need them to get married or whatever but i'd die on this hill for them and i enjoy their dynamic immensely

haha you thought you were reading ship discourse but it was actually a character analysis 🤪🤪🤪

also don’t somehow take this to mean I think anyone has to ship them, I just need everyone to understand these accusations kind of don’t make sense especially when they can also apply to other pairs or characters

bonus kabru just looking at mithrun:

[writingwithfolklore]

Making the Most out of your First Draft

As someone who used to write every first draft without planning and then use that to figure out characters and outlines, I have a lot of experience in first drafts that are incredibly helpful to forming an actual story, and drafts that don’t add much.

              So here’s how to make the most out of your first draft:

1. Write what doesn’t make sense

One of the most helpful first drafts I ever wrote abandoned plotlines and started new ones as though they had existed all along like several times. It was also the longest draft I had ever written because I had packed so many ideas into it. The reason why this is helpful is because you can test out what a plot point will look like in the middle or even end of your story without having to go back to the same beginning again and again.

It doesn’t need to make sense, just try things out. Disappear characters who don’t work, add a best friend near the end that acts like they’ve been there the entire time, whatever idea you’re interested in you can try out without worrying too much about what makes sense or what you’d need in place to set it up. It's like literally stream of consciousness writing, and you're going to learn so much more about your world, plot, and characters than trying to make it make sense.

2. Write poorly

I spent a lot of that first draft having characters monologue to themselves or each other about their interests and problems and lives which allowed me to explore their backstories and voice even if that’s not something I would do in a final draft. I had the wackiest plot points to see how my characters would react, what would happen to the plot, and if I didn’t like it I would keep going like nothing had happened, I did a lot of yadda-yaddaing over worldbuilding and setting the scenes and making up things on the spot to see if they’d stick, skipping sometimes to the interesting stuff, or adding in a random scene just for fun.

It doesn’t have to be good. Even a little bit. You’re learning about your world and your characters and the story you want to tell, but you aren’t writing it yet. Allow it to be the worst thing you’ve ever written.

3. Make notes on what you like

As you go through and throw spaghetti at the wall (figuratively speaking), make notes on the things that stick. If you write a line of dialogue you really like, or a piece of backstory or even a vibe, make sure to make a note of it somewhere. This will help you narrow down your ideas to what you want to keep when you start writing your story. And if you’re like me and you want to outline or plan your subsequent drafts, these notes will be invaluable to start forming your planning.

Anything else I missed?

[nanaarchy]

Hey chat !!!! I'm going insane.

Ever since my first listen to TMA, I've had a huge question that NEVER got answered.

Never. Not in the whole series, not Q&As or the wiki or anything. I thought I would never find answers. I thought it would be forgotten. I thought it was a small insignificant detail and I'd have to live with never knowing the truth about it.

Now with TMAGP 19, I might finally know the answer.

Maybe. Maybe maybe. But It Could Be. And now I'm losing my mind at the implications.

((For the record, I know that the stories and worldbuilding are inherently separate - hell, there are even timeline differences in the cases I'm using as evidence. But the overlap might be important, especially when it comes to the Web.))

Spoilers for both shows below!

Its branches were exquisite, and delicate, swaying slightly from small eddies in the liquid, and they shone with every spectra. I must confess that to look upon it, one was – (sigh) filled with profound wonder at its exquisite elegance. [...] Even I, steeped in worldly matters as I am, recognized The Lord’s words to Adam, and was much dismayed at the implication. Isaac then plucked the delicate fruit with ungloved hands and held it before me. [...] The creature was taking root. Strands of its mottled brown hair were extruding downwards between the floor, seeking the dark earth below. Then, too, its back began to sprout, radiant branches unfurling and thickening before me, reaching upwards towards the sunlight with a seemingly insatiable desire. [...] I tell you here, Robert, it saw me, and it knew me. (TMAGP 19 - HARD RESET)

It was an ornate wooden thing, with a snaking pattern of lines weaving their way around towards the centre. The pattern was hypnotic and shifted as I watched it, like an optical illusion. I found my eyes following the lines towards the middle of the table, where there was nothing but a small square hole. Graham noticed me staring, and told me that interesting antique furniture was one of his few true passions. Apparently he’d found the table in a second-hand shop during his student days and fallen in love with it. It had been in pretty bad shape but he’d spent a long time and a lot of money restoring it, though he’d never been able to figure out what was supposed to go in the centre. He assumed it was a separate piece and couldn’t track it down. (MAG 3 - ACROSS THE STREET)

Re: Magnus Institute Ruins. By RedCanary on Saturday April 23 2022 12:17pm. The photos from the spelunk seem properly gone, but I did find an old wooden thing with a bunch of similar symbols on. Some kinda empty box, not really sure what for, though. Gonna see if I can get the light right for a decent pic. Edit: No dice, I’m afraid. Must be something up with my phone camera. Really not helping the whole paranoia thing either. Anyone know anything about photographic distortion? Gonna see if I can borrow my dad’s SLR tomorrow. (TMAGP 1 - FIRST SHIFT)

Adelard Dekker stood in the corner. He was straight and motionless, his lips moving rapidly, though no sound came out of them. In the centre of the room, stood a table carved from dark wood and wrapped all over with a sprawling, intricate pattern. And in front of that table was the thing that had said it was my cousin. It was long and thin, the tops of it bent against the ceiling and its stick-like limbs flailed from too many joints and elbows. Wrapped around it were thick strands of what I think was spider’s web, stretching back into the table, which I now saw pulsed along its carved channels with a sickly light. The face at the top of that gangly frame was like nothing on earth. (MAG 78 - DISTANT COUSIN)

Now... Now I get it. I get it. I finally gave an answer. Or, at least, I think we'll get a concrete answer soon. But I think I get it.

I think I get where the web table comes from. I think I know what it's made of. why it glows. why it had a hole in the middle. I think I might know how the web gained control and sentience so much faster than the other fears. and, if it still manifests in the same way in the Protocol universe, how it also quickly became "the manager" of other fears, as theories suggest.

More importantly, I think I know what was up with the mysterious tree from so, so long ago.

Now I have an answer.

Why was there an apple buried in Hill Top Road?

I opened the box and sitting inside was a single green apple. It looked fresh, shiny, with a coat of condensation like it had just been picked on a cool spring morning. I picked it up. I wasn’t going to eat it, I’m not that stupid, but more than bleeding trees or phantom burning, this confused me. As I took it out of the box, though, it began to turn. The skin turned brown and bruised and started to shrivel in my hand. Then it split. And out came spiders. Dozens, hundreds of spiders erupting from this apple that was rotting right before my eyes. I shrieked and dropped it before any of them could touch my arm. The apple fell to the ground and burst in a cloud of dust. I backed away and waited until I was sure all the spiders had left before retrieving the box. I smashed it with a crowbar, and threw the remains into a skip. (MAG 8 - BURNED OUT)

And now I have an answer. Maybe.

[ittsybittsybunny]

ATLA Live Action Series Review:

The Good

Aesthetically this show felt right. Sure sometimes the outfits didn't quite feel lived in, but I always felt like I was watching a fantasy world with decent effects and interesting design. Also, I really enjoyed the sets!

Bending: Yes some of the fights feel very quick, but the bending looks cool. It is certainly better than 10 benders lifting one big rock. I can honestly say the opening bending fight scene gave me so much hope for this show.

Kyoshi Warriors: I loved seeing them in live action, and I thought Suki's performance was great!

Omashu: I think the mashup of the mechanist made sense since that is an important character overall and I would hate to see him cut. However, both Jet & the secret tunnels felt sloppily thrown in.

Northern Water Tribe: I really loved the way it looked, and appreciated the two episodes we spent here. I think Yue gained more agency in this interpretation, and why shouldn't the moon spirit be a waterbender. Also, episode seven felt the most in tune with the original show's spirit.

Zuko: I think he was one of the most fleshed-out and best parts of the show! Dallas Liu really captured Zuko's spirit, and the scene between him and Aang in episode 6 was wonderful!

Soundtrack: Hearing the original soundtrack bits is always great, and when I first heard the ending music I was so excited.

Is the show perfect, no - but I wouldn't mind a season 2.

The Bad

Pacing: Turning 20 episodes into 8 was bound to lead to some cuts...but oftentimes times things felt too quick or disjointed. I think there were editing problems contributing to this for sure, but sometimes things skipped around too much without a clear purpose as to why. Also, why bring in plots from later seasons when you barely have enough time already?

Writing: This show definitely suffered from exposition dumping, though it did get better as time went on. I think the biggest example of this is actually opening in the past rather than the present. We do not get to learn along with Aang that the world has changed, instead, we get to learn that 100 years have passed....which doesn't hold the same tension or worldbuilding.

Clunky Dialogue: Along with exposition, clunky dialogue is another example of bad writing. I think sometimes I felt like the acting was kind of meh in the beginning, but then over time I began to realize it had far more to do with the lines characters were trying to deliver. The actors themselves are not bad, just cursed with awkward writing and lines that feel out of touch with the setting they're in.

Main Trio: I don't entirely know that I believe Katara, Sokka, and Aang are friends as opposed to 3 people stuck together to save the world. Aang feels a little too somber for a young kid running away from his responsibilities, Sokka is protective, but not exactly the heart of the team, and Katara is sort of just there until the last two episodes. Where is her struggle, her desire to learn so strong she steals from pirates? Also, while Gordon Cormier did a great job, Aang does zero waterbending on his own, is overly serious, and tells Katara not to fight. Where is his desperation to protect his friends? It feels like they all lost emotional depth.

Tension: Bringing Ozai, Azula, and Zhao out in the beginning immediately causes us to lose the realization there is an even bigger bad. Part of why Ozai is so terrifying is he is a primarily silent villain until the third season when we finally see the face of the "big bad evil guy" behind it all. Yes, they add to Zuko's backstory, but again, they are revealing the villains too early. Azula is the antagonist of season 2 and one of my favorite characters, so I hope they do more with her in the future. Finally, Zhao is supposed to be an example of the uncontrollable nature of fire unrestrained, instead, he comes off as vaguely threatening with the supposed true power being Azula.

Characterization: While all characters are bound to lose something in a shorter show, it still felt like certain characters were more mutilated than others. I am sure there are 100 different opinions on who, but I think the biggest victim was Katara.

Katara: Katara manages to go from a complete novice to a bending master in what feels like a matter of days. The journey feels short, and that makes the results feel largely unearned. Katara is one of the strongest personalities in the show, determined, kind, and fiery. In many ways, she is the unpredictability of water - equally dangerous as it is necessary to live. She is the child of a war who lost her mother, forced to grow up too soon, and even raised her older brother. Yes, Katara often gets stereotyped as the mom friend, but overall she feels underutilized in this show. We really don't see enough of her journey until the very end.

Iroh: Iroh was always comedic but most importantly wise. Even when Zuko is trying to give himself advice, he mimics Iroh. Instead, he seems to be used more as comedic relief without the underlying experience. He just doesn't feel right. Also, he kills Zhao instead of Zhao getting himself killed - which is less about Iroh and more about the writing than anything.

Ozai is weirdly a little too nice. Yes, he burned Zuko and pits his kids against each other, but he feels toned down in a show claiming to be more mature than the original cartoon.

Azula is perhaps more realistically worried about losing her status as the golden child, but she is also missing the cruelty she and her father share. I understand worrying about making your character cartoonishly evil, but the Fire Nation is currently a deeply nationalistic empire trying to control the world. Where is the deep-seated belief that they are better than other people, not just trying to bring balance to the world? There is a line between creating complexity and toning down the very real evil inherent in this plan.

Roku: I can only say what the fuck was that. He was barely there, and not the serious master to Aang's youthful exuberance.

The Ugly

Show, Don't Tell: The show's single biggest issue seems to be speeding through story parts by simply stating things. Instead of allowing the audience to discover, trusting that we are smart enough to understand, let's just blatantly say things like Zuko is the only reason the 41st division is alive to their faces. Even though in the context of the story Ozai literally already said that.... it's the division, the division for Zuko, Zuko's division.

Thematic Misunderstandings: I think this show makes several minor changes with major implications, such as airbenders actively fighting the firebenders, when airbenders are known for their pacifist nature and the lie of an Airbender fighting force is actively propaganda. Similarly, Aang very quickly accepts his role as the avatar and doesn't even run away in the beginning. Without this conflict between his desire to be a carefree child and the fact that the world needs him - the show loses a key aspect of Aang's character. Also, the obsession with downplaying the avatar state as something dangerous feels like a disservice to the tradition, connection, and strength of the avatar, which can be permanently destroyed as the trade-off for that kind of power. It's dangerous for the balance of the entire world, not just because it's powerful!

The Agni Kai: Zuko's fight against his father is one of the defining moments of Ozai's cruelty, not just because he is willing to fight his child, but because Zuko tried to do everything right. Zuko shows deference to his father, apologizes, and most importantly refuses to fight! The determination not to upset his father and still be grievously injured and banished is a hugely important theme for the fire nation and Zuko's life as a whole. He tries to do everything he is supposed to and only regains his father's acceptance after he "kills" Aang. Zuko's struggle between moral vs. social right and wrong in contrast to his family is hugely important to his character.

-----

TLDR: ATLA was a fantastical animated television show that was never afraid to show character development and flaws. When you turn 20 episodes into 8, you are bound to lose something. You hollowed out the middle, leaving the shell of important moments and events without ever wondering if all the times in between formed the true spirit of the show.

Rating: 6.5/10 It's perfectly fine and worth a watch. Not a disaster, but certainly falls flat of the original.

[gffa]

Hiiii :D I was just wondering, do you have any good Marvel fic reccomendations? Your massive list of star wars fics is like the no.1 thing I go to when im in a star wars mood, and all of them have been amazing, so thanks so much for that!! I'm just curious if you have any good Marvel fic recs?? If not that's fine lol, thank you for your service 🙏

Hi! Lol, I had to sit with this post for a few days because "Marvel fic" is such a wide range of possibilities, like are we talking the comics or the live action shows? The Avengers movies? The X-Men movies? Which section of those fandoms? Avengers as a team? Captain America? Thor? Iron Man? Daredevil? X-Men: First Class? Just... anything? I don't actually have a lot of comics fic recommendations (mostly because it's too hard to wade through all the movie stuff because so many people cross-tag into the comics tags despite it not being comic fic that those tags are now useless), but my go-to for Marvel comics are always: ✦ Betrayal + Paradox Law + The Game of Empires by Valerie J It's hard to describe this series, other than that about ~15 years ago, it was an ambitious attempt at taking various elements of the X-Men comics and weaving them into a coherent whole, focusing on giving Remy an epic backstory to explain his origins and his powers. It probably wouldn't really fit with more recent comics, but if you're a fan of late '90s/early '00s X-Men comics, this was a hell of a ride with cool powers, surprising family twists, time travel, fun relationships, and incredible ramp ups to tense situations that explode in the best way. ✦ The Gestalt Arc by Lori McDonald Another old school fic centered around the Remy/Rogue relationship and taking them on an epic journey, in an alternate version of what happened after their kiss in X-Men #41. The ups and downs of how they work out their issues, the lives they try to lead with each other, finding their path forward together, it's still one of my favorites for the era. ✦ Anything by Traincat for the Young Avengers My favorite is grab a blanket, brother, but they're an author that I'd write a blanket rec for, if any of the summaries sound relevant to your interests! They also write Peter Parker/Johnny Storm, which isn't my area of comics, but I'd trust them with it! But primarily I'd route you to them for their super fun Young Avengers stories, the Teddy/Billy and Eli/Kate ones especially. ✦ Anything by silverspidertm2, X-parrot, takadainmate, or Mythtaken Identity for Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard-era fic. This is when I was in my prime era of reading Thor comic-centric fic, around Journey into Mystery and Loki: Agent of Asgard, when he was Kid Loki and then Teen Loki. There was a lot really fun worldbuilding or road trips or just feelings explosions fic from this era. Beyond that, my bookmarks are a bit of a mess, but you can scroll through them to see what you're looking for. My primary fandoms were: ✦ Daredevil TV, where I went in hard on Matt/Foggy (and some Matt/Foggy/Karen and Frank/Karen and a little Matt/Elektra), where I read voraciously for about a year before MCU burnout hit. Some faves are Double Blind by smilebackwards and Something Dumb to Do by poisonivory and jump, check parachute augustbird.

✦ Thor (MCU), which is actually the heart of who I was as an MCU fan, I spent a long time there reading a lot of fic and this will take you to my bookmarks with the pairings filtered out. I was a big fan of Thor & Loki's relationship so that's most of what's in there, and I always suggest starting with these three fics: ✦ Bargaining by proantagonist, thor & loki & odin & frigga & cast, time travel, 108.9k Faced with an eternity without his brother, Loki strikes a bargain to change the past. Post TDW. ✦ No Such Liberty by Xparrot, thor & loki & cast, 147.3k The first thing Loki said, after he had swiped his tongue over his lips to wet them, was, "You shouldn't trust me." ~ Following the attack on New York, Thor takes Loki back to Asgard in chains; but this does not mean that the god of mischief's schemes are ended, or that Thor has or ever will give up on his brother. But when Thanos threatens the realm to claim his lost prizes, on which side will Loki fall? [post-Avengers fix it] ✦ The Lullaby Singer by TheOtherOdinson, thor & loki & odin & frigga, 85k wip Odin hasn't left Asgard in over a thousand years. When he finds out Loki is still alive and preparing to launch an attack on Midgard, he could send Thor to stop him. Or Odin could go himself. As a bonus, I have a few more Thor genfic recs here.

✦ Captain America (MCU), where sure I liked some gen fic but lbr I was there for the Stucky. I mostly read during the height of the post-TWS fervor and then tapered off a lot after that (given how hard they swerved away from their relationship) and I haven't read almost anything in the fandom since Endgame, but if you want some fun TWS-era fic, I put together this list recently. (To be fair, I also liked a lot of Steve &/ Natasha, Bucky &/ Natasha and Sam/Natasha, so you can find that in there, too.)

✦ Iron Man (MCU), where I liked a mix of some fun gen pieces and some Tony/Pepper which put me in the minority, but I don't care because there were some banger authors for both. If you're interested in them, I always liked pretty much anything I read by roboticonography. icarus_chained wrote a wider variety of stuff, but I've always liked anything I've read from them as well.

✦ Avengers (MCU), where I read a lot of fic, but it's kind of all mixed in together, even some sprinkled in Black Panther fic, some Spideypool that was super fun for a hot minute, some Guardians of the Galaxy characters showing up, etc. Step carefully if you're not interested in pairings (I read a fair amount of Tony/Loki and Steve/Loki in amongst the other stuff), but honestly by the end I was probably reading more gen than anything.

✦ X-Men: First Class-verse, which is my exception to not reading much for the live action versions of the X-Men, because I am a long time Pietro Maximoff fan and while Peter wasn't my Pietro, I did love him and there was some absolute banger fic for the Dadneto trope, which was where my heart was at. Come Together by blarfkey is absolutely the first place to start!

Hopefully this is what you were looking for, but if you have further refinements on what you're interested in, let me know and I'll try to give some pointers! I've been out of reading Marvel for awhile, but I have a huge backlog from when I was in it, at least. 😂