#sveltana

[suchscary]

the. hierophant

[mandy4ever69420]

kinda to your point on ur post ab mandy it annoys me when ppl say that deleted (i think) scene where mickey’s like ‘don’t ever hit women’ is like #MaleFeministGoals when it’s just a pretty patriarchal view that women are weak and inferior and can’t fight back. when ppl edit that scene of all the boys going ‘pedophile hunting’ in like a badass way i just sigh bc like guarantee most of those men have assaulted or harassed women before, we know terry has. and that was the point of that scene to me, that it’s not about saving victims or whatever but about being a white knight and feeling good for defending the ‘vulnerable’ and what is their property. that’s why the scene where they find out it’s a woman is important. they don’t think women are capable of power so they don’t care.

anyway the writers decided they hated women after s2 so im sure they meant that as male feminist goals but i prefer s2 mickey’s ‘you don’t know my sister until you’ve fought my sister’ vibes. bc yeah. he sees her as an equal.

yeahhh!!! i don't recall the scene specifically so yes it was probably a deleted scene. it's a funny balance on the 'dont hit women' thing bc i myself for example know i would react SIGNIFICANTLY worse just on a gut instinct way to seeing a male character like mickey hit a woman the same way he hits men (specifically - when motivated by speech rather than retaliatory strikes, lol). & like part of this is due to the associations on a societal level with how much violence is directed at women by men in order to enforce patriarchy. male violence against women as a cultural phenomenon rather than an individual one is just more widespread and harmful, which is represented by individual occurrences. hmm. but part of it is just. how misogyny works. & the gut instinct level that it just feels worse to see.

there's not NOT a point to "don't hit women" like, WRT mickey's job in s4 to enforce against violent clients (mr patel) he's recognizing the pattern of someone who thinks a sex worker is less human, and wants to play out his fantasies about doing misogynistic harm to women through someone he can "get away with" hurting. also, because it's his job that svetlana specifically told him to do. lol

this also has to do with like... you'll see in shameless there are plenty of male abusers (kenyatta, terry, jody, kash & ian's abusers, also tommy is still canonically a pedophile, btw), but women who act abusively or are sexually coercive are much more likely to be sympathetic characters: mandy, debbie, karen, sveltana (with kev and v, the mickey thing is different. though i want to point out in s4 she did try to isolate him from ian as a support system by violence).

part of this is shameless falling into the idea that a woman doing it is "less bad" even as they critique that idea in other parts of the show. (also, they don't always seem to notice when something is assault) but the contexts in which these things happen ARE in fact really sad and messed up for these girls as well, & IMO there's a point here about how usually even SA, which people have very strong feelings about, can be done for sadass reasons. & that these are things you CAN recover and improve after - esp when willing (debbie having learned and telling carl he was assaulted - intent to prevent or sympathize with this), or when the other people involved are okay emotionally or forgiving

i imagine most people would like me be extremely unnerved if this was a point made using male characters even half as much. even though, like, technically it'd still be true. but man! i would not fucking like it if debbie and carl's plots were swapped. i refer specifically to how debbie treated derek delgado, which she did know was manipulative, not to how she acted with matt, who was grooming her and she didn't understand her behavior. ALSO: there's the aspect here that telling this story with a male character would've read SIGNIFICANTLY more as making excuses - as much as women perpetrating abuse is not taken as seriously, women are also held to much higher moral standards & hated more virulently for misdeeds. it'd look like a propaganda piece about how misogynistic violence is not that bad, actually!

i was pretty surprised and pleased that shameless was so on the ball with the 'pedo hunter' thing & establishing that terry milkovich is absolutely a pedophile. it's not that everyone with violent fantasies about attacking rapists is secretly compensating for one themself, but that a lot of these people have blindspots in recognizing their own behavior & are more excited about doing violence in a morally Righteous and protecting-our-women self-affirmation type of way. Also sometimes they are overdoing it to cover shit up.

come to think of it, i wonder if the reason so many people seem to have faith in mickey's brothers being "decent" is to do with the "i hate rapists, too" (s2) line? -- we know mickey is in fact protective & motivated by care wrt mandy & ian because we know him & we see the contexts he acts in & how he acts, but we have no such indications about anybody else having specific standards, rather than knowing there's a category of "bad person" (and person means man, in this mindset) that it's satisfying and righteous to violently retaliate against. also, doesn't sandy refer to mickey's brothers getting drunk and crawling into her bed? she was kind of referring to theft. but. like. well anyway

i know i really enjoyed watching mickey harass kash (satisfying) & i think when it comes to getting back at ian for "messing with mandy" there is something to be said there for protecting a girl you love against misogyny/misogynistic violence where possible. but you can't brush aside that retaliatory violence against sexual assault, especially mob violence (especially from a family full of white supremacists, good lord) has a really ugly self-serving history & doesn't necessarily indicate respect. & that is what was being invoked. a viewer should be put off by this or have a mixed response (again, the "dont hurt my sister thing" can also just. be nice) & not just because the info these guys were working with was inaccurate. also TBH i think you miss out on how impressive it IS that mickey is as good at boundaries and gentleness as he is if you refuse to understand the context of how bad violent mobs tracking down alleged rapists are and can be.

it's always really bothersome when people react to mickey's pimping as like a Big Misogyny like, not just because that's really not accurate, & it's reliant on the idea that these women don't have autonomy of their own. it also misses out on where you CAN see mickey interact with misogyny as a character trait. if you're too distressed by mickey calling svetlana a whore because she called him a pussy you're going to miss out on his occasional belief that women can't fight back, or have power. he falls for the manipulation of that pedophile in s3 (and has very sad sex right after walking away. also there's implications there) & he thinks it's embarrassing to be scared of his wife (even though he knows she's tough and intense). occasional because he can definitely tell that people like mandy, debbie, svetlana, and sandy have hands.

but also, like, when he's acting like a dick there it's treating these women as on equal footing. i saw a while ago someone try to read "we are thirsty" / "good thing theres a sink in the bathroom then huh" as, like, a damning mark on mickey's moral record. but man, i think svetlana was trying to figure out if mickey was white knighting, and if she could use that to her (& her coworkers') advantage. and he was like No because that's a very simple entry level manipulation that he's not going to fall for. also because the kind of white knighting she was checking for involves attraction (see: "nice guy" shit) and he is gay.

worthy of mention: mickey alleging that frank raped a girl, and mandy alleging that ian attempted to rape her are the same strategy in use to recruit. they each had their own agendas going on here & they both knew what'd get backup of people who are just excited to do violence. i wonder what this means about mickey maybe already knowing that mandy had been lying. i can see him realizing that if she was ACTUALLY hurt by someone she probably wouldn't have said anything but assuming she had her reasons anyway that she wouldn't disclose. 🤔🤔

there's also a point being made here about the fact that violent retaliation against abusers doesn't even necessarily do anything besides feel satisfying on an emotional level. when mickey is harassing kash, before we find out he's gay, ian grows more, not less, protective of kash, and feels more strongly attached. -> related to fiona's incredibly negative reaction when steve ditches frank in canada, contrast to mickey Not allowing ian to hurt kenyatta (though he also didn't want ian to do something he'd regret and get arrested)

[sl-vega]

Meet the main cast of ✧STARWARD✧

✧THE CELESTIAL WANDERERS✧- essentially the field work group for the Astria Study Project. They travel all over Sveltana on expeditions to look for remants of the kingdom of Astria

✧ NOVA✧-A wandering amnesiac with no recollection of her past, she joined the Celestial Wanderers to find clues about her origins. Helena took her in after running into her on an expedition

Age: Unknown-Birthday: Unknown-Affiliation: Celestial Wanderers

✧AKITO✧-A skilled swordsman and a member of the Celestial Wanderers. A man of few words. He's from the nation of Yamazakura, but that's the only thing he has disclosed about his past

Age: 17-Birthday: 4/05-Affiliation: Celestial Wanderers

✧DYSON IDO✧-Leader of the Celestial Wanderers, and a historian bent on uncovering the secrets of Astria. He studied in Alvena when he was younger and graduated top of his class.

Age: 46-Birthday: 7/12-Affiliation: Celestial Wanderers

✧HELEN AURELIA✧-Formerly a researcher for the Astria Study Project who has now moved to the Celestial Wanderers to preform field work. Has a thirst for knowledge and aims to learn more about the fall of Astria. She took Nova in after encountering her on an expedition

Age: 32-Birthday: 6/18-Affiliation: Celestial Wanderers

[gaboninfoslive]

« Suspension de l’exploitation du fer de Belinga », une pétition de l’association « Sans Nom » : La mayonnaise prend de plus en plus

Gabon Infos Live vous explique les raisons de cette pétition lancée officiellement depuis le 7 janvier dernier et portée par Vance Djemat BOUSSIEDY, Youssouf MBOUMBA, Sveltana ADAH MENDOME, Jean-Arsène HOULA-HOULA de l’association « Sans Nom ». Découvert en 1995 et qualifié de « projet du siècle » par l’ancien président gabonais Omar Bongo Ondimba, le gisement de fer de Belinga est situé dans la…

[friendorflo]

Sveltana fucked another Florence while you were down here.

good for her honestly

[freifraufischer]

Thank you gym Reddit for showing me the point at which I will defend Sveltana Khorkina.

That point is when you decide the worst thing to insult her with is... slut shaming.

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapter 186.  Ogata is a deeply conflicted man, revenge will likely hurt Tanigaki and Koito needs to do something differently

Aw man the much awaited chapter 186 translation posted last night for me here in the mountain time zone.  I read it and then decided I needed to just go to bed and sleep on it before making any sort of statement on it.  Having some coffee helps!

The roller coaster of emotions in this chapter is still quite high and I personally am not surprised by Ogata’s current actions, but I was deeply disappointed by Tanigaki’s and I’ve got some mild scolding for Koito.

This week I will again start from the easier points to address and then work myself to the more complicated ones.

First off, Koito.  He proved that he could kick some serious Russian convict bum by cutting a nice pie sized wedge of the man’s skull and brain out with a few quick cuts from his sabre.  We have seen his skilled swordsmanship in action.  Yay!  He then checks in with Tanigaki as a superior - good.  But then he starts yelling for Tsukishima and wanders off without ordering Tanigaki to come with him.

Argh, goddammit Koito.  All you needed to do was tell Tanigaki to come with you as you looked for Tsukishima.  You are in the middle of a snow squall on an ice flow, you know that separating your party is a bad idea.  Just one sentence was all you needed to say;  “Private First Class Tanigaki, good job, now let’s find Tsukishima.”  eoaiutognaotualgnorugzlkmaotualdgaewoiagl!  This is how i feel about him leaving Tanigaki slightly behind him, and Tanigaki doesn’t move to follow him either.  *sigh* Leadership fail.

When he does find Tsukishima he then scolds him for dealing with Svetlana, even though Tsukishima tells him who she is.  Besides Tsukishima’s connection to her based on his own life events, he’s thankful that her family saved him and everyone else.  Yet, Koito doesn’t even think that it would be a good idea to help her as her family helped him.  Koito, her family gave you nice tea and pastries and you just want to ditch her.  Sigh.

I really hope this means that Koito will learn to become more compassionate of others or to “pass it on” aka kindness to just be a good person.  I’m rooting for you to learn this lesson Koito . . .

Let’s move onto Ogata and Asirpa now.  I think their conversation is much more nuanced than pointing a finger at Ogata and yelling “liar liar, pants on fire!” etc.

Ogata has his rifle ready, and Asirpa is concerned and asks if someone is following them.  We get some internal dialogue from Ogata where he realizes he’s in not situation to fight so he has to do another course of action.

Again Asirpa hears Sofia calling to her and she tells Ogata that the should return to the others.

I love the zoom in on the panel focusing on Ogata’s face,  he’s on guard, he’s ready for action, it is hard to tell how much he is thinking to give a reply and how much of it is him going on auto-pilot to a threat.

But ultimately, he yields to Asirpa’s words and realizes he needs to tell her more to get his point across.  So he has to play another card since his soft and honest conversation wasn’t enough for her.  His mouth is covered, perhaps he is hiding his face on purpose or perhaps he wants to look defensive to show Asirpa he’s protecting him.

What I find most interesting is after he says that Kiro made a signal, Asirpa blushes! She has this soft look, like I don’t know, maybe she realized that all of this revolves around her?  Inkarmat told her that on the roof but she was super upset about them being shot, so I don’t think she would have been like “Oh am I the center of attention? Tee hee”.  Okay so that is a bit over the top, but I think the blush is her realizing that she really is the key to this entire crazy/bloody/violent quest for the gold.  Ogata has been trying to talk to her for like 3 chapters now!  She’s got to realize that he is trying to say something important.  Then he grabs her as he tries to keep her separated so that he can keep talking to her.  She seems a bit shocked when he grabs her but not hurt, more surprised.

So now he’s running off with Asirpa . . . He tells her to hurry, this show how important this action is to him and how he wants to keep talking to her is.  Finally, while running away, she finally realizes that she has a question.  Her “???” indicates that after the surprise of being pulled away she’s able to ask Ogata another question. She goes from blushing to sweating again as she begins to try to piece together what Ogata is saying.  I think she in part is nervous about she she is about to hear from him.

Ogata is glancing around, he’s got puffs of his breath around him, his stress lines under his eyes are intense.  I personally love how we get Ogata’s point of view when he tells Asirpa that Kiro waited for you to confirm that Wilk was Nopperabou before saying that “and then he had a sniper shoot him.”. 

I really like his line here.  It shows so much about where Ogata potentially stands in the hunt for the gold.  Oh this line is so open to interpretation!  It is so cleverly written.  Ways that I could interpret this as a reader i.) based on Kiro’s signal, he was working with someone to kill Wilk.  That sniper was not me. ii.) Kiro wanted Wilk dead and was working with someone else.  No indication of partner.  iii.) Kiro signaled a sniper.  It was me, but I can’t actually say that but I want you to know that.  Asirpa you are smart, you know what this means.

I personally like number iii. since Ogata then follows with him not knowing what happened between Kiro and Wilk but that the gold lead to a falling out between them.  His statement is highlighting that the gold leads to conflict and nothing good.  I love how he’s not looking at Asirpa but his eyes are open so wide and the stress lines are there.  He’s feeling something here, is he looking back on his actions to get him to this point?  That his continued involvement will likely lead to more pain and suffering?  I don’t know but he’s distressed by what he just said.

The conversation then moves back to Asirpa taking charge again.  She’s still sweating and she asks “Why [pause] Why didn’t you tell me before?”.  She’s looking up to him with such open but concerned eyes.  But he gives her a straight answer now, ask he just said the hardest part to date.  He mentioned the sniper [him] directly to her.  He seems to have regained a bit of his composure as he answers her, telling her that now she knows the key to the code.  By mentioning the sniper his line of “I thought it was necessary to work with Kiro” is a way that he’s giving for his actions and almost stating why he thought it was okay to kill Wilk b/c he was under the indication that the only way to solve this was to work with Kiro.

His statement about keeping quiet makes sense, I think he’s being honest there.  I think he also rationalizes shooting Wilk by his following statement “I was fine with anything so as long as I got some of the gold  . . .”.  It is as though after he shot Wilk something changed and now, he’s not fine with doing whatever it takes to get the gold.  It is very interesting that he doesn’t complete this statement and instead shifts to the danger of working with Kiro.  I think he’s not ready to verbalize why he’s not fine with doing whatever it takes anymore.  But it could be implied it is linked to Asirpa and his Yuusaku fever dream.  Those are some very interesting statements from Ogata though.

I think his statement that Kiro may get rid of her, Shirashi or Ogata is an accurate concern and she needs to look at her father’s friend in a different light.  Now that Kiro and Sofia revealed how Wilk truly acted and that both of them were impressed with that “resolve” it is concerning for Asirpa, Shirashi and Ogata.  If they aren’t dedicated to the partisan cause they aren’t useful to Sofia and Kiro. I really hope Asirpa is putting this together in her head.  It would be incredibly difficult for her to question Kiro - since the beginning she’s cared about him as an older male role model and he gives off an “uncle” vibe to her.

I don’t think Ogata is holding her hand in a forceful way, almost like he’s afraid to lose her but she’s not fighting back either b/c she needs to have this conversation with Ogata as much as he needs to have the conversation with her.  It as though both of them are passively going along with each other b/c they need to have these conversations.  They are likely the two most emotionally closed characters so I think deep down they both need to start facing their own problems.  Asirpa needs to realize what Kiro’s intent actually is.  Ogata needs to come clean that his “do whatever it takes method” comes with a cost that I think he’s aware of now.

Finally, Ogata again asks her to tell him the code.  He’s desparate and the two things he’s holding onto are his rifle and her.  This has got to mean something - are these the only two things he can trust?  His rifle will not let him down and he needs her support?  The next panel then returns to her sweating face - has she figured out he just admitted to shooting Wilk? 

The panel ends with more internal dialogue form him as he’s nervously glancing around.  Asirpa should realize that he’s deeply concerned about things and he’s as panicked as Ogata has ever been.  I really want her to ask in the next chapter if Ogata shot Wilk.   if you want more meta on Ogata’s behaviour that I really agree with check out this by @goldenkamuyhunting here. I agree with the idea that no one can make a crazy change overnight and that slow changes are much more realistic.

https://goldenkamuyhunting.tumblr.com/post/181976423378/whaaat-how-did-ogata-go-from-blushing-boy-to-liar

I’ve said what wanted to say about Ogata and Asirpa for this chapter.  I don’t think he was lying, he was trying to admit he did it in the most awkward but soft way possible, while panicking in a snow squall on an ice flow.

Now to Kiro and Tanigaki.

Tanigaki notices Kiro coming up from behind him after he ejected the used rifle shell.  Tanigaki and Kiro then proceed to beat the living crap out of each other with Tanigaki slamming into Kiro at such a force that he knocks his ushanka off and breaks the ice behind him.  Since Tanigaki has the Murata rifle, he hasn’t had time to reload it, so he’s forced to jump Kiro.  This is a very brutal fight. Kiro hits Tanigaki in the head with a block of ice two times and the second time the ice breaks on impact with his head here.

Tanigaki has a concussion at a minimum by this point and brain damage if it is worse.  Kiro goes to grab his remaining knife as he’s straddling Tanigaki on the ground.  We see he’s in rough shape and then Inkarmat’s smiling face in a black shaded box (past tense/flashback indication).

We then move to the next page.  We see Kiro over Tanigaki and Tanigaki’s shoes/boots facing us.  The sound effect is “thunk”.  I want to know exactly what this thunk means.  It first looks like perhaps Kiro stabbed Tanigaki with his knife.  I have to admit I had the help of others to realize that the thunk has to do with Kiro being stabbed.  Pan out to a Kiro sweating and breathing heavily.

He looks down at blood on his right hand.  He stands up off of Tanigaki.  He then starts sweating a lot as he looks down at himself. 

Boom the next page zooms out to show his short knife stabbed in his gut and he never was able to draw his other knife.  Kiro is screwed.  He’s got a gut injury, in the middle of a snow squall on an ice flow.

The final panel is Tanigaki reminding him of him hurting Inkarmat and he reveals his purpose to join the group was to get revenge on Kiro for her.

This is not good for Tanigaki, nor is it good for his future.  This has proven that 1.) he has learned nothing from his quest for revenge in regards to Kenkichi. 2.) if Kiro dies, he has killed a tiger (as pointed out by @goldenkamuyhunting) and Sofia prevented the other Russian convicts from shooting the tiger to prevent future misfortunes 3.) he’s still running away from his problems.

The entire time that Tanigaki has been trying to bring Asirpa home to Huci has always felt like he cared less about Asirpa as a person and more that she was a goal of a quest to avoid returning to Ani.  Yes, he’s found Inkarmat and Cikapasi along the way but he’s still aimless or refusing to face the fact he should go home.  But we now know his major reason for heading to Karafuto was to kill Kiro.  That isn’t going to solve his problems.  I feel that the panel showing Inkarmat in the flash back is a bad sign, that by likely killing Kiro, she will also die.

Lastly, I want to touch briefly on Sugimoto and Shirashi.  I think that b/c Sugimoto is still driven by his need for revenge and his anger at Ogata and Kiro and hasn’t faced his own problems in regards to Umeko and Toraji. Additionally, he has his need to talk to Asirpa but he always thinks the only way to save her is through violence that he’s being stalled by karma currently.  Since he’s linked Asirpa to Umeko and Toraji he needs to 1.) de-couple this and 2.) rescue Asirpa though a non-violent means.  So since his karma is say constipated, he’s unable to actually reach her until he does something to examine his own thoughts and actions.  So now he’s stuck on a piece of ice with Shirashi and Ryu.  Irony at its finest.

[mikiruma]

hot take but i think calling svetlana a "canon trans woman" is misleading, like yes it's a very very very good headcanon but in the context of alters specifically like... it is very much a thing for an alter to be cis in a system who's assigned sex is different. source: we're transmasc and we have 2 cis male alters

[somewatching]

‘Ahead of the Curve’ (2020) Review: On a lesbian magazine Link: https://letterboxd.com/adeeshaey/film/ahead-of-the-curve/

[suchscary]

aunt Sveltana my beloved

[miniconsuffrage]

reading through r/latebloomerlesbian and thinking thoughts about svetlana sergievskaya

[sl-vega]

✧The Wonderful World of Sveltana✧

✧Sveltana✧-The world that ✧STARWARD✧ takes place in. A world rich in culture and history, said to be protected by a goddess that watches over them from the stars.

✧Yamazukara✧-An empire in the South-East of Sveltana. With an Emperor ruling over it's vast lands and a Shogun presiding over the military affairs. Yamazukara is known for it's military prowess and beautiful cherry blossoms, which is where it namesake is derived from.

✧Alvena✧- A Republic in the southeast of Sveltana. Known for it's technological advancements and advanced society, many well-known inventors and scholars originate from Alvena. Unlike other major nations in Sveltana, Alvena bows to no King and instead elects two consuls every two years and has a large Senate made out of both nobles and commoners alike.

✧Forsythia✧- A kingdom in the East. Forsythia's name is derived from the word Forsyth, meaning "man of peace". True to it's name, Forsythia has mantained good relations with all of it's neighbours and hasn't been touched by any major wars in the past three centuries. It is known for it's beautiful art and gorgeous flower fields

✧Moroz✧-A distant land in the far north of Sveltana. It is prone to harsh blizzards and has a freezing climate. Unlike the rest of world, the people there do not worship Sveltana's Goddess. Rather, they have their own deity, the goddess Shiva. Moroz is closed off from the rest of Sveltana, which has allowed them to preserve an untouched culture for over a millennia

✧Khepra✧-The Kingdom of Khepra is in the Southwest of Sveltana. Khepra has a desert climate and is home to a variety of exotic animals. While they have a pantheon of their own deities, they still have the utmost respect for Sveltana's goddess. Despite it's burning weather conditions, Khepra is an incredibly popular place for tourists. Khepra's citizen's are known for their kind demeanor, and their kingdom has it's own distinct and wonderful culture.

✧Althea✧-The Althean Empire is one of the oldest standing political powers in Sveltana. It neighbours Alvena due to their shared history. Alvena was once part of Althea before a rebellion 5 centuries ago. The two are on good terms currently, though certain citizens believe that Althea should still have full control over Alvena. Althea is also incredibly religous, there are many temples and shrines dedicated to Sveltana's goddess and several festivals and ceremonies dedicated to her. Althea and Moroz aren't on good terms due to this, Althea claims that Moroz worships a false god. The two haven't sided once in all of Sveltana's history.

✧Astria✧-An ancient kingdom that has fallen eras ago due to an unknown tragedy. It is said that Astria was in the very center of ancient Sveltana, and that it was favoured by the goddess, thought not much is known about it, supposed remnants of Astrian culture are scattered all over Sveltana. It is said that descendants of Astria's royal lineage are born with special powers given to them by Sveltana's goddess. Rumour has it that many experiments were conducted to replicate this power. It is said that only one has ever succeeded

[camxnoel-updates]

Isidora Goreshter and Cameron Monaghan at the Deadline’s Emmy Kick Off Party on June 5.

[zorkaya-moved]

my sweet sveltana, the gentle yet resilient rabbit. 

[c0dyk1n5]

this can be taken in different ways and it was

svetlana is a badass babe and deserves more love

[iretiolowu]

consider adopting... the tsar of bulgaria’s siblings

the late tsar ivan viii’s passing in august had sent the bulgarian court into a tailspin. it wasn’t as if the eldest prince andrei’s ( @akrasimirov ) abdication as crown prince over a decade ago had completely disappeared from the public’s thoughts, now the death of the tsar had forced his second-born son to feel the heavy weight of the crown upon his brow. what the public didn’t know was just how prepared the new tsar dimitar ( @mitkok ) was for his role     he had been preparing for this long before his brother relinquished his position. the youngest princess nikolina had returned from an illustrious figure skating career, a young retiree with strained relations with her entire family must now face war upon their shores. 

they say that the family’s late patriarch was killed by a jealous greek duke, one who disliked how close bulgarian-greek relations were. he had ambitions that crossed borders! war was swiftly declared, and the new tsar dimitar was determined to make the duke of western thrace pay. the greek royals, however, stood steadfastly behind their noble and refused to be pushed around with what they call a “baseless accusation”. now how will the pieces fall? 

if you’re looking for complicated family relations in the midst of international conflicts     consider applying for one of the bulgarian royals! 

THE FIRST BORN TAKEN !

full name: andrei ( or utp ) ivanov krasimirov

title: his royal highness, prince of bulgaria ( formerly the crown prince of bulgaria ) 

age range: 38-42 

suggested faceclaims: john krasinski, jamie dornan

THE THIRD BORN

full name: timotei ( or utp ) ivanov krasimirov

title: his royal highness, prince of bulgaria

age: 34

suggested faceclaim: aaron taylor johnson

notes: previously engaged to io glücksburg, princess of greece ( @ioglucksburg ) 

( death tw )

for all intents and purposes, timotei ivanov could’ve lived a life of pure leisure, the way other spares of spares conduct their businesses. but it was just never in the cards for him, his personality would never allow for such a thing! he grew up third best, the youngest son with the very least of expectations, but timotei had grown up with the utmost devotion to his family and country. perhaps in the beginning he was going to play a supporting act to andrei when he was to be crown prince, believing that kindness and peace was the sure way for a prosperous country. the fair and just prince could not get behind just how ruthless his brother dimitar was when discussing matters of state, he almost balked at how quickly the new crown prince was to turn to nefarious means. timotei was almost glad that dimitar had svetlana’s council, and they can scheme their way into power all they want and leave him out of it. he’d rather not hear all the gory details. 

timotei loved love. he had a big heart that was worn on his sleeve, which meant many relationships and a trail of broken hearts across the globe. the younger prince was given the post as the ambassador of trade, a position of influence but one without detrimental political power that kept him travelling around the globe. but finally it was io glücksburg that captured his heart, a greek princess and sister to the king, it was a perfect match that would make everyone happy. not only did it strengthen the political bond between bulgaria and it’s strong neighbour, but it was also a match made from love, at least on timotei’s side. the wedding planning was well and truly underway when the bulgarian tsar passed away and the heavy crown was placed upon dimitar’s brow. 

suddenly, two things became very apparent: without an heir, timotei was effectively next in line to the throne, and that everything was about to change. unlike their father, dimitar wasn’t going to let himself inherit the constraints of a friendship with the greek royals, instead aligning himself with the turkish crown prince — someone he thought of as a better, stronger alternative. timotei already felt the strain of his family disentangling themselves from the glücksburgs before the other shoe finally dropped. the investigation surrounding the late tsar’s death had pointed to the direction of the greek duke of western thrace, and dimitar launched the country into a full-out war. timotei and his engagement were his first casualties, and it almost seemed as if he would never forgive him. 

now unable to stay away from the programme, outgoing and brokenhearted timotei vowed to never let his family take another thing from him — and who knows? maybe in the maze of hotel hallways and beneath the smokey gaze of the casino is where he could finally reach for the forbidden hand that he’s been missing. 

THE FOURTH BORN

full name: svetlana ( or utp ) ivanova krasimirova

title: her royal highness, princess of bulgaria,         the dowager duchess of greater sofia,         former crown princess of chile

age: 32

suggested faceclaims: tamsin egerton, talulah riley, alexina graham

prev. marriages: (1) duke of greater sofia, widowed; with issue                          (2) the crown prince of chile, widowed; no issue

personal conn.: @noemioriol — former sister-in-law, from 2nd husband

( death tw )

the then crown princess mariya had wanted a daughter, after three sons and a house full of men, she longed a little girl to parade around and make pretty. svetlana was exactly that. she was a born princess, big flouncy dresses as a child and elegant grace as she grew a little older, there was something in her that made others listen when she spoke — the disarming way she smiled and dreamt of climbing ever higher. however at seven years old, her place as the youngest and only princess of the royal family was dashed and discarded; svetya wasn’t used to sharing, and refused to do so even with her helpless baby sister. she knows how to hold a grudge, even against a family member who was completely faultless — she will never forgive nikolina for forcing her hand into sharing the spotlight. needless to say, they were never close and their age difference certainly did not help. 

svetya is her brother dimitar’s best friend and right hand woman, it was difficult not to be when they share similar ideologies and the same ruthless ambition. even before their eldest brother andrei abdicated from the line of succession, dimitar was already planning for the overthrow with svetlana in tow. they were two peas in a pod, where dimitar was, svetlana certainly was somewhere close. they had both planned for svetlana to be conveniently around when the duke of greater sofia’s wife passed, his duchy is rich and important, they knew that it would be highly helpful if the title remained in their family. a year after the funeral the duke married the princess in a lavish ceremony, and svetlana gave her new husband something his first wife did not; status and children. it certainly wasn’t her fault that the duke hid an illness that eventually cost him his life. 

her second marriage was far more grand, this was what her and dimitar was expressively  waiting for. a supplementary country of resources to support bulgaria’s endeavours, it seemed as if one country wasn’t enough for them. marrying a crown prince made sveltana a crown princess, and even during her father’s funeral all she could do was hide a smile behind her heavy veil — fingers coming up to wipe nonexistent tears in front of the public. this meant dimitar was finally tsar, and all svetlana must do was wait until her father-in-law dropped dead in similar fashion. unfortunately for them, the death she had so looked forward to did not only take the life of her father-in-law, but also her husband! svetya cursed her complacency for thinking she had the time to produce an heir and vowed it would not happen again. 

now twice widowed and reeling from the loss of a potential future as queen, svetlana krasimirova packed up her children and tiaras in order to make her way to the programme. she knew that her brother was stuck with the two family members who would only encumber him, it was about time that she came to be the support he deserves. besides, dimitar joked that she could only be considered a ‘proper’ black widow if she outlives husband number three, and what perfect place to endeavour to be worthy of such a nickname!

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