#symbol: nohr

[antivanwine14]

So Nohr is based on medieval Europe, so one thing that has been completely underrepresented is tournaments!!!

Xander wouldn’t compete because it is too dangerous for the Crown Prince but Laslow is his retainer and would be expected to compete occasionally. He doesn’t do it too often because it is dangerous and Xander will be damned before he allows his retainer risk himself unnecessarily, but there are exhibition matches that Laslow will step into the ring for. They are far less dangerous than a normal match and are more about the show than actually getting glory in combat. Xander is still annoyed about it but it is tradition. Being Xander’s retainer, Laslow is his Champion and is decked out in Xander’s colors and carries his favor (depending on the tournament, the Royal favors will change to fit the theme).

At first Laslow knows he only gets it because he is his retainer, but he still loves the favors anyway. They are mostly valueless, a bit of ribbon/fabric, a crown of flowers, etc, but Laslow carefully saves them so he will always a reminder of his time competing for Lord Xander. Laslow doesn’t have that much interest in competing for real, he is lover not a fighter!However, there is a part of him that is proud about being Xander’s champion and so he does his best and usually legitimately wins. Over time, he actually does become Xander’s favorite and the little gifts take on new meaning to Laslow, symbols of Xander’s affection for him. He continues to carefully collect them and preserve them to the best of his ability.

As soon as Xander is able too, he pulls Laslow from competing and Laslow is fine with it, especially since Xander continues to give tokens of his affection anyway.

Years in the future, he shows them off to Siegbert and Soleil who gaze at them with awe. Soleil in particular wants to win the favor of all the pretty girls.

[almoststedytimetravel]

You ever think about how Duma Tower in Echoes has the symbols for Hoshido and Nohr on the floor? Because I think about it, I think about it about it a lot.

[theeeveetamer]

#JustDumbLeokumiThings but I think it’s really cute that they both have a combination of cherry blossoms and roses in their designs + both of their weapons have the Nohr and Hoshido symbols on them 🥺

[emblemxeno]

Want an actual good villain in modern FE games ? Anankos. Tragic backstory, competent villain, destroyed the world even if it's a "I am evul because i became mad". He got dirtied on by being locked in a DLC route but writing wise : Anankos > Sombron > Future Robin/Grima > Agarthans. But i'd rather have evul daddy yandere dragon over the Mole people

ANANKOS!!! I love him too! I think the idea of him projecting and internalizing so much hatred and how it compounds with his deterioration, to the point of affecting multiple kingdoms is so fascinating.

All it took was one mistake from him, and the backlash pushed him into isolation and resentment. One bad experience leads into ignorance which leads to anger which leads to violence and conflict. It ties so well with how Hoshido and Nohr's conflict is set up because the lack of understanding between the two kingdoms is such a driving force; and it's not a coincidence that he's behind said conflict, thematically. I think he himself in Heirs of Fate or Revelation said "Why should I be the only one to suffer?" or something to that affect, and cuz misery loves company he projects and utilizes his hatred to make other people miserable. It's why his vessels and puppets are all people with deep regrets, despair, insecurity, or rage, too! IMO Fates' pathos driven plot and characters are done so well that it even with lack of concrete confirmation of certain points, the intent feels real and purposeful.

Hell, for as much as people mock the Bottomless Canyon scene in Revelation... it's a physical, geographical representation of the meaningless conflict between two kingdoms that otherwise have little reason to be at war; Valla and most of its culture, people, and legacy have been destroyed and forgotten, save for one bitter and insane dragon lashing out in every direction. To me it feels symbolic of the fact that conflict can rage on for so long, that the parties involved don't even remember-or care about-the reason why they're fighting anymore, it's just their way of life. But on the path where Nohr and Hoshido do find out the reason, they're able to squash it because unity and companionship very easily beats out isolated rage: the war ends, Anankos becomes forgotten and insignificant, something his insane persona resents but what his altruistic persona always wanted in order to atone for the mistake of choosing to stay amongst humans due to his love for them over their safety from his detiorioration.

Gosh I love rambling about this stuff, ugh

[dirtyoldmanhole]

@/damoselcastel was kind enough to show me a bunch of the FE:Fates visual works artbook pages the other day!

and because i am continuing to be .... brain rotted (lol) ... grabbed a copy since there was more than a few relevant pages/official artworks, and wanted to have a high res/color corrected version of these pages for art refs to slap on my reference boards! if i'm looking at them every day now for the past three months they better be accurate!!!

anyway! it came TODAY!!! :D :D pakidge

IT WASN'T EVEN SUPPOSED TO COME UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH AAAAA

god dang this thing is THICK, now this is what i call a proper artbook! a little hard to see here but you can see by both the front and the spine that it's a chonker -- the two tellius artbooks combined are thicker but they're also a bit smaller elsewhere.

rest is under the cut b/c it's me promptly going feral :P

(and seeing who's on the spine ahhh!!! honestly that's really cool and super appropriate given his subtle plot/character relevance?! super fucking cool to keep seeing nintendo nod at him in symbolically relevant places, but not too overtly )

SPEAKING OF I SHIT YOU NOT GUESS WHICH SPREAD THIS THING FELL TO FIRST

I SHIT

YOU

NOT--

stone cold, swear to you, straight up didn't intend that but this was literally me irl then:

:')))))))))

(also HE GETS A WHOLE SPREAD???? and a turnaround?!!!!!! even freaking corrin's nohr noble design gets like an EIGHTH of the page

gunter gets treated SO WELL in this artbook i'm on the floor trying not to sob like i'm sixteen again and begging for any zihark scraps

also this is so much more high res than what's on my reference board the nitpicky artist in me is literally crying for joy about FINALLY HAVING A HIGH RES REFERENCEEEEEEEEEEE

also what the fuck the architecture is so cool???????????

THE WORLDBUILDING I AM WILDING

for real tho i remember my first conquest playthrough my jaw was on the FLOOR being genuinely amazed at how cool the worldbuilding was especially on the nohrian side with the gothic vibe and y'all don't know how useful this is going to be to replicate nohrian motifs in all of my drawings/probable comics/doujinshi/etc.

[foams at mouth]

this artbook also covers EVERYTHING

like there's a healthy amount of character work , but there's also enemy designs (always thought fate's enemy designs were unusually kickass, like some of these folks could be outright characters themselves), the architecture stuff above....

my room lines....

OH MY GOD THIS MEANS I HAVE A THIRD SET OF TRANSLATIONS I CAN CROSS REFERENCE TO FUCK YES

sorry for shitty blurriness it's just me vibrating in excitement lmao i'll upload it in the high res chunk

.....

hellooooo sir~~~~

(you knew i was going to be posting that shot >:D )

his possession CGI gets a full fucking page too ajlsjsjkskjhhjshjg

HE GETS TREATED SO GOOD HERE Y'ALL, SO MANY FULL PAGES???????????? is this what it's like to be brain rotted over a major character i will never know the feeling lul

(there's actually at least two other gunter fullbody artworks in here, those have already been scanned/uploaded properly by others so i won't post 'em here unless y'all want em!

and then lastly!

to finish it off, god this cover progress is so cool, kozaki knows what he's doing.

and i'm pretty sure gunter's linework gets changed halfway through, his expression's somewhat different than on the final! and i'll be posting that along with the other high res/cleaned up scans! just need to figure out if my scanner's gonna do a better job than my phone or vice versa.

[tries to stay composed] [fails]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[buntress]

[All IDs are in alt text]

Unknownlector & Unknorder

Un-nohn-leck-ter & Un-nohr-durr

Unknownlector A gender connected to being a being a collector of genders related to the unknown; this gender is connected to unknown aesthetics, collector/collecting aesthetics, and CINhood.

-------------

Unknorder A gender connected to being a hoarder of genders related to the unknown; this gender is connected to unknown aesthetics, hoarder/hoarding aesthetics, hoarding identities/things, and CINhood! intended to be used by mentally ill people with hoarding tendencies, but okay to be used by others as long as you do so respectfully.

Possible Pronouns could include:

Abstra/Abstras (Abstract)

Cryp/Crypts

Eni/Enis (Enigma)

Hoard/Hoards

Lect/Lector (Collector)

Myst/Mysts (Mystery)

Odd/Odds

Um/Ums

Un/Uns (Unknown)

Void/Voids

?/?s

[REDACTED]/[REDACTED]s

🤔/🤔s

🕳️/🕳️s

👁️‍🗨️/👁️‍🗨️s

Requested by: @unknowncollective-world

Collector + Hoarder system by: @en8y

Tagging: @radiomogai

Alt Flags + Flag Symbol + PT under cut

[PT: Uknownlector & Unknorder: Un-nohn-leck-ter & Un-nohr-durr

Unknownlector: A gender connected to being a being a collector of genders related to the unknown; this gender is connected to unknown aesthetics, collector/collecting aesthetics, and CINhood.

Unknorder: A gender connected to being a hoarder of genders related to the unknown; this gender is connected to unknown aesthetics, hoarder/hoarding aesthetics, hoarding identities/things, and CINhood! intended to be used by mentally ill people with hoarding tendencies, but okay to be used by others as long as you do so respectfully.

The following is a list of 15 possible pronouns one could use for this gender:

Abstra/Abstras (Abstract), Cryp/Crypts, Eni/Enis (Enigma), Hoard/Hoards, Lect/Lector (Collector), Myst/Mysts (Mystery), Odd/Odds, Um/Ums, Un/Uns (Unknown), Void/Voids, ?/?s, [REDACTED]/[REDACTED]s, 🤔/🤔s, 🕳️/🕳️s, 👁️‍🗨️/👁️‍🗨️s

End PT]

[applebyss-snakybite]

Part 1 of Mobianification of Fire Emblem Fates character. Aka: FE fates: Mobian AU

If you don't know the Fire Emblem Fates characters / never played the game, you can see them as Sonic ocs HEAVILY inspired by the characters.

Let's starts things off with the 4 Hoshidian royal siblings. Hoshido is like Asia and there's a lot of symbolism with plants sprinkle around in the designs of their clothing. Hoshido is much more closer to nature than Nohr which is based on Europe and is more modernized than Hoshido. So, it's a traditional and closer to nature environment VS a more industrial one, enclosed by walls, even.

So, the Hoshidian family is a species close to the seedrians from Sonic X. However, they aren't aliens. Instead, the seedrians are an ancient species in this AU. Only a few can go into mover mode (some kind of werewolf/dragon form) and is an ancestral power. Both males and females can go mover mode if they have the ability. The difference between the females and the males has somewhat mixed with the generations.

So, now that the backstory is out of the way, here they are: Ryoma the Maple, Hinoka the Maple, Sakura the... sakura and Takumi the Pineapple.

I chose the Maple for the two first siblings because their main colour is red and the amount of use of the maple tree into the game and how they are popular trees in Japan. Sakura is, well, her name says it all. Takumi is mostly just a meme, but it's also a way to show how out of place he seems in this family, with the only sibling having cold colour hair (gray) compared of his siblings who all have warm colours (brown, red and pink.) No, Ryoma is not a lobster because it wouldn't have made any once of sense since he wouldn't even be plant-related, differenting him too much from his other siblings

Drew in 2021

[amalthea-fictions]

Fire Emblem Siblings Week 2023! [Kaze & Saizo]

Happy #FireEmblemSiblingsWeek2023, everyone! I wrote a little something for the best ninja twins, Kaze and Saizo! This is for Day 6: Return, but also I guess Day 5: Duty, since the piece ended up being more about Saizo's internal struggles of family vs. duty. ❤

Kaze's Return

Today is the two month mark. Two months since they lost contact with Kaze in Nohr. 

It would be customary to presume Kaze dead, by now. The damn fool just had to go. Not that Saizo could have denied him, of course. He was among the best of them; only, he didn’t have a liege to bind him, like Saizo or Kagero did. So when they needed someone to gather intel from the deepest parts of Nohr, of course the damn fool volunteered. 

The first week that Kaze’s reports stopped coming, Saizo tried to ignore the way his stomach churned with dread. Kaze was fine. Right?

When two weeks passed, Kagero took notice. Do you want to talk, Saizo? She had offered. He turned her away without a word. Kaze would be fine.

After a month, Ryoma asked about the status of Kaze’s mission. Saizo grimly told the truth: they’d lost contact four weeks ago. I’m so sorry, Saizo. Please, let me know if you need any time away from your duties. 

Saizo had ignored the stinging in his eyes and sinking feeling in his gut. 

It’s been two months, now. So Saizo is already in a bad mood when the messenger bursts into the room.

“Lord Saizo!” 

He grits his teeth under his mask and turns to the entryway. “Excuse me? You’re breaching protocol by barging in here–” 

The messenger swiftly bows, but holds out a small, folded parchment. Saizo recognizes it as a carrier hawk note. 

 “I apologize, sir,” the messenger scrambles, “but it’s from your brother! I presumed that you would have wanted–”

Saizo snatches the parchment, causing the messenger to flinch. “Thank you,” Saizo growls. “Dismissed.” 

Saizo’s heart is pounding in his ears so much that he can hardly hear the messenger leave. He presses the paper flat against a desk and smooths it out. It’s coded, but he can quickly recognize the handwriting:

It���s Kaze. 

It’s terse, but it confirms it: his brother is alive. 

That evening, he reads the decoded report out loud to Kagero. 

“‘Reporting: Suzukaze. After most recent update, was captured and compromised. Held captive in Castle Krakenburg.’” 

Kagero gasps. “Oh my,” she says. “They held him in Krakenburg? That must’ve been serious.” 

Saizo nods and continues. “‘No intel disclosed in interrogation. Was able to escape.’”

“Gods. They tortured him,” Kagero laments. “We need to conduct an extraction right away–”

“He’s being a damn fool,” Saizo interrupts. “He doesn’t want an extraction yet.” 

“What? But protocol is to go through a debriefing after being compromised?” 

Saizo huffs and reads the rest of the letter: 

“‘Please restock drop-point at Bottomless Canyon. Need to investigate important development before leaving Nohr. Will report back in one week.’” 

“An important development?” Kagero asks, taking the parchment and flipping it to see if there’s more written. “That’s it? He doesn’t add anything else?” 

Saizo shakes his head.

Part of him wants to drop everything and rush to the Bottomless Canyon right away. But he can’t ignore his duties to Prince Ryoma. And Kaze knew the risks of the mission when he volunteered, and was prepared to handle anything– including recovering from Nohrian ‘interrogation.’ 

So he resolved to wait, and had the drop-point restocked. 

Only the shinobi in charge of restocks would notice that Saizo added green mochi to the supply list for that checkpoint. 

- - - - - - - - - -

Kaze’s next report is a little late, but it comes nonetheless.

Again, it’s short and to-the-point. This time, it’s marked with a symbol on the top of the paper– the code the operatives use to indicate they are out of enemy territory and not under duress. It’s also not in code. 

Saizo reads it right away, and his eyes practically bulge from his head when he does. 

Reporting: Suzukaze. Returning to Shirasagi with lost Princess Kamui. ETA: three days.

Saizo looks at the date written at the top of the parchment. 

He drops the paper and sprints to find Mikoto. 

His brother would be here tomorrow– 

with the long lost princess, apparently. 

- - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, Saizo trades places with the ninja scheduled for gate guard duty. 

Even approaching from the distance on the horizon, Saizo recognizes his brother’s walk. There’s also a slender figure with silver hair accompanying Kaze.

Saizo can’t control his leg as it thumps like a rabbit, his foot tapping restlessly against the floor. He can’t abandon his post– so he forces himself to be content with observing his brother’s approach.

As they get closer, Saizo notices the weight Kaze has lost, and the tattered, frayed edges of his clothes. 

The second they cross the castle threshold, Saizo is there.

Kaze smiles. “Hello, brother.” 

Saizo hesitates. 

There he is– his brother, alive. Smiling like he has not a single care in the world. No: happy, even. 

Every nerve in his body wants to embrace him, to rush him off to a decent meal. Or, to scold him for being foolish, for his self-sacrificing attitude. Gods, if father could see him, he wouldn’t know whether to be more proud or angry. 

But protocol– protocol dictates that he be fully debriefed, give his full report before anything else. And then of course is the princess trailing just behind him, looking overwhelmed and confused, who needs escorting. It would be improper to discuss personal or even shinobi-related matters in front of her, and Kaze needs to continue walking her to Queen Mikoto, and…

Kaze sees the internal tug-of-war reflected in his brother’s eyes, and chuckles.

He hugs him. 

Saizo is stiff, his brain frozen.

It’s against protocol! It’s disrespectful! It’s– it’s…

“It’s good to see you, Kaze,” Saizo murmurs, and Kaze smiles.

[themxtleycrew]

Camilla is just going to give Oboro a big hug from behind, the Nohrian princess finding the Hoshidan girl absolutely adorable.

send ‘🫂’ to hug my muse from behind for their reaction.

if you can’t see the symbol send hug.

@light-of-nohr

When the massive shadow seemed to envelop her, Oboro was instead enveloped by two mighty arms which gently held her but also kept her pressed to the body of Nohr's bewitching princess. Didn't help that Oboro's head was now pressed to Camilla's famously large bosom and her face was taking on all different shades of pink and red.

Oboro does not know what to say in this instance, screaming silently in both surprise and embarrassment, however she's not making any effort to push Camilla off of her, so clearly she's enjoying some part of this!

"Er-um-h-how can I help you, Princess C-Camilla?"

[devotedrigelianflower]

~Meanwhile in Askr with Rinea | Guest star: @convxction ~

"...I still can't believe I got the wrong door! The symbol of the Azalea flower was right in front and I still missed it..." Rinea was still embarrassed even after she gave another gift to the Chrom in Askr and played it cool the whole time she was around him. "...Just don't do that again..." Berkut said as he shook his head and sighed. They got a long lecture from Prince Alphonse about it but at least the incident was kept quite. "I didn't know you went into other realms to try to find me. That was sweet of you, Lord Berkut." Rinea said with a small smile. "...Yes and it was quite the experience. It seems that Azalea is a lot happier than the another version I saw of you in Nohr. That one was extremely depressed and seemed to not show any emotions on the outside despite being a princess..." Berkut told her. "Oh dear...she really must have been through a lot to end up like that..." Rinea said as that would be an understatement since Linnea never had any flashback due to her life being so much worse. "Well enough of that. How about we go to the castle garden for a stroll." Berkut said as he knew that would cheer her up.

"That would be wonderful Lord Berkut!" Rinea said as she let her beloved lead the way. Rinea had no idea that someone was watching her from a far. The being was filled with sadness and hoping that that couple's fate would be changed for the better. A being that always would send chills up Chrom's spine whenever he saw her.

"........"

~*~

[grandsonoflightike]

Light Kana and Sicily Support Conversations

C Support (Happens during Light Soleil, Light Ketchum, and Light Ophelia Re-unite with Light Fates Allies)

Light Kana:  Hello there, who might you be that I paired with for this training Session?

Sicily: I am Sicily, Daughter of Laz And Selena who are the current king and Queen Of Hyrule.

Light Kana:  Why are you on Writer's Earth then? I am confused.

Sicily:  My mother and Father are visiting the chosen one of The Writer Family for The Branders and wanted me to get to know people around here since once i find my true love, he and I will be allies here.  So far, People of my generation are scared to talk to me from here as they don't want to ruin relations.

Light Kana:  What is so bad that you have that can hurt relations with Hyrule?

Sicily:  My Ancestor from The 000 Was a Zora Prince so I have small Zora in me.

Light Kana:  So they scared if they talk bad about your Zora ancestor, then they ruin relations.  Well my mother is Half-Manakete-Half-Taguel so I am 1 Third Manakete 1 Third Taguel and 1 Third Human so I have thirds to worry about.  If someone talk bad about Your Zora Hertiage Or Your Zora Traits, then tell me And I will let my mother know as she is the queen here.

Sicily:  For Real? Thanks, Light Kana.  Let get this training Session on.

B Support (Happens after chapter 2 of Time Of No Dragon God For Light Valla)

Light Kana:  So we are 100% Compatiable.  That makes me happy but as Light Male Robin said, It doesn't guarantee we will get together.

Sicily:  Thinks The Thing I hope is we get together. Says Yeah.

Light Kana:  Thinks The Thing I hope is we get together. Says To think that A Brander and A character off Planet got 100%.

Sicily:  Do you think others from my planet could have matches?

Light Kana:  I have to bring my Great-Great-Grandfather back to find out,

Light Male Robin:  No need to call me. When I heard your B Support Happening, I knew I had to stay.

Sicily:  Then can you answer my question?

Light Male Robin:  The thing is it is destiny that the two planets come together.

Light Kana:  Then we are the catalyst.

Light Male Robin:  Exactly.

A Support (Happens After The Rise of Fates Rebels)

Sicily:  I can't believe there are Rebels to the Fates Nations.  Good thing we worked together to stop the Vallite Ones.

Light Kana:  Not To Mention How Familiar To Tabuu's Subspace Forces they feel.

Sicily:  You felt that as Well.  Also I had a look into the Fates Rebels’ Plans.

Light Kana:  Really? Can you remember them?

Sicily:  I have a Photographic Memory.

Light Kana:  Then What are the first plan for each group?

Sicily:  Light Hoshido Rebels are going After Grima Eliwood’s Castle.  Shadow Nohr Rebels are going after Light Valm Castle.

Light Kana:  What About Light Valla Rebels?

Sicily:  I will help with those plans as They are Attacking Time Sanctum from my planet to destroy it.

Light Kana:  What?! I am not letting them destroy an important place on your planet.

Sicily:  Light Kana… Thank you.  You are truly worthy of the Tri-Force Of Courage.

Light Kana:  With Your Photographic memory, you are worthy of the Tri-Force Of Wisdom.  Wait… I have The Tri-Force Of Courage?!

Sicily:  Yep. you got it when we danced together during your Great-great-grandmother’s birthday party during the Time Of No Dragon God For Light Valla. Didn’t you know?

Light Kana:  I wondered what this weird symbol on the back of my palm was.  Now I know.

S Support (Happens After Revival Of The Evil Light Grima)

Light Kana:  I can’t believe it.  I can wield the legendary Master Sword.

Sicily:  It makes sense now why we are 100% Compatible then.  Ever Since the 100 years era, the wielder of the Master Sword has ended up with The Tri-Force Of Wisdom Bearer.

Light Kana:  Then it does make sense.  What do you think of the sword spirit in my Master Sword having feelings for Shadow Ciel who is a female version of me from Another Timeline?

Sicily:  It is interesting to say the least.

Light Kana:  I heard from my Great-Great-Grandfather that they are 100% Compatible as well.

Sicily:  Really?! That is amazing!

Light Kana:  It is a shame through that it took the Revival Of The Evil Light Grima for our relationship to be revealed.  I wanted it to happen without the drama of an enemy revealing it. Sighs

Sicily:  Wait a minute… You wanted it to happen?

Light Kana:  I did.  Why?

Sicily:  Starts Crying Because She is Happy Because I wanted it to happen the same way you do because I love you too.

Light Kana:  Then I guess It is safe to say will you date me with marriage in mind?

Sicily:  Of Course I will.

Light Kana:  This makes me the happiest boy to be spending my life with you.

Sicily:  I wholeheartedly agree and it makes me the happiest girl to be spending my life with my Legendary Master Sword Wielder.

The End of these supports

[tactful-kind-daedra]

(gallant-gained) 🌷 for his lovely mama!

@gallant-gained

Valentine's Day Symbols: 🌷to give my muse flowers

"For me? Oh, Siegbert---"

Daedra's hands clasped as she took in the beautiful display of blossoms. So many large flowers, with pinks and reds and pastels, with white sprays almost giving the bouquet a sparkle to it. It was truly eye-catching, but it was well known how much Daedra loved flowers.

"How beautiful," the redhead sighed as she gently cradled the carefully tied collection in her arms. Now so close, their scent filled her senses, reminding her of a meadow in spring, fresh from a gentle rain shower.

Things so uncommon in Nohr.

"Oh, thank you, Siegbert," she turned and stood on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "Uwaah, what wonderful Valentines I have this year--- from you, and your Father, and Rose!"

[maligknightsthorns]

⟢　she had always thought it fitting for solm to house such an emblem as lady camilla. though her knowledge of nohr itself was scant, she had once been drawn to learning more of the kingdom after hearing that its royalty ascribed to a uniquely draconic inheritance. in camilla, these powers that eluded even the dragons of elyos had turned the tide of numerous conflicts, both for and against them. the power to bend any unfavorable terrain to one's advantage was a momentous one that often went unappreciated.

perhaps it is because of this blood that nel feels a certain connection with the other princess; perhaps she only imagines it. "allow me to formally welcome you this evening, emblem camilla. though perhaps i am not the most appropriate host." having only been here less than a month herself and still gaining her bearings from slumber. hand extends to offer its sigil of air. "it appears it is custom for now to exchange elemental engagements as a symbol of alliance. i offer mine in gratitude for your wellbeing."

Emblem Camilla? She had no idea what that title meant. Where was this strange, pretty, girl from that she knew Camilla? She certainly wasn't from Nohr or Hoshido, and Camilla hadn't seen her wandering around the monastery grounds.

It certainly was quite a meeting... with the two of them no bigger than one of Barbie's claws.

"A pleasure to meet you, it would seem I'm marked by fire." Camilla grasped the stranger's hand firmly. Her hand tingled as a ring with a symbol of air appeared on one of her fingers. "You seem to know me, but alas I must admit I do not know you. Shall we get a drink and chat for a bit? I am curious about that strange title you gave me, I've never heard it before."

[emblemxeno]

It’s your residentially scheduled FE Fates fan realizing another symbolic thing that it took 7 years to figure out 

The story is subtextually centered around Daoism and Yin Yang

Light within Dark (Nohr royal siblings being good people stuck in a bad situation forced to do evil by a corrupt king, multiple times are Corrin and Elise called a “light that shines in the dark”)

Dark within the Light (Hoshido is a supposedly peaceful kingdom but it’s rife with xenophobia even by its royal family, Takumi himself is very susceptible to corruption and hatred)

Ryoma’s speech in BR’s epilogue iirc is about how light and dark can’t exist alone

Rev is about living in harmony which I believe is also a fundamental part of Taoism

And also it’d be another reference to a Chinese originated cultural practice which Fates is full of (especially in the JP version iirc)

[dirtyoldmanhole]

... okay krad, you ask. why whips as a theme in this slowburn

I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. :D

you cannot spring on me the knowledge that both garon and gunter know how to use whips out of nowhere and not expect me to like. think about this.

whips as an anvillicious metaphor for power dynamics as a whole

but like seriously, expanding on the last point - honestly whips are a fantastic thematic representation of the "worst" of nohr as a whole. gunter being a part of the quote unquote "tainted old guard" along with garon (there's a line in the fic where he tells corrin straight up "whips are made to break others" that is one of many, many call-backs to how garon's intentionally broken him and did his level best with corrin too. (i don't go the 'forcefed dragon's blood' angle so i kind of went more this track),

in turn, the whole idea that gunter sincerely legitimately came within a hairsbreadth of whipping corrin is .... something. he almost repeats the cycle / sins of the past. he's not a good man, but he stops just right before he crosses the line there.)

outrageously kinky whip top vibes(tm)

i was talking in a server with a bunch of weapon nerds and the neat thing is, whips are highly impractical for actually fighting. they're not meant to kill (cleanly or uncleanly) they're meant to subdue, which ironically kind of goes with how possessed!garon controls his court through fear and pitting everyone against each other and just causing a lot of pain.

he turned garon's whip into corrin's childhood ball, man. that is so fucked up. [widest grin possible] that is so fucked up. what the fuck was that doing in the supports, nintendo.

i really like the symbolic idea of when he uses a whip being important -- shedding krakenburg's influence at the northern fortress (by breaking down that whip) and then the idea of possessed!gunter picking it back up for the last fight because he literally can't let go of his own rage/revenge/pain and being consumed by it, so he lashes outward, very literally.

and uh

“Whips, my princess—exist only for restraint, discipline, and pain.”

i'm just gonna

leave this line there

yeah

[galeforged]

“Forwin!” The messenger chirps, approaching the bard with something in her hands. “I know that…we’ve only known each other…for a short amount of time…but…here.” With this, Claire gifts him a sunflower! “A friend I met…some time ago mentioned…that sunflowers symbolize friendship…and happiness. So…um…this is for you….Happy Day of Devotion!”

Valentine's Day

"Claire...?"

The court musician spoke her name quietly when she presented the flower to him, and gently he took it into his own hands as he considered the gift. A sunflower, here, in Nohr? Where could she possibly have found this, between the awful crops and blackened skies?

Castle Krakenburg was not an easy place for Forwin to adjust to, and Claire, who had been brought on as royal messenger not long after himself, was in much of the same boat. Garon was difficult to make out, Iago plain unnerved him, and he hadn't yet acclimated to most of the royal siblings. However, something about the sunflower offered to him made him feel a little less... alone, whether from living within these walls or finding himself whole realms away from home.

First things first though: he'll need to find a vase for it.

"...thank you, Claire. Happy Day of Devotion to you too," he said in turn, smiling with a polite bow of his head.