#the foreign legion: stories

[mournfulroses]

Clarice Lispector, tr. by Giovanni Pontiero, from "The Foreign Legion: Stories and Chronicles,"

[bookmaven]

Foreign Legion cover stories by John D. Newsom

“The Gorilla of No. 4” by J.D. Newsom (Adventure, January 1927) Cover by Remington Schuyler.

“The Foreign Legion Way” by J.D. Newsom. (Frontier Story, June 1927) Cover by Ralph Keufer.

“King Makers of the Legion” by J.D. Newsom. (Short Stories, September 25, 1929). Cover by K. Dombrowski

“The Ghost in the Bastion” by J.D. Newsom (Adventure, July 1930). Cover by John Drew.

“Lion of Morocco” by J.D. Newsom. (Argosy, February 1934) Cover by Harry Hornhorst.

“Too Much Duty” by J.D. Newsom. (Argosy, September 1934) Cover by Paul Stahr.

[johnpodlaski]

The French Foreign Legion, the Waffen SS, and Vietnam

Many believed that thousands of former Nazi Waffen SS soldiers joined the French Foreign Legion after World War II and fought against the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. How did they escape being tried for war crimes? Was this France’s way of condemning them to death? Here are two different points of view. Did you know this? By Georgy_K_Zhukov, December 11, 2012 Following the myths and…

[carl-tabora]

The Necron and the Baby

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWarhammer/comments/1exlig3/commission_babys_first_necron_drawn_by_carl_tabora/

"An-nakhrimun awkwardly stares at the tiny human in her hand, confused and unsure. The human stares back, extending tiny hands towards her while making incoherent noises, clearly unafraid of the soulless Necron.

What is she supposed to do, is she supposed to eat her? She quickly glances up, seeking instruction from the mature human couple, yet to her dismay only receiving their smiles.

Ever since awoke from the Great Sleep and subsequent exile by Illuminor Szeras, she has been drowning in despair and sadness, wallowing at the memory of her failing her entire species and the terrible fate upon herself and her mother. Landing her ship on this nameless planet, she sat upon the top of her ship's exterior and fell into unmoving catatonia, with only the maintenance of her mother, now a mindless warrior, drove her to act slightly.

Not even herself realized how long it had been, but before she realized, an alien race that called themselves “human” appeared. Time has been hard to grasp for An-nakhrimun, as the humans have been in a completely different state each time she paid attention to them. From colonizing the planet, building gleaming cities, fighting among themselves against their robotic servants, collapsing into primitivism, and rebuilding their society with even more inferior technology. She is the only unchanged constant on this planet.

Humans have long used to her presence, sometimes even scaling her ship to try to communicate with her. Now, with her ship buried under dirt, humans have built a park around her seat, these interactions only became more frequent. Sometimes when she pays attention, she could even see humans sketching her figure with primitive pen and papers.

Most of the interaction has been quiet and distanced, but only once, she was forced into physical confrontation.

On a heavy snowy night, two tiny humans, male and female, wearing tattered clothes, stumbled to her seat, cold and shaking. They have no home to return to, and in the winter’s chill, they will not see tomorrow’s sunrise. They embraced the metal alien lady, waiting to die, instead, they found a warm energy dome around her. An-nakhrimun, frozen in confusion and flustered at the tiny humans grabbing onto her, channeled a deflection shield to repel the coldness, in order to try scaring them away.

She sighed a silent relief when they finally left when the sun rise, and didn’t even realize just for that night, she paid so much attention to those two humans, she even forgot to wallow in her own sadness.

Since then, An-nakhrimun sometimes would find small trinkets and items on herself and her mother, scarf, small flower, sachet. She does not understand the purpose, yet keeps them as it might be of some significance she doesn’t get.

Now the two humans have matured, and they came to her with their own offspring, like a female feline eager to show its master what she produced, and asked her to join them on a “family dinner”.

The word sounds so foreign, yet so familiar. Though she lacks the flesh to consume food anymore, she remembers how her mother used to be smiling at the dinner table even with barely any food. She glances at her mindless mother, and allows both of them to be dragged out of the park.

The interaction with humans has distracted her from her own sadness, and she doesn’t hate it.

Yet, such a time would be short lived, as the current Terra time is 850.M30, and the 16th legion of power armoured genetic soldiers, serving the self-proclaimed Emperor of Mankind, will be arriving into the system in less than a year…

Scene art for my tabletop campaign, depicting the pre-campaign story of Lone Cryptek An-Nakhrimun, who sat on a planet being depressed for 10k+ years until Great Crusade came knocking. And the baby that would become the origin of her fake human face."

[remembrancer-of-heresy]

You know, I love power imbalances. It’s always interesting to write about serfs. But since I value art (Serve the 3rd Legion), I prefer the remembrancers. And I decided to think about which particular remembrancers would be most interesting to write about relationships with the primarchs. Here is the list:

Documentarist (Journalist): Horus Lupercal, Roboute Guilliman.

For the first, it is important to feel his importance and self-centeredness. Write down his story as vividly as possible so that everyone understands how wonderful he is and how hard he tries. How much people should appreciate him and respect the title of Warmaster. Well, over time, you will truly become a personal documentarist when he decides to reveal to you the personal aspects of his life. So this time you have appreciate how wonderful he is.

The second needs a documentarist to record the history of the Imperium. He respects your order. And your personality. Because you are not a sycophant and write everything as it is. In 40k he needs a documentarist so that everyone will start seeing him again as a man and not a god. Alas, you will have to write down even the strangest things, such as “In such year, Guilliman could not lift a piece of paper because his armor was in the way. He joked. Cato didn’t laugh.”

Imagist: Alpharius/Omegon, Corvus Corax, Lion El'Jonson.

Simple and functional. You stay out of the way and photograph important events that can be studied later. And considering your profession, you have quite a high level of insight. And this attracts such hidden and suspicious individuals as these primarchs.

Historiographer (Historian): Magnus the Red, Jaghatai Khan, Leman Russ

The thirst for knowledge and the desire to understand the past will definitely bring you and Magnus together. You will literally be on the same page, discussing many events from different angles.

Well, given the fact that you are a historian, everything is interesting to you. Including a foreign culture that you respect and try to understand. At this moment, Jaghatai Khan is already taking you away on a bike.

And since you know that history can write one-sided personalities, you understand that something deep may be hiding behind the barbarian. You know it's a façade. At this moment, Leman is already throwing you over his shoulder.

Musician: Angron, Mortarion, Konrad Curze.

The way your fingers gently touch the instrument, the compositions you create. But the most important thing is your voice. Reminiscent of the rustling of leaves or the murmur of a river. Feels like fog. The best reassurance for unstable primarchs like these trio.

Painter: Fulgrim, Sanguinius.

These art lovers will love all the remembrancers. But I am sure that they will give preference to painters. Because they paint the real world as they see it. Because they would like to see the world like that and so on. A real space for imagination that knocks primarchs off their feet. And if, in addition to your talent, you also have your own different opinion about art (+ perfection), then at that very second you will have a very artistic admirers.

Sculptor: Perturabo, Dorn, Ferrus Manus.

Well, there’s no need to rant too much here. The first two primarchs regularly play with large-sized Lego. So it will be much easier for them to communicate with a sculptor who will understand them at least a little. But yes, praise from them is also like a stone. Ferrus Manus loves art, but not to the same extent as Fulgrim. A sculptor would be much more suited to Manus's aesthetic views than a painter or musician.

Wordsmith (author): Lorgar Aurelian.

Lorgar is a preacher, so he will be fascinated by a remembrancer with oratory skills. Or more precisely, someone who can turn words into something beautiful. What thousands of people will re-read or listen to.

Vulkan…no idea really. But let's say Wordsmith, because the word has “smith” :)

[linderosse]

Wielders of Wisdom: Introductions Part 2

Tetra (Pirate) [WW, PH]

Sarcastic, snarky, and often rude

Surprisingly calm and quick decision-maker, with a clear sense of how to win the respect of people older than her

She teases the crap out of Wind, but secretly values him a lot.

The least likely to get lost

Story: Tetra took King Daphnes’ last request to heart and set out in search of new land— and more importantly, new treasures. She’s found countless strange and wonderful islands to plunder, as well as one particularly interesting alternate world. Still, nothing has fit her criteria yet, and the search across the deep sea is more perilous than even she expected…

Dawn (Gardener) [TLoZ]

Quiet and shy; excessively kind

Determined to help others, but also knows how to accept help.

She’s a little awestruck by Hyrule. She has no idea that Hyrule is a little awestruck by her too. Both of them are a little awestruck by Aurora, who is very fond of them in return.

The most superstitious Zelda

Story: Since Aurora’s awakening, Dawn has found an older sister to confide in. But the world is still devastated by the Great Decline, mistrust runs rampant, and Aurora’s finding it hard to adapt to life centuries in the future. And none of that has stopped the court from taking sides, using the dual princesses as figureheads to push their own agendas. Dawn wishes her people would work together against the Decline, but instead her country is on the brink of a civil war…

Fable (Diplomat) [ALttP, OoS/OoA, LBW]

Articulate, dramatic, and extremely charismatic

She wears the pants so Ledge doesn’t have to >:)

Legend discovered that the two of them were siblings on their first adventure and told her again much later. She gives Legend heck, but she’s always there to support him when he needs it.

A surprisingly talented painter

Story: Holodrum, Labrynna, Lorule, Hytopia— the Hero of Legend has saved them all, as well as Hyrule twice over. Now these and other countries, much more aware of their proximity, claim they wish to form an alliance, and have even arranged for a celebratory tournament. But with legions of foreign dignitaries vying for political supremacy, it feels like someone might be up to something. Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before cultural differences and pride cause negotiations to fail…

< Part 1 | Part 3 >

Masterpost

[turndecassette2]

I do remember those magic knight people! Every once in a while I go back on your blog to try to track down those drawings because I like them and the concept in the description so much. I would love to hear more about them. Do you have a story planned out?

yeah, vaguely. so for the cosmology; there's this dystopian city I desperately need to draw a map of built above the fossilised remains of an ancient hell. the city mines the hell for 'hell-flesh', a semi-sentient magical substance that's kind of the physical container of the souls of the damned. I suppose this is like fantasy rare earths for fantasy compute or w/e. this has been going on for a while and the city is, kiruna-style, gradually falling down the pit. also as more of the hell is laid bare, semi-autonomous demonic creatures are let loose, maybe as a kind of immune response against human incursion.

(imagining this sort of thing + branching passages. but in the middle of an italian intra-feuding city-state w a population ca modern day singapore)

a kind of grid of bridges and fortresses has been built above the pit to protect the fancier, upper parts of the city from the decaying/descending bits below. the lower city is mostly miners etc & due to the fucked up mutagenic influence of living near a hell & touching hell stuff all day the people in the upper city treat them with suspicion. there's a 'join the US navy-army-whatever to get health insurance & education & basic human dignity' or like french foreign legion situation where by joining the elite magic army manning the little fortresses, ppl from the lower city can gain some access to the upper. in the reverse I guess for the upper city ppl it functions a bit like 'the wall' in asoiaf where criminals, noble bastards etc go to maybe redeem themselves or die horribly.

the fire magic used by the guards to fight demons etc is derived from the burning corpse of a god that is said to have been there since before the founding of the city (presumably the entity responsible for the hell situation in the first place). by swearing fealty to this dead(-ish) god one gets the ability to summon his divine flame but you forfeit your chance at an afterlife, or maybe you go to hell (no-one is quite sure). everyone kind of assumes once the body is fully burned the god will return/reincarnate (and either save or destroy the city, depending on who you ask).

the politics part; at its founding the city was part of some empire that has since collapsed (pretty recently). the city is dependent on trade to stay viable/fed and to appease the new warring states/mini-empires that have sprung up around it. the current ruler is a reclusive young queen & she has her favourite lord/advisor, an ageing academic who is sort of trying to liberalise the place or make it superficially less fashy. other lords dislike this & are working to either find her a proper king or hasten the return of some deity or other that will return the place to its former glory.

I guess the story? has this noble child bastard protagonist from a shady family* of word-mages who is sent to the 'centre' fortress & works her way up to become the apprentice of some hero-knight demon slayer guy with a possibly shady past (I think rn the name I have for the guy is Chaimé & idk if this is a good name? like the spanish jaime but w more e, & the tiny bastard is Myia I think). I imagine her being the sasuke to a happier, more popular girl who saves her from a demon (embarrassing) then is outed as a half-demon herself (she's the redhead in the drawings) & Myia warms up to her as she (demon girl) becomes increasingly isolated from the outside city (being supposedly dangerous or too powerful? I don't think Myia has much natural magic or w/e in her aside from being a nerd & very persistent).

sorry there's a lot here that would be SPOILERS if I ever actually made this into something coherent enough to be an actual comic ha ha. the knight/mentor guy gets dragged into a kind of fantasy 'business plot' & I guess part of that would be like, seeing to what extent he goes along with it & if he's actually a good person ha ha. + there's a bunch of other characters w stuff going on that I haven't figured out the looks of yet but. they're important in my head. the big bear-ish bf guy who gets sent on an expedition down the pit etc

* I have a distinct image of these people living hidden away in some gormenghast-style estate. they've habsburged themselves into being mostly deaf but the only ones around who can fully read/write the divine language that lets them do word-based magic & the other houses kind of have to put up w their weirdness. also scheming nobles in dune using sign language is 1 of my favourite things in the new film adaption & I like the idea of outsiders being forced to learn to sign (or else being cut-off from higher level magic) as some sort of power move? I don't think they involve themselves that much in politics since that's below them but are def part of the 'bring the gods back' thing, for better or worse. anyway after 'avas demon' (GUILTY PLEASURE I know it has such pretty colours but comes from such an unhinged part of the internet, will never stop apologising for this) started posting again I realised it had a character w the same look & vibe so will try and re-design protag girl to look more like this cute person I saw in a fashion post on IG

... let's see how this goes. came up w all this BS after some viz lady at comicon asked me if I wanted to make them a manga but it's grown from being too little to being too unwieldy to pitch. will see after I finish up my current projects. how much blood, swearing & genocide can a story have before it stops being YA. I think chainsaw man is sort of YA but dorohedoro isn't

[francesderwent]

Cate my love I’m thinking about using Secondhand Lions for a movie night lesson and I’m wondering can you help me See The Good Themes. Like I get them but I can’t Say them yet u know. What are the words for what it is about.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok first of all DO IT

second of all:

Secondhand Lions to me is tied up with that scene with Puddleglum in the Green Lady’s underground where he says “I’m going to live as a Narnian even if there isn’t any Narnia”—the heart of the movie is three scenes, three dots to connect:

the Everything a Boy Needs To Know About Being A Man speech, which says you have to go on believing in the most important things in the world—true love never dies!!—even if you aren’t sure they’re true. maybe even if they’re not.

Walter saying “Hub and Garth couldn’t have robbed any banks, they were in the French foreign legion fighting sheiks and stuff” and his mother says “you really buy that?? Mr. Doubting Thomas?” and he nods his head and smiles and says “Yes, yes I do.” even though the story is fantastical! he believes the adventure rather than the crime. and it’s a choice, to believe in a beautiful world rather than the crummy one his mother lives in.

the epilogue! which says you had faith in beauty and you created beauty even when the world showed you nothing but ugliness. so now I will tell you without a doubt. it was true. it was real.

there’s a Ratzinger quote from Introduction to Christianity which I dug up:

justice cannot be seen! the immortality of the soul cannot be seen! the ultimate triumph of true love cannot be seen! but we choose to believe in them anyway, and we choose to believe that the unseen is in fact more real and vital than the seen world of passing things. that’s what Secondhand Lions is about. it’s about Walter’s conversion—about his coming to exist in a human way.

[lemon-russ]

This is a new OC x Russ story I wanted to do. Very self indulgent, but a little less silly than my others. I'll still be doing reader insert fics and everything though! Just wanted something different. This one will hopefully be like a slow burn kinda story with more actual plot but there's gonna be smut eventually, as a warning. Short intro chapter for today :)

It's also 30k bc, well, Leman Russ.

(This will probably have breeding kink stuff eventually BUT I am working on a seprate breeding kink/ pregnancy one from the poll thats reader x russ)

(Thanks @squishyowl for the dividers)

Wolf Mother (Ch. 1)

Next>

Ao3

Leman Russ x Fem OC

CW (not necessarily this chapter but overall): Trauma, anxiety, PTSD, General WH40k violence, Sex, probably breeding kink stuff eventually, if there's something I miss and you want labeled let me know!!

Summary: Ex-Captain Vaille is asked a favor by her Primarch

EDIT NOTE: I wrote here that Wren was in the Astra Millitarum (Imperial Guard). I meant for her to be part of the Auxilia, since the IG did not exist pre-heresy. I have changed it to Imperialis Auxilia (Imperial army). Sorry :)

Word count: 1,118

Sitting at her desk in her little office, Wren writes paperwork that will surely just be mindlessly handed around and stamped without being read. She wonders, if she just started writing nonsense in the middle, if anyone would ever be paying enough attention to catch it. She wonders if theres any point in writing them out at all besides the Ultramarine's love of paperwork.

A knock at her door calls her attention. “Come in.” she answers, and the door slides open.

Her eyes widen, and she stands when she sees it is the primarch himself waiting for her.

“Lord Guilliman, what do I owe the pleasure?” She says quickly, and he holds a hand up with a soft smile.

“At ease, Captain.” He says, and you try not to grimace.

“I'm not a Captain, sir.” She corrects, “But it is an honor as always. What do you require?”

He gives a small smile, “As I've yet to think of a new title for you, Captain still works as well for now.” He says, gaze momentarily falling to her bionic leg. “But, I have a request.” He continues, pulling up a chair and motioning for her to sit.

She frowns a bit. It felt wrong to have the primarch sit at her desk like a common paper pusher for a meeting, but she sits down again.

“This is a request, not an order.” He starts, making her scrunch her brow. “It is not that I don't want you here. I think you are one of my top assistants.” He says gently.

The gentleness of the delivery did not dull the blow. “Sir… have I done something…?” She asks. It was improper to speak back to a primarch, but she couldn't help it. She'd been dilligent, attentive, thorough, orderly, all the things ultramarines represent.

He frowns. “I am not firing you, Captain, please, hear me out.” He explains.

“It's about my brother, Leman Russ.” He says with a small sigh. “He is impossible to work with. It is becoming an issue for me. I never know where he is or what his Legion is doing until last minute.”

She gives him a confused look, and then her eyes widen. “Sir, you… surely you don't mean to…”

He gives a sheepish smile, a foreign thing on the face of a demi-god. “Please, Captain? No, I ask this as a friend-” he says, scooting closer to her desk. “Wren, can you please go work with my brother? Even just so I have someone, *anyone* to actually get in contact with?”

Her mouth hangs open. “Lord Guilliman, what- why me?” She stutters. He was really going to feed her to the wolves, literally. She'd never missed a deadline, yet she was being tossed to Leman Russ.

Guilliman chuckles, “Come now, Captain Vaille. I can tell this work is slow for you.” He says, taking a framed pict off her desk.

She frowned a bit as he smiled at the picture, depicting a young, newly promoted Lieutenant Vaille smiling with her squad mates. Two eyes, two legs, years of service left in her.

She frowns as he places the pict back on her desk. “What do you mean, slow? I've been thriving.” She says, reaching over and tipping the picture frame face down.

He chuckles softly. “Thriving? Please. You're bored. You are excellent at what you do, but you do it by habit. I can see you don't love having to sit behind a desk.” He says, righting the picture again. “Third youngest Captain in the Ultramar Imperialis Auxilia. That isn't a woman who rests on her laurels.” He says with a knowing smile.

She frowns harder. “And, what, trying to put a leash on Leman Russ is supposed to be more fun?” She asks incredulously.

He laughs, “It certainly would let you see more action, if nothing else.” he says it cheerfully, but his expression softens when he sees her hand twitch to unconsciously rub where her bionic leg meets her muscle. “Of course, it is a favor I ask. You are free to say no.” He adds.

She grimaces. “I… I'd have to think about it, Sir. I'm sorry.” She replies, hand kneading her thigh nervously.

He smiles again. “Well, that's better than ‘No’ at least. Thank you for considering it, Wren.” He says as he rises, the chair creaking in relief. “You know where to find me when you make up your mind.” He adds as he makes his way to the door.

She gives him a nervous smile, and he nods and leaves the room.

He wants her to go babysit the primarch of the space wolves? Because he thinks she's bored? Well, she is bored. He's not wrong. Her retirement to paper pushing was not one she chose. But that is like saying “hey, you look bored, want to go hit bees nests with a stick?”

She sighs, slinking down in her chair. Her eyes find the pict on her desk he'd been looking at. Her younger, happier, more whole self grins mockingly from the frame.

She frowns and flips it face down again. Then she looked back at her piles and piles of paperwork. Menial, pointless papers no one but her would read.

Could she manage this for another 5 years? 10 years? How much paperwork does it take to cause a baseline human to lose their sanity?

She stares at the paperwork a long while, conflicted and fighting herself, before she lets out a long, tired sigh.

Guilliman looks up and smiles when he hears the doors to his office slide open and sees Wren walking in.

“Have you considered my request, Captain?” He says, sitting up straighter.

She sits at the chair across his desk with her lips pressed to a line. “Not a Captain. Can I give it a few months? Like a trial?”

He smiles wide. “That is a very fair and logical request, not-Captain. You are doing me a huge favor with this.”

Wren bites her lip. “Just a few months. I'll give it a fair shot. But if they're too… space wolves, I'd like to be able to come back.”

He nods, pulling out paperwork. “Of course, of course. I'll start the transfer and inform Leman of the plans. Can you be ready by tomorrow?”

She sighs and nods. “Yeah, I'll go pack, I guess.” She relents.

Her hand nervously kneads at her bionic leg again, and she hopes she isn't getting in over her head.

[mournfulroses]

Clarice Lispector, tr. by Giovanni Pontiero, from "The Foreign Legion: Stories and Chronicles,"

[smol-dragon]

it's my birthday so i wrote birthday thoughts. yippee!!

Frank Morrison x Reader : (466 words) He stresses about it being your birthday.

You can read this as either pre or post entity it works either way.

Birthdays weren't something he was entirely accustom to. Foster care made it virtually impossible to properly celebrate his own, whether it due to forgetfulness or pure disregard, so the concept was entirely foreign to him.The closest he had ever gotten to a party had been with the other member's of Legion, sharing some shitty pizza and a cake they had managed to snatch in the run-down ski resort they decided to call their home. So when you asked if the both of you could do something for yours, he wasn't sure what to do. He, of course, had accepted (how could he say no, with that twinkle in your eyes?) but couldn't make heads or tails what he was supposed to do.

Did you want a party? Did you want some surprise gift- were you expecting a gift? It had gnawed at the back of his mind for weeks, the excitement you carried with you only worsening his worries. Would you be upset with him if he didn't live up to your unknown expectations? Would you leave?

"Just talk to them, man." Joey had been the first to speak up several days prior, the rest of the Legion seemingly in agreement. They had all noticed something was bothering Frank, but not a single one had known the cause until you had brought up your plans to Susie. "They'll probably just tell you what they want." It was sound advice, probably the most reasonable thing Frank had been told all month, but who was he to listen? The following days went by in a blur until the fateful day arrived, the stress almost pushing him to the brink. The only thing keeping him from turning tail and running was the thought of how sad you would've been had he not shown up, the hurt you would've felt. In a rare act of consideration he stomached his pride and had joined you, finding his fears to be borderline pointless.

You had just wanted to spend time with him, you didn't want him to do anything special.

"You being here is enough, you were all I could've ever wanted."

Fuck, your words were so cheesy it made his heart clench. He would've called you an idiot had you not looked like a love sick puppy. You had hugged him, asked him if he wanted to watch shitty horror movies and spend the day laying together while you critiqued their shitty acting and story telling. He had agreed without a second thought, who was he to deny you?

Maybe he could get behind celebrating everyone's birthday like this, maybe not nearly as lovey dove-y but… It felt right, felt nice. It felt like he was finally regaining a piece of his life he had been robbed of so many times.

[kaledya]

I LOVE dark fantasy, (vamp/creepy gods) deep political drama and families and the steampunk vibe on it. The cherry on the top ! I'm probably more of a Edwardian era girly that Victorian era girly but love both of them.

For your story, its a nice start for the differences in social hierarchy, it's a classic. I am not familiar of Brandon Sanderson's (did I write the name right?) Books because they're not really well translated in my language, in my opinion. But I can help with some refs if you want !

For exemple, if you are new in writing this type of worlds, I would recommend "soft worbuilding and big on vibes". With visuals (anime) : Violet Evergarden, Howl's Moving Castle. Both are fantasy soft steampunk-y. You can see on the concept art, props, machinery that are not too complicated to make and design. Jules Verne's works/drawings are a basic for the steampunk theme! Of course.

Then If you want something more deeper for the construction of society, Arcane (the show) is a very good dichotomy of rich and poor. If you want to have nice victorian clothes searching, you have the manga EMMA from Kaoru Mori (beautiful drawings!)

I know steampunk fantasy books but I don't know if they are translate in foreign languages ??

ANYWAY ! I need to stop! Because this message will be longer than any human life spend ever ahah!

___

Also yes I have started my own AU before I know your art. Just "how would I have written Hazbin Hotel ?" I did a full redesign of mostly all the characters, have OCs and deeper lore on Eve/Roo/Lilith part of the story and a ALL deeper lore on Alastor, Alastor's backstory. Its the focus of it.

Its very demonical hierarchy, bureaucratic kind of vibe ? Like :

Character : "I will postponed my duel. We need that information... and this file?" Other character : "Let me call this president... yes. I need a new weapon for... what do you mean half of my legion is fucking dead ?! WHO is training them ?! I need an advocate." (Hell have presidents) Character 3 : "What the hell is the Order of the Flies ? What do you mean Satan had a revolution in mind ? I need a coffee. No. Kill me."

I just think its so funny that demons have a human hierarchy, makings calls and just dying under paperwork. Its chaotic. For exemple, Charlie has brother and sister, one just left Hell to chill in Earth, the other is kinda married to her uncle ? Its just wild. But demons !

I paused it to write fully Arencha Amendable! At the beginning, It was HARD for me to remember that your prince of Hell (Constantine) for exemple, is not my prince of Hell (In my AU) or the fact Alastor as a daughter too in my AU who is NOT like Serenity at all ahah. So I really work on knowing your SS AU to be great at it !

I would be happy to show it to you but not in public.🌸🌸🌸 In case I want to write it on ao3 one day, in another timeline or something ahah

____

I forgot to say that I love Lackadaisy too ! My favorite character is the Cajun cat girl... Sérafine ? Mordecai and the 3 main. The others characters are adorable! What's yours ?

___

Yes I just love your art. Stop making me cry damn it *take gently my hamster back* thank you 🌸🌸

___

Berserk is very great manga. I understand! When you said you have a t-shirt Berserk I look at mine and I was like (its a pastel t-shirt with a white cute bunnyon it) "slay !"

___

And yes of course the beginning of Constantine and Serenity friendship is difficult ! And slow ! Like Hell is not a good place to have friend at all, and then Constantine is really not approachable for Sinners normaly and Serenity even if she is kind of a show girl (a greatest actor!) She is also someone discreet in her ways of doing things. I think ? Trust is complicated to built !

I'm happy you liked the Constantine/Verdelet little short story ! Your little dialogue was SO FUNNY ! Because that's a good resume :

V : "come on..." C : "I will not have sexual intercourse..." V : "Lesson time !! Look at this fleshy heart !"

I reread it just to laugh again at your dialogue ahah.

___

Ahaha ! And I'm so ready for the Con and Lolicia fanarts ! 😭 all if your drawings. But don't worry if you don't have a lot of time to do it now.

Remember. I'm not going anywhere. Your studies/exams first🌸🌸

___

I'm glad you like Abaddon !! And the short stories with Azrael and him !

AND I TRIED FOR DRAWING AZRAEL ! he was more complicated than I expected?!

And thank you for blessing mine eyes!!! What do you mean ? Ahah.

Have a great day too 🌸🌸

Yes, these themes are seriously awesome! I'm so glad to hear YOU loved it TOO!

And the Edwardian Era is also a very interesting Era, and its aesthetics are very beautiful.

And yes, you pronounced the name correctly, and don't worry, I just read the 1st book of Mistborn in English because they did not translate it well into my language too! (I had a headache from translating it).

I'm also thinking of reading the book called The Way of the King. I often see Sanderson being praised for his universe building! Inspiration is inspiration.

----

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS And seriously, I have always loved the art design and environmental design of Violet Evergarden, it was also an anime that I loved in terms of story factors.

And YES! I definitely get a lot of inspiration from Arcane. In general, the Runterra universe is a universe that inspires me a lot.

Thank you again for your advice and resource suggestions, I will look into them all! Information is information!

The length of the message is really not a problem, I love reading what you write!

-----

WHATTTTTT!!! Luckily, I would really like to see your design for the characters and the lore you have in mind for the characters! And your version reminded me of the politics-based structure of the first 4 seasons of GOT Series where this type of dialogue dominates are truly perfect for me. And I think that the hierarchy of hell is a really important and interesting topic, and it's really nice to include these parts in the story.

And Yes lmao Imagine, there are papers lined up like mountains in front of the important figures in hell, and they have to read and deal with them one by one.

____

Lmao I would 100/100 be the brother who goes to the world and has fun. Paperworks wastes people's lives.

And I really understand, after watching House of Dragons, I started to dont judge(dont think about so much) such events in such fictions And yes, it is hell, anything can happen there!

-----

I seriously find your AU interesting and if you come back to write it one day I look forward to reading it! And I was really happy to learn that we were considering similar concepts for AU snow!

And how is your AU prince and alastor's daughter's personality and story on ice! I'm seriously curious about your perfection!

---

And lackdaisy is seriously amazing, I'm still surprised when I see the drawing quality of the comic, the illustrator is a very talented person!

Cajun Cat? I can't remember exactly, but I choose Mordecai and the main trio, they all have unique personalities. And I love that although Mordecia is shown as the most grumpy person, on the otherwise is the one whose facial expression you see the most.

My favorite? Hmm I guess my fav is Zib, the depressive musician cat who is fed up with life.🤌

--

Yes, but it's still your decision whether to add this friendship factor to the story or not. You can do whatever you want, I'm okay with both options.

--

And I seriously love the interactions between Verdelet and Constantine, they are two fun people to read! And I'm so glad you liked the little dialogue I wrote!

---

And thank you so much for being patient and understanding!I'm really excited to draw them both together!!

-- And of course I will love Abbadon, I really loved his design and personality and I say again, your fanarts are really beautiful!

-----Episodes comments--

First of all, I read it up to date and I liked all the chapters you posted. The activities to unite the team were really well thought out, Sir Pentious warming up to the team. Trust activity after he arrived

In general, the activity held among the hotel residents was really great, everything was thought out in detail, I really loved it!It was really nice to have the team interact with each other or to read Lolicia's reactions to some events. Alastor's dialogues are also really fun to read.

In the short stories, the vee's stories were really nice, reading all of them was both fun and I think it gave the reader a different perspective, it was a really smart decision and in those short stories...introduced OCs caught my attention, I'm already curious if we'll see them again in the future!

And I wasn't expecting to see the Constantine cut at the end of the Vee episodes. It was a really nice surprise and I really loved the way you showed him in the story. Again, it's a very Epic shot.

And your drawings were great, as was the short with Verdelet. The design of the succubuses in Story was very nice, and the designs of the other versions of Abaddon were very good. I really like your designs!

And The fanart you drew of Verdeletand Constantine in the past was VERY BEAUTIFUL, THANK YOU SO MUCH, MY EYES ARE BLESSED AND THE YOU DRAW CLOTHES ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL. (Verdelet gives me the material girl Vibe💅)

Thank you again for the fanart.

AND WE SEE A SECTION OF LOLICIA'S PAST. WHAT DOES THAT SCENE MEAN? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER? MANY QUESTIONS BUT NO ANSWERS!

*starts hanging pins and clues on the wall*

AND ABBADON AND THE ROO/EVE SCENE I REALLY DIDN'T EXPECT THIS WHATTTTTT????

But the way the scene was written and described was really great. I really loved the way you handled Eve and Roo. I already loved Abaddon. I can't wait to see more about him now.

I'm seriously curious about what route the story will take after the warm-up arcs are over!!

And PRIDE MONTH FARANT I seriously think you drew the characters very cute and beautifully, they all looked great, I really liked them, thank you for bleesing my eyes again!

I hope I haven't forgotten any detail, if there is, please let me know, I don't want to miss anything!

And I apologize for the late reply. I haven't been on Tumblr for a long time and the my ınbox was really full. I saw your message recently!

Thank you again for taking the time to write this fanfic and draw fanart. It makes me so happy to read your fanfic! But please don't tire yourself out and get plenty of rest, you deserve it! ❤️❤️🫂🫂🫂🫂

[blueiscoool]

What Was Life Like in the Roman Army?

The British Museum’s New Show Offers a Peek

"Legion" showcases objects including scabbards, coins, and the world's only intact legionary shield.

The viral nature of the term “Roman Empire” makes it easy to forget the trend started because ancient Rome had one of the most unforgettable armies in history. A new show at the British Museum is turning the spotlight on the soldiers that helped build and safeguard Roman rule.

Legion: Life in the Roman Army” transports visitors to the million square miles that was once the Roman Empire to explore its unparalleled military might through the eyes of the people who lived it. The museum already has a dedicated gallery space covering the rise of Rome from a small town to an imperial capital, covering a period of about 1,000 years. But the latest show humanizes that collective power through more than 200 exhibits ranging from soldierly objects to everyday items that capture the lives of citizens living under military rule.

Copper alloy Roman legionary helmet.

“Few men are born brave,” wrote Vegetius in the later Roman Empire. “Many become so from care and force of discipline.” From the 6th century B.C.E., soldiering was a career choice and joining the army came with substantial perks (if you lived), including a substantial pension. Foreigners entering the auxiliary troops could also attain citizenship for themselves and their families.

The show traces the journey of a notable Roman soldier, Claudis Terentianus, following him from his enlistment to his participation in campaigns to his retirement. Along the way, visitors can view the armor and weapons soldiers wielded in battle, from a gilded bronze scabbard to a copper alloy helmet to the world’s only intact legionary shield. Domestic objects such as children’s shoes illustrate the family life of military men; coins and tombstones allude to the cost of the empire’s wars.

Also included in the show is an ancient Roman arm guard, found in fragments in 1906 and recently reconstructed by the National Museums Scotland—the first time the artifact can be viewed in its entirety in millennia.

“Sword and sandals, helmet and shield are all on parade here as would be expected, but told through often ordinary individuals,” Richard Abdy, the museum’s curator of Roman and Iron Age coins, said in a statement. “Every soldier has a story: it’s incredible that these tales are nearly 2,000 years old.”

By Jamie Valentino.

A helmet depicting the face of a Trojan.

Sword of Tiberius – Iron sword with gilded bronze scabbard.

Tombstone of an imaginifer’s daughter, 100-300 C.E.

Roman scutum (shield).

Gold coin featuring an oath-taking scene between two soldiers.

A 2,000-year-old Roman cavalry helmet.

[talesfrommedinastation]

pspspspsp I'm working on a lil' project that unfortunately has been shelved due to longfic work, novel prep, work in general, and the fact that I'm a parent who just got elected to a museum board!

The Bad Batch/Clone Wars....ROMAN EMPIRE AU!

Clone Force 99 (Nonaginta Novem) the auxiliary legion who assists in the rescue of soldier/scholar Resonare (Latin for 'Echo') from deep within enemy lines in Germania. Captain Rex fits in, too.

Man, Rex was MADE for a Roman AU but I digress.

The auxiliary is composed of foreign soldiers who Don't Quite Fit In with the rest of the troops due to their unorthodox methods.

We got a hunter from Mauretania (Hunter), a demolitions expert and builder from Aegyptus (Wrecker), an assassin/sicarii from Judaea (Crosshair), and, of course, a druid/warrior scholar from the Veneti tribe in Gaul.

Yup, that's Tech. And figuring out what to do about his goggles was interesting. But there's always face tattoos.

(I threw in my OC as a Celtic lady from Hibernia because I Freaking Could)

I love studying ancient Gaul and Britain. I blame watching this (kind of terrifying but educational) video while on spring break as a kid:

At some point (8:19) it gets to an animated story with a guy in black robes wearing a deer skull talking about revenge, so, yeah. 'Educational but terrifying' was the average day for us in the 90's.

Anywho, I'm digressing beyond digressing on this fine OC Sunday. Enjoy!

@eyecandyeoz @deezlees @thecoffeelorian @sued134 @techs-stitches @autistic-artistech and all my other OC makers!

[fandomtrash-whataboutit]

Fairy Tail Freed Justine Thesis

This is where I go rlly into headcanon, but bare with me

Backstory. Part 3 (of ???)

As far as I’m aware, there is little to no information provided on Freed’s backstory. In fact, the same is true for Bixlow, Evergreen, and even Laxus himself to an extent.

Hahaha guess who read the spinoff story about the thunder legion which includes information about how the thunder legion came to be after drafting this post?? I hate everything. But academia waits for no man!

So I will start by explaining what info I want to bring to your attention:

Freed uses forbidden magic

Freed uses some form of demonic/demonic adjacent magic

Freed is extremely knowledgeable about magic as a subject, about the history and function of a wide variety of magics

Freed has spells including causing extreme physical pain, mental anguish, and instant death a.k.a. He uses very brutal magic.

He is a very formal, strict person

He is intensely loyal to the guild and has an equally intense loyalty to Laxus

He formed a team with Bixlow and Ever, but was quickly endeared to Laxus when they met

He started by challenging Laxus

Everything here is Pre-Thunder Gods, but is a significant part of my personal Freed insanity, so it stays in:

As one does with their favorite character, I like to imagine Freed is deeply traumatized. However I’ll start with some simpler stuff. The funny thing about the headcanon backstories of side characters in FT is that for several there needs to be some way to justify them going to a guild as a child. From the flashbacks, I consider that Laxus got especially angry and at odds with Makarov in his latter teenage years. I believe he would have to become friends with Freed before this, because at that point he would be extremely closed off and antagonistic. I say all of this because i believe it is canon that Makarov encouraged Freed to befriend Laxus. So here it is:

I have a couple of different ideas that never made it into full fics, but here are the more realistic basics. I come back to cults a lot, because it is easier justification for general demons and evil magic, but any sort of malicious group suffices. For any cult, you can have him born into it, but my original idea had him kidnapped as a child. Either way, it centers around child experimentation, mostly because of the demon aspect. I built a sort of world wherein demons are rare, because demonic gates are randomly created, so demons can’t cross over into the world FT is set in very often (considering ‘Demons from the Books of Zeref’ are labeled as such, I assume there are naturally created by some method). From here I have a couple of theories.

One could be a cult or malicious group find some way to open gates, but obviously can not fully do so, mixing in the concepts of demonic possession and hosts. For this one, I fooled around with the idea that children are easier hosts, because young children can not pose the mental opposition from a foreign entity trying to take over the body that a fully grown adult. However, children’s bodies likely could not handle demonic possession for very long, and deteriorate rapidly. In Freed’s case, he was a child with very strong magic potential but there was a second, very important factor: he got lucky. If we are operating under the function that demons are their own species in their own world, then they are not all ‘evil’. Any fully sentient species (ya know at a human’s level of awareness) does not only contain the capacity for evil, especially among hundred of millions or billions of members of the species. They might see humans like dogs, because the average human is def weaker than the average demon. But most humans have varying empathy for dogs. The demon that possessed Freed was not interested in slowly, brutally slaughtering a child for the sake of a chance to run amok among humans. And then the magic counsel, with the help of various wizard guilds, finally raid the malicious group, and there is a wild battle. Among the bodies and skeletons, Makarov Dreyer finds one living boy, curled in on himself, surrounded by felled guards. The boy’s magic is clearly out of control and very strong, which is how Makarov gets the government to release the boy into his custody.

That is the most thought out one, but the main points are the same. You have some malicious group, child experimentation, lone (or one of few) survivor Freed, out of control magic, and Makarov (or Gildarts in some cases). I believe his behavior and personality as well as childhood friendship with Laxus suggest that he came from a difficult place. If he joined the guild in his tween years, then he likely had magic already (who in FT could teach him that anyway) and there must be some explanation from where his insane magic comes from.

New Thoughts

I think it is super interesting that Freed formed the team, but it gives insane extroverts adopting introverts. You think Freed initiate that social interaction? Nah it’s just that once he became comfortable enough he could not in good conscience allow the combined might of Ever and Bix to make decisions. However this does do a couple of important things for me. I do think my important timeline point of Freed becoming friends with Laxus before all the really bad arguing with his grandfather began. Bc yes Laxus was pissy in that scene but that was normal teenaged pissy, if he was full asshole mode he wouldn’t have complimented them right after. Or started teaming with them. I really like the idea of borderline empath Bix, like he can just read people. And when you think about it, Bix absolutely saw wet cat teen Freed and was like ‘oh hell yea, mine now’. I hadn’t thought about the thunder legion as a team forming independently of Laxus, but I really adore that.

[travels-of-david]

Dwarven hymns

Dwarves do not sing as we do. A lyre and harp, even a tambourine are foreign items to a strange culture in their eyes. The humble drum has been the only instrument I have ever seen a dwarven bard use and even then, most of the dwarves turn their noses up at the shape of them, more so at the sound they make. 

Once, as I sat in a tavern on the outskirts of Cartha, a dragonborn asked a dwarf (I assume a female) for a song of their land. They merely laughed, insulting the dragonborn that he could surely not know the words to one of their hymns, much less play it on a piece of wood and string. The comment grabbed my attention and I soon found myself towards the city of Erabas, under the peaks of Mount’ Lesst in the far east. 

Dwarves do sing. Do not assume they don’t. But they don’t sing like us. 

The pickaxe and hammer are the instruments of the mountain, together they keep the tempo. Often as I walked through the city, I could hear the rhythmic beating of hammer on anvil and from deep in the mines, pickaxe on stone kept time. At no point does the rhythm end. A belief is that if the hammer and pickaxe stop, the forges will stop and the city under the mountain will die. 

For the most part, dwarves hum their songs. Even as they speak, they hum in order to keep in time with everyone else. There are parts, the closest we have are choruses, where they sing the words in unison. The first time I heard it, I was shook to my bones. Hundreds of thousands of dwarves simultaneously singing to the same beat. It was as if the mountain were rumbling itself and would cave in. Yet it never did. After the fourth so-called chorus, I had become accustomed to the sudden noise and on my last day, I even joined in, saying a few lines that I had heard and memorised. 

There are those amongst the dwarves who sing continuously known as the Leot’akuma. While the word has no direct translation, its closest counterpart could be either the choir master, or the master of the song, depending on how you view their occupation. Their duty is to sing the words no one else sings, the part everyone else hums. They walk with a staff, beating them continuously into the ground, keeping tempo with the hammers and pickaxes. Their voices echo throughout the streets and city, reminding everyone where they are in the songs. 

Dwarves do not sing one song, rather there are multiple all happening at once. Many times, one Leot’akuma would be singing about the history of the city, another would be singing about the king, and another about myths and legends. The dwarves that work hum along and when the chorus comes along, sing to what they remember. Once, in a garment shop I was visiting, the chorus came around. Each dwarf then sang something entirely different and not one of them was singing along with the story the Leot’akuma three streets down had been singing about. 

The king of Erabas granted me a gift to see the legions of the dwarves sing before I had left, since I had participated with a chorus and honoured him as a sojourner. The legions have their own Leot’akuma. They lead from the front, their staff still going to the beat of the hammer and pickaxe. The structure is still the same, dwarves hum except for the chorus, except they sing all the same piece and do so more regularly than the average worker. The result is a booming wave that could scare even the most fierce of warriors. 

Unlike us, dwarves do not write their music down. Each piece is memorised. The Leot’akuma, therefore, memorises a multitude of songs and choruses are passed down, either by family or by trade. One day a dwarf will sing his family's chorus, the next, he will sing the chorus of his work. The army has not only their family chorus but the chorus of the legion. Each legion has its own chorus and song, often going through the deeds of the legion. 

While I have been referring them to songs, that’s not exactly what they are, at least not as we view songs. I think a better name for them is hymn. They do not tell stories of women, food and drink, but of work, life and the hardships that they face. Their hymns are straightforward with little poetry in them. I suppose it reflects their culture. The life of a dwarf within the city is hard. They work twelve hours on a regular basis and many do not have days off for weeks or even months. They pour out blood and sweat to keep the city alive. The hymns of the dwarf are often the only thing that keeps them tied there. 

When I had left the city and returned to the west, I met an older dwarf who had left his city long ago. We shared a hymn together and he told me how he missed the hammers and how humans had made him lose his sense of rhythm, as they cared not how the hammer swung, nor how the pickaxe hit the stone.