#the his dark materials/wtnv au series

[ikebanaka]

If you like thinking about all of this as well as all the other theophilosophical bits of His Dark Materials, you like Welcome to Night Vale, and you like fanfiction, I highly recommend the series Republic of Heaven Community Radio by ErinPtah.

It's a series from the perspective of Carlos that takes place in Lyra's world, but much later in the same time period as WTNV. Night Vale is in New Hispania, Khoshekh is Cecil's daemon (his legs have a diamond configuration like the mulefa), and one of the points of conflict in the 4th part is that one of the scientists' kids settles as an animal from another world. There's also a lot of worldbuilding around how to accommodate various daemons in modern life; buses, for instance, have an oversize daemon section where people can sit without their daemons potentially touching another person.

The series has shaped a lot of how I think of daemons and daemon AUs, so I figured it was worth sharing.

So I'm still on this daemon AU kick, and I can't stop thinking.

What are the limits?

It's generally accepted that a daemon is an animal representation of the soul, right? So, you know, we've got birds and mammals and reptiles and insects.

But what about fish?

Obviously there's an issue here of, you know, environment, and if your soul literally can't survive in the air while you literally can't survive in the water, there's a problem.

But, hey, if it's small enough, you could have a little fishbowl for your daemon to live in. Hamster ball, but filled with water, rolling along at your heels. Fishtank on wheels that get tricked out like dudebros soup up their car. And maybe, if you're from a particularly sea-faring culture/lifestyle a water-bound mammal like a dolphin or an orca could make sense. And then there's things like sharks, which have so much symbolism attached to them that it seems a real shame to have to rule them out. (Someone who's particularly driven or ambitious having a daemon that would literally die if it stopped moving is a bit of symbolism I'm going a bit feral for, tbh.)

I think we have to rule out the deep sea creatures, unfortunately. Fishbowls and/or living on a boat wouldn't really solve the problem of pressure, and someone with a blobfish daemon would, uh... be in trouble.

And if we're talking about things that can't survive in the same atmosphere as humans, what about internal parasites? Like flatworms. I think it's safe to say that having your daemon parasitizing your intestine kind of defeats the purpose of having an external manifestation of your soul, but... There are species of flatworm that aren't parasites, so... do we just rule out all flatworms, or are the non-parasitic ones okay?

And speaking of flatworms, what about size? I've read some fun stories that deal with the issues that might come from having, say, an elephant daemon. It's not quite as dramatic as the issues of having an aquatic daemon, but actually, similar adjustments would have to be made to your living situation to cope. But, of course, it could be done and I don't think anyone's trying to rule out animals on account of how big they are, but I think it's safe to say that microscopic daemons are out for the same reason that internal parasites have to be.

There's a nice solid rule I can settle on; a daemon has to be a visible animal.

And, in point of fact, I think it's safe to say it has to be an animal. We can rule out trees and plants and even fungi.

So what about coral?

It's an animal, and if we are allowing for some aquatic daemons, then should coral be an option? Or are its vibes too plant-like to qualify? Do we rule out sessile animals like we ruled out microscopic ones? As much as I find the idea of a coral daemon absolutely hilarious, I am going to come down on the side of animals that are too much like plants are a no.

So a daemon has to be a visible, mobile animal.

But what about the ones that only move very slowly? I don't think we're ruling out sloths, but in the continuing vein of torturing myself considering various aquatic daemons, there's starfish and sea urchins and hell, even most bivalves can move at least a little, right? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't done that research yet.) And there's a lot of fun symbolsim to be had, there, I think.

And what about extinct creatures?

I think it's safe to say that mythical creatures are a no-go, unless this is a 'verse where those animals are real, (oh, boy wouldn't that confuse people in a world like HP where most people think dragons and unicorns aren't real, but people still wander around with dragon and unicorn daemons) so we can ammend our rule to visible, mobile, real animals, but could we go so far as extant?

If yes, that would have interesting world-building implications. Where's the cut-off point? Can we rule out dinosaurs because we don't/didn't have enough information for a daemon to settle into a form that wouldn't be technically mythical? But then, what about animals that go extinct within human history? What about all the people who had mammoth daemons or dodo daemons as those animals were dying out.

Would conservationists study daemon statistics to see if an animal has really gone extinct? Would an animal's extinct status get over-turned when a kid's daemon settled into that form? Honestly, I like this enough that I've convinced myself that, at least barring some very unique circumstances, extinct animals are not allowed.

So, it has to be a visible, mobile, extant animal. That can exist in proximity to humans.

Oh, and should probably add; visible, mobile, extant, and non-sapient.

You can't have a human daemon, or an elf or a dwarf or a fairy daemon even if they exist in that world, and if this is a 'verse with dragons who're more than just exotic magical animals, you can't have a dragon daemon. (Obviously, if your fairies are more like magical bugs than tiny people, then fairies would be a valid daemon.)

...I'm still on the fence about whether a daemon should have to be air-breathing or not. That kind of rule would still leave marine mammals available for the fun world-building of how people adapt to that kind of handicap. (...Do you think people with aquatic daemons would be considered disabled? Oooh, what about people with really big daemons? I mean, presuming such a thing is comparatively rare, people probably wouldn't be building schools with a mind to allowing elephants or giraffes to wander the corridors.)

Disclaimer! This is for my own creative process, and not intended to limit anyone else's creative flair. And, honestly, I'd love to hear other people's takes on what does and doesn't qualify for a daemon.

[despite-everything]

one weird side effect of being a long-time fic reader who likes to reread the same fics over and over again is that you just end up memorizing fic titles and sometimes you're going about your regular daily life and see something that is/is related to the fic title and you're just like... huh

[jupitermelichios]

Jupiter’s Top 10 Fic Series of the Decade

In no particular order (and belonging to no particular fandom)

Honourable Mentions: Of Hunters & Hellblazers by KittyAug - Self Help by maskedfangirl - Bad Jokes by hahaharley - Doubtful Sanity by DustToDust - Wilton’s Bakery ‘Verse by machine_dove & sproings -  Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc by etothepii - New Favourite F Word by Polaris - little beasts by noctiphany & likewinning

drawn into something by Nonymos (Venom, Eddie/Venom, Dan/Anne, Eddie/Venom/Dan/Anne)

“Eddie, you��� and him.”

“Yeah.” Eddie stares at the floor. “And… and look, Annie, I know it’s weird, but I can explain, I…”

His voice breaks, he’s damn near tearing up, panic rising again—and he jumps when Anne cups his face.

“Hey, it’s—it’s all right, Eddie.” She’s making a valiant effort to smile. “Don’t get so worked up. I’m not gonna run screaming.”

“No?” He laughs and sniffs. “Damn. Starting to wonder what it’s gonna take, at this point.”

This is not Nonymos’s only entry on this list. In fact they may just be my favourite fanfic author of all time. Drawn into something is everything everything I want from a Venom sequel, emotional, kinky, romantic, and poly.

OTP: Fight Club by MorganOfTheFey (Detroit: Become Human, RK900/Gavin)

"One hundred. Ten X," Nines says, voice flat enough it almost doesn't sound like bragging. "I would have been decommissioned otherwise."

"Ohhhh. Aw, that's sad. Just," She tries to snap her fingers and gets distracted for a moment when she can't. "Jus'like that?"

"Yeah RK, that's so sad," Gavin echoes. "Can you play yourself despacito?"

His own phone blares the song barely a second later. Gavin drops a few f-bombs fumbling to get it out of his jacket pocket and turn it off. Then as soon as he puts it back in his pocket, it starts up again.

"Thank you for the suggestion, detective," RK900 says. "This is making me feel better."

The fourth part of this is still coming out, and it’s the highlight of my week when the new chapter drops.

Dreams of the Waking Man by Lex_Munroe (Marvel Comics, Wade/Cable, Daken/Bullseye, Wade & Hope)

All at once, it hurts.  It hurts worse than the day Nate died (because Wade couldn’t accept it back then, insisted that Nate had managed to timeslide out, that the busted old telemetry circuit would only let him go forward and he was just lost for a little while).

He sits in the middle of the floor, ducks his head, cries.

She was smarter than he was—than he is.  She’d known all along.  Brave girl.

Timesliding doesn’t work right on Wade, never has, and their cobbled-together sliding module barely had power to take one stringy teenager for one jump.

She’d known she was leaving her parents, that she certainly wouldn’t see one of them again and quite possibly wouldn’t see the other.

Wade allows himself a moment more for grief and shame and humility.  Then he clears his throat and wipes his eyes and gets back to work.

This may be the cleverest fic I’ve ever read. Crossovers, theoretical physics, and the best love story Marvel never wrote.

The Mountains Are The Same by bonehandledknife & Primarybufferpanel (Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa/Max, Furiosa/Ace, Everyone & Healthy Coping Mechanisms)

“'Real isn’t how you are made’” Gilly said with the air of a quote, of a Remembering, “'It’s a thing that happens to you.’”

Rotor closed his eyes in a long blink, “A thing that hurts, innit it right?”

“Sometimes,” Gilly agreed, squeezing his hand, “That’s life though, when you are Real. We all become it bit by bit. But it doesn’t happen if you’re not strong, if you’re not soft, if you’re not sturdy.”

“ But how can y'be all of those at once ?” he wheezed out. It’s getting hard to catch his breath.

“You are all that right now, aren’t you?” Gilly asked him with piercing eyes, “No one else of all these Boys has had the strength to ask for me. And I will Witness you as I have kept all those of my sisters who’ve fallen these past days.”

This series is not always easy, it doesn’t shy away from the hard or the dark or the painful, but it is always worth reading.

The Unspoken Truth by Nonymos (MCU, Clint/Loki)

Barton glared at him like he was trying to decide whether he was being mocked or not, but the next second, his shoulders slumped. Loki was familiar with the feeling – that dreadful feeling of discovering something repulsive in one's own nature.

And then, he waited. He waited for Barton to think and connect the dots, to realize that an obvious solution was standing just before him, to remember how he had felt when waking up tied down, or being forced to drink down the water. The demi-god just stood there, hoping – almost praying for the first time in his life – that his enemy would look up at him with something else than hatred in his eyes.

No one writes kink quite like Nonymos writes kink, and this series is the perfect encapsulation of that.

The Stone Gryphon by rthstewart (Narnia, primarily Gen)

"Tools!" Richard was so shocked he was near speechless. He sat down heavily on the bench and began writing frantically in that strange code. "You are saying that you have observed ordinary crows use tools? Peter, that is… remarkable."

"Well, I've seen Beavers use fishing tackle and sewing machines, so it didn't seem that unusual at the time."

I’m not going to lie, this may not be to everyone’s taste. But, amateur theologian, lover of weird animal facts, and history nerd that I am, there are very few fics more exactly tailored to my interests.

Republic of Heaven Community Radio by ErinPtah (WtNV x His Dark Materials, Cecil/Carlos)

The greeting catches both her and Carlos off-guard. It's not wrong to talk directly to another person's daemon, but it's still a little weird. "Likewise," she stammers.

They're both waiting for the obvious next step, which is for Cecil to introduce his daemon. The fact that Carlos hasn't spotted her yet is understandable — a big community gathering in a small space, you get plenty of daemons breaking away from their humans to socialize directly with each other. Any of the dozen animal shapes currently within ten feet of them could be Cecil's. If his daemon has an unusually high range, there are even more possibilities.

What Cecil says instead is, "If you ever have any important experimental-theology news that you need to share with the town, call me any time! Everyone listens to my show." There's a touch of what Carlos hopes is nothing more sinister than smugness when he adds, "Everyone."

He steps out of the way to let someone else interrogate Carlos, and vanishes into the crowd. Carlos doesn't get a chance to see what daemon he leaves with.

This may be the most carefully thought out crossover I’ve ever read, and I’m a little in awe of ErinPtah’s skills.

The Soul in the Machine by missdreawrites & Troodon (Dishonoured, Corvo/Outsider)

“... Outsider?” Corvo asked, sitting down on the filthy floor. “In the published list of the people who died of the Plague… how many were registered Augments?”

<There have been a total of 231 dead in the past year. Of that group, 100% were Augmented individuals. This number has increased exponentially under Hiram Burrows’ “The Boldest Moves Are The Safest” law, allowing the execution of any individual infected by the Plague.>

“Son of a bitch, ” Corvo swore with feeling. “This is… look at this waste. We aren't even people to them, are we?” He looked down at the body next to him. “And I killed the one person who could help. I did this. I doomed an entire people to plague, and murder and…”

The cyberpunk Dishonoured AU I desperately wish I’d thought of, because it works so very well.

In Which Tony Stark Builds Himself Some Friends (But His Family Was Assigned by Nick Fury) by scifigrl47 (MCU, Steve/Tony)

“Do you know what the difference between a villain and a super villain is, Stark?” Coulson said, leaning his palms on the tabletop, looming over everything like a very snappily dressed gargoyle.

“Style?” Tony asked, pointing both index fingers in Coulson's direction like the gunslinger that he was. He added a wide grin to the gesture, but Coulson didn't seem to notice.

“A villain has a giant mass of robotic vacuum cleaners that he can sic on his enemies. A super villain gives them the ability to fly.”

“In my defense, I do not actually remember installing repulsor technology in the Roombas,” Tony said, choosing his words carefully. It had been a working theory, sure, but he still wasn't quite sure when he implemented it. Maybe sometime on Tuesday night... That one was a blur. “It was a very long couple of days. So I was as surprised by that as everyone else.”

This doesn’t really count as a rec, since everyone in the fandom has read it already, but it really wouldn’t be fair to draw up a ‘best of the 2010s’ list and not include this.

A Great and Gruesome Height by mokuyoubi (Hannibal, Will/Hannibal)

Bedelia lashes out but Will is quicker. He grabs her wrist, pressing hard between the delicate bones with his thumb, until she makes a soft noise of distress and drops the fork.

Hannibal purses his lips and leans in close to her ear. “Now that is disappointing,” he whispers, and Bedelia has the good sense to be afraid with that mouth so near her skin. He inhales her scent deeply and straightens. “I thought you and I were beyond such petty jabs.”

“Were it not for the fact that you required medical attention, I have no doubt I would have met a similarly crass ending at the hands of your pet,” she says, lip curling in disgust.

Hannibal smiles serenely and says, “Will is a creature entirely of his own making. It is not to me to guide his hand. Merely to share in the sublime perfection of his vision, when he allows it.”

There are many dark!Will stories out there, and most of them are a lot of fun, but few are quite at believable as this one.

[featherquillpen]

All Time Favorite Fics (1 per fandom)

I decided to challenge myself to make a reclist of my favorite fanfics from my eleven years in fandom, while restricting myself from reccing more than one fic per fandom.

Animorphs: Human Again by LilacSolanum (Rachel/Tobias)

Tobias is a fan favorite character, but nobody gets him on quite the level Lilac does in this fic. She faces everything difficult and heartbreaking about him, unflinchingly: his childhood abuse, his body dysmorphia, his subtextual discomfort with his own neurodivergence, and the ways in which he is fundamentally not human anymore. All while portraying his relationships with Rachel and Ax so very well.

Buffy/Angel: Mating by Herself (Spike/Buffy/Angel, Wesley/Illyria)

Fandom likes to talk about “solving” love triangles with polyamory, but the reality is that there would be a lot of bullshit and hurt feelings involved in turning a love triangle into a triad. This story faces that reality head on: Spike and Buffy and Angel just keep arguing and hurting each other, but slowly spiral toward each other. The background Wesley/Illyria pairing is a great contrast of that love spiral gone terribly wrong and twisted, a warning of where they’ll end up if they can’t work it out.

Doctor Who: Flowers by DameRuth (Doctor/Jack, Doctor/Jack/Rose, Jack/Ianto)

When I first entered fandom, I was strictly into genfic. This series is what made me a shipper. I love that it delves deeply into what it means to be in a relationship with an alien, and how biology can present real barriers – this series probably has the least human reproductive biology I’ve seen in fandom. I love the complex polyamory. I love that it takes the complex histories and traumas of the characters and lets them interact and breathe. And of course, crucially, I love the characterization of the light of my life, Captain Jack Harkness.

Hainish Cycle: A Piece of the Continent by Epigone (Genly/Estraven)

A followup on The Left Hand of Darkness that follows Genly on his next assignment as a First Investigator on a newly rediscovered planet. Epigone perfectly recreates the delicate anthropological worldbuilding of LeGuin, and explores Genly’s grief over Estraven in a way that makes me cry every time I read it.

Harry Potter: Blood Magic by GatewayGirl (gen, with light background ships)

This is a Severitus fic, an AU where Snape is secretly Harry’s bio-dad. I have always been interested in fic that brings out Harry’s Slytherin side, and that complicates Snape without erasing how much of a bastard he is, and this fic does both. The fic engages deeply with how broken Harry’s sense of family is, and what the path toward healing it might be. And the worldbuilding here about purebloods and different types of magic is so cool!

His Dark Materials/Chronicles of Narnia: The Ivory Horn by kaydeefalls

In this fic, Will Parry meets Susan Pevensie, another interdimensional traveler who has lost loved ones to a world she left behind. This is a crossover that shows the beauty of crossovers to make canons talk to each other: the grounded, spiritual atheism of His Dark Materials is beautiful in conversation with Susan’s story of rejection from Paradise. This is a fic about letting go, moving on, and embracing the world you live in, not the world you’ve lost.

The Hunger Games: In Protest of This Peace by aimmyarrowshigh (gen)

aimmyarrowshigh did amazing worldbuilding work in this fandom, and this fic is the best of the lot. A lot of THG fics assume that the Hunger Games were always the way we see them in canon, but aimmyarrowshigh shows us another story where the brave children reaped for the first several Hunger Games fought and resisted their fate, and it took the Capitol years to break the back of Panem. A breathtaking and tragic look at the rise of an authoritarian nightmare.

Leverage: Hotel Heart by Laughsalot3412 (Hardison/Parker/Eliot)

A Leverage AU where Parker and Hardison are psychic, and Eliot meets them when he’s sent to assassinate them, after having his own brain broken by psychics. This story is an allegory about abuse and the recovery process from it. The support and affirmation between the OT3 as Parker and Hardison help free Eliot from his abusive past is so powerful, it makes me cry every time I read it. I like this story so much I recorded a podfic of it.

Person of Interest: Dangerous if Unbound by astolat (Finch/Reese)

I highly recommend this fic even if you haven’t seen Person of Interest. This fic is a fusion between a BDSM and a psychic AU, where Reese is the world’s neediest sub and Finch is the only dom who can tame him. It reads like an incredibly satisfying romance novel, complete with brilliant original worldbuilding, compressed into just 23k words.

Pushing Daisies: Barrier Methods by robotsdance (Chuck/Ned)

I highly recommend this fic even if you haven’t seen Pushing Daisies – all you need to know is that because of magic bullshit, if Ned and Chuck touch, Chuck will die. The fic is about how their relationship works despite that one serious problem. This fic is achingly sweet and sexy, and speaks to all the ways people can be intimate with each other, no matter what their circumstances.

Raven Cycle: King by the Roadside by nimmieamee (OT5)

The Raven Cycle, as a series, engages deeply with class, especially as it plays out in the American South – but fandom rarely goes there. This fic does. This is an AU where Gansey doesn’t have a fatal encounter with hornets and get all tangled up with destiny – but destiny manages to find him anyway, and he ends up poor and stripped of everything but his bonds of friendship. I like this fic better than canon, which ended much less satisfyingly.

Rivers of London: Wizardry by Consent by Sixthlight (Peter/Nightingale)

There is an underlying theme in Rivers of London about the ethics of policing: what does it mean to serve and protect a community? This fic takes that underlying theme and brings it to the forefront. In this AU, Peter went to the Case Progression Unit, Nightingale never took on an apprentice, and Peter become the head of community relations at the Met. He discovers the Folly and proceeds to hold Nightingale accountable for the damage his attitude toward policing has had on the magical community, all while developing a deep respect for Nightingale and the community he tries to serve.

Sherlock: Names for the Galaxy by evadne (John/Sherlock)

The one thing I don’t regret about watching Sherlock is that it opened up a world of amazing fic to read. Even if you are as fed up with Moffat’s crap as I am, you will find something to love in this epic sci-fi mystery story chock-full of twists, turns, and original worldbuilding. In this AU, people sometimes randomly disappear, only to be replaced by a new person with almost total amnesia. Sherlock is one of these new people, the “afters,” and John is his minder who is supposed to help him acclimate to society. I honestly hope the author writes an original sci fi novel one day, because this story is so imaginative.

Star Trek AOS: Lunch and Other Obscenities by Rheanna (Spock/Uhura)

The Star Trek reboot movies are pretty blah, but this fic about the culture clashes between Uhura and her Orion roommate Gaila is amazing. It’s about a friendship blossoming across cultures, and about the bravery it takes to make that work.

Torchwood/Vorkosigan: Signals That Sound in the Dark by Dira Sudis (Aral Vorkosigan/Jack Harkness)

Pre-canon for the Vorkosigan Saga, Aral Vorkosigan has a one night stand with Captain Jack. This story is a beautiful character study of both characters, who meld across canons so well. I absolutely adore how Dira Sudis used Russian folklore as a way for Captain Jack to share his truth with Aral in a way he could understand. And I love how in Jack, Aral sees a glimpse of a world where love can be truly free and open.

Welcome to Night Vale: Republic of Heaven Community Radio by ErinPtah

Writing dæmon AU as much as I do has made me very very choosy about which dæmon AUs I read and enjoy. This one tops the list, every time. The fusion between WTNV and His Dark Materials is masterful, and Ptah makes a sincere effort to make Night Vale make sense as a setting in a way the podcast never bothered to do. I love crossovers best when they make both worlds better, which is exactly what this series does.

[elexuscal]

Fanfic questions! 11, 19, 33, 42.

11. Who is your current OTP?

Probably PearlRose and Korrasami. But honestly, I can never choose one OTP. There are so many ships I dig the dynamic of! 

(And yet I claim I’m not really a shipper, lol)

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Honestly... most Harry Potter ships? I love SiriusxLupin, but otherwise, whether it’s canon or fanon, I’ve never had much interest in who ended up with who. 

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

All of the above.

But if I’m gonna do a huuuuuugggge epic, I’m gonna need at least one co-author to keep me motivated. Even applies to my own novel XD

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

Okay, so I’m not gonna do any Steven Universe authors because... I’m personal friends with a lot of them and it’s hard to pick just five XD

1) ErinPtah, ( @bicatperson on tumblr) who’s written for a number of fandoms, but who I’m most familiar for Welcome to Night Vale. Especially their amazing series ‘Republic of Heaven Radio’, a stunning fusion/crossover with His Dark Materials.

2) Speaking of HDM daemon AUs... I’d be amiss not to mention Poetry ( @featherquillpen on tumblr), who does amazing Animorphs fic, the piece de resistance is most definitely Daemorphing. Which starts as a retelling of animorphs, only with daemons mixed in, but has grown into a radically diverging plot that does amazing stuff about PTSD, physical disabilities, families, rebelling against tyrannical regimes, mind sharing... great stuff. 

3) Also from Animorphs, Solomoon ( @thejakeformerlyknownasprince here on tumblr), who’s doing an excellent AU series based on the premise of Tom surviving the final battle, and everybody doing their best to recover after being forced into a brutal war as children.

4) I absolutely adore the works of Xparrot (aka @xparrot here, that’s easy to remember...). I’m 100% there for their WTNV stuff. Ace Cecilos fluff? You’ve got it. How about angsty, brainwashy Cecilos? Also there. And I adore their piece ‘Antithesis’, about opposite day coming to Night Vale. 

5) From Undertale fandom, I adore Feralpheonix ( @feralphoenix), who does great stories which are heartwarming without flinching away from the trauma all the characters have gone through, and their very real character flaws.

And as a bonus, since I’ve only written one of their pieces... but the amazing Portal fanfic ‘Blue Sky’ by waffles. 

[eternalgirlscout]

ambientmagic replied to your post “look wtnv is my favorite piece of media ever created and i care about...”

I'd recommend the series He Says He Is an Experimental Theologian

that’s the his dark materials au, right? i never read hdm so i’ve been hesitant to read the fic