#victorian occult society au

[diejager]

wdyt of the idea of high society victorian cod characters cus i saw one glimpse of the idea and thought hmmm occult ghost and im praying we get it

I can’t believe I went google searching for this Drabble XD

PS. I wrote this before seeing @justadeadreaper ‘s AU!

The Past Cw: SLIGHT DARK, DUB-CON, spiritualism, occult, sex magic, smut, cunnilingus, fingering, oral sex, tell me if I missed any.

You’d heard from other women that the dark and mystery-shrouded man was one of the best spiritualists in England —if not the only man practicing the dark arts. You were warned through loose lips and gossiping whispered that he was a giant for your time, dressed in the finest silks a man could buy for himself and portrayed an aura of pride and excellence, holding an air of finesse and savagery in every words he spoke. You had your own expectations before you met him, fingers trembling as you wrote your letter, a grieving tear rolling down your powdered cheek.

You waited with bated breath and tense shoulders for his reply, and when a letter arrived, the little skull wax seal playing a part to your excitement, you ripped in open and settled in your desk in an unladylike manner. For a man you didn’t know, you couldn’t help but admire his calligraphy, the hand which he used to write was skilfully gentle, his words curled with a gracefulness you envied. In the black lettering, he gave you a date and location, touched by your plight, he invited you to his house in an unknown part of Manchester.

You rode out a few days early to meet him, being aware that he’d extended his invitation to a week long stay after your second exchange. He expressed his solemnity and sympathy towards you, promising that he’d be able to help you and you couldn’t be any happier to be able to let the past rest.

But your expectations of him fell the moment he greeted you at the wide mahogany doors of his house, he was broad and talks, a giant dressed in black. The cuffs and collar of his long coat were woven with silver roses and vines, gracing pant-clad thighs, thick and strong as a tree’s tough bark. He wore leather gloves - black as the rest of his attire - and a gem-clipped cravat stuffed under his black waist coat, buttons holding it to his sculpted chest and a flared end with silver intricacies, silver flowers and plants sown into the fabric. He was dressed beautifully, like a phantom of the opera, but when you gazed up, his dark eyes stared back, skin painted black and face hidden with a mask, a smooth skull stitched into the fabric of his cover.

He was a masterpiece in dark garments, handsome and mysterious when he ushered you in, the rumble of his voice making your body tingle, warmth filling your abdomen. He was a quiet man, eyes expressing more than words could, he had a gentle silence to him with tender and guiding hands, herding you to his seance room —or so you thought. There weren’t any tables, only plush cushions and soft-padded chairs in the dimly lit room, shadows dancing on the dark walls when he laid you down, coaxing you to relax under his care.

“I need you to relax,” he whispered, pressing his covered mouth you your forehead, brushing your locks off your sweaty skin, “do you trust me, love?”

You felt light-headed, mind dazed with the warmth and comfort he provided you, you choked down a sob, your voice dying in your throat. So you gave him a small nod, shuddering when his hands grazed up your hips to cradle your cheek, brushing away your stray tear.

“Good, close your eyes for me, yeah?”

Darkness embraced you with soothing calmness as he cradled you in his arms, feeling you up until his hands slipped under your petticoat, his calloused - when had he taken his gloves off? - fingers hooking the band of your lacy underwear. He spread your legs, hanging them over his wide shoulders, his hot breath hitting your sensitive mound. You flinched when he pressed his lips to your covered slit, burying his nose in your thick bush as he drew a calming pattern on your inner thighs.

The fire brewing in your core boiled, strong and coming forth in giant waves. It was unknown, a strange sensation that rocked you whole. He dragged his tongue up your wet hole, circling your blinking cunt and to your twitching clit, lifting the hood to have better access to your sensitive nerve. You shuddered and jerked with every touch, little mewls and whimpers slipping past your painted lips and graced his ears with your pretty sounds.

His tongue was skilled, nimble as he dove into you, pumping your tight cunt with his hot muscle, slurping up your slick and rolling your virgin clit with his thumb, rough and calloused, yet gentle with you. You squirmed and murmured incoherent words, something about it feeling weird, about your body burning and your mind lost to it, but he only coaxed you further, praising you for being so good and compliant for him.

“Good girl, telling me how good you feel,” he panted, diving back into your gummy walls, tongue brushing your softness before he replaced them with his strong and thick finger, plunging into you and hitting your sweet spot, “M name’s Ghost, love. Scream my name, yeah?”

His soft praises and talented fingers had you tipping over, the fire spilling over the edge with a blinding light. You cried out his name - is moniker - with mewls and gasps, arching beneath him and wrapped your legs tightly around his head as you came, gushing around his fingers. He slowly pumped his fingers, tongue lapping and drinking up your slick, gorging on your drooling cunt as if it were the sacred waters of the fountain of youth.

He left you limp and numb, lashes fluttering, peering at him with tired eyes, bathing in the adoring eyes of the spiritualist that made you come with his mouth and fingers alone —something new to you, a stranger in your heart and throbbing core. With his mask pulled over his tongue, mouth and chin still wet with your slick, he mumbled to you, tender words coaxing you to sit up for him.

“Reckon we get started, love?”

Taglist: @sae1kie @yeoldedumbslut @bvxygriimes @distracteddragoness @konigsblog @im-making-an-effort @daisychainsinknots @0alk0msan @danielle143 @dont-mind-me-just-existing-sadly @tuttifuckinfruttifriday @notspiders @brokenpieces-72 @petwifed @aldis-nuts @randominstake @cassiecasluciluce @hayleybarnesx

[justadeadreaper]

❇COD Victorian! AU

A miserable, tiny island in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by sea on all sides, cutting it off from virtually any other country unless they had boats strong enough to sail the roaring seas that for some reason wanted to keep it separated. Surprisingly for such a small island it had a lot of influence and a lot of power, too much some people would say as they could not keep their fingers out of everyone else’s pies, greed destroying what they should have never owned in the first place. But, their influence did not stop there, no, not at all. It made one of the most famous Eras that would be used in the future for things such as movies or stories.

The Era of the Gentlemen. The Era of Industrialisation. The Era that kickstarted the start for the world we now know. The Era of the Victorians.

For it only lasting a few decades it had caused a great shift in the culture of the time. A focus on concepts such as charity, chastity, personal responsibility, controlled habits, and self-criticism. Especially for the upper class as with a changing society they had to somehow separate themselves from the growing middle class when the lines seemed to blur as the aristocracy slowly faded into the background as the focus for everyone became business and money. 

They created the Victorian “gentleman” and “lady”, the perfect incarnation of the Victorian ideals of the time that embodied everything that a Victorian should be but only if you were upper class as anyone subordinate them in status was too below to even dare to try and become these perfect embodiments that all the upper class was to the public eye. The middle class could try as hard as they wanted too but they were never able to get to the level that the upper class seemed to be on as the upper class had many more resources to be able to accomplish such a feat. They had the upper class blood that acted like a ticket to a good life, a golden pass through a gate that all wished to be able to go through but would never be granted such a privilege. To be a true Victorian they had made the standard of being cold and cruel in business allowing no emotions to cloud the matter that would allow them to grow their horde. While in public they would be modest, no promiscuous behaviour that anyone could blackmail them with as they promised to help with charity even if that promise would never be fulfilled. A truly controlled individual that by all accounts seemed responsible and in total control of their actions, never allowing for themselves to make a mistake as they kept by all the laws set by society and by themselves. But what lay behind the mask that was put up was the public and their business? What were their true selves that would only be seen in private? To their families they would either be warm and let out all the emotions they would never be allowed to show or experience in the real world or they would be extremely abusive, letting their anger out on the only thing they could think of as it could not be released on the world since there was nothing that could be done as no one would release the information for fear of what consequences would happen for dirtying such a name. But to strangers in the Victorian’s version of the “underworld” where they could do anything if they were smart enough or had enough money to get away with it. The mask would be completely dropped, not carrying at all as they let all of their inhibitions go to do anything they wanted. They could be as depraved as they wanted doing anything that ranged from dealing with occult to murder to starting their own organised crime rings to earn more profits to being as promiscuous as they wanted as they hopped from brothel to brothel to have some fun with anyone they could, especially the people they wanted but would never be able to have in public due to religious or social expectations, creating as many secret lovers as they wanted.

Set in the fog that masked the streets that were made up of buildings that filled every inch much like the masks that hid their owners was where the AU is set. Many from all around came to this now bustling city for their own business, both private or not, to make most of their connections and the more revolutionary machines that would fulfil their dreams or depraved their desires. We watch as the COD characters navigate this world and how they use what they have to their advantage, using their tactics and smarts for the upper class society they are caged in instead of on the battlefield.

Like my last AUs, this is an AU that anyone can use but this is just the foundation and base and the basic rules to it so people can build from it and have a starting point to expand from. All I ask is to use the tag I made for the AU, for you to credit me for the AU if you use this version, and credit me for using my version of the character, apart from that go wild and have fun with this AU, if you have any questions please ask as no question is a dumb question.

[ljungfrun]

So anyway here’s another au?? (or just an excuse to play around with fashion i guess)

[tagedeszorns]

Do you have a design for Victorian AU Magnus? 👀

Lord Magnus has just returned from one of his numerous expeditions to argue - as usual - with the members of the Royal Archaeological Society in London.

This last expedition took him to the wellsprings of the Nile - a journey that not only caused numerous political entanglements (the king had explicitly forbidden it), but additionally gave him the opportunity to visit quite a few excavation sites and bring back occult relics from there (the previous owners certainly no longer needed them).

Back at the bosom of the Empire, Lord Magnus will now devote himself to the task of finding new worthwhile targets for his exploratory urge and giving numerous presentations of curious artifacts to interested audiences up to the highest circles of society.

(the demonic bird hat made it into the Victorian Alternate Universe. Can you spot him?)

[immortalonus]

Victorian AU

So all my current writing project needs both its unpublished chapters re-worked less for any sort of audience and more for my own sense of sanity. So in an effort to unwind and post a something, have some DP characters as they would be sometime in the late 1890s

...FWIW, the lack of historical AUs somewhat astonish me. The mid to late 19th century, especially, was all about spooky ghost and magic shit. I mean, come on, this is the same era the Order of the Golden Dawn and Alister FREAKING Crowley were running around founding temples and whatnot, while the Society for Psychical Research was publishing major works on supernatural phenomena. There is no way the Fentons wouldn't be in the middle of all of this, home made ghost boxes and spirit phones in hand.

We'll start with Victorian!Sam.

The Victorian era often gets smeared in the modern day for being stuffy and restrictive, but by the later half of the period for sure, that label really didn't apply. This was the time of the first major feminist movements, and an entire breed of "new women" running around, playing sports, getting jobs, hassling for the right to vote, and generally being non-traditional. Victorian Sam would absolutely be all over this, much to her wealthy, traditionalist parent's grave dismay.

After a nasty case of food poisoning from a poorly cooked slice of beef that left her bedridden for much of her childhood, she has become incredibly picky about food, and is especially resistant to eating meat in general.

After so long stuck inside, Sam relishes freedom, and will often sneak out on her bike just to ride around, and takes uncommon pride in her physical prowess, which she built up in an effort to avoid ever becoming a sickly waif ever again. It is on one such unauthorized trip that she ends up meeting Tucker Foley and his weird friend, one Danny Fenton.

Victorian!Sam developed an interest in the forbidden and the occult after hearing her mother rant about the evils of secret societies and their "devil books," which she believed were ruining societies good Christian values. As a general rule, if it upsets her mother, Sam will take an interest in it, and by the time she was fourteen, had managed to amass quite a collection hidden away in the family attic. In addition to being fun to read, she uses the books to practice her French and Latin.

Without access to anything like the internet, and after spending most of her life in the gilded cage of the family manor, I imagine Victorian!Sam is more naive than Cannon!Sam, and in some ways, even more stubborn, since her high status and excellent education mean she is rarely, if ever contradicted, and is very much unaccustomed to being wrong.

Clothing-wise, Sam is decked out in a female biker's jacket (There's a photograph of the outfit here), with a female pompadour style haircut and a bicycle based off a Wisconsin made Sterling Safety Bike (Owned by Vladco in universe, of course.)

This work is actually unfinished, as late in the game I decided that this version of Sam looked too nice and lady-like to be a decent rendention of the character, but I'm also practicing the art of not dumping my work into the trash bin over and over and just accepting mistakes instead, so here it is.

Anyone who wants to play with, color, or otherwise mess with the piece has my permission to do so, as I have no intention of finishing this one.

A fully finished Victorian!Jack is incoming in the next few hours, probably after dinner.

[dragonbier]

Ok so...this all started as a super weird dream I had with demon!Flint and when I told @vicecapitain about it we started to create this victorian/occult/demon AU with a human Silver who lives sneaking into high society parties to steal stuff and one day during one of those eccentric occult gatherings he accidentally makes a contract with a grumpy red demon. But then she wrote this oneshot (here) and as always it all escalated quickly with much world building and lots of backstory, oh god...

Flint's demon self is clearly inspired from Captain Flint from Treasure Planet

[strangenewfriends]

This might be really specific, but do you have any fic recs that are historical fics but also have some kind of other element—ABO or vampires or magic or something? No WIPs preferably. Thank you!!

This is very specific but also a great genre choice! So here you go, in no particular order:

just my style by thoughtsickles: Harry is sick, and the only thing that might help him is the pheromones from his mate--problem is, he hasn't got a mate.Louis' just been disowned, and taking part in a medical study where he has to cuddle with some strange alpha seems to be his only option for earning a bit of cash.The hippies and Omega Rights campaigners are busy changing the world--but all Harry wants is a chance to live.

A Taste of Desire by casuallyhl:  A Victorian ABO where Harry is the owner of the most successful cotton mill in Manchester, and Louis is an opinionated social activist about to disrupt Harry’s world.

Settle Soft and Follow Thee by LadyLondonerry: There’s something incredibly magical about twilight, Harry’s always thought. He’s never met a deity himself, not even a member of the fae, but if he did, he thinks the inbetween time would be when it happens. Tonight he tries to remind himself of that, that he loves twilight, and that the music of the crickets and the babble of the distant brook are music to his ears.

Coax the Cold by mediawhore: English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

You Came Just Like A Flower In My Darkest Hour by graceling_in_a_suit: Harry had spent a thousand years as the king of a false kingdom, no one but his empty-minded subjects to distract him from his loneliness. Then, he saw a stranger in a mirror to another world. He was exquisite, this stranger; Harry wanted nothing more than to know him, if only he could be free from the spell that kept him trapped.

won’t you wear my watermark by bottomlinsons: A slow burn Regency AU featuring secrets, seduction and, our favourite, soulmarks

Lend Me Your Hand by Quickedween: Society has long since decided that the soulmarks everyone is born with are entirely unfashionable. They're just another way for people of a lower class to scam their way into marrying above their station.

A Love So True You Don’t Have to Be Afraid by homosociallyyours: In a world long ago but not so far away, where true love is valued above all else, Louis and Harry have already found one another. Their lives are shaken by the arrival of Simon, whose heart is more than a bit shit, and who longs to sow unhappiness.When Louis is changed into a dragon and Harry is the knight meant to vanquish him, it would appear that Simon has succeeded. But love wins, every time.

As usual I know I’m missing some great ones but these are all wonderful and worth a read!

[mermaidsirennikita]

books (in the time of corona)

PART I: ADULT EDITION

Let’s get real--we’re all going fucking insane.  

Therefore, I’m recommending some books with which you can kill time.  I’m breaking them into categories--the romance category including several subgenres but by and large covering books that focus more heavily on the romance than anything else.  These will all be adult books; I’m doing a separate page for YA recommendations.

I’ll be adding to this list as I finish books that I feel belong here.

ROMANCE

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux.  A young woman is abandoned by her scoundrel of a boyfriend, only to find a literal medieval knight in shining armor.  Pure 80′s cheese, a classic in the time travel subgenre long before Outlander ever happened.

The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts.  Six sexy people, three men and three women in Roberts fashion, travel across time and parallel dimensions to fight an evil vampire and her undead army.  Come for three fun romances, stay in particular for the “virgin bookworm queen captures the heart of the formerly evil 1,000 Irish vampire” ship.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne.  Rival coworkers who’ve always hated each other compete for the same job--until maybe?  They start?  Hooking up?

From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata.  A down on her luck singles figure skater pairs up with the pairs champion she’s always despised... Unless they in fact, in a STUNNING TWIST, do not hate each other?

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa.  A BIT ON THE NOSE RIGHT NOW, but I promise that this tale of a hot virgin Horseman of the Apocalypse spreading his plague and the one woman brave enough to fuck him is WORTH IT.  As is the sequel, War.

My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran.  A literal choose your own adventure novel, but the adventures bodice ripping Regency romance plots!!!

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang.  A sweet and smart woman on the autism spectrum hires a male escort to teach her to be good at sex.  Shit goes DOWN from there.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary.  She works days; he works nights.  She needs a cheap place to stay, and he needs a roommate.  So they share a flat and even a bed (sleeping on opposite sides and never at the same time) only communicating through post-it notes throughout the apartment.  What could go wrong?

Marriage for One by Ella Maise.  She can only get her inheritance if she’s married.  Good thing a glacial attorney has offered to marry her out of nowhere, only for paper purposes.  What could go wrong???

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa.  Lina is a wedding planner who was left at the altar.  Max is the younger brother of the man who left her, and apparently convinced him to do the leaving.  What happens when they work together?

Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.  Chloe suffers from a chronic illness, which means that she’s never had a life--and so she compiles a list that will help her get one.  On the list?  Meaningless sex.  Which she won’t have with her building’s superintendent, even though he’s really down to help her cross off all the other items, riiiight?

HISTORICAL FICTION

Passion by Jude Morgan.  The dramatic and intense height of Romantic England, told from the perspectives of Caroline Lamb, mistress of Lord Byron; August Leigh, his sister and lover; Mary Shelley; and Fanny Brawne, fiancee of John Keats.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.  Impoverished Griet becomes a maid in the household of the painter Vermeer, becoming his muse after he realizes that she has a natural eye--much to the dismay of his wife.

Snow Flower and The Secret Fan by Lisa See. In nineteenth century China, best friends Lily and Snow Flower follow each other through emotional and cultural revolutions, communicating through the secret language of fans.

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George.  Cleopatra recounts her life story, from her earliest memory, through her affairs with Caesar and Antony, and her end.

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn.  In Domitian’s Rome, a Jewish girl rises from the position of lady’s slave to the emperor’s mistress through wiles and scheming.

The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Thornton.  The rise and fall of Genghis Khan’s empire, as told through the women of his family--from his favorite wife to a clever daughter-in-law.

At the Water’s Edge by Sara Gruen.  A socialite follows her incompetent to Scotland as he struggles to find the Loch Ness Monster and redeem his ancestor’s name--finding herself and questioning her life in the process.

A Year of Ravens.  A collection of short stories by different authors, all centering on Boudica’s rebellion through the eyes of her countrymen and her enemies.

Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King.  A slave becomes a chef in the treacherous household of a social climber struggling to gain the favor or Caesar August.

Fatal Throne.  Six authors tell the stories of Henry VIII’s wives, all from their differing perspectives.

Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.  The rise and fall of a 1970s rock band is charted through the recollections of its members--as they recall what drove them apart, and in particular the intense relationship between the leader singers.

THRILLERS

The Girl in 6E by A.R. Torre.  A woman with murderous impulses locks herself in her apartment to keep the public safe, making a living as a camgirl.  She’s left torn between morals and impulse when she begins to suspect that one of her “fans” is dangerous.

Little Deaths by Emma Flint.  In 1960s America, a single mother finds her personal life and image called into question when she’s accused of murdering her two young children.

My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.  A nurse covers up her beautiful sister’s murders, only to be caught between loyalties when the doctor she loves falls for said sister.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine.  A plain “nobody” transforms herself in order to steal a high society housewife’s husband, only to deal with more than she bargained for.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.  A woman obsesses over her ex-husband’s new fiancee, leading her to disturbing lengths.

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones.  After meeting her ideal man, a woman must contend with his possessive mother, who will do anything to maintain her hold over him.

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman.  A couple on their dream honeymoon find something in the water that will change the course of their life together.

The Au Pair by Emma Rous.  The day Seraphine and her twin brother were born, their mother flung herself off a cliff and their nanny disappeared.  Decades later, Seraphine discovers a photo taken of her parents just before her mother’s death--with only one baby.  The only person who holds the key to the mystery?  The au pair.

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing.  A couple keeps the spark alive through murder.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager.  A young woman takes a job apartment-sitting in a high-end Manhattan building.  Shortly after she befriends another sitter, the girl goes missing--with everyone else acting like nothing is amiss.

The Wives by Tarryn Fisher.  Thursday is one of her husband’s three wives, though she’s never met the other two.  When she finally does meet the third wife, she discovers a woman far different from what she expected--and covered in bruises.

FANTASY/SUPERNATURAL/HORROR

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.  Sorcha is the youngest of seven children in medieval Ireland.  When her stepmother curses her six older brothers to live as swans, Sorcha agrees to weave them shirts of painful thistles, all the while remaining silent, to break the spell.

Black Pearls by Louise Hawes.  A collection of dark fairy tale retellings.

The Incarnations by Susan Barker.  A man receives letters from an anonymous source, detailing his supposed past lives throughout historical China.

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust.  A dark Snow White retelling, with a stepmother whose goals extend far beyond the princess.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo.  Alex Stern is discovered as the sole survivor of a brutal multiple murder, and is promptly scooped up by a group charged with monitoring the occult societies at Yale.  Now disguised as a university student, Alex must figure out who’s been murdering locals, while also hiding what happened the night she lived.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell.  A young widow in Victorian England is sent to her husband’s country estate to wait out her pregnancy, and is not alarmed to discover a “silent companion” (a painted wooden figure) in the house.  But when the figure’s eyes begin following her, she is sucked into a history beyond her imagination.

Circe by Madeline Miller.  The story of the woman who would seduce Odysseus, from her beginnings as a plain witch born of Helios and a mother who couldn’t care less.  A classic rise to power story.

CONTEMPORARY LIT

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal.  Down on her luck Nikki takes up a job as a creative writing class instructor for the Punjabi widows in her West London neighborhood.  It turns out that the widows thought she was there to teach them to write in English--which leads to the class becoming a place for them to share their stories orally instead.  And it turns out that they’re a bit... erotic.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.  Upwardly mobile newlyweds Celestina and Roy have their lives upended when Roy is falsely accused of a terrible crime and sent to prison for twelve years.  When he’s released early after five, he returns home to find that Celestina has changed completely, and their marriage is entirely unknown.

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo.  A young Nigerian couple has always been against polygamy; but after the wife fails to get pregnant, her in-laws show up on their doorstep with a second wife.

NON-FICTION/MEMOIR

Harem: The World Behind The Veil by Alev Lytle Croutier.  An examination of the Ottoman Empire’s harem culture, focusing on the women within.

Love For Sale: A World History of Prostitution by Nils Johan Ringal.  Not really a GLOBAL history of prostitution, but a good introduction starting with ancient times and going into the cases of more recent madams in America, with a strong case for legalization worldwide.

Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman.  A readable biography of the famously scandalous and tragic duchess, to be read while you kill time rewatching “The Duchess” starring Keira Knightley.

Lucrezia Borgia: Life, Love, and Death in Renaissance Italy by Sarah Bradford.  A fair but none-too-precious assessment of one of Renaissance Italy’s most controversial women, and an analysis of her relationships with her father and brother.

The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives.  While you’re quarantining, you might as well read the definitive Anne Boleyn biography, yes?  This one is responsible for much of the modern attitude on Anne.

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber.  A fascinating analysis of Marie Antoinette’s political life through her clothes.

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi.  An analysis of the infamous, unsolved “Monster of Florence” case.  One of the most gruesome serial killers in Italy’s history, the monster’s crimes were pinned on several different men, and even investigated by the prosecutor who botched the Amanda Knox case.

The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick.  An examination of the case of Han van Meegeren, a painter who forged and sold many Dutch master fakes, and the pretentious art world that let him get away with it for years.

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford.  A study of the women in Genghis Khan’s family, and in particular those that kept his empire from falling to ruin after his death.  A good companion read with Stephanie Thornton’s fiction novel Tiger Queens mentioned above.

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino.  How did the Getty Museum end up with so many stolen artifacts?  This book aims to find out.

The Creation of Anne Boleyn by Susan Bordo.  A different kind of Anne Boleyn book, studying her portrayal in culture and fiction--complete with input from Natalie Dormer following her portrayal of Anne Boleyn on The Tudors.

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses by Sarah Gristwood.  An examination of the women of the houses of Lancaster and York during their famous, long-running conflict--and how these women had an impact on battles and politics alike.

The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish by Emily Voigt.  The author delves into why people are so obsessed with the arowana, a rare and exotic fish, to the point that they’ll commit murder--and becomes wrapped up in the fascination herself.

The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy.  Over the course of a month, Ariel Levy watches everything she held true in her life--her financial security, her career, her marriage, and her pregnancy--fall apart.  Levy must confront what it means to live an “unconventional” and “free” life, only for that to become meaningless, and pick up the pieces.

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to find The Good Death by Caitlin Doughty.  Doughty recounts her global travels to observe and study different funerary and death rituals, recounting and analyzing her experiences with respect and personality.

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer.  A collection of female serial killers, analyzing why they did what they did and the cultural legacy they left behind.

Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found by Frances Larson.  A history of decapitated human heads, and what different cultures have done with them.

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke.  Tembi Locke was never truly accepted by her husband’s Sicilian family, as a black American woman.  But when Saro dies young of cancer, she finds herself more deeply entwined her in-laws, as she works to pick up the pieces.  (Warning: one of the most achingly romantic books I’ve ever read; but it will destroy you.)

[fyrapartnersearch]

Corruption

Please read the entire thing before contacting please! In a world where magic has been forgotten, the old gods have been burried deep in the earth, the occult hasn't completely lost its grip on people. Unbeknownst to them, certain people are bestowed gifts from the old gods. A third eye, an obscure mark from the old gods, allowing the bearer's pathways in his mind to once again comprehend the ancient magical ways and the occult. The mark usually manifests itself in odd and unexplained events around its bearer, people often dismissing them as paranoia.  Hello, name's Arty, I'm 21, EEST, and I'm looking for a long-term, MXM roleplay partner. If you liked the story above please do not hesitate to contact me. The story is set in a steampunk/victorian setting and will feature a character and their mentor exploring both the darker side of the occult, but the darker side of high-class society aswell. More details will be explained in person.  Requirements: >Please no pre-made characters. Let's create chatracters and tailor them to the roleplay please. I want something special <3.  >I demand alot of OOC talk, as this way I can grasp whether I'll click with my partner or not. Memes, aus, jokes and stuff are more than welcome.  >The roleplay is planned to have a decent ammount of smut in it, so PLEASE only partners of legal age.  >I only roleplay through discord.  >I roleplay 3rd person, past tense. My length for this roleplay idea is multi-para but not novella. I can go longer or shorter if needed.  >I'd like to avoid maybe overly-feminine characters if possible. 

If you find this plot engaging and you would to try doing it, please contact me at: Barbara the accountant#1365

[alarriefantasy]

Do you have any historical recs?? I love Victorian era but I’ll take really anything. Thank you!

I have been wanting to do this one for a while, glad you asked me!!! :)  Here you go, darling!! :)

                                        Historical Fic Rec

Summer Starlight by LadyLondonderry

Words: 3k

Only of three things is Harry Styles certain of. First, that this is his first summer in the large city and he must make the most of it. Second, that his parents are pledging to have him married off to a wealthy benefactor by the end of the summer. Third, and this is most important of all, Harry doesn’t particularly care for the notion. In fact, he rather has his eye on a very different sort of prospect.

We Gotta Get Away From Here by AFangirlFantasy

Words: 4k

Or a Royal AU where Prince Harold needs saving and Louis is his Knight in shining armor…sort of.

We Never Said Our Love Was Evergreen by PumpkinspiceLou 

Words: 9k

OR A Victorian Masquerade Ball AU where Harry is basically the Phantom of the Opera

A Rose, By Any Other Name by iwillpaintasongforlou

Words: 10k

Louis Tomlinson is the head of New York City’s mafia, and Harry is the beautiful boy from Texas who falls in with the wrong crowd (which turns out to be the right crowd).

lead me out on the moonlit floor by scrunchyharry

Words: 12k

Victorian!AU where Louis is a wealthy lord throwing a masquerade ball for his birthday and Harry is a toymaker who’s only confident when he’s wearing a mask.

all i trust, i leave my heart to by prettyoddnjh

Words: 13k

Salzburg, Austria. 1938.

Harry Styles is a young man who, despite his protests, will never be a Catholic priest. He is assigned a summer job as a governor for the six siblings of Mr. Tomlinson, a wealthy ex-navy soldier who runs his household like a navy ship. They fall in love.

The Sound of Music AU that a couple people did ask for, if you can believe it.

Howls Like A Beast (You Flower, You Feast) by indiaalphawhiskey

Words: 16k

Palace of Versailles.

“You don’t love me,” Louis had said, utterly blasé as he callously fractured the heart of a Harry that was just barely eighteen.

“I do,” Harry had insisted pleadingly, green eyes already watering.

Louis had rolled his eyes, exasperated and flippant in the way only beautiful, young boys could be when faced with the affections of a baby prince. He had run his finger down Harry’s cheek then, had forced him to look into his eyes as he delivered the final blow.

“You’ll change your mind once you’ve seen more of the world,” Louis had teased, pressing a brutally delicate kiss onto Harry’s lovely, pure cheek. “Once you’ve been properly defiled.” He had whispered filthily, delighted by the gasp he heard, the frantic pink blush that had rested high on Harry’s cheeks, the power he had felt at knowing he could make the Crown Prince squirm.

Our Stable Heart by Arora

Words: 30k

Louis Tomlinson had it all. A beautiful mansion in the country-side of London, a well known job in the heart of downtown, and a lovely fiance he would soon marry…But what happens when Louis’ world is turned upside down just from gazing into a pair of dreamy, green eyes?

Something Louis could never have imagined himself…

Our Sweetest Memorial by messofgorgeouschaos

Words: 34k

Ever since Harry was forced to break off an engagement five years ago, he resolved to never marry for the remainder of his life. Now his family must move out of his beloved Kellynch Hall to recover some of their debts that their father had accumulated. The last thing Harry expected was for the new tenants to be related to his former fiancee. And for that fiancee to come back to Somersetshire a much more wealthy man that still holds resentment for their past. A Persuasion AU.

Along The Heather by noellehenry

Words: 35k

Jane Eyre AU/Victorian AU

Orphaned Harry Styles grows up with his cruel aunt and cousins, before he is sent away to a boys’ boarding school, which teaches poor and orphaned boys. Even though his aunt tries to undermine Harry’s experience at the school, he does well in school, and stays on at the school as a teacher after he graduates.

When he becomes restless after significant changes at the school, he applies for a job as a tutor at Thorgill Hall, teaching the younger brother of Mr. Louis Tomlinson. Harry develops romantic feelings for his pupil’s brother…

Thorgill Hall,however, holds a secret; it’s becoming slightly more eerie every day and when his life is threatened, Harry makes a drastic decision…

I Sail With You by AFangirlFantasy

Words: 35k

Against his wishes, Omega Prince Harry Styles is arranged to mate with someone he doesn’t love, much less knows. Though he pleaded to his parents incessantly, they not only refuse to comply but force him to depart on a ship days later. Harry prays for fate to step in, to change what’s to come, however, the answer he is given is not exactly in the form he had hoped.

Enter Will Tommo – deadliest pirate captain of all seven seas.

If I Loved You Less by allwaswell16

Words: 36k

Beautiful omega Louis Tomlinson is set to make his come out in London society and determined to find a mate in his first Season. With the help and protection of his oldest friend, Lord Niall Mendes, he takes Society by storm.

Being a wealthy and titled alpha means Lord Harry Styles has grown used to avoiding unmated omegas…until now. This Season he finds himself at every Society event just for a chance to speak with the omega with the flashing blue eyes.

Louis has the aristocracy at his feet and all the suitors he could hope for, but his secrets may ruin his chance at a love match.

All The King’s Men by sacredheart (orphan_account)

Words: 39k

Louis is an arrogant, self assured prince who falls in love with a charming thief named Harry during his youth. However, years later, a revolution is sparked amongst the frustrated commoners… and Louis’s former teenage romance is leading it.

Fool For You by flowercrownfemme, qupecupid

Words: 46k

In which Harry is a brooding prince who’s scarcely smiled since the death of his mother and Louis is the dashing jester hired to change that.

keep this love in a photograph by suspendrs

Words: 48k

Or, it’s 1919, and Harry’s been falling in love with his best friend for his entire life.

the last person on earth i could ever marry by igotfeels

Words: 50k

A Pride and Prejudice AU, where Harry is fed up with rich men and Mr Tomlinson is a very rich man.

For the Sake of Propriety by panda_bear21

Words: 52k

Louis Tomlinson is the caretaker of an estate that is not truly his, and when his Uncle calls upon him to take it back, Louis knows he will soon be out on the streets with four overly zealous sisters to care for. His only solution: wed the eldest two off and pray for the best. When an even better solution unexpectedly presents itself in the form of the charming Mr. Styles, Louis is faced with a difficult choice. But as with all things in the regency era, reputation very well may threaten to outweigh the fleeting matters of his heart.

Paint The Sky With Stars by kiwikero

Words: 62k

Or, the historically accurate Titanic AU with a happy ending.

Liberté by larriebane

Words: 64k

AU. 1647. “Pretending you don’t have a heart is not the best way to not get it broken. It’s just the easiest.”

Lend Me Your Hand by QuickedWeen

Words: 63k

Society has long since decided that the soulmarks everyone is born with are entirely unfashionable. They’re just another way for people of a lower class to scam their way into marrying above their station.

Lord Louis Tomlinson, Viscount Loring, on the other hand, has always believed that he will find his soulmate one day. Despite preparing for a match his whole life, he is entirely unprepared for the arrival of Gemma Styles’ younger brother.

Harry Styles has been traveling and away from society for over a year. Coming back, he intends to spend time with his sister, and slowly reacquaint himself with life in town. He doesn’t need to wait around for a soulmark to determine how his life will play out.

Such Good Luck by casuallyhl

Words: 66k

Or, an Edwardian AU where Harry is a young aristocratic lord and Louis is a working class dairy farmer. Secrets are a necessary part of their relationship, but Louis has one that could topple their whole world.

Si Pudiera Volar by messofgorgeouschaos

Words: 68k

When Harry’s fiancé leaves him for his cousin, he looks the other way for the sake of his happiness. He’ll do anything to forget about him, including joining a monastery. It isn’t until his cousin’s former lover, a pirate, appears that he realizes everything is not as it appears, and an honest pirate might be the only person worthy of his heart.

Or, a fic loosely based on Corazon Salvaje.

Chasing Empty Spaces by Lis (domesticharry)

Words: 79k

The year is 1934 and Harry Styles was to inherent the largest tobacco firm in the south. His parents have picked out the “perfect” girl for him to marry and he has the privilege of receiving the highest education possible. The problem was, Harry hadn’t realized he didn’t actually want any part of that future until he met a mechanic named, Louis Tomlinson.

Coax the Cold by MediaWhore

Words: 86k

England, 1897.

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

Victorian Boy by DonnaHaywardsHead

Words: 101k

Victorian AU. Harry the virgin Duke of Somerset knows little of love, while Louis the sly Duke of Warwick knows too much. When the two dukes come together for the Bilsdale fox hunt in York, Harry finds himself drawn into Louis’ bed. But when secrets from Louis’ dark past come to light, Harry fears that the fox isn’t the only one being hunted.

A Taste of Desire by casuallyhl

Words: 104k

Or, a Victorian ABO where Harry is the owner of the most successful cotton mill in Manchester, and Louis is an opinionated social activist about to disrupt Harry’s world.

The Florentine Letters by forreveries

Words: 118k

The edge of summer has just begun to dawn over the university campus, exams are almost over and the dust is just beginning to settle over the desks.Harry Styles, in the last years of his PHD study of The Renaissance, has managed to maintain a safe existence within the walls of his books and classes and late night romances. He’s made a place that’s safe from the expectations of high brow society and the cold stare of his father.That is, until an all too sharp, all too witty, and all too handsome man walks into his life.Louis, the cocky man with the smile, brings with him a strange object - declaring that it’s a puzzle piece from the one and only Leonardo Da Vinci. He speaks of age old mysteries, and puzzles that cannot be solved without Harry’s help. Immediately, Harry is quite literally swept off his feet, and together they take their chances on the find of a life time - Da Vinci’s lost works.But what Louis doesn’t mention is the high stakes game of cat and mouse that comes with chasing things that do not belong to you. A game where nothing, and no one, is as they seem.

credit to the owner of the manip

updated 07.21.2019

[g-2doc]

INCUBUS AU

I COME BEARING COLOURED ROUGH SKETCHES AND CHARACTER BACKSTORIES!!

- Based in Victorian era England -

(despite me knowing nothing about Victorians but hey ho.. if I did a Restoration au I would be ON that, but not Victorian idk anything about them... Weird how I make this unnecessarily harder for myself... I could base it in modern day if I wanted?? But no. Victorian aesthetic. Anyway, this was written at like 2am, so there's probably typos everywhere, but who cares?? I don't!)

Stuart Pot (b. 1865 AD - Victorian)

- Lives an upper class lifestyle. His father, David Pot, is a very famous inventor/engineer who started off with money from his parents anyway. His mother, Rachel Pot, does work in medical sciences/human biology on behalf of the Royal Society - though isn't recognised for her work as she's female, and was only granted access through a close friend (Frederick Cracker).

- Still lives with his parents at 23 years old (relatively normal at the time until marriage, especially after his head injury as a child calling for regular medical attention from his mother).

- Engaged to Paula Cracker (who I like and will NOT villainise no matter what you say!!!), which was arranged by his mother and her father (a highly respected fellow in the Royal Society). The engagement is a little complicated, as he has a habit of putting off the arrangements, to his mother's great annoyance. He and Paula are close friends, but neither can say that they love the other (like most engagements of their class). Paula, with his permission, sees other men in secret outside of their engagement. Whilst he similarly has her permission, he doesn't see other people, mostly due to his sometimes over-bearing parents and also his shy nature.

- His mother encourages him to go into the sciences, after his father's efforts to get him into engineering failed miserably. The connection to the Cracker's only assists with this. He sometimes talks to his mother's friends about medicine, as he has a small amount of interest in it, and they're experts anyway. Regardless, he always dreamed of being a musician, but he was told he couldn't by his mother. His family have a tradition of going to the music hall on the 23rd of every month (started on his birthday) because he likes to watch the singers. He also regularly goes to saloons by himself.

- He's mostly attracted to men, but has never been with anyone - hence his reluctancy to be legally bound to Paula straight off. As this is based in 1889, homosexual acts are a criminal offence (introduced in 1885), so obviously this is difficult for him, and causes him to be quite inhibited as a person. (Completely unrelated, but whilst researching this I found that it was illegal for a man to sleep with his deceased wife's sister, but, it was noted, not illegal to sleep with her first cousin. Mad.)

- He has blue eyes, until they turn black after he falls in love with Murdoc. They turn black as falling for an Incubus is sort of seen as a curse, so has side effects. Neither of them know this though, since Murdoc has never been loved before, and 2-D knows near to nothing about the occult anyway (he doesn't even really know what Murdoc is, but can tell he's not a virtuous creature by any means).

Murdoc (b. 666 BC - Brittonic Celt (sort of...) )

- An Incubus (which is a type of demon that feeds from sexual activity ;)) ). Like all demons, he's considered one of the many spawns of the devil. He feeds on fragments of a person's soul, and feeds once every other day - but can survive a month without feeding. Food doesn't provide sustenance and if he's fed it, his body will reject it and he'll vomit.

- Has to sleep, more than humans do (roughly 14 hours a day, usually from around 2 am to 4 pm). He usually sleeps in the morning as he's strongest from 9 pm up until 12 am after such it then starts to be considered early morning. In usual circumstances, he uses this time to find a mate and seduce them, sometimes entering their dreams to do so - sometimes this takes more than one night, but he'll never stay at it more than two nights, and will instead find a different, easier mate.

- If he plans on feeding off of a mate, he can't initiate the relation, or it doesn't qualify as the victim giving up their soul willingly. Therefore, to effectively feed, he needs to be the submissive one (Murdoc's a bottom and you can't stop me). He'll occasionally stay with a mate for a little while if it guarantees regular feeding, but can't stay indefinitely due to the side effects of his feeding often eventually resulting in a near-to-death state, and also the risks of being found/hunted. He can also get a person's soul from killing them, but because this is unwilling, it has side effects. If an Incubus/Succubus feeds this way regularly for a length of time, they'll eventually go insane, and other Incubi/Succubi will come and kill them out of instinct.

- Mates can be male or female, as Incubi (and Succubi) are bisexual. Murdoc hunts them out because he can sense lust, and Incubi/Succubi can tell the difference between certain types of lust. For example, he won't prey on someone lusting for a woman, because obviously he'd struggle a lot with that endeavour..

- (This is mostly based off stuff on Wikipedia) If someone who has done the sign of the cross within 6 hours touches him, their touch will burn him, hence this works as good Incubus and Succubus repellent. However, unlike other demons, he is unaffected by exorcisms (as it's his own body) or blessed items (as he doesn't respect the power of the church). (This isn't off Wikipedia, this is made up:) Also, he can't enter a church, and the Lord's prayer inflicts excruciating pain.

- His hands and feet are blackened up to the joints, he has glowing red eyes, pointed teeth, forked tail, and wings - which are all features of a demon. Unlike other demons, Incubi and Succubi have avian wings, not bat-like ones. Murdoc's resemble that of a raven, though there are many other variations. They also have longer tongues. His nose is broken and his front tooth on the right is chipped from being assaulted by a human man who didn't like him having relations with his wife, and was unafraid to punch a demon in the face (what a legend...)

- Doesn't really have any powers until the night window, where he can enter dreams and also perform telekinesis (though it isn't easy and takes a lot of effort, unless he's very angry, then it's a breeze). He's immortal and can't be killed by humans - can only be killed by other demons. Obviously he can fly, y'know, since he has wings... Otherwise he's just a weird looking guy who's been going about getting laid for 2.5 thousand years

- Once he falls in love (with Stuart), he gradually becomes more human. However, it isn't natural for demons to become human - so the process causes a lot of issues for him (gives him severe mood swings, makes him very irritable), and the physical changes tend to hurt a lot. First his feathers begin to fall, then his limbs fade to their normal colour and his eyes fade from red to brown (this bit isn't painful), his claws become brittle/break easily which can cause pain, his tail starts to grow shorter giving him growing pains. After this, no more changes can occur naturally, but the bones in his wings and his tail start to deteriorate severely, causing incredible amounts of pain. To relieve this, he'd have to cut them off, but as he becomes human he is able to die of blood loss/infection/go into shock so it'd be very risky, especially in a time where medicine is still underdeveloped. Furthermore, demons who become human are rejected by the devil and also looked down upon by all demons/monsters and may be killed out of spite.

.

And that's all I have so far - but I've started a fic, so I'll probably make up more as write it..

[irmolorienasks-imagines]

Feanturi: A Victorian AU -inspired by victorian horror literature-

The Feanturi are a very old english family, living in the Feanturi mansion for generations.

They used to be legends in many aspects of society from law to politics and medicine

They are closer to a cult than a normal family; they are secluded, unapproachable, unconditionally support eachother and are loyal to their virtues and sense of hierarchy within the family.

As the name suggests, everyone in the family dabbles in the occult in one way or another.

There is a long history of incest running in the family-as no outsiders are allowed- that runs for as long as the family exists. That is one of the reasons of the family's decline, because, as generations passed, the offsprings were more and more sickly and weak; tormented by both maladies of the spirit and the body.

The last of the Feanturi, the ones who will inherit the family mansion and the family name are Namo, Nienna and Irmo.

Namo is the oldest brother and the head of the Feanturi family since the passing of their parents. He is always solemn and brooding; and tormented by a strange obsession with death and dead things. He delves into necromancy, divination and blood magic; and holds the belief that the Feanturi are cursed, that the mansion is haunted by the ghosts of their predecessors and that he, his sister and his brother should not get married or have children of their own so that the name and curse of the Feanturi dies with them. From the three siblings, he is the one in the best state of health; if we overlook the fact that his bones and joints hurt with the change of the seasons.

Nienna is two years younger than Namo; however she has acquired the the role of a mother figure for her siblings because of her tender and caring nature and because of the fact that their mother died when they were very young. She prefers to remain inside the mansion, being too afraid to go out to the outside world and its cruelties. She is a silent presence that wanders around house like a ghost and although her words are few, her understanding is vast, and she is a very good listener and councellor. Namo is even willing to set aside the hierarchic rules of so many generations to share his concerns over practical matters with her. She delves in tarot readings and divination, and has a passion for symbology. She suffers from a "form of intense melancholia" as Namo puts it, since her mother died.

Irmo the youngest was born five years apart from Nienna. Since his birth it was apparent that the feanturi curse had befallen upon him from the white color of his hair that inherited all the family members that died while still infants. However, despite the odds, Irmo survived -although barely- and he grew to be a petite and feminine young man. He is mostly to be found in the mansion's library or the mansion's garden, swinging from the branches of a tree and gazing into nothimgness, muttering to himself. All the Feanturi are prone in the arts, but Irmo has inherited that trait to the greatest extent; and his paintings adorn many corners of the mansion. He is the most eccentric of the siblings, talking in a bizzare, umintelligible manner and avoiding all public events, because he is afraid of people he does not know. He is keen on potion making and crystal therapy and he experiments a lot with psychoaffective substances. That interest of his has been sparked by his ability to see visions of things that others cannot and hear what Namo thinks is the voices of the dead. Irmo often feels burdened by those abilities, but Namo and Nienna reassure him that it is a gift. Because of his fragile health he spends a great deal of the day asleep. When he was younger, Namo would remain awake next to him, holding his hand and reading to him bedtime stories, or just observing him as he slept; and the two brothers have since come very close to eachother and very tender feelings have bloomed between them.

All three siblings have inherited some of the maladies that have been tormenting their family for many generations, such as overly heightened senses that make any form of intense light or sound unbearable.

@elf-in-a-mask @cerulean-shark @morgan--inkeye @bodhvild @morgause1 @the-feanturi @apaqualme @mandos-namo @aearluin

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Trick or Treater

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but mods can contact me with any questions.

Alternate Universe Works | Assassin's Creed | Far from the Madding Crowd | Fidler Afn Dakh | Simoun | Sleep No More

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity; stories whose resolution isn’t the sex scene. DNW "pussy."

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; unrequested trans versions of characters.

I am requesting exclusively fic, but open to art treats!

—

Fandom: Alternate Universe Works (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Female Li Shang (Mulan 1998), Female Ishmael (Moby Dick), Female Captain Ahab (Moby Dick), Pokémon Trainer Harrowhark Nonagesimus

Female Shang - I would...just love it so much if you Monstrous Regiment-ed this canon up. Shang also being a woman would give her even more reasons to be a hardass (is she in disguise, and thinks that her regiment failing would invite suspicion on her? is she openly female and needs to prove that she’s as good as her father and the country need her to be? is she paranoid about other women in the army, or does she want to have a female regiment?) If you want to write F!Shang/Mulan, I’d also love to know how falling in love with a woman plays into Mulan’s whole arc - it’s certainly not what her family was preparing her for, but neither was being a soldier and saving China. What does seeing another woman dressed as a man (whether Shang is openly female or not, I imagine she’d wear men’s clothes), or a group of women dressed as men, make her think? What are Yao, Chien Po, and Ling like in an AU where they’re also female, if that’s what you choose to write?

I’d be happy for just about anything in this vein - Shang character study, Mulan/Shang romance/sex (this is a canon that is a Lot about bodies and clothes), gen shenanigans with the rest of the squad, both? During canon or post? I love loyalty kink and butch characters a lot.

Female Ishmael, Female Ahab - I’d love to know more about these female sailor(s) and what drives them. A female Ishmael might still decide to sign on to a ship whenever she gets the blues, but it’d be socially fairly different, mightn’t it? (Worldbuilding-wise, I’d be more interested in a world where sailing and whaling are still typically male things as in our world, even if you make them a little less exclusively male, than an egalitarian or matriarchal world; something that women might do, without necessarily disguising themselves as men, but a GNC thing to do.) Would her already diverging from the “expected” female path in this regard affect her reception of Queequeg as someone who’s an outsider to Nantucket society? And, if Queequeg is also female, the the intimacy she offers? What does she still find outlandish? (If you also write f!Queequeg, is her life a typical female life for her home culture, or not?)

As for Ahab - just imagine this fanatic, tragic, vengeful character as a woman - with the willpower not only to do all the things canonical male Ahab does but also in a society where women aren’t really supposed to sail or kill or lead! Is she the odd one out in an otherwise male crew, or are there more women in the crew by the time she’s captain?

Pokémon Trainer Harrow - It's a great idea!! I think she'd have a Duskull, but I'm very open to any choices you make in Pokemon-ing this universe up. Do different houses tend towards different types or no? What are their different cultures around Pokémon raising, training, and fighting? What is Harrow's relationship with her Pokémon like, singular or plural? (I don't need you to think through the implications of what Lyctorhood entails in this setting if you'd rather just write slice of life, and, you know, I was writing this and realized that that might make Harrow's Pokémon Gideon. Thanks, brain, I hate it. DNW Gideon as a Pokémon.)

—

Fandom: Assassin's Creed (Treat only)

Character(s): Aveline de Grandpré

I'm close to finishing AC Liberation and I love Aveline a lot! I really like how she basically makes New Orleans into her own little fiefdom and does what she feels like doing. Not in a #girlpower way, but in the sense where she considers herself to be the best person to judge and decide in any situation and to deal with happenings on any level in her various personas, and where becoming a business magnate is actually a part of her character and plot in a way that it wasn't so much for earlier Assassins? I imagine Assassins from other places talking about New Orleans and going "oh yeah, Aveline de Grandpré runs that whole city from the shadows," and then you go there to talk to her and she pulls a Lexa (as in The 100) where she uses her slave disguise to eavesdrop on you while you wait to meet with this Assassin lady merchant.

I like her friendships with other characters too - Gérald being there as the loyal support guy, Élise and Roussillon being the people she can be at ease with (she seems so happy to see them - "Bonjour, smugglers!"). I'd be happy to see something set in New Orleans as she takes it over or after she takes it over, in the Bayou as she lives there in a very different way (where and how does she sleep when she's there?), or in Chichen Itza if you want to expand on her discovery of all the weird shit. [Edit: I've finished the game now and I also like the aspect of her mission with Connor that's about how sometimes Assassin "brother"s from other locations will show up where you, another Assassin, are because there's something they need to find or do, and you'll work together? I guess that's also the premise of AC Rev, but.]

I do ship her with Élise and would love to read that if you do too! Fighting together, whether in the Bayou or on a mission further afield that's just them; Élise visiting Aveline in New Orleans for some reason (what if they go to a fancy party together with Élise dressed as a man?); downtime fluff?

Fandom-Specific DNW: Aveline/men, even mentioned or out-of-focus.

—

Fandom: Far From the Madding Crowd (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Bathsheba Everdene

One thing that always sticks in my mind about this novel is the way Hardy calls Bathsheba “the young farmer” just as he refers to the men as farmers - which, just saying, is more than most people writing about this story can do - and so, that being the case, what I’m most interested in is something about Bathsheba as farmer. One day in the life or four seasons in the life or five plantings/harvests in the life, or pseudo-academic fic about a case study of a woman farmer in the Victorian era, or a conflict between the farm and nature that Bathsheba has to decide how to solve.

Feel free to bring in other characters if it suits what you’re trying to do, but what I’m really looking for is a focus on Bathsheba’s work, determination, and process of learning. (I like how Bathsheba’s relationship with Gabriel ends up playing out in canon, but I don’t want shipfic.) Other ideas: something like a merchant ship AU (as the first alternate setting that came to mind where it would be not exactly the done thing for her to captain her inherited ship and make commercial decisions herself - although I do have to point out that contrary to popular belief, there were a lot of women on shipboard in the age of sail, may this be useful - but also where nature and luck/fate are as influential as they are in the original setting), or something in which the land, superstition, and ritual are more overtly magical. I LOVE English folk magic and ritual shit.

I’ve requested both tricks and treats for this fandom, but would prefer that the outlook of the fic, including if you decide to incorporate non-canon magical/spooky/occult elements, be ultimately positive rather than the doom and gloom that canon leans toward at times. A seasonal treat would be right up the alley of this request.

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Fandom: Fidler Afn Dakh (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): The Fiddler

I would love to read about the Fiddler from the recent Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, understanding him/her/them as a real person with a backstory, present and future rather than a symbol. They seem to be female (and their actor describes them as female) but wear men's clothes and are on the men's side at the wedding, and everyone seems cool with that? I'm 100% on board with any gender identity you decide you'd like to write them with. How did he/she/they come to be who they are, and what are their interpersonal relationships (platonic, familial, romantic, any gender) like? What might an encounter between them and the supernatural be or have been like? Have they always lived in Anatevka or do they wander from village to village?

Fandom-Specific DNW: antisemitism as the focus of the story. I've requested both tricks and treats, and I acknowledge that it'd be unreasonable to pretend that antisemitism doesn't exist in the world of the story, but I would prefer for any dark/scary elements to come from supernatural horror (I grew up with Singer and other Jewish folklore horror, give me as many dybbuks and demons and witches as you like) rather than the human capacity for racist violence.

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Fandom: Simoun (Treat only)

Character(s): Neviril

I've just completed a rewatch of this show, and it has reaffirmed for me that I love Neviril. She's a leader in both a military and a religious sense, respected by her squad and by the populace, but figuring out what that means to her is such a personal journey. I still love her scene in the hearing where she speaks aloud what no one has wanted to admit or talk about - that they're soldiers now, this is war, can they still call themselves priestessses? - but I was also struck on this rewatch by how Chor Tempest increasingly becomes a player in itself in the politicking (the bit in Episode 21 where the whole lot of them fly out against orders, because it's what they, with Neviril leading and giving voice to the group, think is what their role is about), and by the scenes of her blessing the people (when iirc she is needed elsewhere by the military governor for flight purposes) and Paraietta (after what Paraietta did to her).

I love the military aspects of this canon in general (and the associated tropes of loyalty and trust and bravery and positive/negative relationship to authority) and that definitely ties in to Neviril figuring out what her role is as the squad leader, but I'm also just here for that very process of figuring it out and defining it for herself.

So...what happens to her post-canon? What is the "new world" and her travel in it like? If she makes it back to the main world when war is brewing again, but her old cohort can't fly anymore, what does she see her role as being - a leader for peace, for war, something else? How do she and Aer interact with Paraietta, Rodoreamon, Floef, and/or Vyuraf?

Ship-wise, Aer/Neviril grew on me a lot! I appreciated Aer more as the determined bit-of-a-loose-cannon type than as the manic pixie this time, and noted Neviril's comments about how she was drawn to Aer's determination. But I'd also be up for a poly situation where she's involved with both Aer and Paraietta, who are friends, or, I guess, one where it's a three-way relationship, although I don't personally know what the Aer/Paraietta side would be like! (I do like how they work together in battle even when they're shown as having personal issues.)

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Fandom: Sleep No More (Treat or Trick)

Character(s): Bald Witch, Sexy Witch

One of my favorite things about Sleep No More was the idea of this world of darkness and magic that’s underlying or intertwined with the social world, rather than in a separate space - I loved seeing the Witches at the ball and, holy shit, Bald Witch pulling off her wig after the ball in her solo ritual thing! (I hadn’t realized it was a wig until that moment.) So -

how do either of these witches interact with the normal world (Paisley/the hotel/etc.) or deliberately carve out other spaces (like the apothecary shop)? For that matter, I love the apothecary shop and Bald Witch's scene in it A LOT, so more about that would be awesome.

How did the Witches find each other - was it before or after they were witches?

Are they immortal, and if so, what’s that like for either or both of them?

How much do they have a day-to-day life vs. witching all the time?

Their card game is super cool and I'd love to know more about the Witches and cards.

I was very struck on my last visit by Sexy Witch's dance for Hecate after the rave. The fan material seems to describe it as her having trouble coming down, but it felt to me like pleading with Hecate for more power, more magic.

If you want to ship them together, and/or with Hecate (or both) I’m very up for that as well. Some sexy prompts if you go in that direction -

ritual sex magic to make something happen or share power?

If they have non-witch personas and sleep together while they’re being normal people, is there still magic?

Sex in one of the play locations - the apothecary, the ballroom, the bar that’s the empty shell of the real bar?

Slow dancing nude, or another inverted version of something in the normal world?

Fandom-Specific DNW: f/m ships with requested characters

[ljungfrun]

"The order received few initiates in 1888, but under Madarao’s solid leadership the reliability of these four gentlemen set a new standard of professionalism for their peers and future students. Since then [Madarao, Gozu, Suman Dark, & Arystar Krory III] have made many contributions to the occult societies of Europe, earning themselves respectable positions as exorcists, botanists and scholars."

[astralfrontier]

A “fusion AU” - a combination of many fictional franchises into a single chronology - based on the theme of biology. Viral infections, nonhuman creatures or half-human hybrids, giant monsters, and more.

Prelude (antiquity - 1945)

Since ancient times, certain humans have been immortal. In later centuries, they would learn the reason: an infection by a strain of the "Progenitor virus". Aside from longevity, the virus conveys a healing factor, immense physical health, and silvery eyes. The virus conveys immunity to many diseases - it will immediately infect and neutralize microbes, for example - but does significant damage to the gut flora, leading to significant chronic pain.

Many immortals are angry at their condition: they will live forever, and suffer forever. Some manage to kill themselves, despite their resilience. Others form cults, or are overthrown by fearful mobs. Eventually, several immortals banded together to investigate their condition, and if possible cure it - if that meant death, at least they would know peace. They submitted themselves to investigation by Faraj ben Sālim, the Sicilian-Jewish physician and translator. In 1281, thanks to the ability to dissect and analyze a human body while it still lived and spoke, the group made a breakthrough. Though they do not speak of it, the group found a way to cure their endless pain and live normal lives. They banded together, taking the name Da’ath, or “knowledge” in Hebrew, swearing to become masters of the living world.

In 1718, a member of Da’ath manages to experiment with the Progenitor virus. He infects medicinal leeches with his own blood, which when applied to a human corpse could give it a temporary un-life. His story later forms the basis for Mary Shelley’s story “Frankenstein”.

In 1858, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace introduce the theory of evolution: genetic descent with modification due to natural selection. Virchow, Schleiden, and Schwann develop the components of cell theory around the same time. The Victorian zeitgeist takes such discoveries in strange and unexpected directions. “Social darwinism”, a term invented in the 1880s, claims that “survival of the fittest” is a suitable template for society, not merely a description of natural selection. The Contagious Diseases Act is passed in 1864 and confines women accused of venereal disease to “lock hospitals”, disproportionately affecting the female working class of Britain. This conflation of morality and biology continues as a theme throughout the Victorian era.

This mixing of science and sociology comes to a head in 1893, when Professor Emmanuel Hildern elaborates his theory of evil as a transmissible plague and proposed, effectively, a vaccination against it. He bases his theory on the discovery of a humanoid but non-human skeleton, which develops tissue when exposed to water. Hildern is eventually locked away in an asylum run by his brother, and no further sign of the skeleton is found after a heavy rainstorm.

According to Darwin’s theory, biological mutations can arise by chance, then spread broadly throughout a population. A radical change to the environment can be sparked by a single surprising event. History sometimes works in a similar fashion, and one particular spark came about because of a king and a writer.

In 1862, King Otto of Greece is forced to abdicate the crown. It is offered to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Bulwer-Lytton is a noted Hellenophile and his books have been well received by the public for years. Along with the offer, Bulwer-Lytton receives a startling secret. Shaken by what he is told, he declines the honor and returns to his work. Four years later, he is elevated to Baron.

In 1871, Bulwer-Lytton writes a fictionalized version of the secret he was told, called “The Coming Race”. This novel features an unnamed narrator who discovers a way into a subterranean world. This inner Earth is populated by a people called the “Vril-ya” with telepathic and parapsychological abilities. Their civilization and powers are attributed to mastery of a mystical substance called “vril”, analogous to electricity in its variety of applications.

The concept of “vril” is seized upon by a number of occult thinkers, including Rudolf Steiner, the literary critic, esoteric writer, and founder of Anthroposophy. Steiner’s thinking separates him from his original comrades in the Theosophical movement, as he is more interested in developing a philosophy that incorporates natural science than following Theosophy’s mystical mindset.

The Wahrheits Gesellschaft, or “Society for Truth”, emerges as an inner circle of the Thule Society in 1911. The Society for Truth’s members have read “The Coming Race” and other sources, and conclude that it is based on a true story. They begin searching for tangible evidence of vril, driven by Steiner’s naturalistic approach.

In 1927, Robert Olmstead visits the New England town of Innsmouth, as part of a search for details of his own family line. He speaks with town drunk Zadok Allen, and learns the secret history of the town. An intelligent non-human species, the “Deep Ones”, live under the sea, and periodically come to shore to breed with human beings. Almost everyone in Innsmouth is now a human-Deep One hybrid. Alarmed by this discovery, Olmstead approaches the Federal authorities with convincing evidence, causing them to send submarines and soldiers to Innsmouth. A general cleanup of the town occurs, driving the Deep Ones further under the sea. Olmstead himself commits suicide shortly thereafter, puzzling most members of his family.

Officials who obtain the corpses of Deep Ones compare them to the 1893 writings of Professor Hildern, and conclude that his “mysterious evil skeleton” was in fact a Deep One. The alarming conclusion is that the creatures must have existed for at least 80,000 years.

Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor, joins the Nazi Party in 1937, and the Schutzstaffel (SS) a year later. Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, was a noted esoteric and member of the Thule Society. Himmler’s mystical leanings aren’t of interest to Mengele, but some of the hints uncovered by the Society for Truth and spoken of by the SS high command

such as unusual human genetic potentials - fascinate him. He begins a series of monstrous experiments on prisoners during the war, unhindered by any sort of ethics or morality. He is assisted by other geneticists and scientists, among them Brigid Tenenbaum and Henry Jelliff.

Mengele and Jelliff escape the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945 and move to Paraguay. They continue their research into human cloning. The Battle of Berlin ends May 2, 1945. Only July 9, the day a partial solar eclipse occurs in Berlin, Brigid Tenenbaum finally uncovers evidence of vril in a secret laboratory.

Prophase (1946 - 1961)

Andrew Ryan flees Russia in 1919 as a child. His experiences under the Soviet dominion of his homeland sour him on any sort of socialist or collectivist system. He feels a similar disgust at America’s "New Deal" social programs. As a successful industrialist and capitalist, he envisions a place where his ideals could be fully realized. He plans to create his own city, untouchable by “parasites”.

Following the bombing of Hiroshima, an event that Ryan sees as a perversion of science, he creates blueprints for an underwater city called “Rapture” that will serve as a home for the elite. Construction commences in 1945. On November 5, 1946, Rapture is ready enough to welcome its first citizens. Only the best and brightest receive invitations, regardless of their origin or past history.

Operation Paperclip is started in 1945 by the OSS (the precursors to the CIA), as an effort to acquire Nazi scientific expertise, or at least deprive the Russians of it. Andrew Ryan’s well-known hatred for the Soviet Union, his fluency in Russian, and his ties to the military-industrial complex allow him to be an integral part of Operation Paperclip. This in turn gives him access to the personnel records of many of Germany’s top thinkers. He offers to smuggle them to safety in the United States, but channels several of them not to American shores, but to Rapture.

Brigid Tenenbaum is one such recruit. She spends the next four years researching vril and its applications in Rapture’s laboratories, as well as performing other scientific research. She discovers a gene transfer mechanism in sea slugs that allow them to acquire traits from algae they consume. Using this ability, she creates "ADAM", a viral precursor to the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing process, that allows human beings to be genetically engineered to manipulate vril.

In her diaries, Tenenbaum records secret meetings between strange humanoids and members of Rapture’s leadership. She hints that this contact may have been tied to the discovery of ADAM, and that these beings - the Deep Ones - may enjoy their immortality and ability to reproduce with humans thanks to their use of the proto-ADAM found in the sea slugs. Electron micrographs of viral bacteriophages have been available since 1940, and her diaries include similar micrographs showing samples taken from Deep Ones.

From 1946 to 1952, construction continues on Rapture. In 1951, Ryan’s only law is passed: contact with the surface is forbidden. This law creates a thriving black market under the direction of Frank Fontaine, as the rich and influential citizens of Ryan’s city are accustomed to getting what they want. Fontaine works with his existing contacts on the surface to create an “umbrella corporation” which will act as a front for his smuggling operation.

Tenenbaum’s research requires materials that only Fontaine’s black market pipeline can supply, and the two develop a working relationship. Once ADAM is ready, Tenenbaum uses Fontaine’s influence in the city to manufacture and distribute it.

Tenenbaum lacks the technology to extract and work with DNA directly, making the Elysia chlorotica slugs a vital resource in producing ADAM. By implanting these slugs into a human host, ADAM synthesis can happen fast enough to meet Rapture’s growing demand for designer genetic engineering. The implantation process requires immunosuppressive drugs which only function in conjunction with XX chromosomes in a pre-pubescent individual. The Little Sister’s Orphanage, founded by Fontaine as a place for poor families to send their children, becomes the breeding ground for ADAM production, and the “Little Sisters” themselves are fuel for Rapture’s new habit.

Ryan, realizing the psychological pressures facing the citizens of Rapture (lack of sunlight, close confinement, and so forth), brings in Dr. Sofia Lamb, a brilliant psychologist. However, Dr. Lamb’s altruistic ideals contrast sharply with Ryan’s “parasite” rhetoric, and she begins to persuade the poorer segments of the population to abandon Ryan’s vision of Rapture.

In 1953, Professor Tom Nesbitt is involved in an atomic test in the Arctic. The blast thaws out a cryogenically frozen Rhedosaurus dinosaur, which follows the oceanic current from Baffin Bay to New York City. The beast is killed with a radioactive isotope shot into its neck. Before it dies, much of its blood is shed by attacking soldiers. This blood contains ancient diseases to which modern humans have no resistance.

Tenenbaum sends samples of the brain chemicals produced in the Little Sisters to the surface for analysis in 1955. Dr. Paul Ruth performs the analysis and concludes that the chemicals have great potential. He synthesizes and distributes a drug called Ephemerol based on his findings, marketing it as a safe tranquilizer for pregnant women. Many women begin using it, including Ruth’s own wife, who gives birth in 1956 and 1960.

By 1958, “Plasmids” - the fully realized fruit of Tenenbaum’s integration of vril and human genetics - become commercially available in Rapture. These genetic weapons allowed people to start fires or create lightning, freeze a target, or even move things telekinetically. By 1959, the city has fallen into a civil war, stoked by the competing visions of Andrew Ryan’s twisted idealism, Frank Fontaine’s anything-goes capitalism, and Sofia Lamb’s altruistic excess, and empowered by ADAM and Plasmids.

Andrew Ryan’s mistress Jasmine Jolene becomes pregnant. Since much of Rapture’s critical technology was locked to Ryan’s genetic code, his biological child would have similar levels of access. Realizing the possibilities, Fontaine purchases the embryo from Jolene in 1956. Dr. Yi Suchong and Fontaine accelerate the development of this embryo to maturity, using a biochemical treatment called “Lot 111”. Dr. Suchong implants mental conditioning into this individual, named “Jack”.

In 1959, Joyce Webster finds her husband Paul at a secret science lab in the Louisiana bayou. The facility, funded by Fontaine’s smuggling corporation and doing experiments for Dr. J.S. Steinman, is experimenting with limb regeneration. As a side effect, the test subjects are mutating into alligator-human hybrids. The lab is destroyed in an explosion.

Jack is brought back to Rapture in 1960. Manipulated by Fontaine under the guise of populist hero “Atlas”, Jack kills Andrew Ryan. Dr. Tenenbaum assists Jack in overcoming his mental conditioning, and together the two rescue the remaining Little Sisters in Rapture. Jack confronts and kills Frank Fontaine. Jack, Dr. Tenenbaum, and several of the restored Little Sisters escape from Rapture in a bathysphere.

One of these Little Sisters is adopted by the Trevor family, George and Jessica. They name their child “Lisa”.

Metaphase (1961 - 1975)

Rapture couldn’t keep its secrets forever. The First Biological Warfare Command, alias “Blackwatch”, is established in 1962 by DARPA and the Department of the Army. The program’s mandate is to secure America against biological attack, but its leadership goes further: they want to create new viral agents as weapons of war.

Dr. Tenenbaum was one of Andrew Ryan’s Operation Paperclip recruits, under the alias “Anna Zimmerman”. Blackwatch’s agents track her down after her escape from Rapture, and manage to wrest some of the secrets of ADAM from her. She refuses to work with them, and is killed by government assassins. Blackwatch begins tracking down Jack and the escaped Little Sisters, whose bodies have been significantly altered by their exposure to ADAM.

In 1963, Blackwatch begins “Carnival I”: the introduction of a new "Redlight" virus into chimpanzees. Redlight is derived from the “Lot 111” treatment obtained from Tenenbaum, adapted into viral form. The effects are immediate and positive: enhanced intelligence, strength, and other physical features.

By 1964, Blackwatch is ready to test the effects of the Redlight virus on humans. The create an artificial town in Idaho, called “Hope”, and round up a genetically diverse population to inhabit the place. The official story is that Hope is meant to test self-sufficient towns in the event of a nuclear war. On June 11, 461 subjects are infected with Redlight, told only that they are receiving routine immunization shots. Unlike chimpanzee subjects, no immediate mutations or physical changes were observed. 27 children, dubbed “Hope Children”, were born to the infectees in 1965. Their life expectancy was typically 3 years or less.

Blackwatch also sponsors the creation of a facility for studying Redlight. This facility is buried underground near Flatrock, NV, and dubbed “Wildfire”. A series of protocols are put in place to keep Wildfire safe, and if necessary to sterilize it with an atomic bomb. The laboratory is equipped with every conceivable scientific tool for studying microbial and viral lifeforms.

Frank Fontaine’s investment in ADAM was richly rewarded. His Umbrella Corporation has become independently wealthy thanks to pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, bioweapons, and genetic engineering. Lord Oswald E. Spencer, one of the virologists and independently wealthy to begin with, publicly becomes president of Umbrella. In 1966, he, Dr. James Marcus, and Brandon Bailey make a breakthrough in unlocking the double-stranded RNA virus they called "Progenitor".

Lord Spencer has a mansion in the Arklay Mountains designed and built in 1967 as a place where research can take place away from official scrutiny and Blackwatch’s prying eyes. Spencer also leads an expedition to the city of Ndipaya people, during which his colleague Sir Edward Ashford dies due to viral exposure. To cover their tracks in Africa, the Umbrella team releases an artificial and rapidly-spreading virus into the ancient Ndipaya ruins. Blackwatch officers General Ford and Major General McClintock use a fuel bomb to destroy the infected area, assigning the name “Motaba” to the viral agent they found.

Spencer’s real reason for creating the mansion is to get access to George Trevor’s daughter Lisa, and her unique "Little Sister" physiology. Spencer does away with George, then forcibly administers the Progenitor virus to Lisa and her mother Jessica on November 10, 1967. When Jessica shows no interesting effects, Umbrella kills her. Lisa, however, survives the process and is horribly altered. Umbrella extracts a modified virus, the “G-virus”, from Lisa’s body.

In 1968, Dr. Marcus are officially brought on board by Umbrella to push Progenitor research forward. Spencer hope to use Progenitor’s unique infective and mutative properties as a substitute for ADAM, and as a tool to achieve godhood.

By 1968, almost all the “Hope Children” were dead. The exception was a child of a former Little Sister, now going by the name Elizabeth Greene. Redlight turned Greene’s body into a virus factory, and their infections turned the other residents of Hope into a hive mind with one purpose: defend and obey Greene.

Alexander Ashford, son of deceased Lord Edward, begins construction of a secret base in Antarctica to perform further viral research. This work is completed in 1968.

In 1969, Blackwatch initiates “Operation Altruistic”: the forced purification of the Carnival II experiment site in Hope, ID. They capture or destroy all of the infected citizens, take possession of the bodies of the Hope Children, and recover Elizabeth Greene and her child (dubbed “Pariah”).

The Hope infectees controlled by Greene come in several varieties. One, of a highly mobile and intelligent type dubbed a “Runner” by Blackwatch, escapes the Hope military cordon. It flees, crossing 1400 miles to reach Piedmont, AZ (mistakenly labeled “Two Bluff” in Blackwatch records). Robert Cross, then a captain in Blackwatch, tracks the creature there, thankfully with minimal casualties along the way. He is able to destroy it, but not able to prevent the resulting infection of Piedmont’s residents. Everyone except two people - the town drunk and an infant child - subsequently dies. Blackwatch sterilizes the town with a thermobaric weapon.

Blackwatch takes its Carnival II samples and dispatches government scientists to Wildfire to study mutated microbes that survived the Hope experiment, under the code name “Andromeda”. After several tense days, including the near obliteration of the facility by its inbuilt nuclear weapon, the researchers discover that Andromeda itself has mutated into a benign form. To maintain operational security, none of the researchers are told the true origin of the microbe: instead, they are informed that it came down as part of a crashed military satellite.

In 1970, Anna Hart is born. In reality, she is a clone of Brigid Tenenbaum, alias “Anna Zimmerman”. Blackwatch has produced several other clones, and fostered them into families identical to Tenenbaum’s. Over the next several years, the clones receive trace amounts of ADAM harvested from Tenenbaum herself. Blackwatch hopes that ADAM’s memory-transferring properties will awaken Tenenbaum’s memories and genius in the clones.

Blackwatch creates a front company, the Rossum Corporation, to invest in medical technologies and research that will validate the presence of emergent memories in their Anna clones. To that end, Rossum purchases the rights to magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, after it’s invented by Paul C. Lauterbur in September 1971. The corporation gradually dissociates itself from Blackwatch to pursue the ambitions of one of its executives, Clyde Randolph.

In 1970, Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson meet in college. The next year, the two are married and expecting their first child, Charlene. They met as test subjects for a hallucinogen called “Lot 6”. Like Ephemerol, Lot 6 is derived from Rapture “Plasmid” biotechnology and the mutated Little Sister physiology, but processed and concentrated. The drug in their systems endows both of them with psychic abilities, and finds its way into the brain of their unborn child Charlie. Charlie herself is born in 1973.

The National Institute of Mental Health receives samples of Redlight for further experimentation. They apply the virus to a collection of rats and mice. Unbeknownst to the researchers, the rodents acquire enhanced intelligence (and perhaps other special abilities), and engineer their own escape from the NIMH facility in 1971.

Blackwatch manages to extract a sample of the viral infection Elizabeth Greene used to control her fellow citizens in Hope. Although the infection doesn’t create a hive mind, it does induce gradual insanity. This virus, code named “Trixie”, is transported by airplane in

The plane crashes near Evans City, PA, and pollutes the local water supply. The townsfolk are quickly driven insane by the infection, while Blackwatch soldiers under the command of Colonel Peckem move in to clean up, contain, or sterilize the city.

Anaphase (1975 - 2009)

Biology itself is now officially a threat to mankind. High-ranking government officials, senior corporate officers, and experienced biologists all consider the problem in their own way, and with their own people. Their conclusions fall into two camps. Either humans need to be improved, or people need to escape being human.

John Hammond founds International Genetics Incorporated, or "InGen", in 1975. Born in 1913, he has a string of successes already behind him, but he is unable to conquer his real enemy: aging and death.

In 1975, rebel scientist Eddie Jessup experiments with a South American hallucinogen which, in combination with sensory deprivation, causes him to physically revert to a pre-human state. The hallucinogen is derived from a plant called the Sonnentreppe , or “Stairway to the Sun”, and also grows in West Africa. The plant is a natural producer of the Progenitor virus, and Jessup’s physical transfiguration is linked to his deeply repressed religious mania.

Dr. Raymond F. McMullen founds GenTek on November 1, 1976. He receives funding from the government’s Blackwatch organization. The company’s purpose is to experiment on the Redlight virus, and to study the research subject Elizabeth Greene.

Also in 1976, aging Nazi hunter Ezra Liebermann receives information that Nazi scientist Josef Mengele has cloned Adolf Hitler 94 times. He is attempting to recreate the Fuhrer’s mental state in the clones by carefully shaping their upbringing, culminating in the killing of their adoptive fathers. Rather than using Jelliff’s more careful approach, Mengele is determined to achieve quick results before he himself dies. Liebermann is able to track and confront Mengele, and in cooperation with another Nazi hunter, David Bennett, uncovers and dismantles the cloning operation.

Dr. James Marcus, working under Lord Spencer and the Umbrella Corporation, successfully engineers the Progenitor virus into the "t-virus" on September 19, 1977, using Eddie Jessup’s research as a basis for understanding its transformative properties. Marcus further experiments with infecting leeches in 1978, but later concludes that humans would be better guinea pigs. The t-virus is a multi-use biological weapon: it can kill and transform a population into ravenous zombie-like creatures, while one in ten million people have the correct genetic potential to mutate into monstrous living weapons called "tyrants". A t-virus victim’s mental state influences the mutation, and only humans have sufficiently controllable mental states.

The Umbrella research team responsible for the t-virus work to understand how the anomalous development of extra mass occurs in the bodies of infectees. They conclude that the mysterious “vril” is responsible for the observed effects, and dub the products of the t-virus (and similar life forms) as “VRIL” - Viral/Retroviral Intron Lifeforms. The first VRIL creations - the zombie and a creature dubbed the “Hunter” - show promise as a subset of VRILs called BOWs - Bio Organic Weapons.

Blackwatch’s Department of Scientific Intelligence, also known as "The Shop", kills Vicky Tomlinson in 1980. They pursue her family, Andy McGee and his daughter Charlie, who has developed powerful pyrokinetic powers. The pair are captured and separated, with members of the Shop unsuccessfully attempting to gain Charlie’s trust. The Shop’s senior man and much of the upper echelon is killed by Charlie herself, who also blows up several of its buildings in the process.

In 1979, Dr. Hal Raglan’s Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics demonstrates a revolutionary method of treating patients with psychological issues. Dr. Raglan’s method depends on an infusion of modified ADAM, which doesn’t require infusions of EVE but can have unintended side effects. His star patient, Nola Carveth, begins spontaneously manifesting her frustrations as deformed dwarfish apparitions who kill the objects her frustrations. Eventually Nola’s husband convinces Dr. Raglan of the danger of his approach, and the institute is closed. Dr. Raglan and Nola die, but her daughter Candice (now showing signs of the psychoplasmic condition) escapes.

In 1981, members of Mengele’s cloning project join InGen as research scientists. Hammond is interested in their human cloning work, but they inform him that tremendous amounts of capital will be required to create a clone that will retain his personality, not merely resemble him. Hammond begins work on a radical idea: cloning dinosaurs and stocking a park with them as live exhibits. He believes that this will raise enough capital to fund his immortality research. InGen is able to successfully clone a dinosaur by 1984, and a velociraptor in

The children born after exposure to Ephemerol steadily reach adulthood. All of them exhibit telepathic powers, but also suffer from sensory overload, mental noise, and other side effects of uncontrolled mind-reading. Dr. Ruth dubs them “Scanners”, since they are able to scan or make mental contact with other minds, even with computers. Dr. Ruth’s employer ConSec is interested in the security applications of the Scanner power. When telepathic terrorist Darryl Revok disrupts a 1981 ConSec Scanner demonstration by killing the presenter, Dr. Ruth recruits Cameron Vale, another Scanner with powerful latent abilities, to track down and terminate Revok. In their final conflict, Revok kills Vale’s body, but Vale transmits his mind into Revok, overwriting his personality.

Anna Hart, one of the clones of Brigid Tenenbaum, learns of her existence as a clone in 1982 with the aid of Michaela Dupont, who is secretly also a clone. They confront Henry Jelliff, using Michaela’s knowledge of the cloning process in trade for the safety of the Anna clones.

Cloning the body is not enough to ensure immortality. One’s consciousness must also find its way into a new host. In 1984, the Rossum Corporation uses their existing position as number one seller of MRI machines to acquire mental maps of people around the world. They have a number of Scanners on the payroll, including Cameron Vale (now in the body of Darryl Revok), and offer psycho-suppressive drug treatments to keep them docile and sane. The Scanners, in turn, aid Rossum’s engineers in understanding how to imprint a human mind onto a brain. Rossum develops a combination of magnetic and chemical processes that lead to the first “Active”: a human body whose brain is a blank slate, ready to be programmed with a stored mind.

A chemical leak from Umbrella’s New York City laboratory occurs in

Some of their mutagenic viral samples infect a small group of turtles in the city sewers, causing significant physiological and mental changes. They encounter a similarly mutated rat, a survivor of the NIMH experiments, who has gained intelligence and martial arts skills over the last decade. The new humanoid-hybrid animals are sought after by Umbrella for their potential as weapons. They are hunted by Umbrella foot soldiers, or “the Foot” - half-alive humans infected by a variant t-virus, good for fighting but not much else.

Over the next several years, Rossum employs down-on-their-luck individuals to function as Actives. The Actives are assigned to "Dollhouses", scattered around the world in highly secretive locations, and deployed on engagements for high-paying clients. They receive synthetic personalities and skills to match the engagement’s requirements. Rossum’s eventual goal is the development of personal immortality through mind imprinting, and the Dollhouse is a way of building up a base of well-heeled clients and researching the necessary science.

Clyde Randolph is betrayed by one of his business partners at Rossum, and killed, in 1992. His conscious mind is transferred into “the Attic”, a virtual reality simulation hosted by the Rossum mainframe.

In the early 90s, Anna Hart is visited by a mysterious man who only calls himself “Jack”. He tells her the story of Brigid Tenenbaum, the woman from whom she was cloned. He leaves a package of information for her to read, and a word of advice: “don’t just obey. Choose for yourself.” Now an adult, Anna has her legal name changed to Anna Zimmerman, and begins the search for the Little Sisters of Rapture. Her search quickly leads her to Blackwatch itself, the sponsors of the cloning program which produced her. With the aid of Professor Bruckner, an expert in cloning who was also aware of Mengele’s attempt to reproduce Adolf Hitler via cloning, Anna resolves to rescue the surviving Little Sisters. Her records show that many of them have fallen into Blackwatch’s hands and are being used as experimental subjects.

InGen demonstrates Jurassic Park to a private team of scientists and investors in 1993. Due to sabotage of the park by InGen head programmer Dennis Nedry, several dinosaurs escape their enclosures and run rampant across the park. Nedry has been hired by InGen’s rival to deliver dinosaur DNA specimens, but he is killed by the very dinosaurs he released before he can leave the island. Despite these serious problems, John Hammond remains determined to make the park a reality. Seeing the pleasure that dinosaurs gave to visitors, including his own grandchildren, he loses interest in immortality research and plans to focus entirely on the Park.

By 1995, Lisa Trevor has been exhausted of her potential to spawn bio-weapons. Umbrella, having lost several personnel to her grief-driven berserk rages, orders her termination. The effects of Umbrella’s treatment on her have reawakened and enhanced her Little Sister durability, making her immune to almost any sort of attack. She is left for dead, but is in reality in a sort of suspended animation.

The Motaba virus reappears in Zaire in 1995, motivating USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) virologists, other scientists, and members of the military to deal with it. Colonel Sam Daniels and others manage to avert the destruction of Cedar Creek, CA. In the process, Col. Daniels’ analysis of Motaba reveals its ties to the Umbrella Corporation, prompting him to look further into the company’s history. He confronts Brigadier General Billy Ford, who investigated the original outbreak and helped cover up Umbrella’s involvement.

In 1998, both Raccoon City and the Umbrella base in the Antarctic both suffer t-virus outbreaks. The Raccoon City incident is investigated by members of STARS - a program sponsored by Blackwatch to train law enforcement personnel in detecting and combating “bio-crimes” - who discover the Arklay Mountains mansion of Lord Spencer, and are set upon by bio-organic weapons created by the t-virus. Raccoon City and the Antarctic base are both eventually destroyed by nuclear devices to contain the outbreak, and some of the STARS personnel do survive.

During the Raccoon City incident, Anna Zimmerman - who has joined STARS under an assumed identity - finds and rescues Lisa Trevor in the Spencer mansion. While Lisa is horrifically mutated and has been driven to near total madness by her experiences, Anna’s resemblance to her long-lost “mother” Brigid Tenenbaum transfers Lisa’s yearning for her mother into loyalty to Anna. The two escape Raccoon City’s destruction together.

In the mid-90’s, the ancient conspiracy Da’ath sponsors Operation Manticore, a program to genetically engineer controllable super-soldiers. They obtain DNA samples from the New York turtle hybrids’ blood, which Umbrella managed to secure during its battles with them. With this as a foundation, Manticore begins work on human-animal hybrids for use as soldiers.

In 1999, in an attempt to treat Alzheimer’s disease, sharks are genetically engineered to serve as donors for a vital protein. As a result, the animals become super-intelligent. They escape their underwater cages and kill several members of the science team, but are killed themselves. Unbeknownst to the team, the program is a cover for Manticore. From their perspective, they’ve gained valuable data on human intelligence in a non-human body.

Manticore succeeds in creating the first of their “X5” series human-animal chimeras in 2000.

Type S influenza, also known as the “Reaper virus”, breaks out in Scotland in 2008. After a fruitless search for the cure, the entire country is quarantined.

On March 11, 2008, a weaponized form of rabies is released in an apartment building. The CDC establishes a quarantine. Reporter Angela Videl’s footage is recovered from the scene, but there are no survivors and the entire building is isolated and purged. Unknown to the public at large, the virus was engineered by Da’ath. Dr. Peter Farragut of the CDC is instrumental in preventing the spread of the disease and performing an analysis of the virus itself.

Telophase (2009 - 2038)

Geneticists Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast work on a series of transgenic human-animal hybrids in 2009. Their work is sponsored by a company called NERD (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development), a front for the secretive Operation Manticore. Their most successful creation is a being called Dren, who is intelligent but inhuman in its behavior. A series of tragedies and deaths close the program, but Manticore privately considers the work a success.

In 2009, Alex J. Mercer wakes up in a Gentek morgue in Manhattan, as the Blacklight virus overwhelms the city. With assistance from his sister Dana, he opposes Blackwatch and the USMC to find pathologist Dr. Bradley Ragland (half-brother to Dr. Hal Ragland). Ragland assists Alex in confronting Elizabeth Greene. In the process, Alex comes to understand that the real Mercer is now dead, having spitefully released Blacklight into the population upon his death, and that “Alex” is a sentient entity constructed by the Blacklight virus itself.

Blackwatch’s General Randall is prepared to execute the Wildfire protocol, obliterating Manhattan with a nuclear weapon to contain the virus. Realizing that an electromagnetic pulse is enough to defeat the virus in its current form, Alex takes off with the weapon aboard a helicopter. The bomb itself doesn’t physically damage Manhattan, but the EMP successfully purges the infection.

The cost is staggering. The EMP pulse has wiped out the major data centers of the East Coast, and the resulting power surge across a faulty and antiquated electrical grid does tremendous damage to the North American electronic infrastructure. This outcome, called “the Pulse”, is attributed by the military to terrorist action.

Among other effects, the Pulse also wipes out the delicate imprinting tech being used by Rossum and its Dollhouses - perhaps for the best.

The Pulse paves the way for the Balkanization and fragmentation of the United States as a single political entity. Autonomous regions, indepence-minded microstates, corporate franchises, and even organized crime groups eclipse the previous Federal government in power.

In 2009, several X5 super-soldiers escape a Manticore facility located in Guilette, WY. They disappear into the offline darkness of America.

In 2010, United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas crash-lands near an island in the Java sea. He discovers the island is inhabited by a former neurosurgeon named Montgomery, a geneticist named Dr. Moreau, and Moreau’s daughter Aissa. Douglas gradually discovers that Moreau was responsible for experiments in animal-human hybridization on the Manticore project. He now rules as a mad god-king over the hybrids of the island, including Aissa herself. Douglas’s arrival unbalances the fragile tension of the island, leading to a general uprising and the deaths of Moreau, Montgomery, Aissa, and several of the hybrids. Douglas himself is able to escape and report his story.

Over the next several years, corporations rise in power and influence, without the restraint of government regulation. Although the largest and oldest corporations have been ruined by the Pulse, their human resources retain their skills. Meanwhile, the government consolidates and privatizes.

In 2013, con artist Sarah Manning observes the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her. Taking advantage of the situation to steal the woman’s identity, Sarah eventually discovers she is one of several clones and that Neolution, a secret corporate conspiracy headed by Aldous Leekie, has an interest in her and her fellow clones.

In 2014, Dr. Alan Farragut and his team of CDC researchers fly to the Arctic BioSystems research facility. Their goal is to contain and study the Narvik virus, which has similarities to rabies, and was worked on by Alan’s brother Peter. Peter came to ABS’s attention after his work with the engineered rabies outbreak in 2008. The ABS facility is quickly overrun by zombie-like “vectors”, who are infected with the virus and compelled to spread it to the uninfected. ABS’s parent company, the Ilaria Corporation sends senior executive Constance Sutton to contain the situation.

In reality, Ilaria is a front for the ancient conspiracy of immortals called Da’ath, with the virus a key element in their plans. Narvik infectees will not attack Da’ath immortals, but will actively try to infect other people, making it an imperfect but viable tool for world conquest. The crisis ends with several members of Da’ath “killed” - unable to move, but still somehow alive - and the ABS lab destroyed, along with all samples of Narvik.

By 2015, the changing geopolitical climate makes big-budget funding from defense departments unlikely. Many companies, such as InGen and Gentek, leverage their in-house expertise in cloning and biotech in more public ways. Companies like RePet offer a cloned copy of family pets, and human organ cloning is a commercial business. Human clones are still technically illegal, under “Sixth Day” laws, and corporations (publicly) honor this restriction. Behind the scenes, Neolution continues to both promote and hinder human cloning research to further their agenda of reinventing human evolution.

Helicopter pilot Adam Gibson encounters billionaire Michael Drucker of Replacement Technologies, whose company employs former Rossum employees and Neolution members. Drucker intends to create a cabal of immortals, whose minds can be copied from body to body. Gibson finds himself cloned, and works with his clone to take down Drucker and reveal the plot.

In 2016, freelance journalist/intel-operative Hiro Protagonist encounters Snow Crash, a virus/drug/religion being promulgated by industrialist L. Bob Rife. Rife’s purely fiber-optic communication network survived the Pulse, and as a result he now controls American Internet traffic. Rife has acquired a “metavirus”, able to affect the human mind, and has repackaged it under the name “Snow Crash”. Hiro, his skateboard courier partner Y.T., and their allies stop Rife from distributing Snow Crash widely and manage to shut down the distribution network.

By 2017, the leadership of Blackwatch and the Umbrella Corporation are systematically eliminated, or simply disappear. Careful observers attribute this to a team of highly skilled and uniquely powered individuals: a stern old man who mixes heavy firearms and elemental powers, a STARS-trained genius gunslinger/geneticist, a humanoid virus who can consume and assimilate memories, a multi-ethnic hacker/swordsman, an aggressive pyrokinetic, and a woman who can summon negative emotions into an ectoplasmic reality or shape it into humanoid minions. They uncover the machinations of the Wahrheits Gesellschaft, or "Society for Truth", still operating behind the scenes and guiding vril-empowered virus research, and manage to overthrow the Society’s key members.

In 2019, X5 super-soldier “Max” works for a bicycle courier service in Seattle, called Jam Pony. She comes to learn more about the Manticore program, and works to rescue other X5s from Manticore’s custody.

While Replacement Technologies was exposed by Adam Gibson, other companies quietly acquire its assets and human resources. Merrick Biotech establishes several facilities where clones of famous or wealthy individuals are force-grown and prepared as physical or mental backups should their originals become sick or die. The clones themselves are told that the outside world is intensely contaminated, but that there is a lottery system allowing a few of them to visit a safe haven. While they are mental duplicates of their originals thanks to Dollhouse technology, they are also engineered to be more docile and controllable. Clones Richard, Lena, Lincoln Six Echo, and Jordan Two Delta overcome their programming through curiosity, escape from the confinement zones in 2019, and learn the truth about their situation.

By 2020, several prominent individuals have passed away or disappeared. Jack has passed away from old age, accompanied at his last moments by nearly every surviving Little Sister. Most of them have thankfully lived ordinary lives, and the last thing Jack sees is their grateful smiles. Alex Mercer encounters his genetic complement, Elizabeth Greene’s psychopathic child Pariah, and both perish. As a result, the last samples of the Blacklight virus are now eradicated.

In 2022, a meteorite strikes Tokyo, Japan. The Da’ath conspiracy discovers it, and uncovers an extraterrestrial viral element. Through analysis, they discover that the Progenitor virus and the alien sample show distinct signs of common ancestry. The history of super-viruses on Earth may in fact start in outer space. Da’ath begins work on this new sample.

On December 24, 2029, the meteorite is discovered by a trio of children. One of the children, Mana, is found by the secret Da’ath lab stationed nearby. Finding that the child is already ill with an untreatable form of cancer, she is injected with a modified version of their current viral agent as a test - their reasoning is that her life is over anyway. She escapes, becoming Patient Zero of what will later be called the "Apocalypse Virus".

Apocalypse is the second attempt by Da’ath to engineer a worldwide system of control through a viral mechanism. It incorporates the “hive mind” element of Redlight - Mana is able to control the actions of infectees - and provides both a ready supply of vril and a means to manipulate it. The subjects retain their intelligence, but can still be kept docile and controllable.

Apocalypse spreads wildly throughout Japan, in an event that will be called “Lost Christmas”. The rest of the world hurriedly works to isolate Japan. What’s left of the United Nations organizes GHQ - Genomic Headquarters - to deal with the outbreak, find a cure, and contain the spread of the virus at all costs.

In 2035, the Reaper virus is confirmed in London. A military team is sent to Scotland by GHQ to recover data on a possible cure, after satellite imagery discovers signs of survivors. The team, led by Major Eden Sinclair, finds only survivors with a natural immunity, who have regressed into cannibalistic barbarity, adopting medieval weapons and customs.

Division (2039 - forward)

By 2039, blood and DNA tests had become mandatory for several of the "doomsday" viruses or genetic abnormalities that had threatened mankind. When a broad-spectrum immunity factor was discovered in human DNA, the law went one step further. Babies would be engineered with the immunity factor, no exceptions. Automated testing would become routine.

Many - later, most - families opted to go further. If a child could be made resistant to disease, could the genetic engineers go further, making those children smarter, stronger, or better as well? The mechanics of genetics were well understood. Germline engineering became the new normal. A generation of “designer babies” came to dominate the world. George Glenn, astronaut and later the man who will be known as the first “Coordinator”, is born in 2039.

In 2039, Shu Ouma is an ordinary high school student in Japan. GHQ has locked the country down. Patrols are everywhere, ready to drag away any Apocalypse infectees. The infection is easy to spot: the virus literally transforms parts of the body into a strange crystal, in reality solidified vril. Shu encounters Inori Yuzuriha, who introduces him to the anti-GHQ resistance cell “Funeral Parlor” and its leader, Gai Tsutsugami.

Through a series of events, Shu obtains the Void Genome - a modification of the Apocalypse Virus capable of extracting solidified vril from a person and transforming it into a tool or weapon appropriate to the donor’s personality. These creations of vril are called “Voids”. The Void Genome creates a specialized gland in the right arm of the user, and loss of the arm means the user is unable to conjure Voids. In addition, the destruction of a person’s Void leads to a fatal and near-instantaneous transfiguration into solidified vril.

With Funeral Parlor’s help, Shu fights back against GHQ. The organization responds with even more force, finally partitioning Tokyo completely and isolating all residents. After much struggle, betrayal, and heartache, Shu and his friends manage to purge the Apocalypse Virus itself from Japan. GHQ eventually relents and releases Japan from their control. Shu and his allies retreat into obscurity, but not before confronting Da’ath and their “envoy” Yuu, who have attempted to use the Void Genome to take over the world.

In the next 20 to 30 years, disease is all but eradicated. Society is a fearsome police state, closely scrutinizing people and their health. Any corporation dealing with genetic engineering is strictly monitored, to prevent another apocalyptic virus or biological monstrosity. The high level of tension leads to several wars: the Pan-Asian war, the Third Gulf war, and others. While traditional bioweapons are considered verboten, genetically engineered super-soldiers are created and deployed in these conflicts. During peacetime, society struggles to re-integrate its living weapons.

By 2053, animal-human hybrids and genetically engineered humans are a fact of life. Edward Douglas’s report on Dr. Moreau’s activities has led to a long-standing fear and mistrust of any such creatures, and half-human “Moreaus” and engineered “frankensteins” are second-class citizens at best. Private detective and tiger-human hybrid Nohar Rajasthan is hired to investigate the death of a conservative anti-moreau politician, which leads him to uncovering evidence of Da’ath. Nohar only learns hints: Da’ath seems interested in pushing humanity away from a mechanistic technology and toward a biotech-driven future, one that they can control with their mastery of biology.

Humanity turns to space to satisfy its need for natural resources, as the exhausted Earth has suffered. Nation struggles against nation, even as the “Cosmic Calendar” is inaugurated in 2055 in an attempt to bring a fragmented world back together. Many older Moreaus are re-activated as soldiers, and second-generation Moreaus are offered full citizenship in exchange for military service in the new conflict.

Artificially created Frankensteins, such as the Nexus-6 Replicants created by the Tyrell Corporation, are extensively used in space, both as workers and soldiers in the ongoing conflicts. Some escape to Earth, only to be hunted by specially trained police units called “Blade Runners”. One such group manages to get to Earth, then kill the head of the Tyrell corporation, noted geneticist Eldon Tyrell. Meanwhile, the Rossum Corporation continues to use its “Active” technology in the creation of cloned humanoid automatons called “Universal Robots”, who can be mentally programmed for highly skilled and specialized tasks.

Nuclear weapons are deployed on the front lines of central Asia, in the Kashmir region, in 2056. The wholesale destruction of Kashmir’s industrial facilities reduces much of the fighting to hand-to-hand or close-quarters combat, where the Moreaus’ natural talents give them a decisive edge.

Biological weapons are unleashed around the world as well, killing even civilian populations or threatening them with organ failure. Companies like GeneCo emerge, providing synthetic organs to the sick for a profit. Organ “repo men” exist, who will reclaim such organs - and coincidentally harvest the other organs of a defaulting client who dies during “reclamation” - if the client doesn’t keep up their payments.

The formal end of the “Reconstruction War” is in 2064, or C.E. 9 in the new calendar. The construction of the Lunar city, Copernicus, begins the next year, and is completed in 2067 (C.E. 11).

Unlike earlier wars in the century, the Reconstruction War is generally seen as ending well for all involved. The public has been familiar with Moreaus for a generation, and their heroic feats and victories in battle shift attitudes positively toward genetic engineering.

By 2070, designer babies are the default condition for the developed world. The population is divided into “valids” (those with engineered DNA and no handicaps) and “invalids” (those born naturally). The Gattaca Aerospace Corporation begins planning a mission to the Jovian moon of Titan. Vincent Freeman, an “in-valid”, has dreamed of space flight since he was a child. He obtains the aid of Jerome Morrow, a “valid” with excellent genetics who was crippled in an accident, to pass himself off as a genetically acceptable “valid”.

Vincent is successful in getting aboard the Titan mission, and serves under senior astronaut George Glenn. Scientists studying L. Bob Rife’s "metavirus", and the Apocalypse Virus meteor responsible for Lost Christmas, have traced both to the Jovian system. The Gattaca vessel, named “Tsiolkovsky” after the Soviet rocket scientist, will spend seven years exploring Jupiter. Their hope is to establish whether or not extraterrestrial life - even a virus - really exists.

Before leaving, Glenn makes an impassioned speech to the world’s population, asking that genetically engineered people become "Coordinators" rather than controllers, guiding mankind rather than ruling it, and urging a more egalitarian society. Unfortunately, his message is not received as intended, and societal friction arises between the “valid” and “in-valid” factions. “In-valids” claim a new name for themselves: “Naturals”. In 2072, the bioterrorist group Blue Cosmos launches attacks against hospitals performing genetic enhancement on unborn children.

In 2084, the Tsiolkovsky returns from Jupiter with “Evidence 01”, the first known extraterrestrial fossil.

The first permanent L5 space colonies, called PLANTs and shaped like extended hourglasses, become ready for population. Due to the demands of living in space full-time, only Coordinators - now the accepted term for all genetically-engineered humans - are accepted aboard. The PLANTs become a nexus for scientific progress and artistic accomplishment due to the presence of so many “improved” humans. The next year, anti-Coordinator terrorism is aimed at PLANT inhabitants who come to Earth, driving a wedge between the space-dwelling Coordinators and the planet-bound Naturals.

On February 5 of C.E. 70 (2125 AD), a joint peace conference being held at the lunar city Copernicus is struck by a terrorist attack, wiping out the entire United Nations’s leadership. War breaks out between Earth and the Plants on February 11.

The Treaty of Junius in C.E. 73 marks the end of hostilities, but fails all of its major political objectives. A second war soon breaks out, which includes nuclear strikes and other weapons from both sides. After much heartbreak and sacrifice, including the deaths of senior leaders on both sides, a ceasefire is announced in C.E. 74.

Blue Cosmos releases a final apocalyptic bioweapon attack that spreads across the world, but ironically fails to contaminate the PLANT population. Earth’s remaining human population is nearly obliterated as a result. Lacus Clyne, then leader of the PLANTs, announces that a plan to reboot the devastated Earth’s biosphere. Corrupted soil must be purified; radiation must be purged. The effort will take centuries. In the meantime, many Coordinators leave Earth orbit, in an effort to colonize the Jovian system.

The PLANT repopulation plan involved the creation of a vast forest (to leech poison from the soil) and the engineering of giant insect guardians (to reboot the animal-plant biosphere). The Alliance-PLANT wars are remembered a millennium later as “the Seven Days of Fire” by human survivors on Earth, and the forest becomes known as the “Sea of Corruption” for the poisonous miasma found there. The human population has formed kingdoms such as Torumekia and the Dorok Empire, echoing the return to Medieval form once seen in Scotland during the Reaper outbreak. Such kingdoms live in uneasy alliances with each other, as well as struggling to survive the spreading Sea of Corruption itself.

During this time, Nausicaa, princess of the Valley of Wind and daughter of its king Jhil, forms a strange bond with the insect life. She functions as both scientist and mediator, studying the forest and searching for ways for humans and the forest to co-exist. During this time, she encounters Princess Kushana of Torumekia, Asbel of Pejite, and other national leaders, and tries to convince them - with varying levels of success - that cooperation is better than war for ensuring human survival. She penetrates to the heart of the forest, learning of the ancient humans’ plan to reboot the Earth at the cost of the lives of those now on the planet.

Faced with the choice of allowing ancient humanity to return to the planet of their birth, or saving the lives of those now living there, Nausicaa disables the computer which manages the reclamation program and would have otherwise sent a signal into space when the plan was complete. The Sea of Corruption will continue to spread, eventually unifying into a single functional entity.

Human beings are now forced to live within the forest, adapting to it and adapting it in turn to their own needs. In effect, humanity is now a virus with the world as its host. Only time will tell if its presence is beneficial or not.

[ao3feed-kyloren]

The Tower, Death & The Lovers

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2ozaPu6

by 7cinnamonroses

London, 1881. With several people gone missing after attending soirées of the Occult Society, Lady Leia of Organa asks her brother Dr Luke Skywalker to use his unique telepathic abilities to investigate the matter. Accompanied by Leia’s husband, the brave General Solo and their ward Rey Kenobi, Luke sets out to uncover the secrets behind these upsetting and mysterious disappearances.

Words: 3476, Chapters: 1/3, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/M

Characters: Kylo Ren, Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey (Star Wars), Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca (Star Wars), Han Solo, Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Finn (Star Wars), Jessika Pava, Snoke (Star Wars), Bazine Netal, Armitage Hux, Phasma (Star Wars)

Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Leia Organa/Han Solo, Luke Skywalker / Lor San Tekka (hinted), Poe Dameron/Finn

Additional Tags: Victorian!AU, Occult Society!AU, Alternate Universe - Victorian, Evil Snoke, dark themes, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Tarot Cards, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Human Sacrifice, Warning: Snoke, Partial Mind Control

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2ozaPu6