#we should hash out some hcs at least

[arkyn-iceborn-vindication]

SHIPPING INFO //ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSES SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

My OTP with Arkyn is definitely Ahri. More specifically, Arkyn with @ahrichus--archived-blog‘s Ahri. Mo is one of my best friends and one of the main reasons I got so involved in the LoL RPC back in the day. The mixture of fluff and angst between these two immortal goofballs was such a pleasure to write. Mo’s retired from the RP scene, but I still often send them HCs and such about the two characters.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

Great question, especially since Arkyn is at least 9,000 years old (though depending on verse, most of that was in stasis). I’d say that any character around 25-ish can reasonably date any older character without me feeling very weirded out by it. There’s exceptions to every rule, obviously, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind. If the hypothetical 25-year-old has known, say, this 60 year old since they were much younger, that can definitely feel weird to me. Otherwise, I feel like the half-the-oldest-character’s-age-plus-seven rule makes decent sense for me.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?

I’m more than happy to write violence n gore, but smut is something I’m rather averse to writing. The moment the clothes come off or when hands begin to wander, I’m fading to black.

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

I feel like I’m just as selective as most people would be. I like seeing Arkyn’s character develop by meeting someone and entering into a romance, but I’m not gonna smack characters together and expect things to work out. I prefer the characters having known each other for quite some time before they “fall.” Slow burn / mutual pining is the best. If I don’t feel like there’s good chemistry between our muses after a few interctions, it’s unlikely a ship will come to fruition.

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

Arkyn’s had lots of relationships here on tumblr throughout the years. Most of them were with other peoples’ OCs, but there were a few League characters mixed in. Ahri, Ashe, canon-divergent Katarina, very canon-divergent Lissandra, and I’ve always been curious about trying a ship with a Sejuani. I like the idea of a Sejuani ship being a slow burn or a forced proximity since Arkyn’s first impression of Sejuani was poor, and both are proud and competent warriors with differing world views. It could even be a relationship that fails and they’re bitter exes. Really, I just want to interact with a Sejuani more because I rarely got the chance to write with any back in the day. If I were to pick any other champs, I would be curious to have Kai’sa interact with Arkyn if only for them to have shared void trauma to bond over.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

I would like to discuss ships before we just jump into one, and, as stated before, I can be selective about who Arkyn would reciprocate feelings for. However, that doesn’t mean characters without many Arkyn interactions can’t send in ship-related asks or starters. In fact, unrequited love is a side of writing I haven’t often explored. I’ll probably DM you if we haven’t discussed it yet to hash out ideas, but if your character wants to put some moves on the ice boy, feel free! I can’t guarantee he’ll immediately be into it, but we can always wing it and see where it goes.

ARE YOU SHIP-OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

My desire to write romance comes and goes, but judging from past experience in the RPC, if I’ve got an active ship I’m likely to err more on the side of obsessed rather than not. I don’t think I’m one to go out of my way to find new ships for Arkyn, but I do love to write him dealing with his own feelings should I have an active shipping partner.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

That’s a tough question, honestly. I’ve been only tangentally involved in League for a long time, and I’m not sure if there’s a ship I particularly prefer to others. Ekko/Jinx is interesting from a tragic perspective, but I wouldn’t call it my favorite by any means. Once upon a time I shipped Shen and Irelia, but current lore makes me feel like Shen would have too many problems with Irelia’s philosophy for them to mesh.It’s been a while since I had any sort of CanonxCanon OTP.

If I were to step oustide of the LoL fandom though, I’ve been playing a lot of Octopath Journey 2 recently and I’m seeing some chemistry between Agnea and Hikari 👀 Also seems like Hikari and Throné have a lot in common but I’m not sure if I’d necessarily ship the two together.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

Message me! I’m always down to discuss ships, especially if there’s a certain dynamic or trope we want to achieve with the relationship. I haven’t really done any pre-established relationships before as far as romance goes, but I’d be willing to give it a go if I felt it was justifiable between each muse. Honestly, even a one-off comment in a tag or some inner monologue in a thread that implies a muse might be catching feelings could be enough if I feel the two could be a good pair. But yes, the most reliable way is to message me privately, and I would be more than glad to figure out any sort of shipping.

Tagged by: @misstantabismuses and @witchcraftandburialdirt Tagging: @cherrychitters @the-expatriate @chronicparagon @korvyna @eightfoldjourney and YOU

[aethernoise]

💛 👀

big yeah????

[loopy777]

I love your two Ursas analysis! If we ignore The Search and take the hints from canon, like her laughing at the siege of Ba Sing Se, do you have a HC for the night Azulon died/where she was all those years? I almost think it’s most plausible that she died or was otherwise incapacitated. And do you think she ever had a “the FN is evil” epiphany or it was limited to “you can’t kill Zuko”? Do you think Ozai abused her, or was just unloving? Maybe he saw no purpose to abusing her, unlike the kids

Ah, Ursa headcanons. Everyone’s got a set. For me, though, it was less about headcanon than it was about trying to solve the mystery I thought the AtLA cartoon had been setting up. Since ‘The Search’ revealed that there were no real answers to be had, I’ve speculated a bit on what I’d like to see, but I haven’t done much with those ideas since they by their nature contradict canon.

So, my Ursa...

A noble by birth, with her relation to Roku known but not discussed. Sozin and Azulon could have very easily made a pariah out of the family by simply ignoring them and allowing the rest of Fire Nation society antagonize them in a display of performative loyalty. However, Sozin instead reached out to Roku’s family, explaining that Roku was a traitor but surely his family is loyal to the crown and looking to prove it to avoid any unpleasantness. They agreed, and so Roku’s family became almost entirely dependent on the Fire Lord’s goodwill and protection. The one alliance they maintained for themselves was with the Fire Sages, as the family had been honored by them for producing the Avatar, even after Roku and Sozin had their falling out. Sozin had been politically pressuring the Sages throughout his life, trying to make them a tool of the crown, and the Sages in turn maintained good relations with Roku’s family to try to keep some independence. Quite a few of Roku’s family had even become Sages, over the decades.

(This didn’t really work, but it left enough ‘good’ Sages in the organization that when Zuko becomes Fire Lord, he doesn’t have to disband the whole organization, just purge the leadership who had been tools of his father. It very much helps that he’s a distant relation to a lot of these better sages, and that is one of the few smooth elements of his first few years in power.)

When Azulon suggested that the youngest daughter, however, would make a good match for Ozai instead of wasting her life in some dusty temple, they readily agreed and handed her over. Ursa herself was fine with this, as she appreciated the Royal Family’s protection as much as the rest of her clan, and preferred noble society anyway. Plus, back then Ozai made an effort to be charming. Ursa herself was happy as a Fire Nation heiress, and was known to argue passionately about the need to liberate the poor oppressed women of the Water Tribes, who were owned as property by their husbands! My Ursa was a Firebender, and had trained at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, but the strength of her flames was never matched by her skill or technique. She just never had the stomach for duels or fighting, hence leaning more towards a scholarly education and perhaps a future as a Sage. But getting to be a princess is even better, especially since the war would probably be over soon. She could help raise the Prince(ss) Governors who would rule over the colonies, influencing the world for the better. And she also found Ozai very attractive. Rawr!

Ozai himself I consider to have always been narcissistic jerk. When he was a kid and young teen, this was readily apparent. As he moved into adulthood, he learned how to hide it behind a facade, but more discerning folks could tell that he was just using friendliness and flattery to win allies. Ursa, sadly, was not that perceptive, so she rather liked Ozai, even into the first few years of the marriage.

Then Zuko came along.

Ozai was consistently disappointed in Zuko, and he blamed Ursa for that. He wasn’t a full-on monster to her, and never laid a hand on her, but he no longer went to the effort of charming her. Ursa managed to fool herself about this, making excuses for Ozai’s behavior even as their marriage cooled. She managed to stick it out long enough to produce Azula, which initially placated Ozai. Azula was everything Zuko was not. However, this did not save the marriage, because Ozai now had what he wanted, and saw no further need for Ursa. Again, he didn’t bully her, but he made no effort to hide his lack of real interest in her. The marriage was soon in name only, with little interaction between them. Ursa began to see Ozai for what he was, especially with his treatment of Zuko, and began to fear the influence he was having on Azula. This distance did help shield her as Ozai grew crueler and more of a bully as his efforts gain power were thwarted by his clumsiness. The palace and Caldera City are big enough that Ursa was able to avoid him most of the time, and they never shared a suite unless actively trying to have children, even early in the marriage.

However, there was little else Ursa could do. Ozai was not favored by Azulon, but challenging the authority of anyone in the Royal Family would have brought swift and terrible reprisal. Ursa tried to shield Zuko as best she could, and continued to play the part of Wife and Princess in official appearances like social gatherings or audiences with the Fire Lord. She sometimes went over the line in trying to protect her children, which Ozai would punish with cruelties, to the point of mental and emotional abuse, and sometimes physical intimidation, but he was too careful (so far) to risk his reputation by attacking his wife. For that, Iroh was indirectly the one to thank, as he had been a loving family man before the death of his wife, which Azulon approved of, and Ozai was trying to look better than his brother in the eyes of their father.

It all eventually came to a head in events portrayed in the flashbacks of ‘Zuko Alone.’ I headcanon that Ursa outright stabbed Azulon to death, to the point where she ruined a good set of her clothes with bloodstains. And then she confessed her crime to the Crimson Guard and Fire Sages. She should have been put to death for treason and murder, and she was prepared for that, but she and Ozai had concocted a better scheme. Ursa called in every favor her family had earned from the Sages to talk to the leadership in the middle of the night. She and Ozai pointed out that Iroh had taken a dim view of the corruption of the Sages and had battled them politically, and told them bluntly that Ozai was their best bet for surviving as an organization. They suggested the Sages should lie about Azulon’s last wishes and pronounce Ozai as the next Fire Lord. In exchange, Ozai would merely banish Ursa as failure of a wife and cover up her crime, so that her family would not have to suffer shame or even outright execution for producing a regicidal traitor. No one would speak of what had happened, no one would get in trouble, and Ozai would be Fire Lord and keep the current system running smoothly. Everyone agreed.

I always figured that Ursa had to have been banished, because in the scene where she says goodbye to Zuko, she’s wearing a dark hooded cloak. That’s universal visual language for “This character is fleeing into the night.”

I also assumed that everyone (important) knew Azulon had been murdered because of the fishy way Ozai was made Fire Lord by the Sages. Even if they believed Azulon had died of natural causes, where did it come from that he had named Ozai as the new crown prince shortly before his death? I doubt a forged note that no one had ever seen before the night of the guy’s death would be considered very reliable. So I thought there had to be a conspiracy that included the Sages; they were at least in on faking Ozai’s claim, and so why wouldn’t they also be in on the murder? And once all the people in power are perpetrating a conspiracy, the evidence doesn’t matter; the truth becomes whatever they want it to be.

Where Ursa goes after that, though, is a lot more nebulous. The way the cartoon finale had Zuko confront Ozai with, “Where- is- my- mother?” implies that Ozai might actually know, or at least have an idea where to start looking. I also think it would cheapen the power of that scene to have Ozai wiggle out of giving any information. So Ozai has to give Zuko something to go on there, but he also said, “Perhaps,” when Zuko asked during the Day of Black Sun if Ursa lives. So I figure Ursa had to have been banished from the Fire Nation, and Ozai knows either where she left from or her initial destination, but nothing else.

I never formed a solid headcanon about whether Ursa is still alive, though. This is the point where my interest ends, since the comics gave us a completely different Ursa character and mystery, and I expect many Avatar fans are interested in fic that outright contradicts canon. If she lives, I think it would be more interesting if she is indeed a typical Fire Nation imperialist, but I don’t think she would actively oppose Zuko’s agenda. It would simply inform their dynamic and create conflict between them. It would be a new challenge for Zuko to overcome in terms of his family. And it might even be a vector for Azula and Ursa to hash out their problems, with Ursa considering that she might almost prefer Azula to have become Fire Lord. But ultimately, Ursa could realize that Azula’s ways are only destructive, and see that the kindness she always liked in Zuko has to extend to all people of the world, not just the Fire Nation.

But there’s also a compelling story in Ursa being dead by the time Zuko tracks her down. Perhaps she died in the war, somehow. Whether Ursa is a racist or not doesn’t matter as much in this scenario. But It could fuel Zuko’s desire to somehow reconcile with Azula, since there’s nothing else from his past that he can save.

So that’s the stuff I came up with.

[dunmanticarchivistsmain]

Warning long post: bit of speculation, hopefully with some semblance of reasoning. TLDR: I hope the CCs of Empires, my favourite SMP, find a good narrative that works for them on a meta level, as well as being satisfying for us.

Once that news comes out, they as content creators will have to (practically all of them do this for a living) plan for the new content. What this means for Empires, is either they agree to end the season before the content drops, or they find a way to engage with it through this season of Empires.

There are some practical difficulties with maintaining the same “season” in the same world. Big Minecraft updates often need to load new chunks, and given how much they already explore and venture far to grind off-camera, the new content in the new chunks would be really far out, and having to bring it all the way back to existing area would be a monumental chore.

Hermitcraft dealt with 1.19 in S9 by putting a world border, so the new content wouldn’t be too far away. But in Hc’s case the update date and start date weren’t that far away (4 months ish). The next major update for MC is more than likely to be at least half a year out, if that. In any case I think its too late to slap one on.

Second problem with extra long seasons, creator burnout and scale problems. We saw that at the tail end of S1. They all just kept building bigger and grander. I can’t tell if its for the audience/views or they just had the insane urge for one-up-manship amongst themselves.

In any case the grind for building blocks is absolutely mental. These 12 CCs can grind like any other, but they aren’t redstoners (Fwhip and Pixl come the closest) who make mega-efficient farms to churn out practically infinite materials. Together with their self-imposed limitation of one creator to each material’s farm, they simply can’t support the industrial consumption of materials for 12 creators mega-projects. And trying leads to burnout, because at some point it stops being fun (and/or the return to effort becomes too low)

What did go right for the end of S1 Empires, is the narrative. It was a solid narrative twist, things were at peace after the big evil was defeated, there was innocent pranks and ploys, McGuffins and quests to go after. And suddenly bam the world is ending.

It took a while for me to come around to it, but it worked on many levels. It left enough loose ends to be a cliffhanger, satisfactory enough to have closure. Each CC wrapped up their personal Empires arc and went off inspired to do 1.18 content, having laid the groundwork for season 2 coming in the distant future.

So they could do the same this time round, y’know rocks fall everybody dies, start new season.

OR maybe rocks fall, but not everybody dies. Lets say content update is coming out sometime next year, by which time all the farms should be up and running and Empires is hitting the industrial age. The CCs hash out who wants to stay in character who doesn’t, then engineer a plot (probably involving the warden?) that nukes them halfway into the stone age. (So they DON’T have to constantly outdo thenselves, or possibly because they can’t due to plot)

Once the update hits, the survivors flee to far away (where the new chunks are, and they can swap resources and have brand new builds), new characters have fresh ground to be allies, old relationships are rocked, they need to scrap together whatever they’ve got (maybe relax the rules on how many people can farm things?). Then they go back fight the big baddy and then go from there.

Im spitballing here but my TLDR of this long-ass post, is that I hope the CCs of Empires, my favourite SMP, find a good narrative that works for them on a meta level, as well as being satisfying for us.

Since the next major update has not been announced, the empires crew do not have a set end date, meaning this season could go on much longer than season one did.

Pixlriffs brought up that because of this, an empire falling doesn’t have to be just a season finale type of event. An empire could fall mid season and the creator would have the time to build a new one.

Not having a planned end date allows for so many interesting story opportunities!

[jessicanjpa]

do you think the cullens have any running jokes or little familial nuances they bring up that happened like fifty years ago? (i'd like to imagine emmett trying to make a joke out of some of the renesmee drama later down the line)

I am sure that after so many years together the Cullens (especially the “kids”) have accumulated all sorts of hilarious nicknames, inside jokes, and things they won’t let each other live down. See, this is the kind of thing SM could have sprinkled into the books now and then- just a few more per book- and it would have given so much more depth to the history they have together.  But I can only think of a couple examples, like Emmett calling Edward “kid” which I’m sure he’s done 1,000,000 times just because it makes Edward roll his eyes and point out that Emmett is actually the youngest Cullen (pre-Bella). There are a few other lines that kind of gave me the impression of “they’ve said this a thousand times,” like Jasper’s “You truly are one frightening little monster” to Alice, or Carlisle’s “But I can’t help my thoughts, can I?” 

I would have loved to see some more detailed examples, that actually refer to things that happened over the past century they’ve lived through together, you know?  (which again, would really help fix the “The Cullens didn’t exist before Bella/ have no lives apart from Bella” feel) The big one that comes to mind is not pleasant at all- Edward’s “Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are.”  Even though that’s a sad one, at least it does refer to an event and give us some information about the relationship between Rosalie and Edward- especially because of the snarl and hiss that were exchanged.  Hopefully that particular line has not had occasion to come up before, but the whole “Edward snarls an insult, Rosalie hisses back at him” template (and its reverse, no doubt) is obviously there, and is very telling- and even though it reveals a negative side to their relationship, it’s also very endearing and give a more realistic texture.  So I wish we had more examples of this, whether it’s positive, negative, or neutral, because little lines like that can pack a big punch, characterization-wise.  It can show a lot about relationships and serve as a nice springboard for fanfiction.

The same thing can be accomplished without dialogue, though.  Take Emmett and Jasper’s modified chess game with the eight interlocking boards: the fact that they’re playing it without having to hash out the rules or the design implies that they’ve played it many times before (as does the fact that they even have eight interlocking boards).  That tells you something about their relationship: they like playing games together, they like strategy, and they like modifying games so that they’re more challenging to the vampire brain.  So naturally the reader wonders “hmm I wonder what other games they’ve modified? Maybe sports too, modified for vampire strength?”  

So I wish Bella could have “overheard” more scenes or seen more objects in the books that could communicate to the reader like that. We do have a few: Rosalie working on cars, Esme’s blueprints, etc. And maybe it’s just because my fanfiction is mainly concerned with the prequel years, but I would have loved to see way more, and it would have taken up hardly any page time. Like Bella can sit there studying for her finals while Edward is opening his mail and happens to get a letter from the realtor who manages the house in Chicago. (mail could be especially telling; see this post) Bella could say she hasn’t seen Carlisle in a while and Edward could be like “oh he’s locked in his office- it’s tax season, you know, and we have about 27 identities and the accompanying tax IDs going at the moment…” Alice could be perched on top of the couch reading the Wall Street Journal.  One really neat addition in the movie was the collage of graduation caps- kind of risky to let the humans see that, but it’s a really significant piece of art, you know?   And of course there’s that whole question of whether the Cullens do any sort of philanthropy, which I'm sure they do. (I actually HC that each of them does, though that’s partially because Carlisle made them lol)  That could have easily been communicated in a heart-wrenching way by having a whole wall covered in crayon-drawn cards from one of the orphanages or medical clinics they fund.

And what about idioms? Rosalie’s “over my pile of ashes” just opens the door for a whole world of hilarious (or tragic) vampire idioms that could theoretically exist.  Some would only work for veggie vamps and therefore be an inside joke with the Denalis, whereas the one like Rosalie’s would work for any vampire.

And yes, I definitely imagine Emmett is the one to blurt out things that probably should not have been blurted out, or to turn something awful into a joke later on to ease the tension. (I think the latter is a calling he takes pretty seriously, actually)  So at some point Bella is finally going to find out about the whole Family Meeting scene because they’ll be having a family meeting and Emmett will just randomly be like “kinda reminds me of the day Rosalie and Jasper almost killed Bella lol”  or if someone has a bad idea about something he’ll say “dude that’s almost as bad as Edward’s Puppy Plan” and everyone will get reeeeeeally quiet and all this drama will ensue.  But once it blows over “the Puppy Plan” will be this punchline that just comes up every now and then, which is still inappropriate but once a century passes it’ll just be one of the family jokes that elicits equal amounts of eye-rolls and laughter.  (actually I’m sure a whole new load of these jokes will result from events in the Saga) I can see him joking about Edward’s soullessness and Calgary and other things that are sort of irreverant/inappropriate, but I also imagine him coming up with really funny nicknames for random plans, events, and mishaps. And I definitely HC that he’s always coming up with an Operation Something Or Other.