#wedding function concept

[saintsenara]

Do you think the wizarding world even has a concept of rape? I don't think this was JKR's intent but love potions are considered perfectly legal, Romilda Vane doesn't get in trouble, Dumbledore doesn't seem to think Merope did anything wrong to Tom Riddle Sr., and despite a member of Magical Law Enforcement witnessing lots of sketchy stuff at the Gaunts' no one steps in to help Merope. Plus we know their society is archaic and lacks modern values - ie. quills, slavery, lack of democracy

it's a great question pal.

the answer for which is under the cut, for the obvious reason that it comes with a trigger warning for rape.

when the statute of secrecy was signed in 1689, rape - defined as "the carnal knowledge of a woman forcibly and against her will" - had been illegal under english law since the middle ages.

however, the "against her will" bit is important here. in the seventeenth century, it was a legal requirement for a victim of rape to prove that she had maintained a continuous state of physical resistance during her assault. in cases where a victim could not prove this, her consent was presumed - even if she had been incapacitated in some way. unsurprisingly, consent was always assumed between husbands and wives.

men could not be raped under the letter of seventeenth-century english law - but the rape and sexual assault of men was illegal under buggery [sodomy] laws, and was often taken much more seriously by the state...

and i think we can plausibly say - should we want to - that, on the basis of what we find in canon, the wizarding world might retain this legal requirement for rape to be indisputably resisted, and that this explains why love potions seem to have no repercussions attached to them.

because, of course, love potions essentially function like date rape drugs, even if they leave their victims appearing to be of sound mind [the officiant who married tom and merope wasn't suspicious of anything, for example - and the only reason ron is so badly affected by the love potion he takes is because it was out of date]. they incapacitate a person to the extent that they cannot offer legitimate consent to sexual acts, and they also incapacitate them to the extent that they cannot physically resist their attacker - in their case, by compelling the person dosed with the potion to regard their attacker as someone they want to have near them.

therefore, if wizarding law only considers rape to be something which is accompanied by evidence of resistance... then using a love potion on somebody would not be rape.

the cultural implications of this are fascinating - especially since [no matter what jkr thinks] the wizarding world appears to be restrictive [by the standards of muggle britain in the 1990s and 2000s - although, unfortunately for those of us on our high horses about coming from a superior nation, not by the standards of muggle ireland...] in terms of conventions surrounding sexual behaviour and gendered expectations placed upon women.

the marriage age for women is extremely low [any woman whose wedding date we can pin-point in canon - molly weasley, andromeda tonks, lily potter, fleur delacour - gets married as a teenager]; the age for having children is also much lower than it was in the muggle world - and even than it was in the muggle world of the 1940s-1980s [all four of the women above fall pregnant before they're twenty-one, for example]; unmarried couples don't seem to live together, and there's clearly a social taboo against premarital sex [molly weasley gets a lot of flack from the fandom for making bill and fleur sleep in separate bedrooms, but nobody in the story regards this as prudish or old-fashioned]; divorce doesn't seem to be common [and blaise zabini's mother killing her husbands certainly takes on a new flavour if we assume that divorce is extremely difficult... or even illegal]; and married women - at least in the middle- and upper-classes - don't seem to work.

i also think that it's canonically plausible that arranged marriage, including between cousins, is a common cultural practice [sirius' comment in order of the phoenix about parents "letting" their children marry basically confirms this, i think] - which means we can also imagine, if we'd like, that there's perhaps little legal distinction between arranged and forced marriage.

obviously - obviously - i don't think that any of these are things the doylist text intended. the reason the story says very little about sex - both consensual and otherwise - or law or gender norms is because the harry potter series is a story about a boy-wizard who goes to a cool magic school and fights a good-versus-evil battle to the death which was written for children. i don't begrudge the publishers for not fancying a hundred pages on harry learning how to put on a condom...

[and the low marriage/childbearing ages genuinely seem to be because jkr is functionally innumerate and didn't realise how young she was suggesting everyone was...]

but from a watsonian perspective, they're really interesting - especially for the extremely disturbing paths they can lead us down as authors when we're trying to flesh out the worldbuilding of magical britain.

what - for example - is the wizarding age of consent? and how would this impact how wizards understand sexual maturity, adult-child power relations, and child abuse?

[after all, if the age of consent is unchanged from 1689... it could be as low as ten. which goes some way towards explaining why nobody thinks of tom riddle as grooming ginny...]

does the law consider it possible for a wizard to rape his wife? and if it doesn't, what does it think about him beating her?

what legal rights do sex workers have in the wizarding world?

is abortion legal? is contraception? is homosexuality? does gay sex have a higher age of consent?

is divorce legal? can women initiate a divorce? how are single mothers treated [and, therefore, what was lupin willing to do to tonks by walking out on her]? how are the children of unmarried parents treated? what property and inheritance rights do women have? are marriages performed by muggles - or dissolved by them - recognised by the wizarding state? what position does this put a witch [like eileen snape] who marries a muggle man in? would a wizard who marries a muggle woman and then abandons her be committing bigamy if he married a witch?

would wizards ever be punished for sexual offences against muggle women? does merope get away with attacking tom sr. in the eyes of the wizarding state because of her gender or because he's a muggle or both? could a muggle raped by a wizard even report the crime?

what modesty standards are there in terms of dress and behaviour? what would wizarding feminism look like? what is it like to be muggleborn [especially from the 1960s onwards] and enter this world?

i think i'm inclined to take the grimmest possible view of all of these questions, to be quite honest...

the wizarding world is fucked up.

[howtofightwrite]

Hello! I know yall have talked about how overusing violence in a story makes it less impactful especially if it doesn’t cause lasting impacts for the characters. In my story this lack of impact slowly clues the mc in that something is Wrong with [them/reality, they’re not sure] because hey, these things *should* be having some effects, healing in this setting may be magic but it’s not *miracles*, but I’m not sure how to differentiate it from the typical outcomes of violence in fiction that the reader will simply be used to seeing, outside just the mc’s thoughts on the matter. What are some things yall would want to see acknowledged and/or explored when treating violent encounters this way intentionally? Would someone become more violent (or more willing to do awful things to others when engaged in violence) over time when it didn’t have lasting consequences? Thanks!

Okay, so there's three separate things going on, and two of these intersect normally, but we usually approach them separately.

The first is the diminishing returns on violence; the simplest explanation would be that the less violence you have in your story, the more impactful (or potent) it will be. For example, looking at a pair of films from Tarantino's career. The violence is Reservoir Dogs hits much harder than the violence in Kill Bill. For example, if you've seen the former and I mention, “the ear scene,” you know exactly what I'm talking about. Yes, it's a somewhat gruesome scene, but it sticks with you, even decades later, potentially even to the point that you can't listen to Stuck in the Middle With You, without thinking of that scene. Now, how many people were decapitated in Kill Bill? It's a bit of an honest question, because I genuinely don't remember. While Tarantino has a well deserved reputation for violence, the violence in Reservoir Dogs is far more memorable, because there's far less of it, and the violence that occurs serves very deliberate story purposes. None of it is gratuitous for the purpose of, “here's a fight.” Where Kill Bill basically posits the question of, “how much can you cut out of an action film, while keeping the fight scenes, without the narrative completely collapsing?” As a result, there's a lot of violence, but none of it sticks with you. None of it has any particular impact. Even the moments that are supposed to be meaningful (such as the wedding) blend together.

Managing consequences of violence is more about preserving narrative tension. If that violence poses a real threat to your characters, then putting them in situations where they could be seriously injured or killed does have tension. But there are multiple points of potential failure with this thought process, and the more violence you engage in, the more risk you'll accidentally vent tension when you didn't intend to.

A major issue that can undermine your tension is when your characters, inexplicably, avoid harm. This is frequently an issue with non-powered superheroes, where throwing mountains of cannon fodder at them doesn't result in any meaningful wear and tear on the character.

Ironically, being too cavalier about violence can have a similar effect. Kill off too many characters, and your audience just won't care anymore about the survivors.

There are ways to manage this. A lot of the time a better option is to tie your characters' “fail state” to something other than your characters being hurt or killed. In fact, a lot of superhero narratives have to find other ways to maintain tension, because the protagonist is functionally immune to harm.

For example: The danger that a superhero will become completely ethically detached from their humanity. I hate to break it to you, but that's not a strictly new concept. The classic example of that is probably Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen, though The Comedian from the same is probably a better affirmative answer to your question. Could someone become completely debased when they're insulated from the consequences of their actions? Yeah. You don't even need fictional examples. Whoever Fights Monsters by Robert Ressler is a pretty decent, introductory, look into serial killer pathology, and the process of escalation they go through. Lack of adverse consequences can lead someone down a path to becoming their worst version of themselves.

Specifically talking about superheroes, Watchman casts a long shadow, and one of the issues that a lot of imitators suffered from was to pawn off a superhero's psychological problems into far more mundane causes, like abusive childhoods. (If you're wondering, this is why I'm not recommending things like The Boys, Irredeemable, or Invincible, it's because the only one of those that's even peripherally applicable is Invincible.) If you really want another example, Planetary comes to mind, though it won't be immediately apparent why that's relevant.

Something that's probably worth saying is, it's not about what I, or anyone else, wants to see from your work. This is about you finding the tools to do the best you can with your idea. So, I'm not really sitting her as an arbiter about what you can, can't, should, or shouldn't do. Rather, I'm mostly sitting here observing that, “this is how these things tend to work,” in a story. So, ultimately the decision is what you want to see in your work.

It's also worth remembering that hyperviolent media does exist. The violence doesn't have the same impact as in a more constrained narrative, but that doesn't make one story better than the other. I'm sure there are people who will argue that out of Tarantino's career, Kill Bill is the better film than Reservoir Dogs, (even if I'm not one to make that specific argument.) The point I don't often draw attention to, within the diminishing returns is, if you're going to use a lot of violence, it becomes difficult to pull out an individual violent moment and say, “no, this one's different; this one means more.” You can write an absolute gore-fest, but the individual moments of violence won't have the same kind of weight, and if you want one of those to carry more emotional weight, it's going to require a lot more care in how you structure your events.

A lot of the times with writing advice, it's not about, “right or wrong,” it's about identifying what works and what will take a bit more finesse to get working.

-Starke

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[strawberryblondebutch]

Casually observing the “should weddings have an open bar?” discourse has convinced me more than ever that we need an eating disorder-like distinction between alcoholism and a drinking problem.

An eating disorder is a specific thing. Anorexia and bulimia are distinct disorders with specific symptoms. But there are way more people out there who have an unhealthy relationship with food that doesn’t fit into those boxes. We call that disordered eating. All eating disorders are disordered eating, but not all disordered eating is an eating disorder.

Similarly, “alcoholism” is a specific concept because addiction is a specific thing. If an alcoholic doesn’t drink, they experience physical withdrawal symptoms.

If you’re not drinking so regularly and so heavily as to risk withdrawal, you’re not an alcoholic. Congrats. But you might have a drinking problem.

My grandfather was a diehard alcoholic. He carried a flask of gin everywhere he went to “stop the shakes.” He was mostly functional, but he started to fall more frequently in his 60s and 70s from being too drunk. When his daughter suggested he cut down on his drinking, he became belligerent and doubled down.

Before I was diagnosed and treated with bipolar disorder, I had a drinking problem. On weekends I would forsake all my responsibilities to go on some frat house bender. I binge drank because I thought it made me seem fun and cool, because alcohol tasted good, and because my mental illness made me seek out that kind of behavior.

Around this time, I lived with two alcoholics. They both made passing out drunk nightly part of their routine. On a Friday night, I would drink them under the table. But on weeknights, it was right to bed.

This distinction is important because, while I was making bad choices (my favorite thing was to get angry drunk and air my grievances with other partygoers), I was not an alcoholic. And if anyone suggested to me that I was, I would tell them I didn’t meet the criteria. Which meant I didn’t have a problem.

Reducing all disordered eating to an eating disorder means people won’t get help, because they know they aren’t anorexic. Calling an emotional binge drinker an alcoholic also won’t help, because they have an easy rebuttal to that. But if you open up the umbrella of “problematic drinking,” a lot more people will self-examine.

[katieaki]

So, you’re interested in jumping into Pony Express but aren’t sure where to start/feel daunted by the undertaking/are freaked out about missing lore & context? Pony Express is intended to be a completely standalone work with no knowledge of my prior work necessary for enjoyment, but it has been rolling for quite a while now! Here’s some info to help you orient yourself! 💫 I recommend looking at this guide on desktop as the mobile version collapses the bullet points in a strange way.

✨ Here’s the absolute most basic summary:

Lou Primrose (30 years old, 5'0", illiterate, hardworking, 3x rodeo champion) is a rider for the Pony Express, the Wasteland's mail service. Lou has agreed to transport an unusual package from the middle of the Wasteland to the nearly uninhabited coast: a glamorous redhead named Holliday Bell. A case of mistaken identity sees Lou brutalized and disabled by religious assassin from the church of Johnny Knives (god of death) Reckoning "Artie" Tehachapi, who attempts to atone for her wrongdoing by serving Lou until she's healed. Together (for better or worse) the three of them head toward the ocean through unknown and dangerous territory.

This work is erotic in nature 🔞 with some violence and survival-type gore.

✨ If you’re totally new here, you might have some questions. Here’s a super quick primer under the cut!

What’s up with The Wasteland?

The Wasteland is a post-apocalyptic, non-dystopian society in the former American southwest. It has been several generations since the civilization Before (that’s us, or maybe like... our grandparents) was decimated. Nobody is particularly interested in the whys or hows of the collapse, though it seems that environmental disaster & earthquakes were the main factor.

It’s a series of towns, shrines, convents, and monasteries. Quite a lot of it is in repurposed buildings from Before (imagine Route 66-style gas stations, diners, and motels, all heavily repaired) and some of it is kind of ramshackle old-west-y new builds.

God of Death, religious assassins, churches– what’s up with all that? I’m afraid, sounds lore-y.

Wasteland society is heavily structured around the two churches of the gods of life & sorrow (The Listening Lady) and death & justice (Johnny Knives), who are married, immortal, and absolutely real. They live apart from the mortals, but they do live in the Wasteland with them. The Listening Lady’s church is responsible for basically every aspect of Wasteland life. Listening Church shrines and convents are also the Wasteland’s official or de facto orphanages, pantries, farms, hospitals, therapists, inns, textile mills, wedding venues, and basically everything else you need to keep a society functioning. Listening Church acolytes may have a huge variety of occupations, from the extremely down-to-earth (midwifery and laundry etc) to the real Weird and Churchy (doing rituals and divination etc). Many of them take a vow of silence in honor of The Listening Lady. The church of Johnny Knives is much smaller and much more specialized. Knife Church disciples are assassins whose sacred duty is to kill those who need killing, as judged by god. 

You don’t really need to get INTO this, though. What you need to know is: Listening Church acolytes are generally warm and kind and in caregiver- or artisan-type roles. Knife Church disciples are peacekeepers & generally a little scary, but are also working toward the public good– kind, but not necessarily nice.

I know the concept of gods and disciples invokes the image of like, robes and shit, but that is NOT how it is! Listening Church acolytes tend toward chiffon and midcentury-lingerie-as-outwear looks and/or country western workwear, depending. Knife Church disciples nearly invariably have sort of a greaser/biker/leather daddy thing going on. They all talk about the gods like they’re their parents and their bosses, which they are. I think it’s kind of more normal than you might be expecting. 

So there’s like, magic?

According to the Wastelanders, yes. You don’t need to worry too much about any of that. Just let them do their things.

And everyone is in a church?

Almost everyone interacts with Listening Church in some way, very few interact with Knife Church in any way, but most people in the Wasteland are ‘civilians’ (that is to say, not working for either church).

And they’re all lesbians? How do they have babies??

They’re not ALL lesbians, but basically all our POV characters are & it’s a very lesbian-heavy society. There are many ways that two women may have children, including biological. You got this, I know you do. 

And everyone is blue?

Yeah, but it doesn’t really come up.

Why?

Because I liked drawing them with the sky blue posca paint marker when I began this body of work.

Ok. What’s up with Lou?

Louetta “Lou” Primrose is a rider for the Pony Express– she’s a Wasteland mailman. Her job is basically her whole life. She’s been working since she was ten years old, working for the Pony Express since she was 14. After receiving a romantic rejection from Venus, the dance hall girl she’s in love with, Lou agrees to take a strange red-headed woman, Holliday Bell, to the (allegedly) uninhabited coast, where Holliday’s wife is (allegedly) waiting for her.

Lou is dedicated, practical, and hard-working, but also hot-headed, frequently mean, a little self-conscious, and ‘a rambling man,’ never in one place for long. She’s markedly not religious among other Wastelanders (so is a great pov character for you if you’re new to al this!). Her greatest achievement has been winning the main event at the Wasteland’s biggest horse games three years in a row, unseating the previous champion. Nobody else really cares that much.

What’s up with Holliday?

Holliday Bell is an elegant and mysterious woman who showed up to Lou’s post office with stamps pinned to her blouse, claiming she’d mailed herself there from a town hundreds of miles away. She is asking Lou, who works at the most westerly post office in Wasteland, to finish the delivery by bringing her way out to the coast where she claims her wife, a pearl diver, is waiting for her. 

Holliday is strange. From the beginning, Lou feels put off by her personality, which is both abrasive and seemingly rehearsed. She can be unspeakably cutting and is obviously hiding a big secret. 

What’s up with Artie?

Reckoning “RT” “Artie” Tehachapi is the Knife Church disciple who, after a series of lies and miscommunications spanning several parties across the Wasteland, is sent to apprehend Lou, who she thinks has kidnapped Holliday. She breaks Lou’s wrist and dislocates her shoulder in their first altercation before she learns that Lou is an innocent party in all of this. Deeply ashamed of her actions, she vows to serve Lou until they make it back to civilization.

Artie is upbeat and optimistic, especially for Knife Church, but her guilt at her transgressions against Lou & eagerness to make up for them have left her in a kind of anxiety spiral.  She’s the only one who has any real survival skills and continually works herself to the last drop, and then works herself a few drops more. When her big, horrible, deep, dark secret is revealed, her mental state continues to deteriorate.

What’s up with Venus? We haven’t seen her in a while?/Who’s the one-armed smokeshow?

Venus is Lou’s love interest, the girl she left behind in Hereafter. We haven’t seen her in a while because she, wisely, stayed there while Lou went off on her extremely inadvisable mission.

Venus of the Wastes is a dime-a-dance girl/saloon girl/sex worker who lives in Hereafter. She is Lou’s friend and Lou is both in love with her and her best client. Just before Lou left to deliver Holliday, she admitted to Venus that she was in love with her. Venus is, at least, very fond of Lou.

✨ Ok, but this is a lot! Where do I start??

If you’re looking to hop in on the story in progress, I’ve made summaries of part 1 , part 2 , and part 3 as we have gone on. I’ll update this with part 4 when we finish it. 

If you’re a completionist, the links above have epub & pdf files of the full text of each part. Here’s where part 4 begins, until we finish that part and I post it all together. You can find the rest of part 4 by scrolling backwards through the collection. I will also attach pdfs & epubs of all the full text to this post on my patreon!

If you’re a completionist completionist & you want it ALL, here’s everything and the chronological order in which they occur in-universe. Again, Pony Express is meant to be able to stand on its own two feet without any of the rest of this, but it might be fun for you to read the rest. The first three here are kind of a series, but Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame and Bloodied on Arrival could both be read independently. Care and Keeping probably needs those two to support it, unless you’re happy just jumping in and figuring stuff out via context. It’s Artie’s backstory, but it’s not necessary for you to read to make Pony Express make sense. It’ll just give you a little more dramatic irony etc. 

Tears Can’t Put Out This Flame  - a novella about Hero Sasaki, a novice acolyte at the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life & sorrow) who has been tasked with delivering a package to an anchorite from her church. Frances is a disgraced assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who has been tasked with escorting her. Through trials of the road, emergency first aid, prayer, ritual (blood and otherwise), a little sex, and a lot of tears, they find love exactly where they should've expected it in the first place.

Bloodied on Arrival - a novel about Nuisance (and Hero), a road-weary assassin from The Church of Johnny Knives (god of justice & death) who finds herself and her new cat taking refuge at a companionship shrine run by a beautiful older widow, Hero, of the Church of the Listening Lady (god of life and sorrow). The two can't deny their immediate connection and aim for a rewarding one-night stand, but things don't go as planned.

Care and Keeping - a work in progress novel(?) about Hero and Nuisance and their new adopted feral child, Artie, a little girl who has known nothing but abuse, pain, and starvation who believes it’s her sacred mission to join Knife Church. Nuisance agrees to train her to join the church in a bid to keep her from it for as long as possible. This is a kind of coming-of-age story for Artie and a becoming parents story for Hero & Nuisance.

Pony Express - A work in progress novel about Lou (also featuring Artie) - see synopsis at beginning of post.

The novel/las are available for purchase on my Patreon for $5 or for pay-what-you-want $5+ on Gumroad. If you find you can’t afford that, but want to read it, please let me know! DM me wherever or email me at missluckycatknives (at) gmail (dot) com I’m happy to make my work accessible to you. All Pony Express and Care and Keeping are free as I work on them. 

[serpentface]

Can you tell us more about the Usoma-Hibitte

The Usoma-Hittibe is a sister (typically the eldest) of the Usoma, the Wardi monarch.

((IMMEDIATE LINGUISTIC TANGENT: The phrase Usoma-Hittibe could be functionally translated "king-sister"- Usoma has been the word used for Wardi monarchs for much of their history, which does not actually Translate as 'king'. The word Usoma stems from a now obsolete concept-word referring to death as a 'catalyst of the cycle' (referring to death and birth as dualistic forces that sustain life via their perpetual cycling). This gradually became closer in meaning to 'benefactor of life' or just 'benefactor', which began to be applied to kings as an epithet, and eventually became their titles as sovereign with most other uses falling into obsolescence (though it also appears in the name of the Face Kusomache). Hittibe straightforwardly translates to 'sister', though dead literally is a feminine form of a word meaning 'of the (same) womb'.))

The modern day role is largely a remnant of traditions of the oldest Wardi monarchies and their lineage structures (most significantly the Ephenni, who developed the first monarchies and TREMENDOUSLY shaped all following models of Wardi kingship). All Wardi tribes had patriarchal systems of power (though with greatly varying intensities) throughout their recorded history, but not all have been patrilineal.

The Ephenni (and a lot of the other west-southwest proto-Wardi tribes) had matrilineal kinship structures for the vast majority of their history, with kinship passing from mother to son. This translated to a system of royal inheritance where kingship was passed from a king to his sister's eldest son, rather than to his own sons. The king and king-sister would each be wed to their own consorts, but only the king-sister's children would be potential heirs under normal circumstances.

In a societal context where power is patriarchal and inheritance is matrilineal, this system is Very effective for both ensuring inheritance remains in one family AND to prevent succession crises (which the incest approach to keeping rule within a family doesn't accomplish). A child's father generally cannot Technically be completely certain in a world without genetic testing, which in patrilineal kinship opens the door to claiming illegitimacy of heirs. A matrilineal structure where kingship passes from a man to his nephew via his sister negates this- the mother the a child is unambiguous (you can see her being pregnant and giving birth), and even if the child WAS born out of adultery, the illegitimate father does not ultimately matter to the child's status as legitimate heir. The child will bear the mother (and thus the king's) family name regardless, thus keeping power securely in one family with no avenues to dispute legitimacy.

The Usoma-Hittibe thus had profound importance as the mother of kings, outranking the Usoma's actual wife in significance. A Usoma's own sons would instead live out their lives as noblemen with no claim to the throne (though technically would be 'reserve' heirs in catastrophic failures where a Usoma-Hittibe and any other king-sisters fail to birth sons).

This matrilineal kinship structure was lost over the course of history through a combination of internal societal changes, centuries of occupation, and the assimilation of the various pre-Wardi peoples into collective Wardi identity. Imperial Wardi culture now exclusively uses a patrilineal kinship structure. However, before this change could fully occur, the Usoma-Hittibe's role had extended into numerous ceremonial and political roles and was deeply entrenched into the identity of Wardi royalty, and the position was thus retained even through her reproductive obsolescence.

The most obvious shift to the role of modern Usoma-Hittibe is that they are Not Only no longer the mothers of kings, but have absorbed the cultural 'celibate woman occupying positions of power' archetype and now remain unwed and ostensibly virgins for life, as well as having slightly 'masculinized' elements of their performance (their etiquette and some of their regalia is considered masculine, though not to the same extent as Odonii). This parallels the importance of celibacy and 'de-feminization' in Odonii, partly conceptualized as allowing a woman to retain strength in bodily and spiritual integrity that is otherwise deemed only natural to men. Like Odonii, the bodies of Usoma-Hittibe are politicized into symbols, imagined here as physical representations of the health, strength, and integrity of the royal family. She will be used as a proxy for the entire royal family in rites intending to bless and protect them. She is the public female face of the royal family, and serves ceremonial functions in most rites that would normally be taken by a family's wife.

In addition, a Usoma-Hittibe has a significant degree of hard political power. She is the default regent in case of an Usoma's early demise, has the ability to take action in his stead during absences, and can freely make appointments to the lower court (but not the council), giving her potentially tremendous influence over the court. Her power is still ultimately limited- a Usoma has absolute veto over any of her actions, she is prohibited from issuing military commands (even when acting as regent, this must be in coordination with the council), and the inner council has veto power by majority vote on actions she makes in a living Usoma's stead (though the council does not have generalized veto power over regent Usoma-Hittibe).

There has also been a significant shift in recent history to the Usoma-Hittibe gaining significant control over the state priesthood of the Face Kusomache (which is Partly assigned a role as the protector and legitimatizer of royalty). The Usoma-Hittibe is currently THE person who appoints a high priest to Kusomache as an aspect of her ceremonial roles, and the past few Usoma-Hittibe have negotiated privileges to perform rites otherwise exclusive to the priests (which is unprecedented, as this priesthood (and all other core cults to the Faces save for Odonii and Galenii) is closed and all-male). This has contributed to internal fracturing among this priesthood- cult traditions surrounding Kusomache focused on this Face representing death and safe transitions to the afterlife (as well as sacred mysteries and the movements of the cosmos), and the additional 'protector of royalty' trait was rather inorganically assigned by the merging of an entirely separate tradition. Many members of Kusomache's priesthood feel the Face is being warped and defiled, resent the Usoma-Hittibe's appointments of puppet high-priests, see tremendous insult in these royal lay-women integrating themselves into the cult's structure, and fear that these king-sisters will attempt to take over as high priests. Some have even broken off to form a separate sect to Kusomache in response, which by official decree are illegitimate, but is gaining public favor as one of many symptoms of growing distrust and dissatisfaction in the royal family.

---

SIDE NOTES ON THE QUEEN-CONSORT

The queen-consort's modern role is somewhat expanded in that she is now the mother of Usoma's heirs, but in few other capacities. Her powers are limited to those natural to her social status, and she has no hard political power whatsoever, even within the scope of the court (though some queens gain indirect power via personally influencing their husbands, sisters in law, and council). Imperial Wardi royal families have generally sought to display themselves as the ideal perfection of the familial sphere with the Usoma as the epitomical protective household patriarch, and thus a queen-consort typically lives in the utmost of feminine cloistering within the palace and is rarely (if ever) seen by the public (in the limited cases in which she travels outside of palace grounds, care will be taken to keep her out of sight within her carriage or litter). This functions to emphasize her privilege as the highest status wife within the domain, and by extension to show the invulnerability of the royal family as a whole by the unseeable and therefore untouchable nature of its Vulnerable wife/mother.

(The concept of a wife being able to exist in protection exclusively within the family home is considered an ideal, which isn't really attainable for nobility and is out of the goddamn question for the lower classes. You'll notice 'women's bodies being heavily politicized and abstracted' being a recurrent cultural theme here- the wife of a household is the vessel for a family's continued existence and conceptually the vulnerable representation of the family's survival, which must be controlled and protected. The social privilege of royalty allows for this to be utterly realized in the case of the queen).

The queen-consort is (apart from being known by name) functionally the abstract concept of the idealized wife and mother and the womb of kings rather than an individual person to most of the public. Attention is actively Drawn to her physical absence via a queen being represented in effigy in the vast majority of public appearances by the royal family (represented in statuary, and in abstraction in the form of the lotus sceptre held by the Usoma-Hittibe). Statues representing each current queen-consort are placed in major temples to Kusomache, Ganmache and Anaemache to gain the protection of these Faces and to be honored by the visiting public.

[rainbowdaisy13]

TTPD The Anthology Summary Part 1 *IMO*

This is viewed through a queer lens because I believe she is fucking done playing nice so now she’s throwing it in our faces—FUCKING SEE ME

1) Fortnight—

I was supposed to be sent away but they forgot to come and get me/I was a functioning alcoholic till nobody noticed my new aesthetic

*MIGHTY GOD we start right out the gate sad as hell—no one noticed her queer flagging both quiet and loud and that pushed her from being a functioning alcoholic to a not functioning one. She then says to the fans who refused to acknowledge her truth “I hope that you’re ok but you’re the reason” FOR ME BEING INSANE

*Mentioning wanting to kill people that’s a first and I love it

*I love you it’s ruining my life OUCH 🤕 yes that sounds like something straight people deal with 😑

2) TTPD-

*I’m sorry I can’t remember what mutual said this, but I love love this as coming from Karlie’s perspective. It absolutely fits. She ground Taylor in a way no one else can

*First mention of suicide—both can’t live without the other

*Were crazy—owning the demons together

*The wedding ring line—GOD

3) MBOBHFT—

*I see this one as Taylor viewing herself as a commodity, also as someone who is broken and needs to be fixed so that she remains lovable. It also gives me Cardigan vibes without the redemption arc

4) Down Bad—

*Love this Alien Abduction theme. Melody is even spacey sounding. The entire song uses alien motifs and I adore it. Fave line “they’ll say I’m nuts if I talk about the existence of you” Brilliant 👽 Also the concept of an Out of this World Love

5) So Long London—

*Cool opening—beautiful when they layer her own voice

How much sad did you think I had in me? 😫

*I see this song as a My Tears Ricochet 2. Taylor giving all her youth to someone for free. You say I abandon the ship but I was going down with it—I truly believe she tried and begged them to let her come out for years and she was always shot down—2 graves 1 gun, more murder imagery

*So Long London, so long Big Machine

6) BDILH—

Absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking song

These people only raise you to cage you 😫

*Sarahs and Hannahs/braided hair/church/Elders making decisions—giving cult/LDS vibes

Stay away from her -Elders are yelling this—to who? Taylor? So Taylor needs to stay away from HER interesting

*Shed rather burn it all down than listen to them complain about her sexuality and how it impacts them

My good name, it’s mine alone to disgrace —absolutely shots fired at Scott Swift

*Soliloquies line is incredible—“I’ll never see” is such a burn 😆

*This isn’t a phase, this is who she is!!

*YOU AINT GOTTA PRAY FOR ME!! GET THEM ALL BITCH—SHOW THEIR ASSES

*This is my choice!!

GET 👏🏼 THEM 👏🏼 ALL

NO YOU CANT COME TO THE WEDDING PERIOD

7) FOTS—

*Pretty Baby, much like Babydoll is reserved for women and gay men and theys and thems. We don’t call straight men this 😒

*Fresh out the slammer—realllly trying to get these idiots to understand that she’s felt jailed /caged/trapped

My friends…Watch me daily disappearing 😫 fuck

Wearing Imaginary rings 😫😫😫 Says hello to paper rings says hello to imaginary lockets

*It’s gonna be alright she did her time!! 🥹

8) FLORIDA!!!—

I adore this song—my second fave on the album and absolute fucking banger. So glad Florence agreed to this they makes an amazing duo vocally—main vibes—Florida is the place Taylor wants to go to fucking escape the mess she lives in day to day. Anything goes, everyone is there hiding from something—the law, family, winter—nothing is too weird or unaccepted—and a certain someone has a house there 😎

My friends all smell like weed or little babies 😆

Florence’s verse is chefs kiss—Earl had to die vibes, watching bodies sink into the swamp, just full on misandry I LOVE IT—is that a bad thing to say in a song?? 😆 GET THEM ALL

Also I bet this song made Swifties uncomfortable 😆

FUCK ME UP FLORIDA 🤘🏼🤘🏿🤘🏾

9) Guilty as sin?

The Gay Longing/Gay Sex Song

*Another* suicide reference—but she’s just joking right swifities?

👀

No no that’s fine she just described an orgasm and if she’s not touching the person, let’s assume the pic below ⬇️ is like HEY THIS IS THE SEX IM SPEAKING ABOUT—it’s very much giving The Man pose for getting dome👀

And then the Jesus reference is just chefs kiss—gay sex is seen as sin and unholy by idiots and she said ok then bitch, what if I tell you the sex is so good we ARE what’s holy??

👀

She literally said messy top lip kiss and got away with it like 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

10) WAOLOM—

I just……this may be my favorite song of hers ever. It’s absolutely incredible in its intensity, rawness, and truth as well as being a banger

Every lyric screams her pain

My bare hands paved their path/you don’t get to tell me about sad/ If you wanted me dead you should’ve just said

I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street —Witch Imagery again!!

WHOSE AFRAID OF LITTLE OLD ME

👹YOU SHOULD BE 👹

Shots fired again at Scott Swift!! Let’s hear one more joke—they mocked her pain because they truly thought they could convince her she wasn’t gay 🫥

GODDDD 😫

Put narcotics into all of my songs—“a drug or other substance that affects mood or behavior and is consumed for nonmedical purposes, especially one sold illegally—a drug that relieves pain and induces drowsiness, stupor, or insensibility”

SHE SAID I HAVE TO USE MALE PRONOUNS AND FAKE REFERENCES TO MEN IN MY LYRICS SO YOU IDIOTS STAY STUPID AND HAPPY

and that’s why you’re still singing along 😎

Just WOW

Brilliant and Heartbreaking and RAW

🤍🤍🤍 We love you Girl 🤍🤍🤍

[cuubism]

Hello! What do you think would happen if the world ever found out the endless were real and one of them was dating an immortal peasant from the 14th century? I really want Hobs students to find out about this.

I think it would be funny if the world found out BECAUSE of Dreamling. Some guy who's pissed off with Dream (there are many) is like oh you wanna be funny, Dream Lord? Well I'm about to be hilarious. And is just like "hear ye, hear ye, some new asshole is blowing up his own life dating Dream of the Endless." And somehow this accidentally gets out to the whole world instead of just the supernatural community. (Would be hilarious to me if the whole supernatural community is invested in Dream's disastrous love life. They're watching like it's 90 Day Fiance, just waiting for the inevitable meltdown.) Dream would get shit for dating a human. Hob would get shit for dating Dream of all people.

They're a little concerned about Hob's sanity though. Supernatural creatures start coming up to Hob like BLINK TWICE IF YOU NEED HELP. they're holding his face between their hands like "hold still I need to make sure you're not spelled". Hob's like oh I'm of sound mind I assure you. They're like "that's patently untrue but good luck :)"

Later they all start to admire him because "only someone with incredible devotion could love Dream." They're a bit jealous actually. Dream is INCREDIBLY smug, even though it was probably Hob who initiated 95% of the first steps in their relationship.

Meanwhile, Hob's students are 500x more invested in their Prof's love life with "that weird goth" than in the fact that supernatural creatures that embody concepts are real. Hob's like "you've just learned that DEATH is a real person and you care more about whether I've put a ring on Dream's finger?" Students: WEDDING! WEDDING! WEDDING!

I do think it would cause a lot of problems though, for the Endless to be widely known. People would definitely be coming after them for boons and favors, it would be the Burgess situation x 1000. Some new religions might spring up around the Endless. Would people knowing that dreams are "real" (kinda) change the fundamental nature of dreaming? I think all their functions would get upended.

Meanwhile Hob's life would become a nightmare, being known as an immortal human? YIKES. All privacy or normalcy gone. He might have to fake his death and disappear to the Dreaming for a while.

Yeah to be honest I don't think the whole world knowing would end well for them at all. They'd be miserable, at least for a while. Dream has always performed his function in the shadows, and I think would hate being known everywhere. Hob's always liked being an ordinary person and wouldn't like that being wrenched away. Poor things :/

[etirabys]

on email

I put off wedding planning with the expectation that I would do a terrible but functional job once deadline urgency kicked in. This has started to happen. One consequence is that I have (probably but hopefully not temporarily) had to become a timely emailer.

The impetus was procrastinating on clicking a link in an email that it turned out I should have read ideally acted upon immediately. This is an embarrassing but characteristic mistake – my habit with emails is to open them, get a fast (and sometimes wrong) impression of the contents, have the emotion of not wanting to deal with it, and marking it as unread. I do this with a lot of non-email messages across all platforms, too, with the result that I drop a lot of messages that I forget to or can't mark as unread again.

I knew perfectly well what a loathsome creature I am to do this, but Willpower did not work.

I've been much faster with all messages in the past week and will describe what I understand of the change, so that it will hopefully persist.

(A prerequisite: for many years I have unsubscribed from, filtered, or blocked unwelcome senders. I try not to give out my email address for any reward greater than $20.)

i. I had to radically accept that I am tired and stupid most of the time.

Radical acceptance is a concept from mindfulness / dialectical behavioral therapy, and mostly means the opposite of "trying to believe something that isn't true". It means understanding and accepting your actual circumstances without flinching from them, and acting in a way that actually achieves your goals in those circumstances.

So it turns out – in some part because my expectations for myself haven't adjusted from my pre-burnout days when I had more energy and a better memory – that I put off things because "I can tell I'm dumb right now, and if I try to book this flight I'll probably double-book myself even if I check my calendar three times, and I should do this when I'm more awake." Or "I shouldn't resume this conversation about an art commission, because I don't feel all here today and I'm probably going to mess up the conversation". Or, of course, "I shouldn't make this decision the wedding planner is asking me about right now, because I'll make the wrong one."

While there is variance in my mental abilities depending sleep and time of day and so forth, I almost never pass the bar of cognitive competence I implicitly set for making these decisions. So if I keep the bar where it is, I'm never going to get anything done.

I have to radically accept that I am (compared to when I was younger) tired and stupid all the time, and I still need to live my life. I need to double-book myself and then pay $20 to reschedule my flight, arrange for a tasting with a caterer that doesn't meet a desideratum my spouse told me about, join a reading group I'm too busy for and then leave, get on a call that I forgot to do research for beforehand... etc.

And: I have to respond to emails and messages approximately as soon as I see them, because "my future self who will make informed decisions about things I cannot" is an illusion.

ii. Conversely, I should never check messages when I'm not prepared to make respond to arbitrary textual stimuli.

I used to check my email or messages when I was bored. This makes no sense! The contents of my email inbox are determined by the decisions of a large number of other people, and could contain anything. It is this variance that makes this addictive, and it is also this variance that makes it important to read it when I have the wherewithal to react appropriately.

I don't want to keep training myself into being the kind of person who repeatedly clicks and unreads a scary medical bill email. To stop that behavior, I want to have a mindset of "if one of my emails is a scary medical bill email, I am willing to read the whole thing, think about it, and take the appropriate next action" whenever I am about to navigate to my inbox.

The same goes for clicking into Discord or Messenger, because I need a similar presence of mind to react to invitations to high-effort social events, requests for help I may not be able to give, requests for information I need to think about before providing, etc.

The important thing is to not mix actionables with entertainment. I need mental separation between those two, because perceiving personal pings as a subset of social media notifications made me treat them more passively. "Oh, huh, a decision to join a Paradise Lost reading group is on TV. Interesting. Now an ad..."

---

I expect to backslide on my improved response rate/quality once I'm done with the wedding, but hopefully writing the above will act as the strut of a dam.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What are your favourite “Bella” moments from either your fics or the source material

My top ten Bella Swan decisions from canon.

Beyond that I love Bella deciding Jessica's the worst after the movie adventure for not wanting to hang out with her anymore, Bella's "I'll make it so my dad isn't traumatized by my disappearance" speech during the James debacle which is "I hate you dad and I'm running away!", her impassioned Switzerland speech that she honestly thinks will make the shapeshifters and Cullens get along with one another, Bella's "you're killing my buzz" when Edward's panicking post sex because she looks like she's been beaten with a baseball bat and Bella's trying to tell him it was the single greatest night of her life, Bella's speech to Jacob that "I can totally have sex with my vampire husband like any normal person" and not blinking an eye with the wolves have to literally drag him screaming out of her wedding reception, and well basically every moment.

Bella's a fucking delight and honestly, I am but a humble apprentice who cannot capture the sheer insanity of Bella Swan compared to the master of Stephanie Meyer.

I try and always fall short.

But from fics (hijacking from my and @therealvinelle's cowritten stuff as well)

Bella the Sad Fucking Clown from Blue Moon

Bella thinks she's having sex with Edward, that he's inviting her to his house to have sex or at least get closer to having sex. Bella takes this very seriously and decides to make herself look sexy with makeup. Trouble is, Bella has 0 experience applying makeup and ends up looking like a clown.

The worse trouble is that Edward wasn't there to have sexy with Bella: the plan is Bella's now having sex with his father.

Bella gets dropped off by Edward to fuck his dad while dressed as a sad sad clown.

(She decides to have rebound sex anyway and convinces Carlisle into this by being too pathetic to function.)

Bella I Need to Pass My Classes but Oh No I Put in No Effort from Painting Red Madonnas

Bella fucks up and signs up for the wrong class. Bella then proceeds to forget she's actually taking the class and ends up failing it both to her absurd lack of talent as well as the fact that she stopped doing any work in class.

She then proceeds to move in with the aliens so she can... save Marcus... maybe... it's unclear.

Bella the Aliens Want Me to Get Pregnant from The Less Than Immaculate Conception (by me and @therealvinelle)

Bella concludes from Marcus being in the right roman baths (while Bella's in the wrong one) that Marcus must want to sleep with her because his alien overlords want to study human intercourse/get her pregnant with a weird mutant alien baby.

Bella decides this is a great idea and proceeds to have sex with Marcus.

Marcus thinks she wants sex because she's a virgin and her only other option are creepy dudes at frat parties.

Bella Everyone Killed Jacob from And Then There Were None (by me and @therealvinelle)

Unable to cope with the idea of parting with Jacob or Jacob's suspiciously timed death, Bella proceeds to blame her entire family, including Edward, and murders them all. When she's shown proof that her family did not, in fact, murder Jacob and it was all a tragic accident she decides that they made her kill them because they made her think they killed Jacob.

She then proceeds to kill everyone else for killing Jacob.

Bella's Impassioned Speech from For the Love of a Woman (bu me and @therealvinelle)

At the end of the story Bella has learned things about not letting your romantic relationships define you. She's learned so many things. She's also learned that being hot and a vampire is amazing and solved all her problems.

She kind of lost the thread of that speech somewhere in there.

Bella "Let's Form a Polycule" and "Jacob, I've Come Up with a Brilliant Plan to Murder Esme" in Leech in the Rain (by me and @therealvinelle)

In the emotional fallout of Bleach on the Brain (by @therealvinelle) Bella looks to Jacob for emotional support as Edward... isn't doing so well. She decides that she and Jacob and Edward have always been in a polycule because uh emotions and needing each other and emotions. Bella convinces exactly 0 people that this is a legitimate and non-toxic relationship. Bonus points that Carlie gets to hear about this from Renee.

Also a winner, Bella's plan to kill Esme that backfires horribly when Jacob ends up dying instead.

Bella "I'm in Love with Hong Bellamy" from The Seventh Seal

Bella decides she's in love with what, to her, looks like a supernatural god-like pretty boy who can tell the future among other things. She's actually fallen in love with an almost personalityless alien, derived from her own soul, who is sick and tired of her bullshit and just wants to make a baby in a cave.

Bella then gets upset when said alien doesn't tell her the truth about being an alien but later elopes with him and becomes a vampire (much to Carlisle's infinite distress).

Bella "Renesmee is Really Ruining this Vacation" from Last Christmas (by me and @therealvinelle)

Bella loses her three-year-old daughter at the airport, said daughter is then held hostage by the Volturi. Bella decides this is all Renesmee's fault, she clearly wanted to be lost then kidnapped, and that she's singlehandedly destroying the family out of her self-centered actions.

Bella "I'm Not Cheating on Edward" and "Oh my god, does Edward actually love me?!" from Dark Fantasies/Writhing Coils (by me and @therealvinelle)

Upon realizing she's been bamboozled by a shapeshifting tentacle hentai monster, Bella has to justify to herself whether or not this was cheating and decides it's not because she's helping a poor creature and the Cullens would definitely do the same if informed. For a variety of reasons, the Cullens don't get informed, Edward makes Hentai monster's acquaintance and Bella then wonders given Edward's response if he's actually attracted to her at all. She then slides into a deep depression where she dislikes the tentacle monster (she quickly forgets about this the next time she and tentacle monster meet but not before she explodes with tentacle hentai squid larvae)

Bella's "Carlisle is wrong! Sex is amazing!" and "Maybe Carlisle was right :/ Sex kind of sucks" from Prima Nocta (by me and @therealvinelle)

Bella and Edward get talked into sleeping with Tanya and Eleazar. Bella briefly feels very liberated and sexually awakened and is appalled that Edward's curmudgeny unenlightened father is upset about this. Later, Eleazar sleeps with Edward in front of her roleplaying as Edward and Carlisle (Bella is a sexy lamp) and Bella's feelings do an abrupt one-eighty.

[neoaevis]

K.DY | A Vow of Convenience (TEASER)

☞ Pairings: reader x husband doyoung 

☞ Genre: smut, angst, fluff, arranged marriage au

✩ Word Count: 1,007 (Teaser) I’m currently at 4k with the fic.

✩ Warnings: family problems ishh, semi-cheating, arranged marriage

✩ Summary: Arranged weddings were still common practice in the glittering world of the privileged. It was a mechanism for affluent families to retain their social standing and financial security while ensuring that their children married into the "proper" family. Despite various justifications, there were still some aristocratic people who were against arranged marriages. They believed that forcing someone to marry someone they did not know or love was unjust. Even worse, some of them believed it violated the principles of individualism and personal freedom that were so important to their way of life. The vast majority, who valued arranged weddings as an integral part of their culture and way of life, frequently drowned out these opposition voices. Arranged weddings continued to be a common practice in the world of the wealthy despite the evolution of time. You and Doyoung are one of the best examples, both of you had been raised in households that placed a premium on keeping money and status and maintaining financial stability. Unbeknownst to everyone, including you both, both of your families had chosen to arrange your marriage when you were still very young with the understanding that it would benefit both clans.

✿ A/N: Prequel of Boy Toy with a lot of awkward moments (Send me a ask to tag you, once it is released)

According to some, getting married is every woman's fantasy, from the wedding gown to the jewelry she would wear on her body. Most young girls would dress up in their mother's wedding gown and pretend to go down the aisle as they fantasize about their prince charming and the wonderful moment when they said "I do."

Weddings are also bittersweet celebrations for parents; they are thrilled for the new milestone in their daughter's life and the eternal joy she will enjoy, but grief is unavoidable as they must finally let go of the child they raised with pride and glory.

Arranged weddings were still common practice in the glittering world of the privileged. It was a mechanism for affluent families to retain their social standing and financial security while ensuring that their children married into the "proper" family.

The concept of an arranged marriage was not novel. You'd grown up going to galas and social functions, where you were frequently presented to suitable bachelors from other rich families. Yet you'd always wanted to fall in love on your own terms, without the pressures and expectations that come with an arranged marriage.

Your wedding is without a doubt the most lavish and anticipated wedding of the century; it's a celebration that will not only bind you two together with your spouse, but a union between two extremely wealthy and powerful business empires; the entire marriage is solely due to your parents' greed; it's not a wedding out of love.

Every item in your body right now makes you appear to be a flawless princess who is overjoyed to marry, especially with the obvious effort that has gone into how you look, but what no one knows is the agony this wedding has brought upon you, the sacrificial lamb of those who are greedy for power, forever you shall be cuffed in a loveless marriage and be the bride who just opens her legs and obeys her husband and in laws.

You've always been a loyal daughter, and you knew you had to do what was required of you. You knew your parents had your best interests at heart and wanted you to have a nice life. Yet you couldn't help but feel lonely and alone.

You're sitting in your room, lost in contemplation, staring at the wall. You are going to marry a man you have never met. The parents, whom you had grown up with and loved, had arranged and pushed you to accept this marriage.

A knock on your door reveals that someone hopes to enter, and you can't help but cry when you see your closest friend Mina show up; "What's wrong, my dear?" she muttered, worry written on her face as she held you in a tight embrace.

You shook your head, unable to put your feelings into words. You had accepted fate, but the reality of it all was too much for you to handle. 

Mina had always been your best friend. You'd grown up together, sharing everything from secrets to clothing. When your parents informed you that they had planned a marriage for you, Mina was the only person you could confide in.

"I...I can't do it, Mina," you muttered, hardly audible above a whisper. "I can't marry him since I don't love him and don't want to spend my life with him."

"Shhh, dear, I understand; if only fate wasn't so harsh to those of us who live in this type of world." she said as she grabs your hand "We must make sacrifices for those who brought us to this planet and the power they still want; it hurts, but who knows? Maybe things will work out between you and Doyoung." she says it in her best attempt to console you.

Your tears streamed down your cheeks as you sighed. "But what about my dreams, Mina? What about all I've always wanted to do with my life?"

Mina wrapped her arm over your shoulders. "It's not over, Y/N. You have an entire lifetime in front of you, and no matter what happens, you can make it beautiful, and I'll be there to support you each step of the way." 

You heard a loud knock on the door, and your parents stormed in before the attendant could even respond. They were dressed to the nines and grinning with delight.

"Are you ready, darling?" your mother inquired, her eyes welling up.

"She's ready, Mrs. Y/L/N," Mina replies quietly as she wipes her tears from the recent occurrences. 

You forced a smile as you nod to your mother, your father handed you a lovely bouquet of tulips and grabbed your arm as he led you out of the chamber and down the corridor.

The wedding bells rang, and the sound resonated throughout the banquet hall. It was a lovely sound, one that signaled the beginning of a new life, the beginning of eternity. The ringing of the bells just added to your anxiety. 

You put on a fake smile to attempt to appear joyful, but your heart wasn't in it. All your hopes of falling in love, of meeting someone who would love you for who you are, rather than because of an arranged marriage, have been dashed.

The wedding bells kept ringing, and you couldn't help but be jealous of the couples who had decided to marry for love. They were fortunate to have a voice over their own life.

You attempted to find consolation in the concept that perhaps you can find happiness in your wretched circumstances as you saw your fiancé standing at the altar. But as you approached the altar, you realized it was all a lie. You were strangers compelled to marry by your own families, and there will be no love between you. 

[jacksgreysays]

So I was wandering back through the tags to read more of Primadonna Girl and look into Sabaku no Shinki, and I noticed that one bit where Shikako was pregnant and could FEEL the baby's interaction with her chakra--so ... do you think Shikako "cloning is easy" Nara pioneered some external womb seal-tech after that, so that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES would she EVER have to do that again?

This kind of touches on this post in which an anon asked about why I didn’t have Shikako and Gaara have biological kids with each other, but obviously less cringe-inducing. I think Shikako would make—or massively contribute to or, at the very least, consult the pioneers behind it—a seal/tech-based external womb not for her own benefit (because I do maintain SHE doesn’t necessarily want [more] children) but for someone else.

The first go to that comes to mind would be Risshuu Shingon and Saidai Nara (aka, Ritsu Shingon’s parents from the Sunshine Sidestories) who have, as you previously said and which I still find absolutely hilarious, “incompatible meatware” to have biological children of their own. We literally see their wedding in the side story so that they can build a stable domestic household for their daughter. But we also see how nervous Risshuu is about it and even Saidai, in his Nara way, given he wanted to get the wedding done IMMEDIATELY, because even though he was reassuring Risshuu the whole time, he must have also felt that if he didn’t seize the opportunity NOW, with the clan heirs being acting clan heads, then they may not be able to do it UNTIL the clan heirs ACTUALLY because clan heads — a decade or more, he said.

All that being said: I would think after some time of letting the concept of being legally married settle in their brains, when they’re no longer so worried of it being taken away from them, they would want to consider having another child. And, like, obviously they’re considering adoption or surrogacy because… you know… that’s what’s available… but I do like the idea of Shikako hearing about it (maybe from Ritsu, who’s old enough to understand what’s happening, but not old enough to know not to tell her hero intimate family details) and then showing up at their house during breakfast and sitting down—just really giving Risshuu deja vu—and dropping the “Do you want biological kids?”

And, well, they’re not going to say no to that. They just… didn’t think it was an option.

And Shikako does say—well, it’s not an option… YET.

And then she sweeps into the next Sealing Group meeting and just throws this topic into the ring and everyone just goes all in on this. It’s the exact overlap of sealing and medicine and “impossible” with further/alternate applications. Because I think the steps to make a functional external womb which WOULDN’T require constant concentration or exact chakra control could also lead into things like… how do bacta tanks work in Star Wars? Or stasis/travel seals to bring injured patients from the field back to a more incorporated hospital.

And, you know, there are probably a bunch of OTHER people who would appreciate an external womb: other couples with incompatible meatware, fertility issues in general. The more, uh, “corporate” equivalent would be clans with members who are reluctant to have kids but are the prime example of their blood limits so if the clan agrees to take care of the kid, they don’t mind donating their genetic material. Or even maybe civilian nobility? But that gets iffy.

Anyway, I don’t think Shikako knows enough by herself, but she definitely has access to and influence over people who cumulatively have the knowledge to pull this off.

[essektheylyss]

You know, Deanna's circumstances have raised a fascinating question for me.

Is marriage in Exandria "till death do us part"?

To start, I'm not sure if it's ever stated whether Deanna and her husband are legally divorced. They certainly seem to consider themselves (from what Deanna has said) to be separated. But did that require a formal divorce?

So in this type of world, given the mechanics of the Ceremony spell, there are two ways to be married: legally and magically. Legally is obviously contingent on region, and magically involves certain benefits in the form of mechanical boosts.

This raises a number of questions. In legal terms, marriage is conferred until a party chooses to pursue dissolution of the contract, or until a party has died. This seems to hold true in Exandria, and we know thanks to Pike and Scanlan that divorce is a concept that properly exists.

But varying forms of resurrection exist as well. Do governments have to impose a term on how long after death the marriage is considered binding, in case of resurrection? Is this something individual couples who are legally married choose? Does this aspect of a marriage contract act as a sort of prenup—couples who are wealthier or couples involving adventurers who might actually have the means for it tack it on, but everyone else ignores it? Uncertain, but I would love to know.

It's possible a short length of time is built in by default to account for the lesser resurrection spells (Revivify or Raise Dead are more achievable for the average citizen in some locations depending on cleric capability), but anything further has to be added in.

Magically is more interesting though, because this is a testable function of the Ceremony spell, because the Wedding rite can only benefit someone a second time if they've been widowed. This does not specify whether or not they were widowed only temporarily. However, you could test this by attempting to use that rite again on someone who has been widowed but whose spouse was brought back to life, such as Deanna's husband or Yeza Brenatto, and/or the spouse who has died and been resurrected, such as Deanna or Beth. If the rite confers the benefits, then magically the marriage is considered void by the death.

As an aside, if you're taking rules as written down to the letter, I would argue that the person widowed can undergo another Wedding Ceremony, but the party who died cannot, since it only specifies that someone who was widowed can benefit again—however, this raises ADDITIONAL very funny questions, such as, "How can one person still be married but the person to whom they're married is not?" and "What happens if a widower gets married but their spouse comes back after?"

Much to think about.

[serpentface]

What's the Wardi cultural take on Akoshos sleeping with/partnering with/marrying other Akoshos?

It's not highly regulated to a degree that there are overwhelming cultural norms about it. There's a lot of societal focus on akoshos being theoretically suitable sexual partners for both men and women due to being dual-gendered, but not to an extent that relationships with One Another are stigmatized.

They also largely get to escape from the most severe concerns about penetrator/penetrated power dynamics because they're not regarded as Men (they're regarded as dual-gendered, and they're a female social class on every practical level), there's no status of manhood to Lose by receiving sexual penetration. The only real thing you see in that department is people assuming that one acts as 'the man' and one acts as 'the woman', but this is largely due to preoccupation with a notion of sex being Penetration With A Penis (and that Penetration With A Penis means that one person is in a Man's Role and one person is in a Woman's Role). But this will not be regarded as unnatural as in same-gender male relations, akoshos will Have to take up a position in this sexual dichotomy if they want to have Real Sex (Penetration With A Penis) with each other, and this is not unnatural and doesn't involve gaining or losing status since they are simultaneously male and female, not men.

So like you might see individual culture critics finding stuff to nitpick about it as their annoyance of the week or a singular Guy here or there who thinks it's weird, but this isn't a widespread norm. The vast majority of people don't give a shit about akoshos having sex with each other. The worst thing you're likely to experience Solely by virtue of being in an akoshos-akoshos relationship is someone asking you (probably with genuine curiosity) which one does the man stuff and which one does the woman stuff.

Akoshos also don't experience Hard expectations for marriage (though there are societal pressures that make marriage an attractive safety net all the same, ESPECIALLY marriage to a man) so unofficial life-partnerships between akoshos are pretty much the Only same gender partnerships between unwed people that are going to go unquestioned. ((Sworn brotherhood is technically a same gender life partnership for men that is Functionally similar to marriage (in that it's a kin-making practice between unrelated adults), but the tradition is Built upon the assumption that both parties will be married to women and that a primary goal of this kinship is to provide security for both parties' wives and children)). Marriage obligations in general are more lax in the economically secure but not Wealthy lower mercantile classes (as obligations to support and perpetuate one's family are universal, but these obligations can be filled simply by having at least One son who can get hitched, and marriages in the lower classes have no political functions and therefore there's less reason to ensure All your children are wed (there's still incentives like dowry, but this is not desperately needed when a family is economically secure)). So akoshos in this class group tend to have a Lot more freedom in terms of their life arrangements and chosen partners (though still experience the limiting frameworks of structural misogyny in other capacities).

The only thing that is out of the picture is akoshos/akoshos marriage. Marriage in this society has a predominantly reproductive function, the concept of reproductively non-viable marriages is generally considered absurd. This is not JUST this culture's form of homophobia, as marriage is a very practical arrangement at its core - both in a reproductive capacity and as bedrock for the patriarchal blood-kinship family system that forms the core social unit. The idea of same gender marriage isn't just absurd because 'ewwww weird' it's like, that Cannot work within this system, it Cannot fill core functions of what a marriage intends to do here, the ways on which marriage and kinship are BUILT makes same gender marriage practically (rather than just socially) untenable.

The sole exception to the 'marriage = reproductively viable" rule is that akoshos can be married to men (which in practice is almost always as a remarriage after a man has secured At Least an heir). This has a Little bit of internal logic here in that they perform predominantly female social roles (thus are suited to being a wife, even if they can't bear children) (and also on practical levels of them having the same legal status as women) but it's really more of a 'this is just how it's always been' kind of thing. A lot of the older pre-Wardi identity dual-gender roles that got mashed together under the 'akoshos' name would have involved marriage to a man as a second wife/concubine, in addition to his primary wife who would bear his children. Men potentially having multiple spouses has not been retained as a cultural practice, but the notion that an akoshos Can be a wife to a man has survived into modern day legal and doctrinal practices around marriage.

So like this being said, marriage as it is legally defined is only between a man and a woman, a man and an akoshos, or a woman and an akoshos. In practice the latter two are comparatively VERY rare- a man/akoshos marriage cannot provide children (though an akoshos can practically fulfill all other obligations and duties of a wife), a woman/akoshos marriage Can provide children (and while akoshos cannot function as a male heir, these children Will take their akoshos-parent's family name (though the wife retains her father's family name)), but akoshos are legally grouped with women in terms of rights and privileges (including being permanently under legal domain of their father unless they have been legally handed off to a male husband) and Cannot provide hard power patriarchal support that this family system is built upon and therefore depends upon, which makes these marriages socio-economically insecure. They can obviously still be a good partner and parent, but this is not the same as having the Legal hard power of a patriarch.

Akoshos marrying each other would be reproductively and socially nonviable, and is treated as a similarly absurd concept to a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman. It's just not a part of the marriage and kinship framework, it's not a thing that you can Do.

[kairologia]

Essential Dignities in Astrology

For those who may not know what Essential Dignities are, it’s a system that seeks to gauge the relative strength or weakness of a planet whether by sign or degree. Essential dignity shows us what allows a planet in isolation from other factors in the Natal Chart to best express its inherent strengths.

In traditional Astrology planets have essential dignity if they are in the sign of their Rulership (aka Domicile), the sign of their Exaltation, Triplicity, Decan, Term, or in specific degrees of other signs where they function well. In contrast, Accidental Dignities refer to the level of strength a planet gains based on its placement in a birth chart wrt other factors, like its proximity to other planets, position within one of the four Angles (1/4/7/10th houses) of the chart, proximity to certain stars, and the Aspects it forms with other planets or points in the chart.

I will go over each segment separately and then explain what they mean in the context of planetary dignity. The relevant terms are: Domicile, Exaltation, Detriment, Fall, Triplicity, Term, and Decan. I will also address sect as it’s quite relevant. See table above (cr: Chris Brennan) for more effective visualization.

🔮 DOMICILE :

When a planet is in its' home sign, its attributes are expressed fluently & effortlessly, and it has no problem demonstrating the positive/negative attributes of said planet authentically, as it possesses all the tools and resources to best express its inherent nature.

🔮 EXALTATION :

A planet in its exaltation is as the name says — an exalted guest. Exaltation allows for the energy of the planet to be constructive & uplifting. It also allows for unrestricted expression of the planet’s nature. Think of Domicile as a planet being home, and exaltation being the planet’s best friend’s house.

🔮 DETRIMENT :

In the state of detriment, a planet finds itself in the opposing sign of its domicile. The planet's qualities are not easily and freely expressed, as the nature of that sign restrains the planet's natural significations.

🔮 FALL :

A planet in fall experiences the opposite of its exaltation. The characteristics of this sign are constrained and restricted, similar to the detriment but not as severe. Nevertheless, it's still a highly unfavorable position for the planet.

🔮 TRIPLICITY :

When a planet is dignified via Triplicity, it resides in a sign of the same element. Its dignity depends on whether it's in a day or night chart. Triplicity grants less dignity points than Exaltation but is still more favorable than being in a neutral state.

🔮 TERM :

Potential dignity by term is determined by the degree of the sign a planet occupies. The pattern for this dignity might not be readily apparent, but with the help of an Essential Dignity table you can identify where the planet holds a dignified position based on the degree placement.

🔮 DECANS :

When a planet is in its Decan, it experiences the least amount of dignity. It's comparable to finding a comfortable corner somewhere unfamiliar (e.g a party or a wedding surrounded by people you have no direct familiarity with). If the planet is already dignified in some other way, the planet will enjoy the bonus dignity.

🔮 SECT :

Sect is a straightforward concept based on whether you're dealing with a day or night chart. In a day chart, the sun is above the ASC, and in a night chart, it's below the ASC. For day charts, Jupiter and Saturn are considered the benefic and malefic planets of sect, respectively. In contrast, for night charts, Venus and Mars take on these roles. Benefics are more benefic when in sect. Malefics are more malefic when out of sect. So, in a day chart, Jupiter & Mars are most benefic & malefic respectively. In a night chart, the mantle is passed on to Venus & Saturn. Plus, understanding the distinction between day and night charts becomes essential when assessing Triplicity, as some planets are dignified by Triplicity only in specific (as in, day or night as explained above) chart types. So, it's rather crucial to pay attention to this factor.

🔮 ASSESSING DIGNITY/DEBILITY THROUGH SCORES :

Each dignification or debilitation possesses a specific number of points that contribute to the rulership of a planet when placed in a particular degree within a given sign.

— Domicile: +5

— Exaltation: +4

— Triplicity: +3

— Term: +2

— Decan: +1

— Fall: -4

— Detriment: -5

Upon factoring in these elements plus additional factors such as accidental dignities, scores vary from +38 (exceedingly dignified planet) to -38 (severely debilitated planet).