#writing in a historical time period also means thinking about the time before and what events they must have lived through

[droughtofapathy]

I was going to turn in early, except now I'm plagued by thoughts of how Avis DeVoto and Blanche Knopf canonically (and also like... the real-life women) existed in a time where they didn't have the federally-protected right to vote. And sure, by the time the real Avis was 18, the 19th amendment passed two years prior, but Blanche spent eight years of her adult life unable to vote. What kind of impact must that have had on her as a person?

[writers-potion]

Writing Female Fighters

The Heroine Must. Fight.

Today's female protagonists cannot sit on the side crying and breaking down or whimpering as the battle ensues.

Readers want to see autonomous female fighters who can at least defense themselves with courage and adequate skill.

Not all women are the same, but the heroine should get her butt moving.

Less Muscle, but More Flexibilty

The average woman is shorter than the average man, which makes it more difficult to wield a long sword or slam something down on the opponent's head.

A woman who works out can plausibly be stronger than a male couch potato, but if her male counterpart works out as much as her, the man is going to be much stronger.

On the other hand, the center of gravity in a woman's body is lower than a man's which makes it harder to knock her off her feet.

She is also more flexible, which gives her advantage in grappling fights, making use of complex landscapes, or deflecting blows.

A woman's small size can also be an advantage if her opponent has only ever trained with male opponents. His big hands might not get a good grip on her slender limbs.

In historical fiction, giving your heroine good muscule build can be tricky as exercise was generally considered harmful for women, with some exceptions for horseriding any maybe archery at best.

In such cases, make your heroine an accomplished dancer or an eager horsewoman, or the only girl whose father considered to be son replacement and thus, gave her a boy's education.

Women of lower classes who couldn't afford to be fashionably weak will be plausibly stronger, perhaps even more than an idle gentleman.

More Room for Negotiation, but Prolonged Ruthlessness

In the Suspense part of your fight scene, females are more likely to negotiate and talk more, strategically trying to descalate the situation rather than attacking on a momentary impulse.

Generally, women are less aggressive than men and remain level-headed longer than her male counterparts, opting for non-violent methods first before using force.

Exceptions apply if she is trying to protect her children (or someone who she cares for as a child). Mothers can be tigresses.

A female pre-fight conversation may be: "If you had not done so-and-so and betrayed me with so-and-so, we could have been good friends as I thought we would be." "What do you mean? It was in fact you who brought bad blood between us. I can still hear you laughing with so-and-so, taunting me, purposefully making me look bad -" "But that was so long ago! If you want me to say sorry about something so insignificant, you should have just said so: I'm sorry. There. Satisfied?" "Ha! I can't believe you say that so easily. You still don't get it, do you?" "Who's being petty and unreasonable now?"

A male pre-fight conversation will be shorter: "Who's the coward now?" "You're wrong." "Prove it." "Bastard."

Compared to men, it will take more time for a woman's fight hormones (adrenaline, neurotransmitters and such) to kick in.

She would be slower to engage initially, throwing reluctant punches and thinking, but she'll grow more and more violent and lose all rational thought and compassion, and once she's in full flow, may not stop even when her opponent begs for mercy.

When writing a male-female duo, you can show him going for the first blow while she observes and strategizes first. When he's past his peak and panting, she is flying about left and right. Later when the tension wears off and she becomes wobbly and teary, she can rely on him to have recovered faster and distract other teammates so that they won't see her cry.

Plausible Skills and Backstory

In many cultures and time periods, the general attitude of society towards girls is that they have no place in fist fights or martial arts, unlike how it is encouraged for boys of the same age. So if your heroine has physical prowess that surpasses typical 'fitness' or is hidden, build a backstory of how she's obtained it.

For modern heroines, it can be as simple as signing her up for martial arts classes or yearly membership at the local gym. For historical fiction or girls with strict 'feminine' upbringing, it can be trickier.

It can be related to profession: maybe she was an erotic wrestler, catfighter, or an assasin who thought killing was more honorable than prostitution. They may have dabbles with it for a short time and is now trying to hide their past from their respectable employer or fiance.

It can be family backstory: Perhaps her mother was an accomplished martial artist or she had to fend for younger siblings on the streets from an early age. Maybe she was the only girl in a family of many boys who refused to be the punching bag.

Inexperienced Female Fighters

A woman with no fighting experience or training is likely to resort to one of these on instinct:

Try to talk herself out of the situation, attempting to persuade or negotiate for her life.

Grab something to use as a weapon. This instinct seems to be stronger for women than it is in men.

Use her hands to try and break free, or kick (often wth little success)

Pull hair

Scratch.

In a serious fight, pulling hair and scratching won't be helpful, except when the police come to find her body, they would find the opponent's DNA under her fingernails.

Plausible Weapons and Clothing

All of the above applies to scenes where both parties have no weapons, or has the bare minimum (like one dagger each).

Weapons are equalizers, and if your heroine is pointing a gun at her opponent she will definitely NOT hesitate to be the one to shoot first.

When giving your female character a weapon, choose one she can plausibly use. It would take an unusually brawny woman to wield a great medieval longsword.

For historical fiction, give your heroine something she'll plausibly own. Swords and firearm were a no-go for women, but archery was borderline acceptable.

For clothing starters, you definitely CAN NOT dress her in a tight miniskirt and chainmail bra with long, flowy hair and multiple silver chockers. Unless she's trying to seduce her way into her opponent's bedroom, and he has a chainmail bra fetish.

A practical heroine will have her thighs covered, preferably with leather but at least with fabric, since a lot of blood flows through the thighs and a slash would be critical.

She'll keep her hair tied, tucked under a helmet, braided back, etc. so that it won't impede her vision.

She'll support her breasts with a strong sport bra. In a historical eprioid, she'll either tie her breasts tight with a fabric bandage or support them with some kind of leather corset.

Invent a female version of male fighter clothing of the time you are writing about if it doesn't exist.

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[melondecarabia]

⋆˙⟡ obscuary nsfw headcanons 

mdni! 

fem reader 

authors note: i can't stop writing. which dorm should be next... tempted by hotarubi

tw: period talk, puppy mode lyca, emotional rui (is it rui if it isn't emotional)

smut under the cut! 

edward 

this grandpa is a slut. or was, before darkwick put him in house arrest. 

pillow princess 55% of time, power bottom 44% of time, dominant top 1% of time. he wants to be pampered in the way he likes when he's being a princess, and is slightly more considerate towards your pleasure when he's taking charge. once in a blue moon he fucks you so hard and deep you'll have trouble remembering if you even exist. by the time you wake, he's already back to his lazy ways, and the only indication of that historic railing even happening is that you can barely move your head and hands, and rui and lyca won't look you in the eye for a few weeks. 

rui is thankful that ed likes you, because it means that the amount of suspicious stains on especially socks has lessened. count your blessings?

the best thing he's got going for him is that you could sit on his face all day, and he won't die from suffocation. downside is, he might lock you in place with his arms until he gets enough, whenever that is. 

if you suggest pegging, he'll agree. he thinks it's cute that you want to have 'power' over him, but as soon as the strap hits the right spot, he's moaning like a whore. now, if he can't find a youtube conspiracy video niche enough, he hits you up with a text demanding you come rearrange his guts. 

he absolutely has a pretty dick, and i hate him for it. bigger than average and he barely uses it! also, he's very smooth hair-wise, even without doing anything. 

will frequently ask you to dress like a maid or nurse. might be motivated to actually move from his bed if you wear those outfits! especially if there's nothing under that skirt… 

you don't need a period tracker with him around. he shows up about 15 minutes before you start bleeding, even if you haven't seen each other that day. clings to you and whines for you to visit obscuary. please? he'll die if you don't join him in bed. 

gets turned on by you exercizing. buries his nose in your neck, and gets hypnotized by your raw scent and the thrumming of life in your veins. you might get a few scratches from his fangs while he's drooling over you.

likes positions like the cowgirl and lotus. he might help you by thrusting up slightly, or he could just grab you by the hips and use you like a doll. or he just lays there smugly. 

aftercare? to him it's just cuddling. you'll have to bully him slightly for more, but he does take good care of you, especially if he took a sip of your blood. 

watches you sleep too. contemplates just turning you into his eternal companion already… he'll convince you someday! 

rui 

let's go with the idea that his curse gets broken. i can't have my babygirl be sad and horny at the same time. 

i don't think he's actually that experienced? he definitely has flirted with girls as easily as he breathes air, but actually having sex? he gets shy. 

a pretty average dick. his tip is a bright but soft pink. he shaves pretty often, and keeps his hair neat. started taking care of himself even more after meeting you, in case his curse got broken and he had to get into action.

he's a switch vers. whatever you want baby! he'll take any affection he gets from you eagerly and is into what you're into. would wear a collar with your name under his clothes with the slightest implication. 

if he's flirting with you, he's horny. so, at all times! it's not his fault he's got so much pent up energy, and you're so pretty. even breathing or looking in his general direction gets him bricked. he's ridiculously down bad. 

not particularly jealous or possessive. he knows you're great, and so should everyone! he's so lovey dovey, that even if someone calls you beautiful right in front of him, he agrees immediately and starts listing things he loves about you. he does get insecure though. even if his curse is broken, so is his selfworth. you should spoil him. 

taking him out on a date… getting him a bouquet of red roses… homemade dinner in the candlelight and a bottle of wine… he starts crying tears of joy by the time you give him a kiss after dessert. 

kissing his hands… they're no longer suffocated by cold leather. laying him down in the dimly lit bedroom, and peppering his knuckles with pecks as you sink onto his already weeping dick. his eyes roll back, and the candles give you the halo he already sees decorate you day to day. 

your existence gives him stamina he didn't know he even had. yes, ghouls have inhuman strength, but he really can't stop his hips from moving. he's absolutely crying from his overflowing love and feeling of pleasure. immediately nuts if you kiss his tears away. 

he loves making out, much to the displeasure of anyone within seeing or hearing distance. 

he's a very loud moaner, and does his best to get you just as loud. lyca considers moving into the forest if this keeps up. 

king of aftercare <3 draws a rose scented bath, and gets you hydrated with your favorite juice. even makes a light snack with fruit cut into hearts <3 

lyca 

a complete virgin. he was too busy being imprisoned to even think about intimacy before tbh. 

having sex with him once means you're together forever now! even without experience, he'll follow his instincts and unwarranted tips from rui (which much to his annoyance actually do work) to have you both satisfied. he will take notes if you give him advice, and if that freaky bat finds them, he'll tear him apart. 

he's kind of uncategorizable? he just does what feels good. he mostly tops though, as he wants to take care of you! 

i think he's got an average length dick, but thicker. he only has a knot if he's got his ears and tail out, but they always pop out when he's excited. that's why he can't do quickies! 

not jealous, but territorial. subaru is pretty much the only one who can hug you, kaito and luca are alright (but on thin ice), and ed is in active danger. 

gets in the mood easily. smiling at him has him in a daze. puppy love, hehe. 

whenever he gets hard, he beelines straight to your location, drags you somewhere private, and stares into your soul with puppy eyes. please help him… he needs you more than whoever you were intending to meet with! 

he takes any opportunity to scent you. he gets complimented by subaru and rui for being a good boyfriend when he leaves his hoodie for you to wear, and he gets incredibly smug. that being said, he's torn whenever he has to choose where to cum. getting it on your chest has him satisfied that you smell like him, but his wolf logic insists he fills you up every time. such difficult choices… 

thinks girls are scary even after he starts dating you. he doesn't think of you as a woman, or a man. you're you, and he loves you. gets nervous for a couple minutes every time you get your period, but then remembers this happens every month. he has eaten raw meat at some point, and uses this point convince you to let him eat you out. it's kinda cute? gets lost in the sauce, and you'll have to drag him by the scruff of his neck to give you a break. 

your ovulation has him going stupid. he comes over in the late morning to have something called brunch, and as soon as you open the door he's grinding on you while whining. obviously you can't just let him suffer! 

only by the time it's golden hour he comes to his senses. he went feral by the third time he orgasmed, but it was worth it. he really likes it when you're melted into the sheets, marked up. what he doesn't like is when his hard work leaks out of you though… he pouts when you say you're tired, but is easily pacified with kisses. 

aftercare for him? getting you to eat. even if you're not really hungry, he gets happy seeing you eat even an apple. it makes him feel accomplished. 

[goddessofroyalty]

Something i really enjoy in your Zaun Family Au is the concept of physical touch. Let me explain.

I dont know if you did it on propous or not but it sounds like in Zaun touching, hugging, holding or just any other of physical touch is far more common and acceptable. Meanwhile in Piltover you have to be more protocolar. It reminds me of the historical romance novels i have read where you cannot just hug or touch your friend because its "impolite"

The idea:

Since Jayce is from a lower house he is more used to hug and touch people to show them his care. But since he started his studies he just cannot do it anymore. He feels like shit but is ashamed of saying it outloud.

Enter Viktor.

They touch, they hug, they are physical affectionate in a platonic way.

As he goes more and more to Zaun and befriends his family he feels better. He missed this.

A punch in the arm from Vi, Jinx climbing over him to show him something or maybe sitying in his lap while they check some equations, Vander patting his back. He loves this small moments.

The only time Silco patted his arm to congratulate him he almost cry.

This feels like family.

Bonus: Caitlyn is taken aback because she never experimented this level of physical contact before. Yes, she has Jayce but he is like a sibling. She just sagging in Vi's embrace, trembling and feeling so warm.

Zaun having a more touch-friendly culture is an accepted headcanon for me so while I'm not consciously thinking about including details reflecting it when writing the fact it it is just a part of worldbuilding means that it will be reflected in how I write characters.

But yeah I very much believe Zaun has a culture where casual touch is much more accepted than Piltover which has a lot more strict social rules generally.

The fun thing with Jayce and Viktor is that Viktor lived in Piltover for long enough that he's learned their social rules and so is pretty touch-adverse at least when he is in Piltover. Especially because he's Heimerdinger's assistant so is interacting a lot with the very Upper Class of Piltover. And yeah Jayce also learned the rules after starting at the Academy (and gaining the Kirramans as his sponsor) but he clearly struggles more with it (possiblly because he didn't expect to have to change his behaviour compared to Viktor who knew that he would have to adapt to fit in with Piltover).

Basically though Jayce starts the physical affection with Viktor. Cautiously and probably more in the socially-justifiable 'patting a bro on the arm' kind of way that he can easily pass off as a nothing-thing if Viktor reacts like he's uncomfortable like so many other people Jayce has interacted with since joining the Academy did. Except Viktor doesn't react negatively and starts touching Jayce in return, also similarly in the small gestures that can be easily excused if it gets a bad reaction. And then slowly slowly they get more and more bold in their touch, testing out to see if there's a line where the other will push away that never comes. Until they are just very physically affectiate with each other casually.

Viktor's siblings haven't had that much exposure to Piltover when Jayce is introduced to them (only starting to be brought up there by their parents after the explosion and start of the Hextech partnership) so there isn't even that testing period with them. There's also a lot less 'secret rules' when it comes to ineracting with them (or at least different ones to in Piltover) - they are very straight about what they think of Jayce both the good and the bad as well as being very comfortable with physical touch. And it's a breathe of fresh air to Jayce who is more and more dealing with people in Piltover who stand a meter away from him and pretend they like him even when they don't. Honestly how happily he responds to them even when they are being kind of mean to him is part of what endears him to Viktor's younger siblings so quickly. He's not stiff and stuckup like the other Piltites, will let Powder literally hang herself off him, and is a good sport about their teasing. There's still definitively moments where Vander nearly knocks him over because he did not expect how hard that man can hit even when he's just patting Jayce on the back but that's fine, he'd much rather that then them treating him like they'll catch something if they touch him. There's a reason he kind of seeks them out when there's big social events where the Zaun Representative brings his family with him - it's a momentary break from the Piltover Social Rules.

Caitlyn does not know what to do with Vi's family far more so than Jayce. She grew up entirely in the culture where touch is reserved for very limited situations. Even though she's so very touch-starved she doesn't know what to do when they do just sling an arm around her or bump into her in a silent request for her to move over so probably just goes very still at it. With Vi's it's a bit different because she and Vi are dating (or at least romantically interested in each other) and so yeah physical affection with her is easier even if she is amazed at how warm Vi's hugs are. It takes a bit for her to get used to the others though.

[anarchy-and-piglins]

Blue-collar Techno kidnapped by white-collar SBI when? And I don't mean minimum wage Techno or cashier/clerk/other I mean farmer or rancher or otherwise physical labor intensive. Potato farmer Techno kidnapped by SBI because they loved his passion or something idk just trying to tempt you into writing more dark SBI tbh

Okay, but I can vibe with this and I'm also still very much with my brain geared towards historical AUs so maybe something that's set around the roaring 20s or a bit later (the period between the world wars basically)? Alternatively the period right before the first world war, the turn of the century. But that might be because I have the Titanic on my mind today lmao.

Techno is a factory worker, typical blue collar profession, probably orphaned or at least from a very low-income family. He's proud of his hard work and his accomplishments and he's vocal about his passions and beliefs, just stuck in a place where those don't mean much to anybody of any significance. The working class doesn't have time to do anything except physical labor to keep afloat, especially not somebody like Techno who has no support to fall back on.

SBI are white collar. Maybe a family of business attornies? I think Phil as a lawyer would be absolutely hilarious especially because I can see the vibe of him being so kind and mundane from a glance but boy does he have a sharp tongue and a good memory. He will tear you to pieces verbally if need be, and smile while doing so.

A bit grim, but I want to say it starts with a death. Somebody in the factory dies due to the company's negligence (sadly, not that unusual an occurrence) and as always the boss wants to pay as little as possible and face as few consequences as possible. Except Techno knew the guy who died, and talks to that family, and tries to push them into getting their legally owed dues for their loss, or go public. The factory hires Phil to make this entire thing go away as quickly as he can with minimal financial loss for the business and no scandal.

Phil has no moral qualms about doing this. It's not that he hates lower class people specifically, he just looks down on them as beneath him and doesn't like them stirring up trouble. He finds them dull, uneducated, and uncultured. And also, he loves money. Greedy crow.

Phil does his lawyering thing. Often it's as easy as putting some pressure on the family and using big words around them and showing them some papers they can't read anyway and they'll take the minimal offered to them, since it's still a treasure in their eyes, and agree that the company bears no fault in their beloved husband's/father's death. Even if it does go to court, Phil isn't concerned. Honestly, the entire case bores him.

What he IS much more interested in is Techno.

They meet when Phil comes by the factory, and Techno and Phil run into each other since Techno is so involved in the fallout of the untimely demise of the other worker, and Phil is enthralled. Techno is not intimidated by him, easily pushing back on his wordplay with his wit. Techno has opinions, and is rather smart for a factory worker (he can read too! Techno is mostly self-taught). Phil finds it charming. Entertaining, if nothing else. He can see the fire in Techno's eyes.

He tries to pry into Techno's past and learn more about him, Techno is guarded against this, which in turn just makes Phil MORE engaged.

Eventually, Phil offers Techno to come work for the law firm. He'll have to do some really lowly manual labor there at first, but Phil sees potential in him, and if it turns out Phil is right about that, then perhaps Techno can even make something of himself if Phil teaches him and allows him to work his way up. It's an extremely gracious offer, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity even.

Techno declines.

Phil is flabbergasted. Like, absolutely gobsmacked. But also so much more enthralled now. Techno refuses to take handouts from pompous rich bastards like Phil, and he has no interest in joining a branch that so clearly profits from keeping the upper class on top and the lower class under their heel. Most men would sell their souls for what Phil can provide them. Techno has more integrity than basically every single person Phil has come into contact with through his job in the last decade.

And god if that doesn't just make him want to have Techno more.

Even as a little kid, Phil was never told no. Thus it's not something that sits well with him. He will have his way, no matter the cost. And hey, we already established Phil knows his way around the legal branch AND that Techno has no support system so like, if you do wanna take it to literal kidnapping, that'd be easy.

I'm assuming this would be 3/4 dark sbi so my image for that is that Wilbur and Tommy are both Phil's kids. Wilbur is technically also an attorney (following in the family's footsteps, as his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all are), except he doesn't really work a lot and has more fun squandering the family's money. Phil is way too indulgent when it comes to his sons, who are as spoiled as he used to be, so he allows this. Similarly, Tommy is still in schooling though he's not sure what he'll study once he's in university (he's leaning into finance because he loves scams lol) and he spends most of his time enjoying his wealthy life.

If Kristin is there, I imagine she comes from a family of doctors, though Kristin herself never worked or got a higher education. That'd be unbecoming for a lady of her status. She loves it when Phil has a fun little project for them to occupy themselves with since she's maybe also lowkey bored being a housewife.

[authorhjk1]

December special 2025

Hi everyone!

I know you guys might think this is way too early, since December is in literally 12 month. But after last time, I realized that I need to have a little more time to write the individual stories, which also means we need to do the voting earlier. I haven't set a date yet, but I'm aiming for something around October. Also, last time a couple of people mentioned that the time to send in requests was a little too short. So here we are!

Pretty much the same rules as before. Everything goes. You can request anything for the December specials and when I read your request and answer it, I'll let you know what I think and maybe make a few changes, if I don't feel comfortable writing specific kinks and such. I'll answer every request I get as soon as possible and add it to my personal list of requests. I'll then write a short "teaser" like I did before, so we can keep the request list, which I will update regularly at the end of this post, relatively short, because sometimes I get quite long requests. You can send me requests by messaging me directly, or by sending an ask to my inbox. Please make sure you label your requests as "December special requests". I'll make a tag for the requests I get, so you can scroll through them like last year.

The year 2025 will have four Sundays throughout December. That means I'll be writing four stories. A Christmas/Winter theme is preferred, but not a requirement. I'll post reminders probably every two months, so you guys don't forget that you can send in requests. I haven't decided on how the voting is gonna be, since we tried two different styles so far. I'll tell you more about that when the time comes. I'll add the link to this post to my pinned post, so you guys can easily access it. If I forgot any important information, please let me know.

Looking forward to your requests this year!

List of requests for the December special 2025:

1.

You, Irene and the new coworker Seulgi work for a media company, who produces music videos for entertainment companies. Around this time of the year, two female soloists are about to have their comebacks. Im Yoona and Karina. They both have similar music, similar concepts and the same target audience, which makes them natural rivals. A good music video always impact on a song's popularity and success. Which of the two can convince your team to invest more time and attention into their music video?

(A continuation of "Welcome party")

2.

G!P Ryujin brought back a surprise from Itzy's tour. A tied up Yeji in your bedroom. You make her watch you fuck Ryujin, before the two of you use Yeji however you want.

3.

IU planned on enjoying some relaxing vacation after a busy year. But she completely forgot about a quite important part of her most recent contract with a new investor. That means her vacation will include no relaxing at all. IU isn't prepared for what awaits her. The first mistake was to think that she'll be attending to only the CEO's needs.

4.

You're still getting accustomed to living with your new step family. Your new step mom Taeyeon and her daughters Karina and Winter seem to like you though. But one day everything is suddenly different. They don't just like you. All three of them find you attractive. And you're not sure how you're going to handle all three of them at once.

5.

While watching a new historical kdrama, you suddenly find yourself trapped in that time period. Being put into the role of a military general, you fight for your king on the battlefield and in the palace. But just when you think you're getting used to living like this, Yuri and Yoona turn your new world upside down again.

[jcollinswrites]

hi, sorry in advance if this is already somewhere else on the blog, but how do we pronounce the RO names? or the character names in general

Narmer and Tabiry is quite straightforward I think and Qenna I assume is pronounced with a hard K sound, but is Zaia pronounced with the first syllable rhyming with lie or lay? (I anssime it’s the former and spoken in two syllables, but I guess it could be said in three syllables??)

and is the “e” in Ahmose pronounced as another syllable (making the total in his name three syllables)? Im guessing petmes is either peetmees or petmees or peetmes but idk lol so it’d be nice if you could clarify it :]

thanks!

I made a post once upon a time of how I pronounce the names. You can find it at the end of the ROs and NPCs link in the main post, but here it is again: link

The way I pronounce Petmes rhymes with the word 'endless'. The vowels are the same so it's like an 'eh' sound, both times.

Zaia is zaah-yaah, and Ahmose is tricky because Ahmose isn't even the original name. The original Egyptian name was something close to Yahmes (similar to Petmes, where 'mes' means child, and 'Yah' was the moon god, so Yahmes means Child of the Moon). The 'Ahmose' spelling probably comes from Greek, and the English translations just adopted it. Is the 'e' pronounced at the end? Who knows? Hieroglyphs didn't include vowels most of the time. I pronounce it as 'eh', but it could also be silent.

Interesting tidbits about the language and pronunciations under the cut if you wanna read further:

The thing is, we don't know how these words were pronounced. The original language completely died out more than two thousand years ago and they didn't write vowels in hieroglyphs, so when linguists try to imitate the pronunciation, that's just guesswork based on Coptic and other languages that came later and evolved from Ancient Egyptian.

The pronunciation and words changed a lot as well during the thousands of years when the language was in active use, just like how our own languages sound completely different from even 500 years ago.

Old Kingdom Egyptian was probably quite different from New Kingdom Egyptian because there was a thousand years between the two historic periods.

In the game, the characters use late-Middle Kingdom Egyptian, which was probably heavily influenced by Hyksos after the Second Intermediate period, when the Hyksos occupation took place. After the Hyksos were banished (around 1500 BC), it is possible that a linguistic reform took place to erase the Hyksos traces from the language, because pharaohs always loved to erase traces of the past they didn't like, which we have proof of. They constantly re-carved the texts on monuments to get rid of the evidence that the offending thing (or person) even existed. It is noticeable even today on the walls of temples and other monuments.

If Narmer was a real person, he would 100% do that. So the language they use in the game is already not exactly the same that people would have spoken even 50 or 100 years before. It is practically impossible to say what it was like.

And then later, that mix of a language evolved into New Kingdom Egyptian, which was in use for another good 500 years.

New Kingdom Egyptian evolved into Demotic Egyptian from around the 26th Dynasty (around 1000 BC).

Cleopatra VII (the famous one) was from what could be considered the 33rd Dynasty, so when she was alive (around 50 BC), people hadn't been using New Kingdom Egyptian for almost a thousand years. They spoke the then-newest version of Demotic Egyptian, which was heavily influenced by Greek and Aramaic, so it was not the same as the older versions.

By 200 CE, Demotic evolved into Coptic Egyptian, and Coptic became the language that people in Egypt spoke during the last few centuries before the Arabic conquest (around 600 CE). By that time, they adopted the Greek alphabet for writing. In some old Christian monasteries in Egypt, they still have songs and old texts that are sung in Coptic, but nobody actively uses the language anymore.

Thousands of years later, filtered through millions of people's different accents and pronunciations, we simply can't know what the old languages were like. The only way to know would be to invent a time machine.

If you wanna know what Bohairic Coptic sounds like (that's the latest version of the Coptic language), here is a cool video I found on youtube:

[docholligay]

Let's talk about everything that has to do with this moment.

So, of course, I love that she has not even one second of hesitation. She is not going to let him get any closer to Scar, Scar needs proximity to blow Roy's brains out of his skull, and if anyone is going to get the pleasure of that it is going to be Hawkeye. She fantasizes how good that would feel for like, six seconds, before she began to miss his stupid ass.

She also does not worry about upending a superior officer into a puddle. Roy is, on a structural level, her superior officer, sure, but when it comes down to it, she could backhand him and Roy's not going to write her up for it, because if she does it to him, well, he probably has it coming.

LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW FAST ALL THIS HAS TO HAPPEN.

We have Roy's gun in her left hand and hers in her right. Given that she seems to unholster it from her right hip, and given statistics, Hawkeye is probably right hand dominant. So her gun looks like a Colt 1911, which I am basing on the very sketchy dynamics of anime gun illustration, and what i THINK the time period is of this anime. Also it was a very common gun, still very easy to pick up on the secondary market. (PLEASE DON'T TELL ME WHAT IT IS IF THEY TOLD US I'VE FORGOTTEN ALLOW ME TO BE ORGANICALLY DUMB) So let's even assume Roy's gun has the safety off--he's the kind of guy that would throw a gun to hawkeye without the safety on, because he's....Roy.

Let's go through this. She would have to cock his gun--I can't get a good look at the gun to even make a guess as to what it is, but I'm gonna act like it's one of the many semi-autos used by the military--probably using the slide for time's sake. So as she's going down to swipe Roy's feet, she pulls the slide. Then she has to grab the gun from her hip, which i assume is well-holstered, so she has to unsnap a strap, grab it, flip off the safety, slide, shoot. Contemporary pistols have a much smoother slide than these oldsters. AND SHE DOES ALL THIS WHILE MOVING AND WITHOUT THINKING. THE DEVIL WORKS HARD, BUT HAWKEYE WORKS HARDER. I DO NOT KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER TRIED TO DO QUICK DRAW SHIT IT IS VERY VERY VERY HARD.

This is the kind of thing that if it were not sold to me as being from a character known for being exceptionally militarily competent and very well trained, I would call hot bullshit. I mean, even believing in hawkeye as I do, I think it's an achievement.

So...Roy threw his gun to her. Why did he do that? Why didn't he holster it? Roy is a bit of a showboat and kind of careless from time to time--it wouldn't surprise me if he likes to fucking clown on Ed so much because Ed reminds him a bit of his younger self--so it could just be a show of , "teehee! I am not at all concerned." But it could be that he knew Hawkeye would to well, quote myself, have his six. She was never going to just let him get killed. He has to know that. He also knows how very very good she is. Did he, maybe even subconsciously, throw it to her because he knew she would be coming after him? And that the best assistance you can give to Hawkeye is More Bullet?

PLEASE DO NOT COMMENT ANYTHING THAT COULD EVEN REMOTELY LEAD TO ME REALIZING SOMETHING OR KNOWING SOMETHING NEW. Do not confirm, deny, draw attention to something I missed EVEN IF I SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT, contextualize in a cultural or historical way, anything. I hate that I have to be so specific but I am trying to experience this show totally clean. IF YOU SPOIL ME I WILL BLOCK YOU.

QUICK LINK TO THE SPOILER-FILLED FUNTIMES DISCORD HERE. THEY WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE THINGS YOU KNOW AND YELL ABOUT ME

[kneelingshadowsalome]

As a history and Mythological lover, I love your works, they are so addictive, and you write so well, and the Minotaur konig fic was such a pleasure to read. I remember when you first uploaded the Roman konig story and I was so ecstatic about it, I remember checking on my break at work, If you’d uploaded another part haha, I mean I still check tumblr on my breaks to see who had uploaded so I know what I can read after I get home lol.

I think you’ve found your niche!

Also if you don’t mind answering what other time periods you’d think konig would fit in? Victorian era?

Nasty, oily and covered in coal, konig is walking home through the streets and bumped into a clean wealthy beautiful young woman, ooh do I love forbidden romances, just like your nun fic lol.

Ahh thank you! Mythology, fairytales and historical au’s are a passion of mine 😭

And puh-leeze, a forbidden romance between a dirty worker and a rich uptown girl? Filthy coal miner König who bumps into this fancy lady dressed in white? How can he ever make up for his clumsiness?? Please don’t have him beaten like the poor bastard he is, he already fucked up today by accidentally destroying boss’s new machinery by showing off his strength...

Tries to steal a peek at her ankles, and under her dress while dusting off her skirts with some napkin that’s hardly much cleaner than his hands. And she’s just giggling at him – great, now he’s hard... How is he going to explain this when he rises from here?? (Rich lady also being protected at all costs from dirty dogs like him! He's soon panting at her door!)

As for other historical au’s and fairytales... >:)

CW: Fear of SA (historical au), wife stealing (yandere fairytale imagine)

Obviously I see König as this dark knight of the Teutonic Order, punishing pagans with his sword somewhere in the wild woods of old Europe. How about another forbidden romance between a cold-hearted crusader & a cute pagan girl who lives in the woods and worships the old gods?

She gets captured during some awful raid, and is pulled into the camp by her hair, angry tears streaming down her face. The soldiers tie her to a thick wooden cross and leave her in the rain, probably to have their way with her later, taking turns with her after they've gambled and had a drink. Then this dark, giant knight happens to walk by, not a regular foot soldier but an actual knight with armor as black as night. She remembers him from the battlefield, wielding a fat morningstar, splitting people’s skulls from atop the huge black destrier he rode...

A terrible beast, dark and silent and big, the rain batters his helmet as he takes one look at the shivering maiden on the cross, her white linen dress glued to her skin in the downpour, and stops.

The soldiers have a crude sense of humour and what’s arousing, but he has seen worse… The knights of the Holy Order are even more perverted when it comes to having “fun” with women. But something pierces his defense when seeing the frightened stare of this pagan girl, her weak body trembling on the cross, the wide dark nipples perked up from cold. He’s seen so much death, his soul is drenched in blood by this point, but somehow, this woman who hasn’t even been broken in is the last straw.

Ends up taking her down, and she attaches herself to him like he’s her saviour, even the cold black armor apparently warmer to her skin than the cold rain. The cruelest of knights feels a moment of pity for this girl and sets her free, pushes her to the woods and waves his hand in a gesture of Get the hell out of here while you still can. (=gtfo before I get hard enough to take you in the mud...)

Months later, she finds him bleeding to death under a tree after a battle. All the other soldiers are screaming and crying for their mothers, but this one is silent, eyes darkening when he recognizes her. He says something, already delusional, and she can’t help but kneel and offer him water…

(and from this point on it would go somewhere in @wordstome s Kosovo maiden territory, perhaps slightly darker? But you get the point!)

And then there’s this old Inuit story that always reminds me of König, it has many variations but it’s basically about this lonely hunter who gets a little too resentful for not having a wife yet. Goes to paddle his boat in these moonlit waters and sees a bunch of maidens dancing in the moonlight on a small little island, notices their seal skins on the ground, and because he’s lonely and in despair, he steals one of them.

One by one, the maidens put their seal skins on and rush back into the water, but one woman can’t find her seal skin no matter how hard she looks for it. The hunter emerges, holding her beautiful skin, saying he’ll give it back to her if she comes to live as his wife for 7 years. She has no other choice but to say yes, and for a while they live happily, they even have a son, but then the seal woman starts to miss her seal skin and the sea...

It’s a tragic tale and the hunter won’t let her leave even if she cries so this would make a wonderful yandere scenario, you could always make a twist and write the woman as some other animal, a deer perhaps, and König as this lonely brooding hunter of the Austrian mountains :)

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I'm writing a fantasy story set in a setting that focuses around 12-13 century BCE. My main character, who is not the POV character, has progressive blindness due to a genetic disorder and has lost most of his hearing in one ear due to an explosion in a battle. Given that magic exists very sparingly in this universe, and no one close to him has such powers, he uses only a cane and later, a guide animal for his blindness.

I just read through your blog and I realised it might seem a little disrespectful to not accommodate other avenues of aid, especially for his hearing loss. I wanted to ask if I should add anything else, and if so, what would be appropriate for the period?

P.S.: He is also a warrior, and he fights pretty often; is that unrealistic with the aids that are involved?

Thank you for maintaining the blogs, this has been greatly educational

Hi!

So, while we don't have a lot of commonly known resources about disability in this time period because of the in general more limited resources about it, we actually found a resource that might help you a lot!

This website is called Disability History and the Ancient World, and focuses on exactly what it says lol. To quote it: "Quite contrary to disability studies for other periods, research into this subject has just begun to develop and specialists are few." It has a huge bibliography of various research papers and articles, in various languages and about various topics. Not all of them have links, but they can be copy-pasted and then searched for and whatnot. More specifically, we found an article about deaf men in the 13th century BCE! Here's the article, and here it is in PDF form if that's easier.

For more general practical writing advice, you can play a little fast and loose with accuracy. You kind of already have, a bit, with the aids for blindness – but also with fantasy, and also because you kind of have to, in a setting we know relatively little about!

It is, however, pretty accurate that wherever people are deaf, they develop sign languages to communicate. It might not historically have been a standardized language in a widespread way, but people everywhere want to communicate. If you're being a bit anachronistic anyway, which again, is totally fine especially in a fantasy setting, you could also make it so that a braille-like language exists already; and/or a tactile sign language that's somewhat known. Those are aids that DeafBlind people use today that could translate pretty well to the setting.

As to the combat/warrior, I would say that a guide animal is much less realistic to have in combat than the cane. You also mention that his blindness is progressive, which means it might vary from battle to battle depending on how his blindness progresses and how often he has to fight.

Thank you for your question, by the way! I think we were all a bit fascinated because no one has asked us anything about this time period before.

– mod sparrow

P.S.: For historical context for anyone else other than the original asker, this time period is 1300-1101 BCE, and the numbers go 3-2-1 instead of 1-2-3 because they're counting down to 0. It's around this time that it's the Late Bronze Age and later the Late Bronze Age Collapse, the Shang Dynasty is in place in China, it's the 19th Dynasty of Egypt, and the mythological Trojan War has its symbolic dates (it might be based on a real conflict, or not, we don't know for sure).

[sixth-light]

ok ok slightly feral post as promised.

first, some context setting: I think it's really interesting to analyse texts in terms of both what the author was trying to do (and whether they succeeded) and what they ended up doing (intentionally or not) and I think their cultural/historical context is vital if you want to do this. I'm not interested in whether Robert Jordan or the Wheel of Time are, like, morally correct in their politics or whatever. I'm interested in what the art is trying to do.

and the thing about Jordan, see, is that he projected this image during his lifetime of a Genial Older Man (see: beard and pipe) but he...wasn't actually that old! He was 42 when EoTW was published. He died at 58. He was a Baby Boomer publishing books at a time when Baby Boomers were the hip young generation taking over from stodgy WWII veterans (Gen Z: It Will Happen To You Too).

What this means is that he was a child and adolescent during the Civil Rights movement, in a then-majority Black city in the Jim Crow South*. He would have gone to segregated schools. The tertiary institutions he attended had only started to desegregate a year or two before he attended each of them. I think his war trauma in Vietnam gets a lot of attention because he did talk about it and also because that's a narrative we understand for white men, but I think we...skim over the impact on white men of growing up at this time because? Civil Rights only happened to Black Americans I guess? but it's his context too. Similarly, he was an adolescent and young man at the time the (white) feminist movement was really kicking off in the US. he was in his mid-20s when banks were first legally *required* to allow women to open accounts and have credit cards in their own names. he went on to marry a woman a decade older than him, who had left her husband to raise her son as a single mother while continuing a professional career in the early 70s; these were issues that must have been incredibly relevant for her.

and what we see in his writing is attempts to grapple with gender and race that are self-evidently of mixed success, but I think have to be contextualised in light of this period of immense change he grew up in. Think about the predominance of women as merchants and bankers in WoT, in the context of how recent their rights to even control their own money were in the US. The...everything...he was trying to do with the Seanchan, making them extra-canonically Southern American-coded. The Whitecloaks as the KKK (among other things, of course).

As an example, I think there's also something probably unintentional but fascinating in the way he presents the pre-Breaking Aiel: bluntly, they are a distinct ethnic group in hereditary servitude (always thinking about how that ancestor of Rand's in the Rhuidean sequence had to get permission from Mierin Sedai to switch to someone else's service so he could marry his girlfriend, this is...uh...super cognate to issues enslaved Black people faced). They're associated with agriculture through the Song sequence. And they're pretty much the ideal of what slave-owning Southern American culture WANTED enslaved Black people to be: completely happy to serve. Then, as the post-breaking Aiel, they become feared as a source of violence, which resonates with the way that enslaved people were feared by their slavers.

I don't think for a second that the intention here was to depict the AoL as a Secret Slavery Dystopia, I think we're meant to take the Rhuidean flashback sections pretty much as they read on the page. But I also think putting Jordan in his historical and cultural context does pose the comparison. Similarly, I find it really interesting that he positions Seanchan as riven by constant revolts and uprisings (because it's a fascist slaver regime) but he never ever goes so far as to link enslaved people in Seanchan (damane and da'covale) to those revolts and uprisings, even though that is fundamentally the deep fear *for real and obvious reasons* of all slavery-based societies.

Or then there's the changes to the Two Rivers in the books - like, both then and now I think it's actually pretty radical to present an influx of Muslim-coded refugees of colour as a thing that enriches the Two Rivers both socially and economically. Various characters are wistful that it's changed, but they don't think it's bad. The text here is really clear that welcoming the Domani and Almoth Plain refugees is both morally right and beneficial. And this is in a book being written and published shortly after the first Gulf War.

There's so many more things like this where I just have no real idea what he was trying to do on purpose and what was accidental and what was fun for him in fiction but did not necessarily link at all to his real-world political beliefs. but gosh it's interesting to turn over and poke at.

[firedemblem]

Ailing Empire: Adrestia and the Han

tl;dr: The Adrestian Empire in FE3H is a direct reference to the rise and fall of the Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 CE).

This is the first of a few rambles I'd like to do about Chinese history, specifically on the late Han - Three Kingdoms period which influenced KOEI's writing for FE3H. For these I'll be focusing more on themes and inspirations, and less on 1-to-1 comparisons of events and characters. But I'll make it clear what the history is, what the FE3H references are, and why an educated Chinese or Japanese audience would recognize them.

Also fights about who's right or wrong will be ignored. okay lessgo

First, The History

The Han Dynasty, starting around ~202 BC, is the first major imperial dynasty of China. It's the first Chinese empire that lasted for more than 25 years, it's considered the origin of Chinese identity, and even the modern Chinese writing system (hanzi) and the term for ethnic Chinese people (the Han) still reference it. It's very influential. Unfortunately, it also collapsed spectacularly in the 200s CE, leading to a period of civil war in which 3 kingdoms with complex leaders and heroes fought over whose vision should govern China. You can see where I'm going with this.

Now, China isn't new to civil war either before or after the Three Kingdoms (3K). There are plenty of other famous periods of war. But the 3K became famous across Asia, not just China, for a few reasons.

Unique and memorable factions, popularly retold stories of loyalty and betrayals, and people not agreeing on who was in the right (again, you can see where I'm going with this).

Historical records (the Records of the Three Kingdoms, or 三国志) were written about 50 years after the period, providing historians and readers plenty of reference material.

Another 300 years of civil war happening AFTER the 3K made everyone miss the Han and look back fondly at the events near its end.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义), a historical novel written by Luo Guanzhong in the 1400s CE (1200 years after the Han ended), laid out the most famous events of the period in a more readable and adaptable form.

Infinite subsequent adaptations and Dynasty Warriors games.

(For "why 3K was also popular in Japan", see this more well-referenced reddit post.)

This is just to give you an idea of how well-known and influential the late Han to 3K period is, and why it's become a source of references across Chinese and Japanese culture up to the modern day.

Okay, so why does its fall mean Adrestia--

Sorry, getting to that. But to get to that, we have to talk about what exactly happened to cause the Han Empire to fail.

The short version was that the Han ended due to a combo of corruption, failed power grabs, weak emperors, badly behaving regents, and lords with their own power bases (again, you can see... okay I'll stop). The long version is a little more thorough. Since this post is already long you can reference the full wiki'd version here, but the summary of events is as follows:

Under the Han Emperor Ling and his supporting eunuchs, the Ten Attendants, the Imperial government becomes corrupt and heavily taxes the peasantry. Revolts break out.

To put down the revolts, Emperor Ling gives regional officials the power to keep their own armies. (The Han at this time is governed by region, each with its own imperially appointed governor. Think of it as the American president letting each state governor have their own army.)

The revolt is suppressed, but then Emperor Ling dies, leaving 2 heirs aged 13 and 9 and a bunch of powerful eunuchs and officials. The older heir is declared Emperor Shao. Power struggles immediately ensue.

A general related to the Imperial family, He Jin, summons the army of the regional official Dong Zhuo to help him get rid of the eunuchs.

He Jin is immediately assassinated by the eunuchs. The eunuchs are killed in turn.

Dong Zhuo gets to court, finds a power vacuum and a weak 13-year-old emperor, and installs himself as regent with his army. Unfortunately Dong Zhuo is just as corrupt and cruel as the eunuchs, and shortly afterwards "replaces" the 13-year-old emperor with his 9-year-old brother (read: by poisoning). The 9-year-old is crowned Emperor Xian.

A coalition of other officials, now with their own standing armies, unite to fight Dong Zhuo and restore power to the emperor. They fail, but keep building up their armies anyway in defiance of Dong Zhuo's control. One of these officials is named Cao Cao (pronounced T'sao T'sao).

Dong Zhuo dies to his own men. Through a series of hijinx and fights with the other officials (who've since become warlords of their own territories), Cao Cao takes control over the emperor instead.

Cao Cao keeps control by being better at governing than Dong Zhuo, and the emperor stays a puppet. Though he's officially prime minister of the Han court, Cao Cao becomes head of the Wei faction and King of Wei while wiping out most of the other warlords. (The other 2 kingdoms being major exceptions, obviously, but we aren't going to get to them today.)

After Cao Cao dies, his son Cao Pi declares himself not just king but first emperor of Wei, forcing Emperor Xian to abdicate and ending the Han Dynasty.

NOW for Adrestia

If you read over everything above, you'll already have a pretty good idea of what I'll say. But I'd like to lay it out anyway: this is a list of the close parallels between Adrestia as described at the start of FE3H, and the state of the Han Empire just before its end.

Just as the Han empire is considered the foundational empire of China, Adrestia's founding and history are considered the start of modern civilization in Fodlan.

Even the founding story of Wilhelm & the Saints vs. King of Liberation Nemesis has shades of callback. In records of the founding of the Han, the first emperor Liu Bang is famously recorded as having the support of 3 wise generals/strategists, and having to defeat his main rival the Hegemon-King Xiang Yu.

Since its mythologized founding, Adrestia has lost a significant chunk of its territory and glory, just as the later Han Empire was significantly more subdued in power than at its height.

Though for the Han this was more due to losses against northern tribes and usurpations, such as by Wang Mang, than by splitting off into 2 separate kingdoms.

The timelines for Fodlan have also been expanded compared to 3K, such that we're not talking about a civil war and more about 3 sovereign nations.

The holders of power in Adrestia, the noble families, are noted as being either corrupt (Aegir, Bartels), disloyal to the Emperor (Vestra), in it for themselves (Hevring, Bergliez), or otherwise ineffectual.

This closely reflects the later Han's governmental corruption, power struggles, and rise in self-motivated officials and eunuchs, which eventually leads up to the chaos of the 3K period.

Adrestia's Insurrection of the Seven can thus be seen as a heavily condensed version of the Han court's power struggles, especially between a weak emperor and their more powerful officials. The eunuchs have been combined with the officials to create the nobility, but the beats are the same.

The imperial family tries to reclaim its power from powerful officials, and fails.

A weak emperor or imperial heir is forcibly put under regentship by a more powerful official.

The regent is corrupt, foolish, and acts with impunity, leading to chaos in the rest of the nation. (Interestingly enough, Dong Zhuo, the corrupt regent who first takes control of the court, is frequently portrayed as being fat and boorish in a similar way as Duke Aegir's design evokes.)

The name "Insurrection of the Seven" also parallels that of the Ten Attendants, the title of the corrupt eunuchs.

Even Edelgard's situation, being lower in succession but taking power after her siblings are killed (indirectly) by powerful officials, can be seen as a callback to Emperor Xian being proclaimed emperor himself and having his older sibling poisoned by Dong Zhuo.

Now, I should note that these are meant more to be parallels than proofs. And FE3H makes its own share of changes and unique writing choices, which it has to do to create a European-styled universe that meshes better with the Fire Emblem structure. But due to the popularity of the 3K period in China and Japan, the way the other 3H houses match the other 2 kingdoms, Awakening referencing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and KOEI also producing the Dynasty Warriors and RoTK series, I'm absolutely certain all of these themes are intentional. So given all this, I think there's a lot more to analyze about FE3H's portrayal of Fodlan if we keep considering it in light of Chinese history, and I hope to start doing that for the other 2 factions next.

Aren't you missing something?

Yes, and I wanted to add an additional section at the end of this long ramble, because what I find really interesting are the writing decisions that changed between history and FE3H.

For one, there is no "Cao Cao" figure to usurp the Han in FE3H. This is because Edelgard herself, while being analogous to Emperor Xian, also effectively becomes Cao Cao by trying to seize power and uproot the previous order. Since she can't usurp her own rule over Adrestia, her conflict is written to be external by focusing on the Church of Seiros, which did not exist in Chinese history. And since there's three nations instead of one civil war, a greater overall conflict has to be forced on each of them via Slithers. But Edelgard's thematic struggle remains the same as Cao Cao's; seizing control over what she views as a failed system, and righting it by any means regardless of conventional morality or opposition.

For two, as mentioned before, there's as many callbacks to Biblical and European mythology in FE3H as there are Chinese underpinnings. FE3H's names are European, Shakespearean, Greek, and Celtic. Its religion is syncretized from Abrahamic flood myths, Buddhist cycles of reincarnation, and the Egyptian goddess Isis (with a veneer of Catholicism). Its characters are school-life teenagers rather than hardened warlords, and its backstory is every conspiracy theory combined. Yet I find that in terms of storytelling and themes, FE3H is better explored via its comparison to the 3K than via any of these other references. Because there's not a whole lot to say about the Alliance being named after King Lear characters, but it's way more interesting to consider Claude being a Sun Quan outsider-analogue, or why the Blue Lions are written with a terminal case of Loyalty. But I'll get to those in other rants.

[avonne-writes]

How about a historical reenactor AU or the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) AU?

I love this, such an original idea! ❤️

John and Gale are from different kingdoms, but they meet at an event and sparks fly. Gale takes the historical accuracy very seriously, and he and Marge go to events together in period-accurate costumes. He likes learning about history and bonding with people through that.

Meanwhile, Bucky is one of those SCAdians who have more than one "persona" because he can’t settle on just one to play. Always has fancy and unique costumes, wants to stand out. To him, historical accuracy is secondary to having fun.

It's funny when they start flirting because Bucky often ends up accidentally bringing modernisms into the conversation, and Gale refuses to understand them. Bucky has to find the right historical terms to get his meaning across. Bucky also starts writing Gale period-accurate letters, which always put a small, secretive smile on Gale’s face when he opens them. Brady, who got Bucky involved in the Society, is completely stunned when he realizes how much research Bucky has done to get closer to Gale.

Eventually, Gale grows to trust Bucky enough to share what he's like in real life, what his job is etc. They finally start talking through texts and calls as well, and go on dates as them and not just their characters. They have sex as themselves a few times before Gale tells Bucky he wants to have sex in character as well 😄

In the Society, I think Gale might be a skilled archer who sometimes teaches archery to others as well. Bucky is a bit of a goofball, he just goes to hang out with his friends and who loves the dances and feasts organized.

[dionysianfreak]

What are your views on myths? Also is it true that Homer and Hesiod (myths? Views?) existed wayyy before they even wrote anything? Does that mean those views are "true" because they were believed in for years? Also just wanted to ask: are Hades and Pluto the same? (Sorry for the long question!)

hello dear ! :)) no worries about the long question ! it gives me a lot to think about. since there's a lot going on in this ask, I'll break this into pieces so that it can be a little more comprehensive ! 💕

what are my views on mythology ?

complex, to be honest. in my personal religious practices it doesn't come up often. I tend to use mythology to understand how the ancient people viewed each other/their culture, rationalized the unknown, or dig for religious clues/beliefs found between the lines. some mythological writings are the only evidence for Deities we would never have known about otherwise, as an example.

i also view it as an amalgamation of historical art pieces that are crucial in understanding ancient Hellenic society, culture, morals, and centers of worship. plays and myths were how people entertained each other ! many myths were born from very impactful worship centers, such as the lake in Argos where Dionysos was said to enter the underworld. mythological stories are captivating and dramatic because they were meant to capture the attention of everyone and be memorable enough to continue being told.

ultimately, even though I don't put religious weight onto mythology, it would be wrong to ignore it entirely. the people who practiced helpol were listening to these stories and remembering them, and THAT itself is important.

is it true that Homer and Hesiod's views/writings existed before they lived to write them ?

this is a complicated question. if we want to get technical, all philosophies are informed from the views before them. new world views end up combined with old ones in a neverending philosophical cycle. religion is an evolutionary practice, meaning (in most cases) it will constantly change over long periods of time. we see this in written sources that tweak the details of an otherwise unchanged storyline.

Homer is an especially complex case because we aren't even sure that Homer was a literal person. even if he was, we know VERY little about his life. I commonly see people speculate that (if he was real), he was probably born in the 8th century B.C.E.. Hesiod is usually believed to have lived in the 7th century B.C.E.. for context, the Mycenaean/Minoan civilizations were around as far back as 2900 B.C.E.. that's over 2,000 years of culture, religion, and life BEFORE these great writers were even conceived. their writings were a culmination of 2,000+ years of culture and a snapshot of creativity and history for a small window of time. so yes, it's true their principles are informed from years of previous cultivation but that doesn't make their accounts false.

Homer is a little special though, because the Illiad was based on a real-life war and we only know this war happened because of Homer. His story isnt necessarily a retelling of the war, but it used the war as a major event of the tale. the Illiad is the whole reason we found Troy in the first place and know of the real-life conflict between them and the Achaeans. we have absolutely no idea if the events he describes, such as the war starting over Helen, are actually true. it can be compared to how people now will write fiction about people or events during real life wars, like the story of a non-real soldier during the very real WWI.

Hesiod is different in the sense that his works are more like didactic poems and are generally believed to have some kind of moral lesson. He has more historical information than Homer just because his works focused more personal analogies and information on his/ancient Hellenic life. Homer's stories were an oral tradition meant to entertain and preserve a very impactful war. with Hesiod, we get a peek into beliefs, culture, and life from that time period, but that doesn't make his account the correct one. his experiences and values are not universal in the slightest.

finally, the most important piece of context is that Homer and Hesiod's works appear right after that area of the world went through their dark ages. this means that around 1100 B.C.E., we have little to no written sources of significance. written language was not prioritized for whatever reason and, for the most part, we have no idea what was going on mythologically. these periods most likely prioritized oral tradition and some theorize that "Homer" may be a lost word attributed to the oral tradition of these times. this is pure speculation because we cannot know without a written source.

so, in summary, Homer wrote of events that did exist but we can't know how accurate his account was. Hesiod and Homer wrote of many different things that were inherently passed down to them via oral tradition that changed along the way. it changed because all cultures and religions change. we have no way of knowing exactly where most of the mythos we have originated, especially because a lot of them came down from the dark ages. this does not mean that their views were not their own, just that it's nearly impossible to not be impacted by previous generations.

does this mean their views are "true"/the correct ones ?

no, it doesn't. it's generally harmful to try and find "correct" sources because no region in the ancient Mediterranean could agree. every person will have a slightly different worldview. there are certainly ideas that unify helpol and ideas that contradict most areas of it, but religion is not a tangible science with strictly true or false information. there is a LOT of grey.

so, in my opinion, no one has the "correct" views. Hesiod was correct within his own philosophy/theology and Homer was correct about details of his stories, but that will not be correct for every single person who lived in ancient Greece. all we can do is gather the information we are given and try to find common ground.

are Haides and Pluto the same ?

I'm not an expert on Haides's worship, so someone please correct me if I misspeak. before Rome, Haides was also known by His epithet Plouton, meaning "The Lord of Wealth". some sources call Him Aidoneus or Plouton due to a stigma around speaking His name and a fear of inviting a VERY kthonic God closer. some sources seem to treat Haides and Plouton as two distinct Gods. regardless, Haides was known as a God of wealth due to His association with Persephone/Demeter and because ancient currency literally came from underground. coins were made from metals mined very deep below the surface, the underworld.

Haides was absorbed into the Roman Pantheon when Greece was taken by Rome. He was conflated with a local wealth Deity i believe, or it may have been a local plant fertility God, or both. when this conflation happened, the Greek spoken name of Plouton became the name of a God of riches and wealth named Pluto/Dis Pater. the big ideas for both God's are nearly the same—underworld Gods called upon for riches and plant fertility. I know there are many characteristic differences and unique cult practices that don't allow room for people to claim They are the exact same Deity. if anyone knows the details, feel free to correct me or add !

some people argue that Haides and Pluto are the same, but this is not a unique sentiment when speaking about Greek and Roman Gods. those who retained many of Their Greek features and associations are especially vulnerable to this idea. most people don't know that the Roman Gods are often all combinations of two or more Gods. it just so happens that Greek culture had a particularly distinct impact on Roman state religion.

so basically, no Haides and Pluto are not the exact same God. They each have features and cult practices that are unique to Themselves, even if They are very similar on the surface.

[humbledragon669]

S2E2 - The Clue Write Up P1 - Land of Uz (2500 BC) and London (Present Day) up to the credits

Ooh it’s been a while since got to use an in-screen caption as one of the headers and I am delighted to be able to do it again! I may well just use the same two headers as we switch between the two time periods in this episode, just for simplicity. Sue me.

There’s a tiny detail that’s been applied to this opening shot that I absolutely love – the video here has had an of effect applied to it to give it a vintage film feel. Sorry, that’s as close as I come to describing it with any sort of eloquence – I’m referring to the “fake” black marks and scratches that appear on the image briefly (you can see a couple on the header above). It doesn’t last long (only until Crawley finishes his first line), but I think this subtle little effect sets us very firmly in a cinematic (cinematographic?) context. I also feel like the colouring of the image has been altered for the same purpose – it puts me in mind of one of those historical films from the 50s and 60s, like Ben Hur and Spartacus (which I suspect is probably the whole point).

There’s something else interesting about Crawley’s appearance in this scene – his sunglasses. Cast your mind back to episode 3 in the first season (Hard Times), in which we saw him appearing without sunglasses all the way up to (and including) 33AD. I did comment on the appearance of the sunglasses in the 42AD scene in the write up for it:

I’m not sure I actually find this sudden appearance of sunglasses some 2500 years earlier all that interesting. There’s a part of me that feels that they have probably been included here because we, as an audience, have come to expect Crawley/Crowley’s costume to include a pair of stylised sunglasses by this point. I’d actually be strangely satisfied with that if it was the case – I feel like the reason behind his choosing to wear them could be so much more interesting if this was simply a “continuity error”.

Just wanted to include this because I am thrilled Aziraphale finally gets a really bad-ass entrance. How many times have we seen Crowley sauntering his way into a scene, looking like the coolest thing on Earth (and knowing it)? So glad the angel gets a turn at that here. That said. Why exactly is it that Aziraphale has happened to show up at this place and time? As we will come to find out shortly, Crawley is actually acting with Heaven’s authority so I don’t think the angel would have been sent there. It would present an interesting parallel to Crowley’s supposed knack of knowing when the angel is in trouble, but also resurfaces the suggestion about them being aware of the other’s whereabouts more often than not. I have to say, based on the conversation between them here, that seems unlikely – this exchange feels nothing but businesslike to me, cold even. Aziraphale even goes so far as to apologise (unapologetically) for having to do his job. We do learn that it has been about 500 years since they’ve seen each other, which is a nice little piece of backstory to have. I also consider it interesting to see Crowley providing a prompt to Aziraphale on how to complete his task, which provides a loose mirror parallel to what we saw Before the Beginning, that time with Aziraphale prompting his newfound friend that the incantations (for want of a better word) were not complete.

Side note: don’t you just love those little goats for staying exactly where they’ve been put? Pretty sure most animals would have scarpered extremely quickly when a huge flaming ball appeared above them, never mind having another being literally appearing from thin air in a really spiky portal of light. They must be some very calm goats.

Given the light show that Aziraphale has brought with him to make an imposing entrance on a demon, I’m pretty impressed with the restraint Crawley shows when he responds here – I mean he’s not exactly known for his patience is he? I also wonder if Aziraphale’s comment about jokes is meant to be a throwback to Hastur’s vehemence that he doesn’t like them, but the line is so throw-away that I can’t see what relevance it would add at this point. What I do find interesting is that, now we’re no longer in the “present day” of this season, we see Aziraphale struggling with his preconceived notions of right/good and wrong/evil. It’s something we saw quite a lot of in the first season, in both historical and “present” timelines. In the second season though, what with Aziraphale no longer working for Heaven, we tend to see it a lot less. We saw it in the first episode in the Before the Beginning segment, and we’ll see it again in the coming episodes, but predominantly in the historical scenes. There’s something about the fact that Aziraphale appears less conflicted about morality once he has been removed from the morality-defining authority, become more connected to humanity, and is found to be exercising his free will that I find deeply profound. No wonder the poor guy took 6000 years to realise that being Good isn’t just about following orders, especially when you consider that instruction is tied to his very existence. That whole thing is a big concept, and I struggled to put it into any words that made sense, so I hope I’ve at least been kind of clear. Basically, what I wanted to say was that I love that the historical scenes are being used as a way to remind us of the character development that Aziraphale has gone through over the millennia – they show us where he came from. And it’s not just the angel that gets this treatment:

We haven’t seen this version of Crawley/Crowley for quite a while, have we? The one that takes such delight in his mischief. And in case you missed it, we really should have known what he was up to – you can see two birds taking flight in the background behind his head, with an accompanying “caw” to draw attention to their presence.

I’m including that gif for no other reason that I find it Muriel’s impersonation of a goose adorable. I do wonder what exactly would have been deemed important though, if Job’s farm, camels, goat, oxen, children, and geese are all disposable. I’m not going to go into the underlying subtext of the bet that has been made between God and Satan here – the story itself is little changed from its original biblical source so I feel like it’s a bit out of scope for an episode write up. What is interesting to see is that the item on the list that Aziraphale balks at is the same as the one that Crowley has previously demonstrated (on more than one occasion) is his “line in the sand” for unacceptable acts – killing children. This will also be the first time, chronologically, that we see Aziraphale take his doubts to other angelic beings (some of whom are his superiors). I’m assuming his way of doing things is a little more diplomatic than Crowley’s was when he was in his angelic state, even if it is just as (un)fruitful.

This attitude towards Sitis and Job keeping their existing children rather than having them replaced with new ones says a lot about the Heavenly standard when it comes to understanding humanity and its eccentricities; his reasoning here being that it shouldn’t matter if Job’s existing children are murdered senselessly, as long as they’re replaced with an equal (or greater) number of different children. There is no appreciation of the complexities behind human relationships, desires, or emotions. I feel like it makes the fact that both Gabriel and Michael claim to understand the difference between the subtle technical differences between “killing someone” and “not stopping someone from killing someone” pretty ironic, particularly when they are taking advantage of this technicality to maintain their stance of being the good guys. And all said in such a convincing (and convinced) tone. Gabriel’s stance really only makes sense when you take it out of humanity’s context, which I think is why it’s just not something Aziraphale would ever be comfortable with.

Alright, we’ve jumped back into the present day to find Aziraphale apparently deep in thought about something. My take on it, and I think it’s a fairly common one, is that the whole Job sequence up to this point is a flashback as seen through Aziraphale’s eyes. (Side note: a cash register ringing noise is an interesting sound effect to employ to highlight the placards here, seeing as we all know the angel never willingly sells a book) There are a couple of things I picked up on during this delightful little scene, the first of which is this line:

AZIRAPHALE: I just didn’t see you coming.

I don’t think it would be a huge leap of faith to say that this line is probably not meant to be limited to this scene, but to Gabriel’s appearance on the whole. I don’t think it’s a huge revelation, I just love that it’s dropped in there so casually. And just as a quick note, I had previously wondered where Gabriel had been that he was able to sneak up on Aziraphale so easily, but it turns out that he would have been in plain sight as he approached the desk:

I love the way Aziraphale is bothered that somebody is bringing order to his chaos. It’s my belief that those books are likely arranged in such a way that only he knows how to find anything. After all, customers can’t buy books if they can’t find them, can they? The idea that somebody might actually be bringing some order to that must be distressing. It’s alright though, seeing as nobody will ever find anything they’re looking for using Gabriel’s sorting system anyway.

We also have the first reference to the Buddy Holly song “Everyday” in this scene. I’m really pleased that it was included in the second season – apparently it was something Terry was really keen to use as a device in the first season. The script book even includes stage directions that the soundtrack for most of the end credits should be stylised versions of the song. The story goes that when David Arnold presented his version of the theme tune for the first season, it was deemed to be so appropriate that the “Everyday” theme was dropped. I do absolutely love the theme tune we got. I also love that “Everyday” was brought back in for the second season. Both things can be true 😊

Last point of interest for this scene. The book that Jim reads from is “A Tale of Two Cities”. I will confess I haven’t read it, and used Wikipedia to summarise the plot, which as I understand it revolves around a central character who is compelled to disassociate himself from the wrongdoings of his family. There’s a drunken man that testifies on behalf of the main character and helps to get him acquitted of a crime. There’s a trip to Paris in 1792 that sees the main character imprisoned in the Bastille and the same man that helped acquit the main character travels to Paris in 1793 in an attempt to rescue him. There’s also a character called Gabelle, whose request for assistance in a prison escape leads to the capture of the main character.

It’s vague I’ll grant you, and I am sure I have missed a lot of the finer plot points. With that said, I don’t think I’d be alone in feeling like there are more than a few similarities to the 1793 Paris scene from Hard Times. Paris, the year, a prison rescue, and that name that’s awfully similar to Gabriel… It makes me wonder if this might be a Clue as to Aziraphale’s true purpose in Paris, and I suspect there might be a nice little project here to look at parallels between the novel and the 1793 storyline, but that would probably involve reading the original novel. In case you had missed it, time is not something I have a lot of right now, and classics bore the living shit out of me so it’s not something I can commit to so if anybody wants to take up that mantel, please feel free.

Don’t you just love that this is the first time we actually see Crowley sleeping in the show at all? There was a scene that didn’t make it to the final cut in the first season that saw him sleeping (in a bed/against a wall/on the ceiling), and one from just after he got out of bed. There is also explicit mention of his love of sleep in the book and we as a fandom have taken that cannon well and truly to heart. Yet this is the first confirmation we have in the show that he does in fact sleep. It’s a nice little touch for us to have – there really is no denying that this demon sleeps from this point on.

I made a note of Michael referring to Aziraphale as a “former angel” at the end of the first episode, and commented on how this feels like an inaccuracy. Interestingly Crowley makes an identical inaccuracy here in referring to himself as a “former demon”. To recap:

I feel the same way about Crowley and his status. I also note that Shax doesn’t correct his use of the past tense, but perhaps that’s because she’s confused at his use of sarcasm. What’s also of note is that she appears not to have any knowledge that Beelzebub and Crowley have already discussed the matter of Gabriel, likely because the former is trying to keep that under wraps. It makes me wonder if Crowley might have noticed that discrepancy had the discussion not turned to talk about the miracle that was performed in the bookshop the night before. And now we can briefly turn to the controversy that I raised from the last episode about whether Crowley actually had anything to do with said miracle:

SHAX: A miracle of enormous power happened last night. The kind of miracle only the mightiest of archangels could have performed.

So from her perspective, it looks like she believes Gabriel (as Supreme Archangel) performed the miracle himself. My theory about Crowley not playing his part in it gets pretty shaky at this point, because Aziraphale supposedly wouldn’t have been able to perform a miracle of that strength on his own. There is a “but” here. Or rather, an “unless”. What if Gabriel contributed to the miracle that was performed, but unknowingly? Possibly even unwillingly? His power, either alone or being added to that of another, might explain the colouration of the plume we see originating from the bookshop on the globe at the end of the episode. Yeah, that’s right, I’m not dropping this theory yet! It’s such a shame we don’t see any other example of plumes, because that would really either lend weight to it or completely discredit it. Shax clearly doesn’t think much of Crowley’s claim to the miracle regardless – she doesn’t even respond to him when he offers the possibility that it was him that did it.

It's also notable that Crowley makes no protestations about Shax’s label of “friend” when referring to Aziraphale. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see his face when she says it, but we do see that it’s unchanged when the close up returns to him. I’m not saying this is a denial of his true feelings, merely pointing out that this would have been hotly refuted prior to the body switch incident. Whether Crowley doesn’t care that Hell knows about his “friendship” or just can’t be bothered to argue isn’t clear at this point. What is clear, is that Shax’s threats are convincing enough that the plants are frightened – you can see (and hear) them shaking in the background:

I’m sure Crowley probably starts the car in a pass-agg response to his being threatened, but there’s a big part of me that believes he really does it because Shax has had the audacity to frighten his beloved plants. I don’t have any evidence to suggest that’s the case, but I won’t be swayed on that regardless. As a final point of note: this will be the second time Crowley has been offered the “opportunity” to help Hell and refused. He clearly has no interest in helping them – his bridges are well and truly burned as far as he’s concerned.

And with that, we’ve arrived at the credits, which feels like an excellent place to wrap this part up. I don’t think this instalment has been quite as controversial as the last one but as ever: questions, comments, discussion, always welcome. See you for the next one! 😊

[cecilysass]

Scully the ice queen?

I often see people talking about the “ice queen” trope in XF fanfic from the 90s as an example of fanon becoming ubiquitous in fanfic. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is it in a nutshell: basically, fanfic in the 1990s began to make reference to Scully as a perceived “ice queen,” both at work and in her personal life, meaning that she didn’t express her emotions, that she was repressed and cold. And then that became a thing, a standard trope that other fanfic writers drew on.

My theory is that the “ice queen” / Scully association didn’t actually come from specific works of fic or from specific individuals.  I also don’t think it necessarily originated in fic and then crossed over into fan perceptions of Scully. I think it’s easy for 21st century fans to get the causal arrows mixed up on this because we're missing some historical context. I believe many viewers in the 1990s—not just fanfic writers—actually interpreted Scully differently than viewers now because they interpreted female characters differently. I think people in the 1990s were simply much more likely to interpret women serious about their professional lives as “ice queens.” Especially if their professional lives involved science.

Consider the below female scientist (P.K. Newby) writing about her graduate school experience in the 1990s.

Of course this still happens today, and of course it didn’t always happen in the 1990s. But I think it’s important that this impacted actual women living their lives in the same time period, because it’s reasonable that this also affected TV audiences’ perception of a character. 

I give you this message from the Usenet discussion group alt.tv.x-files, the first season of the show, from before the fanfic Usenet group was even created. This user characterizes Scully as an “ice queen,” claiming to notice a change after Darkness Falls, and even associating it with her skepticism specifically.

(This is me showing you the whole message with the date, then showing you parts close up because it's so tiny. I'm very dedicated.)

So in this (very early online fandom) conversation, we have a fan who already read her as an “ice queen” on their own without the filter of fanfic to sway them.

Now please don’t get me wrong. Fanfic definitely took hold of the Scully / ice queen thing and ran with it. There are many examples in the Usenet group during the 1990s of people asking, “Hey, which episode was Scully called ‘ice queen’ again? and people saying, ‘Oh never, ha, that’s just a fanfic thing.’” It was a well-established trope by at least 1997. See below.

I just want people to consider that it didn’t have to be one writer, one fic, or one incident that led to the popularization of this piece of fanon. This would have been something people understood right away because it already was culturally out there in the interpretation of the character and in associations with professional women. And like the person asking the question in the above message infers, it probably did come organically from several people at once. 

That said, some 1990s fans actively questioned it, observing it didn’t seem to fit with their interpretation of the show.

Notice that in the below conversation, Scully as ice queen is mixed up in perceptions of GA as ice queen, too. 

(Side note: I mean, you can totally get where that person was coming from, right? Gillian Anderson was TOTALLY giving repressed, cold, virginal saint in 1997.)

As a prolific reader of fanfic, old and new, I think it’s also important to add this: it seems to me that fanfic writers more often made “Ice Queen” a hurtful nickname that Scully was called by other people (like Mulder being called “Spooky”), not an actual characterization of her personality. And actually, especially given her mostly-male workplace, this seems not unrealistic in the 1990s? Some fanfic writers may even have been writing from experience. (At least, I think I'm right in saying that tendency was true. I'd be curious to know if other readers of old fanfic think Scully herself is characterized as an "ice queen" more often than I'm saying.)

I’m an Old Person. I’m ashamed to admit that in the same time period, I had a high school friend who always studied really hard in school and prioritized grades over social life, and sometimes we jokingly called her an “ice queen.” There was no male equivalent term. So unfortunately, I know this was most definitely a thing outside of Scully and the XF fandom. Fortunately, it does seem to be something we see less of in the 2020s. (At least I think?)  I just want to point it out because it’s one of those things you could think was just a little fanon quirk concerning this character or this show when really I do think it’s about gender perceptions overall. 

Very interested to know, though, if others think I'm wrong.

(actual Ice queen)