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chibimyumi · 4 years

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Who do like Axel von Fersen in Marie Antoinette or Axel von Fersen in 1789 les amants de la bastille and also do you like Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette or in 1789 les amants de la bastille

Thank you for answering my questions

Dear Anon,

I am doing well, thank you very much! I hope you too.

Hmmm, as a quick answer I would say I prefer both Marie and Fersen from ‘Toho MA’, but the full answer is slightly more complicated.

Firstly, it is almost unfair to compare them to each other because in MA they are the main characters, whereas in 1789 they are main-support or secondary-mains at best.

Secondly, MA has a far bigger focus on the characters because that is what drives the plot, while the opposite is true for 1789, which mainly sells a spectacle. I myself am more fan of subtle and deep story-telling rather than spectacular shows, so the MA versions of Marie and Fersen are more to my liking.

Thirdly, the quality of the characters also depends greatly on the cast. My first view of MA is the A-cast, and therefore my impression of the characters is that they are incredibly well written. After comparison with other casts however, I started to wonder whether it was just the A-cast being too good, and the musical itself being ‘fine’. (In short; I’m not fully sure how much I’d ‘clearly’ have preferred MA Marie and Fersen were it not for A-cast. Click here for a comparison between the two casts written by my friend @wildandwhirlingwords)

But, I shall go into more detail for both characters why MA’s version appeals more to me - someone who enjoys character writing most.

🌹Marie Antoinette🌹

M.A. 2018

In my opinion Marie Antoinette is better in MA because you see her journey and her motivations. We all know that the historical Queen screwed up majorly, but in MA we see why, and in what ways she indeed had very little other choice from her own perspective. She was a flawed foreign woman in a time and place where flawed foreign women were hated most.

In the beginning of the musical the King comes tell Marie that she’d have to live more economically. Marie is clearly not very enthusiastic to hear that, but she also never protests. She just asks ‘why’ and then accepts the answer - albeit broodingly. More importantly however: we need to keep in mind that despite being called Madam Deficit, the historical Marie Antoinette was actually quite economical at first because the Austrian court where she comes from was way less extravagant than the French. It was after her marriage into French royalty that she became more extravagant, because she was criticised for “not being a proper royal” by the French. According to the court, the 14 year old Marie was “a peasant unworthy of becoming Queen.” When you’re that young and criticised by your entire new life, you do everything in your power to make sure you can actually have a life; you adapt. So when Marie was then suddenly told to stop ‘adapting and be a proper Queen worthy of the French”, we can see why more is at stake than “Karen needs to deal with only 10 dresses a week.”

Something else that adds depth to her character as opposed to her 1789 counterpart is that as the story progresses, Marie actually grows. She becomes more mature and more serious, and you see in her how all the events have a clear toll on her. From her own perspective, she really was trying very hard, but anything she tried was inadequate to improve the situation. What she didn’t know is that no matter how hard she tried, the situation was already un-salvageable before she was even born. The populace AND the court had already decided to hate her for being an unintelligent foreign woman from an enemy state, after all. This is an insight most historians nowadays agree on.

In a later scene where Margrid confronts Marie, she asks the Queen: “what makes you think you are better than us?” Marie confirms nor denies, but replies: “I am merely Queen as I was appointed by God.” When she adds: “All I know is duties, you are free,” there is also a clear sense she genuinely doesn’t know why she was appointed by God, but as she is now, all she can do is her best. She is still ignorant, which was a genuine problem about her. She does not know the hardships of not being from the top rank, allowing her say something as insensitive as: “at least you’re free.” But again, despite her ignorance, her feelings are sincere. From all the unfair expectations she was made to live up to from age 14, you really do see why ‘a life without duties’ seemed so much more appealing to her.

1789 - The Lovers of the Bastille

Marie in 1789 is more of a side-character, and the musical itself just is not very character/story driven as MA is. 1789 has the tendency to take the tropiest of tropes and stay on surface level with the characters. Ouki Kaname is an incredibly good actress and she tries her best; but she cannot do more than the script gives her to work with.

In this musical Marie is not portrayed in a very relatable or sympathetic light. She is extravagant because she has escapist fantasies, but we don’t really see what she’s escaping from. The sympathy from the audience is supposed to be drawn from the tragedy that she’s married to the King but is in love with Fersen. Oh, and she has a son but he’s mortally ill. Meanwhile however, you don’t see how her life is so bad she needs to escape... and you also don’t see Marie really being worried about her son than an occasional: “Oh Ill again? Sucks I guess. Gotta cry my eyes out on my lover’s lap, AHHH FERSEN 💗” It was not until her son had already died that Marie woke up, but the lack of portrayal of Marie’s perspective and the pacing really makes one legitimately wonder whether the child did not just die of Marie’s neglect. And about the forbidden love ...we’ve seen enough love triangles with star-crossed-lovers... I don’t know about you guys, but I am numbbbbb to this “problem”.

When Marie receives message from Olympe that she finally gets to meet her lover after a long separation at the Palais Royal, one of the first things she says is: “is that not the place where revolutionaries and prostitutes are gathered?” This immediately sets up an empathy-barrier between her and the common people. This Marie clearly views herself too good for people who do anything to get by; why would you care about her then? Because Marie’s story is not fleshed out you don’t see parts that can make you go: “oh, the revolutionaries really hate her for reasons beyond her control, she is in danger.” Or “she was raised by a puritan society, making her hate on sex-workers; that’s part of her character flaw.” Instead it’s just this Diva being quite judgemental.

Ouki was trying very hard to make the focus about her own safety, but with the script being what it is... she’s still a mostly unsympathetic character who is a martyr of forbidden love.

There is one scene where we see her take on a much more mature and responsible role. That was the first time I personally felt like Marie from 1789 is an actual human being with feelings and personal difficulties. But in great part this is Ouki’s acting... (the other cast didn’t do much for me). What is also important is that Marie was ‘humbled’ because her son died. Marie did not have much of a personal growth, and then she changes to a more sympathetic person because of an external factor just... feels less earned.

In the finale Marie appears again in her execution clothes, and the way Ouki appeared really felt like a punch in the gut. She sings “as a recompense for our griefs, people have learnt forgiveness.” However, the story skimped over the characters so much I was left to wonder: “who learned to forgive whom?” Do you think the people forgave you? Or was there somebody you hated but now learned to forgive? What was your grudge? Do you understand the angry mob’s grudge?

The finale of the musical treats like after the heroic sacrifice of the protagonist (Ronan) the oppressive monarchy was replaced by a good democracy, and a Reign of Terror will DEFINITELY not happen under Robespierre or something. But if you’ve had a BIT of European history you just know it’s a blatant lie. So the finale just feels too simplistic, and this simplistic feeling was in part presented by Marie’s very empty, lip-service-y line.

⚔️Hans Axel von Fersen⚔️

M.A. 2018

Fersen is a bit harder to compare which version is better, because honestly, depending on who plays Fersen in MA, Fersen is either the most generic Hollywood sweeping-lover-hero, or a diamond mine to excavate. In the same post linked above by my friend, she explains in detail the differences between TashiroFersen and FurukawaFersen. K-musical fans, don’t @ me, but from what I can tell, the Korean Fersens are also very... typical.

In this post I have discussed Furukawa’s Fersen in great detail, so I shall skip over these for this post. But to summarise, when portrayed by Furukawa at least, Fersen in MA is very nuanced and restrained. Even if we do not fully credit Furukawa however, then at the very least the script allows enough space and material for an actor to flesh him out so phenomenally well (I think Tashiro and some other actors just.... really missed out on the potential).

Fersen in MA incredibly memorable because the main atmosphere of the imminent doom awaiting everyone is carried by him in a way nobody else does. The moment Fersen enters you feel the tension that the musical wishes to tell. Fersen has seen revolutions, he’s seen the power of anger; he knows shit is going to hit the fan because he’s familiar with this trajectory.

Fersen has excellent self control because he knows how a lack thereof would hurt Marie’s reputation and escalate the growing chaos. You can see very clearly how Fersen does want the intimacy, but to him duty and the grander picture has priority. In all the small actions from Fersen you see how he is a savvy intellectual through and through. (More about reservation later).

In contrast to 1789, we also get to see so much more of Fersen in MA because he is the narrator and a main character. Throughout the musical he’s been trying to de-escalate the chaos and even though his plans were actually well thought-out, the problems were just simply too big for any one person to solve. When Fersen mourns Marie there is a clear sense that he is not really surprised, just really upset that things had to come so far. Instead of singing something accusatory to the angry and hungry people, he sings: “fate, why did you give her everything, only to show her hell in the end?” Fersen truly understands why the people were duly angry, but that not taking away his sorrow of losing Marie who he knows is a better person than people make her out to be.

Also in great contrast to 1789, the finale of MA is rather grim. It does not suggest hope or that all problems will eventually disappear. The story for these people have ended, but the problems and the world will continue to our days, and days far beyond ours. It gives a feeling that the world of MA is so extensive that we - the audience - are part of it. In the finale when we see Fersen again, he also stays in tune with this feeling. “How can the problems of the world be solved, what is true justice? We remain clueless” he sings, and the way he looks into the unknown distance is almost a reminder to us that nobody has reason to stop worrying and fight for justice.

1789 - the Lovers of the Bastille

Now if we were to compare MA’s Furu Fersen to 1789′s Fersen, we see a stark contrast between the two. Where Furusen was incredibly reserved and hyper aware of everything, 1789′s Fersen is just the over-romantic lover who had been pining for his love. For a moment Marie realises she probably should not be cheating on her husband and backs away. Fersen however, is the one to make further advances, actively pulling her back to his side.

When he embraces Marie you see how he is just dreaming and indulging, something Furusen would never do. Furusen might hug Marie, but not without sh*tting 50 colours. 1789′s Fersen is the sweeping Romeo that most of history makes him to be, and little more. But again, Fersen plays but a very small role in 1789, so it is also unfair to compare him to MA’s Fersen.

Regardless of whatever nuance might or might not be there however, it is also just quite hard to like this Fersen because he is ‘just another privileged aristocrat who is just needy’. When making out with Marie in Palais Royale they find out that Ronan fell asleep there drunk. Ronan simply complained that Marie was too loud and woke him, and Fersen immediately shuts him up, and then draws his sword at him for ‘speaking rudely’.

First of all Fersen and Marie, if you’re gonna do a clandestine meeting, you CHECK your surroundings. Second of all, FERSEN Ò.Ó, this peasant is untrained and weaponless; you can’t just unleash your high-ranking martial arts at him with a shiny sword. This is EXACTLY the reason the revolution happened; the people were sick of the suppression of the powerless by the powerful. UGHUM. It truly is mind-blowing to consider how 1789 Fersen and MA Fersen are both...Fersens.

This Fersen is not very involved with the revolution from either side. He just proposes to help Marie and the King escape once, but got dismissed immediately. The following time we see him it is in the finale.

There he stands, a knight in shiny armour singing a really hopeful phrase to a relatively upbeat and hopeful music: “do not rely on force, but seek for hope and courage.” Here again unlike with MA’s Fersen, you don’t really feel like this Fersen has experienced anything. It was like he was an employed special guard, told by his boss there’s nothing he needed to do, his boss is dead, and oh wellll, moving on!

Conclusion

Because Marie and Fersen in MA are main characters whose stories are fleshed out, it really is very unfair to compare them to their 1789′s counterparts in a race of ‘who is better’. In the end of the day, 1789′s aim is to sell a spectacle, and it realllly is a phenomenal piece if you’re there for the spectacle. The choreography, songs, stage, everything is masterpiece-level. So if you’re there for the spectacle you get exactly what you went there for. The story and characters however... not so much. If one is more drawn to a direct, glittery spectacle with hands-down-amazing-songs however, they’d probably find Marie and Fersen from 1789 more enjoyable. If you’re into first and impressive impressions, the MA counterparts might demand a BIT too much attention and patience to get into.

Introduction and character analysis Fersen ‘MA’ 2018

Comparative commentary on MA Cast M and Cast A

#Marie Antoinette #Hans Axel von Fersen #Fersen #MA #1789 #comparative commentary #TOHO #musical #1789 les amants de la bastille

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dweemeister · 3 years

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Best Live Action Short Film Nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards (2021, listed in order of appearance in the shorts package)

NOTE: For viewers in the United States (continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawai’i) who would like to watch the Oscar-nominated short film packages, click here. For virtual cinemas, you can purchase the packages individually or all three at once. You can find info about reopened theaters that are playing the packages in that link. Because moviegoing carries risks at this time, please remember to follow health and safety guidelines as outlined by your local, regional, and national health officials.

This blog, since 2013, has been the site of my write-ups to the Oscar-nominated short film packages. No pandemic was going to stop me this year, as I was able to view the short film packages virtually thanks to a local repertory, the Frida Cinema of Santa Ana, California. Without further ado, here are the nominees for the Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars. Films predominantly not in the English language are listed with their nation of origin.

The Present (2020, Palestine)

Since the 1990s, the Israeli military has set up hundreds of checkpoints within Palestine’s West Bank. These checkpoints have impeded Palestinian movement within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, supposedly to better protect the extraterritorial Israeli settlements there. Directed by Farah Nabulsi, The Present could have easily fell into an agitprop trap – leaning on political outrage rather than the individual emotions that power this film – but it deftly avoids doing so. On the day of his wedding anniversary with his wife, Yusef (Saleh Bakri) decides to go shopping with daughter Yasmine (Maryam Kanj). Yusef and Yasmine travel to and from Bethlehem (which is in Palestine, but is not easily accessible by Palestinians) to purchase a new refrigerator, groceries, and a few goodies for Yasmine. The process of traveling just a few miles from home proves onerous and humiliating.

Nabulsi’s film never feels like a lecture, instead preferring to juxtapose the cruel ironies that these Israeli checkpoints embody. The viewer intuits how militarized and confusing these checkpoints must be to the Palestinians. Israel’s apartheid mindset extends to the West Bank – the checkpoints have a single lane for Israeli drivers and a gated, narrow entryway specifically for the Palestinians. Past the checkpoint during their time shopping, life seems briefly normal. That Nabulsi can navigate the contrasting emotions between these scenes reflects the tautness of this film and its hints of Italian Neorealism. Bakri, as Yusef, is excellent during his tense conversations with the Israeli soldiers, even if some of these moments feel more stilted due to the actors playing the soldiers and the guerrilla filmmaking this piece employs. For Kanj, as Yasmine, one can see her anguish in seeing her father discriminated against on what should have been a special day. For Palestinian children, injustice is a rite of passage.

My rating: 8/10

Feeling Through (2019)

It is a chilly night in New York City at an hour where few are outside by choice. Teenager Tareek (Steven Prescod) is homeless. After saying good night to his friends, he happens upon Artie, a deafblind man (Robert Tarango, who is deafblind himself) holding up a sign requesting anyone to assist him. Curious and half-willing to help, Tareek taps Artie on the arm. Artie pulls out a tattered notepad and marker, asking for help to get to a bus stop. What follows is an uplifting connection between two cast-off souls, sharing each other’s good company and good humor if only for a brief time. Director Doug Roland based Feeling Through on an encounter he had with a deafblind man named Artemio. Roland’s film was accomplished in collaboration with the Hellen Keller Center.

Cynical viewers might view Feeling Through as syrupy, its swirling score too manipulative, the screenplay predictable, the filmmaking pedestrian. To different extents, each of those criticisms are true, but that does not undermine the raw inspiration responsible for this film’s pulse. It boasts solid performances from Prescod and Tarango – the latter a kitchen worker from Long Island and possibly the first deafblind actor in a lead role in film history. Roland’s screenplay beautifully strips away stereotypes of deafblind people. Tarango, as Artie, is neither overly dependent nor secluded from society. He knows that being deafblind sets him apart from those who can see and hear, and embraces the difference – lending a refreshing directness to how he communicates. Despite its lack of filmmaking or acting pedigree compared to its other nominees in this category, Feeling Through enters this Academy Awards season without a single loss in any of the film festivals that it screened in. No wonder: it is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense, without ever glossing over how difficult it is to be deafblind.

My rating: 9/10

Two Distant Strangers (2020)

Production on Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe’s Two Distant Strangers began in the shadow of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Its emotions are raw and there is no doubt behind the importance of the film’s messaging. Carter (rapper Joey Bada$$) has had some first date with Perri (Zaria Simone), and leaves in the morning to get home to his pet dog. Just outside the apartment building door, a police officer named Merk (Andrew Howard) stops Carter, profiles him, and ultimately kills Carter in cold blood. Once Carter dies, the film cuts to Carter and Perri in bed once again. Immediately, the viewer knows this film is a time loop a la Groundhog Day (1993), and, no matter what precautions he takes, Carter just cannot avoid execution from Merk’s hands. Through the film’s structure, Free and Roe capture the sinking, repetitive feeling that black Americans go through when hearing the news of yet another incident of police brutality.

Good intentions and urgency, however, do not necessarily make a worthy film. Some of the editing in Two Distant Strangers’ middle third shows too many images of Carter’s bullet-riddled body. After the first few instances of the time loop, the viewer does not need another glimpse of a lead-shredded corpse, blood splattering across pavement. The filmmaker’s fury towards Carter’s situation – that nothing will change – is already evident in the idea of such killings. Combined with the questionable dialogue in the final time loop and the mediocre acting, this all feels exploitative, an unwitting product of Hollywood’s history of fetishizing black trauma. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), historically, likes to reward films they perceive as demonstratively staged and thematically urgent. Two Distant Strangers meets both these criteria, but this material could have retained its rage without as much sensationalism.

My rating: 6/10

White Eye (2019, Israel)

Like Feeling Through, Tomer Shushan’s White Eye – the winner of the Narrative Short Film award at South by Southwest (SXSW) – was based on an actual encounter in its director’s life. Late at night in the streets of Tel Aviv, Omer (Daniel Gad) has spotted his stolen bicycle locked onto a rack. Omer lost his bike more than a month ago, has not filed a police report, and seeks to reclaim it as soon as possible. The police are of no help, and the people proximate to the intersection where these events take place are unwilling or hesitant to help. The now-owner of the bike is an Eritrean refugee named Yunes (Dawit Tekelaeb), and he insists to his manager (Reut Akkerman) and to Omer that he did not know that the bike was stolen property when he purchased it. And yet Omer’s tenacity and fit of passion spirals the situation beyond his or Yunes’ control.

White Eye is impressively staged, filmed in a single take – no cuts, no edits, all in real-time. To compare this film one last time to Feeling Through, White Eye accomplishes all it needs to say at a short film’s length. Some might claim Saar Mizrahi’s cinematography and 360º smooth-rotating is just another modern filmmaking gimmick; instead, it submerges the viewer into Omer’s mentality as he fights to retrieve his bike. The purposefully subjective framing questions the viewer on what our reactions might be in this situation, how deeply would we allow out outrage – and perhaps our ethnic/racial biases – to guide our actions. Shushan challenges the audience not to adopt Omer’s conclusions and emotions so readily, and he does a masterful job in appealing to and challenging one’s empathy as it becomes clear there will be no storybook ending.

My rating: 8/10

The Letter Room (2020)

By virtue of its central actor, The Letter Room is the most high-profile of this year’s nominees. Elvira Lind’s film is a dark comedy and its approach and tone are difficult to categorize. Richard (a mustached Oscar Isaac, who is Lind’s spouse) is a corrections officer who has requested a departmental transfer. With the transfer, he trades a more hands-on role for an office job. As the prison’s communications director, his responsibilities now entail filing through all of the prisoners’ incoming and outgoing mail – reading through all of the letters, reporting to his superiors for prison rules violations, censoring materials if necessary. At first, this role is as tedious as his previous position. But when Richard begins to read the histories of the prisoners and their loved ones, he becomes emotionally invested in a particular exchange between one death row inmate and his loved one (Alia Shawkat).

The Letter Room, despite a serviceable performance by Isaac as the unusual and stiff lead, has a milquetoast commentary about how the American criminal justice system imprisons more than just the inmates. These themes shambolically merge with Richard’s inherent loneliness, his inability to separate his own feelings from the voyeuristic work that his new position entails. This is a fellow looking for meaningful human connection, finding none, and attempting to understand something he has never found. The Letter Room curiously never questions the tricky ethics of Richard’s decision to intervene with the decisions made by Alia Shawkat’s character, and how the power disparities of his interactions color his life. The film’s conclusion is unearned, placing too neat a bow on a film that cannot balance its incongruous themes.

My rating: 6/10

^ All ratings based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found in the “Ratings system” page on my blog (as of July 1, 2020, tumblr is not permitting certain posts with links to appear on tag pages, so I cannot provide the URL).

For more of my reviews tagged “My Movie Odyssey”, check out the tag of the same name on my blog.

From previous years: 85th Academy Awards (2013), 87th (2015), 88th (2016), 89th (2017), 90th (2018), 91st (2019), and 92nd (2020).

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mediaevalmusereads · 3 years

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Brazen and the Beast. By Sarah MacLean. New York: Avon, 2019.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Genre: historical romance

Part of a Series? Yes, Bareknuckle Bastards #2

Summary: When Lady Henrietta Sedley declares her twenty-ninth year her own, she has plans to inherit her father’s business, to make her own fortune, and to live her own life. But first, she intends to experience a taste of the pleasure she’ll forgo as a confirmed spinster. Everything is going perfectly... until she discovers the most beautiful man she’s ever seen tied up in her carriage and threatening to ruin the Year of Hattie before it’s even begun. When he wakes in a carriage at Hattie’s feet, Whit, a king of Covent Garden known to all the world as Beast, can’t help but wonder about the strange woman who frees him—especially when he discovers she’s headed for a night of pleasure... on his turf. He is more than happy to offer Hattie all she desires... for a price. Soon, Hattie and Whit find themselves rivals in business and pleasure. She won’t give up her plans; he won’t give up his power... and neither of them sees that if they’re not careful, they’ll have no choice but to give up everything... including their hearts

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: explicit sexual content, blood, violence, references to child abuse, threat of bodily harm

Overview: I enjoyed the first book of this series, Wicked and the Wallflower, so I decided to keep going and see what else MacLean had in store for the Bareknuckle Bastards. Overall, I don’t think MacLean did anything wrong in Brazen and the Beast; the characters were fine, and the plot was ok. Romance readers will probably enjoy this story. But personally, I didn’t find it quite as emotionally fulfilling as Wicked, primarily because I thought MacLean repeated too many plot points and didn’t use her themes quite as well. Thus, this book only gets 3 stars from me.

Writing: MacLean’s prose isn’t wildly different from her previous book. It’s fairly simple, easy to get through, and communicates her points without weighing the reader down with a bunch of figurative speech. MacLean also has some nice statements concerning feminism and the type of choices that are taken away from women, which is always appreciated.

Unlike Wicked, however, I don’t think MacLean used her themes quite as well. Felicity had her lockpicking quirk that turned out to be both a metaphor for her personal desires and integral to the final phase of the plot, and the story of Janus turned out to be a nice commentary on Devil’s arc; however, Hattie’s head for business or her story about the sirens in The Odyssey aren’t integrated nearly as well, nor is Beast’s compulsive need to carry two watches. Whereas both Felicity and Devil had to help one another find value in themselves, it didn’t feel like Hattie’s and Beast’s arcs paralleled one another, even though one could argue that Hattie’s struggle to be seen as an equal is a counter-arc to Beast’s struggle to let her make decisions for herself (rather than positioning himself as her protector and thus the one with the power or authority in the relationship). It could have worked - the kernels were definitely there - but I think there just wasn’t enough surrounding material to tie the two together quite as well.

Plot: Most of my frustration with this book is the fact that the plot (aside from the romance) doesn’t seem to be sustained or given much shape from beginning to end. Whereas Wicked had a central conflict between the brothers with Felicity as a pawn, Brazen had different issues that seemed to pop up and get squashed at seemingly random points. We start with Hattie finding Beast in her carriage while she’s on her way to a brothel (which I found awkward - more on that below). From there, we learn that Hattie’s brother was involved in a slight against the Bareknuckle Bastards, stealing from them to avoid revealing that he had lost an entire shipment and needed to make up for the lost income. Hattie, who has always been better at running her family’s shipping business than her brother, has to balance keeping her brother safe and keeping the business afloat.

I think I would have enjoyed this plot if the tension between business and family/revenge had been more sustained. The business aspects only seem to be a real issue for maybe 1/3 of the book. Beast doesn’t really have any problem finding out that Hattie’s brother is responsible for robbing him and tying him up and Hattie negotiates a deal with him in a page or two. I did appreciate the way Hattie used her business acumen to temper Beast’s desire for vengeance, but I ultimately wished there had been more of a rivalry between them. I kind of wished Hattie and her family were also smugglers, and maybe her desire to succeed leads to a kind of turf war between her and Beast, with her success cutting into his profits. But alas, what we got instead was a vengeance plot that fizzled out the second Hattie offered to pay Beast back with interest, which gave rise to the “real” conflict, which was Marwick’s threat to harm Hattie if Beast didn’t give her up.

After Beast falls for Hattie, his bastard brother, the Duke of Marwick (who we meet in Wicked) shows up seemingly out of thin air. He’s supposed to be gone at this point, so when he turns up, it’s quite abrupt. Once Marwick sees that Beast has found someone to love, we basically get a rehashing of the plot as Wicked. This is where my rating went from around 4 stars to a solid 3. While I don’t think readers will be too disappointed if they haven’t read Wicked, readers who read the whole series might be a bit bored. I was tired at this point of Marwick being the constant boogeyman in the background, and I wish he had taken a backseat for this installation in the series.

My last complaint about the plot is personal preference, so take the following with a grain of salt. I mentioned earlier that Hattie finds Beast in her carriage while she is on her way to a bordello. It’s the bordello owned by the Bastards’ sister, the one which services female clients rather than male ones. While I have nothing against sex work, I found the recurring elements that came out of this plot point a bit awkward. Hattie resolves to go to the bordello to rid herself of her virginity, thinking that if she’s well and truly “ruined,” her father will stop trying to make her marry and instead be forced to consider other options (like giving her control of the family business). While Hattie does make it to the bordello, she doesn’t rid herself of her virginity because Beast catches up with her (Hattie tosses him out of her carriage before heading to the brothel). They make a deal that Beast will ruin Hattie in exchange for Hattie giving up her brother/returning what he stole from the Bastards. However, they never actually have sex at the time because Hattie’s ride home arrives, and she can’t stay longer. From there, the “deal” is used primarily as a way to create sexual tension between the two, sometimes a little angst and insecurity (as Hattie thinks Beast isn’t really attracted to her, he just wants to keep his end of the bargain). Personally, I found this scene strange, and while I understood Hattie’s motivations, I would have much preferred a scene where she was interacting with her father’s employees or something that showed her passion for the business. Instead of going to the bordello, maybe Hattie could have been on her way to check on something in a warehouse or on the docks. Then, the business rivalry could have kicked off on a more solid foundation, and we could have gotten a more immediate look at Hattie’s core desires.

Characters: Hattie, our heroine, is fairly likeable in that she knows her worth as a businesswoman. I really enjoyed her speeches about being good at what she does, her frustrations at not being taken seriously because of her gender, and the ruthlessness with which she pursues her goals. The main thing I didn’t like about her, however, was her insecurity over her looks. Hattie is about as insecure as Felicity, believing herself to be an old spinster without an ounce of physical beauty. While it made sense for Felicity to be so focused on looks (as she was a “wallflower” and was actively pursuing marriage), I felt like Hattie’s insecurity was just a repeat of Wicked. I would have preferred if Hattie wasn’t interested in looks, but maybe her insecurity came from self-doubt about her business abilities. That way, when Beast assures her that she is brilliant and smart and clever, Hattie’s arc could have either been about valuing herself as a competent businesswoman or about something external, like the glass ceiling.

Beast, our hero, is somewhat less of an edge lord than his brother, Devil, but is still self-hating enough where it felt like we were repeating things from Wicked. He constantly says he’s not deserving of Hattie because of his background, which is ok to an extent, but I think I would have liked to see something different from Devil’s main hang-up. For example, if Beast had been rather proud of the way he built a smuggling empire, even though his determination was born out of a desire to overcompensate for the ways in which he failed his siblings and his mother as a child - something just to differentiate him a little more. The fact that he doesn’t share a mother with Devil helped, but when much of his trauma comes from events which we explored in Wicked, it didn’t quite feel fresh or new. Admittedly, I did like that his central character flaw is his obsessive need to protect others; it took something that would normally be considered a good trait and twisted it into something problematic. But even so, I think this flaw could have been explored over the whole course of the book, like if we had gotten scenes of him being overprotective of his men or of his siblings to the point where Hattie’s presence forces him to reckon with his flaws (not just his protectiveness of her, but everyone, if that makes sense).

Side characters were mostly fine, serving much of the same purpose as in the previous book. I liked that Hattie had a female friend, Nora, who has a sharp tongue and enriches Hattie’s life, rather than being a shell of a character. I liked that Nora was explicitly attracted to women, and that MacLean hints at a relationship between her and Nik - I just wish we had gotten a side plot where that queer relationship is not relegated to the margins, something in the vein of The Suffragette Scandal.

I did think, however, that some side characters were underutilized. Hattie’s family, for example, didn’t seem to be present unless convenient, and though they treat her poorly, there’s not really any reckoning like there was in Wicked. Personally, I would have liked to see some sort of heart-to-heart between Hattie and her father, maybe after some event in which Hattie’s business acumen saves them from ruin or something, and the father sees his daughter the way she wants to be seen.

I also though Marwick had no real function in this book, and to be frank, I wish he wasn’t in it at all. He’s not really integral in the same way he was in Wicked, so he served more as a boogeyman in the background than a real threat. If we had to have him in Brazen, I think it would have been much more productive to have Beast be paranoid about his brother coming back, and part of Beast’s arc be about letting go of that paranoia. That way, we could have kept the obsessive need to keep people safe from his brother, while also having Beast grow and learning not to live in constant fear.

Romance: I’ll be honest, I didn’t find Hattie and Beast’s romance as emotionally fulfilling as Felicity and Devil’s. There were some things I liked: consent was clear, and much of Beast’s focus was on Hattie’s pleasure and comfort. I also liked that Beast supported Hattie and told her how brilliant she was, and that her father (and men in general) not realizing that was a travesty.

However, I also think MacLean could have done more to make their connection unique. In Wicked, Felicity and Devil had a lot of banter, which helped create chemistry; while there is some banter in Brazen, Beast is also not a very talkative person, so chemistry has to be built up in other ways. While I liked that we’re told that Beast enjoys hearing Hattie talk (the chatterbox/quiet person dynamic works pretty well), I think I would have liked to see MacLean expand on a seemingly throwaway line, where Hattie says that she’s learning to interpret Beast’s grunts and growls. Maybe over time, Hattie goes from being frustrated with Beast’s silence to learning how to be comfortable with it and even know what he’s thinking/feeling, even with so few words. That way, when he becomes more vocal when the two are together in private, his decision to become more talkative could be a sign of their emotional intimacy.

I also think the business rival dynamic could have been more of a central component, as both Beast and Hattie are characters determined to get what they want. I would have liked to see them constantly try to one-up each other or go head-to-head more often in ways that weren’t toxic, but led to mutual admiration. That way, when Beast betrays Hattie by buying her father’s business, the blow would have been more devastating to the reader.

TL;DR: Despite having its moments, Brazen and the Beast rehashes too many plot points and characterizations from Wicked and the Wallflower, making it a middling novel in the Bareknuckle Bastards series.

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scripttorture · 4 years

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Hi, In my story I have a male slave born to another slave that's the product of rape by the slave owner. He is the same age as the slave owner's daughter who first treats him poorly but as they grow up with the changing times she begins to understand that slaves are wrong and starts treating him more as the half brother he really is. How quickly could things change and how helpful would news of nearby slave rebellions be? I can't figure out a suitable timeline.

I’m unclear on whether you’re asking about how quickly things could change in the broader society or with the personal relationship between these two characters but I can talk a little about both.

Personal change takes time, often years. Though I get the impression it is easier for younger people. A lot of people who grow up accepting awful things later reject them.

I get the impression that this sort of thing didn’t happen very often in plantation slavery. However now that I’m looking I don’t actually have any data to base that on. Certainly a lot of the children slave owners had went on to become slave owners themselves and support slavery. But that does not mean all of them did.

As a general rule I would advise you to be aware of the time period and culture you’re writing about. There’s a lot of romanticisation of slavery and slave built societies in fiction. There are a lot of stories that take agency away from enslaved characters so that other (usually white) characters can act heroically for them.

I don’t think any of this means that you can’t or ‘shouldn’t’ have a character born into a slaving family/culture becoming a good person. But it does mean there’s a lot to balance and navigate with this sort of scenario.

Above all else I’d suggest making sure these characters get an equal amount of focus, an equal amount of agency and that the enslaved character isn’t overshadowed by his sister.

Remember that, as Ambedkar put it, there can be better or worse masters but there are no good masters. A master can not be a good man.

Repairing the relationship between these siblings is going to be tricky, even once the daughter has become an abolitionist.

Trust is difficult for people trapped in these scenarios. Some slave owners, historically and today, hire people to ‘test’ slaves. They send these people among the slaves talking about escape plans, or plots against the owners, or even just offering an ‘illegal’ amount of support and friendship. And then they punish the people who respond.

So there is bad blood here but there is also a real sense of threat for the brother.

Giving this woman a chance isn’t just an emotional risk, it’s one that could have potentially lethal physical consequences for himself and those he cares about. So he needs a good reason to take that risk. Preferably one that shows the readers a bit about the kind of person he is.

It’s going to be a lot more believable if she acts rather then just saying the right things. And acts in a way that is genuinely helpful to her brother, rather then assuming what he wants or doing something that puts him at greater risk. This means listening to what he says and paying attention to her surroundings. For instance if he asks her for food and she knows that the slaves are punished if they’re found with food what steps is she going to take to ensure he doesn’t get caught or punished?

From his side establishing a relationship is a real and terrifying risk. From hers it… would probably seem like a very slow and difficult process that would probably become quite frightening as she got to know him better.

Because, depending on the setting and ages of the characters, this might be her first encounter with serious mental health problems. As far as I can tell the vast majority of enslaved people grappled with mental health problems at one point or another. Getting to know someone and realising that they are suicidal or severely depressed, seeing a panic attack for the first time- These can be frightening experiences and they’re things she’s more likely to encounter as the relationship develops.

If she can provide material help and emotional support during these episodes that is likely to help her case.

The whole thing is like to involve a lot of… two steps forward one back if you know what I mean.

It’s impossible to unlearn decades of prejudice and privilege in a day and how ever much this character is working hard to be better it isn’t her brother’s job to help her become better. Or to hold her hand while she tries to come to terms with the horror he has lived.

On a more personal note I think that a lot of fiction handles re-connecting with family, especially dysfunctional or abusive family very badly. It tends to assume that people should want family connections and should desire reconciliation.

This isn’t always the case.

So much fiction uses this, the prized place blood-family is put in, to put the pressure on survivors to forgive, forget and embrace the abuser when they’ve done the bare minimum.

In this case I think rejecting slavery is the bare minimum. I understand that the character is going further then that but- Is there a reason for the enslaved character to view her as a half sister? And if he does would that help or hinder their relationship?

Consider whether he’d be more comfortable rejecting familial terms. He might be; considering that his ‘father’ abused his mother and played no part in raising him. He might also find it easier to accept his half-sister as a growing, improving person and a friend if he doesn’t see her as family.

Because if she’s ‘family’ then it is crushingly unfair that he was abused while she had a ‘good life’.

Circling back to the main part of the question this kind of relationship change does take years. But how many depends on the individuals involved, their capacities, personalities and the effort they’re willing to put in.

I’m guessing. This isn’t something I can turn to statistics for. I think a minimum of 2 years sounds sensible, 5 sounds more reasonable and you could go as high as 10.

Part of the decision probably depends on what you want to do with the story. Having these characters drifting in and out of each other lives, helping, working together, then arguing and splitting up in a cycle could work for the longest time frame. Having them thrown together in adversity, working consistently against a common enemy could work well for the shortest time frame.

Think about how likely their personalities are to clash and whether any of the enslaved character’s symptoms are likely to make the relationship more difficult.

I don’t think news of near by rebellions is likely to help these characters build a friendly relationship. I think that it would put pressure on both of them, making them both feel under threat.

With rebellions near by slavers often became increasingly paranoid and meted out increasingly lethal and increasingly dramatic punishments. He would feel as if even the slightest transgression, such as speaking to the master’s daughter, could lead to him being tortured to death.

These rebellions often involved torturing slavers and their families to death. So she would also feel under threat, despite her beliefs. These rebellions did not tend to pause and consider sparing anyone associated with slavers.

And that action, that violence, needs to be taken in the context of the constant violence and degradation that was meted out on the enslaved.

On a societal level the pace of change is even harder to quantify.

It could potentially happen very rapidly, as it did in Haiti. Or it could happen very slowly indeed as it did in the United States, with abolition leading straight in to laws that stripped away the rights freedom was supposed to grant.

I think it’s important to understand that violent rebellion often didn’t lead to lasting societal change. In fact Haiti is the only example we have of a well recorded, successful slave rebellion. The wars in Brazil, Jamaica and Cuba went on for decades, if not hundreds of years. They didn’t overthrow slavery, though they did help a significant number of enslaved people.

To understand how these movements worked and what they achieved I think it’s important to look at more then one country. I would suggest Haiti and Brazil are both excellent places to start.

And if the historical pace of change seems too slow, remember there’s nothing to stop you deciding that society changed more quickly in your world.

I hope that helps. :)

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#writing advice #tw rape #tw torture #tw slavery #tw child slavery #writing slavery #resistance to slavery #anti slavery movements #historical slavery #writing victims #haiti #torture survivors and relationships #tw suicide #tw self harm

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gamblingfeeling793 · 3 years

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What percent of the us population owns a gaming console

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sonicfanj · 4 years

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Sonic Ring Bond Intro

A sonic the Hedgehog AU by Sonic Fan J

Welcome everyone to my Sonic AU, Sonic Ring Bond. I would like to take the time now to introduce you to my little corner of the fandom and the ideas behind my AU. I had contemplated originally trying to present this introduction as a full-on textbook style document, but frankly I’m a lot better at talking than I am planning so I’ll be treating this more as a text seminar. Hopefully I’ll avoid rambling too much and will manage to entertain and enthrall you with my ideas. At the very least, I hope you’ll come away from this with a firm grasp at least of the world I see for my Amy Rosy redesign, Rosy, to run around in. There’s a lot to cover as well, from the ideas that led to this AU to the setting, the characters, and my take on what games have occurred within it and how the events within unfolded.

To begin, I should note that Sonic Mania did not initially enthrall me as it did so many other Sonic fans who have been with Sonic since 1991. In fact, I was already weary of the nostalgia pandering that so many others had grown tired of as well. I was also at a point in my Sonic fandom where I yearned for Naka and Oshima’s Sonic with only memories of Sonic Adventure 2 and Unleashed keeping me interested in Iizuka’s Sonic. Most importantly however I was having a complete reevaluation of my love of the franchise due to having finally watched the OVA and being overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia for why I had fallen in love with Sonic to begin with. Then there was also me learning of a point in Sonic’s massive history where Amy had addressed him as Sonic-sama which led me on a massive reexamination of her character and what she was introduced as and the role she was meant to fulfill. I learned an awfully lot during this period both about Amy and my feelings and desires for what I wanted out of the franchise. Suffice to say I found myself disliking Amy’s signature Piko Piko Hammer and coming to odds with the franchise direction though Mania gave me a little hope. That hope was born of false expectations of my own creation due to a desire to see how Amy would have been handled before her hammer was ever given to her as her primary creator for the games, Kazuyuki Hoshino had said he was getting back into the mindset of that time as a content director for Mania. As is typically the case with such false expectations, nothing came of them, almost.

In addition to gameplay arguments going around at the time and my dislike of Amy’s hammer taking root in me, in the Sonic community I was a part of at the time, and quickly growing ostracized in due to my dislike of Amy’s hammer, there was concern about Amy’s outfit and the problems distinct to it in a three-dimensional space. This combined with my desire to see Amy with traditional Sonic gameplay led to me creating my Amy redesign Rosy. Garbed in a white leotard to avoid certain problems distinct to a dress while also intending to capture the image of someone who tumbles, I also went with her classic design to fully imply Sonic’s rolling gameplay. At the time that was enough for me and I was pleased enough to just see her serving as my avatar on various sights. I also enjoyed drawing her as it cheered me up with a lot of negativity floating around the fandom at the time. Naturally as I drew her more, more and more people started asking me about her and I had to start considering the why of her. It was no longer enough to just be happy with her as a drawing, she needed something more. An AU was the logical path to fleshing her out, and being a big Sonic fan who loves way too much of the franchise in all of it’s parts I wanted to try and mash as many disparate parts together as I could into a single world while rewriting Amy’s place in it. This resulted in my weird little Hedgehog Circus AU which has does possess several things I still like. But it is busy, over encumbered, and lacking in the simplicity necessary to serve the beginnings of an AU that I can enjoy. So, after a great deal of thinking, studying the franchise, and looking for ways that I could justify to myself Rosy having Sonic’s abilities I started again mashing together ideas I liked, but kept it as simple as I could. The result is Sonic Ring Bond.

The Setting

Aesthetics.

There is nothing that sells a setting to me more than aesthetics. I am a very visual individual who appreciates what good aesthetics brings to a story and world and nothing captures the sense of whimsey, adventure, and discovery that I yearn for in Sonic better than Hayao Miyazaki. The movies that I am most enthralled by aesthetically and thus become the primary basis for the setting for Sonic Ring Bond are Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Using the imagery of these movies as well as the ever-changing shape and nature of Sonic’s world from the games the world of Sonic Ring Bond is a fading world where technology has fallen to appoint barely hanging on to airships and early industrialization. Human’s, humans with animal traits drawing inspiration from settings like the fighting game “BlazBlue”, the Sonic OVA, and the anime “Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka?”, as well as animal people like Sonic himself all live together or in isolation across the world. But the world is ever changing. One day an entire landmass maybe just across the bay, the next it is not. To keep the world linked together the world’s governments uses an ancient technology they do not understand to build and deploy giant Rings known as Ring Gates to link together communities no matter where they may be one day. These gates are one part of where the Ring Bond title comes from for my AU, but are not used without due consideration. Making a Ring Gate requires a great deal of Rings which are collected by adventurers who are supported by the organization Checkpoint.

Checkpoint is an organization that possesses access to special Ring Gates that bond to an individual and allow them to recall them back to a Checkpoint facility at any time. They are not the only adventurer supporting organization, but access to these unique Ring Gates and even Sonic the Hedgehog being an adventurer who relies on them in the Ring Bond AU has made them very popular. Despite being an organization though, they are more of a hub for adventurers to sell the information found on their adventures as well as receive requests from governments, corporations, communities, and even individuals to explore new and frequently ancient landmasses. The most common of requests fielded by Checkpoint are scouting out resources and determining if a location is worth deploying a Ring Gate to for long term access with resources including material, historical, agricultural, or even culturally if new communities are discovered and deemed worth maintain relations with. Most adventurers have a dedicated agent who monitor them while fielding communications and requests in addition to handling the information they bring back from their adventures. Not every adventurer accepts requests preferring just to see new lands and locales like Sonic himself, reporting in for various personal reasons. Sonic himself in my AU was not even an adventurer who reported into Checkpoint until he rescued Zooey from Sonic BOOM! during one of his adventures and her home island simply disappeared before he could her back. With little other option Sonic left her with Checkpoint due to their reputation and she became his agent. Also, due to being inspired by a pic that @drawloverlala once drew with Tails and Zooey dressed Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell from Full Metal Alchemist, in Sonic Ring Bond idecided Zooey also serves as the mechanic for the Tornado. So, where does that leave Tails? Well, Tails is in the Ring Bond AU, but his role is a little different as well as his relationship with Sonic. This has to do with me being fond of the idea that him and Amy would make great friends who support each other in their pursuit of Sonic and his lifestyle. This of course leads me to

The Characters

For my AU I did not really want to change the characters too much, but I did want to answer a few questions I’ve always had while also indulging in some of my biases and preferences. In the example of biases and preferences after seeing artwork from @rontufox on deviantart.com that I interpreted as showing Sonic and Mighty as good friends who occasionally adventure together but mostly swap adventuring stories in my AU it is Mighty who is Sonic’s best friend and not Tails due to sharing similar lifestyles that give them grounds to bond on. Tails in Sonic Ring Bond actually becomes close friends with Rosy to indulge in my belief that Tails’ and Amy’s personalities and shared love for and interest in Sonic and his adventures as a starting point. But Rosy and Tails also share one more thing in common that they actually share with Mighty which leaves him concerned about Sonic’s spontaneity combined with his aloofness; the titular Ring Bond.

The Ring Bond

A question I used to ask myself all the time but stopped having to once SEGA and Sonic Team decided to be pretty definitive with how only a few Characters possessed Sonic’s speed instead of nearly everyone in the pre-Adventure days was what is the source of everyone’s speed. I used to have all sorts of headcanons for everyone but Sonic who I just accepted it as being natural for. Outside of speed though there were other things I wondered about as well such as how Tails managed to use Sonic’s Super Spin Attack without Sonic’s spines. As I began really developing my AU, I figured I could address that as well and the solution that I eventually settled with drew inspiration both from the Paramount movie and the Sonic OVA. That solution is that Sonic’s abilities can be shared by others. This solution of course needed to have a solution of its own to the question of how Sonic share could his abilities. Me being me with the need to over explain things as well but wanting to stay reasonably within the limitations of the games it was (Knuckles) Chaotix that would afford me my answer in Ring Energy. Going by the Japanese manual for Chaotix, Ring Energy is a force that can bind two Rings together allowing for the rubber band mechanics of the game. Considering all the other properties and abilities of Rings I came up with the Ring Bond, the ability to share one’s abilities with someone else through Rings.

Within my AU Sonic with his experience with rings and the various things they do simply figured it out and shared his abilities with Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to get each of them out of a situation that he couldn’t just carry them through. In Mighty’s case that was escaping Eggman Island, Rosy it was getting through Metallic Madness on Little Planet (which addresses for me how she made it through and caught up with him by the end), and Tails as the fox needed to be able to protect himself being able to use his tails to keep up with Sonic through the Death Egg Saga. But while Sonic simply figured it out in his own way Eggman has been slowly figuring it out as he has been perfecting Metal Sonic, needing only the Ring Bond to fully add Sonic’s abilities to the robot doppelganger. Luring Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to island that (Knuckles) Chaotix takes place on as part of his attempts to further understand how rings work after realizing that they all have Sonic’s abilities. At this point though I should probably change course and detail what games have taken place in the Ring Bond AU and the order in which they do. I’ll also take this opportunity to further flesh out how the characters met each other so things might get even lengthier and meander even more as we move on into

The Games & History

So before getting too into, it should be noted that in my AU, like the Japanese manual for the original game states, Sonic and Eggman were already at it before any of the games take place. During this time period in Sonic Ring Bond is when Sonic met Zooey and joined Checkpoint. It was during his time with checkpoint before any of the games that he heard of Mighty as an adventurer who would seek out and find the most spectacular of natural locales. After checking out some of them himself Sonic would seek out Mighty to hear about his travels from the armadillo himself. The two being kindred adventurers with a love for discovery they hit it off and became fast friends exchanging stories and places for the other to check out. Their friendship would appear as an opportunity to Eggman who would attempt to capture Might to use as bait to lure Sonic to Eggman Island. By sheer luck however Egman managed to capture both Sonic and Mighty.

Unlike the original game, the Ring Bond version of SegaSonic the Hedgehog only had Sonic and Mighty go through game’s events. Now, as the Sonic Mania Adventure shorts showed that Mighty lacks Sonic’s speed and considering the traps of Eggman Island, Sonic knew there was no way to get Mighty out using his usual methods. Getting his hand on the first available Rings he could Sonic attempted to use Ring Energy to pull Mighty along behind him. With traps designed to overwhelm Sonic however littering the island in a continuous gauntlet doing so would have surely gotten the both of them killed. Wary to do so, but not accepting the alternative, Sonic created a Ring Bond between him and Mighty, granting his abilities to the armadillo. While it took Mighty a bit to get used to using them, his shell kept him safe and eventually he was able to not only follow Sonic to safety, but played his part in their escape from Eggman island.

Possessed of Sonic’s abilities, Mighty wanted to repay Sonic as he would now be able to see the world in ways he never had before. Sonic declined the offer as he believed the effects of the Ring Bond would be temporary but Mighty insisted and told Sonic how to reach Never Lake so he could see the appearance of the Miracle Planet. Figuring if he was in the area while it was around he’d check it and parted ways with Mighty until their next meeting. The Miracle Planet, Little Planet, was not just of interest to Sonic however as Eggman had ambitions of his own using it’s time traveling properties for his schemes and a certain pink hedgehog would receive an order from her cards to head to Never Lake for a fated encounter.

Now in Sonic Ring Bond, Amy’s background is a bit more detailed. The reason for this is like answering why she, Mighty and Tails have Sonic’s abilities, I felt a need to answer why I would use her original nickname over her actual name. To do so, I fell back on my Hedgehog Circus AU where before she met Sonic her fortune telling abilities allowing her to find treasure had resulted in her being sought out by Fang the Sniper. Being the treasure hunting ruffian that he is, Fang didn’t take to Amy’s personality and took to calling her Rosy as commentary on her outlook. Choosing to travel with Fang to indulge her desire for adventure and how playful she was would result in others calling her a rascal. But Rosy the Rascal would not spend all her time in the company of Fang as if the power of the cards gave her an order she followed without hesitation. Following the order to the letter was a different story as when she reached Never Lake she was enamored by the Miracle Planet and made her way up to check it out oblivious of the dangers posed by Eggman. As for how she got up there, for Sonic Ring Bond I’ve decided to play with a headcanon of mine that she owns the magic carpet that her stage in Sonic the Fighters takes place on. She probably found while adventuring with Fang and simply kept it for herself without ever letting him know she has it. I see her keeping it a secret from everyone as magical artifacts could very easily change the world in unexpected ways.

Rosy was not the only one thinking about the effects of mystical artifacts as Eggman was well on his was to tracking down the Time Stones so that he might unlock the flow of time and conquer the world. Ever the industrial genius, Eggman was expecting Sonic’s eventual appearance and to that end using the advanced technology he found in Little Planet’s future created his most advance machine, Metal Sonic. Despite how advanced Metal Sonic was and Eggman’s genius being able to easily comprehend and make deft use of technology long lost to the world, the robot was still pretty much just a mannequin built around a jet engine. Not wanting to waste his creation willy-nilly Eggman waited for an opportunity to use it where Sonic would have to take on it’s full capabilities without just trashing it. Rosy’s fangirling over meeting Sonic who as a hedgehog adventurer herself she idolizes would be the perfect opportunity and Metal Sonic would make his debut by abducting the hedgehog girl. Perhaps more bothered by not having the opportunity to talk Sonic into taking her on his adventure than being held hostage, Rosy would get her desire in a way she did not quite expect.

When Sonic finally caught up, spending more time leaving Rosy a hostage than she would have liked as he went about removing Eggman’s influence on Little Planet and making sure the Time Stones were safe, he found himself pitted in a race against his robotic doppelganger. Unfortunately for Metal Sonic, Sonic won the race and was able to rescue Rosy, to a point. The road to Eggman’s fortress was where the race had taken place and Eggman had completely annihilated it making doubly sure of Sonic’s end should he lose to Metal Sonic. With the road gone and the only way forward being through Eggman’s fortress, Sonic found himself having to figure out how to get Rosy to safety. It was unlikely that Eggman’s fortress on Little Planet would be any less dangerous than Eggman Island, and Rosy was obviously younger than him and lacking the ability to make it through such a place. Begrudgingly and hoping that the effects of the Ring Bond truly were temporary, Sonic shared his abilities with Rosy and led her into Eggman’s fortress. Unlike Mighty though, she was not as quick to pick up using Sonic’s abilities and would barely catch up to Sonic as he drove Eggman off of Little Planet.

Escaping the planet after Eggman just as it’s one-month appearance came to an end, Sonic headed off towards his next adventure leaving Rosy behind. The change in status quo for Rosy after her life changing adventure on Little Planet would come back to haunt Sonic in due time, but not before answering a call for help from the legendary South Island. Eggman had taken to the island after hearing of the major losses of the terrifying sky pirates, the Battle Kukku’s, who were searching for the legendary Chaos Emeralds. Conducting his own research into them Eggman discovered and tracked down South Island. Naturally he upended the island in his search and Sonic being so well known was reached out to by the inhabitants for help. Upon arriving at South Island, Sonic found Eggman waiting for him with a devious trap in play; to slow Sonic down he had captured all the animals on the island and shoved them into his robots.

Now, for the Ring Bond AU things are a little more complicated as Fang the Sniper and Metal Sonic also make their way to South Island. Eggman is surprised by Metal’s reappearance, both him and Sonic oblivious to Sonic using the Ring Bond having an effect on the robot allowing it to make its way back to Eggman. With Metal Sonic’s mysterious return and eavesdropping on Sonic and Fang discovering that the treasure hunter blames Sonic for his loss of his treasure tracker as Rosy suddenly had Sonic’s abilities leaves the doctor curious. Thus, while attempting to discover the Chaos Emeralds in a race against Sonic and Fang, Eggman repairs Metal Sonic and sends it out to cause interference. In the end Sonic beats them all, and through his Ring Bond ability harnesses the power of the Chaos Emeralds to undo the damage caused by Eggman. In his use of the Chaos Emeralds however Eggman was able to witness their power and desired more and more to harness them. To that end he would have to repair Metal again as the robot seemed affected by Sonic. He would need more data however as well as the chance to get his hands on the Chaos Emeralds again.

Whether by sheer coincidence or perhaps design, Sonic and Eggman both descended upon West Side Island, the Illusory Island providing the doctor the opportunity he had been waiting for. Sonic however was oblivious to his nemesis’ arrival and had simply set down on the island to take a break between adventures. While there he found himself starting to be followed by a two-tailed fox boy who could use his tails to keep up with him. Nicknaming him Tails and viewing him as little more than a minor distraction, Sonic ignored him for the most part during his time on the island and let him do as he pleased. This was enough for Tails, who despite having fended off the Battle Kukku Armada lacked the courage and confidence to approach a hero such as Sonic. He did however desire to become a hero like Sonic, especially after having defeated the Battle Kukkus. Having just a little more confidence in himself he had trained himself to use his tails to reach groundspeeds around the speed of sound in the hopes of one day impressing his hero as unlikely as it was that he would meet him. Impressing him was not quite what Tails would manage to do though.

Eggman’s plans eventually sprung into action and the destruction he caused in the process naturally drew Sonic’s attention. Racing off to save yet another legendary island from Eggman, Sonic found himself being followed by the young fox. Suddenly Tails’ ability to keep up with Sonic proved to be problematic as though Tails believed if he could keep up with Sonic everything would be fine and believed he could help, Eggman was far greater than the Battle Kukku Armada. Unable to chase Tails off and fearful that the stubborn fox would get himself hurt or worse, Sonic made the decision to grant him his abilities through the Ring Bond. Surpassing Sonic’s expectations, Tails took to his abilities like a natural and became a major asset in saving West Side Island. His ability to fly the Tornado elevated him even higher, but not nearly as much as his ability to slap a rocket on it and repair it in the time it Sonic to bring down Eggman’s airship. Impressive as Tails’ abilities were, however, he could not keep up with Sonic as Sonic chased Eggman into space and had a battle with a far clunkier robot double of himself. Clunky as it was, it was combat capable and the space fortress that Eggman built put him even further and further ahead of the technology of the world below. Unable to let Eggman keep his latest and greatest creation for the sake of the world below, Sonic again used the Ring Bond to harness the power of the Chaos Emeralds hoping to undo the space station’s creation. To Sonic’s surprise the Chaos Emeralds transformed him and granted him the power to do as he desired to protect the world.

With the Death Egg seeming destroyed, Sonic allowed himself a few days rest. Tails, amazed by Sonic’s extraordinary feats spent those days rummaging through the remains of Eggman’s bases on West Side Island to see what Eggman had dug up on the Chaos Emeralds. Tinkering around with Eggman’s tech Tails managed to put together a Chaos Emerald detector and to his surprise picked up reaction in the middle of the ocean. The direction was the same as the epicenter of a tidal wave that brought an ancient Ring to Sonic’s attention reminding him of the legends of an island that floated in the sky. Deciding his next adventure would be Angel Island, Sonic headed out allowing Tails to join him again as his Chaos Emerald detector would likely lead them to the legendary Angel Island.

Finding Angel island proved far easier for Eggman as he simply had to wait for the Death Egg to crash land to find it. Attracting the attention of the island’s guardian, Knuckles the Echidna, Eggman managed to trick him into believing Sonic was his enemy. Doubting that Knuckles would serve as much of an obstacle to Sonic, Eggman took his combat data from Mecha Sonic Mk. I to start work on a Mk. II unit in addition to digging himself in on the island. Eggman however vastly underestimated Knuckles, as the island’s guardian was more properly the Guardian of the Master Emerald, a legendary gem that controlled the Chaos Emeralds. Due to his duty and the stories engrained into the island and him he was blessed with abilities matching Sonic’s as well as knowledge of the Ring Bond. As a result, he introduced himself to Sonic by breaking his Ring Bond with the Chaos Emeralds. It was a shock to Sonic and Tails both and when they discovered that Eggman was already on Angel island things got desperate.

The battle for Angel Island was unlike any other as Sonic had to restore his Ring Bond with the Chaos Emeralds to prevent Eggman from gaining access to them, fend off the misinformed Knuckles, and stop the Death Egg from making it back into space. It was more than Tails could keep up with and as the Death Egg began to ascend Sonic’s journey would continue on alone. He would stop the first launch on his own and would soon after discover the truth about Knuckles. Deciding to help out the echidna he would use his Ring Bond to restore the bonds between the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald. He would not succeed at stopping the Death Egg from finally making it into space however or keep Eggman from getting his hands on the Master Emerald. Realizing the error of his ways, Knuckles sent Sonic on ahead to try and catch up to Eggman exposing him to Mech Sonic Mk. II. Despite the improvements of his latest doppelganger Sonic managed to still catch up with the Death Egg. After an epic encounter in space, Sonic would truly destroy the space station this time and meet back up with Tails before reuniting Knuckles with the master Emerald. Despite saving Angel Island though, Sonic had a nagging feeling and after parting ways with Tails took the Tornado once again into the sky after the legendary floating island.

For Knuckles it was a good thing that Sonic did as Eggman’s robots had long overstayed their welcome, but most importantly, Mecha Sonic Mk. II had managed to get its hands on the Master Emerald. After a grueling battle with the emerald powered machine, Knuckles was saved by Sonic from plummeting to his doom. Relieved to hear that Knuckles had dealt with Eggman’s leftovers, Sonic left Knuckles and Angel Island for a second time. But neither he nor Knuckles realized that the Master Emerald’s Guardian had not fully dealt with Eggman’s leftovers. There was enough left of Mecha Sonic Mk. II for Eggman, who had survived his last clash with Sonic, to salvage and analyze the data it held. It was more than Eggman could have ever hoped for as it revealed through the bond with the Master Emerald the Ring Bond.

Desperate to study the secret of the Rings and learn about Sonic’s Ring Bond ability, Eggman was thrilled when a whole island began to rise up out of the ocean in response to the Master Emerald’s time on the surface. Hoping that the island would lead him to unravel the mysteries of the Rings Eggman was more amazed than he anticipated he could be. He discovered the Rings could be used to directly access the Master Emerald and more secrets due to the island having once been part of the same civilization that Angel Island had been part of. Gleefully building a new base on the island to support his research, Eggman invented the Dark Ring and began enhancing Metal Sonic. He still needed more data though to complete his original Sonic doppelganger and recalled three individuals who he knew about who possessed Sonic’s abilities. Hatching his next scheme Eggman proceeded to lure Mighty, Rosy, and Tails to the nameless island. Unfortunately for Eggman, someone he did not account for got involved.

Since having rid Angel Island of the last of Eggman’s influence, Knuckles had been watching the world below for signs of the Master Emerald having affected it. The rising of an island from the ocean in a world constantly shifting about seemed little to worry himself about, but Eggman’s interest in the island kept him keeping an eye on things. When the Master Emerald began reacting to the Chaos Rings, powerful Rings born from long lost Ring Bonds with the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, Knuckles knew he would have to investigate what was going on. He didn’t know about the Chaos Rings themselves, but was not surprised when a trio of adventures with Ring Bonds with Sonic showed up and fell under attack from Eggman. What horrible fate awaited them had Knuckles not come down from Angel Island is one Mighty was glad he would not find out.

For Mighty, his time on the nameless island was a lot like his time on Eggman Island constantly avoiding traps and Eggman’s attempts to stop him. Matters were more complicated this time though as the presence of Rosy and Tails also sharing a Ring Bond with Sonic and believing they could help Knuckles with his reason for being there meant he couldn’t just flee. Someone had to take responsibility for Sonic so recklessly making Ring Bonds and Mighty felt with what he saw of Knuckles’ personality he was unlikely to keep Tails and Rosy out of trouble. When they had to face off against Metal Sonic and a giant monstrous version of the machine, he was glad though that Knuckles was present as his combat expertise proved integral in stopping Eggman’s plans and the creation of the Dark Ring. Knuckles took it a step further however and used the power of the Master Emerald held in the Chaos Rings to destroy the island and make sure that they could never be used by Eggman again or endanger the master Emerald. Saddened by the loss of history, Mighty would have liked to spend some time speaking with the echidna about his past and everything he knew about the world but had to deal with Rosy and Tails.

During the adventure Rosy had hit it of with Tails in their shared idolization of Sonic, even if Tails couldn’t grasp Rosy’s crush. Completely hyped up by the adventure Rosy wanted nothing more than to team up with Tails to go adventuring and try to find Sonic but Mighty wasn’t having it. That Sonic had shared his abilities with the two and did not bring them to Checkpoint to make sure they could develop their skills safely left Mighty far to concerned. Though rosy put up a fight, he managed to get the two of them to Checkpoint. It was not the best start either as Rosy wanted to meet everyone and hear their stories while Tails found himself meeting Zooey who had more than few words for him for making her maintenance work the Tornado harder by attacking a rocket engine to it. Eventually things smoothed over and Zooey became Rosy and Tails’ agent in Checkpoint, though policy kept her from telling them where Sonic was at any given time no matter how much Rosy pestered her. Staying with Checkpoint at Mighty’s insistence Rosy and Tails would become exemplary Ring Hunters, a respectable if not exciting role as though Rings were finicky and no one knew how they worked or why, Ring Gates needed them to be built and function so the two slowly built a reputation for themselves. Mighty already having quite the reputation was free to go as he pleased and once he was confident that Rosy and Tails had settled in headed out in search of Sonic, something he could use to get Sonic to come to him, and to make sure that if Eggman was up to anything someone might know.

The funny thing about Sonic and Eggman though was that they were always bound to bump into each other at one point or another, even when Eggman would prefer they did not. After his defeat on the nameless island to Knuckles, Eggman went about compiling all of the data he managed to gather, and though he lamented losing almost all of his Ring data had more than enough to finally complete Metal Sonic. The only thing left he needed was what a dubbed a Chaos Factor to forge a Ring Bond between Metal Sonic and Sonic. Of course, he also had to repair Metal Sonic again, upgrade it to receive the Chaos Factor, and then test it to make sure that it was indeed Sonic’s equal, or even better. To that end, he sought out Mirage Island, a place where Little Planet was said to appear, even if it was not a tangible appearance like over Never Lake. It seemed the perfect place to work and Eggman sure enough found ancient ruins with hints to the Chaos Factor he needed. Thus he set up base and began his search while preparing to test the eventually completed Metal Sonic by putting out old Badniks that Sonic had already proved were failures, though adding a few new twists to test Metal Sonic’s adaptability.

Sonic had no clue what Eggman was up to when he arrived on Mirage Island by chance, but seeing Eggman’s old machines littering the island, and with the local fauna stuffed inside, he was quick to act. His testing grounds suddenly under attack by the wrong Sonic, Eggman had to scramble to meet his long-time foe. Unfortunately his little twists to his old designs were not enough to deter Sonic, and only by launching his incomplete low-orbital base was he able to pull Sonic away from Mad Gear Zone so that Metal Sonic might be completed in peace. Unfortunately Sonic still inflicted tremendous losses and Eggman lost his new, though much smaller, space station as well as great deal of the tests he had set up for Metal Sonic. It was not all a loss however as Sonic was unaware of why Eggman had chosen Mirage Island for his latest scheme. That meant that the Chaos Factor he was after was still untouched, though he had lost the machines to excavate it. That was fine though as the completed Metal Sonic was more than up to the task, a task that made him truly complete for as he absorbed the Chaos Factor his Ring Bond with Sonic was completed and the machine was non longer just a constructed copy of Sonic, but for all extents and purposed a robot Sonic. Eggman was overjoyed by his success and needed now only the opportunity to spoil Sonic’s fun and let him meet his perfect machine counterpart.

And that wraps up how the games that have occurred in the Ring Bond AU and the order. My apologies for the format and meandering approach, but I hope it helps paint a picture of the AU’s history. For a quick recap though before I wrap this up, the game effectively took place in the following order

SegaSonic the Hedgehog>>Sonic CD>>Tails Adventure>>Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)>>Sonic 2>>Sonic 3>>Sonic and Knuckles>>(Knuckles) Chaotix>>Sonic 4 Ep. I>>Sonic 4 Ep. Metal.

From here the Sonic Ring Bond AU will be going in its own direction. How the characters develop and grow is for the future, though I hope I’ll make something of it. If not, for now this AU is the one that my Rosy occupies. She has Sonic’s abilities and the desire to master them so that she can go on adventures with him and maybe even win his heart. Her shared idolization of Sonic has resulted in her and Tails becoming best friends, while Sonic is best friends with Mighty. Eggman has completed a version of Metal Sonic that is for all extents and purposes Sonic and is just waiting for the perfect opportunity to ruin his fun and gloat in victory. Meanwhile, the Battle Kukku Armada is still out there and desiring revenge against Tails, and Rosy leaving Fang in pursuit of Sonic and his lifestyle has left her and Sonic yet another crafter enemy who himself wants “compensation” for losing his treasure tracker. And all of this takes place in a world where Eggman’s robotics and engineering skills puts him decades ahead of the rest of constantly shifting world full of ancient ruins and legends barely hanging on to airship technology fueled by early industry. But with the help of Checkpoint, it is a world that is a home to many adventurers who live out their dreams of a lifetime of discovery.

Thank you to everyone who read to the end, and I welcome any question or suggestions you may have. For the sake of organization though, please send questions or suggestions through my ask and I’ll be glad to answer. Thank you again everyone for your time.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic ring bond #sonic au #I've finally introduced it #I don't know if it'll go anywhere #but i hope it does #thanks for reading

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ouranimeyeah · 4 years

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Lesean Thomas’ Yasuke- Concerning yet Invigorating.

Note: I am a long standing supporter of Lesean Thomas’s work and I bear no ill will to his production but I felt I needed to say something. Take it as you will, it’s more so the ravings of fan exploring their opinions and ideas not a direct attack on Thomas or his work which are all note worthy pieces of art with their flaws and all!

Okay It’s no surprise after my thoughts on Cannon busters were laid bear and my extreme excitement for Children of the Either readily apparent, that I would have something to say about Thomas’ new project coming to Netflix “Yasuke”. There isn’t much known or needed to be said about the project other then it’s going to be awesome to get a new project by Thomas, and that there are Black samurai involved. Cool right? Well yes and no.

Lesean Thomas is a creator that I respect and empathize with. Being the only black guy in the anime industry pumping out his own content i’m sure there has been tons of red tape in the realm of production that gets in the way of everything he makes. And yet he still managed to release 2 projects. I have been following Thomas’ for quite some time and his work has been exciting when it comes to the build up of hype, but sadly don’t deliver fully on the promises made in promotional material. Which could be considered my fault on account of me putting my expectations so high with him being the first black animator in years to formulate his own projects and get them green-lit (as far as my knowledge is concerned). It makes sense to have clear issues with his other works if I do because they have already been released and possibly even finished. Of the two works he actually managed to get on the big screen one is a completed project while the other is a pilot that seemingly died in production hell. I had a preference for his Children of the Either series (over Cannon Busters)because it showed an incredible understanding of character animation and had some really interesting concepts that I was hoping to see fleshed out more. All the while managing to have an aesthetic very reminiscent of my favorite anime while not 100% feeling liking a bone dry rip off. Cannon Busters by contrast was a hodge podge of different anime references with some very in your face and hand fisted themes which broke my immersion from time to time. It’s aesthetic was inconsistent, at times the animation would relatively nice and then be followed up by what would look like a bad episode of teen titans. I never found it in my soul to find the series as lazy, just slightly misguided in it’s production. Ineffectively allocating skillful animation and art design for scenes less relevant to the plot; having dialogue sequences that very blatantly explain things with no form of nuance; and a handful of other minor attributes that made the series kind of a slug through most of the central part of the show and even had slower elements carry onto the the end. All in all it was a decent series however, and had enough charm and pazaaz to it to the point where i could never in my right mind give the series a lower score then a 6/10, I gave it a lucky 7. Which brings me to my pre existing fears and concerns when it comes to Yasuke.

The fundamental element of Yasuke’s promotional information that strikes me as daunting and a little cynical is the fact that the show is going to be a quote: “Magic Samurai Robot Anime” (according to vice: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbammy/new-netflix-anime-lakeith-stanfield-pacific-rim-altered-carbon-yasuke-vgtrn). Now before anyone comes yelling at me to ring my neck I must first start out establishing something. For one, a Mecha magic series has already been done by Thomas in Cannon busters, which I would argue was his weakest element of the series. The technology and magic system of his story never was fully fleshed out in an interesting way and while there is a lot of mystique I feel like those elements would take away especially when it comes to the samurai/chanbara genre. Which leads me to my second point, samurai anime are surprisingly rare! AAANNNNDD I am talking about strictly samurai. Hardcore, balls to the wall, classic samurai political drama stories being depicted in anime. The last I checked the only popular samurai anime have been Rurouni Kenshin, Samurai Champloo, Dororo, Sengoku Basara, Afro Samurai (which is good but relies heavily on modern sensibilities) and Gintama. Among these the only one that truly explores the culture of samurai in any way is Dororo, and that element takes a back seat in favor of the supernatural elements. MECHA SAMURAI HAVE ALREADY BEEN DONE BEFORE, and i would argue that those two genre’s should stay separate until we get enough anime depicting samurai authentically. Or at least like an old Japanese samurai film the likes of Ran or Kagemusha! Samurai 7 is a thing guys and while it had it’s interesting elements by in large it lacked one of the fundamental elements that made samurai stories exciting and that was one on one samurai fights (outside of the fight between Kanbei and Kyuzo). Samurai have become a novelty, people assume the genre is generic for japanese culture, but it’s rare in the medium of animation that they are depicted with the same level of reverence and relevance as they are in live action film and T.V. shows. I am disappointed that the next samurai series that is going to be green-lit by an individual I look up to so much is gonna play it safe by making another novelty samurai series with giant mechs and magic. In the time were Yasuke ventured to Japan the actual political climate is so invigorating that you DON”T NEED GIANT MECHS TO PUSH THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE. I know mechs are an aesthetic choice I get it. But honestly, they take away some fundamental attributes so integral to the entertainment value of the samurai genre and I would think that is something that is important. All in all foregoing an interesting historical war drama with the potential to have slight supernatural elements in favor of sci fi feels like something that is starting to become boring and slightly overdone when it comes to samurai. The amount of anime that are actually about samurai that are popular in the west are few and far between and there are very few samurai series being produced now that cover Sengoku period japan. If Lesean Thomas sees this know I mean no ill will, I am only stating my personal opinion as a fan of your work. Please try something else. you can still have the hip hop aesthetic with flying lotus, you can have Lakeith Stanfield play his voice actor. But please, make an authentic samurai experience that placates to the trappings and best attributes of the genre. Because we as a society are in dire need of something of that calibre. We have gotten to a point were so many anime that are being produced stray far away from the source of what makes samurai so fascinating and entertaining to watch. And if you don’t want to draw on that fine. But don’t stop me if I want to create my own Yasuke anime.

@leseanthomas

Love you work

Keep it up !

#lesean thomas #opinion #rant #sorry for the rant #my rants #samurai #yasuke #blacksamurai #netflix

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nemenalya · 5 years

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I finally found enough fitting names to be able to post the great overview of my Elder Scrolls characters and their family. The earlier generations up to my Vestige will be included in a names only form at some point. Anyways, this means that I will now very happily talk about the Llares clan at every opportunity.

Short descriptions of everyone (in order of birth for simplicity’s sake) under the cut because this will be a looong post (like almost three thousand words long):

Tavynu Llares

Grew up in Cheydinhal as the only child of her parents but later settled in Bruma after having joined and studied under the Mages´ Guild. Though she is born into minor Telvanni nobility she never considered going to Morrowind or actually getting involved in House business and much preferred researching in relative anonymity. She studies and teaches alchemy and has a certain interest in alteration but generally doesn´t employ too much magic into her daily life (not for lack of skill, she just doesn´t care enough). Despite having grown up among Men she still tries to teach her children about Dunmeri culture, language and religion. More often than not she leaves that role to her ancestors or her Morrowind-born husband, who she feels are much more suited to the task. She found her tragically early end during the Oblivion crisis and was buried in Bruma by her husband.

Delas Sareni

The youngest son of the side-branch of a minor noble family loosely associated with House Indoril; in other words an absolute nobody. With little talent or love for either fighting or statecraft he turned to the arts and ended up becoming a quite talented painter with a focus on traditional Dunmeri styles and religious motifs. He met his future wife at a festival for one of the Tribunal high holidays and ended up moving from Mournhold out onto the countryside to live with her. Some years later, he was rather surprisingly commissioned by a Dres trader to paint a mural in his Cyrodiilic estate and the pair, together with their young son moved to the Imperial City, where he grew to some fame among the Dunmeri diaspora.

Arvis Semoran

Grew up on the mainland coast of the Inner Sea without any special affiliation to the Great Houses. He joined a group of traveling merchants that first stuck to selling wares in different parts of Morrowind but came to realize that there was good money in selling their (not always legally exported) goods in other provinces. One time, the group did try to make it to the far west of the continent but the additional effort and dangers made going beyond Cyrodiil rather risky and unprofitable. After almost three decades on the road he met his wife when the group got unexpectedly stuck in Bruma over the winter. While he did leave he decided to trust his feelings and leave the merchant band when they next stopped in Bruma. His tries at being a stationary merchant worked only somewhat well, which gave him time to be the main caretaker of his and Tavynu´s twin children. Very early in the fourth era, after the death of his wife, he retired to relative anonymity in Morrowind and only kept sporadic contact with the twins as he tied to stay well away from his daughter´s political machinations.

Nalu Relyn

A retainer of House Dres who grew up on the plains of Deshaan, she became the personal guard and later trusted agent of a young Dres noble. As a very devout person she went on a number of pilgrimages over the years, including one to Mournhold where she met her Indoril husband. She still stayed loyal to her original House and convinced Delas to move back to the countryside with her as the cities unsettled her. Many years later her lord sent her to Cyrodiil to spy in and interfere with the business of some Hlaalu merchants that he had gotten into conflict with before. It was also him who arranged for her husband to be contracted to the Imperial City as a cover story. Nalu absolutely hated having to raise her son outside of Morrowind but was still ready to put her House´s needs first. She went back to Morrowind after the Oblivion crisis and the Red Year to help her much decimated House. While never a great fan of the Empire she truly put all her skills into the independence movement after her son´s death.

Mervyn Sareni

Born in southern Deshaan he moved to the Imperial City with his family at age seven. He is raised in a very conservative Dunmeri way and frequently comes into arguments with people from other races, especially as he grew older and started hanging out in shady bars with other young Dunmer. Those arguments often turned into fights and one night he half-drunkenly stabbed someone over a perceived sleight. His mother helped him come to terms with it but the murder left him cautious and even more avoidant of the guards. When they finally did arrest and deport him it is for continuous disturbance of the peace as the guards never bothered to investigate the death of a known drunkard. Once in Morrowind he continued getting into trouble and spentmost of his first weeks in run-down cornerclubs before managing to fall in with the Morag Tong during one of his clearer moments. Working for the guild helped break the monotony and sharpens his skills while keeping him out of the worst of troubles. He was good at the work but it made him restless and he only found peace when he got involved with the Temple and realized that he is capable of actively helping his Dunmeri brethren. He worked his way up in both organizations, managing to reconcile the two moral systems while firmly keeping to the Tribunal, the religion he was raised with. His beliefs were tested when he met Aluri, by then the rising star of House Telvanni, and over time learned about her involvement in the Nerevarine prophecy. He trusted her enough to try and keep both the Temple and the Tong off of her as well as possible, something that he continued to do during her rule as Hortator. The two of them married about a decade later and he stayed with her in Tel Uvirith and later Port Telvannis. Up until his death he never truly got used to her friendship with Vivec though, or the fact that his god lived with them.

Telvanni Aluri Llares

The older Llares twin; rose to power as the Great Hortator and Nerevarine. Despite growing up in Bruma, the twins were raised with the culture and stories of their people and often longed to see the country of their ancestors. Aluri always had more magical talent than common sense and already at a very young age grew frustrated with the slow progress she made studying under her mother’s friends in the Mages’ Guild. Remembering the stories her ancestors would tell them she convinced her brother to run off to Morrowind to find better tutelage with their House or in their god’s city. The two actually got somewhat far before their father managed to track down the trading caravan they had hitched a ride on. Afterwards, her family tried to give her greater access to the libraries and resources of the Guild, even though they stayed very concerned for her safety. On her visits to the Arcane University with her mother Aluri fell into a habit of borrowing complicated tomes for an indefinite amount of time. It was this behaviour that eventually saw her arrested by the guards, with the rest being history. Once thrown into the situation on Vvardenfell she first sought out the familiar camaraderie of the Mages’ Guild before realizing that she needed local allies. Hailing from the distant branch of a mainland Telvanni family she had little support in her House at first but she relished in working her way to the top. The prophecy always was more of a side note for her, an excuse to go digging around in ancient ruins and obscure cultures, which she could write home to her brother about to convince him to join her. Despite the power she gained from it she never forgave the Blades for trying to manipulate her and later took a decidedly anti-Imperial stance. After the events of the prophecy had played out she took a background role in Dunmeri politics with the actual power resting in the hands of the Grand Council. She served more as a figurehead and keeper of the law between Houses, which gave her enough time to focus on her studies and those duties of a Telvanni councillor that she couldn´t delegate to her Mouth.

Selin Llares

The younger twin and the one who actually enabled Aluri to live her crazy life. He had little interest in material possessions or combat magic and instead spent his time studying obscure histories. When his sister invited him to Morrowind he settled in Tel Uvirith with her and focused his studies on Dwemeri texts and artefacts that she brought him from her travels. In a way she kept him in a golden cage, always protective of him and listening to his opinions but at the same time saddling him with duties and projects that would keep him from exploring the island himself. His existence added some further confusion to the entire prophecy as the twins often said that they shared one soul, which threw those who actually believed Aluri to be Nerevar incarnate into wild speculations about his role in the prophecy and resulted in some historical inaccuracies between reports. Selin served as his sister’s representative and spokesperson when she was away, basically running the day-to-day affairs of the tower, and later raised both his nieces almost on his own with occasional help from Alouri’s close friends.

Quarminir

The middle child of an Altmeri merchant family with a culturally somewhat frowned upon drive to make their way up into the higher ranks of Summerset society. He received a thorough education and has some skill in the magical arts but much prefers to spend his time talking philosophy, diplomacy or just talking in general. Once he was more than halfway into his second century he finally found an excuse to travel out of the Dominion territories, ostensibly to look for new trading opportunities for his family. After spending some years in different provinces he found perhaps the most unfortunate time to visit Skyrim and his old friend Ondolemar in Markarth. He did however end up meeting his future wife when she barged in on one of their conversations. Despite her not being an Altmer her was quite enamoured and glad to meet her again at a celebration in the Thalmor embassy. He greatly enjoyed the feeling of freedom he had so far from home, even though he sometimes missed the comforts of the Isles or feared for his family’s reputation, and ended up marrying Mehresa and staying with her. Afterwards, he spent his time building connections and writing about both the current political situation and lighter topics, such as children’s tales or the differences between Altmeri and Dunmeri family structures.

Telvanni Mehresa Llares

The daughter of powerful people she mostly grew up in Port Telvannis but often travelled to Blacklight and other cities with her mother. After she lost her father before age ten her uncle stepped in and raised her, while her mother grew more distant and threw herself into her political duties. Nonetheless, and possibly out of guilt over her absence, her mother made sure that she always had skilled teachers to give her a thorough education on anything she showed interest in, including strategy, geography, magic and different languages. She ran into the Imperial ambush and her own prophecy as the last Dragonborn after visiting her grandmother’s grave in Bruma and deciding to take the scenic route through Skyrim back to Morrowind. Deciding that it was time for her to actually build a life for herself away from the direct influence of her family she started making her case at different courts to prove her worth and gain her own allies. She tried to stay away from the civil war as she neither liked the Stormcloak’s view nor wanted to help the Empire that they had just thrown out of her home province. Instead, she spent a lot of time researching with the College or travelling the land to find possible ways to control and grow her Thu’um. When the Blades got in her way she gladly continued her mother’s feud with them and sold them out to the Thalmor, a decision that lead to her meeting her future husband. For the time being she enjoyed her life in southern Skyrim where she has built something of a Dunmeri commune as encouragement for her people to finally help themselves instead of lamenting about the Nords. Nonetheless, after having to strike more than one deal with Hermaeus Mora she always feared that one day she would give in to the thrall of knowledge and leave behind her family to get lost in the depths of Apocrypha.

Telvanni Khesra Llares

Her birth was surrounded by controversy, especially as her mother refused to share the identity of her father with anyone beyond her closest family. She got along very well with her half-sister Mehresa, despite their age difference of about eighty years, and would have gladly accompanied her to Bruma and Skyrim if she hadn´t just started her apprenticeship. Finding a master among the highest ranks of House Telvanni had been easy enough for her at the end due to both her natural talent and her mother’s influence, but it came at the price of the ostensible freedom her sister enjoyed. Still,Khesra was always driven by the desire to make her way to the top of their House and the promises of power and longevity that came with that path, and was more than willing to make those sacrifices. And even though she made a point of showing that she could make it by her own cunning and skills only, she recognized that she shouldn’t disregard her family’s influence and expertise. So she made it a point to meet up with her family before or during her travels, which basically meant whenever her master decided to send her out to do research or run errands for him.

Areyne Llares

The eldest and most Altmeri looking out of her sisters she unsettled her paternal grandparents the most but was gladly accepted by her mother’s family. She loved spending her time at Lake Ilinalta during her youth and later developed a great interest in the sea and sailing. When her family realised this they sent her to her maternal grandmother who first organized for her to join a crew to learn under and then helped her acquire a ship of her own. Using her mixed heritage to her advantage as far as possible, she started trading luxury goods with the Isles, both through her grandparents and on her own. With her colourful stories and exotic looks she enjoyed the attention of young Altmer ladies unhappy with their strict societal norms, which didn’t exactly endear her to their families.

Sedris Llares

The unruly middle child of the family she always had a certain desire to get around and travel. As a compromise, her mother convinced her to stay at home at least until she developed some skills in weapons and magic to defend herself, and even afterwards often asked her to not leave entirely alone. She went and traversed first Skyrim and then Morrowind before joining a mercenary band for a little while. After a few years she started chafing under their commander and simply left one night when they were between contracts. When she arrived back at her family’s home, she had a long discussion with her mother and decided to go and find some inner peace in meditation with the dragons, before she eventually gave up and ran away again to make her way to the west.

Telvanni Vesryn Llares

Currently the youngest member of her clan she was also the only one of the three to show any interest in being an active and ranking member of their House. Gifted with magical talent, a boundless curiosity and most importantly a healthy appreciation of safety measures she managed to learn a lot from accompanying her mother to the College during her youth. Before long and with her sisters already on their way to build their own lives she begged to be allowed to go and study under her grandmother in Port Telvannis. The two quickly worked out that she would later have to find another master for an actual apprenticeship but still enjoyed working together. She also developed a very close relationship to her aunt who introduced her to some of the finer details of life among the Telvanni. Some of her family members were a bit disappointed when she showed great interest in becoming a mycologist instead of striving for greater power but most just accepted it as youthful folly and provided reserved support while trying to nudge her into other fields.

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xshow-me-some-moxie · 5 years

Text

Vampire Noir

[BNYC] Hallowed City // Peter Parker a.k.a Spider-Man Noir :: Vampire

{Myth} The mythos about vampires varies wildly from culture to culture, but certain things remain constant: they are undead creatures of the night with speed and strength not possessed by mere mortals, and they sustain their facsimile of life by consuming the blood of the living.

{Appearance} Being both dead and night owls vampires are incredibly pale, even dark-skinned vampires taking on a duskier, pale appearance. They maintain the same general visage from their life as a mortal, but it has been said that intense emotions (either positive or negative) will cause their eyes to turn blood red. And while a vampire cannot gain new scars (unless the wound is made with a weapon they are allergic to) any scars they possessed as a mortal remain on their skin.

Fangs are a trait that all vampires possess, although they are not always visible. A vampire’s fangs, much like a rattlesnake’s, fold up against their palate when they are not needed. The oldest vampires have full control over whether or not to show fang, but younger immortals will find that they show fang in moments of strong emotion such as when surprised, scared, aroused, angry, or hungry. When their fangs are not in use a vampire’s teeth look like that of any mortal’s.

{Abilities}

Superior Physiology

This includes their speed, strength, stamina, and senses. All are preternaturally honed making a vampire faster, stronger, and more sensitive to stimuli than their mortal counterparts. Of course, this works both for them, and against them.

Immortality

There is no natural death for a vampire. Once they are turned they stop aging, and if left alone would continue to exist for eternity. They do not require sustenance (though they will, eventually, go mad if denied access to blood for a prolonged period) or oxygen, and they are immune to all diseases. It is extremely difficult, but possible to kill a vampire.

Damage Resistance

Trying to harm a vampire is, for the most part, a fruitless task. They will ignore almost all conventional weapons, their skin far more durable than a mortal’s, and even if the weapon manages to wound them their massive pain tolerance means that the attacker is dead before the vampire notices they’ve been injured. However, there are some weapons that even a vampire fears.

Regenerative Healing

The other reason vampires are so hard to kill is because even when struck by a weapon capable of damaging them their bodies will almost immediately begin the healing process. Depending on the severity of the injury this process can be slow, but it can be sped up by consuming the blood of another vampire, or someone with a similar healing factor. A vampire’s blood can also be used to heal living creatures from even mortal injuries, along with temporarily conferring mild vampiric traits to the drinker.

Metamorphosis

All vampires have the ability to change shape, but what they can transform into is determined by their age. Some of the oldest vampires claim they can take the form of man-sized bats. Vampires that have passed their first century generally find it easy to take the form of bats or even cats, anything of reasonable size that they are familiar with. Young vampires can only shift into a mist form, still growing into their abilities.

Telepathy

Only the oldest vampires are truly telepathic. The majority of vampires possess the ability to compel others to do their bidding, age and experience allowing them more control over their subject. For the first century of a vampire’s afterlife this ability is spotty, at best. It takes a great amount of concentration and willpower to compel another creature, especially if they are being compelled to do something they don’t want to do.

Vampiric Progeny

Any vampire can create more vampires, the process straight-forwards, but time-consuming. A vampire created in this way will feel a strong pull to stay near their creator for the first century or so of their afterlife, which can be unfortunate, since the Creator-Progeny bond has no bearing on how they feel about one another. After the progeny’s first century they almost always set out on their own, but the link shared with their creator is permanent, the older vampire always able to call their spawn to them, if they so choose.

{Weaknesses}

Haematophagy

Quite possibly the vampire’s biggest weakness. Their dependency on blood is what drives them. They can eat proper food which their bodies will digest and absorb, but it provides them with no significant benefit. Only blood will sate a vampire’s hunger, without it they will, quite literally, lose their minds. Newly dead and the oldest vampires are the most prone to succumb to blood frenzy. The young because they have the least amount of control, and the old because they need so much more blood to sustain themselves.

Allergies

Vampires, like the mortals they once were, are subject to allergic reactions, although, unlike mortals, a vampire’s allergies are almost always deadly and they all share the same triggers. Surprisingly, garlic is not one of them, although some vampires have been known to flee in its presence simply to continue the propaganda and trick mortals into thinking they had the upper hand. The list of their actual allergies isn’t long, but even minor contact with any of these materials will trigger a reaction that ranges from minor irritant to potentially deadly: sunlight [contact], silver [contact], certain medicinal herbs [ingest, wound], holy water [contact], and raw wood [wound].

Fire

Vampires can regenerate from a lot of things. Fire is not one of them. If a vampire is burned, but not killed, the only way for them to heal is to find somewhere light-tight that they can stay for an indeterminate amount of time and wait there, preferably with a steady stream of other vampires to feed off of to encourage the healing process. Even then, it won’t always work if the burns are severe enough, and since vampires are extremely flammable it rarely works.

Head Injuries

The worst place for a vampire to get injured, aside from their heart, is their head. A severe enough head injury even with a normal weapon (although the massive amount of effort it would take to inflict such injury would hardly be worth it) will temporarily incapacitate a vampire. There’s also a chance that during the healing process memories will be lost or shuffled around, the chance increasing with the age of the vampire.

Private Dwellings

Or, the lack of ability to enter a private dwelling without an invitation. Public property, or homes that have been opened to the public (historical museums, home business, etc) has no effect, a vampire able to enter and leave without issue. But, to enter a private dwelling in any fashion (via door, window, kicking the wall down) a vampire must first be willingly invited inside. Also, once inside, if their invitation is revoked the vampire will be compelled to leave the premises immediately, through a door, if possible, but by any means necessary if there is no door available to them.

Reflections & Shadows

The fastest way to determine if someone is a vampire is to put them in front of a reflective surface. No part— including their clothing— of a vampire casts a reflection, or a shadow. This can be useful when attempting to sneak around, but it also will give them away if anyone notices that everything is not as it should be.

Stakes

It’s not only wooden stakes that will kill a vampire. Any stake made out of organic, once-living material will do the trick as long as it pierces the vampire’s heart. Savvy, paranoid, vampires will have their hearts removed and locked away somewhere safe for just that reason. Although, that brings about its own set of problems since, if it can be found, it is much easier to stake when outside of the vampire’s body.

Sunlight

To be more specific: ultraviolet radiation. Sunlight is the worst, but any uv rays will very quickly cause a vampire’s cellular structure to break down and disintegrate. It’s possible, with centuries of controlled exposure to uv rays, to build up a resistance, but most who try such folly end up burning off bits of their bodies, and sunlight inflicted injuries will not regenerate no matter how much vampire blood is consumed.

Superior Physiology

Specifically their senses. Being able to see perfectly in the dark means that it’s possible to temporarily blind a vampire if there’s a bright enough light available. Certain smells, tastes, and sounds will drive a vampire away, not because of pain, but personal preference. Their sense of touch is enhanced as well, although their pain receptors are dulled to anything that they do not have a weakness towards. This means they feel sensations on a higher level than a mortal, things like cold, heat, pleasure, pain (when they do feel it) affecting them more intensely.

#bnyc monsters #Noir #0666: hallowed city

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nat-one-knights · 5 years

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Caprasi

"We're a curious sort. We travel and we fix things. Some of us, we collect things. Others, we trade them. Me? I prefer a little of it all. I like to travel and fix the things I collect, then trade them so I can get more things. I've seen all sorts during my time. The collapse of ancient ruins into the sea, the crumbling of long forgotten mazes to time, an explosion that blew up my favorite pie stand. I've seen it all. Now...what would you like to buy?"

--- Siegmaer Etherhorn, Caprasi merchant and expert on all things

Patient and well traveled goatlike humanoids, not unlike satyrs, but more goat than human are what people know the caprasi as. Few know them little more than herds of wandering stonemasons, while fewer others even know they exist. Some have made a name for themselves as shrewd and cunning merchants, like Siegmaer Etherhorn, who has made a name for themselves for being an expert on all things in their book Siegmaer's Traveling Emporium. What few renowned caprasi exist are hushed whispers in the circles of the powerful. When caprasi are involved, those who know of their temperment know its a serious issue.

Hardy and Wise

Said to have descended from a goatlike creatures that originated in the Elemental Plane of Earth, the caprasi are similar in their temperment. Sometimes seen as slow, they are often sages or wise adventurers who have taken to pondering or absorbing all they can from their surroundings and circumstances before providing input or making decisions.

The caprasi, even at young ages, develop a patient and calm outlook on life. Many speculate that their extremely long lives and time in separate from the rest of the world skews them in this view, while others believe their closeness with the eternal nature of the earth gives them a timeless insight and persistent exposure to the subtleties of the world.

Even with their almost never-ending patience, caprasi are deadly foes when pushed to the edge of their wits. Armed with thick horns and the spirit of stone, caprasi once provoked are ceaseless in their elimination of threats and enemies to their lifestyle. It is in this element that they represent it the most, unmoving and unforgiving.

People of the Earth

Born of the mountains, caprasi are hardy and stubborn denizens of terrain mostly left unexplored. Taking up residence in isolated mountain peaks or treacherous cliffsides, the caprasi tend to the earth and work toilessly to ensure the landscape withstands the test of time and outside forces. Their attunement with the very earth allows them to sense weaknesses otherwise unseen and gives them a good idea for where to work.

There are many places that attribute the astounding stonework and fantastical natural structures to the work of the Caprasi, subtle workmanship that allows these things to remain on display for the world as long as the people exist. caprasi take pride in their handiwork, similar to the way dwarves do for their accomplishments. Some take it to the point of elaborately leaving marks or imprints that bear their signature under certain circumstances, such as during full moons or if looked at from a certain viewpoint. In the rare occasion, some caprasi will actually create puzzles in the stonework for people to solve, only to lead to a compartment with a small treasure with their signature. These little treasures are rarely insignificant, but in many cases they are obscure to the point of being passed over by most adventurers.

Nomads and Merchants

The ones who don't spend their lives keeping natural structures intact end up being nomads who roam the earth looking for places to ply their skills, or merchants peddling wares they've recovered from seemingly unaccessible ruins. The ones that are most commonly encountered are those who live as traders, travelling far and wide to acquire and trade a large variety of treasures they've discovered.

Caprasi with enough experience can very quickly determine the weight of an item's worth in gold or other mineral currencies. With enough time as well, they can figure the composition and purity of some items if they are made from material they are familiar with. Its because of this that they give honest value to an item, if asked. This works in the reverse as well, as the most skilled caprasi can determine something being passed off as a fake given the chance to examine. Their skill doesn't extend to magical effects, but those can be learned by the most perceptive and persistent of Caprasi.

Due to their abilities, sometimes a family of Vulperis will befriend a caprasi. If the two find it beneficial, the vulperis family will travel with the caprasi on their travels and give insight to the historical or religious significance of the treasures they find on their travels. The caprasi will reciprocate by providing their invaluable knowledge of the materials and give them deeper understanding of the more practical and physical points to their finds. Because of the vast difference in lifespans, the caprasi partnership with a Vulperis family tends to span several generations with ease. In some cases, the caprasi is "adopted" into the family. In this rare circumstance, caprasi help defend and raise the pups with each new litter. \page

Self Assured Strength

As old as the caprasi can get, a majority of them accrue a large amount of incredible experiences over their lifetimes. Most live through periods of war and turmoil, watching the events unfold from a distance in their earthen lairs. Some caprasi will involve themselves, if they feel the cause is just and will ultimately benefit them in the long run. It is said that once in a milennia, forces will come to the caprasi and press them to join their causes. Most of the time, it would be fruitless. If found worthy however, a caprasi is a good friend to have.

Despite their average and almost jagged stature, they are akin to earth elementals in their capability. As tough as the earth they shape, their years of careful observance makes them perfect in the vanguard. For those who care not to fight but wish to aid, they are usually found in the form of counsel or unit leaders for conflicts. A caprasi is said to have over a hundred years of experience in fighting, leaving them well suited to these roles.

Caprasi are not simply confident in their ability, they are certain of it. No caprasi will admit their weakness, but neither will they confess to feats unsuitable for them. They know their limits and know exactly how hard to push themselves, but never more than that.

Caprasi Names

Caprasi names have a variety of origins, but most are based of old and archaic pseudonyms from old legends spanning a number of different planes and civilizations. They may take parts of names that they resonate with or particularly favor and combine them to come up with a name they would like to go by. Caprasi do have names that supercede this taken names, as bestowed upon them by their lineage dating back to the original elementals. Normally this is translated from its original archaic form to a more understandable verbage in Common. Only the most ancient and powerful of lineages keep their original script, though it speaks nothing of the Caprasi who bear it.

Caprasi Taken Names Siegmaer, Iglin, Jormung, Extaer, Xelier

Lineage Names Etherhorn, Scorch-hoof, Longback, Brightmorn, Grandheart

Caprasi Traits

Your caprasi character has a number of innate characteristics as the result of their rigorous heritage.

Ability Score Increase Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Wisdom score increase by 1.

Age Caprasi reach adulthood around the age of 25 and can live surpassing 800 years.

Alignment Caprasi tend to try and keep from taking sides in conflict that doesn't pertain to them, lending a majority of their folk towards some form of neutral. They value acting as a neutral party, even among their own.

Size Most caprasi vary between 5 and 6 feet tall and end up being close to 300 pounds due to their dense musculature. Your size is Medium.

Speed Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision Used to the long nights on mountain climbs, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were in bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in the darkness, only shades of grey.

One With The Earth You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition to that, you have a tremorsense of 30 feet due to your race's need to sense for changes in the landscape during steep climbs.

Horns Your horns are natural melee weapons, with which you’re proficient. When you hit with them, the target takes bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier.

Trample If you move at least 20 feet before making an attack with your horns, you can attempt to shove that creature with your horns using your reaction. The creature must be no more than one size larger than you and within 5 feet of you. It must make a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier.

Powerful Build You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, and lift.

Languages You can read, speak, and write Common and Terran.

#caprasi #beast races #beast race #Visitor's Guide To Emaelyn #Admiral's Repetoire #Admiral's Homebrew Creations #d&d #d&d 5e #d&d homebrew #5e homebrew #d&d 5e homebrew #homebrew

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csykora · 6 years

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i don't know if you know the answer, but if you do, would you mind explaining why some Russian names are always transliterated the same way (like Никита to Nikita), but some very much aren't? i've seen Evgeni, Evgeny, Evgenii, Yevgeni, and Yevgeny - is one 'more right' than the others?

Thanks for asking! You’re right, there’s some whacky variation in the League right now, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while.

(I’m going to focus on North American English speakers: if you’re not, sorry! The basics should still apply and make sense.)

The NHL follows the International Ice Hockey Federations 2011 standard for transcription of Russian names. Probably.

The NHL is a loose confederation of franchises. Historically, it’s been up to each team what they wrote on their Russian players’ jerseys. A lot of their creations were more artistic than phonetically accurate, but the surname would stay pretty consistent for PR and jersey purposes. First names were a free for all, with the team and official NHL media or licensed materials like video games all spelling them differently.

It’s still technically up to teams, but since 2011 the League is pushing a little harder to pick one spelling and stick with it across all media, and to have the spelling reflect how the name should be said.

Any Russian player who came over before 2011 is grandfathered in as whatever spelling they were assigned at the time, for PR reasons. (Like Craig MacTavish being the only one on the ice without a helmet, but less horrible.) Anyone who debuts in the League today should, theoretically, be assigned a spelling that follows the new rules.

The IIHF transcription standard has three basic principles:

Sound-emulating: Yevgeni instead of Evgeny

Simplicity: Yevgeni instead of Yevgeny, Alexander instead of Aleksandr

Consistency: same spelling for same name (and different spelling for different names)

Sound-emulating

What does Russian sound like?

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This is one of my recital pieces, Tchaikovsky’s Moy geni, moy angel. Music is a great snapshot of the sounds that a language likes to use, particularly the vowels. Listening here, you’re going to hear a lot of “eh” and “ooh”, a lot of soft schwa sounds, and no “ae” or “oh”—the only long vowel is “ee”. You might pick up an odd nasal quality to a lot of those sounds, as if the singer is actually say, “yeh” or “yoo”.

Russian has different phonemes than North American English. A phoneme is “any of the speech sounds which are perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the language. An example is the English phoneme /k/, which occurs in words such as cat, kit, scat, skit.” There are a couple Russian consonants that seem to give English-speakers trouble (most obviously Ж in hockey fandom. The (Y)evgeni(i)ys just have to go and confuse North Americans more by also calling each other Женя, “Zhenya”, which fans often try to say with a G or a J sound. It’s pronounced like the S in “pleasure” or “treasure.”) But mostly, it’s all about the vowels, which don’t line up with English spelling or pronunciation very neatly.

In North American schools your teacher probably talked about how English has long and short vowel sounds.

And Y does double duty, as a mystery vowel and a consonant that can jump in before or after other vowels.

You’re not really going to hear any long vowel sounds in Russian, except for ē. Instead, Russian has hard and soft vowels:

The hard vowels are close to English short vowels. The matching soft vowel is pronounced pretty much the same but you glide into them with a “y” sound.

So Э and E are “ĕ” and “yĕ.”

O and ё are “ŏ” and “yŏ.”

(Standard Russian speakers splinch O and A (“ŏ” and “ă”) into a schwa sound, a phenomenon called аканье/akanye.)

And so on.

The exception is Ы and и, who are both shifty characters. Ы drifts between ĕ and ĭ, and и moves between ĭ and the long e sound.

(“и” also happens to mean “and.” You’ll hear hockey players, especially Kuznetsov, make a sort of horrible high-pitched eeeee sound all the time in interviews. That’s Russian Hockey Player for “…uh….” )

й is the Cyrillic character for the Y-consonant sound after a vowel, as in “Moй/Moy”. The symbols ь and Ъ can also appear on their own, and they palatalize the consonant before (adding a sort of Y twist to the end of it), or explicitly forbid you from doing that. This sound is rendered with a J or a Y after the consonant in different Russian transliteration systems. The IIHF uses Y.

So when we get transliterating, we’re going to have to have Ys all up in everything.

Евгений

This is where the many Yevgenis come in.

Every Евгений is best said as “Yev-gen-ee-y.” (I’d say it kind of ends in a little Y twist, but that’s because it’s kind of easier to say and a Cyrillic spelling artifact. You say “Yevgeneeee” or “Yevgenee-y” depending on your natural voice and how quickly you’re speaking.)

You don’t necessarily say the first syllable with a heavy Y like “yeah,” but the glide has to be there. “Eh-vgen-ee” would be an entirely different name, spelled Эвгений. And Э just isn’t a very popular sound in Russian: only 2 male names start with it. Maybe there’re some hipster parents out there naming their son Эвгений right now to annoy people, but otherwise, no.

Simplicity

Since Y is playing an important role in the basic vowels, we don’t really want to use it to represent the long e sound the way it sometimes does in English.

So “Yevgeni” is preferred over “Yevgeny” or “Yevgeniy.” Yevgeniy is the most technically accurate, but let’s be honest, North Americans are going to pronounce them all the same and the second two are just way too much Y.

The one time you will see reliably Ys standing alone is in patronymics. Yevgeni Kuznetsov’s father is also named Yevgeni, so his full, intensely boring name is Евгений Евгеньевич. “Yevgeneey Yevgen-ee-e-vich” is not exactly a delight to have to say. The suffix -евич/-evich means something, so you don’t change the letters in there, but you can drop the last vowel of the first name and palatalize the last consonant, making it into an easier “nyuh” sound. So it becomes “Yevgenyuh-evich,” which we can transliterate as Yevgenyevich.

With a name like “Aleksandr,” the IIHF standard says go ahead and spell it as the familiar “Alexander,” because you’re gonna pronounce the two the say anyway.

Consistency

So every Евгений whose name is pronounced the same way should be spelled the same way—and players whose names are pronounced differently…should be spelled differently.

Семён и Сёмин

The IIHF standards were introduced after feedback from Russian players, most directly Semyon Varlamov.

By 2011 the NHL had officially spelled Varlamov’s given name, Семён, as:

Simeon

Semyen

Simyan

Simyon

Semin

and of course, Semen.

Ah, cross-cultural respect.

Listen, the fact it’s Varlamov makes that feel just. But it was being done randomly to everyone.

And it was especially on the nose because Varlamov was on the same team as Александр Сёмин—Alexander Semin.

Semin’s surname, Сёмин, is pronounced something like “Syaw-min”. (Akanye turns it into an A-sound, which is how his nickname, Сёмa, is pretty much pronounced “Sam,” rather than the way North American fans probably read it when they see “Sema.”) Under IIHF rules, his current KHL jersey is spelled SYOMIN.

But when he entered the NHL someone said, “That sure looks like an e to me,” and wrote down “S-E-M-I-N” Few years later that same spelling wizard looked at Семён (pronounced “Sim-yawn”) and said, “Man, I got this.”

Team officials, media, fans, even their teammates read the Latin spellings, naturally assumed their names were pronounced the same way, and went around calling both of them the same thing. Someone yells something that sounds like “semen” in the locker room, or on the ice in the middle of a game, and both of them have to turn around.

Semyon addressed the pronunciation with media, pointed out the confusion with his own teammate, filed paperwork to officially change the spelling (because he had to do that, the League had functionally taken away his name), and contacted the IIHF to ask them to step in, which they did.

(Semin did…nothing, because he would literally rather turn into a snow leopard and run away to nap in the sunshine and eat flowers and squirrels and live in the forest forever than talk to an official. So his name is still spelled SEMIN.)

More “Right”

Pronunciation isn’t a moral issue. As we grow up, our mouths learn to shape the phonemes we’re using all the time and our brains trim away the nerve connections for making sounds we don’t need. Some of us can learn some of those back, and some of us can’t, and we certainly can’t learn very well if we don’t have examples and help.

And it is strikingly hard to find that for Russian in North America.

Until the ’90s, management and especially announcers had no way to hear names pronounced before they had to try to spell or say them because there was no real cultural exchange between North America and the USSR: no TV, no radio, no way to hear the voices of Russian people except briefly on the ice. Miracle had Al Michaels recreate his goal calls because at the time he’d only had a hasty list of the Soviet line-up that he begged off the officials, and he took a wild swing at Vyacheslav Fetisov. A decade later Fetisov came to America and we were able to hear him speak and learn his name.

It’s unimaginable now, but when Ovechkin was drafted, many broadcasters were calling him “Alexander ov-itch-kin,” not “Oh-veh-chkin.” Because they actually did do their homework: they were trying to listen to Russian-language broadcasters and recreate their pronunciation. If you hear a Russian speaker say it, the middle vowel does sound a lot more like an I than a drawling North American “eh.” But then we all said it a thousand times a day and our mouths settled into sounds that are comfortable for us.

Which is fine, we’re not in any way Wrong for calling him “Oh-veh-chkin.” Just saying a Russian person’s name differently than native speakers say it isn’t a horrible thing. (‘Native speakers’ of every language fight each other all the time, too.) What matters is respect: trying our best to transliterate and pronounce a name shows that we’re listening to that person and we’re valuing them.

I think it says something that it’s still hard to hear any Russian in North America, it’s still hard to learn these names, and so we still say them in a very North American way. Even if we’re not the ones making it, the Russian voice still mostly exists in our consciousness as a joke.

Sometimes that joke feeds into innocent not-quite-accuracies. And sometimes like with the Se(i)(y)(o)mi(y)(o)ns, it feeds something that feels a little…less of us.

It’s been 16 years* and we’re still turning their names, one of the few personal things they were able to bring with them to the foreign world of North America, into dick jokes. It’s hardly the worst insult in the world or in the NHL: making each others’ names into dick jokes is hockey players’ primary sport. It’s just that the foundation of the joke is, “I actually didn’t take the time to listen to you say your own name,” and that makes it seem small of us. And it seems smaller after they made repeated requests and took legal action to ask for their names back, and we’ve not only kept doing it, most of us don’t know or remember that they asked us to stop.

some very much aren’t

It’s worth remembering Russians still make up a small percentage of the NHL, and most of the active Russian NHLers came over before 2011.The Russian voice in North American hockey is still small. So the spelling of Russian names is still controlled by North Americans NHL officials, and it’s a small and wild pool of possible spellings. Change comes slowly, if it comes at all.

Most of the new prospects’ surnames do seem to have been effectively standardized, but I’m not really sure where future Yevgenis stand at this point in the NHL. Евгений Свечников is the newest I know of: under IIHF rules he’s Yevgeni Svechnikov, but it seems he’s still being spelled “Evgeny” in the NHL. Because it’s such a common name and several Yevgeni-spelled-Evgenys have been high-profile players, we’re all already used to seeing Evgeni and Evgeny, and NHL officials might easily choose to keep using them for PR reasons.

This was fun! somebody ask me about nicknames or patronymics or the Czechs next, please. I need to keep expanding my embarrassing tabloid glitterbomb vocabulary.

#long post cw #Russian language #semyon varlamov mention #Sasha Semin #evgeny kuznetsov #nhl media

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one-of-us-must-be-crazy · 6 years

Text

stained.

So I doubt any store or fad will last this long into the future, but it was brought on by a tumblr post “cute date idea: go pick out a bathbomb with your S/O and use it together” and then a conversation I had about said horrible idea with OutreOtter (”how don’t they stain the bathtub?”), who said I needed to write it.

It didn’t snow on Luna. The artificial climate didn’t allow for it. More than that it was August, which was why it was so concerning to Christopher to see it outside of the shopping mall window: small white flakes falling from above.

“Amy, why are they making—“

“Snow? They do that sometimes, it’s a Christmas advertisement I think.”

“That’s months away.”

“I know,” she said, looking at a window display of colorful gift-boxes, “The godforsaken world of retail wants people to get excited for Christmas early, it’s bullshit. I try not to go near big shopping areas after July,” she said. Gods this place is turning into a theme park… When her mother was born, Luna was a mechanical station and a three-building campus for low-gravity research. When Amanda moved there for work, there was a major Colonial Marine base, complete with a hospital that served the entire lunar colony; military, corporate, and private docks at the ship yard, and dozens more research facilities. A small city building up around the number of full-time citizens that were needed to run both the base and the mechanics of preserving the crater fields on the front of the moon while maintaining a stable atmosphere. At first the place was a refuge from holidays and current events and current trends, but within months she noticed the change, noticed the city developing more into the kind of small city-town that she had lived in as a little girl: shopping and a library, cafes, and tourists. Gaudily dressed upper middle-class families and couples there to see the Earthrise. Hotels and bars (the latter she didn’t mind so much; if there were other people in the bar it didn’t count as drinking alone), more fucking shopping stores and then the mall. Holidays were the worst, but the screaming tourist children weren’t the reason.

Before moving to Luna Christmas was a miserable season of constant reminders. Advertisements of big, happy families mocked her openly wherever she went. The respite from it barely lasted two seasons. In the malls and departments stores it began early. Everywhere else it still began early, but not until October or so. Damn shame too, Halloween’s about the only holiday that doesn’t guilt you for not having anyone in your life. Though this upcoming Halloween had occurred to her, and in the process of wanting to give her lover as much experience in the human social world as she could, she planned on finding something for them to do. Maybe even hand out candy to the kids in their apartment building.

“What,” Samuels asked, looking over Ripley’s shoulder into the store, “are those?” An employee was dropping a soft-ball sized blue and green globe into a clear glass tank: it spun around in the water and began to froth.

“Bath-bombs. Expensive little soap balls that fizz and bubble when you drop them in water. Some of them have dumb prizes inside, or a fuck-ton of glitter.”

“I want to go in and see,”

“I’m not stopping you.”

“Can you come with me?” They had reached a point that they weren’t bothered by splitting up while out. For him to ask her to watch him wasn’t usual anymore; she had already been poised to cross the hallway into a Wallace computer store.

“Why?”

“Because most of the patrons inside are teenage girls.”

“Afraid one of them will try flirting with you?” it wasn’t likely; thus far the only women she ever noticed giving him more than a passing glance were usually older than her.

“No? I’d only feel out of place.”

“Alright,” she smiled, not wanting him to think that the request bothered her, and followed him in; she was immediately assaulted by a few hundred horrifically clashing scents of fruits and flowers. “What was so interesting about—“

“If I could get a closer sense of one of them, I could tell their chemical make-up,” he returned her smile, “I’m curious.”

“Epson salt, soap, and acid of some kind—I think.” She watched him pick up a few different ones, smell them and set them down. “Do you want one?” she asked picking up a small robot-shaped block.

“You aren’t funny, luv.”

“It’s called ‘ickle-baby-bot’, it’s adorable.”

“It’s insulting.”

“Ickle baby,” she laughed, pressing a slight, quick kiss on his cheek. “Still wish you could blush,”

“Ah, the only attribute of mine I am thankful for: that I can’t.” Though he was hardly recognized this far from the marine base and Weyalnd-Yutani’s Luna offices, he was more concerned that someone would notice that Amanda was kissing a synthetic. He was far from being embarrassed by her affections, though still a little flustered at the idea of getting drawing attention.

“I’ll buy one if you want,”

“Not really, I was curious, that was all.” A large purple one stood out, emitting a heady amount of lavender perfume; he picked it up, and handed it to her. “What do you think of this one?”

“I like it,” she smiled. “Let’s get a couple of them, we could use one tonight.”

“Should I leave?”

“Why?” she asked.

He lowered his voice to answer: “We’re an obvious couple looking at them together, and if we purchase them together…”

“We’re wearing wedding rings. Those girls by the front window are holding hands, they’re not separating to sneakily buy anything.”

“Alright, alright. Then at least let me buy them,”

“Whatever you want.”

An absurd amount of money later, they boarded the shuttle back to the old side of Luna. They lived closer to Tranquility Base, closer to the offices and austere military buildings, and the older laboratories—which meant that at least once a week he was recognized as a synthetic.

To those who recognized his make, the ring told them nothing: they never noticed and he might as well be invisible. Still, for Amanda’s sake (though she didn’t know about it) if going out on his own he put his ring in his pocket, or didn’t wear it out at all. True, he had a suspicion that the building manager and front desk attendants all knew what he was and that he and Ripley were together, but he didn’t want it becoming common knowledge for the sake of her reputation and dignity.

At least holding out a hand, and gently taking her forearm to help her off the shuttle could have also been read as an action of servitude rather than genuine care. Unlike her insistence on kissing him, even chastely while they’re in the city center, these were quiet and unnoticeable gestures that felt strangely freeing.

Touching her in general felt freeing.

Once to the front door of their building, Amanda held it open for him: her sense of courtesy rather than chivalry. If someone was behind you, you hold the door, even if that someone was actively insisting that he had it along with all the day’s shopping bags and her jacket over his arm. She showed her card at the front desk and used it to activate the lift. The design of the place was dated, half three-star-hotel like any nicer-than-garbage building she had ever seen, and half gimmicky-retro-space-station. She repaired a historical roller coaster in Florida once with a similar design after Weyland-Yutani bought the theme park. Walking the whole way around to the other side of the building after arriving on their floor was just the tip of the “bad layout” architecture, but that did mean that their corner apartment was in the price range of Weyland-Yutani’s payout. Didn’t matter, it was endlessly better than the dormitory-style place she had lived before.

Christopher set the bags down on the kitchen counter bar, and Amanda flopped onto the sofa across the flat.

“I’m too tired for all that we did,”

“You lasted through five stores though,” about where her limit was now. They’d taken a trip like this the first day in the flat—mere weeks (excluding cryo) since the disaster of Sevastapol—and she could hardly take the crowds, having to sit in corners, tug her partner aside, and eventually apologizing that she had to stop and go home. A lovely day shopping for ‘new home’ items and groceries had driven her to a breakdown. Now she was only crashed on the couch, only as worn out as anyone might be if they’d been up late the previous night.

Which she had been.

…Quite late.

“Do you still want to try one of the bath bombs tonight?” she asked.

“If you’re exhausted then no,” he was unpacking the day’s prizes: an odd looking blender that he thought he could use to make her fruit smoothies breakfast—pestering her to actually eat fruit might be easier if she didn’t have to sit down, seeing as she preferred to roll out of bed less than half an hour before she had to be at work. Really anything other than those toaster pastries and cold coffees. There were also other things, more foreign to him, more strange and surreal: a cake knife and server engraved in elegant script an intertwining AC. He had picked them out, chosen the script, gave the initials, and paid for them. Amanda didn’t care about material things, she didn’t even need the ring he bought her but they were all things that she would have if she had a real engagement, a real marriage. It’s been hardly eight months; if you were human you wouldn’t have bloody proposed to her yet, you overthinking, overdramatic, overexcited idiot.

“Earth to Christopher, where the fuck did you go? I asked you something.”

“Hmm? Sorry, I was thinking…” he played over the last moments of audio in his head, heard her question: “I’m fine as long as it’s just the bath, sounds relaxing. What about you?”

“Just relaxing sounds nice; you can run it as you see fit,” he walked over and handed her the bag of the bathbombs.

“If you’re good then I’ll get on that now, before I pass out.” she stood up and stretched, and then walked down the hall. A wayward glance at the bags on the counter and he followed her; he could put them away later.

Amanda gave another yawn, and stretched out as she pulled her shirt off. Despite seeing this often he wasn’t used to it yet, the look of her skin, the curves, lines, scars and freckles. Red, mean looking indents where her bra-straps had dug into the skin. She stepped out of her jeans too as the water in the bath rose.

“You can drop the thing in if you want,” Amanda said, slipping in the water contently. The soft vanity lights gave enough of a glow to see, but without the harsh light of the ceiling lamp, he’d have to keep an eye on her to be sure she didn’t fall asleep in the water. He undressed slowly, bordering on shyly, and followed her, reaching for the paperbag of the purple-hued balls and dropping one in the water between them. Amanda had rarely used any before—too expensive, too temporary—and watched with interest, though less interest than he took. Christopher was strangely fascinated by it. However, unlike Amanda the first time that she used one, he didn’t prod at it until it fell apart. The quiet fizzing and the scent of lavender lulled her even more and she stretched out her legs beside her lover’s, leaned back against the edge of the tub and shut her eyes.

Christopher smiled at the sight of her, up nearly to her neck in the water. They had taken to showering together somewhat often, and baths a little less. Some days still Amanda would need the company if not the contact and they’d sit like this until the water grew cold, her with her eyes shut and he usually reading on his waterproof-cased datapad. It wasn’t inherently sexual, but seemed all the more intimate for it.

The thin layer of foam dissipated quickly on the water’s surface was less exciting than he had hoped it would be, but the water was dyed a gentle purple.

“Amy?”

“Mm?”

“This won’t stain the bath will it?”

“Oh no, the color rinses away,” she sat up, the water now barely to her chest, and shivered at the contact of air on wet skin. “Fuck, I’m gonna pass out; sorry...I have to go to bed.” She climbed out of the bath but spoke up when he made motion to follow, “No, don’t. Relax and enjoy it,” she dried off and let her hair down.

“Are you sure?”

“Mmhmm,” Amanda knelt by the bath and leaned over to kiss him.

Of course she probably didn’t mean for it to be serious, she’s tired, she’s going to bed to sleep, she was just trying to kiss him good night. Still Christopher’s voice of reason was shut down by a flare of mischief and he reached up behind her with a hand on the back of her neck, soaking her hair and tilting her enough that she deepened the kiss with a deep sigh.

Ripley enjoyed the bit of an ornery streak he was having, between this and initiating the previous night’s activities, and didn’t pull back until he moaned softly, and let go of her hair. She drew back slowly, catching a second, nearly imperceptibly quiet hum of pleasure from him.

“Good night,” she whispered, her eyes still half shut.

“Good night, darling.”

The light was dim, but his arm was still resting on the side of the tub, not under water as before, and she could note something not right about—

“Um…?”

“Everything alright?”

Amanda turned the ceiling lamp on as well, and Christopher was in full, bright color. Bright purple, to be more specific.

“oh hell, Amy what am I supposed to—“ he try to rub a patch of the purple off his arm under the water, reached around for soap and tried that, and still, his skin was the same pale violet that the water was.

“Try to shower it off under hotter water?” Amanda didn’t seem as bothered as she did amused, and the more frantic he became, the funnier she found it.

“Are you laughing? God, this is—this is—I have to be at the office tomorrow.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“It won’t come off.”

“Are you sure?”

“Amanda I’m periwinkle!”

She didn’t know which was funnier, the look of terror on his face or—

“PERIWINKLE? Why not say blue or purple or—“

“Oh does it matter?” he shook his head, trying to think of a solution, something as an excuse to not report to the office the next day. “Alright, I have to dry off, can you leave?”

“What, why?” she managed between bouts of laughter.

“Because, dear, I think it’s safe to assume that all of me is ‘blue or purple,’” he quoted her with a meticulous copy of her accent, “And I’m afraid that you won’t ever stop laughing then.”

“Ffff….S-Sorry, it’s just so—“

“I know, it’s my fault, I’m the one that wanted to see the damn thing—“

“You’ve sworn twice, you are upset.”

“You think so?” he turned his respirator fans on high, and then gradually slowed them until he was back to a workable internal temperature. “Please leave?”

“Alright,” she left her towel on the floor, nudging the door half-shut behind her as she retreated to the darkness of their room. Only after he heard her open a dresser drawer for a night shirt that he got out of the water.

A quick glance and the damage was surveyed: from the middle of his chest down, and on his arms from just under the elbows, he was stained purple. His lover wasn’t, their bath wasn’t.

“Wonderful…”

“I’m sorry I was laughing,” said the Ripley-shaped bundle of blankets on the right side of the bed.

“Apology accepted, please help me figure out what will take this off in the morning...”

“Can I see?”

“I’m not turning the lights on,”

She rolled over and reached out to him in the dark, purred softly when her hand made contact with bare skin; her hand drifting gently down until meeting the waistband of his pants. She withdrew in favor of leaving her hand over his core; about where a human’s heart would be. “How d’you think it happened? Your skin isn’t porous.”

“I am thoroughly convinced that the reason this happened is because you are the only stroke of luck I have had in eight years,” his hand covered hers, and he continued softly “And you are so amazing that to even it out, the rest of my life is going to continue to be a series of absurd misfortunes.”

“That’s very sweet. Still don’t think I can take you seriously until you don’t look like background ghoul in Beetlejuice.”

“When have you ever taken me seriously?”

“I did before.” The slight emphasis on the last word made it clear what she meant: their entire mission of Sevastapol. Unless it was the subject at hand, Ripley never mentioned the place, or anyone involved by name.

“I need an excuse not to go to the office tomorrow.”

“Use me as an excuse; or say you need servicing, it’s not like you’ve ever cost them a sick day before. We’ll go to the hardware store, find a solvent that might lift that stain out.”

“Could you go alone? I’d have to wear gloves to hide this and I would rather not attract the attention.”

“Understood,”

“God I hope something works,” he said in as close to a mumble as his audio system would allow. “I’ll bleach it if I have to.”

“Wouldn’t that take out the flesh tone too? You’d look like a ghoooooost,” she was quiet, tired but still sounded mirthful. “Better than the purple people eater.”

“The what?”

“It’s an old, old stupid Halloween song about a purple monster.”

“Please go to sleep before you come up with any more flattering remarks.”

“Then please stop sounding like you’re fucking dying.” Amanda tugged their duvet up to her shoulders, and shut her eyes.

“Dear.”

“Hm?”

“Was that a pun on dyeing as in to give color to something?”

“No, but let’s say that it was, make me sound more clever,” she shifted slightly, her arm over his torso hugged him tight for a moment and then relaxed. “‘Night…”

Earlier that year, he would wait until she was asleep to leave the room and sit awake in the center of the apartment, ever on guard, paranoia tearing him away from her side. Now he waits until she fell asleep before starting partial shut-down, a sleep of a kind. The last fully conscious act was a soft kiss on her temple, before the quiet exhale of his respiratory fans turning off.

#mine #once I clean it up i'll put it on ao3 probably #outreotter #ripuels

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sovinly · 6 years

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Thoughts on icelandic sagas, norse myths, or a mythology tradition of your choice?

Oh man, here we go, thank you friend. This got super out of hand, so I only did the first two and I am so sorry this got so long.

So, Icelandic Sagas: a+ reading material and super fascinating historically! There are a bunch of categories that I won’t go into, but here’s the thing: the Icelandic sagas are simultaneously super interesting in that they’re vernacular literature (that is, Not Written in Latin, the language of the Learned Men of the Continent, which is unique and slightly more accessible to the people (though they still had to be dudes who could read, so that is very slightly but still Notable)) and yet many of them are also trying to appease the standards of continental thinking (Hello, Snorri’s desperate attempts to make native myths palatable to more Classical tastes and apparently the gods are just from Troy now). There’re lots of elements of oral poetry, especially in the earlier stuff, and it is academically VERY EXCITING. Especially because of what’s been preserved.

Also interesting is the amount of meta-commentary in some of the sagas, and not just in an adding-historical-details sense: there’s a vested interest in explaining the value, purpose, and relevance of the sagas and especially the sagas in the vernacular. BUT ALSO I am just really into the sheer breadth of material there is - fictionalized account of the settling of Iceland, recountings of myths, ALL THE CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL DRAMA, LEGAL DRAMAS, historical accounts, retellings of French and English romances! There’s a lot and it’s really neat. I have a master’s degree in the subject and could yell for hours, but will sum it up with: VERY FASCINATING FIELD, STORIES WORTH READING.

“But Sovin!” you say, “Where the fuck do I even start?”

Good question, friend, let me offer you some recs under the cut because everything is out of hand!

Völsunga saga: The saga of the Völsungs! One of my all-time favorites. The same story cycle as the Nibelungenleid, but infinitely preferable. It’s a fun mythic romp rife with heroism, disaster, impossible choices, and drama, including: The Worst Hero Test Ever, Poisons: Internal and External Applications, Dragon-Slaying and Cursed Items, Long Term Revenge Plots, Very Literal Interpretations of Blessings, and So Many Schemes Gone Horribly Wrong! Content warnings for incest, so many murdered kids, dead kid cannibalism, general murder, and some misogynistic BS. There’s an audiobook version for free, too!

Looking for something shorter? Try Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða, the tale of a real fuckin’ dick chieftain in the 10th century, featuring legal disputes + drama, revenge, indications of cultural changes, power struggles, a horse, and, of course, murder. Content warnings for murder and mutilation.

For a basic (but biased) intro to the Norse myths, give Snorri Sturluson’s Gylfaginning a try. It’s a rough introduction to the mythic cosmology in a knowledge contest frame story, with some bits of the Völuspá (the best-known of the Poetic Edda poems, a convoluted but fascinating read) for poetic flavor. Just don’t take Snorri too seriously, he has an agenda, after all. They’re myths, there’s some fucked up shit, but I think this evades anything too graphic.

There are many more sagas, of course, and I’ve left out some of the “key” (aka most popular) Icelandic sagas, mostly Brennu-Njáls saga (Burnt Njál’s saga), Egils saga Skallagrímssonar (Egil's Saga), and Grettis saga(Grettir's Saga), all of which deal with social issues in early Iceland, feuds, and dudes who just cannot fucking calm down and live within societal boundaries. They’re good, but very dense and not as reader friendly.

SO, MOVING ON, NORSE MYTHS:

Oh fucking man do I have many feelings on the subject. And the way they’re interpreted casually, yikes.

Which I kind of hate saying, because myths are supposed to be fun, and I am all for interpretations, but a lot of derived material just makes me sad.

A lot of what we have to base our understanding of Norse myth on is, well... Snorri. Snorri Sturluson, a 13th century Icelandic Commonwealth aristocrat. And there’s some really interesting stuff in the material we have, and not all of it from Snorri! But our understanding of pre-Christian Norse myth is very biased, late, and relatively spotty.

I love the myths, I really do, there’s some good fucking shit there! I wish I had a good compendium to recommend, because they’re a blast. It’s hard not to enjoy all the inventive, petty, witty myths: a lot of them involve trickery and riddles and People with Opinions. It’s really fun to sink your teeth into a story and wonder “oh shit! How is this gonna resolve?!” And, as with the rest of the Icelandic sagas above, some of the prose and literary devices will just blow you away, though translations can be a bit stilted. (Y’know what are great? Kennings. Kennings are great, and there’s an online database for them, which makes me happy.)

Uuuuuunfortunately, the myths’re very poorly understood and often miscontextualized. It’s like talking to a bunch of people who think Disney’s Hercules is a complete and accurate understanding of Greek myth. Yeah.

Like, I want people to have fun, fun is good! Marvel’s interpretation can stay the hell away from me, but it’s kind of its own thing, so I can just plug my ears and pretend it doesn’t exist. But, oof, there’s so little nuance to so many interpretations.

Myths are kind of... inherently political. The Vanir hostages (Njörðr, Freyr, and Freyja) may be earlier deities incorporated into the Æsir tradition as it developed, but they’re clearly marked as outsiders for a reason! They act like outsiders! (With the possible exception of Freyr, who’s the only one of the three to not survive Ragnarök, which, like, OH MAN AM I INTERESTED IN THIS, Y’ALL.) The jötnar (not giants in the way we’d think of them, actually) are also liminal outsider figures, which is why Loki and Skaði get such weird roles too. Myths are about liminality and about society: people get to be marked and unmarked for a reason.

If we recontextualize things, I think we need to do it intentionally. There’s a difference between recognizing and exploring why Loki and Freyja (and Freyr really should be here but I guess no one loves him?) resonate so much with queer people ((suck my dick, Respected Norse Folklore Scholar *double middle fingers*)) and projecting our social mores and restrictions onto myths without considering the implications. It’s so easy to be reductionist (Loki is a Disaster Gay/Trans Woobie and Freyja is a Delicate Helpless Flower Who Can’t Do Shit for Herself/Hot to Trot Warrior Badass who Eschews Girly Shit(?????)) and gloss over that.

Which is fine, I guess, people are having fun and it’s not like it’s hurting the pre-Christian Norse community. But then you’re pretty much playing with original characters and it’s okay to acknowledge that, instead of pretending it’s the Hottest New Take on the material. I’m not always a fan of the same displacements on Greek deities, but it feels a little different to me, given their cultural/mythic dominance and the way they’ve been used in Western society to manipulate and reinforce social norms to a greater degree? Also people generally seem to understand that there’s a... separation there from the core material that I often see missing from discussions of Norse myth.

I definitely am not going to rain on anyone’s parade, but it’s hard not to sit there looking directly into the camera when I see some of this shit.

Anyway, Norse myths are great and I think are full of fascinating suggestions as to a variety of social norms and structures, as well as the liminal and outlying cultural spaces that we can explore!

On a last note: Freyja and Oðinn are both psychopomps for the warrior dead. Oðinn’s hall is Vallhalla (Valhöll) and Freyja’s is Fólkvangr. Freyja gets first pick, motherfuckers, and I love her.

#sovin the socially awkward #answer memes #i have a norse myth problem #long post #oh god such a long post #sorry you apparently got me on a Day #but thank you so much for this!#I had a blast talking about it!#radioactivepigeons

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aigoootome · 6 years

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Progress with Haukuoki

So far I've read Ryouma, Hijikata, Souma, Iba, Yamazaki, Shinpachi, Saito and Okita. I can easily say that Ryouma, Yamazaki, Shinpachi, Saito and Hijikata are my preferred characters and endings. Hakuoki’s storytelling style might not be my most favourite (i prefer Scarlet Fate) but it delivers several good themes: honour and lack of it and what it means to be a warrior, human nature, what it means to be different monster theme), the pointlessness of human conflict and futility of empty pride, overambition and greed, transience of life and most endings deliver the message that it’s best to make the most out of the present because you never know what’s happening tomorrow and also that it might be important to know when to stop something because it might be fruitless - all this is achieved thanks to combining supernatural with some historical background. I do not know enough about Japanese history, nor do I understand their culture very well which I think hinders my true enjoyment. But. Demons and humans, considerations on Shinsengumi and the Meiji Restoration..there is a lot of good material in this game. For an otome, it is equipped with a wide range of characters and routes with mutual help - Mc helps the guy with a problem and is often given something back, not just protection. Sakamoto, Hijikata, for one thing, give her confidence to move past some of the things she dwells on - I like that. I think there’s something for everyone in this game. I also really like that each route is a different angle on one or both of the arcs - Shinsegumi story and demon/fury story which includes characters turning into furies and becoming dead to history - this is why I prefer whole games like this, route-based otomes, especially mobile ones, sorely lack this sort of experience. i am left with Heisuke, Harada, Sanan and Kazama to read. Below the cut - some SPOILERS, including some ending CGs that I liked, as I round up my favourites this far. Bottom line is - Hakuoki features a good range of otome types and I think the range is wide enough to accommodate a wide variety of preferences. All images are (c) IDEA FACTORY / OTOMATE.

Sakamoto Ryouma

Is by far my favourite, as I said before the feel of the character and his plot are well done, very adequate. Like in the drama “Ryoma den”, Ryoma is flamboyant, seemingly carefree but a visionary and fighter. He is open-hearted and flirtatious, pursues the Mc openly but not unkindly. He’s clever. Moreover. the story has some consequence to the MC's demonic background and past and she recalls some things and Sakamoto, being the great man that he is, is able to help Chizuru the Mc deal with some of her feelings as well and he helps her deal peacefully with Kaoru. Some favourite CGs are in the previous post on Ryoma, so I’ll just add this one. His ending is also well done. I’m so very pleased with this new route. Oh, and Daisuke Ono was the PERFECT choice for the voice actor.

Shinpachi Nagakura

He’s a lovely big brother type of character, clumsy but honest and with great will power. This willpower grants him a will to live and will to decline using fury powers - I like that. he relies on his own strength. Even though his story has little consequence to the MC’s story, I love seeing Shimpachi prove himself to be strong enough to take on Amagiri I like seeing Mc and him travel and one of my favourite parts is when Shinpachi loses his will briefly but MC Chizuru restores it. His ending and ending CG are just one of the best the CG alone right kind of feelings: peace, tranquillity, looking forward to the future.

Saito Hajime

His route has some of the most poetic lines. A strait-laced type of guy, he lives for the Shinsengumi, carrying out all orders. A little aloof but never heartless, he doesn’t speak a lot, but once he does, he speaks meaningfully and beautifully. I really like his connection with MC, the lines uttered between them are really beautiful at times. The story is focused on Hajime finding his own purpose and gaining his own footing as a man in his own right, not someone who always blindly follows orders, but his own volition. It has little consequence for the MC’s story and Kazama is at his worst in this route imho but I still think he’s actually a noble demon so i’m leaving his route for last. Saito’s route has a couple new insights to stories surrounding the Shinsengumi arc, including Saito’s own past. My favourite MC-Saito moments include snow bunny, cherry blossom before his departure, then cherry blossom returns again in Edo blossoms and the happy ending. Saito has deep sensitivity. It’s a beautiful, poetic route on many occasions.

Yamazaki susumu A very loyal character and I loved his transition to a doctor. He is a man working from the shadows but gradually comes into the light as well.

Souji Okita

His route is the most vulgar, but I suppose I understand where he’s coming from, what with his illness and a sense of helplessness and uselessness. His route has a lot of consequence for the MC’s demon background arc, though frankly, Kaoru annoys me greatly on this route - he’s a cartoonish, flat villain that could have had a lot more depth - some of that, fortunately, comes out in Sakamoto’s route, otherwise I'd be extremely annoyed. also, so far this is the ony route where MC goes through the fury thing and Kazama loses interest in her - well-explained why Kazama drops his pursuit here. Okita’s route is about feeling useless due to waning health and finding a purpose despite it all. There are lots of flashbacks to the past with Kondou’s, explaining Okita’s gratefulness towards Kondou - really loved those parts.

Okita’s at his most handsome in this last Cg. The serious look suits him.

Toshizo Hijikata

The heart of this game, even his demon name has been long decided. The strongest note lies in the fact when Mc first sees him his hair is like floating cherry blossoms....so cherry blossoms will always remind the Mc of Hijikata - Hakuoki. no matter how much time may pass. The man of steel, demon of Shinsengumi - for what it’s worth the demon part of his notorety is well explained in this route - and mentioned on some other routes too. The route has some really nice lines. He’s stubborn to open his heart, and he is relentles sin his support of Kondou’s ambitions and fighting. But once he opens his heart, he doesn’t let go of the person he lets in. The story focuses a lot on the Shinsengumi part, with little trips towards MC’s background, other than Kazama being the antagonist to Hijikata and one of the better ends for Kodo - he dies protecting his daghter, showing a hint of humanity. Hijikata’s ending doesn't come as any surprise. historically, he died in Hakodate, in the game he moves beyond that time when he was shot and is granted a little more time with the Mc, but considering he WOULD use his fury powers willingly and at any occasion, it is little wonder how little time he may have left. It is a poetic, poignant, melancholy but nonetheless sweet ending, one of those that strongly highlights there is no time like the present and it’s important to treasure every moment. But I loved the recognition he got from Kazama as a genuine demon, not a fake- it really was the highest compliment from Kazama. his ending is bittersweet - sweet but short-lived and it has a lovely Cg., I also like the CG of the ending to Tokyo winds. One of my favourote parts, other than recognition from Kazama is also when hijikata tells Mc never to bend down if she believes she is right and then when Mc returns to him in Edo blossoms after 3 months.

Kondo

for me this Cg speaks for itself, Plenty of characters develop Kondo’s backstory to make him close to me as a player of the game, and this Cg is the sum of the despair and all the feelings around Kondo.

the demons - Amagiri is my favourite, he as a strong sense of justice. Kazama... I really think he is noble, albeit selfish and does not condone Kodo’s actions but I need to read his route to determine my final oppinions, His behaviour on most routes ranges from atrocious (Saito’s route) to pretty restrained when he loses interest. will see what comes out in his route for me. Shiranui is crazy but I think, from my playhtrough of original Hakuoki (which was a long time ago) he is Harada’s antagonist, and I think they match. He helps Ryoma on his route. The demons really aren;t bad sort and I like them a lot. Sen is also a great supporter.

Souma Kazue - His route does offer a good story of perseverance and resolve to become stronger. He is also the last witness to how Shinsengumi story ends, the last stand of Shinsengumi and as such he is a very important addition to the cast of characters; his personal ending was very nicely done and I liked it. I do like this CG as a representation of what had ensued, why it is important and what follows. Lost in thought, Souma welcomes the new day with a heavy heart. He has chosen to assume responsibility as a warrior whose code of honour he upholds.

The only reason I am not super crazy about him is that his not my preferred character type. I tend not to like kouhai characters and he is a respectful lackbeard kouhai - he lacks presence and charisma and is a little babyish, which is totally not what I like. Dishevelled is a good look on him, though.

Iba Hachirou

A refined childhood friend who is is subjected to certain test of character. The route is of consequence to the MC’s story as a demon and MC’s past, there is a lot here, The plot is that Iba gets a demon’s hand because of a conflict with another Shinsgumi ex-captain fury - Takeda-, loses his hand and is granted a demon replaced by Sen - because she likes his resolve to protect Chizuru. The hand does weird things to him though, it makes him crave the MC because the demon feels attraction to the female demon - Chizuru. It was a little unsavoury for me, the sexual fantasies, I really do not like such things, even though the plot makes sense: to have Iba, an upstanding gentleman, struggle and test his genteel character and resolve.

Moreover, it makes sense that it’s Iba, not anyone else- because that way he gradually becomes a monster and even a demon, and Chizuru in their childhood was called a monster. It is thought out, but I wish there was more focus on the psychology of it,; I felt it was glossed over in favour of the unsavoury parts. Well, Iba wins and is recognized for his integrity by the demons but I just didn’t like the unsavoury parts. Also, Takeda is such a flat, cartoonish, unsavory villain, annoying. I have nothing against Iba himself, he is soft-spoken, refined, honourable and appealing all in all and has a steel resolve too but he can be a little too much at times, too - not my favourite type and I would have preferred they came up with different sort of development maybe a different sort of trial = because the demon's hand thing was a turnoff for me, a big one. But the idea in itself has merit - this test of Iba\s character and I liked that it mixed in more of the demonic context, Iba is a nice character that goes through a major trial of his nature and there were some new insights and angles on this route. Well, I don’t dislike this at all, it’s just the plot was unsavoury for me at times. But I do like his bond with MC, and I like his friendship with the Shinsengumi and how the curse of not being able to meddle in human affairs once he becomes demonic affects him, strengthening his resolve. But yeah, I have a lot of reservations for the plot developments on this route, much as I find Iba quite an appealing addition.

These last two - Iba and Souma are definitely my least favourite routes so far but they do have merits and while I am not crazy about them, I do appreciate them and enjoyed reading them.

#hakuoki kyoto winds #hakuoki edo blossoms #hakuoki #idea factory #otomate #nagakura shinpachi #yamazaki susumu #sakamoto ryoma #sakamoto ryouma #hijikata toshizo #hajime saito #harada sanosuke #isami kondou #kazue souma #iba hachirou #okita souji

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directlyjewelrysupplier · 3 years

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what-does-the-cross-bar-necklace-mean

A gold bar necklace, also known as a cross bar necklace– these necklaces are perfect because you can attach whatever meaning you want to them. The meaning behind my gold bar necklace is simple – I can carry my son close to my heart, whenever and wherever I want.There are not too many popular fashion or jewelry items that are all unique, while still having the same in vogue look. These necklaces achieve that perfectly.I’ve been wanting one of these necklaces for quite some time. Not only is this necklace absolutely beautiful, but it means so much to me since it has my baby’s name on it. No matter where I am, I always have him close to my heart.PERSONALIZE YOUR GOLD BAR NECKLACE TO MAKE IT SPECIAL TO YOU Put your kids’ name on it, or the name of a loved one. You can even have an inspiration word engraved on yours to help keep you motivated and to remind you of what’s important to you. That’s the beauty of these necklaces- everyone’s has a special meaning to them. The meaning behind a gold bar necklace is in the eye of the person wearing it.What Does Cross Necklace Mean?(Does it Protect You?) Cross jewelry is a little controversial, and though it would easily be one of the trendiest jewelry designs, not everyone is for the idea of wearing cross jewelry.Of course, everyone is entitled to their beliefs, and you may support cross jewelry or not, but not before you actually understand what cross jewelry means.So, in this article, let’s look at cross necklaces and what they mean.Cross necklace meaning For Christians, the cross symbolizes Jesus Christ’s Suffering and his Resurrect. Historically, however, people would wear the cross because it was believed that the cross offered protection against evil spirits – this belief stands to date, and the cross is still worn to symbolize security and one’s faith. That said, it’s important to note that the appearance of the cross differs depending on the wearer’s denomination. There should be qualms, however, regarding mix and match options for the cross or even the design preferences.📷 What Does Cross Necklace MeanIt, therefore, means that there is more than one type of cross, and these crosses carry different meanings. These include:The Papal Cross – as the name suggests, this is the cross that is designed just for the Pope. This cross features 3 horizontal bars placed towards the top of the vertical bar, with the bottom horizontal bar being the longest while the top bar is the shortest. Pectoral Cross – This cross is designed uniquely for the Bishops. It measures about 6 inches wide, and it’s meant to sit right in the middle of the chest and not near or on the collarbone. Roman Catholic or Latin Cross – This is the other religious cross. It is a simple cross, but its vertical bar tends to be longer than the horizontal bar. This cross design is rather common, and you may have seen this ring design in the world of jewelry. What Does Cross Necklace MeanCeltic Cross – The Celtic cross has horizontal and vertical bars, but in addition to these bars, there’s also a ring at the intersection of the bars. Interestingly, the origins of the Celtic cross remain unclear, with one of the older accounts noting that this cross was associated with specific regions that were evangelized by the Irish Missionaries between the 9th and the 12th Centuries. It is also believed to date back to the 19th Century Celtic Revival. Russian Orthodox Cross – This cross features 2 extra horizontal beams, with the shortest of these bars (the first) said to represent the sign of the cross; the middle represents where the hands of Jesus were nailed on the cross, while the lower bar at the bottom of the vertical bar is said to symbolize the footrest. Crucifix – this is the kind of cross that depicts Jesus’ image on the cross, and it’s a standard depiction across most of the Christian denominations. Other crosses include the Greek Cross, the Armenian Cross, Canterbury Cross(associated with the Anglican church), Gnostic Crosses, the Jerusalem Cross, Inverted Cross (St. Peter’s Cross), Cross of Constantine, Scientology

Cross, Forked Cross, Tau Cross, and finally, the Greek Orthodox cross. It’s interesting to note that regardless of the type of cross necklace an individual chooses to wear, the cross necklaces symbolize the wearer’s faith. It is a physical representation of their beliefs; it enhances their awareness, and in most cases, offers a great sense of comfort to the wearer. That said, the cross necklaces are not a new thing or rather, they are not just associated with the Christian religions since the cross symbols on jewelry is a tradition that dates as far back as the oldest civilizations like the Ancient Egyptians – they also wore them as part of their belief system or as worship and celebration of a god. It wasn’t until the Romans popularize the cross as the Christian symbol when they were converted into an entirely Christian empire, something that ended the persecution of Christians and the religion. Today, Christians wear cross necklaces as a celebration and declaration of their faith. And in most cases, the cross necklace is gifted during religious celebrations like first communions, baptisms, Easter, and Christmas. They also represent re-dedication to the faith for individuals who are already seasoned in their faith or perhaps persons going through a hard time trying to keep their faith. 📷 What does a sideways cross mean? This cross design dates back to the Ancient Egyptians thanks to their looped cross called the Ankh. For them, the cross represented fertility and life. There has been widespread use of this cross that looks like a lowercase letter “t,” and this cross shape is said to be an emblem that symbolizes the wooden post that Christ was crucified on, hence an important symbol of sacrifice, love, and faith. The meaning of this cross has been reimagined in the modern world, though. Some people consider it a trendy fashionable cross design, but this ‘fresh’ update is not just a style representation; it’s also a symbol of honor and patriotism in countries like Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, and other Nordic counties where the cross is seen in tombs, to signify the souls’ resurrection or as was rumored in 1219, a sign that the gods were in favor of the Danish forces – so, wearing the sideways cross represents honor and patriotism.📷 Is it OK to wear a cross necklace? Yes, depending on your intentions and faith, the cross necklace could have one of two meanings – a religious symbol or a non-religious symbol.For religious individuals, the cross necklace is a wearable reminder of their faith, the Lord’s loving sacrifice, and an important way for these individuals to connect to their faith. It’s also regarded as a physical proclamation of faith and, in other cases, a grounding reminder serving as encouragement when faced with challenges. The cross necklace would also inspire wearers to live by faith and grace.For non-religious individuals, the cross necklace is an accessory that people connect to in different ways. And thanks to the diverse cross necklace styles, individuals are attracted to different designs of necklaces. Generally, the cross inspires dedication and strength in people’s daily lives – even for the people who don’t practice or observe the Christian faith, the cross is very inspiring and empowering to them.Others wear the cross as an important symbol that reminds them to have faith and hope, where this symbol serves as an important motivator encouraging them to be their best selves. The cross is also deemed as a declaration of a life guided by love and caring for other people.So, whatever the reason behind your preference for the cross necklace, this piece is personal, especially for people who wear it with appreciation and understanding. This is not, however, to say that the same meaning is what makes everyone wear the cross necklace.It is worth noting that wearing the cross necklace does not, in any way, mean that you are mocking Jesus.What Does Cross Necklace MeanDoes a cross necklace protect you?Well, no symbol can protect you. However, most people wear crosses and ankhs because they

believe that the cross offers them some great sense of protection against all evil, jealousy, harm, spells & curse, bad luck, hoodoo, and all forms of danger.Tips for wearing a cross necklace if you are not religious Generally, the cross is considered an accessory that allows the wearer a great sense of self-expression, hence the high demand for the necklace even among non-religious individuals.Personalize the cross. You could have a birthstone or any other preferred gemstone added to your cross necklace. If you wear the sideways cross, it’s recommended that you wear it with a casual outfit for a more stylish feel. But you could still dress it up, for example, with diamonds. You could wear it around the center of the chest or necklace or even to the side for that stylish asymmetrical look. Choose a cross necklace whose design and materials best express who you are. You could wear it as a pendant necklace, perhaps one with an additional charm. Get a gemstone encrusted cross necklace. Only wear the cross necklace if you are comfortable wearing it; make sure that it looks and feels good on your body. Opt for thicker chains for a more stylish look. Go for a layered look, say, one with a cross pendant and the other chain with a different kind of pendant.BAR NECKLACE MEANING, POPULAR STYLES & HOW TO WEAR IT RIGHT You’ve probably noticed the many elegant and classy women sporting bar necklaces to a variety of occasions – from a casual coffee to red carpet affairs. How could one piece of jewelry be so versatile? The truth is, a bar necklace holds a special meaning for each person that wears one.It can commemorate a special date, anniversary, occasion, or it can simply be an elegant piece of jewelry to layer with other pieces. Below, we cover everything you need to know about a bar necklace meaning, the different styles, ways to customize your bar necklace, and moreThe Meaning of the Sideways Cross Necklace A trend in religious jewelry that is appearing almost everywhere and amongst many celebrities, the sideway cross is a very popular contemporary trend of our time. Some may ask, what does a sideways cross mean? Truth be told, there is no textbook definition, yet many have different interpretations of the meaning behind this growing rapid jewelry trend. At My Name Necklace discover a vast collection of sideways cross jewelry including necklaces that will allow you to carry a powerful symbol and make a statement.Side Cross BraceletNORDIC MEANING In Nordic countries, the sideways cross is referred to as the Nordic Cross, popularly found on the flags of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, originating in Denmark. Legend says that the flag was given to Denmark in 1219. During the battle of Lyndanisse, it was rumored that the flag fell from the sky. Many believe that the flag was a sign from God in favor of the Danish forces, who later won the battle. Wear this symbol of honor, patriotism and of course Christianity, with the Sideways Cross Bracelet; just the right piece to match with your everyday wardrobe and makes for a timeless accessory.Side Cross Necklace in Sterling SilverRELIGIOUS MEANING Many individuals look at the sideways cross as a symbol of Jesus achieving salvation of his people. When his work is finished, the cross had been laid down, and he no longer had to carry the weight of the cross. Some individuals believe that it symbolizes one’s choice to accept God and His teachings, while others believe it is a symbol of earth lying between Heaven and Hell, representing the struggle of humanity to live according to the word of God. Carry a spiritual yet chic piece with the Side Cross Necklace in Sterling Silver, a contemporary twist to the classic cross necklace.18k Gold Plated Silver Engraved Side Cross NecklaceA FASHION TREND To some, the sideways cross is simply a fashion trend. The upright cross has been a trend used in fashion for many, many years, while the sideways cross is a rather new trend over the past few years that is now taking over the jewelry world by storm. Spotted amongst many celebrities, the sideways cross is a

sacred, stylish piece to wear. The 18K Gold Plated Silver Engraved Side Cross Necklace makes for a bold statement and can be customized with a name or words of significant importance, for a meaningful statement.

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