#Brutus can have little a lore

[flamingpudding]

I'm back with a part 4 if you want to do it it's kind of more of a crack write I just need Klarion trying to explain the family tree

But not explaining how he was made at all So Young Justice and the Justice League are now convinced that a the Ghost King was a teenage parent who is now 27 years old and just passed college with a degree in astronomy and machinery

Klarion's other parent is a a crazy fruit loop 64 year old millionaire who went to college with Klarion's Mom parents who had an emotionally unhealthy obsession with his mom's mother and then it passed on to his mom.

And he has an older sister who is technicality a clone of his mom but also has the bastards DNA so fundamentally making Ellie Vlad Master and Mom's first born kid but there's six other siblings that Klarion had that died back a while back but Mom got granddad who's apparently the time lord AKA Cronos which is a whole another long story to go back in time and save those kids get them fixed up and now Klarion technicality has seven older siblings which all do their own things

And then he starts mentioning his uncle who is a 9 ft yeti his technicality auntie who is a medieval ghost princess who can turn into a dragon his auntie Pandora and his his grandfather cronos

My names for the six other clone children are Donald (he/him), Cecelia (they/she), Bartholomew(Them/They), Kyle AKA Bite(He/It), Brutus(He/They), and then there's Danna (She/Her) who actually really like the name Dan and asked Klarion if could have it when Klarion changed his name

Sorry if this is a little bit too much I've just really been thinking about au for this after the last part you made I hope this helps you with your writing or at least makes you laugh but I really love the idea of Danny's AKA somewhat clone children and finding their own personalities and and fighting themselves out of just being failed clone of their mom also I love the idea of Danny going back in time to save the rest of the clone kids cuz now he's a mature adult who wants to save their lives and wants them to grow into their own people.

(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

I probably did way to much research into all the fandoms I am in to see what I could tie into this... And yet this feels shorter than it should but I also currently lack the time to add more. But for now I hope this will be satisfactorily.

Also this family tree idea especially the part of saving the melted clones. LOVE IT!

So even though it took me a while! here is Part 4 you inspired! Thanks so much for the ask!

------------------

"Dude, you are making us only curious!" Impulse spoke up as he sat down next to Klarion who had his head in his hands. "Like you and your mom can't just drop your family lore like that!"

The witch boy on the other hand looked up with narrowed eyes at the speedster. "What lore?"

"Let's see, the part that apparently a Vlad tried to kill your Grandpa to make friends several time. That your mom is 'ghost' adopted by the lord of time Cronos and Pandora, which makes us family too by the way, and that you have a sister that apparently is even crazier than what we got to know of your family so far." Wonder Girl counted off her fingers next to him grinning as she mentioned the part of probably being a part of his 'crazy' family too. Which hell yea, that sounded like a lot of fun to be explored she would have to talk with Wonder Woman about that as soon as possible.

"Also..." Red Robin added as he flipped through the photo album that apparently no one remembered he had. He was turning it around and pointed at a particular photo with a wild bunch of people in it that varied between more human and well... less humanoid people. One of them definitely was a Yeti and there was also what looked like living armor as well as Teekly (they knew that demon cat at least), a giant green dog and for some reasons there was a green aggressive looking Octopus in the background too. "...how are you related to a Yeti?"

"Hey that man there and those other teens in the picture actually have some resembles with you! Do you have older brothers too?" Superboy additionally asked as he moved around Red Robin to see the photo better pointing at a man that appeared to be in this late twenties, blue eyed, black haired and a little on the buffer side. If he didn't know any better and the fact that he should keep his mouth shut about their actual identities he would have jokingly asked Red Robin if his family would like to add more kids considering Klarions family apparently had a bunch of black haired blue eyed members too, judging by the photo at least.

"What are you talking about. That man is my mom and yes the others are actually my older brothers and that Yeti is uncle Frostbite who also happens to be the best medic in the Infinite Realms" The four teen heroes looked stunned at the picture and then back at the Ghost King that was smiling at them, still seated by the dinner table with their mentors. Who by the way were now perking up at the change of topic and the information they could gain with it, well Wonder Woman was more interested in the apparently extended family she had.

"Oh I remember we took this photo last year, it was such a hassle to get everyone into one place with them all being busy doing their own things." Danny mused for a moment, remembering fondly how he had to literally drag some of the kids home through a portal.

"It was more annoying than anything too since I was declared to be the youngest...." Klarion muttered also remembering that day not as fondly as his mother.

"Wait, wait, wait! That is a picture of your family? I need an explanation buddy!" Impulse cut in without shame, quickly removing the picture from the photo album to get a better look at it before holding it out to Klarion so he could explain all the individuals. "Plus why does your mom look soooo.... human?"

The witch boy on the other hand stared at him for a couple of seconds before looking over towards his mother as if waiting for something. After a moment the teen heroes as well as their mentors saw Danny nod with a little smile. "This dimension doesn't have the GIW so its fine, the Justice League Dark won't be a problem either, right?." Constantine flinched at the smile the Ghost King was giving him, muttering something under his breath as he had hoped his presence had been forgotten.

"Since mom is giving his okay...." Klarion mutter sitting crosslegged on the ground as he snatched the photo album from Red Robin and flipped through it. "Lets start with the easiest stuff to explain."

Danny chuckled noticing that not only the teen heroes but their mentors as well showed an interest. He choose to stay quiet letting the adults listen in on the kids, and if things went bad he would just ask Clockwork if they could revert time back to this moment and he would change his nod of permission to a shake of denial.

"Okay first of, this is my mom and his sister Jasmine, this is Danielle my older sister and that hulk with flaming white hair and blueish skin is me. That was before I got deaged because of destabilising." Klarion explained flipping to a photo of him, Danny, Jazz and Danielle. "Mom was around fifteen, Aunt Jazz about seventeen and Ellie should have been about a year old but she was aged up to twelve. They look human in this one because well they are. Mom was originally human and became what you call in this dimension a Meta through an accident."

"Wait... that would mean your mom... How could he have two kids at that age of fourteen? You look like an adult and your sister was aged up?" Wonder Girl couldn't help but ask as she looked from the photo and back to Danny at the dinner table again.

"That's cause Vlad was a fu-"

"Language Klarion!"

"Vlad was a fruitloop. That photo was taken shortly after Vlad and I sort of redeemed our selfs. Plus, mom didn't really have my sister and me willingly.... we were kind of forced upon him in a way." Klarion explained shrugging. "Old Man Vlad had an obsession with his mom that then turned on mom, which resulted in my oldest sister Danielle first. Actually, a lot of my elder siblings resulted from that, but they didn't survive it the first time, Mom got Old Man Clocks help to save them once he got used to being the Ghost King. I got added to the mix shortly after my sister, but... i wasn't in the best state of mind at first, kind of went through a redemption phase in which mom had to fix the timeline of our original home dimension, too."

Danny chuckled again at the disturbed looks the teens were giving his son as well as the looks their mentors sent him. He probably should correct Klarion's wording... but being one of the gremlins of his family he just smiled on, not commenting. He really understands now why Pops Clockwork liked watching the chaos he used to cause as teen, and still sometimes causes as adult.

"Klarion... how old is this Old Man Vlad?" Red Robin asked grimacing as his eyes under the mask flicked up to the Ghost King and then back to the witch boy both seemingly unbothered by the disturbing information they were sharing.

"In human years... probably around 67? You stop counting age at some point if your a halfa." Klarion shrugged, not noticing the grimaces of the teens around him. "Anyway, Ellie is sort of the first born. I came in after that, with my core being a mix of Mom and Vlad. Not DNA wise though since I came to be because of their ghost cores. That's why I look like that in this photo. Though human DNA wise I am probably now mostly Moms, we never bothered to ask the old man."

Danny muffled another chuckle, coughing as Superman sent him an incredulous look of shook while he felt Batmans burning gaze on him.

"You... mentioned more siblings?" Red Robin asked carefully sharing a look with his team, feeling like there was a whole lot of trauma in Klarions family he wasn't sure they should address or not. So asking after his siblings was probably, hopefully the safest option. They didn't know that while there was trauma in the witch boy's family it was not the kind they were imagining.

"Yea I got a bunch more brothers, Vlad was a evil crazy fuitloop, before he redeemed himself. They all kind of melted in one timeline but mom and Grandpa Clock found a way to save them." Klarion nodded flipping to another photo containing him, as he looked now, and all his siblings.

"So, Ellie you know about already. The one with the sunglasses and died hair is Bartholomew, second oldest. They made themselves a home in other dimension, barely at home cause he has to much fun messing with something called a 'Starstream' by being a 'Constellation' and throwing gold coins at 'Incarnations'. Don't ask me what that means, I barely pay attention when he gushes about his favorit 'Incarnation'. They spent like all their money and pocket money there. Aunt Jazz thinks he might develop a gambling addiction if we don't stop his spendings." The teen heroes eyed the teen that looked like a young adult grinning in the photo as the witch boy pointed at the one next to them. "The one with the vile is my elder brother Bite, most responsible one of this bunch. Mom even allowed him to take care of a couple of dimensions by taking the role of being their God of Death. I think he messed them up more than helped but he is doing a somewhat good job, even if he is sort of obsessed with making some red head his saint or something..."

"One of your sibs is a God?" Impulse gabbed and Klarion just blinked at him with a shrug. "My Grandfather is the ruler of Time, your point is? Wonder Girl is also related to a God of your dimension."

"Never mind him, moving on." A yelp resounded as Superboy pushed Impulse head down leaning in more to see the photo better. "You got one emo looking brother there!"

"Oh that's Yamikumo, he is like a year or two older than me right now, in human years. He barely got any of mom's powers so he choose to try to life a somewhat normal life but weirdly enough he choose a dimension that is ruled by people who have powers and abilities, you know like the Meta Humans of this dimension. Now that I think about it, he is also the only one who actually is studying on how to be a Hero."

"Do you end up fighting with him if he studies to be a hero?" Wonder Girl whisper asked him with a quick glance towards their mentors, to which Klarion shook his head. "As long as we leave the dimensions one of us choose to live in alone we usually don't fight about stuff like that, aside from the usual sibling fights that is. Then again I do have some siblings that like to make bets like who is better at ruling as demon lord, or who can safe a dying timeline quicker."

Danny chuckled again as he watched the kids, Klarion had definitely caused some misunderstandings with his wording. Then again it wasn't like Klarion said anything that wasn't true, but then again his son loved chaos. So there was a suspicion that Klarion intentionally choose the way he worded the explanation about how he and Ellie came to be as well as the rest of siblings.

"So....." Superman slowly started wondering how he should bring up the topic. "...you became a mom at 14?"

"Say Danny is there a way for me to meet this Vlad? You know since we are family." Wonder Woman also asked smiling in a certain way that reminded Danny of Valerie when she was mad but didn't want to show right away how mad she was, to which the Ghost King on reflex could do nothing but gulp for a moment. Not noticing that a green post it note appeared on the table before him.

#question and answer #thanks for the ask! #danny fenton #danny phantom #dp x dc #dpxdc #dcxdp #crossover #dan phantom #klarion the witch boy #tim drake #conner kent #bart allan #cassandra sandsmark #young justice #Dan is Klarion #Danny is Dan's mom #mom danny #ghost king danny #Part 4 #Time for some world building #Dan's family explained #with misunderstandings #Wonder Woman and Superman want to have a talk with Vlad #Batman to he just didn't actively say it #they promise its just a talk #Klarion might have used the wrong words on purpose #The phantoms are gremlins #no beta we die like danny #unedited

[snakeassassins]

Pokemon Theory: Hassel, Drayton, and "Sinister Hands"

Hey guys! Before the pokemon presents starts tomorrow, I wanted to hash out some observations I’ve made on the scarvi dlc and the implications they have on pokemon lore as a whole. I don’t have much of a big hook to draw anyone in, though, so let’s just jump into it.

Hassel is only one of two characters in all of gen 9 who is left handed. The other is professor turo, who does so to symbolically mirror sada. Through this, I don’t think it’s hard to say that Hassel’s left handedness is also something designed to mirror someone else.

A lot of people have already pointed out that Hassel and Drayton have a lot of mirrored animations.

As such, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that they are the big foils here.

There’s a bit of a snag, though.

With Sada and Turo, it’s obvious that this right/left theming is in regards to the past/future, but it becomes a bit murky if you attempt to apply this to Drayton and Hassel.

If anything this theming is reversed.

Drayton’s supposed to match Sada’s past, but his ace is the futuristic Archaladon.

Similarly, Hassel is supposed to represent the future, but his ace is Baxcalibur, who is themed around dinosaurs, much like past paradox pokemon.

The major exception to this is their signature moves. Electro shot takes a turn to fire, while Baxcalibur takes double damage after using Glaive Rush. Drayton’s ace’s weakness is the “past”, while Hassel’s ace’s weakness is the “future”.

So… how are we supposed to read this exactly? It’s an intentional contradiction —a paradox, if you will—but one whose intent is hard to parse.

Something else has been nagging me about Hassel’s left-handedness: it’s an anachronism.

See, given the name, Baxcalibur is designed to be a medieval weapon. In which case fighting with it left handed would be considered a major taboo for that time period. Swordsmen of that period were trained exclusively with their right hand, which meant fighting with your left was considered to be inherently underhanded.

This bled into a lot of the language and culture at the time. The word “sinister” itself literally means left in latin, we just use it to mean evil in modern times because those were the traits associated with left handed people back then.

It was a common trope for duels to be won unfairly by having the perpetrator fence with their right hand, only to stab their opponent with a hidden blade in their left. A left handed fencer in most medieval fiction is almost inherently duplicitous.

Another one was for left handed fighters to be masters attempting to hide their true strength by using their non-dominant hand to fight. A more benevolent form of trickery, but deceitful nonetheless. Maybe it’s a sign that Hassel is pulling his punches, given how low “elite four member” is compared to the multiple dragon tamer champions we’ve had?

You can see both of these tropes being invoked by this scene from the princess bride. Both opponents intentionally start with their weakest hand before switching to the right, but it’s a double entendre also meant to show that neither is as bad as they appear to be either, a fact made even more obvious by how honorably they fight.

To be honest, I was a bit concerned I could be grasping at straws with these comparisons, given that Baxcalibur’s Japanese name doesn’t even refer to a sword, but then it hit me

Its signature move is it literally backstabbing you. That’s the pun.

Which leads me to what’s been nagging at me here: why is one of Hassel’s major character motifs centered around him being a traitor if he never once betrays anyone in the story? If he was built from the ground up to be our metaphorical Brutus, then who is Caesar?

I think the obvious guess of who Hassel is a traitor to would be the dragon tamer family he seems to have run away from.

He tells us why he left, but his explanation is more than a little vague. Why did he stop being a musician and join the elite four? Why is he so necessary to his family’s hierarchy that they are willing to fake his father’s illness to get him back, even after all these years? There’s more to this story that Hassel is either downplaying or straight up not telling us, and that makes it the prime suspect for Hassel’s “traitor” status.

However, as we are in Unova for the dlc, my inner fan theorist can’t help but also point out the faction actively themed around medieval knights.

Especially when their boss is yet another blonde-ish lefty with swept back hair who is, frankly, more than a little ceasar coded himself.

Hassel’s backstabbing is probably a good thing for us either way tbh

Drayton’s the right hand man, however, and as such we can assume that he is aligned with whatever Hassel is against, willingly or otherwise. The Mark Anthony to our Brutus, if you will. The responsibilities of which he is likely dragging his feet on by staying in school as long as possible. Which actually brings us back to the original right hand/left hand dichotomy.

I think the big difference between the Sada/Turo dichotomy and the Drayton/Hassel dichotomy is that Sada and Turo are defined by a relentless pursuit of something. Drayton and Hassel, on the other hand, are defined by avoidance.

What’s important to the symbolism isn’t that Drayton is using his right hand, it’s that he isn’t using his left. He isn’t someone pursuing the past like Sada, but using his obligation to the school as a way to avoid the future.

Similarly, I think it's safe to say that Hassel is using his teaching position to escape his past moreso than he is looking to his future.

Because of this I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Hassel’s past and Drayton’s future… probably coalesce in the same place.

What this actually implies is a question that will probably only be answered by our inevitable black and white remake, but I am curious about it nonetheless. I’ve got a bunch of extra comparisons to make between these two that didn’t quite make the cut here, so feel free to add your own observations and theories if you come up with anything.

#my personal headcanon is that hassel is the descendant of one of the heroes of unova #and that's why everyone wants him so bad #but I don't have much evidence for that one #pokemon #pokemon sv #pokemon hassel #pokemon drayton #pokemon theory #indigo disk dlc

[clatoera]

I’m so invested now is there also a group chat comprising of the mentors?? Like is there an 8 person gc that they plan dinner parties and stuff in? And if so please elaborate on that too

Thats a great question and the answer is absolutely yes thank you for inquiring. These people got the gift of interdistrict communication (outside of bugged capitol phones and letters) for the first time and they don't know how to act. I remember when we got iphones for the first time and the group chat capability dropped. It was life changing. Thats how they feel. Like middle schoolers who all got their hands on the iphone 4 in 2010 (that was my first iphone, my first phone was an LG chocolate and then the next was an EnV3 theres a little lore about me).

They absolutely DO have an 8 person GC which is used to plan but is also weirdly used to like..absolutely roast the younger ones. Like this is their chance to just..casually haze them. By that I mean mostly hazing Cato, Clove, and Marvel, Glimmer gets a trauma pass but Marvel is called a twink by Gloss and Enobaria and Cato is called a slut also by Enobaria so maybe it's really Enobaria letting her thoughts be known BUT all this to say yes. They absolutely do. And sometimes do they send messages to the wrong group chat (ask @bodyelectric77, because yes they do)

All this to say there are so many group chats that pop up. Truly they're menaces when they realize how many subgroups can exist.

Cashmere, Gloss, Glimmer

Cashmere, Gloss, Glimmer, Marvel

Enobaria Brutus Cash and Gloss

Enobaria Brutus Cato and Clove

All the victors (UNWILLINGLY HEAVY ON THE UNWILLING)

The 8 careers plus finnick plus johanna plus annie

Finnick cash gloss glimmer

Finnick Annie Cato Clove Glimmer Marvel Johanna

Finnick Cato Marvel

Finnick Cato Marvel + peeta who gets added so cato can ask for a virginity status update and then then removed

Annie Clove Glimmer Johanna

the possibilities are truly ENDLESS and they absolutely and I mean ABSOLUTELY mix up who is in what one and say things they should not!!

The group chat lore is endless

#careers thg #arwbfb au #arwbfb tag #arwbfb careers #the group chat lore

[hikari-ni-naritai]

multiples of 6 and every second letter for Hikari c:

oh fuck hikari time!!

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

does hikari even know what a law is? probably. she definitely sees them as flexible though. she wasnt raised in a culture that had Law so much as it had What Mom Says.

12. How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

is there such an itch? i think hikari's flexible enough that she can reach every place. the real question is, does hikari experience itch? i dont know the answer to that one.

18. What embarrasses them?

can this woman be embarrassed?? oh no actually definitely she can. any insinuation to a stranger that she's anything less than a perfect hero would be deeply embarrassing. she cant let that act drop for even a second. though she's feeling a little less trapped these days, now that she's working to find a light within herself.

24. Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?

absolutely not! she does know what sex is but she'll play dumb until you stop asking her. it makes her deeply uncomfortable.

30. Who do they most regret meeting?

ASAHI SAS BRUTUS THAT RAT FUCKING BASTARD

36. Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap?

she's completely aromantic so neither!

42. How badly do they want to reach their end goal?

its the only thing on her mind. she would give everything for it. she doesn't have anything else.

B. What inspired you to create them?

in the ff14 character creator like 'whats the cutest girl i can possibly make?' and hikari came out. then her lore sort of evolved over time based on how i played the game.

D. Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

she's changed her hairstyle a few times, and her fashion sense has gotten less femme, but the only real physical change is she gained a big scar across her face after the events of Endwalker. you wouldn't be able to tell though, since her hair covers it so well.

F. What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

mmmm pity? like 'oh honey... dont do this to yourself....' but at the same time i want her to succeed and heal and get better and see in herself all the reasons i love her.

H. What trait do you admire most?

i think her determination? she's far more dedicated to self-improvement than i am. even if its like really unhealthy for her to be like that. i would like to be better about it. that, and her ability to remember names.

J. Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

mmm she is MOSTLY canon compliant? there's some implications in the beginning of ARR that she was one of the original warriors of light from 1.0, but i threw that out. and i think a lot of stormblood was Heavily Edited bc like, she's been to yanxia and the steppe before, both as a normal miqote and as a garlean conscript, but its not like she'd admit to any of these things so its mostly that the story Glossed Over her inner monologue of 'oh fuck i hope nobody recognizes me'

#hikariposting #thank you for asking!

[coleoffduty]

tysm @sapphireblueye for tagging me and for all the wonderful things you do for this little corner of the fandom!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

9! [but i have 17 wips breathing down my neck rn]

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

282,695

3. What fandoms do you write for?

only hotd rn but i really wanna try writing for marvel (nashuri) or dc (batriddle)!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

- brutus - The Watcher - The Realm's Sweetness - phantoms & fishbowls - legacies

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! i think it's so sweet and intimate when someone takes the time to not only read and kudos my work but also leave an appreciative response,,,, i reciprocate a lot and as a reader, commenting is a bit intimidating so i rlly value the initiation!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i don't think anything i have out yet is too sad (but i'm angst tone deaf at times) although 'The Realm's Sweetness' is def the one that comes to mind. it's based on canon/my take on a lore accurate asoiaf storyline for lucemond so,,,,, yikes,,,

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

'love in the dark' and 'brutus' are a tie for that one. rhaenicent get to run away together and live domestically while lucemond get to rule and start their own little family despite,,, the horrors.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

actually not really. i've gotten condescending/backhanded comments but the only fic i've gotten a crumb of real hate on is my fic concept art which was.... interesting....

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

i do! i write the bad kind <3 no but srsly it's just nothing crazy or fun (imo)

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

no,,, maybe when i was like younger but as of now, no,,,

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

nope! but i think most of the ideas/plots i make up are really out there and abstract so if anyone tried-- good luck. i can barely keep up with some of my fic lore and that's because i have it all written down in my notes app.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no, but i was thinking about translating my english stuff into spanish myself,,, and then i realized how much work that is so,,,

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

nah. i've thought about it... i just feel like my writing process takes a while and anybody stuck writing with me would end up regretting it lol

14. What's your all-time favourite ship

i ofc love my hotd dumpster fires (lucemond, rhaenicent, luaena, alysmond, jacegan, etc) but the first pairing that forever has a special place in my heart are soul&maka from soul eater,,,

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

i have this rhaenicent fic that was in the works but i just sort of lost any new plot to add to it. that tends to happen and my brain randomly picks things back up, but this one has been radio silent for a while,,, nothing i've teased or already have a preexisting work out for though!

16. What are your writing strengths?

detail. foreshadowing. outlandish things galore. you could give me an inanimate, random household item and i'd probably come up with a rlly intricate backstory for it.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

probs smut and the amount of writing i do. average trs and legacies chapters are 5-10k and that leads to slow updates. but hey, i'm trying to learn about quality over quantity.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

hmmm the only other language i'm fluent in is spanish but none of the characters i write speak it so,,,, valryian is rlly the only language i write dialogue in for fics but that's generated through a translator so eh. things get lost in translation or don't come across with the initial intended meaning. at first, i used to think high valryian was such a nice, intimate undertone for fics but now as someone writing the dialogue and sourcing the translations-- i've become a bit immune. i just use it for plot reasons now.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

b-bts ff- on wattpad- [gunshot] (this was actually a really nice experience and intro into fic writing so,,, army borahae asf)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

probs 'is this fate (or is this fear)'! i love black mirror and the actual premise is based on one of my own nightmare sequences, so how fun <3 no but yeah i wrote it in a week and felt so immensely pleased with myself for having stuck with the idea and then completing it,,,

tagging @droppofsaltt, @spiderlilac, @unohanabbygirl & anybody else who sees this and feels like doing it <3

#ff writer #about me #q and a #offsasks

[echoingkarma]

What is starbound? I don't have a computer and it's not suitable for cell phones, so I don't understand how it works beyond the earth being invaded by tentacles. I know there are more planets and species but I don't understand if the player has to find a safe place for himself or a way to save the earth. Also, Moon and Sun are novakids right? How is their planet? Do they have a civilization and how do they take an alien like Y/N?

To be completely honest, I'm no Starbound expert; I've neglected the main missions (or any missions,,,, sorry Brutus) in favour of collecting as many different creatures as I can (which is also going to be one of Y/Ns hobbies in the AU)... when I play it at all. As far as I know, there is very little lore for the Novakids. They have a Wild West culture and their spaceship is basically a large train. Its quite rare to encounter any, so Y/N finding two of them (and maybe 3, later, if we have them encounter Eclipse) and befriending them is certainly an oddity. Outside of that, our AU isn't really following any actual canonical lore - at least not as far as I know!! I've come up with a lot of what Y/N likes to do, and I also played as Moon for a bit when we first started playing Starbound on the server. A lot of your other questions will primarily be answered through our development of the AU, which I hope to get a good start on during the summer ^^

#ask #Anonymous #fnaf starbound au #karmas clown moments #brutus can give his own kind of rundown if he wants but this is all ive got right now #that wont spoil any of our au jhdsfh #sorry if this is jumbled at all or hard to understand

[chaosintheavenue]

A random guide to which of my various Fallout OCs have completed various quests, DLCs etc, since I know my storyline has become pretty convoluted in places!

-

New Vegas:

Who's the Courier?

That's Six!

Picrew link

He got shot by Benny, woke up in Goodsprings, and did all the things a Courier does along the Yes Man route up to the point of having all factions allied and prepared for Hoover Dam. But… he never made it back to Yes Man to announce that he was ready to kick things off.

Where is he now?

He's, um… in the Sierra Madre vault. RIP buddy.

So what happens with Hoover Dam?

Charlie takes over the NV quests from there!

Picrew link

She has Complicated Lore, so for the sake of this quick post, you can consider her to be reluctantly Legion-aligned and operating in a role roughly equivalent to that of a frumentarius. She still never gets involved with the Dam, but she does convince more factions to aid the Legion when the time comes, and happen to meet all of the NV companions along the way.

She also usually has another OC as a companion with her- Chel, Red and Brutus in that chronological order- but they tend to take less of an active role in the quests.

What about Old World Blues?

That was Violet!

She originated as a Van Buren OC and has played a few narrative roles in my overarching OC storyline, one of which was ending up in Big MT thanks to her constant misfortune.

She doesn't talk about what happened during her unintended excursion. Mobius is probably still alive, at least… I think?

And Lonesome Road?

That- very recently, in fact- was Vari!

(please ignore the fact that he's in the Villa here lol)

I haven't sat down and intentionally written up much of his lore yet, but he's a Cipher, and my brain is currently so gripped by them that I can all but guarantee he'll get more content soon lol.

Throughout the DLC, he had no idea what in general was going on or who Ulysses was (I've roughly decided that Vari somehow received Six's old Pip-Boy from Elijah, who must have removed it pre-vault sealing for some reason or other, but that'll require plenty more lore-bending I haven't gotten around to) and did end up being unable to pacify him.

Dead Money?

Well, that was Six, up to a point. Several other OCs have visited or passed near to the Sierra Madre, and Elijah no longer seems to be holed up there. Kinda just leaving him out there as a vague rogue element in the OCverse for now.

And Honest Hearts?

Does not take place as depicted in game, but a few characters have passed through the Zion Canyon area.

-

Fallout 76:

Who's the Resident?

That's Lara!

They're the character I briefly played as at initial launch, and suffice to say, they didn't get a whole lot done. I do have a vague story outline for their post-gameplay life which involves them getting involved with Raiders, but quest-wise they spent their days terrified of the new world around them and did very little aside from creating the Scorch vaccine.

Where are they now?

Frankly, I don't know exactly what became of them in lore. But they were active in 2102, and it's now 2298, so… it's not looking too good for them :/

So who's in Appalachia now?

That's Trin!

You've probably already seen her around these parts. Backstory-wise, she has partial Cipher ancestry, but is also reluctantly tied in with the BoS, and is somewhat Scorched thanks to drinking the Nuka-Cola vaccine a little too late (AKA, Complicated Lore). She's done most of the main questline (got stuck at Fort Defiance for hardware reasons, so she'll most likely never enter a silo or launch for herself) and the entirety of Wastelanders and Steel Dawn/Reign. Has both Beckett and Sofia staying at her CAMP (plus various OC companions, of course).

#I hope this somewhat clarified the situation? #might raise more questions than answers though #if you do have questions feel free to send them my way! I know I'm sometimes not the clearest explainer lol #time to yeet this into the tag of every character for information purposes #Six #Charlie #Violet #Vari #Lara #Trin #oc cast

[lea-andres]

Aight I'm interested in all your OCs but I'mma limit myself to the three who took my interest the most with your short descriptions and one question each

For Cornelius I ask 22

For Happy 14

And for Maria uhhhh 2

22. How are they with technology?

*Wild laughter* He's an old ass man. His go to method of using technology is poke and prod the mad scientist teenager until he leaves the Prohibition Era wine cellar turned Secret Lab on the property and fixes the thing for him.

14. What makes them the happiest?

You picked this one just because her name's Happy, didn't you? LOL. Happy's a romantic that kinda deprogrammed herself out of her previous abusive relationship by realizing that if her life was a rom-com, her ex would be the guy you're rooting for the main girl to NOT get together with or to dump to be with the main guy. So I think having her dream come true rom-com romance with Brutus (even though he and his siblings are FUCKING CRAZY) might be it.

2. Powers/Abilities?

OH BOY HERE WE GO EVERYONE HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS!!!

I will answer this, with one warning prior: This question is a massive spoiler to my entire Chaos Specimen #91 Arc. All of my fics are going to lead to the creation of *this character*. There's foreshadowing of her in WtDMtN if you know what you're looking for. And there's no way to answer this question without spoilers.

So, if you STILL wanna know... Meet me in the Read More.

Okay, SO-

A little background. Shortly before my lore started, Commander Tower of GUN retired, and a new guy named Commander Wilson took his place. Wilson doesn't like Sonic, the Restoration, my OCs Team Cerberus, literally anybody that doesn't grovel at the feet of GUN and follow all of their orders without question. I have a fic literally called "the Catalyst" way later in my line up that the events of that fic make Wilson put his foot down and go "Fuck Sonic and his friends. We're gonna make our OWN SONIC!" (With blackjack and hookers! /ref)

Everyone reading WtDMtN, remember when Fang casually mentioned when we heard what happened to him during the Metal Virus that GUN forced him to hand over some of his blood? They had been doing that to EVERYONE that got through the Metal Virus without getting infected (or at least as many survivors as they could find). They were originally using that blood to see if there was some biological or medical reason THOSE people made it through the Virus. But Wilson figured hey, we have all this DNA AND THE ORIGINAL PLANS FOR PROJECT SHADOW LYING AROUND, LET'S MAKE A SUPERSOLDIER OUT OF THAT!!!

As the #91 implies, there were 90 FAILED ATTEMPTS BEFORE MARIA/CS91 CAME TO BE. HOWEVER, A SPECIAL SAUCE DNA WAS TOSSED IN THAT *FINALLY* MADE MARIA/CS91 WORK!

As you probably guessed by her name, Shadow's her dad. He's got the biggest percentage of DNA in her, he steals her from GUN and goes on the run for three years when he finds out about her, Shadow's her dad. She didn't get *everything* of his though.

Maria/CS91 can NOT use the Chaos Emeralds, because that ability is not hereditary. That's pretty much the big one she's lacking.

But the rest of her powers and abilities are as follows:

-Immortality* (She's got Renesmee aging rules... I should slap myself for saying that but you figure out a better way to explain that.)

-Super speed

-Super strength

-Super agility

-Super stamina/durability

-Military hand to hand combat training

-Military melee weapon training

-Military firearm training

#lea's ocs #cornelius the fairy penguin #happy the treefrog #maria/cs91

[devouredreaper]

Summary and party introduction for campaign the second: Seas of Perim

       We’re pirates! The party is under the command of Captain O’Malley, and following a map given to him by his grandfather that’s supposed to lead to some sort of treasure. No one knows what this treasure is, but the navy wants it. So does a demon. Everyone’s a little more concerned about the demon and its cult.

Party

Clarence O’Malley: Human Rogue, Swashbuckler. The captain of the ship- though he’s drunk off his ass 90% of the time. He also canonically looks like Danny Devito

Aurora: Tiefling Monk, Way of the Kensei. The first mate, and whether or not she’s related to the Captain is up for debate. She doesn’t take anyone’s shit and also has a Thing for crazy ladies.

Bubba Gump: Human Bard, College of Lore. The helmsman, steers the ship. That’s it, that’s his whole job. Has stood at the wheel for three days straight at one point. Also high and/or drunk 90% of the time

Heindrik/Lance: Changeling Fighter, Champion I think. Had been posing as human up until recently, and is potentially becoming king of the Changelings. Defected from the navy

Mark Spangler: Human Cleric, Tempest Domain. He’s... He exists. He hasn’t done much, honestly. He’s just a Generic Dude. Every time the player describes him I immediately forget what he looks like

Alexander “Xander” Murphy: Variant Human Bard/Rogue, College of Whispers/Soulknife. The ambassador for the crew. Has family in the navy, don’t recall whether he was in the navy.

E.L. Wallace: Variant Human Cleric/Fighter, Life Domain/Gunslinger. The carpenter and doctor of the crew. Even though he has no carpentry proficiency and has precisely zero bedside manner

Brutus: Bugbear Barbarian, Path of the Berserker. The warden, he watches the brig when we have prisoners. Also generic barbarian. But he was a gladiator

Lady Ydoza: Half-Orc Druid, no idea subclass. The party found her in a desert, she doesn’t have an official job yet. The Captain’s smitten, and she’s horny 24/7

Lirtle: Tortle Warlock, Great Old One Patron. Also doesn’t have an official job, and really just tagging along with the party at this point. He’s old as fuck, and has been accused of being a cultist

Tijan: Wereraven Fighter, unsure subclass. Possible Rogue multiclass. Owns Cabana, a town that’s pretty much just 3 casinos and all the staff are under mind control. Decided he was bored in Cabana and tagged along with the party

Avrik: Triton Warlock, Kraken patron. Or homebrew adjustment of Fathomless. Something like that. He wants to help his patron achieve godhood, and thinks the party can help with that. Not that the party knows this

#Seas of Perim #SoP #This is the most chaotic of the Monday games pffffff #Also I probably misspelled Lady Ydoza's name #To be fair we mostly call her Lady D so

[cryptid-coyote]

Some FNV cult item sketches, sorry its kinda messy! there are some item explanations below:

Wasteland cultists may carry items that represent their deity in a variety of ways, these are some examples:

Pendants and emblems - mostly used by nomadic cultists or those in unwelcome communities, usually worn as a necklace or medallion to identify other cultists. Commonly made of bronze or copper. the deity depicted here is Amos the brahmin, patron of travelers and merchants 

Talisman - Used by both nomadic and stationary, usually worn as a bracelet or piercing. Almost always made of the totem animal of the deity, usually inscribed with wards or messages meant to protect the wearer or imbue them with the abilities of the totem animal. the deity imbued here is Eleazar, patron of survivors and scavengers. 

Effigies and idols - mostly used by stationary cultists, usually kept in hidden shrines and alters. commonly made or wood or bronze, some rare instances have been made of gold. Cultist offer sacrifices and worship through multiple ways depending on the deity. The most common is offering an item of personal significance. The deity depicted here is Ephriam the night stalker, patron of thieves and addicts.

The idol is Brutus’s personal alter, the offering given is jet inhaler

#FNV cult au #i realized I never finished the pantheon drawings but I have lore I promise #Brutus can have little a lore #as a treat

[raeynbowboi]

The Lineage of King Arthur

With the first wave of Arthur’s family tree, we see that Arthur’s family bloodline begins with the goddess Aphrodite and her son, Aeneas as he fled from Troy to Hesperia (Italy). I used the pink coloration to map Aphrodite’s lineage through the family. Aeneas’ great-grandson Brutus was then exiled from Hesperia and conquered the island of Britain which was named after him. He had three sons who the regions of Britain are named after: Camber (Cambria/Wales), Locrine (Logres/England), and Albanacht (Albany/Scotland). Arthur is descended from Locrine, so I didn’t bother with the other two bloodlines. Each person with a little crown symbol held the throne of England/Logres as the ruling monarch, and you’ll notice that England had not one but two legendary queens: Gwendolen and Cordelia. And yes, that Lear and Cordelia are the same ones depicted by Shakespeare in “King Lear”. The main direct bloodline ends with the brothers Ferrex and Porrex, after Porrex killed his brother and then his grieving mother killed Porrex, leaving the throne without an heir. The land was seized by five kings until Dunvallo conquered England and reunited the country. I tried looking into Dunvallo’s lineage, but I got led in circles on this one. It’s stated that he was part of a cadet branch of the family, but where and how exactly he fits into the family is uncertain, and my attempts to find where his branch connects fed me false information. My best guess was that he was descended from one of Embraucus’ 50 children, but this is just a theory, and mostly based on the sheer likelihood that he could be descended from any of the 49 half-brothers and sisters of Brute Greenshield. Unfortunately, I have no proof to back up this claim, and my attempts to find any other relatives on the family tree got me nowhere. But despite the holes in the family tree, Dunvallo is still a part of the family.

The second stretch of Arthur’s lineage is honestly a long stretch of nothing important happening, with very little written about these kings. This section of the family tree covers everything from Dunvallo’s unification of England all the way until the Roman Conquest of England, when Androgues allied with the Caesar to take his throne from his uncle Cassibelaunus. Uncle Cass however would regain control and rule England under Roman subjugation until his nephew Tenuantius took it from him. This places the time period between 43 AD - 87 AD, during which time Rome solidified its hold on England. King Lud, who is the father of Androgues and Tenuantius, is also the namesake of London. It was originally called Lud’s Fort, founded in 47 AD during Roman occupation. The only other thing of note is what I call the Morvidian Knot, wherein his five sons and their six sons play hot potato with the throne in a funky order until it finally ends up with Gerontius who continues the lineage.

We’re finally in the home stretch. We’ve reached the actual Arthurian lore, and we’ve hit a snag. Lucius the Glorius was killed without an heir, and while some interpreters deem that Coel is related to the royal family, this does not appear to be the main consensus, and I found nothing in my research naming any of Old King Cole’s ancestors. How ironic that the blood of Aphrodite ran through the family for centuries, only to end with the king credited with Christianizing England? It’d be poetic if it wasn’t disappointing to find that Arthur’s lineage is only a few generations old. While this family tree is simplified, the stark change in colors is obvious. The divine bloodline is broken. If it wasn’t destroyed by the civil war between Ferrex and Porrex, it was truly ended with the Christianization efforts of Lucius the Glorius. Also, can someone please tell the Roman Emperors to give their sons original names for the sake of historians everywhere? I swear, Constantine the Great had like five kids, and they were all a very minor deviation on the name ‘Constantine’.

#king arthur #arthurian legend #arthurian myth #pendragon #arthur pendragon #aphrodite #venus #troy #brutus #brutus of britain #brutus of troy #aeneas #king lear #cordelia #guinevere #mordred #uther #morgan le fey #morgan le fay #morgana le fey #old king cole #england #Britain #albion #logres #roman britain #rome #celtic #celts #kings of england

[v-poreons]

kova's backstory is so sad, like I knew it was sad but reading that still :((( anyways more kova lore bc I'm invested

I can talk about the campaign he was in then! :))

I'm so mad Tumblr deleted everything I wrote hold on while I try to fix this

Basically what I said before was so fucking long I simply can't rewrite it in as comprehensive a way i did before so this is gonna be a lot shorter I'm PISSED.

I don't remember everything that happened in the campaign because it was four years ago but the party was me as Kova, Asher (Wood Elf Ranger), Lan (Changeling ((in the form of a High Elf)) Fighter), Mislia (Tiefling Sorcerer), and Savory (Tiefling Monk, we had an inside joke that Kova spells her name Savoury).

We were on a job delivering some stuff from one town to another I believe when we were attacked by some goblins who we beat the absolute shit out of. Lan was checking one of the goblins when she found a ring with an eye symbol engraved on it. She put it on and it latched itself to her finger and shot a beam of light into the woods, presumably for us to follow. We hid our wagon and set up camp in a cave for the night. I don't remember who was on watch but we were ambushed by some Dark Elves who took us to the Underdark to their queen who welcomed us and decided to throw a party in our honor.

We were all varying degrees of intoxicated but Kova, who was nursing his first cup of ale since he hates drinking since it inhibits his reasoning skills and he was a little wary of the whole thing. Lan also was suspicious so the two chatted for a bit and planned to do some investigating together later. When we had been escorted to our rooms we found out that we had been magically locked in so we found a way to bypass the spell and sneaked out with the rest of the party, but we were caught and taken into the throne room where the queen revealed she had led us here for a reason. She activated a big rune on the floor and we all blacked out. Then when we woke up our skin was translucent and you could see our skeletons under our skin because plot twist we were dead and had been sent to the underworld (the reveal slapped so hard david if ur seeing this u popped off so hard)

We ended up having to do like a gladiator type match where Kova and Lan created the legendary knife cube combo (Kova casts cloud of daggers Lan throws enemies into the cube and theyre promptly turned into bad guy soup). We won and were brought before Hades and Persephone (Kova and Savory charmed her because they're both nice :) ) and then we were thrown in prison because Hades had a stick up his ass.

We met Brutus and Milquetoast in jail and decided to do a prison break I'm not sure exactly how it went but it involved the warden and a prison riot and Lan killed the warden and was inexplicably drawn to this dark spooky hallway which supposedly held Thanatos but when she reached the end of the corridor all that was there were empty chains.

We had a sick ass chariot race with Hades and Lan flipped him the bird as we escaped down a big cavernous hole in the ground. We woke up at the bottom and learned if we wanted out we each had to go through trials to judge our characters.

I don't remember the exact order we went in but Mislia's was a fight with their ex wife and ended with them choosing Savory's life over the ex, Savory's took place in her old monastery which she had been banned from, Asher's was a puzzle that ended in a fight with his former friend and leader (who happened to be his player's other character from a different campaign remember this it's important), and Lan's (which was the last trial and also the last session since we unfortunately didn't finish the campaign) took place in her childhood hometown but everyone but her had lost their memories and she had to convince us all to come with her and get our memories back.

Kova's was a quiz show type trial during which we would gain or lose things (body parts, knowledge/memories, items, etc.) The trouble with playing a character who's smarter than you is when ur DM asks you what the components are to an X level Wizard spell (something Kova would probably know but I sure as hell didn't) you end up spinning the bad wheel (a la taz suffering game) and losing Kova's harmonica which was a gift from his dead friends dead daughter. Also it got turned to ash :)

The game show host ended up being Medusa and we killed the hell out of her and Lan and Kova struck the final blows.

I ended up asking the DM what the campaign would have gone like from the last session and he said the twist would have been that Brutus was Thanatos and I don't remember how but he could not longer continue being Thanatos so Lan, who had the ring, would be given the choice to become the new god of death or not.

From there we have two endings:

The 'canon' ending, in which Lan accepts her role and remains in the underworld while the rest of the living party members return to their lives. Kova is alone and lonely returning to his travels but has healed somewhat and learns to accept people into his heart again.

In the ending where Lan refuses, the party returns to the living world and parts ways. Lan and Kova reluctantly separate since Kova wishes to keep traveling and seeing the world but Lan is exhausted by everything that has happened in her life up until this point and just wants to settle down. The two visit from time to time but reminisce on their past and wonder how they could have remained close and developed their relationship (art in the video is drawn by Lan's player lil.bunny.prince on Instagram)

In both endings (and here's where you remember that importance regarding Asher's trial), because the story has established that it takes place in the same world as another campaign, Kova meets

Gwyn, and becomes a father figure to her and essentially adopts her. They're perfect for each other. Gwyn was cast from her clan and disowned by her family, and now she finally has a solid adult figure in her life who loves and accepts her and helps her overcome her fears of rejection and accidentally hurting the people she cares about. Kova has lost so much and with Gwyn he is able to raise her like he would have helped raise Iris and learns to overcome his survivors guilt and both of their scars and trauma heal together I love them so much.

Kova does outlive Gwyn by a couple hundred years (damn dnd lifespans) and whichever direction his life goes his endings are always bittersweet but he is able to heal despite always feeling a little sad and when he gets older he settles in a nice town and owns a library. And obviously his canon storyline isn't sad enough so I have aus for that (villain au my beloved). ❤

#cutieacefuck #Kova #so mad I had to retype this all out again it was so perfect and this is still good but I'm absolutely certain there are things I forgot #to mention the second time around but its fine IG 🙄🙄🙄 #rainy ask

[foul-z-fowl]

Webtoons

I was inspired to write a post about my favorite webtoons and my thoughts on them, so buckle up for a hell of a ride.

Series used- Adventures of God, Small World, Brass & Sass, My Dictator Boyfriend, To Love Your Enemy, Love Me Knot, True Beauty, My Giant Nerd Boyfriend, The Four of Them, Lore Olympus, Luff, Brimstone and Roses, Miss Abbott and the Doctor, Prince & Knight, Sweet Cinnamon, Enjoy the show, Pixie and Brutus, Big Small Spoon, We are a Family, LMLY, A Matter of Life and Death.

Adventures of God-

Not for the easily offended, ESPECIALLY if you’re religious. At first I had my doubts, but this hilarious series won me over and I always look forward to the regular updates on Tuesdays and Saturdays. (Teo & Corey) 

Small World-

Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they make cry, sometimes I’m left wondering what the hell I just read. Welcome the world of Robin and Julian, the most adorable comic couple ever. Updates Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday (Wonsun Jin)

Brass & Sass-

Absolutely a contender for my favorite webtoon, I spend every day counting down until Thursday when it updates. The characters, their dynamics and just EVERYTHING is amazing, not in the least the adorable art. One of my favorite things is how Camilla still isn’t good at the trumpet after just a few months of practice. Her struggles with learning how to play (and with her cute tutor) are so relatable! (antlerella)

My dictator boyfriend-

To be honest, I read this for the same reason the artist draws it- for the butts! I discovered this through Adventures of God, after seeing what else the artist/authors worked on. While most of it is humor and fluff, the angst and the moral moments are buried in there, and I live for it. Updates every Thursday and Sunday. (Teo & Guy)

To Love your Enemy-

I’ll be honest, I almost dropped this one in the beginning. The plot lines seemed a tad confused, almost like the authors weren’t sure what direction they wanted to go with. But then, out of nowhere I just dug my heels in and read and just like that, I was in love. Updates every Monday and Thursday. (Junyoon & Taegeon)

Love me Knot-

I’ve always loved the mythology surrounding the red string of fate, and the second this popped up on my radar, I was hooked. The characters are adorable, quirky, and relatable. It also teaches several important lessons, including one I’ve always loved- Just because your soulmate is the best person for you, doesn’t mean they have to be the ONLY person for you. You can be happy with someone else. Updates every Wednesday. (sophia)

True Beauty-

I know, I know, everyone says that that ‘the love triangle took over’ , but I think in the last episode or two, the webtoon has really started to go back to it’s original message. It’s so crazy to think how far I’ve come with these characters. They’re no longer in high school, now they’re adults, whose careers and dreams sometimes interfere with their relationships and family. As only the second webtoon I ever read, back when I swore that I would never read webtoons for fun, it holds a special place in my heart, and is one of the only webtoons I have memorized the update day for- Wednesdays. (Yaongyi)

My Giant Nerd Boyfriend-

This Slice of Life webtoon has so many episodes, I’m still trying to catch up! But it’s safe to say Fishball’s hilarious down-to-earth real life stories are awesome. And sometimes very, very, weird. Updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. (Fishball)

The Four of Them-

To be honest, I’m only three episodes into this, and it’s already on my subscribe list.  Updates every Monday. (Mai Hirschfeld)

Lore Olympus-

Yes, I know it’s the top webtoon, and everyone has to be ‘not like other people’ and ‘quirky’ and ‘against the status quo’, but guys, that’s what made me miss out on One Direction when they were popular. I love Lore Olympus, and I love the character development. Persephone and Hades’ relationship is real. Also, this was the series that introduced me to webtoon. I was scrolling through youtube ignoring the recommendation’s for Helevetica Dubs dub of it, until I finally listened to it, and I was hooked. That was made me come to webtoon and without it, I would have missed out on several amazing stories. I do have one major problem though- I think Persephone is over sexualized. Updates every Sunday. (Rachel smythe)

Luff-

Oh my god. Luff. Where to begin. I loved every second of Luff. It took me on a roller coaster ride of emotion, and trust me, if the premise and the beginning seem cliche, that just makes the payoff of the ending all the more sweet. Luff was beautiful look and humanity, love, and relationships. Finished :(. (Arechan)

Brimstone and Roses-

I just started this one an hour ago, but what the hell. Brimstone and Roses seems alright so far. (Honestly, I’m kind of hoping Bea gets her ex back instead of ending up with the demon.) Finished (Mei Rothschild)

Miss Abbott and the Doctor-

Another recommend form Helevetica Dubs, this adorable, hilarious, heart-warming, amazing, beautiful series is perfect. And because the author is amazing, there are regular episodes where everyone is gender bent. Yeah! The best part about these Mr. Abbott and the Doctor episode is that things don’t always play out the same. 10/10, would recommend! Finished :(. (Maripaz Villar)

Prince & Knight-

This author has quite the talent for making EVERY all-to-short episode end in a cliffhanger, which is very frustrating for me. But, this is adorable, so it can slide. :). Updates Monday 6pm, UTC. (Tsuyonpu)

Sweet Cinnamon-

To be fair, only half of the update actually are part of the story line. But, hey the author knows how to write compelling characters who I would let be my friend in real life! Updates are fairly sporadic, but usually a week or two apart. (Glen_❤️)

Enjoy the Show-

Another one of my top contenders, this webtoon makes me cry in the spaces between updates. I found this series through a canvas creators collab, and I was HOOKED. The characters, the art, it’s all amazing. And the twist! ARRRRR, I was so mad I never considered that!! One of my favorite things about this series is anytime it looks like a character might be a love interest for out heroine, they are swiftly dealt with. Jailtbait? Self-explanatory. Gabe? He’s just a flirt. Updates are generally once a month or so, but the creator regularly participates in collabs! (Jenna A)

Pixie and Brutus-

You’ve probably seen at least one of these adorable comics somewhere besides webtoon, but there are actually a lot more than you think! Pixie and Brutus is about a tiny little kitten and an old retired military dog, and their friendship, and how protective Brutus is of Pixie, is adorable! Update are fairly random- sometimes the update are a month apart, sometimes they happen back to back. (Pet Foolery)

Big Small Spoon-

Big small spoon opened up a whole new world of webtoons for me. It introduced me to the Slice of Life genre, and the creator’s canvas collabs have brought me to so many of my favorite webtoons! This comic is adorable and drawn from the creator’s real life. Updates Tuesday ACST (a r v i e)

We are a family-

Even though this adorable webtoon only has 24 episodes, it definitely is another contender for my favorite! It’s just so precious and adorable! It’s about a young couple (Joon and Erin) who are trying to raise a baby (Edan), it’s veeeery funny (just be warned- it has an inappropriate content warning for a reason. Nothing’s graphic, just alluded to.) Updates roughly a week or two apart. (mocoso)

LMLY-

Short for Let Me Love You, this adorable series is about a boy who’s crush asks him to fake date her! The characters are adorable and I love the design for Leon (the boy) who has hectochromia (two different colored eyes). Updates used to be close together, but recently they’ve become every few months. (edbe)

A Matter of Life and Death-

Probably my favorite webtoon of all time. The characters are amazing, the idea behind the series is amazing, the art is beautiful, and watching the creator’s style evolve over time is such a treat. This series is truly amazing. Unfortunatly, the creator, the AMAZING BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL SNIPSTER, has been dealing with some issues and hasn’t updates since May, and doesn’t intend to anytime soon. Speaking of Snipster- Snipster is so awesome she posts fanfiction, fanart, and alternate universe versions of her characters. Go to her Tapas for some highly NSFW extras. Updates not forthcoming for a while (and it ended on a cliffhanger!!!) (Snipster-webtoon Snarpers-Tapas) @the-snipster

Still here? I hope you found something good to read!

#adventures of god #small world #brass and sass #my dictator boyfriend #to love your enemy #love me knot #true beauty #my giant nerd boyfriend #the four of them #lore olympus #luff #brimstone and roses #miss abbott and the doctor #helevetica dubs #prince and knight #sweet cinnamon #enjoy the show #pixie and brutus #big small spoon #we are a family #lmly #let me love you #a matter of life and death #the-snipster

[askmalal]

“Can you name the twenty legions, their original names, and the Primarchs for me, please? Do you have any info on origins of the names used?”

I mean, certainly. Mortal channeling me regrets that some information is incomplete (pre-Primarch names for the Legiones Astartes are not well publicized; if you know any, feel free to let me know, and I will edit this document accordingly.)

You asked me for all twenty, so Legios II and XI may vary wildly for you, little mortal. The multiverse is a strange place.

Also, note: The mortal and I are not responsible for some of the terribly punny/badly respelled primarch’s names/hackneyed literary references. Those are -entirely- on Games Workshop.... and “The Emperor.” (Use your birth name, Anathaema!)

I. ?/Dark Angels: Lion’El Johnson (ne: Jonson)

For unknown reasons, Johnson is named for the famed English poet Lionel Johnson, Oscar Wilde’s paramour. There have been allegations that the Dark Angels were coded as gay very early on, whether as a joke or a tribute being the question. GW denies, of course, though as a matter of record a gay club called “The Rock” was located in Nottingham at the time.

The Dark Angels originally had a partly Native American theme.

II. Valedictors/Gargoyles: Eresbet, The Grey Lady”

The Valedictors really are named as one of the legions in 2nd edition, as are the Rainbow Warriors. The Rainboe Warriors have subsequently been relisted as a second founding chapter. The Valedictors, however, have not.The word Valedictor means “one who says goodbye.”

III. Emperor’s Children: Fulgrim, “The Phoenician”

IV. ?/Iron Warriors: Perturarbo

Sometimes spelled “Perturabo” in earlier sources. “Perdurabo” is a is a Latin phrase, roughly translated as “enduring to the end.” It was also the occult name of Aleister Crowley.

V. ?/White Scars: Jaghatai Khan

The Khan is now the only known Primarch of the eighteen to have no official miniature. He is quite challenging because, as with Magnus, the original sketches of the Khan are... let’s call them rough.

VI. ?/The Rout (“Space Wolves”): Leman Russ

The Russ were Vikings who intermarried with the inhabitants of what is called “Russia” in your timeline. These later served as mercenaries in the mid-late Eastern Roman/Byzantine Army.

The Varangian Guard/Varangioi were an elite group drawn from Vikings and their descendants. The “Varagyr” terminators are clearly based upon them.

VII. ?/Imperial Fists: Rogal Dorn

VIII. ?/Night Lords: Konrad Curze

Curze is named for Joseph Konrad, who wrote “Heart of Darkness” and that novel’s prime antagonist, Colonel Kurtz.

IX. Revenants/Blood Angels: Sanguinius

X. ?/Iron Hands: Ferrus Manus, “The Gorgon”

Ferrus Manus is bad Latin, erm, “High Gothic.” It roughly translates to “he with the iron hand.”

XI. Dust Raisers/Cu-Sith (“Hounds of Perdition”): Aenon, “The Blind King”

XIII. ?/Ultramarines: Roboute Guilliman

XIV. Dusk Raiders/Death Guard: Mortarion the Reaper

XV. “Thousand Sons”/Thousand Sons: Magnus the Red

The Fifteenth had no formal name before Magnus but were referred to unofficially as “the Thousand Sons” as a reference for their relatively low numbers and unselfish sacrifice. Per canon: Prior to Magnus, they had a sterling reputation for selflessness. Under Magnus, that sort of... changed, as the legion became more insular and less “reliable” as an ally from the perspective of many of the other legions.

XVI. Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus: Horus Lupercal

Lupercal/Lupercalia was an important Roman holiday; the meaning and dates changed over the s centuries, but it was essentially a New Year festival that celebrated the birth of Romulus and Remus and, later, the overthrow of the Etruscan kings of Rome. In Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” Marc Antony references the attempt to have Caesar crowned as king, a staged political maneuver in which he refused the title of king and “accepted” the title “Dictator Perpetuus” (“Ruler for Life”)

“You all did see on Lupercal that I thrice presented him with kingly crown. And thrice doth he refuses. Was this ambition?! And yet Brutus says it was, and sure, he is an honorable man...”

XVII. Imperial Heralds/Word Bearers: Lorgar Aurelian

Aurelian was a Roman emperor, a rather good one, who attempted to create a new state religion dedicated to Sol Invictus, “The Sun, Unconquered.” Sol was at that point conflated with Mithras, who famously slew the black bull of Chaos, and saved the world from a reign of darkness.

We among the Dark Gods fear Mithras, with good reason. How fortunate that the Emperor’s arrogance caused him to be (mostly) forgotten.

XVIII. Dragon Warriors/Salamanders: Vulkan

Vulkan, of course, is the Roman version of Hephaestus, the humane god of the Forge.

Vulkan and his sons, the most humane of the Space Marines were traditionally depicted as predominantly men of color: an important thing for the mun as the young child of a mixed racial background, and I suspect for many non-white gamers. In a revision, GW claimed that the Salamanders were not “black” but -literally- black, as a result of a gene-seed flaw. That didn’t go over well with certain members of the community, but it is not my place to unpack that. Except to say, as someone from the outside, that it was a fairly shitty thing to do (both mun and Malal agree on this point.)

Horus Heresy literature seems to be going back in the direction of an African/Afro-Caribbean origin for the eighteenth. When released, official Vulkan model was painted as a man of color, and many gamers follow suit. Of course, given the current human population distribution, and the likely concentration of any apocalyptic war scenario leading to an Age of Strife and the rise of The Emperor, it seems very likely that a -majority- of Astartes would be men of color.

XIX. Possibly “Emperor’s Talons” or something similar/Raven Guard: Corvus Corax.

Yes. Fairly obvious here.

XX. Twentieth Legion/Alpha Legion: Alpharius Omegon

This is somewhat important as a matter of lore/canon: Only the Emperor seems to have known that (spoiler alert!)Alpharius and Omegon were twins. Valdor probably knew. Of the primarchs, Leman Russ seems to have suspected, and Corax is implied to be at about the same place, but that’s just about it.

Mun: I’ll try to post a bit later on about what little we know about the lost legions. Malal posted about the subject two years ago, but not many seem to have seen it. With his permission, I’ll try to condense the relevant points of official canon and share, if there is interest.

We sincerely thank you for your question, little mortal. Remember that you can send an ask rather than starting a private convo as in this case, but both are perfectly fine!

#askmalal #malice #horus heresy #malal #warhammer30k #warhammer40k #ask me questions

[rxpertoire]

//just gonna answer them all for smth to do tbh

What was your first Final Fantasy? Would you recommend it to others for their first?

The first FF game I actually played was XV and yeah I’d recommend it. I know it catches a lot of flack but I really do enjoy it and I didnt feel too lost with any references to the wider final fantasy series. But I was also loosely into VII before that which is also a good one.

Which all Final Fantasy games have you played?

So I’ve played 7r, XV, XIV and I’m currently working my way through IX and og VII, and Crisis Core. Though I do know all of the other games to do with 7, including the mobile ones barely anyone else knows about, watching the cutscene movies and whatever. oh and i have VIII sitting on my sheft untouched that ive been meaning to start

What is your favourite Final Fantasy?

I truly don’t know. The entire 7 compilation is very good but XV is also very near and dear to my heart.

Is there a Final Fantasy you didn’t like?

As far as I’ve played, no? but I’m also not very picky 

Out of all the Final Fantasy you have played, which one was the hardest for you?

I’m struggling with og VII mostly because I simply do not like older games very often But i think probably XIV because I play games on easy mode always and you dont get that choice in an MMO

Which Final Fantasy would you consider your easiest?

So at some point i went into a part of XV super underleveled and got my ass instantly handed to me, and then i went back in time and did a bunch of grinding and was overleveled by a lot for the rest of the game so probably that? which was my own fault

Favourite party set up for any of the games.

@nascentgliint asked this one but I cant really answer it because I dont really play the games with party systems that are more optional.  At the moment in VII I think I’m just traveling with all the girls 

Have you played the online games?

Yeah~ though only xiv

What is your fondest memory from playing the games?

I think it was honestly the love I found for 7r and among the fandom. Id been in the fandom for a while but when 7r came out, I got a new muse and just fell in love with everything again completely.

What do you hope for in the next Final Fantasy?

aha i have no hope for the next game  Idk its summon based again I hope theyre all sexy 

Top 10 favourite characters?

This is going to be a callout okay Not in order but- 

Ardyn Izunia Noctis lucis Caelum Verstael Besithia  Tseng  Rufus Shinra Cloud Strife Kuja Zenos yae Galvus Asahi sas Brutus Emet-Selch Hythlodaeus

Your least favourite characters?

Least favourite is hard because when i dont like someone i just dont think about them  I truly hate Hojo and Hollander. I dont like Lucrecia. I hate XV Bahamut. 

Your OTP?

Mm too many. Sefikura, Zakkura, Promtis, ZenosWol, EmetWol, EmetAzemHyth, probably more

Who is your favourite villain?

I think this means main villain instead of all the little villains so Ardyn. But I could write you an essay on why he isnt the villain. Kuja is a close second. 

Who is your least favourite villain?

I guess he counts? Hojo. Fuck him.  He should count hes the main villain for DoC

What is your favourite summon?

I always tend to like Shiva and Leviathan. but XV Ifrit gets a mention because my god he could get it

But the Carbuncle, if it counts, in any form, is my favourite summon.

What is your least favourite summon?

I dont know if he counts but as a rule I hate every iteration of Gilgamesh(though i adore his XV version) But thats because I’m attached to Gilgamesh in lore and please stop making his boyfriend just some fucking monster square 

Favourite monster?

Ardyn

Least favourite monster?

I dont fucking like morbols one bit. they can go fuck themselves. every type of them

I also dont like tonberries but im a scholar main and the questline helped me come around on them at least for XIV

#[ooc]

[aion-rsa]

Rome: The Long Road of the Original HBO Epic

https://ift.tt/36frbPD

It was the biggest show ever produced when it premiered on HBO. Filming in exotic international locations and on sets that went on for blocks, it was an epic spectacle that many whispered couldn’t be done on television. Not with its hundreds of extras in lavish costumes, and not with its cast of more than a dozen major characters. Yet HBO gambled big with a budget that exceeded $100 million on its first season.

These details might be mistaken by many as the genesis of Game of Thrones. But before HBO’s song of ice and fire, this was also the origin of the first actual modern TV epic. It was the story of Rome.

In its debut, Rome was even more gargantuan in scale and opulent in design than Thrones’ first few years. Filmed at the legendary facilities of Cinecittà Studios in the actual Rome, HBO and showrunner Bruno Heller oversaw a vast recreation of antiquity during the life and times of Julius Caesar. From the austere grandeur of the pre-imperial Roman Forum to the eventual seediness of the gangs on the Aventine Hill, the final days of the Roman republic were reimagined in sweaty, shocking, and spectacularly expensive detail.

“We used the most modern scholarship, which suggests that all the sculptures were painted,” Heller says over Zoom as we reminisce about Rome and its Cinecittà extravagance 15 years after the series’ 2005 premiere. Every morning Heller would  be up at 4am, arriving early on set and getting lost in the art direction’s colors. “Walking out there at dawn into the Forum and seeing this world created, it was just magical. It gives me goosebumps now thinking about it, seeing a hundred [Gaul] tribesmen on horseback with great furry helmets charging down a hillside yelling, that sort of thing. No one makes things like that anymore. Even something like Game of Thrones would use CGI for the kind of things that we were doing for real.”

Actor Kevin McKidd, who played one half of Rome’s soul, the honorable to a fault Lucius Vorenus, expresses similar awe when he thinks back at what they accomplished.

“I mean listen, none of these budgets were small, but I think Game of Thrones ended up being smaller than ours,” McKidd correctly points out. Whereas Rome was budgeted at $100 million when it premiered, Game of Thrones debuted with a more reasonable starting price tag of $60 million. Says McKidd, “Ours, it was the first time anybody had tried this, so we just had to spend the money. And I think they figured out, it seems, ways to do it smarter or for less… because our show came out of the gate just huge and bawdy and big, and unapologetic.”

Heller is even more succinct in describing Rome’s making.

“Most films, and even TV, is planning for battle,” Heller says. “Planning for a big TV series like [Rome] is like planning for war, for a campaign. It’s invading Russia.” He pauses, “You have to think about the retreat, as well.”

This was Rome’s war: brief, bloody, and beautiful.

‘Very Unlikely to Be Made’

When HBO first hired Heller to take a crack at a Rome treatment, he didn’t think for a minute it would get made. In the early 2000s, HBO was a different place than it is now. The Sopranos and Sex and the City of course turned the premium cable network into the leader of the prestige cable revolution—or harbinger of peak TV as it would later be called—and the network had its eye on bigger and more dazzling projects. In 2001 HBO even released the most expensive miniseries ever up to that point with Band of Brothers. But that World War II-set series also had the names Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks attached as producers. The network still relied on bankability.

So when Heller took a meeting about Rome, he was acutely aware he’d be unable to lend that same prestige to a sword and sandals epic. He’d written some scripts before at HBO and admired the vision of then-HBO chairman Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss, then-president of HBO’s entertainment division. But he was being called in to discuss a show based on a preexisting miniseries pitch by John Milius and William J. MacDonald—a pitch the network was already wary toward.

“It’s one of those projects that’s really going for broke and very unlikely to be made, [given] the budget that was required,” Heller recalls of HBO’s attitude toward Milius and his vision. “They were paying me to write a script to take it at least to a respectable point at which time they can say, ‘Okay, thank you.’”

Citing himself as “cheap” at the time, Heller recognized it was easier to pay a young writer for a treatment than a whole production crew for a pilot. So he used the opportunity as an excuse to immerse himself in Roman history and lore. This began via conversations with his co-creators Milius and MacDonald. Their central conceit already had in place the three characters of young Octavian, the boy who would be Augustus, first Emperor of Rome, as well as Roman centurions Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.

In history, as with the series, Pullo and Vorenus were the only Roman soldiers who Julius Caesar mentioned by name in his journals. But other than being Roman centurions in the 13th Legion, not much else is known of the men. And Heller took his first major liberty when he lit on the idea of changing Pullo from a centurion to a coarse, insubordinate soldier beneath Vorenus’ command.

It was a savvy move that mapped the heart of the Rome series. Whereas most other fictions about this oft-dramatized era in history focused on the lives of the legendary patricians—be it Caesar and Octavian, or Marc Antony and Cleopatra—Rome would maintain all those characters and the lower tiers in daily Roman life. Through the introduction of Pullo and Vorenus, and their contentious friendship, the fall of the Roman republic suddenly becomes an upstairs/downstairs dramedy.

Says Heller, “The model that first sparked me on ‘oh, this is how to play it’ was [Tom Stoppard’s] Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, because the larger story is so well known, like Hamlet, that it’s hard to tell that story. The downstairs story has to be more compelling than the upstairs story, because the upstairs story, a little like Batman, is a given. It’s a myth. Everyone knows what happens.”

It also allowed Heller to dive into modern research.

“There was a lot of very recent scholarship at that time that transformed people’s sense of what Roman [history] was,” Heller explains. “There was much more about the everyday life of Roman people, about how people would have lived in apartment blocks in the insular working class life, and looking at it from that modern perspective.”

Reflecting on the dirtiness and filth that would be in the Roman Forum, the showrunner adds, “It’s lucky that practically every previous representation of Rome on any scale kind of went for the grand imperial late Edward Gibbon velvet drapes and marble columns. Even Gladiator went for that. Whereas, in fact, it looked much more like Calcutta or Bombay, and smelled like that.”

This also provided the writer the chance to explore Roman culture and custom with a greater push for authenticity than many Hollywood films of yore. For example, Heller attempted to learn how to read Latin at least as well as the uneducated Pullo—though he says he only got about as far as being able to recognize “oh that’s a pub” if he were walking the streets. More successfully he came to understand his vision of the Pagan working class mentality when he wrote a scene of Pullo praying to Portunus, the Roman god of locks and keys.

It all informed an extravagant treatment for a series he’d end up writing half the episodes of (and he tells us all 22 installments of the show passed through his typewriter before shooting). Yet, at least per the co-creator, what got Rome greenlit was as much his innovations as the developments of an entirely different epic series at HBO.

“[Chris Albrecht] was looking for something that had to be big and that they had to put money behind,” Heller says. “I think it was going to be Mel Gibson doing Alexander.” Indeed, at the same time HBO was developing Rome, the network was also working with the then-beloved Oscar winning director behind Braveheart for a 10-part series on Macedonian conquest.

“Then it turned out that Mel Gibson was going to do Alexander but he wouldn’t be Alexander,” Heller says. “[But] they didn’t want to be in business with Mel Gibson as a director-producer without Mel Gibson as [the star].”

As Gibson’s project imploded, Rome’s prospects would rise, sans any stars. Clearly things in the entertainment industry were about to change.

A Bottle of Tequila in the Roman Forum

When speaking with McKidd over Zoom, the actor’s affection for Rome is profound. Not 20 feet from his screen rests Lucius Vorenus’ sword, which he safely keeps in his own home. Similarly, within the actor’s mind resides nothing but warm memories. He reminisces about seeing his children spend summers growing up around the actual ruins of the Roman Forum and Colosseum during production; and he savors still the long nights at Cinecittà with British theater legends like Kenneth Cranham, a fellow Scotsman who played Pompey Magnus.

“It was an incredibly social time,” says McKidd. “It was almost like summer camp for British actors. We all got to live there; we went out for long dinners every night and we’d speak to Kenneth and all the older actors, who told us such amazing stories about all their time in the theater.”

But one relationship, perhaps the most significant of the entire series, was that shared by McKidd and his co-star Ray Stevenson, aka Titus Pullo. While there were of course other vital parts to the series, from worldly Ciarián Hinds as Caesar to Tobias Menzies’ despairingly well-intentioned Brutus—and one must never overlook Polly Walker’s Machiavellian Atia of the Julii (Heller’s favorite character)—the heart and soul of the series belongs to Pullo and Vorenus, the odd couple of 48 BCE.

Off-screen McKidd and Stevenson had known each other for years through mutual friends, but it wasn’t until they were in the final round of chemistry auditions in a Covent Garden hotel that they began a significant lifelong friendship. But then, it was a late epiphany to cast the red-haired and fiery McKidd as the straight-laced Vorenus.

For the actor, the process began early when he bumped into Heller, as well as executive producer Anne Thomopoulos and director Michael Apted, while in Romania. At the time, McKidd was there filming the TV movie Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004), as it was cheaper to shoot a period piece about 16th century Scottish court intrigue in eastern Europe than actual Scotland. The Rome team was entertaining a similar idea.

“I’m strutting around in my thigh-high leather boots and period costume, and we’re riding horses and swinging swords, and all that stuff and having a great old time,” says McKidd. “And I hear these American voices in the corridor, so I come out, and here is this guy called Bruno Heller.” They immediately got to chatting about the Danny Boyle movie McKidd did, Trainspotting (1996), and about this new TV series focused on ancient Rome. McKidd quickly prepared with his current director a film reel of himself riding horses.

Yet when HBO finally sent him a script, the producers didn’t want him for the Vorenus role; they saw him as Pullo.

Read more

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On the casting process, McKidd remembers, “I said to them, ‘I’d love to come in and read, but I would really much rather read for the part of Lucius Vorenus.’ And they were like, ‘No, we really see you as maybe Pullo, can you read for Pullo?’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ So I came in and I read for Pullo. And they’re like, ‘Okay.’ Then a week goes by, and they call and they say, ‘We really love you, but maybe can you come in and read for Marc Antony?’”

So it continued until McKidd begged to get a screen test for Vorenus. It even took so long he initially considered turning the series down in favor of indie projects he was already committing to. That was at least a thought he had on the set of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005) until word got around at the pub to co-star Liam Neeson.

“I came down to the bar and Liam was pointing his finger at me and he was like, ‘You, I need to have a word with you outside,’” McKidd says. “And I was like, ‘Ah shit.’” Out in a snow-covered Spanish countryside, Neeson commanded, “Go to a phone booth, find a phone right now. Call your agent and hope and pray they haven’t offered that part to somebody else.”

They had not, and soon enough McKidd was flying alongside Stevenson to the actual city of Rome.

“I remember me and Ray going to Rome in the spring… with Michael Apted, walking around this back lot at Cinecittà, and it was all just scaffolding at that time, there was no frontage. I remember Michael turned to me and Ray and said, basically, we can’t fuck this up, because it was so huge. It was so beyond anything that any of us had ever seen.”

With red paint chipping across weathered doors, and mules grazing in the squares, a Roman Forum unlike any other came alive in the same space where Martin Scorsese just filmed Gangs of New York. The sense of size and scale was overwhelming, as was the pressure on Stevenson and McKidd to anchor it. Fifteen years later, McKidd is candid about how that tension shaped each man and, in the actor’s mind, the series.

During the last day of production on the first season, after shooting had wrapped and festivities began, McKidd and Stevenson found themselves sharing a quiet set of stairs leading up to their Roman senate. Between them was a bottle of tequila. Off in the distance, the faint sound of wrap party debauchery was rising to a muffled roar, yet the central stars of Rome were keeping their own company and having a long overdue conversation.

“I don’t think Ray would be mad at me for telling this story because we’re still close friends and I love him dearly,” McKidd says with a measured tone. “Initially, he and I clashed. We just had very different styles. Ray’s this big larger than life personality, and as Bruno would say, I’m much more this ‘Presbyterian,’ or you could say a little more controlling… and we ended up at loggerheads a lot, and fighting, and being difficult in the first season.”

Yet as McKidd is quick to point out, this translated to perfect chemistry on the screen, as Pullo and Vorenus were often “at loggerheads” during the first season, which culminated with Vorenus’ life imploding on the same day as Caesar’s assassination. Meanwhile Pullo found some semblance of peace. But here in the twilight of a recreated Roman Forum, the season was getting a much needed post-script.

“The wrap party is going on somewhere, and we can hear the music,” McKidd says, “and he and I just sat out there sharing the bottle of tequila. And we had it out, you know? Because we both had been holding stuff in for the season about things that annoyed each other… We got all of it off our chest and we ended up just having a huge hug, and we threw this bottle, this [now] empty bottle of tequila, into the middle of the Forum. We made a pact with each other that from that point on we were going to be the closest of friends, and we still are.”

In many ways, it mirrored the coming dynamic between Pullo and Vorenus in season 2, which McKidd likewise recognizes.

“Our bond was unbreakable in the second season,” he says. “You see that chemistry shift and move, and morph throughout the two seasons, and it pretty much tracks Ray and my relationship.” And it would prove indispensable that second year, especially as both characters, like their actors, were forced to close ranks and face that the end was nigh.

The Cost of Doing Business Like the Romans Do

Founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini, the international renown of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios has long superseded its less than auspicious beginnings. Celebrated as the home to a highly skilled community of filmmaking artisans, Cinecittà’s name is inseparable with legendary filmmakers like Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, and Sergio Leone. And it’s been the site of landmark Hollywood productions, such as Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959), and even the notorious Cleopatra (1963). Yet as Heller points out, no American production has been back to Cinecittà since Rome.

Says the creator, “It’s Italy, I love it, and it’s part of the culture, but you were there to be picked over and for them to, in completely formal and legitimately legal ways, take as much money out of the production as possible.” He pauses to smile and choose his next words carefully about the difference between shooting a movie and TV series in that environment.

“With a series, you’re making long-term relationships,” he continues. “It’s like a marriage. A movie is a one-night stand. You can be a bastard to everyone on a movie and you’re never going to see them again. So the result is more important than the relationships. In a TV series, the relationships are more important, in the end. It’s pointless having a successful first season of a show and then you can’t do the second season because no one will work together.”

This is not to say the only reason Rome was prematurely cancelled had to do with frustrations over the cost of doing business in Rome—McKidd also cites, for example, Rome eating up too much of HBO’s production budget from other projects in 2006. Nonetheless, reports of high-finance rigamarole even reached the cast.

Says McKidd, “I heard enough to know [about] the scaffolding. I don’t know how many tons of scaffolding was used to build that set, but I remember one of the earlier conversations was, ‘We need to buy this much scaffolding.’ And the people at Cinecittà were like, ‘You can’t buy that much scaffolding, but you can rent it from my brother.’”

Both Heller and McKidd insist there was no criminality or dishonesty about this, and it was simply the way things are done. But for the creator, word was executives high above his pay grade were disturbed by the Byzantine labyrinth of Italian politics. So much so it became contagious throughout Hollywood.

“At one stage, the Italian government issued arrest warrants or provisional arrest warrants for all the fiduciary producers of the show,” Heller recalls. “And that’s a sort of a standard Italian business practice, but when buttoned-down straight-laced lawyers from New York are flying out to Rome and discovering that this is [how business is done], people were spooked.”

It was also just a contributing factor to Rome’s untimely cancellation, which occurred during the pre-production process of season 2—and before the series’ popularity would explode with the international DVD sales and second season launch.

Heller was so far into writing the second season that they were in prep, gearing up to film the second season premiere, when he got the call it was over. The havoc this wreaked on Rome’s remaining 10 episodes, with one of them ready to shoot, was immediate.

When the first season concluded, Gaius Julius Caesar was dead, Vorenus had lost the love of his life, and Rome was headed toward civil war. The second season was always meant to be the fallout of that war, with a study in the brief and doomed alliance of Marc Antony (James Purefoy) and young Octavian (Max Pirkis), as well as the woman between them, Octavian’s mother and Antony’s lover, Atia. All of that, plus the death of Brutus and the other conspirators, would still occur in season 2… but so would Antony’s flight to Egypt and the eventual civil war between a now adult Octavian (Simon Woods) and Antony and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal).

“I had to reconceive the second season basically from scratch,” Heller says with lingering exasperation. “Because when you take out that much history, the jump between the death of Caesar and Marc Antony taking over, and his death in Egypt, it was a huge amount of quite obscure but great, scandalous, fascinating, eventful history.” Most of it had to be jettisoned, too, between Brutus’ death and Antony declaring in his will that Caesar and Cleopatra’s son is Caesar’s true heir.

Some critics and fans were disappointed with the visibly breakneck pace of the second season. Others found it an exciting retelling of that period. One of Rome’s stars seems to be in the middle.

“I think the second season was successful in some ways, but it also feels, in my mind, a little rushed,” McKidd confesses. “And I think Bruno would say that too. Just because so much story was crushed and sort of concentrated down into season 2. I love [it], but I definitely felt like it was a lot condensed in.” 

And yet, McKidd and Heller both seem to lean more toward a satisfaction with it. In fact, the producer even suggests the ending with the ascension of Octavian to imperial status (he takes the title “First Citizen”) was the perfect grace note. While it’s well known among fans the series had a five-season bible with Cleopatra and Antony’s deaths originally marking the end of season 4, and season 5 following Vorenus and Pullo going to Palestine in time for the birth of Christ, that was never Heller’s favorite part. 

“That was one of the elements that Milius was fascinated by that I had no interest in whatsoever, frankly, trying to tie it in to the birth of Christ. Because, at the time, it meant nothing. It would have to be a completely different story. Put it another way, no Romans were worried or thinking about the coming of the Messiah.”

It was a Christmas story Heller didn’t want to tell. Even so, he had some interesting ideas already in place, including a vision of the ancient Holy Lands being closer to Monty Python’s Life of Brian than Ben-Hur.

“Palestine was in ferment at the time, and messiahs were popping up all over the place,” Heller says. “Judaism, at that point, was in a moment very much like Islam at the moment, full of passion and ferment and faith, and dreams of martyrdom.”

Like much else with Rome, it feels like a fascinating opportunity left unfulfilled, but one that the creator is glad to leave unexplored.

All Roads Lead to Rome’s Legacy

Rome shined briefly but brightly on premium cable. Premiering in the fall of 2005, it was gone by spring ’07. But even shortly after its cancellation, there were some small whispers of regret because of the show’s DVD sales; whispers that continue to be heard by stars of the series. McKidd says if you asked HBO in 2020, some would likely wince again at cancelling it, as he heard they did by the time season 2 aired. But “they couldn’t go back on that, or felt they couldn’t.”

But if it burned off like a Roman candle—with fire and thunder in its wake—the show still provided a roadmap for how to produce a massive spectacle as a television series.

“I think a lot of the producers that aren’t the ones that you hear about mostly, like Frank Doelger…  were all pivotal on Rome and went directly into Game of Thrones,” McKidd says. “Frank Doelger was one of the main producers, and he very much was the guy who whipped our show into shape and we learned a lot of lessons. So yeah, I think very directly, those people went into Game of Thrones and had learned a lot about how to do this kind of level [of production.]”

Heller likewise marvels at how HBO learned from Rome’s problems with its initially more affordable and tighter fantasy epic.

“The way they divided crews up in Game of Thrones, it was clever because there was always a general staff of central command, but they had more than one general, and they didn’t lose control of the generals,” Heller says.

And just as Rome carved a path for the modern era of epic television shows, Game of Thrones has now created a space for more diverse TV epics like Netflix’s The Witcher and Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

“[We were] ahead of the curve in the sense that it was too early,” Heller says. “But it’s not so much the audience [changed], as it is the appetite and the ability of networks and studios to make things of that size and to promote them and to market them, and to have faith and the courage to back them up.”

This series walked so that Peak TV could run. It’s a formidable legacy, and one that proves all roads in blockbuster television really do lead back to Rome.

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