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rohirric-hunter · 3 years

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Hathellang of Bree-land (Léonys of Rohan Pt. 7)

Part 1 | Part 6 | Part 8 | Part 10

So far I’ve only encountered one quest in LotRO that I found myself disagreeing with entirely. It’s during the Epic questline, just before the Battle of the Pelennor fields, and it’s called Reserves of Courage. The game has you encouraging some soldiers who are about to give up with rousing tales of your adventures, featuring such exemplary stories as: Balrogs, which TBH the soldiers probably didn’t think existed anymore. Mordirith, who you just found out yesterday is still alive and also can’t be killed and also is leading the assault on this city. Dol Guldur and its associated Nazgûl. Also the PC is explicitly losing hope themselves, and while there’s something to be said for a narrative of someone going through the motions to encourage other people with platitudes they don’t believe, I don’t feel that angle was effectively played. So. Yeah. This is my response to that quest.

The thing you gotta understand about Tolkien and LotR is “Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures” and also “I do not expect 'history' to be anything but a 'long defeat' - though it contains .... some samples or glimpses of final victory” but at the same time “the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.” Hathellang has always been much more “in tune” with LotR’s core themes than Léonys, a bit more hobbit-y, if you will, which is hard to showcase when the story isn’t told from his point of view (which is because I hate writing in his voice but that’s a whole other rant).

***

This is how it is to be Hathellang of Bree-land:

The basket in your arms is a heavy burden, and you gladly set it down with a dull rattling noise on the battlement beside Celonor, who gives you a quizzical look. You can’t blame him; you’d hardly explained yourself before heading off to the Thirsty Seer to fetch it. You draw back the cover and produce two mugs in one hand and a large jug of beer in the other -- nothing fancy, as you have precious little money left, but you tasted it and it’s of decent quality, something of a nuttier, lighter version of Barliman Butterbur’s favored homebrew.

Celonor and the men behind him brighten up as they realize what it is you’ve brought, and gather around, taking the mugs of ale you hand out and then spreading out around the walltop again, still eyeing you curiously as you fill one for yourself.

You settle down on the battlement, swinging your legs around so you’re facing out, eastward towards Osgiliath and Mordor beyond it, and you can’t help but suppress a shiver at the sight. The men behind you have given into despair. How can you hope to have victory, indeed? Somewhere in the ruined city across the smoking Pelennor fields stands Mordirith, returned from death somehow, unable to be killed, and the drink turns to ash in your mouth.

Léonys had stood before Mordirith in Angmar, hurling insults and threats even as the terror forced her to her knees, crouched over the body of Lorniel or trying desperately to distract him from Golodir when the Ranger was broken by false visions of his daughter. You had stood behind her, and behind every word she spoke, but that is how Léonys channels her courage; through anger, and through determination, and through fighting every step of the way, even when victory seems impossible. You have never been so strong.

You think, wryly, that you ought not to have followed the Grey Company at Léonys’ urging. Blind devotion had overridden the voice of sense in your head that whispered that she ought not to be left alone, not after the way she had followed Gimli out of the caves in the back of Helm’s Deep like a skittish goat, eyes darting everywhere and seeing nothing, and the high-strung way she had spoken to you and managed to say everything and nothing at once. Perhaps it would not have if you had known then what she had left behind in those caves. Even now you know very little, an incomplete and hastily told account from Candaith, who had not been present for most of the events he spoke of, and had been reluctant to tell you what Léonys had chosen not to tell for herself. If you could do that morning over, perhaps you would have chosen differently, but you cannot, and you did not, and now you must play the hand you have been dealt.

You straighten your shoulders and lift your mug to your mouth again, stirring yourself from the memory. How can you hope to have victory? There is no hope for victory. You do not belong here. You are not a warrior or a leader; you are a thief, and your skills lie in hiding and lying and misdirection. But there is no leaving the White City now.

“You said that Echadon wished for you to speak to us, but you have said precious little,” Celonor says. “Is it true then, that there is no hope?”

You close your eyes, and then open them, drawing your gaze closer, to one of many towers of smoke rising from the fields below. “What was the Pelennor like?” you ask.

“What?” says another voice, from behind you and to your right.

“Before… everything,” you say. “What was it like?”

Some shuffling and murmuring. You do not look back. “Andor lived there,” someone says. “Tell him, Andor.”

Another pause, and then another voice speaks, of an older man, tinged with fear. “I own -- owned a farm, to the south, over there. “We grew… beans mostly, but my wife had a flower garden.”

You look back to follow where Andor is pointing. In the darkness you cannot make out the farm, if indeed anything remains to be seen, but you nod knowingly anyway. “What kind of flowers?” you ask.

Andor looks at you the exact same way Keeper Brombard Foxtail had looked at you when you had asked him about Mithril from the Michel Delving Mathom house, and it is that, more than anything, that brings the light back to your heart in that single moment as you stifle a laugh. “Primroses, mostly,” he says. “Snake’s head. Mostly primroses.” For a moment, silence reigns, and you scan the faces, confused, fearful, and heartbreakingly sad.

Andor continues. “There are great clusters of wood anemone beneath the Rammas in the south. She did not grow them; they are best kept away from farmland, and they don’t grow well in the open fields. But she loves them, and they are quite beautiful. Have you seen them?”

You are reasonably certain that you have, but you shake your head anyway, and Andor comes and settles on the battlement beside you. He is grizzled, not shaven well due to a scar that runs across his chin, and his skin corroborates his tale of long hours spent working in the sun, though he wears his armor with a comfort that speaks of habit. “They blanket the grounds beneath the wall, and in the woodlands beyond, clusters of leaves of the boldest green, and small white flowers with six petals. Our daughter calls them the eyes of the land, watching out for us.” He takes a long drink from his mug and then sighs. “I suppose it’s all dead now, though.”

You set your mug aside and draw your legs up onto the battlement, wrapping an arm around them. “I wish I could see it,” you say, and take a deep, shaky breath. “It’s beginning to be springtime, where I’m from. The wildflowers will be blooming in the fields; violets, marigolds, primroses. Mostly violets.” You raise your eyes to Osgiliath again as you continue. “Helena -- my sister, I suppose -- Helena will be starting her garden. She grows potatoes and onions, but last year she tried her hand at carrots. They were terrible. I can’t figure how you can ruin carrots but she did it, somehow. There’s a festival in the springtime; a hedge maze, baking and eating contests, horse races, dancing. Drinking. Lots of drinking. The winter rains move off and the new rains are gentle and warm.”

There’s an eerie silence on the walltop now. Even the wind seems to have fallen silent. You shiver in the suddenly chill air.

You drag your gaze away from Osgiliath and turn, looking at the eight or so men that stand behind you. Their eyes are bleak, as bleak as your own must be. You can read on their faces that they know what you are thinking. They do not -- cannot know about Angmar, or the Barrow-downs, or the orcs and bandits that roam freely across the fields around Bree-town, but they know that there is evil there, read the fear in your voice that upon your return, if you do return, there may no longer be eating contests, or a hedge maze, or horse races. And even if there are, if these things persist for a little in the face of Sauron’s inevitable power, how long? How long before even the memory of them fades?

This, then, is the difficult bit.

You throw back and drain your mug, setting it down with a harsh clatter on the battlement beside you. A stiff gust of wind sweeps past and you stand up, and draw your cloak about yourself.

“So there is no hope.”

It is not a question, but you respond anyway. “Not really, no.”

“Then why do we prepare for battle?” someone demands, and you hear the clatter of another mug hitting the stone of the battlement.

You shrug, turning back to face the men behind you. “What’s the other choice?” you ask.

Andor looks about, eyes darting shiftily, before speaking. “The Withered Tree promises mercy if we surrender.”

“Well, that’s definitely not going to happen,” you say, matter of factly, “if your orcs are anything like the ones back home.” There is some disgruntled murmuring; they can read the truth in your voice as clearly as they read the doubt. “It’s how most things worth doing get done,” you say. “You’ve come this far, so you might as well go a step further, and then a step after that. We’re here, and we can’t leave, so we might as well fight.”

There’s a long pause. “You are not a strong motivator,” Celonor says.

“Oh, that’s very true,” you reply, picking up the jug and pouring a little more beer into your mug. “I’m right, though.” You don’t wait for a response before forging ahead. “I probably won’t go home. It’s too much to hope for. But it’s what I want. And I want it enough to fight for it, even if I don’t expect it to happen.” You hold out a hand for Andor’s mug. “Does the Withered Tree promise a farm that grows beans and a flower garden with primroses and wood anemone in the woodlands?”

The man shakes his head as he hands you the mug, smiling grimly and sadly. “You have only been here a few days. There is no victory against the Enemy.”

“Of course not,” you say. “But there’s no victory in surrender.”

Celonor frowns. “And you’re willing to die for that -- for a hope that you don’t believe you’ll ever see?”

“I’m willing to live,” you correct him. “If I was dead, then I wouldn’t be worrying about any of this.” The mugs are plain clay, cracked glaze offering textures that you run your fingers over contemplatively for a moment before handing Andor his refilled cup. “I have a great deal to live for, and it would be nice, if I could see it again.” You meet his eyes, and the eyes of the men behind him. “Do you have nothing to live for?”

“You are right in this,” Celonor says, looking out over the field. “Men of Minas Tirith have much to live for. Let it never be said that we quailed before the hosts of Mordor, not while the White City yet stands.”

Andor nods as well. “My wife and daughter traveled westward, with the last of the wains. I would see them again, and no orc-host will let me live in peace with my family.”

Murmurs of agreement rise from the walltop, and with a small twitch of your lips you raise your mug. “To living,” you say. “Even if it’s not for much longer.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Celonor says.

“Aye,” says Andor, and mugs clink against each other, a tiny spark of life amid the dread that hangs over the Tower of Guard.

Part 1 | Part 6 | Part 8 | Part 10

#lotr #lotro #lord of the rings #lord of the rings online #lord of the rings online fanfiction #lotr oc #leonys of rohan

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wanderingchocolateeclair · 3 years

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Twelve people I’d like to get to know better.

I’m gonna cry, I just wrote this whole thing out in a reblog but it won’t let me reblog and it just failed and deleted it ahhhhhh. Here we go again!!

Tagged by: @ohpleaseiwillendyou and @theshisthings

Tagging: idk who to tag so uhhh anyone who would like to!! I’d love to get to know any of my mutuals, followers and everyone in between aha ❤️

Name: Eclair

Birthday: 24th June

Zodiac sign: Cancer

Height: I don’t know but around 170cm (haven’t measured my height in quite a while)

Hobbies: playing violin, singing, writing, acting, drawing + daydreaming

(We’ll just take this as 6) Favourite books: I don’t really read much anymore which is sad but Harry Potter, LOTR + Hobbit

Last song listened to: “Faded” by Alan Walker

Last show watched: “Cursed” on Netflix (my mum dragged me into watching it, it wasn’t too bad)

Inspiration for (says muse?? I’ll just put drawing/writing): it comes out of thin air and never hand in hand with the motivation to actually draw/write the idea. I have full pages of notes of ideas that I keep on forgetting. Often different smells, sounds and scenes will spiral me into hours of daydreaming which is where a lot of my random ideas come from actually.

Meaning behind URL: uhhhh I was eating a chocolate eclair at the time of making my blog. I didn’t know what to name it, panicked for some reason, and so I am now “Eclair”.....I think my first thought was just ‘ah yes *looks down at the pastry in my hand* eclairs!!! I like those’ haha

Ahhh thanks for the tag....I’m so annoyed that I had to write that out twice lmao

#lil facts about eclair!

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phoenixrisesoncemore · 4 years

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Index Post (updated 11.12.20)

So, I feel like some housekeeping is in order. Hence: an Index Post!

I have this organized into three main categories: Tolkien, The Untamed, and Other (film, art, books, games, life, etc.). Items are ordered from oldest to newest. The number of asterisks indicates length. “[reblog+]” indicates that the original post is not my own, but I added thoughts with a reblog (because I’m bad with Tumblr etiquette). Ultra short pieces are grouped near the bottom of each section.

Post links below the cut.

Additionally! I also have almost 100 in-progress posts in my drafts. I need to finish some, but I think at this point I need some guidance on where to go next, once I finish project 1 and write 3 more prompt ficlets. This is where you come in! I’d like to open my ask box up to reader suggestions on what to work on next. Go to THIS POST for a list of upcoming posts to choose from.

Tolkien Meta

"The Magic Ring” (On my favorite piece at Maker of Middle-earth) *

Reckoning Nothing of Wizardry or War (On my favorite line in LotR) *

Tolkien and the Far Tree (thoughts on Letter #96) *

Whom Morgoth Made (on the first mention of Sauron in the Primary World) *

When the Far Tree Becomes Near [reblog+] *

How to Destroy Your Enemies and Influence People (more Sauron, this time regarding Numenor) **

The Inverted Mountain (On the moment Frodo claims the Ring. Sauron-centric) *

IANAL but... (on Parma Eldalamberon 17) *

Fixation and Attachment Can Lead to Missing Fingers *

J.R.R.T.: A Film Portrait of J.R.R. Tolkien *

Sauron’s Canonically Pretty Handwriting [reblog+] *

The Little House of Lost Play **

The Changing Depictions of Sauron in Tolkien Art *

The Whole Damn Thing Is Fallen (The Problem of Evil; also Tolkien) **

The Whole Damn Thing Is Fallen: part 2 (same as above plus cosmology) ***

Ordering Reality (How Sauron and Tolkien were both Conlangers) *

Subcreative Aspects As Split Between the Ainur [reblog+] *

Valie Evolution, Varda and Nienna, and Marian Imagery [reblog+] ***

The Ring of Barahir and Snake Imagery [reblog+] *

Gandalf, Perspective, Humor, and Humility [reblog+] ***

LotR on Prime Tidbits: 1 | 2

25 Year Reread: 1 | 2 | 3

The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling/Mo Dao Zu Shi) Meta

But Whose Deontology? (early thoughts about moral tension between wangxian while first watching The Untamed) ***

Episode 45: Image and the Second Flutist *

Jiang Cheng, Golden Cores, and Goodness [reblog+] **

LWJ and WWX in Love [reblog+] **

Feels, Feels, Feels (thoughts on LWJ, WWX, and The Song) **

WWX, Drinking, and Consent [reblog+] **

Sharing Your Childhood (personal recollections on why WWX showing LWJ around Lotus Pier spears me through the heart) *

It’s a Hard World for Good Things (thoughts on goodness, metaphysics, and epistemology in the world of CQL/MDZS) ***

More About WWX and Image [reblog+] *

Immortal Together? *

CQL and Flowers [reblog+] **

Replacement Scenes [reblog+] *

Oblivious (personal reflections on one of the reasons I identify so much with Wei Wuxian) *

Lotus Seed Pod Bouquet *

How LWJ Got His Broken Leg *

MDZS/CQL RPG Thoughts ***

WWX and Wen Yuan: Orphans in Yiling *

What if Mo Xuanyu knew Wangxian?**

Untamed Tidbits: Episode 46: WWX and JC | Is Benevolence Arrogance | LSZ is a Good Boi | Censorship and Fan Ethics | Emperor’s Smile [reblog+] | MDZS ch99 | Yi City | CQL vs MDZS actors | On the Most Impractical Way of Carrying Your Sword | In Love [reblog+] | LQR Qi-deviates | Villainous Friends | Ethical/Sexual Tension | Lan Clan Principles Swap [reblog+] | Backwards and in Heels | Masks | Voice Actors [reblog+] | An Untamed Carol {reblog+] | CSSR, LQR, Mothers and sons [reblog+] | That Bed Carving [reblog+] | The Undead Are a Fact of Life | LWJ’s Self-branding [reblog+] | Wangxian Lullaby

Untamed/MDZS Art and Fic

50 Kisses Prompt 1 (ficlet)

50 Kisses Prompt 2 (ficlet/portion of larger unfinished 1929 Untamed AU)

50 Kisses Prompt 3 (ficlet)

1929 Untamed AU art: Drawing | WIP color

Drawtober 2020: single post compilation | all posts

Wangxian Lotus picking art: WIP Sketch for painting

Other Stuff About Life and Loves

The Poet of Prague (a short summary of the life and work of my favorite photographer, Joseph Sudek) *

The Five Toys I Never Had (Christmas silliness and nostalgia) **

The New Motive Power (the strangest moment in Spiritualism) **

Wrighting, Writing, and Righting *

In Her Honor (on how my grandmother gave me a precious gift) **

The Magnus Archives ep 116: Automata *

Automata Again *

On Indescribable Wow (thoughts on the moments when the world-machine is exposed) *

The Feast of the Annunciation at 35,000ft (musings on panic disorder, x-men/Phoenix, Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth, and the power of stories) ****

Gazing Past The Valacirca: Happy Birthday Hubble **

Tidbits: Portrait of Adele [reblog+] | Things My Husband Has Said to Me: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Met Opera Grumpiness | It’s a Hard World for Little Things | Grosseteste’s De Luce |

#index post #pinned #housekeeping

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whetstonefires · 4 years

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"the top three of its forty floors are filled with brass telescopes of every size, pointing in every possible direction, including several that do not exist within the normal three dimensions of space." thats SUCH a cool image / "If any harvest will come." ooh i wonder whats going on / "The roofs are of red tile, the stucco of the houses painted in shades of blue. It stands empty, but has not had time to fall into disrepair." the little bits of detail getting added to the picture im LOVE (1/?)

I’m gonna do these all as one post but broken up for ease of reference, I think.

Thank you! 🥰 Deciding the theme for the Tower and giving it that visual anchor really helped to pull things together. If you consider the whole setup, it seems unlikely the Tower was originally built as an observatory, since those tend to benefit from height (especially if you’re looking around you rather than up, but for the up ones also) and the builders could easily have put it on top of a mountain or at least some hills, but instead put it by the river. It’s above sea level, and it’s away from light pollution, but there were better locations. Nearby.

So either it wasn’t an observatory, and it’s been refitted as one, or they had so many observatories they didn’t care about locating them optimally, there was some other factor making having the tower there important even if it was suboptimal in terms of observation capacity. Or, potentially, it’s been moved since it was built!

:} Yay thank for being interested by the foreshadowing. I tried to put just enough in without actively overshadowing the actual place-setting-up and making the reader impatient with the description.

"If you look through an enchanted telescope you may see trees without needles fail halfway up the nearest of the great peaks, and even these fail before the top, though there is a span of nearly barren stone past that line, before the snow begins." you: mentions different plants living in different climates me: :0 / there's so much good description!! its all so pretty!! (2/?)

sflka;l;jlk i mean yeah, that’s pretty straightforward isn’t it. But! It establishes How Much Mountain it is visually rather than by saying ‘it was a big fucking mountain’ or ‘it was tall enough for the thinness of atmosphere near the top to create a small tundra region.’

o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

<3 Thank you! I kinda cut loose lmao.

"blocks veined with every color, pale blues and purples, reds and greens and golden-duns all mottling toward white and grey and black" god i want to live there so badly!! this tower is meeting all my standards!! cool pretty magic tower with rad telescopes!!! / "make a remark no one present understands about a Doctor named Seuss. His guide, the dousing tracker Amnaphi, will assume this person to be a famous astronomer from his homeland." im love!! misunderstandings about references!! (?/?)

💗💖✨ Yay! That’s an important feeling to create in fantasy, imo. The wanting.

I really enjoyed playing with the standard forms for ‘thing made of marble’ here, because all these marbles really exist, but in spite of the existence of the word ‘marbled’ our narrative uses of it tend to be tied up with Neoclassical aesthetics. So very white and smooth, yeah?

Also idk if it’s obvious to the reader but this Tower is to some degree in dialogue with Orthanc, which made a great impression on my mind as a child as the iconic wizardly tower, and while I don’t disagree with any of Tolkien’s use of symbolism for the purposes he was deploying it, there’s so much potential in Isengard as a setting that LotR had no space to explore, even if Tolkien would have noticed those angles at all.

Like...the parkland around the Tower is shown being despoiled for the orcish war machine and then reconquered by the forest, but of course it wasn’t forest to begin with. What was it for before Saruman lost his shit? Ordered gardens, for peaceful contemplation? Who dedicated the space that way? Who maintained it?

Did Saruman employ a gardener? Did he design his own gardens, or did they come with the keep, which we’re informed was built not by him but by the Numenoreans?

(“I liked white better” is still one of the greatest lines in a fantasy novel, Tolkien does not get enough credit for his contextually hilarious one-liners that rely on pointed code-switching, but Saruman’s evil rainbow oil-slick robes also sounded really baller and it’s kind of a shame they were not attempted for the movie lol.)

The fact that this is a world designed around a kid getting portal-fantasied into it and staying for 30 years really gives me some options which are fun to deploy but also like. Risky lmao. Because it encourages the reader to surface from the setting-logic and apply their own perspective, which can really break up the magic.

Being able to zoom out on the Tower after all that detail and be like ‘it’s awesome but also it looks like something Doctor Seuss would draw’ was fun though.

"Within the even hexagon of its outer wall, the Tower encloses a great parkland, enough that if it was all put under cultivation it could easily feed as many people as could live in the Tower itself." the tower has PLANTS i love it so much / "Ten Years’ Winter" god PLEASE tell me this is going to get into the agriculture and society stuff game of thrones didn't about long winters that would be SO cool / "Watchers of the Stars" AND they have a cool name holy shit (?/?)

Plants are important! As is food supply. As everyone who’s been reading this blog for a while already knows I think lol.

I mean, it’s not about that, really? The Ten Years’ Winter is a historical event--the most recent meteor impact severe enough to have global climate fallout. The dust it kicked up took a while to settle, and the famines were pretty severe.

But the cultural consequences of something that happened a hundred and fifty years ago exist, and are important, including the relationship between governance and disaster preparedness, which varies a lot regionally as you may imagine.

Astronomy has a long history as a wizardly sort of activity in the real world, both because it’s had continual overlap with astrology and just because the process has always been mystical and abstruse. In this setting, with a history of both devastating meteor impacts and being invaded from the Moon, but also actual magic, it’s got more obvious practical importance. Although since neither of these are remotely everyday occurrences, the average person on the street might not agree lol.

So it’s on the one hand a purely descriptive title, and on the other hand a serious boast, suggesting as it does that they are primarily responsible for Watching The Sky For Stuff. While also having broader philosophical implications and just sounding nice lol.

You gotta have good marketing if you want to persist as a wizardly order, because if talented students aren’t motivated to come to you how will you gain new members? Natural replacement is not an ideal strategy to say the least. That’s how you turn into a cult instead of an intellectual powerhouse.

"The northern third of the Tower’s park contains neatly regimented orchards, apples, pears, plums, and a few rows of carefully tended peaches and apricots, all clipped flat against low brick walls angled south and slightly west." hhh t r e e s / "wizards, while enthusiastic about innovation in the abstract, hate change." me too, wizards. me too / "The Tower grounds are filled with refugees." ooh now we get to why everything was empty earlier (?/?)

Trees! Which are also food!

And technology lol. Greenhouses built against fruit walls with good insulation are so much more sensible than ones heated from inside. Obviously as a passive solar-powered technology these only work when the sun is available and not, for example, cut off by a giant dust cloud.

These people are fairly acutely aware of their dependence on the sun and it figures prominently in a majority of their religions and their magical theory, even more than in ours.

There seems to be a mild consensus that the wizards are relatable. In truth: we are all wizards. :D

Yup! At long last lol.

"This division corresponds imperfectly to the usual split of the town by the course of the Meroda." because people!! take comfort!! in what normalcy they can find!! / "Makeshift pallets line the spaces between every fruit wall—the injured are being laid out here, now that the Tower is full, to get the benefit at night of the warmth meant to mature fruit." the awesome magic tower people trying to do everything they can for the injured who come to them for help in case i thought i couldn't be (?)

more in love / "Half of them are making ready to turn south along the Meroda." oh nooooo / "but the Moon People are the successors of the ancient magics, and just because they could not break the walls the last time they came, according to legend, does not mean they have not worked out a method now." im so worried for the people oh no (?)

Yeah! It really seemed natural. But of course they also aren’t recreating it obsessively; lots of people are grouping up with relatives who normally live across the river, or with people in the same line of work on the river, because people also adapt to circumstances.

No institution is ever perfect, of course, but I’m glad the Watchers have come across this way so far. They’re broadly well-intentioned and mostly well-organized.

And they were not ready for this.

A significant fraction of the reason for the order of the Watchers to exist at all, particularly in this observatory with its great eye fixed ever on the face of the green moon, is to be able to warn the world if this ever happens again. But the Moon People knew they were being watched, this time, and they kept all the build-up to mobilization that might have given them away on the far side of the moon until the last minute.

What the Magister is doing, as I hope was made clear or at least successfully indicated--I wish your commentary on the ending had come through!--is summoning what turns out to be an actual child from another world to do hero stuff.

Even if he’d gotten an adult that would be kidnapping someone to help with your problems, a routine element of the portal fantasy whose ethics have been addressed in a variety of ways, most famously ‘is Lion Jesus and always right.’

The reason they need a hero from another world is that the Moon People build a lot of their wards and their offensive and disabling magical attacks around a targeting system based on what planet people are from, because even though they’re originally from the same stock--they’re the descendants of ancient moon colonists who evacuated ahead of a major meteor impact somewhere approaching four thousand years ago--on a magical level having been born and raised on the planet or the moon makes a pretty huge difference.

So no one can get into the place their magic space elevator is anchored and fuck it up so they can’t keep bringing troops and supply in and loot out. Their single supply line is their only strategic weakness, and they’ve taken appropriate precautions.

Getting someone in from a third location is the best idea anyone’s been able to come up with in the very limited time available. Since no one can figure out how to turn one of the Moon People against the cause they came here for, on short notice, when they aren’t even stopping to talk to anyone so far. Like, that’s clearly not going to happen.

Heron Yl Fanult isn’t unaware that it’s ethically questionable, but he’s doing it anyway.

So I’m glad the ominous imminent oncoming of the Moon People can really be felt, because that atmosphere is fairly essential context for the decisionmaking going on at the top of the Tower.

"Young wizards sit in their bunks, six each to rooms that were previously individual, and hold lighting cupped dancing in their palms." a quick break from being worried to point out that this is rad as hell / "some with their heads decorously covered..." cultural differences!! especially with regional purposes like the Hedro!!

Thank you! 😆💖 I thought so too lol.

It also establishes the parameters of the magic system a little more. Throwing lightning bolts is pretty iconicly high-powered, right? And here it’s what most of the student wizards are practicing in anticipation of a battle, because most of them aren’t specced into combat and this is actually one of the easier lethal spells to master, especially if you have an academic background.

‘Electrocute’ isn’t a very flexible spell and it’s easy to lose control of, but it’s actually easier than, say, ‘set on fire to a significant degree in a non-electrical manner’ because concentrating a lot of heat in a certain location takes a lot more brute force than encouraging ionization.

You can pull most of the actual destructive force for the palm lightning spell out of the physical air and/or earth if you grasp the principles, which is much easier than channeling a comparable amount of magic directly because it doesn’t have to go through you.

The limiting factors on magic in this setting are how much power you can tap into and how much of it you can actually use without hurting or killing yourself. It’s not usually a lot, though the amount can be increased by things like choosing your workspace, prepping your workspace, and a whole lot of practice and meditation and things like that.

Magical traditions that get bundled under the heading of wizardry tend to focus on force multiplication, obtaining enough contextual understanding of a subject to make whatever power is applied go further. This means a lot of studying theory and using magic to make observations (such as the existence of microorganisms and their connection to disease) and often results in making clever devices based on what you’ve learned that may not actually wind up being magical at all.

Which is why the solar greenhouse proposal is considered ‘more wizardly’ than the fruit walls, which are wizardly in the first place even though the technology is pretty widespread at this point--it’s carried the principle of minimizing the energy you have to invest to get the result you want to the logical conclusion, where you don’t have to do any magic at all, you just set up the situation and get out of the way and the sun will do the work for you.

Other schools of magic, particularly religious ones, are more likely to emphasize just getting better at handling energy for yourself, which tends to yield a lot more in the way of immediate practical dividends and in a lot of quarters wizards who don’t do something obviously practical like physic or smithcraft with their theoretical background are considered crackpots or dilettantes

An impression helped along by the fact that being taken on as a student of wizardry at a basic level tends to focus more on your reading comprehension than your ability to actually do any magic, so in places where religious and wizardly institutions coexist the most talented students have a tendency to gravitate toward the religious life. This is particularly marked in areas religiously dominated by the Compact of the Golden Circle, wherein full ordination is contingent on being able to pull off certain fairly hefty rituals, so if you aren’t physically or mentally up to that kind of magical heavy lifting your religious career will stall out in one of the lay fraternities. In some of the cities on Sutouchel, the landmass to the southeast where the Compact is based, a slang term for wizard is ‘sanctum washout.’

But of course force multiplication is something that can scale up pretty far, and studying theory doesn’t stop you from also putting work into your practical skills, and not having talent isn’t the only reason someone would choose not to seek out a clerical career, if it’s even an option. Religion along the Meroda is pretty localized; communities tend to have local deities who correspond to a natural feature like the nearest mountain or the river or something, and if that deity rates a fulltime shrine the keeper also tends to be the major local medical provider, and since the wizards got settled in at the Tower it’s become pretty popular for shrinekeeping families to send their kids there for a year or two to get some educational polish in addition to what their parent already emphasized.

So depending on where you live and what your personal experience has been you’re going to have very different ideas about what wizards are good for.

Hrm. I’ve gone on a tangent. But that wound up taking so long you came back! :D I love it when being turtle works out in my favor.

Or was this actually the meta I was supposed to be doing in the first place? Aaaaa who knows.

im fairly confident you said eight asks survived so this is number nine? anyways onwards! "The hale survivors of the First Battle of the Second Descent sit waiting in their leathers, jack-chains and helmets laughably inadequate armor against the coming danger, and yet the best hope now just as they were on Carun Tol once the wizard fell" i have a lot of emotions about how their best bet is also a terrible bet but its all they have (9/?)

Yes 8.

Woo, thank you! ^^ & I love that you described it that way because that also describes the ‘summon alien’ spell Yl Fanult is casting and echoing the same emotional theme throughout the scene was very much the goal here.

"Threads have escaped from the braids pinned across the top of her skull: she has not had the chance to take them down for two days." god just the continuation of how desperate everything is / "He leans forward to peer through the narrow glass that has been turned on its articulated base to face the middle of the room, and relaxes very slightly. At least there has been no catastrophic alteration there, either." what does that one do id assume theres no approching army in the middle of the room -

:D Yeah, the fact that one of the chief medics available is already overworked to the point of neglecting nonessential personal hygiene and the enemy isn’t even here yet I hoped would resonate.

Well, remember how some of the telescopes at the beginning point in directions not included in the normal three dimensions of space? :}

- "trained as it long has been upon the face of the moon" also forgot to mention their enemies being from the moon is Rad As Hell / "He snaps his fingers for a spark that falls into the deep circular groove full of distilled spirits, and steps through that as well. He is not burned." ooooh whats he doing / "At his feet lie a glittering piece of gold ore, a moonstone, and a carefully sanded round of pumice." i see the connection to the moonstone bc moon army but i wonder about the others -

Thank you! It took a fair amount of poking before I decided it was a solid approach; it provides just enough physical alienation that there’s no direct cultural relationship and you can have that ‘everyone in the entire world Disliked That’ vibe, without needing to create any complicated magical and cultural explanation for such a long run of isolationism. They were out of contact because they were On The Moon.

Also I really get a kick out of putting space invaders in a fantasy setting in a way that stops just short of turning into sci-fi.

I’m glad the ritual lead-up is exciting! Even if the foreshadowing wasn’t as obvious as I thought it was lol. That’s fixable.

Gold is for the sun, moonstone is yeah for the moon lol (although in other circumstances people also use jade, because it’s been a long time since the moon was uniformly silver on account of it having been terraformed a few thousand years ago) and pumice is for the world--it’s a stone full of air that floats on water, so it’s popular as an anchoring device for rituals that call on all three local celestial bodies.

"He cannot take much time. He has only until the ring of fire dies." whats he doingggggg / anyways i love this so much!! the descriptions are gorgeous and im so invested in all of everything!! i hope you write more im so curious about it all!!

XD Ok I covered this already, I would have saved it for down here or Been Mysterious if tumblr hadn’t eaten the last few asks the first time lol. Thank you so much again! For encouragement! Before and now! I’ll try! To keep it going!

Here’s hoping this successfully posts, tumblr just kicked me onto New Dashboard again and disabled the turn-it-off button, so now my alternate posting strategy is borked up too. 🤞😅😘

#hoc est meum #ask #worldbuilding #a nonny mouse #the tower of sight #people say nice things #long post #<3

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longletterpenpals · 4 years

Text

heyo lads

Name: Lizzie Age: 16 Location: London Contact: @notcrnes on tumblr, Squiro #2037 on discord, @hatful.of.hollow on instagram About me: I guess im doing this because i dont really have any friends in real life who share interests with me - plus i just find the idea of sending letters super fun. I don't really know what to write haha so i guess ill just list my interests/stuff about me:

-music: pink floyd, the smiths, joni mitchell, led zeppelin, the stone roses, bjork, radiohead, the last shadow puppets, bob dylan, joji, joy division, the velvet underground, awfultune + similar artists

-im a HUGE lotr nerd and im also trying to get back into dnd :-) - if you like lotr thats a million bonus points

-philosophy: im mostly interested in Nietzsche and Sartre, so i guess id identify myself as an existentialist

-I love history !!

-games: the sims, minecraft and cities skylines

-i love fashion too - my style is kind of a mish mash of grunge, punk, goth and Parisian 30's lesbian

-art: ive been drawing for as long as i can remember and its always been a huge passion of mine, I've had a dip in motivation for the past year or so but i'm trying to get back into it !

-films: the shining, pulp fiction, the big lebowski, the lord of the rings (p much all i watch nowadays tbh), monty python, the grand budapest hotel, carrie, leon the professional, the dead poets society, arrival, the breakfast club, anything with audrey hepburn in, i could go on but i think you get the point lol

-tv: the good place, gavin and stacey, anything by matt groening, its always sunny in Philadelphia, shameless, skins, rick and morty, orange is the new black, breaking bad, hannibal, absolutely fabulous, the crown, thats all i can think of rn lol

-i smoke weed hehe

-im in love with nature and beautiful things

-im a lesbian, so if u have a problem with that dont hmu ;-)

I'm definitely interested in pen-palling, though I'm also fine with internet messaging. I love the idea of sending mixtapes and things like postcards in letters so its cool if ur up to that. I'd say ages 15-18 and someone with similar interests - emphasis on lotr lol. I don't really mind where you're from too :-)

if ur interested hmu !!

#penpal #penpals #pen pal #pen pals #snailmail #snail mail #letters #long letters #submission

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blankdblank · 5 years

Text

In the Boot Pt 6

Pt 1 - Pt 2 - Pt 3 - Pt 4 - Pt 5 -

All –, @pineapple-banana-pie

@himoverflowers, @theincaprincess, @aspiringtranslator, @sweeticedtea, @ggbbhehe4455, @thegreyberet, @patanghill17, @jesgisborne, @curvestrology, @alishlieb, @jogregor, @armitageadoration, @fizzyxcustard, @here2have-fun, @lilith15000, @marvels-ghost, @catthefearless, @imjusthereforthereads, @c-s-stars

Hobbit/LotR – @abiwim, @jotink78

X Thranduil - @evyiione, @sweetlytenacious25, @tigereyesf

...

“Ada, honestly…” Oropher once again was holding up a dark grey dress vest as a match for the charcoal pants his son was wearing under a pale green dress shirt.

Oropher swatted his hand away then eased it off the hanger to help him into it, “I insist. You will be publicly seen together, in a date setting.” When that was buttoned he watched the King enter his closet to peer at the drawer of rolled up ties. “Choices, choices.”

Thranduil couldn’t help but chuckle and enter the doorway to lean against it brushing his hair over his back feeling his vine ring shifting around his finger that he had dropped by the guards when he was taken in hopes it wouldn’t be stolen from him. “It’s as if you hadn’t doubted Jaqi at all.”

Oropher glanced back at his son with a pale silver tie in hand with a stags head stitched into it he brought over to him and eased around his neck under his collar stirring a curious smirk on Thranduil’s face. “My doubts on her motives are one thing, but clearly you have a bond and Legolas clearly knew her heartbeat. Doubts aside she is meant to be in your lives, time will ease any worries.”

Thranduil chuckled and raised his chin a bit while the intricate knot was finished and tightened around his neck, “I can’t remember the last time you’ve been like this.”

Oropher smirked at him and turned his son saying on their path to the door, “Come now. Don’t leave the Princess waiting.” Patting him on the back while adjusting the front slit on his floor length dress robe easing his path to the door.

Outside of which was Taule in a matching silver gown and matching crown beside you in a sleeveless mint green dress held up by a ribbon secured choker with a sheer panel over your shoulder blades revealing your surrogate’s mark of Ursa Major. A set of small buttons ran down your back with the layered skirt stopping just above your knees accentuating your legs seeming longer. With the tall nude heels matching the hair pins holding up the braids pulling back the top half of your hair with a trio of rose gold leaves shining brightly in your pitch black curls laying flat over your back.

Frozen in place Thranduil looked you over with a straight face that split into a wide grin chuckling as you pointed at him saying, “I swear, if you say we have to wear our crowns I am going to scream.”

Thranduil, “Why would we? It is only the two of us.”

You nodded then said, “Then we should hurry before Galadriel manages to dig something up. Last time she lent me a tiara it took out a chunk of my hair trying to take it off after about an hour of trying to free it from my curls.”

Thranduil chuckled and moved to Taule’s side hugging her as she said, “We’ve got Legolas, enjoy your dinner.”

Oropher grinned saying, “Oh, and I added something special for after.” Thranduil raised a brow, “Wine and dessert on the river boat for the riverside view back.”

Your lips parted then a distant shuffling was heard and Thranduil eased his hand around your middle chuckling at his parents hopeful grins, shaking his head guiding you to the end of the hall where, after your turn, he leaned in to purr by your ear, “Simply superb Darling.” In your glance up his eyes lowered to your lip stain coated lips from your subtly lined eyes making them shine brighter.

“Thank you. You look quite the marvel as well.” Biting his lip in his hungry gaze lingered on your lips making you smirk, “So, is this one of those I’m not going to kiss you till the date is over things? Because if you keep staring at me like that I think we might make the wrong sort of headlines.��

Releasing his lip he purred by your ear after pressing a warm kiss next to it, “It is a conundrum, that lipstick of yours makes your lips look oh so irresistible, and yet I don’t want to spoil them just yet.”

Lifting your hand you trailed a finger along his jaw until lulling him to lean in, “It’s lip stain, smudge proof.” Curiously he glanced behind you then took a quick step to cut you off and cup your cheeks as he planted his lips on yours. Humming against your lips one of his arms lowered to hold you against him upright at the tilt of his head to deepen the kiss. All too abruptly he nipped at your lower lip and slowly inhaled trying to steady his breath again while holding you steady until you regained control over your legs.

“Not a smudge, impressive.” Again his arm smoothed around you in his gentle nudge to keep going again, “I’ll be enjoying testing that stain again in the future.”

Weakly you giggled and exhaled leaning into his side still feeling your legs trembling at that stunning kiss. Out to the waiting car you eased into the back seat with Thranduil behind you and guards in the car after you.

…

Waves of flashes cut off behind the doors to the restaurant and straight to the back room you went. Right to the candle lit table with wine list set out. Glasses were filled with plates shuffled between courses as the deeper your smiles dug in. Between the longing glances from him at your lips once again when you drank, licked a particular lingering bit of sauce from your lips, your cheeks all but burned in this candlelit cozy little room just stirring awed reactions from the few staff able to see you. Always either trading silent challenging glares when his longing glances grew too heated melting into bubbling laughter stunning them altogether at the sight of their normally mortally serious Prince who had never seemed to crack a smile in public until his son was born.

An event all but breaking the hard shell of the seemingly lonely Prince. Only adding to the press spinning with comments of how he had the heir and now needed a wife to share all the special markers in his son’s life. Though that brought on the topic of a future Queen bringing on doubts of her temperament and desire for power in the meantime with their healthy and still young King. All worsening the underbelly of seedy thoughts concerning safety of the King if the worst came about. And yet here the Prince sat, altogether seemingly very much attached to a mystery woman who seemed to be charming the Prince quite easily already without ever having been seen before.

What you stirred up in mystery you calmed with your polite demeanor to each and every serving staff member who you encountered stirring awkward yet flattered grins from them as the Prince seemed to follow suit. Through the dinner the other diners tried to sneak glimpses of the bubbly couple until the bill was paid and you walked out under Thranduil’s arm sensing his struggle not to dip his hand any lower than your upper back while in front of the cameras. Back into the streets you were led and casually you strolled in the circle of guards, remaining by their side while he slipped away to greet the few brave children along the way eager to greet the Prince. But always he’d rush back again with a wide grin at getting to admire you on his approach once again and claim the right only he bore to wrap his arm around you again.

It wasn’t long until you were passing down by the end of an intricate bridge where you went down the steps and onto the lowered plank bridge to climb onto the riverboat. Behind you Thranduil stole the chance to keep his hands on your hips across the wobbly plank bridge with only a flimsy rope lining each side until you were safely on deck. As soon as you were aboard you couldn’t help but look around noting the lantern lit deck with a single table set up and benches above for the guards to keep watch and give you something close to privacy. Deeply Thranduil chuckled and led you to the rail opposite you to watch the boat take off under the bridge just past it though a giggle left you at his folding around your back with a pleased hum at being able to hold you in his arms.

Steadily his arms eased around your middle drawing yours to rest over them and a tilt of his head while your fingers inched over his forearms enabled him to steal a peck on your cheek starting up another wave of flashes from the photographers on the river banks and second bridge ahead. A gentle tug came after his glance back towards the table hearing the uncorking of a bottle of wine. “My Darling, time for dessert.”

Splitting his arms one lingered around your back while the other dropped to his side on the walk to the table ahead. With ease he helped you into your chair then settled into the one conveniently beside yours a covered tray making you nip at your lip again triggering the same act from the Prince looking at you adoringly before flinching his eyes to the Elleth filling his glass of wine. The proud chef grinned moving the tray carefully onto the table while your head tilted to peer on at the odd blue liquid on fire back on the cart beside him. A chuckle came from the chef when he uncovered the dessert that quirked a confused grin onto your face while you giggled. In a glance up at him you caught his excited grin while raising the flaming liquid in the silver sauce boat he held over the large chocolate dome surrounded by strawberry slices and a smaller set of balls.

“Wait for it.” He quipped then poured the liquid over the large dome coating the full thing with blue flames melting the dome revealing a molten cake inside with a caramel drizzle and small scoop of ice cream on top under a gold coated heart shaped dome. The small wave of melted chocolate mixed with the small bit of flaming liquid that poured down onto the smaller ball revealed a small red velvet cake cut into the shape of a heart with a white chocolate swan on top making you giggle and curl your fingers over your mouth for a moment. Peering up at the chef again you giggled and said, “Wow.” His brow ticked up at your next giggle then dropped as he chuckled when you said, “I can’t imagine just making the dome. I saw this clip once of bakers using balloons to dip in chocolate, all I can picture if I tried would be the balloon popping coating me in chocolate. This, is marvelous, thank you.”

Nodding his head he back stepped once Thranduil had complimented it as well with a spreading grin rendering him silent in his back stepping path into the kitchen only to halt when Thranduil raised the gold ball in his fingers looking it over carefully. Looking up he caught the Chef’s eyes when he said as he mimed his hands along saying, “Open it.”

Again you giggled curiously only to watch Thranduil find a hidden switch securing the hidden seam on the golden heart box he opened carefully and just about dropped seeing the pair of diamond coated bands with swans on them. Peering up at the Chef he asked, “Do these always-?”

The Chef nodded, “It’s part of the package, custom rings. These were the first swans we’ve given out, surprisingly.” He nodded his head again and slipped inside the covered cabin to hurry back to his aids and sneak glances at the pair of you from his hiding spot inside.

Setting the box between you Thranduil chuckled, “I knew Ada had something up his sleeve.”

Softly an awkward giggle left you and you caught his eye saying, “He really does know how to spoil someone.”

Thranduil chuckled and nodded claiming his spoon as timidly as you had for your first tastes, “Yes he does.” Wetting his lips he added hastily, “I swear I didn’t know.”

You giggled and shook your head lifting your spoon, “I doubt you could keep it a secret if you had. You just about screamed you made brownies for our first date when I got home.”

Making him chuckle as you eased the spoon between your lips and hummed softly, “True.” Taking his own taste and joining you in the soft hum then he led you in trying each of the parts of the dessert between sips on the wine until the plate was cleaned and he was free to hold your hand on your lap.

A glance too many at the heart made you giggle and reach out to open it again, playfully asking, “So, which finger do you think would be safe for these?”

He chuckled saying while his thumb stroked the back of your hand in his loving gaze at you, “I believe the middle finger should be safe. The stones only add to speculation of something serious.”

You giggled again lifting the bigger band you offered to him he extended his palm for and chuckled unfolding his middle finger on the hand clutching yours to ease it into place while you added yours to your free hand without moving the other. A pop over head made you flinch then look up at the rippling wave of green fireworks stirring the Prince to stand, “Here, we’ll have a better view over there.”

At the crackle following it fading you were on your feet and led back to the end of the boat while he one handedly carried a chair he settled down then sat in making you smirk down at him. A gentle hand over the small of your back drew you closer to sit in his lap and cross your legs to rest against his while looking out at the light show over the glowing city reflecting the stars between the flashes of color. More and more it built up until a great flash of white exploded into several swans that rushed together to form two large swans in a giant heart making you giggle and cover your face for a moment, “Wow. If I didn’t know better I’d think he wanted people to assume you were proposing.”

Thranduil chuckled and kissed your cheek, “Oh no. No risk of that. I doubt it would have the proper effect without an actual band of swans to try and steal away with the ring.”

Making you giggle again and turn your head at his fingers stroking along the base of your jaw, “Ooh, a man willing to battle for the right to propose.” Making him chuckle and lean in slowly melting his lips against yours stirring up a distant wave of flashes to capture the moment that ended at your joint flinch at the massive red bang making you peer up and start laughing at the giant heart outline with dozens of tiny exploding red hearts going off around it. Turning your head you rested your forehead against his shoulder trying to muffle your squeaking laughter behind your hands while his head fell back at his loud laughter in his stolen chance to wrap his arms around you. At his settling he held you close to his chest pressing gentle kisses to your forehead while stroking your arms and back purring lowly, “Warm enough Darling?”

You nodded shifting slightly so you could look out at the city with distant masses along the shore cheerfully waving and bowing their heads to you both while the city returned to its starlit glow. “I am. It really is beautiful here.”

Unable to help but grin he replied, “I am glad you like it. Naneth was curious if you would prefer it over Lothlorien.”

You groaned, “Don’t even get me started on the stairs. So many stairs and bridges. How they ever decide on children I have no clue.” Deeply he chuckled nuzzling his head closer to yours, “I always insisted on one of their below the root guest quarters. It is always a bit chilly but the chipmunks passing through are so sweet and a pleasant guest if you have to eat meals alone.”

“Really now? I always got placed in the treetops and these weird birds would always be in the kitchen when I woke up.”

“I prefer chipmunks. Had twelve of them as roommates before I left. All very polite, though particular about how to spread jam on their morning biscuits.” Your head turned at the boat’s horn sounding only to be echoed by another at the royal docks you were nearing. The growing palace shimmering like diamonds under the moonlight made you turn fully, “So beautiful.”

Outside in the overlooking gardens the Lords and Ladies joined Taule and Oropher out into the night to wave at the ship with chuckles at the billowing curtains around the lantern posts revealing the shimmering swans etched into them. Shaking his head Thranduil chuckled, “He just had to add the swan banners.”

“I think it’s sweet. He’s trying at least not to be upset with me still.”

Thranduil rolled his eyes while the boat docked and he moved his arms to cradle your back and under your legs keeping your dress in place as he raised you in his arms making you giggle and wrap your arms around his shoulders, “Oh he’s doing more than trying. I’ll get you across the bridge Darling.” Steadily he carried you across the wobbly bridge with ease and then lowered you to your feet again and eased his arm around your back to guide you towards the group waiting in the gardens.

Once there you grinned and went to accept a hug from Celeborn and Elrond after him while Thranduil inched closer to his father’s side subtly whispering, “You could have warned me about the rings.”

Oropher chuckled and replied stealing a glance at you while Celebrian claimed your hand with a giddy squeak making you giggle and roll your eyes until Legolas let out a whine and was shifted from Taule’s chest to Thranduil’s stirring hushed hummed sentiments to the infant nestling against his chest between the kisses left to the top of his head. Not long after you were shown inside and back to your room for the night with another stolen kiss from Thranduil along the way in his reluctant turn away from you to head back to his apartment trying to calm Legolas.

Unable to sleep you found your way out to the garden outside your shared apartment. A soft rustle and groan turned your head to find Thranduil walking over to you with a weak grin patting Legolas’ back.

Weakly he chuckled saying, “Looks like he’s back to not wanting to sleep.” Wetting his lips he asked, “I, um, I was wondering, earlier, it seemed he took to you. Let out a noise-?”

You chuckled, “Gimmie.” Your hands rose to claim the boy making Thranduil grin handing him over, “Must be our shared mark, similar heartbeats.”

With him in your arms you followed Thranduil into his nursery at his near instant calming, readying to lay him down in his crib only to find yourself between the Prince’s legs on the lounge. Legolas still across your chest contently snoozing with Thranduil’s arms holding you both in place, grinning as he sat up humming softly to you both stroking Legolas’ back and hands until Oropher came in hours before sunrise.

Carefully he eased Legolas out of your arms, noticing your sleepy peek at him before releasing the baby, and shifted him into his crib then turned to cover you both after Thranduil hummed out shaking his head at Oropher’s glance to see how to move you without waking you, “I don’t want to let her go.”

Lowly Oropher said settling the blanket around you, “Just rest your arms over the blanket.”

Thranduil smirked moving his arms, ensuring your back was covered, “No need for that we have an understanding. Nothing past kissing and holding her.”

“All the same.” He leaned in patting his son on the shoulder, “Get some sleep.” Stealing a glance at you while your head nuzzled more against his neck widening his sleepy grin.

Breakfast was simple and among your family while the Prince was taken for an early morning interview. It seemed all day you were occupied by your relatives who seemed all too eager to distract you from something, though by noon you found out what it was, you were all heading to the opening gala of the new wing of the art museum. With a sigh you rolled your eyes at the fanfare arrival of your crown jewels, flown in especially from Lothlorien. Letting your head fall back you sighed and followed Galadriel back to your assigned room where a servant with a garment bag was joining you with an eager grin of her own. Already inside Queen Taule in another pale green gown, this time glittering, with a matching wrap draped around her under a pale green intricate crown with a wide grin beside a box of shoes making you pause and force a grin at her motioning you closer.

Around you the garment bag was hung up with jewels set out on the bed while you eased your feet out of your simple wedges. A tug on your waistband freed the metal fastener for your jeans followed by the zipper freeing you from the denim layer you folded and set on the foot of your bed. A glimpse of your peach lace panties under your peach blouse. A few buttons later you eased your shirt open and shrugged out of it and added it on top of your jeans. In the room you felt eyes scanning over your middle, the mithril belt and piercings stunning the Queen and servant looking on, all feeling a sense of calm at what they stood for and what it meant, your intentions for the Prince really was genuine. A hint of a grin from you brought one servant forward with a nude colored corset top.

In a reach back you unhooked your bra and covered your chest with an arm easing the other up for the strapless top to be eased around your torso and folded over your chest. Removing your hand you held your bust in place while she walked around you to start securing the snaps from your navel upwards. A final adjustment of your bust later you eyed the gown being revealed, a merlot floor length gown, off the shoulder with a sheer white gem accented layer in the middle of embroidered floral patches. While it was being straightened Taule passed you the first of the merlot colored tall wedges covered in straps from the toes up to your ankles you buckled up one at a time then stepped into the gown, easing your arms in after.

A shift of your hair later you felt the gown being zipped up over your back. Wetting your lips you moved to the vanity you sat at and started on your simple makeup while the servant eased your hair back into a bun secured by shimmering hairpins topped by diamond feathers and pearls shining even brighter in the wavy hairstyle accentuating your curls. Lastly you watched the addition of the white gem necklace with a strand of joined leaves branching down to a large teardrop shaped gem paired with the half circle of long strips of the white gems rounded at the top growing shorter on either side of your head.

On your feet again you subtly smoothed your finger over your swan ring from the night before in your path to the hall, where Thranduil in his formal silver robe and matching crown froze once again understanding why his mother insisted on his wearing his merlot colored wrap. In his arms Legolas was in a silver get up of his own staring up at Oropher clad in dark green adjusting the collar on his little robe. A turn of his head later you felt Oropher’s eyes on you and he grinned saying, “Princess, we have one more surprise for you.”

You raised a brow then asked, “What else could you possibly-,”

He chuckled moving closer to offer his hand you rested yours in and joined him in the walk towards the next hall over. A familiar towering figure halted your steps and your lips parted looking up and down over the lilac coated Elf with bright white golden hair resting over his back in thick curls secured by overlapping strands of braids with beaded clips to hold them in place. Paired with the rose gold crown tucked around his head coated in overlapping feathers accentuated with patches of flowers all around beside a woman in a matching lilac gown with matching crown and necklace in rose diamonds over her bared chest. Softly you whispered, “Gramps?”

With a deep chuckle the tall figure looked you up and down with a deep purple silver flecked pair of eyes mirroring yours and closed the distance to raise you in a tight hug speaking in Vanyar, “There you are Lady Bug.” His lips found your cheek when you drew your head back to meet his eyes, folding your arms around his neck in his stolen peck on your nose, “I heard you found your One. I came to meet the lad myself.”

You struggled to withhold your tears asking, “But, the ban-?”

He chuckled replying, “I have been away too long, and no Princess deserves to march through a courtship alone. Besides, my brother has enough heirs in Doriath to build an army, rarely enough duties to go around. Plus,” he gently let you down and motioned to his wife who leaned in to accept and return a tight hug from you as well, “Nin and I are expecting, and, girls?”

He glanced around and three girls barely knee high hopped out in a line making you giggle at the identical trio to you all fixing their hands on their deep purple dresses in a shallow dipped attempt at a curtsy greeting you formally while Elmo said, “We thought it time they meet their Niece. Plus, your brothers left a table open for family that needs filling.”

You giggled and crouched down extending your arms for the trio to crash into you with tight hugs, in a glance up at him you asked in your rise again while the girls accepted their mother’s help in adjusting their rose gold circlets and wraps again. “You came all the way out here for a wedding?”

Elmo chuckled and replied, “It is an amazing match for your brother, I doubt they would have accepted if not for his connection to you. They expect a High Princess to attend, just imagine their mood after hearing we will be attending as well.” Making you giggle again.

Turning fully in a glance over your shoulder he locked eyes with the King who had accepted his last minute arrival with a grin and he bowed his head that stood a good half a foot over the others and he said in the common tongue, “I suppose we’ve taken up enough time. We shouldn’t keep the plans up any longer.”

Oropher chuckled and guided the group nearer to your relatives while your grandmother Marya helped to ease a merlot sheer jeweled wrap around your waist and up over your shoulder on the path out to the waiting cars while you chatted with them between glances at Thranduil, who stole each chance to inch closer to you only to begin the questions from your grandfather.

The large museum lit up as flashes grew capturing the High Prince and his youngest heirs arrived for the opening. Their appearances all linked you to them wordlessly and sent the rumor mill into a spiral at just what union could be forming between the two dynasties. And the fact that Oropher’s line to the throne was not so direct it only raised the stakes on just what might be expected of him and Thranduil to secure the union to your family’s liking. Inside the lavish building you felt a familiar arm resting around your upper back signaling Thranduil had snuck away finally to help guide you into the start of the exhibit, still casually answering Elmo’s questions while stealing glances at your young aunts, all giggling in their toe top reach to stroke their mother’s stomach at the kicks she was feeling.

Each piece was more dazzling than the last turn brought you to the largest display in a full room of connected pieces unfolding around the room. By then Thranduil had been stolen away for a moment and at the tiny hand locked in your hair you accepted Legolas into your arms and grinned at his giggle peering up at Elmo when he stroked his back. A few minutes later Thranduil was back again and grinning as he fixed your wrap sliding off your shoulder and joined into the conversation with the artist. Halfway through you couldn’t help but grin and nip at your lip when Legolas had fallen asleep. Though in the middle of a serious discussion you felt all eyes shifting to you at your attempt to muffle your giggle.

Shaking your head you weakly said trying not to giggle, “Sorry, he’s drooling.” Around you weak chuckles sounded and the Elf finished his statement in your glance down at the sleeping boy.

Thranduil chuckled reaching into his pocket drawing out his handkerchief he passed to you to dab the line of drool sinking lower from the smushed faced baby boy asleep on your chest. Subtly you dried it and dabbed his lip then held the handkerchief over your other hand resting under his bottom while Thranduil eased one arm around your back covering it with his wrap while his other hand settled on his son’s back while the discussion picked up again. All night you stayed by his side through the exhibit and small dinner after where you snacked on what was offered while Thranduil fed his son and then ate himself for the short time left until you were to be driven back again.

…

Back again at the palace when you had all changed the topic of the extravagant pool in the main courtyard got brought up stirring the girls into a frenzy of bouncing and begging you to swim with them. In a giggle you nodded and agreed when Thranduil had kissed your cheek and sent you a matching pout to get you to swim with them.

Rolling your eyes as the gown slid off, the hanger was pulled off the knob on the wall and fit the gown perfectly leaving just your jewels to seal in the case you had for them. Your heels were left under the gown and you rinsed off your makeup, easing the hair pins out releasing your bun before you turned to pull your two piece out of your bag.

The simple green pair with a halter top covering your cleavage fully, wetting your lips you left your ring in your bag and turned easing a silk robe Taule had mentioned leaving in your room earlier. Down to your knees it hung and you twisted your hair up into a simple braid on the way giggling as Thranduil trotted up behind you planting a kiss on your cheek guiding you through the palace to the pool. Out around the pool you spotted the cameras still off in the distance capturing what pictures they could of your relatives and the visiting Lords.

A burst of giggles sounded at the girls in their purple frilly one pieces with shimmering scales etched onto them in their leap into the pool at Elmo while Marya sat with her feet in the water. Other than your relatives the surrounding Lords and Ladies especially turned their heads as you left the robe you slipped out of on one of the loungers beside Thranduil’s towel and followed him in jumping into the pool. Hours you all swam and played with the girls until you all lounged and hung out enjoying the fruit and snacks brought out for you all.

…

The first two days you were granted time to spend with Thranduil and Legolas, even watching Legolas while Thranduil was sent out on a few meetings and public outings. Through which Elmo and his brood took the train up to Haldir’s cottage on your shared land leaving you to sit and wait wandering through the lavish palace wondering when Thranduil would be back again. Though by the fourth day as Elrond and his family flew back to Rivendell he was off with them holding Legolas for the busy schedule ahead, promising to return as soon as he was able while you assured him you would explore the city as best you could to distract yourself.

Not long after Celeborn had left for his home, the last of the visitors with Oropher along with him as Taule was off to Dale the day after. Nightly calls back home mingled with sporadic calls and texts from Thranduil only worsened things as you finished your second meal alone without any word from his family on when any would be returning.

A late night up led to a single call and an unplanned trip to your guards’ quarters, by the next hour you had packed and were out the side gate into the waiting taxi van you all squeezed into. Blankly you sat in the bench surrounded by your guards and sighed when you saw Elanor’s number reading across the screen of your phone you pulled out of your pocket. Answering the call you raised the phone to your ear as you wet your lips, “Elanor.”

Hastily through the line her voice blasted angrily, “Jaqi! What on earth do you think you are doing! That second generation Prince is not on the list you were given! And that belt-!”

“Elanor,” you cut her off curtly in Vanyar unknowingly making her expression drop at your serious tone, “Let me make this abundantly clear, I have never once met the woman who donated her egg for my existence, I have no wish to. And as for her opinions on my love life and possible children in my future she can keep those to herself. I was replaced easily enough and the centuries the borders were open gave her ample enough chances for being anything close to a mother. With that said, should there be a wedding in my future neither of you are invited. I am certain my ten brothers will be distraction enough for creating heirs for her. She made her choice, and I am making mine eventually she will accept that, until then have a nice day.” Plainly you hung up the phone and blocked her number then eased it back into your pocket unable to help but grin at the poorly muffled chortle from the guard on your right.

Sliding back into the bench you were on you stared up at the screen silently revealing a random cartoon show you couldn’t place. But it was distracting enough until your train pulled up. Shouldering your bag you were grateful you left the dresses and shoes you were gifted by the King there. Keeping only the ring from your first date on your finger you kept absently stroking in the wait and in the empty passenger car of the train you used to your advantage to lounge across a row of seating with your guards filling the rows behind you chatting among themselves as you napped.

The short ride eventually ended and cars were waiting to take you back home again, though over the radio you had heard in the short time you were gone the council of Lords had heard of Elmo’s moving into your land and had brought up the notion of handing rule of Northern Greenwood to him as their new King. A decision no doubt difficult to reach after the centuries their former King’s line had been wiped out, and no doubt the appeal of having a High Born King would secure their place as they continued to find their footing after the remnants of the great wars all lands were still settling from.

Pt 7

#Thranduil x Reader OC #Hobbit #lotr

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dyrwoodan · 5 years

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SOME FAVE STUFF, IDK, 2018

i know there was this tag game last year, something about your fave edits, to put it simply. i remember i saw someone do it with their gifs and edits at the end of 2017 and that's essentially what made me start with them this year. because 2017 was a bad, void-like year for me, i had nothing to look back on. when i saw that tag game and them sharing their edits, it made me mad and kinda jealous so i made a promise to myself that i will make something at least once a month so that i can have at least 12 things to look back on. i really didn't have many hopes but i knew that well, 12 is not much, i can do it. and even tho the first half of this year was... eh, i still made a lot more than i anticipated. nothing grand, but it still means a lot to me, those screenshots and gifs... yeah, they count. not as creative as painting or drawing perhaps but, it's something to me. and i was doing this for me after all. so, below i’m sharing a bit of love for my fave edits.

since i didn’t see this tag game anywhere this year and idk how to name it and i’m not really one to start tag games...... if you feel like doing this just go for it!! i know i have a lot of mutuals who make something, whether it’s art or writing or gifs 🐑 everything counts. if it made you feel happy and proud of yourself, it counts.

1. dao gifset— my first gifset i uploaded in january. i remember thinking "if this gets at least 11 notes i will be content" and then it... kinda blew up? very quickly? i didn't expect it but it's so nice that my first ever gifset was successful because it made me more motivated to continue. obviously,, only that... i didn’t lol. honestly, the first half of this year was pretty bad, i was def more active.... this autumn

2. caiwyn surana moodboard— caiwyn's moodboard is definitely my all time fave moodboard. i just.. i know spent a bit more time on this than usual, and i love the colours. he would too. that's what's important c:

3. dishonored photoset— idk i just liked this edit a lot. i love the quote too. it's a fave

4. kaz lavellan moodboard— i like this edit a lot. it was the first thing i ever did for kaz? very nice of me. it's simple and vague but i wasn't able to do a moodboard like i did for the rest of my ocs? for some reason? it just... didn't fit him. but this does.

5. hjaalmarch gifset— ok this gifset is still one of my faves. it's so... calming. so peaceful. i won't lie, i stare at this at least once a week. the colours are so muted and lovely too. neat.

6. ...mushrooms— i just think it's neat

7. the rift— you know, i didn't like this one much, especially when it got more notes than some of my other gifsets that i thought were better. but... i came to really love it too. it's from an old video from my older game, when i didn't use many mods or an enb. and it has that nice vanilla charm so i think that's why people liked it. it's the rift, it's home.

8. riften— i'm so happy this got so popular holy shit?? because it absolutely is my fave and it got what it deserved i think. it's so comfe and warm and riften. man do i fucking Love

9. the scroll— idk this ain't that special? but i love it? the colours and how neat the animation is. Nice

10. snow-shod farm— i love these a lot. very nice. very neat. the 3rd one was my wallpaper for a while.

11. dishonored gifset— i love this dishonored gifset so much you don't understand. it's from the first mission and it captures the aesthetic of that game so well, exactly what i love about it? like, i love everything about the game but especially- droplets in the canal, rats, water, rays of light... i love it a lot

12. lotr gifset— this year.. was eh. and i can tell it by the number of times i've watched lotr and the hobbit. i've been basically watching it nonstop this year. i can't believe i didn't make any gifs until now lmao. but i was watching this one and the scene reminded me of one part in the first book that didn't make it into the movie and i felt inspired

13. forgotten vale— def one of my faves. the white... the snow... the leaves.... the snow elf architecture....... Big Love for this gifset. i also stare at it a lot, too

14. idk mountains— just......... neat. i love

15. skaal village— i uploaded this literally yesterday but like, still december. i love it a lot. very comfe and snowy.

16. apart from these which i uploaded here— i have to mention that during august, i think, i wrote a lot of stuff for my original novel thing. so that’s nice. and then i drew... a bit. i want to say that i could’ve made more art but honestly, no, i couldn’t. but i’m still proud of the little art i did, it’s something. it counts, too.

#fern.txt #long post #i know.... this is a bunch of text no one has patience for but like #yea im sharing it anyway

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queenmercurys · 4 years

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thank you, this was one of my favorite questions from the list!

do you think its ok to separate the artist from the art?

in a word, maybe? i think there’s multiple layers to wanting to separate the art from the artist, the two biggest ones i’ve heard being 1) to still be able to enjoy the art once the artist has done something problematic 2) to be able to analyze the text without taking into consideration the author’s motivations etc etc. i think, if you want to separate the art from the artist to do option 2, it’s perfectly fine. i don’t think literary analysis necessarily has anything to do with the creator of said art. i mean, yeah, taking Tolkien’s personal experiences in ww2 into consideration when analyzing LOTR is probably helpful, but you can also look at LOTR without knowing anything about Tolkien’s background. literary analysis is, to me, very personal, and there are more than just one interpretation to be had of any said thing. I interpret Little Women very differently from how some interpret it, and I’ve even upset some book purists with my take on the story. but the thing is, I don’t really care if my interpretation is wrong, because it’s my own, and it’s the way I perceive it. and to me, attaching the artist to the art so closely that you’re not even allowed to examine it without knowing details about the artist’s life is limiting and potentially harmful. because, in most cases, we don’t even know if the artist meant to incorporate their own experiences into their writing. it’s just analysis after the fact. (this doesn’t apply to cases where the artist has provided insight into how they wrote their story, of course)

but if you want to separate the art from the artist to be able to “excuse” the actions of the artist just because you enjoy the art, that’s a different story for me. using Rowling and Harry Potter as an example, i think i will never be able to purchase anything HP-related ever again, because i absolutely hate Rowling and her transphobic ass. and if i were to buy something that is related to her creations, i would be further financing her bigotry, so to speak. and i don’t want to do that. i don’t want to give Rowling or anyone else who thinks and acts like her any kind of profit whatsoever. i recognize that i am a bit of a hypocrite in this, though. i watched Bohemian Rhapsody in the theatres before knowing what Bryan Singer had done (or who he even was), but i still continue to talk about the film and hype it up on occasion, because i love it. in another example, i watched a Rainy Day in New York because Timothée Chalamet is my favorite actor, even though it’s directed by Woody Allen, who i hate immensely. i would argue that in both cases, it’s made “better” by the fact that both Singer and Allen have been criticized by the artists involved in these projects that i really care about (like Rami Malek, and Timothée). but criticism doesn’t take away from the fact that i still gave financial support to two artists who i hate and whose actions i don’t condone. so yeah, me preaching the “boycott Harry Potter” thing is very hypocritical, and i’m not expecting anyone to take my word for it. but it’s not really boycotting that i mean. you can still enjoy and love HP, but i would suggest not going to see the new Fantastic Beasts films in the movies, or buying every new edition of HP that they put for sale. stuff like that.

but even with this, i think, like i said, it depends on the artist. if the writer/creator of the product is long dead and can no longer benefit from you watching/reading it, it doesn’t really matter. you don’t, in my opinion, have to boycott H.P. Lovecraft books. the man is dead, it’s fine. and it’s also a question of to what extent the “problematic” thing goes. we all have our own ideas of what is acceptable and what is not, and i’m not about to tell anyone what they can and can’t enjoy, and what they should boycott. i have my own ideas of where i draw the line, and everyone else has their own. i remember, when i thought Johnny Depp was beating his wife, i intentionally avoided watching any of his new films. of course, i ended up being wrong, but that is basically what i mean here. i guess, in conclusion, it’s really up to everyone to decide whether they can or should separate the art from the artist. in theory, yes, i do think you should, but i don’t think you should turn a blind eye to problematic and harmful things done by people you consider yourself a fan of. this is why i think it’s kind of a good idea to be aware of who your idols are, at least to the extent that you know if they’ve done something harmful. just so you’re not accidentally promoting a lifestyle that doesn’t suit your own morals. BUT with this being said, if you told me that you will continue to buy HP products, i wouldn’t judge you. being a fan of a specific work doesn’t mean you condone the actions of the maker of that product. it’s really complicated, and i doubt i made any sense in my response, but i think in short, it really is dependent on the person, time and product.

send me some unusual asks, please?

#thank you so much this question is literally my favorite to discuss #ask #anonymous #ask meme

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shtola-cola · 7 years

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tagged by: @19gmbk

last..

drink: juice phone call: mom text message: “that’s the best thing about d&d” song you listened to: Lord Laharl’s Hymn. It’s been stuck in my head for days time you cried: today I guess. I cry at anything remotely emotional in stories etc

have you..

dated someone twice: no kissed someone and regretted it: no been cheated on: no lost someone special: depends on what special means been depressed: sorta? gotten drunk and thrown up: nope. 2 drinks a week at most

list three favorite colors..

colors: pink, red, any shade of cyan

in the last year, have you…

made new friends: yes fallen out of love: no laughed until you cried: yes found out someone was talking about you: no met someone who changed you: I change all the time so that’s hard to say found out who your friends are: yes kissed someone on your Facebook list: I don’t use Facebook

general..

how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: no FB any pets: 2 cats, named Ifrit and Shiva do you want to change your name: eventually what did you do for your last Birthday: can’t remember anything besides the usual staying at home what time did you wake up: 2:30 pm or so what were you doing at midnight last night: playing Disgaea something you can’t wait for: all the new Nintendo releases when was the last time you saw your mom: today what is one thing you wish you could change in your life: myself, really what are you listening to right now: Whisper of Darkness have you ever talked to a person named tom: it’s my partner’s name something that is getting on your nerves: the grind in Nippon Ichi games most visited websites: twitter, tumblr, youtube and pixiv I guess?

other info about myself..

mole/s: big one on my thigh and a few tiny ones on my arm mark/s: don’t think so.. childhood dream: to become a super saiyan hair color: used to be blonde when I was young but it’s gone dark long or short hair: long do you have a crush on someone: @t0ms0nic what do you like about yourself: I’m a fast learner I guess piercings: not anymore. had earrings years ago, though blood type: no idea honestly. it never came up nickname: Kyonshee relationship status: practically married to @t0ms0nic zodiac: gemini pronouns: she or they, but it’s no big deal favorite TV show: Sonic Boom I suppose tattoos: none right or left hand: right surgery: I’ve had to have my tonsils removed and had ear tubes surgery if that counts hair dyed in different color: nope, but I’d like to try it someday sport: not really interested in sports of any kind vacation: Japan! sneakers: sneakers kill my feet. I always need supportive workshoes

more general:

eating: cheese bread! drinking: soda i’m about to: sleep play more Disgaea waiting for: PC parts and Metroid: Samus Returns to be delivered want: financial stability and motivation to draw get married: yes! career: no career to speak of, but had (sort of) one in IT hugs or kisses: why not both? lips or eyes: eyes shorter or taller: both older or younger: doesn’t matter nice arms or nice stomach: stomach sensitive or loud: sensitive hook up or relationship: relationship troublemaker or hesitant: hesitant

have you ever..

kissed a stranger: no drank hard liquor: yes lost glasses/contact lenses: had glasses since I was 3 or so and can’t live without them, so they never leave my sight. broken a lot of them, though.. turned someone down: yes sex on the first date: no broken someone’s heart: yes had your heart broken: yes been arrested: no cried when someone died: yes fallen for a friend: yes

do you believe in…

yourself: sometimes miracles: hard to say love at first sight: nope santa claus: parents told me from the get go he didn’t exist kiss on the first date: nope

other..

current best friend name: @t0ms0nic eye color: blue favorite movie: barely ever watch movies.... LOTR or Harry Potter series I guess?..

NOW, TAG 20 PEOPLE: I don’t even know that many people on tumblr, so to anyone reading this: feel free to do this and consider yourself tagged. or not

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all-hail-the-conn-8d · 7 years

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I was tagged by @crap-iccioso like 12 days ago, so sorry it took so long to do this! College is hard and motivation is at low levels(tm). Anyway

1ST RULE: Tag 9 people you would like to know better 2ND RULE: BOLD the statements that are true

APPEARANCE:

I am 5'7" or taller

I wear glasses

I have at least one tattoo

I have at least one piercing

I have blonde hair

I have brown eyes

I have short hair (working on changing this)

My abs are at least somewhat defined

I have or have had braces

PERSONALITY:

I love meeting new people (but I’m terrible at socializing)

People tell me that I’m funny

Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me

I enjoy physical challenges

I enjoy mental challenges

I’m playfully rude with people I know well

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it (so many things...)

There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY:

I can sing well

I can play an instrument

I can do over 30 pushups without stopping

I’m a fast runner

I can draw (if it’s designing things)

I have a good memory

I’m good at doing math in my head

I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch

I know how to throw a proper punch (1st degree black belt in TKD!)

HOBBIES:

I enjoy playing sports

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else

I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else

I have learned a new song in the past week

I work out at least once a week

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months

I have drawn something in the past month

I enjoy writing

FANDOMS ARE MY #1 PASSION

I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss

I have had alcohol

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting (but I watched all of LoTR/The Hobbit in one go!)

I have been at an overnight event

I have been in a taxi

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year

I have beaten a video game in one day

I have visited another country

I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIPS:

I’m in a relationship

I have a crush on a celebrity

I have a crush on someone I know (I dunno, everything’s a mess(tm))

I have been in at least 3 relationships

I have never been in a relationship

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them

I get crushes easily

I have had a crush on someone for over a year

I have been in a relationship for at least a year

I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE:

I have at least one person I consider a “best friend”

I live close to my school

My parents are still together

I have at least one sibling

I live in the United States

There is snow right now where I live

I have hung out with a friend in the past month

I have a smartphone

I have at least 15 CDs (might have this many vinyls though)

I share my room with someone

RANDOM SHIT:

I have breakdanced

I know a person named Jamie

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce

I have dyed my hair

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now

I have punched someone in the past week

I know someone who has gone to jail

I have broken a bone

I have eaten a waffle today

I know what I want to do with my life (I wish)

I speak at least 2 languages

I have made a new friend in the past year

I tag @wrong-brothers-2, @all-hail-the-eb-noot, @magsterdee, and anyone else who wants to do it!

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angelofdirewolves · 7 years

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Underneath the Stars End Notes

Thank you for reading Underneath the Stars. Again, if you feel that I’ve been insensitive on my handling of any topic please feel free to message me on my tumblr, though if you would be polite it would be appreciated.

Also, if you have any questions about the universe that Underneath the Stars takes place in feel free to message me, because I will gladly talk about it for hours and hours. I also have explanations for events in canon that make them compliant in this universe, so if anyone is interested in hearing why Keith did something in canon and his motivations for doing that in this continuity, please message and I’ll post the explanation on my tumblr.

Thank you for sticking through to reach the end, of this story, and I direct you to my playlist in case you want any more UtS content, because I give long, long explanations for every song listed.

To address one issue that I don’t want to wait until someone asks about, that being the relationship between Aoife and Keith and Jenny and how it’ll go from here. The hardest thing about their relationship is they all have good points, and their thinking makes sense from their own point of view, but it ultimately wound up hurting the people around them, the ones they hold dearest. Aoife has a lot of apologies to make to both Jenny and Keith, and they’ll never completely trust her, but they will improve with a lot of therapy and time and support. Jenny and Keith need to reconcile for their fight about how they’ve changed, Keith and Aoife need to talk about Amanda, and Aoife and Jenny have a whole ream of issues to deal with. It will take time, but they all do love each other, despite the hurt, and they can change, and will change. It will take a lot of therapy, but they’ll make it through.

Moving past that to the people that made this story possible.

First I’d like to thank @voltrongenminibang and its moderators for organizing this event. This is my first piece of published fanfiction, and the longest story I have ever written. Thank you for hosting this event, because if I hadn’t had a set deadline, this would never have been written.

Secondly to @sagelynaive for drawing the absolutely perfect artwork that accompanied this story. You brought Aoife and Jenny and Amanda to life on the page, and I will never cease to be grateful for that, all the little details are there, and perfect, and I am so, so thankful that you thought this piece was interesting enough to select it during the claims process.

Thirdly to @determamfidd, who composed the song quoted at the very end Light on the Horizon, for being a fabulous composer, writing my favorite piece of fanfiction, and generally a Good Person tm. Thank you for granting me permission (via anon) to reference your fic and your song. Thank you so much for everything you do for the LoTR fandom, if I become even a quarter as good of a writer as you, I will count myself very pleased.

And finally, last but certainly not least. @taylor14firefly,my dearest friend, thank you for listening to me talk about this for ages, and before you’d even watched Voltron to boot. Your support and friendship has been invaluable both in writing this, and in all my other endeavors. The past two years have been wonderful because you’ve been in them. Thank you so much.

And thank you to you, kind reader, who’s actually slogged through all 25k of this and made it to the end. Again, if you have any questions whatsoever, I am always pleased to answer.

For those of you reading this on Ao3, Amanda is an original character from an original work that I have created in my mind, but not published, which explains her backstory referenced in the final interlude, and the puncture wounds that sagelynaive has drawn on her neck. I shoehorned her into this story, because she’s my character who gets all my tragic plotlines, though Aoife wins by far if we go by what’s actually been written rather than merely imagined.

There are other stories that I could write in this continuity, such as the Aoife and Thace prequel –how Aoife raised two toddlers and Thace got involved with the Blade of Marmora. I could also write an Aoife vs Kolivan showdown where Aoife gets to scream about her trauma to a captive and semi-responsible audience, or the Aoife does another ritual which grants her the ability to briefly summon one (1) dead person, or a fic in the distant, distant future regarding the rebuilding of a universe, when three of the people doing the rebuilding are closely related to the people who destroyed it in the first place. If you’re interested in any of these in particular, leave a comment or a message in my tumblr ask, and I’ll start writing one of these after season 3 airs, though knowing me, it probably won’t get finished until after season 4 airs.

Thank you again for reading this story, go send @sagelynaive some love for her fantastic artwork, and @voltrongenminibang for organizing this. Thank you so much!

*puts on Shiro voice* Go, be Great.

PREV - current - fin.

Masterpost

Playlist

#underneath the stars #end notes #aoife #keith #jana

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ladyofthecampfires · 7 years

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL THE QUESTIONS!!!

1. If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?I would read a bunch more.2. What is your favorite piece of clothing you own / owned?I like my plaid shirts that I stole from my brother3. What hobby would you pick up if time & money weren’t an issue?I would take piano lessons and art lessons4. What does your perfect room look like?A small room in a log cabin with a big bed and a bunch of fluffy blankets and floor rugs with Zapotec patterns.5. How often do you play sports?Pretty much never6. What fictional place would you like to visit?The Shire. Very much the Shire.7. What job would you be terrible at?Motivational speaker or counselor 8. When was the last time you climbed a tree?I don’t know9. If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance of winning a medal for?I really don’t know. I’m not super talented at much.10. What is the most annoying habit that you or other people have?Speaking over others. Other people do that, I don’t :p11. What job do you think you’d be really good at?Proofreader 12. What skill would you like to master?Learning to draw would be cool13. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?A camping adventure! In some mountains somewhere14. If you had unlimited funds to build a house to live on for the rest of your life, what would the finished house look like?A nice cozy log cabin15. What’s your favorite drink?Depends on my mood. I do like Dr Pepper though :p16. What state or country do you never want to go back to?Don’t think I’ve been anywhere I hated17. What songs do you have completely memorized?Way too many to list18. What game or movie universe would you like to live in?Tolkien universe would be incredible19. What do you consider to be your best find?My brother found a homemade wand in the middle of the woods. I didn’t find it but it’s mine now.20. Are you usually early or late?Almost always early. I’m scared of being late.21. What pets did you have when you were growing up?Cats, dogs and I had a hamster for a while22. When people come to you for help, what do they usually need help with?Proofreading something haha 23. What takes up too much of your time?Worrying about things I can’t control 24. What do you wish you knew more about?Literally everything. Religion and mythology? 25. What would be your first question after waking up from being frozen for 100 years?Can I go back to sleep?26. What are some small things that make your day better?Talking to friends, coffee, my pets27. Who’s your go-to band or artist when you don’t know who or what to listen to?Frank Turner or the Hamilton soundtrack 28. What’s the best way to start the day? The way I started it yesterday morning actually. A cup of coffee, donuts and the comics page of the newspaper 29. What TV shows do you like?Currently American Gods, Preacher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine 30. What TV channel doesn’t exist but really should?One that runs Harry Potter and LotR marathons just 24/7 31. Who has impressed you most with what they’ve accomplished?I’m sure there are people but I can’t think of any right now 32. What age do you wish you could stay at permanently? I feel like 10 was good 33. What TV show or movie do you refuse to watch?13 Reasons Why 34. What’s your ideal way to spend a weekend?It depends on my mood I guess. A nice balance of going out and staying in. Yeah that’s vague but I’m too lazy to think about it. 35. What is something that is considered a luxury, but you don’t think you could live without?Sanitary products, according to the government 36. What is your claim to fame?I won a battle of the bands contest once? 37. What is something you enjoy doing the old-fashioned way?I dunno38. What’s your favorite book or movie genre?Fantasy I think 39. How often do you people-watch?Sometimes 40. What have you only recently formed an opinion about?I didn’t really think about politics much until I got to college 41. What’s the best day of the year?I don’t think there is one 42. What subject interests you that not many people have heard of?Paleography!! 43. How do you relax after a long day of work?Browse tumblr 44. What’s the best book series or TV series you’ve ever read or watched?Hannibal? Maybe? 45. Where is the farthest you’ve ever been from home?Went to Rome last year 46. What’s the most heartwarming thing you’ve ever seen?Once when it snowed at school I was watching from my dorm window at like midnight when several kids came outside and started making snow angels on the lawn. It was just really serene47. What is the most annoying question people ask you?Why are you so quiet? 48. What could you give a 40-minute presentation on with no preparation?Roman stuff probably if I didn’t die of a panic attack first49. If you were the dictator on a small island nation, what crazy dictator stuff would you do?I would resign immediately and put someone better in charge 50. What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?Get to know someone completely different from them 51. Would you rather go hand gliding or whitewater rafting?Rafting! 52. What’s your dream car?Something reliable with good mileage 53. What’s worth spending more on to get the best?Food, relationships 54. What is something a ton of people are obsessed with, but you just don’t get?Sex 55. What are you most looking forward to in the next 10 years?Being settled and hopefully happy with where I am 56. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?Rome! 57. What’s something you’ve been meaning to try but haven’t gotten around to it?Dunno 58. What is the best thing that happened to you last week?I graduated lol 59. What piece of entertainment do you wish you could erase from your mind, only to experience it for the first time again?Hannibal 60. If all jobs had the same pay rate and hours, what job would you want to have?Musician61. What amazing thing have you done that no one was around to see?No idea 62. How different was your life 1 year ago?I was still in college 63. What quirks do you have?I’m sure I have some but I can’t think of any 64. What would you rate 10/10?Sleeping 65. What fad or trend do you think should come back?Dunno66. What is the most interesting piece of art you’ve seen?the Bernini statues in Rome were beautiful67. What kind of art do you enjoy most?Dunno, not that into art68. What do you hope never changes?I don’t know69. What city would you most like to live in?Don’t like cities that much70. What movie title best describes your life?I can’t think of any71. Why did you decide to do the work you are doing now?I’m not doing anything right now72. What’s the best way a person can spend their time?Making someone else smile73. If you suddenly became a master at woodworking, what would you make?Art74. Where is the most relaxing place you’ve ever been?Cloudcroft New Mexico!75. What’s the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you?Don’t know76. Where would you rather be from?Northern California sounds nice, up in the mountains77. What are some things you’ve had to unlearn?Bodyshaming, misogyny, junk like that78. What do you look forward to in the next 6 months?No idea79. What website do you visit most often?Tumblr80. What one thing do you really want but can’t afford?Lasik surgery81. Where do you usually go when you have free time?My room I guess82. Where would you spend all your time if you could?In some mountains somewhere83. What’s special about the place you grew up?Six Flags?84. What age do you want to live to?Dunno85. What are you most likely to become famous for?Nothing86. What are you absolutely determined to do?Keep being a good person87. What is the most impressive thing you know how to do?Play bass? I guess?88. What do you wish you knew more about?A lot of stuff89. What question would you most like to know the answer to?Not sure90. What question can you ask to find out the most about a person?I don’t know91. When was the last time you changed your opinion or belief about something major?Eh I don’t know92. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?Someone told me I had a cute nose once93. As the only human left on earth, what would you do?Do something like try to scale Mt. Everest and probably die there94. Who inspires you to be better?No one I can think of95. What do you want your epitaph to be?Dunno96. What haven’t you grown out of?I like playing in mud/sand. Is that weird? I don’t do it unless I’m at the beach or something though97. In what situation or place would you feel most out of place in?Pretty much everywhere98. What’s the dumbest thing you’ve done that actually turned out pretty well?Not sure99. If someone wrote a book on an event in your life, what would the book be about?It would be a pretty boring book, don’t know100. What’s something you will never do again?Plenty of things101. How do you hope you’ll change as a person in the future?Hope I can be a better and kinder person102. What keeps you up at night?Depends103. What’s the most surprising self-realization you’ve had?You like girls, it’s fine104. What is the most illegal thing you’ve ever done?I smoked weed once :o105. How do you get in the way of your own success?Second-guessing myself106. What are you afraid people see when they look at you?Nothing107. What is your biggest regret?There’s plenty108. What do you look down on people for?Being willfully ignorant109. What bridges do you not regret burning?With an ex110. What lie do you tell most often?Not sure111. What would be your spirit animal?Dunno112. What is the best & worst thing about getting older?Freedom/responsibility113. What are you most likely very wrong about?How to fix a car114. If you had a personal flag, what would be on it?Dunno115. What’s happened that changed your view on the world?The election116. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?Can’t pick117. What is the most immature thing you do?I dunno, I’m pretty mature I think118. What are you famous for among your friends & family?Nothing119. If your childhood had a smell, what would it be?Dirt120. What one responsibility do you wish you didn’t have?Having to work121. What are 3 things you want to accomplish before you die?Find something I like to do, find someone I want to share my life with, travel somewhere cool122. What do you want to tell your 10-year-old self?Try not to worry so much but also don’t trust people123. What’s the best thing you got from your parents?My sense of humor124. What’s the best thing about you?I care a lot?125. What blows your mind?Space126. Have you ever saved someone’s life?No127. What are you really good at but embarrassed to be good at?Don’t know128. What would a mirror opposite of you look like?Elegant129. What are 3 interesting facts about you?I can’t think of anything right now130. Which of your scars has the best story behind it?I have one on my stomach from surgery when I was a baby?131. What’s the title of the current chapter in your life?Aimless132. What were some of the biggest turning points in your life?Going to college133. What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned?You can’t always make things go the way you want134. What do people think is weird about you?I’m not very talkative135. What mistake do you keep making?I dunno136. What have you created that you’re most proud of?Dunno137. What do you doubt?My judgment138. What are some of your morals?Be a good person139. What do you want to be remembered for?No idea140. What do you regret not doing in your childhood years?Learning a second language141. What is your favorite fragrance?Pine trees!142. What do you think your last words will be?No idea143. Who or what do you take for granted?Dunno144. Why would you be annoying as a roommate?I feel like I’m a pretty good roommate. Maybe I’m around too much.145. What is something you’re insecure about?Literally everything146. What’s the best & worst piece of advice you’ve received?Dunno147. What irrational fears do you have?Emetophobia, also don’t love heights148. What makes a good life?Helping others149. What’s the last adventure you went on?Went to a concert on Saturday? Is that an adventure?150. What is the most memorable gift you’ve received?I can’t think of anything right now

#campfire talks

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anamericanpsyco · 6 years

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Quick Thoughts

I had access to Netflix while I was dogsitting for the past 24hrs, which means I got to watch some shows/movies that have come out since the last time I used a trial (it’s been like 4 months).

First up was Bright. I have been looking forward to watching the film since I saw the trailer. This LOTR meets End of Watch with a touch of Training Day film succeeded in entertaining me. Yes, there was a lack of character motivation and a lack of character development, but aesthetically the film was on point and my expectations were on par (I didn’t expect it to be oscar worthy by any means). Bonus: Noomie Rapace (although very little screen time) was stunning as an evil elf. I thought her Lisbeth look was dope, but this was next level with the ears and the teeth and the eyes (japanese fan-girl squeal).

Segway...I was also able to watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi. While I don’t typically find myself watching documentary/biopics, I have always had a strong affinity for learning more about Japanese culture with the goal being to travel to the country (which I’m thinking may happen next year). This film was both a pleasure to watch and listen to (the piano score really worked well). I wish I had that kind of dedication to drawing (I am certainly working on it), but bills gots to get paid. The only downside of this film was that it made me super hungry for Asian cuisine, so I pull out my phone and find that there was a Thai place less than a mile from where I was. So, I put the movie on pause to go get the food, so that I can have this 3-D movie experience, but when I go to the place they tell me it will be 1hr to make some fried rice...devastating. Needless to say, ‘ain’t nobody got time for that.’

Lastly: I watched the first episode of the latest season of Black Mirror (I thought it was the 1e1s, but whatever). I am not a Trek-y by any means. My only exposure outside of pop culture was the few episode of Voyager I watched with my parents, my dad liked it. But that didn’t hinder me at all. The concept was cool, a nod to Tron mashed with Star Trek. I liked the comic art they used to create the mise-en-scene. Although a bit long for my taste for an episodic medium, I would watch another episode. Do they reuse the same actors in the other episodes like AHS? I like when studios do that, kind of a nod to classic hollywood.

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colangquest · 6 years

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How I got into Conlanging

For the first post of Conlang Quest, I want to start at the very beginning by explaining how I became interested in language and conlangs. My particular story may not be interesting to people, but I am curious about how people who conlang discovered conlanging in the first place. What was the first conlang they’d ever heard of? Was it Esperanto? Klingon? Or maybe Dothraki?

My first exposure to constructed languages was Tolkien and the Elvish languages. At a young age, I hadn’t even read the entirety of Lord of the Rings, let alone make it to the Appendices to read all of the linguistic information about Sindarin or Quenya. All I knew was that Tolkien had invented his own language, and that fascinated me. I told my parents that I had an interest in languages.

However, the years that followed seemed to paint me as a liar. I was fine at English, but absolutely rubbish at Chinese, the compulsory second language we had took take at school. I didn’t pick up much of Malay or any other Chinese dialect spoken locally. I was monolingual in an environment that actively encouraged bilingualism. There was a variety of reasons behind this, but the end result was that I hated learning Mandarin and couldn’t be bothered to try. I didn’t read to much Tolkien inbetween, either.

Thankfully, my hatred of Chinese was chipped away by various teachers. I knew enough to get by exams at the very least. The breaking point was when I got into Hong Kong Kung Fu movies, and I torrented Drunken Master 1978 in its original Cantonese voices, complete with Chinese subtitles. For the first time in my life, I had fun learning Chinese by trying to study from the subtitles. It also helped that Cantonese is far better sounding than Mandarin.

My earlier fascination with language seemed to resurface. One fateful day I decided to watch Youtube videos about languages and such, and I stumbled upon Xidnaf’s Youtube channel. And I when I find a creator I like, I usually try to experience almost everything they make. His videos are usually pretty interesting and teach a lot of useful linguistic information. But the most important one I saw was “Why People Make Their Own Languages”.

The video is still good, by the way. It covers the basic history of constructed languages and the general motivations behind creating them. I’d recommend this video as an introduction for someone who’s never heard of conlangs before. It does leave out a few important artlangs, like Klingon and Quenya, which are only mentioned at the end by his guest, Artifexian.

The description of Xidnaf’s video then links to Artifexian’s channel, who plans on showing his viewers how to create their own constructed language.

Artifexian’s channel was fascinating. His videos are neatly and clearly presented. He started off by teaching his viewers the basics of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Being aware of the sounds I was making for the first time was mind-blowing. Then he had an entertaining guest video with Xidnaf where he put together a phonology for his language. That was probably the best video on conlanging that he’s made, even if the advice given is a bit spotty.

However, Artifexian updates infrequently, so I looked around to find more information after I finished all of his videos. He linked to Zompist as a guide, and so did r/conlangs, so I went and checked out Zompist and his Language Construction Kit (LCK).

Interestingly, Zompist is where Artifexian got most of his advice. There are many striking similarities between the first page of the LCK and Artifexian’s videos. The sequence of linguistic topics presented is the same. But to Artifexian’s credit, he elaborated on them in far more detail. The usage of sound and diagram to explain place and manner of articulation went a long way in teaching viewers how this stuff works.

But there’s more to making a language than merely a phonology. Gradually I kinda fell out of following Artifexian, because he doesn’t really have videos that explain conlanging beyond phonology. Don’t get me wrong, phonology is still a deep rabbit hole that you could continue to explore, but after a while I feel like I get it. I know most of what I need to know to make a phonology for a conlang. I intuitively understand what what your stereotypical natural phonology should look like.

In the end really, a lot of it comes down to taste. I’m not really that interested in seeing other people’s phonology charts. Give me a text at least! I don’t have evidence for this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there are a lot of conlanging noobs out there who obsess about phonology and only have phonology charts to show for it. Like I said, there’s more than that.

Right now, I’m trying to understand stress systems, but I’m also trying to wrap my head around basic syntax, different kinds of special words and things verbs can be marked for. Stuff like the grammar, the bones of how you express yourself in a language and how meaning is conveyed. Phonology to me is just the skin. The outer layer. It’s cool, and can look really awesome, but it’s just scratching the surface. And a language can have any sound really. The structure and grammar is what really makes it tick.

I’ve yet to actually make a constructed language, at least, not one in it’s entirety. My goal of 2018 is to produce a working grammar of my first language, which is really just a test to get my feet wet in conlanging.

But conlanging is artform especially demanding for a beginner to learn, considering that an education in an entire field of science is required to become good at it.

So here I am. I don’t think that taking linguistics at a higher education seems to be in my future. But I am interested in learning. Conlang Quest is blog meant for self-studying. By writing posts about linguistics, conlangs or any related topics I happen to be looking at, I can get some of this stuff to stick in my head. Thankfully, there are well defined ways describing and classifying languages, so I have a fairly linear path ahead of me. Or at least, that’s the kind of road I’m hoping to chart ahead with this blog.

As an older teenager, I went back to Tolkien, read all of LOTR, and even peaked at the language section of the Appendices. I could understand most of it and I loved the Tengwar. It’s probably the best featural alphabet, no, the best constructed script ever made. I really like Tolkien as an artist. Not only has he written really awesome books, he’s pioneered conlanging. And he did it all for fun. To tell you the truth, I’m making a conlang for a comic I want to make. But making comics is even harder than making conlangs, even if it’s easier to appreciate. I’d love to spend as much time as possible learning about languages and conlanging, but I’d also love to spend all that time drawing and making comics. In the end I can’t spend to much time conlanging.

But then again Tolkien was like 45 when he wrote the Hobbit. I’ve still got some time to go.

#Conlang Quest #about

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