#enola holmes | ruler | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hnybnny · 4 years

Text

properly introducing my main fanservants!!!

LOTS OF PHOTOS/ART AND SUCH UNDER THE CUT BUT LIKE,,,, THIS IS JUST. A QUICK INTRODUCTION. TO MY PRIMARY SERVANT BASTARD CHILDREN- (in order of appearance; Sebastian Moran, John Watson, Enola Holmes, Columbia, Thomas Edison (True), Nicolas Flamel, Captain Stormalong, Edgar Allan Poe)

Feel free to hop in my ask box if you wanna talk about them or have any questions!!! Thank you for reading ily-

Colonel Sebastian Moran (Assassin)

My primary servant OC by far! Professor James Moriarty’s chief-of-staff and right hand man- the second most dangerous man in London, after the Napoleon of Crime himself. Nicknamed ‘Basher’ or ‘Tiger Jack’, among others..

Moran is- or was- the most skilled marksman in the British Army, before he was dishonorably discharged. There are only a handful of men on the face of the continent able to shoot as well as he. As well as being an unnaturally skilled shot, he is a devoted sportsman and big-game hunter, and has notoriously tangled with tigers by himself in India- a predator that rather aptly describes the man himself. He authored two books, and his feats are still legendary in India, where his record 'bag of tigers' still goes unmatched. Although his outwards appearance was that of a respectable London gentleman and honorable military veteran, he gained a reputation in the evil underworld and was recruited by James Moriarty, serving as his 'chief of staff' of his criminal empire as well as his personal assassin for jobs that required his peculiar skill with a rifle.

The man is, as one Chaldean staff member puts it, a 'stone-cold badass'. He has a nerve of iron, and is vehemently loyal to both Professor Moriarty and his Master. He lives for danger, and the thrill that comes with 'kill or be killed' situations. Moran is also extremely easy and obvious to read- smiling 'like an idiot' when happy, and 'frowning like thunder' when angry. He does rather enjoy killing people, and is overall a man of few morals (although still having more than the Professor)- which, paired together, is what led to his leave from the military as he's practically a walking example of the 'Colonel Kilgore' trope. The more challenging the kill, the more enjoyment he gets out of it. As a strange upside, Moran has no illusions of how he's a right bastard.

"Ask anyone who knew me in the army, and you'll hear the same things about Basher: tiger in the field, bounder in the mess; a good man to have your back, but a bad man to show your back to; trust him with a fight, but not your sister, your wallet, or a deck of cards."

His Noble Phantasm, which represents his unmatched skill with a rifle, is called BEBR DER KHANH KHALI - Persian for ‘the tiger in the empty house’.

The bullet shot is, unlike others, a specially-made expanding revolver bullet which makes Moran unable to be likely linked to the kill. Much like a ghost or a tiger stalking its prey, he is completely silent in his attack, and the target can never see him coming before they're already dead- and just as quickly he is gone, seemingly disappearing into thin air without a trace.

No matter the conditions or distance, as long as Moran can see his target in some way- whether by the naked eye or through his scope, or perhaps in some other manner- his shot is guaranteed to hit its mark with deadly accuracy.

Also, if you find him not wearing his coat, it’s probably because he gave it to Jack. He loves knife child. They deserve proper clothes.

(source: amon-sheep on twitter)

(source: manalmmune on twitter)

[[LINK TO HIS CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC]]

Doctor John Watson (Caster)

The famed Boswell and best friend of the great detective himself. Aman who is most like his traditional origin, as opposed to the heavyset comedic figure modern media tends to make him out to be- aka the Watson that is described by Doyle as a former rugby player, an army man, and popular among the fairer sex due to his handsomeness, intelligence, and charm.

He quickly becomes a proper ‘fatherly’ figure in Chaldea and especially to Master, due to his big dad energies, despite never having the chance to be a father in his life. Chaldea also appreciates finally having a proper doctor that isn’t a Berserker or... whatever’s going on with Ascelpius. Watson is Holmes’s life compass, the loyal companion always by his side who balances the detective out.

Although he’s a caster, he also wields his trusty wartime revolver, and is curious in that, unlike most casters, he has one offensive Noble Phantasm- it’s his secondary, and his primary ‘Conductor of Light’ crystallizes Watson's role as a 'whetstone' for Sherlock Holmes's mind and unmatched stimulator of his famous flatmate's genius. As Holmes himself summarizes, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.” This Noble Phantasm is purely supportive, serving to bring out the absolute best in an ally- whether it be manifested in power, magic, or inspiration- and temporarily unlocking a vast wealth of potential that they might not have even known they had. The exact limitations or bounds of it is not known, as it can seemingly extend in purpose as far as Watson or his Master might need it to in a given situation- able to provide buffs, grant moments of unmatched mental clarity or courage, and even unlock hidden abilities and Noble Phantasms if the moment is dire enough. His secondary NP is one he rarely uses, and hates to do so, because of the bad memories it dredges up- called ‘The Reichenbach Solution’, it creates a reality marble recreation of Reichenbach, with the roaring waters and a single shot from Watson himself sending the enemy tumbling off the falls to their demise.

Watson was old friends with Moran in the army, and reconnect during their time in Chaldea (despite Holmes and Moriarty’s protests), and he also joins the ‘author squad’ and spends much time with them. He is a rational man and sturdy as they come, always there when needed; whether it be to patch up wounds, help solve mysteries, or to help Master deal with all the mental trauma from their adventures (because holy shit they need HELP-). Also Also he probably just straight up adopts Mash, he and Holmes are her new gay dads.

(source: gomooink on twitter)

Enola Holmes (Ruler)

If Sherlock is the representation of all great detectives, then the teenage Enola Holmes is the representation of all female sleuths. Originally far too weak to be a servant- her source material being extremely modern (Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer), she contains the essence of the great detectives of the fairer sex, but most importantly of two Divine spirits- Athena and Persephone (not Ma’at, despite what the image says-), both Greek goddesses. Athena is the dominant of the two, and a maternal figure to Enola, while Persephone is content just to sit back and enjoy the ride.

The younger sister of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes (and sometimes, the mysterious elder sibling Sherrinford), Enola is much like her more famous brother- similar in lanky stature and physical features, including the prominent hawk-like nose. She is plain in appearance but behind bright eyes hides an intelligent, clever mind, albeit a stubborn and hard-headed one. She is a rebel at heart, resisting the efforts of society to shove her into the mold of a perfect subservient Victorian woman. Enola often uses being underestimated due to her sex and age to her advantage, and, like Sherlock, is quite adept at the art of disguise. With her Spirit Origin also containing figures like Nancy Drew and Miss Marple, Enola is a talented private investigator with a knack for seeing things from angles that other’s can’t- like that of a woman.

Also yeah, she gay. Keep scrolling. She would like to hold hands with Mash very much.

(enola w/ her brother mycroft; source, dewa-chan)

(concepts for her ascensions, mostly cemented, again courtesy of dewa-chan who i owe my life to always and forever-)

Columbia (Ruler)

The Divine Servant calling herself Columbia is a complex individual. At face value, she is the personification of the United States of America, often visualized as a goddess; a quasi-mythical figure first written about by the enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley during the Revolutionary War in her work To His Excellency, George Washington. Columbia is, in fact, an amalgamation of two lesser Divine Spirits. One of them is the Roman goddess of liberty, Libertas. The majority of personifications of liberty are merely aspects and appearances of her, including the Statue of Liberty and the unidentified woman in the painting Liberty Leading the People, leading to Libertas having a more powerful- if rather confusing- Spirit Origin compared to most other minor Roman deities. The other is Columbia herself; a goddess first encountered by Chaldea during the odd adventures with Paul Bunyan. She is the symbol of America, and although she is technically a goddess, she is not worshiped- instead existing as an anthropomorphic personification akin to Uncle Sam. She is a goddess crafted by humankind, a manifestation of the thirst for freedom and equality that resides in the heart of man.

However, her existence is still closely intertwined with Libertas, having come from her 'lineage'; Columbia explains that if other personifications of liberty were to manifest, such as Marianne- the French icon of liberty, they would have to have Libertas accompanying their own Spirit Origin to be anything more than a Phantom. Columbia is not only linked to the nation carrying the name America, but to the land itself- in her earliest incarnations she served as a representation of the Americas- both South and North- to those across the Atlantic. She protects all who walk across the great frontier, and all those who have walked it before. Geronimo often voices his hopes that she is the same goddess that brought the first peoples of the yet-unnamed land delicious maize in abundance; Columbia only ever gives a knowing wink, always keeping the answer to herself.

Columbia tries to speak like a newscaster- that is, without an accent- to hide that fact that her true accent as a Servant is the thickest fucking New York brogue you can imagine. AYYYY, SHE’S WALKIN’ ‘EEEEERE!!!!

She has two Noble Phantasms- a support one, her main, called ‘ TORCH OF THE NEW COLOSSUS: THE DREAM OF A NATION ‘, and an offensive albeit rarely used NP called ‘ STRIKE FOR FREEDOM: DO NOT WEEP, FOR WAR IS KIND ‘ that has anti-Country parameters /because it straight up fuckin’ manifests the american military from all across its history-/

Columbia is just... a big country mom. who can grow to the size of the statue of liberty. whoops.

[[LINK TO HER INTRO CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC]]

Thomas Edison (True) (Caster(?))

BASTARD MAN. BASTARD. This Thomas Edison, though being initially called an Alter, is actually the True manifestation of the ‘Wizard of Menlo Park’ without the influence of so many presidential heroic spirits. To match Tesla, he’s a 5*. I have him as Caster but... that’s still up in the air, tbh.

He will steal your Noble Phantasm and claim it as his own. It’s actually one of his Skills- ‘Intellectual Copyright’. It blocks an enemy's ability to use their Noble Phantasm, sealing it for a length of time, while also buffing Edison in return- the strength of the buff received is proportionate to the strength of the sealed Noble Phantasm. This embodies Edison's habit of taking other people's ideas for his own, and while he often improved upon them, he still claimed them as solely his creations. He can copy the abilities of others and shape them to his own needs, always at the ready with a lawsuit in hand if anyone dare complain!

He is not allowed around Ivan or Ganesha due to his history with elephants and electrocution.

His Noble Phantasm (he may have more than one, he gets VERY shifty when asked) is a manifestation of his most terrible and deadly creation- the electric chair. He can also create a reality marble of a fantastical Menlo Park, a thriving center of innovation and invention, using his Territory Creation.

Did I mention he’s a bastard? God, he’s a bastard. He’s incredibly intelligent BUT HE IS A BASTARD. He’s Evil alignment (arguably, may be Chaotic Netural-). It pains Tesla to admit that he actually likes normal Edison (furry man) much more.

Ask him what he did to Louie Le Prince and he’ll sock you in the jaw and take off running (and also not answer).

Nicolas Flamel (Caster)

The Alchemist, the great and immortal Nicolas Flamel himself. He’s a sad old lanky Frenchman DILF dad who misses his wife a lot, and is always ready to throw hands with Merlin and/or Paracelsus. He’s a potential candidate for the Grand Caster class, but is behind Solomon and Merlin in ‘line’. Flamel was a successful French scribe who would gain a reputation as an alchemist after his death in 1418- or at least, his presumed death. He was rumored to have been successful in his creation of the Philosopher's Stone, an artifact with the ability to transmute base metals, and with it was able to create a way to achieve immortality. This Stone was his magnum opus, and he was the first to successfully create it- a fact he makes sure that Paracelsus is aware of at all times.

Also, much like Merlin, he’s not a true Servant. This is THE Nicolas Flamel. But... what happened to Perenelle, his wife? He does not like to talk about it.

He enjoys peace and quiet, educated debate, and reading. Flamel gets on quite well with his fellow Frenchman Dantes, as well as with Waver/El Meloi.

THE DRAGONS OF FLAMEL (Skill): Flamel summons a staff of Cadeceus. Carried by the Greek god Hermes in mythology, it is said "...wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle; if applied to the dead, they returned to life". In the hands of Flamel, it can stun an enemy or counteract the effects of a stun-inducing skill upon an ally. As well as that, it can channel the effects of its corresponding god-named element mercury, able to dissolve many metals like silver and gold at will. However, like mercury, this skill is extremely volatile and prone to backfiring violently on Flamel if overused.

ELIXER OF LIFE (Skill): The ultimate alchemical creation- the solution, part of Flamel's legend, that granted he and his wife immortality. He keeps a small flask of the elixer on him at all times, and can be used in a pinch to heal all of Flamel's physical wounds, or that of a singular ally. However, it is not enough to grant an ally immortality, nor is it enough to heal multiple mortal wounds. The substance takes exactly one week, given the right materials, for Flamel to remake and refill his flask with some of the elixer.

He has two Noble Phantasms, one being ‘The Stone of the Philosphers’, and the other being ‘The Book of Abra-Melin the Mage’.

[[LINK TO HIS INTRO CHAPTER IN MY FANSERVANT FIC ALSO THERES A LATER CHAPTER WHERE HE ATTEMPTS TO THROW HANDS W/ PARACELSUS]]

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong (Rider)

Captain Alfred Bulltop Stormalong is, plainly put, pretty much a nautical version of Paul Bunyan. Like Bunyan, he can change his size at will, growing to huge proportions. His giant ship was said to have hinged masts so as not to catch them on the moon, and had a stable of Arabian horses on board for his crew to get from one end of the ship to the other! Stormalong is said to have had a lifelong rivalry with the fabled Kraken- but unfortunately for the legendary sea beast, it got summoned alongside Stormalong and has begrudgingly taken up residence in his hat in a somewhat smaller form.

His main weapon (not drawn) is a ship's anchor he wields like a flail. His pipe is really just for the aesthetic as he can't use it to smoke, but it does blow bubbles! His Noble Phantasm is The Courser and the Kraken (Massive all-enemy damage + stun).

He’s a good boy who loves boats, the water, and clam chowder.

Edgar Allan Poe (Foreigner)

The alcoholic author himself, Edgar Allan Poe is a Foreigner-class servant, being linked with the King in Yellow- Hastur the Unspeakable.

Sometimes you can find him locked in a tiny pitch-black closet with Dantes and Sherlock, all three of them puffing away in utter silence on their tobacco. Hastur most often takes the form of a multi-eyed raven chillin’ on his shoulder, and is capable of speech- if prodded, he will shit-talk the patrons of Poe’s fellow foreigners. He really doesn’t like Cthulhu and Yog, even if Poe has psuedo-adopted Abby, WHOOPS. Hastur, to his credit, is the least malevolent Elder God/patron in Chaldea- though if he is seen chatting with Moriarty by any servants or staff, Master must be alerted immediately.

True to form, he’s very macabre, with a unique dramatic way of speaking much like his writings. He’s unsettling and creepy, but has impeccable manners and likes to chat (he’s very lonely-). He enjoys a good mystery, and is prepared to find Arthur Conan Doyle if he be a heroic spirit and beating the snot out of him for treating Holmes so poorly- Poe was the inventor of the detective fiction genre, after all. Most of skills manifest visually as references to his most famous works. His NP is ‘ A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM : THE CRY OF THE YELLOW RAVEN, NEVERMORE ‘

He doesn’t know what a ‘Hot Topic’ is, but it sounds intriguing!

And no, he doesn’t know what the hell was up with his death either. Weird shit happens in Boston.

72 notes · View notes

shadowspellchecker · 2 years

Text

Just some thoughts on distances in Enola Holmes: Vehicles

[[Vehicles]]　☼　 [[Menu]]　☼　 [[Next]]

In Enola Holmes (2020), we see the following modes of transportation featured:

Rail transport

Automotive

Cycling

Horse-drawn wagon

Walking

Each of these, of course, has different speeds and considerations. Since maximum speed can be used to calculate maximum applicable distance, I thought might be helpful to create a reference for each mode of transportation for use when estimating distances.

This is just a collection of notes, really. But why invent the wheel? So I thought I'd share.

Railways

Apparently the speed of the engine is not the only factor when estimating travel time by rail: infrastructure plays a role, and track materials. [🚂]

Strap rail: 10-12 mph (16-19kph) [🚂][🚂]

Cast iron rails: >20mph[🚂]

Wrought iron rails: 30 mph[🚂]

Steel rail: >60mph[🚂]

In Britain, railway infrastructure was ahead of the United States, so train speeds reached 30mph in 1830, 78mph by 1850.[🚂]

But these are limits how fast a train could run, not how fast the journey was made. Let's move on. The British Library provides us with two different numbers:

Now, an express train could reach speeds of 80 miles an hour.

Some people feared that fast trains might cause physical harm to the passengers. Queen Victoria asked the driver to go more slowly than his average speed of 40 miles an hour, on her journey from Slough to London, finding the experience terrifying. [🚂]

The 40 mph average is also given in Taylor & You, and by some reasoned answers on Quora. [🚂] [🚂]

Leunig gives a more conservative estimate of 28.4 mph in 1870 and 32.8 in 1887 based on timetables of the period, but goes into more detail, differentiating between more important routes and less important routes. The paper also gives us a way to reckon "as the crow flies" speeds.

We calculate miles per hour by dividing the “crow flies” mileage between the two towns by the time taken. We use “crow flies” rather than “track” or “road” miles because this is what matters to travelers. This also has the useful property that the construction of a shorter line, on which trains travel at the same speed, counts as an increase in speed.39 As a rule of thumb, track mile speeds exceed crow flies speeds by around 15 percent.

In some cases, it is easier to use "As the crow flies" mileage-- just take a ruler, draw a straight line across the map-- then work out the twists and turns. So, some might find it useful to have a way to compensate for that.

The Magazine of Western History (1886) gives a counter to their assessment, however. In his assessment of achieving a sustained speed of 35 mph, the writer, William Barrows, says "no man conversant with the history and progress of mechanics will presume to say that the highest limit of train speed has been reached." If that is contemporary opinion, 30 mph may be too conservative for an express train.

It is also worth considering that trains often stopped for dinner during the 1800s, but likely unnecessary to the train ride we see in the movie-- an express train that started around 9:15 in the morning.[🚂]

tldr;

40 mph is probably a good bet for 1880s rail journeys, but under some circumstances, it is believable a train might have been able to reach 60mph on a straight line.

If using "as the crow flies" measurements , add at least 15% to the actual distance before calculating time.

It is safe to assume that trains will move faster on straight tracks to make up for time lost on the turns.

Automotives

Apparently, the average speed of one motorcar from the period was about 26 mph (41 kph) at the time.... [1] But that's not accounting for road conditions, terrain, etc. If we do... well, I don't know how to account for that. 15% losses (which would mean going at ~22 mph) seems too low in the age before road surfaces were designed for automotive transport. Frankly, I'd be surprised if they actually made it past 10 mph (16kph). (About that of a horse and buggy at a trot.) [2] But perhaps I've been sold by that 10 mph is Google Maps' estimated speed for bikes! [3])

BUT-- get this -- in my haste to find estimates, I forgot to check the specs of the vehicle!

And it turns out, Miss Harrison must have had an advance order, because her car is the Benz 1885! (Well, actually, it's a reproduction, but close enough.)

[Source]

The Benz Patent-Motorwagon had a speed of 6 mph (10 km/h) or 10 mph (16 kph) [🚗][🚗], a 4.5 liter (1.1 gallon) tank, and a fuel consumption rate of 2 gallons to 62 miles (10 liters per 100 km).

This gives us one highly technical insight: Assuming that the tank was full, the car could go only as far as about 50 km, or 30 miles-- and track miles at that. Any further, they need to refuel.

Speed may not be the only factor to consider when judging distances covered by this car, so I did a bit more research.

The Benz runs on gasoline, but Bertha Benz that longer trips could be achieved. They would need to stop at an apothecary, though, and I don't know if Enola would know ligorin is an adequate substitute. They would probably have had to stop and wait for the engine to cool down, and push up hills that are too steep. [🚗] [🚗][🚗] Still, it is worth noting that Bertha's journey, one-way, was conservatively 110 mi (180 km) long, and probably took around 14 hours. Which would her an overall speed of 7 mph (13 kph) or, based on Wikipedia's less conservative estimate, 9mph (14kph) -- both of which are well within our speed estimate for the vehicle. [🚗]

But given Enola and Tewkesbury left in the morning, and arrive late at night.... yes, they would have needed to refuel, which would have lessened the distance they could have covered in that time just as the vehicle would have allowed them to cover a greater distance. Something to note, going forward.

Car: 6-10 mph or 10-16 kph.

Cycling

We only see it used in Ferndell and in London, so it doesn't really help in working out the major distances seen in the movie.

Horsepower

In the film, we see a horse-drawn cart. Being heavier for their size, carts and wagons need different considerations from carriages, which are designed to be light and travel faster. A horse-drawn wagon goes, at a walk, about 2-4 mph (3-6kph). [🐎] A horse-drawn wagon can go 10 to 30 miles in a day depending on terrain and conditions. [🐎] And given the presence of livestock, walkers, and a load, it seems safe to assume that the horses pulling that wagon would have remained at a slow walk. [🐎]

Horse-cart: 2 mph (3kph)

Buggies are also featured, but until I have a better sense of the time interval between Lestrade apprehending Enola and when she arrives at the school I don't have enough info to work with.

Walking

The average human walking speed roughly varies between 2 and 4 mph. Urban planners generally estimate between those two figures, but that is assuming an environment optimized for human traffic. Still, Ramblers.org also suggests an average of 3mph, or 2.5 mph (4kph). Leunig follows the latter suggestion, but suggests, given the nuance is that it only applies to adults who are walking on level or downhill routes, and that it is calculated by miles on route, that 2mph might be more accurate for estimation. Even with healthy young adults, the hills would slow movement, and it seems unlikely they would be able to stay on a truly straight line They will, at the very least, need to find a ford or bridge to cross the river, for instance. Since plotting an exact route would be unlikely for most purposes, it might be wise to apply 15% losses to 2.5 mph... which is 2.125, so basically 2mph. So that checks out.

2.125mph (3.4kph) for two teenagers walking overland.

Summary:

40 mph is probably a good bet for 1880s rail journeys, but under some circumstances, it is believable a train might have been able to reach 60mph on a straight line.

If using "as the crow flies" measurements , add at least 15% to the actual distance before calculating time.

It is safe to assume that trains will move faster on straight tracks to make up for time lost on the turns.

Car: 6-10 mph or 10-16 kph.

Car: Needs to be refueled every 30 miles or so.

Biking: unhelpful for my purposes

Horse-cart: 2 mph (3kph)

Buggy: insufficient data to be of use. Skip.

2.125mph (3kph) for two teenagers walking overland. Lowball: 2mph.

With these established, I hope to start narrowing down some of the fictional places in the movie!

#enola holmes #resources #fanfic research #except no fic here just research #victorian era #1880s #historical cars #historical trains #rough estimates #notes #tewkesbury #geography #horsepower #1800s #19th century

3 notes · View notes