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accirax · 4 months

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Chessgram Theory: Who is Kotoko Breaking?

While the object Kotoko is breaking in Deep Cover’s thumbnail is still certainly up for debate, many people (including myself) are of the belief that she’s snapped a white bishop from the game of chess. Given where Kotoko’s mental state is right now and what’s implied by the lyrics of Deep Cover, I think it’s likely that this MV’s theme will depict all of the prisoners as different chess pieces. Therefore, it’s worth asking: who is that? And, in a larger sense, which prisoners could be represented by which chess pieces?

Kotoko pretty clearly sees her situation as her and Es against the rest of the prison. So, I think that the characters would be divided as Kotoko and Es on one team, and everyone from 01-09 on the other. Kotoko is wearing black and appears to be breaking a white piece, so it’s pretty safe to assume that she and Es would be represented by the black pieces. It’s an interesting choice, given that, even to a non-Western audience, black can be considered a color of evil, and white a color of purity and truth. However, if the Es/Kotoko team is “mystery and anger” and the 01-09 team is “cold demeanors and death,” it fits well enough.

And that’s ignoring the most important part: in chess, the white team always moves first. This would fit with Kotoko’s vigilante worldview that everything she does is just a retaliation against others’ wrongdoing. The other characters attack first by sinning, and Kotoko is only picking them off before they can do any real damage to Team Warden.

Anyways, as for the pieces themselves, different websites seem to have slightly different opinions on what each piece can represent, with some obvious throughlines. I’ll be pulling quotes from these three articles, color coded according to which one is being used, which you can read more of if you wish. I’m also not a chess expert, so if I’m missing anything or got something wrong, I encourage you to add any of your own thoughts!

We’ll start with the Black Team, because there are fewer characters and I think it’s pretty obvious who’s who.

Kotoko Yuzuriha

Kotoko herself will probably be the black Queen. As anyone who’s played chess should know, your Queen is the most powerful piece in your arsenal because it can move on straights or diagonals for any distance.

The queen is our impulse to fight and possibly our id. It can argue based on beliefs. It can let loose and fight like a rook. It has no reason to hold back as a knight does and will often attack to the other side of the board just because it wants to.

This hyper-violent description of the Queen reminds me a lot of Kotoko. She attacks the other prisoners because, according to her beliefs, they’re criminals who deserve to be punished. Not to mention, the “id” is actually the same thing as the “es” in psychology. After we voted her innocent in the first trial, Kotoko became our teammate. She thinks that she’s the same as Es, so seeing herself as the “id” would fit perfectly with that self-assessment. Speaking of Es…

Es (and Jackalope?)

Es is most likely going to be the black King.

The king is not as powerful as the queen, but he is considered the most important piece that needs the most protection.

Even if Kotoko has more power than Es inside the prison, Es is still the one ultimately calling the shots. They’re the important piece who actually casts the votes that Kotoko can use to exact justice. The way that Es falls asleep between trials (or, at least, they did the first time) also reminds me of how the king can only move one space per turn, and often remains in the same square until closer to the end of the game.

The meaning of the Queen in the game of chess is she is plainly the closest support to the King and is often the second biggest (tallest) piece on the board, signifying her power and importance.

Es and Kotoko being the King and Queen together also opens them up to being assessed as a pair. They start the game next to each other, far across the board from the white pieces. If Es is the tallest, most notable piece in the prison, Kotoko isn’t far behind, acting as the King’s loyal fang.

I don’t know if any of the other pieces on the black team would have any sort of particular association. Maybe Jackalope could be the pawn that starts in front of the King (I think that’s the E pawn), so that he could hop out of the way on black’s first move to allow Kotoko to escape on a diagonal?

If I’m right about this theming, I also believe it’s possible that the black team would start only with the King and Queen. This would 1) make Kotoko and Es appear as rootable underdogs by having fewer pieces, 2) show how Kotoko is doing all of the work to defend justice, and 3) give Kotoko a lot of space to move around in from the start.

Now that we’re done with the black team, it’s time for the 01-09 White Team! Given that this side has many more main characters, there are several more possibilities to discuss here. I’ve settled on an answer for each of the prisoners, but there’s certainly room to be flexible with any of them.

Haruka Sakurai

Starting with Haruka… sorry, buddy, but I think you’re a Pawn.

Look, there are only eight pieces (not pawns) for each team on the board. If there are nine prisoners on the white team, at least one of them has to be a Pawn. And, especially through Kotoko’s account of the first Trial, Haruka wasn’t doing a whole lot. He didn’t get voted guilty, so she didn’t attack him, and he didn’t try to save any of the attacked prisoners, either. All he really did was get a new fit and align himself with Mu, someone who barely avoided being voted guilty in the first place.

There is a debate about whether the pawns are the peasants who live outside of the castle walls or are the soldiers protecting the royal court behind them.

Specifically, though, I think that Haruka would be the pawn that stands in front of Mu. Depending on which piece Mu is, it doesn’t have to work like this, but if you say that Pawn Haruka’s placement is basically a “if you want to attack her, you’ll have to get through me first,” that’s quite reminiscent of the threat he presented in his second audio drama.

Haruka also makes sense as a Pawn because he has a lot of potential. For anyone who doesn’t know, in chess, if a Pawn manages to make it to the other side of the board, they can transform into any other piece. Haruka’s quiet demeanor might let him slip under the radar, but if Kotoko takes her eye off of him for too long, he could wind up becoming a threat to the King (Es).

Haruka (VD2): “If you don’t forgive Mu-san, I’m going to kill you.”

In the audio drama, Es counters this plan by pointing out that, as a prisoner, Haruka cannot attack them. However, the sentiment is still there. Even if a Pawn doesn’t really stand a chance of attacking the King when Queen Kotoko is on the loose, there’s always the possibility that he could get too close and throw a wrench into Kotoko’s plans.

Yuno Kashiki

As for Yuno… well, we all know that she’s a Queen in general, but in chess, I don’t think that argument really holds up. Yuno really just isn’t… relevant? enough? to the conflicts of the prison as a whole (at least where Kotoko is involved) to be represented by such an important piece. But, if Yuno isn’t the Queen, what would she be…?

Personally, I think she would be a Rook.

The rook is brute force. It is a disregard to beliefs.

Simply put, Yuno is a Rook because she’s a pretty straightforward person. That’s not to say that she doesn’t lie, of course– her whole t1 attitude seems to have been a bit of an act, and that one section in the middle of Tear Drop makes it pretty obvious that Yuno conceals her true feelings on order to better please her customers sometimes– but that, in the end, Yuno always does what she wants. If she wants to barge forward or cut across the entire board sideways, she’ll do it. She often keeps to herself, just like how enemy pieces wouldn’t want to get directly in front of the Rook for fear of being curb stomped.

Back to her t1 attitude, though…

The rook is the castle, the walls, the protectorate of the city, and in being so, is the only piece not representative of a living thing.

While most sources attribute the Rook’s walls to protecting the other important pieces, Yuno’s walls protect herself. Yuno’s Castle keeps her true self locked behind cold and stony walls, giving her freedom from making any attachments.

Futa Kajiyama

Futa is a Knight because… he’s, uh, literally a knight.

The knight pieces are the protective knights in the castle. The pieces are shaped like a horse because it is symbolic of what knights rode during battle.

It doesn’t always have to be that deep. (/j)

Actually, though, there are other reasons to call Futa the Knight– possibly some of the same reasons why the Milgram creative team decided to make one of his MVs themed after fantasy RPGs in the first place.

The knight represents the pure inner-warrior. If a knight starts out passive, it will always end up aggressive and vice versa. It can't move very far, but it never moves in a straight line, always preferring to be tactical and thoughtful.

Futa definitely seems to cycle between aggressive and passive. He passively lived his life as a regular guy until he unleashed his aggression and became a cyberbully. That aggression fueled him until he learned of his victim’s death, at which point he shut down and seemed to become more passive and introspective again. Arriving in Milgram triggered his aggressive tendencies, but getting voted guilty and losing an eye for it triggered his passive terror. At the time of his second audio drama, it seems like he’s returned to aggressively questioning Es again, and it remains to be seen whether he keeps that attitude into t3 or if something happens that once again makes him lose his footing (or die).

Mu Kusunoki

Much like Yuno, Mu also has an argument for being called the Queen– more so than Yuno, considering her strong Queen Bee coding in It’s Not My Fault and the titles of both of her audio dramas– but also falls short in the “being opposed to Kotoko” department. Although Haruka certainly looks to her for leadership, I can’t imagine Kotoko actually considering Mu a serious enough threat to put Mu on the same level as herself.

So again, like Yuno, I think Mu might be the other Rook. Mu also displayed a very “whatever I say goes” attitude in INMF, so she can share the same rhetoric behind Yuno being represented by that piece. The logic behind the castle aspect is slightly different, though.

Every country or medieval estate would have its royalty who were protected within the walled city or castle.

Mu is a rich, half-European girl whose dad sells real estate. Of course she would be represented by the Castle! Mu’s tactics involve consolidating her power in order to lead from a place above it all, exactly like how a castle looks over the rest of the village. Additionally, I can’t find the source of whoever pointed it out first, but I’ve seen it mentioned that the dress Mu wears in her birthday art is a reference to the one that Belle wears in Disney’s interpretation of Beauty and the Beast. It’s a fairytale with a princess (and perhaps someday, a queen), yes, but it’s specifically one where the heroine is trapped within a castle. Making Mu into a Rook would be a great way to keep up her royal theming, while leaving the Queen for a character a bit more powerful and relevant to Kotoko.

(Going back to Haruka for a moment, this would make him specifically the A or H pawn.)

Shidou Kirisaki

I really thought that Shidou might have more competition for the role of King, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that nobody fit the role quite as well as he did.

Shidou is the perfect balance of a piece who’s very problematic for Kotoko’s win condition, while also not being much of an active threat himself. There are very low odds that Shidou would ever actually try to harm Kotoko directly or get in her way to divert an attack. However, as long as he’s alive, Kotoko can’t win, because Shidou can keep attempting to heal all of the pieces Kotoko tries to eliminate. That’s not something that the King piece can actually do in a chess game, but hopefully you get my point.

Additionally, Triage let us know that Shidou is a family man. While the white Queen will obviously not be representative of Shidou’s deceased wife, and not every other prisoner would enjoy living under his reign (cough cough Amane), the optics of him being the “head of the family” are obviously there. It’s a pretty bad look if the white King starts the game by pleading with the black King to give him the death penalty, but… Well, at least Shidou changed his mind.

Mahiru Shiina

Not to answer the theory’s main question so early into the post, but… I think Mahiru is a white Bishop. Specifically, the one that Kotoko could be snapping in half in the thumbnail.

As far as I can remember, barring Undercover, Milgram’s MVs have only shown us things that have happened in the past. There are some things that could kind of hint at the future (like Shidou’s “So hey, prolong my life / I’m indispensable” in Triage) or depict prisoner’s fears of the future (like Futa potentially being afraid that Es could declare him guilty again at the end of Backdraft). But, I think that every instance of something like that happening could be explained as something that the character did or thought about in the past as well. That might be wrong, as I don’t want to take the time to write out how everything that appears like it could be in the future is actually in the past, but it sounds right to my memory.

My point being, while the snapped bishop could be indicative of Kotoko’s plans to crush someone in the future, if the chess pieces do represent characters, it makes far more sense if her smashing the white bishop is something that already happened in the past. Thus, it would probably be one of the three characters that Kotoko attacked in the past: Futa, Mahiru, or Mikoto.

Of the three options, I think Mahiru fits the role of bishop best.

The bishop is your belief structure. This is why a bishop that starts on white, will always be on white and vice versa for the black bishop.

While not a particularly religious person, Mahiru is someone who lives and dies based on her beliefs about the value of love. No matter what happens to her, she always keeps her same perspective, believing that love is the entirety of who she is and the only thing that’s worth living for. It’s how firmly she clung to those beliefs that sent her to Milgram, and her lack of awareness regarding her actions that got her voted guilty. AKA, Mahiru’s Bishop-like beliefs are exactly what sent her to be crushed in Kotoko’s palm.

To the extent that the blood in the thumbnail is the Bishop’s and not Kotoko’s, Mahiru was also the most grievously injured of the prisoners in between trials. I saw people joking that the thing Kotoko was crushing was “Mahiru’s bones,” and, like… maybe you’re not entirely wrong?

I hope that you continue reading the post to hear my thoughts on the last three prisoners. But, if you are tapping out here… uhhhh, 0610 enjoyers, go crazy with this one.

Kazui Mukuhara

When I started theorizing for this post, I really thought that I was going to make Kazui the Queen to Shidou’s King. The two of them are pretty close, so the idea of Kazui being Shidou’s guardian makes total sense. And, most importantly, Kazui was the one to actually intercept and divert Kotoko’s attack on Futa. He’s been established as the most muscular prisoner in Milgram, on par with someone like Kotoko, which is perfect for him being the Queen!

Wellllll… I changed my mind and decided to make Kazui a Knight anyway.

There are a lot of good arguments for Kazui being a knight too, okay? After Cat, it’s pretty clear that Kazui was once a police officer. Thus, being a member of the castle guard would be a good match for his choice of career. They’re also probably the most traditionally “manly” piece, representative of an armed man on a horse, and Kazui tries very hard to be manly.

Knights can also hop over other pieces, much like how Kazui jumped into the fight between Kotoko and Futa. In fact…

Never underestimate [the Knight] for its limited range. It’s known as the "Queen Killer" for a reason!

Knights are often a good piece to use to attack Queens because of their unique L-shaped movement pattern. Unlike every other piece, they can attack the Queen from a position that can’t be immediately reversed upon them. Thus, Kazui’s ability to beat Kotoko could be an indicator of this “Queen Killer” quality, instead of the innate power of being a Queen himself. (This logic applies to Futa as well: he can attack Kotoko from the unique angle of appealing to Es’ morals and own sense of justice. Kotoko can’t do the same because, unlike Futa, she has yet to outwardly acknowledge that her murder could have been anything less than righteous.)

Also… the Knight is the only piece that doesn’t move in a straight line. Get it? The Knight doesn’t move straight? And that represents Kazui? Because Kazui is–

Amane Momose

Amane is the other Bishop because… religion.

The bishop stands close to the king and queen because it represents the church which many royal courts held near and dear to their hearts.

The Bishop represents the church, an important and very powerful entity throughout history and even today if you think about it.

Again, not everything has to be a reach. (/j)

So… yeah, Amane’s beliefs– specifically religious beliefs, this time– are also a huge part of her life. Even if she’s changed what the cult’s doctrine means to her, she still confesses that she carried out her murders for the sake of what her religion considers right and wrong.

This is also considered the third most powerful piece on the chessboard because back in the day religion could influence many people, even without the help of the royal family.

Not so much for Mahiru, but this sentiment also fits Amane pretty well! Between the threats of potential conversions and potential assassinations, Amane was definitely one of the prisoners to watch heading into t2. From what I’ve heard, the main reason why her vote was so down to the wire was mostly because people were afraid of the power that Amane held.

Interestingly, this would put another prisoner who was voted guilty in contention for the piece that Kotoko is crushing. However, I still think it’s more likely that that piece would be Mahiru, because Kotoko didn’t physically attack Amane. If it were Amane, it would more likely be that her beliefs were crushed as opposed to her bones, but… I don’t really think that really happened, either. Amane would almost certainly be a bishop, though, so there’s certainly a possibility that that broken piece could be her.

Mikoto/John Kayano

With only one prisoner left to go, you may have already come to the conclusion that Mikoto is the white Queen. And… yeah, I can’t really deny that at this point. Like I said, I wanted to make Kazui the Queen, but I couldn’t otherwise figure out what Mikoto would be.

Because, there’s one main thing that makes me think that Mikoto has to be the Queen… John’s lack of restraints.

She is allowed to move in any direction and in as many squares as she wants.

Due to the whole situation with John not technically being a prisoner, when John is the alter in charge, John cannot be restrained, even when voted guilty. That makes him very powerful; no matter what he does, we can’t use a guilty vote to try to stop him, much like many people hoped to do with Haruka when voting him guilty in t2. The Queen can visit any square, no matter whether it’s black or white, upright or reversed, Mikoto or John. Choosing any other piece that was constrained to a much more limited set of movement rules just felt off for him.

Next, while Kazui was able to defeat Kotoko and save Futa, the fight between John and Kotoko was a draw. That means that they are also evenly matched– perfect for both being the same kind of piece. Mikoto isn’t as close to Shidou as Kazui is (anymore, I think?), but they were at least smoking club buddies, so calling Mikoto the Queen to Shidou’s King isn’t the most ridiculous proposition.

Finally, making Mikoto the Queen, a very feminine piece, is super interesting in the context of people discussing how Mikoto is often associated with stereotypically feminine roles and the girl prisoners (oboetemasuka | candckirby | purgemarchlockdown). I don’t have a whole lot else to say on this matter considering these weren’t points of Mikoto’s characterization I originally noticed myself, but I encourage you to read these posts to get a taste of what I’m talking about. I’m sure there were other posts discussing it too, but… it’s so hard to find things on Tumblr ;-;

Conclusion

Finally, we’ve been through every prisoner! Here’s a summary of what I decided on (left or right side doesn’t matter):

The funny thing about this theory is that it could be fully disproven wrong in, like, a week, if either 1) that wasn’t a chess piece at all, or 2) the chess pieces obviously represent something else. For instance, the chess board could fully relate to, you know, Kotoko’s actual murder and not what she got up to in between trials. We are supposed to get more actual evidence regarding that too, aren’t we…?

Still, if it turns out that the chess board does represent Milgram, I will get the full satisfaction of having called it ahead of time, even if my assignments aren’t 100% correct. No matter what, I had fun thinking about it, which is (in my opinion) the highlight of theorizing! If you have anything else to add, I encourage you to communicate your thoughts in comments, tags, or reblogs. If you don’t, then I simply thank you for reading this far!

Deep Cover… soon.

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onyxonline · 22 days

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Ranks in the Prototype's Cult

Since I have some people that are curious about the inner workings of the cult, I shall deliver

To begin with. The Cult (and the Space Riders, but this ain't about them right now) function with a chess-like mentality, only moving when the opponent makes a move, retaliating when attacked, etc etc.

There is also an Hierarchy in the cult, allow me to explain

The King= The Prototype, the most important piece of the chess board, it symbolizes leadership, protection and power, all of which The Prototype represents. However, just like the piece in real life, it usually remains stationary, sending the others to do his biddings (as much as he wants to get involved, there's a reason he has those cables on the back of his neck)

The Queen= Seraphim, the piece represents versatility, as the chess piece is known for being quite a powerful tool against the other side, being able to use most of the other pieces' moves. The reason why they fit this powerful piece is because, unlike their Lord, they are capable of moving freely and wreak havoc under their God's name.

The Rooks= right below The Queen are the guards, they stay on the same planet The Prototype remains. They are strong and can literally tank many of the Space Riders' attack, capable of withstanding celestials as well. Fighting them will be difficult (then again, why would you go to The Prototype's planet? the smoke levels there are way too high, even the current version of the space riders' mask cannot filter it all out).

The Knights= These are the strategic masterminds behind The Prototype Cult's invasion. They are also the ones mostly sent to attack Space Riders directly as they are trained in plenty of different forms of combat, as well as creating high tech weapons.

The Bishops/Priests= The most well-known position, bishops represent religion and spirituality. And in this case, the bishops spread the word of The Lord, as well as are responsible of cultivating the Red Flowers that can be used to process the Red Smoke. They usually have powers as well. Bishops are incredibly charismatic, being able to lure people to join willingly...or unwillingly.

The Pawns= Sacrifice, frontline defense, these is what the bottom of the hierarchy are to The Prototype's perspective. These are the people that have been indoctrinated to his wonderful religion... They listen to The Bishops willingly and will fight Space Riders with no hesitation.

And there you have it! The Prototype cult's hierarchy system! hope this helps you guys with your cult ocs, if you have any questions comment below and i'll do my best to answer!

#Space Riders AU

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teriri-sayes · 1 day

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Reactions to Chaos Creator's Chapter 287

New title - 36. Cale-nim is Better Than a Dragon

Brief summary: Poetic description of Clopeh's "holy" smile. Cale visits Epley's island. Cale's group discuss Exion's plan to deal with them. CH vs. Clopeh.

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I knew that Clopeh was one of the author's favourite characters, but today was seriously pushing it. 🤣🤣🤣

"Fufufu." Clopeh Sekka laughed softly. The smile on the beautiful face of the white-haired and green-eyed man was truly holy. -Okay, Cale. I understand now. Super Rock started talking seriously. -When a blizzard rages for days and days, covering the world in snow and turning it white. -The beautiful green colour of the trees, the only thing holding on to the white world, even though you thought it doesn't make any sense. -When the blizzard suddenly stops and the sun peeks through the clouds, casting its rays on the snow. -The way the sunlight glistens on the green leaves of the only tree standing strong. -That feeling of holiness. Super Rock was very serious, as if all his doubts had disappeared. -That holy feeling is basically built into that bastard's smile. Ha. It was a really long explanation. Cale was shocked, but kept his mouth shut. He couldn't be bothered to retort, but his expression crumpled at Super Rock's next words. -Of course, your smile when scamming someone falls short to it. This Super Rock, what are you talking about?

J-Just look! Look! All those lines just to describe the "holiness" of Clopeh's smile. 🤣🤣🤣 And Super Rock, what happened to you? 🤣🤣🤣

Moving on, I thought Epley and the mage chimera were dead, but Cale was treating the two as having escaped rather than being dead. Epley's island was wiped off the map, but the source of the world caused an abnormal phenomenon on the sea, making it boil continuously.

Next up was Exion's plan to deal with Cale. It was not just the pope that Exion summoned, but the bishops and heretic inquisitors too. The remaining dragon gods were invited too, though it was optional. Emperor Alt and several human kings were also invited. Cale deduced that Exion was planning to have all those groups deal with Cale instead of Exion himself doing it.

After that, the focus returned to Clopeh. Today was his happy day because Cale praised him for doing a good job with handling the political affairs of this world. Cale even said that he would give the sword of the elven guardian knight who protected the Dragon Lord.

But... Clopeh must get CH's approval first before he gets the sword. And thus, the man's eyes reminiscent of green leaves turned to a slimy and murky green swamp... Author-nim, come on. You had to end today's chapter with a poetic description of Clopeh's eyes this time? 🤣🤣🤣

Ending Remarks I love this chapter because it was full of Clopeh madness that even the pope decided not to mess with him or Cale. 😂 And Cale regretting having Clopeh by his side. 😂 Next chapter is a duel between CH and Clopeh. I'm looking forward to how much Clopeh had grown in this arc.

#tcf spoilers #trash of the count's family

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memories-of-ancients · 7 months

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The Restoration of the Roman Republic ... in the Middle Ages? The Forgotten Commune of Rome

Today it seems men often have Rome on their minds with Tik Toks and polls indicating that men often think about Rome on a daily basis. I'm assuming that most of these thoughts revolve around the Roman Empire, lesser so the Roman republic, some the Eastern Roman (Byzantine Empire), and few think about the Roman monarchy. However I guarantee that almost no one thinks about the medieval Roman Republic known as the Commune of Rome.

In the 12th century central Italy was directly ruled by the Pope through the Papal States. One of the hot topic political issues of the day was the "investiture controversy", which was debate over who had the power to install bishops and other important clergy; the Pope or secular authorities. This evolved into a debate on who would have ultimate governing authority, the Pope, or the secular government, most notably the Holy Roman Empire. At the time, many cities in Italy were growing disgruntled with the rule of the Pope and the rule of nobles who supported the Pope. This resulted in popular uprisings in which cities overthrew the Papal government and declared themselves independent, thus forming various city states and communes in Italy.

In 1143 a wealthy Italian banker named Geordano Pierlione led a revolt against Papal authority, kicking the Pope out of Rome and declaring an independent Commune of Rome. The next year a monk and priest named Arnold of Brescia arrived in the city, becoming the intellectual leader of the movement and establishing the new Roman Republic. Arnold was a controversial reformer who railed against abuses of Church and Papal authority, decried Church corruption, and advocated a thorough reformation of the Church. Among his ideas he believed that clergy needed to return to apostolic poverty, renouncing all wealth and ownership of property, and also renouncing secular political power. Here's a statue of him in Brescia, Italy today.

With Arnold at it's head a new Roman government was formed and modeled after the ancient Roman Republic, with 56 senators who were not of noble class, 4 from each of Rome's medieval districts, and executive authority invested in a "patrician". The new republic refused to use the title "consul" as it had become an inherited noble title after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Nobles and aristocrats above the rank of knight were not allowed and thus most noble titles were abolished.

Of course the Pope, then Lucius II, was not going to tolerate such a rebellion and attempted to take back the city. In 1145 he formed an army and laid siege to the city. Amazingly the Romans drove away the invaders, with Pope Lucius II being killed in the battle after being bonked in the head with a rock.

The new republic flourished; drafting news laws, reforming medieval Roman society, making alliances with other Italian city states and war with others, setting up courts, and minting coins.

The Roman army was reformed, and a new capital building was constructed on the Capitoline Hill known as the Palazzo Senatorio (the Senate Palace), which still stands today but is much different after being heavily renovated by Michelangelo in the 1530's.

Originally the new Roman Republic swore fealty to the Holy Roman Emperor. However Rome and the Empire had a falling out. In 1149 the Roman Senate invited the German king Conrad III to the city to be coronated Roman Emperor. Rome's enemies were growing, so the Roman Senate offered Conrad this title in return for protection. Conrad had already been elected as Holy Roman Emperor and was due to be coronated, but the Roman Senate was proposing that he be THE Roman Emperor, as in like, a real Roman Emperor whose authority is defined by the Roman Senate, and not a Holy Roman Emperor whose authority was defined by the Pope and a loose confederation of high ranking German, Italian, Austrian, and Czech nobles. In the Holy Roman Empire the emperor is elected by the highest ranking nobles of the land. The Roman Senate was claiming that it had the authority to choose Roman emperors as the senate did during the ancient Roman Empire. Well, lets just say that Conrad probably didn't take too kindly to the Roman Senate attempting to usurp the governing structure of the Holy Roman Empire. In the middle ages a group of lower class burghers and knights cosplaying as Roman senators was not a good basis for a Europe spanning universal imperial monarchy. When Conrad died he was already cutting a deal with the Pope to snuff out the republic.

Conrad died in 1152 but his successor, Frederick Barbarossa continued the deal with the Pope to end the Roman Republic. It was one of the few times Frederick and the Pope agreed on anything. In 1155 a combined Papal/Imperial army invaded Rome. The city quickly fell and Arnold of Brescia was captured and burned at the stake. His ashes were scattered into the Tiber River.

Amazingly the Roman Republic lived on. Frederick Barbarossa was coronated by Pope Adrian IV as Holy Roman Emperor, an act which led to a new revolt among the Romans. Frederick put down this revolt, killing 1,000 Romans in the process, but afterwards he simply left the city and never returned after becoming bogged down in the complex politics of Italy. The Pope also left Rome, having to deal with a papal schism, resulting in no one being left in charge of the city and thus another restoration of the Roman Republic.

In 1167 Rome made war on the neighboring city of Tusculum, a long time rival of Rome who had supported the Pope and became a papal capital after the foundation of the republic. The Count of Tusculum appealed for help to the Holy Roman Empire, and Frederick I sent a small army of 1600 men. The Romans had an army of 10,000 made up of peasant militia who were poorly armed and poorly trained. While heavily outnumbered the Imperial army consisted of well armed and trained knights and professional soldiers. The Imperial army easily defeated the Romans at the Battle of Monte Porizio on May 29th, 1167, a battle which would later be called, "the Cannae of the Middle Ages". The Imperial army would continue to march on Rome, but by a stroke of luck for the Romans would be struck with the plague and forced to turn back. The Romans got their revenge against Tusculum in 1183 when they conquered and burned the city to the ground Carthage style.

The beginning of the end of the republic came in 1188 when Pope Clement III made a power sharing deal with the senate in which the people would elect senators but the Pope would have to approve the senators. The senate agreed to this in order to secure the protection of the Pope as the Holy Roman Empire was still a threat. Over the coming decades popes would reduce the number of senators until by the early 13th century, there was just one. Soon that single senate post was directly chosen by the Pope, and eventually it became a hereditary position. Before you knew it, French and Spanish nobles were becoming Roman senators and Roman senators ruled as autocrats at the behest of the Pope. By the end of the 13th century, the Roman Republic was dead.

#history #middle ages #medieval rome #roman republic #commune of rome #holy roman empire #pope

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bitcell · 10 months

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i like to imagine the qsmp lore as a big chess game and if i had to place some active characters as chess pieces, it would be:

the pawns - q!roier, q!quackity, q!slime, q!felps, q!maximus

the knights - q!mike, q!pac, q!etoiles, q!foolish

the bishops - q!baghs, q!phil, q!fit, q!jaiden

the rooks - q!bad, q!forever

the queens - q!cellbit, q!elquackity

the kings - the eggs

pawns are the foot soldiers, the ones who will dive head in combate, the ones who will sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but they're not disposable pieces, without them all structure fails and the other players fall.

knights are the tricksters, strong players whom you never know what they have up their sleeve, the only thing you know is that you need to be careful around them.

bishops are the serenity, they analyze and stay away from battle most of the time, but it's only because they wait for the right moment to attack. they're there to protect the pawns and to intimidate anyone who crosses their way.

rooks are one of the strongest pieces on the game, but even if they're great threats to all pieces and could easily kill anyone who is on their way, they're the greatest source of protection for the king. but one mistake is enough to give them all the power to destroy their opposition.

queens are the most powerful pieces on the game, they're protected by pawns at the beginning, but as soon as they're given freedom to move, they're the ones who control the board. however, with great power comes great responsibility, their power can blindside them and become their greatest weakness if they're not careful. killing a queen who's not careful is easily as taking down a pawn. although, they're powerful, they're replaceable.

king is the most important piece on the game, all pieces work together to protect them, to keep them alive. if there's not a king, there's not a reason for the game to go on. they're strong, but their range is limited.

#qsmp #(sorry for not including antoine and aypierre idk where i would put them but feel free to place them anywhere u think its fit)#also feel free to disagree this is just how i see them #roier #quackity #cellbit #badboyhalo #forever player #baghera jones #tazercraft #etoiles #philza #slimecicle #felps #foolishgamers #fitmc

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emma-is-swaggy-and-epic · 3 months

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A collection of some of my OCs as pokemon trainers :3

CHEAT SHEET/ EXPLANATION FOR EACH CHARACTERS' TEAMS UNDER THE CUT

Let's start with yuriko, her team consists of a gallade, a combee, a bisharp, a rookidee, a gothitelle and her beloved furfrou. Since chess is a BIG theme to yuriko's character, i wanted each pokemon to sorta reflect each piece in a game of chess (minus the king bc i ran out of room). Combee is the pawn because in chess: pawns are the weakest piece and are kinda there to protect the queen in a way, similarly to how worker bees in a beehive tend to do stuff for the queen (not to mention that pawns actually CAN become queens in a game of chess, similarly to how normal bee larvae can grow up to become a queen if fed enough). Bisharp and rookidee are the bishop and the rook for obvious reasons, gallade is the knight and gothitelle is the queen (though tbh i also partially chose those two bc in yuriko's usual form, she is a danganronpa fan character, specifically a celesgami fankid and i kinda associate those two characters with those pokemon...albeit with celeste it's more or less the gothitelle line IN GENERAL) lastly i chose a furfrou bc that's the closest i can get to yuriko's goofy ass dog, gambit.....there are no borzoi pokemon i'm afraid

Also ngl whenever i hear gothitelle's name, my mind immediantly goes to cottonelle and i can't help but think of emo toilet paper...

Next with makeighlyn: her team consists of a sylveon, a galarian ponyta, an indeedee, a porygon, a spiritomb and an absol. I imagine that since makeighlyn's whole lore is that she's a flash game mascot turned demon slayer, she was probably given a sylveon, ponyta and indeedee by her creators (the sylveon representing her pet cat, angie) but ended up finding and catching a porygon after she gained sentience; when she became a demon slayer, the souls of all the demons she killed formed into a spiritomb and she caught that too and lastly she caught an absol to sorta let the demons know she's coming since y'know.....absol is said to be a bad omen....also yes, makeighlyn IS wearing may's contest outfit, it was easier than just thinking up an original pokemon universe design for her

For myrtle: her team consists of a zorua, a cubone, a banette, jirachi, a duskull and a zubat. Tbh i didn't really put that much thought into her team, i just picked the edgiest pokemon i could find....though with cubone and banette i just picked them bc they're infamous for having really dark pokedex entries and are a common sight in the more horror-oriented side of the fandom, and also i picked zubat bc it's the first pokemon i think of when i think of team rocket (aside from meowth, obviously) typically i prefer not to include legendary/mythical pokemon whenever i give a character a pokemon team for the sake of believablity though i just couldn't resist giving myrtle jirachi considering how much it fits with her backstory (normally, myrtle's story is that she randomly discovered she had reality-bending powers one day and abused her power so much it caused a dimensional merge; though since this is pokemon and humans don't have powers, i feel it makes more sense if she caught jirachi and abused it's wish granting powers)

Lastly for renée: her team consists of an altaria, a castform, a smeargle, a snom, a munchlax and a bruxish. Tbh i only really gave her an altaria and a castform as a sort of callback to the fact that renée is a bird (though i had to make her human for the sake of this challenge), specifically a pigeon-cloud nymph hybrid; so i gave her a cloud bird and a weather creature! Since renée is more or less a 2014 tumblr-esque hipster (a bit millenialcore i daresay), i gave her a bruxish bc i've literally never seen a single person who likes bruxish (i personally don't really care for it either way but like....LOOK AT THIS THING!!! IT LOOKS LIKE IT SHOULD BE HANGING OUT WITH THE BEATLES IN PEPPERLAND OR SOME SHIT)

Anyway, i also gave renée a munchlax bc tbh that pokemon SCREAMS millenials in 2014 tbh (like....fr you'd be hard-pressed NOT to find a millenial on the internet from that era making jokes about how much pizza and avocado toast they eat) i also gave her a smeargle to reference renée's love for painting and a snom bc....tbh i think snom is kinda overrated and i feel like renée would be the type of person to make that damn thing her entire personality so yea (also renée likes bugs so i had in incorporate that SOMEHOW)

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scr-ppup · 3 months

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Chess NPTs **Long* list*

Requested by anon.

[ID/A dark red line with gold lining and a repeating star and half moon pattern./end ID]

Names | Bishop, Chess, Chessie, Chessy, Chester, Caissa, Chevy, Castiel, Castell, Cavalier, Dame, Daami, Donna, Emre, Gambit, Fou, Knightly, Knight, Knighton, König, Kunkku/kuningas, Karalius, Karalis, Lady, Malka, Pawn, Paw(n)ie, Pawnsy, Regina, Pion(e), Rex, Queen(ie), Quinby, Roxbury, Rook

Pronouns | Knight/knights, Kni/knight, Knight/pawn, Knight/queen, Knight/king, Knight/bishop, knight/rook, knight/chess, knight/check, knight/checkmate. pawn/pawns, pa/pawns, paw/pawns, Pawn/knight, pawn/queen, pawn/king, pawn/bishop, pawn/rook, pawn/check, pawn/checkmate, pawn/chess. bi/shop/bishop, bishop/bishops, bi/bishops, bishop/queen, bishop/king, bishop/pawn, bishop/rook, bishop/check, bishop/checkmate, bishop/chess. queen/queens, que/queen, qu/queen, queen/knight, queen/king, queen/rook, queen/bishop, queen/pawn, queen/chess, queen/check, queen/checkmate. king/kings, kin/king, Ki/king, king/queen, king/pawn, king/rook, king/knight, king/bishop, king/check, king/checkmate, king/chess. rook/rooks, roo/rooks, ro/rook, rook/queen, rook/king, rook/bishop, rook/pawn, rook/chess, rook/checkmate, rook/check. check/mate/checkmate, check/checkmate, check/king/checkmate, check/queen/checkmate, check/rook/checkmate, check/knight/checkmate, check/pawn/checkmate. checkmate/checkmates, checkmate/chess, checkmate/queen, checkmate/pawn, checkmate/king, checkmate/knight, checkmate/rook, check/chess. chess/chess, che/chess, chess/checkmate, chess/rook, chess/queen, chess/pawn, chess/knight, chess/king, chess/endgame, chess/piece/chesspiece, chesspiece/chesspieces. chessgame/chessgames, chess/game/chessgame, end/game, endgame, stalemate/stalemates, stale/mate/stalemates.

TITLES | The strategic one, prn* who possesses a sharp mind, the strategic player, The checkered one, the player of chess, the chess champion, the chess player, the champion(ess) of the chess game, prn* who takes the second turn, prn* who takes the first turn, the white player, the black player, prn* who plays as the black, prn* who plays as the white. prn* who moves the knight, prn* who moves the queen, prn* who moves the bishop, prn* who moves the king, prn* who moves the pawn.

The king, the king of the board, prn who played the king, prn* who moved prn*s king, the black king of the chess board, the white king of the chess board, prn* who performs castling with the rook, the castling performer.

The rook, the rook of the board, the rook of the game, prn* who plays the rook, the black rook of the board, the white rook of the board, prn* who captures, prn* who participates in castling, the one who performs castling with the king, prn* who can be exhanged, the one/prn* who has been exchanged, the tower åiece, the rook piece.

the bishop, the bishop of the board, the white bishop of the board, the black rook of the board, prn' who moves prn*s rook, the rook who forks, the player who forks, prn* who forks the opposite's piece(s).

the knight of the board, the ever standing knight, the knight of the game, the knight, the stallion knight, the knight who protects the queen/king, the mighty knight of the board.

the all mighty queen, the queen of the game, the queen of the board, the black queen of the board, the white queen of the board, the long lasting queen piece, the queen of the chess, the queen piece, the sacrificial queen, prn* who sacrifies prn*s queen, the one who made the sacrificial movement.

(you can add the color of the chess piece to the title if you want. + both white & black are used as item color descriptors here as per for the classic chess game. prn* just means, your pronouns there.))

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cerastes · 1 year

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What are your thoughts of a possible Arknights event where you get to strategize against your own operators?

Like how W was a boss first but became an Operator, but it's you going against waves of Rhodes Island Reserve Ops (the no names) and occasionally Amiya or Texas or Kal'tsit + Mon3tr show up as the bosses.

I've thought about this, whether that be some sort of endgame "Doctor vs. Doctor" scenario or some what if event (something like PRTS replicating a perfect facsimile of pre-amnesia Doctor, or a battle-inside-the-mind existential showdown kind of deal, etc, plenty of ways one could provide context for this). Vigilo specifically made me think about this a lot, and I keep revisiting the concept in my brain palace now and then.

Regardless of how we get there, I'd love to see it. Personally, I'd lean into the vs. Pre-amnesia Doctor angle. Enemies would never really be referred to by name specifically, but gameplay and sprites would make it obvious, or at least indicative, as to who they are. Every enemy unit would have some sort of fuzzy mosaic effect covering their face.

Mooks would be Reserve Ops and the sort of RI/Babel Operator we see in cutscenes, the good ol' generics. Given how much Pre-Amnesia Doctor has been likened to a machine-like chessmaster, I think chess terminology would be fitting, although it needn't be used exclusively, especially for whenever it would be thematically appropriate not to use it. Generic footsoliders would be "Pawns", for example, and would very clearly be wearing Rhodes Island uniforms and colors (blue and black colors, mix of tactical gear and urban clothing). You'd have other more advanced units like snipers (Bishops), specialists (Knights), and hard-hitting, beefier units (Rooks).

There would be plenty of boss/midboss units, and their "tooltip" (the little pop up that appears mid-stage when a new units is introduced) would be entirely narrative. For example, you'd have:

'Ever-Marching Bulwark' - "The giant that carried the world if ordered to. No matter how grim the situation, he would always find a way to dispel the miasma." -> Ace. Effect: [Bulwark]: Ranged units will prioritize him if he's in range. Requires 2 Block to block. [Castled King]*: High HP, DEF and RES; Physical damage will raise his DEF, but decrease his RES. Arts damage will raise his RES, but decrease his DEF. *"Castling" is a chess technique used to protect the King.

'Unsung Champion' - "The hero killed and loved silently, like the shadow of a dear ghost. He could spot weakness in enemies as easily as virtue in friends." -> Scout. Effect: [Gaze of the Wraith]: Uses Ranged Physical attacks with no limit on range. Every 4 attacks, the next attack will target the unit with less DEF on the map. The amount of attacks needed to trigger this special ability decreases by 1 each time it is activated, also increasing damage dealt. Resets upon changing targets. [J'adoube]*: This enemy's route is determined by the number of allied units (the player's units) in its path. Unsung Champion will warp to the route with less units overall (melee and ranged) between it and the Defense Point (practically speaking, it checks every couple of seconds and warps to a tile equivalent to how much progress he's made). *"J'adoube" ("I knight"), or "adjust", is a special call in chess where you are letting your opponent know you're about to move a piece in the board, usually to center it on its square or if it gets otherwise displaced accidentally.

'Selfless Sage' - "Some could call her nosy, some could call her foolish, but the undeniable truth is that even if it dims her own fire, she'll fill this world with as much light as she can." -> Kal'tsit. Effect: [Selflessness & Spite]: Heals enemies at long range. Prioritizes 'Sage's Obsidian Juggernaut', then 'King's Pupa', then 'The King', then Leaders, and finally regular enemies. [Remorse & Rebirth]: Upon reaching 50% HP or if all active Leaders are defeated, spawns 'Sage's Obsidian Juggernaut'.

Making a cut here due to post length.

'Sage's Obsidian Juggernaut' - "A force of nature as unstoppable as it is unexplainable, not dissimilar to the Sage herself." - Mon3tr. Effect: [Meltdown]: The Juggernaut's Ranged attacks deal True Damage in a line, piercing through the targeted ally and hitting those behind them, leaving a damage over time effect for a few seconds. The Juggernaut's Melee attacks deal high Physical damage. After being hit a number of times (10), the Juggernaut's next attack will deal increased True damage and afflict the target with a longer damage over time effect that stacks. [Fallout]: Enemies defeated by True damage instances of the Juggernaut have increased redeployment time.

'Scholar's Mate'* - "Unusually durable and tenacious pieces. They can be reused, over and over. Useful in disrupting enemy tactics." -> W (Ranged Physical), Ines (Ranged Arts), and Hoederer (Melee Physical). They spawn at the same time. [Kriegspiel]**: All 'Scholar's Mate' must be defeated roughly at the same time, otherwise, they revive at 50% HP after a delay. [Queen's Gambit]*: The red-horned 'Scholar's Mate' plants bombs on three units in range, detonating after 3 seconds. Units defeated by this attack or an attack shortly after [Queen's Gambit] have increased redeployment time. [En Passant]*: The black-horned 'Scholar's Mate' presence in the battlefield slows down DP generation by 50%. Cannot be blocked, but moves slowly. [Albin Countergambit]*: The male 'Scholar's Mate' presence in the battlefield reduces SP Recovery rate by 30%. Attacks halt target's SP recovery momentarily, and don't reward SP to "Defensive" type Skills. *Various chess moves. **'Kriegspiel' is also known as "blind chess", in which two players play against each other 'blind', that is, they can't see the opponent's pieces. For this purpose, a third person, an umpire, is necessary to oversee the game.

'The King' - "The embodiment of tomorrow, incarnation of our hopes, and our dearest friend." - Theresa. Effect: [Noblesse Oblige]: Raises the ATK and DEF of every enemy in the field. Effect increased for Leaders. [Civilight Eterna]: Swings sword in a circular area around herself, dealing high True damage and reducing Max HP and DEF of allies hit. Leaves a [Regal Pulsation] behind on each use. [Regal Pulsation]: Every time 'The King' uses [Civilight Eterna], [Regal Pulsations] activate and replicate [Civilight Eterna] wherever they are. Can stack on top of each other. [Dead Position]*: 'The King' pours powerful Sarkaz Arts into the closest Ranged tile to her position, inundating it with dangerous Arts and rendering the tile unusable for the rest of the map. Immediately retreats the unit standing on the tile, and starts spilling onto other tiles. If there's Operators standing on these tiles, the spread is halted and they receive Arts damage continuously. If there's no Operator in the tile, after a few seconds, [Dead Position] spills over and makes that tile unusable. Can spill to Melee tiles. All [Dead Positions] vanish and become reusable if 'The King' is defeated. *A "dead position" is a position where neither player can mate the opponent’s king with any series of legal moves. Effectively a draw.

'King's Pupa' - "With time, she, too, can be a king." -> Amiya. Effect: [Chimera]: 'King's Pupa' slowly charges SP over time. Receives SP each time an enemy is defeated and each time an ally is defeated. Once SP is full, activates [Pawn Ascension]. [Pawn Ascension]*: 'King's Pupa' turns into another 'The King'. Avoid this at all costs. *Pawn ascension or pawn promotion is when your pawn reaches the other side of the board in chess and you can promote it into another piece, such as a rook, bishop, etc. Most players, of course, promote their pawns into queens.

'[NULL]' - "[CLASSIFIED INFORMATION. CLEARANCE IS INSUFFICIENT TO ACCESS THESE FILES. IN CASE OF ANY ERROR OR QUESTIONS, CONTACT THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR]" -> Doctor. Effect: [Resign]: '[NULL]' only appears after every other enemy has been defeated. No attacks, slowly trudges forward. They must be defeated to put an end to this. It was a good game.

I really would like to see the idea, the concept, of the current Doctor quite literally having a showdown with their past, current tactics vs past tactics, current ideals vs past ideals, to prove that today's idealism isn't mere bluster, that one needn't rely on sacrifice to get to the finish line, that we can all get there, we simply need to find a way, because it'd be not only a showdown of morality and to prove one's growth, it'd also entail having to defeat the shadows, plural, of the past, regrets, joys, all of it. Uproot the old, and change for the better, even if it means having to say one final farewell to beloved friends. Even if it means testing yourself against yourself, and them. It's because you would test yourself against yourself that it means something, after all.

#arknights #vicsep7250

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fission-mailure · 2 years

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Do you like ... böøkes?

Khaldaia Chronicles is an Epic Fantasy series inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, with a diverse cast, a sense of humour, and a sweeping, evolving plotline set across four nations.

Following Theodosia Archmail, a young mage whose powerful mother has high expectations of her, the story sees her thrown ten years into the future, into an era where the world as she knew it has collapsed, falling under the authoritarian thumb of the Blood Moon Church. To survive and set right what’s gone wrong, she must team up with Tamara Redgrave, a former pirate captain turned reluctant nun; Jakob Riordain, a librarian with the ability to see the flow of magic; Ser Lance de Orleans, a Knight of the Ardent Church and the son of a Great House; Rook, a pragmatic and jaded mercenary with a mechanical arm; and Snuffles, a demon, mercenary, and the exiled prince of far Tengetsu.

The series so far:

Umbral Ten: Rated 5 Stars on Reader’s Favorite!

Waking up in the desolate Starkwind Monastery, Theo must band together with her fellow time-displaced survivors, discover what happened to the monastery, and find a way off the island. That last won’t be so easy, though, as her actions draw down the wrath of the Blood Moon Inquisition, led by old friend and fellow mage Elizabet, who will slaughter the island’s inhabitants if Theo can’t protect them.

Umbral Ten is available in eBook, paperback, hardback, or on Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.

Chrysalides: Reaching the mainland, the party arrives at the town of Goldenrose, a desolate place under the thumb of the demonic Sheriff Boisduval and his Goat-Headed Doctor. They swiftly become wrapped up in a local resistance cell, the Jackdaws, who want their help with a dangerous mission: A heist to steal the Doctor’s greatest treasure. As they make preparations for the heist, however, it becomes apparent that not all the Jackdaws may be trustworthy.

Chrysalides is available in eBook, paperback, hardback, or Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.

Our Upsetting Foulweather Friends: Continuing their journey into the mountains of Aldwick, the party reaches the town of Karminrot in time for a strange festival, administered by a mysterious band of Tragedians. As the ugly truth of the festival becomes apparent and the party’s help is enlisted, they find themselves set against the seemingly immortal Tragedians, whose centuries long task may be entwined with the Witch who summoned them through time. Worse still, when Snuffles encounters an old friend among the Tragedians, it seems as if he may betray the party.

Our Upsetting Foulweather Friends is available in eBook, paperback, hardback, or Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.

The Bishop King: Finally arriving in Lordgarde, the capital of Aldwick, the party receives help from an unlikely source: The usurper king Alcides, a loyalist of the Blood Moon Church. Alcides has a simple task for them: Assassinate Ser Gorre, Apostle Knight of the Church. Alcides has his own agenda, though, and he’s not the only one -- as schemes collide, the party finds themselves at the epicentre of a clash of interests.

The Bishop King is available in eBook, paperback, or Kindle Unlimited at Amazon.

Hardback coming in July.

There’s also an omnibus of the first three books (Umbral Ten, Chrysalides, and Our Upsetting Foulweather Friends) which can be found here.

Book V: City of the Dying is currently scheduled for Early 2023.

If you’re interested, take a look and maybe read some! And if you want to support me as an author, reblogging this post goes a long, long way towards doing that and only takes a second. I will honestly love you forever if you do.

#books #fantasy #novels #reading #fantasy books

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raayllum · 6 months

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three more scenes and then the next chapter of "teach me how to name the bigger light" is done, so i'm gonna aim for a scene a day this week

in the meantime have the broyals playing chess:

“I’m sure it’ll work out,” Callum said, swiftly moving his knight to better protect his queen from Ezran’s bishop. Chess was all about exchange and sacrifice. “I—” “Checkmate.” “Huh—what?” Ezran’s queen had taken one of the pawns diagonal from his king, a bishop aligned with each black and white square, cutting off Callum’s remaining options to try and wriggle out of defeat. If his king took the queen, Ezran’s bishop would finish the job. Callum sighed, smiling a little. “Since when did you get so good at chess?” “Maybe if you hadn’t gotten distracted,” Ezran acknowledged, gathering up his pieces to reset the board. They traded the ones they’d captured. “You spent too much time protecting your king and queen that you forgot about your other pieces. And you really should use your queen more, you know.” “Yeah yeah yeah. Best two out of three, then?”

#should be up wednesday by the latest #fic: teach me how to name the bigger light #and hopefully the chapter after this won't be 9k again #so i can get them out to u guys faster #this entire chapter is one of the most self indulgent things i've even written & i love that for me #game motif #chessmaster ezran #edit: it's four scenes cause i got a janai & karim one to write too but #WE'RE CHIPPING AWAY

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oksana-moods · 1 year

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Queens of Promise - Part 7

Summary: Between battles and treasons, a new emotion comes to play. And oh poor Wanda, she found herself a traitor.

A/N: Look at me keeping my promises, but have to warn you though, chapter 11 progress is slower than I had planned. But we’ll get there when we get there. Well, I am dropping hints to solve the big puzzle (at least I think I am haha), do you guys have any theories by now?

Trigger Warning: Violence, mentions of blood, death. Game of Thrones canon violence. Previous parts here

"Between heaven and hell"

#just because I love her smile in this gif Fury Valley – Improvised Campsite

You looked around the place and saw people arguing, while others tried to make any sense out of this madness.

Present in Wanda’s tent were only the ones both Princesses trusted with their lives. That being said, Lady Rambeau, Lady Danvers and Lord Barton were your companions while Wanda called for Lady Romanoff, Lady Dreykov and Knight Bishop’s presence.

Sir Barnes wasn’t attending the meeting for he had marched north earlier that morning with part of his men as to inform the King about the death of Lord Rogers.

The fireplace attracted your eyes, and the fire dancing drew your attention for what felt like a lifetime but, in reality, only minutes had passed.

Your head flew miles away from Fury Valley, for Lord Wilson was on his way to Triskelion to inform the Queen about the ambush and the failed mission of returning Lord Rogers to Sokovians’ care.

Queen Calanthe would be mad, for sure. This was unacceptable, how could a simple task go so wrong as this one had? In a span of hours, you had analyzed and overanalyzed the past events trying to find where your mistake was.

Some of the best soldiers, ones that you trusted with your own life, were tasked with the burden of keeping and protecting Lord Rogers. It was as though they didn’t even have the chance to stand a fight and oh she knew how skilled they were.

You’ve been into many battles so far and had experienced some chaotic fights, but the attackers came out of the blue and easily outnumbered Taharrian and sokovian’s troops. It was messy and hectic, especially when you were trying not to die all the while making sure your nemesis wouldn’t get hurt as well.

Gladly enough, you were able to keep Princess Maximoff alive, otherwise this whole messed up situation would be even more chaotic. Suddenly, bile climbed through your throat as you thought about the possibility of Wanda’s death. It bothered you to no end and made your heart clench at the mere idea.

Why, though?

In terms of politics, it was only obvious what problems this would entail. If Wanda died this would mean extra violence from Sokovia. Because, if Loki were to die, no matter the situation, you’d wreak havoc to avenge your brother, surely King Pietro wouldn’t do any different.

In theory, protecting Wanda was a must. Firstly, to avoid more problems; secondly, chances were that you could warm your way to Wanda, therefore, you could try and ease the tension to stop the war for good.

However, deep down you knew these reasons were just the political Princess in you speaking. Deep down you knew there were ulterior motivations, maybe they weren’t clear to you just yet – or maybe it was clear, yet you kept in denial.

There was something about Wanda that pulled you towards her. It was something different from everything you ever felt, but somehow you knew she meant more than a possible acquaintance or possible not-enemy. To say Sokovia could be a friend was too much. Not-foe was good enough for you.

She shouldn’t mean anything to you, so why was she so important to the point your body would physically reject even the mere thought of her death? Why does your heartbeat lose compass when thinking about hers stopping for good?

Angry shouts broke through your bubble of thoughts and your head surfaced back to the exchange going on the tent. Lady Danvers had her hands in fists and was ready to attack no one other than Princess Maximoff herself. While Bishop only listened and swapped few words with Barton, Maria and Natasha argued near the fireplace.

Lady Dreykov was massaging her chin and judging by the distance, the cause of her discomfort probably was Carol’s fist. Sighing, you got up to your feet and walked towards the others.

“This is your fault, Princess.” Danvers’ eyes were red, visibly distressed, she had lost good friends the day before and this was a wound too fresh. “You brought this to yourselves, and now it’s rubbing on us.”

“This is outrageous! And you should take your tone down a notch, I’m not your Lioness that allows you to speak as you want. I’m Wanda Maximoff, Princess of Sokovia and you’ll treat me as such.” The redhead spat back at the lady in front of her.

“My Princess is a respectable warrior, one of the greatest that I had had the pleasure to serve, now I can’t speak the same about you.” Carol growled, eyes screaming danger. Not that Maximoff was one to bother with threats. Spoken or not.

“Draw your sword, peasant, and I’ll give you something to talk about me.” Wanda countered and this threat was plain as it can be. “While you still have your head above your shoulders.”

Before Carol could do anything stupid and force Wanda’s hand, you stepped between both woman, hoping you could try and calm their nerves.

“As entertaining as it could be, I’m afraid we have more pressing matters right now.” You spoke alternating your look between your Captain and the princess. “And we have to work together if we want to get to the bottom of this problem.”

“Work together?” Lady Romanoff took one step closer to the three of you, and the others gathered closer as well. The assassin in front of you had her brows furrowed, possibly trying to think how sworn enemies could work together without killing each other.

“Precisely.” You replied now focused on the spy in front of you. “It seems we found a common foe and I don’t know about you, but I want to know who they are.”

“We already know who they are, princess!” Lady Danvers, though a little more collected, spat once again. “It’s probably the Kree that this woman, disregarding all the suffering in Noveria, called back to our lands.”

You flinched at the accusatory tone, but also at the pain coating every single word pronounced by your dear friend. You understood where she was coming from, it could be the Kree, indeed. However, the mercenaries, though ruthless, didn’t seem to be the type of men the northern barbarians would choose for a job.

“Refer to me as this woman one more time and I’ll teach you how to address to a princess properly.” The redhead barked and you saw her hand looking for the hilt of her sword. Wanda was on edge with the attack, of course, but she still got a short fuse.

Faster than you or anything you had to say, Carol threatened again. “You can shove your little title on your ass, Your Highness. You brought these barbarians here, I wanna see what you’re going to do now.”

Wanda growled, audibly, with her hand clutching around her sword dangerously. Their nerves were escalating out of proportion, so you did the first thing that came to your mind. Almost innocently, you placed your hand on Wanda’s shoulder as if trying to ground her, somehow.

For a few moments, she let it. Her eyes trailed to your hand and to back to your eyes for a few seconds until she figured this intimacy wasn’t appropriate enough for her taste and slapped your hand away, as one does with a disgusting fly.

“Carol.” Your tone was underlined with a warning and the woman looked at you. “I understand and respect your worries but you, of all people, know that the Kree wouldn’t hire some bandits to attack us. They’d do it themselves. And these guys bled red just as we did.”

You held Carol’s eye contact, until the woman relented and nodded at you. Her instance, in turn, shifted from dangerous-ready-to-attack to attention. She was ready to jump into action if needed but took a few steps back and let go of this argument.

Again, you tried, this time looking around the room as to emphasize your words. “Together. Is the only way to find out who set us up.” You were rewarded with some nods but soon Wanda found her voice again and dropped a bucket of cold water on your ideas.

“Bold of you to assume that I’ll work with your… scum.” She dropped her hands to her hips in a defiant pose. “We can fend for ourselves.”

There were thousands of remarkable comebacks that you could throw her way, but you limited yourself to sigh. Taking a deep breath as if said breath could summon a little more patience, you commanded everyone in the room to leave. Taharrian or Sokovian, every single one of the presents obeyed.

“Ladies, gentleman, could you excuse us for a moment?” Your voice was soft, a simple request but still a command. Wanda was completely impressed with how easy her own people followed your demand.

It was impressive how you didn’t have to try, there was just this sheer confidence in your whole body as if this was a physical trait now. But if the redhead thought about it, your whole life you grew up knowing you’d be a ruler and your whole life you prepared yourself to stand tall before friend or foe.

Just like you had said to her, years ago, at King Tony and Queen Pepper’s wedding: “Enemies must see our strength. Flaws and weakness may encourage rebellion, we can’t afford that.” Wanda, for sure, saw the strength but something else.

Kindness.

You were sarcastic, yes. Extremely playful at moments that Wanda deemed inappropriate, not to mention the suggestions about intimacy that you insisted it should be public knowledge. However, she had never seen you speak unkindly with your subordinates and subjects, especially with hers.

Your strength relied, Wanda understood, not in your combat skills or obvious knowledge but because you were always kind and behaved as if there was no difference between ruler and ruled. And, more importantly, this wasn’t an act or a play to full or lure people into you.

It was simply who you were.

The power held by your eyes, scanning Wanda’s soul was too entrancing, maddening even. So the princess took one step back and busied herself with a cup of wine, not bothering to offer you one. Her body reacted strangely when you were close to her and all she needed right now was distance.

But she wasn’t getting any.

Wanda watched as Maria Rambeau stopped close to you on her way out of the tent and when your eyes were drawn to your friend, Wanda realized she could breathe again.

Your attention shifted from Wanda, who watched you like a hawk, to Maria, who had a not so satisfied knowing look on her face.

“I see the way you look at her.” Her voice was low as to not draw attention, especially from whom she was talking about.

You smiled softly, hoping this could settle some of her worries. It didn’t.

“Before you go and try to get into her bed, can I remind you that we’re at war and she is our enemy?” As last resort, Maria tried to knock some sense into your thick skull.

“Maria, have you ever seen me do something so stupid like that?” You asked, the face of seriousness, but she wasn’t buying. She knew you too well now.

“Dozens of times. Literally.” She hissed, letting you know she wasn’t amused by your attitude. “And I saved your ass a lot to know that when you want a woman, you get. But maybe, this time would be wise to avoid more problems with the Maximoffs.” You could see right through her scolding. She was concerned.

“I know what I’m doing, Rambeau. Trust me.” You flash her a sly smile as if this could help settle part of her worries, but a shake of her head as she walked out of the tent told you that she trusted that you would make something stupid. As always.

And you probably would.

Wanda Maximoff possesses an undeniable beauty that verges perfection itself and after the past few days made you realize that she’s way much more than a pretty face, for you saw not only her fighting skills but also how intelligent she was.

If anything, the woman you came to know was beyond extraordinary and she had you admiring her, drowning in those deep, green orbs without a single clue as to how pull back.

You took a long, deep breath and exhaled audibly as if this could clear your head.

“I know you don’t like us. Or trust us.” You started and after her eyes locked with yours again, you continued. “But these men killed Lord Rogers, so you’d think we lied about our bargain.” You spoke softly, Wanda was only a few steps away from you.

“You weren’t supposed to be part of the exchange, Princess. Think. Everything adds up.” You pleaded. “So many bandits? Only a few would survive this massacre and the news at Wolfgang would be that we killed Rogers even though we agreed with a truce. Even though you agreed with a truce.”

“Not to mention that those shady men looked awfully like the ones attacking your crops at Karov before this all began.” You added as an afterthought.

Your voice resonated through the tent while Wanda’s head spun. “How do I know that you’re not lying to me right now?” Then she looks at you once more. “How can I be sure you’re speaking the truth?”

The intensity poured from her eyes was breathtaking. Your stomach fluttered as if you were on your ship in the middle of a summer storm, even though your feet were very much grounded.

It was unsettling.

“You can’t.” Finally, you found your voice somehow. She turned to look at you again, alarmed this time, but your face was blank. No mockery, no deceit. “There’s nothing that I can do to make you believe in me. And there’s nothing that I can say to make you trust me.” You elaborated.

She remained still, simply watching your every more or word as if her mind eye could see the truth through your words. Then, you tried again.

“So, I say you gotta risk it, Wanda. That’s the moment you got to choose. You can get out of your comfort zone and get to the bottom of this pile of lies or keep your head stuffed in the sand like an emu and pray for everything to be okay again.”

“Spoiler alert: it won’t.” You added, running your hand through your hair restlessly.

Wanda snorted at your words more out of reflex while her heart pondered about their meaning. And the more she learned about you, the more she felt you were right and being nothing but truthful.

But old habits die hard. She was raised to hate your kind. Liberalists like you never paid attention to the traditional ways, never respected other sovereigns, always mingling with some other kingdom’s war.

In Taharr anyone who proved their loyalty to the crown and did great services to the realm were granted with a lordship or ladyship, this meant that a commoner could rise on the society disregarding other traditional families. Actions like these certainly encouraged rebellion, enviousness, she supposed.

Vision always mentioned how brutal the Taharrians were. Or how there’s always someone aspiring to take the Queen down. For they envy more power than they could get, boldened with titles that didn’t and shouldn’t belong to them. Commoners always aspired for more than they could have.

Wasn’t this line of thought right?

However, if the past few weeks taught her something was that her previous knowledge didn’t add up with what she was seeing.

Maria Rambeau rose from nothing, yet she was an outstanding warrior and clearly had the respect of her peers. She clearly had your respect. And she, definitely, didn’t look like someone who would scheme to bring the royalty down.

And even Wanda knew how devoted Lord Barton was, he treated you as if you were his own daughter and would lay himself on the ground if that meant you wouldn’t get dirt on your feet.

Wanda sighed. She was tired. Tired of fighting, arguing, thinking, learning.

“Lord Rogers was my subject, just as the people affected by the heists.” Wanda’s eyes locked on yours and you saw, again, her protective walls closing around her. “My people, my problem. You have your truce. So, take your men to your south.”

“These are my people too, not only yours Wanda. They are women, children and they deserve to live their lives without fear. War is our life, not theirs. Let us help you hunt down whoever’s behind this.” You were adamant on not letting her shut you out now. Only your combined forces and minds could make any sense out of this puzzle. “Let me help you.”

Still, she could not see it the way you did.

“You want to conquer us so you can have all the resources to yourself. The great, relentless Queen Calanthe who can’t be defeated surely wants to defeat the Maximoffs and get our lands. She’d become a legend, not that she isn’t one already.” Wanda spat the same speech she had been for the past years.

It wasn’t difficult to understand that Novi Grad as one realm again would have no match in this continent, maybe even in Westeros. Food, gold or spears, never ran low in Taharr and in Sokovia, imagine how giant their kingdom would be if their forces were combined?

Queen Calanthe had tried a diplomatic approach before, Wanda remembered. Still hurts. Her father and mother were interested in a peaceful negotiation, but fate got in the way before any real discussion could take place.

During their trip to south, as they were the first Sokovians’ sovereign in ages to be welcomed in Triskelion, the ship her parents were travelling in got lost in a storm and separated from the escort vessels, then when pirates attacked, they were outnumbered and did not survive.

If Princess Maximoff were to be reasonable your mother wasn’t the one to blame, much less you, not really. But she was emotional, her heart blamed the gods, the seas but specially the Taharrians for trying to reach out and solve your quarrels.

If her parents didn’t leave the castle, didn’t leave Wolfgang, they’d be safe and still alive. She wouldn’t have to take hard decisions if they were alive; Her and Pietro wouldn’t be orphans at a young age, and they definitely wouldn’t be alone for almost a decade by now.

The hatred, the blame… She knew this was repetitive, but your presence was making her feel ill.

She couldn’t breathe, there were shivers up and down her spine whenever you made eye contact and her body itched. Maybe you had sabotaged her wine, for she knew this was your doing, somehow, and for that she hated you.

“This war was your idea, your caprice, not ours. This is not about our ambitiousness, but this thick proud heads of yours that can’t see past your hatred.” You bellowed, exasperated at how blind and stubborn a person could be. How stubborn Wanda was.

“Stop.” It was her turn to roar, and it nearly startle you. “Stop talking. We are enemies, not allies and I don’t need your protection in my own land.” She shouted, stressing her words as she spoke as if this was a concept that was taking too long for you to grasp. A concept that you should’ve known already.

You bit your tongue about the protection part.

“Can’t you see that I’m tired of your stupid face and poor excuses? Can’t you see that I hate you?” Wanda continued, barking her words so passionately and you knew she meant it, this was the real Wanda Maximoff, devoid of all her decorous layers.

“You barely know me, Maximoff. Why do you hate me?” Your reply came in a serene voice that was so soft that made Wanda’s head spin for a moment due the contrast. “For real, not this childish reference about our realms feud.”

You took one step towards her and saw Wanda’s eyes go down to your feet and back to your eyes. As if this action could make you stop walking. It didn’t. “Tell me why do you look at me the way you do, as if I had personally inflicted you pain? Even the way you pronounce your hate towards me feels personal. Why?”

Wanda’s body now shook and every single step you took closer only provoked waves and waves of this strange feeling that she didn’t have a name for. For the nth time, Wanda felt conflicted about her emotions, and she didn’t know what to do.

There was something powerful between the two of you and she always named it as hate. Though, inside her heart she knew this hate was different. She hated everything you made her feel. Hell, she hated the intensity which you looked at her right now.

Desire.

Everything she wanted, everything she desired was to hate you the way she’s supposed to. But she desires to learn who the real woman beneath your title is. Wanda desires to understand how can you affect her so much, without even trying?

Against better judgement, the redhead caught herself replying.

“Because you get under my skin, more than anyone has ever been. And for that I hate you.” Wanda’s voice was low, but still had an edge of something that made your skin crawl. “Because I don’t know why I want you to go further.”

You stood there, bewitched by her presence and words. Even in the poor light, her green orbs shone more than thousands of stars, and their power sent shivers down your body like never before.

Wanda Maximoff took one step closer, and you felt as though she was stealing the air. As though her powers included to freeze you in place so you could all but admire her perfections. Your chest was beating erratically and, though you tried, you couldn’t avert your eyes away from her.

Right in that moment, you were her willing prisoner.

Your mouth was dry, but you managed a few words. “I’m tired of fighting, Maximoff.”

With her, with Sokovia, with bandits, with enemies, with the foreign emotions she made you feel. You didn’t want to fight anymore. “I hate you.” As her hot breath hit your face, you could feel her voice burning with passion as she meant every word she spoke. Though, none of you knew that this feeling was not hate at all. Quite the opposite.

“I hate you too.” Your voice was flat, but you couldn’t deny or pretend that your heart wasn’t hammering inside your ribcage. Especially now that you realized how close you were.

Until you weren’t.

As if in slow motion, you felt Wanda pulling you by the fabric of your tunic into her personal space and attacked your lips.

For a whole moment, you froze but a second later you kissed her back. As if acting on automatic, your arms pulled her into you by grabbing her waist, completely flushing her body against yours.

Then everything was Wanda. Her hair, her tongue, her mouth, her hands. It was as if she was claiming your very soul with such a simple action.

The princess gasped softly when her back touched the table behind her, allowing your tongue to slip past her lips. Your eyes rolled to the back of your skull when her tongue clashed against yours for dominance, and your heartbeat was so erratic that you thought your organ would explode.

It was a sweet battle provided by her soft lips and you, for once, didn’t mind in fight.

Usually, your senses wouldn’t be so slow to keep a track of your surroundings, but you were so drunk in her scent, so lost in her lips that took you a little too long to grasp a shift on the atmosphere in the tent.

Somehow, a voice inside your head screamed for you to break the kiss. Later you’d thank that voice.

As soon as you pulled back from Wanda, you saw two things: one, the redhead lips chasing after yours as to reconnect the kiss and two, a figure in full black with a dagger centimeters away from the two of you.

It was remarkable how fast your survivor mode kicked in.

With one hand, you pushed Wanda away from you, so her back arched further over the table. But before she could complain at your sudden harshness, she saw your other hand blocking the hooded figure from slashing her metal over your heads.

Quite out of character, Wanda screamed in horror before her head broke from her stupor and joined the fight.

You were skilled, very much so, you and Wanda knew this. But your opponent was faster, and far much more skilled. You dodged, threw objects, tried to block with anything you could find and counterattack with anything resembling a weapon, but this new enemy kept moving around the tent relentlessly.

Few cuts were already visible on your tunic, and you knew some of those had reached your skin, nothing life threatening, but if you kept this pace, this assassin would have you in shreds in minutes.

Wanda attacked and the assassin’s attention shifted to her, granting you time and space to attack with a fire poker. Though before you could do real harm, they turned back to you and counterattacked.

Helped by the furniture that got in the way, they had you pinned down and their dagger were centimeters away from your throat. Their hood only allowed you to see only their eyes and it was darker and colder than the northern seas at night.

They’d be your demise.

Then, everything seemed to happen at the same time.

There was a commotion at the entrance of Wanda’s tent and the assassin blinked right before you could see a piece of metal piercing their neck, then their lifeless body weighted over you. In shock, you realized, Wanda had just saved your life.

As you pushed the body off you onto the ground, you locked eyes with her, and you could see the despair flooding those green orbs that you grew so fond of. She was scared and your heart ached to comfort her, but you weren’t alone anymore.

Your moment was broken. Just as fast as it started.

Wanda dropped her sword as if the metal piece weighted a ton, her hands were shaken and her whole body shook with a sick feeling that she couldn’t control. Or understand.

She hated you, yet she had kissed you and her lips still tasted yours when the idea of losing you was terrifying.

“Princess!” Maria Rambeau and Natasha shouted at the same time as they approached both women.

Lady Rambeau kneeled by your side and accessed your wounds. “Princess!” She patted your cheek lightly as to bring you out of your shock until your eyes focused on hers.

“I’m okay, Maria.” Your voice was low, almost as if you weren’t really paying attention at her. She followed your gaze and found that you had averted your eyes back to Wanda.

“She’s fine, Princess.” Maria reassured, thinking you were worried that Wanda got hurt.

Well, you were worried, but you were still trying to process everything that had happened in a span of minutes. You went from arguing to kissing to fighting for your lives and now her eyes burned your heart and soul.

You nodded and let the past events fall to the back of your head, at least for now, for Romanoff’s voice brought your attention back to present as soon as it reached your ears.

“A Black Widow.” The assassin revealed, ravaging through the dead’s clothes as to find any clues.

That made sense. Only someone with that skill level could easily overpower you and Wanda at the same time. Only someone with spy skills could’ve entered the tent after strutting the campsite undetected.

Then, after looking on another pocket, the Sokovian spy found more clues to add to the pot. A golden coin unmistakably from Sokovia and a small pendant beautifully worked in a golden form of a lioness.

All eyes were on you.

“I’m afraid you’re their target, Your Highness.” Natasha voiced what everyone in the tent were already thinking. After all pockets were cleared, she got up to her feet and dropped both the pendant and the coin on the table.

Wanda took small steps towards the objects as if they were a menace. The implications were clear: someone in Sokovia wanted the Young Lioness dead and the prospect of your death made her sick in the stomach. Somehow, it felt as if she was responsible for your attack.

“Who would want you dead?” Maria asked to no one in special. It was more a question to herself, as if the action could help her find the answers of this entangled puzzle overflowing with odd things or facts that didn’t add up.

“Who doesn’t?” You retorted sarcastically, and the captain sighed, relieved that you were back to your common self, no longer lost in shock. “Wanda?” You asked tentatively and the woman locked eyes with you.

A sour taste impregnated her mouth and Wanda’s head couldn’t seem to stop replaying the scene of the assassin with their knife ready to slice your throat and the life out of you. The Scarlet Knight tried to focus, but her nerves got the best of her.

“I don’t know.” Wanda’s eyes were glossy, and she hated to be seen so weak. Not in front of Lady Rambeau or Natasha, but in front of you. “Please, leave.” She sobbed and turned away from you.

Romanoff’s head turned to her protégé, then at you and nodded. Silently asking you to comply with the Maximoff’s request.

You hesitated. You wanted to take the remaining steps that separated you from Wanda, so you could comfort her and hold her until everything was sorted and solved. But you didn’t.

In the end of the day, Wanda Maximoff was still your enemy, and you were a Lioness with a dead bounty over your head. Nodding back to Natasha, you left the tent without looking back.

As you walked away, Wanda felt a heavy cold blanket covering her whole body. There was a traitor playing the cards, that much was clear, but right then and there, she couldn’t help but think that she too was a traitor.

It was undeniable that there was a pull between the two of you, and she understood that her heart, somehow, harbored feelings towards someone she wasn’t supposed to. She was a princess from a realm with a deadly war against yours, her captain got killed after you took him as hostage, yet she couldn’t bring herself to think as she used to.

Traitor.

With the tip of her fingertips, she traced her lips and the redhead sworn she could still taste yours. It was exhilarating, disturbing, yet magical. One touch and the whole room vanished, one kiss and she forgot who she was.

Yes, she was a traitor. In her mind’s eye, this was unacceptable, absurd even. How one develops feelings towards their enemy? Fortunately, your home was far, far away from hers. Maybe with distance she’d come to her senses and her heart would stop betraying her reason.

Maybe with distance, she wouldn’t betray herself.

----

The next few days nothing really changed. Well, actually, your guard had increased in number and in patrols and even in your tent there would be a knight to protect you in case another assassin decided to show up.

Everyday Sokovians and Taharrians reunited in order to discuss their ideas or knowledge about this strange web of facts. And the sum of their info together granted them few answers.

For starters, they understood that Hydrarr had more participation in this mess than they previously thought, for Natasha tracked the dead Black Widow and learned that the woman lived in Cross Bones Village – Hydrarr’s Capital. With the wax and the assassin, this couldn’t be a coincidence.

Secondly, the group asserted that the bandits that attacked them several days ago were the same bandits railing Sokovia’s crops this whole time.

And third, the pendant with a lioness beautifully crafted in gold had an artist signature from Wolfgang Village, a man that only worked for the nobility in Sokovia and probably kept a record of his services.

So, this strange group of detectives formed by sworn enemies, realized that someone in Hydrarr or Sokovia, maybe both, was calling the shots in this dubious game of war. And this someone belonged to nobility with access to the castle and to King Pietro, for they knew where the entourages would meet to retrieve Lord Rogers.

Days had passed and though it was incredibly good to learn so many things about this war, you couldn’t shake away the memory of Wanda’s kiss.

Despite your attempts, Wanda never allowed you back into her tent for a private meeting. And after having your request denied twice, you understood the message, she didn’t want to be alone with you. She didn’t want to talk about the kiss nor to relieve it.

You respected her, of course. Even in your head this romance seemed farfetched, and this was saying something when you had your share of complicated relationships before. This wasn’t complicated, this was a girlish dream where one could find their soulmate and live happily ever after.

Real life was not a fairy tale.

As the meetings prolonged, you would always take your time to look at Wanda. To properly look at her. Somedays she’d show up dressed in confidence and others you’d see her puffed eyes or her strained smiles.

But there wasn’t a single day where you didn’t want to reach her and simply hold her body against yours. Touch her silk like skin, feel her warmth, feel her breath, feel her.

Much like a virus, the Maximoff impregnated and flooded your thoughts day and night. Though you had never felt like this before, you knew that your heart was inexorably falling. And there was nothing that you could do about it.

Unfortunately, there were still some mysteries to solve, and the increasing amount of snow was a somber reminder that their leads would run cold if they did not hurry. And that meant that they had to leave the camp and march their respective homes.

Only you couldn’t.

There was no way in hell that you would go back to Triskelion without getting to the bottom of this. The only problem was that the answers were guarded in Wolfgang, Sokovia’s Capital. You couldn’t just ask your unit to go with you, this would attract too much attention. Not to mention the danger and, of course, Wanda would never allow it.

You needed to go on stealthy mode. Luckily, you knew the perfect person for it. You only had to convince your guards to march south without you.

“Not going to happen.” Lady Danvers exclaimed as soon as you shared your plan.

“C’mon, Danvers, don’t start acting all serious and preoccupied now. You’re fan of action just as I am.” You intervened. “I just need you to stall.”

She snorted. “Do you have any idea of what your mother will do to me? Or my wife?” Carol ran a hand through her hair, and this was her tell-tale that she was already worried about the outcomes. She knew you too well, though, you wouldn’t change your mind.

“It won’t be your fault. Barton and I will march right after the Sokovians and everybody else will think I’m resting inside my tent.” You tried, you needed her help, otherwise Maria would think the Sokovians kidnapped you and would wrack havoc until she gets you back.

“Fuck.” Carol spat, then nodded. She hated being your friend. “But this is madness, Princess.”

“What’s the worst thing that can happen to me?” You opened your arms and looked around as to show her the place you were in, for in your head, a bounty was worse than death itself.

A threat like this is like breathing with a heavy rock over your chest. It’s breathing, but like hell uncomfortable. “Valar Morghulis.” You enchanted something that your years wandering in Essos and Westeros had taught you.

“Good luck explaining that to the Queen.” Carol kept her façade, but you knew she’d give in. She always did. No matter how much in trouble she’d get into.

You looked around, you didn’t have much time. The Sokovians would leave soon, and you wanted to go on their wake. Not too close as to not draw attention and not too far as to stay too exposed, alone in the woods that you and Barton knew so little about.

Captain Danvers sighed and cursed herself lowly before asking. “What do you think you’re going to do?”

“Clint used to be a spy and his stealthy skills are undeniable.” You began, the plan had one too many blank spots, and anything could go wrong, but you and Lord Barton knew about the risks. You were both going into this willingly and highly aware of its dangers.

“We’re going as commoners to Wolfgang Village, maybe stay a few days in a brothel as to keep a low profile while we’ll investigate the leads we have so far.” You shared your ideas, it looked simple, and you only hoped it wouldn’t get too complicated.

Carol’s hand pitched the bridge of her nose, as if foreseeing the possible outcomes of this absurd. “And you think they won’t recognize you at all?”

“Natasha Romanoff will help us. She’s aware of our plan.” You confided. It was astounding how easily was for the spy to agree with your plan, but you supposed that after losing her best friend, she’d want revenge and, in her mind, it didn’t matter who would help her get it.

She even tipped you about what gate you should use to access the city, for she knew they used to accept more gold than they should to let people inside the city without many questions.

“Does Princess Wanda know about this madness of yours too?” Carol inquired, voice far from the light tone she’s used to speak with. This is a death wish and she’s digging her own grave by indulging this foolish adventure.

Your eyes flashed with hurt, you didn’t have had alone time with Wanda, no matter how hard your heart craved for it. The kiss was a mistake, and the redhead was too intelligent, naturally she understood this. You, on the other hand, let the emotions get the best of you.

You wanted her still. Despite everything. Because of everything.

“Unknown.” You finally said. “I gotta go.” You muttered, after hearing the shouts of sokovians troops finally moving.

Carol nodded but hugged you before you could leave. “Please, don’t get yourself killed.”

“I won’t.” You smiled lightly at her and rushed through the trees where Clint was waiting for you with the horses and provisions, ready to sink in the craziest adventure ever.

A Lioness would enter the wolf’s den.

Part 8

Taglist: @californianwhiterabbit

#queens of promise #medieval au #princess wanda #wanda maximoff #wanda marvel #wanda maximov #wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda x fem!reader #wanda x you #wanda x reader #wanda maximoff x fem! reader #wanda #angst #enemies to lovers

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