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[high-pot-in-noose]

Terms You Might Want To Know For Your Wuxia/Xianxia Fic

MXTX's danmei are getting increasingly popular, and the fandoms are getting more fic-happy. I've noticed that some writers seem interested in writing their own fics but are concerned of making mistakes with niche honorifics and titles. I've noticed some that have jumped right in, but have made innocent errors that I'd like to correct but fear coming off as rude or presumptuous. And so I've made this list of terms that covers the basics and also some that are a little more niche since they're usually directly translated in cnovels.

DISCLAIMER: This is by no means a comprehensive list of everything one needs to know or would want to know concerning ancient Chinese honorifics and titles, merely what I myself consider useful to keep in mind.

Titles

Shifu: 'Martial father'; gender-neutral

Shizun: 'Martial father'; more formal than 'shifu'; gender-neutral

Shimu: ‘Martial mother’; wife of your martial teacher

Shiniang: ‘Martial mother’; wife of your martial teacher who is also a martial teacher

Shibo: elder apprentice-brother of your shifu; gender-neutral

Shishu: younger apprentice-brother of your shifu; gender-neutral

Shigu: apprentice-sister of your shifu

Shizhi: your martial nephew/niece

Shimei: younger female apprentice of the same generation as you

Shijie: elder female apprentice of the same generation as you

Shidi: younger male apprentice of the same generation as you

Shixiong: elder male apprentice of the same generation as you

Shige: elder male apprentice of the same generation as you, specifically one who has the same shifu as you or is the son of your shifu

Zhanglao: an elder of your sect

Zhangbei: a senior of your sect

Qianbei: a senior not of your sect

Wanbei: a junior not of your sect

Zongzhu: Address for a clan leader

Zhangmen: address for a sect leader

Daozhang: Daoist priests or simply a cultivator in general; gender-neutral

Daogu: Daoist priestess or a female cultivator; not as commonly used as 'daozhang'

Xiangu: Daoist priestess or a female cultivator; not as commonly used as 'daogu'

Sanren: a wandering cultivator

Xianren: 'Immortal Official'; a title of respect and power like 'General'

Xiuzhe: 'Cultivator', can be shortened to 'Xiu'

Xianjun: 'Immortal Master/Lord'

Xianshi: 'Immortal Master/Teacher'

Dashi: 'Great Teacher', address for monks

Xiansheng: Teacher/Sir; in ancient China, the connotation is very scholastic

Houye: address for a duke

Jueye: address for a noble lord, ei. a duke, marquess, earl, etc.

Wangye: address for king/imperial prince

Daren: address for imperial officials

Furen: Madam; the wife of an imperial official/nobleman OR a married woman granted a rank by the royal family

Nushi: Madam; the counterpart of 'xiansheng', connotation is scholastic

Taitai: Madam; address for an old married woman of the gentry, either wife or mother to head of household

Laoye: Old Lord; Address for an adult man with adult children of the gentry; possibly head of household

Nainai: Madam; Address for a married woman of the gentry, possibly wife of head of household

Ye: Lord; address for an adult man of the gentry, possibly head of household

Shaonainai: Young Madam; address for a woman married to a young man of the gentry

Shaoye: Young Lord; address for a young man or boy of the gentry, generation lower than head of household

Xiaoye: Little Lord; can be a synonym for ‘shaoye’ OR the son of a shaoye if ‘shaoye’ is already being used within the family

Xiaojie: Young Mistress; address for an unmarried woman or young girl of . . . the gentry and only the gentry, I believe. Correct me if you know for certain this is incorrect. (WARNING - It's an archaic term that should really only be used in an archaic setting if being used as a title instead of a suffix, because the modern vernacular has it as a term for a prostitute in mainland China. [Surname]-xiaojie is fine; Xiaojie by itself should be avoided.)

Gongzi: ‘Young Master/Lord/Sir'; ‘Childe’; young man from a household of the noble or gentry class

Guniang: 'Young Master/Lady/Miss'; ‘Maiden’; an unmarried woman or young girl from a household of the noble or gentry class

Laozhang: 'Old battle'; polite address for an unrelated old man of lower status than you

Laobo: polite address for an unrelated old man of a higher status that you

Laotou: 'Old man'; informal but not derogatory, implies fondness/closeness

Laopopo: 'Old woman'; informal but not derogatory, implies fondness/closeness

Please note that all of these listed above can be used as stand-alone titles or as suffixed honorifics.

Strictly Prefix/Suffix

-shi: 'Clan'; the suffix for a married woman, essentially means 'née'. (ex. Say Wei Wuxian was a woman and married into the Lan clan through a standard marriage. She would be called 'Wei-shi' by her husband's contemporaries and elders when not in a formal setting. It implies lack of closeness; used by acquaintances.)

a-: A prefix that shows affection or intimacy.

-er: A suffix that shows affection or intimacy; typically for children or those younger than you

-jun: 'Nobleman'; a suffix for a greatly respected man

-zun: 'Revered One'; a suffix for a greatly respected man

-ji: A suffix for a female friend

-bo: A suffix for an older man of your grandparents' generation

-po: A suffix for an older woman of your grandparents' generation

[my1dearest6rose02]

you know what'll be funny? if tom riddle aka voldy decided to pop up during the third year the first time. no possessing quirrell and shit, just third year, a tired looking, human looking tom marches on, kidnaps harry for a few hours, then send annoyed death eaters to return him back to school.

ofc, voldy took his last fragment soul piece, he yeets off to find a better way to immortality before returning to hogwarts with documents and shit (this is good tom riddle, bad albus dumbledore, btw), and gets the headmaster arrested. (tom riddle is the owner of hogwarts, in case it wasn't clear--cue presenting bank statements, and theft done by dumbles when he was an infant sent to the orphanage)

dumbles is being interrogated, etc, etc, while voldy takes over the school. the students are obviously wary, harry took every chance to snark at him/fight him, voldy rolling his eyes, placing him in detention, and then... just nothing. even better, he's improving the fucking school.

it just goes on, occasionally, he would be out of the office to observe classes, before taking notes on a clipboard.

.

.

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i think i might write a fic like this.... yeahhh

[my1dearest6rose02]

soo i'm thinking of making a fic. jc centric, canon divergence and all that where we see jc's life after the first seige. like taking care of baby jinling, his children, his relationships with yunmeng jiang, nie huaisang, etc.

do want to point out, that i'm planning on making him asexual and aromantic? oh gods, should he have a platonic best friend (who he married) who died guarding the prisoners of war (the wens)? should we add more pain and suffering to his life?

but yeah, i really need help brainstorming, especially his children and maybe perhaps his life partner. but more on the kids, should they already be blood related, like cousins, or like children of distant cousins, so they're blood related (and he doesn't need to marry) or should he decide to raise his best friend's (female) children, but have a blood adoption/blood cleansing ritual (bff's husband is shit and they divorced?). so many options, and i can't chooseee

i do want the dramatic, "you killed my mother" scene where the kids say that to wwx, preferably in a cultivation conference where wwx is being insufferable and trying to get closer to jc's kids, but they don't give a fuck, bc all they know is that their baba was backstabbed by this fucker right here.

end of rant, might edit this to give more details

[my1dearest6rose02]

fanfic request?? idk

fanfics where people mourn and regrets severus snape's death? like i want to feel the anguish, the sadness. make my heart bleed, wont you. i want them to look back to all those clues snape left and them being idiots, not realizing it or ignoring it. oh, didnt he save people while working as a spy, why dont they come forward and tell them their encounter with a 'death eater' and then getting saved by him?

[thepotionmastersledger]

Been thinking about Snape's line of, "only those whom I could not save," and I would absolutely love a post war fic where those who he did save, manage to come out of the woodwork in an assortment of interviews to describe their brief, terrifying, experience of meeting a death eater face to face only for him to save their lives. I think that'll be an interesting fic to explore the second wizarding war and its effects.

[my1dearest6rose02]

My Last Meal pt 2

Yesterday had been weird. Have I finally lost my mind or am I starting to hallucinate? Perhaps, I just imagined the random ghost dude, he cocked and stared at me until I finished eating, then he ushered me to go bath and get some rest. When I came to check the living room/kitchen area, there was no sign of him, but that couldn’t be right, I ate, there was food, I swallowed food.

Thinking today will be at least normal, I head to take a quick shower, then I made my way to the living room/kitchen area.

There, sitting on a chair, was that, that ghost from yesterday.

There was no mistaking it, the full-on beard, the shiny bald head.

It was him. It wasn’t a dream then.

“sit.” He motioned to the chair across from him “Listen up, kiddo. From now on, I’ll be staying here whether you want me to or not”

“okay”

“you will eat what I make”

I wanted to just say yes, but I do wonder “….where did you get the money to buy the ingredients though?”

“I hunt ‘em, pluck ‘em from the wild”

“okay” is that why I didn’t see him after dinner? He does look like he can hunt, when he was, you know, alive.

“breakfast at 10, lunch at 1, and dinner at 7, got that?”

“yes, ghost man, sir”

“my name is hector, child”

“yes, hector”

[my1dearest6rose02]

My Last Meal pt 1

There’s a ghost in my house. It started cooking for me. I think my eating habits are being judged by this ghost who keeps shaking his head while chopping vegetables and whatnot. How do I know he’s a ghost? Simple, he’s floating above the fucking ground, and yelling at me about my eating habits with glowing yellow eyes. That’s a good sign, right? I mean in movies glowing red eyes means, well, death?

Anyway cut me some slack I’m a broke college student with two part time jobs, I can only afford instant noodles, macaroni, pasta, maybe some bread once in a while, who knows. I would’ve loved if god finally took pity on me and decided to put a 100 dollars in my face, but no, he sent this random ghost dude to cook for me? End me? Anyway I’m not sure right now.

The ghost dude is cooking in a rather large pot, like those pots to make military food. I don’t know what’s happening, all I know is, it smells delicious. Should I stay and risk being killed or should I just run? Then again I don’t have friends or family, nobody would know if I go missing. Maybe my bosses will call me after two days of missing work, even then they would probably just call to fire me. Fuck it, I’m staying. If I die, at least let this be my last meal.

[my1dearest6rose02]

DEATH IS MY FRIEND

in the corner of my eye ever since I can remember he was there. He doesn’t talk but he would give me a nod, shook his head, and sometimes a head pat and sometimes he would show me. He was my first friend, my mommy said he was an imaginary friend, but I like to think he’s my guardian angel, though he carries his scythe everywhere he goes. As I got older, he rarely visits me, but he would send me letters only I can see. Paper as pale as snow and ink as red as blood, he would always start with : “My dearest little one, I will visit soon…“.

Sometimes letters come a bit later than expected, but he would always make it up by telling me stories of the underworld, and the souls he had to bring in. It seems he was busy than when I was younger, so I asked one day “Mr. Reaper? Are you busier nowadays?” and he would nod and wave his hand and a small mist would appear as big as palm and it would show me that the planet is dying in a faster pace than it has ever before. I understood, the planet is dying, diseases spread faster, trees being cut down, animals losing its habitats. So I asked what I can do to help, he shook his head, there’s no hope? As if he read my mind he showed me a factory then another and another. Now I understand, I can’t help him if I’m alone, but maybe if I can gather enough people I could help, even a little bit.

I was determined, and for the past several years, I became an activist, over the years a gained a lot of supporters. Mr. reaper still rarely visits me but I know he works hard… for this dying planet. And I have to do my part and lead away from that path. Will it work though? Let’s ask in a few years…