what's the lore, doc?

@themerrypanda's side blog dedicated to collecting writing resources and lore (and some headcanons) from various franchises.

[theprofessional-amateur]

I love a good Very Specific Resource. Here are the links to my posts about resources carefully crafted to share a specific bit of history (updated as needed)

How Fast Was the Mail - Interactive map that giving mail delivery info in the US 1882-1908, also general railroad network information

Streaming Music from Around the World - No algorithms, lots of options, amazing music nerds helping you discover more music.

Professor Shoelace - everything you ever needed to know about shoelaces

Commercial Pattern Archive - over 50,000 scanned sewing patterns dating back to the 1850s

Public Domain Image Archive - thousands of images from various repositories no longer under copyright

Medieval Murder Maps - interactive maps of murder and accidents in medieval London, York, and Oxford

Travel in Times - plan travel routes in England and Wales in various centuries

The Quilt Index - a digital repository of quilts, makers, and their stories

Louis Armstrong Archives - Some highlights from the archives and how to access the full collection from home!

RSN Stitch Bank - hundreds of sewing and embroidery stitches, their uses, their structure, how to make them, and history!

Archive of 80s mixtapes - a whole lot of tapes from the 80s and also tapes of background music from Kmart in the 80s and 90s

Feast Afrique - What started as an exploration and celebration of West African culinary heritage has since expanded to include history, language, culture, and customs of West Africa and the African diaspora.

Letterform Archive - Thousands of high quality images celebrating graphic design, calligraphy, and typography. The beauty of letters!

Historic Menu Collection - Over 17,000 historic menus, 1.3 million historic dishes transcribed. Historic popularity and price range, map it, and more.

Palestinian Embroidery - Digital archives dedicated to the preservation of Palestinian embroidery. Over 1,000+ free patterns

Black Craftseople Digital Archive - enhancing knowledge of Black crafts people (both free and enslaved) and the objects they produced.

Georgian Lady's Magazine Embroidery Patterns - Free embroidery patterns from 1770-1819

The Dutch Textile Trade Project - History and trade of textiles in the 17th and 18th centuries. Fabric types, images, data on trade.

Estonian Knitting - Bog knits! History! Techniques!

[elainerei]

Based on Morfis which appeared in both maps, we are going South baby 💪🔥

Map taken from the collector edition

[damienhaaas]

FAMOUS AUTHORS

Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.

The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania hosts this book search and database.

Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.

Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells, as well as speeches from George W. Bush on this site.

Classic Book Library: Genres here include historical fiction, history, science fiction, mystery, romance and children’s literature, but they’re all classics.

Classic Reader: Here you can read Shakespeare, young adult fiction and more.

Read Print: From George Orwell to Alexandre Dumas to George Eliot to Charles Darwin, this online library is stocked with the best classics.

Planet eBook: Download free classic literature titles here, from Dostoevsky to D.H. Lawrence to Joseph Conrad.

The Spectator Project: Montclair State University’s project features full-text, online versions of The Spectator and The Tatler.

Bibliomania: This site has more than 2,000 classic texts, plus study guides and reference books.

Online Library of Literature: Find full and unabridged texts of classic literature, including the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain and more.

Bartleby: Bartleby has much more than just the classics, but its collection of anthologies and other important novels made it famous.

Fiction.us: Fiction.us has a huge selection of novels, including works by Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Sherwood Anderson, Flaubert, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others.

Free Classic Literature: Find British authors like Shakespeare and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, plus other authors like Jules Verne, Mark Twain, and more.

TEXTBOOKS

Textbook Revolution: Find biology, business, engineering, mathematics and world history textbooks here.

Wikibooks: From cookbooks to the computing department, find instructional and educational materials here.

KnowThis Free Online Textbooks: Get directed to stats textbooks and more.

Online Medical Textbooks: Find books about plastic surgery, anatomy and more here.

Online Science and Math Textbooks: Access biochemistry, chemistry, aeronautics, medical manuals and other textbooks here.

MIT Open Courseware Supplemental Resources: Find free videos, textbooks and more on the subjects of mechanical engineering, mathematics, chemistry and more.

Flat World Knowledge: This innovative site has created an open college textbooks platform that will launch in January 2009.

Free Business Textbooks: Find free books to go along with accounting, economics and other business classes.

Light and Matter: Here you can access open source physics textbooks.

eMedicine: This project from WebMD is continuously updated and has articles and references on surgery, pediatrics and more.

MATH AND SCIENCE

FullBooks.com: This site has “thousands of full-text free books,” including a large amount of scientific essays and books.

Free online textbooks, lecture notes, tutorials and videos on mathematics: NYU links to several free resources for math students.

Online Mathematics Texts: Here you can find online textbooks likeElementary Linear Algebra and Complex Variables.

Science and Engineering Books for free download: These books range in topics from nanotechnology to compressible flow.

FreeScience.info: Find over 1800 math, engineering and science books here.

Free Tech Books: Computer programmers and computer science enthusiasts can find helpful books here.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

byGosh: Find free illustrated children’s books and stories here.

Munseys: Munseys has nearly 2,000 children’s titles, plus books about religion, biographies and more.

International Children’s Digital Library: Find award-winning books and search by categories like age group, make believe books, true books or picture books.

Lookybook: Access children’s picture books here.

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

Bored.com: Bored.com has music ebooks, cooking ebooks, and over 150 philosophy titles and over 1,000 religion titles.

Ideology.us: Here you’ll find works by Rene Descartes, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, David Hume and others.

Free Books on Yoga, Religion and Philosophy: Recent uploads to this site include Practical Lessons in Yoga and Philosophy of Dreams.

The Sociology of Religion: Read this book by Max Weber, here.

Religion eBooks: Read books about the Bible, Christian books, and more.

PLAYS

ReadBookOnline.net: Here you can read plays by Chekhov, Thomas Hardy, Ben Jonson, Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and others.

Plays: Read Pygmalion, Uncle Vanya or The Playboy of the Western World here.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: MIT has made available all of Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and histories.

Plays Online: This site catalogs “all the plays [they] know about that are available in full text versions online for free.”

ProPlay: This site has children’s plays, comedies, dramas and musicals.

MODERN FICTION, FANTASY AND ROMANCE

Public Bookshelf: Find romance novels, mysteries and more.

The Internet Book Database of Fiction: This forum features fantasy and graphic novels, anime, J.K. Rowling and more.

Free Online Novels: Here you can find Christian novels, fantasy and graphic novels, adventure books, horror books and more.

Foxglove: This British site has free novels, satire and short stories.

Baen Free Library: Find books by Scott Gier, Keith Laumer and others.

The Road to Romance: This website has books by Patricia Cornwell and other romance novelists.

Get Free Ebooks: This site’s largest collection includes fiction books.

John T. Cullen: Read short stories from John T. Cullen here.

SF and Fantasy Books Online: Books here include Arabian Nights,Aesop’s Fables and more.

Free Novels Online and Free Online Cyber-Books: This list contains mostly fantasy books.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Project Laurens Jz Coster: Find Dutch literature here.

ATHENA Textes Francais: Search by author’s name, French books, or books written by other authors but translated into French.

Liber Liber: Download Italian books here. Browse by author, title, or subject.

Biblioteca romaneasca: Find Romanian books on this site.

Bibliolteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes: Look up authors to find a catalog of their available works on this Spanish site.

KEIMENA: This page is entirely in Greek, but if you’re looking for modern Greek literature, this is the place to access books online.

Proyecto Cervantes: Texas A&M’s Proyecto Cervantes has cataloged Cervantes’ work online.

Corpus Scriptorum Latinorum: Access many Latin texts here.

Project Runeberg: Find Scandinavian literature online here.

Italian Women Writers: This site provides information about Italian women authors and features full-text titles too.

Biblioteca Valenciana: Register to use this database of Catalan and Valencian books.

Ketab Farsi: Access literature and publications in Farsi from this site.

Afghanistan Digital Library: Powered by NYU, the Afghanistan Digital Library has works published between 1870 and 1930.

CELT: CELT stands for “the Corpus of Electronic Texts” features important historical literature and documents.

Projekt Gutenberg-DE: This easy-to-use database of German language texts lets you search by genres and author.

HISTORY AND CULTURE

LibriVox: LibriVox has a good selection of historical fiction.

The Perseus Project: Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library features titles from Ancient Rome and Greece, published in English and original languages.

Access Genealogy: Find literature about Native American history, the Scotch-Irish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, and more.

Free History Books: This collection features U.S. history books, including works by Paul Jennings, Sarah Morgan Dawson, Josiah Quincy and others.

Most Popular History Books: Free titles include Seven Days and Seven Nights by Alexander Szegedy and Autobiography of a Female Slave by Martha G. Browne.

RARE BOOKS

Questia: Questia has 5,000 books available for free, including rare books and classics.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Books-On-Line: This large collection includes movie scripts, newer works, cookbooks and more.

Chest of Books: This site has a wide range of free books, including gardening and cooking books, home improvement books, craft and hobby books, art books and more.

Free e-Books: Find titles related to beauty and fashion, games, health, drama and more.

2020ok: Categories here include art, graphic design, performing arts, ethnic and national, careers, business and a lot more.

Free Art Books: Find artist books and art books in PDF format here.

Free Web design books: OnlineComputerBooks.com directs you to free web design books.

Free Music Books: Find sheet music, lyrics and books about music here.

Free Fashion Books: Costume and fashion books are linked to the Google Books page.

MYSTERY

MysteryNet: Read free short mystery stories on this site.

TopMystery.com: Read books by Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, GK Chesterton and other mystery writers here.

Mystery Books: Read books by Sue Grafton and others.

POETRY

The Literature Network: This site features forums, a copy of The King James Bible, and over 3,000 short stories and poems.

Poetry: This list includes “The Raven,” “O Captain! My Captain!” and “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.”

Poem Hunter: Find free poems, lyrics and quotations on this site.

Famous Poetry Online: Read limericks, love poetry, and poems by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Lord Byron and others.

Google Poetry: Google Books has a large selection of poetry, fromThe Canterbury Tales to Beowulf to Walt Whitman.

QuotesandPoem.com: Read poems by Maya Angelou, William Blake, Sylvia Plath and more.

CompleteClassics.com: Rudyard Kipling, Allen Ginsberg and Alfred Lord Tennyson are all featured here.

PinkPoem.com: On this site, you can download free poetry ebooks.

MISC

Banned Books: Here you can follow links of banned books to their full text online.

World eBook Library: This monstrous collection includes classics, encyclopedias, children’s books and a lot more.

DailyLit: DailyLit has everything from Moby Dick to the recent phenomenon, Skinny Bitch.

A Celebration of Women Writers: The University of Pennsylvania’s page for women writers includes Newbery winners.

Free Online Novels: These novels are fully online and range from romance to religious fiction to historical fiction.

ManyBooks.net: Download mysteries and other books for your iPhone or eBook reader here.

Authorama: Books here are pulled from Google Books and more. You’ll find history books, novels and more.

Prize-winning books online: Use this directory to connect to full-text copies of Newbery winners, Nobel Prize winners and Pulitzer winners.

[science-junkie]

… and here is a gift for all of us.

[bpd-dylan-hall-deactivated20190]

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again but it is absolutely an example of civilizational inadequacy that only deaf people know ASL

“oh we shouldn’t teach children this language, it will only come in handy if they [checks notes] ever have to talk in a situation where it’s noisy or they need to be quiet”

[raginrayguns]

My mom learned it because she figured she’ll go deaf when she gets old

[manyblinkinglights]

My family went holiday SCUBA diving once, and a couple of Deaf guys were in the group. I was really little and I spent most of the briefing overcome with the realization that while the rest of us were going to have regulators in our mouths and be underwater fairly soon, they were going to be able to do all the same stuff and keep talking.

[tell-the-stars-hello]

The only reason some form of sign language is not a standard skill is ableism, as far as I can tell.

[emoracreations]

For anyone interested in learning, Bill Vicars has full lessons of ASL on youtube that were used in my college level classes. 

https://www.youtube.com/user/billvicars

and here’s the link to the website he puts in his videos:

https://www.lifeprint.com/

[naurielrochnur]

Update: you guys this is an amazing resource for learning asl. Bill Vicars is an incredible teacher. His videos are of him teaching a student in a classroom, using the learned vocabulary to have conversations.

Not only is the conversation format immersive and helpful for learning the grammar, but the students make common mistakes which he corrects, mistakes I wouldn’t have otherwise know I was making.

He also emphasizes learning ASL in the way it’s actually used by the Deaf community and not the rigid structure that some ASL teachers impose in their classrooms

His lesson plans include learning about the Deaf community, which is an important aspect of learning ASL. Knowing how to communicate in ASL without the knowledge of the culture behind it leaves out a lot of nuances and explanations for the way ASL is.

Lastly, his lessons are just a lot of fun to watch. He is patient, entertaining, and funny. This good natured enthusiasm is contagious and learning feels like a privilege and not a chore

And it’s all FREE. Seriously. If you’ve ever wanted to learn ASL

[20th-centuryghost]

HEY ARTISTS!

2022 EDIT - This website is actually not super great for anything prior to the 20th century (admittedly i was not familiar enough with older eras to tell the difference, my expertise is all in the last 100 years and the 20th century costumes from this website legitimately are pretty close to what they’re supposed to be) as the costumes are meant to be recognized on the stage by everyday folk, NOT to actual historians.

If y’all want some Actually Good historical fashion references, please check out shoomlah’s blog! They have a lot of really good, accurate historical fashion references, such as this masterpost. There are also a lot of blogs out there dedicated to historical fashion, like @lookingbackatfashionhistory​ ! You can also check out online archives of fashion museums, and that all is just the tip of the iceberg. The rest of this post is going under a read-more, do not trust anything beyond this point 🥴 250k notes and five years later it’s about time i set the record straight for the silly shit i posted as a teen before i had more knowledge on fashion history. It is actually a very fun topic to explore so I hope those NEW links will be very helpful to you character designers out there!

Keep reading

[themerrypanda]

Panda Reads Star Wars EU

#1: Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

Release Date: March 1978

Context and Backstory:

As you may infer from the release date, this book was published before The Empire Strikes Back was put in theaters, and only a year after the movie now called A New Hope. (The book also came out half a year before the first broadcast of the Star Wars Holiday Special.)

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was the intended sequel to Star Wars if the original movie was not successful enough to finance a higher-budget sequel.

The author of this book, Alan Dean Foster, ghostwrote the A New Hope novelization. There and here, the part of his writing that stuck out the most to me was his expansive vocabulary. Every other chapter I’m learning new words like “recalcitrant” and “stentorian”. (I’m the kind of person who can enjoy this, even if it slows my reading pace.)

Book Summary:

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye follows Luke and Leia on a diplomatic mission to persuade the people of Circarpous IV to join the Rebel Alliance. A ship malfunction forces them to crash-land on Circarpous V, also known as Mimban. There they discover a secret Imperial presence, and they need to find a way to sneak off the planet.

(Spoilers Under the Cut)

Unique Characters and Creatures:

Halla, an old woman who had been searching for the kaiburr crystal for seven years

Captain-Supervisor Grammel, a ruthless Sith officer

Hin and Kee, two Yuzzem (a sentient specie similar to Wookiees)

Wandrella, a giant omnivorous worm native to Mimban

Coway, the native species on Mimban

Tech and Items:

Food Stuff: Emergency cube concentrates (small nutrient cubes that come in at least two colors: pink and blue, have an unpleasant taste, and “can keep you alive for only so long without some protein to work with”)

Food Stuffs: Chou-shou, kommerken steak, ootoowergs

Makeup (It exists! Leia wears it)

Photoplate, functions like an access panel to open doors (only appearance in all Star Wars media)

Luma, light sources

Dipill, a stress-relief drug that can be a sedative at high doses

Liana, a parasitic plant. (This specific plant is never mentioned again in any other Star Wars media, unless you count other plants of the same name)

Jedi Artifacts and Abilities:

Lightsaber functionality: (1) Adjustable blade, so the blade can function like a small knife, and (2) Waterproof, will still work underwater

Kaiburr crystal, an ancient Force relic that drastically increases a Force-sensitive’s abilities

Force power: kinetite (like Force lightning, but in a projectile energy ball form)

Force power: healing

Details That Appear In Later Movies:

Mimban is a swampy planet (not unlike Dagobah)

Luke finds someone who claims to be a Jedi on said swampy planet (Halla)

Vader being all dramatic and theatrical aura farming when the hero(es) are downed

Vader telling Luke that Obi-Wan taught him well during a lightsaber duel (a straight-up Empire Strikes Back quote and scene)

Character Details Interesting to Consider with Canon:

Halla recognizes Luke as being strong with the Force, but not Leia. (Upon introduction, she claims she is a master of the Force. Later she admits she is a charlatan who can do parlor tricks and little else.)

Leia has unresolved trauma from her interrogation in A New Hope. (Upon encountering Vader, he claims he can use a lightsaber to fulfill a similar purpose.)

Both Luke and Leia are unsettled by crossing large bodies of water. Yet Leia is the one who cannot swim.

Leia is fascinated with other cultures and states one of the reasons she got into politics is because the totalitarian Empire stifles self-expression through art.

Leia’s so ready to fire a blaster shot at Darth Vader. Luke claims she’s better with a blaster.

Threepio fears being in Darth Vader's presence.

Vader knew all the proper code words and commands to get C-3PO and R2-D2 to shut off with no argument.

When Luke is downed, Leia picks up his lightsaber and fights Vader with it. Not well, but she makes a valiant attempt.

Luke tells Halla she reminds him of “a man, a smuggler and a pirate”, presumably Han Solo. Halla is then recruited into the Rebel Alliance’s cause. As the end of the novel does not cover them finally leaving Mimban, at this point, whether she joins the Alliance or not is inconclusive.

Details Possibly Inconsistent with George Lucas’s Canon Lore:

When talking about an unnamed a female doctor, the Empire recruited her after “a particular young man” died in a crash forty years ago, giving her “something useful to do in lieu of dying”. While the Empire could have recruited her twenty years after her loved one’s death, the paragraph made it seem like the Empire had been standing for at least forty years. Depends on how you read it, I guess. But this was also before Lucas established the Empire being only about twenty years old by the time of A New Hope.

When Luke cuts off Vader’s right arm, he notes there was less blood than he expected. (This is the arm Count Dooku cuts off above the elbow in Attack of the Clones, and the mechanical hand Luke cuts off in Return of the Jedi.) In general, lightsabers are supposed to cauterize flesh, but this was ill established in Mos Eisley in A New Hope.

Additional Panda Commentary:

I did not expecting Force healing to appear so early in the Expanded Universe, nor for it to have possibly resurrected Luke from a brief death. Granted, the healing was made possible by the kaiburr crystal.

This book was published before Luke and Leia being siblings was made canon. Their relationship here could be considered ship-teasing. There were some scenes where I wondered if the author intended to write a slow-burn relationship.

Evidence 1: Leia’s kiss for luck in A New Hope was full on the lips in the novelization, which was published under the title Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker half a year before the movie release.

Evidence 2: A poorly aged scene where Luke slaps Leia for the sake of their cover in a tavern.

Evidence 3: When Luke believes he and Leia might die by Darth Vader’s hand, he tells Leia he loved her. Both are under a lot of pain at this point, to the point where Leia reasonably could not have heard this. After they are healed, neither acknowledge Luke's confession.

Then there are other scenes where I’m like “yep, that’s peak sibling behavior right there”.

Evidence A: After the events of Evidence 2, Leia argues about whether it was necessary for Luke to have slapped her, and they begin flinging mud in a fight. This accidentally draws unwanted attention and starts a bigger brawl.

Evidence B: A few instances where Luke and Leia converse and grin like mischievous children.

How much of this story to consider Expanded Universe canon is subjective to each reader, so I hesitate to use a rating. In general, the key events of this story could have reasonably happened between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

[crapeaucrapeau]

Canon and semi-canon words and phrases in non-human languages

Here ya go.

ASARI LANGUAGES

Ardat Hekas (language unknown, ancient) : "Demon's Maw"

Ardat-Yakshi (language unknown, ancient) : "Demon of the Night Winds" ; the name for a genetic condition leading asari to damage or destroy the nervous system of their partners during melding

atamna (language unknown) : a collection of asari high priestesses in some asari religions, such as siari

Atamna Politeia (language unknown) : an organization of siari high priestesses from across the Asari Republics

elasa, sometimes known as erasa (languages unknown) : an alcoholic asari drink, also known as "Sorrow's Companion"

Endua-Yakshi (language unknown, ancient) : "[something] of the Night Winds" ; a type of Ardat-Yakshi asari with considerable stamina

irsaal (language unknown) : various flowering plant species native to Thessia ; the common irsaal is a blossom that smells like honey

Kepesh-Yakshi (language unknown, ancient) : "Blade of the Night Winds" ; an asari board game

Malian-Yakshi (language unknown, ancient) - "[something] of the night winds" ; a type of particularly powerful Ardat-Yakshi asari.

manal (language unknown) : an animal species native to Thessia

Nos (language unknown) : A toponymic prefix used in the names of settlements, e.g. Nos Astra, Nos Parnalo

olantha (language unknown) : a nutritious plant native to Thessia, the basis of olantha protein paste issued in rations to asari commandos ; the equivalent to the Alliance's ossilbir

pinchesa (language unknown) : a text subsection, presumably "verse"

siari (language unknown) : "all is one" ; the name of the mainstream pantheistic asari religion

tiamna (language unknown) : "guardian of the temples" ; one's dauntless champion or bodyguard.

tranto (language unknown) : a text subsection, presumably "stanza"

SALARIAN LANGUAGES

alingon (language unknown) : "deceptive" ; the name of a planet in the Hourglass Nebula

antictra (language unknown) : "fused metal" ; the name of a planet in the Hourglass Nebula

dalatrass (language unknown) : matriarchal head of household ; the title of a clan or family leader (e.g. Dalatrass Linron)

kepta (language unknown) : a pest roughly analogous to a cockroach ; by extension, an insult

lattesh (language unknown) : "it's still winter" ; the name of a planet in the Phoenix Massing

nephros (language unknown) : "restless sleep" ; the name of a planet in the Hourglass Nebula

osalri (Covus) : "fire maiden" ; the name of a planet in the gateway system of the Eagle Nebula

Shakni ! (language unknown) : an expletive

tunfigel (language unknown) : "hard heart" ; the name of a planet in the Hourglass Nebula

wenrum (language unknown) : "white knight" ; the name of a planet in the Hourglass Nebula

yelik (language unknown) : a crawling species of algae from Erinle, which can infect the lungs of some races

TURIAN LANGUAGES

choitadix ("a common turian language") : "gap-toothed" ; the name of a dwarf planet in the Shrike Abyssal

erros (language unknown) : "overlook", "pleasant view" ; the name of a planet in the Minos Wasteland

graxen (language unknown) : the turian equivalent to popcorn

horosk (language unknown) : a strongly alcoholic turian drink

hyax (language unknown) : dextro animals whose meat is consumed by turians, sometimes in stews

Laudatix (language unknown) : the ministry of citizenship rankings in the Turian Hierarchy

louza (language unknown) : dextro poultry whose meat is consumed by turians

mornax vinkaar (language unknown) : "bad mistake"

oserun (language unknown) : a ceremony that recognizes the promotion of turians to a new citizenship tier. It is held by a dominion's Laudatix - the ministry of citizenship rankings. All turians ascending from the very first tier (entering boot camp) to the 23rd tier are sworn in by the Minister of the Laudatix, at tier 24.

-sio (language unknown) : a toponymic suffix used in the names of settlements, e.g. "Shastinasio"

xemna (language unknown) : dextro herd animals whose meat is consumed by turians

VOLUS LANGUAGES

bina (language unknown) : a volus intoxicant

bovis tor ("an old volus language") : "the shining sea" ; a planet in the Shrike Abyssal

doz atab (language unknown) : "sky warden" ; a planet in the Shrike Abyssal

kympna (language unknown) : kympna lobes are pungent and silver toothy carnivorous flowers that grow in the chemical forests of Irune. There is a documented example of at least one volus named "Kympna".

vem osca (Iperian) : "weeping witness" ; a planet in the Shrike Abyssal

welm urun (language unknown) : "the golden one" ; a planet in the Aethon Cluster

ELCOR LANGUAGES

onuffri (language unknown) : a blossom native to Dekuuna, stemming from thick purple bulbs

Teluune (language unknown, ancient) : "the deep and restful meadowland" ; the first elcor settlement in recorded history ; the third planet in the elcor home system

HANAR LANGUAGES

Now, the issue with hanar languages - including proper nouns and Face Names - is that they are sound transliterations when hanar speak with light. No idea how light ever ended up translated as syllables.

lerian (language unknown) : a species of pale, bioluminescent sea ferns growing in the Encompassing, Kahje's global ocean

Nyahir (language unknown) : "first cresting bloom", the most important of the hanar religious festivals

Sounaril (language unknown) : the leader of the faithful in the Manas tradition, a sect of the hanar religion of the Enkindlers ; the current Sounaril (as of early 2186) is All-Bright Olos the 10th

DRELL LANGUAGES

drala'fa (language unknown) : literally "the ignored" ; the ostracized homeless populations found everywhere in the galaxy, notably the lurkers on every space station and the duct rats of the Citadel

Sere (language unknown) : a honorific used at least for some adult males, comparable to a limited extent to "Mister" ; the only person it is used for, Thane, had been married and become widowed.

tu-fira (language unknown) : "to be lost in another" ; a quintessentially drell state, where drell are either closed in a loop of perfect involuntary recalls, or willingly engage with happy memories rather than to deal with the present

usharet (language unknown) : scarlet flowers native to Rakhana

BATARIAN LANGUAGES

burgat (language unknown) : the blue meat (and possibly the animal) which is a mainstay of batarian cuisine

Harak. Chekt ! Chekt ! (language unknown) : imprecation used to order war beasts, i.e. varren, around, presumably with hostile intent along the lines of "attack !" or "kill !"

ignac (language unknown) : spiky spice cones from the harsh plains of Khar'shan. There is a documented example of at least one individual named "Ignac".

kharlak (language unknown) : an oviparous animal ; vacuum-popped kharlak eggs are the batarian equivalent to popcorn

oche (language unknown) : "prime" (adjective)

Shrik vai ! (language unknown) : an expletive

QUARIAN LANGUAGES

bosh'tet (Khelish) : an insult, roughly equivalent to "bastard" or "son of a bitch" in English human

Esu se'lai (Khelish) : a valediction ; presumably "By [something] I hope to see one day"

Fal'tash (language unknown, presumably Khelish) : the name for a month in an ancient quarian calendar

fa'yin (language unknown) : a plant from Rannoch that gives seeds with hardy shells, and a nut within

geth (Khelish) : "servant of the people" ; the synthetic species invented by the quarians and which nearly exterminated them all ; @ideas-on-paper speculates that, since the root "quar" in "quarian" and "Quar'osh" (see below) evidently means "the people", "geth" might better translate as "common servant" or "public slave".

Keelah ! (Khelish) : "By the homeworld !" ; an exclamation

Keelah se'lai (Khelish) : "By the homeworld I hope to see one day" ; a valediction

Keelah si'yah (Khelish) : "By the homeworld I hope to find one day"

keleven (language unknown) : a blooming, celery-like plant high in protein developed aboard the lifeships of the Migrant Fleet from a Rannoch breed, and a key ingredient to the quarians’ diet during their wandering

ke'sed (language unknown) : the offspring of qorach, an animal native to Rannoch ; a term of endearment, used for people fondly called "naive"

Ket'osh (presumably Khelish) : presumably "curse of [something] ; a former quarian colony in the Attican Traverse

lemek (language unknown) : a worm species from Rannoch

Lun'shal (language unknown, presumably Khelish) : the name for a month in an ancient quarian calendar

Mered'vai Rannoch (presumably Khelish) : "Forget Rannoch"

nar (Khelish) : "child of" ; the prefix used by young quarians who haven't gone through the Pilgrimage, indicating their birth ship

nedas (Khelish) : "nowhere"

Pallu'Kaziel (language unknown) : "Nevertheless, justice comes"

qorach (language unknown) : a species of carnivorous animals from Rannoch ; their offspring are known as ke'sed

Quar'osh (presumably Khelish) : "curse of the People" ; the place on Rannoch where the geth were created

Rannoch (presumably Khelish) : "walled garden" ; the quarian homeworld

tasi (Khelish) : "no one"

tiral azhana (language unknown) : "handful of water" ; a plant species from Rannoch

vas (Khelish) : "crew of" ; the prefix used by adult quarians who have successfully undertaken their Pilgrimage, indicating the ship they serve on

von (language unknown, presumably Khelish) : "one who has a weak bladder"

KROGAN LANGUAGES

Aralakh (whatever language Clan Raik speaks or used to speak) : "Eye of Wrath" ; Tuchanka's sun

burukh (language unknown) : an alcoholic krogan drink

hrakhor (language unknown) : a derogatory term for people, e.g. "These hrakhors screwed it up."

Korbal ! (language unknown) : a drinking cry, roughly meaning "Victory or death"

korkro (language unknown) : a plant native to Tuchanka, whose sturdy, edible root is a prized snack for old, grizzled krogan, who enjoy chewing it slowly

krantt (language unknown) : the word for the collective of a warrior's most trusted allies, those willing to kill and die in his name and honor

ru'shan (language unknown) : "child of my blood" ; a term of endearment used for one's child or descendant

ruzad (language unknown) : a judge

ryncol (language unknown) : an infamous and highly alcoholic krogan drink

sovak (language unknown) : a fruit from Tuchanka ; the prized alcoholic beverage known as "sovak juice" is produced from it.

trobror (language unknown) : "cinder", "ash heap"

varren (language unknown) : an animal native to Tuchanka

UNKNOWN

Basically, the names of any animal species and any plant species whenever we don't know who named them. This also includes every star and planet name, the names of the sapient species themselves, the names of their gods, goddesses and deities, etc

[omegastation]

Masterlist of Mass Effect transcripts (trilogy, MEA)

Today is a good day to start this masterlist of Mass Effect Lore transcripts! A new transcript is available: Garrus' Normandy conversations in ME2 (romance scenes included).

I made some changes to include all romance scenes for Ash, Kaidan and Liara in their Normandy conversations transcripts for ME1. I also completely changed the structure of the Citadel transcripts. Before, they were all put together and linked to Expose Saren. Now you can check one specific file to see Citadel assignments and another file to check the chatter, squadmate comments and other conversations happening in different Citadel locations.

As I state in the intro of each of those transcripts, they're a work in progress. And a labor of love! I'm doing my best. They're not perfect, I'm constantly working on them to add more dialogue options or scenes. If you see a mistake, don't hesitate to send me a message so I can improve them :)

ME1:

Normandy Conversations :

Ashley (romance scenes included)

Kaidan (romance scenes included)

Liara (romance scenes included)

Tali

Wrex

Garrus

Joker

Main Missions :

Prologue: Find the beacon (with Additional scenes)

Expose Saren

Find Liara T'soni

Noveria (with Additional scenes)

Ilos

Assignments:

Citadel Assignments

Citadel:

Citadel (Chatter, Conversations, Shops, Squadmate comments)

Loyalty missions:

Garrus: Find Dr. Saleon

Wrex: Family Armor

ME2:

Normandy Conversations :

Legion (made by @ideas-on-paper)

Garrus (romance scenes included)

Main missions:

Prologue: Save Joker

Prologue: Awakening

Freedom's Progress

Taking control of the Normandy SR-2

Loyalty Missions:

Legion: A house divided (made by @ideas-on-paper)

Garrus: Eye for an Eye

ME3:

Main missions:

Prologue: Earth

Citadel DLC - Elevator conversations

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA

Main missions:

Introduction

Prologue: Hyperion (with additional scenes)

Planetside

---

You can find the folder for all transcripts here. If you're curious, the folder for the codexes is here :)

I hope you will enjoy these or that they will be helpful to you!

[pagliaccis-clown]

do YOU like Star Wars Rebels? do YOU wish there was a comprehensive guide to all of Lothal's lore, complete with each source, so you didn't have to go digging through the depths of Wookieepedia to find things out?

may I present: the culmination of many late nights and niche source deep dives!

A (maybe like total 80%) comprehensive lore guide to Lothal and its citizens

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS IT IS SUBJECT TO UPDATES A (currently probably 80%) comprehensive lore guide to Lothal and its citizens My own

[5ergil]

About the Faerghus Four names & their friendship

Fire Emblem Three Houses has clear naming patterns for each house (e.g. Golden Deer with Shakespeare’s King Lear) and the Blue Lions childhood friends group in particular pull strongly from French literature. These parallels don’t just function as clever references but also reinforce themes of chivalry, trauma, friendship and disillusionment.

Dimitri is named after Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. The Three Musketeers is actually about four friends and explores themes of brotherhood, loyalty and chivalry. There are more parallels in the sense of duty strained by ideology and trauma + a romanticized code of knighthood that reality breaks down. The Count of Monte Cristo, on the other hand, is about revenge, obsession and loss of humanity. Both works mirror Dimitri; early on you can see Musketeer-like camaraderie and later the vengeance-driven descent appears.

Felix is named after Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables, which is a critique of blind idealism and has views of moral struggles and the tension between law and compassion. Felix rejects false chivalry (like Hugo critiques institutions) and struggles between harsh truth vs emotional loyalty. Hugo’s works are often about tearing down illusions of justice and exposing hypocrisy in noble ideals. Felix calls out Faerghus’ toxic knight culture and rejects blind loyalty (despite being quite the hypocrite) he’s essentially Hugo’s critique of romanticism embodied inside a romantic setting.

This takes us to the relationship between the two authors. Dumas and Hugo were friends/rivals in real life and their complicated friendship mirrors that of Felix and Dimitri’s. They had temporary quarrels followed by reconciliations but their friendship became more stable after Napoléon III's political takeover. When Dumas died, Hugo wrote a beautiful and touching letter to Dumas junior. Their relationship can’t really be considered as regular though. Hugo was convinced of his own literary and moral superiority so his feelings for Dumas were a mixture of affection and annoyance. The admiration and friendship Dumas claimed for his illustrious colleague seemed to be more sincere. Anyhow, the two of them share a final resting place in the Panthéon in Paris.

Sylvain is named after Théophile Gautier, a French poet and novelist. He champions aestheticism (art for art’s sake) and had a fascination with beauty and fleeting pleasure + surface over moral structure. Sylvain initially embodies this, especially in his womanizer persona. Hedonistic, flirtatious and emotionally detached, he’s a commentary on superficial attraction vs genuine connection and is a critique of social systems (crests).

Gautier was also friends with Hugo, and together with Dumas were all prominent members of The Club des Hashischins ("Club of the Hashish-Eaters") a Parisian group dedicated to the exploration of drug-induced experiences, notably with hashish. Gautier penned vivid accounts of his hashish experiences in Le Club des Hachichins. His writings provide a detailed portrayal of the club’s sessions.

Now Ingrid is a bit trickier. At first glance, she doesn’t map as cleanly to a French author like the others but there is a likely thematic/literary angle in the surname Galatea which comes from the myth of Galatea. This myth was widely reinterpreted in European (including French) literature and art. The Galatea myth is about idealization, transformation, and devotion to an ideal. Ingrid also fits the romantic chivalric tradition that all three writers engaged with.

The latest baby content reminded me how much I love these characters and the amount of details put into designing them. They can represent a deconstruction of romantic heroism through a 19th-century French literary lens and together they recreate the rise and collapse of chivalric ideals, like what happens when different perspectives of French literature collide inside one fractured kingdom with a bunch of traumatized teenagers.

[midwinterhunt]

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

[callmebliss]

Y’ever read something and have understanding that has eluded you interminably suddenly stop, curl up, and snuggle neatly into a fold in your brain because a new way way opened to it?

[macleod]

I've seen this passed around a few times, and I have one thing to say:

It's online. The book was carefully and wonderfully recreated online by hand. You can find it here. The entire book is this easy.

calculusmadeeasy.org

[callmebliss]

TIL the highest honor is to be consigned to the processing vortex

[angularblade]

Something something the Kotor 1 crew are all different reflections on Revan at some point during their journey.

Bastila as the Jedi idealist.

Carth as the military man/soldier.

Canderous as the merciless tactician.

HK-47 is just like that.

T3 as the fixer, the person who tries to mend things.

Mission as the optimist, the scrappy fighter.

And Zaalbar as the person banished from home for trying to do the right thing.

I'm sure you could make the same case for the companions from 2 but I'm tired so I'm not gonna do that.

Also shhhh Jolee doesn't exist he doesn't fit into this I can't think of anything for him to map to.

[inkdoe]

Jolee was a jedi that challenged/distanced himself from the views of the council, like Revan! Also the writers have said that his relationship with his wife is meant to parallel that of Revan with a romanced Bastila.

[agirlinsearchof]

And since Juhani wasn't mentioned here... she is a Jedi who turned to the dark side, but can turn to the light side. She also has a strong sense of justice. She's a straightforward parallel to light side Revan, but a foil to dark side Revan.

Let me take a stab at parallels between the Exile and their companions...

Atton and Bao-Dur have shady pasts.

Kreia left the Jedi Council over disagreements in their views (she is also like Jolee in that regard).

Handmaiden leaves a group of warrior-monks to fight threats that the others won't.

Disciple questions the ways of the Jedi.

Mandalore is a ruthless tactician.

Mira is an idealist and a tough fighter.

Hanharr defies a code that limits him.

HK-47 is just like that.

T3-M4 tries to fix things.

G0-T0 is a ruthless defender of the Republic.

[hhux]

STAR WARS WRITING RESOURCES

PLEASE REBLOG AND ADD ANY OTHERS YOU MIGHT KNOW OF <3 <3

WOOKIEEPEDIA. The source of anything and everything you want to know related to Star Wars. Good for fact-checking, character history, or simply killing time. There is also, of course, the official Star Wars Databank! STAR WARS GALAXY MAP. A fantastic project that maps the Star Wars galaxy as we know it. Consider donating ( if you can! ) to help keep the site up and running! Also check out W.R. van Hage’s map and the Star Wars Atlas Online Companion. TIMELINE. While hosted on Wookieepedia, this is nevertheless deserving of its own bullet point. This page provides an approximate timeline with dates of all canon material. You can also filter items, so that it displays only TV episodes, for example, or only books, or only movies! Find the Legends timeline here. STAR WARS SLANG AND PHRASES. A collection I’ve been keeping of phases, slang, idioms, insults, and more from the Star Wars universe. This also contains a glossary of frequently used terms, such as “refresher” in place of “restroom”. Please feel free to use/share! 

STAR WARS NAME GENERATOR. This is a fun one AND a life saver. You can generate up to 100 Star Wars-sounding names ( first and last! ) with a click. 

OTHER GENERATORS: 

Spaceship names as well as spaceship type/models

Earth-like alien planets for any alien planet you don’t have info on

Random landscapes, see above

Technobabble generator for when you need a reason for a red alert

Alien plant/herb/flower name generator. Also: mineral/metal/gemstone names, material names, medication names, and descriptions of alien substances

Scifi tool names for gadgets and gizmos

OTHER WEBSITES:

Jeff Russell’s Starship Dimensions, Dirk Loechel’s Sci-fi Spaceship Size Comparisons, and other Star Wars Deckplans

Star Wars Post 

Star Wars News Net

TheForce.net

[motherofclones]

Here you go writers:D

[texasdreamer01]

The Complete Wermo’s Guide - A fan guide to some of the languages in Star Wars. Articles and accessory pages feature links to source material and further reading.

Erik Stormtrooper’s Imperial Gallery - A fansite the features fonts for Star Wars languages, as well as information on Star Wars toys.

Mando’a Database - The official website for Mando’a, by author Karen Traviss. Features a dictionary, phrase list, and forum.

Star Wars Fan Database - This link goes specifically to the PDF of all original scripts for Episodes I-VI. Includes deleted scenes. Website contains themed games, and encyclopedia, drawing references, and IRL news relating to Star Wars.

Star Wars Helmets - Link goes directly to the recommended sites page, but the site features information about helmets found in Star Wars as well as related information.

[meandmyechoes]

Hyperspace Travel Time Calculator

Coruscant Translator - translate from Basic

Materials Glossary - fabrics, plastic, metal etc.

Star Wars Food

Species Anatomy - my tag for speculation, meta and headcanons for various aliens

Canon Characters Age Chart by @stairset

[meandmyechoes]

Grand Army of the Republic, Republic Navy/Starfighter Corps, Special Forces/Special Operations Brigade Organizational Hierarchies by @cacodaemonia

Visual Guide for GAR, by legion and squad by @counterfetts

List of All Named Clone Troopers by @propheticfire

Visual Dictionary for Clone Trooper Armour by @odekiisu

GAR structure summary by @intermundia

GAR Flagships

Mandalorian timeline - summary of history and lore (legends/canon) by @queerangelic

Mando’a Categorized Spreadsheet

Jedi and Sith Temple Architecture by @jasontoddiefor

Retranslation of the Sith Code from a Linguistic Perspective by @jasontoddiefor

Jedi Temple Cross-section by @kingofattolia and @gffa

Taking a Closer Look at the Jedi Order in Star Wars Canon [Meta/Reference Guide] by @gffa

Jedi Order Structure Flowchart by @rileys-nest

@sw-anthrobiology - species biology and culture fanon

@archeo-starwars - in-universe sources on culture and history

@clonewarsarchives - resource & concept art blog for tcw series

[not-my-knux]

after watching every single s support in fe3h i present to you all: the s support tier list!

[agirlinsearchof]

Some interesting parallels between the KOTOR party and the KOTOR II party:

Revan and the Exile are customizable protagonists who are charismatic and strong in the Force. They both have shady pasts that involve fighting in the Mandalorian Wars against the Jedi Council's wishes, and suffer afflictions not readily apparent (amnesia in Revan's case, being cut off from the Force in the Exile's case).

Carth and Atton are both pilots who join up with your character despite their respective misgivings. They can also both potentially fall in love with the main character.

Carth and Disciple/Mical share the same Soldier class, are loyal to the Republic, and question the Jedi way of doing things. They can also both potentially fall in love with the main character.

Mission and Atton are both Scoundrels with troubled pasts.

Mission and Mira both operate in legal grey areas, and share the same starting stats.

Zaalbar and Hanharr are Wookiees who also operate in legal grey areas and have relationships to the above-mentioned Mission and Mira that are important to their characters, but for opposite reasons. They also share starting stats.

Bastila and Visas Marr share starting stats and a class. They both also work for a Sith Lord at one point before potentially joining the protagonist. They can also both potentially fall in love with the main character, and in either case their Force Bond with the main character can either bring them to the light side or drag them to the dark side.

Bastila and Handmaiden/Brianna are both associated with two-handed weapons and are swayed away from the organizations they are a part of (Bastila for the worse, Handmaiden for better or for worse). They also spar with the main character. They can also both potentially fall in love with the main character, and in either case their Force Bond with the main character can either keep them on the light side or drag them to the dark side.

Juhani and Bao-Dur are both non-humans who do not get along with Canderous/Mandalore because of bad experiences with Mandalorians.

Kreia and Jolee are both old, neutral-aligned characters who have disagreements with how the Jedi handle things, and are aware of the main character's shady past.

The most recurring patterns here are as follows: the characters in KOTOR II are generally more morally grey than in KOTOR (with the exception of Mira), the Exile's love interests share traits with Revan's love interests (with the exception that I can't identify any parallels between Juhani and any of the KOTOR II love interests), and despite officially being neutral-aligned, neither Jolee nor Kreia are what I would call morally neutral (Jolee mostly just doesn't agree with the Jedi way of doing things all the time, and Kreia's plan of destroying the Force, if it's even possible, has the massive risk of killing untold numbers of people, and she doesn't seem to care).

[boybeetles]

You know technology literacy is dying because I saw this meme with 76k likes

F11 the full screen button? You’re scared of the full screen button? F10?? It opens the menu bar???

[boybeetles]

Computers are so scary what if I accidentally hit F12 in a steam game and it takes a screenshot. What if I press shift + F12 while in word and accidentally save my document 😖

[yetanothergreyjedi]