Would you mind sharing what you’ve learned about Afghani culture for fellow fic writers?
My first ever question! Thank you for asking! :D
I'll limit the scope of what I learned so far about Afghanistan culture to be within the timeline of Flambae's birth year and town: 1987, Herat. And to be limited as to how I incorporated Flambae's Afghan background in my fanfic.
Part 1: The research behind my fanfic
"Before the rise of the Taliban (~1994), Afghanistan had moments of intellectual progress, cultural richness, and gender equality that rivaled many modern nations." Women, in particular, had access to education, academia, and were free to wear anything they want (Foster 2025).
This is why in my fanfic, Flambae's mom was a recurring character mentioned to provide a glimpse of Flambae's Afghan roots (see Chapter 10 of my fanfic), where the video game mostly showed him hispanic-rooted (from his accent and frequent mentions of 'on fuego' during dispatch calls). I decided to make my fanfic Flambae Herati and Mexican to fit that context clues I found from playing the game, and I provided a hilarious twist as to how he also became a resident in the States. My headcanon reasons as to how he flew from Herat to Mexico to the States are tragic though, since it all ties down to how Flambae's mom (in my headcanon) sacrificed everything to bring Flambae and his sister a better chance at life. Women were not treated fairly even before the Taliban's arrival (Jalalzai 2024).
Since Afghanistan also has its old and new cultural values, the country itself is not friendly for gay people (Joseph 2024; Grant 2021). Tying it up to Flambae's canon homosexuality (confirmed by the devs and his video game banter), my fanfic's direction for Flambae's past comes from his own 'survival's guilt' of experiencing hardship in three different countries. But then suddenly, he had to assume a second parent for his little sister, when they flew to the States and he had to resort to villainy just so the two of them could have a roof on their heads.
Next, the language spoken in Herat is a Herati dialect, Dari language, which I believe is a different dialect compared to actual Persian/Farsi, Pashto, or other regions in Afghanistan that speak in Dari. My resources so far to research phrases are from this website: https://howtosayguide.com. Sometimes I'll find actual Herati/Dari dialects, and so far, my used phrases in my fanfic are:
Turat daram - informal way of saying 'I love you' from Herat
Doustat daram - formal way of saying 'I love you' in Afghan Persian
Adding Ba Hame Dilat after an 'I love you phrase' - expresses deeper emotions and emphasizes the intensity of love.
Ātashé del-am - Afghan Persian, means 'fire of my heart'
Gol e delam - Afghan Persian, means 'flower of my heart'
Tora Jiyan Kiram - Afghan Persian, means 'you are my life'
Janam - Dari, means 'baby' but very heartfelt for a parent to her child
Dokhtaram - Dari, means 'baby girl', parent to child; Dokhtaraim is for 'baby boy'
Jan-e-man - Afghan Persian, means 'life of mine', this phrase can be used to express deep affection reserved for someone special.
Afghanistan writes in Dari script, so the romanization has different spellings with our alphabet. The challenge, however, is finding more resources about Herati/Dari phrases, since there's a big distinction between Afghan Persian and Herati dialects; sometimes, the websites won't clarify if it's Afghan Persian vs general Persian.
My most interesting discovery is how flowers are a big symbol in Afghanistan, since it represents strength, resilience and is a big part of their culture, especially for women. Saffron and lavenders are among the most important flowers in the country, as it also gives the women employment opportunities (EFE 2024). The country also has one of the most unique cherries (named Afghanistan cherries), and these are also grown in Herat; the country is known for its good quality fruits and nuts (Mohtasebzada and T. Esumi 2019). Finally, Herat is rich in literature, especially in poetry (see book, Load Poems Like Guns Women's Poetry from Herat).
Part 2: My Flambae x Mecha Man fanfic in a nutshell
Since Flambae was an established villain prior to Mecha Man jailing him, I intertwined his own identity struggle of breaking out from the 'villain' label, and using the fanfic platform to explore the culture of Afghanistan through Flambae's mother and his own upbringing.
Initially, my fanfic was just about Flambae and Mecha Man's intimacy, but then my writing led me to explore their romantic relationship further by diving deeper into Afghan-Mexican cultural values, mental health awareness, and basically mid-life crisis as someone finding their place in the corporate superhero world of Dispatch (2025).
My fanfic is the longest one in AO3 I believe, since it's not just about Flambae and Mecha Man anymore. My headcanon backstories of the Z-team navigating their 20's, 30's, and 40's, combined with their crime records and past villain lives... plus the existential crises of Blonde Blazer, Chase/Track Star, Royd, and Galen are all being explored there, as I navigate my own quarter-life existential crisis.
In my fanfic, Flambae had to be a villain early just so their household could have food on their plates, but then he has to navigate all the new romance stuff with Robert. Mecha Man (in my headcanon) has had a huge crush over Flambae, but Flambae never even thought the dispatcher would like him romantically; Mecha Man struggles with the 'crush', however, since he feels guilty for jailing Flambae years back. Both of their pasts come back and haunt their relationship, as they try to be better boyfriends with one another: Flambae who has his anger issues due to his unfair treatment by society for being a villain at an early age, and Mecha Man who has his depression tendencies due to society's big expectation of him for being the third generation of Mecha Man-turned-Zteam-dispatcher.
These two middle-aged men have their own emotional baggage before and after starting a romance with one another... but this is all threatened by a new villain who can dispatch villains better than any SDN dispatcher could do. So, Flambae and Mecha Man's romance are compromised until the villain's dealt with.
If you read this far, I hope you learned a lot about Afghan culture, values, and my rationale for my fanfic's theme. I hope this thread could be helpful to you and to other fanfic writers who want to explore Flambae's past and dynamic with the Z-team.
Tying Lose Ends with a Box of Cigarettes (read on AO3) is definitely my passion project for 2026, as it trains me to write the kind of narratives I want to write more as an aspiring novelist. I have so many book drafts currently, but it's definitely an achievement right now to have written 380,000 words for my fanfiction, and Act 2 is just about to end soon! Act 3 will be more action-packed with the new villains versus SDN Torrance. I'm just so busy with navigating grad school, but rest assured that my fanfic is still on the works.
Thank you so much again for the question, and for reading this far!
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