hii sorry if this is nosy but whats your major? i wonder if it helps u with inspiration for ur headcanons and lore in any way? ^^
You're not nosy at all, dear anon! In fact, this is just the right amount of nosy that's much appreciated and need more of in my life.
Admittedly, I do not have a major yet. I don't quite know what I am yet, and I'd really like to be more certain of what kind of person I am and what would be most optimal to do for a living before I go to a university.
However, I did graduate high school with a title of technician in printing and graphic design. Top of my class, I'll allow myself to brag – but I wouldn't say that inspired me, oh god no. Those seven years were soul sucking and life draining most of the time.
In truth, what really inspires me is life experiences, other people and their works, sprinkled with personal perversions of mine.
For instance, my headcanon of Khaenri'ah once upon a time having a mildly corrupt National Alchemist's Association was inspired by Morrowind's Mages' Guild. In particular, the bit about the Association wanting to recruit Rhinedottir or for her to sponsor them is somewhat referencing one of the earliest quests you can get from them, which involves tracking a wizard down in his manor that's located in a volcanic wasteland in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by horrid beasts that will try to kill you.
When it comes to writing fantasy politics, I was generally rather inspired by @/boethiah's writing, Egg of Time in particular. That story is so good, it's worth getting into Elder Scrolls just to read it. I mean it!
Though for more fantastical lore... I wouldn't say I have one big source of inspiration, though I must mention that growing up I played a lot of Diablo 2, Gothic, Soul Reaver, Oblivion and Sacred, though I don't remember much of Gothic and Soul Reaver by now, sadly. I'd also recommend Elden Ring, but that's a given if you're familiar with my works.
Now, as for headcanons specific to characters?
My vision of Rhinedottir was heavily influenced by Ragyo Kiryuin from Kill la Kill and GLaDOS from Portal – that's where the personal perversions come in. My fascination with evil women in STEM who may or not also be terrible mothers started very early. However it didn't end there, as with time my take on her gained plenty Marika-isms to it. Similar goes for Elynas. He started out as inspired by Elden Ring, but with time my design of him began mirroring my vision of an ideal man. Lust and yearning clouded my judgment.
My take on Alice? It's actually inspired by my own mom and her friend. They're both pretty unconventional women with a certain go-getter attitude, and my mom's friend's attitude actually mirrors that of Alice's in a few ways, including the cheerful child neglect in pursuit of self realisation. Hence, my Alice ended up a rather chubby woman on the shorter side that at first presents as masculine, characteristics my mom and her friend have.
Och-Kan and Deshret? Research, and a I Hate Fanon Let's Die attitude.
A good friend, whom I've come to appreciate only once he cut contact with me, taught me one very important thing when it comes to fandoms and headcanons: you HAVE to think for yourself, especially if it'll leave you somewhat isolated from the rest of the fandom. Because a lot of people don't actually really engage with the source material or what inspired it, so you end up with the fandom gagging at these nasty Habibi El Slut-core designs of Nabu Malikata where she's either a white woman named Staceygh or Kaveh with tits and lipstick.
Even worse, they end up mindlessly replicating them without ever looking up what people in ancient or medieval SWANA actually dressed like! So for the sake of all that's holy, you must READ and RESEARCH, and you will eventually come across good inspiration. You can never EVER allow fandom to collectively decide for you what's the correct way to headcanon a character, because a fandom will ALWAYS circle jerk itself into approving for the blandest, tropey headcanons imaginable. There's no exceptions.
I'm not sure if there's anything else I can add, so.
TL;DR : you can't create lore or headcanons out of nothing!! you need to Live and you need to READ.
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