Are there any alcoholic beverages and/or recreational drugs unique to your countries? If so, what do they do?
Starlight! ❤️ Thank you for this ask, it's been a minute. I have one specific thing in Metalsea that I figured out from the start and it's a unique thing for the draar (my monster-looking fantasy race). That said, it's still under development of course lol.
The Nakor Plant
The draar has a plant growing on their land, which they call nakor and is sacred for them. It has thick, fleshy leaves and inside it has this jelly looking, translucent gel basically. It's literally aloevera with a little twist. Because the plant's inside they use for cleaning wounds, while they also discovered it helps the injury heal faster and better. However, if they press the plant's leaves out, it oozes liquid which is actually has the same effect as an alcoholic beverage, makes you drunk and ecstatic. So, they use that for celebrations and such.
But, they also use the plant for rituals. The draar has a tradition among their warriors; if they are worthy enough, they can earn the chance to embed crystals into their body which helps them give various kind of boosts. This, however, only achieveable through a ritual, which requires a crystal, a drop of driadlin blood (my other fantasy race) and the nak'oro juice (this is how the draar call the nakor plant's juice). The blood mixed with the juice acts as a drug for the consumers; giving them hallucinations and showing them their inner fears, thoughts they don't want to face etc. I tried to showcase how this looks in a scene in this three part something I wrote during winter lmao.
Hello and thank you for the ask! And sorry for the late reply!
(from this ask game)
3. How many projects did you work on this year?
Uhh, I'm not even entirely sure. First off, every year since 2019 blends into a period of what feels like about four months for me. But while I mainly worked on "Something Wicked" and "Those Horrid, Horrid Things," I ventured into outlining or a chapter or two of an early draft into at least two or three other projects.
22. If your original fiction were an AO3 fic, what would the tags be?
I'm sorry I just had to go with the most unhinged interpretations of my works for this
29. Do you want to try writing any new genres next year?
Not a genre difference, but I keep getting the urge to write an idea I've had for years delving into Greek mythology (involving a self-loathing Hephaestus and an even more self-loathing, alcoholic, bulimic Dionysus who blackmails Heph into helping him get into the underworld to raise a long-lost loved one from the dead and they definitely do not hookup or anything).
Honestly this was hard because new who has over 10 seasons now. Also this isn't in a particular order.
1) Midnight - One of the best horror eps in DW ever. Like the fact they never actually caught the monster. Also the fact that everyone turned on the Doctor because his arrogance was that bad XD
2) Blink - I still think the weeping angels are the best monster they've had on this show. It was even better because the doctor/martha couldn't fight them and it was in somebody elses pov - Carey Mulligans character (Sally I think)
3) The Eleventh Hour - it was the first episode of Matt Smith and I thought it was great. Plus we got the start of Amy Pond!!
4) The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances - I know its technically 2 but I'm counting it as 1. It was the best example of Moffats writing early on because of the line 'just this once everyone lives'
5)Hell Bent - It was just the end of the Clara eps and SHE LIVED!!!!! He forgot - not her!!!
I knows this is cheating but:
6) Utopia - the build up of the Master was brilliant and I hadn't heard of him before (I've never watched Classic Who) but I remember my dad full on freaking out that they brought him back. And the confrontation between Jack and the Doctor was good.
7) Vincent and the Doctor - I know everyone loves this one but there is a reason and really solidifies Moffats attitude of things dont necessarily have a 'happy ending' but the moments before do still matter.
Donna's entire run because even if you didn't like the episode she was always brilliant to watch
Happy WBW! Tell me more about the philosophy behind magic use in your world. Are there legal institutions in place? Do magic users get taught about ethical magic use in school? Are there different/opposing schools of thought?
Ahhh these are such a great questions! Magic is my favourite topic ever, so thank you for asking!
In Rivers of Stars there are two different types of magic - Action and Art magic. The main difference is technical. Action mages channel magical energy produced by their bodies into the form they have a predisposition for (lightning, fire, energy fields etc.) and the most reliable way to do the channeling is through physical exercises. Art magic on the other hand connects the mage to a medium (air, water, earth, space, gravity etc) through some kind of mental focus and creator like a song, meditation or poetry.
This of course influences the way both these types are approached. While action mages tend to have heroic and violent professions, art mages tend to be teachers and artists. Or would be more suited for it - the truth is that the society is strongly pushing for the superhero profession. Everyone with powers they want to use daily has to be certified on a certain level, otherwise they can't use magic, which is controlled and legally followed. Unauthorised and unlicensed magic use is strictly forbidden, depending on scope leading to financial penalties and jail time. Most people therefore gradually lose their connection with magic, keeping it so restrained it becomes very small in effect.
Superhero is the most common profession, with the most schools, where Action and Art mages alike are taught how to make themselves useful to crime hunting agencies, which mostly deal with those unauthorised magic uses beside regular crime - robberies, lots of gang wars. Since getting into a school that gives out usage licences is very difficult, lots of kids and teens just stay on the streets and join criminal organisations or gangs, since otherwise they would have to give up their magic entirely. Not to mention that because they don't get educated about it, they have very reckless emotional usage and are prone to dangerous outbursts.
There is another school of thought, a still very new one and having difficulty getting through, one that Solace fights so much for at universities. It's about prioritizing what's natural to Art mages, using their methods of music and storytelling and meditating not for tracking down people, but to just enjoy it, express themselves artistically, for games and for fun. She is proving it's just as powerful when used this way, but there is a ruling paradigm that it's a waste of time and mental well-being of people, for which it could be the most helpful, is rather ignored.
Ethics of magic are taught from elementary school level in very simple terms, while it's mostly sociologists and cultural scientists like Solace that thematize what effect magic actually has on human behaviour, power dynamics, morality and how it's influenced by society's values.
Thanks again for asking! Actually got me thinking about another idea where magic could be used in all branches and how it could look like :D
Blood dripped off my fingers, soaking into the snow at my feet. Violent shudders wracked my limbs as I backed away from the limp form of my husband. Or, what was left of him.
I had to.
Do it. I had to.
It would have been him or me.
Him or me.
The kitchen knife slipped out of my hand and hit the frozen ground with a dull thunk. My heartbeat stuttered in my ears, the primal pounding that had spurred me to run when he grabbed that knife returning. I still had to run. They’d find me. It was a small town, his shop was popular. They’d miss him when dawn broke, and they’d follow the trail of blood.
And they’d find me.
Staggering, I ducked into the shadows of the forest, my steps heavy. Twigs and long-dead leaves cracked and rustled under my every step. Ice-wrapped branches rustled together on a ghostly breath of wind. It whispered past my ears, myriad soft, cold voices discordant.
They will come. For you. They will find you. You cannot escape.
Chest heaving, I stopped running, eyes darting wildly about for the source of the voices. But the forest was empty. Noiseless, aside from my labored breath. Tears pooled before spilling onto my cheeks, warm then chilled in the frigid night air. I wiped at them, my already-slick hands gliding across my bruised face.
Shelter. That’s what I needed. Shelter from the night. The eyes. The voices.
Everything would look better in the morning.
The wind picked up again, tousling my hair. You desire shelter, child? the voices asked again.
I had to be…either mad or imagining things, and yet... “Yes, I do,” I said, my voice achingly small and thick with tears.
The wind stopped, the air tingling with anticipation around me. I stood a little straighter, casting my gaze about the clearing I had stumbled into. We can provide. The winds picked up, spurring me to walk, to run. It was a miracle that I didn’t fall on the slippery, rotting leaves or trip on a felled tree or protruding root.
It carried me to the edge of the forest, sending me tumbling into the untouched snow of a familiar valley. Snow-cloaked mountains carved out the heightened horizon of the cloudy night sky. Ice frosted over the lake my mother and I had visited in summers of old. My gaze naturally fell on the island near the center of the lake. A carnival sat upon it, long since abandoned as the days and nights had turned cold.
The clouds above the lake shifted, the full moon’s light peering through the cracks. And when it fell on the carnival, my breath threatened to choke me.
Lights sparked and shone, glimmering with the promise of fun and whimsy. The machines whirred to life, rides starting to shift and move. The throaty call of a barker rang out in the night, beckoning me to my feet.
To step closer.
To join them.
I stopped in my tracks, shaking my head and stepping back. “I really must be mad.”
Do you not desire our shelter? Do you wish to be discovered? Are you not desperate, child?
My gaze flicked around at the invisible chorus of voices, my shoulders sinking as dread leadened my bones. “No, I am.”
Join us, then, they said, their voices hissing in my ears as the wind picked up again. Powdery snow blew in tendrils around me. Curling around my legs, wrapping around my wrists, dragging me toward the lake.
I couldn’t keep myself from tripping along. Nor could I make myself call out for help from the villagers. Even if one of them happened to wake at my yells, was I prepared to explain my current state?
The wind sent me skidding across the lake, with nothing for me to hold onto. Still, I scrabbled for purchase, but the wind didn’t allow me to fall as it hurtled me toward the shore.
There was no snow to cushion me as I rolled onto the ground. Just cold, packed earth. I pressed my forehead to the dirt, catching my breath before I dragged myself a few yards on all fours before I pulled myself to my feet.
The lights and smells and sounds of the carnival of my childhood greeted me. Intensified, though. The lights of the booths and food stalls and the torches lining the tent in the center glared and blinded me if I looked at them too long. The food smelled cloyingly sweet, yet irresistibly enticing. I lurched toward the closest stall, stopping as one of the other carnival-goers walked through me.
I stared after them, but they were already lost in the teaming mass of shimmering bodies. Spurts of light—such colors, I couldn’t have even named most of them—traced them all. As if a bubble encapsulated them.
“Can I help you?” came the quiet voice of the woman by the pot of oil. She met my confused gaze with hollow eyes and a too-wide smile. “Hungry, perchance?”
“Uh, yes, but…” My voice trailed off as another person walked through me. A child with an effervescent laugh. “I have no money.”
Her smile grew, her eyes unnervingly unblinking. “Worry not. There are other ways to pay, here.”
“How?”
She looked away, still smiling—it looked almost painful—as she pulled a stick of flaky dough from the pot of oil and drowned it in spiced sugar before passing it to me. “Enjoy.”
I took it from her, mouth mouth watering, yearning for a taste. “How do I pay?”
But when I looked up, she was gone. Blinking, I looked around, and without thinking, I ambled down the path and took my first bite. Warmth burst through me, my eyes closing in pure bliss.
Time passed without notice or thought, caught up as I was in the loud attractions of the carnival. The lights no longer hurt me, and I ate ravenously each bit of food that crossed my path. Night transposed into day, the sun peeking over the tips of the forest.
It shone right through me, and looking back, I cast no shadow.
I was nothing. Spirit, perhaps. The wind picked up again, carrying me along. Gently now. It whispered again, words of welcome, of comfort, of pure and unadulterated joy.
I whispered back, my voice blending into the chorus as we swept across the lake to the forest where my husband lay dead.
sofiaaaa my bright spark of truth and wisdom, as the resident yennefer expert i wanted to ask what your intellectual opinion is on her various portrayals (books, show and vg) and how well you think each adaptation has served her!
so fhdhdjd the big caveat is that I dont remember the books all *too* well in their finer details
that being said i do think the books are what trumps most other adaptations lmao. they just have The Range when it comes to interesting dynamics for her to cycle through; to name a few: bitter exes with geralt + being somebody's Great Love but also being desperately dysfunctional while being together and hopelessly Not Meant to Last + being ride or die for her adoptive ward + deeply antagonistic professional relationships with esteemed collegues while also being along for the ride in all-female club for political world domination.
And while the short stories have the focus on her relationship with geralt, so she is more love interest than coprotagonist as in the rest of the series, they do allow her complexities and dont recriminate her as most other fantasy would; like in the last wish she wants power and while she cant get it you dont see that dany argument of 'she was wrong to want it'; or when she entertains two relationships (one with geralt, the other with istredd) at the same time and then fucks off bc she got commitment issues lmao it doesnt become a big plot point later on of having to amend when geralt is pretty much a manwhore himself.
what i do have to say is that the more the actual series goes on, around book 3 out of 5, the scope moves from geralt and pals to the fate of the world is in the balance and she gets really de-prioritised in the face of other characters which is :////. tho admittedly i appreciate the series for having her be more a coprotagonist than a love interest in actual page time (she and geralt are together, as in not physically apart, for abt 2 books out of 5) and the rest of the time she has meaningful relationships with other ppl, mostly women too. (ie: ciri tissaia, philippa, fringilla, the rest of the lodge too to a lesser extent) while doing her own thing.
also i personally find the entire 'are they bound by fate and thats why they keep coming back or are they just, naturally, each other's IT regardless of the jinn' subtext the books have very appealing dhdbs
i think the games are second bc they just have problems when it comes to how they developed the trilogy. fhdhd mostly bc of triss tbh. like they dont mention yen AT ALL for two games, so when she does come around in the third, i feel like her standing as 'theeee Great Love of Geralts life' even if they are not together doesnt come across as well.
also, another problem coming from the framing of geralt as the protagonist is that yens role is tied to geralt and ciri and what they decide to do, thus limiting her interactions with other characters as well (not saying i was gunning for yen+philippa but yes). in terms of arc, im just not that much of a fan of the ending :/// i think it tried to be too much that conventional 'lets settle down with a house and occasionally the kids come to visit' that i dont think it suits her (or geralt) all too well. like i get that the world almost ending puts a spin on ones priorities but eh :( why be so conventional abt it
that being said they do get the spirit of the love of my life so they get a certain amount of points, and i do enjoy how they chose to tackle the entire the last wish redux quest bc either solution is actually a pretty interesting way to view the relationship
idk wtf the show is on abt tbh. like its so weird to see scenes i remember from the books but that either miss the punch of them all or seem to just Not Get It. like what is the point of introducing istredd, whose existence is tied to that one short story where he appears, if they do not plan to adapt the short story? especially since they planned on expanding yens role in the story with filler but they also decide to cut the few short stories where she appears? like make it make sense
also im extremely peeved bc the idea of showing her academy phase is good in theory, but in practice it doesnt seem to respect narrative economy. like, in theory, the academy phase could be 1) good setup for the rest of the lodge members (PHILIPPA, margarita, sabrina, sheila etc) and how they impact her as teachers/collegues but ??? the show is like why dont we get more istredd scenes (who is, I repeat, described by yen as a casual relationship, deeper for him than it ever was for her, and doesnt even appear in the main series). 2) good to juxtapose how she was taught and how yen then subverts those teachings when it comes to ciri as an apprentice.
and tbh I feel like s1 seems to focus on goals that, yes, she pursues to some extent but willfully missing how much it impacts her as a character. like yes, she does undergo the magical equivalent of surgery to remove her disability to fit a beauty standard fostered upon her, but tbh? it isnt the be all end all for yen in the books. it just isnt the part of her arc that is most relevant. same for the wanting kids part: she wants a cure for her infertility and it does impact her relationship with ciri but the 'baby fever' crazy is two short stories out of 7 books so :/
i am not one for crazy theories but tbh I feel like the downgrade of yens interactions with other ppl in the show is due to how many of those in the source material are tied to other women but the show cannot conceptualise to expand on them, if not even make them up for the sake of foreshadowing. hence. istredd being such a relatively prominent figure. i dont hate the guy i just think hes boring and he drags yen down with him, which I cant forgive
👨🚀 - What colors/songs/words do you associate with your character?
* rae's symbolic colors are gold and dark green, but also blonde and ginger for her hair.
* a couple of theme songs are "ends of the earth" by lord huron and "unstoppable" by sia. the first is for her constant need to go out and seek adventures, that it can often prioritize over relationships. the later because it's reminds me of her persona.
* the words would be smile, thirteen, lightning, hero and lobster
🌎 - How was their life on Earth like? Who did they leave behind? Are there any aspects of their old life that they miss?
* rae left behind a very stable, future new vegas behind. her children are grown, her spouses have passed away, so she felt it time to wander again. mr. house can just deal with two of those children as company/ business partners, while rae is on vacation. :)
* getting her to admit to it out loud would be difficult, but i think she feels lonely. stuck in another dimension, on a strange world that’s highly restrictive, it’s more draining than she ever could’ve imagined.
🚀 - Why did they sign up to be a colonist on the HOPE? Did they know anyone aboard the ship?
* hehehee.... in normal canon, she isn’t a HOPE colonist. >:Dc
* although i am still brainstorming on an AU called “role swap” where rae is the captain and not a companion. in that AU, knowing her, she was probably bored and looking for new things to study or adventures to be had.
🌟 - What are their highest attributes & skills? Aptitude? Did these attributes influence Phineas’ decision in entrusting them to save the colony?
* intelligence, charm and strength are her high attributes. her skills are engineering, science and persuasion (it’s hard to narrow down bc rae just... does a little bit of everything. she’s just like that.)
* i haven’t picked an aptitude yet.
*in canon, it’s “you help me and i will help you” with phineas and the colony saving. in role swap, her resume is solid (whenever i figure out what it is beyond brilliant scientist.)
I think the moment when I started shipping Laila/Darius was when she more or less barged into his room and stole his work, while Darius was like: "Hearteyes, motherf*cker"
I love this kind of dynamics where the characters are free with wach other. They don't censor themsleves or worry about what will happen in their relationship if they do X things. And I feel like Laila/Darius fits this to a T.
The Romeo and Juliet parallels were also pretty nice, ngl. The difference in their cultures is a constant source of tension and I like that. My fave part is the way they both want power and don't want to give it up just to be with each other. Plus, I think they complement each other nicely, while still being defferent characters with unique voices, so kudos to you for this amazing characterization!
(And I said it once, but the history between Laila and Dominus somehow makes me like the ship even more. You are kinda a miracle worker as far as love triangles go, imo)
