rodeo star Keith/city slicker Lotor

maybe Keith is wounded in a bull riding accident and Lotor is his doctor

maybe Lotor raises/sells horses, and he meets Keith on business when selling some of his wilder broncos to the show

maybe Lotor is a manager/sponsor for jockeys who happens to end up at one of Keith's shows and realizes immediately that this boy is wasting his talent

okay this is such a fun concept but you have just inadvertently fed me the idea of a Westworld au and oh my godddd

"It's not a kink thing" Fair

However

Which parts of the worldbuilding *are* The Writer's Barely Disguised Kink?

(Ask was sent in jest and feel free to ignore if uncomfortable)

my kink is keith & lotor being happy and in love, and feeling safe in the knowledge that they have each found in the other someone who has known them at their very worst and yet stands by them regardless 💜

Happy new year flower🩷

Thank you my love!! Happy (exceedingly belated) new year to you too 💜

Ok first, your world building is quite literally the most skilled I have ever encountered!!! And two, what would it be like for garrison seniors and teachers to have a meeting with voltron, seeing Keith's growth and how highly Lotor regards him?

I've quite cleanly covered this one!

I like to think the garla randomly get the zoomies. Like a random galra person could be just chilling the the most infectious erge to just run around and jump around just hits out of nowhere

This is soso funny asdvjahfsdk okay so adult galra might get... restless, from time to time, but with decaphoebs of discipline and experience they are able to control these urges until an appropriate time / place presents itself.

Kits, however, are fucking feral little things that will just go

Heyyy I hope your doing well and I hope your resting and not wasting all your free time answering these! Don't forget to drink alot of water and sleep at least 6 hours night. I just wanted to know your thoughts on how Lotor would react to being at the garrison. Meeting his last bullies, classmates, least favourite teachers and so on. How would he respond to both them and Keith. Would he show him off more or something like that? Again rest plenty and only answer when you feel like it.

@stinkyexhaust: So if Lotor were to find out about how much of a prick James was to Keith, how do you think he would react? I mean I don't hate James in fact I think he honestly could have had way more screentime to showcase more of his personality and backstory, especially in regards to Keith.

-

Honey if I only got six hours a night I would be the living dead, but this is very sweet of you nonetheless ♡

I've been asked something of a similar vein once before, as well as the Garrison's reaction to Keith's relationship with Lotor, and I'll repeat now what I said then: it's an important thread of the keitor dynamic (to me at least) that Keith & Lotor strengthen one another by allowing for personal growth beyond simply fighting on their partner’s behalf. So while Lotor mightn't be fond of certain figures from Keith's past—particularly given the little he learnt in chapter 24 about Iverson's handling of the Kerberos fallout—he knows and respects that Keith is more than capable of fighting his own battles, and wouldn't want to interfere with that (something something, galra sense of honour, you get it).

...All that being said, would our favourite prince be practically chomping at the bit to let it be known that he is the man who gets to stand beside Keith Kogane, Blade of Marmora, Paladin of Voltron, and Love of his Life? Yes. yes he would.

With regard to James specifically, it is my personal reading of his relationship with Keith that it was a very poorly handled mutual crush, and yet it was this very antagonism between them that pinged the galra part of Keith's brain in all the right ways. The altercation canon showed us in s7ep01 (which, despite LB being canon-divergent post s4, does in fact remain canon within my narrative bc I actually thought every insight we were given into James & Keith's past was impeccable) wherein James insulted Keith's parents, was a classic case of projection on his part; James strikes me as a privileged kid whose family expected nothing less than perfection—for him to be the best of the best at everything at all times—so I think that effortlessly-exceptional Keith getting the group into trouble simply because he was bored led to an exceedingly cruel comment,,, but I don't believe James actually knew Keith was an orphan when he said what he said.

Naturally, Keith (and we as the viewers with full knowledge of his backstory) assumes James intended to end that taunt with "before they died / abandoned you" but I'm not convinced. James could have just as easily been about to say "before they shipped you off to the military / halfway across the state / out of sight and mind" which I think is exactly what happened to him, leaving him understandably hurt, bitter, and desperate to prove himself. So yes, James—as a volatile teenager with abandonment issues, and oh look, who does that remind you of—fucked up, and payed the price of Keith's fist in his face; ultimately though, I think of Keith as having long since moved past it, and if he doesn't hold a grudge against Griffin, then why would Lotor? Particularly when, by galra standards, that specific instance was been resolved through rite of combat, and the rest of their relationship was, to an Imperial eye, just normal teenage brawling ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hello flower! I hope you are safe and well. I have come to ask you a question how would the galra react to abusive relationships??

galra courting rituals | traditional galra courtship | platonic vs romantic | cheating | marriage | proposals | closing / rejecting a relationship

Though you didn't specify what type of relationship you were referencing, I got the vibe you meant romantic, so all the above are posts discussing that in particular. In terms of abuse, I think I've only focused upon that twice before: once in regard to child abuse, and once concerning domestic abuse in the Imperial Household, the latter of which I believe will be of the greater interest to you.

Essentially, Imperial culture surrounding intimate relationships is built upon the idea of proving yourself to be your partner’s compliment—someone who matches their strengths and counters their weaknesses—and they yours, forming a union that aspires to an equilibrium of humours. Every aspect of courtship is about proving yourself strong, capable, honourable,,, worthy. To abuse your partner (be that physically or emotionally) would undermine every aspect of that, and therefore be not only repugnant behaviour, but distinctly ingalran.

What with the galra being a strongly collectivist culture, it is considered their duty to care for one another as fellow citizens; to mistreat someone you don't know would be outrageous enough, but to be consistently, maliciously, and systematically abusing someone you supposedly "love"??? There would be legal ramifications, naturally, but in extreme cases the perpetrator maybe even be disowned by their bloodline (as detailed in my post on child abuse), being declared Liir tron cu Aaskh and having their right to claim any blood-name other than “Cuaaskhli” revoked, thus branding them a soulless disgrace and social pariah for the rest of time.

Considering the post about Galra theatre, the Galra would probably LOVE indian cinema. If you've watched any indian films like RRR (pleaseeee watch RRR it's sooo goooddddd) then it's basically the blueprint for what the Galra like. If you haven't seen indian cinema though then ignore this ask lol

I unfortunately cannot claim to be particularly knowledgeable about indian cinema at all, but having just watched the trailer (which was dramatic af) and seeing as RRR comes so highly recommended, I'll be sure to add it to my watchlist!

corporate wants you to find the difference between these pictures [lotor vld] [astarion bg3]

...................................................okay.........okay yes, I'll admit it, I'm an astarion girlie, of course I'm an astarion girlie, just LOOK AT HIM he's my type to a damn T, are you really surprised??

tall dark & deadly

inhuman

grey-moral bastard

intelligent beyond reason

powerful beyond being reasoned with

emotionally unavailable

can cut you with their stare alone

"is that a knife in your pocket or are you just h- that's a knife."

the prettiest bitch on the planet (may or may not have killed their competition to ensure this)

colour palette as chilly as their demeanour

✨gaslight gatekeep girlboss✨

could and would burn the world for their goals (and, more sentimentally, the people they love)

Hiiii flower! This has beeen eating me alive and I just have to ask because I think I’m going crazy is there a post about lotor having a past lover/love interest?I swear I saw one but I can’t find it and im thinking I’m fixated so much on little blade that im actually dreaming/imagining about them🤭

IF he did have a lover what happened to them? And is that character going to be in little blade

Also how would keith reaction be if lotor had or has a lover and he still falls in love with lotor how would keith react to realizing that he fell in love with someone that already has a partner or has had a love interest in the past?

ALSO is that (possibly fake/real) love interest the reason that lotor doesn’t get involved with other people?And since I know it’s mentioned that he doesn’t get involved with them because of Haggar does that mean that Haggar has done something to this person(Ex, past possibly still in love partner, past dead partner?)

Sorry I know that most of these questions can’t be answered but im still curious and I been thinking if its just my imagination making these post up😭.

Also have to know (not related to my last questions) if Keith would to have met sane Zarkon and Haggar and lotor would have been born in the future around Keith’s birth time also if they would have been lovers with the original story line straying from canon then would Haggar and zarkon approve of Keith?

Jesus I’m very very sorry for all these questions I been reading your older posts and honestly it’s been piling more theories and questions and since summer is up and school is back up again and me not putting attention in class I been thinking more and more about little blade it’s ok if you don’t answer bye flower have a good day/night/afternoon♥️💜

I cannot express how relieved I was when you acknowledged that I can't answer most of these questions, because when someone's so clearly enthusiastic and I have to be like "irrespective of whether I confirm or deny this, it's still going to be a spoiler" I always feel so mean 😭

As for whether there's a post explicitly delving into Lotor's romantic past, though it's entirely possible that I've let the odd tidbit slip here and there, I believe I've been rather particular in avoiding addressing that topic in full; I do have thoughts on said romantic history, naturally—Keith's too, as a matter of fact—but that is something for which you shall have to be patient and wait for the story-proper to take its course.

Keith, I think, would be more surprised if he were to learn that Lotor //hadn't// a romantic past than had, I mean... he's a literal prince and looks like that?? The only thing he's reasonably certain of is that, regardless of whether there was/wasn't someone like that in Lotor's life at some point, there isn't anyone anymore, for the simple fact that Lotor's arrival on Voltron's doorstep seemed quite obviously the move of a man with nowhere left to turn.

Your last question is one I actually can answer, or rather, I've already done so! Both for uncorrupted Zarkon, and also as the man he was before the rift ♡

In pidge’s chapter of perspectives, she mention that her ‘second Great Epiphany descends upon her like a particularly malicious version of her Grandmother at Thanksgiving’. This genuinely had me giggling because like what did her Grandma do😭😭✋

Picture this: 4'10", italian, habitual cheek-pincher, and utterly convinced that Coleen & Sam aren't feeding her grandbabies nearly enough (said grandbabies are forcing down their third helping with tears in their eyes but she's still piling more upon their plates, send hELP)

ive been reading ur worldbuilding posts quite literally all day while listening to ur keitor playlist gah i love ur fic sm time for my 3rd reread

i l o v e y o u 🥺🥺🥺

Hi! I just binged Little Blade a few days ago and I adore it, the culture and world building and characters are so great and well written. I was wondering, in regards to a previous post I read referencing Galra religions, what else there was, if you've made them yet of course, and more in detail of the Druidic church and religion. Do they have ceremonies or trials to enter the church or when they are promoted to higher positions?

major galra religions | traditional funerary rites | funerary rites in the modern empire | druidic genetics | the druidic church | mythological creatures | Daibazaal's origin myth

I think the above posts are all those focused upon some aspect of galra religion, but it's entirely possible that I've missed a few (so if one I've ignored immediately springs to mind, do let me know).

To be honest with you, I've not created any more religions than those discussed in my original post, and don't have any real plans do so—constructing an even vaguely fleshed-out religion is hard enough, and I did it four times over!—but I am more than happy to elaborate further on any aspects in particular that you're interested in ♡

So far as entering the Druidic Church is concerned, to be a follower of the faith is as simple as sharing their beliefs (all are welcome to come and go as they please so long as they do so with respect!), but to become an active member of the clergy there's... not trial per se, but there would be something of an initiation not unlike a christian baptism. This would traditionally be held at night and begin with the participant being gently blindfolded—remember, Sa is the Void, therefore darkness is the divine mother Herself—before being led to the site of their initiation: typically sacred ground of some kind, be that a temple or place of natural blessing (ie. an oasis). Here, a Druidic Priest(ess) would be waiting for the participant, along with any family / loved ones invited to bear witness, and they would be guided to kneel upon the sand, palms set atop one another in front of their knees; like this they will remain while scripture is read (which piece varies, but most are in reference to the celestial womb as the participant is, in a sense, being "born again" with this rite), and when the scripture is done the participant must fold themselves over to press their forehead against their knuckles, prostrating themselves before Sa. The officiating Priest(ess) will then douse the participant in quintessence-infused-water from their palms, after which the initiate may arise, newly anointed, as a deacon of the Church.

The handling of promotions within the Druidic Church can vary massively depending on where in the Empire you are, and what particular sub-branch of the Druidic Faith you follow. There is no clear-cut ceremony for that sort of thing, it's more at the discretion of one's direct superiors, and therefore the requirements / way in which it's carried out are as diverse as the galra themselves. The singular constant across the Empire in this matter is that for a Druid to go from being a Priest(ess) to a High Priest(ess), the individual in question must acquire formal recognition from the Archivist, as the only one with the authority to appoint this level of seniority among Sa's chosen.

The Galra don't do anything halfway, least of all relationships.

True! They are the ultimate ride-or-die and nobody can change my mind.

Hi i just wanted to say that I miss Keith and I miss Lotor and I miss Keitor and- 😫

do u perhaps know where I can get content of them,, I've read your fic already, and now i'm feeling empty 🫠

Ao3 is, unsurprisingly, my personal go-to for fan content, and as of right now there are apparently 902 works in the keith/lotor tag! Now idk how new you are to fan spaces, but ao3's tagging & filter system is your friend so please do be mindful of what you're getting into—especially seeing as keitor has its fair share of Dead Dove content—and pay particular attention to the author's warnings. If you'd like a general place to start, then I ofc would recommend looking in the "keitor month 2020" tag, because that was organised by a truly lovely group of people and received a fair few contributions! I was also once asked for keitor fic recs (a whopping five years ago, as it turns out) and still very much stand by the recommendations I made then ♡

In terms of visual work, my art tag has many a beautiful keitor piece (some of which were even inspired by LB itself!!), but more broadly I'd say that tumblr & probably twitter are the best places to look.

For suggestions beyond my own, I'd strongly recommend heading on over to the LB discord; everyone over there is sweet as can be, and I'm sure they'd be happy to point you toward their favourites!

Considering how hard it is for the galra to have children, what would they consider a legitimate heir? Would the child have to have some of the ruling monarch’s blood, would they have to come from wedlock or could they be from a concubine. Also, would an adopted child be considered a legitimate heir???

I actually covered the bulk of this question when addressing eligibility for the Imperial throne so do give that a gander if you want the detailed answer, but I'll rehash the broad strokes for you as concisely as I can.

To begin with, yes, galra fertility is limited—due to a combination of their species being monestrous, meaning conception is only possible during a limited fertile season, and several complex genetic factors that leave foetal mortality rates at an approximate ratio of 1:3—but when it comes to inheriting the Imperial throne, it's actually not a strict matter of blood.

“In preparation for a change in imperial leadership, we require a viable candidate for the Kral Zera: someone with the right claim—it doesn’t have to be of blood, though that would help—without being too polarising. - Kolivan, Little Blade, chapter 19

Importantly, the Empire isn't a linear monarchy—its Emperors / Empresses are instead decided (as in canon) through rite of combat at the Kral Zera, and eligibility for this, in turn, is dictated by either blood or reputation—so the concept of a "legitimate heir" is a little more fluid than one might think, because the Imperial throne itself is not an inherited right.

Let us first address the topic of blood.

Firstly, there is no being born in or out of wedlock for the galra, because there is no wedlock to begin with—the galra don't really have any concept of marriage at all! The idea of an "illegitimate" child is, therefore, an utterly foreign thing... as is, for that matter, the idea of a concubine, as this comes hand in hand with there being the position of a "legal spouse" on the table. In the Empire, any and all committed romantic partners of the Monarch would be bequeathed the title of Imperial Consort, and none of their children would be considered any more/less legitimate than the others (not for order of birth, or gender, or race, or anything).

Now, to use Lotor as an example, he is obviously Zarkon's biological son, and as such is considered the Empire's "heir presumptive". By humans, this term is used in reference to an heir whose claim may be set aside by the birth of another (more suitable) heir—as in the case of Queen Victoria, who was set only to inherit the English throne from her uncle providing he produced no children of his own—but for the galra it's more an indication that Lotor, as a direct descendant of an Imperial Emperor, automatically qualifies to stand at the Kral Zera, and had he any biological siblings they too would be considered as such (neither above nor below him in status); this is due to the prevalent galra belief that the heart is the cradle of the soul, thus conflating one’s blood with the very essence of their spiritual being, and meaning that to be a blood-descendant of a former monarch would be to possess a little of their quintessence within you.

Regarding the legitimacy of adopted children, neither legally nor socially would they be considered "lesser" members of the Imperial family, however for the galra the concepts of family and blood are two entirely separate issues. A child adopted into the Imperial family would share in all the perks that their blood-born siblings might enjoy, including being invited to serve on the monarch's inner council once of age as representatives of the State, and (thanks to a healthy dose of ✨nepotism✨) would be placed on an accelerated path to success in whatever field their strengths most lay; if the monarch were to be temporarily incapacitated, the adopted children along with their siblings and any/all Imperial consorts would divide the burden of the Empire between them until the monarch was able to take up the mantle once more. Upon the monarch's death, however, an adopted child would not—unlike their blood-born siblings—be automatically eligible to stand at the Kral Zera, as in not sharing the monarch's blood they cannot be considered to share in their quintessence either, therefore their eligibility would instead hinge upon their involvement in higher government and garnered political backing from other prevalent figures (see below).

This brings us neatly to the latter method of eligibility, reputation, for which the candidate in question would be required to:

Earn themself a high enough military rank that their achievements speak to their worth, along with acquiring formal pledges of support from other notable galra who are themselves eligible to stand at the Kral Zera, thus assuring that rather than challenge the individual's claim they will instead will advocate on their behalf to the Archivist.

Be a recognised High Priest(ess) of the Druidic Church, as the druids are known as Sa Naacht—Voidsworn descendants of those who provided themselves to the denizens of Sa as vessels on the mortal plane, long ago—and therefore Sa's approval is innate to their very existence as beings capable of manipulating quintessence.

Be born a member of the aristocracy—though it is practically unheard of that anyone stands at the Kral Zera on this alone, as they can rarely obtain substantial backing from others for merely their familial name and wealth.

But once again, all of this is only to stand at the Kral Zera. Winning can only be done through one's own blood, sweat, and tears, and as with many of the Empire's most sacred traditions, it is built upon the creed of victory, or death.

LB lotor gives off massive lana del ray man vibes to me 😭😭😭 hes older hes an ass hes a romantic hes a red flag hes the biggest meow meow you'll meet keith would not objectively listen to ldr but in this hc where he does listen to ldr i bet he'd understand for a millisecond viscerally what lana meant in her Songs

"He's older, he's an ass, he's a romantic, he's a red flag, he's the biggest meow meow you'll ever meet" I want this embroidered you are sO DEVASTATINGLY CORRECT I am w e e p i n g