Ah the Red light- I mean “entertainment” district 💄

It is true that there are three figures that we associate with Japan: Naruto, Luffy and Goku - I mean the ancient samurai, the modern salary man, and the eternal Geisha. Especially during the Edo Period, there was a rise in the so-called red-light districts, stage of the mesmerizing ukiyo-e, that the common mortal would happily purchase, in special, the shunga, that could picture the most obscene acts. But things aren’t always like the art portrait am I right? Sex trade in early modern Japan was so important that its history can also be read as the history of the society. But even though the prostitution relationship with the government changed, one thing they always had in common: it was the exchange of sexual services for a payment [most of the times in cash]. Before all, let's say something: male prostitution did exist. But it was just not considered the same business than the woman’s prostitution. Male sex trade became more associated with the theatre world and the teahouses. It was never recognised or regulated and had never the same punishments that woman did. This could be linked to the function of the man and woman in the households. Since a man could only be a brother, but the woman could start turmoil and try to substitute the wife in the family and give the male heirs. (Ah yes, always the baby problem. So be gay do crime I guess) During the 17th century prostitution was flued by the demographic movements of man opening cities, by the 18th the power shifted to the small provinces. And to where the man goes, the sex trade goes. In the 19th century the sex trade spread to all the territory. In the beginning of the Edo period, the rule of the "wife" and the "prostitute" could be confused. After all the women could be said to only have those two paths, and it wasn't for her to choose, but her male guardian. Since the woman was viewed as an object of the man's property, he could sell her as he wished. Yes, even wives and daughters from "good" families were sold as a way to pay a debt. “There was no question that the Tokugawa authorities’ vision of status order had been confining for woman: it subordinated them to male household heads and emphasized the values of obedience and submission. Indeed, some must have welcomed the opportunity to step outside their narrowly defines roles as wives and daughters. (…) But for the vast majority of woman who worked in the sex trade, the crises of the gendered order, and the disintegration of the limited protection it offered, was hardly a form of liberation.” - Stanley,2012;

In 1612 a man called Jin'emon tried to ask the Shogunate to recognise his business. He said that unregulated sex trade could cause a lot of problems like young girls being kidnapped, samurais plotting rebellions in the courtesans' beds, man splurging their wages on woman (and babies a lot of unwanted babies coming back for their illegitimate families let’s not forget that). The shogunate (finally) agreed and gave him a plot of land in the outskirts of town with (a lot of) conditions: they would regulate the sex trade, they would record the comings and goings, report anything suspicious, and the woman - yujo - could not leave the "pleasure quarters" and thus the Red Light district was born, at the time called Yoshiwara or "Reed Plain". The Shogunate soon started to forbid the selling and buying of humans, believe it or not this also included woman. But, as always, with exceptions. Woman could enter the “pleasure quarters” if the hitonushi [the woman’s legal guardian] allowed and if she consented. The same would apply if a family was in extreme poverty, the man could only sell is wife as a last resort. Also, eternal servitude was now illegal, the limit was now 10 years, but obviously the Yoshiwara’s pleasure houses lords would manipulate the contracts to go around this rule. The Shogunate tried to regulate the clandestine prostitutes that the common people called baita [whores]. But these women, that normally worked in the side of the streets, were paid very little and were the wives and daughter of marginal men. There was also the problem of the “bathhouses”, where pretty woman would scrub the backs and rinse their hair of men. Yoshiwara brothels complained that these bathhouses were hurting their business since it was at the time that bordels were forbidden from working during the night, so this bathhouses would do drinking parties with shamisen music and everything. And the yuna [bathing girls] were cheaper than the yujo. Bit after the big fire of Meireki at 1657 these bathhouses choose to relocate to Yoshiwara. But there was a problem is this tentative of politicised the sex trade: the woman that only sold sex as a secondary option. She shogunate realised this problem and declared that all the waitresses, dancers and entertainers that agreed with patrons to sell sex would be considered clandestine prostitutes. But there was a risen of a type of artistic woman, that was skilled in entertainment, that started to imitate the male way entertainment - the Geisha. “Originally, both men and women professionally living on light accomplishments inseparably went under the name of “geisha”, although men were called “otoko geisha” or male geisha, and women “onna geisha” or female geisha. Subsequently the term “onna” was dropped, so that the onna geisha came to be called simply geisha, and the otoko geisha or male geisha changed simultaneously their name into “hokan” or jester.” – Longstreet; Mansfield; Longstreet, 2020; The word geisha can be split into "art" and "person", meaning that the geisha were the perfect mix between the performance and prostitution. They were supposed to have many artistic talents like singing, reciting poetry, performing the tea ceremony, playing the shamisen, arranging flowers, telling the best jokes, whispering obscene things, in short entertaining men. Selling sex was a last thing. They were sexually available, but they had a price, and with a higher price came its social value.

These Geisha usually had their hair up in the traditional maga style [which was mostly made of wigs], wore colourful makeup, kimonos, and obi. Normally they had various apprentices called maiko or hangyoku. (Yes I'm sorry to break your heart but the little girls at House Tokito (Tanjiro infiltration), that help the Koinatsu Oiran were either sold or daughters of courtesans at that house, being trained to be the next Oiran) Obviously, they also had lovers, but outside their job. In the workplace they would smile and bow to entertain their patrons. Sometimes they could choose a wealthier patron that would sponsor their lifestyle. Sometimes they had another lover that was their true love, but that was not the best option since time was money. Unlike the courtesans the geisha could choose their patrons, but sooner or later their professions would start to be confused. Many of the trends of the Edo period continued after the Meiji restoration. Until the Taisho Era [1912-1926] the number of prostitutes registered in brothels doubled. The number of Geisha alone as circa 79.348. It was estimated that 1 out of 31 Japanese young women were employed in the sex trade (that excluding the comfort woman cause non-Japanese did not count, cause ah the imperialism) The funny part was, the money that these women made was income that would be invested in important modernizing infrastructures like elementary schools. With the westernization government started to being pressure to liberate this woman, but soon these women realized that they did not have were to go. So, in technical terms nothing really changed. But the Japanese started to be see this woman as impure, in part because of the sexual deceases that were starting to be aware of. Now we understand why one of the Demon Slayer arcs takes us to the pleasure district, because during a lot of time it was the center of a lot of what we now call the japanese culture.

Linfamy. 2023 - Two Oh-So-Happy Destinies Forced Upon Daughters in Edo Japan. [Consulted on the 27th June 2023] Available on: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcewuw0sMOo>; LONGSTREET, Stephen. LONGSTREET, Ethel. MANSFIELD, Stephen. 2020 - Geishas and the Floating World: Inside Tokyo’s Yoshiwara Pleasure District. Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing. [Ebook]; STANLEY, Amy. 2012 - Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan. California: University of California Press. [Ebook];

9 People I Would Like to Get To Know Better

i was just tagged by @recentadultburnout and am using this as an excuse to procrasatinate studying. whoops.

last song: เพลงที่เพิ่งเขียนจบ (our song) from the bbs ost. it happened to come on earlier this afternoon when i was listening to music while doing the dishes and i stopped the playlist after this song bc i was done with the dishes and went to do some uni stuff

favorite color: i really like blue, especially navy blue. and i also like darker shades of red, like crimson (German speakers: think karminrot)

last movie/tv show: i watched wednesday club last night before going to sleep

sweet/spicy/savory: i like all of them, it really depends on my mood and the dish. i've got quite a sweet tooth but for example when it comes to strudels i much prefer the savory ones (my austrian hot take is that spinatstrudel >>>>> apfelstrudel). as a half-italian i also like to add peperoncino (chili) to my food a lot. for example, i haven't ordered my kebab "ohne scharf" (non-spicy) since my late teens

relationship status: single but lowkey trying to woo someone. maybe. i don't know. pretend i didn't say this. ok bye.

current obsession: i'm a bad buddy blog in its joongdunk era

last thing I googled: technically "navy blue" bc i wanted to make sure the colour i'm answering with for this tag game is the right colour that i like. but the last thing i googled before filling in this tag game was "sicilia trinacria" bc i wanted to show/explain to someone what it is

tagging: @newyearknwwme @killiru @visualtaehyun @moonkhao @lurkingteapot

I'M NOT DEAD I PROMISE!

I'm just going into my final semester at uni and we haven't had wifi at our flat since we moved in (nor does it look like we'll be getting it any time soon) BUT I figured I can at least share some uni stuff over here.

These were some tests I did looking at telegraphy instruments for the last project - I actually don't know where I've put the finals but these are fun to look at 💀

What if.....I write well researched essays.....on South Asian political movements especially geared towards a western diaspora audience to break the perception that South Asian or 'desi' identity is a political and ideological monolith ..... Hahaha jk......unlessss.......

Research done on Nevada, its landscape and the history of the state and its deserts.

Nevada is the the most mountainous state in America, and also the driest. It homes the huge city, Los Vegas, which gets millions of tourists each year.

The Mojave Desert is it’s biggest desert and it has many species uniquely evolved for that area.

Area 51 is hidden in the desert there, but many alien enthusiasts come every year to try and discover “The truth” about what’s out there.

Area 51 has almost extensively only been used for military uses, such as new technology and testing grounds for weaponry.

The desert around Area 51 covers a broad territory and in some parts, if you are seen entering restricted areas, you could get shot on sight.

Area 51 only really was established in the 1950s, to prepare the USA from attack of the Russians, during the time of the Cold War.

There has also been nuclear bomb tests in the area, and experiments on what radiation does to living creatures and the area it is exposed to.

The mountain range in Nevada keeps the rain away from it’s desert, as the mountains block the clouds like a shield, with plenty of rain on the opposite side, while leaving the desert dry.

The houses in the area have mostly flat roofs, as snow in Nevada is very unlikely. A lot of the houses in the 50s in Nevada were also bungalow, as that helped to keep the homes cool, without losing too much excessive heat.

The sky is usually bright blue with a hot sun, as clouds are rarely around the desert areas.

Nevada is actually one of the least populated areas in the USA, even in the 50s when it began to get noticed for its interesting “activities” in it’s military bases.

There’s also an abundant of cacti in the Mojave Desert, and many giant red stoned rocks spread around the sandy desert as well.

There also is a lot of shrubbery here, adapted to suit the dry weather that surrounds the area.

Fashion Photographer: Ty Bello

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In Search of the Calusa 3

In Search of the Calusa 3

About Randell Research Center, Pine Island, Lee County, FL -an extension of the University of Florida, both Ed and my alma-mater. This post will be my final post in a series entitled “In search of the Calusa.” Today is number 3. You may have already read 1 & 2. In Search of the Calusa 1 In Search of the Calusa 2 Pine Island’s Randell Reaserch Center was the perfect place to end Ed and my west…

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Character/arc predictions made after watching s03e17 War Without End Part One. First time watcher, please don't spoil me. :) Putting these down for posterity before I watch War Without End Part Two!

Garibaldi: He's been the reseach guy, and has been learning Narnuan and studying the Book of G'Quan so I think he's going to be vital to tracking down Sheridan unmoored in time, likely while Sheridan is in the past liberating Narn from the Shadows. I don't think Garibaldi going to die. I think they're setting up the narrative to make the viewers think he's going to die on B5, so when he does his final stand, or heroic staying behind the cut the wire or whatever it'll really tug everyone's heartstrings and he'll be "dead" for awhile. But then he'll be back with...

Stephen Franklin: Dr Franklin, while trying quit space cocaine and recover from the stressful life of a space station CMO is going to thrive in the more laidback environment which is Space Doctors Without Borders slash working with the human psi escape network. He, the psi underground, and Garibaldi (somehow...Garibaldi has had a lot of screen time researching PsiCorps) are going to come in clutch against the Shadows. He's also going to bring Sheridan back to life on Zha'dum with his medical knowledge and primitive/no medical tech/supplies. 

Susan Ivanova: will also be involved in the Psi plots. Obviously, she is a telepath. Her mother taught her good enough shielding/repressing that she has been able to slip beneath PsiCorps' notice all this time. But she's going to have to accept that she's a telepath (if she hasn't already...she plays her cards close to the vest) and learn to use it. She will also be an ace against the Shadows. I think she's going to be put into a situation where she is being pressured into letting other telepaths into her mind. Bester is my first guess. Then another PsiCorps telepath. She hates and fears PsiCorps and so that would be high stakes. But it might also be any telepath/s from any species. Maybe she'll be involved with an alien, league, and/or narn telepath/s. They've been teasing her being in danger on Babylon 5 and I don't have any firm predictions about how she moves from Babylon 5 but it might have something to do with Talia.

Talia Winters: I don't know if Talia is actually dead or not. Or if her body lived along with the personality construct PsiCorps trapped her with. Or if her personality will be assumed to be dead but resurface at some point. Or if they're gonna do an endgame of Bury Your Gays. My heart says sadly that I think Talia is either dead, or will end the series dead. But I HOPE something like this (or better!) happens for her. I hope she comes back to Babylon 5 in the nick of time. Her real personality or not. She and Susan escape the Shadows' attack. This will probably be after Garibaldi is assumed dead. Babylon 5 is lost, probably destroyed. Susan and Talia work together, have sparks. If Talia has been the construct, she gets sparks of memory back. But I think she dies, maybe saving Susan. Amd leaving Susan brokenhearted having never been public about their affection. Secret love and secret loss. Worst case scenario she lives, gets her memories back, survives, and then goes back to her ex, Matt Stoner and moves into his mom's basement to support his burgeoning career as a holostreamer.

John Sheridan: He is going to walk across time, learning and fighting the war across the universe. He's going to be perhaps the most famous warrior ever, with his legend echoing from a hundred points across thousands of years of history. He saved the Babylon 4 crew from Babylon 4. He traveled forward in time to save Babylon 5. I think he's going to make more stops before/after the war against the Shadows in the far past. I think he helped drive the Shadows off Narn, when they were there something like 500 years ago. Garibaldi might discover he was mentioned in G'Kar's book of G'Quan or something like that. Then, after all his timewalking, there's going to be a final showdown at Zha'dum in the main Babylon 5 timeline. And he's going to win. And die. And Stephen Franklin, bereft of his modern medical devices is going to keep him alive with 23rd century field medicine and possibly good old fashioned CPR. So Sheridan will die at Zha'dum and also live. And I'm certain Kosh is dead-but-not-gone, and will be either haunting Sheridan in specific, or Sheridan will have a packet of his memories or instincts or something like that. 

Delenn: She's gonna live. She's got to settle down with her all-american, corn-fed, iowan side of beef. She better have a crazy legend, too. I think she's going to have to steal Babylon 4 without Sheridan, because Sheridan is time walking uncontrollably. But she's gonna catch him with Babylon 4 somewhere or when. It's going to be very romantic. And she'd better get a legend of her own on the goddess level. I think that as she has yet to really explore the humanity in herself, she may have to dig deep into humanity's best and worst to think like the kind of human (Sheridan) that can out-tactics the Shadow, sacrificing her Minbari identity even more in order to become who she needs to be to succeed in catching Sheridan out of time and defeating the Shadows in past/present/future.

Lennier: He is the archetype of chivalry, specifically platonic ideals of a knight serving a lady. He's Lancelot from the older stories where he and Guinevere don't fuck. I think he will follow that archetype quietly, firmly, joyfully, to the end. I think he is going to die with the pure heart and diamond convictions he has demonstrated throughout the show. But that's as his eventual fate, which I hope doesn't end with season three. They may explore him creating his own legend and walking away from Delenn for a bit, but if they do, I think he will return to being her loyal aide until death do them part. Platonically. 

The show has made a point of saying that Narns aren't telepaths and having G'Kar imply that his telepathy was only temporarily induced by the drugs, but I'm not sure that's going to end up to be true. They've (imho) treated the Narns shamefully, and thematically the Narns OUGHT to be the ultimate aces in the hole. The alliance and rangers which have kept the Narns out of the loop, because of prejudice and pity, ought to realize that they cannot succeed without the Narns and they were wrong to assume the Narns didn't have necessary skills and information to allow them to succeed against the Shadows. And G'Kar ought to be recognized as a great leader of his people, a legendary ambassador working against impossible odds, and a hero. But idk if they're going to give the G'Kar and the Narns the props they deserve. I hope so, though. 

Londo Mollari: Aftering choosing the grasping, short-sighting path to power and influence every single time, and deeply regretting his youthful forays into the unCentauri vices of empathy and equity, Londo steers Centaur into falling into the Shadows' hands as Emperor. He blames everyone else around him till the bitter end. He might do something redemptive, like voluntarily clear the way for Vir the Reformer or something. But I expect him to choose miserably poorly for the rest of his life.

Vir Cotto: Emperor Vir the Reformer! He's definitely going to be legendary! And known for his reforms! I expect he'll spend his time till then being browbeaten by Londo by day, and helping Narns fake their deaths and escape the murder regime by night. No idea if his murderer wife is going to turn up again. I imagine...so...? But I can't imagine it ending well for either of them. 

Zack Allen: If he survives, he better be conscious for the rest of his life about his tendencies to fall in line with fascist elements and work to instead choose liberation. He seriously failed every moral checkpoint and then only chose the B5 alliance because it was getting pretty uncomfortable being one of the regime's bootlickers and enforcers. I've got my eye on him. 

Bester: My best guy is going to survive, do some very morally black shit, be my special, ominous little fellow, and trot off at the end to go found a psi-only colony/future superpower in an undisclosed location.

Sheridan's Dead Wife: Isn't actually dead now, but might be actually dead by the end of the show. 

My prediction for Sinclair is a separate post - see here.

For the dragonborn ask game : 1,3,7,14 and 18? 👉👈

1.What is their background and backstory, summarised into a paragraph?

Resdayn Hyr was born in Solstheim in 4E 53 in a family of ex-Telvanni and Redoran soldier. His ancestors were either battlemages or dual-wielded swordsman, but he only unherited the last one and already demonstrated himself as skilled fighter in Redoran trainings, despite the fact that he had some actual disabilities (he born with only one eye).

His (Toliani) sister wasn't so lucky (he was born blind and deaf) and went very sick, so he decided to travel to Skyrim to find a proper cure for her. But he was mistaken for a criminal and nearly died in Helgen. Being stucked in Skyrim, he settled in Windhelm for some time to find a cure and the way to went back, so he joined the Stormcloaks to earn some money, but got dissapointed quickly.

Unfortunately, he happened to be a dragonborn. He eventually took side of Empire. After killing Alduin and finishing civil war, he decided to came back, but it was too late for saving his sister. It was tough decision for him, but he refused to join Redoran guards, and choose to work and travel as museum of dragonborn' reseacher and guild master, only coming back to deal with Miraak. In that time got closer with Teldryn.

3.How do they feel about being Dragonborn- does they identity feel right for them and did they embrace it immediately? Do they consider themselves a true dragon?

He....wasn't excited much? Resdayn knows history of his lineage very well, and news about being dragonborn didn't suprise much. Fact that there were psijic and actual dwemer in Hyr' bloodline seems more impressive. Still, he is pretty much serious about his dovakin' duties. Dunmer is "doing duties, not thinking" type of guy, so he embraced it almost immediately.

7.How much do they utilise the power of Thu'um? Do they actively try to expand their inborn abilities through research and exploration? Or are they less invested?

Actually, he has pretty destructive Thu'um, so he trying to use only in critical situation. His voice always was very loud and sharp voice even before events, and now he lowering it and making as calm as possible.

Still, he is dyslexic and reading anything kinda tough work. It took more time to learn basic, but even one Fus is enough to make cracks on walls. He didn't stop learning them though, mastered Fus'Ro'Dah and Yol'Toor'Shul to perfection.

14.What is their personal favourite place in Skyrim- a town, hold, home, dungeon, or just a natural spot they happen to have a fondness for?

Eastmarch, especially central part with hot springs, geysers. Maybe it reminds him of south Solstheim with their volcanic areas.

18.Your Dragonborn is now an actual dragon- what do they look like? Do they possess any unique features or abilities?

Probably very colourful, with following vitiligo spots on skin and hair, also missing one eye. I'm sure he gonna use claws and tail to attack more than thu'um.

Axis Powers [expanded] Human Names ( + my reasons for them)

Here we go with the Axis countries' human names! I did some reseach, but again, as before, I believe we can agree to disagree, if you don't like my takes. Also, I'm using the last names from their male counterparts for the sake of integrity (like, if we had two Italies and the male had not-so-Italian last name that Hima invented for him, and then a female version with a more appropriate name, it would get a bit confusing, right?). I don't see them as family, but hey, they are one and the same country, we can't go too crazy with that.

Still, feel free to use any names you prefer. In this particular post there will be a lot of defense of Hima's choices, so brace yourselves. I really think he worked over the Axis characters long and thoroughly enough to make up his mind and some of his impressions were more correct than you could see it at face value.

So let's look at the names, shall we?

May the united powers of pasta, sake and wurst be with you!

Germany (West) - Nyoitsu/Doiko

Monika Beilschmidt

I don't think it's a perfect name, but it's not bad either. I originally thought of leaving Nyo!Germany as Louise/Luise, but since I don't like copying male names for female characters, even in genderbend, I opted for Monika and found some good grounds for it. It is after all a name of the mother of St Augustine, a woman mostly known for patience and determination in her prayers, which are somewhat related to Nyo!Germany's character. Furthermore, the actual meaning of the name is lost to history, but it was associated with Latin word "moneo", which translates to "advisor; I advise" and Greek "monos", meaning "one". "One advise", is kind of reflective of a line in "I am German-made" about reading each word of the manual (yes, songs are part of canon too, and I will take it as such). So ethymology-wise, it makes sense for Nyo!Germany. Weird fun fact: in 1937 there was a premiere in Stuttgart of an operetta under the title "Monika", composed by an Austrian composer. Not sure if that is related to Hima's choice, but I thought it's worth mentioning.

I also believe that in her youth (*cough* as HRE *cough*) she used other names, probably "Luise", or "Greta/Gretchen" in order not to clash with Nyo!Prussia at the time. She certainly used different aliases, as she's usually seen with her earpiece on, suggesting she works in intelligence during wartime. I can imagine her as a spy, but more of a communicator than actual secret agent. They still use aliases, don't they?

Italy (North) - Veneziano - Itako

Alice Vargas

I can hear some Italian purists coming over to say this is by no means Italian name, only italianised one. Well, yes, but let me tell you what: North Italy shares more culturally with Switzerland and Austria than it does with Southern Italy. If you happened to watch Hetafacts, you probably know some theory behind it, but if you don't, then let me put it like this: Northern Italian kingdoms were much mostly founded by barbarians "from the North"... Yeah, kind of like Papa Germania got busy with supposedly Grandpa Rome's daughter and "dot dot dot" (forgive that "Mamma mia" reference, I just had to). I mean, North Italy is still very Italian, she interited Grandpa's (or Grandma's?) Rome talent for arts and most of his (hers?) architectural wonders. But it would make sense to have a more Germanic name by origins.

Ethymology: it comes from Proto-Germanic roots, "aþala-", meaning "noble" and "haidu-", meaning "appearance; kind", and it was originally "Adeleide" - a name that young Nyo!Italy could be using, especially when living with Nyo!Austria and Nyo!HRE (I mean, you know who that actually was, but shh). Likely, during the renaissance and later times, she used different names, as I imagine she was very involved with the trade of antique sculptures and so she needed to use various aliases; she also was known to meddle in political affairs, much more than her male counterpart (especially between Turkey and Venice matters), so she used names like "Caterina", "Felicità" or "Margherita", among others. Still, around the end of 19th century, she came back to her original name, using the italianised, shorter version of it, as "Alice" ("Ah-lee-che", for all English natives, who read it as "Ah-lys"; I see you in your sleep and I'm not even Italian myself).

Italy (South) - Romana/Lovina

Chiara Vargas

First of all, that's the name Hima gave and for one of the few times I can wholeheartedly agree with his choices here. Secondly, it's the Italian form of the name "Clara", which derives from "clarus" in Latin, which in turn means "clear, bright", but also "famous, well-known". Well, that's ironic, if that's the name of Southern Italy and not the Northern one, isn't it? After all, South Italy often complains about being in the shade of her Northern sister - I think she would choose a wishful name, honestly, hoping to highlight her individuality even more. Finally, she's described by Hima as having a "strong image", which can be interpreted as "appearing to have a strong personality" - a very clear one, if I may say so.

I just love everything about this name, it suits her character and makes sense. If she ever used any other name than this one, I believe it could be "Marìa", "Giuvanna" or "Càrmina", all of which are Sicilian-Neapolitan forms of other popular Italian names (the last one is from Spanish one, "Carmen", obviously). By the way, "Ciara" is also correct spelling in the South, as far as I know, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Japan - Nichiko/Nihoko

Honda Sakura --- 本田 桜

Here I must say I can imagine "Sakura" being Nyo!Japan's human name since forever. The fact that the country takes pride in everything related to cherry blossom and the Hanami season pretty much kicks off the school year over there speaks for itself. Interestingly, Himaruya was thinking of names like "Mameko" (豆子) , meaning something like "bean" and "child" combined together, and "Ponko" (I'm not sure, how to write it in kanji, I only know a bit katakana and hiragana, so there goes what I came up with: ぽん子), which common feature is that they are both ending with "-ko" syllable, which in Japanese is associated with more feminine names (and I put the Japanese names for Nyo!Country names here, you can see the pattern there too.) So I suppose the only thing he thought about Nyo!Japan is that she's like regular Japan, but a girl. I can't come up with anything more Japanese and more iconic feminine name in this language than Sakura, so I stick with that.

If I were to comd with other names, I would go for something like "Akira" (明), which means "bright", or "Haruka" (遥), meaning "remote, distant", anything that describes more of Nyo!Japan's character.

Prussia - Germany (East) - Puroiko (?)

Maria/Luisa/Julia Beilschmidt

Okay, I know some people like to use "Maria" for 2p!Nyo!Prussia, and some of you will be confused why I didn't put "Julchen" instead of "Julia". Well, there's a good reason for both. "Maria" would likely be the name Nyo!Prussia would use as part of the Teutonic Order, and while 2p!Nyo!Prussia seems to embody that peried of Prussian history, I think it is more likely that during that time, Nyo!Prussia was acting more "feminine", you know, emobodying the more diplomatic side of the order compared to her male counterpart. Also, one of the names the Teutonic Knights used was "Marienritter", meaning literally "(St) Mary's Knights".

Upon the conversion of the order's Grand Master, Albert of Brandenburg, to Luteranism in 1525, Maria changed name to "Luisa", which was a common name in Northern and Central Germany at the time. There's a famous character she shared that name, Queen Luise of Prussia, of whom Napoleon spoke in high regards ever since meeting her in person (just so you know, she was pretty smart and badass). Finally, as she was separated from her sister, Nyo!Germany, she started to use "Julia", with the diminutive of "Julchen" ("-chen" is a form of endearment, like "small Julia" in this context) to differentiate it from more typically Slavic-sounding "Julia". It's still very popular name in Germany now, so I imagine it being the final version as for now (not like Prussia exists XD Sorry, I had to, I got Polish-Prussian heritage, so I can make that joke).

Oh boy. Here I was thinking I could do a little bit of research on the overseas AU. Just a quick look around at the history. But dear God there are a lot of posts. Can I get an abbreviated version of the history. Like moon dies? There's a lab somewhere? Experimentation? I am very very lost. I just thought this was an AU about fish people.

I was originally supposed to leave angst out of it, but unfortunately i couldnt help myself. In this AU, counting all the mers that have ever existed, theres 19 different mermaids. I've made mermaid versions of Sun, Moon, Lunar, Eclipse, Solar, Bloodmoon, KC, Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, Roxanne, Monty, Vanny, Glamrock Bonnie, Glamrock Mangle (I call her Vixen), Glamrock Foxy, Space, Nebula, and Strawberry Moon (Berry for short). But the main focus of this one is all the DCA ones. KC was the first mer to ever exist. He was created in a lab by scientists, but later forced to let him into the wild. Glamrock Foxy was made after KC was a year old and was also freed. He ended up being the parent of Eclipse, Lunar, and Bloodmoon, but unfortunately died when they were 5 years old, and Eclipse ended up raising his brothers from there. Once around the age of 20, they all decided to find their own homes. Eclipse found a cave near a reef and stayed there. Lunar stayed in an area of the kelp forest. And Bloodmoon stayed in a cave in the deep. Eclipse ended up only having Solar at the time since he ended up loosing two of his other eggs. Lunar ends up failing at keeping all of his eggs safe, and will continue to do so each time he has them. Bloodmoon doesnt want kids, so he kills his eggs himself. 5 years later, Eclipse has Sun and Moon. One year after that, scientists were forced to release all the other mers that they created as well. Some more time later, and Bloodmoon manages to get captured by humans and taken to a lab. This lab claims to be doing things for "reseach" but in reality, everything they're doing is hurting Bloodmoon. When he had eggs again, the researchers took them before he could kill them, and incubated them until they hatched, then the three were sold off to an aquarium and raised in captivity. These three were named Space, Nebula, and Berry. Thankfully the center was forced to let Bloodmoon back out in the wild, but with how many injuries he has, he cant swim anymore, so Eclipse and Lunar took care of him. Later on, while Monty and Moon were playing around with each other, some teenagers threw a harpoon at Moon that went straight through him and killed him, the teenagers then took him and sold his body to the aquarium (which has an area like a museum, they have KCs bones there too). And the last thing that happened was Lunar ending up getting killed when he was trying to protect eggs again. Eclipse later found him, and took it upon himself to take the eggs and raise them for his brother. The three eggs dont have designs yet, but their names will be Earth, Dusk, and Dawn

Rules

I would rather avoid nsfw stuff

I refuse magic anons that are longer than 10 asks

I will not edit the official maps of France to cater to anyone's whims

I will not answer any asks reguarding Mont Saint Michel

I will not answer asks if they make me uncomfortable

History related asks are fine, but I will take longer to answer as reseach is necessary

Do not be rude

Healing Church and Byrgenwerth used to be the one! (sort of hidden lore?)

Oh boy, I am really happy I got this ask! Will answer in a legit post if you don't mind. Yeah, this one is a little hard to unravel, but in fact plenty of the hints are here. So, we are bouncing from this bit about Alfred's dialogue:

(I will be using retranslations excerpts from Last Protagonist's document ( x ) as usual)

However it is important to notice that those who delved in the dungeons THE first are Willem, Dores and the gatekeeper! Something you can only learn if you pull an unlikely parkour in the Forbidden Woods and get an obscure item:

So from now on we enter the ‘blink and you'll miss it’ territory! 1 - ‘Eye’, the rune that is indeed a voice of Ebrietas, was also a symbol of the research for the Arcane Truth (eyes on the inside) that Willem pursued. 2 - Meanwhile, Isz Chalice that resulted in Choir finally meeting Ebrietas is a cornerstone of the Choir. 3 - MEANWHILE, Choir happened after Research Hall (in fact, happened on its ‘ruins’) - whereas Research Hall was something that belonged to the Healing Church... *takes deep breath* MEANWHILE, in early days of its existence, Healing Church was pursuing research for the arcane and eyes inside IN the Research Hall!

1:

2:

3:

As for the Choir forming where Reseach Hall once was, it is also obvious enough from THE game - Orphanage in ‘reality’ is exactly where Lumenflowers Garden in Hunter’s Nightmare is, and you can see the entrance from the balcony too - one that had beds in the Nightmare version, but no longer has it in ‘reality’!

Okay, you get the drill! So this is what we can conclude with the most probability:

Willem, Dores and the gatekeeper delved into the dungeons (ones that were not sealed yet, for one reason or another) and discovered signs of the cosmic Kin, Ebrietas most specifically. Caryll was able to decipher the sound from one of them, as they ARE linked to Ebrietas herself, thus Eye rune was discovered and the start for seeking eyes on the inside began! This might or might not been exactly what given the hunch to seek Fishing Hamlet (since they are some ancient Pthumerians leftover secluded civilisation), but in either case they got curious. After Fishing Hamlet, Research Hall happened and the patients started to dive deeper (figurally and literally lol) which resulted to closer connection to the cosmos/stars!

❗ A small interruption; Kos (or some say Kosm) isn’t necessarily FROM the cosmos; her actual Japanese name is Gos ( ゴース , Gōsu) as in like, ‘ghost’. Ebrietas, however, is properly called Daughter of the Stars (Hoshi no Musume), not ‘cosmos’. But ghost in reference to Kos’ actual name most likely refers to the phantasms. My headcanon is that Kos has something to do with the folks that DID initially abandon Ebrietas after she, so to say, gave them everything they needed, so helped them to ascend:

A potential explanation of her humanlike face?

Back to the Healing Church history!!! So, patients try to reach for the stars/cosmos for salvation, ok? (Interesting pair with the fact that pointy hats of Keepers of the Old Lords are said to look upwards as a proof of some sin) For one reason or another, Research Hall as it is known gets re-purposed, and instead they decide to teach orphans! My guess is that children - PARENTLESS children specifically - are the easiest way to summon Great Ones since Great Ones do want to find a (surrogate) child. So they will more likely speak with the kids that seek a parent, right? But Choir already exists as they decide to find Ebrietas already, and they do!

Still existing connection with Willem is also likely because petrified spider Ebrietas weeps at is most likely Rom herself! Byrgenwerth is said to be floating between Nightmare, making Rom guarding the lake her astral body, but her second body is in the dungeons! Queen Yharnam is, likewise a character who appears in the Lake (astral plane, and Nightmare too) as a peaceful person, but is hostile in the dungeons! So I think whatever happened to Rom split her in two, and perhaps similar thing happened with Queen Yharnam! But Byrgenwerth does have like... half of Rom at least... you know?

(Translation from here ( x ))

Winged God, Voice and Terror probably being Wet Nurse, Oedon and Flora respectively! Either way first Ebrietas cares about Rom to cry over her fate (?) later, then Rom is retracted in Byrgenwerth by Willem, but Ebrietas interacts with the Choir, which IS upper echelon of the Healing Church, so by the logic of what most likely happened to Rom, Willem was able to interact with the Choir, and very closely so, not just ‘hey remember that old man that once taught us stuff, lets copy his hat’.

Speaking of the hats!

Here is this guy right? And the whole altar seems to depict the process of the Blood Transfusion like what happens to Paleblood Hunter at the very start - there is a dream about beast, so they already had a hunch as to why Old Blood should be feared! Naturally, this statue could’ve been depicting Laurence rather than Willem, but... Not only that’d be a little off brand as Laurence is clearly more interested in what advantages Old Blood can give (moreso than ‘eyes’ it seems), but here is also a very interesting detail about Laurence’s status:

(Note from this ( x ) article, same I took Ebrietas’ real title from)

So basically, Laurence is unambigiously titled with the status that means ‘a person who REPLACES the person who is an ACTUAL leader of the church while they’re off duty’! So there MUST be an actual pope/bishop! And... honestly, I see no potential figure other than Willem - and Laurence is his vicar. Maybe Willem was also the first pope... but also the last. My personal headcanon is that Laurence’s last display of respect to Willem was to prohibit ever appointing another pope/bishop so now everyone in charge are ‘vicars’.

I will also bring up this bit:

(I talked about nature of Frenzy a bit more detailed in this ( x ) post, but TLDR; Frenzy is tied to the thirst for blood and hunt hence it resulting in one’s blood solidifying in literal spears (weapons), and even scholars aren’t safe from it - notes like ‘Hunt the Great Ones. Hunt the Great Ones.’ and ‘Three Eye Cords’ in Byrgenwerth suggest they got a hunch that they need to kill Great Ones to get their infants’ cords for eyes inside. Pretty much this is why consuming blood helps to calm Frenzy.)

So yes, in my opinion Occam’s Razor suggests that Byrgenwerth started to research for the eyes inside, that was causing Frenzy here and there, and they invented blood-based medicine, which inspired Laurence to become more interested in Blood Ministration than ascension through Arcane! Willem though, knew it was a dangerous path, as Byrgenwerth + early Healing Church established the adage.

Also, in this post about Frenzy I bring up that the prayer Amelia reads is also read by a white hunter in Research Hall (and by a hunter in black garb but only in Japanese), however Research Hall version MISSES ‘seek the old blood’ bit - it is JUST ‘beware of fraility of men’ sentiment, nothing about the power consuming the blood will give you.

So yeah! In the conclusion. Seems like Healing Church became a thing - and blood ministration too, as it proven to be effective against the Frenzy people who perceive too much Arcane enlightenment face, but Willem with his ‘inner eyes’ idea has been around - at least until Ebrietas herself was found and formed the bond with Rom! My theory as to how Laurence split from Willem is the moment where Healing Church deems Byrgenwerth a forbidden place!

So as we know, Alfred is a deluded fanboy of Logarius and Healing Church (not a protege as translators made it sound, he simply follows his teachings), so he believes whatever they say! We remember that Maria affiliatee of the Healing Church and Byrgenwerth herself is a subject to the weird vilebloods’ blood/fire magic (however she doesn’t like it), we also remember this shit:

And we ALSO remember that armours very similar to those from Cainhurst knighst but lower on polygons are in dungeons:

(Makes me think these losers kept trying to reclaim their lost heritage from Pthumeru until Gehrman finally informed them that beasts are too fast for heavy armour and showed these losers how to do trick weapons and proper attire - perhaps Maria was the first, and those who remained in Cainhurst stole her new drip... But I sidetrack.)

Either way, it makes no sense Healing Church is in enmity with Vilebloods, right? It makes me think that nourishing animosity towards Cainhurst was a planned action of Healing Church in order to justify Cainhurst massacre, and under guise of ‘purification’ steal the cord of Great One infant Annalise was pregnant with - the cord that served to conjure Hunter’s Dream! I talk more about this theory in this ( x ) post but tldr; Annalise was a redhead whose hair is now demelanized whereas Arianna’s hair turn from more vivid yellow blonde to white after she gives birth, both are vilebloods, also Annalise now has to hide her face under mask whereas Flora who has open guts and is implied having lost a baby has terribly distorted face, so perhaps GO infant being aborted results in the face horribly distorted by grief! Nevermind this bloody trail leading to under her skirt...

(I also heard that in earlier versions of Bloodborne before patches/DLC, the cord you pick in Abandoned Workshop actually WAS said to be brought by Executioners from Cainhurst and later that description was cut out. So if anyone has a visual proof of this - please, please, PLEASE I am BEGGING you, show it to me!)

So they needed to explain why Cainhurst was bad? And perhaps it went like this:

- Uhhhh hold on but why Cainhurst is bad because of using blood, were not YOU Byrgenwerth guys who discovered the blood to begin with?

- E-eeerr... Someone betrayed us!

So Byrgenwerth became a scapegoat to blame, massacre happened (possibly after Maria’s death, I doubt she’d allow Healing Church to do THAT), and now they needed to deal with the ‘traitors’ to save the effect of ruthless ‘salvation’ of Healing Church - at the cost of Laurence betraying Byrgenwerth, however Willem was also there when the plan of Hunter’s Dream was made.

And we ended up having three factions of the Healing Church - the ‘normie’ Healing Church that specifies on blood ministration (led by Laurence and currently, by Emilia) and two upper echelons of it that still pursue ideas of ascension through eyes on the inside (Choir and School of Mensis).

Yeah, we kinda came from more or less solid evidences to more vague/speculative ones, and to get the idea better I needed to turn to other, connected ideas but that’s the beauty (the pain) of Bloodborne lore - everything is connected! It is basically me gluing shards of a once whole object Miyazaki scattered because he drinks tears of lorediggers but yeah… I kinda throw such points casually because for me all this thing is already a no-brainer and internalised xd

Youtube channels with creepy true crime/let's not meet/supernatural stories

Lazy Masquerade:

I realy enjoy his voice and while it also started with creepy Reddit Stories, now it's more about Internet myths and unsolves or solved Mysteries.

Lets Read:

Such a calm and soothing voice. They are all reddit stories and stories sent in from fans. I prefer the themed videos, when it's always about the same topic. Some are supernatural, some are human made.

Mr. Nightmare:

Again I like the voice. Not as calming as the other. More tense. Again same way, supernatural and human made reddit stories. The videos are shorter (at most 5 stories) and also themed.

Darkness Prevails:

Another flavor of voice. But also one I enjoy. These are mostly supernatural stories. The videos are themed too.

UNIT #522

Again I like the voice. Also guest speakers too. And again a good mix of paranormal and normal stories.

Baily Sarian:

Oh wow a woman! I enjoy her voice too. I don't watch her doing her make-up but mostly listenand I really enjoy the murder mystery and make-up mondays. I binged the whole playlist. It's true crime plus also a series about dark history that I haven't seen yet. Very well reseached, all of it. Also she is very funny.

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If I find more, I'll add them. Also feel free to recommend!!!

35 & 43 for mark !!

THANK U these were really fun.

35. What attracts your character to another person? What kind of person do they do for?

I think the second sentence is supposed to read "what kind of person do they fall for" so i will interpret this romantically!

His first relationship in high school was very formative for him. His bf's name was Kenny. Kenny is a very open extraverted dude (even more so now) and Mark still wants someone who is more out of their shell and probably always will. He wants to be with someone who respects him doing his own thing at times (formerly nerdy as reseach in pursuit of Tenure), but will push him out of his comfort zone on occasion. Kenny's actually a touchstone...

The above is stuff established before Mark was turned. These nights, he only thinks about romance when it relates to how the past few years of his relationship were basically a lie. But as for an initial spark these nights... hmm. Willingness to listen to Mark's interests, whether the nerdy history stuff or Cool Cars stuff, would do a LOT to lift his mood, get his mind off of Awful things, and I think spark attraction. They don't even have to share the interest, just be willing to listen. Mark would also be attracted to someone who agrees with him that Shit Happens, but even flawed people deserve love.

Also i think if literally anyone told him "Hey you got a real rough hand but considering the circumstances? You are doing the best you can and I think that is great and you're still humane" he would melt, might even cry. He needs to hear that really bad lmao. I guess that isn't exclusive to romance though.

Oh physically he prefers more hunky dudes with nice arms. lol.

43. What is the DND alignment?

This was a toughie at first but after thinking it through I think it is clear.

At this moment in time, I couldn't see Mark being DnD good. He puts up with too many horrible things to be considered good.

He definitely isn't lawful, he's seen how rules are used to uphold awful things - being gay in the 2000s will do that + witnessing police brutality as a teenager, and THE CAMARILLA CERTAINLY DIDNT HELP EITHER. But I don't think he is particularly chaotic! So I'd say he's true neutral. He's out for himself and what he cares about, because he doesn't feel like he could overthrow or fix the broken system. So he'd make an awful anarch. Right now he is content to carve out a niche for himself in Camarilla society and try to keep evil shit to a minimum.

Of course he'd do something evil if Julius made him lol but that's not his fault.