#raksura
Text
books of the raksura is so great man Martha Wells was just like "ok so the mc is a bitchy little man and everyone's a humanoid dragonlike shapeshifter. Their social structure is like a bee colony. Everyone is girlboss for malewife and also queer and poly as fuck but also human societal standards of romance do not apply to them. There is no one who's not ready to physically throw down at a moments notice. The series is about healing from trauma and alienation and learning to trust people. My characterization is Peak. Now watch this entire society fight over their only bratty sub. Somehow I'm doing this without it being Weirdly Fetishy at all. Now go explore these ancient ruins bc I the author am incapable of resisting some ancient ruins. There's a 20 foot tall grandpa and he Fucks."
160 notes
·
View notes
Text
ive been reading books of the raksura recently and all i can think about is Moon...baby...baby boy
#mine#original#books of the raksura#raksura#i drew this for me and like the 4 other people who know who this is#srry people who follow me for cat drawings. i also draw people sometimes.#im so eepy.....so seeby.... bf i round this weekend i am so full of love#actually rn im not. im so overstimulated im going to kill someone#please i could talk for hours abt this book series......martha baby u did it again#if u wanna read a fantasy read books of the raksura!!!!!!!!!!!#i wnna draw stone as well but hes like. a little too close to an actual dragon n idk how 2 draw that so. sorry stone
305 notes
·
View notes
Text
I know for a fact that there’s a nonzero number of people out there who read Omegaverse fic for the worldbuilding, and dear reader if that person is you then I’m here to tell you that you absolutely must read The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells.
#raksura#you can absolutely see her putting her anthropology degree to work in those books#worldbuilding a society where the genders include ‘wizard’ and ‘hive queen’#omegaverse
84 notes
·
View notes
Text
When They Double Down on Bad Takes
The person with the Bad Take about the Raksura books blocked me, so I can't respond to them directly. This is a fine, rational and valid decision. However, they indirectly replied to my response to them in a reblog, so I'm going to address it, and then work on something else. (Probably still Raksura related though.)
They indicate that the "racist connotations" of the Fell "true form" (tm) being black could have been averted by creating two factions of "Good Fell" and "Bad Fell." Apparently, they do not realize this is what we like to call "racist as fuck" in polite society. Or what we can call "The Drizzt Do'Urden Gambit" (That is, singular "good" representatives of an otherwise "default evil species.)
Let's break down why this suggestion is inherently (though obviously inadvertently because it's clear the op doesn't realize) racist.
To Split the inherently Bad Group into Factions of Good and Evil replicates the problem of "Inherent good and inherent evil" that you would want to avoid. Yes, even if it's within the same species. "One of the Good Ones, Not Like the Others (who are bad/evil/lazy)," is inherently racist, and plays on positive/negative stereotypes.
So, lets talk about stereotypes! A stereotype is a generalized and assumed belief about groups of people. Stereotypes can be about behavior, philosophy, or interpretations of the customs and beliefs of the group. Stereotypes can be positive or negative, and the "positivity" or "negativity" of that stereotype can shift depending on the situation. This is why stereotypes are universally Really Terrible and should be avoided.
A racist person or a person with unexamined racism (yes, there is a difference in my opinion, and it largely depends on how hard it is to call them out on it, and the person's willingness to correct themself) will have a number of stereotypes filed away, both positive and negative for the group they are prejudiced against. This makes it easier for them to continue to hold to their prejudices when they are confronted with individuals of the group they're prejudiced against acting in ways that don't match the stereotypes they have for that group. (This is why it's difficult to educate, and why it's difficult to self-examine. You may not realize your "positive" stereotypes about a group are as racist and bad as your "negative" stereotypes.)
Now, the greater arc of of the Fell/Raksura conflict is about confronting unexamined prejudice in my opinion. (Specifically, the unexamined prejudice one might have for longstanding enemies, not necessarily for an oppressed or disenfranchised minority. The Fell are specifically the former and not the latter, and there is a difference. It's a difference of power dynamics.)
Moon and the other Raksura hate and are afraid of the Fell, with some extremely valid reasons. (Slightly more personal in the case of Moon in the sense that he's been repeatedly driven out of communities because his flighted form somewhat resembles a Fell. And of course that entire horrifying situation with that one ruler.) They do possess a number of prejudices and stereotypes concerning the Fell. It takes a long while before they come to understand that their prejudices and stereotypes are inaccurate or just plain incorrect. (Incorrect in the sense that the Fell are for the most part NOT choosing to behave the way they do, and would choose differently if they were not being controlled by the rulers and Progenitors in a toxic mind control cycle of abuse moebius reacharound.)
It's important to note here that when the Raksura realize that they were wrong, they begin to make an effort to correct their behavior toward the Fell. This results in their establishing continued social contact with Consolation's Flight. (I really do wish we could get more of Consolation's Flight from Wells. I just really want those kids to Do Well for themselves.)
Again, the winged form of the Fell being black while the groundling form of the Fell is white is not an indication of racist imagery. It is a very weird take and does not stand up as symbolism because the Fell are still predators whether they are in groundling or winged form? I'm also not sure where they get the idea that Wells' shifters have "true" forms and "alternate forms." It's pretty clear that both the winged and groundling forms are the "true shape," as far as the Fell or Raksura are concerned. (Also also, the Fell groundling form is described as "sickly pale." Not necessarily pretty or harmless appearing. Again, a Fell is equally dangerous and predatory whether in groundling or winged form.)
37 notes
·
View notes
Text
Queen Pearl
37 notes
·
View notes
Text
I need more people who love dragons and non human characters who are not afraid of media analysis and critical thinking skills to read The Books of the Raksura so I have more people to look at the accidental worldbuilding with and actually talk about the flaws in the books without flying off the handle and saying "oh em geeeeeee if you hate it so much why are you in the fandom?"
excuse me, I fucking love these books. I love the characters and the world. That's why I enjoy talking about it's flaws and how they could be fixed, or just fun ideas for taking the worldbuilding and following it to its logical conclusions
49 notes
·
View notes
Text
a raksura core round-up post
for everyone’s incredibly niche raksura/crisis core AU needs (yes! for all ten of you!)
if you want:
humanoid dragon bee people worldbuilding, complete with scent marking and wings
all Raksura canon gender-locks stripped off
Cloud in particular being a short, feral, spikey ball of issues
the hazards of being a little shape-shifting predator guy in a world that fears shape-shifters
AGSZC (ASGZC? how do you decide on a single acronym, people?) with Cloud ignoring the fact that he’s been Wooed with grim determination
background dragon bee Aerith/Tifa, because the girls deserve better than any part of that mess
mad horny Sephiroth
Zack and Sephiroth being the source of all chaos, coincidentally, for some strange reason
Genesis and Angeal being the only source of stability, for some equally horrifyingly domestic reason
Sephiroth and Genesis being very big on sharing
long-suffering Kunsel and Cissnei, who just try to keep Zack alive despite his best efforts
gratuitous depictions of jewelry for everyone, because the Raksura go hard as hell
Aerith and Zack and their happy fun Midgar roadtrip time
“Midgar is not a place of honor. it’s just shit” - Angeal, 2k23
Cloud vs the mortifying ordeal of being known, round ∞
Genesis throwing an apple at Sephiroth on screen
Hojo 🤝 Jenova - the actual bad guys
warnings: implied/referenced past rape/non-con, primarily as a world building plot point and past threat from the Hojo & Jenova camp; see individual fics for further rating/violence warnings
series links
raksura core - the full series, from the top
wipe that ash from your mouth - Zack and Cloud Meetcute: Giant Chicken Tender Attack
body like a wreckage by the side of the road - Zack, Cloud, Kunsel, and Cissnei bonding on their roadtrip back to Edge
who could call you gentle now? - Genesis/Sephiroth banging in a hot tub. then meeting Cloud. this inevitably leads to Violence (chomping and biting and clawing and more violence, etc etc)
sing elegies to the exit wound - Sephiroth pouncing on Cloud when he tries to leave, like a malevolently horny pinball machine with claws
buried to your wrists in the dirt - a Dark Earth Below AU from the Books of the Raksura short stories; Cloud trying to find his place in Edge, while ASGZ desperately figure out how to break this man’s iron-clad self-control so they can all finally Smash
scrape the glass from your throat - the one where they’re all banging. at last. Cloud finds his home. (also, a roadtrip to Midgar, unanimously voted the worst court on the continent twenty years running)
#raksura core#ffvii#final fantasy vii#asgzc#agszc#zakkura for the first two#genseph for the third#raksura#my works#it's about the found family
95 notes
·
View notes
Text
Periodically I think about how much Murderbot would HATE to land on the Raksura planet. Talk about your hostile flora & fauna
64 notes
·
View notes
Text
Poor Niran has really been through it huh
48 notes
·
View notes
Text
reading the books of the raksura is an experience full of so much cognitive dissonance which probably isn't helped by the fact that i gulped down the first three books in under a week i think and therefore had minimum higher thought engagement involved beyond "hey i'm. not a fan of reverse sexism as a trope."
the way it ends up feeling is like wells really wanted to play with the concept of a fully nonhuman race based off of colony insects (which is cool! i'd really love to see more delving into species that function drastically differently from humans from their pov instead of from an outsider pov!) and then did not fully engage with the fact that uuuuuh a biologically mandated caste system has some really fucked up implications when carried over to a sentient species! and a biologically evil species is also fucked up!!
(also between the way raksura courts work and handwaving mensah's planet in murderbot as a utopia i'm feeling an overarching tendency towards "this one place is a great place where everything works well all the time because of reasons.")
from a reader's perspective it really grinds some of my gears (let moon actually fight a queen already!!) but from a writer's and worldbuilding perspective there is So Much fascinating, juicy stuff to play around with. (also frustrating stuff. how come everybody is afraid of shifters because fell and nobody has ever seen raksura but raksura can't convince anybody fell are real and very dangerous and also how has nobody heard of raksura when there's a whole bunch of them in that forest and they have enough regular friendly contact with other species to speak the trade language but have no concept of how valuable gemstones are and??????????)
BUT FASCINATING. courts seem to be technically run like large extended families. my memory is not the best and i've not done an actual analysis but i'm pretty sure courts only have like a few hundred people in them?? except they live in trees so huge they support platforms the size of islands? like every court is an independent small town. everybody knows everybody else. they're all more or less self-sufficient, apparently. there's no over-arching government between courts, just allies. how big are the reaches? how many courts are there? it seems like the populations of fell and of raksura are actually pretty tiny, but why? hey, is the narrative ever going to engage with the fact that the only non-fell descendants of the forerunners are in a tight symbiotic relationship with a totally different species where they're always on top of the political structure and don't contribute to the running of the court except as scholars and a "better" warrior class?
#pay attention to the implications of your worldbuilding!!!#the subtext when you think about how raksura and fell actually work and how we don't know why they split. hm.#there's some fucked up potential in there. curious to see how the last two books deal (or don't deal) with it.#listen if you don't pay attention to your subtext it can twist your text in all kinds of ways#books of the raksura#raksura#noodle reads#noodle reads the books of the raksura#noodle speaks
38 notes
·
View notes
Text
Controversial Raksura Opinion™ but honestly if Shade were to ever get a Queen mate in some ambiguous time in the future I'd think he'd legit go for the Troubled Bad Boy type. I can't shake how he (and Moon) were kidnapped by a Fell Progenitor and he had no fear talking back to her or anything. That is some Girlboss behavior right there. And he's already marginalized from both sides of his identity slightly I can see him being drawn to some byronic loner with a Tragic Past™ while simultaneously taking no bs. Like true fixer upper case.
Also the concept of a future Raksura family conflict where Malachite, Celadon, Moon, and Lithe hating and wanting to get rid of Shade's cursed new Beau is too good to past up. Cue Shade being all like "but Malachite I love her 🥺"
#Shade Raksura#Books of the Raksura#Raksura#d musings#yes I'm blogging at ungodly hours of the night that's what happens when your mental health goes into the shitter#anyways it would be a great flip on how Jade is clearly the Good “brings him home by 9” boyfriend Queen to Moon's Bad Girl Aesthetic#Shade being the “Good Girl” to his hypothetical Bad Boy Queen is Peak#Also if you pay attention Raksura is full of a lot of gender flipped Romance tropes#so it makes sense that we'd get to see this trope represented
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
every martha wells mc is so fucking pissed and I love that for them
#like. nicholas is pissed. moon is pissed. murderbot is pissed. kai is pretty pissed so far.#like yass queen you go write some more angry repressed people#thank u for saving my life#martha wells#raksura#murderbot#witch king
100 notes
·
View notes
Text
reading martha wells raksura books. shapeshifter dragons told fish out of water because the main character was orphaned and never knew any other of his species or even the species name until someone found him as an adult and asked him to come be the queen's consort because their court is failing and they need a fertile male or they'll die out.
so like fertility is a big deal in these books, mating arrangements and clutches and so on, but Moon doesn't even know if Raksura have eggs or live births, thats's how little he knows about his own kind
so there's an angst bucket portion of book 3 where he keeps wondering if he's Doing it Wrong or broken because he and Jade have been doing the do and no clutch yet and then they're separated and it's politically unfortunate they haven't had offspring but also he can't talk to her about it because they're not in the same place half the book but also he's super insecure about it even when she is there
and then he starts having random vague illness symptoms. he passes out! he's not eating enough! he's nauseous! he's lightheaded!
and i'm going is MOON PREGNANT?
because honestly i feel this would have been the perfect solution to the "why no clutch yet" angst that he literally didn't know he was the one who was supposed to get pregnant. and consorts get treated like fragile princesses? Moon has always been an outlier for being able to take care of himself this would have made so much sense
anyway not to lead anyone into this series under false pretenses, regretfully he's not pregnant it's just poison. and why no babies yet is birth control.
alas
34 notes
·
View notes
Text
Moon is everyone's big tough boyfriend or older brother but he's only Jade's babygirl.
23 notes
·
View notes
Photo
Moon consort of Indigo Cloud
So I read The Books of the Raksura and it was pretty interesting read, I didnt like it as much as Murderbot and it has ton of problems, but the lizard people are still pretty cool... fragged up but cool...
**Also... I read the whole first book somewhere online, and the text had all the second L's in words with two LL's missing, and I just thought that that was like.. writing quirk for that fictional world...but no :V
#dragon bee cat people what adventure will they go on next#the books of the raksura#raksura#fantasy#moon consort of indigo cloud#moon#art#sketches#my art#i like fantasy n scifi where there are no humans#anyway while reading the books i realized that i really need to rewatch dark crystal too#raksura are like... gelflings who are also skeksis combined with mistics but also not really#hmm#the books have so many fun ideas but they also meander n repeat so much its grrrr
81 notes
·
View notes
Text
I need my murderbot pals to read the raksura series because martha wells is SO good at making blorbos
#also i would die for chime and shade. in no particular order. like if they asked i'd just do it#raksura#murderbot
29 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
desertfragments
DESERTFRAGMENTS
ridicbird
RidiculousBird
ifactoryappplantassetmanagement
Untitled
etherealtonic
taurus
zkdlinek
peaches and cream