#thank u for being so interested in the historical lore !!
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Hi! I LOVEDDDD your Great War fic and have not stopped thinking about it since. It’s thrown me down a Venetian history spiral and I’m dying to know what century/era/decade you were inspired by? I’m thinking it’s renaissance because of the mention of Medici but that spans over so much time that I was curious if you had a more specific timeframe. Additionally , do you have any resources about Venetian history?
To finish off I just want to rave over how amazing the fic is!!!! It had me kicking my feet and giggling. It was the first scoups fic I ever read and I don’t think anything will ever beat it. Thank you for sharing such an incredible work of art!!!!!
OMGGGG first of all thank u so so much !! 🥹🥹 i feel so honoured it’s inspired u to look into it’s contextual history!!
i actually DID focus on a specific decade, though I tried to make it as general early modern as possible—i based my research around very early 1570s from the battle of lepanto (where it all begins of course) ur right LMAO Medici did have a big ass dynasty but the man i mentioned actually was called Cosimo de Medici, who was ruling Florence at the time !! (Not to be confused with the banker in the 13-1400s, played by extremely hot richard madden in that Medici show) as for resources, I actually used my university notes 💀💀 i did a module on early modern Venetian history and enjoyed it so much that i revised it via writing historical smut 🏃♂️🏃♂️ but my best option is looking up references on Wikipedia and borrowing those books !! early modern Venetian history is so so interesting, srs i could write a whole universe on it 🙏🏼
FIRST CHEOL FIC ?? feeling super honoured to have been the first one u have read 😞💖 im so happy i could get u kicking ur feet that man makes me eat my tv every night before bed 🙏🏼🙏🏼
#asks#the great war tings#thank u for being so interested in the historical lore !!#im a SUCKER for historically accurate period romances and Venetian history …. PHEWWWWWW#im actually researching for a Greek god au but I won’t be too specific with their lore cause Greek mythology is way too dark#but can u believe this was birthed just cause I thought cheol would look hot in military armour#yes I AM a virgin !
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catie I NEED more vettonso lore for your au. please. (love u)
Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! C!!! Thank you so much for asking!! This took me a bit cause there’s a lot of stuff I want to cover and I had to figure out how to balance the explanation of the historical context and how I apply it to my AU. But seriously thank you for asking because I did more research to write this post and learned a lot of things that make me feel deranged but I cannot bring any of this up to anyone irl without sounding like a lunatic. I’d apologize for the length but you should expect this from me by now! (I realized this doc for this was 1.5k+ my god)
Basic Info: early 1700s historical AU with arranged marriage plot
Historical Context:
Okay, so this AU is based on a real historical event: The War of The Spanish Succession. Which is when the Spanish Throne was without a clear line of succession because the bloodline(Spanish Habsburgs) died out. So then, even though the previous Spanish King named his successor(Philip V, a Duke related to the French Royal family - representing Fernando in this AU), the Habsburgs still thought they should be allowed to keep the throne within their dynasty, thus offering up the second son(Charles VI - representing Seb in this AU) of the Holy Roman Emperor. So obviously they had to start a war because of it. But then the end result ended up being that because Charles VI’s older brother, the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, died during the war(because of illness though so it would have happened regardless), he became the next Emperor and Philip V ended up becoming the Spanish King after all, rendering it all pointless imo.
How does this relate to Vettonso?:
I'm not overly interested in either Charles VI and Philip V as people, but rather the roles they fulfill in this conflict, but obv I can’t help but draw on details from their lives. As I mentioned, Fernando is now Fernando I of Renault/France Spain and Seb is Sebastian I of Red Bull Austria. This is supposed to be like 2010-2012!Vettonso with Ferrari!Fernando and RBR!Seb(but like Fernando's title of Duke coming from France, because of his championships with Renault.) This AU is kinda just me looking at this historical event and thinking: wouldn’t a gay arranged marriage solve this succession quandary? But also just that it reminds me of Fernando and Seb’s rivalry, and the nationalities/kingdoms fit pretty well!!
Think about the throne of Spain as akin to winning a race, but becoming Holy Roman Emperor as winning the whole entire competition.(Also side note: real life Charles VI didn’t become a king until he became Emperor and adopted all of his brother’s titles, but I want Seb to be a boy king in this AU, so he can have a title as a treat.) Imagine you’re competing for something and you win it, but the only reason you win is because the other competitor won an even bigger prize!!!! Yay you got what you wanted but the boy king is now the emperor of most of Europe. And now you are stuck with him through lawfully wedded arranged marriage because they let you have what you wanted but only under the condition that the two kingdoms are still united. Yeah Fernando got the title, but Seb gained even more titles(get it???)
They probably have a lot of animosity coming into the marriage, like “how could I ever build a relationship with the man who tried to steal my birthright?” but then realize they’re pretty similar after all. Though obviously Fernando has a lot more resentment than Seb because Seb won the whole damn thing! He would have control over Spain as he’s the king but since it's still within the domain of the empire, Seb would always have the final say. And Seb tries to be magnanimous like “Don’t worry, I won’t interfere”, and Fernando is all snide with comments like “Oh thank you great imperial majesty, can I really? Would you really allow me to do so?” But eventually become loving co-rulers that still constantly snipe at each other over different decisions the other makes.
Some headcanons(I guess you’d still call it headcanons even if it's your own AU bcs it still comes from your head) + some fun facts from real life that have brainrotted me so I’m putting them in:
Their dynamic is just Seb being a very righteous, bratty boy king emperor who is unabashed about being that way, because he feels that it is his right, but still has a heart of gold and wants to treat his husband well no matter the circumstances leading to their marriage. And then Fernando is like a stray cat that keeps hissing and scratching because it’s really hard for him to accept the circumstances because he still feels humiliated, even though he got everything he wanted, but he still can’t help but be charmed by this baby emperor because he sees attributes of himself in Seb, and can’t really fault him because he would be the exact same, flaunting his power, if he were in Seb’s shoes.
They would have to speak in French to each other because that’s their shared language but eventually attempt to learn each other’s native languages! Imagine Seb has to travel to Spain to give some Emperor speech and Fernando then bullies him for his bad Spanish.
They would probably split where they live based on a schedule or by need. Yes, Fernando is the King of Spain but he is also the Emperor’s husband so he does have to spend time in the capital, Vienna. And then since Spain is a part of the empire, Seb has to go routinely, but y’know also to spend time with his husband. They find that their marriage as well as their politics is full of having to make concessions and compromises in order to make it work.
Something I find funny is that as compensation for not getting the Spanish throne back, Spain had to cede some Italian territories to the Empire. That is literally the Ferrari plot with the transfer from Fernando to Seb!!
I’m not sure how the titles would work in this AU because obviously a m/m political marriage has not ever happened(as far as I know.) But I guess Fernando would just be King Fernando I of Spain and then Seb would be Holy Roman Emperor Sebastian I with the million titles that come with being in that role(though like most importantly Archduke of Austria and King of Bohemia and Hungary, etc.) I like the idea that Seb tries to share some titles with Fernando as a show of good will but Fernando is so affronted, mostly just from embarrassment, like “oh you think I need your good will?? I can’t be happy with what I earned in my own right??” But their kids would receive both titles and would be split in the traditional way, like first kid getting it all mostly, but the others still being nobility obv(yes.. there would be mpreg because of the plot need for succession….don’t ask who…)
They bond through their love of horses, particularly fast horses. The first time they go riding together, they’re both like awkwardly trying to act very proper as a sense of showmanship to the other like “I’m more mature than you”, but then can’t stop trying to get ahead of the other person and eventually break into a full-on race. Their aids are mutually like “oh god, they’re both the same type of insane.”
Irl Charles VI was so salty about losing the throne that he wouldn’t stop dressing like a traditional Spanish monarch. I can totally see Seb doing that and Fernando getting so pissed with him like “you became emperor!! What more could you possibly want???’ and Seb then fixing him with his biggest pout and saying “your throne!” But also Fernando being weirdly into it because it’s basically Seb presenting himself blatantly as Fernando’s spouse.
In that same vein, I’m going crazy over how there’s a painting from before the war, of Philip V wearing vestments from both the French order of chivalry and the Habsburg order of chivalry. Like basically stating the desire to see those two lines combined into one kingdom, which fits so well into this AU. Just Seb going crazy over how Fernando is willingly branding himself as belonging to Seb’s house.
A testimony of Philip V’s personality is that he was a “neurotic, vacillating ruler, concerned with outward decorum and brave only in battle,” god can you not sense the energy of Fernando in that statement???
Very important to me that Charles VI reportedly had many male lovers, and that his soulmate was one of his courtiers. Maybe there can be a bit of Martian or Sebson cheating plot with them being his courtiers hahaha
Not very relevant in this AU but there’s something about how Philip V had the longest ever reign of a Spanish monarch. Is that not Fernando??? Old man who will rule on forever, or should I say, forever keep his seat
I already obv posted the wip for this but I'll include it here again as visual rep hehehe:
I've spent way too much time lately trying to research the fashion of the time ugh. But this, as I said, is like first joint portrait session into the marriage. And I guess I kind of want them to be wearing their corronation clothing, which I'm pretty solid on for Seb but still need to research more for Fernando. I think I'll maybe try and just put him in the afformentioned traditional Spanish monarch clothing, but the fact that it's all black kinda bores me, I'd rather he wear red!! This is like a typical royal couple type pose, except they're being more tactile. Also there's something to be said about the symbolism of Fernando being the one standing and Seb being the one sitting hehehe....
#*oh also posting this in my typical habit of scheduling posts for when i sleep so sry if i dont respond bcs i am in fact asleep#*sorry for making you wait for this C! I said in a bit but then i didnt...i like waking up to notes okay ...BUT AGAIN TYSM FOR ASKING#alternate title for this post: what being in Austria does to a man#I mentioned to my friend from the trip abt how having been there has affected me and has made me think way too much about the history#and shes like 'oh yeah ive not really thought about austria too much since coming back'#me just sitting there with my phone gallery full of historical paintings for reference and my head full of research like: 'haha oh okay...'#often my thoughts about AUs is just a bunch of rambling thoughts in my head#so its very nice and helpful to have to write it out like this and turn it into something more than absent thought#most of the headcanons spontaneneously popped into my head while I was writing out the main section hahah#hope you enjoy!!!! hopefully I'll be able to finish my drawing of them !!#especially since I'll prob never end up writing a fic bcs i like writing rambling but anything more formalized is soooo difficult for me#vettonso#catie.rambling.txt#catie.asks.#formula 1#boy king au
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Hi um I'm not diagnosed with autism (and I don't feel knowledgeable enough to self-diagnose for the time being) so I have a question. Does a special interest still count as such even if you don't know every single detail about it? Like say you're really into a movie but you're not concerned about the actors or directors you just care about the in-universe lore. Or if you're really into a historical period mostly for the aesthetics but you don't have all the historically accurate data in your head. Is that still a special interest? Also, what do you think makes the difference between a special interest vs. just something you're very passionate about? Thank u in advance
you do NOT have to know everything about your special interest!!! in fact, it is more common for a special interest to be fixated on a niche aspect of the overall topic, for example, the lore as opposed to the logistics of the movie itself. that is absolutely a special interest.
the main difference between a passion and a special interest is that a special interest is more narrow in scope than a typical interest. they are also longer lasting and can sometimes make up part of one's identity (though this does not always happen).
Hope this helps!
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Abnett When He Put a reference of Emps possibly being Alexander the great probably thought is was a cool thing but I can't stop thinking of Hephaestion's death and Alexander's grief of it, because if we say Emps is Alexander that shows a lot of his old personality if he did change from Molech or time. It showed that he did care once and showed real emotions. And Oll story can still make sense since Alexander is a conquer and did sometimes call himself god I think. That and Alexander actually died about 8 months later after Hephaestion's, at about 32 it puts lots of thoughts of what the Emperor was during it. Sorry for this rambling but this is just really interesting to me. I'm kinda surprise no one is talking about it. Sorry again
NO THIS IS FASCINATING THIS IS FASCINATING I HADNT HEARD OF THIS. i hadnt ever considered the emperor as alexander the great but now that youve put the idea in my brain i kind of LOVE it. thats a very good historical figure to put the emperor as having Secretly Been tbh
in fact in a brilliant moment of serendipity one of my favourite historical factoids is that apparently (APPARENTLY. do not quote me on this. alleged statements & hearsay only no sources) to transport his body for burial they laid alexander the great to rest in like a tub full of honey bc it slows down rotting since honey doesnt rot at all + lemon demon has a song called Sweet Bod about a different practice involving burying corpses in honey (this time for pseudo medicinal purposes) that ive always strongly associated w the emperors corpse and the cult built around it lololol
also do not ever apologize for sending me asks, zero worries, I love to hear peoples thoughts on warhammer even if i disagree lololol. I like to see different perspectives!! It's enrichment to me. like a zoo animal given a hollowed out pumpkin full of hamburger
a lot of times im like ehhh... about the whole "emperor having had compassion once" thing but i do think him having been Alexander the great is actually really good for this. as far as I know this dude (which isnt very to be frank!) he was a guykissing boyking mass conqueror who was a historical figure when julius caesar was alive who died of twink death which ticks a lot of boxes for my thoughts on what the emperor couldve theoretically been while young (super long time ago, still a conqueror, immature in a way that makes a lot of sense with the ways the emperor remained immature to his sorta-death) with the bonus of making him a menliker 360 which as a fellow menliker series x i approve of very heartily. this might be how it works for me.
AND the whole hephaestion thing u say is SO FUN AND INTERESTING as a characterization thing... forget shipping the emperor with malcador or whatever the one person he considered his soulmate died before oily josh was a twinkle in marys grandmothers eye. which is i think so fucking true and real to him. + the like rage of being nearly allpowerful but you still cant bring back the person you loved most who died young slots really well into the emperor i think it gives him an achillean flair just a little bit of. you know when dads casually drop Lore about their life and its the most deranged shit youve heard in your life and hes just made it such a normal part of his life he never really thought to bring up his Backstory. i feel like this is the vibe by 30k. im imagining the custodes furiously sharing memes in their custodes only discord server about every completely bananas Emperor Lore Drop
the questions im mostly bubbling with rn about all of this are stuff like. at what points the historical record was lied to. like in 40ks version of history was alexander the great adopted or did the emperor do a kill and replace w the original alexander (Erebus/Marneus Calgar style) or was the backstory completely different and if so, what were the historical ramifications...... i obviously dk a lot about alexander the great but I just Think it Works™️. It Works Great
thank u Very much for the ask this is cool as hell to think about o7
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Hello!! Since you know a lot about tmnt lore I was wondering who your pick for the time traveller would have been? I only watched 2012 I remember the lady who Mikey was fond for and the rabbit usagi
Hi!!! Before I start I wanna thank u for this ask. It was so much fun to answer!
My first pick would’ve definitely been Renet, since she’s already established as a time travelling character in multiple iterations of tmnt - it would’ve been a great call back to IDW, 2003, AND 2012!!! Plus, Rise needs more female characters! They have a lot of great minor female characters but they never developed them too much (probably due to being cut short :( ) Not to mention, Renet is just such a sweet character and I would’ve LOVED seeing her interactions with Rise Mikey!!! Rise Mikey needs some friends and they could’ve been besties. Hes never really had a friend his age who meets his energy and optimism in Rise.
Renet I think would’ve been the best choice. BUT I do think some other characters could’ve made for an interesting movie too~
1. Mira
2012 did their mutant apocalypse arc so dirty. I can’t even BEGIN to list the number of things they did wrong…. But Mira is one thing they did right. She was a new, original character who became pretty much the adopted child of a turtle (Raph) and lived as an orphan beforehand alone in a wasteland. SHE WOULD’VE MADE SUCH A GREAT MENTEE CHARACTER!!! The Rise movie is already showing to have a lot of call-backs to the 2012 Mutant Apocalypse arc by the looks of the trailer. Using Mira would’ve been a great addition.
2. Fugitoid
He’s time travelled before!!! Fugitoid is such a great character and he had the opportunity to give Donnie a mentor figure, which he never really had in Rise. Not to mention, Rise Donnie’s technology has never really been beat before? I think it’d be cool for him to meet a scientist from the future who is actually smarter/more advanced than him.
That’d have to be a very very minor thing or not mentioned at all tbh, since the movie already seems stuffed with plot... but I still think it’d be neat!
Aside from that, Fugitoid would’ve just been a great addition because he’s already been established before as a character fleeing the future to save the turtles from the end of Earth. They could give him a cool backstory with the Kraang as well, since the Kraang haven’t been fully established yet in Rise so there’s TONS of opportunities for worldbuilding. They couldve caused him to lose his physical body or mutated his home planet - he couldnt save his people, but he'd be damned if he'd see it happen again.
3. Bishop
Bishop has been both an antagonist and a friend of the turtles. There are so many possibilities to be done with him!!! He's someone who has reasons to hate the Kraang already and would've gladly gone back in time to stop them if needed. While Bishop isnt my favorite character and there are better choices out there, he'd definitely be an interesting one.
4. Mona Lisa
COME ON RISE HAS GOTTA BRING IN MONA SOMETIME
She couldve been a normal human in the future who got mutated in the apocalypse. We'd have to scratch the whole mentor arc thing since thatd be weird since shes kinda , historically, Raphs love interest... but it can be done without that.
Itd be interesting if she lost Raphael in the future and now she travels back to stop the Kraang from ever invading and sees he's still alive here.
Angst potential~
5. Danny Pennington
If Nick is desperate to bring in a cool new teenage guy character, bring in a NEW one at least! I honestly dont have any real profitable reason to argue that Nick shouldve used Danny because I think most forgot about his existence but. I liked his character. I vote we give him another shot.
Then we can give the fandom a scruffy, messy, teenage boy who wants to fight a lot without replacing another established character!! Come on guys Danny is RIGHT THERE he can be the scruffy wildly impulsive teen boy :(
#tmnt#rottmnt#asks#teenage mutant ninja turtles#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rottmnt movie
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Biggest hype moment in the new livestream?
ASLKDFJLJSDFLKJ okay i'm using this as an excuse to give the play by play of the stream that nobody asked for thank u nadej here we GO
tl;dr: biggest hype is for the potentially unsettling nature of sumeru's story + hopefully more lore!
half a second into the trailer: irminsul tree mention !!!!! i am DEEPLY in love with how eerie this is all set up, with very wholesome commentary placed over very unsettling imagery/music. i hope that's the exact vibe we're getting in sumeru generally - i feel like mond had an upbeat vibe and kept it through the whole mond story, liyue had an elegant but historical vibe, inazuma was troubled but up front about it in the way it was presented...i'm legit hoping we're gonna get a 'there is no war in ba sing se' feeling through sumeru
i'm intrigued by the sages "finding" the newly born dendro archon and what that might entail lore-wise - i'm inclined to mistrust, based on what we've seen so far, but if that gives us more lore about how archons are chosen/decided/etc that could be very interesting too
i'm already a big fan of the environments they've showcased, they feel unique and hopefully will manifest that way in-game. i'm also hyped for the new charas - collei has a special place in my heart lmao but tighnari and dori both look cute as well. ultimatley i'm more hyped for cyno, dehya, and alhaitham as characters but i'm patient :) lmao
i am VERY intrigued by the prospect of the akasha terminal both from a lore perspective and worldbuilding perspective. i suspect it has some nefarious intentions and implications and i am VERY hyped to see it in action >:}
me, screaming quietly at "mark my words, our god shall return" (idk who exactly said it in the trailer but i am 👀👀 greater lord rukkhadevata perhaps??)
honestly what's intriguing me most so far is the glitchy effects...i was really caught off guard by them during the end of the inazuma archon quests post-signora fight, so to see that again....i am hype for possible implications there lmao
and!!! i'm very intrigued by the concept behind the withering and the implications of it being caused by something below the earth. my brain is spinning with possible theories lmaoooo
i'm also already a bit more than just a bit suspicious of the akademiya specifically cause they seem to be devout followers of rukkhadevata - are they possibly the ones suggesting that "their god shall return"? or refusing to recognize the authority of kusanali? also thrilled to see that rukkhadevata was a woman, if the rumors/lore abt the tsaritsa being in love with the prev dendro archon are true lmao
i'm really pleased to hear the devs say that they feel that this is a new stage in the journey, both for them and for us - i'm hoping this will start to really crack open some of the big lore questions and speculations that've only been hinted at in the past
i've mostly steered clear of how all the new reactions work not out of any disinterest but bc i think i'll understand better by seeing it in action and working on it myself lmao but i think it'll be interesting for sure
the subject of the little forest spirits is actually pretty interesting? it reminds me a bit of the koroks in botw, i'm interested to see how they function in the environment of sumeru and the story itself
unrelated to the events but it bears mentioning: i absolutely ADORE the efforts of the set designers??? like, they don't have to go that hard in building out the sets for the program but it's very wholesome and adorable that they do and i am very appreciative of the efforts involved
OH i am also hyped for the addition of so many artifacts to the mystic offering list!! now i can speedrun blizzard strayer and viridescent disappointment :) lmao
okay i THINK that's the main stuff lmaoooo tyty for asking nadej !!!!! 💜🙏
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@caemthe said ; important question: how many medjeds can nito summon? and how many medjeds are too many medjeds? / from: 𝐔𝐍𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐃 !
/ This question is pretty interesting and will be a lot of fun to answer, so first of all; I thank u Liri for sending it in !! now to answer this, I will be merging my personal headcanons since this has never been adressed canonically in f.go (or at least, as far as im aware of!) + a bit of egyptian mythology as well; TO START WITH ! as a context to my answer, Nitocris is canonically reffered in game as the incarnation of the god Horus / avatar of the sky (Horus mostly known as the god of kingship and the sky), however this is not a trait unique to Nitocris but rather, a trait all pharaoh’s in life shared, as when a pharaoh came to the throne, they were instantly associated/became the manifestation of Horus because of all that Horus symbolized, in the same note, in death, the pharaoh became/was associated with Osiris.
Now how does all of this brings medjeds into the question? well, little is known about the origins and nature of medjeds besides the fact that they were mentioned in the book of the dead and that they can shoot beams with their eyes; besides that, the other bit we know about them is that the god medjed belongs to the house of Osiris, (Amongst the many roles Osiris had, he is mostly known as the judge and lord of the dead and the underworld) with this we can sort of conclude that medjed follows Osiris amongst many other 'obscure’ gods. With all of this as context, I’ll answer the first question as i include my own headcanons; how many medjeds can nito summon? as many as she wants!! considering her case is rather extraordinary as she is technically ‘alive’ but also ‘dead’, she harbors the powers and is the manifestation of both osiris and horus ; because of this side of Osiris that she possesses, she would be able to command the beings of the underworld and summon them whenever and wherever she needed their aid.
Extra: this is now a lil bit of an extra in regards to this question and it includes her lovecraftian lore that fate decided to incorporate to her through the magical mirror she possesses (this is separate to the actual little historical information we have of her as the mirror was never mentioned anywhere in any of the few historical mentions we have) that comes from a story by Br.ian L.umley. Basically this mirror can unleash creatures at midnight, and can show the reflection of other places and dimensions that can be random unless the user knows exactly what they wanna see (a point that brings me to add to my nito the power of clairvoyance but that’s for another day coughs) the point of this all is that even if you followed this side of her character in fate and put to the side the explanation i wrote, she would still be able to summon as many as she wanted (?) or technically one, since the description of the mirror mentioned only one (1) creature, however we’ve seen her with more than one medjed. This all would apply so long she had that mirror with her. In my portrayal, she can summon beings from the underworld without the need of a mirror because of her manifestation as Osiris
NOW FINALLY.... -drum rolls- the final question !! how many medjeds are too many medjeds?? There is no such a thing as too many medjeds!! not to her!! althought they do quite take a lot of space if she summons too many, and despite her wishes to be seen as mighty and imposing, she is mindful of other servants and tries to be respectful; in the sense that the corridor might get too crowded if she were to invite too many of her curious friends in-
#caemthe#;ooc#ooc#;headcanons#headcanons#/THANK U FOR SENDING THIS IN L.IRI!!#THIS GOT A LIL TOO LONG-#IN CONCLUSION;;#1.ENDLESS#2. THERE IS NO SUCH A THING AS TOO MANY M.EDJEDS TO HER#watch out ur muses will get bombarded with a wave of medjeds if they poke at n.ito🧐
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A character analysation of IdV’s Bloody Queen
Bloody Queen AKA Mary is a hunter in the mobile/PC game Identity V. She is personally my favorite hunter because she is easy to learn but hard to master. Her backstory is something that has always interested me though, so i decided to compile my thoughts onto this one post.
Something i appreciate about IdV’s character roster is that some of them are based off of historical characters, and interesting ones at that. So expect a lot of history lessons and references that should be explained in order to understand a character fully (especially with Mary considering how there isn’t a lot shown about her backstory through promotional content, and im talking about stuff like the official website here).
With that in mind, let’s just get into it.
There is not a lot we know about Mary other than the fact that she is inspired from a mix of stories, those being about a French queen named Marie Antoinette and Bloody Mary. These two are used in seperate ways, Marie Antoinette’s story being used as heavy inspiration for Mary’s backstory and lore, while Bloody Mary is a visual/gameplay inspiration.
Mary’s description on her info page and on the official idv website is
This is strange because it really tells little to nothing about Mary besides her being aware that the position of a queen means a lot of vulnerability. It also strikes me as weird because every other hunter has a fleshed out backstory being written under this tab. (With the exception of Guard 26)
So overall, the ground to work on is pretty small, we dont have a lot of info revealed to us, and therefore leaves her to be a character who loses a lot of potential on a writing stance.
Intro Video
Mary does have an introduction video, though, which explains the base of what happened to her Pre-manor.
The video explains how Mary was the queen of a country that had a bad financial crisis which was so bad people couldn’t afford food (if we are sticking fully to the Marie Antoinette inspo, this was in the 1790′s) and the public felt as if Mary didn’t care enough to help her people, the citizens voted her to be beheaded under a guillotine. Truth be told, Mary was actually trying to help her citizens by giving them cake.
We have probably the most lore information about Mary from her deduction descriptions, which explain her career as a queen more in detail, about struggles she had and her situation in general.
Deductions
(Credits to u/mawile94 on Reddit for the images)
The first conclusion is clearly telling us that the king Mary married had a problematic family, and the king’s family probably only looked at Mary as someone who will keep the family’s name up, someone who will have a child with the king. (Also, dont get confused: Maria Theresia is Mary’s mother’s name, not her actual name.)
Mary used to spend a lot of time away from the palace in Petit Trianon, which is a manor located in Versailles. The secret letter tells us that Mary was egoistic, naive, and was kind of a glutton. The letter mentions how rumors are powerful, and are going to spread really fast once word comes out about the “incompetence” and lacking abilities witihin the royal family, which will eventually be Mary’s demise.
Princess Lamballe is once again a historical recreation of actual Priness Lamballe, a part of the Savoy House (Western EU country). In real life, Lamballe was actually the confidante (someone who you would discuss private matters with as a royal) of Marie Antoinette after her 1 year old marriage came to an end. IRL, Princess Lambelle dies along Marie Antoinette’s side as she gets killed in the French Revolution.
The shameful secret can really only be assumed to mean that Lamballe was actually Mary’s secret affair, especially looking at how all evidence suggests that the actual royal family Mary is connected to seems to be a mess. Mary is kind of confirmed to be wlw from this deduction which is fucking cool, but this rumor mightve been what also caused Mary to be beheaded. (But, IRL, the king Artois considered Marie to be physicially unattractive or even smart enough for him, in contrary to him, where he apparently was attractive. He did end up making up with quite a number of mistresses. But let’s not get into a conversation about how unhealthy or toxic royal relationships were in the 1700′s)
this is obviously saying Lamballe is being replaced by the Yolande (Countess of Polignac) as her confidante. IRL, this happens because the Countess of Pilognac and Lamballe start having quarrels against each other, in which they try to win over the queen’s heart, and over time Marie ends up preferring Yolande’s company. But Lamballe feels as if Yolande was a bad influence on the queen, yet she could do nothing about it. The friendship between Lamballe and Marie remained regardless, and she constantly admired Lamballe’s loyalty toward her. "She is the only woman I know who never bears a grudge; neither hatred nor jealousy is to be found in her."
Mary finally has a child, and it is a girl. Here we see the reinforcement of Lamballe’s loyalty, but with this conclusion also being titled as a rumor, it is also telling that this is one of many reasons people will start getting suspicious of Mary’s possible affairs.
This conclusion only leads me to believe that one of the several reasons why Mary was treated the way she was by the public was because of jealousy towards her life and the things she achieved at a young age. The description of the people who are spreading the rumors are bitter, sour people who take joy out of seeing the bad in successful people. Here is where it all goes downhill (as evident by the subtitle under the deduction title.)
We will once again need a little bit of a history lesson for this one:
Koblenz, first of all is a city in Germany. The reason why the French would ever think of even setting up anything in Germany was because of the French Immigrants, and the reason why the Germans were cool about this was because the archbishop-elector (one of the chiep bishop electors) was the uncle of Louis XVI-a persecuted king of France. Along with the refugees that entered the city, two of them was Louis XVI’s brothers: The Count of Provence and the Count of Artois. them, along with Louis XVI’s cousin, Prince Louis Joseph formed an army of aristocrats who would seek to fight for the Ancien Regimé (The name of the political and social system that was popular in France at the time.) In the meantime back in France, the Royal Family gave in and decided to adopt the Constitutional Monarchy, which was very modern at the time. This deduction description just basically explains that this is where Mary and the royal family fucks up, i just thought it would be interesting to know what they actually meant by what they wrote.
Yolande has left behind the Royal Family and made a run to escape the country. If you’re wondering, at the start of the revolution Princess Lamballe was actually in Switzerland, but as soon as she got notified of the situation she revisited the royal family to aid them, and reassumed her position.
This letter in particular is pretty cut-and-clear: the intention of the revolutionists was to smudge the royal family’s name in the dirt once and for all. What real-life anti-monarchist propaganda would consist of at the time was promiscuous imagery of Lamballe and the queen as lovers to further “besmirch” the queen’s reputation.
This is just obviously hinting at the aftermath of the French Revolutions and also telling us the present (at the time the letter was written). Mary gets executed by the Guillotine, and-well we all know how the rest of the story goes.
Overall, Mary’s deduction story is just a short summarization of what actually happened before and during the French Revolution: it even added the details of how actually sketchy and corrupt the royal family within was, not just the dissatisfaction of the public. As a summary of what this meant for Mary, as the Hunter, she feels pure bitterness, and anger towards the citizens for the way they treated her and the people around her. And as we can see, there was no reference towards Bloody Mary what-so-ever, and the reason why that is is because according to the Chinese version of IdV (which is what the original game’s region/language is) Her name actually would translate to “Madame Red”, not Bloody Queen. I think it was just the translators having fun with words, and since her design is very similar to that of what a person would think Bloody Mary looks like, i guess it made sense to them lol
But regardless, we’ll still take a look at Mary’s design.
Mary’s design is simple compared to other hunter designs in IdV. A simple, ball gown which was originally white, but turned red due to Mary’s beheading, pools of blood dropped all over her body. Mary also used to have long hair, but assumed by the very broken looking locks of hair, her hair probably was cut down by the guillotine. Eagle-eyed people will also take notice to her neck, which is stitched back onto the rest of her body, which the designers wanted to include really bad since its prevalent even in concept sketches as well:
Mary’s gameplay design is based solely on mythologies about Bloody Mary, however, which makes things kind of confusing, but i guess thats what idv excels at the most lol
anyway, you’ve reached the end! if you have read this far, thank you so much, i put so much effort and research into this and i hope people will make good use of it. I also hope i made you more interested in playing mary and/or the French Revolution, lol but thank you for reading this!!
references:
The Count of Artois and the Coming of the French Revolution by Vincent W. Beach
The Princesse de Lamballe; a biography by Hardy, B. C. (Blanche Christabel)
My history textbooks
And wikipedia lol
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just a quick vent post i wanted to make since i got a shitty lil experience on twitter and also found out about some things!! its just me talking about my take on kama and sakura fans (the Bad ones)
just needed to let it out <3
there’s this person on reddit whose content i genuinely despise since he babifies kama who is a character who Absolutely Should Not be babified and is one of the reasons why i wish kama’s first ascension didnt exist. but unfortunately: fgo. i usually have no problems with ppl’s headcanons since i can’t control their minds u know? same goes for ships, just do whatever u want (and if its gross keep it away from me lol). but the AMOUNT of traction this man gets on his fucking posts where kama is parvati and emiya’s daughter is so insanely repulsive to me ??? LIKE... I GET IT. YOURE PROJECTING ON EMIYA. URE A SAKURA FAN. U LIKE SHIROU AND SAKURA TOGETHER BUT THINK SHIROU IS A LOSER SO U SHIP PARVATI AND EMIYA INSTEAD. OKAY. THATS FINE. just PLEASE for the love of GOD, leave kama out of it and dont turn them into this clueless baby because thats NOT what they are.
for a while i was just stuck in this position since i’m petrified that the ENG fandom only sees kama as the Haha Baby Nugget ! baby Sakuraface ! servant and then look away. when all they took from sakura is her body and negative personality traits (BUT EVEN THEN. kamadeva had their own grudge and negative feelings about shiva so sakura’s just amplified those and didnt create anything new) meanwhile their backstory is so RICH and their trauma with shiva leaves so much room for growth and there’s so much in indian mythology that’s about kama and their death/the whole Becoming the Universe/galaxy godly state frozen when they reached the Throne thing too.
but im afraid. i’m going to be honest. i’m afraid of their NA release. because of the traction this degenerate got on his posts amongst the english fandom. i know everyone hates reddit but its still a popular website :/
but then the greatest thing happened and a mutual of mine dmed me and told me that he’s actually a p*dophile who made porn in that 3d japanese porn game of emiya and first ascension kama fucking and i felt like a weight got off my chest. SO HE’S A FREAK ! HE’S ACTUALLY JUST A FREAK!!! he then told me that he’s also extremely hated on 4chan which is... the website i didn’t expect to be on the same side with ???? but you know what, i’ll take it.
this isnt even a battle or anything... since the main reason why people will roll for kama anyways is that they’re a sakuraface, and i’m fine with that. do whatever u want!! love em however u want.
what im scared of is that ppl will literally forget their third ascension exists????? and that more disgusting content of kama’s first ascension will end up coming out because of dudes like him getting popular because they’re good at photoshop and sprite editing. and that kama will end up being babified ONCE AGAIN meanwhile they’re an ethereal god and are older than the world itself.
being a fan of the god is suffering but i’m glad there seems to be a large portion of the fandom thinking the same way i do fjdnfndjdfgfgdgft
im glad kama got sakura physical traits bc sakura is a pretty girl !! and they turned out really gorgeous thanks to redrop. but sometimes i wish they werent a sakuraface.
this kinda got messy and i wont be checking this for mistakes since its really just me venting but... yeah. i like exploring kama as being this mess of a servant, god, demon and half human ? the ooku event added a lot to their character and i think the sakura side shouldnt be ignored even if i personally believe that its like. 15% of them. the rest is kamadeva and mara. its still interesting to explore !!
but then weirdos like these exist and i suddenly log off <3 i could very well ignore these comics no problem, if they WERENT ALL AROUND THE INTERNET EVERYTIME I TYPE KAMA IN THE SEARCH BAR its tiring.
though, mutuals coming forward and followers as well, coming to tell me that i made them like kama since my take on kama is so detached from sakura and the whole dark sakura theme and that they see kama in a new positive light thanks to me, gives me strength and makes me want to continue posting my headcanons.
if u made it this far and still choose to support me, thank u so much !! i think that kamadeva is a genuinely interesting god and that fgo’s take on his revenge is very fun to explore and i wanna keep going in that direction and learn more about them !!
tho if ure a hardcore sakura-only fan and decide to unfollow me because of this rant, no problem. i never watched heavens feel, i dont want to watch it and im more of a rin fan to be quite honest !! my fate/stay night knowledge is enough for me to get by im jus here for fgo historical lore fellas !!! Peace !!
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The Diaspora is Mourning: this issue isn’t just American
In the past week or so all the conversations I've been having with black friends and my family have reminded me why the issue of police brutality and the deaths of Black folks in America never feels like an American issue to us. Out here in Brisbane, Australia, I feel the entirety of the diaspora mourning. We're not mourning the loss of a single life but the loss of a little more faith in a future where in our humanity will be fully acknowledged and respected.
I feel my humanity being questioned, every time I'm reminded that these public executions of black folks are happening every day. I was born in Cairo, Egypt and the racism that I experienced and witnessed there varied anywhere from kids teasing you on your walk home from school to being attacked and killed in the streets at night and having your organs harvested; something that is still happening to sub-saharan African refugees in Egypt now. There are new cases every day and these deaths and disappearances are not being investigated.
I was lucky. I didn't experience most of the things that lie in that spectrum of abuse. Beyond this, the lore and history of my family was an important part of my education, that made it so I never felt like my entire identity is inherently attached to or could be reduced down to the colour of my skin. However, at some point every black person realises that even if that isn't how you see yourself, to other people, this is the first thing they see and unwittingly or otherwise, it is the first thing a black person is judged upon.
In my experience, the singular story that exists out there about black folks maintains these 4 codes at the forefront of the image of blackness: that 'dark' equates to 'scary', that black folks are exotic creatures, that they are uneducated, and (to some, yes) that they are inferior. For these reasons black folks find themselves living tentatively, educating youth on how to avoid confrontation with authority or anyone really, at all costs. Ringing home over and over the message that you are not afforded the luxury of a second chance and that to you, the world is unforgiving. And yet, often, even that cautiousness cannot protect folks from the heavy and at times lethal hand of prejudice, unconscious-bias and systematic oppression. Cautiousness doesn't protect folks from the codes people read when they see a black person.
I understand that, to some, what has happened in Minneapolis and what continues to happen all through America is just another upsetting story about 'America's Bad Cops'. As Australians we're afforded the privilege of saying, "Isn't it terrible how America treats its citizens," as we neglect the fact that Australia shares a very similar history of getting away with the murder of black folks, starting with our First Nation citizens. In fact, in our case the systematic oppression is arguably more insidious because as a culture we refuse to acknowledge the history upon which this country is founded.
All this is to say that the problem may feel like it's far away - it isn't. Black people all over the world feel the weight of these deaths. To us these incidents flood light on what little regard our lives have been held in, historically and presently. It reminds us that if nothing is said now out of self-preservation or apathy then we are damned into a future devoid of the simple freedom of feeling safe and we will continue to feel trapped in our own bodies. So for those who are concerned, the following are some steps you can take to help.
For the case in Minneapolis:
Many small businesses (including black owned businesses) were destroyed in the Minneapolis riots. The website https://www.welovelakestreet.com/ has been taking donations to support all those small business get back on their feet.
Here is a gofundme for George Floyd's family, to help them in managing legal support through this trying time https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd
Also there are petitions all over the internet at the moment that you can sign to make sure that the officers who perpetrated this offence are charged. Here's one: https://www.change.org/p/change-org-the-minneapolis-police-officers-to-be-charged-for-murder-after-killing-innocent-black-man?recruiter=false&recruited_by_id=20f8a0c0-a0f8-11ea-ac37-8bee58d836d7
For the case of Australian Racism and Indigenous deaths in custody:
Since 1991 there have been over 400 deaths of Indigenous folks in police custody around Australia. Here are some links to donate funds for families currently navigating this situation: https://www.gofundme.com/f/day-family-fundraiser, https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-yuendumu-inquiry-on-police-shooting, https://www.gofundme.com/f/d9qkb6-justice-for-david
Get Educated! Anyone who has grown up in Australia knows that school units on Australian History are not nearly as comprehensive as they need to be. To get you started, here is the list of massacres that started the nation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians
Let's start having some vulnerable and honest conversations in our safe spaces about what racism actually means and in what ways we are practicing it. As Reni Eddo-Lodge put it, "If all racism was as easy to spot and denounce as white extremism is, the task of the anti-racist would be simple."
Also, just get out there! Join rallies and elevate voices of Indigenous folks as often as you can.
For the BLM movement:
Once again, get educated on black history, not just African-American history but the history of the colonisation of Africa, Australia, the Pacific and the Caribbean islands. All these stories are the histories of a currently dispossessed people.
There are lists all over the internet of what people can do to be active allies in the fight for racial justice. Here's one: https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234
Remember that all the issues our world faces are intersectional, even if it isn't immediately apparent, this matter affects all of us. So, if you don't know to say, use whatever privilege you have to amplify voices of Black folks and POC on this subject.
Here are some other interesting resources:
Really good read on how Australia views racism - https://humanrights.gov.au/about/news/speeches/institutional-racism
Insight into current institutional oppression of Indigenous Australians: https://redflag.org.au/node/7003
A comprehensive list of resources on American Black history: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/0Bz011IF2Pu9TUWIxVWxybGJ1Ync
The BLM website https://blacklivesmatter.com/
Information on BLM protests across Australian in the month of June 2020 https://www.elle.com.au/news/black-lives-matter-protests-australia-23578
If you've indulged me thus far, thanks for listening and I hope you found the sharing of my thoughts, feelings and resources helpful.
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🍓🍓🍓 + circe and samara!
THANK U 💕 I can't share much about Circe yet bc the campaign she's in hasn't started yet so it's all either work in progress or spoilers 🤫 not important or interesting ones but still..
Anyway. Samara lore
Her parents were immigrants... Technically her too but she was a baby when they moved to the states so 🤷 that's her home. She eventually travels back to the middle East as an adult after graduating University to.. idk research old things... Archeology..
Despite being a toreador she's.. not very much like the clan stereotype lol. Her sire was an elder she met in Syria on one of her travels, middle eastern toreadors apparently embrace architects, writers, calligraphers and all that into their clan and he thought she was a good fit as her idea of beauty is more about yknow.. old things & their preservation. Ancient civilizations, historical things, all that stuff. She's still pretentious about it but most of her fellow clan members in the west would probably call her a poseur :/
Lives in LA since the late 90s/early 2000s (because.. yknow. best setting ever) somewhere downtown 😳 shes not the most outgoing person but LAs nightlife is still fun... She'd NEVER be caught in a goth nightclub though
#honesthearts#ask#c: samara#I thot it was kinda fun since helena & christian are typical toreadors.. yknow the enticing gorgeous charismatic type#meanwhile sam is no charisma no seduction skills. still sexy but dresses like someone in a late 90s music video#also i was really trying to give her those urban earlly 2000s vibes that i remember from media in my childhood but that aesthetic#is nowhere to be found on pinterest
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Ok tumblr decided to erase half my ask so here we go again 😔
I kinda forgot about ei’s friends after her teaser dropped ngl 💀 you are so right that they should’ve been there, like how both Zhongli and Venti’s quests had a “let’s pay a visit to our dead or dying friends” arc /hj in hindsight I also wish there was one of those cool 2D PVs for Ei as well hhh it would be Epic to see her three friends like that!! Ig they thought it was covered by her teaser/demo or something? Since that had way more lore than usual, idk though. still hoping for a second quest about her hh
I’m kinda the opposite about lore digging but it’s probably just me lol, I tend to read lore in game only, but don’t have many of the artifacts/weapons that contain the lore I want to read. But disregarding that, I still want some of the worldbuilding to be put in like a story quest or something, since it would be interesting to see what other characters think about the stories in the artifacts and stuff (do different mondstadters have different opinions on their history? What do they think about the white knight or the gladiator? Also I wanna see Eula interacting with the noblesse oblige set. same with Liyue folk and all the Morax Legends lol. I digress tho)
Big same with the La Signora gripe. Shame on me ig but I didn’t read the crimson witch lore before I did the quest so the spoilers I saw didn’t mean much and there was no shock value during the big reveal in quest 💀 yeah I hope we’ll see or hear about her in Snezhnaya!! Her side of the story would be infinitely more interesting (pls not another artifact set tho-)
About Xiao, Ganyu, and Zhongli: this is why fix it fics exist I guess 😔 I’ve adopted an AO3 fic’s retelling as my version of canon (or at least something the traveler didn’t see)
Mm true it’s strange because I think he said thanked the traveler for being his companion while he was testing out his human life at the end of the archon quest (iirc) maybe it’s just because Liyue’s supposedly a big city so one new person doesn’t really matter to most people (fhdksd if something contradicts this, do tell) I think the fake death was still kinda necessary, at least for normal people to accept that Morax is Completely Gone so that the Qixing can get ultimate authority and total acceptance/respect (that npc who said Zhongli will always be in true control since he’s a god and the Qixing are mere mortals and stuff), but agree to disagree 😌 they’re all shady in some way in the end
I saw you are on genshin twt how is it 😔 (sadly I am on it too but I hate the timeline format because I keep missing posts) the amount of discourse of “whos bad, good, which problematic characters and ships need to be canceled”, and the amount of dissing that goes on there scares me
LITERALLY YOUR 2ND TO LAST PARAGRAPH that was what was missing from the archon quest. Where is my group effort guys?? I missed seeing the resistance… I hope the people speculating Kokomi gets a nice story quest are correct and that we’ll actually wrap up the loose resistance threads there… (also a lot of people are saying morally gray Kokomi? Is there any canon(derogatory) basis for that? I’m just curious because with the way things are going I feel like she’s going to be purely nice dhdkskf)
Im so sorry I think these just keep getting longer and longer aaa anyways, signing off! -mystic
noo i hate it when tumblr does that :((
(2.1 spoilers)
LMFAOOO maybe friendship is not magic after all ahaha but srsly, i agree w you i also want a 2nd quest for her !
ah that's fair enough if u don't have all the artifacts. and it would be easier if it was told to us through a quest of some sort. hmm i never thought about that 🤔 it's a shame that there's so much lore and the genshin universe is so beautifully worldbuilt but players will only notice if they personally read through the archives etc. and go out of their way :( hmm yeah maybe like a historical back-to-the-past type thing with the three clans and they all interact with the noblesse set? or even just diluc/eula/jean tbh
ah i read the lore for crimson before but i didn't remember it fully during the signora part so i had to read through it again after. the way it clicked in my head when it said "crimson witch of embers" and i was like ".....wait a minute....." AHAHA and it was only after that her lines during the fight like "don't call me a witch" or smth made me :'(((( the pale flame piece too 😭 sad hours
yeah at this point, the fanfiction writers should take over the genshin writing lol jk jk
mhm i guess the fake death would've been better and easier for closure ! (and woah u remember so much! i can't even remember that npc... it's been so long 😔 haha)
ah i think on genshintwt i'm usually more on the good side (? if u can call it that lmao) i do see quite a few discourse on ships, western vs. eastern fandoms and other yikes stuff but for genshin, it's mostly art that pops up on my timeline :] i follow wayyy too many artists but they're all so talented and they make such pretty art it's so 🥺 oh do you mean ur timeline isn't organised by latest posts first? if it's not, i can share how to make it that way!
yeah the resistance... :(( mhm! i was rly counting on a morally grey kokomi !!! LMFOAOO THE "canon (derogatory)" took me OUT PWAHAHA (i may reuse that quote ;D) that idea was mostly based on ayaka's last sentence (was it in the 2.0 archon quest?) where she said smth along the lines of the resistance having ulterior motives... and also how baal and co. defeated orobashi, the god they worship (like maybe kokomi was out for revenge?) but no sigh she's ur average good person :( idrc either way but i rly wanna see a morally grey female character where they appear good but are actually super dodgy and evil, that would be chef's kiss. but yeah, after that quest, she's definitely gonna be purely good :')
#ngl i actually rly love reading ur long msgs (and long msgs in general!)#it kinda reminds me of when i used to write penpal letters :<#and they way u sign off aw it's so cute and rly adds to the penpal-like experience LOL#btw sorry for the late response !#phi rambles#answered
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Bike town, Hot Springs
Spa City contemplates a future where cyclists drive tourism.
The hippest new place to stay in Hot Springs leans heavily on the past while peering into the near future. The Best Court Motel, 638 Ouachita Ave., is a fully renovated motor court, that bygone brand of motel designed with the early car traveler in mind. It's a U-shaped collection of connected brick cottages, each with a small front porch and an attached garage.
But the garages aren't for cars anymore, co-owner Jimi Brazil says. He's expecting visitors to soon stow their muddy (and often expensive) mountain bikes there.
Like Brazil, Steve Arrison, the longtime CEO of Visit Hot Springs, the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, envisions a not-too-distant future for Hot Springs where cyclists contribute as much to the tourism economy as folks coming to take in the natural baths, boat on Lake Ouachita or Lake Hamilton or to play the ponies and the "electronic games of skill" at Oaklawn (which would become an actual casino, with real cards and table games, if voters approve Issue 4 on Nov. 6).
The excitement surrounds the Nov. 17 opening of phase one of the Northwoods Trail project, 14 miles of multiuse trails designed especially for mountain bikes just minutes from downtown. The trails are the centerpiece of the newly opened Northwoods Urban Forest Park, 2,000 acres of pristine woodlands north and west of downtown's Park Avenue. The park includes three lakes that were built as drinking-water reservoirs: 13-acre Lake Bethel, 24-acre Lake Dillon and 28-acre Lake Sanderson. The lakes, along with much of the park, have been closed to the public since Sept. 11, 2001, for security reasons.
The park's craggy hills and dense groves of oaks would be reason enough for outdoor enthusiasts to flock to the new park. But Arrison and other Hot Springs officials are positively giddy about what sets Northwoods apart: Because mountain biking happens in the wilderness, it's rarely as accessible to other tourist attractions as Northwoods will be. "Mountain bike, get a beer at a place like Superior Bathhouse Brewery and soak in a bath — what a vacation!" Bill Solleder, marketing director for Visit Hot Springs, offered as a quick pitch during an October tour of trail construction.
A drive from downtown to Northwoods' Waterworks Trailhead takes under 5 minutes. Sometime next year, Arrison hopes to see a new connection at Pullman Avenue, which would allow mountain bike tourists to easily pedal from wherever they're staying downtown to Northwoods. Because the Pullman Avenue Trail Connection crosses about an eighth of a mile of National Park Service land, it will require an environmental assessment in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The process is proceeding smoothly, Arrison said.
The other key differentiator for Northwoods: Most of its trails, though officially multiuse, won't be mistaken for hiking trails. They're being built like racetracks, with huge angled berms, hairpin turns, rocky obstacles and massive dirt ramps. One black section — like ski runs, mountain bike routes are designated green for beginner, blue for intermediate riders and black for advanced — features a jump that sends a rider more than 20 feet across a man-made gap some 6 feet deep.
Hot Springs was in 2015 designated a bronze-level ride center by the International Mountain Bicycling Association, thanks to its proximity to three trails IMBA has designated as "Epic — iconic, adventurous, backcountry trails": the 33-mile Womble Trail, the 108-mile Ouachita National Recreational Trail and the 45-mile Lake Ouachita Vista Trail (LOViT). Those routes fit in the cross-country category. Although Northwoods will offer a diverse range of trails for all skill levels, it's likely to especially be a draw for dirt jumpers, advanced mountain bikers who are looking for trails that ride like rollercoasters, but with cars flying off the track.
IMBA's Trail Solutions, an international leader in mountain bike trail development, designed and constructed phase one of Northwoods. The $1.3 million project was funded by Visit Hot Springs and a matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation, which has put $74 million into cycling infrastructure in Northwest Arkansas. Josh Olson, a contractor for Trail Solutions, has been working on the trails since February and living with his crew in an Airbnb just above the Lucky 13, a black diamond trail designed by Randy Spangler, a famed mountain bike pro and designer. Olson has traveled abroad and around the U.S. — to Austria, Utah, Idaho, West Virginia, Colorado, Alabama — building trails.
Another Trail Solutions specialist designed all the trails, considering topography and hydrology, and input them with GPS coordinates, so Olson and his team could access the layout. Olson and Co. are using mini-excavators and chainsaws to clear and build up trails. A "hand crew" follows behind to do fine detail work to try to make the trails look like they've been around for a while. "At first it looks like a construction zone, that it's disturbed," Olson said. "But at the end we want to naturalize it. We're going for an aesthetic that's connected to nature — with jumps."
For a demo, Olson rockets his fully tricked-out Specialized bike — carbon frame, carbon wheels, disc brakes, rear shocks (somewhere in the range of $7,000) — down a hill, swinging around a tree and gaining speed before climbing a short incline and launching off a rocky perch down into a short valley. He's a Colorado native, but peripatetic. "Jumping really makes me want to travel," he said.
Local riders may be wary to take some of the big jumps initially, Olson said. An alternative route accompanies each jump feature. Because most of the mountain biking around Hot Springs has been geared to cross-country riding, that's what local cyclists favor. Hot Springs' Cayden Parker, 14, is the USA Cycling Mountain Bike national champion in cross-country, but he hasn't been interested in taking the big jumps in Northwoods during demo sessions, Solleder said. But, as pro-level riders come to town for dirt jumping, locals will take notice and start developing the skill, Olson predicted.
Visit Hot Springs and IMBA have already planned phase two of the project, which would expand the total number of miles in the park to about 44 and include loops around each of the lakes. A trail over the Lake Bethel dam is also envisioned. Nonmotorized water sports could be another attraction. Funding has not yet been promised for the second phase, though the Walton Family Foundation would seem to be a likely prospect.
Arrison said he's watched closely at how bike projects have stimulated the economy in Northwest Arkansas. A study commissioned by the Walton Family Foundation found that it provided $137 million for the region in economic impact in 2017. "We've worked very closely and watched the blueprint of what Tom and Steuart Walton and the Walton Family Foundation have done in conjunction with Visit Bentonville," Arrison said. "If you think about it like 'Star Wars,' they're the masters and we're the Jedi in-training."
The first phase of Northwoods will connect to Garland County's 10 miles of Cedarglades mountain bike trail. With the Hot Springs Creek Greenway Trail, a 4-mile trail from downtown Hot Springs to Lake Hamilton, nearing completion and the Southwest Trail, which would link Little Rock Central High National Historic Park with Hot Springs National Park, looming somewhere on the horizon, Hot Springs may be known first and foremost as a biking town before too long.
Drink!
After you've pedaled hard and spent through all the adrenaline in the Northwoods, of course you're going to want a beer. SQZBX (236 Ouachita Ave.) is the city's top new spot. Spouses Cheryl Roorda and Zac Smith, known widely as the polka duo Itinerant Locals, co-own the pizzeria and microbrewery (Smith handles all the brewing) and share space with KUHS-LP, 97.9, the solar-powered radio station they helped found. The structure used to house a piano repair shop; Roorda and Smith won a preservation award for their work restoring the beautiful building, which they've creatively decorated with retired accordions and old piano parts. The couple also just bought Starlite Club (232 Ouachita Ave.), the dive bar next door and, naturally, it's become the place to be after dark, too. Another beautifully renovated space: Superior Bathhouse Brewery (329 Central Ave.), in the old Superior Bathhouse along Bathhouse Row, is the ideal spot for unwinding and people- watching downtown. Its beers, perhaps unique worldwide, are brewed using thermal water.
Sleep!
If it's been a minute since you ventured to Hot Springs and left scratching your head wondering why there weren't any nice places to stay in such a tourist mecca, take note! The boutique Waters Hotel opened in 2017 in the 1913 George R. Mann-designed Thompson Building, 340 Central Ave., and raised the bar on downtown accommodations. In its lobby, The Avenue does fine dining with a Southern flair. At 658 Ouachita Ave., Best Court Motel reopened in July after an extensive renovation. The large rooms have been updated with a modern but understated touch and include vintage-looking mini fridges and Adirondack chairs in the garage for sheltered, open-air lounging. Co-owner Jimi Brazil called one of the larger units the Marilyn Monroe suite. According to local lore, a baseball teammate of Joe DiMaggio's owned the motor court next door to the Best Court, but its rooms were too small for Monroe, who insisted they stay next door in the Best Court suite.
Bike town, Hot Springs
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