Kara: A cat.

Lena: That is clearly a dragon wearing a cat ear headband.

Kara: No it’s not, it’s a cat.

Lena: That breathes fire?

Meanwhile, this is an obvious reason why Viking helmets didn’t have horns.

Going into battle wearing handlebars for the opponent to play with is a Bad Idea. That didn’t stop other cultures (Indo-Persian, Japanese) from doing so, but Vikings? NO.

The origin of the Nordic Horned Helmet is actually known: they first appeared in C.E. Doepler’s costume designs for Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” operas.

In 1876.

Incidentally, calling mail armour “chain-mail” first happened in the novel “The Fortunes of Nigel” by Sir Walter Scott.

In 1822.

Something similar has happened with the word “longsword”, which only came into general HEMA use for what had previously been “hand-and-a-half” or “bastard” swords about 20 years ago; even then the first time I saw it (in “Medieval Swordsmanship” © 1998 by John Clements) it was two words with a hyphen: “long-sword”.

As a single word it’s been part of the fantasy fiction arsenal since the mid-1970s, for example in C.J. Cherryh’s “Gate of Ivrel” © 1977, I used it in “The Horse Lord” © 1983, and I’m sure a search through very early D&D manual could place it even earlier.

Longsword is certainly a handier term than the alternatives, but IIRC even “hand-and-a-half sword” is no older than Victorian. In the Middle Ages a sword was usually just “a sword”; it was very inconsiderate of them not to think of later generations who might like to label things with a bit more exactitude…

Not all Munwie’s Deviantart birds are corvids, and not all are sinister…

…though you might have second thoughts about that if you know anything about the lifestyle of the European Robin.

They’re ferociously territorial, their usual song translates as “Get Off My Lawn Or I Will Kill You With Death”, and we’re grateful the two pairs in our garden are the size they are and not as big as e.g. tyrannosaur turkeys.

btw: she’s in the upcoming Black Widow movie 😍 and—

 Let’s say you’ve got a city where there’s tame white doves everywhere. They’re not pests, they’re regarded as sacred, holy protectors of the city, and the whole city cares for them and feeds them like they’re pets. They’re so tame because it’s a social taboo to hurt or scare one. Nice pretty doves :)

 Then someone points out that even if they’re not seen as pests, doesn’t having a completely unchecked feral pigeon population - that not only isn’t being culled, but actively fed and cared for - mean that there would be bird shit absolutely all over the place?

 A part of you wants to say no, because these are your nice, pretty doves. To explain that there’s a reason why they’re not shitting all over the place, maybe they’re super-intelligent and specifically bred and trained to not shit all over the place. The logistics of how, exactly, could anyone breed and train a flock of feral birds go unaddressed.

 An even worse solution would be to not have those birds, editing them out of the world. No, they spark joy, you can’t just toss them out!

 Now, consider: Yes, yes they would, but the city also has an extensive public sanitation service that’s occupied 90% of the time by cleaning bird shit off of everything. One of the most common last names in the area actually translates to “one who scrapes off dove shit”, and it’s a highly respected occupation. And thanks to the sheer necessity of constantly regularly cleaning everything, the city enjoys a much higher standard of cleanliness, and less public health issues caused by poor public sanitation.

The Augsburg concept has one big pigeon house every 500m in which wild pigeons are fed, protected from weather and have nesting opportunities. Cities doing that have WAY less uncontrolled populations (since they can take out eggs if they feel they need reduce the population), way less shit AND a healthy population since it’s easier for veterinarians to notice and get to sick animals.

So I’d say one can of course still keep your general idea……but there’s also those MASSIVE palace-like pidgeon houses and only the most worthy are allowed to enter and directly interact with the pigeons (feed them, heal them, clean their lodgings). One big entrance for the human servants (priests??) and millions of small holes for the pigeons.