More than just a breakfast cereal

There's a lot of confusion about different "poxes" in this post (which wasn't my intention, and now I feel bad), so here's a general overview (also, obligatory apology for messiness, this was written at like 1 AM):

Smallpox:

Smallpox, caused by variola virus, was a massive problem historically. It existed in the Western hemisphere for thousands of years (genetic evidence of smallpox has been found in Egyptian mummies from ≈1500 BCE, but it was probably around long before then), and it was introduced to the New World during the Columbian exchange, which had devastating consequences for indigenous populations (which were already suffering from colonialist violence, which made epidemics much worse than they already would've been). Historically, smallpox had a case fatality rate between 30-50%, and survivors were often left disfigured or permanently disabled (you've probably seen pictures of smallpox scars, but smallpox can also cause blindness and other complications). Importantly, smallpox only affects humans—it has no animal hosts—which is why it's one of the few infectious diseases to have been completely eradicated. As of May 8, 1980, it officially no longer exists outside of certain designated American and Russian laboratories. (There are, however, concerns that it could be used as a bioweapon, which is why the government still stockpiles smallpox vaccines and antivirals. I wrote my bioethics term paper on this exact issue, and incidentally, it's one of the major reasons why I believe that STEM majors should take ethics courses!)

There were two strains of variola virus: variola major and variola minor. Variola major was much more dangerous, with a much higher mortality rate; variola minor typically didn't cause severe disease. Fortunately, infection with one strain conferred immunity against the other. Both strains are now eradicated. (People sometimes confuse variola minor with other viruses like cowpox and horsepox, but they're different things.)

There were four clinical forms of smallpox: ordinary (classic smallpox, associated with the rash you usually see in pictures), modified (less severe, often occurred in vaccinated people who got infected anyway), malignant (caused a flat rash instead of the usual pustules, associated with immune dysfunction, almost always fatal), and hemorrhagic (caused severe bleeding, and also near-universally fatal.) All of the non-ordinary forms could be difficult to diagnose because they looked so different from typical smallpox. The less serious "modified" form was often confused with chickenpox, and the hemorrhagic form was sometimes assumed to be a completely different disease. Occasionally, historical sources will refer to hemorrhagic smallpox as "black pox," with or without an understanding that it's caused by the same virus as ordinary smallpox.

Other relevant viruses:

Cowpox, caused by cowpox virus (an orthopoxvirus similar to smallpox) causes mild disease in cows, humans, and several other animals. Infection with cowpox virus confers immunity to variola—Edward Jenner noticed this relationship and used material from cowpox lesions to inoculate people against smallpox.

Vaccinia virus, another orthopoxvirus, is the source of the modern smallpox vaccine. It's closely related to both cowpox and horsepox (weirdly, it's actually closer to horsepox), but it's distinct enough to be its own species. Infection usually causes mild symptoms, and, of course, confers immunity to smallpox.

Chickenpox is an entirely different thing. It's caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is a herpesvirus, not a poxvirus at all! Infection with varicella-zoster does not confer immunity to smallpox or any other poxvirus—chickenpox is from a totally different family.

So why are the names so weird and confusing? Why is everything about all of this so weird and confusing?

There are multiple reasons for this, so bear with me.

Historically, a "pox" was any disease that caused a bumpy rash of pustles/blisters. Chickenpox, smallpox, and the other "poxes" all cause superficially similar rashes—thus the similar names. (Even though we know now that chickenpox comes from a completely different family, this wouldn't have been apparent before the dawn of modern medicine.)

Smallpox was given that name to differentiate it from syphilis, which was known as the "great pox" when it first appeared in Europe. (Fun[?] microbiology fact: There are debates about the origins of syphilis, but the most common theory holds that it originated in the New World, and Christopher Columbus brought it back to Spain. In that way, it's kind of the inverse of smallpox.) Historically, smallpox was also known by a variety of other names in different European, Asian, and African cultures. Again, this gets murky, because historical physicians sometimes struggled to distinguish between similar-looking-but-different diseases.

Other poxviruses are often named after the animals in which they were first identified. This is not a hard-and-fast rule, though, and it can sometimes be misleading (for example, monkeypox virus was first discovered in laboratory monkeys, but it more often affects rodents and other small mammals. The disease formerly known as "monkeypox" was recently renamed "mpox" because the name wasn't accurate.) Also, some poxviruses aren't named after animals at all! It's a weird and inconsistent system (but a lot of virus names are kinda weird and inconsistent).

Related to the above: We don't even know where the name "chickenpox" comes from. I mean, we know it was called a "pox" because it causes a pox-y rash, but we don't know where the "chicken" part originated. There are multiple theories about this, none of which are definitive. The disease itself has nothing to do with chickens.

Basically, a lot of the weirdness is a result of historical naming practices—people identified and named these diseases before modern virology existed, and those names stuck, so now we have similar names for superficially-similar-but-ultimately-different viruses, and names whose origins have been completely lost to time. Later, virologists muddied the waters further by naming newly-discovered poxviruses after the animals in which they were first seen, even when these animals aren't natural hosts or reservoirs of those viruses. It's a mess! And, again, all of this is complicated by the fact that some of these diseases were very hard to diagnose (or distinguish from one another) before modern medicine existed. Now, we can sequence viral DNA and figure out what's actually going on—which viruses caused which symptoms, whether those viruses were closely related, and whether being infected with one disease conferred immunity to another—but historical doctors and scientists didn't have those tools, so they were doing they best they could with very limited information, and that led to a lot of weirdness in terms of how these viruses were named and classified. Our current system inherited some of that weirdness, so here we are.

TL;DR: Poxvirus names are messy. Smallpox is caused by variola virus, which has two strains: variola major (the more severe one) and variola minor (less severe). Cowpox and vaccinia are different viruses in the same family, and being infected with one of them confers immunity to smallpox. Chickenpox isn't a poxvirus at all, but a herpesvirus—it just happens to cause a pockmark-y rash that looks superficially similar to smallpox pustules (and mild forms of smallpox were historically confused with chickenpox).

(P.S. none of this is super relevant to the average person, so don't feel bad if you didn't know any of it. Unless you are a history major inventing new conspiracies about smallpox, in which case you definitely should feel bad.)

Sources & further reading under the cut!

Here it is:

Imagine, if you will, a queue of people who have lost children, parents, siblings and friends to smallpox. People who don't really understand how the vaccine will save them but don't care, because it'll mean they never have to grieve another smallpox death again.

Upstairs in Jenner's house there is a framed certificate from the World Health Assembly that declares the total eradication of smallpox. When was this momentous event, you ask? 1980.

As always there would be no My Slashy Valentine without all the amazing writers, old and new, who take on this challenge. Thank you for still signing up when I changed all the deadlines this year.  

Congratulations to all our new writers who completed their first swap: daughter0fdurin, duckwhatduck, emma_and_orlando, Ethele_Feanarion, feyandferal, Flora_lass, hautdesert, InfiniteRiver, inthedarkofthenight, jauneclair, julomaiboulomai, LeetheVix, lordlyliights, luthnethril, rebornflameofthenoldor, skatesfullofsunshine, StormsBreadth, Tar_Eleniel, tombombadildo, until_the_stars_are_all_alight, whirligiguana, and whovianhiddlestoner! Please check out their stories and make them feel welcome. 

Our pinch hitters this round were so wonderful --- shout out to AdmirableMonster, elladansgirl, InfiniteRiver, LeetheVix, Lorinand_Lost, Tehhumi, tombombadildo --- they made sure no one was without a gift ficcie for reveal day. I could not have done it without them.

Thanks always to all our veteran writers who continue to participate, tell their friends and show new participants that this is a fun yearly tradition! Together you all make this swap a vibrant part of the Tolkien community.

And now, for your reading enjoyment…

My Slashy Valentine 2026: The Master List!

AdmirableMonster wrote Our Hands Clasped So Tight for EclecticKefi ♥ AdmirableMonster wrote The crownless again shall be queen for until_the_stars_are_all_alight Aglarien wrote A Most Eventful Journey for Melusine6619 Aprilmoon08 wrote Power of Love for Ignoblebard a_world_of_whimsy wrote The Price Of Defeat - The Price For Life for Harp_of_Gold BaccaratBlack wrote Before They Were Kings for HewerOfCaves below daughter0fdurin wrote And so the Mountain Thawed for Lucigoo89 duckwhatduck wrote the hind at the green altar for whirligiguana EclecticKefi wrote Elegy for StormsBreadth elennalore wrote The Mole and the Serpent for Lanthanum12 elfscribe wrote Lost and Found for Aglarien elladansgirl wrote Songs of the Nightingale for inthedarkofthenight ♥ elladansgirl wrote Days remembered for emma_and_orlando Elleth wrote That Perches in the Soul for ingenious_spark Elronds_Library wrote a riot of shadow and shine for NiennaWept emma_and_orlando wrote The Art of Stating Intention for elladansgirl Ethele_Feanarion wrote It only took two Ages of the World for aprilmoon08 FakeCirilla9 wrote The Shadow of the Oath for hautdesert feyandferal wrote The salt on your lips and the hands that God gave you for InfiniteRiver Flora_lass wrote His Clear Bright Eyes for lordlyliights Harp_of_Gold wrote cut yourself open and let me inside for reindeer_pizza hautdesert wrote The course of our journey here, here where we part for ohboromir HewerOfCaves wrote Rules, Unspoken or Otherwise for luthnethril I_did_not_mean_to wrote I have questions for you for elfscribe IgnobleBard wrote Healing Wound for daughter0fdurin ingenious_spark wrote Slow-Forged for starlightwalking InfiniteRiver wrote Interterrās for mangacrack

♥ InfiniteRiver wrote Where Babies Go To for kitkatkaylie inthedarkofthenight wrote if thine is glory for lynndyre jauneclair wrote that each shall take his freedom for Rian JazTheBard wrote The Two Fairy Princesses for maglor_my_beloved julomaiboulomai wrote Dawn, Daylight, Delight for JazTheBard kitkatkaylie wrote The Peculiarities of Peredhil for Tabru LadyWithaQuill wrote Reunited At Last for Phyncke Lanthanum12 wrote Love's Bitterness for maitimiel LeetheVix wrote Recognition for Tar_Eleniel ♥ LeetheVix wrote No Law Nor Love for jauneclair Lost_inMiddleearth wrote the darkest night will end and the sun will rise for mouse lordlyliights wrote river to bath, hands to hold for tombombadildo Lorinand_Lost wrote Virago for FakeCirilla9 ♥ Lorinand_Lost wrote Kingmaker for jauneclair LuciGoo89 wrote Even in the shadow of the mountain, none are lost for skatesfullofsunshine luthnethril wrote love you with my eyes closed for feyandferal lynndyre wrote Tirolach a Turon for LadyWithaQuill maglor_my_beloved wrote Lady Fair for julomaiboulomai maitimiel wrote Waves of Devotion for Elronds_Library mangacrack wrote The Door Swings Wide for LeetheVix Melusine6619 wrote When It's Love for Ethele_Feanorian mouse wrote Long and Delicate Labour for duckwhatduck NiennaWept wrote the river-gift for Elleth ohboromir wrote Warrior's Bond for Lorinand_Lost phyncke wrote The Wanderer's Lament by the Sea for whovianhiddlestoner rebornflameofthenoldor wrote Pride Goeth Before a Fall for cytryne ♥ red_lasbelin wrote you should take this heart of mine for Flora_lass reindeer_pizza wrote All His Evil Deeds for rebornflameofthenoldor Rian wrote The Descent for Melesta sallysavestheday wrote Atonement for tomefaired skatesfullofsunshine wrote A Love Worth Waiting For starlightwalking wrote An Unexpected Union for I_did_not_mean_to StormsBreadth wrote Intreat me not to leave thee for sallysavestheday tabru wrote Driftwood for ulmondil Tar_Eleniel wrote With a wreath of flowers crowning her head for a_world_of_whimsy ♥ Tehhumi wrote Gone Beyond My Years for elennalore Thinwhitedutchess wrote The flight of a bird has no wings for below_et_almost tomefaired wrote summon forth the wounded night for Thinwhitedutchess tombombadildo wrote Through the Shadows, Through the Swirl for undercat ♥ tombombadildo wrote Though It Touched Him the Nearest for jauneclair until_the_stars_are_all_alight wrote she's calling my name (again) for AdmirableMonster whirligiguana wrote hidden fruits for Lost_inMiddleearth whovianhiddlestoner wrote Carved Antler for BaccaratBlack

—————

♥ denotes a pinch hit!

If you need a link to the entire collection, it is right here: 2026 My Slashy Valentine

Happy (belated) Valentine’s day! Please be sure to thank your writers.  

Red 

Date posted: November 12, 2025

AO3 has recently seen a rise in guest spambot comments making false accusations about work creators or other users. For example, they may claim that a particular user is discriminating against minorities, trying to hide the fact that they use AI, or are at risk of having their works stolen or deleted.

These comments often copy existing AO3 usernames in order to make their accusations seem more legitimate. They may also try to lure people onto other platforms (similar to the art commission scam), or use fake links that actually lead to pornographic images.

As always, we recommend that you do not click on any suspicious links or give your contact information to scammers. Instead, simply mark the comments as spam or report them so that the Policy & Abuse committee can remove comments left by these spambots.

Learn how to recognize them and what to do below the cut!

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claiming that they know where you live

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What these bots claim is not true. These comments are likely intended to alarm you into replying.We recommend that you mark these comments as spam following the instructions in our previous post.

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also apparently this rock art dates across multiple periods spanning thousands of years? but i couldn't find much detail on that so i can't give specifics

but yeah, this isn't just a memory of giraffes, but of giraffes now absent encountered by people just 2000 years (the difference between the late roman republic and today) out of the ice age, in a climate unfamiliar to any of the hundred billion people born since the desertification of the sahara drove the ancient egyptians to the nile, near the start of the agricultural revolution

the time between this and the birth of the sahara was nearly as long as the time between the birth of the sahara and now, in which all recorded history is contained, and all languages we can recognise at all - the language and culture of these people would be totally alien to current libyans, twice the difference between the oldest european language and english, predating all but libya's mountains!

From the Years of the Trees to the Fourth Age, from sultry tales of the Silmarillion to romances in the Ring Wars … sound familiar? That’s right, Slashy Swaps are back and it’s once again time to make your Tolkien fanfic dreams come true.

My Slashy Valentine is a hand matched slash fiction exchange focused on the people of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Sign ups are now OPEN so spread the word, recruit your friends and fellow authors, and get ready for MSV 2026.

Sign-up Period: January 17th, 2026 to February 1st, 2026 Assignments to be distributed by February 14th, 2026 Deadline for first time participants: March 29th, 2026 Deadline for veteran participants: April 4th, 2026 Archive opens: April 11th, 2026

i'm not saying he's doing a full aerial routine (i'm also not NOT saying it, tbh it seems like a sadistic entertainment option for Morgoth, to go to visit the base of Maedhros' cliff and demand that he dance)

but i don't think that he'd hang there passively for that long

surely he developed a daily ritual of positions to relieve the torment; changing arms, wrapping ankle or leg instead, standing against the cliff face (either at the top or the length of the chain)

Maedhros has options, is the point

also just the concept of Fingon finally finding the cliff and looking up and Maedhros is like this

"what the hell are you doing, Maitimo?"

when Maedhros is rescued from his torment and taken back to Mithrim, and the marks of torture are written all over his body... imagine that Morgoth had to do next to nothing for that to be so

imagine that, as shocked as Fingon and the Feanorians are, how much more horrified they are when they learn that what Morgoth actually did was lost long ago- buried beneath the scars of chains that were knotted by Maedhros himself

For people who don't know this fine poetic form, I explain it in my original AO3 story.

My name Is rog I lift my mace See balrog dere? I smash its feice But few kan read Tales of my bron My namez too short So i am gon

My name is dog I made the chois To dis-o-bay My masters voice. Then, pleying fech with shiny toy Pleyd ded insted I am BAD BOY

Sleepover, oil on canvas

1)cause it's good art - ridiculous use of a limited color pallete to evoke mood and energy, like what the fuck, this looks like something that could have been made between 1942 and 1989 - either for a peice for a museum or for one of those pulp covers? For a minute there I thought it was. I had to check.

2)cuz it's hot art - the hand placement? The curve of his foot? The sleeping friend's arm over his head? Bro I thought that was a mirror until I looked closer and then it was like oh! actually hotter! Holy shit. Like damn.

3)cuz you know your audience and you were like "hmmmm who will appreciate my gay art about teenage boys having covert sex on on the floor while their friends sleep. ah yes, tumblrinas."

4)that you are posting your art on tumblr at all - like damn.

Damn. It's great. Damn.

So, having decided to write something for Glorthelion Week, I am trying to ramp up my fandom motivation. And I thought I would start by rereading some of my existing stories about those two Elves, in canon-chronological order. And then I thought I might repost the ones I actually enjoy, like this vignette about the two heroes' official introduction. The main reason I enjoy this story is its brevity. Well, and "Laurefindil"'s character:

Ehtelion seemed equally surprised to see the sword point so close to his heart. Surprised, and no longer bored, as he met Laurefindil’s eyes and said, “Well fought.”

hey friends, i need help. i’m struggling pretty badly with my current job and tbh i’m over it. i got some medical bills i would love to pay off and some other stuff to help alleviate monthly strain. i wasn’t going to use this account much anymore but since all my fan art enjoyers are over here, i am here to say I WILL DRAW UR BLORBOS!! please. i need work, anything. i will draw good omens, star trek, any fandom i’m familiar with. art for ur fic? more on thin ice art? i got you.

you can check out my prices and examples here.

my ko-fi is here for my entire gallery