Untitled

Damn, I never got to actually answer this.

First things first. Let’s establish the basic rules of this world. The main idea is to bring all these worlds together so they can coexist in harmony, without breaking the magic canon of each one.

Humans live apart from magical creatures. There are places where magic is kept secret, where trolls are considered either unreal or mere legends (such as in Arendelle or Berk, where people only speculate about the existence of these beings, or very few know of them). Dragons are hunted on the Viking islands, and a few other kingdoms have constant encounters with them; peace has not been an easy option.

As for the wizards, there was a witch hunt many centuries ago. Humans viewed magic as something burdensome and impure, and they hunted down so many witches that they eventually went into hiding. Merlin became a legend, and over the years, he came to be regarded as a god—just like in the Arthurian legends. I like to think that Merlin raised Douxie from a young age, that he found him and took him under his wing, because the boy had magic, and he had lost his family. It was during this witch hunt that Merlin taught Douxie about the power of his magic and helped him achieve immortality at a young age, more out of necessity to survive than for any other reason. He never wanted the curse of inmortality on his son, but he couldn't leave him to die in the trails.

Very few wizards remain on earth, but they are truly powerful. Legend has it that a wizard’s blessing is the guide to a peaceful future, and that if he encounters a worthy being, a just King will be born, who will bring peace to the land. Just like in Magi —yes, the anime based on Aladdin and Sinbad—. So the master wizards are like Magi. Or at least, that’s what the legend says. If a Magi finds a human he deems worthy, their paths will intertwine, and the Magi will guide that human until he becomes a king. But that… is just a legend.

Someone said in a discord group once, that Jim was a... Mighty king? Predestinated king? Godly king? I don't remember, but he was Predestinated to become one, and that he would be powerful. I'm pretty sure Sakon and BluHeaven had mentioned it before, many many years ago.

Anyways! Merlin met Arthur, and his magic told him that the legend was true. It told him to trust, and that if he helped Arthur, he would bring the rebirth of the magical world. Merlin made a Blood Oath to Arthur —a form of magic that bound his magic and his free will to remain loyal to his King. And Arthur founded Camelot—. But the Blood Oath was a double-edged sword.

Over time, Merlin realized that his magic responded to Arthur’s will, not his own. Arthur brought prosperity to humans... but not to the trolls. And so the war against Gunmar and Morgana began. It was during that war that Douxie and Merlin created the amulet to forge a trollhunter and stop the barbarism before more blood was shed. Yes, they had proven the existence of magical creatures and the power of magic, but at what cost.

Jim Lake was nothing more than a peasant’s bastard; he didn’t have the blood to be a knight. But even so, he decided to join the battle. It was him who stopped Gunmar; it was him who fought for peace and advocated for the rights of magical creatures. And Douxie... finally understood what Merlin saw in Arthur, because he saw it in Jim.

Or that's what he tough

Jim didn't just become the trollhunter; he became the bridge between the trolls and the humans.

But no one was going to accept a king without noble blood or a heart of stone to lead their kingdoms. That is where Douxie, to establish peace between the two, takes the same Blood Oath that Merlin took. And he binds his magic and his loyalty to Jim’s crown, who promises to protect and give sanctuary to as many creatures as he can, and to protect magic, turning Camelot into a sanctuary.

Over the years, the power of Jim’s treaty became so well known that it spread to other kingdoms throughout the entire moor. The kings who joined Jim became part of what we now know as “Arcadia.”

Most kingdoms know something about magic, and decide to join Jim, in fear of being against them. The kingdom of Rosas has a wizard as king, Arendelle is full of magic and wonder, everyone knows the sun power of Corona, and Berk was the last to join the treaty after Stoic made peace with dragons. The clans of DunBroch, MacGuffin, Macintosh, and Dingwall are not part of the treaty, but they didn't start war with them or join any conflict, even when they had previous problems with Berk Vikings, because after the berkians joined Arcadia... They weren't willing to find fight against all their allies. They do not believe in magic, at least not most of them. Ironic, because that lands are Douxie's homeland.

About monsters...

There is Pitch Black. And the dark magic... Who is slowly taking over the kingdoms, and treating the magic as an own. Pitch is willing to destroy the heart stones of Arcadia, and take control over the land.

And other monster involved?

More than a Physical monster/creature. There is the Blood Oath.

Because yeah, Jim is a great king for years, and he is hearth is made of gold. But when the dark magic starts to become dangerous, it puts Claire's life at risk (she is a shadowmancer). And he will do everything in his power to keep his wife safe, even if that means pushing every boundary of the people near him, to do so. The problem arises when blood ties interfere with a person's free will... or, more specifically, a wizard's. And when that happens, the wizard loses control over his own gang and himself, becoming nothing more than a puppet or an extension of Jim. And what is a Wizard without his magic... But a shell.

And maybe... Just maybe... Douxie is the one who actually needs the champions, and not Jim.

The world moves on from the gods. Their domains fade, the world learning to turn without them. The sun goes across the sky without Apollo's chariot. Poseidon no longer controls the tides. Ares no longer hears the call of war.

The sky gives up reuniting with the earth.

Hestia is the moment the sky lifts off of Atlas's shoulders.

He holds her with both arms, something he hasn't been able to do since the war, and her titan has held back the heat of the sun with his palms alone. There is no heat her fire can produce that could burn him.

"There are things more ancient and powerful than mortals their beliefs," she whispers.

I thought about just tagging this 'nuff said, but it's not.

I want to say something to all of the women under 50 on this site. Ready? You do not have to be over 50 to start taking up space.

Spring, ca. 1900 - 1905

We should celebrate the 10th anniversary of the legalization of marriage equality, but we also must remember in this moment when the rights of LGBTQ people in this country are under constant assault that it can all disappear in a moment.

This is the country we will go back to if the conservatives on the Supreme Court have openly said they want. We much fight to prevent any backslide, and fight to restore the rights that have already been stripped from us, especially trans right which have been attacked particularly cruely.

A few years later, in the early '70s, I started watching Star Trek -- both the original, in syndication, and the animated series in its network run. I was already a science fiction fan, and I was immediately hooked. I owned all of the Trek-related reference books at the time, including Bjo Trimble's Star Trek Concordance. I attended my first fan convention when I was in middle school. I watched all of the episodes multiple times, memorizing trivia, and by the time I got to college, I could identify any TOS episode by title after glancing at the screen for thirty seconds.

Despite all this, at no point did The Premise ever occur to me, and when I first heard about it -- I was attending Star Trek conventions in the 1970s, after all -- I found it implausible. I was, alas, a product of my times, and while I don't think I was ever actively homophobic, I was far from Woke in those days.

Fast-forward to 2020 or so. I'd been actively involved in the furry fandom since the mid-1990s. I'd survived a marriage and a divorce. I'd become much more comfortable with both my own (a)sexuality and sexuality in general. I'd gotten more sympathetic to fanfic over the years (in large measure to the fanworks and cogent blogging of @paulgadzikowski).

COVID had hit, and the nation was in lockdown. My job already allowed us to work from home one or two days a week, so changing to a full-time WFH schedule took very little adjustment -- and suddenly, I not only had the two and a half hours of commute time back, I had a lunch hour in my own living room with my TV right there. With the announcement of Lower Decks, I succumbed to temptation of three new Star Trek series, and subscribed to Paramount+.

With every episode of every series at my fingertips, I sat down and started watching The Original Series again. It had been a long while since I'd seen more than an occasional episode, and I'd never sat down and watched them all in the original airing order.

And this time around -- Holy SHIT.

The Premise was RIGHT THERE. I couldn't NOT see it.

This morning, it hit me.

It was a paradigm shift. It was Copernican.

The sound of meowing 🐾

art based on my post about Grace basically adopting Simon, because they will NOT leave me ALONE I love them SO MUCH. Look at them, look Grace and Rocky (and Adrian!) are tag teaming Operation Adopt the Traumatized Cat

Some details about the au under the cut!

Just want to remind everyone that Elon Musk canceled $400 million in food aid for Gaza and Darfur, and to remind everyone when he held up a chainsaw, fed USAID into the wood chipper, and thousands of people have already died as a result.