#I'll keep this updated as best as I can

[nebulousfishgills]

✨️Fishgills' OC Masterpost✨️

I figured now was as good a time as any to introduce the little gremlin ladies that inhabit my brain and most of my stories. Basic information as well as prominent fics and other fun little extras :3

(Based on @can-of-pringles​ lovely OC masterpost)

Olivia Iridottir

-Avengers/Marvel Cinematic Universe-

Aliases: Olivia Laufeyson

Bio: Orphaned from a very young age, Olivia Iridottir, goddess of dreams, was taken into the Asgardian royal family and eventually came to fall in love with Loki. Spunky with a kind heart and a bit of a tricksy streak of her own, they make a formidable duo wherever they go. Unfortunately their relatively peaceful lives start to take rocky turns after Thor’s coronation goes awry. Asgardian Royalty to Avengers to Revengers and beyond, it ends up being a very... very long 12 years.

Naturally, however, being so closely connected to Loki means that Olivia’s life can take some extreme detours. Maybe she follows her path perfectly, being the yin to Loki’s yang throughout the best and worst of times. Maybe she makes a wrong decision and finds herself beyond the bounds of time trying to free the universe from a silent oppression alongside a very hardened (yet beautiful) female variant of Loki. Maybe in another universe she abandons her good morals entirely all because some poor time intern accidentally infected her brain with a rogue, rather enchanting entity.

Olivia’s choices have a lot of power. More than she could have ever fathomed.

Paired With: 

Loki Laufeyson

Sylvie Laufeydottir (Conditionally)

Minor Associated OCs:

-> Aemon Kynson, Olivia’s father. A general in Odin’s army, he is killed during the war between the Aesir and the Jotuns

-> Iri Avyadottir, Olivia’s mother. The head military medic and a childhood friend of Frigga’s, she is killed during the war between the Aesir and the Jotuns

-> Lyanna Oliviadottir, Olivia and Loki’s daughter, eventually grows to be the goddess of luck

-> Edmure Lokison, Olivia and Loki’s son, eventually grows to be the god of peace

-> Various Variants, pruned offshoots of Olivia trapped in the temporal Void

-> Carson Ambrose and Maya Adams, OCs belonging to two friends of mine who are featured in these stories, paired with Bucky Barnes and Peter Parker respectively

Spotify Playlist:

Fancast: Emilia Clarke

Featured in: Earth's Mightiest, A Song of Stars and Magic, Time Variance Detected (Book 2 Coming Soon)

~~~

Keira Browning

-Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Trilogy-

Aliases: Keira Osborn

Bio: A brilliant chemist with a penchant for singing (ABBA in particular), New York born and MIT educated Keira Browning climbed her way up the corporate ladder at Oscorp until an accident involving spilled coffee catches the eye of the CEO, Norman Osborn. Once they get to talking, they find out about the many things they have in common. Norman admires her work ethic and brilliant mind, while Keira finds herself realizing that her supposedly intimidating boss is actually... really nice? After multiple dates and a meeting with Norman’s young son Harry goes better than expected, Keira marries into the Osborn fortune. 

Everything was going fine, perfectly even, until those damn performance enhancers just refused to work...

Paired With: 

Norman Osborn

Minor Associated OCs

-> Donna Browning, Keira’s mother, a headstrong housewife who doesn’t pay much attention to the news

-> Richard Browning, Keira’s father, a Vietnam veteran who works in construction that thinks very highly of Oscorp

-> Siobhan McDermott, the Oscorp front desk secretary and Keira’s designated ‘mom friend’

-> Yvette Carew, a chemist under Keira’s delegation and her chaotic best work friend

-> Anthony Castelli, Keira’s childhood best friend and the choir teacher at Midtown High School

-> Anna, Anthony’s wife and another close friend of Keira’s

-> Sophia Caroline Osborn, Keira and Norman’s daughter born just three months before her father’s tragic death

Spotify Playlist:

Fancast: Carrie Lynn

Featured in: Facade

~~~

Emily Ripley

-Stranger Things-

Aliases: Emily Mulder, 004, Emily Ballard, Emily Creel

Bio: Abandoned by her mother after her birth, Emily spends her first ten years in an abusive orphanage before fleeing after a fire-related accident. She spends two years on the streets before happening upon Hawkins Lab. Taken in by Dr. Brenner and designated as Test Subject 004, she meets and forms a bond with Test Subject 001. Eventually they are forced into orderly roles, 001, aka Henry, gaining the alias of Peter Ballard while Emily adopts the last name of Ripley. For years they’re trapped and tortured by Brenner until a series of events leads to their Soteria chips being removed by Test Subject 011 and they rampage and kill nearly everyone in the lab. Eleven fights back and banishes them to the Upside-Down, a parallel dimension they come to tame.

Emily emerges on the Overworld periodically to keep closer tabs on Eleven and her friends, posing as a high school student who’s the second in command/best friend of Eddie Munson. Eventually hers and Henry’s long laid plans begin to unfold beginning with the unfortunate death of Chrissy Cunningham...

(Note: As of now, it’s theorized that Henry is Eleven’s biological father. I’ve adopted that theory and made Emily Eleven’s biological mother after Brenner tried to crossbreed his two older experiments; Terry Ives was the unknowing surrogate)

Paired With: 

Henry Creel/Peter Ballard/001/Vecna

[See Next Section]

Minor Associated OCs

-> Florence Joan Mulder-Thompson, Emily’s mother who got pregnant at 17 and chose to give Emily to the oprhanage lest she face her parents’ wrath

-> Samuel Thompson, Emily’s father and Florence’s boyfriend/eventual husband. He has no knowledge of Emily’s existence

-> Katherine Thompson/Two Unnamed Boys, Emily’s siblings, unaware that they have an older sister

-> Lucy Harris, a girl Emily had a crush on when she was in the orphanage. She, like the other kids, called Emily a freak or a demon because of her strange habits and unsettling demeanor

-Clarissa and Dora, two other girls at the orphanage who ended up on the wrong end of Emily’s lighters and childhood wrath

-002 and 003, two early experiments preceeding Emily’s arrival at Hawkins Lab. Their escape is part of the reason Dr. Brenner moves on to the subjects 002-018 we see in the lab when Emily and Henry are orderlies

Spotify Playlist:

Fancast: Olivia Cooke

Featured in: His Tenebris Moenibus, Diplopia, The Weirdo from Saint Valentina's, One Shots: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

~~~

Emily Ripley

-Twilight-

Aliases: Emily Volturi

Bio: It’s 1987, not long after the earthquake that split Hawkins. A newly transformed Emily, a de-Vecna’d-Henry, and a resurrected Eddie attempt to seek out food on the surface world since Emily and Eddie can’t feed on the creatures of the Upside-Down without hurting themselves. Their Gate somehow gets redirected to Volterra, Italy to be faced with the Volturi, the silent but deadly rulers of the world of vampires the Hawkins gang hadn’t known existed before that. Problem is, one of the three rulers bears a striking resemblance to Henry and, what’s more, is completely enamored with Emily. 

After bottled up feelings erupt in an explosive arguement, Emily seeks comfort with Caius and has to come to terms with the fact that she’s falling in love with him, too. Being pulled in two different directions, Emily has to choose between Henry, their decades long bond, and their mission, or Caius, providing the life of comfort and the family Emily’s always wanted.

Paired With: 

Caius Volturi

Athenodora Volturi (Conditionally)

Minor Associated OCs:

-> None (surprisingly)

Spotify Playlist:

Fancast: Olivia Cooke

Featured in: Diplopia, Necrosis, One Shots: 1

~~~

Other minor OCs

-Lydia Roberts (Sweeney Todd)

-Lord Irinerys the Illustrious (Star Wars: The Old Republic)

-Aneadora Fír (Dungeons and Dragons)

-Marlina Nerys (Thirsty Sword Lesbians)

#There may be more to come #I'll keep this updated as best as I can #Fishgills OCs #Original Characters #fandom ocs

[lucienarcheron]

The funniest thing about SMTB to me now is that all the earlier chapters felt so long to write and they are all between 12-16 pages but then all the later chapters are clocking in at 20-29 and I'm forcing myself (and these morons) to shut up and try to break the chapters into shorter ones instead. And yet!

#smtb updates #chapter 15 was 9 pages???? #I'm looking at 36 and how it's at 29 pages rn sweating thinking how can I break it up lmao #gp #I'll keep it longer if that's what sounds best but just so funny. #like I was thinking the original chapters were SO LONG to me and now I'm making it worse LOLOL

[royalarchivist]

Missed a lot of streams so I'll try and queue some clips later when I can! Been touching grass (and I recommend other folks do it too if they're feeling overwhelmed / burnt out or just feeling bad in general)

#mod talk #I run this thing like I'm getting paid to do it and I gotta keep reminding myself to ease up a bit #sad I missed the IRL stream but that'll be nice to watch later #I'll queue some other people's clips when I get home / when I can #I enjoy helping other people stay up to date with QSMP stuff since a lot is going on and folks miss things #but I also have a long history of burnout so I gotta be real careful #I know most people probably aren't looking at RA expecting it to act like an update account but I still do feel a little bit bad #like I said — I'll try and queue stuff if I can #TBD #''Dont run this like this is an update account you're getting paid to do'' I say #while actively apologizing for not running it like an update account #listen I know I'm being contrary. I'm trying my best out here

[helen-everythingqueer]

So here it is! The Woso Chart!! It's a product of mine and @notafrakkingtoaster 's hard work! I hope you like it and find it useful!

#the woso chart #woso #woso couples #i'll keep it as updated as i can #if you have more or a correction tell me #wlw #best to see from a pc

[blmpff]

Thanks for keeping us updated on The Whisperer!

Question: Are you rooting for any of the characters or couples, or is this more a situation of eat popcorn and watch the messy chaos unfold?

You're so welcome! I'm glad you like it ^^ I figured I might as well, since it turned out something not the general public would want to watch for themselves, and I can turn it into a crack and funny experience (I hope :')), and you can decide that way if you want to watch it for yourself after all. I know I had literally nothing to do with the show ending up disappointing, but I kinda weirdly feel responsible for seeing it through, since I've been hyping it up for so long.... Should I have started liveblogging it sooner? I didn't want to spoil it for the people who couldn't watch it, so I just posted my favorite shots and that's it... Well, at least I'll be liveblogging it going forward, so there's that ^^ -> If anyone is not interested in seeing that just block: #twts lb I'll always tag my posts with tw like: gore, fake blood, abuse etc, if they apply as well anyway.

As for your question, like I said yesterday: no, I do not hope for any of them to stay/get together, and they all need proper help as individuals, or to simply gtfo of each other's lifes. Fluke's character Khun/Koon being the first in the line (mental), and his ever going missing nephew being second (just get him out of there, somewhere with responsible adults). Though Vit (the scheming neighbour) and Taw (Khun's bf) kind of deserve each other, we're still waiting for the grand reveal of Why TF is Vit doing all this, because I do not believe in the ~love at first sight~ bullshit he's trying to sell *eyeroll*. Even if any of them get happy ending it'll still be with a sinister backstory, there is no saving this show atp. I'm here for the mess, with my fingers hovering over the printscreen and fast forward buttons lol

I do however wish we get to see more of these two beautiful human beings together, because just look at them:

the one with the manbun is Vit/Wit more of him here the one with the gorgeous long hair is George (hehe see what I did there) more of him here more of the both of them together here

Vit hired George to pretend to be his boyfriend in front of Taw's work colleagues. He only showed up for the first time yesterday in episode 7, and wasn't included in the preview for the next one, but I hope and pray he'll be at least in one more 🙏 They put him in the opening credits, so he has to appear again right 🥺?

#genuinely thank you for your message #i'll try to keep you updated as best as i can ^^ #the whisperer the series #conversation with gillianthecat

[exdeadshop]

Updating my shop for the new year, so it'll be down a few days. Here's a preview of whats restocking soon :) Anyone with outstanding orders, they'll go out when the post office reopens!

#Most of the stuff that's 'sold out' have a few more items left that I'll add too. Plus discounting older items that don't perform as well #I can't say 2024 will have a lot of new items but I'll do my best to make sure everyone can get something they've been wanting at least #shop update #news #the mollys and scratches and their leftover bonus items will go up later in january so keep an eye out if you want one of those

[savage-rhi]

🫂😪

#hey I've been on a bit of a hiatus with writing and other projects #answering this cause ive had some anons asking for updates on drabble requests #leaving a toxic job that I endured for a year #getting a new job and new enviornment #finding out I had a whole ass other family I didn't know existed #and trying to keep up with the cost of living has taken a huge toll #on my mental health and wellbeing #to the point where I had to take time off my new job and go on a peer respite #i got back the other day and I'm doing better #but my mental health isn't 100% #and my chronic pain has been fluctuating a lot cause of stress #i know i don't owe anyone details about what i go through #but i like being transparent #and this makes it easier than answering 6-10 anons asking me for an update #i am not sure when im gonna fulfill drabble requests but they'll come when they come #and you can keep sending in stuff i dont mind it at all #just know i gotta take care of me right now #and I'll be slower answering stuff #take care of your mental health and bodies the best you can #im always rooting for ya #and to end on a good note #i got accepted into a masters program for clinical counseling and therapy #only 25 people could get in and somehow i got it #idk how im gonna get financial aid for it but im gonna try #im excited and nervous #i might have more vo stuff coming too idk yet but im trying not to do too much at once #if yall could do me a solid and drop something cool in the comments and let me know how your life is going id love that #especially if you got good news to share #i could use more of that right now #love you guys and here's a hug and a biscuit from me

[reitziluz]

got a free pad thai and vietnamese coffee, and grabbed a melon popsicle on the way home.

there's nothing i can do to get details cleared and plans locked in about the move until monday. saturdays are when i do not have to get anything done. and yet, i feel like i can't focus on anything fun because there are Large Tasks looming ahead.

so i'm going to get an easy task done (take out trash), meditate, and see if i can get a craft or writing based trance going for the rest of the day.

or at least i'm Prohibited from talking and preferably not even thinking about more apartment stuff until tomorrow.

#finally remembered my Old life update tag #overshare best share clearly #i am so stressed i need to externalise my shit to friends and to the blog to keep it together #apartment talk #trash is actually a nice size task because i got a recycling system #where stuff like cardboard i can have two weeks worth before it overflows #so i'll have to take a couple trips to get the big containers down

[othergrave]

hello and welcome to my jumbled blog of rambling hyperfixations, you're in for a hell of a ride. you can call me OTHER or GRIMM [or any other variation of my usernames you may know me by]. i go by all pronouns, so you can refer to me however you like (he / she / they / it, etc.) you can find my main blog at @ghoulfoole, most of my non-afiliated fandom art will be posted over there. my ask box is open if you want to pop in and ask me questions about my ocs, or even to direct questions towards my ocs. please be sure to specify who the questions are for, thank you! my interests can sometimes bounce all over the place, so i'll try to keep everything up to date. below this little intro i'll keep a masterlist of my various ocs and aus and such with their appropriate tags, and update this list as regularly as possible.

----- MASTERLIST -----

✦ OP TAG ✦

-> Text Posts <-

✦ UNDERTALE OCs / AUs ✦

-> UNDERCNTRL <

-> GRAVETALE <-

-> PAINTEDTALE <-

-> FABLEDTALE <-

-> WOVENTALE <-

✦ WARRIOR CAT OCs ✦

-> WANDERING STARS <-

LAST UPDATED: 5/11/23

#about the artist #meet the artist #my art #i swear i'll try to keep this updated as best as i can #my brain sometimes doesnt like to work with me #ill make posts about my aus and ocs soon #gimgab

[supercantaloupe]

also. Apollo went to the oncologist today. not good :(

#idk what the estimate is yet for how long he has but he's got an aggressive form of lymphoma and other cats don't respond well to the chemo #so. my parents aren't gonna bother. he's going on a prescription to slow its progression #but at this point it's just a matter of keeping him comfy as long as we can. #i hope he still has a year or two left but that's probably a bit hopeful. idk #i wanna talk about me #update: dad says it's probably a few months. a year at best. :( #maybe i'll visit home more often than i was planning this summer. i want more time with my boy while he's still here... #even if he does throw up on my puzzles.

[kellystar321]

.

#periodical life updates #finished all my criminology homework! now i got sunday off to chill and maybe draw and also me and my sibs might go to chinatown? but idk #because dad's bbq-ing which might change some plans. anyway! eating dinner now :> its not my favorite but it is okay <3 #high priority art to-dos: commission | daily eca (for tomorrow and the project) | art for *** and ******* | annual birthday redraw #general arts: mrd thing for monday | solepsi art | things for the ace iterations | the cases ref #self indulgence: drawtectives (i wanna draw more eugenes) | agent | fun ace things #my queue is winding down so that might go quiet in a bit <3 there's about a dozen things left <3 we'll see i suppose <3 #project sekai updates: cannot believe i have to wait 6 more events until the next wxs event i just want a cool emu :'0 #my strongest team is all four stars except for a three star emu; i just want a 4 star for her <3 also!! nicori smile survey for that event! #and also its probably the one where tsukasa makes a child cry by yelling about how hes gonna be a cool star hgkjh #but theres been so many events that just! arent wxs! it's been 13 events since the last one to the next one we get u-u <33 i miss them;;; #but we get some mmj ones so at least theres that <3 mmj's my assigned group and wxs's my favorite group so i have an attachment to both <3 #but yeah im gonna save up gems for a cool emu card <3 theres the valentines day one too? AND ALSO. TSUKASA AS A KNIGHT? #FOR THE WHITE DAY EVENT!! HE LOOKS AESTHETIC AS HEL I LOVE KNIGHTS!!! <3 so maybe i'll try for those!! #im also writing a drawtectives fic and recently i drew some aces from one of the old aus <3 i miss him i love my little guy <33 #im downloading all my old twitter archives. i have a lot of memories there i need to keep or else i'll be so sad <3 trying my best <33 #i have school on monday as usual <3 can you believe my birthdays coming up this month? it feels like ive been 21 forever hgjkh <3 #i think thats all the updates for now; im sleepy <33 goodnight. thank you for reading; ily <33

[snowshinobi]

i have weird boundaries! get used to it!

#strong pinned post potential #sigh. coworkers are eager to chit chat outside of work via discord #i ... wanna keep my discord separate from my work life/work friendships bc i think of disc as a chill zone where i can be truly unhinged #kinda like tumblr actually #got a coworker who also draws (yay!) and is down to do an art hangout call ... he prefers discord for sound quality reasons ... #.. admittedly disc is the best at wrestling my spotty internet and keeping calls going in my experience ... #so im willing to do voice calls on disc but i'd strongly prefer text chatting via sms instead of disc #so. do i trust this guy to be cool if i give him my disc for art call purposes only #i guess i'll try #will block without hesitation if need be #snowswords #update: i chat with this guy on disc v often now (friend criteria met) and we're also giving dating a go #how the turn tables #cosmic

[pixiel]

I created a Userstyle for the Chrome/Firefox Stylus Extension that reverts the new dashboard to the old format. This took a lot of tweaking and it's not perfect at all, but if anyone wants it I'll be uploading it soonish now!

You need to have Stylus installed. So if you don't have it:

Install the Stylus Firefox Addon or the Chrome Extension (You can install Chrome Extensions on Edge as well)

Once it's installed into Firefox/Chrome/Edge you can proceed with adding this style or any other.

To add the style, follow the instructions:

Go to this link: https://userstyles.world/style/11286/old-tumblr-dashboard-july-2023

Click on "install".

Style will open a tag with it and in the left side you'll have a button that says "install style", click there. (Step-by-step copied from the lovely dorothyoz39 who wrote this in a reply!) If you don't want the sticky header you can remove the labelled script at the top of the css below /* Sticky Header*/

Be sure to check for updates regularly, I'm fixing things as I go! And because everyone keeps asking here's how to support me on Ko-Fi https://ko-fi.com/pixiel !

To update click the Manage button on Stylus and click the check for update button below then click again to install! If you experience any bugs let me know - feel free to edit it yourself as well! P.S. This userstyle works just fine alongside Xkit!

NEW UPDATE: 24/05/24, 19:43PM BST v11.7

v9.6: Moved the Following | For you | Your Tags to below the create a post panel. Fixed the Accounts Menu! + Bugfixes V10.3: Patio compatibility. Added a way to hide the Patio button & "patio feedback?" button, just search for patio in the code and follow the instructions! v11.0: Temporary Chat feature fix after Tumblr broke it, fixed some positioning issues and j/k scrolling!

v11.7: Communities Update, changed the new search bar on communities page to resemble the old one. The search bar still doesn't work on these pages yet for some reason. Blog view icons fixed.

If anyone wants to help test out a new feature (Post width, dashboard positioning, etc) it would be super helpful! Read more about it here and shoot me a message!

THE CREATOR OF THIS USERSTYLE SUPPORTS THEIR TRANS SISTERS. WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!

Thank you dragongirlsnout for all your work on Dashboard Unfucker it was amazing working towards the same goal of fixing this website with you! As a Trans person (Agender, They/Them) I am saddened by the issues trans women have been facing on this site and the women who have been bullied into leaving Tumblr for good. I wish the best for you in all that you do next!

Check the readmore for the changelog, custom code & known issues!

----- Known issues:

Only two columns in Masonry view. Unfixable, Tumblr creates columns based on monitor size, if I try adding another column (because it doesn't exist) it just perpetually loads on screen. Tempfix: Zoom out in chrome/firefox and it adds more columns

Search bar doesn't appear on some pages (like viewing a post), this is because Tumblr removed the search bar on those pages completely. Unfixable!

Tumblr has ONCE AGAIN CHANGED THE ACCOUNTS MENU. The menus are now shorter and have less information on them. This is unfortunately permanent. I do not see any way to fix this. Unfixable.

If you want people's icons to stay fixed in place, instead of scrolling with the dashboard add;

.FtjPK .AD_w7 .JZ10N, .RYkKH > .nZ9l5 { top: 0px !important; position: relative !important; }

to the top of the code! You can also create a second userstyle by clicking the 'tumblr.com' part of the link in 'Write new Style' and adding the code in there! That way you don't have to worry about re-adding it when you update.

Solved issues: (Update)

Menus need to be manually closed SOLVED! in V.4 and updated in V.5! The menu & icon WILL scroll with you if you have removed the sticky header CSS, however, clicking anywhere on screen will make the Menu disappear still.

Masonry view in searches is now fixed!

Resized Messenger Chat Box!

NEW UPDATE 16/08/23, 23:55 BST v6.5: Figured out how to reorganise the icons in the header. Let me know if you have any problems with it and make sure to update your Userstyle! Some icons are hidden with Display: Block; you can hide more icons with this method!

Solved issues p2

Brought back SOME of the icons for Tumblrs latest update - Unfortunately, this does not bring back user icons for Reblogged posts! Make sure to yell at Tumblr for removing the icons as well as the horrible dashboard update here! v7.5 Fixed icons for all posts and put them back where they came from!

v6.9.6.9 (I promise this is the last funny number): Fuck Off Buggy The Clown Update + All languages support for the old header design!

v7.0: Fixed the search bar for tumblrs new collections feature, so it looks like the original search bar!

v8.0: Fixed masonry view icons, hidden the reblog icon on dashboard icons, fixed icons in blog viewport

V8.1: Fixed issue with icons not working on soft-refresh & with endless scrolling disabled - be sure to complain to staff!

v9.3: Changed a few things with the search feature, I also made the posts less round.

UPDATE2 11/04/2024: SO We mighhtttt have overrun their servers. 😅 I'm getting a 500 Internal Server Error every time I try to fix it or upload it as a new style - the massive influx of people downloading the userstyle was probably too much. The Tampermonkey backup on Greasyfork works just fine though! Probably easier for a lot of people migrating anyway! UPDATE 11/04/2024:: My code has broken on Userstyles.world, (it is now fixed as of 12/04/24) until this is fixed I have created a Tampermonkey Backup Version of the Userstyle so feel free to use this version if you've broken yours!

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/492279-old-tumblr-dasboard-backup

#tumblr #dashboard #tumblr dashboard #stylus #stylish #userstyles #userstyle

[nordicbananas]

gjdjsjsg im so happy rn i think we're getting a friend back <333

#fgdhjs #little olive garden <3 #they've been distancing themselves from me and twiggles because they wanted to focus on religion but the past couple days they've been sill #maybe #they wanna go back to being silly friends #and. no hard feelings developed i think #i was happy for them and wanted them to find their best self #but now it seems we're still a part of that!! #i hope #ill keep you all updated!!! #olib <33 #(we both had a crush on each other at one point so i hope we can be friends forever) #(more on that lmao) #(how I see it. if someone wants to be your partner but you don't. they still see you as a life partner - no matter what type) #(so that's nice <3 don't stop being friends with someone just because they romantically like you. get a better reason) #(like they won't stop trying to get romantically involved with you and you don't like that) #(UFSFS THIS IS WAY TOO LONG I'LL STOP KNOW I LOVE YOU ALL MWAH MWAH <3)

[jadevine]

Preindustrial travel, and long explanations on why different distances are like that

Update March 1, 2024: Hey there folks, here's yet another update! I reposted Part 2a (the "medieval warhorses" tangent) to my writing blog, and I went down MORE of the horse-knowledge rabbit hole! https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/741423906984951808/my-post-got-cut-off-so-i-added-the-rest-of-it Update Jan 30, 2024: Hey folks, I've posted the updated version of this post on my blog, so I don't have to keep frantically telling everyone "hey, that's the old version of this post!" https://thebalangay.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/preindustrial-travel-times-part-1/

I should get the posts about army travel times and camp followers reformatted and posted to my blog around the end of the week, so I'll filter through my extremely tangled thread for them.

Part 2 - Preindustrial ARMY travel times: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask

Part 2a - How realistic warhorses look and act, because the myth of "all knights were mounted on huge clunky draft horses" just refuses to die: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/732043691180605440/helpful-things-for-action-writers-to-remember

Part 3 - Additional note about camp followers being regular workers AND sex-workers: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/740604203134828544/reblogging-the-time-looped-version-of-my

--

I saw a post on my main blog about how hiking groups need to keep pace with their slowest member, but many hikers mistakenly think that the point of hiking is "get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible" instead of "spending time outdoors in nature with friends," and then they complain that a new/less-experienced/sick/disabled hiker is spoiling their time-frame by constantly needing breaks, or huffing and puffing to catch up.

I run into a related question of "how long does it take to travel from Point A to Point B on horseback?" a lot, as a fantasy writer who wants to be SEMI-realistic; in the Western world at least, our post-industrial minds have largely forgotten what it's like to travel, both on our own feet and in groups.

People ask the new writer, "well, who in your cast is traveling? Is getting to Point B an emergency or not? What time of year is it?", and the newbies often get confused as to why they need so much information for "travel times." Maybe new writers see lists of "preindustrial travel times" like a primitive version of Google Maps, where all you need to do is plug in Point A and Point B.

But see, Google Maps DOES account for traveling delays, like different routes, constructions, accidents, and weather; you as the person will also need to figure in whether you're driving a car versus taking a bus/train, and so you'll need to figure out parking time or waiting time for the bus/train to actually GET THERE.

The difference between us and preindustrial travelers is that 1) we can outsource the calculations now, 2) we often travel for FUN instead of necessity.

The general rule of thumb for preindustrial times is that a healthy and prime-aged adult on foot, or a rider/horse pair of fit and prime-aged adults, can usually make 20-30 miles per day, in fair weather and on good terrain.

Why is this so specific? Because not everyone in preindustrial times was fit, not everyone was healthy, not everyone was between the ages of 20-35ish, and not everyone had nice clear skies and good terrain to travel on.

If you are too far below 18 years old or too far past 40, at best you will need either a slower pace or more frequent breaks to cover the same distance, and at worst you'll cut the travel distance in half to 10 or so miles. Too much walking is VERY BAD on too-young/old knees, and teenagers or very short adults may just have short legs even if they're fine with 8-10 hours of actual walking. Young children may get sick of walking and pitch a fit because THEY'RE TIREDDDDDDDDDD, and then you might need to stay put while they cry it out, or an adult may sigh and haul them over their shoulder (and therefore be weighed down by about 50lbs of Angry Child).

Heavy forests, wetlands and rocky hills/mountains are also going to be a much shorter "distance" per day. For forests or wetlands, you have to account for a lot of villagers going "who's gonna cut down acres of trees for one road? NOT ME," or "who's gonna drain acres of swamp for one road? NOT ME." Mountainous regions have their traveling time eaten by going UP, or finding a safer path that goes AROUND, so by the time you're done slogging through drier patches of wetlands or squeezing through trees, a deceptively short 10-15 miles in rough terrain might take you a whole day to walk instead of the usual half-day.

If you are traveling in freezing winters or during a rainstorm (and this inherently means you HAVE NO CHOICE, because nobody in preindustrial times would travel in bad weather if they could help it), you run the high risk of losing your way and then dying of exposure or slipping and breaking your neck, just a few miles out of the town/village.

Traveling in TOO-HOT weather is just as bad, because pushing yourself too hard and getting dehydrated at noon in the tropics will literally kill you. It's called heat-STROKE, not "heat-PARTY."

And now for the upper range of "traveling on horseback!"

Fully mounted groups can usually make 30-40 miles per day between Point A and Point B, but I find there are two unspoken requirements: "Point B must have enough food for all those people and horses," and "the mounted party DOESN'T need to keep pace with foot soldiers, camp followers, or supply wagons."

This means your mounted party would be traveling to 1) a rendezvous point like an ally's camp or a noble's castle, or 2) a town/city with plenty of inns. Maybe they're not literally going 30-40 miles in one trip, but they're scouting the area for 15-20 miles and then returning to their main group. Perhaps they'd be going to an allied village, but even a relatively small group of 10-20 warhorses will need 10-20 pounds of grain EACH and 20-30 pounds of hay EACH. 100-400 pounds of grain and 200-600 pounds of hay for the horses alone means that you need to stash supplies at the village beforehand, or the village needs to be a very large/prosperous one to have a guaranteed large surplus of food.

A dead sprint of 50-60 miles per day is possible for a preindustrial mounted pair, IF YOU REALLY, REALLY HAVE TO. Moreover, that is for ONE day. Many articles agree that 40 miles per day is already a hard ride, so 50-60 miles is REALLY pushing the envelope on horse and rider limits.

NOTE: While modern-day endurance rides routinely go for 50-100 miles in one day, remember that a preindustrial rider will not have the medical/logistical support that a modern endurance rider and their horse does.

If you say "they went fifty miles in a day" in most preindustrial times, the horse and rider's bodies will get wrecked. Either the person, their horse, or both, risk dying of exhaustion or getting disabled from the strain.

Whether you and your horse are fit enough to handle it and "only" have several days of defenselessness from severe pain/fatigue (and thus rely on family/friends to help you out), or you die as a heroic sacrifice, or you aren't QUITE fit enough and become disabled, or you get flat-out saved by magic or another rider who volunteers to go the other half, going past 40 miles in a day is a "Gondor Calls For Aid" level of emergency.

As a writer, I feel this kind of feat should be placed VERY carefully in a story: Either at the beginning to kick the plot off, at the climax to turn the tide, or at the end.

Preindustrial people were people--some treated their horses as tools/vehicles, and didn't care if they were killed or disabled by pushing them to their limits, but others very much cared for their horses. They needed to keep them in working condition for about 15-20 years, and they would not dream of doing this without a VERY good reason.

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UPDATE January 13: Several people have gotten curious and looked at maps, to find out how a lot of cities are indeed spread out at a nice distance of 20-30 miles apart! I love getting people interested in my hyperfixations, lol.

But remember that this is the space between CITIES AND TOWNS. There should never be a 20-mile stretch of empty wilderness between City A and Town B, unless your world explains why folks are able to build a city in the middle of nowhere, or if something has specifically gone wrong to wipe out its supporting villages!

Period pieces often portray a shining city rising from a sea of picturesque empty land, without a single grain field or cow pasture in sight, but that city would starve to death very quickly in preindustrial times.

Why? Because as Bret Devereaux mentions in his “Lonely Cities” article (https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/), preindustrial cities and towns must have nearby villages (and even smaller towns, if large and prosperous enough!) to grow their food for them.

The settlements around a city will usually be scattered a few miles apart from each other, usually clustered along the roads to the city gates. Those villages and towns at the halfway point between cities (say 10-15 miles) are going to be essential stops for older/sick folks, merchants with cargo, and large groups like noble’s retinues and army forces.

Preindustrial armies and large noble retinues usually can’t make it far past 10-12 miles per day, as denoted in my addition to this post. (https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask )

#writing #preindustrial #horse riding #horse care #writing advice #medieval

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP Fanfic idea: Wrong Number

Bruce prides himself in keeping all of his networks secured. If he didn't make it himself, he had the funds and connections to get him the best working on his systems.

He had backup plans in case the systems were ever hacked, of course, but he had yet to encounter a cyber attack that wasn't beaten away by his firewalls or his team.

Babs and Tim were far more feral when booting out unwanted guests. The level of protection was also transferred to his other systems that weren't Batman-related, just to make sure the connection between Bruce and Batman was never made.

That's why he never really checks his personal phone's caller ID, not the one he gave out as Brucie Wayne, but the one Bruce used for his real life without any masks- civilian or vigilante. The only ones who had the number- and the access- were his children and Alfred.

Not even the Justice League- those who were aware of his identity- knew of this number.

Bruce is in the middle of typing up a report for the next Wayne Board meeting when his personal phone rings. He figures it's Dick giving him a call to update him on his drive home or maybe Jason, as his son was planning on going to college.

"Go for Papa Bruce," He says, knowing his kids hate his phone greeting and doing it deliberately to spite them.

There is a long pause where he can't help but smirk thinking his child is either rolling their eyes or cringing too hard to properly speak. Eventually, a voice cracks over the speaker.

"Hello. I'm selling cookies to raise money for my own star. Would like to buy a box from me?" says a boy, not one he has taken in. The voice is young maybe not even double digits yet. Bruce is alarmed.

"Who are you?! How did you get this number?" He demands, yanking his phone to his face and seeing, with a chill, a phone number out of state.

His system had been compromised. By a child. By accident.

"My name is Danny!" The boy chirps. "I sell cookies. Like the Girl Scouts, but I'm a boy, and I don't scout."

"That's rather fantastic, lad. What kind of cookies are you selling?" Bruce asks to keep the boy on the line while sending an email blast to the others. It's a string of numbers that are code for compromise so they all know to close any communication channel until it's safe to get back on.

"Chocolate chip. Mint Slim. Oatmeal and peanut butter. I made them myself!"

Right. Bruce hooks up his phone, tracing the call. The signal bounces off the call, swinging up to a salute and falling back down to earth. In seconds he has the boy's location. It pings in a small town right outside of Star City.

He sends Barry a private message. His friend is already on the way to the location. He'll get the boy in a few seconds.

"How much for a box of chocolate chips? Those are my favorite." Bruce tells the boy, voice whimsical as his Brucie persona demands.

In an unsure tone, the boy pauses, then whispers, "I don't know. No one ever let me get this far."

"How about twenty for a box of dozen? I'll buy five boxes for each of my kids that live at him," Bruce tells him, and the boy gasps.

"That could buy me one whole night in a hotel!"

Bruce's insides freeze. What did he mean-

"Hey! No! Let go!" Danny suddenly screams. Bruce's heart launches- he hates it when kids get hurt, especially those that sound like Danny- until Barry's voice comes over the speaker.

"I got him, Mr. Wayne. Thank you for alerting the Justice League Hotline." That's code for This is not a threat to you Batman and Bruce allows himself to relax just a little.

"Narc!" The boy shouts, outraged, before the call drops. Barry is likely taking over the situation, which means Bruce can leave it in his capable hands.

After reassuring his kids that he is fine and that they are all safe, he suits up and meets the Flash in the Watch Tower. There, he learns that Danny is only seven years old and has been living on the streets for a while.

The boy had been surviving by baking some cookies to sell on the side of the street- where did he bake them? The boy would not say- until he got the bright idea to try to sell through phone calls like he had seen on TV.

He punched in random numbers at the community center phone and gave his pitch about a star, thinking people would be more willing to buy from him if he had an excellent reason.

Barry had left him with CPS, but he looked devastated about that. It turned out that Danny was a meta and had likely been kicked out of his home once it was found out based on what he said of his parents.

Bruce felt he should assure Barry that Danny was fine and look into his placement to help settle his more sensitive teammate's nerves.

He was unhappy that Danny was not in a good placement; there were far too many reports from a concerned neighbor to make him think it was a safe place. Given the fact that placement had a lot of meta kids that "fell through the cracks," Bruce worried he had just stumbled across a trafficking ring.

He would sick Barry and Jason on them. Just to ensure they wouldn't see the light of day again.

Still, that did not fix his mistake with Danny, the little cookie seller.

Bruce hacked into the system to move Danny. He thought about where he would move the young child but ultimately had him in Wayne Manor.

Just until he could confirm that he would be safe. He certainly didn't think about the adorable little boy who called him with his heart in his hand and got sent to a terrible place for three weeks because of Bruce.

Danny arrived at Wayne Manor with a happy little bounce and a chipper outlook on life than Bruce was expecting. "If it isn't Mr. Narc!"

God, he going to adopt the boy, isn't he?

(Danny has been thrown into a different universe, aged down to a child. He survived by overshadowing people into letting him spend the night baking cookies.

He was thrown into a somewhat typical home, but the nosy neighbor down the street took far too much notice of his overshadowing, and now he was being moved again.

Maybe he can terrorize Mr. Narc now instead? )

#dcxdpdabbles #dc x dp crossover #Danny de-age #Dimension travel #Crack #Basically He overshaowed people and everyone lost their minds about it #Barry will fight Bruce for Danny #Danny will make it his life goal to be Bruce's life hell