I was only today years old when I realized that Trafalgar Law's names are probably references to two battles that led in our real life history to a certain emperor (Napoleon)'s defeat.
*arrives 10 years late with a meta post because of a realization*
uhh Dressrosa spoilers, I guess.
Trafalgar and Waterloo... Water Law.
In One Piece world that emperor being Doflamingo, who suffered two major loses thanks to Law's existence:
First being cca 13 years ago from the main storyline - at the Minion Island where Corazon managed to get the Op-op devil fruit for Law and saving his life from Doflamingo. On that island, Doflamingo lost both Corazon and the devil fruit he wanted to much to get his hands on, as well as Law, someone who he wanted to use as the sacrifice to get the immortality via the devil fruit's powers.
Tbh I haven't really heard about the Trafalgar battle before today. When I first heard about Trafalgar Law as character while I started to read One Piece only cca 5 months ago, I only thought "huh, isn't that a square in England, I was there on a trip once" but didn't look more into it now.
So I just skimmed throught the wiki pages of those battles, I don't know all the details, I don't want to compare it too much, but some maybe similarities/parallels that piqued my interest:
The Battle of Trafalgar were the spanish-france forces against english navy, and Donquixote/Dressrosa arc including all those spanish themes, as well as Law being from the North Blue (where Sanji and Mont Blanc Noland are/were also from) being a bit influenced by France, plays interesting role when this happened in North Blue as a prelude to what would 13 years later happen in Dressrosa (the birdcage, Doflamingo's rule, the puppets, etc).
This part of the Trafalgar battle describing the british was at first outnumbered, that the spanish had more ships along with one of their biggest one:
reminded me of how Corazon himself faced with the whole Donquixote family, including Doflamingo:
and some more interesting similarities how the "hero" of the battle died even before it ended:
but thanks to his informations, the Navy later arrived, and Law got away.
(even on the wiki of the Trafalgar battle there were mentions of some false informations, previous pursuits of the ships and admirals etc, so that vibe kind of fits.)
I haven't read much about the Waterloo battle, except how known it is for being the final defeat of Napoleon, by Coalition armies - which would nicely parallel to Law and Luffy starting their own Alliance during Dressrosa, and thanks to that it caused for Luffy to be there to beat Doflamingo once and for all.
Some other small details I noticed:
The Don Quixote book was apparently first published in two parts, one in 1605 and the other in 1615.
The battle of Trafalgar happened in 1805, and the battle of Waterloo in 1815.
I found one person even connecting the date when was published the chapter of Doflamingo's deafeat in Dressrosa - 18th of June, 2015, which is the same date only 200 years later after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.
I love that in some sense both battles have in common water, and for the One Piece world that is connected with pirates and ships - with the historical aspects the battle of Trafalgar being a naval battle, and Waterloo for the Water in Trafalgar D. Water Law - he concealed his full name from Doflamingo for all those years, his secret name as well as the will of the Ds. - for our world a possible reference if one looks more that he really was meant to be Doflamingo's downfall.
There's just something beautiful about Law's whole existence to be a sort of a foretelling of the fall of one of the emperors of the sea, just by having these names. And it's not just the names of his, but the parallels to the situations and results of the incidents taking place at those locations.
It's literally a middle finger to Doflamingo:
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Ancestry: Heraldic (V0.2)
Been missing for a bit. Sorry about that, work has been quite draining. Doesn't help that they moved me from closing to opening with little notice. Anyways, here is a bit of an update to my Heraldic ancestry. The major changes are to the Flyer option for Chimeric Form, a change to the speeds provided by Chimeric Form, and more concrete lore for what they are.
Flavor: Heraldics are quite the mysterious ancestry, for quite a few reasons. The most glaring one is their sudden appearance in a community or family, seemingly with little explanation. A child would be born with little to no sign of them being of this ancestry, with perhaps some bizarre looking eyes or an unusual birthmark being one of the few subtle signs. However, as they grow they begin to change. They begin developing more animalistic and celestial features, eventually bearing very few features that would identify them as their parents ancestry by the time they reach maturity.
As to why this is, there is only one common feature among all Heraldics: in the past, their community or ancestors were under the protection of a powerful celestial, most often known as a Heraldic Beast. These celestials were sent by a divine being to protect a family or community, tying themselves body and soul to their wards. The divine influence provided by their presence seems to spur the birth of Heraldics, though this seems largely unintentional. It also seems that the birth of Heraldics is more common among communities whose divine protector died in service to them. Religious scholars believe that this may signify that the Heraldic Beast still protects its wards even after its death, manifesting its essence in those born into their group as a way to continue its duty.
Appearance: Heraldics end up looking very similar to the Heraldic Beast that influenced their birth, though obviously more humanoid. Though at first they tend to resemble their parents ancestry, slowly changing until their transformation culminates at what would be considered maturity for their ancestry. This "awakened" form is obviously very different for most Heraldics, as they take after their specific Heraldic Beast. Some may resemble a Tabaxi with vestigial bird wings or a humanoid shark with lions claws, it all depends on the influencing Heraldic Beast. There are some commonalities though, such as fur and skin (or equivalent) that possess colors outside of the natural ranges for the equivalent earthly beasts that they resemble or their pupils possessing a pin prick of light at their center, often glowing brighter when they use their apotropaic power. Their appearance changes further as they grow in power, often looking exactly like the divine guardian that spurred on their transformation.
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium or Small, based on the ancestry you would be if not a Heraldic
Speed: 30 ft.
Age: Heraldics age the same way their parents ancestry would up until they reach maturity. At this point, they tend to age much slower, often reaching double what their parents ancestry would typically be expected to live.
Natural Weapon: You possess a natural weapon associated with one of your beastly components, such as claws or horns. Your unarmed strike becomes 1d6 + Strength for damage and can be either Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing (you choose at character creation). When you gain another Chimeric Form option, you can choose another one of the provided damage types to be an option when you make an unarmed strike with this feature, representing another natural weapon manifesting with your further development.
Chimeric Form: Choose one of the following options, representing the beastly component that first fully manifested. You choose another option at 3rd and 5th level. You can choose an option twice, with it becoming more powerful in certain ways:
Aquatic (shark, dolphin, plesiosaur, etc.): You gain a swimming speed equal to half your walking speed and can hold your breath for 1 hour. If chosen again, the swim speed equals your walking speed and you can breath both air and water.
Flyer (hawk, butterfly, pterosaur, etc.): When you fall at least 10ft and you are not restrained or incapacitated, you can spread your wings as a reaction and glide a number of feet equal to half your walking speed and take no falling damage when you reach the ground. This reaction can be sustained each turn by using up your reaction. If chosen again, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed and you don't provoke opportunity attacks when you fly out of range of an enemy.
Agile (leopard, rabbit, velociraptor, etc.): You add an additional 10ft to your walking speed and you have advantage on saves against being knocked prone. If chosen again, you gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed and can add half your walking speed when making a running long or high jump.
Sturdy (elephant, tortoise, ankylosaurus, etc.): Your hit points maximum increases by 1, and increases by 1 again each time you level up. You also count as one size larger when determining carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. If chosen again, your hit points maximum increase by 2 instead of 1 each level up and you have an AC of 13 + Dexterity when unarmored.
Nocturnal (owl, cat, troodon, etc.): You gain 60ft of darkvision and can take the Hide action as a bonus action when obscured by dim light or darkness. If chosen again, your darkvision increases to 120ft and you gain 10ft of blindsight.
Burrower (mole, fox, thrinaxodon, etc.): You gain a burrowing speed (loose earth only) equal to half your walking speed and have 10ft of tremorsense. If chosen again, the burrowing speed equals your walking speed and you can now burrow through unworked stone.
Apotropaic Presence: When you are targeted by an attack or forced to make a save by an aberration, fey, fiend, or undead, you can use your reaction to make that creature roll at disadvantage for that attack or make yourself roll at advantage if they force you to make a save. You can do this an amount of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Heightened Senses: You gain proficiency in either Perception or Survival.
Again, feedback is welcome and encouraged! As for what's next, I have plans for another subclass and for an actual stat block for Heraldic Beasts. Stay tuned!
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