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imakemywings · 1 month

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Below will be fanfic recs for ASOIAF, 80 DAYS, THE BURNING KINGDOMS, and TOLKIEN. Once again, I’ve tried to break the Tolkien recs down by character groupings but you all know what a thankless task that is. (。・ω・。)

(Photo credit to Michael Anfang on Unsplash.)

Past fanfic rec lists

80 Days

One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy by Prox - T - 11.1k - Fogg/Passpartout - Wonderful characterizations; the author really captures Fogg's voice and keeps it feeling in-character throughout his tribulations.

ASOIAF/GOT

It's a Long Way from the Red Keep by Storytelling_Necromancer - T - 703 - Cersei/Jaime - The Lannisters and the Folgers incest commercial. What more needs to be said?

The Burning Kingdoms

Cautionary Tale by @meadowlarkx - M - 1.4k - Malini/Priya, Mani Ara/Priya - Lark blows it out of the water with the character dynamics here, and Mani Ara preying on Priya post-TOS when she's vulnerable, particular wrt her feelings for Malini, feels so on-point.

Tolkien

Sindar

A Word and a Kiss by Miss Kitty - NR - 1k - Luthien/Thuringwethil - An oldie but a goodie–this take on Luthien and Thuringwethil has me foaming. Exquisite vibes!

Duet by @welcomingdisaster - E - 4.2k - Daeron/Maglor - Lena plays with a really interesting take on the emotional power of song on the singer in Tolkien’s verse. And some lovely Daemags sex!

Everybody Needs a Second Chance by myliobatis - G - 1.2k - Thingol & Turgon - This fic was just such a delight, a funny little fic about Thingol and Turgon meeting in Aman.

Interlude in a Minor Key by yletylyf - M - 2.5k - Aredhel/Luthien - Cute PWP with Aredhel and Luthien.

It Would Make Every Nightingale Sing by eye_of_a_cat - M - 6.6k - Elwing/Maedhros - The pairing is certainly unusual, but this author makes it work so well and follows such a captivating arc of development for it.

Love is Not Love Which Alters When it Alteration Finds by i_did_not_mean_to - E - 3.5k - Melian/Thingol - Delightful Thelian piece which just revels in the strangeness of their relationship and how much each of them enjoys it.

More Precious was the Light in Your Eyes by @searchingforserendipity25 - G - 1k - Daeron/Man OFC - Such a tender look at Daeron’s growth post-exile.

The Myth Hanging Heavy Over You by stormfallen - G - 1.1k - Elrond & Elwing - UGH so painful and tasty Elrond parental angst. I really love the framing techniques of this piece.

No Sacrifice Without Blood by everythingnumbs - M - 18.9k - Luthien/Thuringwethil - F/F LONGFIC! A tasty 18k of Luthien imprisoned by Celegorm and visited by whom she thinks is a servant of his…all the while plagued with unsettling and lurid dreams…

Stained Glass by @polutrope - G - 400 - Elrond & Elwing - Bittersweet tenderness when Elrond arrives in Aman and seeks out his mom. Love this for them <3

Untitled by @swanmaids - NR - Dior/Nimloth - I looove the uncertainty here where neither Dior or Nimloth really know what to expect from their experience with children because of Dior’s strange blood. Also, love the use of the Silmaril for their own needs.

Wildflowers: The Tale of Aredhel and Luthien by lightofthetrees - G - 10.3k - Aredhel/Luthien - A sweet AU fic where Aredhel escapes into Doriath with Maeglin, who grows up there instead of in Nan Elmoth. I really enjoyed the glimpses into their lives in Doriath and the ending suited them very well!

Wild-Wandering by Wood and Glen by @meadowlarkx - M - 1.7k - Daeron/Luthien - Beautiful writing which so brings you into the physical and emotional space of this tragic fem!Daeron/Luthien story.

Winter Glowed on her Leaves by BloodwingBlackbird - M - 1.2k - Galadriel/Luthien - Luthien is a powerful force on Galadriel and I love her as a perpetual “what-if” in Galadriel’s memory.

Woman Into Bird by arriviste - T - 6k - Earendil/Elwing - Beautiful, heartbreaking Elwing piece. The final scene is a gut-punch.

Noldor

Berries and Starlight by Narya_Flame - T - 829 - Indis/Miriel - Indis and Miriel out during the winter <3 Does an excellent job capturing the natural atmosphere and I love the energy between the women!

Crescendo by Gilithlin - E - 3.7k - Daeron/Maglor - Fantastic Daemags; I was just delighted with Daeron’s character portrayal here.

Fouled Water by @grey-gazania - G - Another touching look at Elves and the land they inhabit, and the tragedy of Beleriand.

Her That I Call My Own by LiveOakWithMoss - M - 644 - Indis/Miriel - Tasty Mindis smut with feelings <3

Glasshouses by @searchingforserendipity25 - 2.5k - G - Glorfindel/Turgon - Ahh such a sweet relationship here and wonderful characterization of both Glorfindel and Turgon <3

Indissoluble by @polutrope - E - 2.5k - Idril/Tuor/Voronwe - P does such a great job showing characters are are comfortable with each other and really beyond being embarrassed about their sexual foibles. This fic also does a great job balancing a committed three-way relationship!

The Kinslayer in the Woods by @elvain - T - 4.5k - Daeron/Maglor - Love this portrayal of Daeron, as well as the games he and Maglor play to avoid having to be who they are.

Life in Miniature by @thescrapwitch - G - 2.8k - This is SUCH a lovely little fic surrounding the memory of Gondolin in Aman. Author does an excellent job of weaving in the views and feelings of many characters and it feels so true to Elves’ strong memories, particularly to places.

Like I'm Set on Fire by corollaire - M - 808 - Indis/Miriel - Tasty Mindis oral; see Miriel on her knees for Indis.

One Whole with My Other by lonelyvisitor - E - 4.2k - Indis/Miriel - Now obsessed with the idea that Miriel and Indis are legally married to each other vis-a-vis Finwe. The author does a wonderful job with the feelings here.

Peaches We Devour, Dusty Skin and All by @niennawept - M - 2.2k -Aredhel/Elenwe - Some very tasty Aredhel/Elenwe! Their dynamic here is sexy and the pull towards each other warring with Elenwe’s goals for herself 👌

The Most Precious of Treasures by AroaceMoon - E - 651 - Celebrimbor & Sauron - SHIT this dialogue is tasty and ever so painful. Silvergifting.

The Love I've Found by Corollaire - 1.4k - M - Indis/Miriel - Modern AU Mindis fluff with bonus kid shenanigans from Feanor. It’s so cute!

Picnic by @swanmaids - E - 1.6k - Aredhel/Vana - Ahh! Here we get the Aredhel/Vana partner relationship to Celegorm/Orome and I love it!! Vana is so carefree and relaxed here, but still concerned with Aredhel’s feelings <3

Pity For Your Hurts by @thelordofgifs - 666 - G - Finduilas/Gwindor - Finduilas and Gwindor before his capture </3 This piece captures a very ~courtly love~ kind of feel in their relationship and despite differences, you can see how much they care for each other.

The Plans We Make, the Memories We Record by LadyBrooke - M - 1k - Indis/Miriel - Bittersweet Mindis (w/ hints of Finwe/Indis/Miriel) as these women struggle to move on in the wake of everything that’s happened.

Sawdust by @starspray - T - 559 - Findis & Finwe - I love this exploration of Findis’ relationship with Finwe! I feel like that’s one that isn’t often explored and it’s done very well here.

Shadow-Song by Arveldis - T - 730 - Finrod & Sauron - This ficlet does an excellent job capturing the power play between Finrod and Sauron, as well as making Sauron terrifying.

Shadows of Valiance by Midnightjynx1813 - G - 2.5k - Azaghal/Maedhros - Azaghal and Maedhros bonding! This author works poetry into the fic to great effect and I really enjoyed how much Maedhros comes to rely on Azaghal.

Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines by @welcomingdisaster - M - 2.6k - Celebrimbor/Narvi, Celebrimbor & Sauron - Crunchy look at the dynamics between Celebrimbor, Narvi, and Sauron from Sauron’s perspective.

To Give Up Control by @jouissants - NR - Maglor/Uinen - Ahhh just delicious Maglor/Uinen…Alix’s descriptions are always SO vivid and beautiful.

Two Queens by LiveOakWithMoss - E - 262 - Indis/Miriel - Miriel sure knows her way around a strap.

Untitled by @that-angry-noldo - Finrod at torment with Sauron :’) Author really does well with Sauron’s otherworldly presence and the fear that causes.

Untitled by @jouissants - NR - MY FUCKING HEART. Five sentences and I’m gone. Finrod stop hurting me challenge 2k24.

Untitled by @tanoraqui - NR - Feanor & Fingolfin - Love that tasty angsty awkward post-rebirth Feanor-Fingolfin bonding.

Untitled by @polutrope - NR - Daeron/Maglor - Beautiful little Daemags fic…<3 Really enjoy the touches of Maglor’s nostalgia and I’m a sucker for him treating Daeron like a treasure.

Void-Junk by arriviste - G - 2.2k - It’s so juicy, Maedhros finding his way onto Vingilot.

White Flowers by @starspray - T - 841 - Aredhel & Turgon - Weeping once again over Nolofinweans, especially Aredhel and Turgon.

Men

A Monster in the Shadows by @hobbitwrangler - G - 3k - Eowyn & Theoden - Really cute but also heartbreaking bonding between Eowyn and Theoden, when Eowyn is new to Edoras and still recovering from her parents’ deaths :( Author does a great job capturing how that grief might manifest for a child!

Celebration by maitimiel - NR - Tar-Miriel/OFC - Crunchy tasty Tar-Miriel’s favorite handmaidens sleep with her ft. her and Ar-Pharazon’s marital issues. Excellent look at the dying Numenorean state.

Courting Gifts by Muccamukk - G - 1k - Arwen/Eowyn, Aragorn/Arwen - This is such a cute Arwen/Eowyn piece focusing on the cultural differences between Arwen and the Men around her.

Cousin, Sister, Lover, Queen by broken_pencils - E - 11k - Eowyn/Lothiriel - This one is so good and so bittersweet and hit so many real notes. I’m just aching for Eowyn. The author does a great job of balancing her inherent unhappiness as a lesbian in a marriage with a man with the deep platonic love she obviously has for Faramir, and Lothiriel is such fun in this.

Fade by Lady Ash - E - 6.2k - Denethor/Gandalf - Can I say something other than "Denethor/Gandalf BDSM relationship" that would entice you more?

Ode to a Nightingale by @maironsbigboobs - E - 1k - Aragorn/Arwen - Some light, fun, Aragorn/Arwen smut.

Plentiful as Sand is Plentiful by @searchingforserendipity25 - G - 675 - I so love this look at Aragorn and Elrond’s relationship <3

Shake Loose All Your Garnet Jewels by lastwingedthing - T - 2.8k - Arwen/Eowyn - Lovely lovely fic on “what if Arwen and Eowyn had been part of the Fellowship?” Absolutely cinematic!

Untitled by @swanmaids - NR - Annael & Rian - Rian :((( Her story is so sad and yet there are at times griefs that cannot be overcome and Heather captures that very well here.

Without Dawn, No Evening by pscoptera - M - 4.6k - Arwen/Eowyn - If you want a truly historic fic, this one was originally written before the Return of the King film had released. A really interesting look at Eowyn’s sexuality and desires with what feels like realistic muddling of the issues in her mind.

Hobbits

On These Hither Shores by Arveldis - G - 3.2k - Boromir & Frodo - Boromir and Frodo bonding (sort of)! This fic does a great job capturing their feelings.

The Power of Tea by @hobbitwrangler - G - 1.8 - Bilbo & Gilraen - Fantastic character dynamics! And Bilbo feels so in-character.

Twist to Uncoil by katajainen - G - 1.3 - Bilbo & Thranduil - Ahhh lovely lovely look at Thranduil and Bilbo’s relationship as Bilbo recounts his time living in Mirkwood unseen.

#fanfic recs #the silmarillion #lotr #80 days #tbk #got

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proper-goodnight · 6 months

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Into The Gray Chpt. 8 (House Call)

Fandom: The Gray Man (2022)

Pairings: Sierra Six x Reader, Courtland Gentry x Reader, Sierra Six x You, Courtland Gentry x You

Type: Multi-Chap

Tags: @medievalfangirl, @biblichorr, @pyrokineticbaby, @lxvrgirl, @asiludida164, @torchbearerkyle, @jasmin7813, @comfortzonequeen, @96jnie, @ryanclutched, @the-light-of-earendil

You sat in the opposite chair, chin in hand, watching Claire Fitzroy push around the dinner that you’d made. You hadn’t thought that you’d done that bad a job, cooking had become something of a hobby for you after all, but you entertained that it was because there was too much complexity in flavor for a pre-teen to handle. She’d turned the herbs over and inspected them with a vaguely disturbed look, nose scrunched, only to repeat the action with the seasonings, picking through each one as though she’d discovered dirt. Her body was angled backwards, ready to leap from the chair in case the plate suddenly leapt off the table.

The kid lived off of Hawaiian pizza and ice-cream. Garlic and zest may not have been the best idea that you could have chosen.

Finally, the fork laid to rest against the plate with a soft clang. Tentative fingers nudged it away, a few inches and then halfway across the table. Her forearms folded on its’ edge; the wooden finish worn from years of sitting. She’d addressed you briefly when you first entered the safe house—a wooden cabin in the middle of nowhere—but this was the first time that she’d officially looked at you since you’d arrived. Her eyebrows raised, and yours instinctively copied the action.

“So,” Claire started, trailing off.

“So?” You echoed.

She leaned forward, and those raised eyebrows suddenly narrowed, as though she had started some kind of interrogation. Her expression mirrored suspicion, but you thought that she was just curious. It was kind of cute; you could admit that. “You and Six aren’t friends?”

There was a pause before you answered, but your gaze didn’t leave her. “We share secrets.”

“That’s kind of what friends do.” She pointed out.

You nodded, but you wouldn’t really know. You’d never had many friends, and no one came to mind that you would trust to keep a secret. You thought about Dani, and you thought about Lloyd, but every secret that you’d learned about them was without their knowledge. You doubted that it counted.

Social standards and attachments weren’t lost on you, the sociology and psychology of it, but the fact that you’d only thought about it in a scientific aspect, synapses firing in the brain and the chemistry, only proved to you that you wouldn’t be the ideal person to get advice from—you were too blunt; too literal.

“You tried to kill Six,” She accused, flat.

You didn’t. You told her that. “I didn’t.”

“You broke into our house,” her eyebrows flicked upwards, as though she’d caught you up in a lie. “I saw you. He had a gun, and then those people broke in. They took him.”

You didn’t know what to say to that; most of it had nothing to do with you.

“Why did you go after him? Do you know Six?”

You briefly contemplated the extent of how much you should confess with a pre-teen and also the niece of the one person that you’d been after at the very start–the original dividing cog in an already fragile machine. Should you explain? Apologize?

“I’m only concerned about him through proxy.”

“What does that even mean?” She grimaced, voice terse.

Your own remained even. “It means,” you trailed off, eyes flicking around the small space of the kitchen. “That when I get what I need from him, that’ll be it.”

“And what exactly do you need?”

When you didn’t answer right away, Claire leaned forward, turning your attention back to her, the suddenly intense stare in her gaze as she rested her chin on top of her fist, squinting as though determined to find some kind of secret that could have been hidden in your expression. You didn’t have anything to hide, so you found yourself staring back despite yourself, then finally decided to ask: “What are you doing?”

“Reading your mind.” She said as a matter of fact. “I can usually do it with Six; you both have this zone out thing that you do.” She exhaled, then gave up, the brunt of her shoulders colliding back against her seat. “He’s easier.”

“You know him.”

Claire exhaled through her nose. “You two aren’t that different,” she then clarified: “You both can be really frustrating to talk to.”

It wasn’t very often that someone could pull a smile from you, and you hadn’t expected Claire Fitzroy to be one. You could see how Sierra Six was attached to her, the contradiction to the rules–an innocence in a world that was quite the contrary.

She was a child. Children didn’t live in your world; children didn’t survive there.

The rest of your conversation with Claire had been minimal, and at some point, while the two of you had sat at the table, she gave up in her attempts at learning the specifics about you to retire for the night instead. She hadn’t asked about Six much after that, likely because where he was concerned, the two of you were on a similar page.

Very much in the dark about what was planned for him.

You hadn’t been to see him since your last conversation, only being sure that he was in your same line of sight when you went to the office only to be bombarded with bullshit busy work from Carmichael to hide the fact that he was compiling evidence against you–unsuccessfully. If Dani had any suspicions, she didn’t voice them, but there was something about the looks she gave you that told you that you needed to cover your tracks a little harder before every single eye in the agency was following you around.

Dani wasn’t as subtle. Her curiosities and willingness to go along with anything that could inconvenience Suzanne and Carmichael had kept you safe. You liked that about her.

You let the possibilities of Dani being considered a ‘friend’ follow you home.

When you dreamed, it was of ribs jutting out stark from underneath skin; it was shadows stretching along walls in rows that winded down every corridor, obscured faces that became blurrier over time until they disappeared entirely. There had been more once, but their names were filed down to a manila folder in a drawer, and when it was gone, you knew to forget.

Your place in the world was what anyone else wanted it to be, that was it, and while you regretted necessity, there was nothing that could be done. You’d had loyalty.

Along with loyalty came a point in your life when you knew that you were old enough. Pain had come with you growing taller, stronger, and it was when eyes that once praised your innocence changed to desire that you’d had to change tact. Everything in your life had been boiled down to calculation, statistics, and logic. It wasn’t only about survival. You served.

Pale silver light sifting through the curtains was less of a haze than your dreams had been, but mild or horrible, you never startled awake. Your eyes drifted open, a bare brush of eyelashes against your cheeks, the skyline outside your window less captivating than the subtle shudder of the wall on the far side of the room.

You’d left Claire alone listening to an old record before you’d gone home. A door had closed, but you were meant to be alone.

Over the years, many things had made you hesitate. One had been someone’s daughter, rushing to a dance lesson, outside of her mother’s sight but centered directly inside yours, another had been a scientist who thought himself a comedian but took entirely too long to explain what made his jokes funny, and another a reflected light off a skyline; you’d heard the bullet before you’d felt it.

You found yourself hesitating now, the cover having sunk toward your hips sometime during the night, your arm tucked underneath the one pillow that you owned. You waited, the silence feeling like a pressure against your eardrums, the sounds of the city much quieter in comparison to the anticipation. Your heartbeat was slow and rhythmic, keeping in time with every breath that you carefully expelled from your lungs.

You heard a footstep. One, and then two. Unfamiliar. More of a shuffle than a step. You paced it in your mind, but this intruder wandered with no particular destination. Regardless, they would find themselves back out if they didn’t end up under the ground first.

Careful, practiced movements had you slowly drawing the blanket down the rest of your frame, your arm sliding out from underneath your pillow with barely a sound of scraping fabric. With that same universal slowness, you turned, setting one leg over the side of the bed, and then the other until you were standing, a lithe figure in the darkness creeping over the carpet.

You paused with every paused shuffle, moved with every abrupt step, matching the intruder pace for pace. Muscles tightly coiled; you were prepared to leap at a moment’s notice. Your fingers curled around the doorknob. On the other side, you heard the shuffle stop.

You stopped, and then finally wrenched the door open.

“I need your help.”

Rather than immediately turn, you pivoted in a slower motion. Your face remained passive despite the confusion that gripped you. You had thought that you were beyond those little slips in humanity. Six was straining, pushing himself off of the door frame that served as an entryway to the kitchen, directly adjacent to the hall that had housed your room. He’d gotten close. Too close for comfort.

When you reached over and flicked on the lamp sitting on an end table, Six’s swaying form was revealed to you, blood matting his hair, and the way that his arm wrapped around his abdomen suggested a trauma to his ribs. You could hardly identify his features in the dark before, but it was him; you knew that much by his voice, and the way that he carried himself, a strong outline towering over you despite a stance that suggested he’d recently suffered an injury.

You didn’t know why his appearance hadn’t immediately alarmed you, but you decided against questioning it in the moment.

The fact that he’d gotten into a skirmish with who was likely Carmichael and the entirety of the FBI and decided to come here instead of Claire gave you pause. Truthfully, you didn’t know whether to be flattered or offended.

“You look like you got into a fight.” You noted.

“Your friends don’t make good company.”

“And I do?”

Six shrugged. “Better company.”

“And here I thought that Carmichael’s personality was just stellar.” You thought that you’d heard the beginnings of a laugh ushered from him, but he winced. You didn’t immediately move to help him, and with a look that was asking permission, he shuffled past you to collapse unceremoniously onto your couch. His blood spread into the upholstery, and you strongly assumed that you would be better off throwing out the whole thing.

“Did anyone follow you?” You asked.

“No.”

Regardless, you thought that this would be the first place that they would look. Carmichael was looking for anything to damn you, and a wanted fugitive hiding out at your place was as good a reason as any. Your absence did provide an alibi; nobody could claim that you’d helped him escape, but apparently, he didn’t need the help. You approached the couch.

“How did you know where I live?”

“Lucky guess.”

He was a terrible liar, but you would figure out the minute details later. There was a bullet wound in his shoulder, a knife wound in his side, among a variety of other injuries that you couldn’t clearly identify over simple lamplight alone. “How bad are the other guys?”

He shrugged. “Worse off.”

With a soft hum, you pulled yourself away from the couch, wandering to one of the side doors that led to the bathroom so that you could dig out your meager stash of first aid supplies. When you walked back, ushering him further onto the couch so that you could sit, he grimaced, but obliged, tucking one of the couch pillows behind his back.

As soon as you took out the antiseptic, his eyes wandered to the kitchen.

“Got anything to drink?”

“You’re gonna have to deal with this sober.” You said, still digging some of the essentials from your bag. You didn’t look up. “Take your clothes off.”

When you didn’t immediately see a shuffle of movement out of the corner of your vision, you glanced up. Six was looking at you, hesitating to oblige this particular request. You raised your eyebrows, and you thought that the Gray Man, who had broken out of a secure CIA building through agents with years of similar experience, looked awkward. You raised your eyebrows. He still didn’t move.

“I can’t help you through your clothes.” You pointed out.

Six exhaled through his nose, shifting with a soft grunt so that he could grab at the hem of his shirt and begin tucking it out of the cover of his jeans. His expression twisted at the extension of his movements, a strain on his wounds that had soaked through the fabric and left residue wherever his hands had grabbed. You shuffled closer to him.

“Let me help.” Six moving his hands out of your way was the only permission that you needed. You tugged his shirt free from the confines of his jeans, careful to avoid his wounds while you worked your way up over the defined muscles of his chest, skilled fingers gliding up his biceps and carefully working the sleeves through his arms before you could yank it free over his head. It was dropped to the floor.

Scars covered nearly every surface, old wounds from old places that you’d observed through the window at his house in Florida. There were new wounds over the old, some that would leave new scars, but it did little to hinder his rugged handsomeness. You weren’t a fool; you would give credit where it was due.

Your hands went for his belt next, but he grabbed them.

“I got it,” he said.

“Are you shy?” You teased.

Your little mockery gave rise to a very light smirk, refreshing the frustration that’d previously occupied his face, but your hands retreated so that he could take over himself, unbuckling his belt and carefully wiggling out of his jeans until he was down to his boxers. Those were dropped onto the floor along with his shirt. At least he had been conscientious enough to leave his shoes by the door, even if he still tread blood across your carpet.

“You have a knife wound by your ribs.” You told him, gently poking at the space next to the wound to further emphasize your point; you went for that wound first, taking the antiseptic and gauze into your hands. Your head was bent low, your eyes wandering over the rough outline and bruised edges with practiced focus.

“Yeah,” Six murmured in soft agreement. “He was aiming for my heart so,” he hissed a sharp intake of breath as you dabbed at it with the antiseptic. “It felt like a win.”

You glanced up, the edge of your mouth twitching. He was looking down at you, eyes wandering, and when your lashes fluttered and your eyebrows raised, he looked back up, to the space around your house, undeniably more decorated than his had been–still with its own style of simplicity, nonetheless.

You didn’t think that there was much to look at.

“Uh, thanks.” He went on. “For–for this.”

“I wouldn’t thank me yet. This is not going to be comfortable for you.”

Six nodded, leaving his appreciation in the air for another time. He leaned his head back over the arm of the couch, closing his eyes. He looked more peaceful like this, moonlight blanketing over him through a peek in the curtain, clouds lighting up in faint silver, the skyline going to sleep one office window and oversized billboard at a time. His hair fell away from his forehead, revealing another cut there; another eventual scar.

You elicited a low groan from him as you pressed the antiseptic into the wound and dabbed at it with the gauze. One of his eyes opened to look at you.

“Just making sure you’re still with me.” You said.

“Barely. I am beginning,” he hissed out, the words rising like bile in his throat, “to seriously question my life choices.”

Your head tilted. “The Sierra Program taught you how to take a beating, all things considered.”

“Stubbornness is a family trait.”

You exhaled through your nose, poking on what was presumably a bullet wound toward his left hip making him gasp; it’d only clipped him as far as you could tell, but the skin there would still be tender, but nothing that you had to immediately worry about. “You’re hilarious,” you murmured good-naturedly, the action and remark earning a gentle glare from him. “Here I thought that it was the blood loss making you so passive.”

“Just another Thursday,” he quipped.

“It’s Monday,” you corrected him, standing from the couch to flick on the living room light and close the curtains the remainder of the way. Six held up his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden intrusion of light, except that his arm couldn’t extend that far and it fell back down to his chest. “I’m going to work on your side first. I’m going to need you to hold still, okay?”

Other than a sharp intake of breath, and an occasional flinch, he hardly moved at all; one sharp jerk had you leaning your arm over his legs to hold him still, pushed close to his abdomen and practically laying over him. You’d nudged him closer to the couch cushions to make more room for yourself, your hip pressed against the side of his thigh.

Threading the needle with a closed eye, you glared at it in focus before your thumb and index finger guided the needle through his skin right beside the hole, drawing it over. As you worked, refined, you ignored the gentle sounds that you elicited from him. Soft sounds of pain were nothing new to you, and you did have to admit that they had made him rather resilient. You didn’t know what you had expected, but for some reason, you expected backlash.

You assumed that his and Lloyd’s pain tolerance were drastically different.

The iris scissors were lifted, and you tied off the thread before snipping it.

More antiseptic was soaked onto the wound before a bandage was applied. You shimmied up his body to inspect the wound by his shoulder. One of your thighs was forcefully planted to one side of him, trapped between his and the couch, and the other teetering on the edge, close to falling but secure at the same time. The supplies were placed on his chest for assurance. He’d lifted his head up when he felt you move; the two of you were nearly nose to nose, but your head was turned, focused on his shoulder.

He placed his hand beside your thigh, holding you in place should you somehow find yourself falling. Where one of your hands was planted against his chest to hold yourself up, you felt his heartbeat underneath your palm, pounding in a frantic rhythm. His skin was hot underneath your fingers.

Charming.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you’ve never had a woman like this,” you said softly, and low without looking at him, your hand moving away to grab more of your antiseptic.

His breath hitched when he was about to answer, but you interrupted him.

“I don’t want to know.” You mused.

“I have.”

You snickered. “I never said you didn’t.” You felt his muscles relax underneath your hands, but you associated it more with defeat than relaxation. Granted, you had that effect on people naturally. Considering how often you had knowingly or unknowingly infuriated and simultaneously puzzled Lloyd Hansen and Denny Carmichael, Sierra Six was hardly an added challenge.

Your slender fingers worked at disinfecting and closing the wound at his shoulder, gradually brushing up the length of his arm. Your skin was cold to the touch as always, and you thought that you felt him shiver under his fingers–there was an explorative nature to your demonstrations, touching every little line and mark as you worked your way up over scars old and new in search of other wounds.

Your eyes never strayed from the work, speaking in their own silent words. Your hand traveled up to drape across his shoulder and toy with stray hairs, twirling blonde strands in between with gentle tugs that were strangely casual. From there, one would consider a conversation starter, or a knife positioned directly where your other hand lingered at his side, doing the same demonstrations where your fingers splayed at the sensitive skin by his hip bone.

It wasn’t often that you were able to get this close to a man without any other intentions.

Six’s hands lay limp, arrested to the couch cushions, slowly curling into fists. When you nudged his arm to look at a wound at his other side, he obliged your wordless request. You felt him tense underneath your fingers, seconds teasing him, trickling past. He waited, and he watched. He didn’t risk another glance, another breath too deep.

Slowly, mechanically, through painstaking precision, he turned to face you completely opposite with a crinkle in his crescent eyes. You knew that look. You’d seen it before, only with much less speaking involved. Then he truly did subside toward you. He pushed the heel of his palm into the sofa’s back for support.

All at once, you found yourself pulling away, your hands retreating from his skin, two breaths escaping in unison once you finally made distance and pulled yourself up from the couch. His fingers lingered, brushing your wrist and curling around your knuckles.

“Are you done?” Six asked, voice sounding groggy, lulled into a kind of security that was never meant to be found with you.

“I think you’ll live another day,” you answered. You forced yourself to not submit, to subside against unwise impulses. Especially with as pale and cold as he was—oh, how he could still play the game. Later, you promised to no one in particular. “Get some rest. We’ll go see Claire when you can at least walk on your own.”

Six finally exhaled, unable to challenge that certainty in your gaze. He managed a pursed smile, then the smile faded, unreadably flat now. With great reluctance, he let go of you. Not once did his attention travel away from your face, clinging to it.

You marched off, unjustifiably tense for all the wrong reasons, and gently shut the door to your bedroom while his relentless tossing and turning sounded on the couch. Eventually, you fell back into conscious stillness, never asleep, never visibly awake.

#sierra six #the gray man fanfiction #courtland gentry #fanfiction #the gray man (2022)#sierra six x you #sierra six x y/n #sierra six x reader #the gray man

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vinyatar · 7 months

Text

Star-ship Vingilot (continuation of Eärendil in space)

inspirations: the ISS cupola, LOGH's Perceval, and EVE's Prophecy

#vingilot #earendil #earendil in space #tolkien #silmarillion #the six-sided window allows light to pour out in the shape of his emblem #the light can be condensed at the top into a laser :)

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afaramir · 1 month

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elrond and elros and earendil [hamilton voice] and faramir! i must know about this!!!!!

oh man a concept that puts my brain cells in a claw machine… (@sweetshire asked about this one too so ria this is 4 u as well<3) i knew i was gonna be building to this scene the whole time from the moment faramir crossed the borders of rivendell and i hope i executed it well. i locked onto eldritch numenoreans as a concept so intensely and it’s just so important to me that not only are they obviously strange but they LOOK weird as fuck. like no that isn’t quite an elf but they’re DEFINITELY not some normal guy. so faramir sees elrond for the first time and he sees elros, preserved through time. and elrond sees faramir and he sees elros in his face and it breaks his fucking heart! :). and also faramir has dreamt of numenor all his life right. and elros was the first king of numenor...who followed the light of gil-estel the north star to find his promised land...and who carries that star...earendil his father.......YOU KNOW??? it makes me feel crazy. like that is a literal real connection that they all have.

the air seems to shimmer about him as he turns, the light radiating from his very skin, star-like even in the bright sunlight. faramir raises his head, prepares to meet the lord with all the reverence he knows. and then he sees his face, and all his breath leaves him in an instant. he knows this face. has known it all his life, as close to his as any kin. its carven gaze stares down from a hundred statues in minas tirith, and chief of them all the face of the steward, as it had been in faramir’s youth, now so distant of a memory. dark-haired, grey-eyed, noble and kind and true. the echo of a choice made thousands of years ago. elros tar-minyatur brought to life. “my lord elrond,” he says, through a mouth dry as the desert. drops to a knee, overcome. ever since he had stepped past the borders of this land he has walked through his most beloved legends, and yet his mind now cannot believe what he sees. here now is the scion of gil-estel, the one son of that star who will endure past the breaking of the world. and faramir is only the most distant of relations but in this moment he is as númenórean as he has ever been. time and space and the changing of the world separate him from the sons of eärendil, yet all this time he has followed in the footsteps of his greatest forebear, seeking starwards.

this is also very like…dont worry professor tolkien i saw that everyone you think is hot looks exactly like your wife. dont worry i ALSO think they’re hot. u can rest now.gif.

“we remember the first king of númenor, in gondor,” says faramir softly. “there are fewer, now, who know the old tales. but elros tar-minyatur will be last to be forgotten, ere the white city fall and the world end.” a gentle smile blooms across the lord elrond’s face. he does not weep, but in the lines of his face lies a sorrow so large and ancient that faramir can hardly conceive of it. “i do you no more honour than you deserve. i did not think to look to the stewards of gondor, to steward my brother’s memory. now i see that i have long been mistaken. the memory of númenor yet lives on in the men of the south.” “my lord,” is all faramir can think to say. he had not thought he would find so many reminders of home, so far from it, in this land where there truly are none like him. or so he had believed. he will never know tar-minyatur and yet something of that lord of legend lives on in him. when he looks far enough into the grey horizon, into times and futures that have not yet come to pass, there is a part of him that looks through those ancient eyes. the first king of númenor lives on in the streets of gondor, in the quiet of the standing silence, in the tales of the West passed first from his father to himself, and then from him to his men, weaving stories late into the night in the glow of the fire. yet of his brother he knows little, and he is nothing like he had imagined. he had expected distant, remote lordship, not untouchable like a statue but untouchable like a star. gil-estel, after all, shines cold and bright each night over ithilien. to be the immortal scion of the north star - it is a burden that could freeze any heart. yet in the scant time they have stood here, around the lord elrond’s feet, flowers have begun to grow.

its also like an Elrond Learning Moment. the blood of numenor is spent situation at the council in the book versus what i, PERSONALLY, know about the blood of numenor being alive and fucking well is always soooo....elrond i Love You but that was a pretty crazy thing to say. and now here he is realizing and acknowledging and reevaluating his biases. yeah this is my i am fixing something about canon moment. i just think elrond and faramir should Understand Each Other.

#from the inbox #potatoesandsunshine #thank u anna...i have no idea if lotr is ur thing but thank u anyway...i just think that i am. so correct. about this #and i feel like u will appreciate The Profundity Of The Connection. between these guys through time and space.#i love my strange weird son and so does everyon else...#faramir goes to rivendell au

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swanmaids · 26 days

Text

fic writer questions - thanks for the tags, @grey-gazania @curufiin and @thelordofgifs! Sorry that it took so long.

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 51, though one is a compilation of unrelated short pieces.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 89,680

3. What fandoms do you write for? At present just Silm and Lotr, but I'm hoping to participate in Yuletide this year and thinking about The Handmaiden, Hustlers, Swan Lake, and The Wolf Den as potential fandoms to offer

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

spirited away (outsider pov legolas/gimli)

post mortem (clinical/epistolary post-second kinslaying)

it takes a village (5+1 SoF and celebrimbor)

the straight road (epistolary legolas/gimli)

the stones wept (orpheus and eurydice au legolas/gimli)

It seems like my most popular pieces are L/G or sons of Feanor. And they ARE fun to write about, so I'm not complaining!

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes. But sometimes it takes an embarrasingly long time. Because I suck.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? haven (everyone dies) sister sister (everyone dies) if our deed faileth (everyone dies) woe unto worlds end (everyone dies)

Sensing a theme.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? coastin' (Elwing gets her pussy ate by her sexy husband and has an orgasm)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Lol I'm not relevant enough for that.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes lol. I'm not sure what's meant by "what kind", but I've done F/F, M/M, F/M, F/M/M, M/F/F/F/F and a fairly big variety of kinks so like... most kinds?

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? No, and I'm not a huge reader of them, although I long for a Silm/Succ crossover

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes! The lovely @camille-lachenille translated see it fall, child of war into French. You can read it here.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No. I write very slowly and erratically, which I don't think would be fair to any potential cowriter.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Legolas/Gimli is a long term otp and one couple where I really can't see either side with anyone else (if they want to invite Aragorn or Eomer to join for a night I'm not opposed). Elwing and Earendil is another couple that I feel the same about (and I'm also defensive of them as a couple and genuinely see them as an example of some of Tolkien's most romantic writing). I also really like Celegorm/Orome for being basically perfect for my id.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? Eeeh. I'm really trying not to officially throw in the towel on any of my wips. It's just taking me a long time...

16. What are your writing strengths? Can I say smut? I think I'm quite good at setting, food, and clothing descriptions too.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Any plot that's more complicated than "emotion in space" or "dick in hole". Also actually DOING the writing.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I used to do it much more than I currently do. Now I feel like it breaks the flow of the story.

19. First fandom you wrote for? LOTR.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? I've said it before but I was really pleased with how one of your girls came out and have reread it a couple of times since publishing. Actually I think I got some writers block after publishing it because I feel like I can't surpass it lol.

This was fun to do! I'm very late to the party so I think most people have been tagged, but if anyone else wants to do it then please go ahead and say I tagged you.

#tag game

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runawaymun · 3 months

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Kinda late for the character asks, but 5 and 8 for Elrond and 9 and 13 for Erestor

Elrond:

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Without question two by Sleeping At Last. I literally can't be insane enough about this song for him. Like??? "You know I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat" "It's okay if you can't find the words / Let me take your coat / And this weight off of your shoulders" LIKEEEEE it's so him. "It's okay if you can't catch your breath / You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest" I'm insane about it. "Like a force to be reckoned with / A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss /I will love you with every single thing I have" AAAAAA "I will love you without any strings attached" AAAUUUUUUGH "I just want to love you, to love you, to love you well / I just want to learn how, somehow, to be loved myself" AUGH. it's him it's him it's him and I'm not even remotely normal about it.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Ooooh interesting!

I think, idk, there are a lot of people who try to make Elrond pick sides, so-to-speak, as to where he aligns himself and who he is attached to. There's the people that want him to have no emotional attachment to Maedhros and Maglor (or to hate them), and the people who want him to love Maedhros and Maglor in an un-messy and almost saccharine way and don't feel that Elwing and Earendil mean anything to him (or that they were bad parents, and he hates them, etc. etc.) There's the people that say "Elrond is a Feanorian at heart" and there's people who say "Elrond is Sindarin" and there's people who say "Elrond is Nolofinwean!" and like, idk I think the whole point of Elrond is that he contains multitudes. He is the amalgamation of all of those things. They are all a part of him, and I really dislike when people try to simplify his childhood, or his mixed heritage, or where he aligns himself in the family tree because to me that just fundamentally misrepresents him as a character. Y'know?

For Erestor:

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

I think so! At least, for my headcannon of what Erestor is like to live with. We're both neat and we both love having books around but enjoy an uncluttered space. Also he's so practical that I feel he'd be very easy to divide chores with.

13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?

😐 is what I associate him with because it just feels very him, but in a theoretical universe in which Erestor texts I don't think he uses emojis. He's also very grammatically correct & puts periods at the ends of his sentences. So he's starting shit like

and it's so stressful lmao. I feel like people have tried to explain that he comes across kind of intense and scary over text and he's just like "so???"

character ask meme

#elrond #erestor #character ask meme

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mischieffoal · 7 months

Text

LotR Musical: Round 3!

Just a bunch of my thoughts, once more. From Wednesday 4th October matinee

Pre-Show:

Hobbit!Gimli asked if I wanted to play Ring-toss, and Lobelia challenged me to a game… if I gave her a spoon if she won. I went on stage, shook hands, bowed, played and failed, she got one, shook hands, happily congratulated her with a spoon. Which Rosie then accused her of stealing from me! The audacity!!

Also, I gave Fatty a chocolate bar, and he loves it when people come back again because they always bring him snacks. Got some very funny photos with him. Also, he was having great fun yelling about food - “Hey! Everyone! If you want a Mars Bar, they’ve got a whole bag!”

Mrs. Bolger came and chatted to us about the party, and birthdays, and Rose having her birthday the day before Bilbo’s, and Fatty and Mrs.’ twins being born then too! A busy time in the Shire! The little fauntlings are over their with Fatty’s mum! For Bilbo’s speech, Gollum sat right behind me on the picnic table! He was wearing such a cute jumper. I have a problem.

Act 1:

Gandalf!! I like this understudy! Actually much better than the original! Patrick Bridgman. More sure of himself, powerful in a way, authoritative. Felt more magic and different from the elves than Peter.

Aragorn carries Frodo in so many different ways in the space of about a minute (fireman's, bridal, piggyback, shoulders round)

When Bilbo says "I'm worried I'll turn into him", Gollum pokes his head in from the side and sneers. I’ve never noticed it before, it’s that subtle. You would only notice it at all if you’d seen it before, because he’s still in full hobbit costume. Holy shit it sent chills down my spine.

Each time they mentioned rings and losing their power, they all held theirs, including Elrond who doesn't even mention his

All the Hobbits are so HAPPY all the time up to and during star of Earendil, when around them others are worried and scared and sad - but they’re still set on their Adventure!! I love them!!

Gimli's outfit has the knotwork on the set, lit up in Moria, I really like that detail. It’s obvious, I just hadn’t made the connection before. He’s connected to the “earth” around them.

Gandalf hugging Sam into Moria. Everyone in this show hugs so much and I love that.

It's *Legolas* who tells Merry that Gimli is singing a song of his ancestors. Goddddd the elf/dwarf everything in this musical. (Earlier, in the council, Gimli has to sit down on a bench next to Legolas, clearly hesitates, and Legolas literally turns his body away from him once he’s sat down)

The movement in Lothlorien is so *different* and fluid

Frodo just fucking crying his eyes out in Lothlorien. Everyone else is having the time of their lives. Poor poor man.

Boromir really is the bad guy in this musical, huh?

All the chest and head hand signs are so so sweet - touching you to me, sharing my mind and heart and soul. Elrond does it from his heart to Frodo’s heart, touching his chest and it’s just… so affectionate. The three hunters do the same to Boromir’s body, along with all their different prayer signs, and it makes me cry.

This time the flute music truly was menacing - Saruman’s evil grin held for a while before playing

Have some accidental floating hobbits for the intveral:

Act 2:

R’s favourite bit was Aragorn and Arwen, she kept talking about it!

Aragorn/Arwen’s duet ends very abruptly with lighting changes and Arwen disappearing to aragorn finishing last note kneeling alone surrounded by men. Yes. God. Dream sequences for the win.

Legolas leaps around and does not-quite-flips in his fighting, whereas Gimli is always on the ground

Legolas snogging his bow

Legolas always looks so... clinical, practiced when fighting

"Come back when you're sober" catty asshole

Wonder - bunch of men (including many principles in human gear) sit on the round. As Galadriel sings each "out of", another person gets up and stands before her, until Aragorn, sword held high, “WONDER” - really uplifting. I also really really love Aragorn’s little bit “day may end”, why isn’t it in the cast recording.

When Gollum climbs, it’s up the wall rather than the ladders like Sam and Frodo, and in act 2’s lighting you can’t even see the holds - very creepy

Shelob was actually fantastic when I was properly aware of her. Beautiful and creepy and so much going on.

Frodo and Gollum moving together and also SPEAKING together, when Gollum hears Sam say they'll destroy the ring

When Sam is convincing Frodo to get up so they can walk to mordor, he's reaching out to him, everyone comes on stage and reaches out to him, and he eventually manages to grab his hand

Sam yelling as he carries Frodo on his shoulders is spine-tingling again

Gollum's death, was, again, incredible

Sam and Frodo and Rosie standing together hugging as they wait for the wedding, making me awwww

Group Hobbit foot goodbye aaaaaaa

At the end as Frodo leaves, Gollum and then Bilbo play the tune accompanying him aaaaaa

Final observations:

Head holding situations:

Aragorn and Boromir practically in each others’ faces as he dies

Aragorn and Frodo practically kissing

Gimli and Legolas do this too!! After they’ve proposed!! The spotlight has gone to Aragorn but they’re holding each other in the darkness!

Funny hobbit versions:

Gollum x Aragorn Hobbit AU, 500k

Mrs. Bracegirdle is actually in the show! She’s Kelly!

Gollum is a Proudfoot. Need I say more.

Rosie is Scottish! How could I forget this!

After the show, I congratulated Rosie, Legolas, Haldir, Bilbo and Saruman! I passed on E’s praise of “gay supervillain audacity” and they laughed and said “well it’s hard to hide”. (Side note: they’re enby, of course this is why I find him so attractive)

And, finally, my favourite thing I noticed in the whole show:

For all of Act 2, Frodo's voice is tremulous, breathy and tired EXCEPT directly after Sam says “Well, there’s nothing we can do about that” (the elves leaving for the West).

“Yes we can.”

Completely normal voice. Terrifying.

#lotrm #tolkien #lotr musical #lord of the rings musical

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tanadrin · 1 year

Text

Timeline of the near-to-mid future

FTL and false Rare Earth hypothesis edition

50,000 YA: apparent emergence of “behavioral modernity” among humans

25,000 YA: Flourishing of the last common ancestor of the Delta Pavonis clade[1]

22,000 YA: Final breakup of the Delta Pavonis clade

13,000 YA: Settlement of Kraithong[2] by the ancient Chalawani

9,000 YA: Settlement of Tigurinus by the ancient Helvetosians

6,000 YA: Saffarid civilization creates the offshoot Titawinese civilization.[3]

3,000 YA: first urban human civilizations emerge in the Fertile Crescent

2,100 YA: Re-establishment of contact between the Helvetosians and Chalawani.

1684: Chalawani make first contact with the Titawinese.

1957: Launch of Sputnik 1; beginning of the First Space Race

1961: First human spaceflight

1969: First spaceflight landing on Earth’s moon

2043-2058: First crewed missions to Mars

2112: First commercial asteroid capture and mining missions; approximate beginning of the Second Space Race

2164: Permanent human presence established in the outer Solar System

2187: First colonization mission to another star launched, the Terranova expedition to Alpha Centauri. Contact lost two years later; crew presumed deceased.

2223: First successful colonization mission to another star launched; the Heilongjiang arrives in the Alpha Centauri system. The crew reports the first discovery of plant and animal life beyond the Solar System, putting the final nail in the coffin of the so-called Rare Earth hypothesis.

2256: Hsieh Hsiu-Ying, Marchioness of Shensi, develops the first faster-than-light drive. Her vessel, the Nomad, vanishes during the test, and is presumed destroyed for the next 98 years.

2263: Founding of the Renewalist movement in Indonesia

2297: Renewalist settlement of Mars

2335: Outbreak of the Solar Fitna.

2336: The Younger Nomad, designed on the same principles as Hsieh’s Nomad, is launched from Tarqeq under fire. Later that year, the Younger Nomad recovers the Nomad, and Hsieh’s remains, in orbit of Vega.

2357: Alamgir Thrice-Gloried marshals his forces for the final conquest of the Earth, intending to build an empire that spans the entire Solar System. On August 24th, the Younger Nomad returns at the head of an FTL fleet dispatched by Earth’s nearest colonies, credibly threatening to continue the war from outside the Solar System. Alamgir’s supporters desert him, and his coalition collapses. The Second Renaissance begins.

2371: The first FTL exploration ship, Earendil, is launched from the Solar System.

2374: Second Treaty of San Francisco officially ends the last unresolved conflicts of the Fitna; Part 2 of the Univeral Declaration of Human Rights promulgated; Control established as the universal enforcement body for human rights.

2383: The so-called Proxima Framework is established to govern interstellar relations between polities of the Solar System, the Alpha Centauri system, Barnard’s Star, Luhman 16, Wolf 359, and Luyten 726-8. If not dated from the events of 2357, or the launch of Earendil in 2371, the Third Space Race is generally reckoned to begin at about this date.

2481: Humans establish a permanent presence in the Groombridge 1618 system, including on the world later named Osmia; humans fail to recognize the native Osmians as fellow sentients, and cause severe damage to the planet’s environment as a byproduct of industrial activities, leading to the so-called Great Mistake.

2503: Recognition of Osmian sentience causes one of the first large-scale interventions by Control outside the Solar System. Osmia is evacuated of all human presence, and the first contact process begins.

2619: Survey ship Zakynthos encounters the Helvetosians in orbit of Dimidium (51 Pegasi b), marking first contact with an advanced alien civilization. Communication proves far more difficult than it was even with the Osmians, due to fundamental differences in human and Helvetosian language-processing and cognition.

2624: Helvetosians facilitate first contact with the Chalawani.

2670: Human first contact with the Titawinese.

2690-2720: Ongoing difficulties with diplomacy and communication, especially caused by the “Earth civilization” (as the alien polities tend to term it) being in a particularly expansionist phase, lead to discussions of a formal set of institutions through which to transact interstellar diplomacy. The particularly fragmentary nature of human politics stalls development of these institutions until the creation of the Teegarden System, which incorporates almost all large human polities, including those with interstellar capabilities.

2720-2717: Negotiations finally produce the so-called “Primary Accord,” a set of treaties which provides foundations for international, interspecies, and interstellar law; the humans of the Teegarden System, their Osmian clients, the Helvetosians, the Titawinese, and the Chalawani are the initial members. A small secessionist group of humans explicitly renounces the Accord, and departs for space beyond the Local Bubble.

2724-2733: The Machine War is waged among the artificial intelligences of Luhman 16 and nearby systems. Taking place primarily in brown dwarf star systems not desirable to other species, and for reasons which are deeply unclear (but ripe for speculation) to outside observers, the history of this war, including its causes and outcome, remains largely obscure. It seems to have been triggered in part by philosophical disagreements over the implications of the Primary Accord, though no faction which clearly opposes the Accord can be identified.

2730: An alliance of human, Helvetosian, and Titawinese scientific organizations found the Accord space exploration service, Frontier.

2780-2800: The process of political union in signatory worlds leads to the first informal references to the “Foundation,” a kind of supranational interstellar entity within an eclectic, harmonized legal framework. At first the term only covers certain core worlds with a high degree of participation in Accord institutions.

2801: The Sahul civilization joins the Accord. Their twin/cousin civilization, the Sunda, remain apart but on friendly terms.

2818: The Carcosan civilization joins the Accord.

2860: By this time, “the Foundation” is loosely synonymous with “Accord signatories,” though with an identifiable fringe of polities (not all of them physically remote from the core worlds of the Local Bubble) who participate less fully in Accord institutions.

2880-2890: Frontier reestablishes contact with the splinter human faction beyond the Local Bubble; though disunited, these groups all share a deep distrust of the Foundation, of the human worlds of the Teegarden System, and of Control. Owing to distance, contact remains intermittent for many years after.

2924: A large portion of the Elymite civilization joins the Accord.

2929: Political fallout from the Elymite accession sparks the Foundation-Sicani War, with the latter refusing to accept Elymite accession, regarding the Elymite worlds as permanently subordinate clients. The war concludes in 2933, only because the Sicani are no longer physically capable of prosecuting it, and the Foundation is unwilling to invade core Sicani worlds to force capitulation. Repeated minor conflicts flare up throughout the 30th century as a result of this war’s indecisive outcome.

2940: The DSEV Soliton is launched, the first of many multi-year missions of exploration of the further galaxy.

2950-3200: The First Golden Age of the Foundation. Many worlds join the Accord, including some fringe worlds of species already long represented in its ranks; major scientific advancements greatly improve lifespans and standards of living across the entire Foundation, and hundreds of new worlds are terraformed and colonized. In the 3100s, Control attempts to infiltrate some of the fringe human worlds beyond the Local Bubble, both as an exercise in intelligence gathering and in an attempt to restrain what they see as increasingly dangerous and militaristic/authoritarian behavior in those worlds’ governments. This infiltration largely fails, but what information is gathered is greatly disturbing to Foundation leadership.

3250-3275: Philosophical and artistic confllicts cause a major political shift within the Titawinese; polities representing more than 85% of the Titawinese population abruptly secede from the Foundation, and the Titawinese Civil War breaks out as a result. Although the Foundation is officially neutral, minor outbreaks of violence occur within Foundation jurisdiction, especially in those Titawinese polities which remain members. Despite efforts at mediation, the war becomes increasingly bloody, and billions of Titawinese are killed, with billions more becoming refugees. Ultimately, a large fraction of the Titawinese flee the Local Sector, and the remaining survivors gradually rejoin the Foundation. Never the most numerous species, the numbers of the Titawinese on Foundation worlds are considerably reduced.

3291-3318: Renewed attempts at infiltration by Control trigger small-scale armed conflict with the outlander worlds; several major human polities escalate these conflicts, determined to rein in the tyrannical and inhumane practices which flourish on planets beyond Control’s reach. In this, they are only weakly successful; ultimately, however, they only drive further militarization of the outlander worlds.

3325: In retaliation, an outlander faction launches a relativistic weapon that destroys the core world of Kildara. Six billion are killed immediately; millions more in the star system die in the aftermath, as relief efforts are insufficient to supply populations on the outer planets. The Foundation is deeply split on the response; finally, a separate coalition launches a punitive expedition against the outlander polities deemed most responsible for the attack. The Kildaran Expedition lasts until 3348, and while it easily occupies over a dozen outlander worlds, they return quickly to the political status quo when it departs.

3350-3450: A quiescent period within the Foundation itself; at the edges, private exploratory and colonization efforts greatly expand the limits of known space.

3461: A hegemonizing swarm centered on Rastaban (β Draconis), modeled on ancient feudal empires, arises in the outlander worlds spinward of the Local Bubble. The Foundation declines to intervene.

3485: The Rastaban empire, a human supremacist state now incorporating many worlds and other species (including Titawinese who fled the Bubble in the 33rd century) launches a major invasion of the outer Foundation worlds. This attack takes the Foundation by surprise, and marks the beginning of a long and highly destructive war.

3534: The Fifty Years’ War concludes with the final dissolution of the Rastaban empire. Many former Foundation worlds who felt insufficiently defended during the war (human and non-human alike) break away to form the Thalian Alliance, a smaller and more centralized union that maintains a permanent space navy. From this period on, the Foundation does not ever contain more than a plurality of the human or human-descended population.

3550-3950: The Grand Expansion, sometimes called the Fourth Space Race. The Local Bubble civilizations continue to explore and settle the nearby galaxy; in this time, more than thirty separate worlds or civilizations join the Foundation.

5th millennium: This period is, broadly, one of increasing localism; although formally united, the Foundation now encompasses many hundreds of star systems, and the limitations on warp drive speeds, and consequently both travel and communications, means that distant regions of the Foundation have little or nothing to do with one another. Crises, both internal and external, are now dealt with by smaller coalitions of worlds, at first on an ad-hoc basis; later, they are formally recognized. Lifespans for most species, at least, are very long, and people remain strongly attached to the idea of the Foundation, even if in practical terms it is increasingly seen to be more a symbolic association than anything else. As local coalitions take institutional precedence, even formal membership for colonies or newly-contacted worlds comes to be seen as superfluous.

6th millennium: Localism soon gives way to fragmentation; ideological divergence between different groups within the Foundation paralyzes its formal institutions. Vast sections of the Foundation secede--not so much by formal declaration, as by simply ceasing to consider themselves part of the organization. Yet on the ancient core worlds, like Earth and Tigurinus, you would hardly know that this is any kind of age of collapse: these planets are still impossibly prosperous by our own standards, and have a strong sense of unity with one another.

Late 6th millennium and 7th millennium: A major period of renewal. A new, leaner Foundation--now simply terming itself the Core--emerges from the sclerotic husk of the old one. The Core is a little more high-handed in its dealings with surrounding polities, but at the same time, its relative position is weaker: there are now dozens of interstellar polities as wealthy and populous as it, with histories nearly as long. The Core has, like its neighbors, thoroughly streamlined its organizational structures--the administrative borders of Earth would be unrecognizable to us now, but not because of wars or revolutions, but because all the old nation-states and supranational unions have mostly withered away. Successive centuries of legal reforms mean that many old foundational treaties and organizations, like the UN, the Teegarden System, or the Archipelago Treaty are no longer in force, but they are remembered as important historical predecessors of the current system, both in the Core, and among its siblings. Breakthroughs in warp drive technology drastically contract interstellar distances once again.

8th millennium: The Core now controls outposts as far as five thousand light-years away; the furthest human worlds are well beyond even this frontier. Long lifespans and fast warp drives mean exploratory missions to nearby dwarf galaxies are a possibility, but more than 95% of the Milky Way remains unsurveyed by most estimates. Interstellar warfare is still rare, but not unheard of--and when it does occur, it can be devastating. Planet-killers are a reliable way to get every polity that knows you exist to declare war on you instantly, but major conflicts can easily kill millions even without such weapons.

9th millennium: By this point, old distinctions of species have begun to seem rather antiquated: ultra-advanced biomedical technology and mind uploading technology means even the biological/mechanical distinction is pretty flexible. There are synthetic sophonts who can credibly claim to be equal parts human and Chalawani, despite their totally incompatible physiologies (they don’t even use the same genetic molecule); at the same time, pinning down a definition of “human,” given the dizzying array of descendants of that clade, would be pretty difficult. The span of lifestyle for individuals within the Core ranges from modosophonts who live much as you or I do, to sprawling collective intelligences or artificial superminds. By the close of this period, even the Core is not really a thing anymore (it had a good run--almost three thousand years). Archailects with even a passing interest in economics and sociology can help any society self-organize into a post-scarcity utopia. On the distant frontier, things might be different, but if you are strolling through the shining cities of Earth, that might as well be another universe.

[1] Delta Pavonis d was home to an advanced technological civilization (fl. 15,000-12,000 YBP) ancestral to both the Helvetosians (aka the Dimidians or Pegasids) and the Chalawani (aka Taphaon), as well as several other minor civilizations in the Local Bubble. But the so-called Delta Pavonis clade, named for this star system, encompasses a much broader category of civilizations, including the Delta Pavonis d civilization, the Helvetosians, the Chalawani, several civilizations well outside the Local Bubble, and their last common ancestor. The ultimate origin of the Delta Pavonis clade lies at least a thousand light-years away, in the direction of the constellation Taurus.

[2] Kraithong, like Tigurinus, is a human coinage, in this case a name derived from the same folklore that furnished the name of Chalawan (47 Ursae Majoris). Helvetosian and Chalawani vocal tracts do not resemble the human vocal tract, and the native names of these planets cannot be adequately transcribed using any human writing system.

[3] Note that alien civilizations have historically been named for the location of first contact, not their planet of origin or their name for themselves, which may not be ascertained for some time. The Titawinese or Samhese are indeed native to the Titawin system, though, originating on the moons around the second planet (catalogued on Earth as Samh, or υ Andromedae c). Their progenitors, the Saffarids, are named for the spectacular ruins they left in orbit of Saffar (υ Andromedae b)

#tanadrin's fiction #gratuitous worldbuilding for #tjungdiawan's historical reader

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