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douglysium · 6 months

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Grand Lancer Candidate: Shaka Zulu (Full Profile)

*Note that all information in this profile is subject to change at any time.

Class: Lancer

True Name: King Shaka Sigidi kaSenzangakhona

Nickname: Shaka Zulu, Shaka, King Shaka, Sigidi kaSenzangakhona(Birth Name), King of the Zulu, King of Zululand, Founder of Zululand, Nodumehlezi(the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble), King of Conquerors, Horned King, King of Strategy, Grand Lancer Candidate, GLC, Mad King

Characteristics

Species: Servant, Heroic Spirit, Human

Gender: Male

Height: 177.8cm or 5ft 10in

Weight: 66 kg or 146 lbs

Blood Type: Unknown

Place of Origin: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Birthday: July 1787

Age: 41

Personal Information

Addresses self as: Watashi / Watakushi / Boku / Ore

Likes: Family, Friends, Witty banter, Politicking, Talking, Beetles, Strategizing, Marching, Comedy

Dislikes: Loved ones getting hurt, Loved ones dying, People who don’t listen, People who don’t use their head, People who let their emotions control them, The Berserker Class

Talents: Planning, Fighting, Talking, Making good arguments, Improving Tactics, Improvising, Solving Puzzles, Drawing maps/strategies in the dirt or sand

Natural Enemy: Zwide kaLanga, Gilgamesh(Archer), Shaka Zulu(Berserker), Shaka Zulu(Avenger)

Image Color: Black, White, and Red

Affiliations

Zulu Kingdom/Zululand

Family Members

Nandi(Mother)

Senzangakhona kaJama(Father)

Sigujana kaSezangakhona(Half-Brother)

Dingane(Half-Brother)

Mhlangana(Half-Brother)

Nomcoba kaSenzangakhona(Half-Sister)

Dabulamanzi kaMpande(Half-Nephew)

Various Aunts

Various Uncles

Servant Stats

Type: Heroic Spirit

Source: Historical Fact

Region: South Africa

Alignment: Chaotic Good(Chaotic Neutral when under the effects of Madness Enhancement)

Hidden Attribute: Man

Armaments: Spear and Shield

Known Summoning Catalysts: A piece of his shield, The tip of one of his spears, A vial of some mud mixed with his blood, A small rock with some of his blood on it

Qualified Servant Classes

Lancer

As a Lancer he definitely takes on a more heroic and idealized form. He considered his Lancer and Shielder forms to be the most ideal forms to take and he is greatly displeased with his Berserker and Avenger forms. He is also a Grand Lancer candidate. Interestingly his parameters drop whenever he is attacking and rise whenever he is defending or retreating.

“By the way, I AM a Grand Lancer Candidate so I think it’s fitting that I be referred to as such... Hmmm, you’re right, that is a bit long. Alright, alright, you can just call me “GLC” instead my friend. It’s even shorter than “Lancer” and it’s very helpful to use in the midst of a battle where every second matters.”

Berserker

“Why would you want to summon me in a form that can barely talk my friend!”

As a Berserker, he dual-wields his iconic spear in one hand and a club in the other. Noticeably his famous spear is covered up to the handle in blood. All the stories of the fear and violence he has caused have furthered amped up his Madness Enhancement and exaggerated his Berserker form. Blood constantly drips from tears created in his skin created by muscles too strong and big for his body to contain and one can see veins bulge and pulsate from under his skin. Shaka doesn’t think it’s a good idea to summon him as a Berserker and finds a form in which he is affected so strongly by the Madness Enhancement skill to be shameful. However, this Berserker form seems to calm down if he encounters someone who reminds him of his mother and/or Dingiswayo, or if he is sure that those he cares about are safe and alive. When summoned this form will usually immediately go on a rampage if summoned in modern day due to realizing everyone he cares about has since died. As a Berserker, he is surprisingly capable of speech but can only use it to launch jeering and scathing insults to whoever he is talking to. Even his compliments are backhanded insults. He has a Noble Phantasm that shakes and disrupts the very earth itself. Unlike his Lancer or Shielder counterparts his parameters actually rise when he is attacking and lower when he is on the defensive or retreating.

Avenger

Shaka is ashamed of his Avenger form and feels like it only highlights the flaws that led to his downfall. As an Avenger he is capable of absorbing both mental and physical pain in order to unleash it as a large-scale attack. He also inflicts a curse Noble Phantasm on anyone who killed him upon his death. When activating one of his Noble Phantasms he will say “If the world wishes to take away my mother then I will show the world pain in equal measure.” Similar to his Berserker form, veins can be seen bulging and pulsating from under his skin. Unlike his Lancer or Shielder counterparts his parameters actually rise when he is attacking and lower when he is on the defensive or retreating.

Shielder

When summoned as a Lancer or Shielder class servant he is at his most heroic and resembles the wise king he was, and potentially could have continued being. They are also what he considers to be his most comfortable forms and he takes great pride in them. One of his Noble Phantasms as a Shielder involves summoning a council of his most trusted aunts, and he has a special skill that increases the speed and agility of all his allies. Similar to his Lancer counterpart his parameters rise when defending or retreating and lower when attacking.

Parameters

Strength: C - B

Endurance: B - A

Agility: C - B

Mana: D - C

Luck: C - B

NP: A++

Interestingly, his parameters fluctuate depending on whether he is defending, dodging, and/or retreating or not. They increase when he is on the defensive or retreating and decrease when he is attacking. He uses this to his advantage by throwing his opponents off via his parameters rapidly rising and falling during a fight. This can make his effectiveness, movements, approach, and strength fluctuate wildly in a battle as he constantly switches from defense to offense. It is possible to lock his parameters in their higher or lower state through the use of a command seal for a short period of time.

His luck is increased by one rank as long as he holds his signature shield.

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: C+

Cancels spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.

The effectiveness of the skill is increased considerably while he is defending. He uses this in tandem with his fluctuating parameters to great effect. It should also be noted that his shield is capable of blocking even A-ranked magical attacks and his Magic Resistance is increased by one rank as long as he is holding it.

Personal Skills

Charisma: B++

Having a B Rank in this Skill is sufficient to lead a nation as its King/Queen. The morale of the military forces they command is extremely high. It also allows the user to negate the Emergency Prerogative skill of enemies.

In Shaka Zulu’s case, as a Lancer or Shielder, it becomes more effective when talking and planning defensive strategies or retreats.

Imperial Privilege: B+

An ability that, due to the insistence of the owner, skills that are essentially impossible to possess can be obtained for a short period of time. In cases when the Rank is А or above, even the "burden to the body" can be acquired(such as Divinity).

As someone who is considered the founder of the Zulu empire and an important figure of royalty, he has been granted Imperial Privilege. He uses the ability in order to gain access to one of any number of skills that include Protection from Arrows, Bullet Proof Treatment, Battle Continuation, Unimpeded Movement, Reduced Earth, Disengage, Valor, and even Madness Enhancement.

GLC does not have absolute control over this skill as there is a chance of his Madness Enhancement automatically being called upon via Imperial Privilege when hit by a mental attack or if his emotions overwhelm him enough. It seems to function like some sort of intentional mental or emotional self-defense

He uses Protection from Arrows and Bullet Proof Treatment to help counter projectile weapons(usually while he’s trying to rush an opponent), Battle Continuation to help survive great wounds or continue fighting/talking for a bit longer, Unimpeded Movement to help cross dangerous, hazardous or unorthodox terrain, Reduced Earth to pursue enemies or move far distances, Disengage allows him to retreat and potentially lure enemies into traps, he often takes advantage of the Valor skill to increase the effectiveness of his melee attacks in order to finish off or overwhelm close-ranged opponents, and Madness Enhancement to boost his Strength, Agility and Endurance parameters by one rank while also making his reflexes and instincts even quicker and more refined. Although, the Madness Enhancement decreases his Luck stat by one rank and he tends to only use it in desperate situations when there are no other options because he doesn’t like how it messes with his head and clouds his thoughts. He goes completely quiet when his Madness Enhancement has been activated.

Sometimes he will witness something that will cause him to get a “flash of inspiration” and unlock a new skill for his Imperial Privilege arsenal while on the fly. This can only happen if he witnesses a skill before hand and, with Imperial Privilege, he can learn or replicate it.

Unimpeded Movement is a skill that lowers the effectiveness of mobility and movement debuffs on the user. Allowing the user to continue to move as fast as possible across all types of terrain while also making it harder to slow them down.

Proof of Friendship: D+

A skill that suppresses an enemy servant's fighting spirit to a certain extent, where then a dialogue can begin. However, the enemy servant must not possess the Mental Pollution skill. In regard to a Holy Grail War, an advantageous check can be obtained when constructing temporary alliances.

He is someone who prefers diplomacy when possible but is not afraid to use threats or blackmail. This skill gains a boost if his dialogue or actions strike fear into the enemy.

Mana Defense: B--

Is a Skill of the same type as Mana Burst, where the user transforms magical energy into a defensive ability.

In Shaka’s case, it is extremely mana intensive. This means he needs a lot of magical energy to use it properly. Thus, he usually ends up barely using it unless he has enough energy or absolutely needs to. However, at its strongest, it can allow him to protect an entire army. The skill is much more stable in his Shielder form.

Military Tactics: B++

It’s a skill for tactical knowledge used not for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles where many are mobilized. Bonus modifiers are provided during the use of one's own Anti-Army Noble Phantasm or when dealing with an enemy Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.

He gained this skill from the many victories he led his troops to. In the case of his Lancer form, the skill receives a significant boost when taking defensive formations or retreating. However, if he was summoned as a Berserker the opposite would be true.

Strategy: A

Is the ability to seize things in the broader perspective, such as diplomacy and logistics in order to decide victory before the fighting even begins.

Whether inventing new tactics, improving old ones, or engaging in diplomacy and logistics, Shaka's prowess for planning and strategy, for better or worse, cannot be denied. He often uses this skill along with his Proof of Friendship skill when talking in order to try to help persuade targets.

Mind’s Eye(True): B+

Capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deducing an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament.

Of course, someone with so many combat strategies and tricks up their sleeves has at least a couple of ways to get out of a hairy situation. Its effectiveness increases when he is defending or when he is traversing across the terrain in order to retreat or reach a target.

Shaka has a habit of saying the name of the skill he is actively using out loud when able. He claims it helps strike fear into his enemies while also hyping up both him, his troops, and anybody who may be watching. He does not do this for passive skills or skills that are always active at all times.

“HAHAHA!! I suppose they kind of do sound like cool special moves now don’t they? I mean when you think about it servants always run around yelling the names of their Noble Phantasms too so how is this any different?”

Noble Phantasms

Isihlangu: Brush My Enemies Aside- C+(Anti-Unit), Maximum Number of targets 1-5

King Shaka’s famous shield of choice, and one that was heavily incorporated into his battle strategies and the combat styles of both himself and his armies. In appearance, it is a massive cowhide shield that stands around 1.5 meters(or 5 feet) tall. It was to be held in the left hand and the king would have his warriors use it offensively by hooking the opponent’s shield and pulling it to the side in order to create an opening in the enemy’s defenses during hand-to-hand or close combat engagements. It was also capable of deflecting the spears and arrows of their enemies and, as such, it is a Noble Phantasm that gains a bonus when defending against projectiles and spears. It can also be used to temporarily disarm enemy servants of any weapons that make contact with the shield. Any weapon or equipment that has a lower rank than that of Isihlangu will be sealed for 1 minute if they are disarmed this way. The shield also has a Magic Resistance equivalent to that of A-Rank and it raises Shaka’s luck by one rank as long as he is holding it.

By releasing the Noble Phantasm’s True Name he is capable of exaggerating the concept of hooking an opponent's shield to create a concussive blast that stuns any opponent caught in its range, allowing him to score in a free hit or two. The limitation is that some part of the target has to make physical contact with the shield. Any projectiles or spears that are a lower rank than Isihlangu will be reflected when hit by this and any projectile with a rank higher than Isihlangu will have their rank dropped by one during the duration of the assault along with suffering a decrease in their damage output and effectiveness.

The shield does have a limit to what it can block though. As anything with a high enough rank can pierce through its defenses. Shaka is capable of using the shield in combination with Protection from Arrows or Bulletproof Treatment in order to slow down even legendary projectiles such as Gae Bolg to a point where he can catch them or at least survive one hit from them.

“FWHAHA!!! It’s as people these days say. A good defense is the best offense, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Let me show you why you shouldn’t go around throwing weapons so carelessly my friend, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Oi, Looks like you stepped a liiiiitle too close my friend, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Hiding behind weapons and shields isn’t going to save you, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Did you really think you could hit me with such an unwieldy weapon? ISIHLANGU!!!”

Ikwa: The Sound of Flowing Bloodshed- C+(Anti-Unit), Maximum Number of targets- 1

King Shaka revolutionized combat by ditching the throwing spears that were commonly used at the time for the Ikwa/Iklwa, a short 3ft iron-tipped spear made for close-quarters combat. He had his soldiers use these weapons and forbade them from throwing them, as there was a high likelihood an enemy could just pick them up and use them against the previous wielder and or their allies if the spears missed or were blocked.

As a Noble Phantasm, it is meant for close quarters combat and by releasing its True Name anyone stabbed by the spear will be inflicted with a curse that causes constant bleeding and a “mana leak” once the spear is pulled out of their body. As the spear is being pulled out it creates an audible sound and a brief but violent spray of blood and magical energy. This is all to say that when the spear is pulled out of an opponent their blood will not clot and both blood and precious magical energy continue to leak out of the wound until the inflicted either die from blood loss for as long as the spear’s True Name is released. This means that the curse will stop once Shaka deactivates the true name or when he dies. Wounds inflicted by the Noble Phantasm can be healed by magecraft or magic but even if the wound is instantly healed the victim suffers from losing a large amount of blood and magical energy.

While the True Name is released the spear emits a blood-red mist that smells metallic, and releasing the True Name while the spear is impaled within a living thing or is being pulled out of it will still inflict the target with its full effects. This allows Shaka to throw opponents off during combat by activating the Noble Phantasm later than expected. If the target has no blood only mana will leak from their wound.

“Oi, Looks like you stepped a liiiiitle too close my friend, IKWA!!!”

“Don’t worry my friend, this will only tear you to shreds, IKWA!!!”

“You shouldn’t have turned your back towards me, IKWA!!!”

Izimpondo Zenyathi: An Army That’s as Deadly as a Buffalo’s Horns- A++(Anti-Army), Maximum Number of Targets- 1000

In the same way that Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi can be described as the actualization of Iskandar's commanding abilities and his kingship, this Noble Phantasm can be described as an actualization of Shaka’s battle prowess and revolutionary war tactics into a Reality Marble. The Noble Phantasm recreates Shaka’s famous “Buffalo Horns” formation. A strategy that split soldiers into three categories. The “horns”(made up of younger troops meant to encircle and pin enemies), the “chest”(made up of the best and strongest fighters to act as the main force), and the “loins”(acting reserves/backup that were made up of older and more experienced fighters). The loins would sometimes have their backs facing the battle until it was their turn for combat in order to ensure that they wouldn’t get too nervous and charge into battle too early or run away.

The activation of the Noble Phantasm is a bit literal. Shaka takes a spear or club and when he declares the true name of this Noble Phantasm two massive horns erupt from either side of the weapon’s head while the tip elongates into a sharp point. Once all three of these points hit something the Reality Marble will activate. Ideally, these “horns” and spearhead strike an enemy in order to deal extra damage or catch a target off guard, but it can be used on things like objects or the environment in order to activate the Noble Phantasm without having to get too up close and personal with the opponent. The Noble Phantasm is based around Shaka Zulu’s own deeds and exploits so it isn’t tied to a specific spear or club. What matters is that Shaka Zulu is the one wielding said weapon.

The space within the Reality Marble is that of a large sprawling and completely flat plains/savannah with the sole exception of a tall plateau Shaka is positioned on so that he may give orders to his troops and oversee the battle, but he is capable of leaving the plateau at any time in order to join the battle if necessary. In the Reality Marble, his voice echoes all throughout it and his Charisma skill is increased by one rank. All troops have troops have an E-ranked independent action while in the Reality marble

The troops within the Reality Marble have different qualities depending on what part of the formation they are a part of. The horns(which are summoned on either side of the opponent) are made up of the youngest troops and they have an E Rank in all their stats with the exception of their speed stat, which is D Rank. Some soldiers in the horns wield Iklwa spears while others wield weapons such as clubs. They all wield shields that are black in color.

The troops that make up the chest tend to be the strongest and/or most talented warriors. They have E Rank parameters across the board but make up for this by having access to an E-Ranked version of Shaka’s Iklwa and Isihlangu Noble Phantasms.

The final group of soldiers is the one that makes up the loins of this formation. They are reserve veteran soldiers. Within his Noble Phantasm, they start with their backs facing the enemy and they all have a low ranking Madness Enhancement that makes them more aggressive and gives them a D-rank in their Strength, Endurance, and Agility. While within the Reality Marble all his troops gain a low ranking Independent Action.

The Reality Marble has some interesting attributes. First of all, anybody within it can simply walk out of it if they manage to reach the marble’s borders, but doing so will cause all their parameters to temporarily drop by one rank. The marble is also in a constant state of shrinking, and the border is guarded by soldiers in a defensive formation who move with the ever-encroaching border and attack any enemy that gets too close to them. If one found themselves caught at the point in which the Reality Marble completely shrinks into a single point they will become impaled and beaten with a countless number of spears, shields, and clubs and will have all their parameters drop by one rank. Their parameters will remain lowered until Shaka dies.

Both the shrinking aspect of the Noble Phantasm and the ability to simply walk out of it is a representation of the documentation and legends of the many people who went through great lengths to flee from and avoid his encroaching armies and conquests.

He can summon his soldiers outside the Reality Marble but he cannot summon more than four at a time(one from each section of his formation), and they lack Independent Action so they have a high amount of mana consumption. This usually limits him to only one or two at a time. He is capable of summoning them very quickly and utilizing them for sudden maneuvers, defenses, and attacks. They can only be summoned within arms reach of him however outside of the Reality Marble. Similar to Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi, all the spirits from Izimpondo Zenyathi are masterless servants.

If Shaka ever found himself in South Africa during a Holy Grail War his Izimpondo Zenyathi would be elevated to EX-rank and it could easily go toe to toe with Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi.

Despite the rank of this Noble Phantasm, it is completely outclassed by Noble Phantasms such as Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory.

“YOU MESS WITH SHAKA ZULU YOU GET THE HORNS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, MY ARMY WILL PIERCE YOU WITH THE FORCE OF 100 HORNS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, RUN IF YOU CAN, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, RUN ALL YOU WANT, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE FOREVER, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“LET ME SHOW YOU THE STRATEGY OF A GENIUS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“LET’S SEE YOU TRY TO ESCAPE THIS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“IT’S TOO LATE FOR YOU TO RUN NOW, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“THIS IS GOING TO BE MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN ANY HORNED BEAST YOU’VE EVER SEEN, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI, FWAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Misc

He wears the clothes of a Zulu warrior and has very tough feet. His kicks can be very devastating because of their toughness and the infamous stories in regard to his training.

He almost always walks around barefoot. On the rare occasions in which he does wear shoes his agility parameter drops by 2 ranks.

He incorporates a lot of talking and diplomacy into his fighting style and will constantly try to distract or tide the opponent over with conversations and insults while fighting.

He can recognize virtually any kind of beetle species based on sight alone, whether they be normal animals or magical creatures. He is also very knowledgeable about beetle anatomy.

Background

Shaka was the illegitimate son of Zulu chief Senzangakhona, someone that ruled over a very small chiefdom. Due to bearing a child from a forbidden relationship, Shaka’s mother(Nandi) lied for as long as possible in order to avoid being caught having a child outside of a proper relationship. She claimed that her supposedly pregnant appearance was actually an intestinal condition caused by an Ishaka beetle. Senzangakhona attempted to deny any connection to the illegitimate pregnancy and his involvement with Nandi but he eventually pitied them enough to make Nandi his third wife. Shaka was born in the lunar month of uNtulikazi(sometime in July) in the year 1787 near the present-day Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal Province, and at the time the Zulu kingdom was still but a small chiefdom. The marriage between chief Senzangakhona and Nandi would not last, forcing her and her son to seek sanctuary in other places. Thus, Shaka spent a lot of his childhood in his mother’s settlements. Proud of his heritage he would tell other kids about his relation to a famous chief by the name of Senzangakhona. However, very few of the other kids believed him and he was often bullied because of these seemingly outlandish claims.

Eventually, Shaka and Nandi would be taken in by one of Nandi’s aunts and would live with the Mthethwa people. He grew up in proximity to a man named Dingiswayo who welcomed with open arms and treated him with great kindness. As he continued to grow it became clear that he had the makings to become a powerful, skilled, and courageous warrior. These attributes inevitably caught Dingiswayo’s eye while Shaka fought within an impi(a type of army) under the command of Dingiswayo. Dingiswayo was greatly impressed by Shaka’s prowess and elevated Shaka’s rank at an early age, making Shaka a commander of his own regiment at some point. These great feats and skills in combat would lead to the creation of one of Shaka’s more famous nicknames, Nodumehlezi(the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble). While within the Mthethwa army, Shaka became increasingly enamored with strategy, battle tactics, and problem-solving. Dingiswayo continued to teach Shaka and help him grow, allowing him to gain even more accomplishments in battle. While under the command of Dingiswayo he found that taking off his sandals and fighting barefoot helped him maneuver better when in battle. He decided to walk around barefoot in order to toughen his feet, something that he would later make his own soldiers do.

Shaka’s father, Senzangakhona, died in 1816, and Sigujana(Shaka’s half-brother) took the throne as the legitimate heir to the Zulu chiefdom. Shortly after this Dingiswayo grew anxious and, in a move to make sure he kept his political authority secure, lent Shaka a regiment so that he would be able to defeat Sigujana and ascend to the throne. This led to a relatively bloodless coup that led to Shaka becoming chief of the Zulu clan. Although, even with his new title and power he remained a vassal of the Mthethwa empire out of loyalty to the dear friend and mentor that was Dingiswayo. As Shaka’s political power continued to grow he was able to spread his thoughts and ideals with ease while continuing to expand his territory through a combined method of attacking quickly and overwhelming foes with military might and utilizing a surprising amount of diplomacy, patronage, and politics. He found a way to get chieftains, such as Zihlandlo of the Mkhize, Jobe of the Sithole, Mathubane of the Thuli, and others, to join him without having to conquer them in battle. He also revolutionized combat by having his soldiers use the Iklwa and focusing more on close-quarters combat along with the creation of his famous “Buffalo horns” formation.

Disaster eventually struck when, a year later, Dingiswayo was caught off guard by an attack led by Zwide kaLanga, the powerful chief of the Ndwandwe nation, and was subsequently defeated and beheaded. Enemies, and later white settlers, attempted to tarnish Shaka’s public image by spreading rumors and propaganda that he had purposefully let Dingiswayo die by withholding reinforcements or even outright betraying him. However, Shaka was filled with an indescribable rage at the death of what he considered to be not just an amazing teacher but also like family. He vowed to get revenge on Zwide through almost any means necessary.

Dingiswayo’s defeat caused the Mthethwa forces to become scattered and led to the creation of a power vacuum due to the empire that he once led collapsing. A vacuum that Shaka readily filled before using the power he gained from it to reform and gather the remnants of the Mthethwa along with other regional tribes he conquered or allied with in order to create a force to defeat Zwide. During their first clash Zwide barely managed to escape and Shaka came across Zwide’s mother, Ntombazi, who was also a sangoma(a type of healer). As he attempted to use her to find about Zwide’s whereabouts or as bait to get Zwide to return and fight him he came across a strange number of skulls collected by Ntombazi and, upon recognizing one of the skulls as that of Dingiswayo’s, Shaka flew into a rage and decided to get some amount of vindication on Zwide by trapping Ntombazi in her own house and placing wild animals inside it to devour her. After her death, he burned the house down along with her collection of skulls.

Zwide eventually knew that he would have to defeat his biggest rival and threat if he wished to have any chance at both surviving the conflict and allowing his kingdom to flourish successfully so he launched an attack on the Zulu Empire. Shaka would eventually defeat Zwide’s forces by having his own troops feign a retreat in order to lead Zwide’s army into a trap deep within Zulu territory before striking and defeating his forces at the cost of sustaining heavy casualties. One such death was that of the current head military commander at the time Umgobhozi Ovela Entabeni. Zwide managed to barely escape once again and ran from the encroaching Zulu. In another attempt to draw Zwide back to fight him, Shaka tried to wipe out as much of what Zwide cared about as possible. Threatening to destroy everything Zwide cared about. His anger would eventually subside somewhat with time and he would begin to feel that he had achieved justice for his dear friend Dingiswayo. Although, he felt that Zwide being forced to spend the rest of his life running from Shaka was a fitting enough punishment. Eventually, Zwide would die from mysterious circumstances sometime in 1825. Part of the main Ndwandwe forces fled and he eventually encountered these forces and managed to get the majority of them to yield and join him. He continued to train the soldiers he recruited in his methods of combat.

His reign lasted ten more years after he had defeated the Ndwandwe. During which he continued to expand his territory. He offered chiefdoms he encountered the choice of submitting and allying with him or potentially being conquered by force if they were not forced to flee from an assault by Shaka. He left local administrations in the hands of the reigning chiefs or members of the traditional ruling family that he had appointed. He would also allow soldiers who no longer served in the army to return to their original community, so the identity of each individual community was not completely lost due to conformity within Shaka’s empire. Each settlement of his contained a section of royal women that were usually headed by the most formidable of women. These women would typically be one of Shaka’s many aunts. This, along with him not wanting to produce a legitimate heir, led to his households being dominated by stern older women of the royal family. Whenever he was absent both a female ruler of the settlement and an induna(an advisor, commander, and/or mediator) would wield administrative authority together.

Despite some of his more militaristic methods, Shaka ultimately preferred diplomacy over fighting and would try to talk things out whenever possible. He would almost always give opposing tribes a chance to join him without any conflict but if they refused he would often conquer and/or destroy them with unyielding force.

In 1824 the first white traders arrived at Port Natal, and at this point Shaka was in control of a wide-spanning monarchy. Upon meeting them he sent a goodwill delegation, engaged in diplomacy, and was extremely curious about the technology, and machinery of these visitors. He would go out of his way to view and analyze the various demonstrations of European technology and knowledge. One of these many demonstrations included the showing off of a weapon called the gun. However, after analyzing it, disassembling it, and reassembling it he came to the conclusion that the technology was not yet refined enough and it took too long to fire and reload in the combat of that age. He stated that his forces could beat opponents wielding those rudimentary guns by using the proper tactics and rushing them fast enough with a large enough number of men. It is important to remember that Shaka had a point as these were really early guns and not modern guns that could be fired much more quickly and more accurately. He continued to be interested in the culture of the visitors and the possible benefits he could gain via trade and diplomacy with them and Europe. Shaka would eventually give them land and permitted them to build a settlement at Port Natal, but he remained vigilant and wary of their ulterior motives. He wanted to be closer and more accessible to his potential allies or foes at Port Natal while also keeping a close eye on them so he decided to build a military barrack at Dukuza. He did not want to fight them unless he absolutely had to so he treated them very nicely and did what he could to prevent any conflicts from being encouraged between the visitors and his people.

Sometime in October 1827 his mother, Nandi, died. This filled him with emotion and the fact that it reminded him of his feeling of helplessness when Dingiswayo was killed only exacerbated these emotions and clouded his judgment, causing his behavior to become erratic and increasingly violent. He started forcing his entire kingdom to mourn his mother’s death and if he caught anyone showing insufficient grief he would put them to death. He also went as far as to have the mothers of calves killed so that both the calves and the people who witnessed it could know the pain he felt. In a bought of madness, he even went as far as to order that no crops be planted, no milk be used, any woman that became pregnant during this time would be executed alongside her husband and he pushed his military far beyond what was normal in increasingly violent military campaigns. Some rumors say that this was another one of his cunning plans in order to kill political opponents or to get back at those who bullied him in his childhood. However, it was still clear that he was lashing out even at people who didn’t harm him and that he was not in his right mind. A Zulu man by the name of Gala eventually had enough of this madness and during a meeting stood up and objected to Shaka’s outlandish measures. Saying “Nandi was not the first person to die in Zululand!!!” as he berated him. Shaka was at a loss for words but after having some time to think and being reminded of both his younger self and purpose by Gala’s outburst he called off his self-destructive orders and rewarded Gala with cattle.

However, he acted too slowly and his mistakes were beyond the point of being overlooked or forgiven by most of the people within his kingdom. He had no way of bringing back the people he had killed or making it up to the people he had hurt. In 1828, while Shaka’s forces were absent and he lacked guards around the area he was assassinated by his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana. They had received support from some other chiefdoms who had all become dissatisfied and horrified by Shaka’s previous actions and, while an iNduna by the name of Mbopa created a distraction, they attacked him. As the king bled out he gave Dingane two warnings. The first thing Shaka said was “Brother are you stabbing me, kings of the earth thinking you will rule? The swallows will do that!!!” as a warning to Dingane and his people about the European colonizers and their malicious intentions and his final words were “You will come to an end through killing one another.” A warning that would ring true when Dingane took the throne and attempted to remove those who were loyal to Shaka before getting involved in a civil war and getting overthrown after 12 years of ruling by his other half-brother. After the assassination, Mbopa, Dingane, and Mhlangana quickly buried Shaka’s body in an empty grain pit and covered it with rocks and mud.

Whether lionized or demonized, whether loved or feared, it is undeniable that he changed the course of history and his combat prowess and strategy were top-tier as well as his immense foresight and long term planning abilities. The ambiguity and contradicting details of his story as someone who ends up embodying aspects of hope and genius as well as violence and fear add to his level of mystery. The stories of him being a great and noble hero and a brutal tyrant mix together to create a servant that, as a Lance or Shielder, is the ideal ally and worst enemy on the battlefield. However, as a Berserker or Avenger he is a danger to almost everyone around him and is prone to self-destructive behaviors.

Appearance

He is a noticeably muscular, man who stands at a height of 175cm or 5ft 10in. He has dark skin and a square chiseled jawline. He has a pointy nose and his hair looks like a spiky afro with parts of it being red in coloration along with red pointed sideburns. He has sharp teeth, which he apparently sharpened himself. His feet are covered with scars and he has a scar on his back and chest, both of which correspond to the location of his heart and where he was stabbed during his assassination by Dingane and Mhlangana.

Personality

Surprisingly, despite some of his reputation Shaka is a servant that prizes talking and diplomacy more than combat. It is not uncommon for him to attempt to try to persuade or antagonize the opponent while utilizing defensive battle tactics along with counter-attacks and disarming techniques. He is also not above using jabs, insults, or more underhanded tactics to win a fight. He is also not afraid of running away from a battle, using aspects of the environment to his advantage, or feigning retreat. This gives his fighting style a really odd and hard to predict feel. It is usually quite difficult to tell if he is actually losing, winning, or bluffing in any given fight.

Part of the reason he tries so hard to avoid fighting if possible is because anyone could be a potential ally in the future. Plus, once he starts fighting within a certain range of his full strength he often gets caught up in the battle, excitement, and adrenaline to the point where it is hard for him to stop until the fight is over.

He hates seeing his loved ones in pain and if they are killed by someone he flies into a rage and will enact merciless vengeance on the assailant. It’s one of the few times where he won’t even attempt to talk to his opponent first, he will simply strike silently and swiftly while utilizing the Madness Enhancement skill. He considers this aspect of his personality to be somewhat embarrassing and does his best to keep his emotions in check and prevent himself from ever regressing into a previous and more violent state. He cherishes every moment with his friends and family and tries not to leave their side if he can help it. “You should appreciate your loved one with all your heart because you never know when the world will choose to snatch them away from you my friend. I have very few friends and a lot of enemies too…”

At times he can give the illusion of an extremely weak clairvoyance due to his prediction and strategy skills. However, at the end of the day he is still a man, or I suppose a spirit, now and he cannot account for every possibility and is capable of making mistakes or miscalculations. Not to mention that he cannot make accurate guesses if he lacks information.

He tends to be very blunt with his predictions which can unintentionally make him come off as menacing or rude.

He feels immense regret over the killing of innocent civilians in a kingdom that was supposed to protect them. His own kingdom and by his own hands at that. In order to try to atone for it, he promised himself that as long as he’s a servant he refuses to kill humans and tries to save as many humans as possible. He is currently aiming for 7,000, and he likes to keep a mental note of every person he saves. Although, saving the same person over and over, even in different situations, does not count. It should be noted that this does not apply to nonhuman entities and things that are already dead, like vampires, zombies and spirits. This means he is fine with killing other servants as they are already dead and are spirits that are no longer humans.

Interactions

Leonidas- They have an obvious and immediate similarity due to the fact that they are both Lancers with notable shields. Some have also compared Shaka’s shield-based tactics to that of the famous Roman phalanx formation. They get along great and can often be seen discussing military tactics and training together.

“I wonder if we are distant relatives or something my friend. BWAHAHA!!!”

“OI!!! Wanna see who’s shield is stronger.”

“I wonder who’s spear has felled more opponents…”

“BWAHAHAHA, my friend, I bet if we put our heads together we can come up with a defensive formation no one could penetrate.”

“ALL THIS EXERCISE AND TRAINING IS HYPING ME UP, WE’LL DO 100 NO 2000 PUSH-UPS!!!”

Napoleon- “It’s not every day you get to talk with a fellow tactical genius.. Well I guess when you’re at Chaldea it is every day. BWAHAHAHA!!! Although… that cannon seems unwieldy my friend…”

Gaius Julius Caesar- He greatly respects Caesar.

“W-what words WHAT ELOQUENCE MY FRIEND!!! Your speeches, your words, nay every letter you speak is done so tactfully. Have I found my equal on the battlefield of words and wit? Julius Caesar does not disappoint!!!! I must take notes.”

“Hey, do you think you could give me some pointers on this speech I’ve been working on? I’m trying to make sure it sounds less… brutal?”

Shakespear- “Bwahaha, my friend, you’re truly someone who knows how to wield words… Just… do me a favor and don’t make me another tragedy for one of those stories of you ok? I’ve already created enough of those.

“That First Folio of yours is quite scary…”

Da Vinci- He considers himself just as much of a genius as Da Vinci so he has begun learning how to paint in order to prove his point. Although, Da Vinci has been studying his battle tactics, formations, and how to use a spear and shield in order to prove that her genius is unparalleled.

Kama- “Yeah sorry, I’ve never really been interested in bearing an heir or any of that. . .”

Oda Nobunaga(Archer)- He sees her as his equal in terms of tactics, innovation, and strategy.

“I’ve never seen someone wield that many guns so masterfully. It almost makes me scared of them… almost.”

Ryoma Sakamoto(Rider)- “I can see you are someone who cherishes their loved ones with all your heart...”

Okada Izou- “I may not wield swords but even I can tell you’re an unparalleled genius, my friend. Hey, this isn’t going to your head is it? And what do you mean you’re not my friend?”

Emiya, Gilgamesh(Archer), and Kid Gil- “HONESTLY, I can’t understand why you guys are so nonchalant about throwing your weapons around like that. Aren’t you ever worried that they will fall into enemy hands or something?”

Emiya-” Hrmmmmmmm, that Rho Aias reminds me a bit of my own shield. You see some of the similarities too right my friend?”

Gilgamesh(Caster)- He enjoys being around him as he feels he helps push him to becoming closer to an ideal king.

“If there is hope for him to be the wise king everyone needed then maybe there’s still hope for me… “

Jack the Ripper(Assassin) and Abigail Williams- “Ah, even kids can be quite cruel I suppose…”

Lancelot(Berserker)- “And THIS is why you should be careful about throwing your weapons around my friends!!!”

Elizabeth Bathory(Lancer)- “Make sure you keep a clear mind and don’t let your emotions and desires get out of control… or else you might end up like that vampire lady.”

Carmilla(Assassin)- He feels uncomfortable around her because in a way she reminds him of all his shortcomings and the madness that overcame him.

“Man, and I thought I was bad…”

Hector(Lancer)- “Our fighting styles are quite similar at a glance aren’t they?”

“Talking to you feels like I’m speaking to a treasured friend and fellow warrior.”

“I appreciate that there’s someone here who knows when to fight and when to run. A dead hero isn’t helpful for anyone.”

“Your fighting style is a lot like mine… have you ever considered using big shields into your fighting style more often.”

Chiron- “Great teachers like you always remind me of Dingiswayo…”

Jason- “It’s great that you understand your strengths and weaknesses and avoid combat but you shouldn’t throw your men under the bus like that my friend.”

“Your eye for recognizing and bringing out the true potential of heroes reminds me a bit of Dingiswayo my friend. Although, he wasn’t quite so scared to say the least...”

Hans Christian Anderson- “Heh, I appreciate your brutal honesty my little friend. Actually, you remind me a lot of Gala. Hmmmmmmm, YES!!! Someone like you can guide me to becoming a truly wise king. You wouldn’t happen to be free to be my new royal advisor perchance would you? Don’t worry too much, it’s only until I can get Gala back.”

Lanling Wang and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne- “Jeez… I never thought I would live to see anyone who’s beauty could rival that of Magaye’s…”

Queztoquaotle, Yasuke, and Damarchus- “I know some wrestling techniques myself y’know. If you ever want to train or get some pointers feel free to contact me my friend.”

Gilgamesh(Archer)- “I just can’t stand a king who throws away all their subjects like that… Yes, yes I know how hypocritical it is for me of all people to say that but trust me when I say it never ends well. A king can never stand on their own no matter how powerful they think they are.”

Christopher Columbus- “Ah, you’re another one of those swallows I see.”

Iskandar and Genghis Khan- Well, well, well. It’s nice to finally meet a fellow King of Conquerors around here. BWAHAHAHA!!! Hm? No, I’m not eligible for the Rider Class… HEY!!! BEING A RIDER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT TITLE!!!”

Hang Tuah- “BWAHAHA, As a fellow professional talker myself I can tell you also have a good grasp of understanding what people want to hear. We should have a chat sometime.”

“I suppose your smooth-talking only shows how good you are with your speech… well most of the time anyway.”

“I know this is a lot to ask of you but if I ever start slipping… y’know becoming “tyrannical” and all that… well… you know what to do...”

Hang Jebat- “Hm? You wanna see my horns… I see… I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding my friend…”

Connla- “If you have no spear of your own I can always craft you one. A good Iklwa does wonders for combat. Oh? You just copied mine… You’re just full of surprises aren’t you...”

Gilgamesh(Archer), Emiya(Archer), and Connla- “Pray I don’t ever catch you throwing around an Ikwa like that..”

Julie d’Aubigny- “FINALLY, a fellow servant who understands that words can be as sharp as any blade. Although, you are a better singer than I could ever be my friend BWAHAHA.”

Ever since they met they are constantly trying to see who is the best talker by bluffing and slinging insults whenever they meet. It has become a sort of game in which they attempt to see who is the first to falter, crack, or be at a loss for words. Julie’s charisma and aptitude as a star will occasionally attract the audiences of many Chaldea staff and servants to their banter-based duels. Currently, they are tied.

Laplace’s Demon and Maxwell's Demon- “No, no, no. Don’t give me any hints about your paradox. I want to try to exercise my mind by solving it myself.”

Nameless Soldier(Assassin)- “I’m pretty good at bringing out the full potential of soldiers and armies my friend. If you stick with me I guarantee we will keep losing to a minimum.”

“Even a genius like me is nothing on their own. Even the strongest, fastest, and smartest need a good army, and you’re like an army all rolled up into one neat package. Don’t worry I’ll be sure to give you plenty of breaks.”

“So like, do you y’know… remember me? You’re made up of a bunch of nameless soldiers from all throughout history. Which would statistically include at least one person who was under my command… I just wanted to say I’m sorry if that’s the case. I won’t fail you this time my friend”

“Make sure you’re getting proper rest. Rest is just as important as working. It helps keep your mind clear, sharp, and efficient my friend.”

“Man guns are a lot more compact, efficient, and quick these days… Maybe they’ve reached a point where I can incorporate them into my battle tactics.”

Dingane and Mhlangana(Assassin)- “While I agree that I had that coming, I hope you can understand why I’m uncomfortable being within arms reach of you guys.”

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not going to make the same mistake as last time I swear it on my life…”

*Hang Tuah, Connla, Damarchus, Julie d’Aubigny and Nameless Soldier are all fanservants created by MochiBoni and Omegazplayer respectively. Yasuke is a fanservant created by me and Dingane and Mhlangana haven’t been designed yet. Here are the profiles or art for each respective servant

Hang Tuah- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mjNkmjnhIIeLgGRvSlVVLhRQqWd4cbEDygfQHSLPCg/edit

Connla- https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1425858835730685957?s=20, https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1419297258512601089?s=21

Julie d’Aubigny-https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416650069206573057?s=20

Damarchus- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jArzQOnAWnvSv8MRelYSl1x5DZj-gUndaBmPtO74icw/edit

Nameless Soldier- https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416632770059714560?s=20

Yasuke- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M7V-XS0S_hePGtpLHY3abI-rU8_ek889uqcYnq0cvb0/edit

Dialogue examples

“Lancer is fine but I would prefer it if you called me Grand Lancer Candidate, or GLC for short.”

“Don’t worry my friend. Our enemies lost the moment I arrived.”

“The next thing you will say is…”

“BOOM SHAKA LAKA!!!! BWAHAHAHA, I’ve always wanted a chance to say that!”

“HA!!! You lost this fight the moment you opened your mouth!”

“Even for a genius like me, that’s a bit difficult…”

“This will not be a battle of muscle but a battle of words.”

“Hm? I talk a lot for a conqueror you say? (tsk) My friend, fighting should not be taken lightly. In the field of combat people can’t afford to hesitate to kill and there’s always a chance you or people you need and care about will die. When I was younger I reveled in fighting and combat and as a genius I eventually realized that whoever was left standing is the one who got the final say in the end and that means that when you fully commit to fighting you cannot hold back. Plus, an endless trail of fighting and combat isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do now is it? You also never know when you may make a powerful ally too, so it’s important you don’t go burning down bridges unless you have to.”

“I consider politics as important as any fight. When you talk you can fight for what you believe in and what you think is right. Just like any other brawl or war.”

“Dingiswayo? He was like a father to me of course… He never failed me or let me down but in the end I couldn’t save him… If only I had acted quicker… If only that damn Zwide could have just… Sorry, I got off track there… ”

“Well, obviously family isn’t just determined by biology. I mean my biological father wanted nothing to do with me… If you only define family using DNA then you are only stunting yourself in the long run my friend. There aren’t many people in this world willing to look out for you so treasure them!”

“Eh!? Are my diplomacy skills really that surprising? Some of those stories about my fighting and conquering were just a liiiiiiiittle bit exaggerated my friend. Besides, I engaged in diplomacy just as much as I fought, which is to say a lot.”

“See here’s the things. This may be a Holy Grail War but I don’t see why we can’t all work together to get something we both want my friend. So how about this…”

“I’m clearly leagues above you in power and I could kill you right now buuuuut if you’re willing to ally yourself with me and my master I’ll let you live. That’s a pretty good deal right?!”

“Who knows, maybe we’ll even make a new friend or two during all of this.”

“Oi!!! If you touch even a hair on my friend’s head… I’ll kill you!! …BWAHA!!! Sorry about that sometimes I get a little caught up in my emotions when it comes to my friends and family. But seriously, don’t try anything.”

“There are more ways to help someone than just fighting.”

“My friend, my spear isn’t my strongest Noble Phantasm nor is it my shield. So let me ask you this. Do you know why Izimpondo Zenyathi in particular is my strongest Noble Phantasm? It’s because even a prodigy like me can’t do everything alone. Soldiers, friends, family… people like my mom, Dingiswayo, Umgobhozi, Mzilikazi, and everyone else. I couldn’t have done it without them. No matter how powerful you are you are nothing without allies.”

“We talk first and fight later ok?”

“Oi, less fighting, more talking!!!”

“I’ll have you know I’m eligible for TWO, that’s right TWO, grand classes my friend. Lancer and… I would prefer not to talk about that second one too much. (Sigh)Man, why couldn’t Grand Shielder be a thing?”

“Okay, I’m feeling nice so I’ll give you ten… no… thirty minutes to run as far as you can my friend.”

“KwaBulawayo? I’ll be honest I was just trying to sound intimidating… maybe it worked a bit too well… Dukuza had a much better balance between intimidation and cool factor.”

“Take it from me, you should consider your actions carefully and try to keep the collateral damage down to a minimum… Just promise me you’ll think with your head and not your heart ok my friend.”

“People I admire? There are too many to count!!! Well, I guess my top two would be Dingiswayo and my mother. Dingiswayo was like a father to me and one of the greatest teachers one could ask for. My mother was as strong as any warrior in spirit and never gave up on me and herself.”

“My plan? I never said I had any sort of plan. What’s with that face? It worked didn’t it? Sometimes one has to think on their feet my friend. Even I cannot predict everything that’s going to happen.”

“I figured valentines day was a great time to show the love I have for all my allies, so I;m handing out these chocolates as a sign of good will to all of my allies and friends. Shaped like the mightiest of beetles of course.”

“Don’t worry my friends, GLC HAS ARRIVED!!!”

“You didn’t think that would be enough to kill me, my friend? BATTLE CONTINUATION!!!”

“MANA DEFENSE!!!”

“MIND’S EYE!!!”

“RUN AWAAAAAAAAAY!!!”

“RETREEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

“BWAHAHA!!! You would really doubt the power of a servant who is eligible for not just one but TWO grand classes my friend.”

“I’M NOT A BERSERKER, I’M A LANCER, L-A-N-C-E-R NOT A BERSERKER, AND A GRAND LANCER CANDIDATE AT THAT MY FRIEND!!! DO YOU THINK I COULD BE HAVING THIS VERY CONVERSATION IF I WAS A BERSERKER!!!”

“BWAHAHA!!! Don’t worry, the irony of the situation is not lost on me my friend.”

“Sharp spear and an even sharper tongue.”

“Oh c’mon, you don’t think I was really THAT ugly do you? Magaye was just so beautiful that he made everyone who stood next to him look ugly in comparison. So I wouldn’t consider him a good metric for looks. Do you understand what I mean my friend?”

“I’m sorry.. I just can’t forgive you for what you did.”

“I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID 3 NO 100 FOLD!!!!”

“If I had known what those shady Nathaniel Isaacs and Henry Fynn were going to do to my image for the sake of that slave trade I would have killed them on the spot…”

Deathlines

“N-no, my kingdom”

“My kingdom…”

“Mom?”

“I guess even I can’t talk my way out of this one…”

“One last word of advice my friend…”

“Is that Dingane…?”

“Is that Mhlangana…?”

“Mbopa…”

“I knew I should have retreated…”

“Was I a good king this time…?”

“Heh, don’t worry… I had this coming.”

“I should've saved more people…”

Wish for the Grail

“I wish that I could have been the ideal and wise king so many people think I am. Someone who could’ve put their emotions aside… and I wish I could protect all those I hold dear to my heart. So they never have to suffer or die… I suppose that’s two wishes though. I wonder if I can wish for just two extra wishes?

Fun Facts

If he was playable in FGO he would be a 5-star servant.

His least favorite class is the Berserker Class because they usually can’t be reasoned with and are hard to talk to.

On another note, he finds being compared to a Berserker in terms of fighting style or mentality quite insulting. Which is yet another reason he tries to avoid intentionally utilizing Madness Enhancement via his Imperial Privilege skill unless it is absolutely necessary. He is also afraid of becoming like that of his Berserker form.

His Magic the Gathering Alignment would be White-Blue-Black-Red with White, Blue, and Black as his center colors and Red as his secondary color.

If he was in the Epithet Erased universe his Epithet would be Horn and one of his moves would involve summoning horned beetles or beetle horns.

If he was in the Hunter x Hunter universe his Nen type would be Transmutation and his Hatsu would revolve around beetles and beetle shells in some way.

His overall servant rank is around A-. Although it would be A+ if he found himself in South Africa.

He dresses like some sort of beetle every Halloween.

He takes Mother’s Day very seriously.

Shaka Zulu’s Alter form would have a beetle motif, with parts of his body having a strong and sturdy exoskeleton. He would also have multiple limbs and a pair of wings.

Zwide kaLanga is also eligible for the Lancer and Berserker Classes.

Both Shaka and Zwide’s Berserker forms have a Noble Phantasm based on the Mfecane.

Zwide was unaware that his mother was collecting skulls.

Dingiswayo is eligible for the Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, and Berserker classes. While he is a capable fighter his true power lies in drawing out the maximum potential of others. Under perfect scenarios, he can permanently increase the ranks of a servant’s parameters, skills, and/or Noble Phantasms and allow an ordinary human to fight on the level of a low-ranking servant.

Magaye is eligible for the Lancer, Shielder, and Berserker class. His Noble Phantasm is quite similar to that of Lanling Wang’s or Diarmuid Ua Duibhne love spot. He also wears a bag over his head most of the time for a reason similar to why Lanling Wang wears a mask. Apparently, the average person looks ugly in comparison to him.

Gala is eligible for the Foreigner class and fighting isn’t his specialty. As a servant he is capable of combating and dispelling madness itself and is resistant to most mental attacks. He is considered by many to be a “chain” that binds people to reality. He is apparently very blunt, to the point that he can come off as rude, and stresses being firmly rooted in reality over getting caught up in imagination and wishful thinking. He basically never directly lies or leaves out information.

Shaka’s favorite Pokemon are Heracross and Pinsir, with Falinks being a close second.

If he had a Pokemon type he would be a Fighting type.

The true name of his lily form would be Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, and such a form would be eligible for the Lancer, Shielder, and Berserker classes.

Visual References

#fate #fanservant #oc #shaka zulu #fgo

14 notes · View notes

wanou-dorm · 5 months

Text

HSA- Chung Ae Chul

Hourglass Station academy -@fumikomiyasaki

Hollejigoku -@sakuramidnight15

SOAP-@forestwispocs

Name: Chung Ae Chul

Based on: Queen of Hatred( Lobo corp )/ Fairy Knight Tristan( Baobahn Sith) ( Fate )

Race: Unknown but he’s definitely isn’t a Demon or Human .

𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿: Male

𝗔𝗴𝗲: 17-19

𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆:January 4

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻:Capricorn

𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁: 176 cm

𝗘𝘆𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿: Gray / Yellow when Beserk

𝗛𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗿: Light blue and highlights change color with Emotion usally pink

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗦

𝗗𝗼𝗿𝗺: Hollejigoku(performance)

𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿: First Year

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀: 1-E

𝗢𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Student and Nuance

𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯: MovieClub

𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁: Social Media / Management Sexuality: Pansexual /Polyamorus ( Everyone Deserve my Love…right?)

Homeland:Alpha beta City … Also may have Escaped from SOAP.

𝗙𝗨𝗡 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦:

𝗗𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱: Right

𝗙𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱: Lollipop , The Love and Hate From other beings , The Flesh of Demons

𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱: “ icky Gross Demon Food, bleck “

Likes: His friend(Knight of Despair , Queen of Hatred, Servant of Wrath ), Helping people , Magic, Flynn for some reason

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝘀: not Being able to help , his poor Memory, his Clusmyness, His bad side , Ronnie

𝗛𝗼𝗯𝗯𝘆: Making Magical Girl Costumes , Sidren got him into Superheroes … why

𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀: Throwing people out,Dancing , Magic tricks

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 and Backstory:Chung Ae is a someone who seems Really Innocent on the surface , He enjoys Helping people even though his “ Help” usally makes more of a mess. He seems Really out of place in Hollejigoku . Chung Ae is Super nice And unapologetically Sweet its like he Hides very Little of his personality and Peppy get up and go Attitude .However Chung Ae is not one to be Messed with Refusing his Help and having nothing to do for to long can cause Chung Ae to go abit insane due His Parents Messed way of praising him for …Taking people off the Census so his Peppy Personality is Really Contrasted by some of the Violent act he dose .Mainly because having something to do keeps What he Calls “the Voices” From coming back . If Chung Ae Is having particularly bad episodes he may start becoming Despondent and mumbling nonsense about being useful and If he's really worth having in the Dorm full of actual Demons. If this isn't Addressed than you’ll have to Play Real time Lobotomy Corporation if starts he starts attacking people unprovoked ..

Unique Magic

In the Name of Love and Hate Unknown in what it Does , It's Seems to be a type.of Magic that can Harm Demons and other Creatures like them .

Trivia

- like Zorion his birthday is Based on Queen of Hatreds containment number.

Chung Ae isn't Really liked by many Dorm members due to his Peppy personality , He doesn't like many people here either, he's though about Transferring in but Realizes in with his Condition Hollejigoku is kinda the only option . Else he’d been Back with Soap again in and he Hates SOAP.

He's Kinda made hints to to his Past , that his Family was Messed up even before the “Light “ happened.

Zorion is Pretty protective over him, As Hollejigoku People can come off as Mean.Especially to Chung Ae ‘s Messed up head from living on the Street of AlphaBeta city .

He is often Stated to be Annoying by Other Hollejigoku members . Often Stating his Helpfulness is annoying and Some even calling him a Weebo due to his Obsession with Magical Girl Anime .

Chung Ae ‘s Favorite Anime seems to be Very Similar to Madoka Magica.

Voice Claim: Sinclair (Limbus Company)

youtube

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland oc #twst fandorm #disney twst #twst oc #twisted oc #hourglassstationacademy #fandorm #twisted fanschool #lobotomy corporation #lobcorp #Youtube

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pinkytoothlesso11 · 1 year

Note

Hi there! Here's another vampire AU for trollhunters.

• The night before sophomore year of high school, Jim is forcibly turned into a halfling. He does not remember who turned him.

• Barabra had went missing in his freshman year. Due to this, he is living with his Aunt Morgana.

• Morgana is a vampire, but she had nothing to do with her sister's disappearance. However, she used it to her advantage.

• The amulet chose Jim in this AU. Kanjigar was not happy with a halfling Trollhunter, despite Jim refusing to drink human blood.

• Claire and Toby both find out Jim is a vampire at some point. Not sure how. That part is up to you.

• Jim finds out his aunt is a full vampire. When Morgana learns her nephew is the Trollhunter, she keeps him a prisoner.

• Eventually Claire is brought to Morgana, and Morgana bites the girl. She releases Jim from the chains she had him in, but forces him to make a choice.

• The choice was to convert into a full vampire, or she would let Claire die. He chose to convert but refused to join his aunt.

• As a halfling, Jim can hide his fangs. He could only be invited into someone's house if they let him in. Strickler is a full vampire, and Morgana's servant. He switches sides upon realizing Morgana wasn't afraid to use her own family members or hurt them if they refused to join them. Jim only survived his aunt's wrath upon refusing to join because of Strickler helping him and Claire escape.

I do not know if Barabra is eventually found, but she definitely wouldn't be happy to find out Morgana hurt her own nephew.

How the rest of this goes is up to you. I will say this: Morgana is the one who ordered Jim to be turned. Merlin also doesn't find out his own Trollhunter is a vampire until Jim reveals his fangs during a huge argument. Douxie had 'mysteriously' forgot to tell him.

Well at least this time Barbara isn't dead lol.

Even then, her having gone missing for a year can't have been easy on Jim. Since likely if not directly Morgana who has Barbara locked up somewhere so she could try and (unsuccessfully) control Jim and make him one of her vampires, it's someone who equally wants to control Jim. So either Merlin, Angor Rot or Arthur. She would DEFINITELY be found though.

Strickler helping Claire and Jim escape, even knowing he would become a target too goes to show how he cares for Jim (and Claire) a lot. Although unfortunately Jim is a full vampire now. At least Strickler can help him adjust to that transition.

#Trollhunters #tales of arcadia #Ask answers #Jim Lake Jr #Vampire AU #claire nuñez #Morgana #Walter Strickler #Barbara Lake #Morgana is always so terrible in all these AU's lol #And somewhere down the line Barbara gets in trouble and Jim is left alone #Although I'm relieved it's probably temporary here

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worldofthechateau · 11 months

Text

The Members of the Society of the Supernatural

I think it's about time I shined a spotlight on the Society itself. Let's get into the twenty-two founding members of this little group.

Mary Anne Eason

Eight years old, Mary Anne is a lot like a sassy Dora the Explorer– she loves adventures and helping people out, but if she thinks you're an idiot you will know. She carries around a giant backpack full of supplies. Her parents are apathetic towards her and don't really care what she does as long as she tells them where she's going.

Mary Anne's magical specialty is runes.

Jenny Garrand

Mary Anne's best friend, Jenny is an eight-year-old biracial girl who is a bit shy and nervous, but loves nature and going on hikes with Mary Anne. She loves learning about plants and animals.

Jenny's magical specialty is plant magic.

Fortescue

Fortescue was originally made to be a servant for the Terwilligers (the family who built the Chateau, if you're new here), a clay humanoid clay statue given life and a soul via magic. Take the Doodle God icon for "golem" and you've got Fortescue. He's very multi-talented but struggles to find an identity outside of serving others ( a lot like Pearl from Steven Universe in this regard).

Fortescue's magical specialty is utility spells.

Odelia Garrand

Odelia is Jenny's white mother, known for being stoic and serious at all times, to the point of comedy. She works from home as an office manager. She loves gardening, especially with her daughter.

Odelia's magical specialty is potions and alchemy.

Arthur Garrand

Arthur is Jenny's black father who works as a forensic accountant. He's got a keen eye for detail and has a massive heart, but he's a bit... strange. He says a lot of things that technically make sense but definitely wouldn't be the first thing you thought of... which may be why he's so good at his job.

Arthur's magical specialty is empathic magic.

Tamela Huxtable

Tamela is a goth teen with a very strained relationship with her family, especially her extremely bigoted father (even if she wasn't a lesbian, she'd probably hate him for being an asshole). When she discovers magic, she throws herself into its study, quickly becoming one of the most magically powerful members of the Society.

Tamela's magical specialty is shadow magic, although she's also really good at teleportation.

Lyall Fisher

He used to work as a cop, but getting fired for not engaging in corruption has soured his view of the profession. This is a gay disaster running on caffeine and spite and is out of fucks to give. He believes in doing the right thing even if the world is against you.

Lyall's magical specialty is fire magic.

Amelia Huddleston

Speaking of people with zero fucks to give, Amelia never had any to begin with. This 75yo spinster is a wild child and a magical experimenter, and also the group's driver due to having bought a school bus for shits and giggles. She painted it blue, so they call it the Big Blue Bus, or 3B. She's also a great cook, even if her dishes can get a bit experimental.

Amelia's magical specialty is cloth-based magic that she herself discovered.

Ulysses Trengrove

Ulysses is an intimidating man who definitely gives off the impression that he's killed somebody in the past, especially since he created and stocked the Chateau's armory with a crap ton of knives. However, he has a soft spot for kids and is a great babysitter.

Ulysses' magical specialty is ice magic.

Imogen Knaggs

Imogen works as a nurse, and although she's excellent at bedside manners, she can be rather caustic when off the clock. She does care, it's just she can only be nice for so many hours.

Imogen's magical specialty is, of course, healing magic.

Xavier Cross

Xavier is a craftsman and a carpenter who likes to build his own furniture and stuff, as well as help his neighbors with fixing things. He can often get distracted by non-important things and is really possessive of his tools.

Xavier's magical specialty is transmutation.

Hannah Black

Hannah is her high school's valedictorian, and she's very good at chemistry and science in general. Magic is not her strong suit, which frustrates her greatly. However, she's excellent at finding non-magical solutions to magical problems.

Hannah's magical specialty is shapeshifting.

Ivor Thornton

Ivor is a passionate historian who can almost always be found reading a book, be it physical or on his tablet. He's also surprisingly into video games.

Ivor's magical specialty is divination.

Christine Wyatt

If there was ever a member of the Society that represented "Chaotic Good" it would be Christine. She's a kleptomaniac but channels that toward stealing things for people who can't afford what they need. She sees the potential in everyone.

Christine's magical specialty is teleportation and portals.

Lester Blakeslee

Lester is the group's financial backer, being the son of the wealthiest man in the county. He's very self-aware and wants to help people with his wealth whenever he can.

Lester's magical specialty is wind magic.

Laila Pressley

Laila is a wiz with machines, and acts as the team's mechanic. She's practical, and most of her magic reflects that– it's down and dirty but gets the job done.

Laila's magical specialty is earth magic.

Sully Moss

Sully is a man with Down's Syndrome and a massive heart of gold, but he's also built like a fridge and acts as the team's muscle. Hurt the people he cares about, and you'll regret it.

Sully's magical specialty is enhancement magic.

Roxanna Dane

With all of her charisma, Roxanna is the face of the Society of the Supernatural. She always knows a guy who knows a guy. Many people like her for her kindness and honesty.

Roxanna's magical specialty is water magic.

Spike Davies

Spike is a scrappy little guy who always has a plan for everything. He spends most of his time focusing on making preparations for the weirdest things that could happen.

Spike's magical specialty is light magic.

Sydney Kirk

An enby who loves making gadgets. They're a lot like Alec Hardison from Leverage in terms of personality and gaming buddies with Ivor.

Sydney's magical specialty is enchantments.

Devon Quickley

Devon is a guy who loves living off the land. He's very respectful of nature and loves being in it. He gets antsy when inside for too long.

Devon's magical specialty is a mix of earth and plant magic.

Bubba

Bubba is a pitbull-greyhound mix and a very good boy. He can't really cast magic due to being, ya know, a dog.

#the chateau #original characters #my characters #worldbuilding

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angstmongertina · 2 years

Text

7KPP Week 2022: Day 3

Because, at least in Jiyel, cut fruit is a love language and making food is a family bonding activity. Also known as: The moment all of Grenwold knew that Lyon was definitively a member of the family.

Yes, I am also confused by all of the fluff. WHO AM I?

Day Three - Food

Regardless of how long she has spent away, regardless of how long she has been moved into her new home, the rooms and passages of her parents’ manor at Grenwold will always be as familiar as the back of her hand. She smiles, weaving her way past servants, both recognized and new, with a nod, but does not stop, cannot stop, because she knows where she is needed. She knows in her very bones that every time she visits home without fail, the kitchens will be full of bustle and she will not—dare not—miss it.

Even before she enters the room, she can hear the chatter, the warm, rich tones of her mother, the quiet, deep baritone of her father, and she can picture them in her mind’s eye before she turns the corner, animated eyes and bright faces and light-fingered hands in constant motion, dusty with flour, creating rows and rows of neatly folded dumplings.

They look up when she enters but without a pause in their discussion, something about the moderate success of their tenants’ newest crop rotation, but she sees the open seat to Lady Hyacinth’s left, the pair of chopsticks and row of covered balls of dough, and for a moment, she finds that she cannot interject into the conversation, even if she wants to.

Instead, she settles into her seat, dodging floury smudges as she kisses her mother’s cheek, and picks up the rolling pin. The motion is half-remembered at first, the wrapper uneven and misshapen, formed by fingers now more used to holding a quill than culinary tools, but the rhythm is still there, comforting in its constance, in its timeless familiarity.

“A little lopsided there,” her father interrupts his discussion to comment, amusement dancing in the crinkles of his eyes, and she makes a face in response to his light laughter. “Looks like you need more practice.”

“Should we switch then?” she counters, and this too is familiar, the faux disappointment as he shakes his head, the fond exasperation as he passes over his own rolled out wrappers, each one a neat circle, without protest, and she relaxes as she settles into the folding process and the customary banter on the virtues of knowing how to roll out one’s own dough compared to the expediency of focusing on the part of the process that she is much more competent at, thank you very much.

For several long moments, it feels almost as though nothing has changed, until…

“Lia?”

“In here,” she calls, and it is only when Lyon enters the room and stops, sharp eyes examining her from head to foot, that she remembers the flour which always somehow, inevitably, covers her like powdered snow, and finds herself fighting a truly illogical urge to blush.

In contrast, her mother does not falter, wiping her hands on a towel before rising to her feet in a fluid motion. “Ah, Duke Lyon, I see you’ve found us. We’re making dumplings. Come and join us.”

Almost before she is even aware, another position has been set up to her left, her father passing over another set of chopsticks and dough in quick succession while her mother pulls over another chair, and it isn’t until he has folded himself into the seat beside her that she notices the hesitation in his movements, the way his gaze lingers on her hands as she tightly pleats the edges of another dumpling.

“Do you always make your own dumplings?”

She hums, reaching for another wrapper. “Typically, yes. Between making the filling and all of the folding, it is far more efficient for everyone to work together than for only a select few to make them for everyone.”

“And it has always been an excuse for everyone to sit down together.” Her father leans forward, though she rather suspects that it is less about reaching for the filling than it is to look around her toward her husband. “The experience itself provides an opportunity to come together as a family and spend time together.”

“Or, at least, a uniquely bonding experience that is different from sharing a meal or something else of that nature. It was something that I enjoyed doing with my parents, and something that we have passed down to Lia.” Her mother reaches for her own wrapper, holding it out, flat on her palm, as she meets Lyon’s gaze, warm and encouraging. “And to you, if you would like.”

It is an invitation, and even more than that, it is an acceptance, and if her smile is a little shaky as she watches him imitate her, the rest of her family are thankfully all much too distracted to notice.

#seven kingdoms: the princess problem #7KPP #Jiyel Scholar #Duke Lyon/Jiyel Scholar #Duke Lyon #7KPP Week 2022 #awkward duke of my heart #otp: not intolerable #Lady Camellia of Jiyel #In retrospect this could also have worked for yesterday's prompt.#Wow look at all of this soft fluff I don't even know what is going on.#Tina writes stuff.

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dankusner · 2 months

Video

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Belushi mentions Big D murdered JFK — with Aykroyd & Bobbie Wygant.

44 things this Chicagoan didn’t know about ‘The Blues Brothers’ There are few Chicago cliches more overdone than the Blues Brothers.

Maybe hot dogs. OK, deep dish. The Bears logo. The Cubs logo. The Bean.

Then there’s that iconic silhouette — dark shades, black fedora, one thin guy, one meatball — an image so ubiquitous here, you’re more likely to run into it than the actual blues.

“The Blues Brothers” movie, released in 1980, steeped in local lore forevermore, is often called the quintessential Chicago movie, and I’m certainly not alone in saying that if I never saw it again, nothing would be lost.

It’s been drummed into my skin, bones and flab, indelibly. Which is why I instinctively rolled my eyes when I landed an early copy of this new history, “The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic.”

Strictly for the tourists, I thought. What could this book possibly offer Chicago that hasn’t already been steamrolled into the local DNA?

The surprise is, plenty.

Daniel de Visé, a native South Sider, now a finance reporter at USA Today (and a Pulitzer Prize co-winner for his Elián González coverage at the Miami Herald), has compiled the definitive one-stop history of the Blues Brothers band, the film and a touching dual biography of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, which Aykroyd refers to in the book as one of the great friendships, the ache still heard years after Belushi’s death.

It left me with so much to think about that, in the spirit of the Blues Brothers — in the spirit of not doing something unless you can overdo it — with input from de Visé and his absorbing cultural history, here are 44 thoughts, production notes and or just things that I did not know about “The Blues Brothers,” 44 years later.

1. The Blues Brothers began as a friendship.

Belushi, a star of Second City Chicago, was visiting Canada, where Aykroyd was in Second City Toronto.

Belushi sat in with the troupe, and one night at a bar after the show, Aykroyd, already a knowledgable R&B fan, played some blues records for Belushi, who was more of a heavy metal guy.

This was 1974. Aykroyd explained that he haunted blues clubs, bringing along a harmonica; Belushi had played drums in The Ravens, his old band at Wheaton Central High School. Belushi suggested starting a band. Aykroyd already had an idea for one. Four years later, by the time they debuted on TV — on “Saturday Night Live,” where Belushi had become a superstar — that friendship was drifting. The band would join them at the hip, eternally.”

2. The name “The Blues Brothers” was suggested by Howard Shore, who overheard Belushi and Aykroyd at that bar and later became “SNL” bandleader from 1975 to 1980.

3. The Aykroyd family had been in Ottawa since 1810. His father was a civil servant and engineer under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. As a teenager, Aykroyd would sneak away to nearby Quebec and a small neighborhood full of music clubs called Little Chicago. He convinced bands to let him play harmonica. He was an uncanny imitator.

4. Belushi, like Aykroyd, did not have a blues-ready background. In Wheaton, his family was assumed to be Italian, and they never clarified; explaining they were Albanian was harder. Before trying on the rebel chic of Marlon Brando, he was a skilled debate club member and star linebacker. After a short stay at the University of Wisconsin, he enrolled at the College of DuPage, where he formed his first improv group, named West Compass Players in honor of Chicago’s seminal Compass Players. He also developed a pair of impressions: Richard J. Daley and Joe Cocker.

5. For Aykroyd, his blues revelation, de Visé said, came as a teenager, “when he saw Sam & Dave do ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ at the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal.” For Belushi, it came from Aykroyd, but also, while filming “Animal House” in Oregon, he saw a band, the Crayhawks, fronted by guitarist Robert Cray and harmonica star Curtis Salgado, “who looked and dressed and sounded like a real-life Blues Brother,” de Visé writes. Belushi was inspired, immersing himself in blues and R&B. Later, he brought up the Blues Brothers to “Animal House” director John Landis.

Mayor Jane Byrne accepted a check for $50,000 from Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in her office on June 17, 1980, on behalf of the cast and crew of the film "The Blues Brothers" and Universal Studios. The donation was for children's and charitable organizations. (Tribune file photo)

Harvey Mayor Nick Graves of stands in one of the hallways inside the abandoned Dixie Square Mall in 2002. The mall was the first in the country to be enclosed under a roof, according to Graves. It was also the location for the filming of the "Blues Brothers" movie. (John Smierciak / Chicago Tribune)Dixie Square Shopping Center in 1967, more than a decade before it would be a location for "Blues Brothers" filming. (Tribune file photo)

“The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic" by Daniel de Visé (Atlantic Monthly Press, March 19, 2024).

6. The sunglasses came from an old hack of seasoned musicians: You couldn’t see how stoned, tired or drunk they looked if they wore them. That would come in helpful during the production of “The Blues Brothers” movie, since Belushi was often stoned or drunk.

7. The suits were partly inspired by Lenny Bruce, Aykroyd told de Visé, but also, they connected the Blues Brothers to Black R&B performers who still wore formal suits on stage in the 1970s, at a time when rock musicians dressed in T-shirts and jeans.

8. The Blues Brothers were intended to be a tribute band, which means the small cottage industry of Blues Brothers tribute bands today — The Blooze Brothers, Hats and Shades, The Blues Brotherhood, et al. — are tribute bands that celebrate a tribute band.

9. While it may seem self-evident that, if they were founded today, the Blues Brothers would be quickly accused of appropriating Black culture, they were loudly accused of appropriation in the 1970s, too. “Especially in the alternative press,” de Visé said. “Some were outraged, and when the film came out, well, how offensive it seems to have James Brown and Aretha Franklin in bit roles behind white guys playing their music?” Except, it was done with humor and affection for the originators, who also played it funny on stage, Aykroyd reminds us in the book. “The result is,” de Visé said, “if you want to see Ray Charles or Aretha Franklin now, that movie is an extraordinary document.”

10. Universal, the studio, did not want Ray Charles, James Brown, Cab Calloway or Aretha Franklin in the film. Their careers, particularly Calloway’s, looked over. (Instead of Franklin, they wanted Rose Royce, of “Car Wash.”) After the movie was a success, each had a comeback. As Brown told People, the film “gave us all another chance.”

11. B.B. King was sought for the movie; indeed, the idea for this history came to de Visé while working on a biography of King. He asked Landis why King didn’t appear in the film. King had been asked. His manager said he was busy. King learned this years later.

12. Some members of the Blues Band doubted Belushi’s sincerity — at first.

13. Looking again, with fresh eyes, decades later, Belushi does stand out as the weak link musically. Aykroyd, a natural method actor, buries himself in Elwood Blues; the band — particularly, Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn — were hallowed R&B veterans who had played on some of the original recordings this new band was covering. But Belushi’s singing is harsh, even phony. “He’s unquestionably a weak link,” de Visé agreed. “But his strength was the performance, and when they toured, they got ecstatic reviews based on Belushi as a frontman, not as an accomplished soul singer.”

14. Lorne Michaels, creator of “SNL,” was iffy on the Blues Brothers, so Belushi and Aykroyd first became Jake and Elwood with the “SNL” band, warming up the live show.

15. Two-and-a-half years later, Michaels asked them to warm up the show again. This went over so well that, two weeks later, the Blues Brothers debuted on “SNL,” in a 1978 episode hosted by Steve Martin (who performed his classic “King Tut” that same night). Pianist Paul Shaffer introduced the Blues Brothers with a wink to appropriation and sincerity, saying they just flew in from Chicago’s South Side and “are no longer an authentic blues act, but have managed to become a viable commercial product.” Shaffer was set to act in the Blues Band when it jumped to movies, but “SNL” star Gilda Radner was developing a concert album, with hopes of a concert film, produced by Lorne Michaels. Out of loyalty to both, he opted out and chose the Radner project.”]

16. Aykroyd wrote the first draft of the screenplay, later credited to him and Landis. If you ever wondered why the plot hinges on a Catholic school unable to pay taxes even though Catholic schools are tax-exempt, so did de Visé. Aykroyd, a Canadian, had never heard of this very American tax loophole, but swore that when he was part of Second City in Chicago, he saw a story about it in a newspaper. De Visé couldn’t find that article. (I couldn’t, either.)

By placing first in the high school spirit contest sponsored by WMET and Coca-Cola in 1978, Marian Catholic won over $30,000 in prizes, including a $13,000 custom van! Oh and did we mention the band Foghat also played a free concert at the school?Pictured: Sr. Mary Alberta, Sr. Margaret Ann, and Sr. Judith Anne standing beside the custom van on the day of arrival.

17. Fittingly, for one of the first days of production, the very first images in the movie were shot: A sweeping, billowing industrial hellscape of South Works steel mill on the Calumet River. Landis said they shot over the plant without permission, and cinematographer Stephen Katz told de Visé that they were “hanging out the door of the chopper” with the camera. Security for the factory eventually noticed and shot at them.

18. De Visé’s history, scene after scene, is a queasy taxonomy of a very different era of film production, with a disturbing willingness to push the envelope, safety-wise. “You could say standards were looser,” he laughed. “Safety standards were more impressionistic. Plus, the amount of drugs readily available … And when they shot the trashing of the shopping mall, there were so many cars, inside a building, crew had to step outside because they were complaining about the toxic fumes in the place.”

19. That mall sequence — in which the Blues Brothers lead cops in a high-speed car chase at an indoor shopping mall — was filmed at the Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, which had been closed for a year when the production restored many of its storefronts.

20. While shooting the mall scene, Belushi disappeared. Aykroyd told de Visé he noticed a “path kind of leading out of the weed-strewn parking lot into a suburban neighborhood.” It was so late he knocked on the door of the only house with lights on. The homeowner answered, stepped back and revealed Belushi asleep on his couch. While the film was in production, the Eagles, performing at Chicago Stadium, sang from the stage: “Looking for Belushi / Let’s go get some sushi.” (Belushi obliged.) Belushi – who was known for wandering off sets, only to call for a ride hours later – seemed to predict his behavior a year earlier on “SNL,” in a famous sketch called “The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave.” (Bill Murray: “We both have to be at work really early tomorrow morning, see.” Belushi: “God I’m thirsty – is there anything in the fridge?”)

21. Belushi was paid $500,000 for the movie; Aykroyd was paid $250,000.

22. For the duration of the four-month Chicago production, Belushi and Aykroyd were put up in Astor Towers on the Gold Coast and given one entire floor each.

23. Universal paid Chicago police officers $16.50 an hour to work on the movie. Official squad cars cost the studio $30 a day each (and had to be returned with full tanks of gas). For crash scenes, the film bought more than 60 retired police cars, for $400 each.

24. The climatic Daley Plaza sequence — featuring helicopters, tanks, National Guard — cost Universal $3.5 million. Driving the Bluesmobile through the glass windows of the ground floor of Daley Center cost $17,000. The scene was shot over Labor Day weekend, to ensure crew could replace the glass before employees returned Tuesday.

25. My favorite line in the film is when, headed downtown, with a path of destruction in their wake, Belushi casually mentions to Aykroyd that Daley Plaza is “where they got that Picasso.” A note of subtlety in a comedy that gets decidedly mad, mad, mad, mad.

26. Production shut down so much of Chicago that, after one fraught July weekend, Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Wiedrich wondered how many motorists were being trapped in traffic jams on the Eisenhower Expressway and Lake Shore Drive during a national energy crisis. (Gas was averaging $1.03 a gallon, about $4.30 in 2024 dollars.)

27. Other than Mayor Jane Byrne — who OK’d many of the largest scenes after decades of resistance to Hollywood production by Mayor Richard J. Daley — Landis’s most powerful ally was legendary Chicago attorney Sidney Korshak, whose clients had included Al Capone and Jimmy Hoffa. Korshak was friends with Universal Pictures chief Lew Wasserman, so Landis asked Korshak to smooth the wheels around town.

28. The car jump over the bridge on 95th Street at the beginning of the movie had to be performed twice because Landis was not satisfied with the car’s landing the first time.

29. To shoot the Bluesmobile racing beneath the CTA tracks, a camera was strapped to a car headed westbound on Lake Street, going 110 miles per hour. It was done in a single take.

30. As often as it’s noted that “The Blues Brothers” is a time capsule of a Chicago no longer recognizable, the Maxwell Street scenes play like a short documentary of a lost city. Hand-painted wooden signs, white plumes of smoke wafting off grills, bustling crowds.

31. Those streets, crammed with extras, also played witness to another sort of Chicago documentary: A Chicago police officer assigned to the set shouted into a bullhorn that the mostly Black crowd would go to jail if they didn’t obey Landis, which caused Landis — “What are you talking about?” — to loudly call out the cop for racism.

32. Considering how many interiors in the movie were shot on the Universal backlot, the film plays like a testament to how influential the eye of a good location scout can be. Ray Charles’s pawnshop was in Bronzeville (but the interior was shot in Los Angeles). James Brown’s church was the now 107-year-old Pilgrim Baptist of South Chicago on East 91st Street (but interiors were faithful reproductions of the church, also shot in Los Angeles).

33. The young female gospel singer that Landis cuts to several times during the James Brown church sequence is the great funk singer Chaka Khan, a native of Hyde Park.

34. That’s the famed Chez Paul in River North where the Blues Brothers perform a sliding parallel park. But the restaurant interior was so degraded by 1979 — “cracked wallpaper, peeling paint, a hundred little horrors cloaked by soft candlelight,” de Visé writes — the production rebuilt the dining room at Universal.

35. Those are real prisoners in real jail cells in the Joliet Prison scenes.

36. De Visé solved something I always wondered about: When the Bluesmobile breaks into pieces across from Daley Plaza, the effect was achieved by pre-cutting an entire car into dozens of chunks, then stitching it back together and holding the whole thing in place with a steel cable. When a special-effects guy tugged the cable, the car collapsed.

37. The mural outside Ray Charles’ pawnshop in Bronzeville — which was painted for the movie, and, at the insistence of Landis, included an image of B.B. King, so that the blues legend could kinda still be seen in the movie — was lost in 2020 when the building was demolished after a fire. The space had housed an actual pawnshop since 1946.

38. During production, Belushi was watched by a Texan named Morris Lyda, tasked with keeping him off drugs. Later that job fell to a former Secret Service agent that Belushi hired on the recommendation of Joe Wash. However, by the time production wrapped in Chicago, Landis told de Visé that Belushi almost died two times from drugs: “We ended up taking the door off his room and calling the paramedics, because he had basically overdosed.”

39. The ground zero of drug use during production was the Blues Bar that Belushi and Aykroyd built in Old Town as a private club, in a small space behind Earl of Old Town on Wells Street. The city closed it down in 1982, the same year Belushi died of an overdose in Los Angeles. He was 33.

40. The last time the Blues Brothers played the Chicago area was June 1980, at Poplar Creek Music Theater in Hoffman Estates. They opened and closed with “I Can’t Turn You Loose.”

41. Soon before he died, Belushi got into punk and gave away his blues records.

42. Personally, that last detail is probably the saddest. I wish I could say that I was cool enough as a kid to just listen to Otis Redding and Sam & Dave, but it’s probably the Blues Brothers that led me to that rich wellspring; in high school, among my prized possessions were all seven volumes of “Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947-1974” (on vinyl). De Visé remembered something similar: “I first saw the movie on a bootleg videotape from a store near my father’s house, but what I remember is it didn’t make me want to buy a Blues Brothers record. It made me want to buy ‘The Best of Sam & Dave.‘ Which is what I think Aykroyd wanted this to do from the start.”

43. When Aykroyd got the call that his partner had died, he was writing the dialogue for the pair’s next big-screen blockbuster, “Ghostbusters.” (Belushi’s part was taken by Murray.)

44. “The Blues Brothers” became the first film spun off “SNL.” “All the years later, is there a better one?” de Visé asked me. “There’ve been good, lots of bad, but this is better than it had any right. I think Gene Siskel in the Tribune nailed it when he said they delivered one of the best comedies ever, period. He wrote ‘Boy, is that ever a surprise.’ ”

#youtube

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utcampuslifeupdate · 1 year

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Recognizing “Influencers” of the Longhorn Life

(Front row, left to right) Pete Schaack, Cecilia Lopez Cardenas, President Jay Hartzell, Van Nguyen and Lisa Sova; (Back row, left to right) Randall Ford and Ryan Becerra

For 36 years, Pete Schaack has influenced students in living the Longhorn life and now he is being recognized with a President's Staff Award for Outstanding Supervisor. President Jay Hartzell honored him at an event on April 10.

The awards event also included a celebration of the Staff Service Awards. Our Division has 58 staff members with a combined 1,125 years of service and the president gave a special shoutout to one of our staff members with 50 years. Read more about these awards below.

Outstanding Supervisor Award

“Student affairs believes in students and in experiential education. We believe that the most important life skills and memories are developed on campus outside of the classroom. The greatest reward to influencing the Longhorn life is helping build those skills and create those memories that will last a lifetime.”

Pete Schaack Director of Facilities, Recreational Sports Facilities Coordinator, Division of Student Affairs

Ask Pete Schaack’s staff and they will tell you – he is an incredible supervisor, caring colleague, and always leads with integrity in a clear and confident manner. The university is recognizing his impact on generations of Recreational Sports professionals and student employees with the Outstanding Supervisor Award.

As Recreational Sports’ director of facilities, Schaack oversees the day-to-day operations in seven recreation facilities with 400,000 square feet of indoor space and 40 acres of outdoor space. Schaack’s team of 12 full-time staff and 300 student employees manages these student-centered spaces that support our students’ health and overall well-being. They assist with scheduling, maintenance, capital projects, renovations and new construction.

Schaack came to campus in 1987 to run the department’s outdoor recreation program. Then, five years later, his mentors and longtime department leaders encouraged him to move into facility operations. He served as the “boots on the ground” during the renovation of Gregory Gym in the mid-1990s and has played a major role in many other Recreational Sports projects, while also serving on several university committees. He developed the plans for Division of Student Affairs facilities to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic and navigated winter storm response plans that included keeping Gregory Gym open for students to warm up and power up.

RecSports facilities staff at Longhorn Run 2023

Even with these major projects on his plate, his nominators — all Recreational Sports staff that he currently supervises or previously supervised — shared how he’s made lasting impacts on their careers. They noted that he always keeps students at the center of what they do, emphasizing the importance of listening to them and team members to effectively maximize the Longhorn experience.

“His office is always open, whether it be easy questions and answers, helping solve complex issues or to just chat about life. He's never too busy to take a few minutes to discuss whatever is on your mind, no matter the topic,” said one nominator.

“Pete is the living definition of an incredible supervisor and colleague. He's always the first in the office and often the last to leave. His day doesn't end when he departs campus, as he is often checking in on staff, whether professionally or personally, to make sure everyone that reports to him, and their families, are doing well,” shared another nominator.

It's that care, camaraderie and work ethic that are core to Schaack’s leadership. He says his favorite part about working with Recreational Sports is the energy, always embodying the department’s mantra “education through recreation” with his dedication, mentorship, guidance and support.

We’re grateful to have this servant-leader on our team, helping us impact our students’ success and academic journey for more than three decades!

Staff Service Awards

Cheryl Pyle, President Jay Hartzell and VP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly at the awards celebration

The Staff Service Awards included a special shout out to the Office of the Dean of Students’ Cheryl Pyle – one of three university employees celebrating 50 years of service.

“It was February 1972 when I walked into my first job in the Division of Student Affairs … Six positions, two departments, a lifetime of experiences and untold opportunities with absolutely no regrets. Thanks for the memories…” noted Pyle.

Melinda McMichael, Mary Rhodes and Marvin Mackey, Jr.

Additionally, two staff members in University Health Services and Counseling and Mental Health Center celebrated 45 years – Marvin Mackey, Jr. and Mary Rhodes, and one marked 40 years – Melinda McMichael. Meet these three team members.

Congratulate your Division colleagues below!

Counseling and Mental Health Center and University Health Services

Marvin Mackey, Jr., 45 years

Mary Rhodes, 45 years

Melinda McMichael, 40 years

Mitzi Henry, 35 years

Kevin Jones, 35 years

Andrew Mendoza, 30 years

Robert Reed, Jr., 25 years

Mark Zentner, 25 years

Ginger Bloomer, 20 years

Ericka Holms, 15 years

Nicole Lackowski, 15 years

Michael Andorka, 10 years

Monique Cortez, 10 years

Luisa Gutierrez, 10 years

Karen Hickey, 10 years

Sherri Knight, 10 years

Alyssa Ramirez, 10 years

Jessica Sanchez, 10 years

Office of the Dean of Students

Cheryl Pyle, 50 years

Bob Vargas, 35 years

Melissa Jones-Wommack, 10 years

Recreational Sports

Peter Schaack, 35 years

Sarah Bubolz, 30 years

Derek Knight, 25 years

Lisa Sova, 20 years

Dixon Hankins, 15 years

Quincy Hodges, 15 years

Ruben Ramos, 15 years

Ryan Becerra, 10 years

Cecilia Lopez Cardenas, 10 years

University Housing and Dining

Alma Reynoso, 30 years

Michelle Thompson, 30 years

Juston Hairgrove, 20 years

Virginia Jaramillo, 20 years

Jeff Reed, 20 years

Dina Bricker, 15 years

Blanca Garay, 15 years

Christie Jenner, 15 years

Lucero Torres, 15 years

Monica Bacon, 10 years

Rudiger Bernard, 10 years

Calvin Kirts, 10 years

Tiana Lindberg, 10 years

Julia Matamoros Martinez, 10 years

Melinda Mendez, 10 years

Crystal Simpson, 10 years

Aaron Voyles, 10 years

University Unions

Robert Waters, 35 years

Gloria Munoz de Ramirez, 25 years

Steven Cook, 20 years

Bobby Veail, 20 years

Isaac Gutierrez, 15 years

Nick Parras, 15 years

Jeff Sladcik, 15 years

Bill Welford, 15 years

Sean Morrogh, 10 years

Vice President for Student Affairs

Carol Longoria, 10 years

Texas Parents Association

Susie Smith, 15 years

#Division of Student Affairs #Influencing the Longhorn Life #Recreational Sports #Living the Longhorn Life #You Are Here #You Do You #You Change the World #UTSpring2023

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elliepassmore · 2 years

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Bright Ruined Things review

3.5/5 stars Recommended for people who like: retellings, The Tempest, roaring 20s, unlikable characters, magic This book reminds me a bit of Knives Out except without the satisfying stick-it-to-em ending. None of the characters were likable and all of them treated Mae terribly at different points (as a note, Mae is also an unlikeable character). I could not for the life of me figure out why Mae wanted to be part of the family so badly. I can understand the family sticking together because that's what rich assholes do, but Mae is outside of it and could stand to leave the island to live life. To be fair, I've also never read the Tempest, so maybe this sticks close to it, I don't know. Mae's main goal is to stay on the island, become part of the family, and maybe learn some magic. She puts up with a lot of shit, and deals it back in turn, in the name of these three goals. As several other reviewers have said, Mae is pretty underdeveloped and feels way younger than she actually is. I get that she never leaves the island, but do they not have a radio? Books? Like?? The relationships between characters all feel pretty rushed and underdeveloped as well. Coco and Mae are supposed to be 'best friends' but it's clear from the get-go that Mae is just convenient for Coco and that the other girl doesn't really care that deeply about her (superficially, sure, but deeply I doubt). Likewise, Mae has a crush on Miles, which is understandable since it seems he's attractive, but he doesn't really seem to give her the time of day until Mae seems useful. Ivo is a difficult character to figure out because I don't feel we really ever get the full story behind him and Mae's relationship/interactions. However, I will say that despite all the issues Ivo has (and he has plenty) he was probably my favorite, and his and Mae's interactions felt more genuine that some of Mae's others. I'll be honest, I definitely saw the issue with the spirits coming before the characters figured out what was going on. Maybe it's because I live in this world and have read lots of fantasy books and those two things combined make it obvious, but I also feel like Mae should've realized sooner the issues and quandaries that arise with having magical spirit servants tied to your bloodline. It's incredible how many people were willing to do terrible things to harness magic. I wish the magical element got explored a bit more. Some of it I understand, but some of the stuff that was going on with the spirits I feel we got around to a little late in the story and I'm a little confused on some aspects of it. I would also like a more thorough explanation for why so many family members had a 'yes, this is fine' mentality and, if they didn't, why it was hidden from some people and not others. Miles plays somewhat of an interesting role here and I feel like he really could've been used to examine the situation I've vaguely alluded to, but instead I feel like he kind of just uncritically perpetrates what his family has been doing.

#book #booknerd #bookaddict #book review #bookish #bookaholic #booklr #bookblr #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram #great gatsby #retelling #bright ruined things #fantasy #ya fantasy #ya books

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mzdsanalysis · 3 years

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Wei Wuxian’s Actions and Morality:

I am kind of confused on some parts, and i would really appreciate it if someone is willing to discuss it with me. It’s regarding Wei Wuxian, and his exact involvement in the events at the Accident at Qiongqi Path and Bloodbath of Nightless City.

Now, at the accident at Quiongqi path, Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning were just going to Koi tower for the full month celebration to which they had been invited to. Jin Zixun ambushes and threatens to kill him if he doesn’t remove the hundred hole curse. Wei wuxian tries to explain that he didn’t cast the curse and isn’t guilty (admittedly he could have done it in a better way). Jin zixun doesn’t believe him and continues to threaten him. Jin Zixuan appears, tries to diffuse the tension, but still insists that wei wuxian comes along to answer the accusations. Wei wuxian doesn’t believe him (he isn’t wrong to. Guys show up with a whole gang, accuse him of something he didn’t do, and then ask him willingly to come along to “resolve” the issue, though they had spent the past year slandering him and wanting to murder the people he is trying to protect. Just getting into his perspective of things.) Wei wuxian gets angry and accuses Jin zixuan of being on the whole thing, and is agitated and afraid. Which is when he loses control of the resentful energy, which extends to his control of wen ning, and that’s how wen ning, not currently being in control of his body, punches a hole into Jin Zixuan and kills him. Now, automatically, I am going to absolve Wen Ning of any guilt. He is literally NOT in control of his own body. He did that due to the Wei wuxian controlling him with resentful energy. But Wei wuxian also isn’t completely guilty. He was upset, confused, and to some extent scared. But not even subconsciously was he planning or intending to kill Jin zixuan. He lost control over the resentful energy. He put wen ning is a specific state, and then lost control over him, due to not being able to regulate his own emotions during the whole chaos. An accident. An accident that led to someone innocent being killed, but an accident none the less.

Now, I expect different peoples take on this is going to deviate somewhat and that’s fine. I am cool with it. In my opinion, he isn’t completely guilty, but is still responsible. He did not have the intention to kill Jin zixuan, but he DID kill him. It was because of the resentful energy that he was still learning about and how to control it. But if you are going to use a knife after everyone telling you it’s dangerous – although they are doing it just because they don’t want you to have the knife, they want themselves having the knife, while at the same time threating to kill your friends, so you don’t exactly have a choice, but use a freaking knife to, you know, NOT DIE – when you accidently stab someone, it’s still somewhat on you. Lan Zhan had warned him that it could end up badly if he did loose control over the resentful energy and wen ning, and wei wuxian dismissed it. But it was still something he was experimenting with and researching, and hadn’t completely figured out. So it’s not like he didn’t care or was dismissing that it was a bad thing, just that he genuinely didn’t think it would happen. He has been controlling it so far, and everything has been fine, and since he doesn’t exactly have any other options, he will have to continue using it, despite the arguments on the dangers of it.

Now, the bloodbath at Nightless City. Wei wuxian already knows at this point that wen ning and wen qing are dead, and he heads there to atleast collect their ashes and bring them back. When he arrives at the pledge conference, all the sects attending, all 3000, are collected together, and Jin Guangshan makes his speech. He announced that both wens are dead, and then spreads the ashes, the ones Wei ying had come to collect. Then announces that they were going on next day to kill the rest of wens anyway, along with wei ying, to loud applause from the crowd in attendance. Its only then wei wuxian makes his presence known. Before that, he was just listening on. Jin Guangshan makes some more accusations: at Qiongqi Path wei wuxian killed Lanlingjin sect members, the ones jin zixun brought to ambush him, and that wei ying is the one who made wen ning go in a rampage at koi tower (a lie. While jin zixuan’s death at wen ning – actually wei wuxian’s – was an accident, the rampage at koi tower, as we know for a fact, wasn’t an accident (confirmed by MXTX’s interview.) I am not sure if it was mentioned in the book, but from what I can recall, it was xue yang. I might be wrong, but it was still done on Jin Guangshan’s orders. So the deaths of members of the other sect’s members, Lan and Nie, and the others, lie not at wei wuxian’s feet but Jin Guangshan’s. Wei wuxian doesn’t take the accusations silently, and argues back: he was the one who was ambushed, who almost got killed. He has every right to defend himself against the men Jin Zixun brought to attack and kill him. The crowd says he shouldn’t have been so heartless, and in wei wuxian’s own words: no matter what the other sects throw at him, no matter how hard they try to harm and kill him, he is not allowed to touch them, harm their members, defend himself or fight back even if it cost him his life. The sects throw in their final arguments in:

Even if he was fighting back, it doesn’t account for the 130 people who died at koi tower at hands of wen ning.

He shouldn’t defend the wens. They are horrible and evil and guilty and deserve to die.

He is only doing it for his pride, and to prove himself a hero.

He laid the curse on Jin zixun.

Each of them are easily nullified.

Wei wuxian didn’t cause wen’s ning rampage. Jin Guangshan did. The 130 lives are on his own hands, not wei wuxians.

People aren’t guilty by association, especially by family relation. None of the wen remnants have any blood on their hands. They are from wen qing’s branch and are non-combatants, thus they were not involved in any of the Wen Ruhon’s actions. Nor were they involved in at the accident at Qiongqi Path or Koi tower. They are innocent.

The argument about his pride came from their attitude towards him from before his defection. They had admired his powers and were intimated by it, but didn’t like that he belonged to Jiang sect, and wasn’t willing to change his loyalties to belong to them instead. He also dared being defiant and outspoken, and powerful while being a servant’s son, and that’s a crime of it’s own in their eyes. Is wei wuxian’s slightly arrogant? Yes. Is he wrong to be? No, he is very powerful and is aware of what he is capable of. Is that a reason to hate him enough to want to kill him? No! wth

He laid the curse on Jin Zixun. He didn’t. Su she did. Jin Guangshan and Guangyo were aware of that, and still sent zixun to ambush wei ying anyway.

None of their accusation hold any weight to them. Admittedly, we know that because we read the book and these characters aren’t exactly able to do that. The only people here who know about it are Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao, who planned the whole thing in the first place. So, I am not going to paint these people as all evil. Some of the sect’s members did die. Some of these people have actually the right to be angry at what happened, though the anger is pointed in the wrong direction.

But the rest of the people are there because of the mob mentality. Because someone is guilty, someone needs to be punished. Here its 50 people and wei ying, one of their own ex members. But because they are not worth the effort, none of it needs to be investigated, to be proven. They have an available party to hold guilty, and it’s far too comfortable for them to put it on their heads rather than find the actually accountable people.

To an extent, it really does seem, by the proofs handfed to them by Jin Guangshan, the wei ying is guilty, That he actually did it. But don’t they owe to the 50 wen members who are about to be slaughtered like cattle, for no other reason than being associated with Wen sect and Wei wuxian, for atleast one of them to look a bit harder, to try a bit harder? I would say so. Wei ying would too. I don’t think the other sects would agree with us, but it’s ancient china society, and modern war ethics and laws aren’t exactly in place to prevent them from doing so.

Back to Wei ying, he gets shot at by a disciple. It actually pierces him, just by luck not in a fatal place but only by a fluke. It was aimed at the heart. The intention to kill was there. He fires the arrow back, kills back the guy who tried to kill him. I don’t know exactly how anyone could hold him completely in the wrong here. We might not like it, but wei ying is not some pure white angel, nor a pacifist by any means. He is a soldier, a fighter, and he is amidst people who are literally moving to kill him by any means, and he just got an almost kill-shot. He has every right to defend himself, fight back, and honestly, kill back anyone who is trying to kill him. Eye for an eye, punch for a punch. It’s ruthlessly fair, despite sounding harsh. Honestly, it is harsh, but it’s not wrong, wither we like it or not.

He calls forth his dead, the battle begins. Lan Wangji tries to get him to stop, but it doesn’t work. There are definite tones of a sort of deliriousness. I am not exactly sure to how severe it was, but it shows he wasn’t exactly in an emotional and mental fit state. It’s definitely obvious when he tries to make his way to Yanli, and is too worked up to control the corpses crowding around, and the one standing behind Jiang Yanli. He is only able to do it when yanli asks him to stop it all so that she could tell him what she had wanted to tell him. He forces himself to calm down, and is only then able to control the corpses. (I am not saying the deliriousness was severe enough to absolve him of any responsibility he does hold in the event; I am merely acknowledging it’s presence.)

Then Jiang Yanli gets killed by the bow guy’s brother, and that when thing’s go from going downhill to just jumping right off the cliff. But unfortunately, MXTXs writing doesn’t exactly let us to be a witness to the scene, so the curtains close, and we are only allowed to make our assumptions on what happened, who/how/how many exactly died.

The point of this bloody essay is to determine the exactly how much of the event was Wei wuxian involved and responsibly for, so I can examine wei wuxian’s morality with all facts present.

If we go according to the book, wei ying:

Used some pretty grotesque methods to kill in the sunshot campaign

Allowed/ made Wen Ning kill his killers at Qiongqi Path

Accidentally killed Jin Zixuan

Kill Jin Zixun and his men after their ambush

Got in a fight on the way to the pledge conference with a group of cultivators: he broke one’s nose, kicked out his teeth, and made another fall and break his legs (not a severe injury according to lan wangji)

Fought in Bloodbath at Nightless city (after they had made the announcement, they were going ahead with the attack on the wen remnants and wen ying)

I am only including actions that me, anyone else (or the character’s) could possibly hold against him and question his morality with.

Here is where my confusion comes in. Now, I made the mistake of reading the novel only after finishing the tv show. As we know, the tv show took some liberties with the plotline and altered a few things. I honestly like a lot of the changes. Usually when tv shows make changes like that, it doesn’t always work out and it kind of depletes the essence of the story, but they actually managed it quite well. But one of the key changes were the plotlines around the Qiongqi Path accident and nightless city.

Divergences in the tv show:

At Qiongqi Path, Su she’s flute is what makes Wen Ning kill Jin Zixuan (+ Jin Zixun) rather than wei wuxian loosing control due to his emotions.

At the bloodbath, Su She playing the flute is what stopped wei wuxian from halting the battle and loose control of the fierce corpses.

(+ by the time of the battle, the wen remnants were already dead, so wei wuxian’s fight becomes more about revenge and grief rather than to protect them)

Basically, they abbreviated a lot of his action to other people. Which I understand, I guess. You are less in the character’s head while watching the tv show rather than when you are reading the book, and for the audience to develop a better and more empathetic relationship with a lead character, liberties needed to be taken to make him more sympathetic.

My debate on his morality, hence, is more focused on the book character rather the tv show (honestly, since even his only 2 serious offences are not even his fault in the show.) but in the book, they kind of are. He did kill Jin Zixuan: accidentally. He had no intention whatsoever of him doing it; not subconsciously or consciously. He was just feeling agitated and angry and viewed Jin Zixuan as a threat, and Wen Ning, who was in his fierce corpse state, interpreted as a need to kill jin Zixuan.

The only way you could put this against him is if you hold him responsible of using such an unstable and dangerous form of cultivation/magic. But he already gave an answer for that, which none of us can argue against: he didn’t have choice. He never did with demonic cultivation.

He started using it in the Burial mounds to survive and make it out.

He used it to seek justice for his sects massacre (go ahead and debate the need for that if you need to. I don’t)

He used it to fight in the Sunshot campaign, and he was a MAJOR force in the campaign, and a enormous contributor to it’s success. Could they still have won if he hadn’t been with them? Maybe, sure. But if there was any risk to loosing them, and wen sect remained undefeated, Jiang chen and yanli and wei wuxian were as good as dead. No way they or the other sects who had raised arms against wen sect would have been allowed to live or survive.

He used it to save Wen Ning and other wen remnants: war prisoners who were undergoing severe abuse and were basically being killed off. For no reason than being wens. Yes, I know it was common in ancient china to kill off the whole family. But it’s not right. Wei wuxian doesn’t think so. And neither do i.

He used it to bring back Wen Ning for Wen qing.

- I don’t know where I read it that he brought him back for protection or as a weapon. He didn’t. He was pissed at what they did to him, and brought him to allow him to tell wei ying who had kill him then allowed him to get his revenge. He than made him sentient because he had promise wen qing & the other wen members that he could bring him back. He promised his sister that he could bring her brother back. That’s why.

He used it to protect burial mounds and the wen remnants: A bunch of non-combatant members that he had grown to love and care about as family. As you can see here:

“ He turned around, knowing that it’d be a long time before he’s get to see the people he was familiar with again.

But…right now, wasn’t he on his way to seeing people he was familiar with as well?”

He used it to fight back during the ambush. He doesn’t have a gold core; He literally cant wield a sword to defend himself. So he uses it to summon corpses to fight against Jin Zixun’s men.

· He uses it to fight in the Bloodbath of Nightless City, after Jin Guangshan announced that they were going ahead with killing the rest of the wens and wei ying, and the attending crowd voiced out their excitement over the prospect.

Second, the bloodbath at nightless city. Yes, it was a very brutal battle with many casualties. But these people were planning to kill him and the wens. They had decided it by the time he spoke up. It was a definite thing that was going to happen.

Now you can argue against the use of violence, and need of it. But while I am very anti-war myself, I still hold to the belief that there are some fights that are worth fighting for, that need to be fought for. The wen remnants were innocent, and no one, NO ONE, had the right to decide they needed to die just because they were wens. They were innocent people. They had not actively killed or participated in the massacre that the main wen sect had conducted, and being blood relations to the actual guilty party is not an indication of being guilty too.

You could also argue the value of 3000 lives against 50. I have seen people do it, and write metas about. But whats the value of 1 life or 10 or 50? How are we supposed to decide who deserve to live more? How is that anyway moral?

Wei wuxian didn’t act to choose one group of lives over the other. He did it to protect himself and the people he cared about, and that meant fighting against anyone who was actively intending to kill and harm them, and was an acting threat. As human being who, like any other being, has the right to defend himself, to protect himself, to survive and be able to live. 3000 people wanting to kill him, and wens doesn’t take away his right to do that. There isn’t a rule that if enough people want you dead and murdered, rightly or not, you should just let them go ahead with it and turn your belly up. That…just doesn’t make sense?

I am in acceptance that he is a grey character, with his flaws and his merits. What I am confused about is exactly how much black and white went into making his grey. Maybe because I watched tv show and read the novel at the about same time, I feel like I am missing something. Did I miss anything? Did he do anything else? Am I wrong? What do other people think? Where do you guys lie on your judgment of wei wuxian as person and on his moral stance?

#wei wuxian #Wei ying #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian meta #wei ying meta #the untamed meta #mo dao zu shi meta #yiling laozu #yiling patriarch

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dodo-begone · 3 years

Note

See's Dodo and anons reaction to last ask.

Me: externally blushing like crazy. Internally AAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHA *squealing noise s*

Well you know what they say the show must go on.

Wilbur was the first of the royals to really notice, after all most of his time with you was spent inside in the library since he had convinced his father to allow him to teach you instead of hiring teachers, but you never had less than two layers of clothing on even when indoors you had a large shirt and coat on. Even if it was winter now you were first brought to the castle in summer but you attire remained the same a shirt two sizes too big and a coat also large on you it was a small wonder you didn't suffer form heat stroke, maybe it was a case of those being the only clothes you owned well that wouldn't do it would be a poor showing if visiting diplomats thought they treated their (new sibling) guests with such little care and honesty buying you a new wardrobe didn't even make a dent in his personal finances. Still it was strange that both you and Tommy insisted on your new clothes being a size or two too big and also made of lighter cloth not the wool that was so common for winter attire but at the very least your and Tommy's insistence meant that he got to choose the colours of the outfits in return. Of course the main colours were white and a navy blue you were a member of the Royal (family) Court now it was only right you wore their colours, still the insistence on lighter materials for your clothes did worry him a little the winters were harsh he didn't want his (sibling) little brothers friend getting sick maybe he should bring this up with the others maybe they would know why you never took off that coat.

Techno hadn't noticed the whole coat issue until his twin pointed it out but now that Wilbur had he couldn't stop noticing it. Even when you spared with him you didn't take off the coat heck you never wore armour saying that armour only slowed you down, you had even balked, gone pale when he offered you enchanted iron armour turning down the gift and walking swiftly away. At first he and chat had felt rather rejected (sibling rejection arc, pog, e, e, Technosad) after all you had even if reluctantly accepted Wilbur gift of a new wardrobe but you were rejecting his gift, he had wanted to give you armour so he could teach you his style of fighting but you didn't want that apparently. Though now he thought about it your and theseus's apparent insistence on lighter fabrics and the rejection of the iron armour might not be as coinsidental as he might have thought, after all he had seen you shivering a few times when you thought he wasn't looking but you had refused the much warmer wool for cloth so it wasn't just you being stubborn did, did you have some sort of skin problem or other ailment that caused you pain or irritation if you wore heavy clothes or armour. Oh of course you would go pale at the idea of wearing iron armour if that was the case plus it would explain the constantly wearing a coat since you probably didn't want them to know out of misguided fear of their reaction after all he had seen how superstitious some peasants could be about such conditions from his time training new soldiers. Theseus would know you did have such a condition after all you were practically joined at the hip, but it was getting very late, tomorrow he would find Theseus and ask if he knew the reason why now he needed to find his father.

Tommy most certainly did know the reason why you never wore armour and always had a coat on. He was currently sat on your bed, both of your backs to the door, preening the reasons why you letting out quiet chirps as he helped straighten and re-aligh your feathers, after all your wings didn't exactly appreciate being covered by your coat the whole day he couldn't even imagine how much worse your wings would have been if Wilbur hadn't listened and just gotten a heavy wool coat. He remembered when your wings first came through a few years ago when your friendship was still new, you had been complaining about a rash that had suddenly appeared on your back a few days prior only to fall to the ground in pain mid sentence, he was honestly grateful that his family didn't keep track of their potion supply considering how many regen potion you needed when your wings came out leaving rather large exit wounds on your back, if he wasn't able to get those potions he didn't even want to think about what could have happened to you. Now you were here though and he couldn't let anyone know about your wings if even a servant or stable boy saw it would trickle back to his brother and his dad if Philza found out he would never let you leave, you would become as trapped as him maybe even more so due to his dad's instincts. Unfortunately since both of your backs were to the door neither of you spotted the winged watcher peering through the cracked open door.

Philza was on his way to his newest (child) guests chambers after his eldest two had come to him with worrying news about their newest ( family member) permanent. Wilbur told tales of light clothing even in winter while Techno quiet shared his own worries of them being ill and hiding it from them but to him those weren't the signs of illness no they were signs that you were like... no he should get excited it was probably an illness after all his investigations had shown that it wasn't just bandits that ravaged his nation but hybrid hunters a particularly disgusting breed of bandit that targeted hybrids to sell as pets or in the case of winged hybrids to harvest their wings as decorations. That infuriated him after all he had founded this nation to be a safe haven for hybrids but due to his own negligence they were hunted down, if you were like... him it would be a small miracle that you hadn't been taken by those hunters. Reaching the room in question open a crack he went to knock when he heard a soft chirping pausing he looked through the crack to see his youngest preening his (baby bird) guest's wings, rushing back to his own chambers he could just hear chat cawing ( baby bird, dadza, dadza, protect, keep, baby bird) he couldn't keep the massive grin off of his face as it all came together. Of course you didn't wear heavy clothing you had been hiding your wings it would mangle your feathers if you wore heavier clothing over them, the iron armour was rejected because you couldn't wear it full stop even with your wings out your bones wouldn't be able to take the weight since they were partly hollow, oh he had a little bird to teach flying and how to properly preen. His emotional high crashed though as he realised that you ran your farm alone, were you alone when your wings came through, its was the worst pain on could feel wings slowly ripping their way out of your back plus you could easily bleed out or get an infection if the open wounds weren't taken care of properly, oh you poor dear no wonder you were so attached to Tommy he was the only flock member you had. No longer though he would look after you he knew his sons had grown to care for you as much as they had Tommy, his more bird like instincts rejoiced at the thought of a fledgling joining his little flock.

Ender-anon

This is quite a bit longer than I thought it would be also first time writing hybrid reader.

sorry i took so long to answer this!! This just rlly intimidated me and anxiety went brrrr- but anyways lemmie get into this ask!!!

YOU FUCKING DESERVE THE RECOGNITION MAN UR STUFF IS SO FUCKING POG

god i rlly love royalty aus, did i ever mention that??? i just lOVE- ANYWAYS

So Wilbur's curiosity about your clothing choice only lead him to believing that what you wore was all you could afford in your previous life. He wasn't exactly wrong. And even with the new clothes you got when you moved into the castle, you refused to wear them. It was rather peculiar. Wouldn't you want to get out of those nasty and worn rags you called clothes? But you were new to the castle. He went with the presumption that the shock from the change was frightening. You must've kept your previous clothes as a safety blanket of sorts. Though after a few nasty looks sent your way over your apparel and your very obvious discomfort about it, he decided to take the executive decision to give you clothes that fit your taste and the taste of the court. Your choice to have oversized clothing confused him, but Tommy's insistence just made him presume you were self conscious of your body. To be fair, he wasn't half wrong but he was.

At the rejection of his gift, his and chat's disappointment were more than evident. Was his twin better or something? Like you accepted his gift, although reluctantly. But you still accepted it. And yet you didn't accept him. Looking back on your fear of the armor, he thought more into it. Yes the skin issues was definitely something to consider, but maybe trauma? No, trauma of armor would be strange, right? Maybe you had a family member who wore armor yet died in front of you despite their armor being worn to protect them. Or some other fear. Yea, the skin issue would be much more reasonable, actually. He'll just bring it up with father, let him know of the possible issues with their new family member.

One of the activities you two did on the daily was straighten out your feathers at the end of the day or when they were bothering you. Though the latter only happened when you two were in private. Nobody could know your secret, after all. It was for your protection and to preserve your freedom. At first, when your wings were coming in, he was absolutely terrified for you. What the fuck was going on? This isn't normal! Oh god oh fuck what is he suppose to do?! With an oversupply of potions thanks to the paranoia of attacks on the family and accidents during training, it was beyond easy to take what he needed for you. If anyone was questioned about it, he could easily say that some trainees took some.

OMG ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME FUCKING CRY WITH THIS PHILZA PART?! BEACUSE I WILL CRY THIS IS SO MF CUTE- I JUST CAN'T I LOVE SO MUCH- I CAN'T ADD ANYTHING TO THAT PERFECT- I COULDN'T RLLY ADD ANYTHING TO WHAT YOU SENT ME AND I APOLOGIZE. I JUST LOVE AAAALLL OF THIS

#ask #ender anon #long post #royal au #c: phil #c: techno #c: tommy #c: wilbur #rambling with dodo

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ollieofthebeholder · 2 years

Text

Love Will Find Out the Way: a RQG fanfic

Part 1 || Also on AO3.

Chapter 2: Three Years Later

Where there is no place For the glow-worm to lie, Where there is no place For receipt of a fly, Where the gnat dares not venture, Lest herself fast she lay, But if Love comes, he will enter And will find out the way.

---

It's been a long time since Azu has been to Cairo, let alone the Tahan house—not since she got back from Rome. She's both excited and dreading it a little.

She relaxes a little when she realizes that the route from the dock where the Venge is tied up to the street where the Temple of Aphrodite sits hasn't really changed since she first walked it almost ten years ago. Azu excitedly rambles to Cel about the streets, and some of her memories of them—fuzzy though they may be—but trails off when they draw near where the Temple is. Or rather, was. It looks mostly the same, but the sign on it declares it to be simply the Heart of Healing.

"Oh," she says quietly.

"What's wrong, Azu?" Kiko asks.

"Nothing," Azu says uncertainly. She looks again, and, yes, it's the same building. Probably it serves the same function. "They've changed the name, that's all. I wasn't expecting that. Come on, I remember how to get there from here."

She's sort of lying, actually, but she's the only one who's been there before and the others are happy to let her lead. Cel gets distracted by the infrastructure, and Azu listens to their rambling with half an ear while trying to remember the way to Hamid's family home when the world isn't covered with excessive amounts of sand.

Luckily, she's able to find the way without too much trouble and leads the crew of the Venge, or at least those members who chose to accept the invitation, up to the gates. The older of the two guards on duty recognizes Azu immediately and greets her warmly. Azu remembers him as the guard who brought them to the house the first time she was here and reciprocates the greeting, although she's careful not to reveal that she can't for the life of her remember his name. He cheerfully escorts them up to the house and hands them over to a butler, whom Azu doesn't recognize but who leads them both deeper into the house.

For the most part, it looks like Azu remembers from the first time she was here—she didn't get much of a look around the second time—save that the floors are bare. She has vague memories of fancy patterned rugs of varying sizes softening the expanses of marble and wood, but now it's bare. It's also surprisingly a bit easier for her to move around without feeling like she's going to bump into things on either side of her, although she still has to stoop a bit.

The room they're led into, though, is a bit taller, with windows stretching floor to ceiling. There's a long banquet table set up to one side, but lots of space for socializing and possibly dancing. A number of people, mostly Halflings, are mingling in the space, small clusters breaking and reforming, as servants circle the floor with trays full of glasses. Music is playing from somewhere nearby. A very small—at least to Azu—girl peers at them over a gilt-edged book, wide-eyed behind a pair of round spectacles. Azu offers her a smile, hoping it's reassuring, before turning back to the room at large.

Hamid, who seems to be listening politely to someone, notices them and detaches himself from the conversation, then comes over to them, arms spread for a hug. Azu kneels down and hugs him tightly. "Hamid, it's so good to see you!"

"Azu, I've missed you!" Hamid squeezes her, but it's not the desperate clinging from their last meeting.

He pulls back for a minute and turns to greet the others. Azu studies her friend. He definitely looks better than before, which is a plus. The suit he's wearing is much simpler and frankly suits him a lot better, but more than that, he looks relaxed and happy. He seems to have…not grown, exactly, but he's holding himself differently than before—more assured, more confident, but without being overconfident. Whatever was bothering him before, he seems to have moved past it.

"I wasn't sure if you'd get the invitation, but I'm glad you did," Hamid says. "All of you. Please, come in and make yourselves at home." He turns to Sassraa, who looks the most uncomfortable, and says something to her in Draconic; they relax and nod, smiling uncertainly, but still stick close to Cel.

The group begins filtering into the room; Hamid skillfully introduces them to people he thinks they'll get along with. Azu accepts two glasses of wine from a servant and hands one to Kiko, then starts to turn to talk to Hamid when he suddenly smiles again and moves towards the door, where another butler is just ushering in Oscar and Zolf.

Oscar looks much the same as he did the last time Azu saw him—smiling and well, in a neat suit with a contrasting pocket square (a vibrant emerald green this time, with a plain royal blue sticking out of the pocket). Zolf looks…the only word for it is better, just like Hamid. His hair has been tamed somewhat, he seems less tired and worn out, and he's dressed up a touch. He's still not Hamid's level of dressed up, which isn't exactly news, but he's wearing a button-down shirt and fairly nice trousers, which have been folded under the stumps of his legs. He's also, Azu notices, acquired a pair of leather gloves with the fingers missing.

"It's so good to see you both," Hamid says warmly.

"Good to see you, too, Hamid." Oscar bends down and lets Hamid hug him.

Hamid hugs him back tightly, then turns to Zolf with a broad smile. Zolf actually returns it, for a wonder. Rather than hug, they simply clasp hands. "Congratulations. Genuinely. Knew you could do it."

"Thank you," Hamid says. "That…that means a lot."

Zolf releases Hamid's hand, then turns and offers a nod to the little girl still observing everything from over the edge of her book. "All right there, Yara?"

"You remembered!" The little girl—Yara, Azu guesses—lowers her book, her entire face lighting up. She's almost a dead ringer for Hamid; she must be a sister he's forgotten to mention, or possibly a niece. Her hair is long and thick and glossy, held back with a simple white band. "Hello, Mr. Zolf."

Zolf wheels over to where she's sitting. "What're you reading, then?"

Shyly, Yara holds up the book to face him. Azu can't read the title from where she is, but Zolf visibly brightens at the sight of it. "Oh, yeah, that's a good one. I just finished it myself. How far along are you?"

"I've already read it three times," Yara says, slipping a silk ribbon into it to mark her place and closing it. "But this time, I'm up to the bit on the river, with the barrels."

Oscar comes over to where Azu and Kiko stand, still smiling but shaking his head, as Zolf launches into discussion with the little girl about the book, presumably. "Azu, it's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too, Oscar." Azu nods in Zolf's direction. "What's that all about?"

"The book? No idea. It came in the mail anonymously just before we left. Zolf spent most of the train ride reading it. It's the first book I've ever seen him get that into that wasn't written by Harrison Campbell, but I haven't had a chance to read it myself yet."

"No, the conversation. The…who is that?"

"Oh." Oscar looks over at the conversation, then turns back to Azu. "I'm actually not sure, but they're getting along, so I'm not going to question it."

Kiko laughs. Azu smiles and shakes her head fondly. "How have you been? You came in together, so I'm assuming…"

"It's been good. We're good. He's been staying with me, and…well, we've been figuring it out together." Oscar gets quiet for a moment. "I won't pretend it's always perfect. You know better than that. But…it's good."

Azu's about to ask more specifics about what they've been up to when a bright, surprisingly deep voice says, "Oh, hey, Azu! Glad you could make it. Hamid and I were both really hoping."

Azu turns and blinks in surprise. "Ishaq?"

Ishaq winks. "Didn't recognize me, did you?"

"You've grown another foot since the last time I saw you."

"Nope, still just got two of them." Ishaq wrinkles his nose in a cheeky grin at her as Azu groans and both Kiko and Oscar laugh. "It's good to see you. Really."

"It's good to see you, too." Azu studies him for a moment. He's the same age now as Hamid was when she first met him, more or less—maybe a little younger—but she doesn't have to see them standing next to each other to know that Ishaq has grown taller than his older brother, and a bit more solidly built. He looks good. "Congratulations on graduating. Not that there was any doubt."

"Thanks. And there was a bit, but it worked out in the end."

Oscar hums. "Academic doubt, or disciplinary doubt? Were you part of the Accessibility March?"

Ishaq pulls a face. "I still don't know who started calling it that. It makes it sound like it was a one-time thing. But yeah, I took part."

"The what?" Azu asks, confused.

Oscar turns to face her. "Oh…you might not have heard, as busy as you've been, but it made quite a splash in the papers. Students at the University of Paris were protesting the difficulties inherent in getting around the campus if one isn't…completely able-bodied. If I'm recalling the reports correctly, you all made a point of using the most accessible routes even if you could have taken the shorter paths, is that right?"

"Yeah, basically. That was the idea, you know, students getting punished for being late to class when they couldn't help it because it took them eight minutes to travel a distance someone with full use of their limbs could do in two, that's not fair." Ishaq shakes his head. "They had to choose between punishing all the students, or at least a lot of them, or doing something about it, and they decided to do something about it."

"Well—good! That's really good," Azu says, and means it. "That's one of the things we've been focusing on with the rebuilding, is making sure that the infrastructure isn't just functional for certain people, it's accessible to everyone. Private dwellings, of course, you can make those however you want, but any public-facing building…"

She doesn't actually intend to launch into a lecture, but, well, she's spent a lot of time with Cel and bits of them have rubbed off on one another, so she does tend to go into too much detail. And to their credit, both Ishaq and Oscar seem to be listening intently, although that might just be that both of them have been trained to do that.

When she finishes, Ishaq nods. "Yeah, that was kind of Hamid's point too."

Azu smiles, because of course Hamid got involved. "Oh, he was in on it too?"

Ishaq looks around, then leans in and drops his voice. The other three have to bend down slightly to hear him. "He's the one who put it all together. He doesn't want people knowing that—that was the thing he insisted on most when it started, that anyone who wanted to talk to the press or whatever could but that nobody say he was behind it—but yeah, it was Hamid who started it. Even before…" He glances over at where Zolf and Yara are having a discussion involving a lot of gesticulating, and something flickers across his face for a moment. "Even before we had a good reason, he was always the one to notice those kinds of things. And any time he was going to be spending time with someone, he'd always ask if there was anything he needed to be aware of. He's trying really hard, but…you know, he doesn't want people praising him for it. He says that's just what you should be doing."

Azu doesn't know why this surprises her so much. Hamid's always had a big heart, and he does try, but she's still caught off-guard by what Ishaq is saying. Then she glances in Hamid's direction, sees him glance away from the conversation he's having towards Zolf and Yara and smile broadly before returning his attention to the person he's actually talking to, and she thinks she gets it.

"Well, it's made quite the impression," Oscar says. "As I heard, all the other universities have been following suit in making sure there are no barriers—no physical barriers, anyway—to education. I suppose they want to prevent something like that from happening again."

"What about you, Ishaq?" Azu asks, changing the subject slightly. "What are you going to do now that you have your degree?"

Ishaq glows. "I'm going to Damascus. There's a company there that—they used to be a factory to make mechanical men, real high-end magictech stuff, but now they make prosthetic limbs, or they're trying to anyway. My advisor sent them a copy of one of my papers where I tried to work out how you could make a fully-functional replacement limb out of metal and gears and whatnot, and they've invited me to join their Research and Development staff."

Kiko grins. "Hey, that's pretty cool. Have you talked to Cel about that? That sounds right up their alley."

"I don't think I've met Cel before."

"Come on, I'll introduce you." Azu looks around for Cel and finds them obviously struggling in a discussion with someone. They look relieved when Azu neatly slices them off from their conversational partner and introduces them to Ishaq.

She leaves Ishaq, Cel, and—surprisingly enough—Sassraa talking shop, waves to Ed as she passes him holding court with a group of admirers, and finds herself face-to-face with Saira, smiling up at her, her arm linked through that of a Dwarf with a thick, dark braid and fierce eyebrows.

"Azu, hello, it's been a while," she says warmly. "Allow me to introduce my wife, Leila…Leila, this is Azu, she's one of Hamid's friends. She's—are you still with Aphrodite?"

"Not formally." Azu smiles. "It's lovely to meet you, Leila. Please, let me introduce my girlfriend, Kiko…Kiko, this is Saira, Hamid's older sister."

"Hi." Kiko offers her hand to shake. "You must be so proud of your brothers."

Saira practically glows. "They've done so well, haven't they? I always knew Hamid would make good, once he grew up a bit, but he's gone so much beyond what I would have expected."

"Ishaq and Oscar were telling us about…the protest at the University."

"Yes…Mother wasn't thrilled about that when she found out Ishaq was involved. She was even less thrilled when she asked why Hamid didn't stop him and he very calmly told her he'd been part of it too." Saira sighs. "It's been…hard on her, I think. Things changed so very rapidly and…well."

"Things have been difficult for your family these last few years," Azu says sympathetically. Between Aziza being murdered, Saleh and Saleh, Jr., going to prison—she notices they still aren't here—and Hamid and Ishaq being lost for a year and a half, not to mention the turmoil that must have ensued at the banks when magic vanished, it's a lot to dump on a person. And while Hamid's mother didn't seem as rigid and unyielding as his father, it can't have been easy on her.

"That's one way to look at it," Saira allows. "It could have been a lot worse, though. If it wasn't for—"

There's a slightly muffled thumping noise, and Azu jerks her head in the direction of the sound to see Yara and Zolf both looking slightly embarrassed, Yara's book on the ground between them. Not many people look in their direction—it's just that Azu, Kiko, Leila, and Saira are close enough to notice the noise—but Hamid's mother does, and her lips tighten slightly with disapproval. Saira sighs and starts to move towards them, but Leila holds her back. "Better not. Remember, Fairhands said we're supposed to wait until she asks."

Azu is momentarily distracted by mention of Eren Fairhands, and then confused by what Leila means, and then she notices Yara gripping the arm of the chair with one hand while struggling to bend over far enough to reach her book with the other. It's obvious she won't reach it without leaving her seat, though, and Azu wonders why she doesn't just get up until she sighs, her shoulders slumping with defeat, and sits up. She looks around and makes eye contact with Hamid, who—evidently—excuses himself from his conversation and comes over to her and Zolf. She says something to him that Azu can't hear, but she can guess…and then reaches over the sides of the chair to back it up.

Zolf's face goes slack with obvious shock, and Azu, too, can't believe she didn't notice the large wheels on either side. Yara seems to have both legs, so she can't figure out why the little girl might need it. Hamid doesn't bat an eyelash, though, merely stoops down in the space between the two wheelchairs and lifts the book, then presents it to Yara. She takes it with a grateful smile; he kisses her gently on the forehead, flashes a smile at Zolf, and disengages himself to return to his previous conversation.

Azu turns back to Saira, eyes wide. "I—how did I not notice—is she—what happened?"

Sadness crosses Saira's face. "An accident, a couple of years ago. There was a runaway carriage…she didn't get out of the way fast enough. For a while we thought…" She shakes her head. "She survived, but…well, they told us she'll most likely never walk again."

"Oh, no, the poor thing," Azu murmurs. Something twists deeply and painfully inside her as it occurs to her that, if they hadn't done what they did, if they hadn't taken magic out of the world, Yara would be a perfectly normal, perfectly healthy little girl. Magic could have kept this from happening, or at least fixed it. Hamid must have been beside himself.

"It doesn’t seem to bother her unduly, most of the time," Leila offers. "She gets frustrated more than anything when she can't do something on her own, but for the most part, she's still the same as she was before. At least in public."

"That isn't saying much," Saira says under her breath. "We all…never mind. It was hard for her at first, while she was still adjusting to her new reality, but Hamid was there for her every—is it insensitive of me to say 'every step of the way'?"

Azu lets out a surprised laugh before she can stop herself. "I don't think so. How was he able to do that from Paris?"

"Oh, he took some time off. Essentially. I thought at first it was because he felt guilty—it happened because she ran out into the street without looking to give him a hug when she saw him step out of the train station—but no, they've just always been close and she wanted him there. Needed him, really. He wrote to the University and explained the situation and said he'd be taking at least a semester off. They were kind enough to send him his work."

Leila snorts. "It was right after the protests happened. They were probably glad to be rid of him for a little while, but they also didn't want to draw out having him there more than they needed to."

Kiko turns her own laugh into a cough. Saira smiles again. "Like I said earlier, things would have been much worse these last couple of years if it hadn't been for Hamid. And he worked hard to make sure he would still graduate on time while still being there for Yara. With honors, no less."

"Do you know what he's planning to do?" Azu asks. "Now that he's graduated, I mean. Ishaq told me about the job in Damascus, but…well, I haven't had a chance to talk to Hamid yet." She pauses, then adds, "I invited him to join us on the Venge the last time we saw him. I suppose he wanted to go to university first, but…"

Saira frowns slightly. "Actually, I don't quite know what his plans are. He's been pretty vague about them for the most part."

"I get the impression he's thinking about becoming a teacher," Leila pipes up. "You know he'd be good at it. He's done wonders with Yara. And goodness knows there's a demand for them."

Azu can see that, actually. She also kind of hopes he goes for that plan. If he does, she can maybe convince him to join the crew of the Venge; they're still setting up the university Cel's been talking about for the last few years, and Hamid has plenty to contribute. She also misses him. She still considers him her best friend, despite the fact that they've hardly seen one another in the last eight years. And he needs a purpose, something to keep him going. He's like Zolf in that he does much better with a project and a clear goal. Left to his own devices, he flounders.

Before she can say anything, though, one of the butlers slips in and addresses Saira softly in Arabic. "Excuse me…there's someone here to see you, ma'am."

An odd half-smile flits across Saira's face for a moment. "Ah. Would you excuse me, please?" She slips her arm from Leila's and follows the butler out of the room.

Azu glances at Leila, who lowers her voice; Azu and Kiko both bend over slightly to hear her better. "Saira's been talking to officials about the possibility of getting Saleh a day pass for the evening. He's just as proud of Hamid as she is—and Ishaq too, of course, but, well, nobody ever had any doubts about the twins. Hamid's…I think they both worried about him, in different ways. She wanted to surprise him."

"That's so wonderful!" Azu says. She's not sure if she means it this time, though. On the one hand, she knows Hamid loves his family, all his family, and he'll probably be delighted to see his older brother again. On the other hand, she doesn't know what Saleh's like after all this time, and she didn't have a particularly high opinion of him to begin with.

Then again, she didn't have a particularly high opinion of Carter, either, and he's become one of her dearest companions.

The butler comes back in, looks around the room, and goes over to Hamid, who nods, excuses himself again, and follows the butler out of the room. Azu assumes Saleh was able to come after all and just doesn't want to make a fuss, or else isn't allowed to be in a large space—anything is possible—so Hamid will have to go to him.

Kiko and Leila begin a conversation about Captain Earhart, who's apparently something of a hero of Leila's, and Azu listens while keeping an eye out for Hamid. Instead, she notices the butler come back in and speak to Hamid's mother, who looks slightly confused but follows him. Azu guesses Saira didn't tell her she was trying to get Saleh to visit, either, and of course his mother would want to see him. She turns back to Kiko and Lelia as Kiko launches into a story Azu's heard a thousand times and loved every single time.

Just as Kiko's getting to the good part, though, a scream echoes through the room, silencing all conversation instantly.

Instinctively, Azu shifts into a defensive position, reaching for her axe out of habit. She's not the only one; all of the Venge crew brace for trouble, and she notices Zolf sharply wheel himself about so that he's facing the door but keeping himself between it and Yara, whose eyes behind her glasses seem to take up her entire face. Most of the other guests look alarmed or concerned.

After a moment, Azu becomes aware of another sound, muffled at first, then louder briefly before being muffled again—wailing, heartbroken sobs. Her stomach lurches. Oh, no…

Hamid appears in the doorway. Insofar as he can, he looks quite pale, but otherwise wears the same calm face he wore when addressing Geoffrey Chaucer all those years ago. He spreads out his hands, palms outward, and speaks to the room at large. Unfortunately, he speaks in French, which Azu hasn't really made much progress in picking up. Whatever he's saying, a murmur starts among the crowd. Oscar looks…concerned is the best word for it; he catches Hamid's eye and makes a slight gesture towards Zolf, but Hamid shakes his head very quickly, and Oscar remains where he is.

Azu decides to do the same, but does ask Leila in a low voice, "What's going on?"

"I don't know." Leila looks uncomfortable. "Hamid just said his mother is…indisposed and asked everyone to leave. I don't…"

The twins both descend on Hamid from two separate directions, Ismail looking annoyed and Ishaq looking confused. They both tower over him, but Hamid doesn't flinch. He says something to them, and instantly they shift to identical expressions of upset and hurry out of the room. Leila shakes her head. "Excuse me, I need to go find my wife."

Azu steps back to allow her to leave, then starts, hesitantly, to follow the crowd to the door. After a second, she changes her mind and tacks towards Hamid to at least tell him goodbye. Logically, if he wanted her to go, he'd have spoken in English, he knows she doesn't speak French, but still.

She gets close enough to him to hear him stop and speak to Sassraa in rapid Draconic; Sassraa nods. Cel says something in Draconic as well, evidently a question, but Hamid shakes his head and answers. Whatever he says, Cel nods and stays put as Sassraa starts to walk away. She pauses, catches Kiko's eye, and beckons her forward, pointing at Carter as she does so.

Azu is completely lost, but Kiko seems to understand. She squeezes Azu's arm. "I'll meet you back at the Venge," she promises, kissing Azu on the cheek before following Sassraa.

Totally bewildered, Azu joins Hamid and Cel. "What…?"

"The door's shut, but…I don't want Mother to see Howard," Hamid says softly. "That wouldn't…neither of them need that right now."

The room clears out, leaving only the core five and Yara, who looks absolutely terrified. Hamid closes the door behind the last person and slumps slightly, all his energy seeming to drain out of him. He looks…tired. In a lot of ways, he looks exactly the way he did when Azu first met him, just with less sand in his hair, and that's not exactly comforting.

"What's wrong?" she asks, unable to keep the worry from her voice.

"Uncle Hamid?" Yara's voice is small and frail.

Hamid's expression softens. He crosses over and kneels down in front of the little girl, taking both her hands in his. "A man came from the prison," he says, as gently as possible. "He wanted to tell us in person. There was…something happened today. A, a fight, or a riot or…he didn't really explain. But Saleh—y-your father, he…he got very badly hurt. He didn't…make it, I'm afraid."

Azu sucks in a breath. Yara's eyes fill with water, and she bites her lower lip. Hamid doesn't let go of her hands or break eye contact with her. "I know you didn't…I know you only met him once, but he loved you very much, Yara. And he—he wanted to be sure you would be safe. Taken care of if…if anything happened. When you—after the accident, he made me promise I would look after you if anything happened to him. If he couldn't. He asked me to be your guardian. I—would that be all right with you?"

Yara stares at Hamid, her lower lip trembling. Suddenly, she yanks her hands free of his and lunges forward, throwing her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder, and bursting into tears.

Hamid gathers her close, tears in his own eyes as well, and strokes her hair, murmuring to her in low, soothing tones. Not sure what else to do, Azu comes over and rests a hand on Hamid's back to comfort him. To her surprise, Zolf reaches out hesitantly and places a gentle hand on Yara's shoulder, too.

He makes eye contact with Azu, and she gets it. They're both healers, in their own way; she hasn't forgotten their tours around Hiroshima helping people while Cel and Hamid worked on the ship. Zolf's always been a bit grumpy, that's all, and he seems to have mellowed out some. And while they don't have magic anymore, they still have training. And here in front of them are two people who need comfort, at the very least, one of whom Azu cares about very much and one of whom seems to have bonded with Zolf. It's the least they can do.

Magic or no magic, maybe it's enough. At least for now.

At least it's a start.

#ollie writes fanfic #rqg #rusty quill gaming #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #zolf smith #azu #references to ableism #spoilers through epilogue 1 #minor character death #(it's offscreen don't worry)

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