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This is part of an anthology series I’m working on. 2021-2022 are significant years for the world of Sailor Moon, marking the anniversaries of both the series as a whole as well as specific characters, stories and aspects of the SM universe. it. This series of stories is intended to celebrate those anniversaries one fic at a time! This series also includes fics for the birthdays of specific characters.
Author: AlEvans26
Beta(s): SinJazz
A_Reptile_Dysfunction
Euri
Lin Lamont
Nikki Scarlet
Shuubunni
Soldier of Stories
usernamesarefornurdes
Rating: Teen
Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Just to let you know I am involved in a discord called 'Moonlight Legends' which is dedicated to sharing all sorts of Sailor Moon fanworks, including other fanfics. If you would like to join so you can share your own work, get help with your current projects or just connect to other fan creators shoot me a PM and I'll send you an invite. All are welcome!
Good morning Dr. Reames I wanted to ask you, what do you think that Christian Cameron compared Alexandros with Hitler, do you think it is a fair comparison? That is, there will be traits that all leaders must share to motivate a large number of people to follow them and come to power, but is it really true that Alexandros was the Hitler of his time?
First, let me say that Chris Cameron and I share some mutual author friends, so I know him “adjacent,” but we have never had a conversation. Let me also say that while I’m not a fan of his God of War novel about Alexander, I assume he’d equally dislike Dancing with the Lion (assuming he’s even read it). Authors are allowed to have different visions.
So, that stated, I had some pretty serious issues with God of War (GoW), in terms of both his reading of Alexander as well as his historiography. In GoW, he Mary-Sued Ptolemy at the expense of Alexander (and Hephaistion and Olympias, for that matter). Compare his “can do no wrong” Ptolemy (which seems to swallow Arrian’s history whole-hog) with Kate Elliott’s Persephone/Ptolemy in the Sun Chronicles…a much more nuanced portrayal, where—surprise!—Persephone/Ptolemy *lies* when it suits her…like the historical Ptolemy, who was establishing a dynasty, so he carefully curated his history. Basically, Cameron’s historiography is problematic as it doesn’t show much awareness of the tropes and themes present in ancient literature, and doesn’t properly “interrogate” the ancient sources for bias.
GoW is a very “het” novel although I don’t think he considers himself homophobic. Nonetheless, parts of GoW read as homophobic, and misogynistic too. Or it may just be that his sifting of the sources isn’t, IMO, nuanced enough to recognize the misogyny in the ancient sources. I doubt he likes (or perhaps has not even read) Beth Carney on Olympias. And I’m sorry, but calling a character presented as primarily homosexual (Hephaistion) a “bitch queen” can’t be anything BUT homophobic, unless there’s a counterbalance gay character somewhere in the (800-page) text, and there’s not. Having a gay character in another novel elsewhere really doesn’t count (and that gay character has other moral issues).
He has a military history audience, and he doesn’t dare alienate them. I’m not convinced he fully gets the problems in what he’s written for LGBTQ representation OR misogyny OR complex historiography generally.
As for ATG as Hitler, there are OH, so many problems with that. He’s read a little too much Ian Worthington and Peter Green (and Brian Bosworth and Ernst Badian, maybe), then taken it further. ATG was not the ancient Hitler. That doesn’t mean he was necessarily a good guy, or that conquest should be elevated in the modern world. But just as Cameron doesn’t seem aware of the various tropes in ancient sources and their impact on historiography, he also doesn’t seem to understand how to analyze ancient expectations.
There is, IMO, a middle road between simply condemning Alexander on modern grounds, versus undue elevation of Alexander and the “conquest narrative” found throughout the ancient world. Basically, Alexander pursued what he grew up to understand as a noble aspiration. Virtually nobody in HIS world would have critiqued that, only how he went about achieving it. That doesn’t mean we can’t critique it, but critiques that expect ancient people to think like moderns hitch on anachronism.
This is something I think Classics/ancient history generally is struggling with at present. How do we avoid making conquest into a thing to emulate, versus applying modern moral standards to ancient people?
My third time-travelling stop was to visit Rome around the time of the death of Marc Antony, in 30 B.C.E. Marc Antony was a Roman general in charge of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire it (Grant & Badian, 2022). According to the same source, while in charge of the eastern provinces, Antony developed a romantic relationship with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, which later formed an alliance to help him defend the eastern provinces. In 40 B.C, Antony’s wife Fulvia died and he remarried to Octavian’s sister, Octavia. In 36 B.C after Antony’s first military failure, he turned to Cleopatra again who gave him two children and political and financial support. Around 33 B.C, a propaganda war emerged in Rome against Antony and Octavian and Antony was suffering a defeat. Antony then fled to Egypt as Octavian’s forces were destroying it (Grant & Badian, 2022). Cleopatra seeked refuge in a mausoleum she built for herself. Antony was informed that she was dead and with being distressed of the situation he was in as well as knowing his lover was dead, he stabbed himself with his sword (History.com Editors, 2019). Another messenger arrived shortly after and told Antony that his lover lived, which he then got carried to her hide-out and died with her in August 30 B.C.E. Antony gave Cleopatra a request to make peace with Octavian, so she later tried to seduce him, and it failed. Instead of falling under Octavian’s domination, she committed suicide shortly after her lover in August 30 B.C by a poisonous Egyptian Serpent (History.com Editors, 2019). Since Marc Antony had a strained relationship with Octavian, who later ruled Rome and also was the brother of Antony’s wife (whom he cheated on), it is no doubt that Octavian was angry towards him and continued to express that feeling towards the people of Rome.
Works Cited:
Grant, M. and Badian, . E. (2022, July 28). Mark Antony. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mark-Antony-Roman-triumvir
History.com Editors. (2019, May 7). Cleopatra dies by suicide. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cleopatra-commits-suicide
Her hair has the image of twisted bread. On her chest, the star anise and wings are attached directly to her skin. Her hair and skirt are pitch black. ― Naoko Takeuchi
Dream Queens! Queen Helia (oc) and Queen Badiane redesign
Part one here
Backstory and Design Notes under the cut
In canon Badiane is described as “a witch from another world”, and while she has a castle her only subjects are four literal children fd. Because of this I’m confident in saying that like Beryl, “Queen” is a chosen title, rather than an actual position of power.
She’s got basically no backstory in canon, so this is all heacanon babey!!
She was born a a high ranking aristocrat on their home planet Limina. Her family was “old blood”, so to speak, and felt themselves superior to most other oneiroi and especially to dreamers. To her, dreamers are basically batteries to be used for their dream energy then discarded. She felt that they should be the dominant species in the galaxy, and that their planet should be gaining power and subjugating others. This is drastically opposed to the position of the royal family, who emphasize positive interspecies relations and generally staying in your lane.
Badiane’s dark hair and pale skin made her superficially more like their ancestors, the first generation of oneiroi birthed by Nyx. This and her powerful magic made her a figurehead for oneiroi with anti-royal sentiments. Badiane’s growing resentment of the monarchy drew more negative dream energy to her, eventually turning her into a Mara. Queen Helia being the last of her line and having no heir weakened the position of the royal family in the eyes of the people, allowing her rebellion to grow quietly.
Helia was the true Queen of Limina; and the last of remaining survivor of her lineage, descended from the Gods Morpheus and Calliope. Her family’s sailor crystal is tied to the Blue Star of Deneb, the tail of the constellation Cygnus. The Deneb crystal gives its holders power over dreams and divine inspiration. However, the Queen’s deep loneliness weakened her powers, and eventually led her heart to break. She tore her the crystal shard from her chest and buried it in the castle’s sacred garden, praying for a child. It’s said the gods took pity on their faithful daughter, as a baby was formed around the shard of her heart, and she took the child as her own.
Badiane knew that having an heir would rejuvenate the people’s faith in the monarch, so she made a last ditch swipe at power. She attempted to kill the baby princess. She was stopped and grevously injured by Helia, who punctured her chest with her bare hands in fury. Badiane and her few apprentices fled the planet, Poupelin taking his younger brother with him. She spent years slowly stealing the dream energy of children throughout the galaxy, feeding it into herself and making the black hole of dream energy she commanded larger.
Then Sailor Moon kicked her ass in like an hour.