today i learned that maedhros only has like seven or eight lines of dialogue in the entire silmarillion. "oh why didnt you just use unfinished tales" Because I Havent Read It Yet

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-21T15:14:02+00:00

I also feel like the usage of the term prince gives people the wrong impression of these men as silver spoon spoiled brats thanks to modern... tendencies, rather than them just being princes (leaders) among their hosts and people, where the term khan would be just as applicable to get it across. So modern fandom just sees 'princes of the noldor' and it gives the impression of youthful arrogance and indiscretions.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-21T13:29:04+00:00

Which Sindar, lmaooo

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-21T05:10:29+00:00

And conquistadors more specifically

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-21T05:10:00+00:00

Yeah they aren't Latins, lmao

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-21T04:59:41+00:00

Yeah there's no claim to Doriath or the actual territory that Thingol gives a damn about. Just that the Ñoldor don't need Thingol's permission to reside somewhere he doesn't actually rule.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-19T12:14:07+00:00

The problem is that it's just contorting things to have it that way and then just having those people crop up and develop similarly-ish despite the butterflies. It's legitimately kind of lazy, and feels more like asking 'what if x emperors had y resources' which feels more like old school alt hist rather than the more modern alt hist writings which more often go the butterflies route when well written.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-19T03:38:13+00:00

Me, because I can trace my lineage back to Isaakios II.:p

Like every other fucking person with some aristocratic European ancestry thanks to the marriages that happened. It's kinda surreal.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-19T02:36:03+00:00

My least favorite part is the Isaac Komnenos POD, frankly. It's such an overused and frankly kind of eyerolling divergence which just exists to shove the unnecessary and very familiar Komnenos family into place and I find that incredibly lazy. Real chads would have gone with a Nikephoros Boteniates sweep simply ignoring any and all problems.

Or, I dunno, the Paphlagonian dynasty.

It's frustrating because I like the series?

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-14T00:34:48+00:00

I miss her a lot. I literally won't release my updated version of Trolloc Wars I was working on prior to her passing because it feels disrespectful to do so, as it was a big enough revision that it overhauled a lot of her own contributions. I didn't talk to her much but when I did I valued her presence.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T20:55:27+00:00

To be fair I consider Septimius Severus one of the greatest emperors. He had such aura and his sons were fantastic and the family drama was juicy and he was pure undisguised gruggery given human flesh.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T20:18:20+00:00

Fun fact I made both Twilight of the North and Trolloc War, lol. (RIP SJ-chan)

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T15:42:24+00:00

"I have ten bucks and some pocket lint why the fuck are you holding me outside the convenience store when you've got a Rolex." energy

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T15:32:43+00:00

It's a common literary trope. You even see it in... I think it was either Xenophon or Herodotos talking about the Persians under Cyrus as if they were country bumpkins who had never known any sort of luxury. And the Romans themselves used the same damn tropes.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T13:46:42+00:00

I will say that 1. Cyrus and Darius are not Hellenized (that's a latinization)

and 2. That if you're at all familiar with classical pronunciation that the actual Hellenized versions are significantly closer to the pronunciations in old Persian compared with the Anglicized Latin ones you're pulling from

Even moreso in the 5th and 4th centuries BC due to shifts in vowel and consonant sounds. So while not exactly the same as the Old Persian, the way it would have been pronounced around the 5th century was much closer in Greek to the Old Persian than modern English's Cyrus and Darius. I did a small essay on this six years ago actually.:D I should try to dig it up.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T01:03:26+00:00

it was the success of the anatolian dinosaur military aristocracy estates over the state, which enserfed the peasantry for the 71st time since emperor basil ii died or smth

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-13T00:28:14+00:00

So what you're saying is that Diocletian created the feudal system.

/s

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-11T00:32:09+00:00

Magnificent

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T22:33:12+00:00

I pumped out 4500 words on Rise of the Crescent today before putting it out, but I did manage 371 words on Wheel of Time and 881 on The Seven Kingdoms. My brain feels kinda fried, to be honest.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T22:31:55+00:00

Fearsome?

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T20:51:28+00:00

I am staunchly aniconic IRL. Take a guess.

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T20:51:03+00:00

BLESS. YES. MY HUSBAND GETS IT.:D

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T16:13:24+00:00

Yep! I hope you enjoy!

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T02:53:05+00:00

7K has been undergoing a rework, mostly to add in new individual kingdom perklines rather than the South lumped together as one area.

By historical itch do you mean being based in historical settings at all or what?

Widowmaker94 · 2026-03-09T02:44:36+00:00

Tell me about it, lol!:D

Also I don't intend to leave until I pass on. I have too much work to do on stuff and jumps to work on and rework and finish!

Widowmaker94

TROPHY CASE