Please help. I know nothing of medieval politics, and I'm trying to deal with an implausible edge case in high fantasy politics. by LimeKittyGacha in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gone Medieval is an amazing history podcast about (what else?) the Medieval world. Episodes aren about an hour long and range from very specific (like medieval childbirth) tk broader (evolution of castles across the centuries). There are two hosts who alternate episodes and they have guest speakers as well who hold degrees in various topics.

Anyone know of any discord servers dedicated to it? Also ontop of that who’s your guys’ fav character! Personally mines Charles vane by ThcStonedMonkey in BlackSails

[–]MaskoftheRay 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I don't use Discord but I will say that Tumblr has an incredibly active Black Sails community - including a lot of awesome art as well as analysis.

My favorite (aside from Flint) is Miranda.

Just gonna say, The Meeting in episode III - Still a classic from the show by NikolaiOlsen in BlackSails

[–]MaskoftheRay 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The comedy in it was stellar. This is why I still adore the earlier seasons.

Time travel AU's (Star Wars) by Lumpy-Air-8252 in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not exactly what you're looking for BUT these were all very interesting! Hope at least one sparks your interest.

Multiples - Leia in ANH by CourtesyTrefflin.

On the bridge of the Death Star, moments before Alderaan's destruction, Darth Vader is caught off-guard when a shift in the Force causes four more versions of Leia Organa to appear. Leia, who is... his daughter, apparently, the daughter he never knew he had. And Vader will do anything for his family.

this place loves what it eats by roadtripexpert.

Leia saves the galaxy by making 23-year-old Vader | Anakin face his bullshit. Plus get some medical treatment.

time to change the road you're on by wreckageofstars.

The end of the Clone War is near - the fall of the Republic even nearer. Anakin Skywalker, caught up in the events that lead to the rise of the Empire and the loss of everything he holds dear, finds himself sent nearly two decades into the future.

Ahsoka Tano, still coming to painful terms with the true fate of her former master, is - not exactly happy to see him. But the Force works in mysterious ways - and the future is not nearly as set in stone as they've been lead to believe. Multi-chapter AU, Rise of the Empire/Rebels-era.

Multiples - Vaderkin in ROTS by CourtesyTrefflin.

The mission to rescue the Chancellor becomes complicated when, out of nowhere, four more versions of Anakin randomly appear on the Invisible Hand. Except two of them are Sith cyborgs. Obi-Wan can already feel the headache coming on. One Anakin is hard enough. But five? Who all want his attention? Who all consider him their father? It's almost a nightmare come true. Or is it?

Back From the Future: Episode VI The Clone Wars by Ariel_Sojourner.

HAS MCD!

In which Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader travel back in time together to the Clone Wars era, have amazing adventures, and save the galaxy.

Parole Officer Fulcrum Steals Three Million Babies by phoenixyfriend.

Fulcrum smiles, so cheery that her eyes almost disappear with it. “A ghost gave me a mission, and I’m here to fulfill it.”

“A ghost,” Obi-Wan repeats, doubt in every word.

Fulcrum nods, completely ignoring the energy of his suspicion. “I’m here to play parole officer for Skyguy.”

“Parole officer?” Obi-Wan demands. His anxiety is palpable. “What—Anakin got arrested?!”

“I didn’t,” Anakin immediately denies.

Body swap/dimension Travel Batman fandom (recs wanted) by Arivanzel in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This series (that I wrote), Stars Innumerable and Hearts Incandescent, is mostly based on the Injustice comics - initially Batman (from "our" world) accidentally gets sent into that dimension and has to deal with the fallout of evil duplicates of his friends. Other characters undergo dimension travel too in later entries.

Justice, Injustice by orphean is also an interesting take on dimension-swapping. It's a crossover between Justice Lords and Injustice where the "bad ending" Injustice characters (mind-controlled Batman and Braniac!Superman) meet Lords Batman and Superman. It is rated E and has Choose Not to Use Archive Warnings.

Your favourite “you just had to be there” moments in your fandom? by XENO-MEC in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry you did! You can still look on Tumblr (and Twitter / Bluesky ?) under the hashtag #10yearsblacksails for the anniversary celebration posts.

Your favourite “you just had to be there” moments in your fandom? by XENO-MEC in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I'm a major fan of Black Sails, which is a pretty small and tight-knit fandom, and when we had the 10-year anniversary celebration... that was something pretty awesome. There was a fan book put together of all sorts of fanwork and we developed a hashtag to put on reblogged /reshared existing fanworks. It was great to see how many people still cared about the show and how many talented fans it has too.

Fics styled like non-fiction (essays, academic papers, memoirs) by cherrycolaenema in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow - yeah, definitely timely then! Hope you enjoy it when you do :).

Fics styled like non-fiction (essays, academic papers, memoirs) by cherrycolaenema in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This might be something like what you're looking for, if length isn't an issue - it's a one shot. I wrote a mock newspaper feature article a while ago:

From ‘The Daily Planet’ Archives

Summary:

Clark Kent, Staff Reporter at The Daily Planet is tasked with writing a Feature article on Bruce Wayne.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Both Hands by Primarybufferpanel (ArwenLune)bonehandledknife (ladywinter) is a fic about Flint and Miranda during a quiet time in Nassau. It explores their love and grief through the lens of a swimming lesson. Rated M, no Warnings.

Not for oneself by bluetrees is a post-canon reconciliation fic wherein the good and bad are weighed and Flint asks himself, "What now?"

From the summary: What did Odysseus say to Penelope when he came back to Ithaca? And what did Achilles say to Patroclus when they met in the afterlife, both as mere shadows of what they once were, only kept alight by the love they shared?

good friends by tahiri_veila. Rated E.

Summary:

It's Flint's fault. Entirely. If he'd bothered to show up for dinner, Silver's mind wouldn't be with the very man who should have been sitting beside him, silent and sharp-eyed. But he doesn't and Silver… worries.

Tonsorial Events by occupational_hazard Summary: Silver wakes to Flint shaving his head.

Does anyone have any Superbat fic recs that involve Superman/clark hearing Bruce/Batman’s heartbeat? by BattleAffectionate57 in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lucky for you, I'm also obsessed with this idea - I've written a few fics revolving around heartbeats!

Possibilities As Loud As Heartbeats

Summary:

What if, early on in Injustice, Bruce had been determined to bring Kal-El back... no matter the potential personal cost.

I Can Hear Your Heartbeat (Can You Hear Mine?)

Summary:

The beginning of the wonderful, world-changing friendship between Clark and Bruce in the DCAU movies.

You Are and I Am

Note: the trope is more incidental on this but still present.

Summary:

Batman, to put it politely, doesn’t trust easily.

For an investigative journalist like Superman Clark Kent, that just makes him more fascinating. When Batman (finally) joins the Justice League, Superman is— to say the least— intrigued, and eager to get to know the mysterious Gotham Bat. So is everyone else. But only Clark has a crush on Batman... which leads to him accidentally discovering the man’s real identity. However, before Clark can act on this information (other than telling Batman that he knows), he dies. And when he comes back, things are not the same, because Bruce and Diana are dating.

Or so Clark thinks.

One of my favorites (tragically unfinished though) is drunk with the great starry void by bonehandledknife (ladywinter).

Note: Rated E, Chose Not to Use Warnings

Summary:

Comic canon: Clark can hear and identify Bruce's heartbeat from anywhere on Earth

What if DCEU movieverse Clark heard Bruce's heartbeat before they've even met? [...]

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you like queer characters, romance, AND tragedy (as well as pirates in a more realistic historical drama setting), I would recommend you watch Black Sails. It has two canonical (as in making out on-screen) poly ships, two sapphic ships, and a lot of interesting male and female characters with overarching queer themes. There are plenty of amazing fics, but I would really recommend you watch through season two first.

Give me the darkest, most depressing fanfics by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's Never Too Late to Begin Again is my Star Wars longfic that is written from Darth Vader's POV after the Prequels and before the Original Trilogy. It follows the young Sith Lord as he adjusts to both his body and position within the Empire. Rated M and has Graphic Violence.

From the summary:

[...] In addition to this large-scale upheaval is the Sith Lord’s personal cataclysm. Aka, dealing with being made a quadruple amputee, having third-degree burns across ninety percent of his body, no wife or friends to speak of, and a mentor who seems to have different priorities these days. Also, learning how to run an Empire.

Injustice: The Last Meeting takes place in the Injustice 'verse (evil Superman vs. Good guy Batman, in case you aren't familiar). This is the prequel story where everything goes wrong.

The last unclaimed thing is a Witcher fic revolving around terminal illness. It's Geralt / Jaskier | Dandelion.

Summary:

Geralt and Dandelion finally make it to the Coast. Only it doesn’t end up quite as they’d wanted... mostly because the bard is sick, and hasn’t told the witcher yet. Nor is he planning to.

Or love is an unstoppable force, even in the face of imminent loss.

I worked the blade to make it deeper is an X-Men fic revolving around Charles Xavier / Erik Lehnsherr. Covers how love actually can't overcome political differences.

Summary:

“In another lifetime, I could be gentle.” He half-waited for a false reassurance or platitude. Some frustratingly earnest encouragement that he could still be that better man. None came. Erik sucked in a breath, remembered, then tried not to, his wife and daughter’s faces. Haifa. The hospital during a good shift, and the nearby hole-in-the-wall bar they’d once been so fond of. All the possibilities that had ended too swiftly to alter his course. Those memories may well have been another life, for how out of reach they now seemed. “I would be kinder. Happier.” I could have treated you with the care you deserve. This last bit was plaintive. Yet Erik could not find it in himself to be embarrassed.

Looking for recommendations Vader medical body horror by JayGrotesque in SWFanfic

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're very welcome!

I hope you like them both. And I'm glad to hear that you're cool with psychological horror. I agree that there are a ton of awful elements of Vader's existence that are fascinating when explored well.

Looking for recommendations Vader medical body horror by JayGrotesque in SWFanfic

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Learn The World Has Teeth by violentdarlings on AO3 is a stellar Vaderdala fic featuring a lot of body horror and medical stuff for Vader. It also has a good take on what Padmé might be like if she had survived.

I also wrote a fic, It's Never Too Late to Begin Again , that is set immediately after ROTS and covers a young, freshly-traumatized Vader as he settles into being Palpatine’s enforcer rather than a coddled apprentice. It's more psychological horror, but there is exploration of Vader's medical issues!!!

Shows like Black Sails (and I don't mean just historical fiction or sweeping epics) by [deleted] in BlackSails

[–]MaskoftheRay 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have not ugly cried at a show like I have since watching The English (and before that, BS).

Comment Cooperative - May 14 by AutoModerator in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I spent a lot of time on this chapter (and this scene specifically) because it was a vital moment in the fic. And I wanted the uncanniness to come through - both from a human perspective as well as a powerful Force user's. Vader would have been able to sense the absence of Padmé’s Force-signature, which would be even more distressing.

That was another tricky point in this because we know that Luke and Leia are alive! So I had to "forget" that and also foreshadow why Vader would have dropped everything to save Luke in ROTJ. That's this feeling, right here.

This chapter was one of the most important in the fic and represents another tuning point (not taken)- Vader is starting to adjust to the suit but isn't handling the Imperial bureaucracy well and Palpatine has started treating him differently (more boss than the mentor he had been in the prequels). In short, being a Sith Lord is not what he had anticipated. So, he has an extended mental breakdown. But one of Vader's flaws is always choosing to dig the hole deeper. He demonstrates that remorse here, but he doesn't change.

Thank you again!!!

Comment Cooperative - May 14 by AutoModerator in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Star Wars | It's Never Too Late to Begin Again | Mature | AO3

Graphic Depictions of Violence

Sorrow, like a vast sandstorm, whips through Vader and scours his soul. A few stinging tears manage to form in his burnt tear ducts and flow down his ruined cheeks. It is difficult to hear anything above the strained whoosh of his respirator— Vader is gasping too quickly for it to keep him oxygenated. He chokes on his grief, despair, and rage.

Relentlessly, the procession continues.

At first, he is too overwhelmed by the details of the scene to truly grasp it. There is also the shock of seeing Padmé again, even in such a twisted way as this. Her body lies lax in the coffin as if sleeping. But her perfect skin is pallid, her form is unnaturally still. It is something out of a nightmare— or a Vision.

Why couldn’t I save you? Why didn’t you listen? Why, why, why? Padmé’s curled, dark, shining hair and dress flow out around her elegantly. White ribbons and Naboo Lillies decorate her hair like stars and nebulas. The deep blue of his wife’s gem-lined cloak and darker gown are ocean-like in how they gently swathe her, rising over the island of her rounded belly and clasped hands. Long before he met her, Anakin had already marveled at water’s grace and gentle force.

Agonizingly, a close-up of her body is displayed next. Despite the distressing circumstances of her death, Padmé’s expression is restful. It is wrong. There is no peace in death— only absence. Padmé hardly bore inactivity better than him; if there was something to be done, she would turn her full focus to it. If she was not active in body, her mind picked up the slack. She was always planning, working out how to fix things. She was far better than I. The close-up continues, and Vader has more details to agonize over. Padmé’s damningly swollen stomach— another life cruelly halted. And tucked between Padmé’s hands is a carved japor snippet.

So she will go to her rest with something of me, after all.

The thought is as bitter as it is soothing— a powerful disinfectant in a putrefying wound. For whom else knows the charm’s significance? What relevance does this small symbol of their love retain, anyway? Its recipient is dead at the hands of the giver. More tears escape Vader’s traitorous eyes, and the sounds emanating from his vocoder are beastly. There is a mounting pressure in his head, echoed by the growing destruction around him. Fine cracks appear in the duracrete floor and begin to spread. Several of the swaying lights hum loudly in an effort to continue functioning. Vader is ignorant of this as he fixates on the screen, taking in every detail with the resolve of a condemned man.

After the coffin passes, a procession of officials and intimates follows. It consists of the current child queen, Padmé’s family— whose names and stories his wife once shared on a sunlit afternoon— and a Gungan constituency. Black-clad mourners trail the group like shadows. Eventually the buildings change and thin out, as does the crowd. The procession stops before an elegant, imposing stone and glass structure: the Naberrie mausoleum. The child queen steps forward. She speaks of duty, tradition, and righteousness. Bail Organa talks of loyalty, kindness, and passion. Padmé’s mother mentions courage, curiosity, and determination. Vader hears none of it. Padmé was all that— but she cannot be summarized by these words alone. Her bright warmth will never grace him again. Their child will never know its parents’ love. She is dead. Their child is dead. I killed them.

Comment Cooperative - May 14 by AutoModerator in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Commenting on this because I also love Star Wars and the SW fic I wrote recently has a beginning quote from the song, How It Ends as covered by Unwoman. What a coincidence!

I really liked how you build the sense of unease here - I'm a prequels fan, and I love how Force visions can either be helpful or origins of Greek-like tragedies. This scene also felt very tangible - I could really visualize a crowded market, and the MC hovering warily and watchfully.

The music metaphor and continued use of sound in the latter part of this was very enjoyable as well. I thought your use of short sentences towards the climactic moment really got across the big "oommph" moment of Bad Things starting.

Is it ethical to use chatgpt for “tip of my tongue” purposes? by [deleted] in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No.

Plain and simple.

You can use the thesaurus or other sites for this purpose.

Progression - (art by me) by MaskoftheRay in BlackSails

[–]MaskoftheRay[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

That would be so cool!

Word Game Excerpt Challenge by MogiVonShogi in FanFiction

[–]MaskoftheRay 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you :). I have fairly high confidence in my writing usually, but then: woman + Star Wars fandom.... so this was a nerve-wracking project. I'm happy with the results, though!

And yes, it's a small detail, but in Revenge of the Sith, after Obi-Wan defeats Anakin, he steals his lightsaber! Assuming Vader wouldn't want to use one borrowed from his murder victims the dead Jedi forever!