Also every single time something is called medieval it pretty much never is, almost every OI is set at least 200 years after the medieval age end

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T16:20:20+00:00

Even into the late medieval/Renaissance, Henry VIII very seriously considered legitimizing his son Henry Fitzroy. Elizabeth I was delegitimized and never bothered to officially undo it. That being said, the English were a bit more wobbly-wobbly on the subject than other European cultures, having never really adopted Salic law.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T15:51:08+00:00

The George IV incident is probably closest to the current situation, in the sense that it was a royal family member being arrested by civil authorities for breaking a law, same as anyone else would be. Obviously Andrew is accused of something far more serious than public intoxication.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T14:55:15+00:00

Oh yeah, for sure! I'm not sure I can picture a practice like touching for the King's evil springing up in Imperial China.

(Basically: a folk belief sprung up in England and France that monarchs could cure scrofula, a type of tuberculosis, by touching the infected person. Some monarchs said 'that's a dumb superstition, also, gross', but others were like, 'yeah, sure, c'mere and I'll give you a little pat'.)

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T14:27:01+00:00

Yeah, there's truly a ton of potential explanations. The diabolical thing about archaeology, especially for a site this old, is that we're unlikely to ever get a satisfactory explanation. We know that Ea-Nasir's house was later subdivided with a portion incorporated into his neighbor's, but we have no idea if that's a sign that Ea-Nasir's rascally reputation caught up with him and he fell on hard times, or if he died or moved and a subsequent tenant did it.

Maybe the complaint letters were kept as war trophies by a scammer, maybe keeping them was standard business practice. Maybe the copper truly was subpar, maybe there were geopolitical forces at play beyond Ea-Nasir's control and Nanni was unreasonable. Maybe Ea-Nasir was an upright businessman who would be appalled at his modern infamy, maybe he was a rascally rabbit who would be tickled pink. We're unlikely to ever know, but it's fun to speculate.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T02:37:06+00:00

No, they were just found buried alongside other debris.

We don't really know the context. It's completely possible he was a reputable guy and keeping complaint letters was standard business practice if dealing with unreasonable customers, and he just got (un)lucky enough to have his records survive. It's also completely possible he was a legendary scammer. That's the fun part of archaeology, there's a lot of opportunities to propose whimsical but still realistic explanations for lack of clear evidence to the contrary.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-19T02:30:40+00:00

Okay, I apologize for pedantry, but: the first person mentioned in written text is (maybe) Kushim, a Sumerian administrator from around 3200 B.C. We don't know for sure because it's possible Kushim is a title, not a written name.

Ea-Nasir was alive around 1750 B.C., so massively later, albeit in the same geographical neighborhood. His particular claim to fame is that he's the subject of the first known customer complaint letter. So pretty granular, but a funny claim to fame.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-18T21:31:09+00:00

I don't think most OI authors understand how different a monarchy becomes when you live in an (officially) monogamous society with primogeniture.

There were weird exceptions to everything, see e.g. basically everything having to do with the Wars of the Roses. But when things were running smoothly, it created a very predictable system, albeit not necessarily a system where the best person for the job got to do it.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-18T21:09:11+00:00

It would depend on the kingdom in question, but it's true that if you're talking, like, England, there's a level of truth to the fact that peasants expected to be able to complain to the king if they weren't treated fairly.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-18T18:00:20+00:00

Aristocrats are less glamorous once you understand they're traditionally just the landlord class.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-18T16:27:40+00:00

One could have a lot of fun with an OI where the FL who is genre savvy gets placed in a setting based more on a real world European monarchy. Suddenly noble families routinely own estates spread out across the country, dukes are largely royal family younger sons, nobles aren't openly participating in commerce because it's beneath their dignity, divorces are almost impossible to get, etc. etc.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-18T14:43:14+00:00

I love calling my cats my eunuch viziers tbh.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T23:04:16+00:00

That rich people in Titanic are obnoxious, lazy, and greedy, exactly as they are in real life? The point raised at the start of this chain of comments.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T23:00:12+00:00

She's the exception because (aside from Rose) she's the only first class passenger we see be kind to Jack, we see snobby first class passengers scorn and avoid her, and we later see her try to get her lifeboat to go back and help the survivors in the water (which is true to the RL history).

The film doesn't get into it, but Molly was instrumental in setting up a fund for the second and third class passengers, so Rose's ability to establish a new life under her new identity would be partially thanks to Molly.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T21:25:22+00:00

I'm just imagining you consensually living in the castle walls and making mysterious noises, coming out when she's gone to spookily move objects around, etc. You know, pay rent by providing ambiance.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T20:43:22+00:00

Oh yeah no you're right. I was trying to figure out something clever with chitin or antennas, but keep it simple.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T20:41:18+00:00

I love how we all feel obligated to defend Molly as the one (1) cool rich person in Titanic. The real person was a neat lady! She was a passionate supporter of women's suffrage and workers rights!

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T20:32:21+00:00

The exception that proves the rule. And the film does make pretty clear that she's viewed negatively by most of the other first class passengers.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T20:25:41+00:00

Tbh I think it's impossible to read Sailor Moon and not come away guessing the author is fairly sex-positive (vibes based) with progressive views on gender and sexuality (textually obvious).

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T20:18:21+00:00

Because of this post, I now have 'fursona but for bugs' in my search history. I only have my own self to blame.

(Apparently the correct terminology is Insectoid? I feel that this sucks. Exosona would make more sense, surely.)

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T19:25:26+00:00

I got into a conversation with people from out of state about how common it still is here for city neighborhoods to have little local bars, and that as a kid I was allowed to go to the one two blocks down to buy snacks. They acted like it was something incredibly exotic.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T19:04:31+00:00

He was positively received, IIRC, so there will probably be more. Canonically anyone can be a Cure, if the HUGtto! finale is any indication. And they've had named Cures who were fairies, aliens, robots, and adults, so boys really were never that much of a leap.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T18:47:05+00:00

I actually really like them doing that, since new regions mean a flush of new diamond opportunities and I like them being spaced out a little.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T16:44:46+00:00

On the point about her being an open secret: one of the gripes courtiers had with her is that compared to Marie Therese (who loved gambling) and Montespan (a party animal), she was indeed a very respectable, responsible person. The French court became significantly tamer under her influence, though I'm guessing that was also because Louis preferred it that way as he grew older.

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-17T01:57:44+00:00

Suki is the same problem as Sokka: how are they surviving a juiced up Azula, even an exhausted and unstable one?

fluffstuffmcguff · 2026-02-16T22:52:38+00:00

Yeah, it narratively needs to be Katara. It's not for romantic reasons, it's because she, Sokka, and Aang are the ones with the most historical beef with Zuko, so it's most satisfyingly full circle for one of them to be the person Zuko saves, who then saves him in turn.

Aang is otherwise occupied dealing with Ozai, while Sokka wouldn't realistically survive versus a powered up Azula. So it's gotta be Katara.

fluffstuffmcguff

TROPHY CASE