Filling In The Gaps

It’s a common theme in fantasy, that assassins are fed poison from young age to train them to become immune to poison. This is scientifically not possible, as human antibodies/immune system does not work this way.

This practice is known as “Mithradatism”, named after King Mithradates (King over what is now Turkey), the man perhaps the very source of all the legends. As the story goes, he feared assassination by poison and thus started consuming poison to make himself immune, as well as experimenting with medicines to further improve on it.

In the end, after his defeat King Mithradates tried to commit suicide with his family by poison. However, it was said that while his family died, he himself remaimed alive, and either was killed by his enemies or committed suicide by sword.

Since his survival seemed to prove that “poison immunity training” works, the legend might have spread to nearby regions. It’s also bolstered by the fact that snake handlers in India seem to be less affected by snake venom after working with snakes for so long. Still, even if one can build immunity against one type of poison, it’s not possible to train to be immune to any and all poisons that exist.

YouTube Channels for Writers

The Closer Look: While this channel is primarily dedicated to the story telling in movies that doesn’t mean you can’t translate a lot of these story telling mechanics into writing. The video in the link covers how to make a compelling villain with one of my favorite villains of the DC Universe, so give them a look.

Extra Credits: Just like the last entry, this one doesn’t have much to do with writing novels or fiction. Rather, Extra Credits covers game design a lot of the time. But they also cover how to write the stories for those games and offer some interesting insight. Couple this with their other segments Extra Sci Fi and Extra History, and you have the makings of an amazing tool kit for writers of any medium.

Overly Sarcastic Productions: There is not enough praise I can throw at this channel. Anything from Trope Talk to Miscellaneous Myths and even Classics Summarized is able offer something to even the most seasoned writer. Just like Extra Credits too, they also cover a bunch of historical stuff too. Which, as a history buff myself, is always a plus.

Tale Foundry: By now, i’m sure you’ve gotten the theme. All of these channels are amazing, but this one is more writing focused then the rest thus far. The channel dedicates itself to taking a closer look at genera and sub-genera and the big players therein. It gives the audience a chance to take a look at these things under the microscope for an easier means of dissection for their own work.

Hello Future Me: I found this channel when I was scrolling through YouTube randomly and found their video on Writing a Hard Magic System and it gave me plenty of food for thought on the fantasy novel I was working on. They go on to cover a Soft Magic System which was able to really draw the line in black and white as to the difference between the two. From there, the channel has been able to offer a few good videos on matters of writing fiction and one that comes with a recommendation for me.

PlagueOfGripes: This one, you’ll need to take with a grain of salt as the host is a little rough around the edges. While he primarily covers art streams and other shenanigans like that, he did a three part video essay on writing that had quite a bit to teach. I personally found his cynical nature to be charming and funny, but if that isn’t your thing, maybe pass him by just this once.

All the links to the channels are located in their respective titles.

Now I’m the villain!

I made a quiz that tells you which character trope you fit best! There’s ten different results! Feel free to take it!

Reblog in the tags what you got!

This one, @otome-reviews , if Kyo ES had added some suspense elements just like this and IF only the story is focused more on Kyo and Hide side of things. That would have been an exciting read...and the main conflict would have been like: can they trust Hideyoshi if Kyo and MC put themselves on the same camp as him? I bet this was the reason why Kyo wasn't so enthusiastic with Hide's proposal in the first place.

Haha, this is just my speculative--what-if scenario (plus, I saw what "Dark Lord" Hide could do in Kojuro Act 2).

I just re-read Kyoichiro’s ES and his PoV story…but I couldn’t shake the possibility that Hideyoshi might be THE ONE responsible Kyo got “detained” by Nobunaga.

…Long Post Below…

Do remember that Kyo is really careful with his thief identity (he is a former ninja after all) and the only time Kyo’s identity was suspected by Nobunaga was AFTER Hideyoshi found him on the storehouse (at least in this ES. I still haven’t done his MS, sorry). MC nor Suke wouldn’t dare to let something slip about Kyo’s “other life”, perhaps Hide wouldn’t unless he had a good reason…

…like using Kyo to ruin those monks to aid Nobunaga. But since the story implied Kyo refused that first offer (when Kyo busted the empty storehouse). Hide might have thought of a way to get Kyo in his plans, like slipping some rumors that Kyoichiro might be Ishikawa Goemon to get Nobunaga to act, thus entrapping Kyo in Kiyosu to make the cotton merchant at severe disadvantage.

“if something should happened outside while you are in here, you will be proven innocent” (-which also means “if nothing happens outside while you are here, you are guilty”-).

Sakuya went to Kyo’s house and saw MC and judging by their conversation, Sakuya didn’t expect MC to be there (or at least didn’t expect that Kyo’s “mistress” was the fugitive Tsuki MC). I was led to think Saku went to Kyo’s house to assassinate MC but I believe it wasn’t the case…So what was Saku doing in Kyo'shouse? Gathering evidence? Maybe. But we do not get to know his REAL reason being there because Hide intervened in an epic fashion.

Hideyoshi is not simple. He plans “two steps ahead” as Kyoichiro would put it. Hide might have “slipped” into Nobunaga about Kyo, he doesn’t want him dead. While Nobunaga was busy with his entrapment scheme, Hide anticipated Nobu’s methods. He prevented Sakuya from killing MC (or rather he stopped him from gathering evidence against Kyo) with his “presence” since Sakuya is supposedly a secret Oda ninja, therefore he can’t act recklessly under Hideyoshi’s watch.

In Kyo’s pov, Hide used his weirdness and fixation to Kyo’s crane to get him to give one to him, not because he want it to be a signal to MC about his predicament in Kiyosu. But in reality, Hide used it as a tool to get MC to act by being the supposed thief and steal something to clear Kyo’s name.

So, Hideyoshi became Kyo’s benefactor and became indebted to him. Because of this, Kyo ruined those corrupt monks which he would otherwise refuse to do under normal circumstances.

Kyo must have got a sense of Hide’s motives as he forged the aliance with him not out of gratitude but only because he “does not want to be on Hideyoshi’s bad side”. And that statement, tells us something just how far and how “deep” HIDEYOSHI would go to achieve his goals.

My blood is boiling in anger how these men regard women in battle….poor MC! 😖😖

I wish I could sew their mouths shut.

Papa Kojuro hates lazy MC

The Royal Signs III:

Aries: An exile. As close to a leader as anything. Decades of experiments. Inhuman flesh. A blank porcelain mask, inscribed with a single symbol. The only thing left untouched is her hair.

Taurus: The Knights Captain, daughter of the high priestess. A martyr. A township saved, burning like a star in the dry autumn heat. Blazing wings. 

Gemini: The King Under The Ice. A stolen childhood. Small shoulders for an impossible burden. A desperate bargain to contain an ancient evil. 

Cancer: The first queen. A woman more scars than flesh. Respect commanded by tooth and claw. Legend says even the beasts bowed their heads when she spoke.

Leo: The High Priestess, come to make good on an old covenant. Thunder on the mount. Eyes burned by sights from the land of the dead. A flash of thunder revealing the legions of ancestral dead, come to heed her call to arms.

Virgo: A young princess, currently being carried to safety in a backpack. She wraps her tiny hands around the shoulders of her bodyguard and tries to sleep.

Libra: A empress by title, an alchemist by desire. Long trips to the countryside spent foraging in swamps and mountain caves. Jars of exotic insects displayed proudly to less than excited diplomats.

Scorpio: A general. Born with an ancient and rare gift. A man who could speak to beasts. Said to be the first to harness the great wild things and drive them for war. Legends of an army of half-men, half-beasts.

Ophiuchus: A prince fallen prey to an old and terrible sickness. An inexplicable whistling cry that only he can hear, calling him to the mountains. There he sits, preserved in the abandoned aeries, decked in scales.

Sagittarius: The renegade prince. Palace finery and lavish parties forsaken for nights of adventure and intrigue in the city streets. Scandalous tales of cross-dressing and romance and baffled police.

Capricorn: A king of blood and stone. A menace to some, a savior to others. To carve out a space for his people against impossible odds and overwhelming enemies. Rites finally conducted in service of a god that was long thought to have abandoned their worshipers.

Aquarius: A queen burdened by loss. A pilgrimage to the ancestral mesa. She sits under the night sky. A low, droning tune on a horn carved from an old tree. The stars mourn with her.

Pisces: A queen of many eyes. Networks of spies that span the kingdom. A diplomatic party approaches, an assassin among them, unaware of her own assassin that already sits perched in the rafters above them. 

Your Character: A Masterlist of CC Guides

Character creation and development:

Character creation questionnaire

Character foils

Core values

Core values 2

Creating a character from scratch

How eating an orange reveals character

Fears, weaknesses, and pet peeves

Flaws

Flaws and Vices (list)

Inventory

Nicknames

Outline for a distinct character

Personal effects

7 Key Traits of Enduring Characters

What does your character know?

Your character as a paradox

Your character’s closet

Dealing with large character casts

Types of Character:

Creating a likable villain

Strong Female Characters

Supporting characters

Throwaway characters

Mary Sue / Gary Stu

Loner Characters

Character Arc:

Building a character arc

Series Characters

Steps of change

Swoons and wounds

Character dialogue:

How your character asks for help

Character-specific dialogue

Cursing

Speech patterns

What we say vs. what we mean

Who has control

Relationships:

Power imbalances

Pacing your romance

How to avoid unintentional romantic subtext

On the page:

Creating a strong first impression

An exaggerated first impression

Characterization through appearance

Description

Showing emotion

Staging

Thank God I have (insert character here)

Torturing your Character (and reader)