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beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.
I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
General Likes and Dislikes
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
DNWs
Sedoretu Specific Things
In general, I would prefer a fic that did not try to deconstruct or subvert the sedoretu. While that could lead to awesome fic, there isn't enough sedoretu fic out there for me to be looking for subversions of it. So, for example, I don't want same moiety pairings.
I am interested in fics where sedoretu relationships are standard and the only type of relationship society recognizes; I am interested in fics where it is one option of many; I am interested in fics where it is rare and/or disapproved of; I am interested in fics where it is part of an alien culture.
I love worldbuilding, and one thing that I would love in any canon is "what difference does it make to the larger culture that poly marriage is the norm instead of/in addition to mono marriage?"
The Goblin Emperor
I love how hopepunk this series is: yes, terrible things have happened, and yes, there are genuinely evil people, and yes, there are people who aren't evil but are nonetheless really awful. And yet, despite it all, good people win. There are people who can be trusted to be good, and kind, and loyal. I love how three-dimensional everyone is, not just the heroes but the villains, too. If you wanted to bring in historical flourishes, I'd be happy with parallels to European history, but I'd be ECSTATIC if you brought in non-Western ideas, practices, structures, clothing styles, and institutions.
Is sedoretu the norm at all levels of society? Do both Goblins and Elves practice it? What does it do to Varenechibel's marital history--were there two spouses he kept and he just kept swapping out the fourth?
Vedero and Maia as two parts of a sedoretu (sharing the same moiety, of course) means that any of the children born to the sedoretu are children of the Imperial line; does that mean that Vedero's child with Csevet or Nurevis (depending on which you write) could be the next Emperor? (What political shenanigans would that cause? What pressures? I bet a lot of people would then be wanting Maia and Csethiro to not have kids until after Vedero has had several ...) If Chavar could have gotten Nurevis in, he would have pushed that instead of his niece; would he have found that Nurevis was much less willing to bow to his wishes once he wasn't dependent on his father? What (if anything) would that do to Chavar's participating in a coup? Does it push it back until a few months after the wedding when it's clear it hasn't cemented his hold over Maia? If Chavar doesn't stage a coup, how does that change things (and how does Maia get rid of him when he's not just the Chancellor, but Maia's father-in-law)? If he does, what is that like, what does it do to the marriage?
The Nemolis/Sheveän/Setheris/Hesero sedoretu would have some interesting dynamics. For one thing, I think Nemolis and Hesero are probably decent, kind people from what we know of them, and Sheveän and Setheris are ... not. But on the other hand, I think Sheveän and Setheris would hate each other. Setheris is ambitious and can be cruel and self-centered, but he also is extremely firm on the Rule of Law, and Sheveän believes just as firmly that Right And Legal Is Whatever Supports My Chosen Actions.
Treats are enabled and welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same moiety pairings.
The Godfather
This is such a fascinating grouping in so many ways. Kay and Michael, okay, you've got their canon issues. Then there's Apollonia, who had such an incredibly circumscribed life before marrying Michael and presumably surviving and coming to America. And she was pretty young! How does she grow and change? She doesn't seem to have a problem with the crime stuff; how do she and Kay get along? How do they change each other? And then you have Tom, who is both an outsider and an insider, and was always Sonny's man, not Michael's. How come he ends up in Michael's sedoretu instead of Sonny's? Would marrying Michael mean he stayed consigliere, or would he get a different role within the family?
Treats Welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Crossovers
Gabrielle/Xena/Joe/Nicky
Okay, these would be so interesting together. The violence! The concern for doing the right thing and protecting people! The art/poetry! Nicky's past as a crusader and Xena's past as a vicious warlord! Also, Joe and Nicky are immortal and Xena and Gabrielle reincarnate. I'd be fine with just about anything. X and G as immortals, or J and N finding X and G in each of their lifetimes and courting/marrying them again, X and G's timeline intersecting with the crusades (time is so wibbly-wobbly on Xena, having ancient Greece and the Crusades overlap would be no more bonkers than anything else that happened on the show), anything else you want to do.
Jadzia/Riker/Troi/Worf
Is sedoretu the default option for all cultures? Is it specific to one of their cultures and for the others it's an alien thing? Are there differences in what it means to be in a sedoretu in their different cultures?
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). I love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
Deanna and Worf: Talk about culture clash, but I'd love to see their relationship explored and given more time and not just used as shock material. And I'd love it to be a relationship built on mutual respect. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
Jadzia and Riker would get along like a house on fire. I think there are times that both Deanna and Worf would both be kind of relieved to have Jadzia and Will off doing some shenanigans or telling tall tales about past lovers or whatever, giving Deanna and Worf time to relax and be quiet.
Worf and Riker didn't get much screen time or interactions together beyond plot-relevant stuff, but Riker did great on that Klingon ship and also they've got a lot of mutual respect.
Jadzia/Kirk/Sisko/Spock
Okay, is this a time travel thing? Do Dax and Sisko get trapped back in the past in Trials and Tribbleations? Do Kirk and Spock end up getting trapped in the future with no way to get home? Are they, like, transporter duplicates or something so the timeline is preserved, or does their absence change things? Did Emony or Curzon have a thing with them in the past? I'm very curious about how they all end up together, but I think they would get along well together if they did end up permanently in the same time zone. Jadzia and Kirk would have a great time being adventurous together, Kirk and Sisko would love to talk philosophy and ethics and practicality, Jadzia and Spock could nerd it out over science stuff, there are great potential relationships in every direction here whether platonic or romantic/sexual.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings.
Battlestar Galactica
I am DNWing the series ending. They never give up technology, okay? Everything up to the decision to leave all technology behind is okay, but the last few minutes of "wouldn't it be great to be cavepeople" is right out. If you want to go AU earlier, you are welcome to; I'm not fond of season 4.5, but it's not bad up until they give up technology, as if the technology is their problem, and not their trauma and bad decisions on both sides. Also, I am DNWing Dee committing suicide. The whole thing was for shock value and Lee's manpain, it was the most egregious fridging I've ever seen, I do not want it in fic.
Tory/Ellen/Saul/Galen
(Sorry, Sam, you're the odd one out among the Final (or original) Five.) There are so many points to start with this. Something on the original Earth around the human/cylon war there, as they're trying to reconstruct resurrection! Something with the Cylons after they find the Twelve Colonies, and are working on developing other human-form Cylons! Something on the Twelve Colonies before the attack--did they get marooned together? Were they separated? Do they know they're missing others? Do they find each other? Something in the fleet before they know they're Cylons--how are they drawn to one another, and what does it change, on New Caprica or after New Caprica or whenever? Do they only realize their relationships after they learn they're Cylons? So many possibilities!
Lee/Dee/Sam/Kara
This is the obvious solution to the whole Lee/Kara drama, and yet it would cause almost as many problems as it would solve. I think Sam and Lee would get along ok, but Dee and Kara are like oil and water, and a poly relationship requires more communication, not less, and Kara sucks at communication. And they're all traumatized, but Kara especially acts out her trauma in really unhelpful ways. So! What would it do to their time on New Caprica? Were they split up as they were in canon? Were Kara and Sam on Pegasus, or Lee and Dee on New Caprica? What happens when Sam finds out he's a Cylon? What about Kara's mystical visions? (I always headcanoned that Kara's musician father that she had visions of was actually that one Cylon that the Ones got rid of completely, which would make her a hybrid like Hera.) Does having more people to help dealing with plot and emotional crises help, or does it just make things more difficult? If Dee doesn't die, does Felix still try for a coup?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings, Daybreak as canon, Dee committing suicide.
Babylon 5
Is sedoretu the default option for all cultures? Is it specific to one of their cultures and for the others it's an alien thing? Are there differences in what it means to be in a sedoretu in their different cultures?
Ah, the fandom of my youth! This was my first fandom that was mine, and not just something the family watched together. I love the layering of the themes, and how you can watch it on multiple levels (action/adventure, character arcs, political allegory, deeper themes about truth and freedom and who are you and what do you want and why are you here). The characters and their story arcs were all so compelling. I love the playfulness of Marcus and Stephen together, although I headcanon Marcus as a romantic ace (or possibly demisexual). (Feel free to change Marcus' fate.) One of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters where the fact that they were antagonists didn't mean they were stupid or bad people, just people with a different perspective honestly trying to do what is right. Stephen Franklin was a terribly underused character I love his warmth and the strong unbendable core of his ethics, and my two favorite people to see him with are Susan and Marcus.
Maybe Marcus and Stephen get together on Mars when they're pretending to be a couple! Maybe Stephen saves Marcus' life when he tries to throw it away to save Susan, and that changes things between them. Do Franklin and Ivanova work together on the underground railroad for teeps? He's the most optimistic of the B5 command crew, but he can also be a bit of an obstinate shit at times, and she is the most pessimistic. It's such an interesting dynamic. And then there is Susan/Talia, which is such delicious angst on so many levels. Feel free to either lean into it or fix it.
I especially love Minbari culture. If you do worldbuilding for Minbari culture, past, present, or future, I will love you forever. I consider "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" canon and firmly believe that when Sinclair went into the past and became Valen, he found Catherine again after she was lost in time. Is there a mystery about Jeff/Valen and the Minbari, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past? Does Valen end up back in B5 time, does Michael end up in the past? What about Lise? Or were they all married before Jeff and Michael ended up on B5, and you end up with half of the marriage still in the main time and half of it in the past?
What if Neroon survived somehow and had to learn to be religious caste? How would he and John get along as part of a marriage? What about John and Lennier? Susan and Lennier? What if John were the only human in a four-person marriage, how would he handle that and how would the rest of them handle him? So many possibilities.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Doctor Who
Are sedoretus a human thing, or a Time Lord thing? Or just normal throughout the universe in the way mono relationships are normal in canon? Either way you could do some interesting stuff with culture and communication and how do you build a cross-species relationship.
I like Rose, but I absolutely hate the tendency to treat Rose as The Greatest Thing Ever And The Doctor's Deepest Love, None Of The Other Companions Are Half As Important As Rose. Whether it's the show doing it or the fandom, it really rubs me the wrong way. Part of the point of companions is that they're temporary and the Doctor will outlive them all, and he loves them all in their different ways, and yeah, it's sad when they leave but as Eleven put it, if you're going to be sad later why be happy now? And the answer is, because you are going to be sad later. And then he gets new companions. Each companion is special in their own ways, and the Doctor loves them all in different ways. Loving Rose doesn't mean the Doctor loves Sarah Jane or Martha or Donna or Ian and Barbara any less.
I adore Martha, and she deserved better. I would love something where she and Rose get along and are each valued and loved by the other and by the Doctor and Jack and they have fun adventures in time and space would be delightful.
I love River and Jack the most when they are at their most independent. Yes, they love the Doctor; but they both have lives that are bigger than him and times when their lives have very little to do with him at all. But they always come back. And things where they're crossing their own timestreams are wonderful, I love that so much.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Deep Space Nine
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
I thought that Kira and the O'Briens had a lot of chemistry, but also they have such radically different backgrounds and expectations. Culture, religion, childhood trauma--all radically different. I'd like to see how they could make it work. And then you add in Bareil, Shakaar, or Julian, and that just adds more complexity. Bareil and Shakaar have scars from the occupation and the things they had to say and do. Either one of them marrying humans would cause issues with Bajor, in one way or another. (I'd love it if Bareil didn't die!) Julian has the secret of his genetic modifications and the emotional scars from his parents not wanting 'Jules' and so creating 'Julian.' There's hidden depths there that didn't appear for the first several seasons.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Star Trek The Next Generation
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
With either group I've chosen this is three different cultures, and 'human' is the place in the middle that they all understand, but I'd be interested in something that explored the 'alien' cultures and didn't assume 'human' as normal. Deanna/Will, there's history, not all of it good, and a reason they haven't been together for a long time. With Worf and either of them, there's not that baggage. One angle to explore with Worf is how queer this is for him ... and I don't just mean the poly-ness of it. Klingon gender roles are that the women are loud and violent and the men read love poetry. Deanna's more the poetry type than the loud and violent type, and I'm not sure how much of a soft side Worf has. So none of them quite 'fit' Klingon gender/sexual norms. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
I think Worf and Tasha could have had a really interesting relationship if either of them had had ANY character development in the first few seasons when Tasha was on the show.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Star Wars
The original Zahn trilogy and the X-Wing books are my favorite parts of the old Legends universe, but I like everything EXCEPT the Courtship of Princess Leia and the New Jedi Order stuff. (Teneniel Djo is awesome! Han kidnapping Leia is really really REALLY not. And I hated pretty much everything about the Vong.) I really like it when Luke is building a new Jedi community and rebuilding old traditions. I prefer Legends to the Sequel Trilogy/new canon in general, but there's some good stuff from the ST and the one thing I DNW from the ST is Kylo Ren.
Mara has such a complex past. I think she has trauma from her time with Palpatine that she can't admit even to herself--he was so good at grooming young people, so very manipulative, and even when you know your abuser did evil things to you, it's still hard to internalize. I think she has a unique perspective on the Force, and the Jedi, and galactic politics, that doesn't fit easily or neatly with the others but nevertheless is important to include if they don't want to re-make the mistakes of the past. It's about how do we remember the past while working to create a new future? How do we avoid making old mistakes? How do we heal? How do we build something better?
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Does Lando serve as the practical "let's get support and resources for this new Jedi Order you're building" while Luke swans around being compassionate and heroic and saving the day? (But make sure that Lando's contributions are valued and not taken for granted.) Is there some Force bullshit at work somewhere? Or are Lando and Leia working the political angle and getting shit done in government while Han and Mara are off doing smuggling things?
Han and Leia are obviously awesome, obviously I love them and their banter. In some ways, their relationship with Mara is more interesting than Luke's because they have reasons both to trust her and distrust her, and Luke is the one who is by far the most generous with "I feel in the Force this person is good, so I'm going to believe in them despite all the logical reasons why that's dangerous."
I think Lando and Mara would do very well together; both okay with shady stuff, but both with deep principles they will not compromise. My primary ship is Luke/Mara but I was livid when they retconned Lando/Mara out with "oh, no, they were never really together, it was just an undercover thing!" Even as a very sheltered middle class white teen, I could tell that was racist bullshit, and also smacked of that patriarchal extreme-monagamist trope where "if you love each other, your previous relationships can't have meant anything!" which always hits harder for women than men. No. People can decide a relationship isn't working and end it and start new ones without devaluing and denying the previous relationship. I would love Lando/Mara. I would love Luke/Mara where either she was never with Lando at all even for undercover purposes, or where Lando/Mara used to be together and broke up amicably. I would be livid at "but Lando/Mara was never a real relationship!"
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings, Luke/Leia, the "Lando and Mara were never really together, it was all a con/undercover thing!" retcon, Kylo Ren
beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.
The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.
I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.
General Likes and Dislikes
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
- I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when the characters and/or actors are marginalized. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
- I don't like it when marginalized characters get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
- I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
- I like fluff
- I like angst with a happy ending
- I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
- I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
- I like unreliable narrators.
- I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong.
- I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another instead of sweeping it under the rug.
- Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll enjoy it if you do.
- I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! Or if they canonically have a blind spot in that area, again, it's fine. But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
- I like AUs, but not complete setting AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened.
- I like the concept of sedoretu marriages.
- I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon.
- Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me.
I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.
Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.
I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.
DNWs
- Darkfic. I define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end."
- Bashing
- Incest. I have a strict definition of this; there must be an actual close biological relationship, or a formal legal relationship of similar closeness--sibling, parent/child, etc. I do not count cousins as an incest pairing. Growing up together since childhood doesn't count if they are not biologically or legally siblings.
- Major embarrassment/humiliation
- AUs that remove all the worldbuilding (for example, Modern AUs, Human/no powers AUs, that sort of thing)
Sedoretu Specific Things
In general, I would prefer a fic that did not try to deconstruct or subvert the sedoretu. While that could lead to awesome fic, there isn't enough sedoretu fic out there for me to be looking for subversions of it. So, for example, I don't want same moiety pairings.
I am interested in fics where sedoretu relationships are standard and the only type of relationship society recognizes; I am interested in fics where it is one option of many; I am interested in fics where it is rare and/or disapproved of; I am interested in fics where it is part of an alien culture.
I love worldbuilding, and one thing that I would love in any canon is "what difference does it make to the larger culture that poly marriage is the norm instead of/in addition to mono marriage?"
The Goblin Emperor
I love how hopepunk this series is: yes, terrible things have happened, and yes, there are genuinely evil people, and yes, there are people who aren't evil but are nonetheless really awful. And yet, despite it all, good people win. There are people who can be trusted to be good, and kind, and loyal. I love how three-dimensional everyone is, not just the heroes but the villains, too. If you wanted to bring in historical flourishes, I'd be happy with parallels to European history, but I'd be ECSTATIC if you brought in non-Western ideas, practices, structures, clothing styles, and institutions.
Is sedoretu the norm at all levels of society? Do both Goblins and Elves practice it? What does it do to Varenechibel's marital history--were there two spouses he kept and he just kept swapping out the fourth?
Vedero and Maia as two parts of a sedoretu (sharing the same moiety, of course) means that any of the children born to the sedoretu are children of the Imperial line; does that mean that Vedero's child with Csevet or Nurevis (depending on which you write) could be the next Emperor? (What political shenanigans would that cause? What pressures? I bet a lot of people would then be wanting Maia and Csethiro to not have kids until after Vedero has had several ...) If Chavar could have gotten Nurevis in, he would have pushed that instead of his niece; would he have found that Nurevis was much less willing to bow to his wishes once he wasn't dependent on his father? What (if anything) would that do to Chavar's participating in a coup? Does it push it back until a few months after the wedding when it's clear it hasn't cemented his hold over Maia? If Chavar doesn't stage a coup, how does that change things (and how does Maia get rid of him when he's not just the Chancellor, but Maia's father-in-law)? If he does, what is that like, what does it do to the marriage?
The Nemolis/Sheveän/Setheris/Hesero sedoretu would have some interesting dynamics. For one thing, I think Nemolis and Hesero are probably decent, kind people from what we know of them, and Sheveän and Setheris are ... not. But on the other hand, I think Sheveän and Setheris would hate each other. Setheris is ambitious and can be cruel and self-centered, but he also is extremely firm on the Rule of Law, and Sheveän believes just as firmly that Right And Legal Is Whatever Supports My Chosen Actions.
Treats are enabled and welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same moiety pairings.
The Godfather
This is such a fascinating grouping in so many ways. Kay and Michael, okay, you've got their canon issues. Then there's Apollonia, who had such an incredibly circumscribed life before marrying Michael and presumably surviving and coming to America. And she was pretty young! How does she grow and change? She doesn't seem to have a problem with the crime stuff; how do she and Kay get along? How do they change each other? And then you have Tom, who is both an outsider and an insider, and was always Sonny's man, not Michael's. How come he ends up in Michael's sedoretu instead of Sonny's? Would marrying Michael mean he stayed consigliere, or would he get a different role within the family?
Treats Welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic
Crossovers
Gabrielle/Xena/Joe/Nicky
Okay, these would be so interesting together. The violence! The concern for doing the right thing and protecting people! The art/poetry! Nicky's past as a crusader and Xena's past as a vicious warlord! Also, Joe and Nicky are immortal and Xena and Gabrielle reincarnate. I'd be fine with just about anything. X and G as immortals, or J and N finding X and G in each of their lifetimes and courting/marrying them again, X and G's timeline intersecting with the crusades (time is so wibbly-wobbly on Xena, having ancient Greece and the Crusades overlap would be no more bonkers than anything else that happened on the show), anything else you want to do.
Jadzia/Riker/Troi/Worf
Is sedoretu the default option for all cultures? Is it specific to one of their cultures and for the others it's an alien thing? Are there differences in what it means to be in a sedoretu in their different cultures?
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication). I love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
Deanna and Worf: Talk about culture clash, but I'd love to see their relationship explored and given more time and not just used as shock material. And I'd love it to be a relationship built on mutual respect. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
Jadzia and Riker would get along like a house on fire. I think there are times that both Deanna and Worf would both be kind of relieved to have Jadzia and Will off doing some shenanigans or telling tall tales about past lovers or whatever, giving Deanna and Worf time to relax and be quiet.
Worf and Riker didn't get much screen time or interactions together beyond plot-relevant stuff, but Riker did great on that Klingon ship and also they've got a lot of mutual respect.
Jadzia/Kirk/Sisko/Spock
Okay, is this a time travel thing? Do Dax and Sisko get trapped back in the past in Trials and Tribbleations? Do Kirk and Spock end up getting trapped in the future with no way to get home? Are they, like, transporter duplicates or something so the timeline is preserved, or does their absence change things? Did Emony or Curzon have a thing with them in the past? I'm very curious about how they all end up together, but I think they would get along well together if they did end up permanently in the same time zone. Jadzia and Kirk would have a great time being adventurous together, Kirk and Sisko would love to talk philosophy and ethics and practicality, Jadzia and Spock could nerd it out over science stuff, there are great potential relationships in every direction here whether platonic or romantic/sexual.
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings.
Battlestar Galactica
I am DNWing the series ending. They never give up technology, okay? Everything up to the decision to leave all technology behind is okay, but the last few minutes of "wouldn't it be great to be cavepeople" is right out. If you want to go AU earlier, you are welcome to; I'm not fond of season 4.5, but it's not bad up until they give up technology, as if the technology is their problem, and not their trauma and bad decisions on both sides. Also, I am DNWing Dee committing suicide. The whole thing was for shock value and Lee's manpain, it was the most egregious fridging I've ever seen, I do not want it in fic.
Tory/Ellen/Saul/Galen
(Sorry, Sam, you're the odd one out among the Final (or original) Five.) There are so many points to start with this. Something on the original Earth around the human/cylon war there, as they're trying to reconstruct resurrection! Something with the Cylons after they find the Twelve Colonies, and are working on developing other human-form Cylons! Something on the Twelve Colonies before the attack--did they get marooned together? Were they separated? Do they know they're missing others? Do they find each other? Something in the fleet before they know they're Cylons--how are they drawn to one another, and what does it change, on New Caprica or after New Caprica or whenever? Do they only realize their relationships after they learn they're Cylons? So many possibilities!
Lee/Dee/Sam/Kara
This is the obvious solution to the whole Lee/Kara drama, and yet it would cause almost as many problems as it would solve. I think Sam and Lee would get along ok, but Dee and Kara are like oil and water, and a poly relationship requires more communication, not less, and Kara sucks at communication. And they're all traumatized, but Kara especially acts out her trauma in really unhelpful ways. So! What would it do to their time on New Caprica? Were they split up as they were in canon? Were Kara and Sam on Pegasus, or Lee and Dee on New Caprica? What happens when Sam finds out he's a Cylon? What about Kara's mystical visions? (I always headcanoned that Kara's musician father that she had visions of was actually that one Cylon that the Ones got rid of completely, which would make her a hybrid like Hera.) Does having more people to help dealing with plot and emotional crises help, or does it just make things more difficult? If Dee doesn't die, does Felix still try for a coup?
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings, Daybreak as canon, Dee committing suicide.
Babylon 5
Is sedoretu the default option for all cultures? Is it specific to one of their cultures and for the others it's an alien thing? Are there differences in what it means to be in a sedoretu in their different cultures?
Ah, the fandom of my youth! This was my first fandom that was mine, and not just something the family watched together. I love the layering of the themes, and how you can watch it on multiple levels (action/adventure, character arcs, political allegory, deeper themes about truth and freedom and who are you and what do you want and why are you here). The characters and their story arcs were all so compelling. I love the playfulness of Marcus and Stephen together, although I headcanon Marcus as a romantic ace (or possibly demisexual). (Feel free to change Marcus' fate.) One of the things I love about Babylon 5 is that there were so many characters where the fact that they were antagonists didn't mean they were stupid or bad people, just people with a different perspective honestly trying to do what is right. Stephen Franklin was a terribly underused character I love his warmth and the strong unbendable core of his ethics, and my two favorite people to see him with are Susan and Marcus.
Maybe Marcus and Stephen get together on Mars when they're pretending to be a couple! Maybe Stephen saves Marcus' life when he tries to throw it away to save Susan, and that changes things between them. Do Franklin and Ivanova work together on the underground railroad for teeps? He's the most optimistic of the B5 command crew, but he can also be a bit of an obstinate shit at times, and she is the most pessimistic. It's such an interesting dynamic. And then there is Susan/Talia, which is such delicious angst on so many levels. Feel free to either lean into it or fix it.
I especially love Minbari culture. If you do worldbuilding for Minbari culture, past, present, or future, I will love you forever. I consider "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" canon and firmly believe that when Sinclair went into the past and became Valen, he found Catherine again after she was lost in time. Is there a mystery about Jeff/Valen and the Minbari, something having to do with prophecy, time travel and/or messages from Sinclair/Valen in the past? Does Valen end up back in B5 time, does Michael end up in the past? What about Lise? Or were they all married before Jeff and Michael ended up on B5, and you end up with half of the marriage still in the main time and half of it in the past?
What if Neroon survived somehow and had to learn to be religious caste? How would he and John get along as part of a marriage? What about John and Lennier? Susan and Lennier? What if John were the only human in a four-person marriage, how would he handle that and how would the rest of them handle him? So many possibilities.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Doctor Who
Are sedoretus a human thing, or a Time Lord thing? Or just normal throughout the universe in the way mono relationships are normal in canon? Either way you could do some interesting stuff with culture and communication and how do you build a cross-species relationship.
I like Rose, but I absolutely hate the tendency to treat Rose as The Greatest Thing Ever And The Doctor's Deepest Love, None Of The Other Companions Are Half As Important As Rose. Whether it's the show doing it or the fandom, it really rubs me the wrong way. Part of the point of companions is that they're temporary and the Doctor will outlive them all, and he loves them all in their different ways, and yeah, it's sad when they leave but as Eleven put it, if you're going to be sad later why be happy now? And the answer is, because you are going to be sad later. And then he gets new companions. Each companion is special in their own ways, and the Doctor loves them all in different ways. Loving Rose doesn't mean the Doctor loves Sarah Jane or Martha or Donna or Ian and Barbara any less.
I adore Martha, and she deserved better. I would love something where she and Rose get along and are each valued and loved by the other and by the Doctor and Jack and they have fun adventures in time and space would be delightful.
I love River and Jack the most when they are at their most independent. Yes, they love the Doctor; but they both have lives that are bigger than him and times when their lives have very little to do with him at all. But they always come back. And things where they're crossing their own timestreams are wonderful, I love that so much.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Deep Space Nine
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
I thought that Kira and the O'Briens had a lot of chemistry, but also they have such radically different backgrounds and expectations. Culture, religion, childhood trauma--all radically different. I'd like to see how they could make it work. And then you add in Bareil, Shakaar, or Julian, and that just adds more complexity. Bareil and Shakaar have scars from the occupation and the things they had to say and do. Either one of them marrying humans would cause issues with Bajor, in one way or another. (I'd love it if Bareil didn't die!) Julian has the secret of his genetic modifications and the emotional scars from his parents not wanting 'Jules' and so creating 'Julian.' There's hidden depths there that didn't appear for the first several seasons.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Star Trek The Next Generation
I love alien culture worldbuilding. I love boldly going and exploring and wacky science hijinks and time travel and alternate universe shenanigans. I love the hopeful attitude that we can become better than we are. All my feelings about Star Trek in general can be summed up with this vid. I love cross-cultural romance (especially when it deals realistically with having to figure out what compromises each is going to make on what they expect out of a relationship--love is not all you need, you also need a lot of hard work and communication).
As for plot ... it's Star Trek. If you want to play it serious, go for it. If you want to lean into the wacky tropes Star Trek was known for, that's great too. As long as everyone is in character, feel free to go as cracktastic as you want with the time travel and travel to alternate universes and weird missions.
I love Klingons, and PARTICULARLY when they are not written as one-dimensional fighters. Like, yes, the warrior ethos shapes their entire culture, but it's not the only thing about them.
With either group I've chosen this is three different cultures, and 'human' is the place in the middle that they all understand, but I'd be interested in something that explored the 'alien' cultures and didn't assume 'human' as normal. Deanna/Will, there's history, not all of it good, and a reason they haven't been together for a long time. With Worf and either of them, there's not that baggage. One angle to explore with Worf is how queer this is for him ... and I don't just mean the poly-ness of it. Klingon gender roles are that the women are loud and violent and the men read love poetry. Deanna's more the poetry type than the loud and violent type, and I'm not sure how much of a soft side Worf has. So none of them quite 'fit' Klingon gender/sexual norms. Feel free to bring in the perspective Martok and the others had on mental illness when they were trapped in that Dominion prison camp, that mental illness is an enemy to fight and it takes a lot of strength to fight an enemy in your own head. From that perspective, Deanna is a weapons trainer for the mind.
I think Worf and Tasha could have had a really interesting relationship if either of them had had ANY character development in the first few seasons when Tasha was on the show.
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings
Star Wars
The original Zahn trilogy and the X-Wing books are my favorite parts of the old Legends universe, but I like everything EXCEPT the Courtship of Princess Leia and the New Jedi Order stuff. (Teneniel Djo is awesome! Han kidnapping Leia is really really REALLY not. And I hated pretty much everything about the Vong.) I really like it when Luke is building a new Jedi community and rebuilding old traditions. I prefer Legends to the Sequel Trilogy/new canon in general, but there's some good stuff from the ST and the one thing I DNW from the ST is Kylo Ren.
Mara has such a complex past. I think she has trauma from her time with Palpatine that she can't admit even to herself--he was so good at grooming young people, so very manipulative, and even when you know your abuser did evil things to you, it's still hard to internalize. I think she has a unique perspective on the Force, and the Jedi, and galactic politics, that doesn't fit easily or neatly with the others but nevertheless is important to include if they don't want to re-make the mistakes of the past. It's about how do we remember the past while working to create a new future? How do we avoid making old mistakes? How do we heal? How do we build something better?
I love Lando, and I think he was absolutely right to put the safety of his entire city and everyone living in it ahead of the well-being of a couple of old friends. He is smart, pragmatic, and responsible in the best possible way. Does Lando serve as the practical "let's get support and resources for this new Jedi Order you're building" while Luke swans around being compassionate and heroic and saving the day? (But make sure that Lando's contributions are valued and not taken for granted.) Is there some Force bullshit at work somewhere? Or are Lando and Leia working the political angle and getting shit done in government while Han and Mara are off doing smuggling things?
Han and Leia are obviously awesome, obviously I love them and their banter. In some ways, their relationship with Mara is more interesting than Luke's because they have reasons both to trust her and distrust her, and Luke is the one who is by far the most generous with "I feel in the Force this person is good, so I'm going to believe in them despite all the logical reasons why that's dangerous."
I think Lando and Mara would do very well together; both okay with shady stuff, but both with deep principles they will not compromise. My primary ship is Luke/Mara but I was livid when they retconned Lando/Mara out with "oh, no, they were never really together, it was just an undercover thing!" Even as a very sheltered middle class white teen, I could tell that was racist bullshit, and also smacked of that patriarchal extreme-monagamist trope where "if you love each other, your previous relationships can't have meant anything!" which always hits harder for women than men. No. People can decide a relationship isn't working and end it and start new ones without devaluing and denying the previous relationship. I would love Lando/Mara. I would love Luke/Mara where either she was never with Lando at all even for undercover purposes, or where Lando/Mara used to be together and broke up amicably. I would be livid at "but Lando/Mara was never a real relationship!"
Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, same-moiety pairings, Luke/Leia, the "Lando and Mara were never really together, it was all a con/undercover thing!" retcon, Kylo Ren
