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Extended Thoughts on: William Pembridge/Meret-Tuart
3 years ago
General
Writing this character was... rough. Not because of the character itself; I thoroughly enjoyed working on this, and I'm proud of what I've written. But... right when I was close to finishing the character, I got a sinus infection. Gross, but manageable, so long as I bounce back from it.
...Unfortunately, I might have bounced too hard. Cuz when I felt '''better''' and went back to work, I realised I wasn't actually clear from the infection, and it floored me for another few days. Which made me really nervous that I wouldn't be able to finish the comm in time. But I did! And it goes to show how much I loved writing this character when I'm bedridden with my head pounding and my main concern is how much I miss writing.
There's three main things about this character that were especially fun to write: Meret-Tuart's pregnancy, her ethnicity, and her God. Let's start with the pregnancy. This is the first time I've written about it, so I hope I didn't do too bad a job! I also hope it wasn't too brief; I tried to add some traits of the pregnancy throughout the character (slower movements, occasional cradles, etc.), but I likely missed some features that those who are into preg really like. I'll likely learn those things the more I write about it.
But something that I've written a lot about is ethnicity and race changes! I've written about Ancient Egypt before, in a published RP/'''co-written story''', but it was all kinda set dressing? This time, I did a bunch of research into Egyptology, which included names, languages, pastimes, religion, the whole thing. I leaned into the “Ancient” part of Ancient Egypt, since I'm already nervous of getting stuff wrong for stuff thousands of years ago; for culture and societies that people are living today, I don't have a chance. Even then, I hope I didn't overstep with anything; as always with my characters, I treat the topics with respect... at least, I hope!
And speaking of respect, let's talk about the final thing, which I'm certain has no risk of me overstepping: religion! I kid, but I was a little more confident in taking some liberties with this than the other parts of Ancient Egypt, since I'm pretty sure Ancient Egyptian religion is no longer practised, at least in its original form. My client was the one to bring up Tawaret (as always, coming through with the best details!), and it gave me some great details, and not only for the physical traits. Tawaret being a hippo-faced woman signifies motherly devotion... but also fearsome power. Because hippos are terrifying. I added this in the form of a, pardon the term, weight to Meret-Tuart's affectations. She's flirty, and calm, and a little coquettish... but she's also powerful. Momentous. It's that contrast, between peace and power, that I heavily included in Meret-Tuart's character; just like the hippo, and just like a mother!
I also added perhaps a bit too much existentialism near the end. But you can't raise up literal Gods on a silly gameshow without somebody asking some tough questions. Conversely, you can't watch literal Gods appearing every few weeks on your silly gameshow before you decide it doesn't really matter, for the sake of your own mindset. Which is what our darling host decides... of course, when their own mindset isn't on the table. Hopefully their little speech about “riding it out” doesn't conflict with them possibly going mad because they aren't riding it out; see Stanley Simms for that side of the coin!
Trivia time!:
- ...But name time first, as usual. It's pretty much literary law for me to make the names of characters have hidden meaning. That said, my client came up with William Pembridge, and I think it's pretty damn good! Pembridge is close enough to Cambridge, and it has great alliteration with Professor Pembridge.
- Meret-tuart is my own creation, and it was the first of many times I had to learn about Ancient Egyptian customs. The prefix “Meret” means “beloved by”, but it was tricky figuring out the second half. I didn't want her to be literally named Tawaret, and while there's a bunch of alternate spellings for the goddess... most of them sound too much like “tart” or “twat”. Hopefully Tuart is good enough!
- Similarly, I feel it's literary law for mentioned flowers to obey the rules of Flower Language, a silly trend in Early-modern Europe that gave loads of flowers symbolism (that's why Buck Bicorn's TF is named Nymphaeaceae, aka the water lily!). The jasmine William smells from his former blazer can mean beauty, sensuality, or “feminine power”. And it's a flower that grows in Egypt! (along with water lilies, coincidentally...)
- The cone on Meret-Tuart's head is a perfume cone, an Egyptian accessory that was only confirmed to be a real thing three years ago! History's wild, man...
- Speaking of, its birch smell is from myrrh, the likely ingredient in perfume cones. And back to the plant symbolism, birch symbolizes “new beginnings”, which makes sense for someone continuously pregnant...
- The giant Sa that appears in the story was made with this code: <span style="font-size:80px"><tt><orange><span class="Sa"></span></tt></orange></span>. I only show it to possibly mess with any coder friends here; I'm blissfully unaware of if this is an offensively garbled mess... but you might not be :P
- Speaking of code, I don't know if I've talked about this, but TTGS automatically changes pronouns for the character when they hit a certain stage that you specify. This means that you have to use the same pronouns throughout, even during a genderchanging TF, and it gets harder to remember the more feminine/masculine the character becomes; I always end up missing an '''incorrect''' pronoun. Moral of the story? Misgendering is gross and hard to do, I wouldn't recommend it. 1/10.
- Did you know that before the Egyptians, the people that ruled over Egypt were called the Kingdom of Kush? ...I'm too much of a square to make a clever joke about it, so insert your stoner joke here!
- I read conflicting things about hippos' feet, and whether or not they had hooves, but they do not have hooves. They have feet, with toes. Those toenails are #notmyhooves. Do better.
- And as for my usual music choices? ...I couldn't tell you. This character's been in the making for so long, with such a big break in the middle, that I can't think if there was any themes. Sorry!
My question: What place would you like to visit when the world finishes reopening? I'd love to revisit Malta, and wouldn't mind seeing Liechtenstein, so long as it isn't too cold!
أراكَ لاحقاً
- yoshielder
...Unfortunately, I might have bounced too hard. Cuz when I felt '''better''' and went back to work, I realised I wasn't actually clear from the infection, and it floored me for another few days. Which made me really nervous that I wouldn't be able to finish the comm in time. But I did! And it goes to show how much I loved writing this character when I'm bedridden with my head pounding and my main concern is how much I miss writing.
There's three main things about this character that were especially fun to write: Meret-Tuart's pregnancy, her ethnicity, and her God. Let's start with the pregnancy. This is the first time I've written about it, so I hope I didn't do too bad a job! I also hope it wasn't too brief; I tried to add some traits of the pregnancy throughout the character (slower movements, occasional cradles, etc.), but I likely missed some features that those who are into preg really like. I'll likely learn those things the more I write about it.
But something that I've written a lot about is ethnicity and race changes! I've written about Ancient Egypt before, in a published RP/'''co-written story''', but it was all kinda set dressing? This time, I did a bunch of research into Egyptology, which included names, languages, pastimes, religion, the whole thing. I leaned into the “Ancient” part of Ancient Egypt, since I'm already nervous of getting stuff wrong for stuff thousands of years ago; for culture and societies that people are living today, I don't have a chance. Even then, I hope I didn't overstep with anything; as always with my characters, I treat the topics with respect... at least, I hope!
And speaking of respect, let's talk about the final thing, which I'm certain has no risk of me overstepping: religion! I kid, but I was a little more confident in taking some liberties with this than the other parts of Ancient Egypt, since I'm pretty sure Ancient Egyptian religion is no longer practised, at least in its original form. My client was the one to bring up Tawaret (as always, coming through with the best details!), and it gave me some great details, and not only for the physical traits. Tawaret being a hippo-faced woman signifies motherly devotion... but also fearsome power. Because hippos are terrifying. I added this in the form of a, pardon the term, weight to Meret-Tuart's affectations. She's flirty, and calm, and a little coquettish... but she's also powerful. Momentous. It's that contrast, between peace and power, that I heavily included in Meret-Tuart's character; just like the hippo, and just like a mother!
I also added perhaps a bit too much existentialism near the end. But you can't raise up literal Gods on a silly gameshow without somebody asking some tough questions. Conversely, you can't watch literal Gods appearing every few weeks on your silly gameshow before you decide it doesn't really matter, for the sake of your own mindset. Which is what our darling host decides... of course, when their own mindset isn't on the table. Hopefully their little speech about “riding it out” doesn't conflict with them possibly going mad because they aren't riding it out; see Stanley Simms for that side of the coin!
Trivia time!:
- ...But name time first, as usual. It's pretty much literary law for me to make the names of characters have hidden meaning. That said, my client came up with William Pembridge, and I think it's pretty damn good! Pembridge is close enough to Cambridge, and it has great alliteration with Professor Pembridge.
- Meret-tuart is my own creation, and it was the first of many times I had to learn about Ancient Egyptian customs. The prefix “Meret” means “beloved by”, but it was tricky figuring out the second half. I didn't want her to be literally named Tawaret, and while there's a bunch of alternate spellings for the goddess... most of them sound too much like “tart” or “twat”. Hopefully Tuart is good enough!
- Similarly, I feel it's literary law for mentioned flowers to obey the rules of Flower Language, a silly trend in Early-modern Europe that gave loads of flowers symbolism (that's why Buck Bicorn's TF is named Nymphaeaceae, aka the water lily!). The jasmine William smells from his former blazer can mean beauty, sensuality, or “feminine power”. And it's a flower that grows in Egypt! (along with water lilies, coincidentally...)
- The cone on Meret-Tuart's head is a perfume cone, an Egyptian accessory that was only confirmed to be a real thing three years ago! History's wild, man...
- Speaking of, its birch smell is from myrrh, the likely ingredient in perfume cones. And back to the plant symbolism, birch symbolizes “new beginnings”, which makes sense for someone continuously pregnant...
- The giant Sa that appears in the story was made with this code: <span style="font-size:80px"><tt><orange><span class="Sa"></span></tt></orange></span>. I only show it to possibly mess with any coder friends here; I'm blissfully unaware of if this is an offensively garbled mess... but you might not be :P
- Speaking of code, I don't know if I've talked about this, but TTGS automatically changes pronouns for the character when they hit a certain stage that you specify. This means that you have to use the same pronouns throughout, even during a genderchanging TF, and it gets harder to remember the more feminine/masculine the character becomes; I always end up missing an '''incorrect''' pronoun. Moral of the story? Misgendering is gross and hard to do, I wouldn't recommend it. 1/10.
- Did you know that before the Egyptians, the people that ruled over Egypt were called the Kingdom of Kush? ...I'm too much of a square to make a clever joke about it, so insert your stoner joke here!
- I read conflicting things about hippos' feet, and whether or not they had hooves, but they do not have hooves. They have feet, with toes. Those toenails are #notmyhooves. Do better.
- And as for my usual music choices? ...I couldn't tell you. This character's been in the making for so long, with such a big break in the middle, that I can't think if there was any themes. Sorry!
My question: What place would you like to visit when the world finishes reopening? I'd love to revisit Malta, and wouldn't mind seeing Liechtenstein, so long as it isn't too cold!
أراكَ لاحقاً
- yoshielder
I would love to visit Egypt, someday, but even if it were entirely open, totally safe to visit, it simply would be impossibly expensive to get there from here in the first place, alas. <s>Also Kushites were in Nubia, which was variously ruled over by, a rival to, or briefly rulers of, Egypt! It's actually a unique culture with its own pyramidal style, though it was eventually heavily Egyptianized to the point where they were kind of carrying on the legacy after the conquest by the Ptolemies and later Rome.</s>
Anyway good stuff!!