Hello gifter and welcome to my letter!
This is just for the fandoms that didn't fit in the ao3 exchange box, there may be some that are just on ao3! I also may at some points use abbreviations for the full ship names when writing here! Thanks for taking part in this exchange!
NOTE; I AM HAVING SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE READ MORE THING AND HAVING THIS BE READABLE, SORRY. THIS IS A LITTLE LONG, IF YOU ARE NOT HERE FOR THE EXCHANGE LETTER, PLEASE SCROLLL DOWN UNTIL YOU GET TO SOMETHING ELSE. THANKS!
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A General note: I generally have a spot for romo-ace and aro-allo stuff, and this is a "No E-Rated" exchange, but if you wanted to interpret any / ship as having nsfw thoughts or doing nsfw stuff off screen, but not thinking of eachother in a "romantic" light, or more specifically labeling what they think about as "romantic" go for it. Like, I guess I'm saying i have wiggle room.
Plus there's a bunch of general likes on the AO3 sign up form, so feel free to look at all that stuff.
The Magnus Archives:
(roughly in order that the tags are written down)
NOTE: It may or may not be on the list, but background Jon/Elias is always welcome, background Elias/Peter is especially always welcome.
Jon/Martin/Rosie/Sasha/Tim: I just love polyarchives. In lots of ways. Honestly anything with a bit of fluff with them will just melt my heart, the polycule doing nice things for eachother is always a win. As will a lot of things. I especially love if the situations really show up their personalities and especially interests. Also I like the idea of them investigating a case. This can be either in canon or in any AU. In the past? In distant history? fantasy? space? whatever!
Ok and beyond that I'm also big into Jon/Sasha and Jon/Tim/Sasha either as a triangle or V, and especially Jon/Tim. "I'm still in my JonTim era" for real. So,
Jon/Tim: It made it into the tagset. So anything about polyarchives applies here too, but LBR, there is a lot of hard, sad stuff here in canon, but a lot of kind stuff too. I've often seen some of their anger as like, mutual betrayal of something once good. There's angst, basically. So while I'd like some sweet, you can put a lot of bittersweet in, and if you make something bittersweet and good writing with these two, I'd raise my glass to you a million times more. It's a trickier balance!
Elias/Peter: Lonelyeyes is always ftw, and always welcome.
Elias/Beholding and Jon/Beholding (yes in that order for a reason, lol, but no i won't be explaining, idk if i can explain):
Ok, this gets into something that I am really, really crazy about in like any fic ever, and especially in the TMA universe. Any of the avatars interacting with "their entity" or having feelings mutual or not - and just those themes. Be it seen in a religious light, or a romantic one, or a sexual one. Obviously not hardcore sexual in this exchange. : ) but the other two very much remain and very much yes. Using any interpretation you like. Also Jon/Elias/Beholding is welcome too. This theme will also come up with some other solo characters I put down and i will flag it as an option there!
Also a note, whatever ended up in the tags, I'm always aware that the same dude's lived in a lot of different eras under a lot of different names, so the "Elias" and "Jonah" eras are all included and welcome.
Manuela Dominguez/Natalie Ennis - Fuck yes. As I mentioned, religious themes. And I like The Dark (the entity) soooo, so much, and I like them both! Fuck Yes.
Solo: Elias Bouchard: All of the above, Peter, Jon, just solo, modern is always great too.
BUT Also whenever I say elias or jonah it can definitely refer to when he was using either name, and that puts the regency era, and the regency polycule on the table! And I am soooo into the regency era stuff! I'm especially fond of Barnabas Ir also Jonathan Fanshawe with Jonah | Elias / wise, but lie all of them in the "polycule" or solo sinister investigations, whatever!
Solo Jon and Sasha: Just what it says on the tin! So anything with them in it! And if you really want to do gen or character centric fic, sure! And specifically, god do they both get into so much trouble when left somewhere by themselves. : ) This is a compliment. : ) ) ) ) ) )
Solo: Mike Crew: Ok GOD, Mike may be really my "little black dress" when it comes to fic, if you came here from EAD and know that lingo. Or in other words, he kinda goes with so many situations and people.
I guess it makes sense, he's in the middle position of sooooo many situations and stories in TMA!
Ofc, you can do solo or gen because that's the tag, and so many versions of that are out there! But here are also some other suggestions because Mike rots my brain all of the time, but also in both gen and specifically shippy ways.
Mike Crew/Dominic Swain: Yes plz. They're childhood friends plus so much odd angst and guilt. To possibly worked out? Plus supernatural shenanigans.
Mike Crew/Gerard Keay: (said like that because they wouldn't be friends enough for "Gerry" at least at first.) Like honestly, at certain points in their lives they would have such different philosophies, so absolute enemies. But it's still one of may fav. ships and have seen some good fic for it. Basically I can see it as taking a break for romance? just company? in the middle of being enemies. So enemy-shipping, ashen or black romance if you're into homestuck stuff. You can write it how you like, or just get into the TENSION. Also, they've both been in the supernatural world a long ass time and have really thought about what it all means more than most people in the whole damn series, so potentially a good match?
Mike Crew/Stephen Walker: Ok, I know in canon he was a bit nicer, but this is like a shared AU/headcanon with a few people - but like, he had a lot of complex feelings, but the way he (Stephen Walker) seemed to really enjoy and get really excited at taking advantage of his brother's terror of heights really makes the idea of an AU where Stephen Walker is open for a visit and "job offer" from The Vast. Heck, Grant could even have a fix-it "overcomes fear and lives" AU, but i just think it could be interesting to see Stephen running into the vast again and maybe then running into Mike.
Mike Crew/The Vast: Yes, enough said.
Mike Crew/Simon Fairchild: Yes, enough said.
Also another trope i saw once in a exchange and has been living in my head rent free and could be good for many people in TMA but especially Mike Crew - "Talking very pretentiously about art, literature, philosophy, science, etc. before/during/afte murder or other brutal crimes". It hits me just right seeing that. And Mike Crew was canonically a classics student before getting involved in dangerous shit! Maybe he went back and finished his degree? But either way, the possibility is there.
Solo: Michael | The Distortion: Obviously anything you like. Also as options:
Michael/Jon, Michael/Sasha, Michael/Gabriel, Michael/Lydia, Michael/Gerry, Michael/The Spiral.
Solo: any of the fears mentioned? Religious stuff with any appropriate character? Brand new statement complete with OCs focused that way? Yes please either way. Or something else. You decide!
Lifesteal SMP:
Shorter version: I like Branzy/Clown, I like Purple Duo, I like ItsSubz/Vitalasy, I like Parrot and Spoke's relationship and I like Spoke's brand of batshit crazy. I Like Ashswag, and I especially like Ashswag and Spoke in the whole Wormhole plot!
Note: I love ItzSubz, Vitalasy and ItzSubz/Vitalasy, and I love PrinceZam, but i'm not overly fond of how the ItzSubz - Vitalasy - PrinceZam Team Eclipse dynamic went in canon, so if possible avoid that era?
Life SMP Series:
OK, my kind of weird idea, that I'm also pretty much been interested in in most exchanges:
This is based off all the fanon "Watcher and Listener Lore". I'd be interested in seeing The Watchers or The Listeners or some poly combo of a little of both, being sort of deities of the 3rd life universe, having some sort of god-human romantic relationship or date with some of the characters. As the tags say, I'm mostly interested in this with Grian, Martyn, or Ren. You can play this any way you want, but I can see it a few ways. One as sort of a greek gods and humans thing as happens in greek mythologya lot. If so, i particularly like inspiration from greek/roman myths but also celtic, mesopotamian, and mayan myths. Or, Two, you could go a lot more eldrich, in which case, things i like for possible inspiration include TMA, Cultist Sim, Malevolent, The King in Yellow, and Nobilis, And also Sixteenthdays has a cool story based off the Nobilis gaming system up on AO3. Or you can do it some other way!
I'm also always down for Ren/Martyn, The Red Knights, Fairy Fort, or qpr polycule, or platonic Team BEST.
Hermitcraft:
Basically i like watching all Hermitcraft soo much, but what I'm mostly really down for in fic is Scar/Cubfan especially in their ConVex / using vex magic arc. And Doc/Ren. And I especially got very into the Octagon arc and the Hermatrix ARG. Doc/Martyn/Ren is also welcome. Also any Solo: Ren or Solo: Smallishbeans.
I do have some season preferences if you're going to include events. I like Seasons 7 and 8 so much, they're favorite seasons. Also Season 5 for early ConVex/ConCorp shenanigans. Season 9 is my absolutely least favorite, except for the Empires crossover episodes. So not gonna quite put it as a DNW, but strong pref. against unless you have no other choices. I'm also liking Season 10 a lot!
EVO SMP:
All of the stuff I said above about The Watchers and The Listeners applies here. I'd like a W and L centered plot, but you could do a one without them at all. Also feel free to merge prompts and do W and L related crossovers between this and Hermitcraft and the Life SMP Series. Also NettyPlays has some interesting interactions with Grian and Martyn. Otherwise just see the tags for more info.
Origins SMP:
I really like Captain Sparklez and especially his interactions with Scott Smajor and Shubble. Also the way they focus on the hybrid physical traits of the characters, and how that makes the place they are more risky (for them), and the possibility there for both disability metaphors and adventure and thrills. I think it would be really cool to have some characters go off in a really small group or alone and have a dangerous journey or quest.
Dream SMP:
I'm mostly into Dream XD and Foolish's interactions, Dream XD and Sapnap, And Solo Dream XD stories, also Karl in Karl/Quackity oand or Karl/Quackity/Sapnap. Also possible background Karl time travelling stuff. I'm especially interested in The Masquerade, The Lost City of Mizu, and the setting of The Other Side.
Master and Commander Series:
I just like this series a lot. And also like Age of Sail stuff a lot. I'm such a sucker for Age of Sail stories.
For this I just have some general notes, and a reminder you can just do general things, and then I'm gonna talk about my batshit crossover idea(s) so you can hear my villain monologue about it and maybe get into it.
I'll also include some sources of content to listen to quickly for the crossover idea and some context at the bottom of this section.
In general, as the tags say, I'm very into Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin or any Solo or Gen Stephen Maturin fic.
Batshit crossover idea incoming:
I'd be very interested in a TMA and Master and Commander AU or crossover, both in general and one specific thing. (I'd also be kinda into a M&C and Cultist Simulator crossover) Number one, for general crossovers, M&C series takes place mostly during the napoleonic war era which overlaps with the Regency Era. Ofc, in TMA the Institute was founded in 1818, which puts them within literally a couple of years of being in the same time. You can get all sorts of creative with the timeline, because why not, but this also sets up a quick and easy crossover with the Regency Gang that often pops up in TMA through historical letters and diaries! and Jonah Magnus! *vibrating*
Both Jack and Stephen are street smart as hell, I'd love to see them run into this bullshit. *I'm vibrating more*
You could also screw with timeline and historical AUs and have them run into any other TMA character from any period in an Age of Sail setting. Or have the supernatural stuff of that universe in there's as a TMA AU and they have to solve their own supernatural case.
OK, my really specific crossover idea - Either / or & is fine. - I'd really like to have Jack and Stephen run into Jonathan Fanshawe! Ok, hear me out. Stephen Maturin (M&C) is a smart as fuck surgeon (who also plays musical instruments) who's also involved in politics and diplomacy and also sometimes spy shit. and is sometimes sick of this shit. Jonathan Fanshawe (TMA) is a smart surgeon who's also involved in victorian era occult / paranormal bullshit. and is sometimes 100% sick of this shit.
If you're not familiar with TMA ( The Magnus Archives ) , there's a lot happening, but basically it's a radio show that deals with the paranormal, and an institute, the magnus institute, studying it. There's a sub-section that goes back and deals with the founding of the institute and the batshit group of occultists who were involved in founding it - during the regency period. They fill in this part of the story by reading out loud some letters and diary entries they find from the period.
All the episodes are up on Youtube.
If you really want to focus in on the relevant parts about the period, and about Jonathan Fanshawe, I'd recommend listening to the episodes "Schwartzwald" "Foundations" and "Remains To Be Seen". Each episode is about 20-25 mins. long. Links below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSselx5Ii0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgcGefL_z4k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl2D-tl5ch8
Or there's also a couple of fan-made compilation videos about ALL of the "old letters" eps. :
Fan made shorter "teaser" / "ship manifesto" vid:
Fan made compilation of all the "old letters" episodes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmESY6p4PhQAnd if you want more of a refresher on the context of the whole show, I recommend also listening to the first episode here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdiUHYacaRIThanks for reading this letter!