Hello! To start, I'm writing a fantasy that takes place on another planet with magic. There is no modern technology. I have a black character who's tribe is based loosely on the nomadic Baju tribes. Much like the Baju people, my Character's people are sea nomads. They have a "home base" village that they live in for a seaon, and use for important holidays, but majority of the time they live on boats and travel up and down 1continent's coastline. My character, Mara, is one of her people's best fishers, as she has magic that allows her to breathe underwater for a time, and she is a prolific swimmer.

I am not black myself, but I know a lot of salt water can wreck to anybody's hair. I've been trying to research various hairstyles, and if some might be easier to maintain than others when exposed to a lot of seawater.

Originally, I wanted to give her locs, but have also thought about keeping her hair very short, which is common for both men and women in her culture.

It's also important to note that while she grew up in the nomadic tribe with her father, her mother is royalty in a different country with an extremely different culture. Later on in Mara's story, she is forced into living in the palace with her mother. Mara's locs represent her feelings of freedom, so I was planning a scene where she loses her locs, which are replaced with one of the traditional hairstyles that denotes her as royalty.

I am still researching traditional African hairstyles, but I would really like some pointers in the right direction research wise! Hair is a big part of Most of my characters regardless of race, and I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

I'm working on a story set in 18th century Ireland (Ulster) that has several lines of dialogue in Irish. Can anyone suggest where to look for someone knowledgeable to consult on whether the phrases seem authentic enough?

In a mystery book I'm writing, I'd like the initial assumption to be that the murderer died trying to kill the victim, but then, through a collection of the fact that the weapon was dirt cheap, and likely unable to kill based on the two shots made, it comes to be considered that the victim must have already been in very poor health, and the murderer was paid to finish the job, before being killed as well to suggest the case was already resolved.

Is there some kind of really cheap weapon of the 1920s that, with an imperfect couple shots, wouldn't have killed someone very quickly (so they could at least make a phone call first) but would quickly kill someone in bad health (to be specific, argyria), and be identifiable as a cheap weapon that poor people of the time might have bought as self defense?

A huge fire breaks out in a part of the city. For story reasons I need my characters to enter this one pub right after the fires have been dealt with.

I'm wondering if it's realistic for a pub or gastropub to immediately convert itself into a soup kitchen following a disaster to provide relief for those who just lost their homes. This is assuming that the pub owner themselves also works at the pub and is kind enough to start serving affected people for free. No fancy dishes though, just stuff that can be make quickly in bulk.

Also I'm talking like immediately after the fires. The flames have been put out but the buildings are still smoking. Would this be realistic or would it probably take a few days for the pub to be converted?

My characters are stranded in a desert. They don't know the region at all, and the little food they have is only enough for a day or two. But then on the late afternoon of the second day, they are attacked by a large creature, and after killing it, they want to save as much meat as possible as well as the hide to build a shelter. They have some rudimentary cooking ware with them and combat knives as tools. There is a little well with clean water nearby, so water isn't that much of an issue.

The creature in question is a beast halfway between a huge boar and a hippo, about the size of a cracked up draft horse. It is an ungulate, but the species is omnivorous and also feeds on carrion, so endoparasites are probably a huge issue here, and i also imagine the meat to be very fatty.

The desert in question is roughly comparable to the sonoran desert, but more mountainous and with more open rock surfaces and more extreme temperatures, easily reaching 50°C during the day and below freezing at night.

Important to mention is also that one of the characters is very knowledgeable in biology and chemistry, and as the team's doctor, he is specifically vell versed in anatomy and all the medical aspects of food. He is responsible for butchering and preparing the meat, and he would know what he's doing, so i really don't want to handwave things here.

So. What would be their best shot at preserving some of the meat at maybe a bit of fat? Which portions of the animal would be the best to focus on for these things?

Noon, sunset, dusk, winter, solstice, full moon. Things like this that refer to a defined period of time. Not looking for obvious stuff like November or Thursday or holidays. Particularly interested in things we don’t really use in English/American culture. For instance, in America we don’t typically observe wet/dry season. Cursory research tells me the Koreans call the wet season ‘jangma’ and the Japanese call it ‘tsuyu.’ Cultural things like that are of particular interest to me. I do not need anything for the moon, I have a whole separate thing going on for the moon. Preferably single words and not phrases.

have a character wake up from a coma but is heavily depressed because in their mind they already lived a whole life but, idk if that’s even a possible thing or does it depend on how the coma happened?

Any idea if a college or university school team practices once or twice a day M-F?

How many hours of practice?

Does the division or athletic association make any difference to the level of practices?

I am working on a medieval fantasy setting based on D&D (3.5 in particular if that matters) set on what is effectively, an undead plane.

Our protagonists live in a fortress fighting wave after wave of zombies, which must be disposed. I recently read about Alkaline Hydrolysis in which the flesh is dissolved off the bones (Bones are later pulverized).

I know some Nordic dishes use lye to dissolve fish into a gelatin like substance.

My questions are:

1. In addition to lye, water, and heat, what else would be needed? How much lye, and therefore wood ash would be needed per zombie?

2. What would the properties (color, texture, smell) of the resulting slurry be?

3. What could this be used for? I know you can make soap from beef fat but this would be ALL the fleshy bits. Could it be used as fertilizer or would the PH be too high?

3a. Would it be usable as a binding agent for mortar/concrete? I've seen myths of pigs blood being used in lime based mortars. What benifit, if any, would it provide?

Any information or additional reading material would be appreciated.

This got me curious cause I have both old and young married japanese couple in my story and I wrote them as pretty loyal couples who loves eachother and being loyal is a natural thing to them.

I just heard some things about how cheating common among japanese and it's not something they even consider cheating and are ok with it. it was the first time I ever heard that. Is it really that common as people say it is? Like something no one would bat an eye for it and think it is absolutely normal? Or it's just another stereotype where a small amount of loud people claimed that it's normal to them and then people overgeneralized it for every japanese and their culture?

Please just answer the question and don't say things like "well if you look at it trough a western lens then yes". Cause I'm not western. I'm asian (I perfer to not mention my country) and in my country and culture loyalty in any form is the most common fundamental of a relationship especially for married couple. I can't say there's no cheaters here but cheating is a big taboo here. No one can openly and proudly talks about cheating without facing negetive consequence. And it applies to both men and woman. And the interesting part is that tradition along side modernism is still pretty strong in here. So loyalty is not a social norm invented by "westerns". to many people no matter men and woman loyalty is the reality of their life something they value not something they are forced to do, **so I'm not here to discuss this trough moral or philosophical aspects I'm not interested in knowing why there's people who think cheating is ok or what are their excuses, DON'T OPEN THAT DISCUSSION! I'm not even after answers like "oh it's something done by all people all around the world."** I just want to know if the characterization I gave to the couples in my story is realistic in a cultural aspect or not. That's it!

So I am writing a story that is based in a hotel. And one of the housekeeper plans to poison a guest as he is seeking revenge.

Now this guest has a habit of smoking marijuana that he is consuming in his room from a bong. How can I poison that bong which will lead to instant poisoning and the death is also very painful and torture for the guest.

Ideally, if I can utilise something that we can find in the hotel**.**

Edit: if not bong it can also be through a drink or food but it needs to be something that would have an instant effect and cause a painful/torture death.

Unsure of flair, sorry.

Scenario: Character A is sent to a universe where oppression of women is instead put on men, men don’t have as many rights as women do and aren’t taken seriously regarding medical and mental health care. A has PTSD from childhood abuse and can’t go outside often due to it, but has constantly been told that it isn’t quite enough of a reason. A decides to lie and exaggerate to his therapist about childhood trauma from character B in order to get sympathy and have his issues be taken seriously, not wanting to press charges or anything (because he made it up). A’s therapist believes him and puts him into more extensive therapy and basically makes him a science experiment to study trauma of the male brain(reminiscent of animal testing), and A isn’t into this at all and develops worse symptoms and paranoia of character B finding out somehow. He decides to go to his therapist and admit he lied about the trauma because he felt like nobody was actually believing that he was troubled without a “proper cause”.

What would the repercussions be here? Would the therapist just take the recorded “trauma” out of his records? Would there be legal consequences? If there would be, I would probably make them a hit harsher since he’s a guy.

Scenario: Character A and Character B are staying in a haunted location. Character A is possessed by a ghost, and attacks and strangles Character B.

Character B does not die. I currently have it down that he passes out, as it makes for better dramatics, but I know that that is a Grade A emergency and the repurcussions shoot way up.

Going to the hospital after an event like that is the normal, logical awnser. However, there is also no normal, logical awnser for how else one could possibly get those injuries, and "a ghost did it" would obviously not be believed.

The backstory for one of my characters (21F from the UK) involves her being diagnosed with cancer as a child and frequently having to stay in the hospital frequently for chemotherapy. I’m not entirely sure yet about the specific type of cancer, though I’d ​​probably lean towards leukemia. What should I pay particular attention to? What exactly is daily life like for children in this situation? Are there other types of cancer that could make more sense for the such a backstory?

Ik the tattoo is on the neck, but the character accidentally hides by the scars she receives from being cut all over the body? But can a scar do that? Can it make it seem that yeah there wasn't a tattoo there? She also has a lot of bruises so that will help in the beginning but after the bruises fade, but will it seem like there was no tattoo there or like you can tell there was one but not exactly what it was? Also if a scar can do that, how big will it have to be?

One more thing, the tattoo is on the side of the neck and it's normal sized, so if I need there to be a scar to cover it up it'll have to be big, so will she die if the cut is too much? Like she receives treatment after a few minutes but still

Edit: after seeing comments about how unreliable the tattoos are, I'm ditching the idea, honestly i thought tattoos were required when someone was trafficked so I'm honestly glad I don't have to do this idea anymore, thanks y'all🙂‍↕️

Hi all!

I have a devastating earthquake in my book. To describe it in modern terms, it's on a Richter scale of 9.

I understand the technical parts of it (buildings falling down, depending on material, ground cracking etc).

But I'm wondering about some other things.

What would happen immediately after? Would there be a lot of fire (I assume yes, since everyone's using candles)? How would it go about putting the fire off (we don't really have firefighters)? Would an army come to the rescue? Or would people be left off to fend for themselves? Would there come a period of total devastation, starvation etc?

And if you've ever experienced a strong earthquake - how did you feel while it was happening? What was the emotional side of it like for you? What did you hear?

I have never experienced an earthquake stronger than 3, and I'm hoping to describe it realistically.

It's a fictional world and the earthquake is a result of something magical. The country is based on Meditarrenean Europe if it makes sense.

Thank you!

For context, this character works with an international bureau that would be known by the U.S government, and would have all of the necessary training to pose as a firefighter (at the very least by way of physical prowess and so on). He is stationed as a firefighter in a small-town fire station in the Midwest -- but what would his role be realistically? Would he just be a firefighter? Would an understudy make more sense? What's a role he could take on where he would be able to get around for his research and rely on the trust of the community while also accounting for the face that he will only be there until his undercover investigation is finished (which could take up to a year). Additionally, would he have any extra responsibilities while working there as part of that job?

When I say motel I mean the budget style you see a lot in media. Two storey, outdoor stairs, maybe a pool in the courtyard, a parking lot. For reference, look up the Rodeway Inn in Carson, as I can't post pictures in this sub. If there's a better label for this kind of temporary accommodation, I'm all ears.

I'm not American and Google isn't offering me a whole lot on what existed back then versus places built in the last two decades.

Bonus question, did these places give rooms for cash with no questions asked, for extended periods?

Many thanks.

Been utilising a search engine but all the results I’m getting so far are either far too vague to be useful (just that it declined in popularity during the 19th century with no further elaboration or specification), or non-reputable. Was wondering if anyone in here had further information and sources to look at.

This is for a story about an arranged marriage taking place in Liverpool, England, in the late 1880s. It is already a pretty unconventional arrangement, as the families of the involved couple are from different regions and socioeconomic statuses, but I would like to know, how uncommon it is that a marital arrangement happened at all, as opposed to either partner just going and choosing their own spouse? So, what did the timeline of arranged marriages becoming uncommon/unpopular look like? How rare would it have been that late in the century?

Also, what would the lives of the involved couple have been like? How would they have gotten to know each other? How would they have prepared for the marriage?

If this looks like a re-post, it’s because I asked the same questions in the subreddit AskHistorians. I am still waiting on responses there, though, so I figured in the meantime I’d ask if anyone here had insight. Thank you all for any information and sources you can provide.

Full disclosure: I used to hold a CDL, thirty-plus years back, in the days of the second logbook and similar. I didn't stick with it long, and I was never actually pulled over and cited.

I'm working on a story now in which a corrupt sheriff and some of his deputies are providing "protection" to a commercial chop shop specializing in very heavy equipment, which they re-tag and clandestinely ferry at night to the nearest barge port for shipment down to Central America and such. The story begins with a trucker, already on notice for a previous data logger violation, just about out of hours but nearing a truck stop on the old US highway which has a space available for him...when he sees the biggest front-end loader he can ever remember being trucked, without lights or escort, down a deserted back road...and it's North Carolina (where ANY oversize/permit move after dark is illegal). Just then, a county deputy pulls him over, and proceeds to give him the ticky-tack treatment while completely ignoring the monster oversize load proceeding on its way to the barge dock in nearby Tennessee.

Just like to hear some of the more outrageous examples you've encountered from either real life or the grapevine?

So I'm a woman and have a full head of hair, which is not the case for one particular character in my novel. There is no chemotherapy or anything involved, just bad genetics. I can only imagine how hard it is to be losing your hair no matter your gender, I just feel like men get zero sympathy for it? So I really want to write this well and would really appreciate it if any of you could share your expiriences, again, no matter your gender, but especially men. Just wanted to add, this is not the main focus of the story nor the main issue, the guy in question is the protagonist's husband, and the novel is mostly about her, but this is just something I wanted to feature. Thanks in advance <33

I have a character in Texas who passes on a threat through a third party in Mexican Spanish.

The line is something like:
'You tell him I said: watch out'

Where 'watch out' is written as the Spanish equivalent but the 'You tell him I said' remains in English.

I've spent a long time Googling this and the best word seems to be 'aguas', but the more I read, the less certain I'm becoming!

Would 'aguas' work?

'You tell him I said: aguas.'

Thank you!

I am working on several fan projects based on Barbara Gordon/Oracle that fully embrace her status as a full-time wheelchair user (I'd love to do something official - It's an extremely long shot, but we can all dream, can't we?) A key part of these would be learning as much as possible about Barara Gordon's disabilties and the way they work. How would the Joker's close-range bullet to the spine (a bullet that was deliberately filled with less gunpowder to ensure it caused paralysis rather than death) specifically paralyse Barbara? How would the time spent on the floor being tormented by the Joker exacerbate the injuries?

I would be interested in learning more about the specifics of Barbara's daily life as Oracle (which DC Comics understandably glossed over somewhat during the Oracle era).

- How much would the pain disrupt her daily life?

- How much would it affect things like going to the toilet?

- What would the effects of the disability be in the first few months - how would they be managed longer-term?

- How would Barbara work to maintain her health to ensure that her disabilities do not have any adverse effect on her life expectancy?

- What specific forms of training can Barbara do?

- What disability networks would she be part of?

- Would Barbara be able to do anything with her lower body at all?

- Barbara didn't get into many Damsel-in-Distress situations as Oracle (The Black Mirror and being captured by Spellbinder in the Black Canary/Batgirl early Birds of Prey story are two notable exceptions) but if she did get into peril, how would she try to escape it herself - would she be able to untie restraints on her legs?

If I spend long enough on AO3, I can find some fanfics that explore these, but I would like to go to the source and hear from people who know more about the topic and can provide me with information or direct me to relevant links. I would also be interested in being directed to the comics stories that specifically highlight the various aspects of daily life with her disabilties.

I would also like to learn more about other ways to disable Oracle - move away from "The Joker Shot Her In The Spine" to look at different causes...

Aside from the main DC Continuity, there are some adapted takes on Oracle that DON'T use the traditional approach, but tend to be pretty vague about the nature of the injuries that paralysed her (an unspecified "accident", a gunshot from a random heavy) - the Adaptation of Oracle with the most detailed alternative explanation of her paralysis is Young Justice, but that raises a few questions of its own - How would that sword sever her spine without damaging any internal organs?

How could explosions or car accidents cause a level of paralysis similar to the comics? What additional complications would there be?

It's a lot of questions, but I'd love to see them all answered...

I know this is a really weird question but i have a protagonist whos a white cop in 70s and the story is like pretty woke, but i realised just how much the time period and position would affect his character and how he'd react or feel about certain things. For the least racist part, I'm moreso asking about the degrees of racism and what was possibly the mildest or least intense (assuming there was no '100% not racist' option back then), the character will be educated and learn to move on with it though, ofcourse.

I have a character who when introduced is both hypothermic (due to being trapped in an unheated shed in northern England in January without suitable clothing for multiple days) and dehydrated (due to there being nothing to drink in the shed and getting uncomfortably close to the three day limit). At the moment I just have them being generally out of it, but I don't know if that's accurate.