Αγία Σοφία, Hagia Sophia, Ayasofya, from the greek for Holy Wisdom.
On this day, the bully of East Med has decided to prove to the rest of the world that monuments of this magnitude can be used as tools to push personal, hidden or other political agendas.
Whatever the reason, monuments like Hagia Sophia #deserve better
the fact that emperor justinian I and his wife theodora believed in competing versions of christianity is already extremely funny to me, but it becomes even funnier when you learn that they sent competing missionaries to nubia to see whose version of christianity would get there first like some sort of fucked up evangelization romcom
Forgot to share this cute pic I snapped of Theo in Molly’s beforever postal themed pj’s ❤️ couldn’t resist when I saw them on the merkarket, the pattern reminds me of a swatch of late 30s feedsack I have
Marchesa Luisa Casati as Empress Theodora wear a crown formed of eagles, 1905.
On March 2, 1905, Tryphosa Bates Batchellerwrites:
It was supposed to be a ball characterized by the fancy dressing of the head and hair, but, as a matter of fact, most of the women came in elaborate and beautiful costumes. Far and away the most elegant and most beautiful costume was worn by the Marchesa Camillo Casati, of the famous Casati family of Milan. She was dressed as the Empress Theodora, in a perfect fitting princesse gown of cloth of silver heavily embroidered in gold. The costume was an exact reproduction of one worn in Paris by Sarah Bernhardt a short time ago. The Marchesa wore on her head a crown formed of eagles, and had some of her diamonds set up in a large diamond eagle, which was her only corsage ornament. Two or three ropes of her wonderful and famous pearls hung loosely about her beautiful neck, and altogether she was quite the most stunning persona at the ball. She is a handsome woman, tall and slight, with a beautiful figure and splendid carriage. Her hair is a light chestnut color, and she is always pale, though her paleness is of that attractive sort that does not indicate ill-health. She is said to be one of the best dressed women in Rome on all occasion.
Q: Could you share with us an interesting unknown fact about Lawrence? A: Lawrence knows Theodore Roosevelt.
Q: Will we celebrate the birthdays of the characters in the book? A: Unlikely, but not impossible.
Q: Why did you choose the puzzle piece as the Cynic stat symbol? Is there a meaning or did you just want to? A: I just wanted to :)
Q: What’s an unknown fact about John? A: John loves white chocolate very much. (Note: y'all white chocolate was invented in 1936)
Q: Will Theodora have makeup options? A: In season one—hardly, and then we’ll see in the future.
Q: What is Theodora’s favorite holiday? I suppose March 8? A: Theodora doesn’t have a favorite holiday. She is equally indifferent to all of them (barring the birthdays of loved ones).
Q: Why did you choose the name Theodora? A: I’ve read a lot about different women’s names and their meanings. I like how it sounds and the character of this name is very suitable for our heroine.
Q: Does Theodora carry a pendant around her neck? Is this just for aesthetic purposes? Or is it a spoiler? A: The pendant has plot significance.
Q: The fandom has received you quite warmly, but there are always “toxic” moments, so to speak, that is, for any of your mistakes you can be criticized, and quite strongly so. Are you not afraid of such a shock wave and are you ready for such a turn of events? A: I am afraid I am not ready :)
Q: Starting from the second chapter, all the chapter titles have a common feature (“On ___”). Is there a significance to this? How did you come up with such an idea? A: The story is based on immersion in Theodora’s memories. Hence the titles of the chapters: they contain information on what these memories are about (changes, meetings, and so on) :)
Q: After listening to your interview in full, one thought stayed with me: writing is a rather complex activity that needs training. How did you approach the creation of the plot and characters from a professional point of view, did you learn to write by yourself, or was it writing courses…? A: For professional literature, I only read “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King (but it’s more for authors writing in English, as it touches on the grammar of the English language. Although, probably, authors writing in Russian can learn something useful for themselves). Reading such books will never hurt, but apart from them, I advise you to just write a lot. To post works, to receive criticism. If you sit on one theory, you will not be able to go far (at least, this is my personal experience).
Q: Why does dark skin Theodora have the most scars out of the other options? Will the story of the scar on the chin be revealed in the future? A: No reason in particular. Yes (to the story). (Note: We see the backstory of the chin scar in Chapter 7)
Q: Will the Spanish flu be mentioned in the book? It was officially registered in 1918 in Spain, but initially military censorship his the epidemic in the army. Will Theodora run into her? A: Such questions are counted as a spoiler.
Q: Which character in the book do you like the most? A: No one. Otherwise, it would affect how I allocate scenes. You are allowed to have favorites, for me they all should be equal :)
Q: Why is the soldier scene so different (between paths)? In Romantic path, he is delirious, we don’t get information, we just play along with the sad scene. In Cynic path, he is conscious, fully aware + a mysterious third person appears, and says some ambiguous things…. Does this difference not play a special role, or will those who follow the Romantic path in the future be provided with this information, if it’s important? A: Along the way, the Romantic soldier assures Theodora that he will return, says that he was promised, and avoids answering the question on who promised what. By and large, you are given the same information. It’s just that in Cynic path the information is given directly, and in Romantic it needs a little reflection.
Q: Did/does Theodora want to someday become a mother? A: I would prefer that we learn about this from the story (there will be information about Theo’s attitude to motherhood).
Q: Do the characters have prototypes? A: You mean, did I base their personalities on any existing people? No.
Q: Is it difficult to write about the military and the war? A: Yes, I shed a lot of tears while writing.
Q: What are your own characters that you put in Theodora? A: We both feel injustice quite acutely. In general, the cynical Theodora isn’t much like me, but romantic Theodora is similar to me in our dreaminess.
Q: Why were those names chosen for the stats? A: We thought for a long time and came up with them :)
Q: Who inspired you to write a character like Theodora? A: Nothing specific inspired me to write this or that aspect of the story, but when O was researching for the book, I read a lot about the journalists (in particular, war reporters) of that time. I won’t say that I copied Theodora from one of them, but their stories helped with the creation of the image.
Q: Were there any other options or ideas for stats? A: I lost all my notes on stats, unfortunately. We were thinking of something like Manipulation/Coquetry (these stats would describe how Theodora obtains information)… One hundred percent sure there was something else, but I don’t remember anymore :)
Q: What are the favorite flowers or plants of the five main characters? A: Theo likes all kinds of flowers. Yoke likes wild flowers (any, but especially chamomiles/daisies). Lawrence likes lilies (but doesn’t like the smell of them). Friedrich’s favorites are tulips. John likes roses.
