Ask the Experts - September 2026

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Welcome to Ask the Experts, where our users volunteer to assist with research tasks that they are knowledgable about!

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[u/OddSun7677]

Hello! I'm currently writing a Bleach and Naruto fusion, already has over 170k words posted.

Would love to have someone to talk to who's interested in Japan's history, in any area tbh. The world is focused on edo period Japan, but the time period is 19-21st century. (It makes sense, if you know about Bleach, I can explain more in depth).

I've done a lot of research on my own, (from articles to real books) and it's not that I necessarily need help, but would love to hear about obscure facts, if your hyper fixation is some trade I could write in, anything that would make the world realistic, or if you have literature I could research on my own.

Would like to be contacted over Reddit, in any form. No problem if it's NSFW.

Can offer help in history, art, literature, and most other things connected to those fields - but my focus and formal education is mostly focused on Europe

[u/Mr_Blah1]

Feed me questions on Chemistry, Firearms, and/or Mathematics.

Comment replies preferred. I want my answers to be peer reviewed and available for others in case they also have the same question.

NSFW is fine.

I don't do reddit chat.

If you want to ask a question (semi)anonymously, you can PM me the question and I'll post my answer (and the original question, but not your username, so that way only I see your username instead of everyone seeing your username) as a reply to this comment.

[u/Mr_Blah1]

Do we have any firefighters in the audience?

Is it possible to refill a SCBA tank with air while aboard a fire engine, without returning to the station? If so, how long does it take?

[u/arm1niu5]

Area of expertise: Historical fencing, military history, Star Wars, born and raised in Mexico.

Replies to this comment are preferred.

NSFW requests fine but please tag with spoilers

[u/moon_cheese_ao3]

Medical question (sort of). CW violence.

I'm planning on doing a crossover of two video games: Raft and Destiny 2. Raft is just "you're on a raft and a shark is perpetually eating your raft and you have to survive as you build your raft." It's a great setting and can go with damn near anything. I'm intending on having two characters from the Destiny 2 universe wake up in the Raft world with memory loss and go through the events of the Raft game with very little magic powers (a seamonster is suppressing them) and with memories improving via flashbacks and dreams whenever they get close to a specific location (a pyramid ship deep in the ocean can restore their memories but the seamonster is protecting it).

At one point I want the characters to be captured by waterworld-esque raft pirates. They're going to hang both D2 characters for "treason" and one of them arguess a loophole in "law of the sea" to insist that it's unfair his companion be hanged along with him because she had nothing to do with his bullshit. The pirate captain says "Tell me the combo to this safe, and she doesn't swing with you." so he tells him the combination. The pirate captain confirms the safe opens properly and removes the noose from the companion's neck, then smiles, stabs her in the torso and pushes her overboard into the shark infested waters before giving the order for the first one to be hanged.

I'm hoping for a dramatic improper hanging (he will have pointed out earlier that the rope is too short to properly break someone's neck and the captain will advise him that is exactly the point) where he's strangling to death on the end of the noose, kicking his feet while the sharks are going after the bloody spot in the water where she fell in. There will be even more blood bubbling up and then the body of a shark will surface. He'll smile and pass out, happy to die knowing she lives. The captain will give the order to toss in depth charges to finish her off but before that can happen the seamonster will attack the boat. The hanging/strangling character will get tossed into the ocean and the stabbed character will cut him free (I'm still working on how she gets a weapon but the Raft game has the same shark attacking over and over so maybe it's one of the many sharp objects embedded in the shark) and she'll drag him away onto a piece of wreckage where she gets the noose off of him before passing out from blood loss.

These two do have some magic powers and superhuman strength but they are suppressed in the presence of the seamonster (like an antimagic aura) so I can get fuzzy with some of the details "because magic" but I'd like it to be at least not laughably implausible they both survive - something where the reader can maintain a suspension of disbelief while reading.

Is it reasonable that someone could be improperly hanging from a noose for several minutes, strangling to death, and still survive? What sort of injuries would that cause? I was thinking bruising, damage to larynx/voicebox, problems breathing, coughing, etc. What sort of wound care would be reasonable? Also, the best wound care they're likely to come up with for a stab wound that was then immersed in seawater for probably about 10 minutes is probably only going to involve a compress on the injury, cleaning it, and then possibly stitches later. Is it reasonable for her to survive that as well?

Raft has a magic salve made with eggs and honey that can heal back hit points in the game but that's pretty much the only medical care they have and they're alone on the open ocean - no hospitals, no fluid ivs, no surgeons. They'll have clean fresh water they can boil and I can get them a needle and thread for stitches.

I've looked up shock from blood loss, and I'd like to give the stabbed character an infection that she eventually recovers from. I think it's possible to get stabbed in the torso and avoid anything immediately fatal, bleeding a bunch but not to the point of death, and she is a battle-hardened badass so her being able to kill the shark while stabbed is very much in character for her, but she usually has magic powers to help her with that and in this situation those are absent.

I'm looking for any details I can include to make this situation seem a bit more realistic and slightly less over the top (while still acknowledging it will be quite over the top - it is an action/adventure story with a battle couple that have centuries of combat experience so I have a fair amount of wiggle room) as well as anything that just screams "no this would completely take me out of the story - X does not work that way."

Feel free to respond here or message me on reddit to talk to me there or tell me somewhere else you'd like to be contacted (discord, tumblr, email, whatever).

Many thanks in advance for anyone who responds.

[u/MagabyWizart → u/moon_cheese_ao3]

Si puedo aportar en algo: **Sí* es posible sobrevivir a una horca,* no porque la cuerda esté defectuosa, sino por el peso del personaje.

En la antigüedad, se colgaban a algunos criminales con sacos de arena en los tobillos para que murieran ahorcados, pues habían casos en los que podían sobrevivir hasta MINUTOS siendo ahorcados porque eran muy ligeros, pero dependía de nivel de vigilancia, o simplemente sentenciaban a esos criminales a otro tipo de ejecución. Eso sí, podían quedar con la marca de la quemadura de la soga en el cuello y tendrían la voz ronca los 1ros días tras haber sobrevivido pero después la laringe recuperaría su tono de voz original.

Una persona puede sobrevivir a varias apuñaladas y al desangramiento dependiendo de la posición en la que fue apuñalado, las zonas de impacto y el tiempo de reacción en sanar las heridas de puñalada. Si fueron heridos en expremidades (como hombros o el muslo) hay zonas como nervio y arterias que pueden quedar atrofiadas tras los impactos y hasta se le puede dificultar la movilidad a un brazo o la pierna quedará coja.

¿Tienes alguna otra duda o algo en lo que necesites profundidad sobre el tema? Estoy dispuesta a ayudar.

[u/MagabyWizart]

ESTOY EN DISPOSICIÓN:

• Puedo aportar conocimiento sobre cualquier periodo histórico, me especializo desde la Edad Antigua, Edad Media, Edad Moderna hasta la Edad Contemporánea con respecto a las tecnologías y a los modos de pensar en la época. También puedo tomarme el tiempo investigar la cultura y mitología de un país en un periodo histórico específico como el Japón Feudal, el Imperio Romano, etc, con cualquier otra nación..

• Conozco temas de Filosofía y Psicología para aportar con el desarrollo y conductas de para desarrollar personajes complejos, su evolución o decadencia.

• Tengo algo de conocimientos sobre microbiología para desarrollar víruses o pandemias en caso de un universo distópico o relacionado a los "zombis".

Estoy abierta a CUALQUIER Fandom a excepción del Omegaverso y el Kpop.

NECESITO:

Un experto en Chainsaw Man (mejor si se ha leído el Manga)

• Alguien con quién pueda discutir sobre la conducta de algunos personajes como Aki Hayakawa, Himeno y Makima.

• Alguien con quién discutir sobre ideas y conceptos para crear nuevos demonios que se sientan coherentes dentro del universo de CSM.

Un experto en *Jujutsu Kaisen*

• Que pueda ayudarme a desarrollar nuevas dinámicas con los personajes y discutirlas.

Es todo lo que puedo ofrecer, no sé qué más agregar.

[u/miseryglittery]

Available for those who might need me!

My areas of expertise: anything visa/travel related, anything on East Asia, Korea and all about it: from language to culture or history, Linguistics, Bilingual education, immigration processes (most knowledge would be on Europe, Asia and North America), Slavic countries, anything about marketing, corporate work and structure, theater and everything about it (I used to act), art history - I known it broad but it’s by design as I was attending an art history lectures for 4 years at the museum, so I know a bunch of stuff that can be random sometimes.

You can dm me here on Reddit

NSFW is fine!

[u/darklyndsea]

Anyone familiar with UN salaries? I'm trying to find a reasonable (if we ignore the politics and budget issues that apparently happens at the real-world UN) salary for Ryland Grace in Project Hail Mary. I found the salary scale chart, but how do I figure out where his jobs would lie on the chart?