The Marksburg Castle - GERMANY

War memorial and Marksburg castle in Braubach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

German vintage postcard

Little Pencil Art landscape I started during a coffee-shop session. Couldn't do these kinda sessions for ages due to busy rl and trans stuff. Really missed it <33

I later on recorded the rest of the making of past the sketch and put it in this li'l timelapse here.

I still needed a proper pencil art example for my commission reference sheet. Very satisfied with how it turned out <33 This lovely piece of architecture is the last remaining castle here in Germany that is fully intact. The Markburg

old chess game, marksburg castle in braubach, germany

It really is funny though whenever you think about travel times in X2 like how long is the Marksburg Bridge 😩

Marksburg Castle

Marksburg Castle is located in the town of Braubach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Built by the Lords of Eppstein in the 12th century, this Romanesque castle sits on a hill overlooking the Rhine River. In 1479, ramparts and artillery batteries were added under the ownership of the Landgraves of Hesse, turning the castle into a modern fortress. In 1803, the old German empire broke. The castle passed to the Duchy of Nassau and was used as a state prison and a home for invalids. In 1866, the castle was taken over by Prussia and used for soldiers. In 1900, with help from Emperor Wilhelm II, the German Castles Association purchased the castle and began extensive restorations. Today the castle serves as the Castle Association offices and as a museum. The castle has a triangular layout with four gates, including a drawbridge gate and a ring of walls containing the keep, residential buildings, baileys, and bastions. The interior boasts a castle kitchen, great hall, chapel, armory, wine cellar, and a blacksmith shop built into the rock. Marksburg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. #Castles #Germany #MarksburgCastle #Braubach #RhinelandPalatinate #Upper Rhine Valley

sigh…looks I won’t be able to finish xillia 2 today 😭 those side chapters took longer than expected which I mean, I don’t mind, they were all so good and had such happy endings to them!! ☺️☺️ I don’t wanna rush through the final portion of the game so I guess I will have to wait until next weekend to finish it!

The Kitchen Crew of Wonder Chef; the Restaurant in Marksburg Country Club.

Yuri Lowell: Lead Bar Tender and Front of the House Manager.

Ludger Will Kresnik: Sous Chef and Hot Food Lead.

Velvet Crowe: Prep Cook and Banquet Lead.

@bravewolfvesperia || Here's that starter we talked about ;U

"My deepest thanks for taking my request, Mr. Lowell. Finding a guild willing to 'dig dirty' as it were was more difficult than I can say," Victor said, handing him a cup of rose petal tea. He'd make coffee instead, but the caffeine might sour their talk. "Now, I kept the post's description vague to avoid Spirius' wrath. But with us safe here, I can give a better explanation."

Reaching into his suit, Victor slid a photo of a younger white-haired man walking out of a massive skyscraper with a taller blond gentleman at his side. Both were smiling mid-conversation, though the older had a tomato hanging out of his mouth; Julius never changed.

"The younger one is Spirius' new CEO, Ludger Kresnik. He's said to just be a witness of the Marksburg Mass Assassination, but that's nonsense to avoid Spirius losing face. Those deaths are on his hands."

That ought to sell the seriousness. Now for the 'dirty' part, "So, as a plea to keep both nations from collapsing any further, I want you to kill Ludger Kresnik."

MARKSBURG CASTLE - GERMANY

@unborderedreflection liked for a Xillia anniversary starter!

She wasn't his Milla, but... she was still a Milla. No matter how odd it was to be around her, he had seen Jude spending time with her. Surely Ivar could do the same. It helped that she seemed to be on her own that day, as was he. With Spirius having no orders for him and no reason to go anywhere else, Ivar had chosen to linger around Marksburg for a time. Doing so seemed to have benefited him, as she was there too. Doing what? Well, Ivar didn't know. Maybe Marksburg being something of a middle ground between Rieze Maxia and Elympios made it appealing somehow?

Cautious, careful steps were taken closer to join the 'fractured' Milla. He didn't like thinking of her that way, he decided. Would she even want him around, though? Surely she had had her own Ivar back in her world before...

Don't think about it, he decided. When he got close enough to her, to see what she was doing, Ivar prepared himself. All he had to do was give her a chance.

"Lady Milla...?"

BUT THE SHATTERING OF FATE MEANS TO SHOULDER ANOTHER'S BURDEN. time is not linear. and now, they cross paths again: a shooting star in a starless sky, and his friend in every universe. this is how that moment began. this is proof of one such hope. / @ervaurem

A gunshot rang out in the salty air. The bullet hole ripped into the ship's wooden deck. Nobody said a word, unable to tear their eyes away from the trail of smoke it left behind. Their masked assailant was tired of that silence, standing while the rest of them kneeled, hands behind their heads. He rolled his eyes and stared off into the dying sky beyond. Dark and violet again today. Always. 'Yes. That's called a warning shot, you idiots. Now, lemme ask again... which one of you is he?'

The mana was thin enough as it was. None of them could answer, only holding their breaths or any sobs. But there were whispers, hugs of desperation. Why them? ( My chest hurts...! I don't want to die... / Hey... hey. Your big brother is here, just look at me. Don't cry, okay? We'll get home, the two of us. I promise you. )

'ー Think real hard, now. We just need to borrow the guy, don't worry. He ain't gonna die.' The pistol reacted to point in the young girl's direction. Her tears stiffened. Then the two men glared at each other, disdain against shock. A thumb brushed against the trigger.

The third man couldn't watch anymore. He stood up calmly, hands open.

"... Jude Mathis. That's me."

'Oh, wow! So it is. Well, I think that's great for everyone.' A smile, but the gun was still pointed at her. Meaning: yeah, right.

Amber eyes narrowed. Of all people not to recognize me. All other eyes were on him, and one noticed the device in his pocket.

The assailant was quick to move and take it from him, but then the smile vanished. 'Wait... this rare spyrix weapon type is the real thing. So you did get your hands on it...' With a sudden flick of his hand, he tossed it overboard, looking pleased. 'And now you can't fight back. So happy to have you join the rest of us arteless lowlifes, doctor.'

Fists at his side, Jude glared at him wordlessly. The rest of them openly felt the loss on his behalf, despair and anger on their faces.

'But I gotta say, it's a honour getting to meet you in person. I'd shake your hand, but whatever. Plus... it looks like you have a death wish, because this ship? It's going straight back to Marksburg. And I think someone like you'd be a little safer in your hometown or something. Then again, maybe not...! I'm sure you've heard the newー'

No. Not another word. Jude felt sick to his stomach. He pushed it down.

"And you sure love to talk. Is this your idea of getting an autograph from me, or something just as useless?" Some terrible emotion was starting to come back to life in him, and he couldn't stop it. "Stop buying time and get on with it. Or, since you obviously can't even do one little job rightーー kill me."

Jude felt cold metal shove against his forehead. The assailant's expression was a blank, distracted rage. Of course. Jude stared back, unflinching, but unfeeling. Talking back while he and everyone were hostages ( everyone that he could see, anyway ). This was no brilliant strategy of his. Not his way of moving forward. There wasn't a path like that right now. Jude Mathis had just made yet another terrible mistake, that was all.

And worse yet... suddenly, it didn't really matter to him.

[Insert some kind of Xillia 2 catchy tagline here about how my sister and I are playing this game]. I don't even remember what chapter we're on at this point, but we did all the fun Victor stuff

Victor only took as three tries: we got very close the first time, the second one doesn't count because he confused the whole party and we all murdered each other, but by the third we had grinded a little and bought some better weapons and armor

Since we had to rewatch the cutscenes she picked different dialogue choices just to see what changed, except for the one about Ludger's cooking vs. Victor's. Sis: "I won't concede, mine's still better."

Sorry I don't have much to report about the reactions, since my sister pretty much already knew what was about to happen. She wasn't thrilled about being Elle's father, but she did feel bad for Elle finding out her father was using her, and watching him get killed, too. It's a lot for a kid to go through 😭

There's a bonus scene with Jude helping Ludger make a new pot of soup after Elle spills the first, but he mostly just stands there. Me: "YOU SHOULD BE HELPING, NOT HURTING."

My sister slapped a pair of goofy glasses on Alvin right before his character chapter so we got to enjoy all the emotional close ups with his 😏 expression. I'm surprised Presa didn't return the ring just from that 😂

Leia: "Agria, watch over me." Me: "Agria is probably flipping you off from Hell."

Why is it that Alvin's chapters are much more interesting to me than the others. I mean I'm probably super biased cause I like him but still I like how they explore more of his struggles at improving himself and what could have been based on his past, compared to, I don't know, buying a bunny doll or reading Muzet's thoughts. Maybe I'm just an angst fan.

We started prime Milla's chapter in a new session, and the second the cutscene started my sister left to go get snacks. We have a fundamentally different way of playing these games 😅

Hilariously, the cutscene was halted so Ludger can make a dialogue choice, one of them being "Sounds like I missed something." 😂

I forgot this was a Milla chapter and not a Jude one, with the iconic gay bird spirit that's acting like a clingy ex 😂

While hunting elite monsters, Milla died right at the end of a battle and didn't get the exp, but characters who weren't in the party still did. Sis: "Alvin's probably waking up from a nap like 'Guess who just got stronger?'"

We made paid the bank 150,000 with Ludger's reward money, and all we got was kitty krisps and a skill for Alvin, who again, wasn't there. Cue both of us saying "Guess who just got stronger?" and laughing.

I forgot proceeding with the plot in Marksburg triggers a boss battle with Chronos. Oops, we weren't fully healed.

Julius shows up and defends Ludger, aww. Sis: "When do we tell him he's technically an uncle now?"

I couldn't remember how many times the Chronos fight looped but it wasn't too bad really, the game's going easy on you at this point since it's scripted.

Bisley shows up to interrupt the fight. Sis: "Who are you?" Me, with utter exasperation: "...Do you seriously not know who he is?" 😩 (She did, she just didn't know why he was helping)

My sister was a lot more worried about Julius taking Ludger's place to fight Chronos one on one over the appearance of Bisley or the disappearance of Elle. I can't blame her, Julius's love for his brother is so sweet and he's frankly more compelling than most of the other original characters

Elle runs away because she suddenly doesn't want to go to Canaan anymore (it IS pretty creepy I'll give her that), and the rest of the party is somehow fine with letting this child run around unsupervised except by Spirius agents?? Even my sister who hates Elle pointed out that Ludger is kinda her closest living relative in this dimension so he should probably not let her wander off??

The SECOND that cutscene ended, Nova called. "Ludger, I know you just fought the god of time, but he gave you money, didn't he? You can't pull a fast one over the bank!"

Next time is... whatever happens next. My memories are a little fuzzy but I think we're gonna do that stuff in Spirius's basement soon, and then... oof. Hoping for a bad end, ngl 😅

[Masterpost link here, eventually.]

Marksburg Castle of Braubach in Germany.

the outsider pov of a bunch of uninformed elympion and rieze maxian authorities who have no idea how two apparently fully elympion spirius agents managed to murder five rieze maxians, another elympion, and cause enough damage to look like spirits levelled the port...