I’m looking forward to Path of Life but I genuinely hope in the future we get something like Grani and the Knights Treasure again

There’s a certain humor/horror to any of the Hunters (and Skadi especially) placed in situations involving Normal Dudes that I really miss

Any time I think about Skadi smashing a hole in the side of a mountain when the actual cave entrance is like ten feet away I have a fit, it’s so looney tunes but also clearly terrifying to the mercs she’s moving through

Shoutout again to Grani for blocking a casual swipe from Skadi’s sword and only almost breaking both her arms

Probably a bad take, but IMO at least, original Nearl > Radiant Knight Nearl

With the new Colombia event released in EN, I think it's a good time to share an observation about Arknights's portrayal of Colombia

The first time we hear about Colombia is Grani and the Knight's Treasure in the context of Big Bob's goal to get there. Him and his group of infected have no place or means to survive in the more 'established' countries seen in the main story. Colombia is branded as a place where the infected have an equal opportunity to everyone else. No social class system or cultural bias against the infected, a clean slate from all the baggage of the past.

If you played it at the time of release, you weren't yet wise to Arknight's 'everywhere is equally terrible just in different ways' gimmik, leaving the event with the impression propaganda of Colombia as a sanctuary in the hell world of Terra.

Then Mansfield Break and Dorothy's Vision drop and well...

Idk I just think it's neat how Arknights was able to perfectly emulate then subsequently shatter the propaganda of the 'American Dream' to fool the characters AND the player.

Now and then I think about how the nature of temporality in Arknights apropos of the main story relative to side stories (events) means that with a little effort, you can make a really good SRW-style SRPG with Arknights: There’s the myriad storylines, there’s the myriad characters, there’s a good combination of objective mechanical information and lore fluff for a lot of characters that would let you make really good, complete characters in terms of gameplay.

You could easily make something like:

1st Game: Main Story from Chernobog up until Faust and Mephisto; Break the Ice (can be a sizeable arc, allows for a lot of maps across the game’s length, likely early game until start of endgame); Maria Nearl (same as Break the Ice, midgame until the endgame); Under Tides (shorter than the previous two, end of midgame until the endgame, plus you get temporarily playable Irene in the vein of SRW giving you guest units for one or two maps in one game before they are fully recruitable in the next); Grani the Knights’ Treasure (you can cover this in one, maybe two maps);  Twilight of Wolumonde (medium length arc and due to its structure, perfect for sprinkling maps about it across the early to midgame); Heart of Surging Flame (one long map-two maps); Code of Brawl (easy two mapper); Children of Ursus (SRW-style revised to be mixed in with Chernobog part of Main Story); Who Is Real (you can squeeze 2-3 maps easily; start of endgame upgrade for units like Lava and Kroos).

2nd Game: Main Story from where game 1 left off up until Talulah and the Deathless Black Snake, effectively ending the game with the end of the first arc; Beyond Here (AKA Archetto; short arc); Both Gavial Events (you can make big maps with Great Chief, whereas Ideal City would be interspersed with other plots to give it meat in terms of combat, a common event in SRW); Pynus Sylvestris & Near Light (you can get either some real long maps out of this or several medium length maps), Stultifera Navis (around the early midgame, you can squeeze 2 to 3 maps easily, and Seaborn can make for versatile enemy types elsewhere), Mansfield Break (you could put this anywhere, and you can milk it for a number of maps); Invitation to Wine (same as Mansfield Break); Guiding Ahead (you can go crazy with Guide Ahead thanks to the setting of Laterano and the structure of the event plus Andoain fits the “fucking HARD endgame RR boss” archetype with strong attacks and high dodge to a tee); Lingering Echoes (same as Guiding Ahead, really); Dorothy’s Vision (you can squeeze out some 3 maps out of it easily and a lot of new enemy types)

In SRW fashion, the Main Story in general would find itself slowed down and modified with downtime much like the main arc in an SRW tends to be a slow, game-length affair that finds itself entwined with many of the other arcs in the game, and likewise the arcs with the main story and between themselves. Of course, this also diverges from actual canon in that a lot of people that Shouldn’t Be There canonically, in this game’s canon, Would Be There, and that goes for the good guys as much as it does for the bad guys, which is always part of the appeal of a good ol’ SRW. It’d also be cool to see secret recruitable characters that you can’t get in canon or that die in canon join you if you satisfy certain secret requirements, like getting playable Big Bob and Monch and Viviana/Candle Knight, or being able to save FrostNova and/or Faust. Hell, sometimes SRW likes to throw curveballs and give you unexpected characters, so catch me with my endgame maxed out Jesselton (unlock: Defeat Jesselton exclusively by using Mountain, Robin and Kafka in the final Mansfield Break mission) and my #KHAGANQUEST (unlock: Every time Tola appears, defeat him with Blemishine).

I think the main challenge of the game would be to have a cohesive roster; SRW games tend to have massive rosters but that’s due to the sheer amount of stories they tend to cover in one single game, it actually tends to be few characters from each individual story, except the “featured” stories, which get more screentime and roster slots. In regards to some of the arcs, this is pretty easy: Abyssal Hunter Arc characters aren’t many (Skadi, Specter, Gladiia in the first game, plus Irene and Lumen in the sequel) and some of them are universal (Kal’tsit and Elysium), but then you have to make a decision of what 3*s, for example, make the cut as fully playable and not just NPCs, so as to not have bloat: Lava and Kroos are easy picks, for example. Break the Ice can give you a lot of people (SilverAsh, Courier, Matterhorn, Pramanix, Cliffheart, Kjera, Gnosis, secret Monch, secret Degenbrecher), which would make sense if you make it a meaty arc in the game overall, plus there’s a good variety of units you can get outta that.

I think the cast also lends itself to the usual SRW archetype of units: Amiya fits the “RR” type of unit that has low health but high evasion (based on her moves in the trailers, she’s highly agile), Blaze on the other hand seems like a perfect fit for the “SR” type of unit that has very low evasion but instead has huge bulk and just tanks the attacks instead (based on her duty as a Centurion, catching a ton of enemies at once and dealing with them while holding them and tanking them). Other RRs that come to mind are Ch’en, Irene, Whislash, Kroos, among others, while other SRs that come to mind are Specter, Blemishine, Mudrock, Matterhorn, among others. Then you have the less common archetypes, like Getters, AKA glass cannons with average bulk and low evasion but BIG damage, which can be units like SilverAsh (with S3 specifically in mind, giving him huge offense but making him quite fragile) and Skadi (very high HP and damage but low Defense means that HP goes down fast). You’d also have plenty of characters that would make sense to have innate Leadership (buff aura for nearby units), such as Amiya, Kal’tsit, Gladiia, SilverAsh, Big Bob, among others.

It goes without saying that you can make full use of the SRW tradition of giving units specific, very powerful team attacks, some of which could be pure fanservice, like Amiya and FrostNova having a team attack, and others which simply make sense, like the Sui Sisters (Nian, Dusk and Ling), the Abyssal Hunters, Pramanix and Kjera, Big Bob and Mudrock, among many others. The possibilities are legitimately really cool to imagine.

The setting and cast just works for an SRW style game, man.

Is Mousse a good unit? Which of her skills is better? Also, how is Jessica?

Mousse is good! I like her a lot. She was how I first cleared Big Bob when first playing Grani and the Knight's Treasure.

In general having a melee unit that deals arts damage is pretty handy (or absurdly broken, depending on who it is), but Mousse also happens to stand out from the others with her S1 reducing enemy ATK (-40% at S1M3), which is what you should be focusing on.

There are many debuffs in Arknights, but ATK down is incredibly rare. Off the top of my head, only Shamare and Ines can also reduce enemy ATK, and Shamare can't constantly reapply it on an enemy the way Mousse can while Ines only steals a flat amount (90 ATK).

Once you start dealing with bosses with incredibly large ATK stats (1500+) and have a way for Mousse to reach the boss without actually being in their way, she's pretty good at defanging very dangerous enemies.

Mousse just doesn't get much attention due to being in the same class as Surtr, one of the strongest operators in the entire game.

Jessica's fine, the issue is that Kroos is such a strong Marksman that she overpowers Jessica in damage output until Jessica actually hits E2, while fellow 4 star Marksman May has slightly lower damage than Jessica for way more control, while other fellow 4 star Marksman Meteor brings debuffs to support her team.

She DOES have the unique ability to become a dodge tank vs both Physical and Arts damage with her S2, but once the skill runs out or she's just unlucky, she'll still die. It's better to stick to Kroos until you have the resources to E2 a unit, and once you do, Jessica really has a hard time justifying her E2 vs her equal rarity competition.

Okay so considering the end of Il Siracusano, I wanted to put together a list of floating plot threads that might lead to future events, just to get my brain in order. This will be a list of the events and characters involved, as well as a general summary of where things are in these plots in Global.

So, we have:

(Minor spoilers for a lot of Global under the cut, but specifically for some bits at the end of Il Siracusano)

- The main story, obviously, counting both Reunion and Dublinn/Kazdel stuff, as well as stuff like What the Firelight Casts and Vigilo. Not sure how relevant this will be to future side events because it’s already the main plot, but who knows.

- The Feranmut plotline, encompassing Ancient Forge(?)/Who is Real/Invitation to Wine/Where Vernal Winds will Never Blow, featuring Nian/Dusk/Ling/Chong Yue. Updated pretty regularly as the CN new year event. Haven’t been keeping up with this one so I can’t say where we are rn but we’re about to get Vernal Winds anyway so it doesn’t matter much. The short overview is that Yan used to be populated by godlike beings called Feranmuts. Feranmuts fought a war with people, which concluded when a Feranmut named Sui betrayed his people out of a selfish desire to be the only being with the kind of power that Feranmuts possess. When he was discovered, the emperor of Yan (China analogue) split him into 12 fragments which eventually developed their own identities and personalities - these are the Sui siblings, i.e. Nian, Dusk, Ling, Chong Yue, etc. Once all twelve of these siblings meet again, they will reform back into Sui and he will be reborn, and probably take over the world. As such, the current goal is to find a way to prevent the siblings from all waking up and getting back together, and hopefully finding a larger way to prevent Sui’s resurrection.

- Abyssal Hunters and Seaborn, with Grani and the Knight’s Treasure/Under Tides/Stultifera Navis/Mizuki and Caerula Arbor, featuring Skadi/Specter/Gladiia/Kal’tsit. Was updated pretty frequently as an anniversary event, but they seem to have thrown us a big lore dump with Caerula Arbor and left it at that for the time being, which is understandable. The state of the plot at the moment is the Abyssal hunters we have are back together, Specter is back to her old self, they’ve met Ulpian and established an uneasy truce with the Iberian (Spanish analogue) Inquisition, and we’re starting to understand just what Ishar-mla is. Iirc the alternate timelines we see in IS3 are actually shown to the Doctor by Mizuki, so that may play into future events as well.

- Kazimierz, with Maria Nearl/Pinus Sylvestris/Near Light/Obscure Wanderer, featuring Blemishine/Zofia/Nearl/The Followers/Flametail/Ashlock/Fartooth/Wildmane/Justice Knight my beloved/Młynar. This kinda shouldn’t be on this list, because it’s mostly wrapped up, and I don’t expect any more Kazimeirz events for a while. It’s still probably important to summarize though so: Margaret Nearl won the 24th Major and became the Grand Knight, and has since stayed in Kazimierz (Poland analogue) to improve living conditions for the infected and push back against the General Chamber of Commerce. The Armorless Union has mostly been decapitated - the Platinum defected, the Lazurites have disappeared and taken on new identities, and the Darksteel has promised to stay away from Margaret and Rhodes Island. Pinus Sylvestris and most of the rest of the Nearls are now on the landship, working for Rhodes Island.

- Rhine Lab, with Mansfield Break/Dorothy’s Vision/Lonetrail/the second Records of Originium comic (which has an official translation that you absolutely should read it’s really good), featuring Silence/Ptilopsis/Saria/Ifrit/Dorothy/Mulesyse/Ho’olheyak/Kirsten. This is one of the newer plotlines, and my personal favorite. Kirsten Wright, founder and head of Rhine lab, wants to go to space. Ever since her parents were killed in a plane crash, she’s looked at the stars as a goal for humanity and a symbol of the power that science and technology can give us. Unfortunately, in pursuit of that power, she believes the end justifies any means, and the Colombian (America analogue) military-industrial complex definitely isn’t helping things. Kirsten’s disregard of human rights has pushed away the people closest to her, most notably Saria, who left the company after discovering how Ifrit was abused. At the moment, the relationship between Rhodes Island and Rhine Lab is becoming more adversarial because we keep poaching their directors when they see the horrific human rights abuses that they’ve committed. Saria left after the Diαbolic incident, Dorothy left after site 359, and now the Doctor even has Mulesyse thinking about leaving. In addition to that, Saria has finally confronted Kristen and told her in no uncertain terms that she is done working with Rhine lab, which Kristen previously hadn’t fully accepted. Unfortunately, all this has only served to drive her deeper into “the ends justify the means” - rather than accept that she might have been wrong, she’s doubled down on the idea that if she can just achieve her goal and make it to space, they’ll all see how right she was and come back.

- Wolf Fangs, with some hints in the earlier chapters of the main story and being explicitly confirmed in Il Siracusano, featuring Texas/Lapland/Projekt Red/Lunacub. This is the newest of these plots, set up in Il Siracusano and presumably proceeding from there. The Feraerus are supernatural talking animals that we’ve encountered a couple of times throughout the story, like the High Priest or the Emperor. They are connected with the land and are almost akin to guardians of it. They don’t need Originium for their magic, and are tied to the setting in ways we don’t quite understand yet. More importantly to us, though, they’re involved in their own power struggles and contests among each other. This underscored the drama in Il Siracusano - the whole Bellone family was propped up by the wolf Feraerus Zarro as part of an ancient game in which the wolves pick champions, called Fangs, who fight each other in a Battle Royale to decide the pack’s next alpha(debunked study, I know, just roll with it). We know a couple of the fangs - Lunacub is one and Bernardo was another before his death, but Projekt Red is also a Fang, as well as Crownslayer’s mentor, so we’ll probably be coming back to this conflict in the future. Judging by Bernardo’s story and Lunacub’s files, the implication is that a lot of this story is going to revolve around breaking free of these old traditions and systems.

- The Sami Icefields haven’t technically gotten an event yet, besides that one story in Operational Intelligence, but I’m including it as an honorable mention because it looks like we’re going there for IS4. The Icefields are up north of Ursus, and they are terrifying. You remember the Emperor’s Blade, the one that kicks your ass in WD-8? Yeah we only see three of them in the game because the rest are busy fighting against the Eldritch demons constantly invading from the Sami Icefields. Let’s please never go there ever, thanks.

That’s all I can think of in terms of plotlines as of Il Siracusano in AK Global. If there’s anything I forgot or got wrong, tell me and I’ll add it in.

Ségurant, the Knight of the Dragon (3/4)

Last time we stopped as the documentary was about to go look at Siegfried’s northern ancestor, Sigurd.

This part of the documentary is basically a reminder of the Sigurd myth and other basic things. The oldest traces of Sigurd are from the 8th century, but they are not in books, no: they are on runic stones, those enormous stones covered in inscriptions and drawings (often monuments to the dead). The documentary reminds us that between the 4th and the 12th century more than three thousand runic stones were created throughout all of Scandinavia. The documentary shows us a very emblematic runic stone found near Eskilstuna in Sweden, which has the full depiction (in drawing form) of the legend of Sigurd and the dragon. How Sigurd’s adoptive father, Regin, brought Sigurd and his horse Grani to where the dragon Fafnir lived, how Sigurd dug a pit to hide and when the dragon passed over him, he plunged his sword within the dragon’s body ; how Sigurd cut out the dragon’s heart, placed it on the fire, and after burning his thumb on it, drank accidentally the dragon’s blood ; how Sigurd suddenly gained the ability to understand birds and heard some of them talking about how Regin wanted to kill him ; how Sigurd beheaded his adoptive father as a result ; and finally how Sigurd took his horse and Fafnir’s treasure and left.

There is also a very brief explanation of dragons and “great snakes” in the Viking world – how they are a well-known symbol sculpted on ships and objects, how they can mean at the same time good and evil, order and chaos… The expert that talks at this point (I didn’t catch his name) explains that in the myth of Sigurd, the slaying of the dragon is a sort of ultimate trial that acts as a “rite of passage”, proving Sigurd’s heroism, virility and maturity.

And, more importantly, there lies the difference between Sigurd and Ségurant. Sigurd kills his dragon, plunges his sword within Fafnir’s body, because the dragon is real, a being of flesh and bones. He is actually someone metamorphosed into a dragon, but it’s still a real dragon. But Ségurant? Ségurant was bewitched by Morgane, who condemned him to follow a dragon that cannot be killed, since it is merely the spirit of a dragon – an imaginary dragon if you will. This, unlike Sigurd, Ségurant cannot slay his dragon, his locked in an endless battle that is ultimately pointless and fruitless, since what he hunts is a mere illusion.

The documentary then gives us the next piece of Ségurant’s story: after the dragon’s arrival and Ségurant’s departure, Morgane, “the wicked fairy”, arrives at the Winchester tournament and presents herself to king Arthur. She immediately tells him that waiting for Ségurant’s return is madness because – according to her – it is all some sort of vile spell. She claims that the dragon, just like Ségurant, were some sort of magical projections, living illusions. And she works so well that she ends up convincing everybody at the tournament that Ségurant, just like the dragon, never existed in the first place… She convinces all except one person. A young Irish man by the name of Golistan, who still believes in him, to the point of makes the solemn oath that he will only be knighted by the Knight of the Dragon, and no one else.

As we return to Arioli we are hit with a big twist… The manuscript he reads Ségurant’s story from? It abruptly ends in the middle of the sentence. There is no follow-up to the episode above. Ségurant hunts the dragon, Golistan searches for Ségurant, everybody at Arthur’s court goes away as if nothing happened… and that’s it. Why? Because this book was obviously part of a greater whole and has a sequel somewhere. (For example the manuscript containing the unfinished story has a whole set of illustrations, proving that it wasn’t simply a work-in-progress that never got finished). As the documentary returns to Paris, we learn that the writing style and shape of the letters prove that the manuscript was composed somewhere between the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th. However, the language and some specific sentence structures show that the text itself dates from the 13th century (the same era the Prophécies themselves started going around). And given medieval manuscripts were often copies of copies, it makes sense that one story would end up being fragmented as the centuries went on… So a “Suite des prophécies de Merlin” must exist somewhere with Ségurant’s second part of the story in it… But where? That’s the question. Arioli looked into all the manuscripts that were linked, directly or indirectly, to Merlin, hundreds and hundreds of books… Without finding anything. For a very long time he went searching for a sequel that simply seemed to not exist, and all he could go on with was all he had discovered until now. That Ségurant was not a Celtic character like Arthur or Merlin ; that he was not a protagonist of Chrétien de Troyes like Lancelot or Perceval ; that he was a knight invented by an author of Northern Italy who wrote in French ; and that his inventor took inspiration from Siegfried/Sigurd, taking from their legend various elements. A dragon that must be killed, a wall of fire that the hero crosses, a fabulous treasure (in the shape of Ségurant’s shining gem)… But with the key removal of the hero actually slaying the dragon.

UNTIL FINALLY Arioli found the sequel. He found back “Ségurant le grand” (Segurant the Great, or Ségurant the Tall) in an unnamed manuscript that mixed Merlin’s Prophecies with other adventures related to the quest of the Grail – it was kept in Genova, at the Bodmer Foundation. And here was where Ségurant’s story picked up:

Ségurant, exhausted by his hunt of the dragon, rests within an inn. A young man enters and presents himself as “Golistan, son of an Irish noble”, adding that he is looking for the Knight of the Dragon, by whom he wants to be knighted. Ségurant then reveals his identity to Golistan (Young man, you have the Knight of the Dragon before you), and, as Golistan kneels before him, he agrees to make him his squire.  Later in the story, we learn that the Lady of the Lake herself appears within the plot: indeed, somehow Ségurant meets the Lady of the Lake, who takes him by the hand and bluntly tells him he was bewitched. Ségurant asks “Lady of the Lake, since so many good is told about you, help me if you can.” And her answer? “Only the Grail can set you free, you will need to cross the sea to find it.” And thus Ségurant’s story becomes part of the quest for the Grail…

We are back with Michel Zink, who gives a brief explanation about the Grail. It first appears within the last roman of Chrétien de Troyes: “Le conte du Graal, ou Roman de Perceval » (The tale of the Grail, or Roman of Perceval). It tells the story of a young, naïve, foolish boy who is so ignorant he doesn’t even know his name. Perceval lives his widow of a mother in the depths the lonely forest they inhabit, and one night is welcomed within a mysterious castle that appears out of nowhere, as by magic. During the evening meal, there is a strange procession before him, in which a young girl carries “an uncovered grail” (“uncovered” as in “not covered by anything”). It is not THE Grail, but “a” grail. Perceval wants to asks questions about his host about the strange sight, but he ultimately decides it is best to stay silent. And the roman, that was never finished, leaves us with the mystery… And it is the fact that the solution to the grail was never given that made this roman such an enormous success. A few years afterward, Robert of Boron took the subject of the Grail and gave a very religious interpretation to Chrétien de Troyes’ story. In his writings, he describes it as a cup that the Christ used and that Joseph of Arimathea took after the Christ’s arrest – before placing within it the blood flowing from the side of the crucified Christ. This Grail, as a result, was the most sacred of all relics, and the reign of king Arthur leads to the destined quest of the Grail.

As such, to continue his investigation, Arioli looked at all the manuscripts related to the Saint Grail – but several years of travels and library researches led to absolutely nothing. Until he changed his strategy, and decided to “look at the manuscripts nobody had looked at”…

ADDENDUM:

A few additional precisions and elements coming from the French Wikipedia article for Ségurant: The oldest version of the roman was determined to have been written in French, in Italy, between 1240 and 1273. Before several sequels or rewrites appeared, between the end of the 13th century and the end of the 15th century. They were mostly created in France, in Italy and in the Flanders, but were spread and shared throughout these countries, with Great-Britain and Spain on top.

The roman of Ségurant was clearly influenced and inspired by the Prose Lancelot and the Prose Tristan.

The article specifies why Morgane summons a dragon to get rid of Ségurant: apparently Morgane, upon seeing all the talents and the greatness of Ségurant, fears that if he stays at Camelot he will prevent her from taking over the kingdom of Logres. This is why she sent Ségurant on a bewitched hunt… While the documentary explicitly tells us that Morgane came into person before Arthur to tell him of how Ségurant was “not real” – implying that in this version she is a close counsellor or a trusted part of Arthur’s  court – the Wikipedia article rather says that Morgane sends a woman to Arthur’s court to convince everyone that Ségurant and the dragon were just a mirage. Not only that, but the woman actually claims openly that this mirage was created by both Morgane herself and by an enchantress called Sibylle (a variation of the character of Sebile).

Later, according to Wikipedia, the people of the Non Sachant island actually organized a man-hunt to find back Ségurant, and Arthur heard of their party coming near Camelot (two hundred knights in total). But a new girl sent by Morgane manages again to convince Arthur of “All’s an illusion”, by claiming they are not knights, but magicians, and convincing Arthur it would be a bad idea to join them in their quest.

Arknights Timeline

Because lore in Arknights is super crunchy.

Also it helps me sometimes to figure out lore by determining where shit falls in a timeline (and Hypergryph hasn’t given it to us yet).

So gonna try to come up with my own. A lot of it is conjecture and based on contextual clues but here we go! There’s gonna be spoilers, including (maybe) stuff from the CN Servers!

Gonna use the year 1096 as the baseline. The year comes from the initial Cambrian Winter Collection of skins (Fang’s free skin, Courier, Texas and Spectre’s winter skins. Categorized as Y-0, Month 1 in the archives.)

There’s some speculation that prologue starts on December 23rd (Amiya’s birthday) due to the fact that the person speaking to the Doctor in the intro mentions that date. I’m personally on the fence so will just use 00-00 to indicate the day the prologue starts. (Bold will be used to indicate main story while Italics will be used for side stories.)

Three years before Chapter 0 - Darknights Memoir Chapters 1-6

Days/Weeks leading up to D0 - Children of Ursus

Day 0 1096 - Events of Chapters 0-1

In the days after Chapter 1 - Operational Intelligence: The Anonymous One’s War, Destroyer, Sniper Training, Among the Light and the Dust, Darknights Memoir Chapters 7 and 8

Roughly Days 4-14 - Chapters 2 through 8. (Chapter 8 is CN only currently)

Days after Chapter 8 - Set Beyond Here: No Sequel, Sword and Scale (CN only)

At some point after Chapter 8 - Twilight of Wolumonde, Code of Brawl, Heart of Surging Flame, Maria Nearl (CN Only),Gavial: The Great Chief Returns, Ancient Forge, Rewinding Breeze (CN Only), Stories of Afternoon (Some)

Far in the Future - Who Is Real? (CN Only)

Events with an unknown time frame: Grani and the Knight’s Treasure, Mansfield Break (CN Only), Rest of Set Beyond Here (CN Only)

Things we do know, based on the timeline events:

Grani and the Knight’s Treasure happens before Twilight of Wolumonde due to the letter that Big Bob writes to Mudrock and Mudrock referencing the treasure hunt and hops. So either Grani happens before the Chernobog incident or shortly after it.

Who is Real takes place a good amount into the future as Lava, Kroos and Beagle are considered Elite Operators at this point.

(requested by mathmaticalknight) TOURNAMENT: GRANI vs CHIAVE

“Grani!” As the Kuranta was going to lunch, a familiar voice called out to her. “There you are!”

She turned, a smile fully bloomed by the time she was facing the person calling her: Carol, the current Chief of Dewville and former discloser of a Knight’s Treasure. “Hi, Carol! Did you come to see me?”

“Of course I did! The last time you came to Dewville, you invited me up here, after all.” The chieftain wrapped her arms around the mountie once she was in range, stopping them both in the middle of the hallway with a few bystanders watching them.

“Well, I’m glad you managed to get away.” Grani gave her a bit of a squeeze. “Having any trouble out there?”

The other Kuranta shook her head. “No, everything’s going much better now. Thanks to the money we got from selling the treasure, we were able to invite some protection, and when we mentioned we knew you in our advertisement, we had so many volunteers we had to turn a few away. All thanks to you.”

“I didn’t do everything, you know.”

“No, but you did everything we needed you to.” As their small audience carried on with their business, Carol stepped back, keeping her arms around the mountie’s neck. “Are you busy tonight?”

Grani’s turned apologetic. “Actually, I kinda am? There’s this big ‘Grand Tourney’ kinda thing they’re doing to see who’s the ‘best,’ and my first round is tonight, so-”

“So I’ll see you when you’re done fighting, then?” Her eyes were practically sparkling.

“Heh, yeah, I’ll see you then.” The Kuranta’s eyes drifted to her lips. “You, um, wanna get lunch? I want a good meal so I have plenty of energy to fight later.”

The chieftain gave her the unasked-for-but-certainly-desired kiss and nodded. “That would be delightful.”

“Great! I’ll buy.” And with that settled, the pair made their way to the cafete- scratch that, to a middle-of-the-pack Victorian place Grani liked to go to on her cheat days. That one kiss was enough sugar by itself to count…

--------

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, Operators, Staff, and Esteemed Guests! Welcome one and all to the Top Operator Tourney!!! *crowd cheers*

“Thanks, Hung! Ladies and gentlemen, in case you forgot our voices during our brief absence, I’m FEater!”

“And I’m Click!”

“And today’s match is gonna be a great one, I tell you what! Both of today’s competitors are the life of the party wherever they go, although the parties they start are pretty different, I’d say! On the north side, a former police officer with a record of achievements taller than she is, it’s Grani!” *cheers, including one nervous but excited Kuranta* “And on the south side, the wrench-fox whose antics have absolutely transformed the Engineering Department’s policies on weapons’ maintenance certifications, say hi to Chiave!” *cheers* “Click, you’ve got the numbers for us?”

“Sure do, babe! Actually, the data for this fight’s kinda conflicted - see, by the numbers, Chiave’s a far more experienced combatant, with 6 years of rough-and-tumble living as a Siracusan gangster compared to Grani’s 2 as a Victorian policewoman, but that’s not what’s got me bothered. You look at these two’s parameters outside of experience, and you see they’re supposed to be just about equal in everything, except ooooone little detail: Grani’s a real sprinting fiend, using those legs of hers to move at speeds nobody’s got any business moving at, and that’s something our mechanic friend’s just gonna have to deal with if he wants to have any hope of winning this fight!”

“And of course he wants to have a hope of moving onto Round 2! We’ll just have to see who manages to win this one!”

“Right on, and there’s the Doctor waiting to start us off! 3! 2! 1! And here we go!”

--------

Chiave span his wrench in an intimidating pattern, pliers at his side and ready to guard. “Ready to get chewed up and spat out, little lady?”

“Not quite, Suave Chiave, not quite.” Grani gestured into the stands, her audio being caught through a mike drone deployed by one of the more tech-savvy audience members. “I’ve got a date tonight, and I’m not showing up beat up and nursing my ego.”

“We’ll see about that!” And brandishing his great-wrench, he charged.

An opening like that wasn’t going to get him anywhere fast; the Kuranta simply sped to his wrench-swinging side and jabbed him once...and, even though it was only one strike, it was all it took, as she not only threw all her considerable power into it, but a single cheer from the crowd rang through her ears.

Even in this pit of a coliseum, Carol yelling “Kick his ass, Grani!” was plain enough to hear.

--------

“...The hell is that?! Click, you saw that, right?”

“The speed! The precision! And what a surprising display of strength from Grani, as she cleanly OHKOs her opponent! There’s not even that much blood...Wow, she really wanted to get to that date as fast as possible, huh?”

“Didn’t even let him get one blow in-” *pounding from outside the studio* “What?!”

A gruff male voice came back with, “Stop mocking him.”

“...You’re a Guard, right? We’ll see if you can manage Round 2, and then we’ll talk about who can say what to who!”

“Babe, don’t get too riled up. Remember what happened last time.”

“Right, right, sorry, just...ugh. Anyway, with that match swiftly concluded, I guess we’ll see you all next time! FEater, yours truly, and Click signing off! Now where’s that Broca guy so I can give him a piece of my mind...”

“Have a good night, everyone! No babe really, it’s okay, please don’t start something...”

----------

Carol was waiting for Grani as she walked out of the coliseum, stars in her eyes. “I knew you were a warrior before, Grani, but the way you took care of him in one hit? That was amazing.”

“Thanks, Carol. Gosh, you think he’s gonna be alright?” The mountie shivered. “Didn’t mean to hurt him that bad, but my pike is so sharp...”

“I saw your medic team, and they looked pretty capable. Don’t worry about it too much.” The Kuranta squeezed her hand encouragingly.

The other Kuranta sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. We’ve got some of the best doctors in the world here, and the Doctor, so he’ll be just fine. So, what sounds good? I’m getting hungry again.”

“Well, I was hoping to see where you live. I’ve never seen one of these...apartments?” She looked at Grani questioningly, earning a nod. “Is it like a small house? I’m not entirely sure.”

“That’s as good a description as any, I think. You’re sure you don’t want to eat at a restaurant while we’re out, though?”

The chieftain gave her an analytical once-over. “Are you nervous?”

“I’ve...never taken someone to my place before,” she admitted, scratching the back of her neck. “Don’t know what’s like, being a host and all.”

“Well, I won’t judge; all that matters to me is getting to spend the night with my brave, strong girlfriend.” Carol giggled as the mountie turned bright red at that.

If this was already enough flattery to mess with her, boy, was tonight going to be fun.

Hey magnamon. Since you are covered in a mechanical suit, ever requested metallifekuwagamon to add more weapons to your suit? Eg, your own recon tactical drone like metallife, various versions of missiles [(gas missiles, grenade launchers, missiles that split into tiny explosives like a shotgun)], those two v-fins on your knees that can as boomerangs, shoulder turrets, energy sword, reflective armour, your head v-fin shooting a giant laser and lastly and perhaps the best, a jet pack booster!

Magnamon: First of all, hello. Thank you for the fan mail!

Wow, that sure would be a lot of modifications. I think I’d end up looking like a MetalGarurumon X-Antibody or an Aegisdramon after all that.

As for your question, yes, MetallifeKuwagamon and I have talked about customized armaments, and I’ve even tried some out on a few missions. Particularly the different types of missiles that you mentioned. I’ve tried out anti-personnel, anti-armour, and smoke missiles. We actually do have about a dozen of MetallifeKuwagamon’s recon drones, but since we have the Recon Forces, we usually only use them when we have to scout dense or hzardous terrain, or if we’re following a target that’s too dangerous for the scouts to follow themselves. I wouldn’t mind having my own, but Grani and Metallife are in charge of them and they are in pretty good hands.

My digizoid armour is already pretty reflective, so I don’t think it needs any sort of special coating or anything. I wouldn’t really want to use an energy sword since it doesn’t really suit my combat style. Plus, UlforceVeedramon would probably throw a fit about me copying him. I definitely like your other ideas, but the thing is that the energy for my weapons comes from both my armour and the energy of my body, so Metallife wouldn’t really be able to make modifications to my armour to make me fire beam weapons. I would have to modify my own attacks to make them more specialized. That’s what he told me. We have definitely had many talks about new weapons and technology he could potentially make, though. He has a lot of cool ideas. But we do have a budget that Alphamon and High Treasurer Digmon are pretty strict about, so we won’t be making any sentry turrets any time soon.

I loved the question. Thank you for showing your interest and supporting the Royal Knights.

Sincerely,

Sir MagnamonThe Royal Knight of Miracles

would you consider irene the krillin of the abyssal hunters for: -human-scale power next to super soldiers -helps ground the hunters by portraying somebody who like knows Enough about what's going on to not feel like a fish out of water while still playing a key role -sees a fucked up and powerful girl and decides to risk it all against: -has not gotten a robot pregnant yet

The essence is there, but not it's not a 1:1, really. Krillin is immensely powerful for a human, but ultimately lags behind the Saiyans and Piccolo when it comes to actually handling enemies of import. Basically, Krillin's entire role after the power levels balloon out of his ballpark is being a good influence and sparring partner for Gohan (I think Krillin's role as Gohan's cool uncle is severely underrated, while I'm at it) until he's matured enough and to stall the villains by getting the shit beat out of him, buying precious time so a Saiyan or Piccolo can arrive on the scene, pop him a Senzu, and then take it from there.

Irene is a very strong fighter, and one quite easy to underestimate because, fundamentally, she's surrounded absolute beasts. In this way, yeah, she's very much a Krillin. I would also say that her style of fighting, involving accurate and crippling lunges with her rapier that incapacitate the enemy to set them up for her actual deathblow, her handcannon, can be seen as A Kienzan That Actually Lands.

Now, let's look at her RI assessment:

This is consistent with what we saw in Stultifera Navis, though I'd say that her Combat Skill should be above Excellent. I base this on the fact that Irene was fighting things that made Abyssal Hunters have to put effort into engaging, and she wasn't just surviving, she was killing a good number of them and hanging in there in what was a VERY prolonged combat situation. Now, think back on the PV for Stultifera Navis: Skadi had to two hand her greatsword in order to defend and hold against Seaborn dogs' lunges, visibly having to push back at them. Skadi is also the person that, while holding back, was sending armed combatants flying Team Rocket style in Grani and the Knights' Treasure, and who was punching tunnels through mountains RE2 Mr. X style because she couldn't be bothered actually finding her way around the caves. If Skadi has to put in some elbow grease block the attacks of these basic Seaborn enemies, they would evaporate Irene just with one clean hit on her. In Stultifera Navis, Irene did the equivalent of running a 1 credit clear of a CAVE shmup, she REALLY went in and cleared Mushihimesama, secret boss and all, while not getting hit cleanly, because if she did, that's it, she was positively out.

That's a pretty big departure from Krillin if we're going to be very particular about this. Ace detectives will notice that Irene spent a long time fighting opponents she was woefully outclassed by physically by simply being that good and nimble of a fighter, which is in stark contrast to Krillin's signature move: Absorbing every single punch, kick and ki blast with his face while buying time for Goku to arrive. If Krillin isn't beat up, gored, exploded, or ragdolled, it wasn't a Krillin a fight. Krillin is like a Gmod dummy that people like to subject to creative torture via the gravity gun and the bonkers physics of Half-Life 2. Krillin was more likely to kill Nappa or Frieza via heart palpitations from them beating his ass TOO hard rather than landing the Kienzan. Krillin's most successful technique is the Taiyoken (Solar Flare), which he used to blind countless opponents temporarily so he could take a break from getting his face pummeled into 4-dimensional shapes for a couple minutes.

They share some essence, but in the nitty gritty of it all, they are different beasts in the same family tree, if you will. Also, the powerful girl very much did take the initiative in the case of Irene. I get what you mean and I respect it but it was very much the powerful girl that picked her up and called her a fruit.

just wondering as a new player, how long does it take before you're not constantly fussing about having to raise your ops and never having lmd/materials and there being so many ops to raise?

That entirely depends on one very important detail: whether or not you're raising your low stars.

The 1-3 star ops aren't just there to carry you through the early game, they often come with powerful base skills that greatly enhance your base's ability to passively provide you money and XP. Play through the main storyline until you can unlock the full potential of your base, populate it with Operators with strong base skills, and economic power that can take you almost a full year to reach can be achieved in about 3 months (and this is keeping in mind you're playing as a free to play or extremely light monthly card-only spender, instead of a whale that guzzles Originium Prime to turn into sanity for megafarming).

When i first started playing, 3 star operators like Midnight, Spot, and Catapult (all operators with very strong base skills) weren't even in the game yet and I still managed to E2 my first 6 star within the event duration of Grani and the Knight's Treasure (Arknights' first event)

Seriously, I tell this to every single new player that asks me for advice: do not ignore the 1-3 stars. They're good units, they're good base builders, and their costs are extremely low (and thus accessible for new players who do not yet have a fully powered base).

Once you have a basic team up and running, the higher rarity ops with funky and blatantly overpowered base skills like Shamare will come with time until you're making more than you actually want to spend

What do you make of Specter's operator record? Personally I liked it, but that's with the knowledge we're getting more Specter backstory soon.

Ok, so! Just as you pointed out, I went into it with the knowledge that:

We're getting Under TIDES soon.

Specter gets a second Operator Record later, some time after Under TIDES.

And with that in mind, I'm fine with it, but if I was a CN player and all we got was Specter's first Operator Record without any knowledge of the future, I would be pretty pissed, lmao. In fact, CN players were pretty pissed, the reception to her Operator Record was pretty bad. Specter is a popular character both in terms of gameplay and character (the latter more so in China, she gets a steady influx of cosplayers, fanart and fanfic in Weibo, Lofter, and such). It's believed that Hypergryph announced her second Operator Record because of this backlash.

Now, with the context and preamble on the table, I want to say: Great idea, not so great execution. Overall, I enjoyed it, but again, that's only with knowledge of the future. Despite that, I sincerely praise Hypergryph for actually having the balls to try a narrative approach like this one on a mobile game. The thing is, just because an idea is interesting doesn't mean it's good, and I think a lot of aspiring writers and designers need to hammer that in their head, especially armchair game designers that like to theorize oh so much about how cool it would be to have a game that did this or that. I don't care if it's cool or not, is it enjoyable to experience?

And that's just the thing with Specter's Operator Record: It felt lackluster in many regards. The approach was definitely interesting, bold, I'd even say, but that doesn't really matter too much if the result isn't a success, now, does it? Let's immediately address the Originium Slug in the room: Specter doesn't even appear in it. Now, is that an interesting approach to an Operator Record? Sure! Is it good? I don't really think so, especially with a character that fans really have been clamoring to see more of in actual cutscenes, given the wealth of clues they've put regarding Specter in other places:

Blue Poison' Files -> We learn that Blue Poison knew Specter personally before her descent to madness, addressing her with her real name.

Skadi's Dialogue -> Skadi implies that Specter was on a very important mission, and more or less confirms she knew her before she went crazy.

Several pieces of official art -> Specter is associated with the phrase "All seas are singing your name".

Ceobe's Fungimist -> It's implied the cursed painting depicting the end times is the same confusing painting Specter painted in her Token.

Rosmontis' Files -> It's confirmed that Specter's spinal cord is filed to the brim with originium fluid, and the Medical Team theorizes that, just like Rosmontis, her infection was artificially induced. It also confirms that they have no idea how Specter is able to fight such an insanely high level of infection.

So, see, this has been a character that fans have really been clamoring to see again. The only cutscene Specter's ever been is the secret cutscene of Grani and the Knight's Treasure AKA the very first event in the game. Understandably, after two years of the game existing, people were a bit miffed that once again we just get breadcrumbs and a non-participation 'appearance', to say the least, in what's supposed to be her day in the limelight.

Now, personally, I kind of get how they are handling her, and the Operator Records are a very faithful reflection of this: Specter is meant to be this mysterious force that we don't have clearance to know about, as Kal'tsit herself is the only one authorized to treat her or even enter her containment quarters. And, in this regard, I think the Records succeed:

It all starts innocently with Suzuran drawing Specter in a Secret Santa and then having to start deep diving to find out who the hell even IS Specter, because absolutely no one knows of her. Eventually, Suzuran lucks out by asking Meteorite, who did participate in a mission with Specter once, to which Suzuran immediately reacts: "Hey hold on, don't they send you on pretty dangerous missions all the time?", and Meteorite's answer is, "Yeah, and she's right at home there."

Now, this is really interesting because we, as Doctor, have some level of clearance: We know things about Specter and can even converse with her to a certain degree, because Doctor is a high authority in Rhodes Island, but the average Operator, like Suzuran, Aosta and Chiave, doesn't even know of her existence. She's one of Rhodes Island's well kept secrets, even within Rhodes Island. Even Meteorite, a veteran Sarkaz mercenary and a bombardment expert, only knows about Specter in a need-to-know basis (because they deployed once together). More telling is the fact that Meteorite doesn't think she'd get along with Specter, simply based on the fact that, just on that one operation, the level of violence and carnage brought upon by Specter unnerved even her, a Kazdel Sarkaz veteran. Well, to be precise, it's not the sheer level of destruction that Specter is capable of that unnerved Meteorite, it's the fact that she does it all seemingly without a care in the world, expressionless, soundless, simply following orders to the letter without showing or taking in a single emotion. To paraphrase Meteorite, "someone that can unleash such destruction and violence upon others so easily, and that can then just not mind it in the slightest, has something wrong and concerning going on with them, no doubt".

Next up, we also learn that Folinic has very restricted, also on a need-to-know basis access to Specter. Keep in mind that Folinic is extremely competent and not at all a stranger to danger: She handles Phantom. So this is a huge hint: There's perhaps more to the secrecy regarding Specter than just her being a dangerous, unstable element. Folinic could reasonably handle Specter professionally, but it's not about whether she can or not, it's about information, and this brings us back to Grani and the Knight's Treasure: Kal'tsit makes it clear to Skadi that Specter is, as a whole, inaccessible to everyone but her, that only she has clearance to access Specter's quarters. Keep in mind that Skadi does not operate in the same conditions, despite also being an Abyssal Hunter. In fact, it's well known that Skadi is infamous among other Operators for being unreasonable and obstructive in operations, as well as unapproachable outside of them (unless you are Grani, who managed to successfully befriend Skadi and vouches for her). There's things about Specter that are so sensitive, so important, that Kal'tsit can't risk them getting out, and even using her as an Operator is something reserved for very dangerous operations. Not even Warfarin, senior staff and Operator that's been with Rhodes Island for a very long time, has full access to Specter, but she clearly knows the importance of keeping her under curtains, given she immediately diffused the Folinic-Suzuran situation by coming up with a compromise on the spot.

There's another interesting contrast between Files and the Operator Record: Meteorite describes Specter as "dead silent". Mind you, we knew from before, thanks to Specter's Files, that the shark is completely silent in battle, but we also do know that she incoherently rambles quite a lot. Folinic sheds some light onto this, explaining that Specter intentionally stays silent most of the time so as to not say anything that could be misunderstood when around others. When she's in a more private setting, however, she does let loose with the insane talk. This is confirmation of something that had been hinted at before: Even though she's insane, there's a fervent part of her clinging onto sanity for dear life with bloodied, splintered fingers, and it manifests itself in how she'll never harm an ally, and how Specter is, to a certain degree, aware of how far gone she is, and thus keeps her mouth shut around others that aren't Doctor or Kal'tsit, so as to not spook them out or accidentally threaten them with her insane rambling.

Then, at the very end, after Suzuran managed to get her present to her, Specter does in fact deliver a thank you present back to Suzuran: A music box, consistent with Specter's love for the arts. Of course, the gift might have been chosen by a proxy of hers (Skadi or Blue Poison, both known to also enjoy music), but the message is all the same: Specter clearly appreciated the gift, and was mentioned to see an improvement in her condition after receiving the doll Suzuran gave her.

So, in paper? All of this? I love it. Of course I do, she's my favorite character, and it was such a bold way to present her Record, too, I respect them trying out new things, it managed to capture the essence of "the mysterious, terrifying fighting machine Operator they don't want us to know about that's actually a pretty sweet and decent person, just going through some really hard stuff" that they've been going for with Specter, it's just, I can also understand (and agree with) fans because... It's been two years, bwahaha, let us see her again, you know? It's her Operator Record, we've gotten some VERY good insights into the lives and days of other Operators through those, like with Angelina's or Kroos'! Of course we also wanted something like that, bwahaha.

What I would've loved, and what I think would've made it all better with fans, is if the final scene had Specter actually show up in Suzuran's room like the cryptid she is, with Suzuran noting the security door had just sort of been casually pried open, Specter's perpetual smile on her face as she's holding her thank you gift before Warfarin and Folinic just sort of storm into the room like "DUDE, WE SAID YOU CAN'T--", she thanks Suzuran wordlessly, gently hands her the music box, and then she calmly turns back and walks back to her confinement quarters.

But, yeah, I've gone on for long enough. I appreciate it overall, knowing what's coming, and I appreciate the idea, I just think they could've handled it better, but the whole essence and message of it, I think lands pretty nicely.

May I request a review of general coolness and awesome of the horses we saw during the event?

Right, Maria Nearl event!

I liked the event quite a lot, though I do feel like it dropped the ball at the end. That aside, I had a lot of fun the entire time!

First of all, the cast was wonderful. Maria is explicitly not a powerful or skilled fighter to any degree that matters in the frame of strength the story takes place in, being definitely more skilled than the average person and even the average nameless knight, but being woefully outclassed by practically anyone that has a name in the Major. A humble mechanic with a heart drenched in justice, Maria doesn’t even like to fight, and adheres to a knightly ideal and a duty she must fulfill instead to justify her participation in these commercialized bloodsports, which carries the narrative. She is joined by a lovable cast of rambunctious family and family friends, who serve as her mentors and support: Her aunt, who is more akin to an older sister-slash-maternal figure, Zofia, who we are immediately shown is so close to Maria that the moment Maria made a big decision (the participation in the Major) without confirming with Zofia first, she immediately chastised her, wondering why she did not consult with her beforehand. Aunt Zofia is her aunt only due to technicality, as she’s a lady-in-waiting (or, in other words, belongs to a branch family of the Nearl clan, and is actually only 5 years older than Maria) and, more importantly, a decorated, retired competition knight who earned enough in her career that she can live comfortably for the rest of her life, ironically far outstripping the main Nearl house in terms of wealth. There’s also Kowal, an old Ursus mechanic, engineer and smith who mentors Maria in the ways of the wrench, willing to pass his workshop to Maria with her as his successor any day of the week, who himself also used to be a squire to V, an old, retired knight of old who served as Grandpa Nearl’s peerless sharpshooter and who trained Zofia back in the day. Finally, we have Old Marcin, owner of the cast’s favorite hangout, a little bar where he and Maria mediate the infinite squabbles, fights, and arguments that Kowal, V, and occasionally Zofia spark between one another. The event does a great work of introducing the dynamic between these five characters as something extremely domestic and comfortable: You can tell these five are tight and that they have spent a long time together. It’s just another day in their low profile lives when, suddenly, Maria dons Margaret’s old armor and decides to take arms for the main Nearl house, which is currently on the brink of ruin and about to lose its knighthood and nobility titles.

And this decision, and everything this decision means, informs everything that happens afterwards: Zofia tells Maria that if she’s worried about being left homeless, then that’s just foolishness, since Zofia is absolutely 100% ok with Maria moving in with her. She’s loaded. They can live comfortably for the rest of their lives without a concern. Kowal, likewise, insists that Maria is a good enough mechanic that she can earn a living by doing that. But, see, it’s not about a livelihood for Maria, it’s about preserving that for which Margaret and Grandpa Nearl fought and stood for, it’s never about the wealth, it’s about the name, the principle, not the glory, the weight of ideals that blood was shed to nourish and maintain. Maria is not even sure if she’s doing the right thing, but she’s got to do something. Why? Look no further than Uncle Mlynar. A bitter man, a corporate slave, spitting bile at her niece and apologies at his bosses. And the fact that it is very clear that this guy can kick some serious ass -- we never see him without his trusty blade hanging on his hip and, at the end, tells Margaret to square the hell up -- makes it all the sadder: In any other context, Mlynar might be a knight’s knight, hell, Margaret herself says she respects him still, but the Mlynar we see now is an unimportant cog in the capitalist system, just another grunt apologizing to his phone every time his lips part, who gets in hot water just by making small talk because, whoops, your workload accumulated again, better get chop chopping. Mlynar is a very telling character, because he represents everything Maria resents about the current state of the Nearl family: Disgraced, meaningless, existing as an extension of other bigger conglomerates. He is what she wishes to never become, and what the Nearl house cannot be any longer, if she has any saying on the matter.

Maria is not a good fighter. This is important and delightful, because she wins not due to aptitude, strength, or experience, she instead uses her knowledge as a mechanic, her “pegasian sight” (what Grandpa uses to refer to Maria’s incredibly powerful investigative faculties, being able to analyze situations and catch even the smallest details quickly) and the sheer heft of her brass pair of metaphorical horse balls to pull through with clutch victory after clutch victory. Zofia trying to cram as much fundamentals as she can on Maria in as little time as possible so she can survive also helps a lot.

Maria’s victories earn her the possibility of sponsorships, which would, superficially, fix her problems: The main Nearl house would retain status, she’d get a Title, and she would not have to fight anymore. But, see, this is not the point of Maria’s fight. One might say “Maria should’ve just taken the sponsorships”, but that’s not the point of Maria’s fight. She is pushing back against this highly commercialized view on “knighthood”, just like Margaret before her did. Margaret had a clear intent and her passions made her act mostly in anger, as she makes no secret: She hates Kazimierz for what it has become. Maria’s intent is less clear, even to herself, but she’s very much aiming for the same thing, but instead of Margaret’s anger, Maria has her determination. To have taken any sponsorship would have superficially kept the Nearl house afloat, but Maria is not looking to keep the house alone afloat, she’s looking to keep the house and the ideals in which it was built afloat. It goes beyond mere status.

In a world as bleak as Arknights’ and specially Kazimierz, Maria is no doubt naive to the point of frustration... But it is that which we call naive that makes a knight’s knight: Chivalry forged from ideals, sacrifice’s blunt borne from beliefs. The easy way out would’ve ultimately doomed her story, hence why she did not just move in with Zofia, hence why she did not just succeed Kowal and accept his workshop, hence why did not accept a sponsorship: It never was about that.

The very first event of the game, Grani’s Treasure, takes place in Kazimierz as well, but in the isolated outskirts, and we see hard-working, honest people, inhabitants of a nice little scenic hamlet. Now, we see what Kazimierz really looks like: A sprawling megalopolis of neon and concrete where the system shamelessly feeds on whoever sticks out their neck. The contrast couldn’t be harsher, and any hell is upheld by its demons: Czarny was a fascinating character, in that he very clearly held a lot of influence and power... And was extremely replaceable. The moment he messed up badly enough, he was instantly replaced by just whoever the hell picked up the phone next. It’s chilling. One puppet performed poorly? Irrelevant, there’s an endless supply who’ll take his place, provided enough fear and funds. Fear and money. The two currencies of Kazimierz. When a shadow council can just appoint you as the next Spokesman just on basis of you having picked up a phone without any real background check beyond “the previous Spokesman likely intended for this next sack of meat to pick up his phone in case he messed up”, well, congratulations, you’ve crafted a terrifying capitalist hellscape. No wonder Margaret hates Kazimierz so much, given the rot brewing in its underbelly and upper echelons.

And to all this, I have to say: It’s lovely. I loved the world building, implicit and explicit, I loved the cast, I love the themes explored and how characters were used to juxtapose these.

I feel it kinda drops the ball at the end by just... Not having a conclusion? It just sort of ends, which is very weird because events tend to be good at concluding themselves. I assumed we’d get some post-Challenge stages cutscenes to tie everything up like in the past but... No, not really, it didn’t happen. Margaret swoops in, the sisters perform the Ultimate Kamehameha on the Sarkazian Knights, and then it sort of ends one brief talk later. It needed a bigger epilogue, for sure. But this doesn’t ruin the event or anything, just a bit of a weak ending, everything else is still delightful and I loved it very much.

So yeah! The horses sure were wonderful!

Specter is the kind of lady who fixes her containment after breaching it.

Specter and Kal’tsit very likely have a tacit understanding of what constitutes “containment” for her: 

Specter is entirely cooperative and very clearly at Rhodes Island of her own volition, with the containment being a necessary precaution because Specter does have bouts of psychosis, and in one of those, she could hurt someone else, which is extremely concerning when the subject has a level of strength where she can toss cars around and is, more worryingly, practically impossible to put down before she causes permanent damage, be that to personnel or materiel. So she stays in her hospital room like a good shark most of the time. As we learned in Grani And The Knight’s Treasure, Specter’s room is in fact off-limits and you need special clearance to access it. Kal’tsit was pretty peeved that Skadi went in there.

I like to think that the door is actually only locked from outside, and that Specter can easily open it from within, probably with something simple like a captcha-level process just to make sure she’s not going loca at the moment, because sometimes, the ocean calls and it calls you a pussy, and you need to respond in kind by getting in the pick-up truck with ya girls Skadi and Andreana to give it a piece of your mind.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m pretty sure Specter and Kal’tsit have a tacit understanding of:

Specter: “Hey, I know I’m dangerous, so please lock me if I’m not needed elsewhere”  Kal’tsit: “Understandable, I’ll keep you in a medical room to monitor your condition at all times.”  Specter: “Thanks, hey, sometimes, I need to go inflict unspeakable harm and cataclysmic suffering to procedurally generated Bloodborne bosses in the ocean, it’s instinctual and I NEED to answer the call, for I am bound by blood to do so.”  Kal’tsit: “I know a lot about Aegir and I know about this, you can go and do that whenever you need to.”

So basically, a Specter containment breach is her gently stepping out of her room, leaving a note that reads “be back later, will bring Deep Sea Doritos”, walking into Amiya in the hallway, saying “Hello, Miss Amiya, thank you for your efforts today as well, I hope you have a wonderful rest of the evening,” Amiya asking “Oh, Giant Deep Sea Monstrosity tonight as well?”, Specter nodding, and Amiya going about her way back to watch Jerma in her room with Rosmontis after a long day of working because she wants NOTHING to do with the tentacled megamonsters, she already has to deal with Reunion and Lungmen around the clock, and she needs her beauty nap, and nine hours later, Amiya sees Kal’tsit in her office eating Deep Sea Doritos and thinks to herself “Wau. They did it again. Let us never speak of this ever again.”

The more I read Files, the more it becomes outright hilarious just how much shit is going on in the Arknights world.

First of all, obviously, you have Amiya leading Rhode Island in support of all Infected and trying to work alongside Lungmen to subdue Reunion.

But also, simultaneously, you have the Church trying to get the drop on SilverAsh for not being a slave to tradition via full-on subterfuge shadow war and political powerplays, such as making his sister, Pramanix, the Pope just so they have control and “supervision” over her, and thus a way to hurt SilverAsh.

ALSO, Specter, Skadi, Deepcolor and Blue Poison sneak out of Rhode Island without telling anyone every other night in order to live out their very own Bloodborne hell, fighting giant deep sea monsters in secret for some purpose we do not know a thing about, and then they return to Rhode Island and pretend they don’t know each other.

BUT WAIT, MEANWHILE, at Rhine Labs, Saria, Silence, Ifrit, and possibly Ptilopsis were involved in Some Stuff that apparently resulted in Ifrit becoming as she is right now, and then they broke her out of there, BUT Saria and Silence don’t talk anymore unless it’s to fight, with the former taking some distance from Silence and Ifrit, while Ptilopsis is just a very enigmatic presence.

AND THEN there’s the whole incident that occurred to Zima and the rest of her friends at Chernobog during the Reunion uprising that led to its destruction. We know they survived it, obviously, because they are now at Rhode Island. We have no idea how they survived it, we have no idea what they survived, all we know is that it left some nasty mental scars on everyone involved and they refuse to speak about it.

And this is not getting into Kazimierz having sunk so low that the more distant villages, such as the one in the Grani And The Knight’s Treasure event, outright get completely neglected to the point it’s more accurate to refer to them as an independent settlement by now, and the formerly glorious Knights of Kazimierz have become petty bandits with government permission to just do whatever they want, and it’s become so bad that a group of people in Kazimierz formed the Scionless Order, which expressly dedicates itself to assassinating Knights due to how terrible they’ve become to the people they were supposed to protect. The shadowy order of Knight-Assassins is considered the good guys.

There is so much going on in the Arknights world at the same time.