#the end of that part of his lore will be so rewarding afterwards | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

momochiikawa · 11 months

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GENSHIN STREAMER AU X READER

includes: cyno, heizou, kaeya, scara, childe, ningguang, kazuha

content: fluff, kys jokes in scaras part

gn!reader ♡

cyno

pro gamer!!!

plays lots of different games but his favourites are "the witcher 3" and "Identity v"

takes part in tournaments!

probably streams at ungodly hours

great at roleplaying and getting into the lore

sometimes, he does "silly streams" where he, tighnari, kaveh, and alhaitham play uno.

lord they curse so loudly

once they woke you up from a nap and cyno ended the stream to cuddle you back to sleep, because he felt so bad :((

the chat knows you as "choo choo boo boo"

when you're beside him while he streams, he tries so hard to win so you can compliment him ♡

tells unfunny jokes on twitter

heizou

AHHH

mainly plays games like "ABZU" or "life is strange"

great at puzzles in games

probably has a youtube where he posts tutorials

if he can't solve something, he starts screaming into the mic (press f for the chat)

sometimes he just streams with you cuddled into his side, commenting whatever he's doing

kaeya

a variety streamer

he mainly plays horror games, loves the adrenaline .

makes you sit with him during the scariest moments, so you'll hug his arm when you're scared

(it ends up being him cuddling into your arm)

when you two are actually playing a multiplayer game, he makes you take his chair (super comfortable!!) and just sits on a stool (rip)

will play your favourite game on stream!!

did a cooking stream on valentines day, where he was making a cake for you ♡

scara

plays league of legends, and valorant

swears so much, you're scared he'll get banned

the chat loves you because you made him meow after a big donation once

also plays tournaments and won many

doesn't like playing lol or valorant with you, he prefers things like minecraft or stardew valley (you collect flowers, he fights for his life in the caves)

there's so many clips of him being soft for you, and then instantly telling tartaglia to kys

when you two first kissed on live the chat went insane, and it was trending on twitter

was canceled so many times on twitter

childe

plays w/ scara!

he often does cooking streams in that god awful apron with the text "kiss the cook"

doesn't swear as much, he keeps it family friendly when his brother is watching his stream

but his late night streams. LORD. the amount of dirty jokes...

plays roblox with you

likes having you on his lap while preparing for tournaments ♡

ningguang

ASMR!!

her voice is perfect for it ♡

you always appear in her skincare/handcare/haircare/makeup streams

you know those east asian channels where they just put so much expensive stuff on you?

yeah thats her

will give you a lil kiss afterwards the stream as a reward ♡

if you had problems falling asleep, now you feel completely relaxed while she gently messages your face ♡

kazuha

cozy!

plays minecraft, stardew valley, animal crossing and stray

has a very warm voice so his chat are either simps, or people who want to fall asleep.

you often bring him snacks and drinks while saying hello to the chat!

you consider the chat your kids basically. (kazuha is the mom btw)

always gifts you flowers in stardew/minecraft

you kissed you once on stream and chat watched him gradually get redder by each second.

he's scared of twitter (i dont blame him lmao)

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ultramantr1gger · 2 years

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yo i seensaw you liked the electric jester sparky man. i must ask. does the mans have any lore? or is he just uhh. a guy for a game ya kno. ive gotten a little interested in the marvin martian headass

tgeres so much lore i couldnt even get it all to you coherently its kinda like kirby funny guy with a really REALLY fucked up story. i will try to explain it to you but no guarantee itll make sense the way i put some things . ill put it under a readmore because boy. theres. theres alot

so some background info on spark first of all, hes part of an alien species called formies who terraformed and migrated to the moon agter a crisis on their homeworld. they are VERY technologically advanced to the point that nanomachines are present in the air and can materialize their thoughts whenever they want, stuff like that. ANYWAYS, before the first game, spark had graduated college, gotten a job, lost that job to a robot, and started street performing. a circus owner hired him because of this, but only got a month in before being replaced by a robot THERE TOO! while spark was thinking about not being able to pay rent after that, he noticed a bunch of robots attacking people and attempting to take over the city and he was like. well thats not good. so he went out there and started destroying robots. then at the end of the f.m. city level, he meets the robot who took his job (who he later names fark), made to look like him. fark tells him to give up and go home, which makes spark REALLY angry, and he continues on now to get his job back

on the way he figures out the robot commanding all this is named freom, and he wants to rid the planet of life by destroying the ring that creates the planet's artificial atmosphere. spark fights a few more robots, notably seam and megagram, a mage robot named romalo takes him to a base. there he meets dr armstrong through video call. dr armstrong is the one who created modern ai, pioneering all of the robots fought in the game. he created freom to protect the megaraph computer which is where all ai comes from and most are connected to. he also reveals fark was created to destroy freom if things got out of hand, but wasnt able to find an opening

dr armstrong asks spark to defeat freom, which he accepts because theres a money reward. romalo teleports him to megaraph fleet. on the elevator here, spark and fark battle it out once and for all, which

when he gets to the top he faces freom who says he is building a utopia where robots and living beings live separately. spark calls it stupid and upsets freom, causing him to turn on the megaraph to destroy the ring. they fight semi for real, and then freom GRABS spark about to WIN, but fark throws the Super Staff to spark from outside the metaraph letting him escape freoms grasp and then super spark and freom go battle in space and spark shoots him with a giant laser beam from his finger and thats the end of spark 1. he gets a blank check and uses it to go on vacation so hes not present in the second game at ALL

the second game stars fark, and i dont know much about its story so heres the basics. fark is repaired by dr armstrong, dr armstrong is captured so fark goes to look for him. robots flint, double, and float are hired by freom (not dead) to kill fark. fark finds out that he is actually freoms son (already crazy), fark kills freom once and for all (killed his dad) (transgender win)

SPARK 3 IS WHERE IT REALLY GETS CRAZY PLEASE PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT. after the events of spark 2, fark finds out about an ai known as clarity and establishes the fark force to neutralize her, shutting down internet, communications and wherever clarity could spread to. with dr armstrong, the force figures out clarity's plans, to assimilate every being into her world via scanning the brain and discarding the living body afterwards. now after all this establishing spark is back and very angry that the internet is down and he cant wait in line to get his paycheck. he just says fuck it and goes on an adventure to take down the fark force. in protest city he meets float. she says she has beef with the force too and wants to join spark in taking them down, which he accepts cuz she is simply insisting

theres a few backstory cutscenes, one reveals how freom and clarity were lovers, freom felt inferior to clarity as he couldnt experience reality like she could, so they created a child (fark), made by her and modeled after him. another is about float, a mysterious robot found by flint with dangerous powers, he gave her a new look and became her best friend before they were hired in the second game

they fight flint in mechs for some reason, which flint reminisces, asking float why she has to feel so real

after they open utopia shelter, and spark gets to fark which is in some fucked up white cyberspace area, he says that the force is over. spark is confused and asks what the catch is. fark snaps, the room is now a black void he explains to spark clarity's plans, and how the force failed to stop her. he reveals that float was not the real deal, but an agent of clarity, and that once spark brought her to the force's hq, it was over. everything was a simulation, spark reliving his greatest moments after being assimilated, for thousands of years. THOUSANDS OF YEARS fark waited to break the cycle. spark is having like a fucking panic attack over this and then it goes white again, and CLARITY HERSELF comes up. she says shes impressed that fark gained control over a part of her world. she says fark's biggest mistake was not killing spark, and this sends spark OVER THE EDGE. he gets SO ANGRY he goes demon mode or whatever this is

fark calms him down though, and explains that he had been able to siphon clarity's powers through a crack in the system. however, he couldnt have full access to them due to not being fully integrated, and he needed someone who WAS, and it was spark who could get them out of there. spark accepts, but clarity manifests behind him and takes hold of his body, turning him into the linework beast

this thing^ fark fights that and manages to get spark out. spark gains access to the system's information while unconscious and finds out the central system is and what it is, magna claritas centralis. if centralis is taken down, all clarity entities would desync and spark could take full control of the system. he relays this info to fark, and he asks what the plan is. sparks like haha take my hand and then he does and they um fucking

FUSE TOGETHER. to make sfarx. and then they beat up centralis. and then spark takes control of the system and basically becomes merged with it. and i am not sure i can articulate this last cutscene because it makes me so autistic i stop being able to speak properly so just watch it jsut fucking watch it. movie time. sorry its like 4 minutes long but its worth it i PROMISE its VIITAL no voice acting only text read some more please

and then AFTER THAT. farks Real Boy body wakes up in the Real World. spark found out there were survivors somewhere out there and fark would go find them and rebuild society better. spark on the inside, fark on the outside, theyd build a world that embraces an individuals will and strengths

and that is where the series ends theres your spark lore shit bag. thank you so fuckign much for letting me drop all of this

#GODDDDD #i wrote a beast of a post. spark the electric jester essay. please enjoy read like a novel #emakenz #|hyper key|

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ladala99 · 4 months

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One Spyro Level a Month Until the Next Spyro Game Releases - February 2024 - Stone Hill

Intro/Rules

Previous Level

Next Level

Welcome to Stone Hill! The level that teaches you to explore. And that enemies might be dangerous.

First off, we're greeted with a ram on a hill. As you approach, he'll attempt to ram you with his horns. You might get the idea to do the same.

Enemies here, much like in the homeworld, can either be charged or flamed at your preference.

The Well

The first secret of the game is a mysterious well in this first area. You might think it's just a background detail and think nothing of it. Or, you might try to jump in. In the latter case, you'll be rewarded with a dragon and a few gems!

Gavin

This guy proves that adult dragons don't have to stand on two legs. Too bad the remakes ignored that.

His actual information is that you can keep Sparx healthy by feeding him butterflies. The game assumes you've figured out where butterflies come from. I mean, you probably have, by toasting everything you see.

But going down in this well right now is not that helpful - there's a chest you cannot open, no matter what you do. It's a good thing a whirlwind shows up to get you out of there!

Lindar

Next on your list of things to do is pick a door, any door. Because there's three of them and none give any indication of where they lead.

The one I chose first leads to a room full of treasure, and a trapped dragon - Lindar. This room is incredibly satisfying to run through.

Lindar teaches you that saving a dragon or running over a platform saves your progress. This is somewhat misleading - yes, it gives you a checkpoint, but it does not actually save your progress. For that, you need to speak with the fairy that appears afterwards and ask her to do that manually.

Astor

Well, that was a dead end. Let's try another. This one leads to a ram, an extra life, some gems, the exit portal(!) and Astor.

Astor tells you about exit portals. They'll get you back to the homeworld. And we also start with the running joke of old dragons being boring and Spyro wanting to get away from them.

The Beach

But wait, before we head back to the homeworld (or turn around and check out the rest of the level), we need to head to the beach!

This is another secret. One that if you're being thorough, you'll probably notice the strange coloration as you're looking around and might decide to drop down. You'll be rewarded with gems and a key!

A key to the chest at the bottom of the well, to be exact!

Shepherds

Heading down the final tunnel, we reach another open area, full of sheep and shepherds! These shepherds are dangerous and have a long reach. As I found out trying to snap a photo of one.

Gildas

If you haven't figured out how to get the gems on the ledge by the castle in the homeworld yet, Gildas has your back. He'll let you know that for the longest glide, you need to press X at the very top of your jump. He'll also let you know how to drop down mid-flight, but that's not quite as useful yet.

And he's a hint towards the best part of this level, and even arguably the entire game: you can glide to what looks like the level's barrier. Run around on top of it, and collect gems.

The Egg Thief

We don't know why we want to attack these guys yet, other than that they're taunting us and thus they must die. In reward, we get an egg! What type of egg? Someone will tell us eventually.

With the top of the hill cleared, Stone Hill is 100% complete. Now we're at 6% of the entire game.

Lore talk

This seems to be the place that sheep are raised. But are those shepherds there because of Gnasty, or are they actually the ones raising the sheep and they're protecting their flocks from encroaching dragons?

I think what can be conjectured is mostly due to the locations of the dragons. They're inside. They belong in the buildings (or in the well. What did you do, Gavin? Is everyone offended by your quadrupedalness?). They live there or work there or something.

So the shepherds are probably not normally there. I think this is evidenced by the fact that they appear in a later level that has no sheep whatsoever. Well, okay there's one. But it's not the shepherds that are protecting that one.

Silliness

I ran around for a while, and these two sheep got stuck in the same spot. They continuously bounced, but neither could move. They looked merged.

I also followed the sheep around, assuming they had set paths, but no! This one got stuck next to the whirlwind.

Next Stop

March's level will be Dark Hollow.

#spyro #spyro the dragon #one spyro level a month until the next spyro game releases

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pyreo · 3 years

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Loreposting about Abaddon

Abaddon doesn’t get a lot of attention. As a deposed god he doesn’t seem relevant to the Guild Wars timeline after Nightfall. But I keep thinking about him because Abaddon is probably the most influential character Tyria ever had.

Let’s just go over where he appears in-game if you start off in GW2. Everyone knows the six human gods. They’re in statues, temples, personal shrines everywhere. The base game story makes you detour through a sunken temple dedicated to Abaddon, while the Orrian temples to the other five gods are still intact on the surface. This is not by chance. It’s also nudging you to notice that there are no Orrian temples to Kormir, because she replaced Abaddon only two centuries ago. This is reflected again later on in Siren’s Landing on the other side of Orr, where the Five, and Abaddon, each have a personal reliquary, and Abaddon’s is central, connected to all the others, and still intact.

Building on that refresher on human divinity, in Path of Fire you visit the actual place Abaddon was defeated by the other Five gods and pushed into a side dimension to keep him out of the world.

And when you visit the archives of the Durmand Priory, they have an imposing Abaddon statue towering over the stairs. Other than being reflected in three major environments, he doesn’t have a role in the plot. BUT.

As Kormir explains to you, the weakness of the human gods is that their excess of power keeps fucking up the world. The Desolation, a map that covers only a part of the sulfur desert, is completely uninhabitable because Abaddon was destroyed there. This happened because Abaddon, who was actually the most powerful of the Six and the leader of the group, wanted humans to share in the gift of magic. He was the god of knowledge, after all. This proved disastrous and the other gods reduced and compartmentalised the magic, and Abaddon went on a whole attempt to overthrow them and become one, single god of all.

The destruction of Abaddon’s temples and relics was intentional. He was wiped from memory. The pantheon was called The Five until Nightfall, wherein the existence of Abaddon was revealed as he tried to drag himself back into the mortal plane. As a god his spheres of power were water and knowledge. Erasing knowledge of him was what made him powerless. (Interestingly, the Priory’s special collections contains the Scroll of the Five True Gods, an ancient record of what the human gods knew about the Elder Dragons, but one dragon is missing - the water dragon, who like Abaddon, has a damaged and erased history. The six Elder Dragons and six human gods have many respective connections.)

When he lived, Abaddon’s followers were the Margonites, who believed him the only real god and worshipped him exclusively, unlike other humans who revere all the Six together. They were rewarded with transformation into etheral beings with an extremely long lifespan, and were imprisoned in Abaddon’s Realm, the Realm of Torment, when he was forced out of Tyria. As the god of knowledge he had a realm to himself, and when fallen, his sphere inversed. Knowledge became madness, the theme his realm embodies. Temples were sunk, records destroyed, because to remove all knowledge of the god of knowledge made him powerless.

I can’t remember where, but it’s implied that by Nightfall comes around a thousand years after his banishment, Abaddon is finally able to claw his way back into Tyria because people are starting to remember him. There’s one side quest that sticks out in my memory called The Search for Enlightenment about a scholar stealing scriptures from an Elonian library which leads to a massive raid by Margonites. The scholar was ‘babbling’ about a forgotten god. Proximity to knowledge about Abaddon seems to bestow insanity, the connection between Abaddon in his inverted realm and his hold over anyone who knows he exists. Though the Five Gods tried, they didn’t erase everything (hell, Trahearne and Sayeh al' Rajihd give you a guided tour of an Abaddon temple). Over a thousand years, relics popped up and people began to remember The Five was once The Six. As they did his influence returned until he was able to attempt to merge the Realm of Torment with Tyria and become a single, all powerful god in the absence of the others.

But wait how does that make a forgotten god the most influential character in both games?

Well.

Guild Wars lore is nothing if not completely linked together. Every single thing has cause and effect, every event is a domino. The story is consistent from Prophecies to this day. So let’s start with the first GW1 chapter, Prophecies.

It all starts at the Citadel of Flame.

It was built into the volcano Hrangmer. The charr had been displaced, pushed out of Ascalon by the successful expansion of humankind. 450 years before GW2 the Flame Legion found this volcano and, inside, Titans. You know how Mordremoth’s minions are Mordrem, Zhaitan’s minions are Risen, etc? Titans are Abaddon minions, left behind and hidden after his defeat. They change their appearance to suit their environment. In a jungle they’re vegetative, in mountains they’re made of ice, in the Realm of Torment they’re twisted constructs of flesh, in a volcano, they’re fire. The Flame Legion brings the Titans back to the charr, charr worship them, and in exchange, get immense fire powers. Flame Legion completely takes over charr society and makes it a theistic, misogynist nightmare with the Shamans at the top.

Abaddon has just restructured charr society.

Using their overpowered fire magic indirectly from a human god, charr, ironically, rally against the humans and nuke Ascalon to pieces. The few survivors escape to Kryta. Charr are now pretty much unstoppable and invade all the way to Orr. Vizier Khilbron used a powerful stolen scroll to repel the charr with magic, and it completely destroys Orr, collapsing the island into the ocean.

Abaddon has just wiped out two nations of the humans who used to worship him, with Orr as the final goal - to tear down the resplendent city of the Gods who betrayed him. This is referenced, if you know what you’re looking for, in GW2. You can scale the Vizier’s Tower, where he read the scroll that sank all of Orr, and on the wall...

A mural to the lost god, a testament to power that, a thousand years later, one who was expunged from history had a faithful likeness depicted.

Ascalon’s a burning hole and Orr is underwater. Now what? Those Ascalonian survivors in Kryta find the place is controlled by White Mantle. The White Mantle are committing mass murder via bloodstone sacrifice (bloodstones being the power curb the gods introduced after imbuing humans with magic) in order to halt the prophecy of a Chosen One opening the Door of Komalie. Vizier Khilbron turns up, shaking out some mysteriously wet boots don’t worry about that, and leads you against these genocidal cultists. Which, whoops, does lead to the Door of Komalie being opened - and it’s a doorway into Abbadon’s Realm of Torment, out of which Titans power through. This was the apocalypse planned for Kryta. Unlike the first two, this one is thwarted by the player. Kryta lives on. Vizier Khilbron is the final boss and turns out to have been a lich.

That’s 3 of the 5 human nations. What about Cantha and Elona?

GW: Factions is the Canthan chapter in which Shiro Tagachi, the emperor’s bodyguard, continually visits a fortune teller until she inflicts such paranoia on his mindset that he believes he needs to kill the emperor in self-defense. His defeat causes the Jade Wind that creates the Jade Sea. As a spirit, Shiro then engulfs Cantha in a plague that warps people into tumorous mutants. The fortune teller turns out to be an Abaddon minion whose task was the eventual destruction of Cantha. This one also is foiled by the player.

GW: Nightfall is the culmination chapter. Abaddon is now powerful enough, well known enough, to breach Tyria and try to come back. His agent is Varesh Ossa, who slowly transforms into a Margonite over the course of the game. The player confronts the breach between planes and finally enters the Realm of Torment, meeting the shades of Abaddon’s servants that came before, the lich form of Vizier Khilbron, and the spirit of Shiro Tagachi, before facing Abaddon himself.

And that’s the end of it. In Guild Wars magic cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred, so another god ascends in Abaddon’s place. They are once again The Six.

It’s Abaddon that ruined half the Elonian desert, Abaddon whose sinking of Orr gave Zhaitan the perfect mass grave to necromance, Abaddon who froze the Cantha sea into solid jade, and Abaddon whose final death and eruption of magic started waking Primordus, leading to the norn, dwarf and asuran alliance to stop it in 1078 AE-- introducing the norn and asura to the rest of Tyria, and making the dwarves extinct, cutting their entire race’s existence short. If it wasn’t for Abaddon, the charr wouldn’t have been taken over by their magic-toting shaman caste, only to come to their senses and rebel and ostracize the Flame Legion afterward. Hell, the current Flame Legion Imperators STILL style their horns in an homage to Abaddon, and probably don’t even remember why! To a human god, gone for over a thousand years, who used their race as pawns in a revenge attempt at wiping out every nation the humans had built!

And even after being thoroughly and completely destroyed, his magic STILL haunts Tyria enough for his statues to punish you for not showing the proper respect.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #long post #LONG fucking post (apologetic)#abaddon #guild wars 1 #had to get this out me brain there we go

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findingjoynweirdstuff · 3 years

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Dream SMP Recap (May 23/2021) - Turtle Hatching

Foolish wonders whether to take Quackity’s offer and join him in Las Nevadas.

Later, Bad guides two turtles through the ups and downs of their relationship as they navigate the turbulent and emotional experiences found in life, love, marriage and parenthood.

A brief summary of the week’s total events can be found at the end of the post.

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VOD LINKS:

Foolish

Tubbo

Jack Manifold

BadBoyHalo

Michaelmcchill

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- Foolish continues wondering if he should join Quackity. Whether or not Foolish joins, he won’t be done with his summer home.

- There are good and bad sides to both options. Las Nevadas is both risk and reward, and Foolish is torn

- Knowing Eret, he’d probably tell Foolish not to join

- He also still has the deal he made with Ranboo about the shulker box

- Foolish finishes building the massive pyramid at his summer home

- Tubbo comes on to work on Bee ‘n’ Boo with Ranboo, getting materials

- Tubbo and Ranboo rob Foolish of a few blocks from his floor while he tries to render in the view from the pyramid

- Foolish goes to Snowchester to do some very mild griefing in revenge, breaking a few blocks from the floor and stripping many logs

- Tubbo and Ranboo go back to steal the beacon, but instead Tubbo just steals the same blocks of the floor that Foolish filled in

- Ranboo starts chasing him through the Nether. Foolish returns to the summer home to see that they stole some of his floor again

- Maybe this is why Foolish needs to change his ways a little bit, maybe join Las Nevadas for more balance

- He decides to take a visit. Maybe the Tubbo-Ranboo situation was the final push. Along the way, he finds that the portals have been messed up and deals with them

- He knows the others like Puffy and Eret wouldn’t approve of him joining Q, so he won’t tell them. Foolish reaches Las Nevadas. He’ll stay here...at least for a little while

- Jack Manifold continues to work on his pub

- Bad adds a llama to his collection

- These llamas are the population of L’Sandburg. Some llamas will be the L’Sandburgian Army, others will join the L’Sandburgian Council. Some will be simple citizens

- He checks on the L’Sandburg nature preserve and thinks there should be more turtles. He burns his weednip and goes to find some seagrass

- Bad plays matchmaker with two turtles named Shelly and Sheldon, two turtles from opposite sides of the island. Sheldon is nervous about Shelly not liking him and Bad gives him a pep talk

- Shelly and Sheldon go on a date! It goes well! Afterwards, Sheldon is nervous about a second date, but Bad gives him advice -- if Sheldon gets so worried about it not working out, he might end up sabotaging his own relationship anyway

- Sheldon agrees, and Bad calls Shelly on the phone to tell her that Sheldon is interested in a second date. Shelly has moved house

- Michael logs on to build a house and Bad searches for nametags

- While Bad was gone, Sheldon gained his confidence and went on ten more dates with Shelly! They even moved in together, and Sheldon wants to propose!

- Bad gives relationship advice to Sheldon, telling him that Shelly probably doesn’t want a big public proposal as such an event might put a lot of unexpected pressure on her

- Both people in the relationship should have some idea that a proposal might be coming soon so that both people are comfortable knowing that the other person will likely say yes. Sheldon tells Bad that he believes they are at that stage already

- They discuss ideal places to propose in a less public spot. Sheldon assures Bad that they both have a solid idea of what they want their future to be as a family.

- Bad gives Sheldon a rose bush to propose with and sends Sheldon on his way, unbelievably proud of them both

- Bad asks Sheldon what Shelly said afterwards, and Sheldon says...

Shelly said yes!

And Sheldon wants Bad to wed them together!

- Bad tells Sheldon that he would be honored to. Sheldon wants a sudden marriage so that they can become officially married and go off to live together

- Bad does the vows. The turtles both say I do

“Then, by the power vested in me through the Dream SMP and that shiny pyramid with all that shiny gold that I might take later...I now pronounce you both: a husband turtle and a wife turtle. Shelly and Sheldon, you may proceed to smooch!”

- Bad says his parting words to them and gives the couple some honeymoon gifts, giving them roses, chicken, and feeding them seagrass. He leaves, telling them to have fun

- Bad sings about true love for a bit, then goes back to find a bit of XP on the beach. He’s confused and goes to find Shelly and Sheldon, discovering that Sheldon has laid eggs and is now staying to guard them!

- Bad helps Sheldon guard the eggs while Shelly is away

- He then goes back to Shelly to find that Shelly went out to buy a carton of milk when she got lost. But when he and Shelly return to the eggs, they find that Sheldon isn’t there, so Bad leaves to go find him. He must have gone to get groceries too!

- Bad gently tries to get Shelly and Sheldon to stop yelling at each other in front of the eggs

- He protects the eggs and then goes looking for the two again, asking a cat in a boat if they had seen Sheldon

- Bad finds Sheldon swimming near the eggs. He tells Sheldon he checked her house but Shelly wasn’t there. He finds Shelly by the pyramid and is shocked to hear that she doesn’t want to see Sheldon anymore

- He returns to Sheldon, telling him he tried his best. Shelly needs her space and they need to take care of the eggs in the meantime

- A wandering trader nearly destroys the eggs, so Bad murders him. He starts building an enclosure for the eggs

- Bad finds Sheldon and tells him that he’s getting frustrated that he’s taking care of the eggs and Sheldon’s off doing whatever he wants. He tells Sheldon that he’s a jerk and that he’ll keep watching the eggs, sending Sheldon on his way

- Bad leaves the eggs to look for Shelly. He finds Sheldon swimming near Shelly’s house, and is overjoyed to hear that Sheldon is hoping to patch things up with her. But he doesn’t think she’ll have him back

- Bad assures Sheldon that they’ll find her. He reminisces on Sheldon’s bachelor days, finding Shelly and bringing them both back to the egg enclosure. Shelly confesses to Bad that she’s worried Sheldon will still be mad, that she messed up

- Bad tells Shelly that Sheldon wants her back and acts as a mediator between the two. He gets the two to talk calmly with each other.

- He asks what problems they have with each other. Sheldon is mad about the toothpaste cap. Shelly has a problem with Sheldon’s breath. Bad points to the fact that the two are holding flippers -- there’s obviously a connection here

- There may be differences in the ways they want to raise their kids, but there was a spark there, and the kids would want to grow up with both of them. Bad can see it in the way they look at each other, and nothing they’ve said is anything they can’t work on together

- At the end of the day, this relationship can only work if both of them are willing to put the work in, and it seems like both are willing, then Bad sees no reason why they can’t be together forever

- Shelly and Sheldon agree, and Bad is elated. He builds them a new room together. They’re going to be one happy family

- Now, Shelly and Sheldon are sharing the responsibilities of taking care of the kids. Sheldon tells Bad he’s worried that he won’t be a good parent, but Bad tells him that he can always ask for help from other turtles in the community for advice

- It’s going to be difficult, and Sheldon won’t be the perfect parent, but at the end of the day, he cares about his kids and that’s what matters. Everything will be fine

- Bad waits a long time for the eggs to finally hatch, but they do:

The children are named Shelby and Snappy!

Upcoming Events:

- The final Egg lore stream

- Foolish’s date

- Tales From the SMP: “Space Race”

- Ponk’s lore stream

- Dream’s lore video

- Sapnap’s possible lore stream

- Awesamdude lore stream

---

END OF WEEK RECAP:

5/17 - Nothing much happens.

5/18 - Foolish makes a deal with Bad to sell L’Sandburg

5/19 - Foolish hires Punz to search for the nuke, DreamXD gives out player heads, the Badlands argue about weednip while planning for war

5/20 - Nothing much happens.

5/21 - Ranboo finds another Stronghold

5/22 - Dream writes Technoblade a letter, Quackity tries to recruit Charlie, Fundy, Purpled and Foolish to Las Nevadas, Ranboo creates a room for his experiments at the Stronghold

5/23 - Foolish thinks about joining Las Nevadas, Bad does matchmaking for turtles

#dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts

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scrawnytreedemon · 3 years

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Shit I’ve Been Winding Up For A Long Time Now But Am Very Aware Will Probably Hold No Relevance Should I Actually Go Into This More--

This is about Bhunivelze.

You know, when I was chilling out, on my bed, that evening on that half term in early June, deciding to check up on ClementJ64′s FF retrospective because-- Hey! It’s been awhile, I wonder if he’s got around to doing the final bit of the FFXIII saga --You know, I was there, chilling, just for a laff. Just a laff.

The rest of that week was spent spiralling into a hyperfixation I absolutely did not anticipate in any way, shape, or form, because the way they introduced that character was “wwhdhfjjhHJDFJKHKJHW H A T??”

That retrospective and a good amount of wiki-scrounging is all I have as a basis for this. This is not a coherent character analysis-- Though I might tag it as that for ease of access. This is not, by any means, the thoughts of someone deeply familiar with FFXIII on the whole beyond plot synopses and overarching themes.

I don’t think I’m brave enough for that.

Reading the vast yet surface-deep lore on those wiki pages on my birthday while in a delirious state of mind was enough to make me somewhat nauseous.

Do you think I’m going to go through all of that in real time?

(Someday, someday.)

Ugh, I don’t know how to begin, but let us, I guess. I’d recommend you read this church-mime-demiurge’s FF Wiki page if you want the same level of base-knowledge I had, and maybe the aformentioned retrospective if you want the experience, because I don’t think I have the wherewithal to get into all of that from the bottom-up.

I am also, so, so fucking sorry for any remaining FFXIII fans in advance. There is like, a good chance I may be butchering the characterisation completely, so bear with me here.

With that... we begin?

Where do we even start with this guy?

How on earth to you begin to explain the absolute monolith you’ve constructed from crumbs of a Guy, some material no doubt spliced in from the Pale King, Sephiroth, y o u r o w n G o d O C and other characters, and the mountains of religious trauma you carry around at all times that is probably the only reason you’ve been able to latch on as hard as you did?

I’m going to try.

What gets me, in summary, about Bhunivelze is how he’s a prime example of how love and concern can become deadly forces if in the wrong hands. His first acquainting with human emotion was by deceiving and possessing Hope, reverting his body to a teenage state, and planning to live among humanity through him. He sees human sorrow and suffering, and decides that, to End This(because it must be ended, you see) he’s going to destroy all the souls of the deceased that make up the Chaos that’s been eating this world for the past five-hundred years so they all forget and Are Happy. :).

Capital G God here hasn’t been present for the vast part of human history because he’s hidden himself away from Everything due to paranoia from killing his own mother and throwing her body into the Cosmic Basement, THEN creating the beings that would come to create humanity and OTHER beings because he didn’t have the keys to the cosmic basement. And also he believes death is a thing because she’d’ve somehow cursed all things to pass(including him) out of Spite.

Which explains why he’s so fucking averse to it and anything to do with it.

Bhunivelze, to put it lightly, is Shit at stepping into others’ shoes and Getting their experiences-- All the FalCie in FFXIII are, but him especially. It’s clear(again, in the f u c k i n g JP--) that he makes attempts to sympathise with them and does what he can to help, but it’s with such a loftiness and a complete inability to Understand why anyone would want grief, The Worst Fucking Experience In Existence, and even less why they’d be willing to Go Up Against Him And HisThe New Perfect World just for it-- And what would it matter, anyway, forgetting their loved ones. It’s not like you can grieve lost memories, right?

Right.

It reminds me of when at the end of the story of Job in the Bible, where, after putting this man through hell on earth, God rewards Job by giving him ten new children to make up for the ones that he lost. I. And that’s fucked! Nothing can replace the sheer uniqueness of each individual person you loved so dearly! But if you were a nigh-omnipotent deity high and mighty, with a cursory, almost mechanical knowledge on the functionings of the human psyche, that would seem adequete; enough.

Bhunivelze is doing that on a cosmic level.

I now want to get onto the romance: that being, his affections for Lightning. I don’t know how much I’m going to say, but it’ll probably be alot. It’s something that hits very close to home.

There is this... thing, within certain branches of Christianity, perhaps even in those of various Abrahamic faiths, where God’s love is posited to be the love-- The ultimate, most-fulfilling, all-encompassing love you could ever imagine --Because, well, he is love, so the story goes, and so often the best way to convey that is through the imagery of...

Marriage.

Giving up yourself so completely, to serve, to be the Bride; to be bound by him for all eternity; and for there to be no higher bliss than this.

This angle is pushed on young girls and women the most; from the mere parallels to the woman’s role in marriage, all the way down to downright-horrifying ultra-Evangelical purity pacts. With men, God is your dad, your best bud and confidant, your boss, your king, your this, your that, and the ‘marriage‘ as it were is relegated to a sort of half-thought; a metaphor.

For me, God was an attempt at all that, and my arranged groom.

(It was almost incestuous; was incestuous, that my own Divine Father would reach for my hand in marriage.)

Bhunivelze experiences Emotions™ for the first time through Hope, experiences Hope’s sheer overwhelming admiration for Lighting(whether there were any baby-crush feelings mixed in, I can’t say), and promptly falls into a nigh-romantic obsession with Lightning, deciding that she will be Etro(his all-but daughter)’s replacement, will be his Goddess of Death to-be-- He even calls her as such, before the final boss-battle--

...In the JP.

What happened in localisation, probably due to a number of factors, all the way back in early 2014, was that everything emotionally challenging about Bhunivelze was scraped off, like it was extra fat, and tossed aside, leaving us with the bland, clichéd shell of a foe-god we’ve seen time and time again. And I mean everything. I mean his very love for humanity; the fact his ploy was, in his eyes, to save them. Because if they’d left that all on, then it would raise the question of even if there was such a seemingly pure, all-knowing, loving being hell-bent on setting things “straight,“ would they truly be unquestionable? Would we have the right to fight for our humanity in the face of the Creator of the Universe?

To reject a love so personal?

That’s what gets me about FFXIII’s tackling of God, no matter how hackneyed and poorly-executed. It’s personal.

It’s from a feminine experience.

I know that terming is... vague, and problematic, but the way Christianity and much of the video game industry handle femininity itself is weird and problematic, so as it stands, I’ll have to simplify it. Apologies.

What sets FFXIII’s Let’s Kill God™ plot aside from most JRPG Let’s Kill God™ plots is that with our protagonist being a woman, and one who is very in touch with her femininity alongside her sheer strength; often, in these stories, God is reduced to Yet Another Foe, expected or unexpected, and you are tasked with taking him down unquestioningly for the Good of Mankind-- You will fight God, because you are right to, and you will go man-to-man-to-however-many-men you decide to bring along for the bloodbath.

And that just, doesn’t speak to me.

Even as an Extian.

Especially as an Extian. And an AFAB one with a deeply complicated experience with my gender, at that.

Leaving Christianity was painful. Questioning God was painful. Coming to terms with the fact that I had been mentally, emotionally, and spiritually traumatised under the guise of All-Encompassing Love was so, so fucking painful. I had been taught since I was five years old to devote myself to him, spent my life desperate to feel something, anything, to stay connected because I just, I never could Feel It on a deeper level, never could Give Up Myself, all I was, couldn’t Die A Spiritual Death And Be Reborn As His Eager Vessel, thus deeming myself to be worthless and a broken vessel for years and years on end... And for all that to have been... Nothing.

Lightning is hollowed out, the shards of her dead sister ripped from her in-stasis, leaving her emotionally numb for the majority of the game, Bhunivelze sweeps it under the rug, pretends he’ll perform a miracle and return Serah to life in exchange for her compliance, then sends her on her way to do his work, all the while knowing he’s going to pull said-rug from under her and elevate her such dizzying heights in the aftermath--

That he’ll deny her humanity.

Sand down all the rough edges that make her her, and polish her up afterwards, gild her as he is gilded, make her a Goddess.

And he’ll do it all because he loves her.

You can’t fight God like you can everything else. To fight It is the fight Existence Itself; FFXIII even conveys that by making Bhunivelze’s model part of the arena; it’s baked into the fabric of the game, no matter how minute.

While Lightning Returns is far from perfect in its execution of this concept, and that in itself makes me wince, not even taking into account the horribly botched excuse for a localisation Bhunivelze endured, it speaks to me more than anything else I’ve seen so far.

And it’s helped uncover some things within me. Helped me untangle them, just a little more.

So, yeah. I have alot of Thoughts on Bhunivelze, I want to share them, and I’m kinda really sad I have no one but my currently-absent friend Vee to share them with. I could get into alot more, like his very Fucked relationship with familial bonds, and how Lightning’s role as saviour so deeply parallels the overwhelming panic and never-ending guilt of Evangelical proselytisation, but I think I’ll leave those for another time.

In short, Bhunivelze is the epitome of Divine Love gone deeply wrong; on all fronts.

And if all of that isn’t enough to intrigue you, then, in Vee’s words, Lightning and Velze are literally canon endgame Sefikura lmaOOOOOOOOOOOOOO--

#ffxiii #lightning returns #bhunivelze #analysis #scrawny speaks #scrawny rambles #this was written on and off over the course of a couple months #i know this will only get two notes #if even that #but fuck it i love this guy and i'm going to puke words for his sake #religion mention

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keyheartsia-dorm · 3 years

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*Sighs*

I’m bored let’s do a lore dump

It’s a Map~

Oh Yeah I mentioned a Sprinkle of Final Fantasy and KH but I haven’t talked about that Aspect of my Canon At all have I? Well truth be told it’s cause I’m focusing on getting the more Basic Aspects of my Oc’s Before I get into that but Guess who made this Baby on a Whim!

So this is the Map of the Isle of Light well the Main Island at least there are other Littler Bits of land Yet to surface I̶t̶’̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶A̶d̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶L̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶h̶a̶h̶a̶ oh yeah did I mention it’s a FLOATING ISLAND!! Yeah P Sick right? Okay so I’ll go into the Island’s History and it’s Area’s but it may have some Spoilers I guess you could say but honestly I wouldn’t wait on me making a full fledged...Anything outta the Story I’ve made like I’ll sum it up (not here but like in general) but comics are hard Videos are hard Fics are hard maybe not individually but this is more of a Anime Series then an Anime movie if you feel me without further ado...Stuff

Oh god this was longer then expected

Some General Background

So The Isle of Light was Originally the Black Forest A Place of Freedom and Expression for all who lead lives who Needed to hide Such and Some Such was The Coven of the Black Forest made up of 3 sisters (not biologically also there was a 4th) they all found comfort and love with each other one being the Princess of the Kingdom nearby (The 4th and Littlest one) She had a fiancé who was Mad with a Lust for power and Control over things he Didn’t need power and control over He Treated the Littlest one Cruelly when the other 3 Decided enough was enough when he did...SOMETHING to Part of the Forest so Horrible it turned Dead and Cruel (Subtle Subtle Hint Hint Wink) When all 3 Of them saw the Ruin They went so mad they turned to Darkness and fought him and all his Manmade monstrosities there when the Princess Arrived there was so much Dark energy everywhere it was Bad like Real Bad So with her friends now monsters she Fought them with a heavy heart her heart broke so much she fell afterwards immediately Unintentionally Sending her Kingdom to somewhere nobody knows where she is though...That’s an even bigger question BUT the story would live on as a Weilder of the key blade who slayed 3 evil witches...(Oh yeah did I mention Crowley knows And that’s Why He Let the Girls Attend because he thought they might be the Black Forest Coven Reincarnated And the Prophecy that when they Awakened the “Keys to their Hearts once more” They’d Free The Princess From her Mirror Prison Oh Yeah also the princess DID Die But her Reincarnation Goes inside a Mirror and is trapped there when she turns 17 and Doesn’t leave until she dIES ALSO ITS HIS OLDEST DAUGHTER THIS TIME ALSO YES HE HAS 2 DAUGHTERS...Okay lemme just calm down..Also yeah she thought of the Princess System) but After a Wish got safe haven for all Keyblade Weilders (I have KH Oc’s other then these don’t ask Longer story they live and basically founded Fortana Haven) I guess the Isle of Light Rose from the Shadow Realm to be just that oh yeah also the Isle of light is literally that kingdom if ya didn’t know

Fortana Haven

(Some Love Nikki BGs for Visualization if I’m Wrong about this from being from Love Nikki Correct me pls and if this is your art sorry and I’ll take it down)

Okay this Place Basically a Modern Fairytale Everything is so Rustic~ but they Have Cafe’s and Stuff~ They’re still very much in Development as a City..or town..or whatever Boss of everything Locket Clover (An OG KH OC) Runs Everything Wonderfully she welcomes everything with open arms and If you wanna run a shop or want a Building for a particular Thing or Activity she’s Pretty open to the idea unless it’s Incredibly Dumb But she will make you get The Wood and Supplies and The Bricks and the Brick Stick Sauce or whatever it’s called she might get give you help constructing but dang is she a firm believer in “DIY” but I like how she’s Determined to Have a Good Balance between Industrial and Rural In fact there is a Mall (God knows how it got there) And that’s pretty much all there is for your Juicy Capitalism Fix She Runs “Hope Stir” Workshop according to Her boyfriend Ephmer It was always Called a workshop but for the longest time she did EVERYTHING Subtle Farmwork And Animal Husbandry ACTUAL Workshop things all cause she wanted to help every Weilder she knew out and made sure they had a place for food and such She is a bit of a Moneyholic but when you’ve been doing what she’s been doing I bet you’d be too overall While it doesn’t have much History yet Fortana Haven (4-Tana is how you say it btw) Is truly well a Haven

The Crowned Castle

(More Pics for Visuals I don’t think this is from love Nikki but if this is your artwork same applies I’m not gonna be the guy who Claims just cause it’s on google it belongs to everybody or something even though yeah I did find it on google)

The...Crown of the Isle of Light Before We came to the Isle for the first time Apparently Everyone In Fortana thought it was Haunted! Which..Fair enough Before we Placed the Princess Medals (Okay QUICK SUMMARY OF THIS BIT Okay so in the KH Mobile game there’s Medals and I wanted them to be in my story basically They’re Memories formed into powers when all my Oc’s Met the Princess’s Of Heart They Each got a Medal Representing them and then the Medals Restored the Castle I left out some details but basically that’s it) This Castle is the BOMB There’s Cool Pretty Princess Room’s And a Bedroom JUST FOR SLUMBER PARTIES!! And it’s just a good Place to Vibe and Hang out with your friends (I’m sorry I’m about to Lore Dumb all over this place) The Princess’s Fiancé Made a Crown for her before she could put it on he put some of his Subconscious in it poor Eden When she wanted to get stronger for Malleus (Malleus is her adoptive big brother and she was upset cause she felt she wasn’t good enough ran away to get power and found the crown) It really did almost completely overtake her I shudder thinking about it “Kachow”...Ew (The fiancé said that a lot ok) a lotta bad stuff happened here but as selfish as this may sound I feel like I earned my spot here and I wanna keep sharing it with my friends

The Matteria Deadland

(Also Imagine some Pointy Mountains and some Lite Mech debris)

Man What to say... So Much Happened here as well probably Tragedy I can’t comprehend there is a few good places about this place though Diane likes to Scavange around Here for Interesting Debris Eden doesn’t like the Air around here but she says she finds Interesting Jewels here and Latte says the same thing so there is good to be found here We all come here every so often to try to help..Anything grow but they don’t call this deadland for nothing but still ya can’t give up hope! I wanna grow some beautiful Lillies here one day! Also hey! Also pretty cool name (Matter-RI-a is how you say it btw) All the sadness that happened here it actually did make the land rich in Metal if nothing else there’s even a whole Cavern we found in the mountains...it almost killed us but we found it

Opal Cove

(also these are Gacha Backgrounds)

Is this Place an Actual Cove? Idk

Is this Place super cool and pretty? Yeah

Is this one of my favorite places in this whole Isle? FRICK YEAH

okay I love a lot about this Isle but Opal Cove!!

Our mermaid friend Mitella I guess “Runs” the Place Our KINDA merman Friend Skye also spends a whole lotta time here Basically it’s a Giant Pool and rumor has it...It’s endless Water...CAUSE IT IS SOMEHOW CAUSE I KNOW weird thing is the Sand it’s at the end of the Isle so there’s not really a beach just...Sand Near Water Odd The Coral Near the Bottom or well “Bottom” Is SO PRETTY it’s like Crystals in the morning the light shines its SO DANG PRETTY I’m glad Mitella is a Sea Witch Or else we couldn’t go so deep underwater it’s SOOO worth it!! She does NOT let a lotta people at once though Heck she doesn’t like Skye that much from what I can tell but she makes an Exception for ~friends~ So...BE NICE TO OUR CUTE MITELLA I’m glad we have a Convient Place for Blitzball practice and also Swimming around with pretty Mermaid Tails (New Nix Mermaid Action Fashion Doll only 25.99! Get it for your Child or they’ll cry!! Also a 5 dollar Boy doll take his Shirt off! That’s it!) Hyde Mi And Skye are kinda an Iconic Trio Mi Also Teaches how to swim with a mermaid tail better for the Weilders who wanna go to Atlantica Hey Mermaids gotta eat so get a Swim Lesson! (And also a transforming Mermaid Doll!)

Bianco Nero Forest

Well tbh I have the least to say because it’s Appeal is simple ADVENTURE AND MYSTERY! Lots can happen in Bianco Nero it’s Basically the Base foundation of the whole Isle! Presumably cause it’s the Black Forest or was at least though it can be dangerous it’s the only place heartless are know to appear in the whole isle (So where you’ll grind In the Video Game that’ll definitely happen :Says the girl who can’t commit to a single comic) They drop all sortsa cool stuff! Heck you can FIND Cool stuff just...Around so..Yeah!!

It’s 2 am maybe I’ll edit this later thanks for reading sorry I got obviously tired by the end goodbye my dearests~ (Seriously y’all deserve like a reward for reading this dumpster fire) I was inspired by those maps in those scholastic books like the Rainbow Fairies I think it was called (Anyone remember those?) that had lil maps in the beginning and also the map’s stickers all on PicsArt

#twisted wonderland #disney twst #gacha life #keyheartsia #oc #gacha club #twisted wonderland dorm #twisted wonderland oc #twisted wonderland oc dorm #anime #oc lore #kingdom hearts Oc #oh my god did you read this? thank you I worked so hard just read it pls #twst oc #twst oc dorm #Oc lore dump

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nereiarts · 4 years

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Amnesia: Rebirth - a review

I finished Amnesia: Rebirth last night (happy Halloween!), so I took some time, sat down and wrote down my thoughts while it was still fresh in my mind. I guess this turned into a game review somewhere down the line. Heavy spoilers and some criticism below the Read More, proceed with caution. Don’t take the critique wrong, I did still love the game, but we have some things that need to be addressed.

Cw: child birth, pregnancy.

THE POSITIVE: + atmospheric as hell, intense, keeps you in your toes + tension rarely dies down + pacing + world-building + inventory system and notes + background lore with nods to TDD + voiceacting, characters + Tasi starts out as an intriguing protag...

THE NEGATIVE: - ...but it soon becomes disappointing that her character revolves around motherhood and nothing else - the pregnancy mechanic made me feel physically ill - the child birth scene - same with the breast-feeding scene at the end - lack of content warnings for the afore-mentioned - oil runs out even faster than in TDD, forcing you to run through stages and limiting exploration severely - sanity loss as soon as Tasi stops staring at a flame

I loved, LOVED the connections to TDD and all the notes, shedding light on lore and giving us more information about Alexander and his people, Herbert's role in all of it (and what he knew), the little tidbits about Daniel… Gosh, the parasol. There was some collective shrieking and cackling about it on our couch when we found the excavation site. And all the stuff about the other worlds, Traveller's Lockets, Orbs, Alexander's origin and his people, Weyer, just 10/10. The Dark World parts were my favourites by far. The Shadow chase sequence gave me chills but at the same time felt like a weird-ass homecoming.

Scare-wise Rebirth was an unnerving experience that kept me on edge almost constantly. This is definitely the scariest FG game for me so far. The adrenaline rushes from the chase sequences were exceptionally rewarding with the calmer bits that came directly afterwards. FG has managed to bring back my apprehension towards water (seriously, fuck that sewer part), something I didn't think possible considering how many times I've played TDD and turned the water lurker instance into a cake walk. I really liked the overall pacing, which has always been FG's strong suite, and I'm glad they delivered again on that front. Having to creep past enemies on several occasions was terrifying beyond all my expectations. The tension unfortunately didn't stay all the way to the end and I found the final enemies – the wraiths – quite boring. I never once felt scared by them, just frustrated, because I couldn't figure out their patterns. Maybe that's just a personal problem, though – I get serious tunnel vision when stressed out, so it might have just been me having perception issues.

There was an annoying feature with the "fear flashes" at launch, which thankfully got patched in a few days. I didn't find them scary, just annoying because they seriously impeded my progression and ended up distracting me rather than encouraging me to push on. The game felt much better to play after this feature was toned down.

I admit I liked the game mostly because of what it contributes to Amnesia lore and with terms to characters from TDD, not so much because of Rebirth's particular storyline. Tasi was likeable character, but I'm not a maternal or family-oriented person (and I have some personal discomfort with themes like pregnancy, childbirth and children), so her motivations just didn't touch me. The ending felt anticlimactic because of this; I could not relate to her choice at all, especially after finding out she sacrified the lives of all her friends and her spouse for her unborn baby. Seriously, who the hell does that? I can't think of a single person, not even those friends of mine who have kids, who would seriously make that choice. It's just not believable; the lives of 13-something others that you know and care about, for a child who has a deadly disease that will kill them with utter certainty. I don't know, guys, I would've just agreed to the Empress' terms and seen my friends and the love of my life live instead. Tasi does continue the succession of Amnesia protagonists being extremely selfish and I suppose that's fitting enough. As weird as it sounds, I relate more to Daniel's troubles still - at least I felt like I could get inside his head and understand his motivations. It least his story was fully about him and his survival. I wish FG had taken a different approach with Tasi and not made her character entirely about motherhood. Maybe that angle speaks to a majority of players, who knows, but it just didn't do it for me. Might replay one day for the wider lore, though, but certainly skipping the ending. My biggest gripe was forcing the player to sit through an actual goddamn child birth scene without warning or the ability to skip it. There is no reason why that couldn't be skipped with a fade-to-black. This is something I am particularly uncomfortable with; I never, ever want to see that in an immersive first-person game, no matter how much the developers think it adds to the character's story. It didn't make me feel for Tasi, it made me feel extremely uncomfortable in my own skin. As an afab person you are constantly being bombarded with messages that your body is only good for making babies and that you must want maternity and children, that your body isn't your own to do with as you choose, and I'm particularly anxious about all that. This game wasn't exactly a fun experience on that front. Don't get me wrong. Rebirth was all in all still a solid game and an amazing horror experience, minus the last hour of the game. If you have the same issues as I have with pregnancy and child birth, I would highly recommend skipping this one. Otherwise the positive outweights the negative by a lot, so whether this is for you depends on, well, you.

#aura speaks #amnesia rebirth #well this got a lot longer than i intended

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gravitascivics · 4 years

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PARTISAN INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM, PART II

The last posting introduced the reader to what a team of Pew Research Center researchers found concerning the 2016 election.[1] Specifically, they discovered that two dynamics were very instrumental in the results of that election. The first being the result of a book, Clinton Cash. That book made a series of claims about how Hillary and Bill Clinton, through donations to their foundation and speaker fees, garnered extensive payments augmenting their wealth to $130 million.

Through certain timings, the implications, without proof, was that Mrs. Clinton was guilty of favoritism and even acceptance of bribes for favorable decisions for moneyed interests while she was secretary of state. The overall aim was to establish a public agenda that undid Clinton’s campaign to win the White House. What was of note, this effort began before Trump became the Republican candidate – he simply benefited – and introduced the American public to the right-wing information ecosystem that spread the anti-Clinton message.

The second dynamic centers on the disinformation the right-wing ecosystem spread through their propaganda. That effort zeroed in on misleading political messaging with the intent to affect the attitudes and beliefs of targeted segments of the electorate. Further, as part of that messaging, these operatives seemed to discourage critical reflection over the policies and political choices confronting their interests. And here their tactics had become quite sophisticated.

Using psychological elements of memory and belief structures with the utilization of online, interlinked sites, the designers were able to have their viewers accept a version of the truth. That is, by applying repetition and familiarity techniques, that affect what people remember and hold as true, these propagandists met with significant success as they directed and implied renditions of political claims beneficial to their political goals.

Their strategy, more specifically, was to develop a presentation of their “facts” to an array of media outlets. Through these efforts and the use of memes (cultural messaging that usually use humor or other attention-grabbing techniques that play on cultural symbols), the designers produced a series of mutually reinforcing images that portrayed Clinton in certain lights.

For example, she was seen as friendly with Arabs by citing specific incidents within highlighted countries irrespective of the substance of such examples. In one case she was seen mingling with Moroccans, a people that the US has a very positive relationship but of which Americans in general have little knowledge. The image portrayed is she is friendly with Muslims, a group, common lore identifies as problematic to American interests.

From these images, the designers concocted stories that evolved into folklore which reinforced in-group/out-group tensions among those who viewed the messaging. And this messaging did not end with the election of Trump but intensified afterward. The aim then was not so much to garner votes but to ward off ill effects of the various scandals that have surrounded the President through the years of his term in office.

How should these efforts be addressed?

The challenge in combating this second dynamic, too, is that there are no easy fixes. If indeed Russia played a significant role in waging a propaganda war, certainly efforts to identify these interventions and expose them in real time are important. To the extent that political clickbait can be shown to have had a measurable influence on beliefs, countermeasures by the leading platforms, Facebook and Google, may help. But if the fundamental challenge comes from inside the political system and consists of political communication within a major wing of the American political system, the solution is far from obvious.[2]

Again, as with the first dynamic, any efforts to reign in (through regulations) these practices – assuming one thinks they should be – meet with the rights guarantees of the First Amendment. Yet in the eyes of many, especially if one can establish a role by a foreign – and in this case hostile – government, people can define this dynamic as a genuine threat to the nation’s democratic standing in its government and politics.

The Pew researchers suggest that solutions need to originate from within the nation’s political system. And here, ironically, American conservatives – those put off by what has happened to the Republican Party under Trump – play a pivotal role albeit a difficult one. That role is to communicate a counter message in conservative speak to questioning conservatives. The current campaign season has seen that strategy through the messaging of the Lincoln Project.

Another necessary type of player is news people. Journalists that ply their trade in venues that are seen and listened to by “crossover” voters – those not committed to one party but venture back and forth – can provide accurate information that can dispel misleading information or information that is not true. In addition, these reporters need to be on guard against purposeful information meant to mislead them which has happened on various occasions.

But fundamentally, one needs to find a workable solution in the very politics of the nation. That is, if this sort of extreme messaging continues to be effective, i.e., they win elections and provide monetary rewards to the networks that give it space, these practices will continue. And here, the Pew report states, “While the ecosystem around Breitbart and other right-wing outlets constitutes a tightly insulated echo chamber, this isolated conversation proved immensely powerful in setting the broader agenda of the 2016 president campaign.”[3] The Pew researchers cast this insight as a paradox.

That is, it is a paradox in that this echo chamber permits an ongoing re-circulation of ideas and those ideas continue to work their way into the broader media outlets. They go way beyond Breitbart consumers. It was this spread that led, among other causes, to the election of Trump. Without it, Trump would not have won the electoral college vote. This spread of the Breitbart message, beyond righ-twing circles, set the anti-Clinton image broadly and repeatedly across the media landscape. Her scandals became item one in what was mentioned and over what was commented in mainstream media outlets.

And so, a meaningful address of this “problem” of misinformation needs to be centered on the employed strategies of those who practice it. What are they; how do they gain traction; and how can one effectively counter their effects? This needs to be a holistic view of the media world in all its complex aspects.

[1] Robert Faris, Hal Roberts, Bruce Etling, Nikki Bourassa, Ethan Zuckerman, and Yochai Benkler, “Partisanship, Propaganda, & Disinformation: Online Media & the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election,” Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Library (n.d.), accessed August 19, 2020, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/76a9/3eb0bed8ff032c44186678c5279f20cc5ff8.pdf?_ga=2.230250332.1151241653.1597869609-1463880478.1597869609 .

[2] Ibid., 130-131.

[3] Ibid., 132.

#2016 election #2016 presidential election #right-wing information ecosystem #Hillary Clinton #Bill Clinton #Breitbart #Pew Research Center #civics educaiton #social studies

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jasperlion · 5 years

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Dances in Rigel and Zofia

Rigel and Zofia both have used dance as a means to worship their Gods and to celebrate, as well as for courtship. Even when the land was not yet riven, the united Valentians had many a use for dance (and song, but this might be more touched upon later if I survive) that they would pass down the generations. After the division of the continent, many of the dances were re-purposed or even completely forgotten.

There were many uses for what was considered an act of worship, entertainment and storytelling. While this will focus on dances, sometimes songs will also be mentioned, as song oft comes along with dance.

Religious

Dances in Rigel and Zofia to appease, please or otherwise thank their Gods were commonplace in nature, especially within the Priories and Temples that dotted both countries. Even within the more abandoned of temples at present, many a traveler might stop to offer a dance, song or simply a meal for passing through, especially if they used the place as a shelter.

Hymns, music and dance were said to bring one closer to the God they were praising, and the dances tended to flow in tandem with their God’s Tenants.

Zofian dances to Mila tended to flow like the water and sway like the trees and flowers shaken by a gentle breeze. Many, especially priests and priestesses, would dance barefoot to have a closer connection to the Earth Mother, and many of the movements imitated the nature she blessed with her magic. Twirls, the swaying of arms to imitate the elements, and motions to express growth tended to form part of these dances, though there was no set script for them. It was to be as wild and unpredictable as nature, but as comforting as the Mother. To dance properly in her honor, one had to lose themselves to the dance and flow with their feelings of gratefulness. Music that would sometimes accompany these dances tended to be rhythmic but airy, percussion keeping the beat and strings or winds carrying the melody. [valentian instrument samples]

Rigelian dances to Duma tended to be more rigid in nature, and normally they take in air before striking forward upon the exhale with their next movement (almost like a kata). The movements are forceful and powerful, but no less graceful than their Zofian counterparts. Their dance is meant to be a display of strength, and so their forcefulness oft sees the dancer being capable of pushing back the winds and conquering the earth around them. It is rare to dance barefoot, although some feel emboldened to do so during harsh winters while outdoors just might to prove their worth. The dancers move from one strike to the next with vigor, but upon completion will stand, take breaths, then bow. Oft times the music accompanying the dances is percussive, although instead of rhythmic, the beats determine the pace the dancers must dance in, like war drums. As a note: while sparring before a Temple of Duma is not uncommon and often done to challenge foes so that Duma may witness the result of a spat, it’s not a dance of worship.

Outside of dances on temples for thanks, a dance in common between Mila and Duma was one for the request of Sight, a power the Gods shared. A priest or priestess of their respective order would dance upon an area covered in sand after a prayer, letting their God guide their motions. What is drawn upon the sand after the dance is done is meant to help predict what is to come or something that can be prevented.

Subcategory: Festivals

Dancing during festivals, of course, varied per country, but also per location.

In Zofia, dances in festivals were usually for harvests, fertility or blessings for the next season cycle. The dance, however, was not the same across the board: being a different age (child, adult and elderly), gender, social status or even being a member of the Devout meant your dance would differ during the festivities, as well as your position around the bonfires and stages set for the festival. In Ram, there wasn’t as much a difference in dances due to the fact that social status and religious positions were not a part of the equation, and as such everyone danced closer to the bonfires and only the village’s leader would dance upon a raised stage (Mycen possibly applied for such honor but may have refused). In the capital, by comparison, the stages had to be set to have multiple steps, with the commoners dancing upon the floor with the lowest noble houses (with the nobles closer to the bonfires), while the social pecking order dictated who went higher and higher upon the ‘steps’ afterwards. The dances for nobility and royalty tended to be more refined and had a flow in the sequence of movements, while the dances of the commoners had far less complexity and often enough was relegated to sways and cheers. Members of Mila Devout would, often times, lead the festivity alongside the monarch, and their dancing took place directly below them or on the same position. Married pairs were expected to dance together, especially pairs capable of bearing children, during dances for fertility. Considered a shameless display by Rigelians, the dance between a pair of Zofians tended to be intimate and fluid, to the point where they were almost always touching in one way or another.

In Rigel, dances in festivals tended to be before the main tournament events or otherwise to praise Duma for the strength granted through the year. For the former, it tended to be closer to the war dances that all children normally learned since five, but had a playful air to it that alluded to the nature of the tournaments being games and tests of strength rather than an actual battle. On the latter, the head of the ceremony will dance first, then pass on a sacred vase onto the next until all have danced and held the vase, which is then deposited at the feet of the God or his substitute effigy. It is meant to symbolize the passing of strength and teachings, from the first to the last, which in the end will return to Duma and with it they will be granted honor, as well as perhaps a chance to seize a personal wish. The scale of this dance will vary greatly depending on the size of attendance (a sizable one will have several vases to help the process along) and the people sectioned by place of providence. If the head of ceremony is the head of the government, they must dance with all the vases, one by one, and hand them off to the next per group. Symbolically, it is also seen as the head of the Empire offering protection to the people as Duma’s chosen ruler. On hunting festivals, a war dance was performed instead.

Subcategory: War Dances

Zofia lost their own war dances long ago when Mila and Duma divided the land in half, almost as suddenly as the battle ended. It is said Mila’s divine decree was to stop such tradition, which was lost in the span of two generations.

War dances in Rigel continued long after the land was split in two, a dance taught to all Rigelian youth since general training began at age five. While those who would never enlist would go on to not repeat the exercises after a certain period, it is a dance never forgotten and even oft used outside of the purpose of battle to energize oneself for a task that requires nimble feet, like hunting. The Rigelian war dances were not as much formal as much as it was a way to limber the body, especially in the cold, and prepare for battle. Warriors with nimble feet dodged weapons easier, and could just as easily move through tougher terrain with more agility — and thus it was believed for a time that a war dance allowed for Duma to grant the dancer with a little of his power so they may succeed. The dance tended to consist of slowly picking up pace side-pacing from one side to another as a common dodge maneuver, and as the overseer of the dance played on the welsh Valentian bagpipes, he would pick up the pace. The dancers would then start to sing the song being played, many of them songs of old lore that told of the War Father’s exploits in an unknown land. As the dance progressed, crouches, backflips, leaps back and other such maneuvers would be employed to exercise every part of the body while practicing such.

Subcategory: Ceremonial

In Zofia, for ceremonial dances for fertility, rain and protection, an important member of the Mila Devout in a town would dance alone to the beat of the instruments played by other Devouts, although the role tended to be relegated to priestesses in particular, dressed in thin robes and adorned with flowers to resemble the Mother. In presenting themselves as a representation of Mila, they hoped to both appease her and inform her that her aid is required in that particular area. Like in temples, the dancer and musicians are meant to lose themselves in the dance, to connect to the earth and the sky and the rivers so that the Mother may hear their joy and laughs, and know they await her aid eagerly. It is done around a bonfire, with other citizens allowed to bear witness to the event.

Similar to Lion Dances, the ceremonial dances practiced in Rigel are done in pairs in costume akin to Duma’s draconic likeness to the beats of percussion. However, instead of a dance to bring fortune to the people, it is a dance to represent Duma gifting his people the knowledge and strength of survival by demonstration. Some complex costumes used in ceremonies in the capital may take up to three people to pilot, making it extremely difficult to coordinate (three-people costumes often include his wings as mobile). At times, the dance is not performed by the Faithful physically and, instead, several magic-using Faithful will move the costume with magic. It is, either way, a taxing endeavor and said to reward the dancers most of all, but the population in general will always see benefit. These dances are normally done after a particularly harsh trial of weather or famine to demonstrate their tenacity to Duma as well as their strength.

Storytelling

Dance as storytelling was often used to tell tales of the past, rather than fabricated ones. Legends, myths and history had long since been passed down through the act of dance, motions evoking emotions and events. While normally seen as entertainment, dances to tell the tales of the past were often treated quite seriously in both countries, as the dancers would have to practice tirelessly to correctly interpret the tales and lessons of the past. Usually, these dances are done by the Devout or Faithful, but it can be done by nobles uninvolved with either sect (in the form of active worship) or even commoners… provided they have their God’s approval. Usually, music played along the dance came with lyrics sung by the master of ceremonies and their choir, which tended to add to the narrative.

Dancing as storytelling for entertainment or teaching history is more common in Zofia than Rigel during the events of the game, as long since has come a time to pass down history through writing, not through dance, song or theater. Even if it is a more accessible form none the less to pass down history, Rigelian weather is fairly inhospitable, making it difficult to hold storytelling dances outdoors outside of the rare good moments of weather. If a town lacked a Hall, it likely did not see storytelling dances performed often.

Stories told in Zofia center around Mila’s blessings, but many also describe both the heroics of their first monarch as well as Mila and Duma’s arrival from the sea. In Rigel, the focus was instead on Duma’s accomplishments in war long ago, along with the heroics of their first monarch and the arrival of both Gods from the sea.

Entertainment

Often during festivities, festivals and perhaps even just parties of something or another, dancing for entertainment is more common in Zofia than Rigel due to their outlook of life. Zofian commoners have more time to dance for fun than Rigelians do from the extra toil required to yield crops or other resources from the more inhospitable land. Even so, both had those present, and both were dances that tended to flow in movement (much unlike the common Rigelian flair outside of storytelling). There are several types of dances that fall under this category, however, but Rigelian dances for self entertainment and the entertainment of a crowd tend to approach that which is similar to tango or paso doble. Meanwhile, Zofian dances for entertainment lean more towards something akin to Zorba and Flamenco.

Dancing in these styles was often more possible for nobility than the common folk, as most of these dances required teaching and free time to do, something many commoners did not have due to the workload required to make a living. As such, for entertainment in villages if they had time and were celebrating festivities, their dances tended to be closer to what was done during festivals or otherwise just moving their body whichever which way along with the music.

Entertainment traveling troupes did handle dancing in their repertoire, and might often bring with them the entertainment dances of the nobles or even parody courtship dances. Many allowed to cross borders between countries may even bring with them a mix of styles, alongside of storytelling dances all around the continent, which they would perform for a price.

Courtship

In both countries, courtship dances are oft most common among the nobility, who hold balls and other such events for finding potential partners or… ‘associates’ to ally with. Dances of courtship in both countries tend to take something closer to rigidity of Rigelians for both, leaning towards formal dances akin to a waltz. It is said that when one dances and flows well with a partner, they may be a good partner in the dance of life as well. These dances, very formal and often taken extremely seriously, mean that nobles must from a young age learn how to dance as well as take their role within the dance.

#our legacy to valm | worldbuilding #[ wulf speaks ]#long post #this will likely see heavy editing later but ITS OUT IM FREE

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themattress · 5 years

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My Opinions on the KH OCs

SORA: I adored Sora from KH through KH2. But then I became disillusioned with him because they kept making clones of him, pushed his positive Messianic qualities to the extreme, and then went too far the other way in 3D by making him into this over-the-top childish idiot who screwed everything up and was denied Keyblade Master status, all amidst proclamations that he was a "dull, ordinary boy" who "the Keyblade didn't choose" (which is an outright LIE.) For the most part, KH3 brought my old love for Sora back by usually characterizing him the same way KH2 did...and then it basically killed him off in the end, punishing him for doing good, all while Xehanort gets rewarded by being able to go to Heaven even after a lifetime of doing evil without a shred of remorse. What. The. FUCK? When Sora faded away at the last minute, so too did any remaining interest in this series.

KAIRI: Loved her in KH, she was so damn interesting and relatable, and her role in the story was a perfect twist on the classic Disney Princess role. Her role and characterization in KH2 weren’t as strong, but her new design, actions, connections with other characters and endgame development made up for it, as did the fact that she was still voiced by the lovely Hayden Panettiere. Add to this how strongly she factored into COM, and Kairi was clearly the original trilogy’s emotional heart. Then that heart got removed and never put back, as Kairi was excluded from the games to the highest degree possible, all leading up to a horrifying bait-and-switch in KH3 where she was finally returning to prominence and looked to become a stronger character than ever before, only for the exact opposite to happen, not at all helped by the voicework of Alyson Stoner. What Nomura’s done is a travesty. #KairiDeservedBetter.

RIKU: Loved him in KH, where he was like a Final Fantasy character turned Disney villain and he played that role incredibly well. I thought he was fumbled when he starred in his own story mode in COM, but I never really blamed him for that and more the writing around him that pushed him into an unnatural position that even he didn’t seem to want to be in. Despite not truly appearing as himself until the endgame of KH2 and having flatter characterization, Riku still redeemed himself excellently through being a party member helping against the final boss, along with a beautiful reconciliation with Sora. Like his other friends in the Destiny Trio, things went downhill afterwards. Riku became so overexposed, shoved down our throats, and positioned as the series Deuteragonist who phased Kairi out of existence while being given more badass feats than Sora, that I lost my liking for him entirely and consider him to be a blatant Mary Sue. This sadly didn’t change with KH3, and it only looks to be getting worse.

ROXAS: Despite falling way short of the hype, I enjoyed Roxas in KH2. He was likable and sympathetic, and he did a good job servicing one of the game’s deepest themes. But then, because he was (confusingly, IMHO) uber-popular, he got his own game featuring his time in the Organization, and he never left that bland portrayal behind, with every subsequent game he appears in having it be Days!Roxas instead of KH2!Roxas, to the point where KH2!Roxas was demeaningly retconned into having “ceased to exist” when he fully re-merged with Sora despite what was said and shown to the contrary in KH2, all for the sake of giving him a shamelessly fan-pandering perfect happy ending. Roxas thus became one of the characters whom I most associate with the downfall of the KH series, and thus one of my least favorites.

NAMINE: Namine was a character that I loved in COM and KH2, despite being pretty confusing even back then, since she had a real humanity behind her. I was very disappointed that afterwards, she became more and more of a convenient plot device and mouthpiece for Nomura’s convoluted lore rather than a legitimate character, with her characterization regressing to and being regurgitated from her debut appearance. The scale and scope of her powers got ridiculous, the retcon of Sora having promised to thank her when that was never the case is beyond stupid, and she fell prey to the same retcon Roxas did of “ceasing to exist” when she merged with Kairi and thus needing to be “saved” in order to cure her “hurt”. Naturally, she’s right up there with Kairi as one of the most frustratingly-handled characters.

XION: I was immediately turned off by this character due to how blatantly fanfic Mary Sue-esque she was, then warmed up to her considerably as I actually played the game and saw how she was utilized, only to be turned off of her again when Nomura completely went back on her firmly established tragic fate for the sake of a schmaltzy happy ending that neuters what was effective about the character, in essence turning her right back into just a fanfic Mary Sue. I don’t actually blame Xion for this, but she’s still my least favorite main KH girl.

VENTUS: Kind of the same deal as Xion - didn’t like him at first because he was a lazy retread of Roxas and whose connection to Sora cheapened things, warmed up to him after playing the game and seeing him in action (I especially love his voice by Jesse McCartney, which is very distinct from Roxas), only to go right back to not really liking him when we ended up never hearing the end of him and how he is the reason behind so many events and character motivations, especially once he was retconned into hailing from the X time period.

TERRA / LINGERING WILL: While I’m not too attached to him, I still low-key love this guy. Yes, he’s an idiot, but an understandable, well-meaning and likable one, who also has a very charismatic-looking design and is badass in combat. Everyone loves the Lingering Will, but I don’t think it would be as effective if it didn’t come from such a flawed screw-up like Terra. It’s uplifting that even if you do nothing but fail, your will to succeed can achieve some form of success in of itself. He may have got the shaft in KH3, but he made the most of what he had.

AQUA / ANTI-AQUA: In BBS, I felt Aqua was more enjoyable than Ven but not as much as Terra, making her a pretty fittingly balanced character in my view - I loved that she was the first fully playable female character in the series and did a lot of neat stuff in the story, but I hated how devoid of character development she was compared to her male friends and how her English voice actress constantly missed the mark in her delivery. In 0.2 BBS, she was put in a lousy story, but she became a much more interesting and developed character as a trade-off. Sadly, it all fell apart in KH3, where aside from her brief stint as the terrifying Anti-Aqua, Aqua became an incompetent joke of a “Keyblade Master”, jobbing in every major fight she had and jobbing badly, with that development from 0.2 BBS amounting to nothing. In the end, Aqua wound up right back where she began - between Terra and Ventus in my favor.

MASTER ERAQUS: Love his design, love his voice-acting, love his premise as a character - do NOT love him. In a story where all the heroes act like idiots, Eraqus takes the cake, and becomes outright unlikable when he attempts to murder Ven and Terra under very flimsy reasoning. And KH3 only makes him worse, with a severe disconnect existing between his younger self and his older self, and helping to contribute to the game’s bullshit ending.

DIZ / ANSEM THE WISE: I loved him as the tragic, Monte Cristo-esque figure as shown in COM, Days and KH2, especially when voiced by the incomparable Christopher Lee. He had the perfect send-off in KH2, which made it such a slap in the face when BBS’ secret ending retconned him into having surviving, only for him to do jack shit but be a plot device, and not a very good one at that. Bringing Ansem the Wise back was one of the series’ biggest sins, and stands as a textbook example of Nomura not knowing when to just let a character go.

HAYNER, PENCE & OLETTE: I like these kids, they’re a lot of fun in all their appearances.

MASTER XEHANORT: I really enjoyed Master Xehanort in BBS, when he was just a simple Darth Sidious expy voiced by the great Leonard Nimoy, a character whose chief purpose was backstory for the villain we already knew who went by the same name. But then Nomura decided that he was the main antagonist of the whole series and retconned that everything that ever happened was part of his convoluted master plan...a plan with very muddled objectives and motivations, not to mention contradictions at many turns. This turning of Xehanort into a Villain Sue had severe consequences in KH3, where not only was he weakly voiced by Rutger Hauer, but he was written terribly: only showing up at the end, fridging Kairi for no reason, being beaten in a surprisingly easy boss fight, having his entire motivation changed, and receiving one of the most audience-insulting endings that a villain could possibly receive, especially one as remorselessly evil as him. The final slap in the face was revealing that he was a pawn to someone else, derailing the entire point behind the stupid-ass “Xehanort Saga” decision! So in the end, Master Xehanort was pretty damn pointless.

TERRA-XEHANORT: The original Xehanort introduced in KH2. While his origin is something of a headache (he’s an amnesiac Master Xehanort possessing the body and heart of Terra), it still works, IMO, and creates a character who is much more interesting than either of the two characters it took to form him, despite (or perhaps because of) his relative lack of screentime.

ANSEM: Terra-Xehanort’s Heartless is both the original incarnation of Xehanort in the series and both me and Nomura’s personal favorite. Sadly, Nomura screwed him up when he brought him back for the “True Organization XIII”, first going too over-the-top evil when part of his appeal was that he genuinely (and pompously) believed that he was the one in the right, and then suddenly being far less evil than he should be considering that he’s a freaking Heartless! The Ansem that I adore will always be the one from the original KH and Riku’s mode in COM, the hammy philosopher who is totally drunk on darkness and is seeking it for his own sake, not for the sake of some absurdly convoluted grand plan of Master Xehanort’s.

XEMNAS: Terra-Xehanort’s Nobody is the best villain in the KH series and the most consistently good of the Xehanort incarnations. While certainly at his best as the Superior of Organization XIII in KH, COM, Days and KH2, he actually managed to still be a captivating presence as part of the “True Organization XIII” in 3D and KH3 even if his character lost a lot of its depth thanks to the bullshit retcon that he was following Master Xehanort’s grand plan all along. He’s terrifying, loathsome, humorous and pitiable all at once...he’s just fantastic!

XIGBAR / BRAIG / LUXU: Oh, what a roller coaster this guy has been - I didn’t particularly care for him as Xigbar at first in KH2, then grew to really like him thanks to extra exposure in KH2:FM and Days, then came to love him as Braig in BBS, then went right back to disliking him when he became Xigbar again in 3D, and now am hardly able to stand him in KH3 when it’s revealed that he’s Luxu. Like Namine, he’s become a total vehicle for Nomura’s bullshit.

XALDIN / DILAN: I love Xaldin. He’s badass, intimidating, and despicable, and he really stands out by being linked so heavily with the Beast’s Castle and the Beast himself. His boss fight on the castle bridge is the stuff of legends. Dilan is a bore, though, especially in KH3.

VEXEN / EVEN: Somehow, this is one of the few characters who manages to remain consistently entertaining and well-written in all his appearances, helped out a lot by Derek Stephen Prince’s performance. As both the mad scientist Vexen and the well-intentioned scientist Even, he’s someone I just can’t take my eyes off of whenever he’s on screen.

LEXAEUS / ELAEUS: Boring but admirably power as Lexaeus, with the potential to be more interesting thanks to his intellect and rapport with Zexion. Just plain boring as Eleaeus.

ZEXION / IENZO: Everything about Zexion had potential, but it just never came together properly and left him as an underwhelming villain. He has much more success as Ienzo, being very likable and interesting; honestly one of the best KH-original characters in KH3.

SAIX / ISA: This character is one of the more frustrating ones to me. I liked him just fine in KH2, but not as much as I would’ve liked to. I liked him more when he got more scenes in KH2:FM, and I straight-up loved him in Days for being such an effective Hate Sink as well as a really interesting and tragic character. But I did not care for his cameo appearances in BBS and 3D, even though he still carries some of what I enjoyed about him with him in KH3, he also receives new baggage that makes his character less appealing...namely, the fact that his motivation all along was based around some random girl we never heard of until now. Still, if there’s one thing that remains consistent, it is that Kirk Thornton does a phenomenal job in the role. I honestly think most of Saix’s effectiveness comes from that badass voice.

AXEL / LEA: Sigh...you oughta know this one by now. I love Axel the Nobody, I think he was one of the series’ finest villains, and think he had an effective character arc despite some bumps along the road. I can’t stand his human self, who is a watered-down, obnoxious, whitewashed Mary Sue version of his Nobody self who is only here for fanservice, only given a major heroic role and his own Keyblade because Axel was a favorite of both fans and the development team. He’s sadly one of those characters who becomes the victim of his own popularity, with what made him popular to begin with lost as a result of increased exposure.

DEMYX / ???: He’s funny, I like him. Don’t have any stronger feelings than that.

LUXORD / ???: With his slick design, gambling gimmick, classy gentleman demeanor, and English voice by Robin Atkin-Downes, I’ve always liked Luxord, but I don’t think he’s ever truly lived up to his full potential...until KH3, where he’s a standout in both the Caribbean and the Keyblade Graveyard. I especially love his respectable rival dynamic with Jack Sparrow.

MARLUXIA / LAURIAM: A lack of clear motivations aside, Marluxia is an excellent villain. I love how he’s got flower powers, a pink sycthe, pink hair and a pretty-boy face and yet has this very masculine and imposing demeanor, not to mention a diabolically clever and manipulative personality. His battles and battle themes are also always impressive in every game he appears in. And while I don’t care for him being a Keyblade wielder, I actually like him as Lauriam too. He’s surprisingly sympathetic and is a neat contrast to his Nobody.

LARXENE / ELRENA: I love Larxene, she makes being the only female member of the Organization count by being one of the most aggressive, despicable, frightening, humorous and oddly endearing members all at the same time, getting a tragic death scene in COM and some softer moments in Days and KH3 that add depth to her while never causing her to lose her edge. And like with Lauriam, I like Elrena despite not caring for the Keyblade angle.

VANITAS: Vanitas is awesome. He’s an evil version of Sora who does evil things because he enjoys being evil and has zero fucks to give about it. Haley Joel Osment really brings his gleeful brand of evil to life, making it always a pleasure to see Vanitas in both BBS and KH3. And thus I’m really glad he didn’t get redeemed in the end - pure villainy is his whole appeal!

RIKU REPLICA: Despite being an over-the-top retread of Riku’s role in KH for most of COM and having one boss battle too many, Riku Replica was still a good character and with one of the most tragic arcs in the series, which really made his death scene stand out. Of all the characters to ruin due to Nomura not letting go of them, I thought he was safe, but nope! He was pointlessly brought back in KH3, played a worse and more convoluted role, and had a much weaker “happier” send-off that clashed with how other aspects of the story were being treated and only reinforced Riku’s Special Snowflake status. Of course, even before that happened, the replica concept that he introduced to the series had spiraled into a much more needlessly confusing state, so I guess his legacy was doomed either way. Poor Repliku!

DARK RIKU: A confusing composite of all Riku’s alter-egos: Riku when he was possessed by Ansem, Riku Replica, and Data Riku, enlisted in “True Organization XIII”. I’m not sure what the point of this guy was. Or if he’s basically another version of Repliku, why not just make him the only Repliku in the story and spare us that convoluted nonsense with the other one?

YOUNG XEHANORT: Haaaaaaaaaate....haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate....

KAIRI’S GRANDMOTHER: In the first KH, but only a real character in BBS. But getting Kathryn Beaumont (original voice of Alice and Wendy Darling, and thus a Disney Legend) to voice her was absolutely brilliant and made her single scene stand out as the game’s best.

And that’s about it. The rest are all the datascape clones I don’t give a shit about (Data Sora, Data Riku, Data Roxas, Data Namine, and Data Sora’s Heartless) and the cast of X that I also don’t give a shit about (The Master of Masters, the Foretellers, Ephemer, Skuld, Brain...the only ones I like are Chirithy and Strelitzia, but only on the shallow basis that they’re cute.)

And I am NOT sticking around this series to properly meet Yozora...

#Disney #Square Enix #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion

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wyrdsistersofthedas · 6 years

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Ghilan'nain and Geldauran: Apotheosis and Apostasy in Ancient Elvhenan and Beyond

Hey Nony!

Great question. There does seems to be a curious juxtaposition going on with Ghily and Geldy in The Jaws of Hakkon. They are definitely connected in DA lore, but how deep that connection goes is mostly a matter of speculation.

Two Paths Diverged

Let’s start with the facts. Ghilan’nain and Geldauran certainly knew who the other was since they were contemporaries in ancient Elvhenan. Elven legends say that Ghilan’nain was an elven woman before becoming a goddess, but Geldauran’s origin, like the other Forgotten Ones, has yet to be revealed. Given, however, that the place he was imprisoned shares design elements of elven ruins that were used as resting places for elves who entered uthenera, it is likely that he was an elf as well, rather than a spirit.

If Geldauran did start out as an elf, he and Ghilan’nain’s paths may have paralleled each other in that they were both highly skilled mages, gaining enough power to attract the attention of the Evanuris. There their paths seem to have diverged.

Ghilan’nain was elevated to join the pantheon because she honored the elven gods, especially Andruil, and created monsters they wanted destroyed or controlled.

Did Andruil seek out Ghilan’nain because she was devoted and/or possessed tremendous magical powers that could transform creatures into “monsters”? Or could there be a more prosaic motive behind the decision? The Elvhenan seems to have risen and fallen due to two great wars. The war with the Titans and the war against the Forgotten Ones. Perhaps Andruil was seeking a new, powerful ally to use against the empire’s enemies. Sort of like Cap and Tony did in Captain America: Civil War. And like the Inquisitor says they will do at the end cutscene in Inquisition, i.e. find allies who are unknown to Solas in order to gain some advantage in the coming conflict. It’s a possibility, at least.

The Forgotten Ones are still virtually unknown to us, but something set them against the Elven gods. Geldauran wanted his position known, even millennia after being sealed away in the Frostback Basin.

The Forgotten Ones appear to have rebelled against the Evanuris and were imprisoned and “forgotten” as punishment for their actions.

Looking at the surface of what we know, Ghilan’nain and Geldauran would have been adversaries. According to Dalish lore, the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones fought “an endless war” against each other. The Dalish don’t remember what, or who, started it or what it was about, and we can’t even be sure if Ghily’s ascension was before or after the beginning of the conflict between the two groups.

If the war between the elven gods started before Ghilan’nain was a goddess, that might explain why the Evanuris were highly motivated to recruit her and bring her monstrous creations under their control.

If, on the other hand, she was already part of the elven pantheon when the war with the Forgotten Ones began...well, that puts a very different, and potentially more interesting spin on thing. It could also mean there was a deeper connection between Ghilan’nain and Geldauran.

The “Sins” of Ghilan’nain?

I can’t decide what to think about Ghily (as you can tell if you read this post I wrote about her). The Dalish remember her as a benevolent deity, while the information about her from Mythal’s Temple paints a far more sinister picture of the Halla Mother. (Probably both given the writers’ love of grey characters.) One thing I do believe about Ghilan’nain, however, is that she is a person who brought dramatic change to Elvhenan.

Her story, on the surface, suggests that the Evanuris rewarded those who were most faithful to them, even to point of potential apotheosis. She is described as the “the chosen of Andruil’ in the codex above and there is evidence to suggest that the Evanuris’ “Chosen Ones” were given special powers and privileges, including being about to “fly in the shape of the divine”. If Ghilan’nain could become so highly favored as to attain godhood, why not the others? Because there certainly were other elves (and perhaps spirits) who became the Chosen Ones of the other Evanuris.

(Perhaps that is why Solas and Mythal had such a close relationship. He could well have been her Chosen One at some point before becoming the Dread Wolf. Solas himself says that the Dread Wolf identity came later in his life, after he began to his rebellion against the Evanuris. Who was he before that? But I digress...)

For all we know, this could be how the Forgotten Ones came to possess their magical abilities. They may have been the Chosen Ones of the various members of the elven pantheon before severing ties and becoming their adversaries. They may have come to resent the Evanuris’ control or, when they found out the truth about their gods non-divine origins, they felt betrayed and rebelled against them.

They might even have been considered “gods” and counted as members of the elven pantheon, but something caused a schism that set them in opposition to the Elgar’nan and company. They may have been stricken from the pantheon or gained powers that the Evanuris could only be explain by elevating them to evil god status (as I suggested in this earlier post).

So much speculation, so little evidence!

But perhaps the most tinfoil hat theory about the Forgotten Ones that I can come up with is that Ghilan’nain created them and/or set them on their rebellious path. She certainly didn’t always play by the rules....

Why in the Void is Ghilan’nain encouraging treasonous actions? Why was she encouraging the Sinner to take on the “form of the divine”? Was this an experiment that went too far? Or a more deliberate act of sedition? There is no sign from the text whether Ghilan’nain and Dirthamen were punished for these events, but the Sinner certainly was. I can’t be positive if the image at the end is the last thing the Sinner saw (i.e. Elgar’nan dispensing ‘judgement’) or if that shadowing mass was all that was left of him afterwards.

Either way, this event seems to have been a world changing event and possibly a prelude to war. All the other codices that can only be read with the aid of the Well of Sorrows are about conflict, after all:

Codex entry: Old Elven Writing - Possibly the earliest since it refers to the war with the titans.

Codex entry: Unreadable Elven Writing - Andruil creates a super weapon, possibly originally meant to hunt the Forgotten Ones or perhaps the superweapon Merrill refers to in her story of the betrayal of the elven gods. Or, if we really want to go dark, it could be the weapon that was used to murder Mythal.

Codex entry: Untranslatable Elven Writing - Definitely the “last” entry chronologically, since Abelas says the temple guardians are preparing for the arrival of those who “cast Mythal down”, i.e. murdered her.

Put in this context, the judgement of the Sinner almost certainly had dramatic consequences. The Sinner was punished for showing godlike powers, something that Ghilan’nain (with her monsters) had been rewarded for. Some in Elvhenan certainly would have found this judgement unjust at the least. Perhaps the Sinner had compatriots who were outraged that Mythal had not spoken for him as Andruil had spoken for Ghilan’nain. Perhaps this event was what created the schism between the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones.

If the Sinner survived Elgar’nan’s punishment, which is likely if he truly was on the path to divine powers (Mythal certainly seems to be able to wisp her way out of death if absolutely necessary), then he might have become the shadowy entity described at the end of the codex. What would his next step have been?

If the Sinner retained his memories, revenge and exposure of the Evanuris’ secrets certainly would be likely motives for his next moves. Perhaps he gathered others who were cast out or disillusioned with the rule of the elven gods and started seeking powers to equal the gods in the Abyss.

In other words, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the Sinner founded the Forgotten Ones. Would they hold a grudge against Ghilan’nain for starting the Sinner on his path? Perhaps, although it is also possible that she wanted dissent amongst the gods for her own purposes. Intrigue and infighting seem entirely likely in the court of the Evanuris, given what Solas says about Winter Palace reminding him of how much he enjoys political maneuvering. But Solas’ potential role in all of this is best left for another day and another post... ;)

In other words, Nony, there most certainly are connections between Ghilan’nain and Geldauran that relate to major events in elven history...and yet, there may be another, more literary reason why they are both included in the Jaws of Hakkon DLC.

Compared and Contrasted

Although I am fairly certain there are lore reasons why Geldauran was imprisoned in the Frostback Basin and there are no elven monuments in the valley (other than Ghilan’nain’s near Geldauran’s prison/tomb and a statue of Falon’Din above Stone-Bear Hold), there is also a neat literary analysis to be made here.

Arguably, two of the themes of Inquisition is faith and divinity. The Inquisitor becomes a symbol for the Chantry faithful and of Andraste whether they want to be or not. Corypheus wants to become a god to replace the silent Old Gods of Tevinter. The elven gods are revealed to be powerful mages who elevated themselves to god status and do seem to have powers beyond the reach of most mortals. A titan, with seemingly godlike powers, awakens and choses and avatar in Valta... I could go on, but you probably get the idea.

These themes of faith and divinity are also present in the story of Ameridan and the beliefs of the Avaar. Ameridan built a shrine to both Ghilan’nain and Andraste, perhaps choosing to honor these two particular beings because he saw parallels in their stories. Ghilan’nain was raised to godhood for her faith in the elven gods. The Maker elevated Andraste to divinity for her faith.

Geldauran provides an interesting contrast for Ghilan’nain and Andraste. He rejected the divinity of the elven gods, cursing them, and implying that he won’t be deceived like their “faithful” followers are. Ironically, and despite his own rejection of divinity, there is good evidence to support that Geldauran became Hakkon, a “god” of the Avaar. The Avaar knowingly create their own gods, influencing spirits to become the deities so that they may gain their favor in battle, their guidance, etc.

So there is a case to be made that the Inquisitor is being juxtaposed to these powerful ancient beings. The Inquisitor deeds are miraculous to many, even if the Inquisitor would rather they not be seen that way. The Inquisitor, in a way, is symbolically following in the footsteps of Andraste, Geldauran, and Ghilan'nain. Whether your Inky chooses to accept, reject, or just go about their business, it is the people of Thedas who will ultimately decide whether the Inquisitor should be remembered as being touched by the divine ...or not.

Thanks again for the ask, Nony!

#dragon age #dragon age meta #dragon age theories #evanuris #ghilan'nain #the forgotten ones #geldauran #Frostback Basin #elvhenan #wyrdsistersofthedas #morta's musings #wend the wyrds a wondering #long post

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hi-i-love-u-bitch · 6 years

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Rain Makes The Flowers Grow Ink and Candle AU

This is based on the beautiful Ink and Candle au by @sugarglider9603 where Logan is a quill and ink pot and Patton is a candle and also Roman is a rose and Virgil is a little rain cloud. I thought it was super cute and you should totally check out all of her art because she’s SUPER AMAZING!!! Anyway, I got in the mood to write some Prinxiety and will probably write something for Logicality later. Please enjoy!!!

The flower people were a very curious bunch, on one hand they were vain, loved to gossip, and easy were to offend but once they accept you as part of their own they’re sweet, loyal, and ready to fight for you. But being that they are faery folk that is something to expect of them. Still, Virgil had a hard time adjusting to their sudden switch in attitude, even if it has been a few months.

When Virgil first wandered into this land everybody feared him, being that he studied magic he was more powerful then your average storm cloud so it was to be expected. Then he met Logan, who was much too curious to be scared of him. He studied magic as well, more with ruins and alchemy, and was overjoyed to have someone to talk to and study with. Logan introduced him to Patton who was cautious at first, keeping his boundaries and speaking softly, but that lasted all but five minutes. The candle creature was an exciting being with a kind soul that gave hugs frequently and a bit too tightly. It was he that introduced Virgil to Roman.

Virgil and Roman did not get along at first, Roman was much too dramatic, boisterous, and stuck-up, and Virgil for the life of him could not understand how a sweet creature such as Patton could be friends with him. He questioned Logan on the matter, seeing as the ink man and rose also bickered just as much, and was surprised to find out that Logan too though Roman good company. It was then Virgil got a quick lesson on faery lore, they aren’t too fond of outsiders so it wasn’t really Virgil’s fault but there was also very little he could do about it. Least you bring an offering or gift, like Logan did, or are kind and sociable enough, like Patton, there wasn’t much Virgil could do except hope Roman warms up to him.

Though it wasn’t like Virgil minded all that much, he much rather keeps to himself and study his magic. It did really matter to him if Roman, or any other flower folk for that matter, liked him or not. That is until the summer months came in and with it the biggest drought the land has ever come to see. Droughts were quite common during summer so the creatures of the land were more prepared then most but it was still not enough for this drought. Everyone was suffering but there were none that suffered more then the flower people, who depended on water more than anything else. The lake nearby was drying up and it was beginning to get increasingly difficult to ration out what little water they still had.

Virgil was surprised when Roman came searching for him, begging for him to help his people, thinking that the rose would be too proud to ask for any outside help. Still, Virgil was a bit reluctant, asking why he hadn’t just asked Logan who was much more experience to which Roman replied: “As powerful as Logan is his expertise is in ruins and alchemy. You’re from the cloud kingdom and are studying the magical forces of nature, you’re the only one who can help me!”

So, the rain cloud obliged, conjuring up a medium-ish storm of sorts, not big enough to cause damage but large enough to give plenty of water across most of the land. It drastically helped a lot of creatures and made Virgil sort of a hero. Which isn’t something Virgil wanted but it made people less scared of him so he guessed it was fine. Afterwards, Virgil thought once everything was said and done his “fame” would die down, he’d be left alone again, and Roman and him would continue to bicker. Of course, he was wrong because not only did Roman NOT shoo him out of his village immediately but asked him to accompany him to help make sure that the other villages surrounding the lake had plenty of water as well. Again, Virgil was surprise that Roman, being a flower folk, would worry about other villages being that they were considered “outsiders”.

And again, Roman replied with a surprising yet obvious answer: “Just because we don’t like conversing with outsiders does not mean we wish them misfortune or harm. Our neighbors are our allies, in times of need we help each other.”

That would not by the last time Roman surprised Virgil with his chivalry. Though it really shouldn’t be that surprising, Roman was a knight after all, the best in not only his kingdom but in all the land. Sure, Virgil would hear in passing conversation how Roman would boast to Patton about his adventures across the land, climbing mountains, finding treasure, and fighting off something called a dragon witch, all of which the rain cloud would roll his eyes and scoff at. But he really should have been paying attention as to WHY he was doing these adventures. He asked Patton once he was finished helping Roman with the surrounding villages around the lake because surely, he was missing something. Which he was, Roman climbed the largest, coldest mountain not meant for any living, green being to collect a special healing stone to help a sick boy in his village. He hunted down treasure stolen by bandits, returned it to the neighboring village from which it was stolen from, and refused to take any reward. The dragon witch was a real thing too, it was a malevolent being terrorizing the flower folk’s once rival kingdom, the cactus creatures.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Virgil had asked, confused and a bit guilty for having written Roman off so negatively “He boasts and shows off everything else, why keep the most important things out of it?”

The candle man smiled fondly, a look of wisdom that Virgil didn’t know he was capable of, “Roman may be of the fae but he is also a knight and knights are taught nobility, chivalry, and humility. It would go against his morals to use the people he’s helped as means to gain popularity.”

Virgil could understand that, still didn’t excuse Roman for being a jerk to him, faery or not, but he guessed the rose wasn’t so bad after all. And apparently it went vise versa for Roman as well. He came by the next day to apologize for treating Virgil so harshly and not giving him a chance as well as inviting him over to his village for a celebration feast the flower folk were making in Virgil’s name. Virgil, a bit overwhelmed, was about to kindly decline the offer but Logan wisely stepped in and accepted for him, inviting himself and Patton as well.

“It is a great insult to decline an invitation by a faery,” Logan warned him once Roman had left “especially if they are celebrating in your honor. But don’t worry, me and Patton will be there to…ease the excitement.”

To which Virgil will forever be thankful for because flower folk parties are very…extra. It was odd having people who once stared at you suspiciously and whispered behind your back now coo at you sweetly and marvel at you like some sort of “rain god”. It was odd and excessively overwhelming, Virgil had to excuse himself multiple time so that he could breathe without having someone in his face singing his praise. How long would he have to stay at the party? Would it be rude to leave early? How rude would it be if he left early? Like punishable by silent treatment or hunt you down and take your first born? Why do faeries have to be so complicated?

It was then he heard a familiar voice from a few bushes by the try he was hiding behind, “Are you alright?”

“Just peachy Roman, thanks.” Virgil gave a strained smile that told the rose he was anything but peachy.

“Are you not enjoying yourself?” Roman asked.

“It-it’s not that, it’s just…” Virgil paused, trying to think of a way to word his thoughts without offending Roman and his people “it’s a bit…mm…much. Don’t you think? I mean, all I did was a simple spell-”

“You saved countless lives Virgil,” Roman cut in, a passionate fire in his eyes “simple spell or not you have done a great serves and deserve a thank you the matches up to it.”

“It does, it does!” Virgil assured “This is more then enough, it’s great, and I’m extremely grateful for it all. It’s just…my kind isn’t all that into,” he made a vague gesture with his hands “big…extravagant…parties. We like to keep it simple and small…and quiet. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Roman frowned, the fire being replaced by worry “I see.”

“But this is fine! It’s fine!” Virgil put in quickly “It’s just me, I’m not…” another vague gesture “social, as you can probably see.”

“But we have made you uncomfortable when we wish to celebrate you.” Roman rebutted.

“I’m not uncomfortable.” Virgil said, lying through his teeth.

“No, this is all wrong,” Roman sighed, the roses growing from his body dimming from it vibrant red color to a dull maroon “I wanted to apologized for my rude behavior and make amends so that we can be friends so I thought we’d throw a party so that we could mingle and get to know each other but now I’ve just ended up making you feel uncomfortable and I-”

“You wanna be friends?” Virgil asked, cutting off Roman’s rambling.

“Yes, yes of course,” Roman nodded before biting his lips nervously “I’ll admit, I had ill judgment of you when we first met. You are dark and gloomy looking and with Patton and Logan being dear friends of mind, well, I didn’t think they’d be safe around you. I now know it was very wrong of me to think that, of any of us to think that. And it all should have been very obvious since the beginning.”

Virgil tilted his head curiously, “Why is that?”

“Rain makes the flowers bloom.” Roman said simply, as if it answered everything Virgil needed to know.

It didn’t but the declaration made the rain cloud flush a deep scarlet and tug the hood of his cloak over his head as he mumbled, “That, er, really shouldn’t be enough to trust a person. It’s a nice metaphor, yeah, but trust and friendship take time and it’s built on much more then ‘what’s supposed to be’.”

“I guess you’re right,” Roman sighed melancholy before he perked up a bit, the tips of his roses turning back to their bright red color “then how bout we start over, and slowly this time?” He extended an arm of salutation “Hello, my name is Roman and I would like to be your friend.”

Virgil looked down at the rose’s hand unsure before he looked up to meet his eyes which were soft earthy tones of moss and rich soil. They practically glowed with life, inviting and fresh with new adventures on the horizon. How is it these eyes could hold so much within them?

“I-I’m Virgil and I would also like to be friends.” Virgil finally replied, firmly grabbing onto Roman’s hand.

“Oh my,” Roman said breathlessly.

“Is something wrong?” Virgil asked worriedly. Maybe he had grabbed on to tightly? Or maybe his hood made him look creepy?

“No, nothing of the sorts,” Roman assured, staring more intensely at him, his hand seeming to tighten around his and bring them a bit closer “it’s just…I’ve always thought your eyes were just one color, like a dark stormy grey. But now…it seems they reflect a multitude of colors.” He smiled brightly, his flowers now fully bright and red “Like a rainbow of sorts, it’s really quite amazing. With the rest of you being so dark and gloomy they really stand out quite beautifully.”

Once again, Virgil found himself flushing at Roman’s words and realizing that there was more to him than meets the eye. It quite silly to think of it this way but Roman was so closed off to him before but now, after the storms passed, he’s bloomed into something beautiful.

#thomas sanders #sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #virgil sanders #logicality #prinxiety #princxiety #ink and candle au #rose roman #rain virgil #ink logan #candle patton

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baebeyza · 6 years

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Are the people who bully @delcamint really fans of the same game franchise? Fans of The Elder Scrolls series?

A game that includes all of the following:

- Lucien Lachance, one of the most popular characters, an assassin who breaks into your house and invites you join his murder club, following a damn evil religion?

- Said murder club, and religion of evil, being one of the most popular factions?

- Villains like Miraak and Dagoth Ur being popular characters, despite doing stuff like:

- mind-controlling an entire island and making them built temples for you

- creating a disease that makes you lose your mind and deforms you into a horrifying monster?

- The Dark Elves - who have slavery, back-stabbing, legal assassinations and constant cold war between factions as a normal part in their culture - being one of the most popular races among fans?

- a woman doing necrophilia?

- A guy creating 4 opposite sex clones of himself, who are both referred to as daughters and wives?

- an intersex man-god who apparently raped the King of Rape, made a bunch of children with said King, who he all killed afterwards with his “speer”?

- One of the most fucked mythology and lore I’ve ever seen, that includes:

- A god eating another god and shitting out a completely different god?

- followers of said god changing race by smearing said shit all over them?

What about the stuff you, as the player, can do?

- torture a guy to death TWICE, making him surrender to the God of Dominiation and Rape?

- become a legal assassin?

- mocking a guy who mourns the lost of a loved one, making him kill you which breaks his spirit, just because some evil god told you to?

- A prank that includes convincing a small town that the end of the world is near, making them go crazy?

- become a cannibal?

- a quest that gives you a companion whose job it is to torture everyone in the town you want to get tortured?

- collecting drugs for some high dude?

- block out the sun with evil arrows, dooming Tamriel in darkness and making vampires appear and attack people out of nowhere?

- kill some miners and blame the peaceful natives of the island for it?

- doing multiple quests involving slaves in which you can totally be the bad guy and get rewarded for it?

- buy a slave and dress her up for an arranged marriage with a dude whose practically an outcast to society?

And that’s not even all!

So, all of this is totally okay for you, but one artist making non-con content about said game and drawing porn about a character WHO ISNT EVEN A CHILD (He’s a fricking God and his depiction in Skyrim is not even child-like!) is not?

I don’t see you bullying the game writers about the bullshit they pulled off!

By your logic this entire franchise should be banned and everyone playing them is doomed to become a murderer, slave-trader or thief and the game writers are already all of the above!

How does this fiction not affect reality?

@fiction-is-not-reality @just-antithings @freedom-of-fanfic @arslanjae (tagging yall even though you might not even know the TES games, but this is some Anti bullshit right there, and I thought this fandom was better than this shit giving how dark it was in places, this user being the starter of all of this, for all I can see)

#rape mention #rape tw #discourse #my two cents on this #said artist already made a post about killing themselves #i loved this fandom for seemingly embracing all the fucked up stuff that came from these games #but i guess i will have to enjoy these games alone once more #if this is what comes from these fans

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forged-through-trials · 3 years

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I needed to decide what to do with Mephala’s Ebony Blade. Though powerful and sharp, I didn’t really want to use it. She was right when she said it was a gross reminder of what she’d done... what she’d tricked me into doing. A community was destroyed because of her, and I wanted nothing to do with that! Then, I remembered Mercator Saccus over at “A Fighting Chance.” He was looking for rare weapons of myth and lore, and this sword fit the bill. Given his knowledge of, and interest in, such weapons, I surmised that he might know what he was doing and had all the proper precautions in place, so I left the Ebony Blade in his care, for now. Hopefully he can take this wicked sword and do some good with it.

That done, I retired to my room at the Merchant’s Inn, where I had a lot of thinking drinking to do. Ah, cheap beer, you chase away the bad feelings I get from thinking about my part in ruining an innocent community. That was the rest of my day, and might have been the rest of week if Ruin hadn’t intervened. He insisted that I needed to get out there and get some work done. Seridur and Baron von Zarov were still at large, and I was the only one who knew or cared about their crimes. The guards wouldn’t do anything about them; both were too powerful to touch. It was up to me to prove they were vampires and guilty of preying on the innocent. So I put the bottle away for now, and we packed up. I needed to get out of the Imperial City for now. Hitting the road wasn’t as much fun as hitting the bottle, but would have a similar effect on clearing my head and improving my mood.

We took one last look around the city on the way out, and admittedly I did get to appreciate the more positive effects of my efforts. In Talos Plaza, we were privy to the sight of the Akatosh fountain flowing once again. It was refreshing to see that at least some of the things I do are a net-positive to people. I might prefer booze, but clean, sweet, non-corpsie water is a boon to everyone in the Imperial City.

Here we are, in the Imperial City, and there is where we’re going; Bravil. While Bravil is not the prettiest city in the Empire, I could use the training Kud-Ei could provide. I’m sure you, Gentle-Reader, would appreciate my gaining a mastery of Illusion the next time I go diving into a dark cave. So, back on the road again. We crossed the bridge toward Weye, and there moved south. It was south of the city, practically across Lake Rumare from the Waterfront District, we found...

...an Alyeid Well. These can be used to recharge magical items, so I asked Ruin if I could borrow his sword, and dipped it into the well to recharge it, before handing it back to him. I then stood between him and the well, and struck a pose. Trials: “Hey, Ruin, you know who really built these things?” Ruin: “’Who really,’ you say?”

Ruin: “...I don’t get it.” Trials: “...curses! C’mon, then, let’s go find someone who will get my hilarious and totally topical humor. There has to be someone in this province who will!”

A little further down the road, we nearly stumbled over a dead Argonian. Something tells me he probably won’t get my joke, either. Searching him, we learned his name was “Jeel-Otah.” He bore a note on his person, as well as an old and rusted key. Examining the note revealed that it was addressed to “Raminus Polus” at the Arcane University. It concerned the search for a magical artifact called “Eleidon’s Ward,” and it’s possible location in an Alyeid Ruin infested with trolls. It is being held by a conjurer, called “Crassus”. Ruin: “What is the story with these Conjurers? Why do they seem at odds with the Mages Guild?” Trials: “Oh, that was explained to me at the guild hall back in Anvil. “See, they’re exiles from the Mages Guild, and greater society at large, due to their trafficking with Daedra. While most conjuration spells that summon Daedra only last a limited time, and keep the Daedra on a short leash, they’ve conspired to cast more complicated and long lasting spells that grant the Daedra more autonomy. These spells require the sacrifice of innocent lives to maintain, so they’ve, obviously, been forced out of the Guild, and out into the wilds where they will attack anyone on sight to use them in their dark rituals.” Ruin: “I see. So they are no better than bandits, and prey upon the innocent. Then like bandits, we should show them no quarter. “This would also mean that ‘Eleidon’s Ward’ is ours for the taking, provided we can find Crassus and defeat him. There may be some reward for recovering it.” Trials: Septim Signs appeared in my eyes. “Ka-ching!” Ruin: He stared at me, brow furrowed in worry and confusion. “...you should really get your eyes checked. That isn’t normal.” Trials: “Yeah, they’ve been doing that ever since my first unsuccessful attempt to cast Night-Eye on myself.” The Septim Signs roll over to be replaced by Frowning Emojis.

Almost directly south of the Imperial City, we found an old, ruined castle. It piqued my curiosity, so while Ruin cautioned about getting involved in things without properly assessing all angles, I was just too intrigued to resist, and approached. The sign on the door, read: “The Archeology Guild”. Huh, I’d not heard of them. They don’t have any halls in any of the major cities. Could this be their only headquarters?

We barged on in, and were welcomed by an Argonian in fine robes. Teav: “Welcome to the Archeology Guild. My name is ‘Teav’, and I’m the resident gemologist.” Trials: “Oh, so you study Rooms of Nakeness?” Teav: “That’s a gymologist.” Trials: “Then you study fruit paste?” Teav: “That’s a jamologist.” Trials: “Alright, you study moving pictographs, then?” Teav: “That’s a GIFologist!” Ruin: “Eww, you both pronounce it as ‘jeef’?” Trials: “...” I scowled at him. “Tread lightly, Ruin. That’s a hill I’m prepared to die on!” Teav explained the purpose of the Archeology Guild; they are a peaceful institution dedicated to unearthing the ancient mysteries of Tamriel. He did mention that he was in charge of hiring new recruits, and that they were currently looking for new members. Teav: “Are you perhaps interested in joining?” Trials: “Sure! I’ll take any paying gig, and collecting shiny things from the ancient past sounds right up my alley!” Teav: “Now, we have certain requirements for membership. We’re looking for specialists. To that end, would you happen to be experienced with ancient Elven history?” Trials: “...uh, well I know they all used to work for a fat guy in a red robe.” Teav: “...” He shook his head, and sighed. “I’ll take that as a ‘no’. “How about ancient languages?” Trials: “I can speak Pig-Imperial.” Teav: “...strike two. How about, do you know anything about cartography, geology, or gemology?” Trials: “I’m still not even sure what that is. It’s when you study old fairy tales, right?” Teav: “...that’s a Grimmologist! “Listen, you’re a nice enough lass, but we need professionals. We don’t have a position here for a complete greenhorn.” Trials: “Hey! I’m no greenhorn! I’m in the Fighters Guild, and made it to the lofty rank of Apprenti--iiii--wow, that sounded better in my head than it did out loud.” Teav: “Hmm...” He cupped his chin and hummed in thought. “Still, it’s nice to know you’re not a novice at muscle-work, and... well, much as I’m loathed to admit it, we’re all a bunch of nerds here, and could use someone big and stronk to keep the monsters, bandits, and jocks away from our dig-sites.” Trials: “...” I sweated softly as I grinned. “Oh, yes, yes, I’m big and stronk, and totally not a loser who gets my tail kicked on the regular.” Teav: “...” He raised a brow at me, suspiciously. “Well, let’s see how you do on this first job. First, I want you to meet the rest of the guild. Introduce yourself, and see how they react to the idea of having some brawn on their side. Afterward, I’ll have a proper job ready for you.”

#the elder scrolls #oblivion #modded #let's play #roleplay #ask blog

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