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soullessseraphim · 9 days

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For those who asked :D

LORE DUMP ABOUT ARCANA OCS🎉

Liam (my mc)-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o.

Liam is my mc, meaning he's Asra's apprentice, and so, a magician. While he's been following Asra's teachings faithfully, he's found a liking in forbidden practices, and therefore necromancy. The practice of necromancy is actually forbidden amongst magicians, mainly because it is a type of dark magic that feeds on the magician's life essence to be more effective (meaning it has been deemed highly dangerous), and so he has to practice in secret. Hence why his left arm is bandaged : due to his frequent practice, necrosis has started to spread onto him. However, it isn't organic necrosis, but magical necrosis, meaning it doesn't smell nearly as foul, doesn't deal as much damage as if it were organic, but also cannot be cured by amputation or by removing the source of the infection or the necrotic tissues. It also means that bugs and maggots are not something to worry about. However, Liam can manage to keep the progression of the necrosis relatively slow by regularly changing his bandages and dipping them in a potion ; in addition, he wraps talismans around his arm, to give himself more time. Because yes, if he continues practicing or lets the necrosis spread too much, he will be gone as fast as in five weeks (without the bandages or talismans).

But why does he practice then ? Well, Liam has not felt a call / wasn't drawn towards any other type of more conventional (and authorized) magic. While he isn't incompetent, he was lacking that intimate link necessary to specialize in certain fields of magic. However, with necromancy, he feels as if he has to furnish much less efforts ; everything just flows more naturally, and it just feels... right, somehow.

In the context of the game, during the various books, the love interest (Julian) once they learn about Liam's practices will try their best to persuade him to quit (to keep him from fucking dying, obviously), however the outcome of that persuasion will variate depending on the endings :

Upright ending : Liam will eventually give up necromancy, and actually find another field of magic he is drawn towards (that is actually not forbidden or dangerous) : Conjuring magic (I've played Skyrim, can you tell?), although he will as well dip into Voodoo practices, though safely since he's going to be watched closely by the love interest and Asra (he's got friends on the other side now too- ok I promise I'll stop my references there) ; and so he lives happily ever after with the love interest.

Reversed ending : (now, I've not finished any route yet, and so I don't exactly know how accurate to lore this is, so it's very possible that all this might be... impossible. But I bend reality to my will and I do whatever the fuck I want, I'm an artist) Liam, devastated by having lost his love interest in some way, will fully give in to his forbidden practices, but to survive and save them, he will actually find a way to become the new patron arcana of Death (or at least a second one) and wage war on the Devil with his undead troupes, in order to free his beloved from their deal and set them free, and hopefully keep everyone out of danger in the process by making the Devil busy fighting skeletons. He will find a way to save (Julian) them.

Delicatessen-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o.

Victim of the Red Plague, Delicatessen's original name is unknown. If he's being honest with himself, he's forgotten it. He was simply another patient with a number attached to him. Patient n°056. He was "lucky" being in the first few batch of the victims, because in his final moments, doctors still had the patience and strength to accompany him. However, he did not want this to be the end. He may not have a cure, but he had something much more unique and morally ambiguous means to survive : if he was dying, then he'd be reborn.

Long ago, his father had saved a noble's life. In return, he'd gotten this gift, and intricately carved golden needle, with a sort of tiny vial at the tip of it, which contained a crimson liquid similar to blood. It was quite obvious that once poked with the needle, the blood would be transferred to whatever was poked... There was a letter as well, with the needle, inside the neatly decorated wooden box :

"in your last hour, after the sun has set, stare at your reflection, for it is the last time you will see it ; let go of who you were, for you will wither away ; place the needle to your neck, and rejoice in the sacrifice, for you know it will allow you to be reborn"

He remembered his father telling him he refused to ever use the gift, for he thought it was more of a curse. Delicatessen doesn't want to live forever either. But he certainly doesn't want the Plague to be his end. And so, Delicatessen poked his neck with the needle, and opened his eyes again as the moon rose high into the sky. He then left the room he'd been left to die in, and went into the streets of Vesuvia, leaving behind him an impossible to solve mystery for the doctors : "the vanished corpse of patient n°056"

After the end of the Plague, a new, more discreet disease hit the darkest streets of Vesuvia : people who'd passed out drunk during the night would wake up with missing limbs, only to find them later all dried of their blood in the streets. Naturally, it frightened absolutely everybody. Taverns were forbidden to open at night and the civilians were highly encouraged to stay inside no matter what. It went on for months, and the culprit had been nicknamed Delicatessen, because of how it looked like they were considering people as meat markets. Patient n°056, now a vampire, actually stuck with the name, finding it quite funny and fitting.

But as violently as those horrendous amputation started, they stopped. Delicatessen had disappeared, remaining a mystery to Vesuvia. Deli (yes you can nickname him that) had actually entered a sort of slumber, hidden away, and he wakes up around the same time mc arrives to the Palace for the first time. But he didn't go back to his life of crime. oddly enough, he'd found a new passion (which he suspects he always had, but his transition to un-death and his time as a sick patient might have broken what was holding him back from actually doing it (moral compass)) : in his hideout, he experiments, stitching animal parts together to make chimeras. His first successful experiment is Eve, a cat to which he attached great bat wings. She's his most precious creation.

Baron Vultur-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o-°-o.

Cursed to eat human flesh to survive, Baron Vultur is a relatively new face in Vesuvia. As a new courtier, he raises a few suspicions amongst the others : who the fuck is this guy and what the hell is he doing here? (he's just a lil guy) Hailing from abroad, Vultur had to flee his unfortunately crumbling kingdom, and so his previous Court. Nadia was kind enough to welcome him to the court, despite the initial disapproval of the other courtiers (how dare this guy bother our devilish schemes hrhrhrggrrhg) ; however, they quickly realized that Vultur might not be too much of a bothersome asset. As a demon himself, he actually has a few things in common with them. Like being kinda funky in the brain. Or having sharp teeth. But he's a lil fucked up, like all of 'em. Initially not very talkative and simply letting his new environment sink in, Baron Vultur eventually warms up to the other courtiers, having a few more affinities with Valdemar and Vulgora, with whom he hangs around more from then on.

As they grew more friendly, Vultur actually mentioned the lung surgery he went through, months back. His old kingdom now crumbled, it's only natural he has no doctor to have routine checkups with. And so he asked Valdemar who, to his surprise, accepted. However, the Quaestor did NOT expect Vultur's stitches to be so... uhm... it wasn't in a good state. They'd even commented "I don't know who was your doctor before, but this is butcher work", before proceeding to schedule an appointment with the Baron where they'd fixed the previous intervention's damage. And so, Vultur now has frequent checkups with them. It is also during one of those checkups that he was forced to explain his peculiar diet, since he'd gotten a rib stuck in his throat, and had asked Valdemar for help. He'd went outside that night, finding fresh corpses to scavenge on, and his demonic form for some reason had not thrown up the full skeleton. This is how it was brought to the Quaestor's attention that Vultur needs to consume human flesh to survive.

That does explain his carnivore like teeth. But what- who does he feed from? Baron Vulture actually attends weekly public executions, and once the crowd has cleared out, steals the criminal's body to feed off of it (whether it's during the daytime or the evening) ; sometimes he saves it for later, when he wants the meat cooked in a particular way, or just feels like eating a fancy dish. This is why servants have seen him in the kitchen a few times, making his own meals for dinners, instead of taking those already prepared. But he does like it raw at times ; Vulgora had surprised him devouring a piece of meat (which they didn't know was human, it was impossible to guess) ravenously, drenching his chin, neck and the collar of his clothes in blood once. That did stir unknown feelings in them.

But what about his demon form, then ? Baron Vultur actually turns into a sort of chimera : easily the most massive and imposing of the demon courtiers, he has a humanoid face, though he still has carnivore like teeth (just like in his humanoid form) ; he has panthera front paws ; vulture wings, hind legs, and tail, and a long feathery neck as well, like one of a vulture (because... because his name is Vultur haha get it ? Ok I shut up). He can actually fly, though due to his size, it would most likely get the attention of more than one fellow, so he doesn't do it often. (I actually plan on drawing it later jehehehejjehej)

___________________S_m_a_l_l___B_o_n_u_s___________________

Do they all know each other ?

Liam and Delicatessen actually came to know each other in one stupidly on time coincidence : they had both sneaked into Valdemar's dungeons. Liam needed a corpse for his necromancy practices, and Delicatessen needed blood to feed as well as surgical equipment. And Valdemar found the both of them. Stupidly on time coincidence I was saying. That means there are actually only two people that know of Delicatessen (and honestly maybe it's better like that). Baron Vultur does know of Liam, but isn't exactly invested in getting to know him too much, unless it's absolutely necessary.

Tag for those who asked🧡@lunumochi ; @mosssummoner Disclaimer ! : I haven't finished the first route yet, so if there are lore inaccurate infos, it's not on purpose and I apologize

#the arcana #the arcana ocs #the arcana game #ocs #my ocs #oc info #oc lore #if you get inspired credit me #angst?#the arcana courtiers #oc lore dump #typing as if my fucking life depends on it lmao #brtrrrbrbbrtbtrbrbtrbttrbtrrrbtbtbrbtbrbbtrbt💻#idk if I will update it or not #ENJOYYYYY #lore : dumped

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fyonnkalnonn · 1 year

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I've been gone for a hot minute. That's because the HDMI cable I use for my Steam Deck went out, so I took the one from my PC instead. While I was gone, I finally got around to Marathon 2, Halo ODST, and Halo 4.

Marathon 2 is a tabletop RPG campaign where the DM has all this cool back story and high-level faction moves planned but they forgot to make space for the player characters to be involved. Also you get total party killed by a dragon when it just flew in circles and breathed fire repeatedly because, quote, "Well, when you think about it, that's how a dragon would really fight." There's still so much to love in Marathon 2's writing, and in its mechanical design, but it's largely failed by its level design. After a certain point, it was so reliable that walking into a new room would spawn 5-12 guys more or less on top of me that I started walking into rooms backwards so I could kill the guy who was going to be blocking the way I came in ASAP. It's like Doom monster closets but literally every single room and without any of the IWBTG-esque "I can't believe that switch was actually a door with eight imps behind it, you got me lmao" interplay between the player and level designer.

Halo ODST fucks. The character writing is kind of boring and trope-y, but the writing knows it and gives them exactly as much screen time as their tropes can sustain. Breaking up Halo set pieces with down-key navigation segments set to an astoundingly forlorn and romantic jazz soundtrack is brilliant. The combo makes the sometimes exhausting All Killer No Filler of Halo campaign design go down so smooth that I played the whole thing in one sitting, only stopping to eat. I wish had more to say about it but it's a case of "executed exactly what it set out to nigh perfectly, no notes."

Halo 4 continues the excellent mechanical design of Halo with the addition of Knights. Playing Halo games on Heroic taught me to play carefully, dismantling enemy groups from cover, advancing slowly. Knights and their entourage demand the same approach for dismantling enemy groups, but outright defy attempts to do it safely. To fight a Knight, you need to be right up in its fucking face, and you need to not give it even a second to breathe or it will recover. They make low-accuracy, high rate-of-fire weapons and shotguns really desirable in a way they tend not to be in other Halo campaigns. Which can you do more reliably: land six consecutive head shots against an enemy that can teleport or dump an Assault Rifle magazine into its face at point blank?

The campaign levels are solid, though it sometimes feels like it's missing je ne sais quoi. But the plotting is wretched. The game opens on a masturbatory lore nerd acknowledgement that is never relevant to the story even once. One of the characters is just 343 inventing a type of guy for Master Chief and Cortana to be smarter, braver, and more competent than. Over the course of the game, Halo 4 proceeds to Everyone Is Here! so hard that it's clear that on a long enough timeline for Halo 4-style writing, literally every character ever mentioned in Halo lore would meet Master Chief personally and either give him a blow job or get into a fist fight with him.

There are some really insufferable moves regarding making Master Chief the Ultimate Special Boy in an incredibly boring way that the franchise had previously avoided beyond "this guy's like fucking terrifyingly good at his job." Oh, and the Covenant don't speak English any more! One of the cornerstones of Halo, imo, is the game play complementing the serious storytelling by bringing the goofy comic relief.

Also, I spent the entire game uncomfortable with Cortana's Halo 4 design. It is unsurprising to me that they swerved to "AIs wear clothes now, actually" starting with Halo 5. Cortana spends the game frequently confused, having emotional breakdowns, frustrated with her decaying ability to focus, audibly distraught while desperately apologizing for outbursts and mistakes she has no control over, and in every one of those scenes she's naked in a way that makes her prior designs look restrained and modest.

#Bungie #Halo #Halo ODST #Halo 4 #Marathon 2 #Durandal #Cortana

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tricktster · 5 years

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the twilight series suddenly makes 100% more sense if you read them under a specific premise that, i contend, is heavily supported by the text:

Much like Amy’s diary in Gone Girl, the books in the Twilight Saga are verbatim reproductions of in-universe diary entries carefully and deliberately created and curated by badass unreliable narrator Bella Swan as a means to achieve immortality.

Prerequisite assumptions:

1) Bella actively and persistently wants to become a vampire, both diagetically and (I contend) non-diagetically. The average vampire novel format often fails to capture realistic human behavior in one highly specific area: the protagonists are frequently mortals who grapple with the choice of whether to become a vampire. This is stupid, because being a vampire would obviously be dope as hell; particularly in the Twilight Universe, where vampires are not required to take a human life to survive, and indeed, have the capacity to live full and rewarding lives while integrated* into the human community.

(*integrated-ish; see Assumption 6)

2. There are too many coincidences for Bella to have encountered the Cullens by sheer chance, only to be the ONE person that Edward can’t live without (due largely to the novelty factor of not being able to read her ding-dang thoughts.)

3. Diagetically, the Volturi don’t even know Bella’s psyonic gifts until New Moon, but we also know that the Volturi scour the globe for recruits to enlist into the protection of their governing body.

4. Nobody wants to be a voiceless cog in a bureaucracy.

5. Nobody, and especially nobody in high school, wants to be a high school student forever.

6. Vampires in twilight are, as a group, cartoonishly terrible at disguising their true nature.

7. Forks is a backwater town approximately 3.5 hours away from the biotech hub of Seattle.

7. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney can eat my farts and they deserve to be preserved in this snapshot of an innocent author’s mind slowly unraveling.

Proposed timeline:

In 1993, there is a key system meltdown at a improvised biohacking startup in Seattle, rendering all innovative genetic modification experiments into a puddle of brown sludge that nobody can figure out how to dispose of per Federal regs, since they don’t even know what it is.

The broke founder of the startup, who for the purposes of this timeline I will call Jeff Bezos because that’s who it was, eventually grows tired of all the discussion about what to do, and just pops it in a barrel, drives a few hours out of town, and dumps it in a pond.

Bella Swan, a small child, is hanging out at a park with her family friend Jacob Black (and a ton of his friends) when they all decide to wade in a slightly murky pond. Thereafter, they are transformed.

Bella grows up as a normal, highly powerful mutant with a +20 to deception checks and wisdom saves. She lives in Arizona, but up until 2002, summers in Forks. While in Forks, she picks up on the local lore about a family of vampires who don’t eat people.

Because Forks (population: 17 + Charlie’s mustache) is boring, Bella bones up on the only interesting thing about it, i.e. Vampire Hometown baybeeeee.

In 2000, George W. Bush gets elected president, and his evangelical politics and general bumbling ineptitude informs Bella’s opinions on authoritative governmental entities.

In 2001, the Cullens make their intention to move back to Forks known, but they take a while because they need to pack all their stupid graduation hats and volvos, etc.

Later in 2001, a psychic Volturi scout rolls through Forks to ensure that nobody within living memory recalls the Cullens, and notices an anomaly in the psychic field.

The scout goes to confront Bella about joining the Volturi, and Bella immediately clocks him as a vampire, because vampires in the Twilight Universe fucking suck at looking/acting human. This leaves the scout in a bind: she’s too valuable to kill, but she’s a pre-teen, and therefore too young to be transformed per Volturi authority.

The scout warns her he’ll have to kill her if she discusses the existence of vampires with any human. He then tells her he’ll be back in five years, and begins to sweet talk her on how good life will be when she’s a vampire, beautiful, immortal, powerful, etc. Bella asks if she has to kill, and dude says “nah, actually there’s a bunch of vegetarian vampires who are moving back here soon. Fucking nerds, but otherwise they’re doing well.” Bella is all about becoming a vampire, because Bella is a rational actor.

Bella moves to Arizona, and as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are unjustifiedly initiated, she recognizes that while she DOES want to be a vampire, she does NOT want to be a foot soldier in any war that she can’t support. She needs a plan.

In 2004, Bella is watching her step-dad’s minor league baseball game when it occurs to her. On her own, she’s a target for the Volturi, but if she had some people to watch her back, she might be okay. Of course, nobody fucks with the Volturi on behalf of some rando human. She’ll need to con her way into a coven who’ll have her back and also give her that +10 to constitution via vampiric transformation, which she desperately wants because she’s a rational actor. And where are the non-volturi vampires that might have her back? Fucking Forks.

Bella moves to Forks in 2004, and upon seeing the Cullens, she immediately clocks them as vampires even though they left their “we’re all vampires” booty shorts at home, because, as previously discussed, vampires in the Twilight Universe fucking suck at looking/acting human.

Bella notes that all the vampires but one are paired off in heterosexual bliss, and takes note of the straggler as a potential vehicle to vampyrdom.

Bella figures out that Eddie can read everyone’s mind but hers, because Edward Cullen fucking sucks at looking/acting like a human who can’t read minds. Bella further observes that Eddie has a huge undead boner for her.

She’s found her mark. Now she just needs to convince him that she’s better off as part of the coven than on her own. Problem: Eddie’s a self-pitying insufferably guilt-striken perpetual adolescent who keeps himself busy by feeling sorry for himself because he’s a vampire, angst angst angst etc etc. Also, I think he’s Catholic, so add some more guilt in. She’ll have to win him over by convincing him that they’re destined to be soulmates.

What does a vampire used to having complete insight into everyone’s mind but his crush’s want? A method to know what she really thinks of him. Bella begins writing a “diary” knowing that there’s no way in hell Eddie won’t sneak in and read it. So she Gone Girls it, and begins to lay a trap to lure him in. That first diary? Twilight.

This was just in the movie but a stoner chases her around with a worm on a stick. Nothing to do with this theory, I just like that part of the movie. Where’s my spinoff about that guy?

Eddie won’t give Bella what she wants (eternal life) by the end of book 1, even though she asks him to EXTREMELY POLITELY. Time to hit the diary with some more promises of undying love.

Bella reconnects with her old friend Jacob and the rest of the Mutated By Jeff Bezos Boys. Alas, they cannot turn her into a physically powerful sexy immortal with a bite, so she’s still stuck with plan A) win over a whole family of vampires with big Mormon energy. It’s the long con.

Edward’s angst abruptly takes a swing towards terminal. He’s absolutely your classic sadboy, perhaps because Bella now has one (1) friend that he knows about.

When Eddie begins to drift away on account of Angst, Bella conjurs up a secondary love interest who, coincidentally, is ALSO a sexy supernatural entity, and is much less coincidentally just Jacob.

We should establish here that Edward is like a 107 year old white dude and so even though Diary!Bella pretends not to see it, Metatextual Frame Story!Bella knows that dude is super racist.

Jacob Black is three things: 1. Like Bella, a mutant (although one with shapeshifting abilities), 2.one of Bella’s oldest and most trusted confidants, and 3. down to clown on an elderly teenage vampire who keeps stereotyping him. Sure, says Jacob, I’ll take the form of a werewolf. He seriously thinks we’re all just beastmen, huh? Hey look at me now, I’m Regis Philbin because this is 2005 and Who Wants to be a Millionaire is still sort of relevant. Sick.

Edward does not like that Bella has one (1) other friend. Bella and Jacob plot to use this to their advantage and lure Edward back on the wings of jealousy.

Eddie gets himself into trouble on account of Angst and poor communication, so Bella has to go rescue him from himself/the Volturi.

Aro finally meets her and gets to test her powers, which impress him. Now she’s back on the fucking radar.

I forget everything that happens in Eclipse, so i have chosen to omit that part.

Eventually she extracts a quid pro quo from Eddie; i’ll marry you if you turn me into a dracula.

We don’t really call ourselves that, Wet Blanket Cullen replies, entirely earnestly.

Bella gets married at 18 in 2006, and Eddie starts to backtrack his promise about changing her. This won’t stand.

Well, look, he’s an elderly guilty catholic/mormon teen who probably still uses super racist terms, but she’s stuck on honeymoon island, he has certain angles that work for him, and seriously what are they gonna do but fuck? Bella’s alternative is listening to her “husband” drone on about his interests, which are almost certainly Car, How Do I Post a Minion Picture on Facebook, and Licorice Used To Be a Lot Cheaper in the Good Old Days.

Whoops a fetus.

Bella recognizes that she’s GOT to have this baby: time’s running out, and Bella knows that at least two of the Vamps in her coven will cut ties if she terminates or otherwise fails to carry this baby to term because of the conservative religious subtext. She’s going to have to stick it out for 9 months, even though it’s a risky call.

Bella gets what she wants after giving birth. “My time as a human is over, but I've never felt more alive. I was born to be a vampire.” That’s a direct quote. Except now she’s got a (pretty cute and easy) baby that she desperately wants to protect from Turning Into A Vaguely Religious Cullen Dressed Head To Toe In Cream Colored Wool.

Bella decides to fake her own death and escape with the kid and Jake so they can form i guess a detective agency. Bella will get “killed” by the Volturi, move to Sydney, and open up shop, and Jake will take the kid after her a few months later.

They’re gonna need a reason why Jake gets the kid though, and there’s only one reason to do anything amongst the Cullens: a heterosexual love interest with a super problematic age gap.

Jesus, Jake sighs, is Eddie really going to believe I’m in romantic love with your actual infant? Does he really think that little of me?

Yup.

Bella tries to draw the Volturi’s attention.

Works too well.

The Cullens call up all their vague acquaintances, who are at least kind of fun. Particularly that one dude who keeps getting angry about British conduct during the American Revolution.

Well, fuck, now the Volturi are bringing an army to fight their ragtag army of Vampires Who Are Cool And Interesting Enough That We Can Safely Presume They Are All Definitely Gay. Bella can’t let those guys die, they’re the first actually compelling vampires she’s ever talked to.

Bella saves the day because she’s OP.

All the Cool Vamps start packing up to leave and Bellz almost goes with them, but the Cullens would just keep sending missionaries after her if they knew.

Bella finishes her fourth journal with the vague warning that the Volturi are still out there somewhere and they miiiight just try and get her.

Two days later, she stages a scuffle and gets the fork out of Fucks. Her journals are the only clue.

Sirius Black and baby nessie follow once edward has stopped sobbing into his cream colored sweater and moved on to Extended Power Pouting.

Bella recruits her own army of fledglings.

Bella stages a coup against the Volturi and succeeds.

Bella sits on the iron throne with a hot lady vampire on each knee and they all kiss and stuff.

Nessie I guess forms a post punk band?

Edward dies from aspiration of a brussel sprout that he ate because he just wanted to feel something.

Charlie and Billy get married.

Charlie’s mustache develops a cult instagram following, providing them with a modest retirement income.

Jacob shapeshifts into Bill Murray and is always crashing weddings.

Bella’s stepdad is off in the B plot this whole time winning the world series with the help of a kooky angel.

There. Fixed. My soul is at rest.

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anjellion-drawthings · 4 years

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About all my F-Zero FCs so far, and their lore

Normally I don’t usually have the time or energy to create several FC bios, but… I think this once, I’m going to reveal history about all of them?? (Except for Jill because @huskynator did a better job than I ever could! ;; )

Warning, very long bios and connections to canon characters!

Chief Ann

Because of her position at the Galactic Space Federation, she oversees everything that Jody, John Tanaka, ands Lily Flyer do. She frequently has to scold them also if they do something that could harm the Federation’s reputation.

As expected of an alien creature, she’s actually really old, her age is listed to be over 200 years! To that extent, it means that Ann has witnessed the horrible F-MAX accident, which put a start to her wanting to ban all Grand Prix races, as she deemed them too dangerous. It may also be connected to the destruction of her home planet; Dinea.

She did manage to successfully suspend the F-Zero Grand Prix following another terrible accident (which led to Captain Falcon being hospitalized and Pico taking the blame), but the Arrows managed to rectify it. Since then, Ann has had a grudge against them.

When Jody Summer’s father died, Ann pretty much took the pilot under her wing, so they are particularly close. Unlike John Tanaka though, Ann is overly protective to the point of annoyance. Doesn’t mean that Ann won’t take a bullet for her team, she’s willingly gotten herself harmed for innocents.

In spite of this, Ann’s reputation is very negative. Her and Pico have a natural spite for one another given their alien species (leeches vs. snapping turtles) and occupations. Samurai Goroh’s bandit group also has a strong distaste for her, as do residents of Takora due to an incident that occurred.

The Skull also doesn’t agree with her since he (un)lives for racing, Kate Alen, Princia, and Spade also find Ann to be a “killjoy”. Her and Captain Falcon though... they agree to disagree, so to speak. Ann recognizes Douglas as a former officer of the Internova Police Force and actually hopes he’ll return.

Although she comes off as harsh and cruel to criminals, Ann ultimately has some soft spots. Because she is the last of her known species and has a rather negative rep, Ann gets extremely flustered about… intimate matters. She’s used to being disliked.

Ann’s favorite drink is A+ blood and wine, while her favorite snacks are ice cream and jelly-filled donuts. Did we mention she’s extremely tall and can probably grow her body parts back?

Kevi

A knight from the planet Popopo, sometimes known as “the twinkling planet”. It’s notably very cold there, which is why he has such cozy-looking attire, gifted to him by the king of the land he originated from. Just about everyone there upbeat and friendly.

About less than a year ago, Kevi had triumphed in the war against a cult on his planet, so he decided to take up F-Zero racing until duty calls for him. Kevi had raced in the past, but it wasn’t on the scale of a Grand Prix, it often played out more like training for warfare.

Kevi is actually a transman, and plans to use the space credits in prize money to complete his “heroic appearance”. He had always wanted to be a knight and went through with changing everything about himself to achieve that dream.

He loves the idea of being a powerful, macho hero and often flexes this in front of other racers. Not in an attempt to seem cocky, but because he loves competing with his heroes! He’s a fan of just about all of the racers, and I do mean all of them! Because Kevi is so friendly and genuine, even the more cold characters find themselves opening up to him rather easily.

The normally cold and calculated Pico finds himself at ease around the knight, while even Black Shadow himself is humored by Kevi. The only one who detests Kevi and doesn’t hesitate to knock him down is Deathborn, of course. He hates Kevi even more for actively taking up Black Shadow’s time and hanging out with him, leading to the chance of Black Shadow’s fearsome reputation diminishing… or even worse, a relationship.

Kevi doesn’t even care about the whole crime thing, because he views these as small potatoes compared to a cult that straight up wants to destroy everything. Captain Falcon was worried at first, until the knight said he’s dealt with things far worse than the criminals of F-Zero.

Now, if push comes to shove, Kevi will most definitely drop his friendly personality and show that he’s a strong warrior. Not too bad for an F-Zero fan-boy with pink hair. He’s probably capable of taking someone down in arm wrestling despite how petite he is.

Kevi loves energy drinks, and his favorite food is usually anything with tomatoes! He’s very fit and never takes a break from exercising his body to become stronger. However, under that visor, Kevi does have a particularly adorable gaze, it’s said his eyes are like looking at stars.

Lanos

A sarcastic destroyer of worlds, times, and universes. He’s a silver-tongued entity, able to manipulate others to act out their innermost desires. Lanos is ageless, his origins unknown, just traversing to wherever he pleases. Where exactly is he hiding? And in what time period?

Probably the distant future, which is why he’s considered Phoenix’s #1 enemy. The time traveling detective has gone after him nonstop, but is often unable to pinpoint Lanos’ exact position. In fact, more often than not, Lanos manages to get away from Phoenix, whether a horrible crisis is averted or not.

He definitely has some connections to Don Genie. In another part of the future, Lanos apparently runs a night club (he always running away yet manages to keep a club!?), so they probably had some sort of deal. After all, Lanos gives people whatever they want, usually without strings attached.

Why does Lanos go around causing problems? It just happens usually whenever he goes anywhere, doesn’t even raise his hand. He often just lands on any planet in the form of a green jewel. People who cave into lust, wrath, or greed will often actively seek Lanos. Any downfall of the worlds is their fault and not his, something he constantly points out to Phoenix. “Why should it be the bomb’s fault when someone pushed the button?”

In terms of documented incidents, Lanos participated in F-MAX accident that burned several racers alive (including the Skull), the F-Zero race that got Captain Falcon hospitalized (with the blame pinned on Pico), and the destruction of Ann’s home planet. The war on Zou is most likely also started by Lanos.

Lanos most definitely has his own personal enjoyments, usually in the form of racing or any thrill-seeking activity. No one can really stop it, because if Lanos feels threatened, anyone who gets close will pretty much get their skin melted off.

Because of his history, not only does Phoenix intend to destroy him-- but so does Captain Falcon, Pico, Ann, Jody Summer, even Leon. Should they have any particular desire though, you bet that Lanos will try to wring them out.

Lanos speaks with a stoic, deep tone. To someone like Mr. Zero (who has to unfortunately interview him at times), it’s frightening, but when Lanos sweetens his words, it turns charismatic.

Cierlok (Princia’s servant)

(Credit to Huskynator for the name, which I slightly altered it to sound more exotic ;;)

Princia Ramode’s servant hails from the desert kingdom on Planet Magica. He is extremely protective of the princess, having known her since she was just a toddler, and will fly into a fit of rage if anyone tries to lay a hand on her. Don’t expect mercy either, since he’s a user of magic.

Since it’s impossible to reason with Princia’s stubborn personality, Cierlok is responsible for having an F-Zero machine made for the princess, and it was him she snuck off with. Unlike her, however, Cierlok has a very low opinion of the other F-Zero racers, especially Samurai Goroh and anyone associated, viewing them as lowly bandits. His opinion of bounty hunters isn’t much better.

But whenever Cierlok is confronted by someone physically stronger than himself, he’ll quickly chicken out, usually by running away or stammering. This same personality is usually witnessed when Princia is dragging him into something dangerous or risky.

Cierlok was actually a fortune teller in the desert kingdom, once a mere peasant himself. This all changed when Princia’s father needed a court magician and a bodyguard for his daughter. Evidently, the position has gone to his head over the years. Cierlok still does tarot card readings and all that other stuff though. Lower class individuals in Magica do not have a last name, while royalty does.

He had absolutely no interest in joining the F-Zero races so long as Princia remained unharmed. This changed when another magician began participating, Cierlok wished to prove that planet Magica has the best sorcerers in the universe-- mainly himself.

Since entering, he’s formed quite the rivalry with Spade and the Skull. Black magic and circus performances? “No, the pure magic of my planet is the greatest to exist!” Cierlok truly believes that his sorcery and fortune telling is above all of those.

Before planet Popopo went to war, they allied themselves with Magica. During that time, before Kevi had transitioned, he had gotten into a relationship with Cierlok. It didn’t last though, mainly because Cierlok was too much of a coward and wasn’t exactly strong, not to mention his ego got too grating. (He hasn’t even taken the message that he’s been dumped)

Cierlok’s favorite drink is champagne, and he loves calamari. He’s considered trying takoyaki but didn’t want to incur the wrath of Octoman. Probably for the best that he doesn’t try to make anymore enemies.

#f-zero #f zero #f zero gx #my fcs

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mediaeval-muse · 4 years

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Book Review

Unravel the Dusk. By Elizabeth Lim. New York: Knopf, 2020.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: YA fantasy

Part of a Series? Yes, Blood of Stars Duology #2

Summary: Maia Tamarin’s journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. The boy she loves is gone, and she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor’s bride-to-be to keep the peace. But the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within. Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing . . . glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red, losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It’s only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, but she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.

***Full review under the cut.***

Content Warnings: violence, blood, references to corporal punishment and torture, demonic possession

Overview: Despite its flaws, I really enjoyed Spin the Dawn and was excited to read its sequel, Unravel the Dusk. Unfortunately for me, most of the things I loved about Spin the Dawn were lacking in its sequel, making the things I don’t like about Lim’s writing stand out a bit more. As a result, this book was underwhelming, and I can’t say I was particularly satisfied by the conclusion to this duology, even if there were some things here and there that had promise.

Writing: As with the previous book, Lim’s pacing has a tendency to move a bit too fast. While it worked ok in Spin the Dawn, it seems as if Lim was always trying to get to the “next thing” in Unravel the Dusk to avoid being criticized for moving too slow. It comes at the expense of developing a deep, emotional connection between the reader and the story; emotional moments aren’t given time to breathe, and action sequences are over so quickly that there’s no time to feel suspense. As a result, I found myself unable to get invested in the plot, despite there being some pieces that would have otherwise appealed to me.

I also was not a fan of Lim’s tendency to tell instead of show. While I’m not insisting that showing is *always* preferable to telling, I did think Lim passed up some opportunities to really showcase her craft. Maia would tell us how she was feeling more often than show it (”I crumpled to the floor in despair.” “Anger washed over me.”), and Lim had the tendency to explain to the reader what can be inferred. Additionally, so many character interactions revolved around dialogue that I longed for scenes where they could do something meaningful together, rather than just talk about it.

Plot: Unravel the Dusk follows the fallout from the previous book: Edan has lost his magic and has left the Palace, while Maia must contend with her deal with the demon Bandur. While the demonic possession angle was interesting, it seemed like a lot of what made Maia’s story interesting in the first place (the emphasis on sewing, her connection to her family, Lady Sarnai’s complexity) was done away with in favor of a more “dark” fantasy plot. I do think a story about demonic possession and the loss of self could have worked in Lim’s setting, but because so much of the magic and wonder and uniqueness of Maia’s character was done away with, it felt like a radical departure from Spin the Dawn.

Maia’s inner monologue also had a tendency to be repetitive when describing the effects the demon was having on her. She would often vocalize how monstrous she was becoming, how there was “still some of the real Maia left,” and so on to the point where it didn’t create suspense or tension, but became something of a broken record. I also don’t think her loss of selfhood - when it did happen - was particularly compelling. For example, there is a moment when Maia is supposed to irrevocably lose her mind and her memories, but it seems like she only forgets names and faces for a second, then regains them when she’s around the person in question. It made the stakes seem much lower, despite the main action revolving around Maia’s entire identity.

In terms of the plot’s overall structure, I also didn’t feel like the scenes built on each other in meaningful ways. Because the pace moved so quickly, Lim seemed to forgo things like foreshadowing and suspense, and I often felt like I wasn’t being invited to share a journey with the characters so much as I was passively observing them. For example, when Maia and Edan finally confront Bandur, there is no lead up to the encounter; one second, they’re at a Temple, the next, they’ve already journeyed to Lapzur and are enacting a plan, which the two have discussed in meticulous detail off page. As a result, major plot points felt a bit hollow; everything leading up to Maia’s arrival at Lapzur didn’t advance my understanding of demon lore (unless it was dumped on me via dialogue), nor did it add to Maia’s character development. Overall, I just didn’t feel like I cared about what happened because I wasn’t allowed to feel the stakes of Maia’s predicament, and I was kept at arm’s length rather than invited along for the journey.

Characters: Maia’s personality is a little bit different in this book due to her demonic possession. She “goes rogue,” so to speak, learning to act on her own and taking charge without the help of Edan or other magic users. She’s also a bit more cold, which makes sense given her circumstances, but was frustrating for me as a reader because her passion for her family and Edan’s well-being made her so likable in the first place. As I stated above, I didn’t quite like how repetitive her internal monologue was, as it made her seem less like a person who was losing herself and more like an “edgy” character who *talked* about losing herself. I also think her tendency to want to push everyone away "for their own good” was irritating.

Edan was largely absent until halfway through the book, but when he came back, I didn’t find that Lim did anything interesting with his character. He’s still kind and devoted, which is nice, but he didn’t exactly develop in any way, nor did his relationship with Maia undergo serious challenges.

The same can be said of Ammi, a former imperial servant who travels with Maia in part to get away from Palace life, and in part because she values Maia’s friendship. I loved Ammi as a character, but it didn’t seem like Lim took advantage of her potential to really explore what female friendship can look like in her world. Instead, it felt like Ammi was mostly present to highlight Maia’s demonic changes - Ammi is shown to be cold or hungry so that Maia’s sudden lack of sleep or eating is unsettling, and Ammi is frequently the victim of Maia’s angry, violent outbursts.

Other secondary characters likewise seemed to only exist for brief moments, and since the plot moved so quickly, their emotional impact was very limited. Longhai’s reappearance, for example, should have been more impactful - he could have reminded Maia of who she was, taught her more about the value of relying on friends, etc. but none of the interactions with him are given the room to breathe. Lady Sarnai has a brief arc was somewhat intriguing, but since she was absent for most of the book, she didn't feel as integral to the story as she could have been. Similarly, Bandur is something of a boogeyman in that he’s always threatening to do something to Maia and her loved ones, but his power is never really felt. As a result, he’s somewhat one-dimensional as a villain, and I never got the sense that the stakes were especially high, should he escape Lapzur. The same is true for the shansen and Giyu’rak; while I did get the sense that the shansen was a threat, his own demonic aid was one dimensional.

Other: While a lot of the demonic lore was interesting, I think Lim could have communicated it in more interesting ways. Most of what we know about demons comes from Bandur or Edan dropping information on Maia, or from random acts of violence. I also thought there seemed to be little limit to Maia’s demonic magic; in stark contrast to Edan’s former abilities, Maia has no restrictions other than “using too much will make it harder to resist later.” While good in theory, I did wish there was some kind of boundary to her magic, such as certain places she couldn’t go, people she couldn’t touch, etc. Also, I disliked how Maia seemed to intuit how to wield her magic without much of a learning curve. While she was fairly passive and ignorant in the previous book, this book swings too far the other way and makes her instantly knowledgeable, which means there are fewer obstacles to overcome.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if you’re interested in demons, demonic pacts and possession, threat of war, and questions of selfhood.

#book reviews

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