#I may have forgotten a few stuff... again so I'll either edit this post or add whatever I was thinking about in the next

[hapigairu]

And it makes his efforts all the more genuine (not that there was any doubt, but still). It's wild to me that some people try to spin this as Dimitri as doing something bad or utterly insincere...

Exactly! That's precisely why Ingrid is in such a quandary. Her dream is to become a knight, but she also knows she has a duty to her people and that her house needs a way to keep their territories afloat financially. Which... yes, it's unfortunate that Ingrid, as the only Crest-bearer of the family, is expected to marry someone wealthy (especially since Glenn's death is still extremely painful to her). But she's not being forced to do this either by her family. It's not like Bernadetta "My father sees me as a mere asset to marry off so he can get richer" von Varley or Mercedes "My half-brother's father wants me to have his Crest babies without my consent and my adoptive father in the Kingdom basically bought me so he can marry me off and enter noble society" von Martritz. Ingrid is lost between her lifelong dream and her responsibilities, and, admittedly, she feels a bit of pressure, but ultimately, her father will always respect her choice. But, yeah... communicating... It can be complicated.

Yes, we hardly know anything about Adrestian nobility (let alone Leicester nobility...), which is a shame. But you know the saying: out of sight, out of mind lol. Plus, they have government positions in the capital, so maybe they just delegate the management to other members of the House, which could potentially be a somewhat ungrateful position? Or maybe the wife is expected to manage the territory and thus has to do regular trips? ... yeah, I got nothing.

(Oh, just a little thought I had about Miklan the other day: since his mother was from the Empire, would he still have relatives there? If so, how did they react to his mother's death and his downward spiral? Would Miklan have tried to go to them only to run into problems along the way?)

Yeah... Something that bothers me with her mindset (which may be because I'm reading a book on the history of labour in Hawaii and it's really hard to stay calm when you see what was going on. Might do a rant post about this at some point, maybe, anyway) is that she seems to see people as assets whose worth depends on how talented (or rather useful) they can be. And, as Randomnameless said in another post, very few people are going to be coddled like Linhardt was. It's not that difficult to imagine that anyone who'd be struggling either mentally or physically (or both) could end up impoverished and left to rot in the slums because they couldn't git good. Maybe I'm being unfair, but I fail to see anything good coming from her rule.

Yeah, no offence (but kind of actually), but if someone says that a disabled person is just "lazy", then it just shows how privileged they are (regarding their health, at least). It's as bad as saying "have you tried not being depressed/autistic/etc?" lol

And true, in the society she aims to create, you'd have to do your damnedest to stand out from the crowd, otherwise you'd be at the bottom of society and we know how Adrestian nobles/wealthy people see them. It kind of reminds me of the book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones, in which he discusses the way poor people are viewed by the middle class/upper class and how it got this bad.

And, if that's any comfort, I wouldn't fare well in her society either, being neurodivergent and having depression, social anxiety (and maybe PTSD) lol.

And I get that getting rid of the nobility is based, but if it's to end up with basically the same elite (only with a different name), then what's the point? Dimitri might keep the nobility around, but he's also implementing a welfare system and some kind of democracy. And that's... good? I'd rather be a subject of a king but have social protection than not be under a king/queen while having to fight my way to a decent life.

(Also, I might completely be off the mark, but I could see Edel's rule lead to what is called the industrious revolution (a term coined by a Japanese scholar, btw!), that is the transition from a subsistence-based economy to an economy more focused on, uh, trade and profits. This change meant an augmentation of working hours for the peasants (and commoners in general tbh) because now they had to produce so that they could have surplus to sell. That's when mono-culture started to become the norm (which... well, mono-culture bad). Like, I could see Edel's citizens having to prove themselves by working more and producing more for the Empire. And trading diasporas (which played a big role at this time) could be like "we have this super rare crop, how about you grow it and we'll give you a share of the profits?")

Are you afraid of instability post-CF? Fear not, thanks to the Mittelfrank Opera Company, our citizens will be spied on so that any dissenter can be weeded out, thanks to Hubert and Shamir's efforts, any revolt will be severely put down and, of course, censure will protect our beautiful empire from any touchy subject that might anger the mass. How's that freedom from nobility feeling, eh? Seriously though, there's not a shred of doubt that Edel will use force and violence to deal with revolts or riots. And people won't forgive her so easily for invading and annexing their countries, so there's bound to be a lot of fighting.

Yes, as you said before, Dimitri will prioritise lives over "ideals". If your people end up decimated and your lands ruined because you were too forceful in your reforms, then it's not worth it. Dimitri gets that. Felix gets that. Sylvain gets that.

(dunno what you're talking about, I don't need nobody /j) Yeah, and according to the Internet, the term society literally comes from the Latin term societas which derives from socius (comrade, friend, ally). People are supposed to support each other in a society, or a healthy one, that is.

(side note: I've seen some people argue that centralisation and centralised societies are a good thing actually, which... no? I mean, it can be a good thing, I suppose. But there are sooooo many societies that knowingly chose to be a decentralised society. Like some populations in Africa (I'm not sure where anymore, I'll have to check) who saw what nearby centralised society looked like and just noped out of it (and funnily enough, the fact they were a decentralised society protected them from interacting with Europeans for a while, which... good for them) or the people living near Nan Madol who were mistreated by their ruler (and forced to build an artificial island aka Nan Madol) and, at some point, had enough of it and decided to get rid of him and become a decentralised society lol anyway, sorry for that deviation)

In a way, the "parley" scene is a good illustration of hadou (Edel) vs oudou (Dimitri), which was most likely the point. It's also the scene which interpretation varies the most depending on who you root for. Though when its interpretation is in favour of Edel, the rhetoric can quite... yeah. That, or it's Dimitri who blatantly refuses to understand Edel's POV lol.

Well, yeah. And even if Leopold doesn't get to choose his successor (lol), who has been studying everything that this position entails since his childhood? Yes, exactly. Honestly, I agree with everything you said about that.

Imagine being someone who loves to study but because you have a learning disability, you can't pursue your interests because you've been deemed as not deserving enough for that. Like... damn.

Yeah, as long as religion isn't used as a means to oppress people (like it's too often is IRL...), then it's totally fine and you shouldn't be shamed for believing in something. Everyone has their own way of coping with life and (as long as it's not harmful to anybody) they shouldn't be berated or despised because of that.

Oh yes, the poor lad really has low self-esteem... I still think it's better to doubt and ask around than be set in your own ways and refuse to consider other opinions.

Man, I feel so sorry for Sylvain's mother, whatever the route, she's bound to suffer... (same with the Gautier trio, but still lol)

Blue Lions? More like Based Lions. No matter the route, they always feel like people who actually discuss plans, debate, etc. Not Dimitri and his circus of yes men.

Maybe he wouldn't have much to say because "buddy, we're in the middle of a fight, can't this wait?". Seriously though, I could imagine him trying to feign indifference only to (try to) write a letter to his step-mother when he's alone.

It's funny how GW is sometimes considered to be a golden route when... if you think about, it's really not. Edel won't stop her war because the end goal is unification under the Empire's banner. And now, as you said, Leicester can't count on the Kingdom's assistance so it's going to be a three-way war until the bitter end. Not to mention that... Thales is still around? The Agarthans might as well wait until the three factions are done killing each other and then subjugate the surface (and what remains of the people). That said, assuming the Empire wins the war in GW and that Sylvain survives, wouldn't he be held captive in an Adrestian prison?

I imagine that in SB, Dimitri would make a last stand during which he (and possibly Felix and Dedue) would be killed and then she'd force Leicester to submit to the Empire. In the unlikely event that Felix survives, chances are he'd be stripped of his title (because despite him doing a good job, Edel would appoint someone (from the Empire ofc) with more "mehrit" who'd manage Faerghus as a whole, which means they'd have to take over the restoration of Duscur and deal with Sreng and, uh... well, as FantasyInvader mentioned, the Empire engages in military expeditions post-CF so why not in SB as well...).

Sooo... Maybe: AG: the Kingdom, Leicester and the Church win (yay) SB: the Empire wins (oh no) GW: the... Agarthans win? (oh... yikes)

I can see Lambert being like that, but he did launch a military campaign in Sreng, didn't he? Granted, we don't know the exact reasons, IIRC. In any case, it's true that Lambert seemed to want to, uh, speed-run his reforms. Maybe he also wanted to raise more taxes (or like tax the nobles) so have enough funds to implement some sort of social welfare for the commoners? Which the western lords were clearly against? Like Baron Dominic could have been a bit wary of what you said, but the fact the western lords would resort to regicide makes me think that they might have other issues with Lambert.

Oh good! An ending without Rodrigue is too sad to think about lol (which is why I'm willing to suffer the Zahras disaster, Rodrigue is worth the pain). And what's that about Ferdinand dying? I don't remember that at all. Wasn't he...uh... on the run and then taken into custody by the Kingdom army just to be safe or something? Also, do you publish your work on AO3? (Also, I wish I could find the courage to write cause I have so many ideas of... ideas in my head (especially about Morfis, Duscur, some political aspects of Leicester) but my brain blanks everytime I try lol it's a miracle I've managed to write this much these past few days)

True! He's very aggravating in this regard. I promise you Dimitri, getting some rest won't hurt your people. Now, lie down. Good - what's that thing you're hiding? Ah, some more paperwork. Of course. *facepalms*

Yeah, like even if you have a fundamental disagreement, why do you feel like being insulting? Honestly, everything that I've seen from the stans infuriates me. The harassment, the block-evading, the death threats, the generalised lack of respect towards people who don't agree with them,  it's just... wow. I feel genuinely sorry for people who can't enjoy the games because  of these people or are made to feel like trash because they don't want to walk with Edel... It's disgusting and pathetic. (and to anyone who's reading this, I hope you stay safe.) Also here's a meme, because why not:

(and completely agree about Petra. The fact that her situation isn't addressed with the seriousness it deserves is very problematic. As for GW!Petra, she doesn't exist)

You just don't get it. He's using her using him using her usin- uh... At this point, you might as well consider that Clod suffered some brain damage during the timeskip. Or that he was slithered. Whichever works better.

Hahaha, and the Sreng representative (maybe Leif!) would be like "why are you wearing summer jewelry when it's winter? Are you mocking our culture? Are you itching for a fight? ... Nah, I'm just messing with you. Or... am I?" (of course, they'd speak in the language of Sreng)

I'm having a really hard time fathoming how some people consider SB to be a righteous/heroic route or a route where we're the good guys. The route where:

You invade two independent nations under the pretence of "saving their citizens from oppression" (though I guess you can't be oppressed anymore if you're dead lol) even though Her Majestic Hypocrisy repeats a bunch of times that she's in for conquest and that she'd obliterate anyone who stands in her way.

The cast keeps victim-blaming the invaded parties for *checks note* defending their countries. 

The death toll is the highest. You have to kill Ingrid, Rodrigue, Gustave and Sylvain. And you can also kill Ashe, Mercedes (btw, if she dies, the cutscene where Dimitri and Dedue grieve changes slightly, which is nice), Annette, Shamir, Ignatz, Raphael and Marianne (how does Margrave Edmund feel about Claude's alliance with the empire knowing his daughter was killed by its army?). 

IIRC, this is the only route where you conscript merchants into the imperial army. No wonder the empire has the biggest army.

Based Rhea who, despite being hunted, still thinks about the safety of the continent first in the final chapter. It's hilarious how characters like Edespot or Clyde harp on about how Rhea is the big bad, and in the few scenes you have with her, she's just kind? Anyway. Rhea based.

In the C support conversation - which happens right after Felix got seriously injured and Sylvain got killed- there's this bit where Dimitri is like "I don't know if I can talk with like everything is normal, so many have died already" and Edespot's response is basically "yeah I don't see it that way. Let's agree to disagree". Also, I believe she wonders if she shouldn't just kill Clyde and Dimitri once they're out. Even though Clyde is her ally at the moment. You bet on the wrong lord, Clyde... 

I probably forgot a few stuff, but... oh well.

To be honest,

The only things I like about Supreme Bullshit are :

Its ending! Supreme Leader and Barney (well, at least they throw a sword?) being sitting ducks while Rhea steals the show, and sacrifices herself in an epic shonen scene to get rid of the real threat, aka showing that unlike someone, she knows how to prioritize, and it ends up in an explosion. It matches the ending of the F-Zero anime (at 0.48!), Rhea/Falcon rushes to deal a blow (a Falcon punch and a Seiros strike I guess?) to their mortal enemy, there is a giant explosion, and both Rhea/Falcon fade away in a blinding light. Too bad the Supreme Bullshit BGM is eons away from "Searching to the Truth" :(

The reveal that Rhea kept the keys to the sekrit passages in the Imperial Palace - or Rhea knows more about Enbarr and its castle than the current Emperor and her aides...

Doro's paralogue being incredibly tone deaf about, uh, soldiers being "too busy" by the Mittelfrank troupe, that they can't basically protect the dancers/performers from bandits, when the paralogue happens in an area that is expressedly supposed to be full of soldiers!

If starts align in a certain way, it's the only route in Nopes where Clout dies!

Leopold! He's like Victarion Greyjoy, only if he was taken seriously. But we, as players, know better! Also he's a living retcon, from having a major cichol crest to gift to his son because he fought well (and not to, say, Big B or even Ferdie) a sacred weapon despite the route being all about muhritocracy!

Supreme Leader plans and plays with the cards she has in her hand - from trying to get good PR to get rid of people (Varley sr) by pitting them against her next target (the CoS)!

An entire game full of new Supreme Replies (tm)!

For shippers around, it has a Cathmir scene where everyone knows Shamir will prioritize Catherine's life over her allegeance! too bad this is a Supreme Leader route, so no, Shamir won't fucking try to kill her for blackmailing her and can even kill Catherine herself later on....

That's not a lot lol, and most of it are breadcrumbs because for the proper plot...

Yeah, it kinds of sucks.

Supreme Bullshit is even more tone deaf with the War and its realities than Tru Piss (and that's a feat!), Ferdie being completely, uh, off the mark about everything (invading lands and rekting people, and then saying those people's fears are only in their heads! Pal, one of the first missions in the SB exclusive chapters is to rout refugees??? + the nonsense about the Kingdom having more crested generals, when data shows the Empire has more crested peeps than the Kingdom!), Caspar being turned in the worst version of himself who dgaf anymore about protecting "innocents" and "justice", and, uh, everything with Monica.

Victim blaming is the norm with Fodlan games, but yeah, it really feels odd that suddenly, in the Zahras chapters, Dimitri's all "okay" when his closest friends either died or were grievly injured and the game proceeds as it does when, come on, why wouldn't Dimitri kill her the second they're out of the Zahras verse??

I really disliked how Supreme Bullshit yeeted Ionius from Adrestia, or how it didn't explore in more depth the Insurrection of the Seven, especially since we side with Leopold'n'Waldemar against Ludwig, who used to be allies! Also, as far as I remember, no one mentions anything about Arundel, why he ran away to the Kingdom with a young Supreme Leader and how he changed when he returned, or something?

If Ludwig is pushed by Supreme Leader, reciting her Dad's words, as the one who led the insurrection and the experiments on her, why the fuck no one else mentions them, as Leopold and Waldemar were on Aegir's side back then? They don't even mention "Arundel" participating, like, Volkhard sides against Ionius and hides his niece, but 3 months later, he returns and offers her as a guinea pig?

As is the norm with the Supreme Leader routes, the "truth" isn't what we're looking for, because we know Supreme Leader pushes a narrative she will follow to reach her goals, but where Tru Piss gave hints here and there about her narrative being, uh, rubish, we have no clues here, and Leopold prefers to flash his loincloth than giving us anything meaningful about that incident.

When you compare them to Matthias and Rodrigue (and Gilbert?) who often mention Lambert "back in the days", it's more and more obvious that... we're not supposed to ask questions in Supreme Bullshit, and just go with the flow.

And it ends with a high five.

I'd say it deviates less from Tru Piss than Golden Shower does from Verdant Winds, but it's an "expected disappointment".

That's why my only higlights are not plot relevant (save for the Captain Falcon - Rhea parallel) - because we know the plot will never deliver something meaningful in a Supreme Leader route.

[sp-ud]

My theories so far for "Generation One: The Social Experiments" of Generation Loss. (And also just a bit of a recap of all the confirmed things I'm aware about Gen 1)

(This is so long. If you read all of this I love you.)

Also, I wrote this May 1st/2nd, before the keynote. I will likely be adding stuff about the keynote either in a reblog to this post or a completely new post which I'll edit a link to or something)

So ever since the name "The Social Experiments" was announced, it became clear to me this was going to be something that we the audience, would be able to have influence on. To some extent.

This was then further solidified by things like Ranboo mentioning that Gen 1 would take place on his Twitch channel, talking about how important it would be to be there when it happened live, and during his Cult of the Lamb stream, mentioning how chat should familiarize themselves with using Twitch extensions to vote.

And of course, T_2: The Inauguration being a short "choose your own adventure" thing also made this pretty clear. Like a test run for the full event. And speaking of T_2, a quick run-through of that. (Because I finished summarizing the new stuff before I realized, shit that video is also probably still important, but the post is already so fucking long)

All of the videos take place on an old TV with static heavily in the background and white text appearing on the screen, "Welcome. You have our attention. Please ensure you are alone. There are precautions in place. The inauguration is necessary. Prove your worth. Please remain emotional. Act upon first impulse."

And then you are asked "Cats or Dogs?", this question doesn't matter. The result is the same, "Now you understand what this is. Next evaluation. Which is best. Power or Wisdom?"

"Power" leads to a failure, reading "Wisdom becomes power. Your input is no longer wanted. Then the camera backs away from the TV, before it vanishes and the words "Try again" appear on screen, before a bombardment of text appears on screen.

"Wisdom" leads to "Impressive. Wisdom is vital. Which will prevail. Life or death?"

"Life" is another fail, "Optimism makes one naive", before going into the same failure screen as before.

"Death" leads to "Intresting. Let's test that." Before cutting to a screen of a person who's face is obscured with a box of static struggling tied to a chair

"You or them?"

You, "Noble yet foolish." Before failure clip.

Them, the person struggles for a bit before going limp, the censor changing to just black, "Did you make sure you were alone? Yes or No?"

No, "You should have." Fail.

Yes, "Good. One final request. Don't Look away." Then the GenLoss logo as it's pictured above slowly fades in, before vanishing and the text reading "Congratulations." appears. There's a few more seconds of just a blank static screen before in red text in the bottom corner pops up reading "Your failures have not forgotten"

So, at this point, all I really had for theorizing was: Somehow the audience will be able to influence the events that happen. And that's about it.

But luckily, the "Connecting..." teasers came out and there was finally more to work with! Yippee!

So the first one Connecting... is a 30 second video of a cassette tape with the letters "TSE" written on it, heavy visual static over it, with some bopping kinda ominous music over it, before a short jingle plays and we hear "If you have any information on these individuals, don't hesitate to call. We thank you for your cooperation during these times" followed by a sound that reminds me of someone turning off some kind of old tech, or hanging up a corded phone.

Not that much to work with other than that there's a group of people who are being looked for, for some reason. Also the "TSE" is likely short for "The Social Experiments" aka, the name of Gen 1.

Also, in the description, there's binary that when translated reads "From one to another", not really sure what to do with this bit of info yet.

Then we get the second Connecting... teaser, which was just this image.

My initial thoughts on this, ripped straight from my Twitter are: "I think what's happening in-universe is that whatever audience roll we'll be playing, will think what's happening is just a show with no serious consequences. But what we influence will have real serious impacts on the safety and life(s?) of the participant(s).

And the crossed-out thing makes me think of like. An office building. So maybe that's whatever organization is behind this broadcast, and they're lying to their viewers about what's really happening.

And who's made these sticky notes? They obviously know more than they probably should. And are going to somehow try to stop whatever is happening. From happening. Did they used to be a part of this group? Are they someone who was supposed to be a victim but escaped?"

And at least one part of this got answers in the currently most recent video, Connected.

The first chunk of the video is red and black static with the word "Connecting..." before cutting to a black screen reading "Welcome" before some more bopping but ominous music kicks in and the screen changes to some sort of infinite tunnel filled with red light.

A bunch of text flashes on screen, in order it reads: "Look into infinity. You are now worthy. One of many." this order repeats 3 more times before more is added after One of many. "One of millions. One to another. One to yours. One to another."

After this text vanishes, The image I put at the top of this section fades in, before cutting to a bright red screen with white text in the corner reading "GEN 1"

Then fades in the image from the Twitter "Connecting..." teaser, the static from the image slowly fading. We get a brief flash to this screen:

Before it cuts to the images from before, but now with missing posters taped up for a currently unnamed character (I'm not calling him Ranboo until it's confirmed the character is called Ranboo.)

There's also tape connecting the posters in the "GenLoss 4 Logo" shape, unsure if that means anything or is just a wink nudge nudge to the audience.

The missing posters feature Ranboo's character, what vaguely resembles the logo that was crossed out with "LIES" written under it next to the word "MISSING", and a phone number to call if you have any information.

According to @/alphiebeet in the replies to the video's link on Twitter, calling the number on the missing posters gives you this message:

"Hello. thank you for calling the Showfall missing person's hotline. We appreciate your call, but you are not able to help us. Please hang up immediately."

The audio in this section sounds like nearby a relatively active street, including a car honking and some birds.

The video cuts to this image for a split second

A much clearer look at what this office-building esc logo looks like, along with 05 03 23 written near it. It looks like the same wall as the other images and even uses the same type of black tape, even though it doesn't seem to be close to the other images and the missing poster.

The screen fades into white, before the same jingle from "Connecting..." the video is heard and this full logo, now with the company name, Showfall Media, appears;

"We are happy to welcome you to the Showfall Media family. Please join us for our special keynote on May 3rd of your time" is said by the same voice from the "Connecting..." video. But before the video ends, a voice that I'm pretty sure is Ranboo says "There's something going on here."

Wow, okay that was. a lot. And oh goddamn it one second, Ranboo posted on the Behind The Scenes account. It's a clearer photo of the images taped to the wall.

Note: The number is scribbled out because it is no longer the accurate number seen in the video.

For some reason, the one farther right and at the end/start of the GenLoss 4 logo has a black censor over their face instead of just a mask.

Now, onto what I think is going on here. Finally (Ranboo better not post more while I'm working on this I STG. Or say anything while streaming.)

Obviously, Showfall Media is behind whatever The Social Experiments are. Or at least the broadcast which will be whatever is going to be Gen 1. They also for some reason have their own missing person's phone line, and will even put their own logo on missing posters. For some reason.

I think I was right about the person who originally wrote the notes the missing posters were over being an employee of Showfall, who realized what was happening/going to happen is wrong, and decided to try and stop it. And I don't think they're actually missing, I think perhaps they realized Showfall was onto them and went into hiding, and the missing posters are a way for Showfall to try and find them.

Though, I wonder if more people are also trying to stop Showfall, as the call said "Individuals", plural. But that's more something we'll just have to wait and see.

One thing that interests me, is the text in T_2, the binary in the descrip of Connecting, and the text in Connected.

From T_2 the intro text: "Welcome. You have our attention. Please ensure you are alone. There are precautions in place. The inauguration is necessary. Prove your worth. Please remain emotional. Act upon first impulse."

and some of the messages on the failure state: "You were not supposed to fail. Think Different. Try Again. Think harder. Keep going. Do you not understand? Who even are you? Do you think this is just a game? Go back. You are NEVER alone. Do not hesitate."

and of course the end screen: "Your failures have not forgotten"

the binary in the Connecting description: "From one to another"

and the Connected text: "Look into infinity. You are now worthy. One of many." this order repeats 3 more times before more is added after One of many. "One of millions. One to another. One to yours. One to another."

it seems like somehow, people need to prove their worth before... something. Currently I'm thinking it's joining Showfall Media, specifically whatever elite group is the one actually behind the shady shit.

And obviously this group probably isnt small, "one of many" and "one of millions" and an important part of this is connecting to the other members "one to another" "one to yours".

I also think the failure messages and the "Your failures have not forgotten" might hint to some level of time shenanigans, and i think whoever this is might also be Ranboo's character trying to get in with Showfall Media to better be able to stop this broadcast. Possibly this backfired and that's why he went into hiding.

And that's kinda all I really got for now, can't wait for the keynote on the 3rd, cuz I imagine it will be what finally gives us a good grasp on what to expect from the actual stream.