#and world of final fantasy ALSO has important lore

[muffin-ofdoomsday]

If there's one thing I've learned from Square Enix, it's that important lore for main game titles, is always in spin off that most people don't manage to see or are too small to recognize. And the spin off lore can or will inspire future events.

Dissidia (not nt version) really lays it out flat what Sephiroth is doing in FF7 remake. The story for him seems to have double mean for the story in dissidia and the parallel to what remake/rebirth will follow.

There are moments in his story where I really think he is projecting himself and his situation onto Cloud. Literally. He always calls Cloud the puppet that he is guiding with no free will. But its likely that Jenova has her claws in him so deep, that he feels like a puppet without really understanding where he, himself begins and Jenova ends.

He says to Cloud that there is no getting rid of him, no matter what he does to be free. And since Jenova cells were put inside Sephiroth in the womb, there is no way for him to get rid of her.

[avirael]

FFxivWrite 2024

Day 29 - Keepsake

They attacked at night. When everyone was asleep, when no one expected it. The women and children they could have easily subdued as soon as they were out of side of the settlement. But the men? The men may have been naive and tired but they also were angry from all the years they spent on the run and then in the hellhole of a town that had been Little Ala Mhigo.

They were afraid the men would give them trouble, so of course - like the cowards they were - they attacked them when they least expected it. In their sleep with spears pointed at their faces or blades at their throats. Torn from their dreams of a better future in the blink of an eye. The motivation and promises - it had all been a devious game of lies from the very beginning.

A’viloh was awoken by a sharp scream. And so was Laqa who had slept close beside him, arms wrapped around each other to keep one another warm in this cold winter night. Startled by the horrible scream A‘viloh had tried to sit up but Laqa had instinctively held him back and pulled him closer, trying to protect him.

„Shhh…“, he had whispered almost silently and signaled for A‘viloh to stay still. Laqa did not move but his eyes and ears scanned their environment. With one hand he steadied himself on the ground while the other reached for the dagger at his belt. Then as one of the armed men stepped closer, still thinking them asleep, Laqa leapt up like a snake that had waited for the right moment to strike.

A‘viloh, still with no clue what was happening at all, turned around to get a better look at the small makeshift camp they had set up for the night. Shocked he pressed a hand to his mouth, to keep himself from screaming as he saw the chaos unfolding in front of him.

He did not immediately recognise the people attacking them as the same ones who had promised to bring them into the city and give them work there, so they wouldn’t have to live in one of the slums outside of Ul‘dah’s gates. But he recognised the people that were pressed to the ground crying and screaming, while armed men tied them up. He recognised an ala mhigan man that had reached for his sword and tried to fight the attackers off, only to be hopelessly outnumbered. He was too proud to give up and threw all he had at his opponents, only to be struck down by a sword striking him from behind.

With a sudden burst of panic A‘viloh‘s eyes searched for Laqa, finding him only a few yalms away, still fighting against one of the men. Swiftly he swung his dagger at his opponent but his range just wasn’t good enough, at least fighting against a much taller enemy with a sword. Defensively he leapt back a little as the sword swung down towards him, trying to block the hit with his dagger. It slowed down the blow but his opponent was a lot stronger than him and kept pushing. Ilm by ilm the blade moved closer to his face and A‘viloh felt too petrified to do anything but watch in horror.

Then with an angry growl Laqa brought up his other hand, and grabbed the sharp blade of the sword, pushing against it with both arms, to keep the man at a distance. For a moment this duel of strength almost seemed equal, if not for the blood dripping off of Laqa‘s hand and running down his opponent’s sword. Then suddenly another man stepped closer and used the pommel of his weapon to hit Laqa against the side of his head.

With a scared shriek A‘viloh rushed forward to the other Miqo’te, who had instantly collapsed to the ground and now lay there unconscious. Protectively A‘viloh threw his body over Laqa‘s and, lacking any other means of denfense, hissed at the attackers. But the two men simply laughed about such a weak attempt of resistance. Roughly one of them grabbed A‘viloh by his arms and pulled him away, and in no time both of them had their hands tied up just like all the other innocent people who had traveled with them.

By the time the attackers had secured all of them and checked everyone for hidden weapons the sun already began to rise. A‘viloh shivered, lying curled up by Laqa‘s side, as the other Miqo’te slowly regained his consciousness and groaned in pain.

„Laqa!“, A‘viloh exclaimed silently and helped him sit up as good as he could with both his own hands tied up too.

„Vi?…“, the other Miqo’te said dazed. „Are you alright?“

A‘viloh nodded and looked down at Laqa’s tied wrists with worry. „Better than you at least…“

With a quiet hiss of pain Laqa unfurled his hand and looked at the deep red cut inside his palm. Carefully he tried to move his fingers, which fortunately still worked, but at the same time the movement made the wound start bleeding again.

„Hold still!“, A’viloh demanded and with his tied up hands needed a moment to awkwardly peel a soft deep-green scarf from his own neck. „Let me bandage that up.“

But Laqa pulled back his palm, knowing fully well how important that piece of clothing was to A‘viloh - the only keepsake he had of his dead mother. „No! Not with this! It will only get dirty…“

With a sad smile A‘viloh nodded, took Laqa’s hand and pulled it closer again. „It will, but this is more important. The cut will only keep on bleeding otherwise and you shouldn’t get dust and sand into it. I can try to clean the scarf if we make it out of this alive, but I cannot heal your hand…“

„I am so sorry…“, Laqa murmured while A‘viloh bandaged his hand but it sounded like more than just an apology for ruining A’viloh’s precious scarf.

„It‘s not your fault…“, A’viloh insisted, wrapping the thin, light fabric around Laqa‘s hand a few times, before making a knot and wrapping the rest of it around his lower arm.

With a guilty expression Laqa looked to the ground and stayed silent. Still slightly shaking, A‘viloh shifted to sit closely beside him and rested his head on Laqa‘s shoulder. With a sigh the blonde Miqo’te tilted his head to rest on A’viloh’s. „I am sorry, Vi… You have to be so scared...“

„I am.“, A‘viloh admitted and closed his eyes. „But I was more scared about you…“

[oneknightstand-if]

One Knight Stand - King Arthur x Among Us Apocalyptic Road Trip (Interactive Fiction)

It's the end of the world... and you don't feel fine.

It's just another humdrum day as the weekend winds to its inevitable end. All is as expected. The pandemic has stretched on for a decade now. A new serial killer stalks the streets. And your completely normal club is waiting. Just another ordinary day.

Just ignore the sounds in your living room. Just ignore that shadow scuttling across the floor. Just ignore the lies of the 'friend' who's known you for years. He's lying. She's lying. That stranger on the street is lying. And the voices whispering in your mind are definitely lying.

Everyone is lying... especially the traitor who's infiltrated the group.

But that's fine...

Y̥͑̅̌̔̉ͯo̼̩̖̓ͪ̽͢ǔ̢͢͏̫͕͋'͎̬́͐ͥ᷇͢r̉͏͍̾᷉̓̓e͓͕ͦ̿᷅͆͠ l̜̻̈̅̃͢͞y̡̬͙̪̦̦ͧi̘᷅̓͒̐̍͑n̰͈᷅ͯͥͨ͜g̯᷾̒̑᷄̕͟ t̶̙͍̏͊᷈͠o̙̟ͦ̏̄ͭ͂o̥̮͆ͤ͐͝͠.̛͚̎᷇̍̕͜

Play the Beta Test

Update 5 : (10/25/24) Chapter 2 Part 3 (The Forest & the Warehouse)

Update 4 : (7/4/24) Chapter 2 Part 2   (Perfectly Normal Rest Stop)    Further Details Here

Update 3 : (2/2/24) Bug Fixes Galore!    Further Details Here

Update 2 : (1/16/24) Chapter 1 Part 3 (Fencing Club Route) Further Details Here

Update 1 : (11/16/23) Chapter 2 Part 1 (Camelot Dream Sequence) Further Details Here

**Sound Effect Alert: Turn Down Your Volume At Start of Game**

• Total Word Count: 900,000+ • Including Code: 1,227,000+ • Average Playthrough: ~70,000+ words • Average  if you play 'ask Adrian and Merlin five million questions around the city' and text message everyone:  Considerably longer

LINKS: Patreon | Choice of Games Feedback Thread

You're a Harbinger of the Apocalypse... or so it's been claimed. The destined reincarnation of a legendary hero from the time of Camelot. For the sake of the world, reclaim your past memories & powers and discover the true identities of yourself and your current companions.

For the sake of your survival, make certain that you're a member of the successful Greater Circle... because in the end, only thirteen are needed and it doesn't have to include you. The two previous Circles have failed and all their members paid the price for it...

...but third time's the charm, ̷r̸i̷g̵h̴t̶?

Everyone is lying. That most certainly includes you. And one is an enemy infiltrator who's entire purpose is to (murderously) sabotage this last and final circle. Who will you trust and who will you trick? The fate of both you and the world hangs in the balance.

Genres: Dark Urban Fantasy (with mystery/thriller/horror elements). The Camelot flashback sections are more High Fantasy.

Blog Tags:

Main: One Knight Stand, oneknightstand

General: oks-info, oks-update, oks-preview, oks-promo, oks-asks, oks-replies, oks-psa, oks-fanstuff, oks-logistics, oks-submission, oks-poll, oks-milestone

ROs: oks-ROs, oks-Merlin, oks-Adrian, oks-Percy, oks-Arthur, oks-Vivian, oks-Cassandra, oks-Gwen, oks-Lorelei, oks-Broderick, oks-404

Camelot: oks-Bedivere, oks-Dagonet, oks-Dindrane, oks-Dinadan, oks-Elaine, oks-Galahad, oks-Gawain, oks-Guinevere, oks-Kay, oks-Lamorak, oks-Lancelot, oks-Mordred, oks-Morgana, oks-Percival, oks-Excalibur

Others: oks-MC, oks-Camelot-MC, oks-Abe, oks-Asher, oks-Caleb, oks-Pestilence, oks-Saboteur

Play Among Us/Werewolf/Mafia/The Thing/The Mole/Danganronpa/Town of Salem/etc Arthurian lore style! (Also don't forget the apocalypse, that's kind of important)

Lovingly craft your character in intimate detail or slap down that [Randomly Generate Your Appearance] button like I do.

Choose your sad childhood background and your potentially even sadder (or more traumatic or more traumatically evil) deep, dark secret which must be hidden at all cost

Play one million questions around the city with not-so-random people or go "Screw this lore dump, I'm taking a nap!"

ᕕ(✿ ᐛ )ᕗ <- Merlin on their way to a six hour lecture because you had to ask every single question in their dialogue tree. I mean, there's an Achievement for doing that, so you do you.

Spend the entire time during this IF about Arthurian lore going "Who is Arthur and what's a Camels-a-lot?" (Yes, this a legit strategy to get through the game)

Figure out your previous Camelot reincarnation from amongst four different potential backgrounds (determined by your actions in the Camelot flashback sections). Or go "Nuts to this mystery!" and just wait to get your magic powers already. (Uh, you probably should still try and figure out who's trying to kill you, though)

Act like a saint, act like a psychopath, or randomly burst into song & dance like you're trapped in a Disney musical at the most inappropriate moments.

Survive the night... or die horribly and collect the Dead Ends like pokemon who give clues to what's happening in the greater narrative. (You won't be the only one... dying, that is)

Get randomly turned into a water fowl (I mean, it's Merlin, after all)

Look out that window... you know you want to.

Features creepy sound effects (which you can turn off from the main menu)

(Yes, this is basically Red Flag the Romance. Yes, there are ROs who can have a perfectly healthy relationship with you... and there are also ones who'll just kill you. Good luck figuring out who is who. Also platonic buddy versions are a go. Physical descriptions here. And heights here.)

MERLIN (M/F/NB) The nominal leader of  this motley crew and the only one who knows what's truly going on... or so they claim.

A shape shifting incubus who takes on the most appealing form of whoever is viewing them. Always elegant, always smiling, always for the greater good... a beautiful facade that hides a heart that's entirely inhuman.

Unlike the others, they will never directly lie to you... lies of omission don't count, right?

"Dear child, that's for me to know and for you to find out, as they are wont to say. Shall we try again?"

ADRIAN BENONI (M) A close friend, an unrequited crush, a passing acquaintance, a suspected stalker... the tone of your relationship may change, but what does not is that you've known this guy for years. A  familiar presence within a world that's suddenly become ever-so-strange.

But what darkness hides behind the ever amiable front that he always presents around you? Well...maybe not always. Why does he seem so desperate to like you even while keeping you an arm's length away?

"I'm sure that if we all just came together in solidarity that we— h-hey you don't have to laugh *that* hard about it!"

PERCY T. LONGSPEAR (M) Someone who marches to the sound of his own drum... on a different planet somewhere in a galaxy far, far away.

Most assuredly the most strangely perceptive of the group, if only anyone could understand exactly what he's saying. A potential soulmate to a very certain version of the MC.

Who his past reincarnation seems to be is so blatantly obvious that it's the very height of suspicion.

"Why did I come in through the vents? Why would I use a *door*?"

CASSANDRA DE VAUX (F) A detective who intercepted the group during an investigation of... well, it's not exactly complete chaos that you're leaving in your wake, is it?

No-nonsense when on the job, but playful during down times, she joined with little convincing or fanfare... but has she truly allied with the cause or is this just another sting operation to her?

And why does she seem so much more... wait what were we talking about again?

"Scintillating. Now please explain again from the top... you were doing *what* in the museum that night?"

GWYNETH REYNARD (F) A vivacious and sweetly cheerful member of the group that pulls off true optimism far better than certain other members... even if she wears that sunny disposition like a suit of armor.

You found her wandering in an abandoned nineteenth-century mental asylum. A perfectly normal place to meet. (After all, you were there too!) And certainly there's a completely sensible explanation for why she doesn't want to head back home as well.

"Oh, are we making claims on who we want to be now? Then I want to be Buttercup from the Princess Bride!"

LORELEI GUERRIER (F) An Olympic archer who is as unflappable as she is coolly distant. She has the rather laudable capability of beating down a lesser hellhound with nothing but a mop for a weapon.

Certainly her joining would be nothing but a boon to the group. Too bad she possesses nothing but cynicism and antipathy for the idea of chivalry and knights in shining armor.

But surely she's a champion of Camelot, right?

"The virtue of a knight? Someone that parades around in self indulgence, all for the glory of their own pride, while better people are left wanting. That's the true face of your so-called *chivalry*."

BRODERICK DOE (M) A grumpy, recalcitrant, and somewhat foulmouthed addition to the group. He really, really doesn't want to be here. He thinks you're all insane. (He may be right in certain instances.)

But someone has to keep an eye out during all this craziness, right?Especially if there's a kernel of truth to this apocalyptic nonsense.

Of course, there's no one in this city, this state, this country registered as 'Broderick Doe'.

"And let me be clear here... I don't trust a single one of you chucklefucks!"

̶̇̊͒̋͜4̸̼̕͜0̸͖̭̎͝4̴̹͈̍ ̸̯̱̦͓͑̑Ȩ̵̧̺̩̉̈́ŗ̸̔̄͊̍r̷̙̾̓̇o̷̧̩̻͇̽̊͗̋r̵̮̘̒̓ ̴̧̳̺͐̆̾̅N̵͕͐o̶̘͍͗t̴̫͋́̆̋ ̵͔͒͑͐F̵̹̍̈́̿ó̵̡̹͒͆ũ̴͈̠͘n̶̢̺̰̬̋ḑ̶̲͛̔͗̕ (???)

T̶O̵O̶ ̴L̷A̸T̸E̷ ̵T̴O̸O̵ ̷L̸A̵T̴E̶ ̴T̸O̶O̶ ̵L̴A̵T̸E̶ ̴T̸O̴O̷ ̶L̴A̴T̵E̶ ̴T̴O̷O̷ ̴L̶A̶T̴E̶ ̴T̸O̵O̶ ̶L̶A̸T̷E̴ ̵

CAMELOT ROMANCE OPTIONS (Currently sealed away, so you can only interact with them in dreams and flashbacks)

ARTHUR PENDRAGON (M) The Once and Future King, the doomed High King of Camelot who is fated to return at humanity's greatest moment of need and lead them in survival during the end times.

The ideal that always had a surprising streak of pragmatism to it. If only he would wake up. He's so very, very late you see. And things have spiraled wildly out of control in his absence.

A figure that's currently haunting your dreams.

"You think I missed my calling as a troubadour? Mayhaps... for what is politics but a form of mummery?"

VIVIAN (F) The third and current Lady of the Lake. One of the fae who is aligned with your side through blood oaths and promises as strong as compulsion.

One of the ones who sealed Merlin away and who remains bound at the very edge of the Veil even now. The tales never mentioned the part where she's a mari-morgan that drowns people, did they?

"Hear this song... come along... just drift a little closer, pretty thing of mine. Simply a step closer... merely a bit *deeper*."

Link to FAQ

[ego-osbourne]

I wanted to expand on my last post. Eventually I’ll do one about Glarthir, but I feel like he’s an easier case to understand. For now, I want to talk about why

Mankar Camoran was right.

To preface: I think an extremely important part about understanding this position is reading Oblivion’s writing from a Doylist perspective, not a Watsonian one. Oblivion as a game provides a very biased narrative for the player, feeling almost as if the Empire itself made a game about the events of the Oblivion Crisis, erasing most things that make the Empire look wholly evil while offering just enough grey area to keep it from looking squeaky clean, and thus keeping most suspicions of true intent away. So much of TES’s lore and story is supplemented through propaganda that fans have to sift through and interpret. Here’s my interpretation.

On surface level, Mankar Camoran is a very forgettable villain. Beyond surface level, though… he’s still rather forgettable. In-game, we only see him two times throughout the whole main quest, once to establish that he even exists, and twice to kill him. He’s very mortal, and most players will see him as nothing more than a blabbering old man with very little credibility or motivation beyond “mwahaha I’m evil.” In Paradise, his speech to the player strays a bit far from the Dagonite sermon we hear in the Lake Arrius Caverns, dropping proper nouns that were never pre-established before then. Reading his Commentaries won’t help with understanding, either, as it’s filled will inane jargon that can hardly stay on topic between paragraphs, let alone between books, speaking of “heaven” and “angels” and spelling Nirn like NRN as if it was ripped straight from ancient Hebrew Christian scriptures. It’s all very esoteric, but in the way that it feels like you’re talking to someone with only a baseline understanding of occultism, and it completely rips you from your immersion in the game. Even without the Commentaries or the out-of-place mentions of Lorkhan and the motivations that come with that, Mankar stupid enough to even get the names of the Daedric Prince’s realms wrong! What is happening?

MK. MK is what is happening.

To be fair, this is not all Michael Kirkbride’s fault—in fact, I’d argue that MK had little-to-nothing to do with the finalizing of Mankar’s character and motivations; however, he was clearly involved. The Commentaries are rife with his writing style, and we have posts by MK confirming his involvement with writing Mankar. I’d more accurately (but less punchily) say that what is actually happening is developer meddling and a lack of proofreading.

DEVELOPER MEDDLING

Developer meddling can be intentional (in-world propaganda) or unintentional (narrative-pushing biases). These oftentimes overlap, and the case is especially apparent in Mankar.

Fantasy has always had an oddly charged stance against elves, and TES is no exception. Aside from Daggerfall, no mainline TES game has had a mq villain be something other than a Daedra or an elf. Daedra are self-explanatory candidates for villains, being TES’s stand-in for demons, and (whether lore accurate or not) are seen as inherently evil. However, elves are a whole different story. They are simply another people group within the realm of Nirn, and yet if a villain needs to be presented, that villain is more often than not going to be an elf. It wasn’t until Skyrim that we saw non-elven and non-Daedric villains; though, none are quite human either. Alduin is a dragon, obviously; Harkon is a Nord, but he’s also a vampire, and his vampiric nature supersedes his human nature; Miraak is an… Atmoran? a Nord? but, again, only hardly such, posing more like a Daedric-dragon-manthing than something solely human. In Oblivion, there is only one primary human enemy—Mathieu Bellamont of the DBH quest line, but even he is only just human. He’s a Breton, a human-elf mix, a “manmer” (yes, Bretons do count as mannish races, but I still find it to be a slightly damning detail). Every other villain is an elf (Mankar, Mannimarco, Umaril*) or a Daedra (Dagon, Jyggalag).

*Umarill is described to be a “half-elf;” his mother is an Ayleid, but his father is “divine” (see, 1).

Already we see a strange lean towards non-humans—especially elves—being villains. This is contrasted with humans largely being seen as the good guys. Uriel, Martin, Baurus, they’re all humans against the elven villain, Mankar. Pelinal Whitestrake isn’t classified as a specific human race, but is certainly human enough to be named Shezarrine, the “God of Man,” and notably genocides an entire race of elves… and this is celebrated in game. The player is meant to emulate Pelinal during the Knights of the Nine DLC, and his genocide is supported by the Divines and generally seen as a good thing.

Meanwhile, any anti-human sentiments are treated much more seriously in lore, framed either as a severe threat or pure evil. For example, Tiber Septim’s complete takeover of Tamriel is a good thing, despite his multiple war crimes against elves and his general hatred for them, but the Thalmor’s shadow over Tamriel is a world-ending threat that paints all elves (or at least all Altmer) as villains conspiring against humans. As another example, looking back at Oblivion, the Ayleid’s enslavement of humans is purely evil, but Pelinal’s complete and successful genocide of the entire Ayleid race is something to be celebrated. There is an obvious double-standard regarding elves and men in TES, and even when there are exceptions to this rule, the majority of the series is woven with this prejudice.

We can see this very clearly with the Camorans, particularly with Haymon (the Camoran Usurper) and Mankar. I read most “historical” documentation of Haymon and Mankar to be Imperial propaganda, though I am surprised by the fandom tendency to read these documents as the full-faced truth, especially when considering these documents’ biases. I’ll break down a few examples.

Haymon Camoran rose to the Valenwood throne during a time of great strife within the country, particularly in regard to Imperial control (see, History: Third Era, ¶1). He sought to free Valenwood of Imperial rule, and did so through means of war. In any other scenario, this would read as a story of heroism, where one person is able to assemble enough hope to stand against the shadow of an oppressive empire and free their country. However, TES offers us no such narrative, only giving us retellings of this history through Imperial lenses (Pocket Guide to the Empire, 3rd Edition; The Refugees; The Fall of the Usurper; etc.). In these retellings, Haymon is demonized as a cruel warmonger, with the only one to stand up against him being Kaltos Camoran, who held the throne before Haymon (see, Invasion of Tamriel, ¶1). Kaltos’s positive image in these accounts hints that he was an Empire sympathizer, and this is magnified by the fact that Valenwood was in a state of unrest due to Imperial rule while Kaltos was on the throne. Kaltos was likely allowing Imperial forces to remain within Valenwood, and we can speculate as to why (greed, status, etc.). No wonder these Imperial retellings categorize him in a good light, he was on their side and effectively a traitor to his own country. If we had Valenwood retellings of this history, I would wager that they’d regard Kaltos in a negative light and Haymon in a positive light, for the most part.

Additionally, Haymon is further demonized, reported to have led an army of undead and Daedra (see, Invasion of Tamriel, ¶1). This is a blatantly odd and impractical choice for an army, especially when other evidence points to Haymon having great enough of an influence in Valenwood to not be assassinated or stopped when he took the throne from Kaltos; thus, he would surely have enough influence to lead an army of Bosmer. To me, this reads like Imperial reports meddling with history, choosing to paint Haymon as a lich-like villain who can only convince the undead and Daedra to follow his reign rather than allow their readers to believe that actual flesh-and-blood intelligent people would follow Haymon. This is a common tactic of propaganda: dehumanizing the opposition’s support so that it seems foolish for anyone in the present time to support the opposition as well. Furthermore, rumors of Haymon being the son of Molag Bal are apparently rampant throughout the Empire, which is so amusingly outlandish that it reads like the real-world counterpart of someone calling a political leader the Antichrist in protest (see, Notes, *1).

As for Mankar, propaganda exists for him, too, most notably in the book The Refugees. This book is rather deceiving, however. My first read of it had me fully believing it at face-value because it presents itself as a mere documentation of true events. The Refugees details Haymon’s last attack in Dwynnen, High Rock, and focuses on a small group of survivors: some civilians, some detractors from Haymon’s cause. The book leads the reader to believe that the main characters are these various refugees, with the plot being a simple sharing of conversations about the goings-on of the attack. But, it sneaks in little things that we would see in pro-Imperial accounts of the event, like Kaltos being framed as the Good Guy while Haymon is a cruel warmonger, again (see, ¶34). Additionally, it “so happens” to serve as an origin story for Mankar, who in the book is reported to have been born among the refugees. This birth is far from ordinary, though.

Mankar’s mother, Kaalys, is reported to be the runaway mistress of Haymon, hiding with the refugees in Dwynnen after abandoning Haymon’s cause. The refugees believe she is sick and going mad from stress, as she keeps yelling, ��Mankar is coming!” repeatedly. By the end of the book, though, we learn that she was not simply sick, but was going through labor, and this “Mankar” is the very child she birthed. She reports that Mankar “will bring death. He will destroy all,” (see, ¶62). She then runs off immediately after labor with Mankar in tow.

There’s a lot to criticize here. What seems like a strange, crazed mother prophesying the incoming Crisis that Mankar will bring actually reads very much like propaganda against Mankar, written in his later years of life, possibly in response to his growing popularity to “prove” that he was born of malicious origins that even his own mother could sense. This is all hidden under the veil of The Refugees being a simple retelling of events, shifting the focus away from Kaalys and Mankar just enough to make readers unsuspicious of its propagandist intentions. Attempting to read into the details brings up a lot of issues.

First: If Kaalys was in labor during the sacking of Dwynnen, that means she had to have been very pregnant for a couple months up until that point. How in the world was she traveling with Haymon across the continent (from Valenwood to High Rock) while being that pregnant? It seems like an oversight by an author who simply wanted to tell a specific narrative of Haymon’s allies turning against him. Second: How did the refugees mistake her for being sick instead of recognizing that she was pregnant and in labor? Those seem like two very different things, with the latter being very obvious and recognizable. It seems like another oversight by an author who was not too worried about the details of their story, and who only wished to tell a specific narrative about Mankar’s origins. Third: How was she able to up and run away with Mankar immediately after giving birth? And while injured (see, ¶55)? Even if technically possible, that is highly improbable, if not next to impossible. It seems like a cheap tactic to work her out of the picture rather than follow her journey after the fact, as if the author only meant to tell one specific narrative. Are we seeing a pattern?

Oh, and fourth: Who talks about their child like that? It’s almost like the author wanted to paint a specific narrative about Mankar being born evil. The Refugees stands as one big anti-Haymon, pro-Empire propaganda piece written under the guise of sympathetic characters and calling any remaining supporters of Haymon foolish, because look! All of Haymon’s closest followers abandoned him (note that this is the only report we have of any of Haymon’s followers abandoning him)! And also, look! His son is evil! Even his mother knew it! And before he was born, no less! (/speech in-character)

My theory is that this book was written in response to Mankar’s growing influence within the Empire. He was charismatic enough to win the minds and hearts of many of the Empire’s citizens, and The Refugees sought to prevent further damage as much as it could by pretending to be a simple report from the Dwynnen sacking that just so happened to have Mankar’s evil origins scribed within it. Tsk tsk tsk.

A LACK OF PROOFREADING

So, that was all Mankar’s background, but what about the man himself? He’s obviously a raving idiot who can’t keep his thoughts straight to save his life. He seems to not be well-grounded in Daedric affairs at all, showing a mix of Dagonite worship, Lorkhan sympathy, and Ayleid appreciation all while attributing the wrong Prince to the wrong realm. This is where MK comes in.

By 2006, it seems MK was no longer directly involved with Bethesda Game Studios after his work on Morrowind. However, he still had a lot of contact with the employees and developers over at BGS, and would answer them in emails about any questions they had, especially regarding inspiration for writing Oblivion. It seems the devs, in attempting to get a feel for Mankar’s character, asked MK to write a speech by Mankar. MK writes something up, seemingly semi-flippantly according to his desire to want to “*really* [go] nuts with it” after learning “Terrance Freakin Stamp” would be voicing Mankar (see, 2006, ¶14).

Unbeknownst to MK, his emails would be used word-for-word as in-game dialogue (Mankar’s speech) and books (the Commentaries). Quoted from MK, “That whole speech came from a section of said email where I attempted to get inside [Mankar’s] head so I could understand how he might think, and how that thought would translate to his writing. Turns out, [Mankar] writes like me. Ah, well,” (see, 2006, ¶12–13).

These emails were not altered when translated to game according to MK (“Turns out, Mankar writes like me.”). Additionally, these emails were not fact-checked, either. The speeches and books seem to be a complete rip, a copy-and-paste from MK’s email, with flaws and all, including the mistake of attributing the wrong Prince to the wrong realm that everyone likes to clown on Mankar for. Mankar was never intended to be written as a raving idiot, his dialogue was simply never fact-checked against TES’s own lore, and his character suffered the consequences.

On the topic of MK’s involvement with writing Mankar, it explains why Mankar’s motivations seem to flip from pure Dagonism to Lorkhan sympathy. MK is writing to BGS with a Morrowind brain, where Lorkhan and his lore plays a major part in the plot of TESIII. But, in TESIV, Lorkhan is never mentioned outside of Mankar’s own speech/writings. If the devs of Oblivion had taken more careful consideration of Mankar’s character instead of ripping straight from MK’s emails, I believe they could have narrowed down Mankar’s motivations and made him a much better villain. I would argue that Lorkhan’s story does not need to be told in Oblivion’s plot, and the plot would have benefited a great deal from focusing on, oh, I don’t know, the Prince actually behind it all, Mehrunes Dagon! Dagon, too, is clowned on for being a thoughtless, stupid, barbaric tank who only knows destruction. It’s no wonder that the fandom often forgets he is also the Prince of Hope, because the devs forget that detail themselves!

MK and Todd Howard both even say that Mankar was right to some degree—or, at least, he was meant to be! MK says, “Canon or not, my two cents is that [Mankar] is completely right … but don’t quote me…I didn’t write this in-character,” (sorry MK, gotta quote!) (see, 2006, ¶15). Todd Howard even claims that he wanted Mankar to be a morally grey villain! Quote: “You know, he’s not a cackling maniac. We like to have our bad guys be a little grayer. We want that moment where the player goes like… Maybe he’s right,” (see, Notes, *5).

Crazy! Todd Howard wanted Mankar to be seen as grey, as competent, as right! And yet, because of a total lack of care for fact-checking, a disregard for the necessities of cutting away excess plot, and a general apathy for Mankar, the Mythic Dawn, and Dagon as driving forces in the story, Oblivion’s main plot suffers for it. Todd Howard’s intentions to make Mankar a grey villain flopped so severely that it requires many leaps and bounds to see Mankar the way Todd might have wanted him to be.

LEAPS AND BOUNDS

However, I would argue there is hope for Mankar’s character as it stands. The execution was horrible, but the pieces of a grey villain do still exist! Many of my ideas were first sparked by this video, so I would recommend giving it a watch if you’re able!

For this formula to work, we have to look at Mankar from a very objective perspective. We must consider that most/all of the information given on Mankar in-game is propaganda. Even in-game events that the player sees with their own eyes must be understood as manufactured to create a caricature of a villain rather than a true villain with understandable motivations. Essentially, we must have a very critical eye about everything.

Mankar Camoran was born to Haymon Camoran and Kaalys Camoran. In Valenwood, Haymon was regarded as a felled hero, his life ended too soon to completely free and secure Valenwood from Imperial rule, allowing it to be overtaken by Summerset and Elsywer after his death (see, History: Third Era, ¶2). Valenwood is then overrun by sympathizers of various political entities, leaving the to-be prince Mankar unsafe in his own country. Perhaps he and his mother flee to Cyrodiil and hide under different aliases for a while, or perhaps Kaalys swears loyalty to the Empire in exchange for protection from the overpowering forces back in Valenwood. However it happens, Mankar eventually ends up in Cyrodiil, and he has complaints about the religious-political system.

The Empire, reportedly inspired by the real-world Roman Empire, fittingly reflects the Roman Empire’s facade of order and peace while perpetuating unrest beneath the surface. Racial tensions against elves persist from age to age, with the Empire constantly undercutting their elven enemies and making them the face of the opposition, from Alessia to Tiber Septim. This anti-elf sentiment is perpetuated by the Divines themselves, who hypocritically promote peace and unity while celebrating figures such as Pelinal Whitestrake and allowing the likes of Tiber Septim into their ranks. Homelessness and poverty are also rampant in the Empire despite the Imperial Cult’s vast wealth. Again, the Divines are hypocritical, offering words of peace and prosperity through their priests, but they ultimately do nothing to help with the economic crisis.

Mankar sees this and is rightfully appalled. How can both the Empire and the Divines do nothing about all of this suffering coming from the hands of their own hypocrisy? Mankar, the son of Haymon Camoran, the almost-liberator of Valenwood, finds it fitting to speak out against the Empire, and does so on their own terms—as a minister. Seeing as the Divines do not care for his people (elves), and seeing that the Daedra are much more effective in responding, Mankar seeks the help of Mehrunes Dagon, the Prince of Revolution, Destruction, and Hope—Revolution against the stagnant and hypocritical ways of the Imperial Cult, the Destruction of the corrupt Empire, and Hope for a better future to come. Mankar becomes a priest of sorts, writing sermons on the state of the Empire and the Imperial Cult.

He reaches the hearts and minds of the poor, impoverished, and down-trodden of society. With Dagon’s help, he is able to create a pocket-realm of Oblivion, Paradise, as a refuge* for his new followers. As his influence grows, so does his ability to do something about the Empire’s hypocrisy, and so he begins to act.

*I genuinely do not know why Paradise turns out to be a surprise torture realm. This just feels like the devs wanting to point and Mankar and go “Look! Evil elf!” This is especially damning considering that Paradise looks like an Ayleid city, and that most (maybe all?) of the victims of this torture-realm are humans. So, Paradise is a representation of human Tamriel under Ayleid rule? Okay, Todd.

Mankar is working with Dagon to bring about the New Dawn: an age free of the Empire, perhaps a restart of the kalpa itself, so that Tamriel will be free from the choking grasp of the Divines and their mortal rulers. Mankar is willing to kill for this, perhaps because he knows everyone will reawaken in a better Era, or perhaps because he is aware that none of it will matter with the New Dawn, or perhaps because he has stopped having sympathy for anyone still supporting the Empire and the Imperial Cult. However you want to string it, he knows he has to get the Daedra on the field to make anything happen, and so he collects his followers and makes an attack against the throne. They kill every Septim (or so they think), and with Uriel’s death, they are now able to open Oblivion Gates across Tamriel. The Revolution part of the plan is complete, and now Dagon and his forces can bring about the Destruction of the Empire. Those who understand the Empire’s corruption will join Mankar in Paradise, and those who don’t will be killed—whether this is a mercy or a punishment is up to further interpretation.

And so exists Mankar Camoran, finding it unjust to simply sit aside and allow the Divines-backed Empire to kill the world slowly with its corruption. If it’s going down, it might as well go down with some hope of a brighter future. Mankar Camoran, the son of a failed liberator, a prince never-to-be, sees fit to eliminate a future of lies, corruption, and death by the Empire and create a new world—a better world.

This can then branch into more interpretations. The player can decide if Mankar is making a leap in logic, or if he’s doing the wrong thing for the right reason, or if he just straight up is doing the best thing possible for the situation. There could also be a lot more done about Dagon’s own motivations for this: does he feel sympathy for elves, and thus backs Mankar’s cause? Does he want to stick it to the Divines? Is there something else he wants to obtain from Nirn’s destruction? Explanations could go anywhere, and it’s sad that the game offers us nothing.

Either way, I feel like a lot of players would be able to sympathize more with Mankar if he was truly presented as a grey villain like this. As he’s presented in game, he’s simply a stupid cult leader with no sense of focus for the subject at hand. With a little more polish, though, he could be a revolutionary gone too far, or not far enough depending on how you play your character.

To me, Mankar is a representation of how the perfect blend of in-lore propaganda, real-world bias, and developer oversight created the most forgettable and laughable villain in TES, yet so full of untapped potential. Mankar is uncared for because of his apparent “stupidity,” but too much of the fandom fails to recognize that he was not intentionally written this way, and his presentation in game is a broken mirror of who the devs, creator, and supporters of Oblivion wanted him to be.

Mankar Camoran, objectively, is a revolutionary, the son of a revolutionary, and seeks freedom from the corruption of the Empire—an empire that advocates for genocide, winks at hypocrisy, and allows poverty to flourish. Who wouldn’t want to try and overturn a system like that?

Mankar Camoran was right.

[assumptionprime]

I adore your take on DS2 and wanted to know what ur thoughts were on Elden Ring and/or DS 3!

(also I have been loving ur comics!!!)

First off: Thank you! Glad you like my comics! <3

I mentioned it briefly in the DS2 post, and it's been said by others, but Dark Souls 3 is about ending Dark Souls. And it does that very well. The "time and space is falling apart and that's why the geography is like that" that people sometimes say about DS2 is literally, textually true in 3. The Dreg Heap is a pile of other, older Dark Souls areas collapsing in on each other. This world has been going on and on, repeating and prolonging the Age of Fire that should have ended long ago, and it's just breaking down. You can't keep the same thing going forever, that's true in the universe of the story, and of a franchise of dark fantasy action RPGs.

It's kind of funny and also impressive that Miyazaki and the team hit that point, saying if they keep doing this it's going to fall apart, on game three of the franchise. There's so many series out there that will pump out game after game of the same stuff, to the point they stop numbering them and give them subtitles to hide the fact that they're on game 23 of this thing, and FromSoft said "three's our limit for this one" and gave us the greatest hits final bow before moving on to new different takes on their subgenre of games.

Enter Elden Ring! The game that got me into FromSoft games. Every time people talked about Dark Souls it was always about how hard they were, and the whole "git gud" mentality, which made them seem like they would 100% be not my kind of thing. But I am an absolute sucker for a fantasy open world, so I dipped my toes into Elden Ring, and really enjoyed it! Being able to just go exploring and do something else whenever I got stuck was a huge plus, as are spirit ash summons. The game is hard, for sure, but there's also a lot of ways to ease that difficulty (not eliminate it, but ease it (also there's no excuse to not have a pause button, that's stupid, don't @ me))

As far as lore and storytelling, Elden Ring has a lot of cool stuff (that's my wife Ranni, my cool witch wife Ranni) but I don't know that I have so definite a "take" on its story. It goes back to the Dark Souls 1 and 3 well of "some important shit happened, go kill this list of bosses about it" but I appreciate that you have a lot more choice in regards to your ending. It's not "link the fire or don't" it's "you're creating a new age, what do you want that age to be like?" with a few compelling choices and some evil bastard ones for fun.

Assorted side thoughts:

FP is better than spell uses. More convenient, more flexible, lets you focus on Mind to allow yourself to cast more spells.

All of my first playthroughs were sword and board, both because of caution going in and because I like the "knight with a sword and shield" aesthetic.

Related to the last point, Guard Counters are a great addition in ER, and the "Sekiro style block" crystal tear for the Physick in the DLC should have been a talisman or something permanent, to just make that a play style people can use.

The Alva Armor rules, 10/10 best fit in Dark Souls

I really like Shadow of the Erdtree, but it is the absolute limit on the current version of Souls-game mechanics. Not everyone is Let Me Solo Her, and between both the extremely punishing difficulty and the becoming more repetitive nature of a lot of the boss design, they need to change up the combat to keep things going. Sekiro seems to be a step in that direction from what I hear?

No boss fight in any video game has ever made me feel as cool as Slave Knight Gael in the DS3 DLC. It just worked for me on pretty much every level. The story, the music, the visuals, the difficulty. I can beat him, and it's hard but not a kind of hard that makes me angry at the game. Dodging in and out of his attacks, getting my own hits in, it felt like a kick ass dance of fantasy combat. It's peak.

[tothisemptiness]

Observations and theories on ATEEZ's intros, interludes, and outros

It is now a well known fact that ATEEZ uses intros and outros at the beginning and end of each series to segment their sub-storylines. However, there are some peculiarities here and there that I want to discuss.

The Interludes

These don't pop up as regularly as intros and outros do. Songs that I consider to be interludes are:

Crescent (Treasure EP.3 : One To All)

Precious (Overture) (Treasure EP.Fin : All To Action)

Crescent Part 2 (THE WORLD EP.FIN : WILL)

Scene 1: Value (GOLDEN HOUR : Part.2)

Now, if Crescent Part 2 gives us any idea to go by (it is the instrumental between the album's World Z and World A sections), the interludes are a gateway to different states. They can signal the transition from one world to another, but among the other important themes of the lore they can also be between dreams and reality, or with the latest addition of Sopro, pre vs. post Sopro effect.

The two tracks being called Crescent is particularly interesting. In the lore, the Cromer gives its holder the ability to travel between dreams during the crescent moon. While it may be significant in a more concrete sense for Crescent (which is between Illusion and Wave), for Part 2 I'm not exactly sure why it matters; but one thing to note is that the track is very likely related to the Crazy Form MV. In its beginning we see a crescent, which turns into a blue full moon. At the end, we see a bird, which we also hear in the track, and a full red moon.

I also want to talk about Scene 1: Value. It implies there are also other scenes. Furthermore, combined with the new tour In Your Fantasy's concept poster, it reminds me of the members being thought of as theatrical performers on a stage (cabarets are also highly theatrical musical performances divided in scenes).

Treasure EP.Fin : All To Action

Interestingly, this album has its own intro, interlude, and outro; as if it is a smaller story in itself within the Treasure series. Furthermore, it has an overture as an interlude, which is a musical piece that acts as an introduction. Now it can be named that since it is a smaller version of the full song (which is in the next album), but why even do an overture in the middle of another album?

I honestly don't know what to make of this one, but it is something I noticed.

The peculiar case of Spin Off: From The Witness

All the series have at least one intro complemented by its own outro except a singular album, which is this one. Spin Off: From The Witness has no intro but an outro, Outro: Blue Bird. Could this mean this is actually the final entry of the Spin Offs and we have at least one more to come?

[always-tired-lilbitch]

Hey hey hey, come here, lemme tell you a lil smth about creating lore for your world...

listen okay? Very important thing coming...

Make cool shit happen.

Okay yeah, you can tell me that's basically no tip or trick at all, but it issss okay? Just keep listening, trust me

Anyway, what does that mean? Cause yeah, making cool shit happen is like... the basic idea of creating stuff, right? Well yeah, but sometimes creative types tend to get into a spiral of "BUT THIS HAS TO MAKE SENSE" and yeah, it does, but let sense become a part of it later okay? Let's just make decisions following the rule of cool and then we can feel the gaps with sense.

So, example time: I want my hero to have a cool ass sword and be super good at sword-fighting and also survive the zombie apocalypse... but my main character is like... 23, living in a student apartment, and eating ramen to survive finals week... How is this person supposed to be a master swordfighter????

Well, that's sense, that comes after we've decided all of this about our character. Now, thanks to all the cool stuff we want to see happening and the basic notion of our character, we can start building up some lore using SENSE.

Right now we have two things to explain:

How Zombie?

Why Good at Sword when no reason to be?

We're going to try to tie the answer to both, and it does not matter if it sounds unserious and unrealistic, we're making up stories, we're the masters of our destiny and we can choose how we want to forge it with our limited use of this body made of starlight.

So let's say... it's a cursed sword! A cursed sword that, the moment our character got too close, began spreading a terrible mist that turned people into zombies and so chaos began.

But then, why did our character unleash it? Surely more people have touched the sword! Well yeah but... uh....... reads smudged ink on my palm The sword was... um,,. forged with the blood of their great great great great great granparents by a witch!

But why? Yeah, that's the question, and you can keep using that FOREVER or until you have a cool ass series of events that can be used to write the story. Yes, it will be silly at times, but fantasy often is. As long as you reach a point in which you're satisfied with all the pieces of the puzzle you've created, you're set :)

Now, you gotta be careful how you create the puzzle, cause yes, it can be unserious, but also, you have to craft it following a vague idea of the themes you want to talk about and the way you want to write it. Taking my example, I could talk about vengeance, family, and generational trauma. Maybe I could also talk about how history deforms the past as the victors write it. Who knows if the witch was doing the right thing? Who knows if it's true that the curse came from that?! Think about how to explore it, cause this could easily be a novel in which the past and the present complement each other as we swap povs from our main protag to their ancestors. Could be fun!

Anyway yeah, create crazy plots and explanations, but focus them in the direction of how and what you want to write.

Tl;dr: Create lore by making up cool concepts and then using logic to connect them and explain them, but be creative first, rational second.

[tempestmothstorm]

Ok so I mention my fantasy au for ddlc a couple times but I’ve been busy for months because of life stuff and also more brain rot for different stuff. So like. I haven’t gotten to it for months. Oops

Anyways I’ll just put the basic lore I have here because I do have a lot of ideas for this au and I am shaking the bars for my enclosure cus I really wanna talk about it

This is basically if ddlc and its concepts were put into a stereotypical rpg instead of dating sim and the club is now a cool rpg party who spend the hypothetical game encountering and bonding with each other like in the side stories. The plot would be simple and about finding the cure for a fantasy plague/curse that has been slowly ravaging the land (spooky glitch effects) only for it to slowly unravel into the wider lore and how it connects to base game ddlc

Monika is a main character and the paladin leader. Orphan from the capital turned famous knight who had become disillusioned and abandoned her high status to become a wandering mercenary to help the people in the curse. She eventually finds her own patron god, You! It’s like Oneshot where you are the narrator observing and guiding Monika, except she doesn’t actually know who you are or that she’s in a game so you have to hide it while also making sure she doesn’t repeat the sins of the past and stuff. She slowly learns to open up and trust her new companions and love her life to the fullest without worrying about perfection or success and stuff. Maybe she doesn’t need to be the legend or the perfect hero. Maybe she can just be with her new family. Maybe she could just let herself belong (the sure hope her arc lasts and isn’t ripped away by her own hands haha)(she gets better)

Sayori is the simple first best friend/second in command/heart of the group. She’s just the happy go lucky bard without that deeper tragic backstory the rest of the cast has. The daughter of a fisherman in a small starting town, Monika first encounters her after defending the town from a monster. Sayori and the town throw a celebration as thanks, letting Monika learn to loosen up and be open. On the flip side Sayori seems to have no relevant plot, only to suddenly reveal her own doubts later in the story. Having always felt useless and aimless, whether in her hometown where she had no place or job or with the party as she had no apparent use, she starts to feel insecure about her place in the group over time. There’s probably be the classic ‘heart of the group get incapacitated and everyone realizes how essential they are as the rest fall apart’ plot beat, and Sayori’s gets to learn just how important she is.

Yuri is the local smart guy wizard of the team, part of some mysterious wizards coven when the party first encounters her. Monika and Sayori are looking for info on the curse’s origins and the coven assigns Yuri to help temporarily guide them through a dungeon. On the way Yuri gets to learn what actual companionship looks like as people who are connected not only through a common goal or interest, but people who genuinely care for her. The coven didn’t really interact or care about her well being, and she was too disconnected from the outside world to learn enough about her field of study, so she decides to leave the coven to travel the world with Monika and Sayori. Over time they also learn about her backstory (because every mysterious rpg character needs a tragic backstory) about her being the daughter of a faraway kingdom’s royal family. Having been born with destructive magic powers, her family had tried everything to suppress it , without regards for their own daughter. They eventually gave up and sent her to the coven for life, basically disowning her. There could probably be a plot point where the party has to meet up with her parents for politics reasons and there could be some heavy drama where Yuri gets to admit that she’s finally found people who accept and understand who she is and how to help her. Yay

Natsuki is that one edgy rogue who starts out as an enemy to the party. Runaway turned thief turned mercenary, she’s doing whatever it takes to survive out in this world. The party finds her as part of some rival mercenary band being hired by some random kingdom they encounter. The kingdom assigns the two groups on the same mission, but Natsuki’s teammates are assholes and push all the work onto Natsuki and the main party (they’re supposed be parallel her other friends). The four of them have to work together and start out antagonistic, but they slowly realize how messed up the situation with Natsuki is and how she really deserves better (for a lot of reasons). Natsuki meanwhile is experiencing an actual feeling of belonging and concern from others and is very conflicted, so when the rival mercenary’s decide to betray the main party and take the credit, she stands up for them and fights back, officially completing the party. She eventually learns to open up and trust people for the first time ever, having a place to call home and people she can feel safe with. She’d also have a ‘confront your past’ moment where they have to travel through her hometown that she ran away from. She feels terrified having to come back and potentially face her past, but not only is the town in way better shape her father had already died years after she left. While it seems like her whole backstory is unresolved, she comes to the conclusion on her own that she doesn’t need to be stuck in the past and no amount of confronting her father would change anything. Because she’d already found a family that loves her without him, and she’s promises she won’t end up like him.

And so the classic rpg party is formed and have their work cut out for them as they attempt to find the origins of the curse and eventually stop it. But it’s slowly revealed that the curse runs deeper in the origins of their world than they’ve thought possible. They can only either succumb to the darkness or deny reality itself to survive their fate. Who knows if they could face the reality of their world and still choose to save it. This world exists to give them a better ending. With all they’ve seen, could that still be possible?

There’s other stuff like more detailed backstory since I kinda skimmed over everything, certain plot points, and overall meta lore and how it connects to base game but that’s the rundown so far

Since it’s funny and technically correct I’m gonna call this the Doki Doki Isekai au

[myimaginedcorner]

SCALES OF JUSTICE - PUBLICATION SET FOR JANUARY 2025

Hello my dear readers,

WE DID IT! After a few weeks of wait and talks, I can finally announce that Scales of Justice has been officially accepted for publication, both on Hosted Games and on Steam! The current publication date is set for January 2025; however, if that changes, I will update you with new information.

You can now wishlist the game on Steam! Here's the link -> https://store.steampowered.com/app/3089710/Scales_of_Justice/

I am so, so grateful to everyone who has been here for me during these past 3 years. What began as a shy attempt at dreaming has grown into a marvelous project that taught me so much, brought me so many new experiences and skills, and is going to end with my first publication as an author. I cannot be more grateful and excited. I hope this is only the beginning of an amazing journey.

I am currently finishing my degree and working on preparing for the release; however, I will soon be posting a little more of my thoughts about future projects (including SoJ 2), continuing Torn Page, and being a bit more active around here. Until then, please, spread the word, and let's celebrate this together! ^^

DEMO DESCRIPTION:

Scales of Justice is a fantasy story that takes place in a world afar – a place called Therania. Albeit there was some interaction between Therania and other worlds a long time ago, now it’s solely a tale from their lost past… or, at least, that is the most common belief. Regardless, this story does not focus on extraterrestrial connections: its plot revolves around the people of Therania and their lives, their history and – what’s more important – their ‘determined’ future.

There are plenty of species living together in Therania, yet the human race is currently split in two: the one known as Hero kingdom, which is ruled by ‘heroes’, and the one named Vannais kingdom, controlled by ‘villains’. Both nations hate each other - here, the fight of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is something that happens on a national level. The game is focused on lore, character development, and the player's choices: perhaps, your MC just wants to live a peaceful life... or maybe they want to save the world.

Or even rule it, if you’re into such things.

THINGS TO DO IN THIS DEMO:

Set off on a new adventure towards Neutral Lands, to meet a mythic creature of all answers - The Visionary.

Play as a woman, man, or non-binary - straight, gay, or asexual.

Gather up to 3 companions to help you in your quest - befriend, romance, or rival them, the choice is yours.

Buy a horse - we know you want one.

Fight, conjure, support, speak or think - choose your way of handling a tricky situation.

Explore the kingdom of Hero up to Menai's shores, in search for someone - or something - to aid you in your journey.

The DEMO version of the book runs up to Chapter 5 and contains 276K words overall.

USEFUL LINKS:

If you want to know a little more about this project and read chapters 1-5, I'll leave the link to the game here -> https://dashingdon.com/play/myimaginedcorner/scales-of-justice/mygame/

If you want to discuss anything on CoG's forum, I'll leave the link for SoJ here -> https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/wip-scales-of-justice-new-project-announcement-and-demo-release/101088/16

If you want to send me a more extensive feedback, here's my email -> feedbackscalesofjustice@gmail.com

RO DESCRIPTIONS:

Shoren/Seile → Heir to the Hero kingdom’s throne, right where your journey starts. Also, your old friend who’s very attached to you. Likes to read and practices magic, enjoys adventure and heroic deeds. A recognised “hero”, with blonde curly hair, pale skin and a pair of sapphire eyes.

Robert/Reina → Order’s Paladin, defender of Hero and Knight of Fate. Brave and honourable, determined to protect the people of the kingdom. Very loyal to friends and very dangerous as an enemy. Has short brown hair, tanned skin and an athletic build.

Valerius/Venis → An Outworlder caught by cultists in the Wicked Woods. Gracious, elegant and charismatic. Has long dark brown hair with a silver streak, olive skin and golden eyes.

Arion/Aria → Leader of Vannais, a recognised “villain” who escaped from Hero and now rules the enemy kingdom. Serious but temperamental. Prefers action over words and so, is always present on battlefields and amidst negotiations, even if in an unofficial manner. Has short blonde hair, pale skin and emerald eyes.

[literary-illuminati]

2025 Book Review #4 – Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

In the time between first hearing about Malazan and finally reading this, I have seen its reputation peak as The Only Fantasy Series anyone online recommended (long since dethroned by Sanderson), get submerged in the backlash, and finally just seem to fade from discourse entirely. In that time, I have been relentlessly peer-pressured and bullied (affectionate) into giving this ten-book saga a chance. And so, as a project for 2025, I will be endeavouring to get through it. Gardens, if it doesn’t live up to the hype (an impossible ask, really), is at least a very entertaining and engaging piece of sprawling epic fantasy to start it off.

Set in a sprawling, ancient fantasy world Gardens of the Moon is (to generalize and simplify) about the attempts of the Malzan Empire to conquer Darujhistan, last and greatest of the Free Cities, before the simmering discontent among its inner provinces and much-abused legions erupts into full scale rebellion. It is also about the various gods and immortals involving themselves in those attempts, most obviously the immortal (basically) elven sorcerer-lord Anomander Rake and his private war against the empire, but also including between at least two entirely unrelated sets of ascendant demigods and their schemes. The story is told through a whole myriad of different points of view, at least half of whom are fighting for the position of ‘main character’ in the narrative structure.

This is very much Map Fantasy, both literally (there are in fact maps and lexicons included in my copy) and figuratively – which is to say, in both tone and the tropes its drawing upon this is very much Epic High Fantasy in the Tolkeinesque tradition. It is, I’m told, actually based in some way on the author’s D&D campaigns – and if I hadn’t been told, I would have guessed. I cannot remember the last time I read a story where the setting and Lore so obviously preceded and is considered by the author to be as or more important than the particular narrative currently being told with it. Very nearly every single character, setting and concept that’s introduced feels like it’s being re-introduced, having already been the centre of a whole story in their own right in some other book. Which does an excellent job of making the world really feel like it has history, but does also just start to get exhausting at a certain point, and makes keeping track of the actual stakes more than a little difficult.

I want to say I came into this story blind, but that’s not really correct – I knew nothing at all about the story, but I’ve had a friend telling my little tidbits about the lore and metaphysics for years now. This was probably incredibly helpful for my reading experience – even compared to the rest of the genre, this is a story absolutely in love with Proper Nouns, even for fairly traditional fantasy concepts and tropes. If you just go with the flow and let them wash over you until the context clues start piling up I think you’ll probably do okay? But I can’t lie and say already knowing what e.g. a tiste, jaghut or warren was when I started didn’t help.

With that proviso – the series’ whole imposing reputation as impossible dense and indecipherable feels very overblown to me? Even if the exact mechanics of magic and godhood are pretty opaque, (almost) everyone’s motivations and desires are pretty clear and I was never at all confused by what was actually happening on-page or (in the character/motivation sense) why. Aside from the sheer number of POVs and nested subplots, in narrative terms it seems like fairly conventional, traditional (if higher powered and more magic-heavy) epic fantasy. Though saying that, I actually cannot remember the last time I actually read another example of the genre (would Witch King count?), so maybe my memory’s a bit warped here.

The book honestly surpassed my expectations going into it – or better to say perhaps that I had worries that proved to be unfounded. I was anxious going in that this would just be 700 pages of exposition and table-setting for the actual story that would unfold over the other nine books. Thankfully, while there was some of that (Tattersail’s whole arc, especially) you very much do get a complete narrative with its own stakes, climax, and conclusion here. If this was a standalone book, I’d be slightly annoyed at all the extraneous tangents, but it would hardly feel like I’d wasted my time. Which is more than you can say for some series these days.

But not to damn with faint praise - reading the book, I do absolutely get at least some of where the reputation comes from. Everything about the world does just oozes with care and attention, the plots cohere and occasionally compel, there are a number of really incredibly memorable set-pieces, and I actually like a solid fraction of the POVs. It’s probably the best execution of epic fantasy I can remember reading.

The ensemble cast is I feel either the greatest strength or most fatal flaw of the book as a reading experience. I always love the cast-of-thousands feel, but when taken to this level I’m sure a lot of people find it alienating and confusing. Admittedly I probably loved it more than usual here because some of the characters most heavily signposted and weighed down with narrative significance as The Protagonists were also just by far the least interesting or compelling parts of the book (I’m sorry but I simply do not care about Whiskeyjack even slightly, even leaving aside how he spent the entire book making things strictly worse and breaking things for unclear benefit to anyone).

The book’s character writing is unfortunately uneven, at least as far as drives and motivations though. Sometimes it’s interesting and subtle, somethings it sensible but a bit baldly stated and tell-don’t-show, and sometimes it feels painfully obvious when revelations and changes of heart occur on the timetable of the plot rather than the reverse (Captain Paran’s sudden-but-total disillusionment with the empire and willingness to risk life and limb for vengeance on his former boss and join an armed rebellion felt especially thinly justified, for such a major character).

Thematically the book is very interested in tyranny and subjugation, though I’m not entirely sure it had anything much to say about them. The portrayal of the Malazan Empire as this horrible world-eating engine of domination is rather significantly undercut by half of the sympathetic POVs we have being agents or officers of it driven to defection/rebellion by a nefarious usurper trying to purge the old guard who made the empire great (I don’t think a single characters says a positive word about the Empress in the entire book? And her only two loyal agents are positioned as the most villainous actual characters in the whole book). It being so prominent gives the history of the setting an appealingly tragic cast, at least.

Anyway yeah, I have quibbles (far too many words spent on characters making vague pronouncements of undescribed plans, some characters/elements introduced in the climax without real foreshadowing or buildup, for a book with this many POVs it comes embarrassingly close to failing the Bechdel Test, etc) but all in all this quite a really fun read. Looking forward to starting the next one next month.

[expanding-hyrule]

Goddess of Secrecy by @amelias-calamity-quintet

Adventure Fantasy | General | AO3 & Wattpad | Complete*

Synopsis: Hyrule has only ever dreamt of an end to the resurrection of Demise. With the returning of an ancient power, that dream could finally be fulfilled. Can the Hero of the Fourth Goddess save Hyrule once and for all?

*Imported to AO3 July '24-April '25

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For me, GoS is a classic Zelda fic with amazing storytelling that rivals the games. The worldbuilding stays faithful to the game series but also brings new life to it in fun and interesting ways. Every time Link visits a dungeon in this story, I can easily imagine exploring it in a game. This fic is full of enjoyable and lovable characters, from Link's expeditious guide to the many unique side characters that accompany Link on his journey to the temples. This fic is a must read for any Zelda fan interested in reading an original Zelda story. - doubtfulloser

Familiar and original characters collide in a Hyrule that is far-reaching. Extensive world building paints each region in bright technicolor. With the help of a mysterious guide, Link journeys to explore all four corners of Hyrule, conquering monsters, solving puzzles, cleansing dungeons of evil and unlocking his true potential as the Chosen Hero. Gripping storytelling and descriptive writing pulls the reader into the thick of things right alongside a Link who isn't afraid to speak the truth. Add a strong-willed and capable Zelda who takes an active role in the action makes this story a real treat to read. - Mistress Lritgar

Goddess of Secrecy was one of the first Zelda fics that I read that I actually enjoyed. It has all the workings of an original Zelda and then some. Massive world, lots of characters, so much lore [I love lore so much, and this one has no shortage of that]. Amelia herself is a wonderful author, truly bringing Hyrule to life through the eyes of Link, Zelda, and Endeavor. Goddess of Secrecy is a classic, action-packed, and absolutely amazing! - The Nameless

This is a very expansive fic, but I've really enjoyed what I've read of it so far! The writing just oozes charm, and even the characters I haven't known for long are bursting with personality. Despite taking heavy inspiration from Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and a few fantasy novels (I can smell the Ranger's Apprentice here) it stands apart enough to feel unique. It's super fun to imagine playing a game like this! - waterglider

A love letter to the LoZ franchise, GoS masterfully weaves its own unique tale while seamlessly incorporating and combining concepts and lore from the games that existed at its time of writing. It follows the classic game formula but still remains an entertaining read, with dungeons and items you could easily visualize working in an actual game! The characters, while many, are well-developed and I found myself quickly falling in love with them. This Link's journey is both classic and new; starting from nothing and ending a Hero - but in his own way and with all the struggles that come with it. This work has made me smile and laugh and cry - and I can't recommend it enough! - Anonymous

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You can find @amelias-hart at AO3, Bluesky, and Wattpad.

[flummoxx]

FF7 NOVEL RESOURCES

A collection of links to fulfill all of your ff7 novel needs

Info

The ff7 novels are a series of books mostly written by Kazushige Nojima, depicting unique stories using the characters and world from ff7. These novels are separate from the games but stick closely to canon. Leslie Kyle and Kyrie Canaan actually originated from my favorite book so far, The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story.

Most of these novels were published in Japanese first and later translated into English. Luckily, they can easily be found online for purchase or read through fan translations for free.

Youtube Audiobooks

The Lifestream on Youtube has uploaded a decent amount of audiobooks of the fan translations to their channel. I’d recommend checking them out if you’d enjoy that!

Disclaimer

None of these fan translations belong to me; all of the credit goes to those who spent the time to translate them. Most of them come from The Lifestream.net, as they’ve posted a ton of fan translations to their website. This list would not have been possible without their hard work!

—☆—

“Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile”

On the Way to a Smile is a short novel with multiple stories about different characters. It takes place after ff7 but before Advent Children starts, acting as a bridge between the two.

OTWTAS - Fan Translations

| Lifesteam Black and White(complete) | Episode Denzel(complete) |

| Episode Tifa(complete) | Episode Barret(complete) |

| Episode Nanaki(complete) | Episode Yuffie(complete) |

| Episode Shin-Ra(complete) |

OTWTAS - Audiobooks

| Lifesteam black and white(complete) | Episode Denzel(complete) |

| Episode Tifa(complete) | Episode Barret(complete) |

| Episode Nanaki(complete) | Episode Yuffie(complete) |

| Episode Shin-Ra(complete) |

OTWTAS - Official English Copy’s For Sale

| Amazon | Ebay | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks |

OTWTAS - Extras

| Lore Summary | Differences Between the Japanese and English Versions |

| Fan Translation PDF of On the Way to a Smile and The Maiden Who Travels The Planet |

“The Maiden Who Travels the Planet”

The Maiden Who Travels the Planet is the only ff7 novel to be written by Benny Matsuyama. It follows the story of Aerith and depicts her experience in the lifestream. Unfortunately, it lacks an official English translation.

TMWTTP - Fan Translation

| Prologue and Chapters 1-7(complete) |

TMWTTP - Audiobook

| Prologue and Chapters 1-7(complete) |

TMWTTP - Extra

| Fan Translation PDF of On the Way to a Smile and The Maiden Who Travels The Planet |

“Final Fantasy VII The Kids Are Alright: A Turks Side Story”

The Kids Are Alright takes place before, during, and after Advent Children. It tells the story of Evan Townshend and his complicated history with Shinra. This novel also contains the original appearances of Leslie and Kyrie, and even includes some background information on Kadaj. The story is separated into two sections, Part One: See Me, Feel Me, and Part Two: Who Are You?

TKAA - Fan Translation

| Part One and Two with Chapters 1-46(complete) |

TKAA - Audiobook

| Part One: See Me, Feel Me(complete) |

TKAA - Official English Copy’s For Sale

| Amazon | Ebay | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks |

TKAA - Extra

| Lore Summary + Artwork and Character Intros |

“Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts”

Traces of Two Pasts showcases Tifa and Aerith’s relationship and illustrates how their childhoods influenced their lives. It takes place sometime during ff7 remake and highlights the importance of the trust they have for each other. Similar to TKAA, this novel is separated into two parts, Episode Tifa, and Episode Aerith.

TOTP - Fan Translations

| Episode Tifa Pages 01-24(complete) | Episode Tifa Pages 25-39(complete) |

| Episode Tifa Pages 40-52(complete) | Episode Tifa 53-72(complete)

| Episode Tifa Pages 73-98(complete) | | Episode Tifa Pages 98-121(complete)

| Episode Tifa Pages 122-149(complete) | Episode Tifa Pages 150-208(complete) |

| Episode Aerith Scenes 1-4(complete) | Episode Aerith Scenes 5-9(complete) |

| Episode Aerith Scenes 10-14(complete) | Episode Aerith Scenes 15-21(complete) |

| Episode Aerith Scenes 22-27(complete) | Episode Aerith Scenes 28-35(complete) |

TOTP - Official English Copy’s For Sale

| Amazon | Ebay | Barnes & Noble | Abebooks |

TOTP - Extra

| Episode Aerith Translators Note |

—☆—

Before you leave, feel free to send me any questions about the ff7 novels. I'm lucky to own every en novel, and I'm always free to talk about them!

[psihawaii]

i wanna hear abt system scott if u wanna talk about her :D

HI BRODY ty for enabling me finally filing off the serial numbers on scott (uhhh asterisk. depending on when new episodes come out) for a hypothetical campaign. tis an honor.

obviously scotts the main insp but i also rlly wanted to take stuff from other Big Review Lore "Movies". "the fate of the universe is at stake and the only way i can stop the timeline from ripping in half is by talking about the live action scooby doo movies" that type of thing. i just really think the self importance and production over something that doesnt matter That much (and in the case being aware that it doesnt matter that much (as per scotts self deprecating humor)) is fascinating.

and i think in the context of interstitial and traveling to preexisting worlds and talking to preexisting characters theres a. well she takes it 'seriously' in the sense that its all part of a bit its all part of her Lore Episode (and why Wouldnt she. if presumably shes used to things working stw style where its completely unserious and itll work itself out or At Least itll end funnily enough and She'll be fine). she'll have her big moment with them and then immediately off to not talk to or about them for half a year. well that just happened.

i really also didnt mean to make her a system my thought process was 'since this is a fantasy setting and im being indulgent i can probably touch more on the fact that she still has the border (or whatever her border equivalent would be) with her, that she willingly took it back, and i can probably make it a more active presence in her life a la talking to her' > 'it'd be cool to have it take over her body periodically symbiote style im being indulgent.' > 'i think theyre actually pretty chill all things considered she gets cool blue powers and it gets to. well. Experience Things in a human body like its a lil annoying she can't be herself 100% of the time but whaddya gonna do' > 'aw shit. fuck. shit. did i make accidental questionable plural rep. shit. well okay that part of her forever now.'

(and i do still think she took the border on as like. a self punishment thing a "Well I Can't Imagine Life Outside Of This So I Might As Well Keep Torturing Myself About It". which makes it more funny to me that it's being I Need To Experience Everything Ever And Do Things Impulsively about it. it sucks for her)

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Wyrdwood wand

this is a wizard game with an alien invasion plotline in it

Touchstones: Wizard School media, Lovecraftian Mythos, Studio Ghibli, Chuubo, Final Fantasy Tactics, Sports Anime

Genre: Wizard School tactics Game

What is this game?:  Wyrdwood Wand is a tactics game heavily inspired by D&D 4e, where players play as young (usually) mages growing up and studying in the prestigious [citation needed] Wyrdwood academy

How's the gameplay?: Wyrdwood Wand is heavily based on D&D 4e, its a crunchy tactics game with really fun and intuitive character creation which splits up characters between their party role, and the nature of their magic, one giving you broad strokes of a role, and the other cementing it's specifics, if you're familiar with how 4e plays you're familiar with how this game plays, and if you're familiar with 5e there's a little bit of a learning curve but it's still a pretty easy to learn game, Wyrdwood also features a fairly robust roleplaying system, that has a clean split between tactical and goofy spells, meaning characters can have silly spell options without having to break their spell bank

What's the setting (If any) like?: Wyrdwood is set in the world of Gliss, a setting with quite a bit of interesting lore and tidbits, but for now all you need to know is that Gliss is currently recovering from a massive war against an alien species known as the Wix, the world got kinda screwed by this invasion, population is small at around 300 million humans, towns are small, and technology hasn't quite reached the height it did before the war, think your stereotypical ghibli setting, but with more aliens and cthulhus. the Wyrdwood verse also has something called "Destiny", a mysterious force protecting humans from deadly blows, this is something that's mostly a gameplay term but it bleeds over into lore sometimes. Oh right I forgot to mention, in this world hats are incredibly important, if you don't wear one, good luck casting spells!

What's the tone?: Wyrdwood's wand is mostly fairly lighthearted, it can touch on topics of warfare and imperialism, but its a silly world full of goblins that can turn any object into a gun, and nigh-immortal reptilian orbs

Session length: Fairly long, 3-4 hours is not uncommon

Number of Players: 3+, 5 is recommended

Malleability: Wyrdwood's mechanics are actually not very tied into its setting, if your setting is primarily consisting of spellcasters you could run it in Wyrdwood probably

Resources: As wyrdwood is a fairly new, obscure, and in development game there's not too many resources, there's a google spreadsheet that works wonders, a few scattered bits of homebrew, and other such things

I REALLY like wyrdwood, its lighthearted and silly aesthetic combined with genuinely fun gameplay and character creation sell you into its world where really weird shit happens casually and where hats are vital for spellcasting.

[bardic-tales]

Title: Bloodlines and Battlefields

Pairing: Bianca Moore / Sephiroth

Other Characters: Azrakiel (Lord of the Abyssal Incubi), Mordecai (mentioned)

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 2251

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (AU / Crossover Elements)

Tags: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, Angst, Hurt / Comfort, Whump, Enemies, Soulmates, Established Relationship, Anxiety and Mental Health, Magic and Fantasy, Parallel Universe, Supernatural

Warnings: Graphic violence, implied past torture, possession, psychological manipulation, possessive dynamics, dark themes

Summary: When Azrakiel dares to stake his claim on Bianca once more, Sephiroth stands between them, proving with blade and fury that she belongs to him and no one else.

Author's Note: This story is set in the Final Fantasy VII universe, but which specific game or timeline it aligns with is entirely up to the reader's interpretation. Elements from various installments may be present, but no single version is definitive for this narrative. Additionally, to clarify an important aspect of Bianca’s lore. Azrakiel and Asmodeus are one and the same. The name Azrakiel reflects his celestial past, while Asmodeus represents the demonic force he has become. I decided to use Azrakiel to illustrate that Sephiroth isn't up against a normal opponent.

Also, I was so tempted to have OWA as the theme song of this. But we're going to go with Lux Aeterna. It has the dreamy and slightly uplifting beat that would accompany this.

1.

The Northern Crater was a tomb of silence. The jagged, ice-bound walls glistening with an unnatural sheen, reflecting the dim, sickly glow of Mako veins coursing beneath the frozen ground. It was a place where sunlight dared not tread: forsaken and cold. The air was bitter, unmoving, as if the world itself held its breath. This was Sephiroth’s domain, their and Mother’s home, carved out in defiance of Shinra and the Planetary Defenders.

But a slow, deliberate stride fractured the silence. Azrakiel, Lord of the Abyssal Incubi, moved with the fluid grace of a serpent. His obsidian wings folded behind him, as his eyes of molten gold scanning the darkness. His black hair cascaded over broad shoulders, like a dark halo framing a face too beautiful for any realm but the Abyssal.

“You’ve trespassed far enough,” came a voice. The tone was bitter, commanding, and drenched in contempt.

The dark smoke, heavy and choking, unfurled like a living shadow, laced with streaks of poisonous violet that shimmered with an unnatural light. Sephiroth emerged, his black leather coat gleaming under the dim light and the silver pauldrons catching the light as he raised his gleaming Masamune. A bright, lethal light glinted in his cat-like eyes, reflecting the moonlight and promising danger. A chill deeper than the ice snaked up his spine as the black feathers fell like whispers of death around his boots.

Azrakiel’s lips curled into a faint smile. “Sephiroth. How quaint. Does the lion now guard the lamb?” His voice was smooth, a velvet mockery. “Or perhaps you believe Bianca is yours by right?”

The silver-haired god’s pupils contracted, a quiet storm brewing beneath his impassive façade. His grip on Masamune was steady, controlled, though tension coiled beneath his skin like a viper ready to strike.

“She is,” Sephiroth said. His tone edged with calm finality. “You’ve taken enough from her.”

Azrakiel chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that resonated with the sinister sweetness of poisoned honey.

“Taken? I only reclaimed what was already mine.” With the chilling satisfaction of a predator who has successfully stalked and captured its quarry, his golden eyes gleamed brightly. “She carries my blood. She is bound to me.”

Masamune sang through the air. It was a whisper of death so swift that Azrakiel barely had time to shift before steel kissed flesh. A thin line of crimson blossomed on his cheek. The demonic blood sizzling upon contact with the frozen ground. The ice hissed and steamed, and the scent of burning sulfur curling into the cold air.

With a voice as cold and glacial as the alien cells coursing through his veins, Sephiroth made his declaration. “Your claim is void. Flesh and blood are irrelevant. She belongs to me.”

Azrakiel’s expression flickered: something between amusement and disdain. “You sound as if you believe it.” His lips parted in a slow, cruel grin. “Ah, but tell me something, godling. Where were you when she screamed for help? When I flayed her skin from the bone, when I shattered her voice with agony, and I they reduced her body to nothing more than a broken vessel?” He tilted his head. “You weren’t there. That pathetic wretch who called himself her husband came too late.”

A barely perceptible yet sharp edge of fury cut through Sephiroth’s typically calm demeanor, betraying itself only in the subtle, almost imperceptible tremor of his fingers as they tightened around the hilt of his ōdachi, Masamune. He breathed steadily, but his knuckles whitened.

Mordecai had failed her. He hadn’t been there to stop it. Once he had bled for Bianca, it was too late.

If Sephiroth had been there, Bianca would have never suffered beneath Azrakiel’s hands. Before a single blade could ever have touched her flesh, he would have carved the wretched beast into a thousand pieces, preventing any harm from coming to her. She would have never endured Azrakiel’s cruel, slicing blows, the searing pain a brand she’d carry forever, never been forced to stitch herself back together from the ruin he wrought, the rough thread scratching against her raw skin.

Azrakiel’s voice, smooth as silk, dripped with taunting mockery, each word a subtle sting. “And yet, you dare to claim her? As if she is yours?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Pathetic.”

Sephiroth stepped forward, and the very air around him seemed to still, gravity bending beneath the sheer force of his will. His shadow stretched long and distorted across the glassy ice, flickering with every movement, growing darker as the sun dipped lower.

“She is mine,” he repeated, his voice softer now, but far more dangerous. “And I am not Mordecai.”

Sephiroth spoke the very name with quiet, razor-sharp disdain. Mordecai, who had let her slip through his fingers. Mordecai, whose failure had allowed Bianca’s body to be torn apart, her soul fractured. Sephiroth would not succumb to the same weakness that had undone Mordecai; his resolve was absolute.

His lips curled into something that barely resembled a smile, all cold cruelty and unshaken resolve. “Now, allow me to demonstrate.”

The air split with the sound of steel and fury.

In a surge of darkness, Sephiroth was upon him, the wicked gleam of Masamune carving through the air with unholy speed, unleashing a torrent of brutal strikes that whistled past him. Each cut shrieked on the dark armor. There was a sudden burst of sparks that flew into the air, illuminating both Azrakiel and Sephiroth’s faces.

Azrakiel parried with a conjured blade of void-black steel. His wings unfurled to deflect and counter. The clash sent shockwaves through the desolate wasteland, shattering ice and flinging debris in lethal arcs.

Sephiroth’s eyes glinted with sadistic pleasure as his blade bit deep, drawing a hiss of blood that burned the ground where it fell. Azrakiel snarled. His eyes flashed with a light that seemed to devour the dark. His wings snapped out, creating a wall of force that sent Sephiroth sliding back. Sephiroth’s boots carved furrows in the ice.

But the One-Winged Angel did not falter. With a surge of black feathers, Sephiroth called forth his wing, eyes alight with godlike fury. The air vibrated with a dark resonance, suffused with Jenova’s power and Sephiroth’s will.

Azrakiel’s smile faltered.

“I will not allow you to touch her again,” Sephiroth declared, voice cold as the abyss, divine wrath simmering beneath the surface. “I will burn this world to its bones before I yield her to you.”

“Such passion,” Azrakiel mused, tone a mockery of delight. “It would almost be touching. If it weren’t so pitiful.” His wings beat once, and the surrounding darkness trembled. Runes ignited along his arms, searing the air with eldritch power. “But you forget yourself, Chosen One.”

Sephiroth smirked, tilting his head. “Do I?”

A feint to the left, baiting him into an opening. A flick of the wrist. Masamune sliced low, then high, carving through the air like a specter of death. The demon lord moved to counter, but Sephiroth was relentless. His strikes were a whirlwind of controlled brutality. A downward slash aimed to cleave through ribs. Parried. A thrust to the throat. Dodged by a hair’s breadth.

Then Sephiroth shifted. A fraction of a second. Enough. Then Sephiroth shifted. A fraction of a second. Enough. With a cruel twist of his blade, Masamune sank into Azrakiel’s side with a sickening crunch.

The demon snarled, a raw, untamed fury emanating from his very being. With hardly any awareness of the pain, his arm, propelled by a force that spanned centuries, extended in a decisive open-palmed attack. The impact was devastating.

Sephiroth’s body rocketed backward, the force of the blow enough to shatter lesser men. His boots dug into the ice, gouging deep gorges as he skidded to a halt. Blood dripped from his split lip, smearing crimson against the cold.

And then Sephiroth laughed. Low. Dark. Devoid of anything human.

He dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing blood against pale skin. His pupils shrank to razor-thin slits, as a wicked gleam lit his Mako-infused gaze.

“You’re out of your depth, old man,” he sneered. His voice was velvet laced with venom, dripping arrogance and something far worse: certainty. As if the battle had already been decided.

Sephiroth tilted his head, the ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips, before he continued. “This realm belongs to me. She belongs to me.”

Burning like molten gold, his eyes expanded, their pupils growing larger as dark mist curled around his form, emanating from his very being. Even the shadows themselves, behaving as if they were alive, obeyed his commands, twisting and turning as though they were living creatures. The air thickened. The pressure built, a suffocating weight pressing down on the North Crater, making it hard to breathe.

Then he extended a clawed hand and beckoned. “Then come.”

A deafening roar ripped through the air as the ground split open beneath them, the Lifestream’s green, glimmering light erupting from the fissure in a blinding flash. With a terrifying shriek, the air itself seemed to crack and break apart, as the ice, no longer a solid mass: fracturing, shattering, and finally dissolving into nothing.

2.

From her vantage point beyond the chaotic battleground, Bianca watched with wide, indigo eyes, her breath coming in shallow gasps, her hands trembling violently; however, despite her fear and trembling, she remained rooted to the spot, choosing not to flee. She couldn’t. Not from him. He protected her.

The soul-link thrummed between her and Sephiroth. It blazed with incandescent warmth, an unwavering, glorious connection that filled her with unyielding hope and delight. The all-consuming, scorching rage that coursed through his veins burned through her as well, leaving her feeling consumed by his anger. A frozen dread gripped her, each breath a ragged gasp against the icy weight in her gut. However, underlying the fear, and at a level far deeper than the fear itself, was a conviction, a certainty, that had remained unshaken and unwavering throughout.

She pressed a hand to her chest, fingers digging into the leather vest hugging her firm, supple breasts, and felt the rhythmic echo that was not just her own. His heart. Steady. Unyielding. He was here. He had come for her.

Because he always did.

Her father, the man who had tormented her, the man who was her personal demon, the man who felt like a curse upon her life, stood against him; his golden eyes glowed with an unholy, frightening light. But Sephiroth had never been a man to bow before anyone.

She knew, without question, that he would win.

Her father, the man who had tormented her, the man who was her personal demon, the man who felt like a curse upon her life, stood against him. But Sephiroth had never been a man to bow before anyone.

She knew, without question, that he would win.

Between the brutal clash of swords, the deafening cries of battle, and the chilling wind whistling through the battlefield, Sephiroth’s eyes found hers—a sharp contrast to the storm of violence. A promise, silent yet deafening. It was a vow.

Azrakiel caught it. He saw. And he laughed.

“Ah, I see,” The demon’s voice, smooth as dark velvet, yet edged with a chilling cruelty, drawled the words. “Such devotion. A shame, really. It will be a pleasure to break it.”

Bianca’s stomach plummeted, a sickening freefall reflecting the despair gripping her. Pain consumed her, a relentless tide of memories dragging her under, leaving her gasping for air. The chains. The blood. The glint of Noctemaris plunging into her. Only after Sephiroth’s presence intervened was the intense emotional pain, which had once threatened to destroy her completely, painstakingly repaired and interwoven back together, piece by fractured piece. He had rewritten her into a force that no longer cowered to man.

Now Azrakiel sought to take that from her.

Sephiroth stood still, an unnerving calm in his posture, yet his eyes blazed with that bright green fire that glowed beneath his long silver lashes. Slowly and sharply, his lips curved into a smile, a smile that lacked any warmth whatsoever; it was a cold, sharp smile. “You won’t live to try.”

Azrakiel's smirk barely had time to fade before Sephiroth moved. A flicker. A shadow. Then the Masamune was upon him. And with a snarl, the battle raged anew.

tagging some fellow mutuals: @themaradwrites @craftyhal @megandaisy9 @watermeezer

@prehistoric-creatures @creativechaosqueen @chickensarentcheap @seastarblue

@inkandimpressions @arrthurpendragon

[whatjoup4]

Júlia's Top 10 Videogames

10. Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap

I swear no game ever gave as much of a sense of adventure like Minish Cap. I feel like part of it was the main gimmick of the game, how becoming smaller revealed a lively hidden world full of magic, and how that implied depth and complexity was there even if you couldn't see it. No other world has ever felt quite as magical, not even other Zelda games.

9. Firewatch

I've played Firewatch about 3 or 4 times, and it's one of those games that the more I play it the better it gets. Like many people I found the ending confusing at first, maybe even a bit frustrating. The older I get the more I play it, the more I understand it. I think that is its beauty. Part of the point is that childish escapism isn't a solution, it's a break, and the problems you're escaping from are still there when you come back, but at the same time, time for escapism is important.

8. Dragon Age: Origins

DAO is the first game on this list that belongs to my favorite game genre, the CRPG. It's a singular game in that, starting from Dragon Age 2 the series would become a more "modern" Action RPG, and would also drop the Dark Fantasy vibes in favor of something more cheeky and adventurous. While I remain a fan of the Dragon Age series (you'll even find in me a Veilguard enjoyer), very few games can match DAO in writing and ambience. It's major flaw in my eyes is the gameplay. Realtime CRPG combat is definitely not my style.

7. Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader

As any transwoman worth her salt, I've gotten into Warhammer as of late. And Rogue Trader is right at the intersection of that interest and CRPGs. Much like DAO, it takes place in a grim world. Unlike DAO it finds comedy in it's over the top grimness. It's the best way to engage with any Warhammer world, playing it's over the top darkness and leaving the humor to be found in it to be found by the player. And unlike DAO, combat is extremely fun, and the ways to build your character and their entourage are just varied enough to give you a sense of identity, but not overwhelming to the point of paralysis (unlike other Owlcat games *cough cough*)

6. Chrono Trigger

For a lot of my life, if you asked me what my favorite game was I'd have said Chrono Trigger. I've played through it so many times, and it's a near perfect game in almost all senses. Art, music, story, gameplay. It legit makes me angry that it didn't become the template for jRPGs going forward, and that Final Fantasy did. Just looking at it being #6 on this list feels wrong, but the top 6 games of this list all mean so much to me that depending on my mood I could say any of them are my favorite on any given day. This game is a true masterpiece, even all this time later, being the inspiration for so much of the gaming landscape, no true successor has ever been made.

5. Hollow Knight

Hollow Knight is a beautiful game. That it plays and feels as good as it looks is another wonder. It's a story felt instead of told. Both literally and figuratively, you are a bug crawling on a dying world. There are thousands of words written on what that story is but when you play it, you don't know almost anything for certain, but you do feel it. Maybe all I needed to get Soulslikes was beautiful 2d animation and backgrounds.

4. Mass Effect Trilogy

A little bit of cheating I know but it's my list. I put the whole trilogy in here because to me they're inseparable as games. They have their own differences but each of them benefits for being part of the whole. My favorite is 2, like most folks, but part of it's greatness is because of what inherits from 1 and what it foreshadows about 3. I'm not big into shooters, so that it made it's way this high into the list is proof of just how good a story it is. I miss Bioware, shame it died.

3. Control

I really like SCP. More than the lore, I love the vibes of SCP. Control might be the best way to express those vibes in a game. It's technically not set in the world of SCP but I think that works to it's benefit. So many of the vibes of the SCP project is about accidentally stumbling into a weird world of supernatural things, from the small and safe to the world ending, and the nutjobs that dedicate their lives to it's study. If it was set in the SCP world I would recognize things, maybe even understand them. It is not, and I don't. And that's its greatness.

2. Subnautica

There are games on this list that are objectively better games. Games that have objectively better written stories, objectively better art direction, objectively better gameplay. But none of these games seem to have been drawn from 4 year old me's dreams. I have always been obsessed with the Ocean. From little I used to dream about hopping on a submarine and seeing all the fantastical things that lie at the bottom of our oceans. Subnautica does not take place on our oceans, yet it is infinitely more faithful to the image of the ocean that filled me with wonder ever since I can remember. I love this game to bits.

1. Divinity 2

At the top it only felt fair to put my favorite game from my favorite genre (yes I think it's better than Bauldur's Gate 3). Divinity 2 is amazingly written, the world feels lively and full of wonder, combat is full of creative decisions. The game systems both disappear and get amplified, as the effects of one spell affect the next, affect the next. The characters are all interesting, your party members are likeable and full of personality. And Sing With Me will never leave my head.