#dragoon posting from now on

[groundbreakingdot872]

Happy Dragoon Day everyone!

[estinyans]

Khilo O'ndanya — Warrior of Light

Age: 23 (Start of ARR), 31 (As of Endwalker 6.5)

Race: Miqo'te, Seeker/Keeper

Gender: Cis Female

Pronouns: She/Her

Orientation: Biromantic, Asexual

Height: 5'4" / 162cm

Birthday: 8th Sun of the 3rd Astral Moon (8th May)

Birthplace: Ala Mhigo; raised in Little Ala Mhigo, Southern Thanalan

Guardian: Rhalgr, The Destroyer

Classes: Monk, Samurai, Dragoon, Dark Knight, Sage, Paladin, Warrior

Born in Ala Mhigo to a small family consisting of her mother, father and sister, Khilo's first few years of life were peaceful until the Garlean invasion of the land. Her parents were both slaughtered in the attack, and her sister missing and presumed dead, Khilo was lucky enough to be found by another group of surviving Ala Mhigan's who took her with them as they journeyed to Gridania and through to Thanalan.

Knowing next to nothing about her birth family didn't truly bother her, growing up. Khilo was perfectly comfortable with the family that she'd found and grew to love in Little Ala Mhigo. As she got older, she showed an interest in pugilism and wanted to help out as best as she could. The older refugees were happy to share with her all they'd learnt as Monks. When they had taught her all they could, Khilo soon found tutelage under Hamon Holyfist, who became a good friend and mentor to her.

At 23 Summers old, Khilo chanced to meet Thancred Waters and was soon brought into the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. They quickly became family to her, and there's nothing she wouldn't do for them.

Khilo is an outgoing and optimistic individual who might be a bit clumsy at times, but don't underestimate her. Those who don't know her may call her childish, but Khilo is one of the first to take a situation seriously. She's fiercely loyal to those she considers family and friends, and if you've wronged her or someone she cares about, she is not quick to forgive or forget.

She's eager to befriend almost everyone she meets on her journey, collecting quite a catalogue of allies from all over the star and beyond. She's always first in line to help you with anything you might need- be it a simple grocery run, or saving your brother currently being attacked by monsters.

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

[peeporoon]

whyfore doth his waist be so? to invite the embrace of other men?

[gldnstrngs]

thoughts post merlin season finale rewatch for the anniversary:

(let me preface that ive never cried to the finale despite me watching it twice and rewatching arthurs death scene several times— i definitely got emotional but never cried)

1.) …so i cried… from the beginning of the episode… i just hated how gwen never got a proper goodbye from arthur and was aiding all of his men, wondering where he was and if he was okay😭 and then later on, when leon tells her that arthurs missing and she turns around and silently cries, but quickly recovers… that was SO heartbreaking. she just keeps going and cries to herself like she deserved so so so much better and i hate that she never got closure

2.) i know that merlin has really truly become emrys but im not sure if it was necessary for dragoon to be his Final Form. i didnt watch the first part so maybe i missed the importance of that, but i feel like the scene would’ve been so much better if merlin looked like himself and casted all those badass spells and everyone would see him

3.) WHEN ARTHUR WAKES UP TO MERLIN AND THE FIRST THING HE SAYS IS “merlin, where have you been?” IM NOT OKAY??? it wasnt “merlin, what are you doing here?” or “merlin, how did you get here?” it was merlin, where have you been? that whole time arthur was in battle all😭he😭wanted😭was😭merlin😭

and then the magic reveal. the goddamn magic reveal. that entire scene is so heartbreaking. tell me why i was so distraught when ive seen that scene more times than i can count. and he doesnt just say “i have magic, i used it to protect you” NO. he says i use it for you, only for you. THAT IS A CONFESSION. it’s such a subtle shift of words but it says SO MUCH.

arthur immediately being in denial kills me. it was never a thought in his head that merlin would actually have magic because he associated it with evilness and cruelty. but then he finds out that merlin has always had magic and the way his eyes become so sad… the way his finger brushed his merlins chin right before realizing the truth… im so…

4.) i couldnt stop crying when the scene cut to gwen in the castle, staring out the window and feeling that arthur is alive. her eyes are so sad. i just can’t get over the fact that she never had the goodbye she deserved

5.) as much as i hate the way arthur reacted to merlin having magic, i do understand. he was literally just in battle, was mortally wounded, and found out that the only person he thought he could trust had been lying to him from the moment they met. i dont believe arthur actually thought merlin was dangerous— he’s prone being angry before being sad as a defense mechanism and that was only fueled by finding out that gaius was also lying to him. at that point, it must’ve felt like every person he’d ever known and trusted only ever lied to him. its so tragic I CANT.

BUT ALSO on the other side of that i actually cannot handle how utterly heartbroken merlin looks. his red rimmed eyes because he was crying all night😭 thinking that arthur would hate him forever…

5.) this entire scene bro…

“why did you never tell me?”

“…i wanted to, but…”

“…what?”

“you would’ve chopped my head off.”

“…not sure what i would’ve done.”

“and i didn’t want to put you in that position.”

“…that’s what worried you?”

“some men are born to… plow fields, some live to be great physicians, others… to be great kings. me… i was born to serve you, arthur. and i’m proud of that. and i wouldn’t change a thing.”

UMMMM SO I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS. i have rewatched this scene so. many. times. it is genuinely one of the most beautiful scenes ever written in cinema call me dramatic but im just speaking facts

arthur’s face when he realized that merlin really did care for him. the way he instantly lights up, despite being in pain. and his eyes… theyre glued to merlin. the whole time, he couldn’t look at him directly, but now he was. he was just scanning his face, memorizing all of merlin’s features AND MERLIN IS JUST STARING AT ARTHURS LIPS

also. ALSO. how have i seen this so many times and never. NEVER. caught onto the fact that gwen and arthur’s theme (which is originally titled the love theme) WAS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND. there was no mention of gwen at all in that scene. that was all merlin and arthur. this just confirms to me that this is the moment arthur fully realized and accepted that he was in love with merlin

6.) gwen deserved to know that merlin was a sorcerer FROM MERLIN. they were best friends. THEY WERE BEST FRIENDS!!! HE SHOULDVE BEEN THE ONE TO TELL HER!!! they deserved a scene where merlin comes back from avalon and he and gwen hug and cry.

7.) gwaine and percival should NOT have gone after morgana. i understand their rage but there was no way they were going to defeat her unless they had excalibur or something…

and gwaines death was so unnecessary. that was clearly for shock factor and i hated it. but i did get emotional when percy was able to free himself because he heard gwaine was being tortured… and then hes there when gwaine dies… their foreheads touching… (im not ok)

8.) it breaks my heart that morgana felt no guilt or remorse when she saw arthur, wounded and on the verge of dying. you can so clearly see that arthur feels that way when he sees morgana die, but there’s nothing on her end. i know it’s meant to show how far gone she is but it genuinely doesn’t feel right. i really do think she would’ve experienced some sort of internal conflict when seeing her own brother dying… like maybe she realized that none of this was worth it. it didnt feel as good as she thought it would

and when she’s stabbed by merlin😭 and he says he blames himself for what she’s become. people don’t recognize it enough how merlin feels so much guilt for the way he treated morgana. i just know he didn’t want to kill her, but he had no choice and he knew it was his fault…

9.) is there a reason why merlin didnt call for kilgharrah. i know kilgharrah said in the previous episode that he would finally be lying to rest for eternity, but i feel like this was an especially dire situation where he was needed😭 AND MERLIN SUMMONS HIM LATER ON!!!

or what about aithusa??? LIKE THEY DID NOT HAVE TO BE ON HORSES THE WHOLE TIME

(if anyone can explain the reasoning then lmk otherwise it was just a plot hole and that pisses me off bruh)

10.) arthur’s death did not need to happen, yet it was one of the best death scenes i’ve ever scene. it was just so raw and painful. “just… just hold me…” WHAT IF I DIE??!?!,,!!, he thanks merlin, he pats his head, he brushes his cheek, he tries to hold his hand like im fjwjdjsjjswhshshsj

also originally i was not fully convinced by the theory that the breath arthur took before saying “thank you” was “i love you.” i didnt want to be delusional but i actually do think he did say that he loves merlin. AND THAT CAN BE INTERPRETED AS ROMANTIC OR PLATONIC!!! i def see it as romantic but yes… im so Normal…

11.) “i’ve failed?” just. don’t talk to me.

12.) when merlin stands by the boat arthur is laid to rest in, trying to hold back his tears only to sob as he touches his forehead. the way he tries to gather himself. the way he struggles to say arthurs name and cast the spell. the way he watches arthur drift off, shaking. just. pls.

13.) gwen my baby girl. i cannot emphasize this enough. you deserved so much better. my heart broke when she played with arthurs royal seal and then when i saw the empty throne beside her. she had no time to prepare for this. she just lost the love of her life.

14.) it cuts to leon and then percival. and then i realize theyre the only two left in the round table. they both look so distraught. they lost everyone they ever loved.

15.) gaius :( he was waiting for merlin with his favorite meal :(

16.) bro the truck always jumpscares me omfg why is it so loud😭😭😭 then i get sad because merlin is old and walking alone and its the present and he’s still waiting for arthur :(

they should’ve had the show end with arthur saying “merlin” instead of kilgharrah saying it. that’s literally all we needed. it would’ve been so perfect but here we are…

final thoughts:

i love that this episode wasnt just the battle and action. the focus of it was merlin and arthur, navigating their feelings from the magic reveal and arthurs mortal wound. its so painful and heartbreaking but that just symbolizes the love they have for each other. this entire episode was filled with their gentle moments, softly speaking and touching each other. then arthur dies in merlin’s arms but i dont think he’d want to be anywhere else

also!!! colin and bradley’s acting in this episode… it was absolutely PHENOMENAL. they are already such great actors, but they really nailed it in the series finale. i can’t get over how they speak with their eyes the whole time. you can the love, fear, and acceptance they experienced throughout the whole episode. it was just so beautiful and i think that was what rlly made this ep

[ranchstoryblog]

Info Post - Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma

Publisher: Marvelous Inc./Marvelous Europe Ltd/Marvelous USA

Director: Shiro Maekawa

Producer: Hisashi Fujii

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Steam

Release Dates: June 5th, 2025 (Worldwide)

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the latest entry in the Rune Factory series and combines life simulation and action RPG elements.

The game takes place in a new region with Japanese-inspired visuals and unique twists on familiar gameplay elements, such as a new, more robust socializing system and allowing the player to customize the layout of four different towns and have villagers help with farming.

Q: Is Yoshifumi Hashimoto involved?

A: His name does not appear in the credits.

-

Q: Who is the new director, Shiro Maekawa?

A: Maekawa is the current series Chief Director, starting with Rune Factory 3S. He did previously work as a project manager on Rune Factory 5 and Assistant Producer 4S.

His work prior to Rune Factory includes being the Scenario Writer for Sonic Adventure 2 and work on Panzer Dragoon Saga's concept and setting.

-

Q: Are there same-sex relationships?

A: Yes.

-

Q: How many romance candidates are there?

A: 16.

-

Q: How many save slots are there?

A: 30.

-

Q: Are there more references to past games besides Hina?

A: Yes.

-

Q: How much is the upgrade for Switch 2 if I bought the Switch 1 version?

A: The digital Upgrade Pack available on eShop is listed at $10 or €10 depending on your region.

-

Q: Does the physical edition of the Switch 2 version use a "game key" download card that some other Switch 2 releases use?

A: No. The entire game is present on a 64 GB Cartridge included in the box.

-

Q: What's going on with the North American Earth Dancer Edition right now? My order is coming in really late.

A: The short answer is "Tariffs," the long answer is provided by two detailed public statements from the president of Marvelous USA regarding the situation. The letter on the left was posted on April 25, 2025, the letter on the right was posted on May 16, 2025.

Ranch Story's Review: https://ranchstoryblog.tumblr.com/post/785223703470407680/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-review

Ranch Story's PC/Steam Deck Review: https://ranchstoryblog.tumblr.com/post/785262689419247616/ranch-storys-pc-review-for-rune-factory

Ranch Story's Prerelease Stream: Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Preview

Additional Thoughts post: https://ranchstoryblog.tumblr.com/post/785896853714665472/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-bonus-thoughts

Press Releases and Such: [Live Stream Coverage], [1], [2], [3], [4] [5], [6], [7]

Quick Reference Candidate Guides: [Iroha], [Murasame], [Hina], [Mauro], [Ulalaka], [Matsuri], [Kurama], [Cuilang], [Fubuki], [Pilika], [Kai], [Kanata], [Subaru], [Kaguya], [Ikaruga], [Clarice]

Fan Works Contest: https://marvelous-usa.com/2025/06/06/rune-factory-guardians-of-azuma-fanworks-contest/

Special messages from Hisashi Fujii and Shiro Maekawa:

This post will be updated over time.

[sonicfriendsaday]

WELCOME TO SONIC-A-DAY MAY WHERE FOR EVERY DAY ON THE MONTH OF MAY, WE CREATE FOR OUR MAGNIFICENT SONIC CAST!

Many were interested in participating to an event like this. So, here we are, the Sonic-A-Day May Event, inspired by @hermitadaymay.

Important rules to note

1. Any type of fanwork is welcome so long as it features, or is otherwise inspired by, the Sonic character of the day.

2. Tag #sonicfriendsaday to have your fanwork reblogged (keep in mind that while every fanwork has its own merit and value, even those involved in more mature themes, this blog will only feature PG-13 works for everyone to enjoy)

3. Fanworks for one Sonic character posted after the day rolls over to another character's day (per the Eastern Day Time) will be reblogged in one big queue in June. I will try my best to reblog everything tagged, please be patient if I haven't reblogged your fanwork.

4. No traced or stolen work allowed. AI-generated/assisted pieces are also not allowed and will not be featured on the blog.

5. Be kind to yourselves. I will not be reblogging posts that talks negatively about your art/skills, whether it is in the caption or the tags. Everyone is always improving.

6. Technically not a rule, but it is strongly recommend adding alt text or description to all images. Click here to learn more about writing alt text.

Small intro on the person running this

Hello there! My name is Bloop! You can use she/her and/or they/them pronouns for me. My main blog is @bloop-im-a-frog-now.

Prompts explained and name of the character for each day

May 1st - Sonic the Hedgehog

May 2nd - Miles "Tails" Prower

May 3rd - Knuckles the Echidna

May 5th - Amy Rose

May 4th - Favorite boss/villain

The Sonic games have many beloved bosses and villains. If you want to create something for Black Doom or Mephiles or the Egg Dragoon, that is the perfect day for them! Metal Overlord and its variations can be for the Metal Sonic day or for this day, it is for you to decide.

May 6th - Cream the Rabbit (and Cheese too!)

May 7th - Big the Cat

May 9th - Dr. Ivo Robotnik/Dr. Eggman

May 8th - Super forms

Since Sonic the Hedgehog 2, super forms have been a staple of this franchise. If you don't have at least one super form per game, then you're probably playing a racing game. Which super form is your favorite? Who would you like to see have a super form? How would super forms affect the body? If super forms come from the Chaos Emeralds, does that mean every living being is familiar with Chaos Energy? Some questions to ponder upon for this day. You can also just do Super Sonic, game, TV show or movie counterpart, and it would fill this prompt!

May 10th - Silver the Hedgehog

May 11th - Blaze the Cat

May 13th - Shadow the Hedgehog

May 12th - Favorite NPC

Sonic games have had many NPC throughout the years. From Chip to Vanilla, some that affect the plot more, others that don't (I see you, Sonic Man (i think that's his name)), it can be anyone that was not playable in a Sonic game! It can also include characters from TV shows or the movies! They can technically be NPCs. They weren't playable in the games. Truly, if you love a character and you wish they were playable, here's your chance to make them shine!

May 14th - Rouge the Bat

May 15th - E-123 OMEGA

May 17th - Vector the Crocodile

May 16th - Favorite comic character

Sonic has many comics! From the Archie's, the manga to the IDW publishing. Do you have a favorite comic character that is not a main member of the Sonic cast? They get a spotlight during that day!

May 18th - Espio the Chameleon

May 19th - Charmy Bee

May 21st - Mighty the Armadillo

May 20th - Chao/Wisp/Koco

Somehow, Sonic games have adorable creatures. Some prefer the Chao, others love the powers the Wisps give you. The Kocos were plot important in Sonic Frontiers, and even have Lore you didn't expect these little creatures would have. Which one do you like? Which type of Chao/Wisp do you like? Now's the time to make your preference known!

May 22nd - Ray the Flying Squirrel

May 23rd - Jet the Hawk

May 24th - Wave the Swallow

May 26th - Storm the Albatross

May 25th - Favorite game

Do you have a favorite Sonic game? Which one is it? It's time to show it some love! You can show your favorite part of that game, you can write about its story, you can talk about a mechanic you thought was really cool. Anything goes, as long as it ties in with your favorite Sonic game.

May 27th - Marine the Raccoon/Sticks the Badger

May 29th - Maria/Gerald Robotnik

May 28th - Favorite zone/location

We all know SEGA loves Green Hill Zone. What about you? Do you like City Escape? Or Final Haunt? Maybe you like Babylon Garden or Planet Wisp! Show some love to your favorite zone/location.

May 30th - Orbot/Cubot

May 31st - Metal Sonic

[nights-at-crystarium]

Fragments - episodes 36-40 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

I didn’t need to spend so much screentime on Titania fight, yet it was a fun personal challenge. I’d never written/drawn a cohesive fight scene before. The scripted ingame instances don’t leave much room for imagination, I wanted to stay away from the fourth wall, and make up a more immersive scene. How do you even make it look mildly interesting? You’d think, well, characters will just flail at each other until one of them dies, right?

So yeah the biggest challenge was creating the ebb and flow. What affects Vivi’s actions? Why wouldn’t he just murder Titania like any other opponent, and be done with it? I threw in a generous amount of inner pov (that I previously used very sparingly) and some silly tricks. The stakes are high, yes, it’s a Lightwarden vs WoD encounter, but Titania still retains their playful personality above all else. Vivi's here just to do his job, but he also knows that he's dealing with a fae.

The msq makes Titania stand out among other wardens, I capitalized on that and hc’d that they’re important to Feo Ul, and, by proxy, to Vivi. That instantly provided some emotional stakes, and an answer to why he doesn’t rush to kill them out of the door.

Vivi enters the castle in episode 35, and mostly runs in circles, analyzing his enemy, and even falls victim to illusions. This could’ve been it for him, but I daresay it worried none of us because we’re just at the beginning of a story about this guy, he’s THE guy in this universe not for no reason, he’ll manage.

No deep meaning behind "grasshopper", I just thought it's a bizarrely precise descriptor of both Vivi's long legs and dragoon jumps, and it fits the natural theme of the fight.

Vivi didn’t go in unprepared.

This line will be relevant again in like, 5-7 years from now :’>

More under the cut~

He always, always doubts everything, especially when it comes to his level of power. Self-nerfing. A light (heh) case of an impostor syndrome.

Everyone loved the bonk for meme reasons, Vivi simply bought himself some time to cast.

The Rainbow Sparkles of Believing in Yourself! And of something else, perhaps. I’m planting quite a bit of stuff for future, this one should take a mere year or so to pay off.

I hope this pose’s enough of a hint that you shouldn't be taking episode 37 too seriously.

Yes, he used his spear to ~cast~. And took a sailormoon pose. This's his, monoclass dragoon’s, interpretation of what the caster magic’s probably like.

Offscreen, Titania comes to their senses and shrills “so you wanna play rough?!”, Vivi ignores them, concerned with only one thing: did he succeed? How did the test of his custom spell go?

It only worked out because the both of them are idiots.

I like to emphasize that Fragments isn’t about retelling the msq, or big epic battles, but here, where I actually put my heart into it, I feel like I managed to pull off at least one epic beat you’d typically see in an action-focused comic. Super proud of this panel ;w;

This’s a standard panel divider I’ve used multiple times before, but it couldn’t be more visually appropriate here :3c

So, to recap. Vivi asks Titania if they miss the night sky. They do. Vivi brings the night sky to them, and lo, something actually happens. I illustrated this “something” as one of their eyes getting sort of cleansed here. This story suddenly takes a mahou shoujo (shounen, heh) turn, I appreciate that it may cause some eyebrows to raise, but I think it’s okay to take creative liberties like this in a story themed around identity, agency, and believing in yourself. If Titania’s so strong as to retain a tiny bit of their old self, to cohesively partake in a simple convo, then why can’t they return, even if for a brief moment, given the proper assistance.

An appropriate reaction to the wild bs that’s going on. Imagine inventing the tale of WoD in the First, only to witness THIS.

As about Vivi, he can save a soul when he genuinely cares for it. We haven’t seen him do this before. He does it for Feo Ul explicitly, implicitly as a self-reflection. He’s projecting so hard after realizing that Titania looks like him. He wishes for them what he'd wish for himself: to rest, to be treated with care and consideration. They don't only look like him, they're also unfree, tortured by something. Empathy or not, this’s the kindest fight Vivi’s ever fought.

I’m iffy about the canon talents that come with the Echo. You can understand any sentient creature, okay. What happens when you speak, does the other party feel the difference between that soulspeak and their native tongue? Does it feel off? Does it offend? I incorporated my own misgivings into Vivi’s thoughts about his Echo. He doesn't use soulspeak here out of respect and concern that Titania might not react well to it, throwing the entire plan out of the window. Thus he memorized quite a bit of fae words before the fight. This’s his way to mark himself as one of their people, or at least to show that he truly cares.

STAY TUNED FOR EPISODE 41

Vivien Doubter Rell. Also yay first nod!

Embracing his new duty, and possibly giving Titania the hug they deserve.

Look HE’S OKAY. For now. I just thought the hiccup would be a cute way to acknowledge the terrible power he’s just absorbed. The canon cutscene moves on unblinking, but here’s different.

Bracing himself for confrontation. Things might go awry. Or might not. Vivi doesn't know. Worst case scenario: this’s the end of his sweet lil friendship with Feo Ul. Do they like him, or a Titania-lookalike in him?

“Oh bugger...” big pets come with big responsibilities, my dear Feo Ul.

Just to reinforce his fae-ness.

Vivi had full control in this fight. Analyzed the enemy, successfully tested some crazy tricks, managed to have a heart-to-heart that resulted in getting a permission to kill Titania not with violence, but with mercy. So much could’ve gone wrong, but just didn’t. Vivi’s used to this, even if he constantly doubts everything, this’s how it always goes. He’s being flung at tasks with abysmal odds, somehow he emerges victorious.

I just like this panel so much okay.

This arc may feel slow, but it gives depth to Vivi and Feo Ul's relationship, and seeing them together in later episodes will spark even more joy.

Even after a warm moment they’d just shared, Vivi’s still wary. I broke out an analysis of what external influence, pressure to change means to him, please read this post if you missed it. YEAH TAGS AS WELL.

His expression here is an attempt to downplay the anxiety and swing the odds in his favor. What if Feo Ul insists and throws a tantrum? What if he has to become Titania right now, and there’s no way around this? Let’s make puppy eyes just incase, maybe that helps.

One more personal fav panel. There’s SO MUCH in this look. They’re on a threshold, about to become something else on Vivi’s behalf. Because they love him so much. They’ve instantly become friends because they don’t want anything from each other, just the company. Feo Ul’s such a breath of fresh air for Vivi, a new hope in a new world, where he’s (comparatively) a nobody, where people still have the potential to love him for who he is as a person. This’s why our crimson pixie gets so much screentime.

Vivi really said XD

The next few episodes wrap up the Il Mheg arc, and focus on good vibes and celebration. ShB follows a rollercoaster formula where it makes you smile at something nice and sweet only to whack you in the face right after, and I’m trying to do the same :3c

As always, thanks for reading~

[faes-fantasies]

Please may I have Blue exorcist headcanons of Rin Okumura with a female S/O (and childhood friend) who is exactly like Ichigo from Bleach..she had the Temptaint that allowed her to see Demons like Yukio since she was little..she did hate demons because her mother was murdered by one when she was 9..and before that..she was a crybaby when she was a little kid and bullied too. S/O is a First class Exorcist for her Knight and Dragoon User as her Meisters but apparently was still a target for fights because of her coloured hair.

Rin's relationship with her from when they were small children to now.

Yukio's relationships with his childhood friend

Thank you so much for requesting pixie! This was a unique but fun request to do! I definitely tried to incorporate every part of your request into the headcanons and I really hope that you like it! If you do, please consider liking the post and requesting more from me in the future. Have a wonderful rest of your day/evening!

🦋♡.ʀᴇʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴꜱʜɪᴘ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ.♡🦋

<ᴄʜɪʟᴅʜᴏᴏᴅ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴇᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴ>

Okay so, I feel like since they were childhood friends, Rin would have been super protective of her too, just like he was with Yukio

Any time someone bullied her, he was immediately there, which always resulted in a fight

Since her and Yukio were the only ones who weren’t afraid of him, he has a very strong sense of loyalty to the two of them

His s/o and Yukio probably became really close as children, seeing as they both had to struggle with having a temptaint so young

After her mother was killed, because of the circumstances, she was probably taken into the church the boys were raised in

When Rin found out what had happened and why she was there (not knowing the demon details) he made it his personal goal to get her to laugh and smile as much as possible

I feel like, as they grew up, his s/o and Yukio would unintentionally grow closer, both spending a lot of time studying and training to be exorcists and Rin gets reallyyyyyy jealous

I also feel like his s/o would have a period where she’s really scared of Rin, probably soon after she finds out what and who he is, and that’s part of the reason her and his brother get so close

Eventually though, once they started dating, Rin was actually extremely grateful the two of them get along so well

However, just like with Yukio, he felt hurt and betrayed that his s/o didn’t tell him about what the two of them had been doing/learning for years

She had wanted to tell him, truly she did, but it was important for them to keep his knowledge of demons to a minimum

After a few days of talking and explaining, they would eventually make up, but that’s when a different problem would begin to arise

Her and Yukio began to quickly rise through the exorcist ranks, Rin trailing not too far behind, but it seemed like his s/o had picked up on his nasty habit of constantly getting into fights

It wasn’t exactly her fault, her unnatural hair coloring always brought on unwanted attention and comments from the people around her, usually something along the lines of her failing as an exorcist looking the way that she does

Besides, she wasn’t one to back down from a fight, she wanted to prove herself and her capabilities

Honestly, I feel like Rin and his s/o are a little powerhouse; between her exorcist capabilities and his raw, demon powers, nothing can stop the two of them when they work together

When they’re not busy dealing with threats from Gehenna or other day to day inconveniences, I can see them having stay at home dates

Rin cooks for the two of them, and she sets up a nice space for them to enjoy their dinner, watch anime or movies, and just enjoy their time together

I don’t see them going out in public for their dates very often because being exorcists is exhausting, no matter how much stamina someone may have

They might go out to an amusement park or something similar every once in a blue moon, but that’s about it

[tallmadgeandtea]

Turnsgiving 2024: Day 6

Favorite Underrated Character

In honor of the horse girls (Washington, Hewlett, and Tallmadge) I’d like to dedicate today’s post to Ben Tallmadge’s unnamed steed. Real life Tallmadge was very attached to his horses (see the story of him going back for his horse during the retreat from the New York Campaign) and was an excellent rider due to his career as a cavalry officer.

Although Turn doesn’t include the proper mounts for Benjamin’s 2nd Dragoons— dapple greys— it’s still nice to see him riding across a battlefield or racing through the woods. Also, the 2nd dragoons have the best uniform out of the entire cavalry line so Ben can look every inch the “cavalry lad” Rogers claims he is.

Before watching Turn, I didn’t care for military history or have a favorite branch. Now I can confidently say my favorite branch is the cavalry, and I’ve done three separate research projects featuring them!

If you want to learn more about cavalryman and their horses, indulge your inner horse girl with this collection of essays! One of my favorites:

And there is this book for young readers about Tallmadge in the New York Campaign with his horse! For kids but still looks fun/cute:

[hazelkjt]

OC Introductory Post

Hello, and thank you for stopping by my blog! I'm Hazel and this is my main character for everything FFXIV related, from raiding to rp'ing. My pronouns are he/him, I'm an early 20's college student still trying to figure out what to do with my life, but I'm getting there!

I had mentioned this before but I'll reiterate it here: this blog was originally just for my main FFXIV OC, Hazel Kha, but because trying to manage multiple blogs was pushing me away from doing anything with these character I'm consolidating this one to have all of my OCs on it rather than just one. Those old blogs will remain up to keep the content from disappearing but I will not be utilizing them anymore. I'm sorry if you followed me here exclusively for the Hazel stuff, she will still be the main focus of most of my posts here but there will be others posted up here and there.

I'm situated on Zalera (Crystal) and spend most of my time either raiding or taking GPose shots, but regardless I look forward to seeing everyone's creativity here on the Tumbles.

Anyways, onto the intro bits to them all below the Read More

Hazel Kha

Age: 25

Race: Xaela Au Ra

Height: 6'4"/193cm

Nameday: 25th Sun of the First Umbral Moon (February 22nd)

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Ships: Hazero (Hazel x Zero) / Emmazel (Hazel & Emmanellain)

A young hunter and warrior of the Kha tribe, Hazel is a proud daughter of the Azim Steppe who has always longed to see more, to do more. Through her mother's collection of foreign books and literature she came to daydream and wonder of the lands beyond the Steppe. Her desire for adventure high a fever pitch when coming into possession of a wandering samurai's soul crystal, and all the memories and knowledge it contained. She would hold on to the stone dearly for years, until one fateful day she had a chance encounter of a lifetime and through it found her way across the waters to Eorzea. After arriving she found herself under the employment of the Sharlayan scholar Nolanel Corbeaux, working as both research assistant and hired hand to help defend against threats. Not long after Hazel finds herself under the tutelage of Lia Amelune of Ishgard, retired Dragoon and head of her own noble house. Extremely curious and adventurous by nature, Hazel's love of the unknown is matched only by her competitiveness. Idealistic and prideful, Hazel takes to each new day with excitement and wonder in her eye.

Claire Ashe (Claire Bas Syndris)

Age: 29

Race: Garlean

Height: 6'2"/188cm

Nameday: 17th Sun of the Third Astral Moon (May 17th)

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Lesbian

Ships: Cla’naago (Claire x M’naago)

A pureblooded Garlean who spent most of her childhood and teenage years living in Ala Mhigo under Garlean occupation. She grew up befriending many of the Ala Mhigan children there without her parents knowing. After her two closest friends were beaten to death in the streets, Claire revoked her family name and fled the city, no longer disillusioned by the Garlean propaganda she was fed her entire life. She traveled to Ul'dah and came into contact with the Lemures, where she was then trained by Drusilla as a Reaper. With her training and pact with the Voidsent Sidian, Claire aided in the revolution to liberate Ala Mhigo from Garlean control. She now works aboard the merchant ship The Enduring Deeds as a deckhand and the ship's main cook. She wears a bandana at all times to hide her third eye, paranoid over the general consensus most people have of Garleans. She puts up a cold and harsh exterior, which as of this point might not be as much of an act anymore, but underneath is a truly kind soul afraid of being hurt and hurting others just from existing.

Derrinall Evramont

Age: 33 (physically)

Race: Duskwight Elezen (also Ashkin/Undead)

Height: 6'7"/200.6cm

Nameday: 9th Sun of the First Astral Moon (January 9th)

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Sexuality: Pansexual

Derrinall Evramont originally lived during the final years of Gelmorra. His family were that of knights, dedicated to serving the people, though unfortunately his life was not lost in service of this oath. Sickness claimed him a few years before the total fall of Gelmorra, his soul adrift yet still holding strong to his memory and sense of self for centuries...that is, until he was brought back to the star for reasons he did not know. When he awoke again he wandered the ruins of the crypt he was buried in, eventually stumbling upon two he would learn to be kindred spirits, in a way. The two strangers helped him to recover even as he kept his personal information close to his chest, eventually pointing him to work and housing in Ishgard. He found work under Lia Amelune, both as house servant and a member of the House's ranks of knights. Derrinall's previous experience as a knight of Gelmorra saw him quickly rise through the ranks to become Captain, a title he holds with pride and only the occasional harassment of the Lady he serves.

E'venna Zekiel

Age: 22

Race: Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te

Height: 5'4"/162cm

Nameday: 3rd Sun of the Sixth Astral Moon (November 3rd)

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Straight

E'venna Zekiel is the eldest daughter of five children. After her father was tempered by Ifrit and subsequently killed, she took it upon herself to help her mother care for her younger siblings, specifically her triplet younger sisters. It wasn't an easy road to get where she and her family are now, especially in a place such as Ul'dah. E'venna began her "career" in back alley fights, as she had always been scrappy in a brawl. After getting into an impromptu fight outside the Pugilist's Guild she was offered membership, and upon joining took it upon herself to partake in Coliseum matches. The shine of her golden hair is matched only by her bright smile and optimistic personality. Combined with her unorthodox and playful fighting style in matches and soon E'venna had earned her the nickname "The Dancing Coeurl" from dedicated fans of her's. Her tournament winnings are a major boon to the family, with it they are able to put the three youngest through a formal education. Her family members almost all strongly disapprove of E'venna's line of work she can't imagine herself doing anything but. She's found her place, and that's in the ring.

Exploding Goldfish

Age: 36

Race: Hellsguard Roegadyn

Height: 7'2"/218cm

Nameday: 30th Sun of the Third Umbral Moon (June 28th)

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Sexuality: AroAce

Exploding Goldfish, simply known as "Fish" by most everyone, was born to a family of miners in Uldah. Throughout his life he was surrounded by heavy machinery, sparking a lifelong love of machines and inventing. His youth was spent learning everything he could about technology. His studies eventually paid off and he scored the job of his dreams working as part of Garlond Ironworks...for a while. An accident during a project cost Fish partial vision in his left eye and his position in the company. Scarred and humiliated, he drifted for months before finally finding secure work and pay at Wolves' Den Pier. Fish spent his time maintaining the machines used in "Rival Wings" competitions, and when he wasn't working on repairs he was drowning his self-pity in alcohol. It wasn't all for nothing, however. While at Wolves' Den, Fish chanced upon meeting a scrawny Viera living under the pier; Qara Wen. It took some coaxing but eventually Fish was able to befriend him, and over time that friendship evolved into brotherhood. And so when Fish was recruited to join the merchant ship The Enduring Deeds, his one request was that Qara be welcomed aboard as well.

Perseverance "Percy" Kha

Age: 10

Race: Midlander Hyur

Height: 4'0"/122cm

Nameday: 31st Sun of the Second Astral Moon (March 30th)

Gender: Female (She/Her)

A certain time, and a certain place...where a certain young spark was chosen to light the way. It is in this reality that a young girl lost everything. Her family was killed, and even her memory of them were taken from her. She was rescued from the same fate as her mother and father by the Warrior of Light, Hazel Kha. With no one else left alive to raise the child Hazel became Percy's guardian, and slowly accepted her place as the child's new mother figure. Hazel has been slowly acclimating the young girl to her new life, hoping to be able to deliver the childhood she deserves. Perseverance has grown to love reading, a pastime brought about by Hazel's own love of literature. Thanks to her favorite genre being heroic fantasy and also viewing her new mother as a larger than life hero, Percy has become fascinated with the idea of being a hero herself once she grows older. She is soft spoken, quiet, and quite blunt when she does speak, but Percy does have a good heart. What the future holds for her only time will tell, but thanks to the love of her new family, Perseverance's future is shining bright.

Lanwa Carmine

Age: 19

Race: Hhetsarro Miqo’te

Height: 5'0"/152.5cm

Nameday: 2nd Sun of the Sixth Umbral Moon (December 2nd)

Gender: Female (She/Her)

Sexuality: Polyamorous Pansexual

Growing up in the lap of luxury, Lanwa had always just wanted excitement in her life. Her childhood was one of privilege and excess, but it wasn’t ever enough to satisfy her. Quite the rebellious child growing up, Lanwa joined a street gang when she was 15. There she caused a commotion for the people around, but it wasn’t quite what she felt she wanted in life. Eventually this led to her leaving the gang and taking a chance as an Air-Wheeler Racer, joining the pro circuit at only 17 summers old. Lanwa quickly became a top contender in the races, earning the nickname “The Crimson Chaser” thanks to her red bike and racing suit. Prideful, competitive, and narcissistic, Lanwa relishes in her newfound fame and fans, alongside the thrill the life-threatening races provide her. But even after finding where she wished to go in her life, there remains a slight sense of something still missing in her life…something she can’t quite explain…

[mimble-sparklepudding]

No more Dragoons needed!

Thank you for the overwhelming response, but I have plenty of Dragoons now. Honestly, they're all over the floor and it's making it hard to get to the kitchen...

I definitely won't be able to include everyone who kindly messaged me with their OCs for various categories, but please know that I really appreciate all the help and I will bear everyone in mind for future silly projects.

Talking of which, I'm a bit worried I've accidentally over-hyped my silly project, so I do hope nobody feels let down by the final product - it really is just me being extremely silly and trying to highlight (respectfully) other people's OCs.

Image is from @lilbittymonster's Pillowfort post here and Tumblr post here.

[dogicrimsonofficial]

Howler Logs - #9, The Gold Court 💞

<== Previous -- Next ==>

Full Travel Log Catalogue Here!

Co-written by @shyotic!

Well. This was a conundrum. 

Howler had been trying to remove themselves from the top-floors - no use incurring the wrath of the Sultansworn, after all. In their haste however, they had veered a little too close to the edge, and a merchant aid with three too many boxes for the amount of arms he had to really pay attention to where they were going happened.

Of all the ways to go, this would’ve been the most ridiculous - Howler was trained in the arts of ninjas and dragoons, and a little stumble and fall was definitely not the way to go! Their old teachers would turn in their future graves! 

With those thoughts, Howler managed to latch on to the lamp-post before really hurting themselves too badly. Crisis averted Or so they thought, before realizing something even more horrifying; they were stuck. Boot-straps caught on heavens know what. Some spiky decorative piece, most likely. Didn’t change the fact that Howler was now, truly, wedged up here. 

Lanky arms awkwardly wrapped around the top-part of the lamp-post to keep the balance better, the metal digging painfully into the back of their legs -  this was far from most comfortable poses to be in. 3/10, better seating required.

Just as they started to think of ways to untangle themselves… They heard laughter.

 "Man, I've rescued a lotta critters from high places, but never an elezen!" Howler turned to look down, eyes wide behind those goggles of theirs. There was a miqo’te down there - beautiful, Howler thought for a briefest of moments, before reality re-asserted itself. 

Right, they were stuck up here. Stuck… and being laughed at. 

Okay, fair, it was a rather funny sight, even if Howler didn’t feel like laughing much at this moment.  

The miqo'te wiped a tear from his eye, and quirked an eyebrow, his lips curled into an amused smile. "Tryin' to get a better look at the Gold Court, eh?"

“Ah… no… I got pushed,” Howler replied, ears tinting read as they tried not to sound as pathetic as they currently felt. They were actually doing fairly well on that, for the most part! Clearing their throat, Howler turned their gaze back on the miqo’te, making an awkward wave. “I could use some help?”

"Yeah, it looks like it. Hang tight, this'll only take a sec!"

After a little bit of adjusting, pulling, tugging, pushing and no small amount of laughter and shouting, the taller duskwight finally managed to get themselves free from the light - and without losing their boot, at that!

"There ya are. Take a lil breather," The miqo'te gave Howler a firm clap on the back, then placed a steadying hand on their shoulder. "Try to stick closer to solid ground from now on, yeah?"

Howler could only groan in response, slumped over - the embarrassing ordeal was over, finally! Mostly. Still had the aftermath to deal with. 

Slowly, Howler lifted their head upon feeling the pat, still slumped. “Duly noted. I am going to avoid the second floor from now on… Or try and land on the ground instead.”

Howler could take that fall, surely. Just a quick tuck and roll, maybe some bruising and what not, hardly the worst fall they had taken - it had been just the initial panic that had caused them to latch on to the cursed lightpost. 

They looked up briefly - towards the mentioned second floor - before looking back at the friendly miqo’te. “I don’t suppose you know where the job-board for a traveling adventurer is located at?”

[yorha-fangirl]

I bought a lot of stuff and now I wanna show it off :D

I made a ton of orders through a proxy a couple months ago, and I finally got my package recently! This is far from the entire order I got, but I figured only the NieR/Drakengard stuff would be appropriate for this blog lol.

Section 1: YoRHa

So there's a lot to look at here, but I've circled these items into groups. First, the red circle is stuff included in the YoRHa Ver.1.3aa Premium Edition box. Second, we have the white circle which is everything enclosed in the Yorha Girls Ver.1.1a Limited Box. Lastly, the yellow circle are separately purchased YoRHa stage play scripts, the top being Ver.1.2 and the bottom being Ver.1.3aa.

I could talk about these box sets all week, but I'll try and condense it to one paragraph for the sake of readability. The packaging, from the outer boxes to the inner Blu-ray sleeves, are extremely high quality, and nothing in the boxes feels cheap. These were a bit pricey but YoRHa is easily one of my favorite parts of the NieR series, especially the stage plays, so these are more than worth their price to me. Unfortunately YoRHa Girls Ver.1.1a is the only stage play with official English subtitles, but it's sort of a blessing that we even have that. These are definitely some of my favorite NieR releases and I'm extremely happy to have them.

Section 2: NieR Re[in]carnation Official Documents Collection - The Story of the Cage and Prayers

I miss NieR Re[in]carnation with my entire soul, so the second this book released I knew I had to have it. Not only does it have all the content already in the game, it also has content that went completely unimplemented. This includes 2 finished but never added costumes and Recollections of Dusk stories for all act 2 characters.

Another extremely interesting aspect of the book is the cover. Under the dust jacket, the book has the exact same design as Drag-on Dragoon: World Inside. These two books aren't super similar, but both are closely linked with the 3rd game in their respective series and may offer definitive chronologies for them (assuming that Drakengard 3 and NieR Re[in]carnation are each the final games in their series). The last thing I'll note here is that the chronology section of this book starts with the cataclysm in 856 as opposed to the Automata World Guide and Grimoire NieR's sections starting with 6/12/2003.

Section 3: Drag-on Dragoon

Finally we arrive at the 2 Drakengard books I bought. In all honesty theres not a lot to say about these. The Drag-on Dragoon 2 Perfect Guide is just kind of a guide, and Magnitude Negative is a novelization of Drakengard 1 that I know relatively little about. I'll probably write out my thoughts in a blog post once I do go through Magnitude Negative though. For now I'll just appreciate the equally goofy and badass art, and leave you with Seere making the :3 face.

[elizabethrobertajones]

tbh one Azem reincarnation I also lean towards as I was rambling in the tags the other day about, is Haldrath on account of becoming a wandering unaffiliated dragoon post-Incident, partially out of necessity but also because with hindsight now his story mirrors what Azem did to the convocation after Zodiark.

The follow up to that headcanon is "Lizzy what about the Dragoon 50 stuff? It's so vague about why we see him there because the reincarnation lore wasn't established." That's where I produce a box from under the table and open it to give you a peek of the headcanon that while Haldrath was Azem, yes, while he was in his wandering era he fathered children with commonfolk and smash cut down the bloodline to Some Shepherd Boy Called Estinien being a lost prince of Ishgard (Do not tell him it will ruin everything if he knows or this ever becomes plot relevant. He'll never come home to Ishgard ever again for one :P)

[scotianostra]

21st September 1745 saw The Battle of Prestonpans.

The Battle of Prestonpans was the first significant conflict in the Jacobite Rising commonly known as the ‘45.

The subject of my earlier post, Walter Scott made the Battle of Prestonpans the centrepiece of his first novel Waverley, and another Edinburgh literary giant, Robert Louis Stevenson looks back on its importance in Kidnapped. The national bard Robert Burns also wrote about it and has connections with the area, his brother worked in Prestonpans and he is remembered around the town to this day.

The battle later reached the big screen with David Niven’s Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1948, and more recently Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander novels and TV series have brought the Battle of Prestonpans to audiences all around the world.

The victory became a symbol of Scottish resistance to British government rule, and of the negligence of Hanoverian military commanders.

Thanks to local knowledge and a thick haar that drifted in from the Firth of Forth, the Jacobite army filed along a narrow path during the wee small hours giving them the element of surprise over the redcoat army and General “Johnny Cope”

At 6am around 2,000 men drawn to the cause of Prince Charles Edward Stuart clashed with a larger force of some 3,000 government troops under the command of Sir John Cope close to the Firth of Forth in East Lothian.

Cope’s men, originally facing South, were forced to rapidly wheel around to face the Jacobites, who charged unexpectedly from the East.

British dragoon regiments, stationed on either flank of Cope’s infantry, abandoned their posts soon after fighting began, leaving the foot soldiers dangerously exposed.

Surrounded on three sides, the remaining Hanoverian force was swept aside in a little over ten minutes.

Hundreds of government troops were killed or wounded, and a further 1,500 taken prisoner by the Prince’s men, Jacobite casualties were light.

But while the rout took just a few minutes, Jacobite commanders had been far less confident about victory in the days leading up to it. There had been a few skirmishes, including at High Bridge in Lochaber in August, but this was the first large-scale confrontation with a sizeable Hanoverian force.

The Hanoverians were professional soldiers, infantry and dragoons, the forces at Cope's disposal were - or should have been - competent.

In contrast, contemporary accounts emphasise the role of poor Highlanders, who marched south with Prince Charles, in the Jacobite force. If the Jacobites had lost it would have been game over, especially since there was much dissension among the senior Jacobite commanders in the hours before the battle.

Several accounts of the battle emphasise how spooked Cope’s men were by the Highlanders, as well as their struggle to deploy heavy cannon and cavalry that should have given them an advantage. Cope is said to have been so frustrated by his artillery units that he dismissed them and sent word to Edinburgh for replacements. They did not arrive in time.

Despite being cleared of any negligence at a court martial in 1746, Sir John Cope’s reputation as a military commander was destroyed by Prestonpans, and never recovered.

Immortalised in Adam Skirving’s famous Scots song “Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?, Cope was characterised in contemporary accounts as a coward and a buffoon.

Fye now Johnnie, get up and run,

The Highland bagpipes mak a din,

It's better tae sleep in a hale skin.

For 'twill be a bloody morning.

When Johnnie Cope tae Dunbar came,

They spiered at him, 'where's a' your men?'

'The Deil confound me gin I ken,

For I left them a this morning.'

Skirving's song did much of the damage, but Burns also published a version and there wasn't much of a counter-narrative in his favour.

The site of Cope’s defeat - and the Jacobite’s surprise victory - has been listed in the Scottish Government’s national inventory of significant battle sites when that was established in 2009, and re-enactments of the fighting regularly take place.

A cairn in memory of the battle was erected in 1953 and others have been added throughout the years. A visitor centre is planned.

The illustration is from the hand of the late Andrew Hillhouse depicting the night march. https://www.andrewhillhouseprints.co.uk/gallery_660173.html