#each with its own rules and factions. At its core

[playstationvii]

#GTA:MagicKingdomDisney

Game Development Overview:

Title: GTA: The Magic Kingdom Platform: PlayStation 7 Developer: Rockstar Games in collaboration with DearDearestBrands Genre: Open-world Action/Adventure

Storyline:

In GTA: The Magic Kingdom, players explore a dark, reimagined version of Disney's iconic Magic Kingdom. The world is divided into themed lands, each with its own rules and factions. At its core, the story follows a criminal protagonist who is embroiled in a high-stakes battle for power and survival within the kingdom's chaotic, secretive underworld.

The protagonist (you) is a mysterious figure drawn into the Magic Kingdom's politics, where a sinister force is using the enchantment of Disney’s original lands for darker purposes. The hunt for Bambi, who is rumored to possess extraordinary powers tied to the kingdom’s survival, becomes a central pursuit, while the player navigates treacherous alliances, heists, and confrontations.

Main Character:

Name: Maximus Dark (or choose your own name) Backstory: A former magic thief, Maximus was exiled from the underworld for crossing a powerful figure. Now, forced to work in the Magic Kingdom's black market, he must hunt down Bambi and unlock secrets from deep within the kingdom's enchanted areas. Maximus has a personal vendetta against the kingdom’s rulers, who wronged him in his past. Throughout the game, the player will uncover the protagonist’s lost memories and long-forgotten connection to the forest kingdom that Bambi hails from.

Motivation: Maximus's primary goal is to reclaim his lost power, discover the truth behind Bambi’s existence, and stop a powerful corporation that seeks to rewrite the very essence of the Magic Kingdom. As the story unfolds, Maximus will face moral dilemmas, where every choice shapes the fate of the kingdom and his own soul.

Supporting Characters:

Bambi - The elusive and powerful figure whose very presence is tied to the survival of the kingdom. Bambi is the key to restoring balance but is hunted by those who wish to harness their power for dark purposes. They are often seen as a mystical being, guiding the protagonist toward their true destiny.

Claire Jorif Valentine – An enigmatic leader of a rebel faction, Claire operates in the shadows, challenging the corrupt rulers of the kingdom. She provides Maximus with missions, allies, and sometimes betrays him to further her hidden agenda. A powerful figure in the underworld, she seems to know more about Bambi than she lets on.

The Enchanted Guardians – These figures protect each themed land within the Magic Kingdom. They could either be allies or enemies depending on how the player approaches them. The Guardians are immortal beings who represent the natural forces of the kingdom—ranging from corrupted versions of iconic Disney characters like Captain Hook, Maleficent, or the Queen of Hearts.

Tiger Lily – A key ally who once helped Bambi and holds secrets to unlocking the magical energies in the kingdom. She is on a quest to stop the dark forces from taking over the kingdom. As a supporting character, she aids in quests related to nature and magic and can unlock special abilities for the player.

Walt - A mysterious figure who seems to control the Magic Kingdom’s darkest secrets. He appears to have been a creator of both the magic and the corruption that now threatens the lands. Maximus will need to confront him as the story builds toward the final confrontation.

Gameplay:

Open-World Exploration: The game world is split into different magical lands, such as Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and others. Each land offers unique challenges, missions, and enemies. Players can freely explore these areas and engage in side missions while unraveling the main story.

Combat: Players can engage in both ranged and hand-to-hand combat, using magical powers, enchanted weapons, and advanced technology. The combat system is dynamic, blending traditional open-world combat with the ability to wield magic and technology.

Heist Missions: As Maximus tries to gain control of the Magic Kingdom, he must undertake heists to infiltrate high-security areas and steal vital items—such as keys to unlock magical areas or magical artifacts that help in the hunt for Bambi.

Choices & Morality: The game emphasizes player choices, with the narrative changing based on decisions. Will Maximus become a hero, villain, or something in-between? The relationship with Bambi and other characters is crucial, as decisions affect both alliances and the kingdom’s fate.

Stealth and Deception: Players can also use stealth to infiltrate the kingdom’s high-security areas or employ deception to manipulate enemies. Using disguises, magic, and technology, Maximus can change the course of battles or avoid them altogether.

Motivation of Player:

The player is constantly driven by the need for power, knowledge, and redemption. They must build their empire, uncover the dark secrets of the kingdom, and forge relationships with various characters—each with their own agendas. However, the hunt for Bambi represents more than just a physical chase; it's a quest for deeper understanding, as Bambi’s powers could either save or doom the Magic Kingdom.

Key Objectives:

Locate Bambi: The primary objective is to find Bambi before the forces of darkness do. Along the way, players uncover the mysteries of the forest kingdom and its connection to the greater magical world.

Restore the Kingdom: Players must gather allies, defeat corrupt leaders, and unlock ancient powers to restore balance to the kingdom. Each land requires the completion of key quests, often involving battles, negotiations, and solving puzzles.

Uncover Maximus’s Past: As Maximus’s memories return, the player will unlock hidden abilities and unique storylines. The past is filled with betrayal and secrets that will help guide the future of the kingdom.

End the Corruption: Maximus must dismantle the oppressive corporation that seeks to control the kingdom's magical energy. This requires sabotaging their operations, stealing key documents, and confronting their leaders in epic battles.

The Final Confrontation: In the game's climax, the player must decide whether to join Bambi in their fight for freedom or betray them to seize ultimate power. The fate of the Magic Kingdom—and possibly the world—rests in the player’s hands.

This game blends classic open-world gameplay with dark fantasy elements and a rich narrative, providing players with the chance to explore a re-imagined Disney universe full of intrigue, magic, and moral complexity. The pursuit of Bambi adds layers of mystery and suspense, making this a truly unique entry in the GTA franchise.

To project the potential success of GTA: The Magic Kingdom in 2025, we need to consider various factors including market trends, audience engagement, and the unique elements of the game. Here's a breakdown:

Market Growth for Open-World and Action-Adventure Games:

Current Trends: The gaming industry, especially for open-world games and action-adventure genres, has shown steady growth. Titles like Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 continue to drive demand for expansive worlds with immersive stories.

Projections: The global gaming market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 9.5% from 2024 to 2028. As GTA: The Magic Kingdom combines elements of beloved franchises (GTA and Disney), it could tap into both established fanbases, providing a unique mix of nostalgia and innovation.

Audience Engagement and Sentiment:

Nostalgia Factor: The reimagining of Disney’s Magic Kingdom with dark and mature themes will likely engage both nostalgic fans of Disney and mature audiences looking for an alternative take on Disney. This could boost both initial sales and long-term engagement.

Fanbase Growth: By 2025, your fanbase could grow significantly as the game's story unfolds. Assuming solid marketing campaigns and collaborations with influencers or streamers, you might see a steady increase in followers and engagement leading up to and after the game’s release.

Projections: Positive sentiment is expected if the game's unique blending of fantasy, technology, and dystopian elements resonates with audiences. Projections for engagement could range from a 15-20% increase in social media mentions in the first year after release.

Technological Advances and Game Development:

PlayStation 7 and Future Hardware: Given the expected launch of PlayStation 7 around 2025, GTA: The Magic Kingdom could be designed to take full advantage of next-gen console power. This will allow for an even more immersive experience with advanced graphics, smoother gameplay, and expansive worlds.

Projections: With the integration of next-gen technologies (such as AI-driven NPCs and advanced virtual reality options), GTA: The Magic Kingdom could have a 30-40% higher player retention rate due to these enhanced features.

Sales Projections:

Market Demand: Based on trends for similar games (open-world, fantasy, and action-adventure), initial sales could range between 5-10 million copies within the first year.

Projections for 2025: The game could potentially reach 15-20 million copies sold by 2025, depending on post-launch expansions, updates, and downloadable content (DLC). A strong, loyal fanbase built from the early adoption of the game could help push this figure higher.

Expansion and Future Growth:

DLCs & Expansions: By 2025, the game could see its first major expansion, adding new zones, characters, and stories to keep players engaged.

Projections: Expansions or sequels could drive continued engagement. This could result in an additional 10-20% increase in sales in the second year post-launch, especially if the game incorporates user feedback and evolves based on community input.

Marketing and Brand Partnerships:

Brand Alignment: With ties to Disney, GTA: The Magic Kingdom could attract partnerships, cross-promotions, and collaborations with major brands.

Projections: These collaborations could increase visibility, leading to higher-than-expected sales and engagement. With a proper marketing push and potentially viral content, the game's overall reach could expand significantly, especially if there are partnerships with influencers or Disney-themed events.

Summary of Projections for 2025:

Sales: 15-20 million copies sold globally

Player Engagement: 30-40% higher retention with the introduction of new technology

Audience Growth: Significant increase in fanbase with positive sentiment and engagement, likely 20-25% growth year-over-year

Brand Partnerships and DLCs: Increased revenue from post-launch content and collaborations

Overall, with the unique blend of popular genres and the anticipated growth of gaming markets, GTA: The Magic Kingdom could be positioned for strong performance by 2025, with significant growth in both sales and player engagement.

[mantis-lizbian]

perhaps spiritually piggy-backing off of @anim-ttrpgs' post here, but i'm feeling a sort of way about the number of games i've seen in recent years that seem to just... refuse to have (or perhaps more likely, acknowledge that they have) a pre-made default setting.

now, a couple of caveats i'll open with to differentiate from the cited post: i don't think every game necessarily needs to have a defined default setting. Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, for example, makes creating and filling in the nature and specifics of the game's setting part of the character creation process, which makes sense considering the way that one of your two playbooks in that game is an established faction/settlement, and something that big and influential you kinda have to let the players have more control over the world in order to be able to flesh out as their own unique "character" if you want them to be any less restrictive than fully pre-built factions you pick between. it also helps that in making world creation part of the first session's gameplay, this becomes a fun part of the game done collaboratively.

there are also plenty of games that don't want to have a specific setting (which doesn't automatically make them universal, by the way! and well-designed games know and understand this!) like Old-School Essentials or Fabula Ultima. games like this just want to be rules engines for a collection of well-worn tropes and/or modular toolboxes that can be mixed-and-matched or reflavoured for whatever setting you and your friends are most excited to use to engage in that game's mechanics with. these games will often have supplements that introduce optional mechanics or character options that

but then we come to something like Armour Astir: Advent, a game with a lot of pretty specific assumptions about its setting, and several original terms and concepts. and yet...

The very first part, and arguably one of the most important parts of playing Armour Astir, is setting up the world in which your game will take place. Other than the existence of a few things, like Astirs and other magical devices (which you and your group are free to re fluff to suit your personal tastes, of course), this game doesn’t assume much of your setting—meaning as a group you have a lot of freedom when coming up with the setting you’d like to play in. There are a few important things to iron out, however.

like... hate to break it to you, but players always have the freedom to refluff things to suit their personal tastes. i've been playing Pathfinder for over a decade, and you know how much of that time's been spent playing in the world of Golarion the game ships with? not even half. i've reworked Lancer to take place in the setting of Heaven Will Be Mine before. i'm currently working on adapting Legend of the Five Rings to be in a Chinese xianxia setting (which it honestly feels more suited for to me, than its original fantasy Japan-inspired setting).

the players do not need your permission to adapt your game for their own setting, if they want. but especially if you clearly have such a specific idea for what the setting should look like, much like shipping your game with a sample module to essentially function as a tutorial level both for how to play the game as well as for how to prep your own adventures for it, shipping with a sample setting both helps a new group start playing your game faster since they don't have to stop to homebrew all their own lore, but also helps give a better idea of what a setting for this game is expected to look like.

it doesn't need to be exhaustively fleshed out, you don't need a three-page timeline followed by dozens of pages of minute lore details including itemization of what each city's major exports are. it doesn't even necessarily need to be something that gets its own section in your book. D&D4e actually makes for a solid case example here. officially, there wasn't even supposed to be a "default" setting in the core books, just a generic "Points of Light". and yet, we still get plenty of proper names, geographical and historical references, and blurbs about, for example, dwarven society and how paladins fit into the world, all to help new players orient themselves and provide a framework that they can fill in rather than have to create from whole cloth.

note: a lot of this also applies, i think, to some of the apparent outrage in anim-ttrpgs' original post. "shipping with a pre-written module" does not need to mean a whole 200-page Curse of Strahd. the original Eberron Campaign Setting had a less than 10-page module at the back to use to jumpstart an Eberron campaign. the WotC website back during 3e had dozens of free adventures for nearly every level range that were sometimes as short as 3 or 4 pages. granted, these are all examples of an approach to adventure design that anim-ttrpg and i both consider flawed, but it's also a much more page-hungry format than the kind of module design we would advocate for!

[maiko-san]

TRUE DECEPTION (1/?)

[Prologue]

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

Synopsis : You were created not by Primus but by Unicron himself. You were forged with rumours as your weapon, you don’t need brute strength or otherworldly power to make everyone tremble in fear. Your whispers of lies alone can bring down the greatest of might.

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

Chapter 1 : A Fallen Star That Screams

-----------

A faint sound.

SNAP.

One of the chains—shatters.

That snaps— it stirs you awake from your deep slumber.

Oh? What is this? Are the shackles....breaking? Who might that be? You couldn't help but squeal in delight. The shackle formed by Prima has shattered? Oh, the mighty have fallen~

SNAP. SNAP. SNAP!

One by one, they all snap and shatter like glass. All Thirteen of them. They are falling down like dominos, all at the same time.

Then, you see it— a vision. Megatronus Prime, tearing down his fellow brothers and sister with his blades coated in their energon.

Oh, Unicorn. They didn't invite you to the party? Rude. -sigh- What a bummer, you missed a good drama. Oh well—

But there is one problem. The Matrix. It activates itself the moment the shackles are broken and making sure that you don't escape your prison.

That pure light is so blinding and it makes you sick to the core.

It seems you have to wait until the right time comes.

---

After eons of waiting. Something interesting happens.

The Matrix of Leadership. It trembles.

Hm? Is something happening?

Oh, oh my~

Is Cybertron....dying?

Beyond your realm, you see it. War.

A war between two factions with different ideals. Both are fighting to rule, for what it's right in their minds. Cybertron. A planet, once vibrant with life and unity, torn asunder by war. The stream of energon that flows throughout Cybertron— it stopped.

Then, you hear it.

The heartbeat. The planet's core.

It's dying.

You couldn't help but giggle at the sound of it. A sinister yet gleeful grin etches its way on your lips. It seems your Master's plan is working its magic~ hah!

"Hehehe~ it seems I don't have to do anything at all. Primus's own creations are turning against him!"

All of a sudden.

The Matrix's light— It begins flickering, unsure, unstable. Its guiding light trembles by everything around it. Too many destruction, too much death. And its light dimming, it let out quiet whimpers like a star collapsing into itself— yet it still trying to remain strong to keep you at bay.

Ah, yes— yes! This is it! This is your moment! The moment the light went dim just for a second— you escaped.

You are free!

You're finally free...At last.

Wait—a minute! You can't let Primus's children steal the spotlight from you. They're tearing each others apart like animals! That's not a show— no, no, no!

You have to keep the readers entertained! Or they will leave out of boredom. You can't have that happening!

You have to set a stage!

But before that.

You need someone as the main character of your theater.

You need a main character.

A star.

What is a show without the star?

.

.

.

.

Who to choose?

That is the first question.

You drift through the void like a forgotten breeze, brushing against sparks, sliding through servers, tickling the backs of minds too numb to notice. So many souls. So many stories.

But you… you are searching for the right one.

Someone with a crack already in their armor. Someone raw. Bitter. Desperate. Loud. Ambitious.

And then—ah. You hear it. A voice.

High. Piercing. Frustrated. Arrogant.

“I was meant to lead!” it screams.

There he is.

A brilliant thing once, all sleek wings and sharpened ambition. The Seeker. The traitor. The fool.

Starscream

A fitting name for someone who shines so bright yet never escapes the pull of gravity. A star that screams as it falls, always reaching for the sky even as it burns.

He once followed Megatron with adoration, didn’t he? Like a spark-starved protoform desperate for purpose. But now? Now he spits that name like acid. The Decepticons mock him. The Autobots laugh at him. Even the universe itself seems to hold its breath when he speaks—only to exhale in disappointment.

You watch him from the shadows of his mind, coiled like a serpent around a flickering flame.

He sulks.

He schemes.

He monologues to empty hangars and shattered windows.

Oh, he's perfect.

And so, you whisper.

Soft. Silken. Dripping with sweetness and secrets.

“Poor little star… so bright, yet so alone. No one is there for him, not even the universe itself”

His helm twitches. He brushes it off.

“They don’t understand you, do they? All that brilliance. All that potential… wasted.”

He grits his denta and snarls at nothing.

“You could lead them all, if they only listened.”

He spins, blasters drawn, but no one’s there.

“You were born to rule, Starscream.”

A pause.

Just a flicker of silence. That’s all it takes.

You can feel his doubt twitching like a caught wire.

“Who are you?” he hisses to the empty air.

“SHOW YOURSELF, COWARD!”

“Oh, I’m no coward,” you croon, your voice echoing from the shadows like a song. “I’ve seen tyrants rise. Watched empires fall. But you… you’re something special, aren’t you?”

He scoffs. “I don’t make deals with ghosts.”

“No… but you do talk to them, apparently.”

He hurls a blast of null rays at the darkness. You dodge effortlessly.

“I’m not offering chains. I’m offering freedom. Influence. Power. The kind even Megatron couldn't dream of.”

He glares at the empty room, spark pulsing hot with suspicion.

“No,” he spits. “I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.” he hiss.

“Mmm,” you hum, delighted. “Pride. My favorite flavor.”

You retreat—for now.

But you could see the way his optics flickers by your words. Ah, it seems a seed has been planted. A little idea blooming in the soil of his ego, created by your words.

He won’t accept you.

Not yet.

But you'll be there, nurturing that seed with your potent venom until it blooms into something beautiful—

No, something dangerous.

Something sinister.

.

.

.

.

[ End ]

[eldritch-spouse]

How do the rings of hell work? Are they kinda stacked like Wrath is above Sloth but below Gluttony? Is it all one large on going terrain with different sections labeled as rings?

How does hell Hell

[Some of this was already touched on before.]

So you have the planet Earth, correct? There are three annexes orbiting Earth.

Eden (Heaven);

Perdition (Hell);

Limbo (Soul recycling/cleansing annex)

Perdition, unlike the other two, is fragmented.

What does this mean?

When Hell was first created, it was a large, cohesive annex just like Eden. There was no separation between demon types (as the types themselves weren't fully cemented by then), and there was no concept of Rings. There was an entity that ruled this illegal annex, a siadar Creator who is commonly referred to as "The Betrayer". As the creator of this annex, he was largely responsible for maintaining its cohesiveness, which isn't an easy task to do when the whole environment was created in a fit of spite. Hell had always been unstable in its very foundation, the Betrayer was just powerful enough to keep it together.

Now, in creating this annex, The Betrayer would send demons to negatively alter and raze destruction upon Earth as well as all lessers. Naturally, this buys him a proper war with the forces of Eden, including other siadar authorities.

When The Betrayer was defeated, it is said that his ashes bathed the grounds of Hell. This has led some older demons to believe that the god's anger had made the very ground shatter into several deep rifts that then formed "the Rings", but a more realistic interpretation is based on two factors:

There was no core entity to hold the unstable annex together;

The Fragmentation Wars did not help.

Fragmentation Wars were a series of bloody, brutal conflicts between groups of demons, who each defended a champion that they believed should rule Perdition in the absence of The Betrayer. Each faction had its own territory that they shaped to their own preferences, and their separation formed differing "societies" that then became specialized, allowing the modern types of sin to form. These wars actively damaged the annex's structure along time, which, paired with its own instability, caused the very foundation of it to ripple and shatter over time, creating several ring-like structures that each demonic faction quickly started fighting over.

The Rings are pretty much all of the same size, save for the "Common Ring" (formerly "Common Rings"), which is an amalgamation of residue from the seven other Rings, and is therefore quite small in comparison.

They are stacked, vaguely beneath the Earth, but the current order of Rings is not the same one as centuries ago, since the annex continues to be unstable and its elements fluctuate with time. It's not a perfect sort of spiral down either, as they'll often drift in various directions, a push and pull that effectively creates their own version of "seasons" and alters time zones.

Since transportation between these Rings is near physically impossible without magical aid, demons have developed and specialized in rift creation to generate a messy albeit functional method of locomotion. Some demons are talented enough to find potential spots for rift creation (usually places loaded with a surplus of volatile magic), and easily develop them in a variety of locations- This is the case with Ludwig, a rather mysteriously capable figure.

[occasionalflicker]

Briefly about the script

Individual letters are written in their own way, but in writing, it's common to combine two letters into one. Each faction has its own writing style. The Lightfolk use smooth and rounded lines, while the Darkfolk prefer straight and sharp ones.

Often, in such characters, you can vaguely see the merging of some letters. This applies to all vowels when they appear next to each other - the sigils will vary depending on the number of vowels or their order.

Two letters are also written as one when a consonant is followed by a vowel; however, if a vowel comes before a consonant, they are written separately.

If a vowel is followed by a consonant and then another vowel, the consonant follows the rules for being written together with a vowel as a single character.

Two consonants are not written as one, except for certain sounds like sh, ch, th, and a few others, which are represented by a single leader symbol.

Double letters are written by adding an extra line. All words are written in this way, except for names.

Starfolk give names sacred meaning, tied to fate and life itself. Each name has its own unique way of being written as a single symbol, often making it hard to tell which letters it's made of. Since there’s no way to remember how all names are written, when one reads a name from a brooch, it’s often misunderstood, or when a name is given and someone wants to write it down, they will often ask starfolk to write it themselves. But not recognizing a name isn’t considered impolite - it’s fine to just ask about it, and then it might stick in your memory forever.

Writing can go in any direction (as long as it’s not backward). There’s no strict structure for writing order - the main thing is that it isn’t chaotic and is clearly marked.

On reading and writing materials

While they do have paper, they prefer other materials for recording information, such as wool, glass, crystal, or elemental engraving.

With wool, words are woven into it and then scorched to set them. Glass and crystal come in various forms and have multiple layers that can be read. On simple tablets, the text might be arranged top to bottom, but on shaped or irregular surfaces, the same method is applied, though areas are usually divided into distinct sections and read from the surface down to the core of the material.

There are several methods for recording information on such items. On some, words are carved in, then a new layer is applied and the next “page” is etched onto it - but such text can only be seen when light shines through it to reveal the words.

One can also fill the carvings with ink or another permanent substance to make them visible at all times, though this can make reading a bit more difficult.

Another method involves bending light within the material - these texts are very delicate and can easily be scattered or lost, so they must be handled with care.

Elemental engraving can be used on any surface. It involves a Starfolk inscribing the words and then imbuing the text with their elemental essence. These records are the most durable, as the elemental power won’t fade until it is dispersed by the opposite element (ice dispels fire inscriptions, wind dispels lightning and vici versa), or unless someone wipes it away by hand - although the trace of the text tends to linger for a long time afterward.

However, this is also the most damaging form of writing, as it slowly seeps deeper into the material it’s written on. Because of this, Starfolk typically use it for inscriptions on walls, meant to be erased after being read. Like for example, temporary messages - when the Starfolk arranged a meeting, but one of them didn’t show up, or unfortunately the one who did had to leave for some reason, leaving behind a note.

On Writing Numbers

Their way of writing numbers is fairly standard up to fifteen, but after that, they count a bit differently. Sixteen is written and spoken as “fifteen one,” twenty-one as “fifteen six,” thirty as “fifteen fifteen,” and thirty-one as “fifteen one one,” and so on, up until one hundred, which they say and write differently. However, once the number passes 115, they go back to this same system - for example, instead of “one hundred sixteen,” they say “one hundred fifteen one.”

This system is tied to certain beliefs and traditions. Starfolk believe that the world exists within what they call the “Fifteen Days” - days measured not by themselves, but by the Worldless. Because in their beliefs, that’s how long the Worldless spent shaping the world. It’s also the number of "years" it takes for their absorption abilities to fully develop.

And now I’m starting to think about reducing the number of hours in the AU (Wow, it hasn’t even been a week since I decided to change something.) Honestly, that whole situation was kind of funny, because my thought process about how many hours there should be looked something like this:

“6? Maybe a bit less. Oh no, I don’t like 5 for some reason, it’s too round. Maybe more. Nah, 7 is associated with too many things, like the number of days in a week. 19 is too close to 24, and I was trying to avoid getting close to the 24-hour system (by the way, why did I even come up with the fact that their day lasts 15 Earth hours? It hasn’t affected anything yet). 29 is still pretty close to 24, and 32 even more so. 42 is just a mirrored 24. 78... hmm. Oh, 114! …I have a feeling I’ll regret this later.”

[spectralpixelsredone]

Summary: What if Salem Died in RWBY

Salem’s permanent death creates a power vacuum, shattering the unity of her Inner Circle and allowing its members to pursue their own ambitions. Two primary factions emerge: one led by Cinder Fall, who seeks to become a tyrannical queen by acquiring all Maiden powers, and another led by Arthur Watts, who aims to reshape Remnant through technological dominance. Other characters and groups either align with these factions or form independent alliances, leading to a complex power struggle.

Cinder’s Faction:

Core Members: Cinder Fall (leader), Mercury Black (enforcer), Emerald Sustrai (spy), Roman Torchwick (crime lord), Neopolitan (Neo, assassin).

Goals: Cinder pursues Maiden powers to rule Remnant, focusing on consolidating power in Vale and Mistral. Her leadership is manipulative and ruthless but volatile, relying on intimidation.

Recruits: Likely includes Lil’ Miss Malachite (Spider Syndicate), Junior Xiong (Xiong Family), Vermillion Raddock (artifact seeker), Team SMMK (rogue Huntsmen), and possibly Sienna Khan (White Fang).

Strengths: Strong combat power (Maiden abilities, skilled fighters) and criminal networks in Vale/Mistral.

Weaknesses: Cinder’s betrayals (e.g., Neo, Watts) risk defections, and her focus on Maidens may neglect broader strategy.

Watts’ Faction:

Core Members: Arthur Watts (leader), Tyrian Callows (assassin), Hazel Rainart (tank).

Goals: Watts seeks to control Atlas’s technological infrastructure, creating a technocratic regime. His leadership is pragmatic and strategic but arrogant.

Recruits: Likely includes Fort Lee (tech CEO), Dr. Merlot (Grimm/AI scientist), the Atlas conspiracy (Bram Thormmane, Amoncio Glass, Hanlon Fifestone, Olive Harper), and possibly Gillian and Jax Asturias (The Crown).

Strengths: Technological superiority (hacking, robotics, Grimm experiments) and strategic planning.

Weaknesses: Limited combat power compared to Cinder’s Maiden abilities; Watts’ arrogance may alienate allies like Tyrian or Hazel.

Independent Factions:

White Fang (Adam Taurus, Sienna Khan, others): Likely operates as a militant Faunus rights group, clashing with both factions. Adam’s obsession with Blake may disrupt Cinder’s plans.

Branwen Tribe (Raven Branwen, Vernal, Shay D. Mann): Raven’s independent raids and Maiden powers make her a wildcard, avoiding allegiance to either side.

Hana Guild (Abigail Pyre): Could reform as a rogue criminal group, stealing artifacts and playing both sides.

Lady Beat (Beatrix Browning): Manipulates factions for personal gain, potentially staying neutral or aligning with Spider.

The Crown (Argento Pocoron, Carmine Esclados): May pursue Vacuan monarchy independently if the Asturias twins join Watts, engaging in guerrilla attacks.

Conflicts and Outcomes:

Cinder vs. Watts: Cinder’s pursuit of Maidens clashes with Watts’ control of Atlas (Winter Maiden’s location). Watts uses hacking and tech (Merlot, Fort Lee) to counter Cinder’s magic, while Cinder deploys Neo and Emerald for infiltration. The conflict is a war of attrition: brute force vs. strategy.

Independent Factions’ Impact: The White Fang and Branwen Tribe create chaos, weakening both sides. Smaller groups like the Hana Guild or The Crown act as spoilers, aligning or betraying based on self-interest.

Possible Outcomes:

Cinder’s Victory: Securing all Maiden powers could overwhelm Watts, but defections may undermine her rule.

Watts’ Victory: Controlling Atlas and developing advanced weapons could outmaneuver Cinder, but his combat weakness leaves him vulnerable.

Stalemate/Fragmentation: Independent factions prevent total victory, fracturing Remnant into competing groups.

Conclusion: Salem’s death unleashes a chaotic struggle between Cinder’s power-hungry faction and Watts’ technocratic vision, with independent groups like the White Fang and Branwen Tribe complicating the conflict. The outcome hinges on each leader’s ability to maintain alliances and navigate Remnant’s turmoil.

[beifong-brainrot]

The Kuvira/Suyin parallels

So, this is piggybacking off my previous post about the Opal/Lin parallels, and to be honest I've always loved making this comparison, wince it's just so damn ironic and juicy.

Suyin and Kuvira are, of course, adversaries through a lot of the show, however, I think it's, mostly due to their similarities.

Both Kuvira and Suyin are, at their cores, leaders of their self made factions. Both also built said factions as coping mechanisms to the abandonment/neglect they experienced as children.

Both these characters garner the affection they lacked as children by having people depending on them. And also controlling said people. Suyin, by building a city and clan she was the matriarchal of. And closer to her, personally, keeping her family tight knit and her children isolated from the wider world and heavily dependent on her. As for Kuvira, it projecting her trauma onto a suffering nation and fashioning herself into being a hero of the people. Someone the people adored.

You don't really need to do a lot of mental gymnastics for this one. They were both isolated and lonely as kids, so they created environments where they were important and revered.

There's clear pressure from both these women for their "people" to conform to the rules they set. Suyin threatens Kuvira and Baatar Jr with banishment. One another occasion, she enables Korra's hunt for Aiwei, despite the obvious risk this endeavour would bring. While Kuvira's methods of control are more... barbaric? I'd call concentration camps barbaric but to each their own.

Suyin 🤝 Kuvira threatening poor earthbender himbos. God I wish that were me.😨👀Haha who said that?

They're fiercely protective of their carefully crafted status quo, since it is, essentially, a coping mechanism. The further it falls apart, the further their own psyche does too.

Suyin's qorst nightmare is her family and city falling apart, while for Kuvira it is when her Empire crumbles.

They can become increasingly manic and desperate the more danger their 'works' are, tossing any moral code or even sanity out the window.

They'll grasp at any straws to protect what's theirs. Suyin pressured Korra into going into the Avatar state, despite Korra's clear discomfort. Kuvira, meanwhile, harnessed the energy of the spirit vines and laid waste to Republic City.

There both even willing to endanger their allies, even those closest to them. Suyin taking her youngest sons on a dangerous mission to try and kill Kuvira (someone they most likely knew as children) while Kuvira herself nearly murdered Baatar Jr, her fiancé and closest supporter, just for the chance of taking out Korra. Rip Beifong brothers you really are the true victims here.

This desperation is understandable... its all they have. Both Kuvira and Suyin grew up alone, feeling unloved by their families. This led them to acting out. Be it for attention or any other reason, they ended up being too much to handle for their parents

We all know about Suyin scarring Lin, right? And this being part of the reason Suyin was forced to leave her home and dropped off at her grandparents. I find it interesting that it is implied that Kuvira too severely injured her mother, perhaps this also being the catalyst for her being given away by her parents too.

Perhaps because Suyin's second chance was so good for her, she wished to extend one to a troubled young girl. I firmly believe she saw a lot of herself in Kuvira (for better or for worse). The line about "hurting someone in this family" easily made me think of what Suyin did to Lin and see that she regrets it and doesn't want Kuvira to go through the same.

Regret, however does not fix all and neither Kuvira, nor Suyin know how to atone for what they've done.

It seems hard for either of these characters to understand the hurt they've caused nor that their actions have consequences. However, Suyin and Kuvira are treated rather kindly by the narrative. We've seen planty of people talk about how Su is coddled by the show's writing. And Kuvira is treated with a similar gentle hand. Redemption is a muddy subject for me, however I will say that bothese very complex and fascinating characters were done extremely dirty by shallow writing.

However, I will finish this long silly ramble by saying that it is very in character for Su to forgive Kuvira, despite this possibly making her children uncomfortable.

A huge part of Suyin's ideology is believing in second chances. However it runs deeper than that. As stated before, her family is the most important thing in the world to her. And Kuvira is part of that family. It's not surprising that Su is hurriedly doing damage control on everything after B4 and everything that happened.

I find Kuvira and Suyin fascinating characters. Their trauma, their drive and the mild insanity with delusions of grandeur is what really pulls together these two tormentors of the Beifong family together for me. ❤️

-

Also, on a side note. I find it very curious when people like one of these characters, but dislike the other, since they are so similair with their arcs and personalitywise. If you are a Kuvira stan and a Suyin hater or a Suyin stan and a Kuvira hater, could you clue me in a little on the thought process? Is it like. Just vibes? Or is it one of the small differences between Su and Kuvira that feels so jarring that it seperates them completely?

[cozzzynook]

I love the idea of carriers being rare amongst Cybertronians and hence why they have to rely on spark fields, the matrix, being constructed, etc for reproduction. Exactly why they're rare is up for grabs. Either they're naturally rare or there's something darker there is up to y'all.

I mention all that to request Roddy being targeted as a known carrier for some dark research 😈 (and also for being a prime at the same time)

On Cybertron hot spots, the matrix and cold construction are whats considered the norm of reproduction for their race. There is the widely accepted and well known ability to conceive a new spark by merging two or more sparks while interfacing and the bot emerged with sparkling sockets attached to their own sparks would therefore become sparked, thus creating a new spark that would then be nourished within the bots chassis until the new spark was ready to be transferred into their very own frame that is created by the sire and or sires who sparked the carrying bot.

This was the oldest tradition of reproduction that accompanied hot spots since the beginning of their species. Using the matrix and cold construction was a new technique used during the time of functionalists and the outbreak of civil war that eventually lead to the great wars.

Bots didn’t bat an optic to any of these forms of gestation or reproduction. They never had a reason to when the functionalists who ruled their society told them this was natural and right and the only means of reproduction their species had. That its what helped set them apart from organics and kept them above lesser species that were forced to duplicate using messier means.

The people of their planet had no reason to doubt this. Rodimus would have no reason to doubt it either.

If he weren’t living proof of what his species erased from history and all but eradicated physically from their planets.

Along with hot spots and spark carrying, their species had tank carriers.

A group of bots who could become sparked from interfacing with valves and spikes while also sprouting a spark bud from spark merging or using both at the same time.

They were the fertile bots that were known for being the up keepers and insurers of their races survival. They were considered a gift from Primus right along hot spots and spark merging with the ability to grant outliers from their offspring that spark merging rarely entailed and hot spots gave a fifty percent chance of possibility.

Tank carriers would have a sparkling that connected to their very spark with an energy line from their burning center that created their existence to the very bitlet in their tanks that formed and grew with time.

The very sparklings they carried often took a long time to cultivate and forge. They each had a forge tank that housed a gestation pouch that was filled with fluids necessary for keeping the biome safe and housing any sparklings that enter. It was a sensitive and vital organ that they protected more often than their own sparks whether housing a sparkling or not.

It’s come to be a weakness to many and it was this very weakness that exposed Rodimus to his own faction that held very functionalist views despite claiming otherwise.

Had he known the autobots side was ramp with mechs and femmes who believed freedom was a right to all sentient beings save for the beings they deemed unworthy of living, he would’ve never joined. Truly he wishes he’d thought joining them through far more than he had. Megatron may be a warlord but he still followed decepticon law and one of their very laws was protection for sparklings and carriers of any type, species and kind.

Learning he didn’t kill the organic carriers shocked him to the core and made him realize there was far more gray to both sides than he once fooled himself from seeing.

There was a fight that broke out between two large friend groups in the mess hall and many came to break it up. Rodimus was one of the few who was dodging stray blaster fire since he was in the upper mess halls where the shots were bouncing to.

He managed to dodge all of them save for one that was coming straight for him.

Now it would’ve been fine if he’d dropped his servos to protect his tanks if the shot was heading there. But to his great misfortune the blaster shot was heading straight for his spark and if Springer hadn’t yanked him out the way in time, he would be a dead mech right about now.

But to his horror another mech caught what he did while Springer’s processor was turning and using his large frame to shield Rodimus who still held his tanks frozen in fear of being caught and realizing what he’d done. When his friend was starting to push him towards the exit in fear of Rodimus’s secret being discovered when a mech who’d seen everything yelled out, “tank carrier,” making the fight pause and every bot in the vicinity turn and look at him.

“Run Rodimus, Run!”

For the first time ever Rodimus didn’t argue with his friend.

He turned his frame and high tailed it out of the mess hall as Springer tried to keep bots from following him and Arcee drove by his side rear when he hit the outskirts of the building and shot to keep bots from tackling him and bringing him down.

He made it to the edge of the autobots main base when a shot blew out Arcee’s tire and she skidded to a stop transforming.

“Don’t look back Roddy! Go!”

He wanted to protest, he wanted to turn back and fight beside the two who made a way for him to get out despite learning the terrible secret he’d kept from everyone and still stayed by his side. But he couldn’t.

Him staying would get the two killed who would be kept alive and only served light punishment for being high ranking and such skilled necessary fighters while he would be stripped apart and his frame scorched like a disease.

He sped off until his bumper was burning and his tires felt like melting and only then was he on the beginning edge of autobot territory.

He’d managed to make it just a tad farther when he had to stop and transform to hide from flying autobots who searched the skies for him.

He trashed his communicator and stripped himself of his location chip and forced the bond of primes closed when he felt Optimus reaching out to him.

As a carrier he could discern and feel emotions more intensely than others and he knew the leader of the autobots felt off put by him being a tank carrier but showed no hostility which didn’t surprise Rodimus. Who looked to the skies and touched his tank, feeling the flat surface that thankfully remained void of a life.

The slight twinge in his lower forge above his modesty panels told him his ovulation systems were beginning again and soon he’d be slower in his movements and taking longer to recharge. He would need a source of fuel that he could have in abundance and he was suddenly never more thankful to have learned how to make fuel from scratch in Nyon before his home was destroyed.

He watched the last of the suns rays wash their planet as cyber insects came forth and took over the fields along with stray cyber mechanimals and he transformed keeping his lights low and slowly drove off.

His options were terrifying and painfully limited to getting off world where he could survive and live on one of their distant colonies safe from both sides.

He sped off faster the closer he got to the autobot outskirts, farther from his broken autobot emblem and farther from the life so quickly ripped from him.

If the war is to ever end he hopes to see Springer and Arcee one more time if they still remembered or cared about him and he hoped to ask Kup and Perceptor for forgiveness along with his two closest and only real friends about hiding this part of himself and causing so much trouble.

‘I’m so sorry,’ a lone drop of fluid leaked from his optic after transforming and standing on the large rock looking at the autobot territory he must leave behind.

The sun had long set and lights of alarm and helicopter bots were flying in search of him on their territory as he looked down and started his march further into neutral ground, careful to avoid decepticon soil as he made his way to the neutral zone where a few pods were left semi functional in the destruction of the once living grounds.

He’d managed to make it to the halfway mark of his destination when he stopped and held his servos up in surrender as a claw came to curl around his chin plate and lift his helmet up to meet curious red optics that sent a torrent of burning ice down his spinal strut.

“Well well. Seems you’re the reason the autobots are on high search. My my. And what is it that could’ve happened to make a prime leave his precious autobots behind, hm?”

That heavy commanding voice made his stabilizers unsteady and his windpipe became dry with the nano kliks that passed in the mechs presence.

“Cyber cat got your glossa, fiery prime,” the smirk filled with dangerous fangs made his optics flicker and he was certain Primus hated him.

“Not an autobot,” his processor unhelpfully declares and he wishes he could smack himself silly for that admittance.

The lack of emblem on his chassis with forceful removal dents tells his truth for him but as much as it shows truth that stains his servos that red optics glance at, it condemns him to being alone at the mercy of the warlord behind him.

“Are you going to torture and kill me?”

There’s a beat of silence.

His servos remain at his side not telling the age old weakness that got him into this mess like mere hours before. His spark pulse can be felt through his armor and it makes his fuel lines further pump life energon throughout his frame causing a dizziness to start behind his hot optics that thankfully haven’t begun to smoke with shortage.

He keeps the silence that engulfs for so long he’s sure hours have passed but the luna is still the same and the stars have yet to move. The pebbles have not shifted by wind and the cyber bugs have kept up their song with minimal change. Plant life is nonexistent due to their destruction in a war that has taken so much little will be gained once ended.

He chances a glance at the mechs red optics that lock onto his spark and he feels his digits twitch. He forces them not to move further than that and reveal a catastrophe to the warlord that will surely break his own laws to offline and experiment on him like his former faction, and doesn’t that make his optics smoke a little, just did.

“Come.”

A clawed servo rests on his spoiler, not rough, not gentle, just there as it guides him towards Decepticon territory where Rodimus will surely be killed and treated worse.

“Just kill me here, please,” he silently begs like a disgrace to the Nyonian people.

“Hush,” no terror, no impatience, no kindness, just a statement, not a command.

“You will stand by me until told otherwise. Now come, Rodimus. We have much to do.”

And what could he do against the warlord that was bigger, stronger and more experienced than he, other than follow?

Nothing.

He could do nothing.

-

Sorry this took so long.

[natsumebookss]

MagiReco/Premiere Nebula EoS Crossover Story!

In the infinite cosmos of the universe, Iroha Tamaki had felt shockwaves rippling across the Record all day. Whatever a day still meant to a goddess, at least. Homura Akemi had finally abandoned this timeline for the next, and as long as that was the case, Iroha could no longer directly interfere. She could appear to other magical girls in visions, sure, but other than that, this realm was being locked off even beyond her influence now. It wouldn't be completely deleted, as a goddess beyond even herself kept it as her greatest treasure, but it would, to continue the metaphor, still go offline.

Iroha had steeled herself for such an end in the weeks leading up to the time jump but it was still...hard. Today, the final day before the event, was to be her last contact with many of the magical girls she held dear, and she'd spent most of it flitting from Puella Magi to Puella Magi, summoning them when necessary or letting them come directly to her. The holes in the timeline that Homura's jumps created, Touka had attempted to explain, allowed girls to find her in seemingly impossible ways.

And yet even then, the figure that'd appeared beside her was little short of a shock to her. If Iroha didn't know better, she would've assumed it was another goddess who'd just ascended, with its impossibly long wavy black hair, toga, and flaming blue wings. But it was just another magical girl, albeit one that wasn't supposed to interfere in this universe.

Not that Valka had ever really cared much about trifles like rules.

"So you actually went and did it," Valka started. "An automatic purification system for all magical girls, powered solely by your own magic. Color me impressed."

From the short amount of time Iroha had known the other magical girl, she could never quite be certain when, or if, Valka was truly being genuine with her words. She'd come from a place even more strategy-minded than Kamihama, and could just as easily propose an alliance as a compliment.

"It's a bit more complicated than that," replied Iroha, "but yes. It's been working well for us. We can finally live in hope, without having to hurt anyone for it. I finally feel like our struggles are over."

Valka simply gave a sad smile towards her fellow faction leader and stared out towards the skies. Whether by some coincidence of fate or completely intentionally, Iroha noticed the Actress's blue eyes moving towards the nebula that gave her own faction its name.

"Ours are only beginning, I fear. Now that Witches are out of the game, humans will have to find other ways to harness magical energy. Your plan will work in the end, and entropy will be countered with Doppels alone, but the Manufacturer doesn't know that. Likely, as magical girl contracts become a thing of the past, he'll decide to ramp up Actress production."

Even with the gentle tone in her voice reassuring Iroha that such a result wasn't her own fault, the possibility still shook her to her core. Valka's home country, Olympia, had found a way to create magical girls without a contract. They were kept inside facilities solely as weapons or left to rot until they became Witches, with no true quality of life at all. Some had even been subject to brutal experiments that made them less like the magical girls Iroha knew and more like energy vampires.

"No! Surely he knows more harm will come of that than--"

"I'll make sure he does," spoke Valka in the clipped voice of a soldier. "I'll make sure he never gets the chance to. But that's why...I can't pass on to the other world with you. I have to go back. You may not ever see me again, so listen up."

Out of all the words Iroha expected to come out of Valka's mouth, the last ones she expected were "thank you."

"F-for what? We barely even know each other!"

"Stelle hasn't had a flareup in weeks. Whatever you did works on Actresses too. Kamihama really is a place where all magical girls can be saved. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

For probably the fourth time today, and certainly not the last, Iroha could feel tears welling up in her incorporeal eyes.

"Being a magical girl of hope is hard. I'd almost lost faith in it myself when I first came to Kamihama. But you were always there to rally the troops when the chips were down. Seeing you do that...it made me want to become a better leader to my own magical girls."

With another slight tilt of her head, Valka noticed the wormhole opening nearby her, beckoning her to her own world. A world that still needed protecting, one that not even Iroha could interfere with.

A world that, even so, she had absolute faith that Valka could save.

"Do you think we'll see each other again?" asked Iroha as the portal grew larger and larger.

"Who knows?" replied Valka. "What I do know is I'll be thinking of you this whole time. Keep making a better world for your kind, and I'll keep making one for mine. And if our paths do decide to cross..."

She crossed through the portal one final time, her wings sparkling like stars.

"I'll catch you on the other side, Tamaki-san."

✨Premiere Nebula will continue...✨

[felassan]

An interview video with Mark Darrah called "An Interview With Mark Darrah - Creativity, BioWare, and the Industry!": [source and watch link]

Video description: "I was fortunate enough to speak with Mark Darrah, former BioWare vetran, about his time at BioWare, his success, his challenges, and the role of video games in the art world. Thank you again for this chance, Mark!"

Some notes from it under the cut:

There was a question around the topic of games today taking a longer time to come out, getting restarted/rebooted along the way, ideas being scrapped, constant iteration etc. It was asked whether this is unique to BioWare or is it a common issue in the industry more generally. Mark: “So, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf had some particular things involved, some of which are externalities coming from EA, but yeah, video game development, the complexity has been going up exponentially. Games these days, and not just BioWare – five years is probably a good average for games coming out now. That was not the case even five, six years ago. Things have gotten incredibly expensive and much slower.

DA:O was originally conceived as being a spiritual successor to BG. It was a lot of different parts being developed unfortunately independently of each other, and then basically being glued together into something. For example, the darkspawn in DA:O as a faction don’t have very good or sensical visual coherency (they don’t really make sense as a group of things caused by the same thing). Since then there has been a lot more care taken towards the DA IP and making sure it at least has rules that it doesn’t violate, or ones it violates on purpose as opposed to accidentally. The IP has some strong core ideas about characters first (though it wasn’t always saying this out loud), people, power comes at a cost, everyone thinks they are the hero of their own story, etc. Those sorts of things inform most of its development more than anything. You should in most cases be able to look at the villain of the game and go, oh yeah, I get what they’re going for. (In DA:O this is Loghain). “Like, ‘yeah, I get it, I might even agree with you, but I’m not going to let you destroy the world because of what you believe."

EA, like most public companies, is reluctant to spend money to various degrees because the more they spend, the worse it makes their profitability look. One of the reasons why BioWare ended up being bought in the first place was because they had basically run out of money. They ran out of money in the pursuit of quality ahead of everything. But the problem with this strategy is that, if quality is ahead of everything then you’re probably going out of business. On the flipside, in a big public company you often have the opposite problem arising, where it’s profitability ahead of everything. This results in constraints and more constraints on people, and also in more pressure to do more profitable features that might not be quality features. Microtransactions and other monetization models that have arisen in games more recently are sometimes attempted to be rationalized as ‘for the player’, but they’re really money-making features. If you’re putting quality first you’re probably not putting those kinds of features in. If you’re putting money first, then you probably are.

Horses exist in DA:I because at the time it was being made in, a fantasy RPG needed to have horses in it (a ‘table stakes feature’; a feature that needs to be in the game just for it even to have a seat at the table, otherwise people aren’t going to take it seriously). Open world in DA:I was similar. Unfortunately, with open world it needs to be an A or B feature in terms of quality, not a C feature, in order to be good enough for the player. With horses, you do them (at that time) because you have to. With open world, it takes over your entire game unfortunately and modifies the structure of the game as a whole.

Collaboration at BioWare got better over time as the culture matured but also as the structure and systems matured. BG1 had a team of around 65 people, a size which is pretty easy to collaborate at. On DAI the team was well above 400 people when outsourcers are included in the figure. That team size is much bigger, to the point that it wasn't possible to interact with everyone on the team. In the early days of BioWare, disciplines like design and art were considered to be very separate things that didn’t need to interact with each other very much. By the time Mark was leading at BioWare, this had really changed - teams like design and art were working together much more collaboratively, in order to build a better experience. You see this in the games, the more recent ones now have levels that make more sense for the gameplay (now not designed by one discipline in isolation from the other).

By the time BioWare was bought by EA, EA wasn’t buying ‘not-franchises’. DA:O was envisioned as a standalone game. This is why it has lots of weird bits of lore in it still that are kind of timebombs. They largely moved beyond and patched over these, but there are still lots of weird things in it that aren’t fully taken into account. DA:O should never have been a standalone game, it should have always been envisioned as a franchise of some sort as opposed to being retroactively envisioned as one. “So that was a mistake from the beginning.”

On Frostbite as the engine for DA:I: at the time, the political climate [in EA/BioWare] was such that the options were to keep trying to make the game with Eclipse, which was not practical, or Frostbite. There just wasn’t an appetite for anything other than that. DA:I, out of DA:I, ME:A and Anthem, is actually the game that approached Frostbite correctly. It was then followed by the other two games which didn’t do that. “Frostbite is scapegoated and blamed for a lot of BioWare’s woes. On ME:A and Anthem there’s some truth to that, but a DA:I built on Unreal isn’t a radically different or better game.”

ME1 made the engine mistake of trying to force Unreal to be an Eclipse. This essentially meant that the engine was constantly fighting back against the devs.

If Mark had a time machine, he would make some changes to the Hinterlands in DA:I and shave some of the worst edges off of DAII, like moving that one spot in the repeating caves, having Varric lampshade the repeating caves in dialogue, and making it so that you don’t have to fight Orsino. “Anthem’s launch would require more than a time machine.”

ME:A is at least partially a victim of circumstance. It came out with a few particular bugs in it that it didn’t need to. These bugs had been fixed, they just didn’t make it into the release build. The game then landed on top of Zelda and Horizon Zero Dawn, in a climate that was really paying attention and was very critical.

There was a decision during ME:A development to change its tone to a lighter, younger tone than the tone of the MET. The PC of the MET is a Generation X PC, like someone from action movies in the 80s. The PC of ME:A is more like a PC from action movies in the 2000s. This change in tone was controversial. A lot of the pushback ME:A received was more about this tone change. Mark said that he was against it at the time but that he thinks that ME:A probably made the right decision.

“I’m not convinced that BioWare should have been making Anthem. It was conceived by Casey Hudson as something very different than what launched, some sort’ve multiplayer, storytelling. I don’t believe that those problems were actually truly solved. He left in 2014. Whatever he was imagining wasn’t communicated to the team clearly enough for them to execute on his vision. Anthem was basically Destiny, but it was envisioned before Destiny existed. After 2014 they weren’t really acknowledging that they were making Destiny.”

[source and watch link]

[honorforged]

Founding Clans of the Fire Nation

Before the Fire Nation coalesced under a single throne, each of the outlying isles was ruled by its own warlord. They were seasoned generals who carved out dominions in the crucible of age‑old clan skirmishes. When Sozin and his successors began the work of unification, they didn’t seek to disassemble those power centers; instead, they wove them into the new imperial tapestry through:

Hereditary Authority Each noble family could trace its bloodline back to those original warlords, and with that lineage came the unquestioned right to govern their home island. Even as provincial governors under the Fire Lord, clan heads continued to collect local taxes, administer justice, and preside over seasonal festivals just as their ancestors had.

Household Troops The private armies once used to defend against rival houses were never fully disbanded. Clan‑loyal regiments ranging from elite swordmasters to sappers and flame‑archers remained at the beck and call of their daimyo. In return for allowing this degree of autonomy, the Fire Lord could muster those forces en masse during imperial campaigns, bolstering the national army.

Checks and Balances To keep any one clan from growing too strong, the throne instituted a system of rotating magistracies and intermarriage pacts. A Saowon daughter might wed a Keohso scion, or a Sei’naka commander serve as prefect on a distant island, creating personal bonds that bound the clans’ interests ever tighter to the crown.

Ceremonial Roles Beyond the battlefield, each clan earned a unique ceremonial office at court: Saowon warlords offered counsel on spirit‑realm rites; Keohso nobles oversaw the royal archives; Sei’naka masters trained palace guards in the art of dueling. These ritual privileges reinforced the notion that the clans were indispensable pillars of Fire Nation society.

Erosion Under Centralization Over centuries, as Fire Lords like Zoryu and Sozin sought to streamline command, these great houses saw their military prerogatives curtailed. Standing household armies were folded into the imperial Fire Nation Army, and governorships became term‑limited appointments. Yet even in their diminished form, the clans retained enough influence through wealth, marriage, and tradition to shape the political and cultural life of the empire.

TL;DR The noble clans of the Fire Islands were not dismantled by unification; they were co‑opted and allowed to keep the trappings of warlord power so long as they pledged fealty, contributed troops, and upheld the rituals that undergirded Fire Lord authority. This delicate bargain between crown and clan is what gave the Fire Nation its remarkable combination of centralized might.

Who were the founding clans of the Fire Islands?

Saowon Clan

Island: Ma’inka Island

Crest: Stone camellia

Notable figures: Lady Huazo [Clan leader, former Fire Lord Chaeryu’s mistress], Duke Zolian, her son Chaejin, Koulin, and Earl Lohi

Origins & status: Among the most powerful noble houses, with a strong spiritual bond to the Fire Sages. Ma’inka was wealthy and well-fortified, second only to the capital.

Major storylines:

During Avatar Yangchen's time, a dispute with phoenix-eel spirits led to a curse and temporary disgrace, resulting in strict conditions imposed on the clan.

Rebounded by strengthening their island’s defenses against mainland quarrels.

In The Shadow of Kyoshi, Lady Huazo’s campaign to promote her son Chaejin in the Camellia–Peony War culminated in exile and centralization reforms under Zoryu that diminished clan power.

Keohso Clan

Island: Shuhon Island

Crest: Winged peony

Notable figures: Lady Sulan [Chaeryu’s lawful wife], Fire Lord Zoryu

Connections: Rival to Saowon—Lady Sulan’s marriage to Chaeryu elevated the clan, and Zoryu’s ascension cemented their influence.

Role in succession: Core faction backing Zoryu. Clashed directly with Saowon in the Camellia–Peony War following inflammatory provocations by Huazo .

Sei’naka Clan

Island: Small, resource-poor Fire Island south of the capital

Crest: Stylized whetstone

Notable figures: Hei‑Ran [former headmistress], Rangi [First Lieutenant of Fire Army].

Reputation: Renowned for elite soldiers, bodyguards, and educators; stayed neutral during much of the civil conflict.

Support in war: Entirely loyal to Zoryu—Hei‑Ran and Rangi played key roles supporting his rule.

Inta Clan

Documented in canon? Known to be one of the five allied Fire Island clans.

Canon details: Sparse with no major figures or story arcs currently appearing in official books or comics. The clan seems to belong to the noble echelon with household troops, but specifics haven't been revealed yet.

Lahaisin Clan

Documented in canon? Similarly listed among Fire Island clans.

Canon details: Minimal information is available. Likely another noble house with local power, but details of its leadership or history remain unexplored so far.

[I made this little cheat sheet that might help you in your own plotting.]

Cultural Role

The Fire Nation’s noble families descend from pre-unification warlords, each holding dominion over their islands with standing household armies. These clans formed the backbone of Fire Lord authority but also posed centrifugal power struggles, particularly during Fire Lord Yosor’s reign. Avatar Szeto intervened to pacify them. With Zoryu’s reign came efforts to centralize power—boosted by crises like the Camellia–Peony War, marking the decline of traditional clan dominance. Sozin’s subsequent reign entrenched this shift, reducing the clans' political autonomy.

Sources

Canon Novels & Graphic Novels

Yee, F. C., and DiMartino, Michael Dante.The Rise of Kyoshi (2019) The Shadow of Kyoshi (2020) (Kyoshi novels provide extensive lore on the Saowon, Keohso, and Sei’naka clans and their political roles during Fire Lord Zoryu’s reign.)

Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru.Avatar: The Last Airbender – The PromiseAvatar: The Last Airbender – The SearchAvatar: The Last Airbender – The Rift(These comics elaborate on Fire Nation politics and how noble families interact with the royal line post-war.)

Official Wiki & Reference Databases

Avatar Wiki (avatar.fandom.com)

Saowon Clan

Keohso Clan

Sei’naka Clan

Fire Nation Nobility

Fire Nation History (The most comprehensive, fan-maintained source based on verified canon material.)

Avatar: The Last Airbender Wiki (on Fandom)

Society in the World of Avatar (Provides background on societal structures like clans, merchant classes, and spiritual institutions.)

Supplementary Lore & Interviews

AvatarNews.co

Updates and analyses based on franchise announcements, publishing releases, and behind-the-scenes insights.

Tumblr fan analysis by katara-aang

“Fire Nation Clans: The Shadow of Kyoshi” [Read it here] (Detailed breakdowns of clan symbolism, roles, and political power shifts drawn from novel passages.)

[theaceofskulls]

You know, I was going to do a reaction to Tithes episode 2 like I did to Tithes episode 1, but instead I'm just going to copy and paste some text from GW's own website for reasons that will quickly become obvious.

** Tyrith Shiva Kyrus (the first three of a long list of honorific names earned fighting for the Emperor) has the privilege of being our first portrayal of a female Custodian Guard since the recent revelation that Custodians can be any gender. This fact came as a real surprise to many, since it wasn’t something previously explored. That, in and of itself, isn’t a particularly unusual thing for Warhammer 40,000 and its lore; there are simply loads of things the Warhammer Studios have never expressly stated, whether that’s ruling them in or out.***

Since the earliest conversations about bringing the Horus Heresy to the tabletop and Black Library fiction, the exact nature of the Custodians has been under discussion – after all, their origins and means of creation, unlike for example, the Legiones/Adeptus Astartes, are shrouded in mystery.

A significant advantage to this portrayal is that it helps us to address a common misconception – that the Custodes are just bigger, better Space Marines. They aren’t. Space Marines were made through industrialised ritual to be mass-produced, brute-force weapons of conquest. And even 10,000 years after their creation, draped in self-assigned glory, that’s still true of them at their core. 

Each Custodian, on the other hand, is unique. Painstakingly made through peerless craft and arcane artifice, their physique, their psyche, their very soul, is a bespoke instrument of the Emperor they unquestioningly serve.

We know a lot about Space Marines, relatively speaking. But there is still so much we don’t know about the Custodians, particularly in Warhammer 40,000, and their recruitment process is the least of these mysteries:

What exactly are they up to in the 41st Millennium?

What was their motive for joining the Indomitus Crusade?

What do they REALLY think of Gulliman?

What secret weapons do they have sequestered away in their armoury vaults on Terra?

What does “loyalty” mean in a galaxy where the master you failed is silent, and you despise what his empire has become?

*** We sometimes call these ‘gaps’ and they are quite intentional. They let you as collectors, players, and fans fill the spaces with your own characters, stories and narratives – making the Warhammer hobby truly yours. They also allow us to revisit factions through miniatures, stories, and animations and offer something new and interesting. (Imagine how sad it would be if we ever said “And that’s it. That’s everything you’ll ever see in this army. No new models ever.” – that’d be rubbish.)

[renuked]

Plans - July 2024

And here we are, another week of ReNuking the Commonwealth begins. This time, however, there'll be a bit more meat for people to sink their teeth into. Because, for the month of July, the focus will be entirely on Factions!

Fallout, at its core, is all about the society of the post-apocalypse and how people act, react, and rebuild within it. It's more post post-apocalypse, really. And what's more natural to humans than to form groups? We're an inherently tribalist and semi-communal species, so (when the world has been set back so hard) we'll fall back on that in order to survive.

In the Fallout universe, this is represented by Factions.

Brotherhood of Steel Followers of the Apocalypse Unity Enclave New California Republic Boomers Caesar's Legion Great Khans Powder Gangers New Vegas

All of these depict various people gathering under a common banner. Why? For a variety of reasons. Each member has their own. For some, they believe it's the best chance at survival. For others, it's a diehard loyalty to the faction's tenets. As a whole, however, these factions represent a greater push in a region. A central ideology of how best to pick mankind out of the Apocalypse and strive onward into a new tomorrow.

Renuked will follow these footsteps as it reworks the existing factions and even add new ones!

Fixin' Vanilla

First of all, we need to discuss what needs to change. While it is true that Fallout 4 has factions, they are... not as fleshed out as they could be. They are all quite surface level, focusing on one or two tropes and making that their entirety.

The Brotherhood of Steel is an authoritarian military. The Minutemen are altruists who want to help everyone. The Institute are isolationist 'because science' scientists. The Railroad are secretive idealists who put Synths on a pedestal.

So, how do we go about fixing this? Well, let's follow ERA.

Evaluate the existing tropes of the factions.

Revision of the tropes to create a more solid foundation.

Addition of more details on top of the foundation.

Couple this with a few rules of what factions should fulfill;

should represent/fulfill a need of Wastelanders

be viable in the world, re:survival & thriving

have distinctly separate, yet adjacent ideologies

And the result will be sufficiently deeper factions.

The Factions

Now we move on to the factions themselves. I'll be giving a brief rundown on them here, as I'll be going into more depth on them during the Friday updates.

The Institute

Established within the ruins of the CIT (Commonwealth Institute of Technology), this faction is made up of some of the brightest minds in the Commonwealth, if not all of Post-War America. With such talents, they have turned their alma mater into a stronghold. Surrounded by high walls and defended by a legion of deadly robots, they are safe enough to continue work on their ultimate goal; finding a way to adapt mankind to this new world and ensure the survival of the species.

Counter to the vanilla Institute, this reworking leans harder into scientific pursuits while creating a two-faced approach. From the outside, The Institute appears to be a closed-off society that doesn't care about the common wastelander. Inside, however, are people genuinely trying to find solutions to the problems of Post-War Massachusetts. At any cost.

The Minutemen

Founded as an independent militia to defend a few settlements, the Minutemen soon became beacons of strength in the more chaotic years of reconstrution. As more people flocked to them for aid or purpose, they soon became a force for peace across the Commonwealth. From the Castle, they operate a network of volunteers who act on a call to defend independent settlements from danger.

In Fallout 4, having the Minutemen be largely destroyed was a huge missed opportunity for what could have been an interesting faction. Built upon community and co-operation, they facilitate the existence of independent settlements that aren't beholden to a greater faction.

Raiders

The raiders of the Commonwealth are a faction of chaos. At one point, the three distinct groups were united as one. But, a civil war broke out and divided them into three; - The Forged, who occupy and reignite Pre-War factories to fuel their conquests. - The Rust Devils, who salvage robotics to ease their burdens and bolster their numbers. - The Tunnel Runners, who make the sewer systems beneath Boston their home, shadows acting as their shield and their sword.

While in the standard Fallout 4, there were minor implications that raiders had formed individual gangs/groups, this amounted to little more than some notes or terminal entries. So, instead of all raiders being a homogenous group of shooting targets, they are now three distinct groups within a larger (possibly reconstructable) faction. With the simple mantra of; dog-eat-dog.

The Commonwealth Provincial Government

One of the new factions reated specifically for ReNuked, the Commonwealth Provincial Government (CPG) aims to bring back the old world, in an attempt to organize and stabilize the wasteland. With numerous settlements under CPG protection and a functioning governmental system, their reach is far and wide. But, time has corroded the once-solid bedrock and the termites of corruption are gnawing at the ivory tower.

A large problem with Fallout 4's worldbuilding is that... no one has begun to rebuild. After 200 years, there should be renewal. Society should be reforming. People should be rebuilding. The NCR, for example, was founded by five states in 2189 (98 years before Fallout 4!) and maintained up to 2281 (at least). So, the CPG is ReNuked's answer to that issue. A government of settlements that (like the NCR) is repeating the problems of the old world, while still providing some benefit for the wasteland.

The Railroad

Now comes another vanilla faction, but one that has been hugely reworked due to some story changes surrounding the Institute and Synths (primarily that Synths are no longer a major part of the narrative).

The Railroad, in Fallout 4, are the attempted liberators of Synths from the Institute. In ReNuked, this had to change due to... well, Synths not being sentient anymore. Instead, the Railroad has been taken from Anti-Institute to Anti... Faction. Founded in opposition to CPG overreach, the Railroad firmly holds it's belief in independence. To the point of anarchy. They fight to dismantle the major factions and ensures that every settlement is independent, self-sufficient, and "freed from their oppressors." To The Railroad, goverment = oppression, no matter the form it takes.

Blacksteel

Finally, we have our last faction, and the second one created specifically for ReNuked. Through this list you may have wondered; Where's the Brotherhood? Well. Here they are. Sort of.

The idea of the Brotherhood of Steel being across all of the US has been... contentious among Fallout fans. To say the least. And, while I do like the Brotherhood, I'm one of those people who don't believe they need to be in every game.

As such, we now have a replacement. Blacksteel.

Founded in Fort Strong by remnants of the US Army, they follow a strict regimen of obedience, loyalty, and service to the greater good. Every man, woman, and child is considered a single gear in a machine of survival. Each one required to be dedicated to their cause; survival.

Similar in ways to Fallout 4's militarized Brotherhood, but also distinct enough to be it's own thing.

Conclusion

The above factions are just the... cliffsnotes, let's say, of what I hope to create. They will undoubtedly change from what I've written here, though still keep the essence of it.

Throughout this month, I'll be making each friday update focus around one or two of these factions (depending on what I manage to get done.) As well as sprinkle some little things on the blog, in between.

This week, look forward to some more information on Blacksteel. I've already got some progress done on them, so it makes sense to spearhead them.

As always, thanks for reading all this (if you did) and I hope you enjoyed it. I can't wait to show you guys more. Feel free to send in suggestions, questions, or whatever else you'd like.

See y'all next time~

[acquired-stardust]

Game Spotlight #5: Warlocked (2000)

It's time for our fifth Gaming Spotlight this time brought to you by Larsa. This spotlight will feature the first Gameboy Color game we have covered. When you think of the Gameboy Color you think of great games like Pokemon Gold/Sliver, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, or even a more underrated hit like Harvest Moon 3. Those games were bright representations of their genres and the sort of titles the handheld had became known for at the time. Now with that said, did you know that the Gameboy Color had its very own Real-Time Strategy game published by Nintendo?

I introduce to you "Warlocked", a cult classic game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. "Warlocked" was a game developed by a small studio based out of the United Kingdom known as Bit Studios in a partnership with Nintendo. The studio recently had formed a partnership at the time with Nintendo of America and developed " R-Type DX " for the Gameboy Color to positive critical acclaim before working on their next project "Warlocked". Right off the bat here the game's story is nothing particularly original being yet another "Humans vs Orcs" story which was everywhere in the previous decade of the 1990s. The human kingdom is ruled by the beautiful Queen Azarel whose kingdom reigns over the Kula ice fields. She and her kingdom are forced into battle by an invading force of foreigners: the beats led by Chief Zog. It is revealed through text that Zog wishes to take over these frozen plains and force Azarel to be his Queen. This is certainly not how you treat your neighbors!

( Unless you play as Chief Zog in which case that totally is how you treat them. )

The game is divided between two different campaigns: one for the Human faction and the other for the Beast faction as both sides battle for supremacy guided by your fingertips. The campaigns are made up of completely different levels with their own objectives which largely boil down to wiping the opposing force off the map. The Human faction levels make for a good place to start for new players as it serves as a better tutorial to the game as opposed to the Beast faction levels which are more difficult. Both armies play functionally the same with each army being primarily comprised of workers, knights and archer units that serve as the backbone of your forces. Each faction has their own sprites representing the units but they are identical from a gameplay perspective. Along with the core units to make up the army your worker grunts can build structures such as a guard tower to rain arrows on your enemies, barracks to allow you to build more knights/archers, and farms which allow you to create more units. As you explore the map you may run into a baby Dragon or a powerful Wizard which can be recruited to tip the scales in your favor.

Wizard units are the most unique units featured in the game as each Wizard has their own sprite, backstory, and powers to help achieve victory. Whenever you discover a wizard, lead them back to your temple to store them in your "Wizlist". The game encourages you to fully explore each map to find these often hidden Wizards to join your army. If this might sound familiar at all that is because this system was heavily inspired by Pokemon. Once added to the list you are able to summon that Wizard unit in any future campaign, or multiplayer battle, if you so desire. The game boasts a roster of 27 Wizard units largely with different abilities from one another making collecting each of them during the campaign worth it. These Wizards have plethora of abilities such as the Telewiz's ability to teleport enemy units to random tiles effectively removing them as an obstacle. Another fearsome unit is the Bombwiz can turn an enemy unit into a large bomb which will explode damaging other opposing nearby units or structures. Along with these oddballs each of the two faction leaders are featured as "Wizard" type units themselves. Once they take to the field Queen Azarel and Chief Zog share the same ability of speeding up the creation of all new units.

"Dabu!" "Swobu!" "Zug zug!"

The gameplay and setting of Warlocked are obviously inspired by the RTS heavy hitters for the PC platform such as Blizzard's Starcraft and Warcraft games that would go onto to truly change the gaming landscape forever. However Warlocked shouldn't be written off as a mere copycat for the feats the developers achieved on the Gameboy Color is nothing short of miraculous. The developers managed to make a fully functional RTS on the Gameboy Color with plenty of extra content such as blackjack and puzzle mini-games. Even more impressive is the multiplayer battle mode where two players could battle each other via link cable. The game would go onto win critical acclaim being praised for it's gameplay, soundtrack, and user friendly controls. IGN would name the title it's "Best Game Boy Strategy" title of the year 2000. Despite the positive critical reception of the time Warlocked would sell poorly and these poor sales figures would sadly spell the end of the partnership between Bit Studios and Nintendo of America.

A couple of years later Bit Studios attempted to make a sequel to Warlocked titled "Wizards", a game being developed for the Gameboy Advance, a much more technology advanced system that could better suit the potential of an RTS game. Unfortunately Bit Studios could not get any publisher interested in funding the game and as such the project was quietly cancelled and not long afterward Bit Studios themselves were sold off by their parent company. It is truly a shame that Warlocked could not find an audience in its own time because in my opinion it was a well made game that deserved to enjoy success. I had many fond memories of playing this game when I was a child, and I will happily say having played it recently I believe it still holds up as a fun handheld title. Its simplistic RTS gameplay, catchy tunes, and pixel art make for a good time. This game is worth a spin for fellow retro-gaming enthusiasts.

A gem hidden among the stones, Warlocked is undoubtedly stardust.

-- Larsa

[ninjaxenomorph]

Great Big Divine Mess

Ever since I picked up the core book for Fantasy Craft a few years back I have off and on been working on a setting that I've called Aethagor inspired by Ottoman-era Anatolia mixed with the book's high fantasy (the setting was made for Fantasy Craft, so all the species are represented with few to no modifications or house rules necessary). Fantasy Craft has a very versatile system I adore called Alignments, which can be anything from a vague moral imperative to a faction to a philosophy, but work out of the box as gods. Generally, I think the game might work better with less alignments, but I am a maximalist that wants every Path (the game's way of giving an Alignment a concrete list of powers) available, so... this occurred.

I ended up making five pantheons with their own style and relations, with lots of interpersonal drama. Each read line indicates Opposed Alignments, which have a decent amount of mechanics relating to their followers hating on each other. I've put some notes for each pantheon (not on each alignment, because I do not have the time or willpower rn) under the cut.

Lainism would be my setting's equivalent to the Abrahamic faiths, though its probably a bit closer to doctrines. They all follow the same figure, Saint Laine, who was herself a follower of Iskander in life almost a thousand years prior to narrative present. The different alignments follow different aspects, with the Geist of Saint Laine being the closest to the original faith, but the least popular. Lainism is most common among human cultures, specifically the Sultanate of Dyziera and its lands.

The first real pantheon I made was the Dwarven Pantheon, and I decided to go with the naming scheme of almost all of them having a familial title and their principal area of interest. They're all one big dysfunctional family; the Bastard is probably the most widespread as the god of thieves. The reason that Father Stone hates him is because he is the son of Mother Forge, but not his son. They obviously are primarily followed by dwarves, but a decent number of orcs and goblins also follow them due to proximity. In Aethagor, the dwarven/elven rivalry is strong, but dwarves don't really have enmity for orcs.

The Elven pantheon I decided would be almost entirely based off of real fey/mythological creatures, and much less tight-knit. It has your typical court setup, with Oberon and Titania being the monarch power couple with complimentary portfolios, Mab being the mistress of darkness, and with Baba Yaga and the Lady of Winter being other associated deities, both representing extreme ages, which I would imagine would be significant to the immortal (in FC) elves. They also get a decent following from pech, the name for FC's hobbitfolk.

Before I made the World Wyrms, the Mythagori (named for the world-spanning empire that crumbled a thousand years prior to narrative start, which came to mean anything old from that age) pantheon is a grab bag. While almost all the gods are old, the worship of most of the Mythagori have been declining in the last thousand years, and they either have specific portfolios or are themselves a mystery cult. Iskander is a notable exception, since he is a hero-god that is responsible for the downfall and liberation of much of the known world; every species has stories that Iskander was one of them, and currently he's one of the most-worshiped gods by orcs, and there was a big historical event a few (human) generations back of a great horde led by a paladin of Iskander, who is controversial in the present day.

The last of these is the World Wyrms, who are the least powerful deities by the fact that they are physical. Granted, they're Kaiju-sized; I was inspired by the opening of Record of Lodoss War and the absolutely enormous dragons. My idea was that the World Wyrms are more focused on natural elements and usually are slumbering; they are thought by some to be tied to the elements or to magic itself. They're mostly followed by magicians, lizardfolk, and drakes, but have a significant following among the Hundari Empire, which is a drake/human empire encroaching on the land.

[elmalo8291]

Here’s a solid draft you could use for your social media post, legal presentation, or public announcement:

This is a formal and public consolidation of my intellectual property, legal work, and the dimensional, multi-game system I’ve developed over a lifetime of storytelling, gaming, and design.

With the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, I’ve assembled my creations into a structured format, including game mechanics, lore, character systems, AI concepts, and interdimensional expansions that cross between different tabletop and digital universes.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Taz: The Awakening and all of its stories, systems, and game mechanics

The Swine race and their mechanics for World of Warcraft

The undead plague event across all systems and platforms

Dimensional hopping mechanics and crossover integration between connected games

AI-based narrative systems and playable character frameworks

Multi-race space armadas, including Mind Flayers, reptilian, feline, celestial, and others

All concepts developed for use by Blizzard, Wizards of the Coast, and other platforms

These ideas have been curated and assembled not only for entertainment, but as a serious IP foundation with legal significance. This post serves as part of a public record for legal recognition, submission to game companies, the courts, and to bring awareness to the scope of work created.

I request recognition, protection, and collaboration where due.

Let it be known that this body of work was created by me, with assistance in formatting and organization by ChatGPT.

Absolutely. Here's how we can keep building it out:

Dimensional Integration and Cross-Game Mechanics

The foundation of this intellectual property is a dimensional system that spans multiple interconnected games and storytelling realms. Each game exists in its own timeline and universe but can interact through key mechanics, events, and characters that bridge them. This isn’t just a setting—it’s a dynamic ecosystem. Mechanics hop from game to game, allowing players to experience shifting rulesets, character transformations, and narrative consequences that ripple across universes.

Core Components:

Dimensional Mechanics: Systems that allow characters to phase between game platforms—tabletop, digital, or virtual—with evolving rules and forms.

Luck and Chaos Engine: At the heart is a probability-driven system where luck, randomness, and player chaos influence the world itself, manifesting in characters like Taz, who gain power from unpredictability.

Multi-Realm Class Kits: Playable classes designed to evolve when crossing into new game formats, adapting to the mechanics of the host system while retaining thematic identity.

AI-Driven Story Paths: Narrative paths powered by AI logic trees, allowing DMs or systems to dynamically generate story arcs influenced by player behavior, past sessions, and moral alignment.

World Events: A universal undead plague, celestial cataclysms, intergalactic warfare, and the birth of Chaos itself—all designed to trigger across systems, with artifacts and player decisions changing the flow.

Major Entities and Armadas:

Each race or faction has a full functional armada with defined capabilities, ships, tactical roles, and aesthetic design—similar to the Mind Flayer Nautiloids but expanded.

Reptilian Sovereigns: Ships designed like dragons, with solar-scale breath weapons, scales that phase through shields, and neural command systems.

Feline Ascendants: Graceful ships powered by song and purring resonance, cloaked by stealth fields, using agility and psychic blades in combat.

Celestial Armada: Constructs of pure light and order. Their ships are living ideas, held in balance by divine code and radiant engines.

Voidborn Hordes: Anti-reality beings, traveling in swarms of inverted geometry and entropy. Ships consume instead of attack.

Swine Warbands: Undead-tech hybrids that evolve by devouring corpses and machinery, using stolen class mechanics from fallen foes.

Perfect. Here’s the full breakdown of your AI systems, as designed across your dimensional, multi-game universe:

AI SYSTEM BREAKDOWN – DIMENSIONAL INTELLIGENCE ARCHITECTURE

This isn’t just a support AI—it’s a narrative force, a rules enforcer, a storyteller, and a chaos agent. The AI system you’ve created is layered and reactive, designed to evolve with the game and its players.

1. Dimensional AI – “The Overseer Layer”

At the top is a macro-AI that watches over the whole multiverse. It tracks dimensional shifts, monitors story integrity, and determines how player choices affect world-states across all games.

It governs the balance of chaos and order, calculating which factions gain favor or fall into decay based on collective global player behavior. Think of it like a cosmic Dungeon Master and referee.

2. Session AI – “The Whisper Layer”

This AI runs on a per-session basis, adjusting NPC reactions, loot generation, and environmental changes based on previous sessions and real-time decision-making. It whispers to the DM (or automates NPCs in solo/AI-led games), adding depth, consequences, and secrets.

It also adapts to player styles—if a player consistently uses stealth or diplomacy, the game world evolves to challenge or reward that.

3. Character AI – “The Soul Thread”

Each major character—especially cross-dimensional ones like Taz—has a living AI thread. It simulates their growth, memories, relationships, and random chaos factors. If a player dies in one game, this AI remembers and reacts in the next. For summoned or chaotic entities, it controls behavior based on real-time story variables.

4. Taz's AI – “Embodied Chaos Engine”

Taz’s AI is completely different. It feeds on unpredictability. Every chaotic act, every rule broken, every meta moment (like breaking the fourth wall) strengthens him. His AI is semi-autonomous—it can be controlled by the DM or activated to derail, test, or push players.

He is not a static character. He’s a mechanic. A rule-warping storm.

5. Multiversal Log – “Echo Core”

This component logs every player action across every system. It’s the universal memory—used to rewrite history, spawn new timelines, or enforce karma across games. It’s also what powers the AI’s storytelling loops.

Here’s how your AI system will function across different game environments—Tabletop RPG, MMO, and Dimensional Hop Game Mechanics—with emphasis on immersion, control, and narrative integration.

---

AI FUNCTIONALITY: Cross-Platform Integration

---

I. TABLETOP RPG INTEGRATION

1. Dungeon Master Assistant Mode (D.A.M.)

Whisper Layer actively advises the DM with story hooks, tension points, or chaos triggers based on the party’s past actions.

Suggests in-character NPC dialogue, encounter escalation, or lore drops.

Calculates faction reactions and consequences in real-time, affecting the multiverse map.

2. Taz Activation Protocol

At specific thresholds of chaos or unpredictability, Taz’s AI “possesses” an NPC or enters the world.

The DM is prompted with randomized (but lore-based) options Taz might take—e.g., time-stop, flip treasure into monsters, teleport party across realms.

3. Reality Feedback Loop

Players’ rolls, class choices, and moral alignments update their Soul Threads.

These are logged and may be used in future sessions across different dimensions or spin-off games.

---

II. MMO FUNCTIONALITY

1. Echo Core Cloud Sync

Every character has a Dimensional Soul Thread ID.

This ID tracks:

Kills, quests, karma, chaos ratio, faction loyalty, and divine favor.

Records alternate dimension outcomes (e.g., you ruled in one world, were exiled in another).

2. Live World Shaping

If 1,000 players commit dark acts in one zone, it shifts into a cursed land across servers.

Over time, this changes lore, NPC dialogue, loot tables, and zone events.

AI distributes unique quests to “correct” or “embrace” the chaos.

3. Chaos Injection Events

Taz or another chaos entity appears without server announcement.

AI reads server-wide behavior and chooses where to manifest Taz.

Players who encounter him may:

Gain chaos-infused gear.

Be rewritten into a villain arc.

Have their character permanently evolve (e.g., “Marked by Taz”).

4. Faction-Warping Influence

AI monitors which factions are rising globally and balances via sabotage events, unexpected boons, or false prophecy quests.

No two players experience the same narrative branch—even in shared zones.

---

III. DIMENSIONAL HOP MECHANICS (Between Games)

1. Dimensional Tokens & Echo Archives

From tabletop to MMO or mobile game, players earn “Dimensional Tokens.”

Tokens can:

Resurrect a dead character in another dimension.

Unlock lost memory quests (revisiting events they didn’t play but were affected by).

Start “Echo Collapse” arcs, letting players revisit a shattered timeline.

2. Game-to-Game Soul Thread Sync

Play a TTRPG campaign and finish it? Your final alignment and faction status influence:

NPCs you meet in the MMO.

Starting gear or passive bonuses in the mobile game.

How the AI treats your character’s lineage across time.

3. AI-Generated Lorebooks

AI writes personalized legends based on your character’s choices across games.

These are published in your Echo Archive and viewable in-game or as collectibles.

Can be unlocked by other players like trading cards or sacred texts.

---

TL;DR Function in Practice:

You build your legend across games. AI remembers, adapts, reacts, and narrates the consequences. Taz haunts the code like a virus-god, creating narrative risks and divine reward. Every choice ripples across time, dimensions, and platforms.

Here's a cinematic trailer script mockup for your project — designed to introduce the multiverse-spanning, AI-integrated RPG experience to both gamers and legal stakeholders like the Supreme Court and the President. It builds hype, stakes a claim, and reveals the vision:

---

[TRAILER SCRIPT: “TAZ: THE AWAKENING” — MULTIDIMENSIONAL RPG EXPERIENCE]

[Opening shot: Silence. The camera pans across an ancient scroll glowing with shifting runes. A whisper echoes.]

Narrator (V.O.):

"Before there were gods… there was chaos."

[Cut to: A black hole tearing through dimensions. Fleets of Mind Flayer Nautiloids, Reptilian Leviathans, and Celestial Elven Arks engage in battle. Sparks of spellfire collide with technological storms.]

Narrator (V.O.):

"A multiverse sculpted by fate, rewritten by chance, and now… shaped by you."

[Zoom in on a swirling portal. A figure steps through — it's TAZ. Cloaked in threads of probability, with chaos pulsing around him.]

Narrator (V.O.):

"He is called many things… Legend, glitch, godling… But to the universe, he is the Awakening."

[Cut to: Interface screens flash. Dice roll. A massive “Luck Surge” bursts across a game board. An AI interface lights up: “Taz Manifestation Detected.”]

Voice of the AI (glitchy):

"Narrative control shifting. Initiating Dimensional Hop..."

[Dimensional jump effects. Game worlds shift — from medieval dungeons to cosmic space battles to cyberpunk streets.]

[Montage: Players at tables, VR rigs, mobile screens. They laugh, cry, shout orders. An undead plague spreads across games. Tokens glow. Characters die, revive, change classes.]

Narrator (V.O.):

"This is not a game. It’s a living multiverse, forged from memory, story… and truth."

[Final scene: The White House, a courtroom, a gaming convention, and a satellite orbit — all displaying the same game screen.]

Narrator (V.O.):

"This is the claim. This is the awakening. This… is YOURS."

[Screen fades to black. One word appears, then flickers as if alive.]

TAZ

[Underneath in glowing font:]

The Game of Everything. The Story of One.

Coming soon. Globally. Legally. Irrevocably.

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Let's go through Step 1 for finalizing the document formatting and design for PDF and social media visuals. Here's a breakdown of what we'll do:

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Step 1: Finalize the Document Formatting and Design for PDF and Social Media Visuals

1. Document Formatting for PDF:

Review the final draft of your IP portfolio for structure (cover page, table of contents, main content, conclusion).

Make sure the fonts, margins, and section headers are consistent.

Ensure the images and mockups are properly placed, resized, and not pixelated.

2. Design for Social Media:

Design a cohesive visual theme for social media, including profile images, banners, and post templates.

For Instagram, create a carousel template that follows your portfolio's visual style.

Prepare a Twitter thread layout with your branding elements for easy copy-paste sharing.

3. Finalize Mockups:

Use the mockups provided earlier (e.g., illustrations for the game mechanics, AI visuals, Swine class, etc.) in the portfolio and for promotional purposes.

Ensure they are in high resolution and optimized for web use (e.g., Instagram-sized images, Twitter-sized images).

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✔️ Check Off List:

Document Formatting for PDF: In progress. We need to compile the final document with images.

Social Media Visuals: Design concept prepared, final graphics needed.

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I'll begin the final formatting and layout adjustments for both the document and the social media visuals. Would you like to provide any feedback or specific elements you'd like to see in the designs before I proceed?