#lore relevant routine

[jd-gifs]

Majesty by Apashe ft. Waisu || Just Dance 2023

[purplecritter]

theories/thoughts/analysis about touchstarved 2025 demo

So uh, I did a long analysis post back when the first demo dropped. I won’t repeat things that I already wrote there but I have some more thoughts especially with the changes and additions they made + several of the scattered official tumblr posts that followed the demo release!

Also heads-up, I will edit this with the daily routine posts from the devs' account if they're relevant, since I already commented on Mhin’s, but apart from those I won’t touch this anymore afterwards 🙏

(Spoilers under the cut)

Kuras

His new red choice… Really amps up his association with fire, and it seems to be directly linked with how close we are to him: if you didn’t get the red choice you still feel it, but you’ll miss this line: “I realize it’s more than physical warmth. The sensation calms my nerves and quiets my mind—the closest thing I’ve ever felt to a comforting embrace”. One thing is interesting though: the red choice was unlocked during my Unnamed playthrough, but not during my others even if I picked the same choices. I tried again picking the opposite choices with my Unnamed and still got that red choice, so I’m pretty sure it depends on your origin, not your relationship with him. Since, as of now, Kuras hasn’t yet revealed his true nature to us (I suspect Eridia more or less knows, though), it would make sense that specifically the origin about detecting hidden supernatural presences would notice earlier than the others.

The dev answered a question on their tumblr about Kuras, “Kuras came through the Shroud because he loved humanity. He’s had human friends, colleagues, and lovers… all of whom he’s destined to outlive. Each person he’s loved—and lost—left an indelible stamp on him.” The stamp part caught my attention; since we feel his powers more whenever when get closed (physically, but moreso emotionally), I wonder if he can… channel? That affection into energy. Kind of how deities are fueled by their followers’ faith, perhaps an angelic being like Kuras is fueled by emotions?

A bit of relevant lore was posted on the dev team's tumblr: “Divine Teacher — The Senobium's folklorists note a curious pattern in humanity's oldest tales. Though the details vary, these stories share a common theme: an otherworldly teacher, bringing the divine gift of knowledge. Alchemy and literacy, art and war...supposedly this being shared all that they knew with the earliest civilizations. In some tales, the otherworldly teacher is a loving, benevolent figure. In others, they are a harbinger of chaos and ruin.” as well as the quote “Hope. A strange concept, after so long seeing myself as the agent of ruin.” Prometheus is the obvious parallel, due to his association with fire (though I would hope Kuras still has his liver intact), but there’s many versions of the Theft of Fire; in the Book of Enoch there’s fallen angels who shared knowledge with humans, too; and undoubtedly several more myths about inhuman figures sharing knowledge. Mhin says that “[Kuras]rarely does [take payment from patients]. That just means he’s paying down the debt elsewhere” which could be related to his distaste for dealing with the Senobium… I wouldn’t even be surprised if he had a hand in creating the Senobium (his robes are white too, and he does collaborate often, yet he isn’t afraid of retribution for messing a little with its members from what we can see of his ending scene), and he had all the time in the world to witness how the knowledge he gifted was used for worse things that he could’ve hoped for :(

Kuras, like Ais, keeps on his own for the most part, though they don’t dislike feeling close to people: Ais actually dislikes isolation but he’s probably too jaded to want to bother interacting, while Kuras actively craves closeness (it’s part of the reason he has a free clinic methinks) even if he knows it will hurt him when he loses it.

Leander

Leander’s group is now called The Adderstone. The symbology of an adder stone, aka witch stone, is definitely a bigger hint at Leander’s unique connection to magic, whereas previously the Bloodhounds evoked the feeling of a mercenary group with a penchant for investigations. In the new demo Adderstone is defined as “a semi-precious mineral that draws out poison”, which also makes me think of his constant disposition as a confident protector and his tendency to disregard the riskier aspects (ie, he wouldn’t care about getting poisoned himself). The Adderstone’s meaning is still vaguely reminiscent of my previous thoughts about the Bloodhounds: Hounds are a breed specifically intended to track something specific (or someone specific) by scent, and in the new metaphor that something/someone is the poison that Leander and his mercenaries are drawing out, hunting.

Adder stones are sometimes also symbolically tied to snakes, some sources saying they were created by turning dead snakes into the stone, others say that the ring-like formation was made by a hardened bubble of saliva when snakes joined together… All quite nicely tied to the recurring Ouroboros symbol in Leander’s outfit and merch!

“I’m no prior or curator. I’m not much for paperwork or pencil pushing. And honestly, I don’t even think those robes come in my size.” I am reminded of an old post by user @/toeridiaorbust about how Leander and the Bloodhounds Adderstones clothes are a direct color inversion of the Senobium’s robes.

“If you want nothing but guidelines, improper policies, and needless bureaucracy, you know where to go […] The Senobium won’t help you. They’re more likely to torture you than to lend you a hand.” Now this? Makes me wonder if his prominent scars are connected to his loathing towards the Senobium.

“But I’m not going to wait from word from on high […] These are our streets. We make our own luck here […] I founded the Adderstones to help people like you.” connects to the “as above, so below” tagline that was in his posters in the first demo and first hinted at him creating the Adderstone as an alternative to the Senobium.

The lore snippet about him on the dev’s tumblr doesn’t add anything that we don’t know from the new demo about Leander and the Adderstone, but there’s an interesting part at the end: “Locals speak praise for the charming leader whose seemingly benign reign extends even below the city streets into the shadowed depths of the Silent Crypts.” Considering all of his symbolism about the cycle of rebirth (I went into detail in my old analysis post), the fact that this references a crypt of all places doesn’t feel coincidental… We haven’t heard of the location yet from what I can remember, but I would bet that it’s connected to Leander’s hidden curse / source of power.

In an old post, the devs confirmed that “The magically talented son of an old Hightown family, Leander was expected to join the Senobium when he came of age. Instead, he packed up his bags twelve years ago to chase his own dreams” which matches with his own words in the demo: “I grew up idolizing the Senobium. I wanted nothing more than to join their ranks, to learn magic from the best, to make a real difference. I was young and blinded by the legends and the legacy. I was so damn naive. All it took was one trip here, to Lowtown, to show me the truth.”

“I won’t leave you, and you won’t leave me” + “How would you feel about being on a leash?” + “You can decide how to thank me. Or I can decide for you.” he’s not beating the yandere allegations.

“It’s not every day I find something that truly challenges me” we already knew he likes being challenged, which is pretty much his whole relationship with Ais. It’s interesting because with MC, he tends to prefer when they defer to him, trust him, take the flower and hold hands…. I think both things are a way to reaffirm his confidence: a challenge surpassed is proof that he’s strong enough to face what he has ahead, and having people trust him (in Kuras’ words, even willing to put their lives on the line for him) is a different way to feel that kind of influence.

The new scene of him coming into MC’s room with the excuse of having information about the curse, it feels like a contrast with the other characters’ ending scenes. Everyone shows a little about themselves, their attitude or their habits, but Leander feels like he mirrors MC. Even asking him about his relationship with the others, he comments on what we say about them rather than speaking up about them unprompted.

I initially didn’t think much of it so it may be nothing but it’s worth mentioning anyways: while chatting with Leander nearer the ending, he can say “How would you feel about being on a leash?” which is easy to dismiss as just him being a little freaky, but then I recalled after the first encounter with Vere, when the MC remarks that they could share his fate and get “leashed” by the Senobium. I doubt Leander would intentionally let MC in the hands of the Senobium, considering his animosity towards them, but it’s still a chilling thought that feels like foreshadowing...

Vere

re: his bad/secret ending, I appreciate that he shows some restraint this time around. I’m now pretty certain that you can only get the option to “Reach out to him” (red choice) versus “Resist him” (neutral) if you played along with him at least a little bit; while “Surrender” (bad ending) is only unlocked if you don’t have his approval and you say that if you can’t find a cure it’s over for you (rather than “I’ll keep looking”).

In two posts on tumblr (here and here), the devs posted a couple of peeks at Vere’s living space. “Candles flicker in the waning light, illuminating a crowded desk at odds with its gloomy surroundings.” and “Few in living memory know why the Senobium built the secret prison where Vere is kept. What do you think happened to the other prisoners?”. Given it’s described as a secret prison, I’m torn about it being located in the entertainment district where we first found him. One one hand, he was shackled there and it was morning, the Senobium cleric hadn’t yet come to fetch him. On the other hand, it feels like a weirdly dangerous place to put the deathly charming Monster in? No other buildings can be seen from the window, which is either just to not clutter the view or it’s a tall building, a spire taller than the rest, which would only leave the blue sky visible from that angle. The three items that mainly occupy his space are candles (I would’ve thought he would be able to see in the dark, perhaps just not comfortably or perhaps he likes the atmosphere they create... or they're not there for his benefit, but that of his captors), books (I could swear there’s a full picture of his sketchbook somewhere but just considering this sneak peek of it here, I think it’s the one in the middle of the desk… As for the books, he doesn’t like puzzles, I’m not sure he would be the studious type, so my bet is on them being entertainment), and shackles in his bedroom and by the desk. This last detail feels particularly invasive, as the implications are that someone is scheduled to keep an eye on his routine, dictating when he is allowed bedtime and when he can read/draw/brush his tail (there’s a little brush and mirror in the shelves). There’s also some handwritten papers on his desk, I wonder if he’s allowed to send letters or if he just writes them? One additional detail caught my attention: doesn’t the decoration in the chair by his desk look remarkably similar to the design of Kuras’ earrings? Though there’s different additional elements for each, they both are a circle with three drops underneath it… Which makes me even more convinced that Kuras played a significant part in initially capturing Vere. The comment about “What do you think happened to the other prisoners?” brings to mind Vere’s insistence that if the Senobium realized what the MC is, they’d be leashed as well. I don’t doubt that other Monsters have been kept by them in a similar manner, perhaps some of them also were offered a way to end their suffering by Vere, like he did with MC in his secret/bad ending.

In a tumblr post by the dev team about his lore: “Bloodstained Snow — The Senobium's archives hold countless records of stories that defy belief. One ancient report recounts the haunting of a remote village by what is described at first as a god, and then as a demon. Heavily redacted, the papers depict a team of researchers hunted by a self-proclaimed deity that transforms into a malignant entity. After the beast succumbs to freezing conditions, its ultimate fate is unknown-doubtlessly lost with the pages removed from the report.” I would bet that this is (part of) the reason why Vere dislikes snow… Apart from that, it’s interesting that Vere presented as a god first. History is written by the victors, and I wouldn’t take this recounting as the full truth. If he approached the village like he did with us, at first charming (if a bit unnerving, but deities can afford that) and then started preying on people’s trauma/insecurities, it’s not much of a stretch that they’d label him a demon—and to be fair, his monstrous form doesn’t inspire much safety either. I wonder if he first caught Kuras’ attention (or wrath) by proclaiming himself a god?

I’m also still thinking of Vere being a foil for Mhin: both hunt Soulless, he does out of obligation and they do presumably as a choice in line with their ideals; one leans completely on his Monster side and lets it leak through nonchalantly, the other despises Monsters and hides their own unnatural skills; Vere puts on airs to hide his thoughts, overwhelming you with (effective or not) charm, while Mhin is standoffish and avoids opening up by… well, avoiding you.

Ais

The Exile notices “Not many scars, though. Strange. Save for one cut along his brow, Ais is unmarked for how seasoned he acts.” In a post on tumblr the team answered a question about this particular scar: “Ais’s scar serves as a memento of his first day in the human realm, a stark reminder of all that can be lost. His gang imparted a lesson he’ll never forget, and he returned the favor in kind.” What feels more likely to me, is that he passed through the Shroud with his gang, they had a serious disagreement and/or they betrayed him (we already know from the character sheets and other hints that he doesn’t like being alone, I feel like it’d take something serious for him to turn his back on them), fought and he got injured during this confrontation. Then he found (?) Ocudeus, and we can assume from the fact that the red-eyed woman who lead us to the Seaspring still had visible marks of her previous health, that the Seaspring doesn’t restore wounds, so the wound was already there and didn’t get healed. I don’t think it’s likely that Ais has regenerative powers (also, his knuckles are bruised constantly, and he bleeds when MC bites him).

Leander also says that Ais “doesn’t see humans as equals”. Humans, by their very nature, can’t realistically be a match for the power of a Monster, so Ais wouldn’t consider them on the same level as him. In the same line of thinking, he seems to like more when MC can hold their own, and I feel like it’s connected to his trauma about being betrayed: if people can take care of themselves (like Vere, who’s as dangerous as Ais, and Leander, whom he respects), if he gets betrayed by those he likes, then at least he won’t have to hold back and it will be a fair fight.

When Ais says his old gang “took a walk”, the Exile wonders about this “He knows how to scare people, and he expects submission, but it’s uncommon for someone so used to being in power to be so… alone.” The Exile also has the most positive reaction by far to the Soulless in the Seaspring. When talking with Mhin, the Exile says “[Ais’] Soulless seem to like him though […] There’s a big difference between Ais’ Soulless and that many-eyed Soulless [that attacked me].” Being playful (perhaps even being in groups) isn’t a behavior they usually display, and I wonder how much of that is because they share being under the influence of Ocudeus so they're not hostile to what they consider allies, and how much it could be Ais’ doing instead: if he feels so alone, I would bet that he would (subconsciously or not) use the bond with the Groupmind as a way to feel less isolated, and those feelings impact the behaviour of the Soulless.

Ais talks about “a time where Leander’s resolve will be tested, same for anyone in this plane or the next” I think that the Adderstones remind him of what he had, or could have had. He sees something of himself in Leander, but Ais is jaded by his previous experience. I now wonder if the assassination attempts are his way to test him, make sure he’s ready for whatever comes, something that he feels like he lacked when he was left alone?

The lore post about Ais on the official tumblr reads: “Death Knell — Whispers echo about a fearsome Monster within the Shroud, their overwhelming power and authority stretching across the realm’s underworld. Few have seen the face of this infamous ruler. As Monsters continued to abandon the Shroud to seek thrills in the human realm, the being stayed behind, devouring forsaken domains and Monsters alike until no challenges were left. Now, as the being seeks conquest elsewhere, Monsters stir in anticipation of impending carnage.” This also could reference the time where [everyone’s] resolve will be tested; I wonder if it’s a general comment, about Monsters as a whole (Ais himself likes a good challenge), or if Ocudeus specifically is working towards something. In England, there was a tradition to ring the so called passing bell from the church when someone’s death was imminent; then the death knell when they passed away (there’d be additional rings to signify gender, and age, so that people could get an idea of who it was); and finally the corpse bell when the funeral was being held. If we want to read too much into the cool moniker, perhaps Ais is not meant to be the harbinger of chaos, but merely a warning sign.

The Unnamed will comment about hearing a faint heartbeat pulsing underground, when they first approach the land near the Seaspring. Earlier they also comment about feeling a kind of thrumming in Eridia itself, I wonder how far Ocuseus’ influence expands? Is it limited to where its Groupmind members are?

Leander says that he’s known Ais for around six years, which considering Kuras says that Ais is a recent arrival, could be that he’s passed through the Shroud into Eridia for less than a decade even?

Mhin

They’re EVEN MORE of a nerd in this version. Clearly knowledgeable about Soulless’ biology, even though they deny having studied anatomy or medicine. In an older post on the devs' tumblr, “Mhin was forced to apply their anatomical knowledge to violence in order to survive. After years of bitter experience, they learned to fight with agility, elegance, and surgical precision. Even in Eridia, their skills see more use in combat than healing.” which again makes me think they maybe didn’t formally study them, but being an apprentice to someone isn’t out of the equation (perhaps even Kuras, the Divine Teacher?). Them saying to an Alchemist’s red choice “It’s been a while since I had someone answer [my theories]” hints that they weren’t always alone in leading a life like this, before. Like Leander says about them, “Vulnerability doesn’t get you much except heartache.”

“Something about them is strange, unlike any human or Monster I’ve ever met. I can’t quite place my hand on why, and that’s a first” is what an Unnamed says when first encountering them. Not human, not Monster, but a mix of both—Not enough Monster yet too far gone from Human. A post on the devs’ tumblr depicts Mhin (partially?) transformed: they’re still clearly recognizable, it could be they’re just mid transformation but considering the comment from the Unnamed, I don’t think Mhin can become fully a Monster (like, say, Vere’s shadow fox is also kinda incorporeal but more shaped): it is said that Monster gain more control over their human form as time progresses, so Mhin has probably only recently become like this. The description of “a tar-like substance leaking from their eyes and bony extrusions” matches their pin designs as well as their “costume” in the official 2024 Halloween art, and the tar/blood leaking from their eye matches the pastry on the official 2025 Valentine’s Day art (bottom right corner).

Ais calls them “dove” and considering their Monster form seems to be quite the opposite, black ichory feathers and all, makes me believe that Ais has seen them shifted sometime and is poking fun at it. Or I’m just reading into it too much and it’s about them having white hair and Ais defaulting to bird nicknames for some reason.

The Exile comments “It’s one thing to strike down Soulless. They’re creatures of instinct, aggressive and dangerous to everyone. But Monsters are lucid, thinking beings—beings that Mhin seems to loathe.” It feels like their hatred is brought on by how familiar they are: they know the thoughts that compel a Monster (hence their insistence that MC seeks help from someone less dangerous than them) and they hate that they’re their own thoughts.

In a recent post detailing their daily schedule, it seems to me that Mhin doesn’t sleep, or barely does. I’m more inclined to say that it’s a consequence of their nature, that they haven’t accepted (so they still want to sleep, even if they can’t or don’t need it), similar to how Kuras doesn’t really eat.

Since they both compete in the same field, I wonder if Mhin and Vere first met while hunting Soulless? Do they ever meet while on the same contract, or do they run in different circles?

I don’t think they mentioned this in the first demo, but Mhin says they grew up in Eridia. Which really surprised me, because in the pre-release content they’re referred as “outsider” and “outcast”… Unless that’s changed in the rewrite, maybe they were cast off when they were young, or maybe they weren’t physically exiled but rather their family/group of origin estranged them? “Eridia wasn’t perfect, but it used to be a place worth living in” also could be said in a more subjective sense, Mhin didn’t lead a perfect life but they were satisfied with it before. Moreover, Leander says about them “I’ve known them since they arrived here.” Perhaps they grew up in Eridia, left at some point, and came back later? And when asking Kuras about Mhin, he says “Like you, they’re a recent arrival.” though that could just be that Kuras has a different concept of time, considering he’s centuries old. In any case, I highly doubt it’s just an oversight from the team because so far every detail is very curated. There’s something here about Mhin’s timeline that I can’t quite put my hands on yet.

Now the juiciest bit of info about them yet in my opinion, is on their tumblr lore drop from the studio: “Lost Expeditions — In a bygone era, before Eridia became the last beacon of humanity, there was Lovent. Yet where a bustling metropolis once stood, there is now only a blasted crater and empty ruins, blanketed by fog. The inhabitants, and large chunks of the city, had vanished into thin air. Over the following years, scholars flocked to the ruins in search of answers. Like the Loventians, they disappeared without a trace, and none ever returned.” Lovent is also referenced in another post, as “The previous largest city, Lovent, was the epicenter of the first Fogfall. In the century since, Soulless and Monster incursions destroyed most cities, leaving Eridia as the largest remaining one.” It makes me wonder, if Mhin maybe did grow up in Eridia, went to Lovent either in time to be caught in its destruction, or afterwards to investigate it. It’s possible that this is how they became a Monster… In the description of their flower, there’s also a reference to “barren wastelands to ruins perpetually shrouded in Fogfall” which is way too similar to “empty ruins, blanketed by fog” to be a coincidence. It’s possible that they physically entered the Fogfall/Shroud, and what emerged wasn’t fully them anymore.

Thanks if you read so far, as always I’m always happy to read other thoughts about it all or if I missed something 👀

[d3lly1000]

SILVAZE FAMILY IS HERE!!!!! I've been thinking a lot about the concepts I wanted to explore with them and their lore and I'm finally satisfied with the result! Even though I'm not a big fan of Silvaze, I think the dynamics between them are interesting to work with. And for my AU, they're quite relevant!

Here are some fun facts about them in my Sonic Next Gen AU:

Blaze and Silver, the Empire of the Guardians.

- Silver and Blaze were together at the end of the Great Incident at the End of the World, a bigger problem that arose and began with Villains already known to them and Sonic's gang. - After Blaze became Queen of the Sun Empire, Blaze lost contact with Sonic and his friends. She could no longer return to their dimension, as she now understood the consequences her Trips there had within the Dimensions. - Her routine became more hectic than ever, although she always remained a responsible and organized Cat in her duties as Royalty. - Silver understood that Blaze was an important part of his life after all the past events, and so he made the Sacrifice of staying by her side in her Dimension. Leaving his future origin and his old team in it, who were now also in good hands and safe, in an emotional farewell. - Even though Silver decided to stay with Blaze, he remained responsible for being the Guardian of Time. Having possession of the Time Stones and ensuring that no one interferes in any event, be it past, present or future. - After time passed, as they were now married, ruling their own Empire and being guardians of powerful jewels with Blaze, Silver always wanted to start a family. But it was a distant thought, since pregnancy between different Species was risky for both the mother and the child. Blaze also didn't like the idea of ​​being a mother very much, even though she knew that at some point, she would need someone to inherit her legacy as Queen coming from the same blood. - After some hesitation, Blaze makes the decision. She would also like to start a family with Silver, and is now more open to the idea. She mentions that he made many sacrifices for her and she was willing to do the same for him.

Chance and Cyrus, the Twins coming from the Sun.

- Chance and Cyrus are twins, born during sunset. Their names refer to Good Luck and Enlightenment. - Chance is worthy of inheriting and ruling the Sun Empire in the future, as she is the first to be born. - Although they were very close when they were younger, Cyrus feels that Chance should not inherit the Throne. Since she feels unprepared and often overestimated, this leads to the birth of a greater Envy. - Chance and Cyrus were conceived with their mother's Pyrokinetic powers. But not only these, they also inherited The Eternal Flames. Their mastery of these is equivalent to the total mastery of fire that will never go out, being lethal if it reaches its Peak. Their powers were dormant within them when they were still young, and neither of them knew about it… Until they became young Adults. - Cyrus can also teleport and create weapons through telekinetic powers. Chance has always been very reluctant about his powers over fire, having much more connection to the Flames than his brother. - Chance, despite being destined for the Throne, never felt confident about it. She talks countless times about her insecurity with her father, with the fear of disappointing everyone. Silver has always been one of her great voices to guide and calm her. While her mother, has always been the inspiration to keep doing the right thing and be determined during her journey. - Cyrus has always shown interest in the throne, but while he has not yet achieved it, he has trained to continue as the protector of Time, like his father. Although he was never able to actually go with him during his time away, he learned a lot from Silver about how time can be treacherous and affect countless events… Something he always reminds himself of.

Nova Del Sol, the Youngest Prince.

- Nova is the youngest child and also the most withdrawn of the other two siblings. Born during the night, this last pregnancy was the calmest Blaze has had, which was a positive surprise, knowing the great risks involved in having children of different species. - Unlike his two siblings, Nova never had any great connections with fire, he always had an irrational fear of large Flames. - He was always very interested in the stars and the waters. - Nova has the ability to create a Gravitational Field, despite being a child, he gained great mastery over his powers. As a baby, his abilities acted erratically and almost always as his feelings took over. - Blaze always comforts him by reading books and telling stories during his nightmares, something that happens quite often. - Silver always enjoyed playing with him, creating stories and helping him with his lessons. Although he is always surprised by his own son's reasoning ability. - There are times when Nova says, "I've seen this before," but in reality, he has brief visions of the future. He still hasn't figured out the purpose of this, perhaps it's to predict something worse coming in the future…

Extra Fun Fact: All 3 children end with "Del Sol" since they are children of mixed species. A concept I put into my Next Gen AU: Although they are not necessarily a mix of species, their names do not end with the animal they are. Which indicates that they are considered hybrid children! (The theory of Amy Rose being part Echidna is interesting to me too lol) Finally, I believe that's it! I've been planning to write and draw some scenes about them. Even though I've already shown a bit of Chance's old concept here, I feel like I ended up giving her a new vision, and besides… I ended up adapting what was already going to happen before >:) See here also my SonAmy kid: Skyler The Hedgehog! See here also my Shadow's kid: Aura The Porcupine! Thank you very much for reading, sorry for the English mistakes! <3

[yeah-ephi]

I've been making a little google-doc analysing the links between songs on Clancy and their music videos and one thing I've picked up on is the use of flowers, specifically yellow ones, in different music videos since Trench. As an ex film student as well as a trainee florist, I'm very interested by what different flowers can represent when used in visual media.

°❀.ೃ࿔* First: Let’s take a look at Jumpsuit.

The flowers in this video are Gerberas, known for their rich colours and distinctive shape. Like sunflowers, Gerberas are known to turn towards the sun's light. They can represent a closeness to nature, as well as innocence and stress-reduction. Yellow ones specifically can be seen to represent friendship.

In relation to the Jumpsuit video, they are seen growing on the bottom of the valley Tyler/Clancy wanders through after Nico catches up with him. Much like how gerberas turn towards the light, the bright yellow is enough to break his dazed state to gaze back at the Banditos lining the cliff's edge. Obviously, we know that lorewise yellow has a protective quality against the Bishops, so it makes sense how these flowers were able to help him break free from Nico's control.

Additionally, their connection to innocence could be linked to Clancy's wonder at encountering the Banditos for the first time, and his realisation that the group he'd only ever heard rumours of were in fact real. This can also be relevant to the specific meaning behind yellow gerberas, and their links to friendship and optimism, given how the relationship between Clancy, Torchbearer and the rest of the Banditos develops, and the hope the group represents.

We see the flowers once more in the music video for Nico and the Niners, this time wilted and hidden away in a draw. They bring colour to the otherwise grey and dull rooms of the city, as well as representing the thread of hope Clancy clings to that he might finally escape for good this time.

°❀.ೃ࿔* Now: Routines in the Night

The flowers in this video are a type of Chrysanthemum, seen both on a desk behind Tyler and on his bedside table. Chrysanths are an interesting flower, as they hold many different meanings from culture to culture. The yellow chrysanthemum is the one deemed the 'traditional' form of the flower, with the name deriving from the greek 'chrysos' meaning gold, and 'anthemon' meaning flower. A lot of eastern cultures link them to luck and royalty, whereas in the west they can carry more of a solemn association of mourning and sorrow, given their commonplace in funeral arrangements. They do, however, still carry an association with optimism in certain areas.

In this video, the choice to include yellow chrystanths is still linked to the Banditos, especially given the inclusion of the bishop cloaks in the closet in the following chorus. The flowers are there to offer Tyler protection from the thoughts and insecurities plaguing his mind as he tries to sleep. Again, they hold a strong connotation of friendship in the US, very different from the sympathetic implications throughout a lot of Europe.

It's also interesting to note that the room they are found in is lit in blue, as opposed to the mostly red lighting throughout the rest of the video. We know that within the lore, blue is a colour symbolising defeat (in reference to that one blurryface tweet about wearing blue on stage), so with the flower’s associations they could represent either sorrow at impending defeat, or a thread of hope to keep pushing on.

°❀.ೃ࿔* Finally: Navigating.

It's a little harder to make out which flowers these are, but given the image of a cup-like flower with flat petals at the base and a bent stem, I believe these to be some kind of Wild Daffodil (or as it is also known, a Narcissus). For such a beautiful and common flower, they tend to hold quite a dark symbolism. This is in part due to the link between their alternative name 'Narcissus' and the character of the same name in Greek mythology doomed to fall in love with his own reflection, but also due to their commonplace as a graveyard flower during the Victorian period. They are commonly referenced in literature, such as in William Wordsworth's 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' poem.

I think the negative connotations of hubris and death apply to its appearance in this video, which serves as a direct parallel to the gerberas in Jumpsuit. Again, Clancy is being guided by the Banditos, but unlike before, he doesn't spare a glance to the hardy yellow flowers growing from the ground. We know that he has begun to become absorbed by his power to seize ("the crown his heavy but I can carry it" "I will be their example of absolute power, I feel alive again"), and if he does indeed fall down the Bishop path (which I'm not entirely sold on being the end of the story) it would indeed be in line with what the daffodil represents symbolically.

Alternatively, they are also one of the first signs of spring, a season that represents fresh starts and hope. Their bulbs survive through cold winters ready to rise once the sun thaws the winter frosts. They are resilient flowers, much like how Clancy persists despite finding himself captured and back in Dema again and again. Despite all their negative implications, hope is still at the core meaning of this flower; and the same can be said for Clancy.

A huge thanks to anyone who read all of that, I really enjoy analysing the visual elements of these videos as a lot of thought goes into how it reinforces the message of the individual song or overall story. I know this was a long one, but there's truly so many different meanings you can pull from even just one singular flower.

If the rumours that one of the tracks on Breach being named ‘Flowers’ is true, they did that specifically with me in mind. And you bet I’ll be analysing that as well.

I'm also well aware that at least 2 of these examples are naturally growing flowers in the filming locations, but I do believe the active choice to include them as a focal point holds some type of meaning.

Thanks again for reading, I'm sure i'll find something else to ramble over soon as I keep on analysing stuff.

:)

[majorasnightmare]

i finally did it. character relevant sex lore for the party bicycle YAHOO

this post fucking fought me every step of the way. thats what i get for writing character analysis while violently ill and dosed to the moon on meds. enjoy in detail content on how bhaals favorite gore baby straight out of pottery barn fucks his way through the sword coast

content warnings for below the cut for sexual content and references to past sexual abuse 👇

so dirges relationship with sex is kind of... intense? ironically its at its simplest in his bhaalist years but that baggage gets carried over into experiences post tadpoling

bhaalist!dirge did... NOT have a good relationship with sex. the act itself was to be done for procreation, to seed the world with spawn to help fulfill Bhaal's goals, and to that end Dirge was coerced via duty into having sex with volunteering priestesses to try and conceive. Those efforts never bore fruit, and Dirge unconsciously tried to avoid that particular duty whenever possible, and it contributed greatly to his compulsive need to prove himself fit and worthy as Bhaal's vessel to avoid having to conceive an heir. the pleasure was embodied in the ecstasy of murder, a sensation somewhere between a full body orgasm and an addictive drug high, an instictive kill response triggered by Bhaal's blessing, and a sign that Dirge was the favored child. the desire for sex, for intimacy with another living person, was a sin, a sign of weakness. if you wanted the feeling, all you had to do was kill, and kill well. if you didnt want to kill, then it must be because you desired to spread your seed and incubate another heir to the throne of blood. what else could you possibly be looking for?

so dirge more or less avoided sexual encounters as a whole during his bhaalist years, up until meeting gortash, where gortash was an intimate human connection dirge WASNT going to kill (for the sake of bhaals schemes), and furthermore gortash was a connection that encouraged dirge to view himself as a person with desires outside of bhaal. things snowballed, and dirge fell into a cycle of sleeping with gortash that looked something like this

-be overwhelmed by the crushing weight of being a living religious idol

-feel soul destroying amounts of guilt for not living up to the standards set for you by yourself and everyone you interpret as a voice of authority on the matter

-refuse to go home because you hate yourself and your procrastinating on the inevitable routine of self flagellation and overwork until you feel youve earned the right to exist again

-end up at gortashs because you dont know where else to go

-seriously consider killing gortash and freeing yourself of this final piece of connection tying you to the material plane and potentially keeping you from killing the world. avoid killing gortash for exactly that reason

-let yourself be talked into making use of your time here by working on your schemes and projects together. be completely unable to focus and emotionally distraught

-be convinced into letting gortash relieve your stress. let things get carried away and take your clothes off. finally indulge your desire to be close to another person. >not your fault >banite talked you into it >youll kill him about it later

-you dont want to be responsible for your own desires or actions but you want to be guided by someone who knows how to make this work, so now that youve already shot yourself in the foot, might as well deepthroat the barrel. go completely submissive in bed and give gortash the thrill of a lifetime being the dom for a murderbeast that only tames itself for him

-have a genuinely really nice enjoyable time having sex

-wake up at the crack of dawn before gortash wakes up, feel completely disgusted and ashamed with yourself for succumbing to the weak desire for social connection, use his bathroom to clean yourself up, leave through his window without saying anything.

-promise yourself your never going to do this again, find someone to kill on the way out, crawl back home in disgrace to get started on that routine of self flagellation (literally)

-rinse and repeat.

and that cycle more or less stayed stable entirely up until dirges lobotomy. but dirge got to carry alllllll that unexamined guilt and trauma with him into his second go around

Post tadpoling, Dirge doesn't retain the old religious values that punished him for connection seeking, though he DOES retain the effects it left him with. Topping triggers traumatic memories of feeling coerced into trying to conceive at the temple (though he only recalls the intense discomfort, bereft of context or reason), and the years of religious guilt means hes so consciously present in his body that he struggles to finish. He also just takes a long time to climax overall. The discomfort doesnt start fading until a good bit into his relationship with Minthara. Generally this means his preference is to just treat his body as a tool his partner can use to make themselves feel nice, and Dirge derives a LOT of pleasure from watching his partner climax because of him. Its usually enough to satisfy him even if he doesnt cum, just as long as his lover does. This was one of the main sticking points in his relationship with Astarion, and one of the reasons Astarion eventually transitioned their relationship away from sex.

Dirge post tadpoling doesnt project any particular meaning onto sex and mostly sees it as a way to enjoy yourself physically, and is very open to casual and platonic sex. He sleeps with Astarion off and on throughout act 1 very casually when giving Astarion blood, he sleeps with Gale to reaffirm to Gale that he IS desirable and attractive, Dirge just cant reciprocate the exact kind of relationship Gale wants, and Dirge sleeps with Karlach after her engines fixed cuz he told her hed stay open to the idea and shes been pent up for a decade. Its something thats enjoyable to do, and Dirge takes to the role of attentive seducer quite well, lavishing affection on a partner over and over and over again, so he doesnt see a reason to abstain from it when its so fun, and it can do nice things for the people hes sleeping with. dirge very much is the kind of guy you can fuck without changing literally anything about your relationship to him, and he makes that clear before you blow his back out.

while dirge CAN be dominant in bed, he enjoys himself the most when hes being submissive. the dom/sub dynamic has more of an influence on how "into it" he gets than any other particular kink, because for dirge the relationship of power, potential for violence, and the physicality of his body are all intrinsically linked together. dirge is a killing machine that receives pleasure from inflicting death, and finds peace in receiving pain, and he is constantly aware of those facts. if someone isnt making him submit, hes doing the work of taming himself for them, and thats going to contribute to his difficulty losing himself in the experience. its easier and more enjoyable for him to pleasure a partner unwilling or unable to dominate him, because he can divert most of his attention off of himself onto intuiting the noises and motions of their body to pull the strongest reactions out of them.

when it comes to actual sex acts, dirge is a MASSIVE fan of oral. dirge typically seeks to satisfy multiple of his senses at the same time, and burying himself between his partners thighs ticks multiple checkboxes for him. its a reliable way of pleasuring a partner that rewards attention to body language and patience, it brings him close to multiple erogenous zones on his partners body (inner thighs, lower stomach, behind the knees, all within easy reach of his hands or easily manipulatable to bite, kiss, or otherwise mark), it satisfies multiple senses at once (nuzzling against his partners thigh, indulging the taste of them on his tongue, savoring the intensity of their scent so close to their heat, being able to look up and make eye contact), its something he can happily do for hours at a time until his partner wants him to stop, and above all its something one sided he can give to his partner without having to receive anything. dirge is free to take pleasure in the act itself and what it does to his lover without worrying about his bodys own reactions to things his lover might want to do to him, and in a d/s context its a blatant act of fulfilling devotion and worship that is its own reward. dirge is a very worshipful submissive, combining aspects of pet play with religious kink, needing a dominant to domesticate and take charge of him, before he rewards their efforts with service, devotion, and worship as thanks for going through the efforts of taming his more unruly urges. to that end, once minthara and him agree on their romance, she collars him as part of their initial courtship so that she has a means of restraining him on hand at all times.

dirges understanding of interpersonal power, autonomy, and self control are all tied up with his desires in social relationships and intimate connections, so because hes a bhaalspawn, because hes specifically an instinctive killer, the concept of indulgence itself carries inherent risk, and furthermore it carries the burden that he is not an infallible paragon of restraint. if dirge wants to be fully present in a relationship, he needs an external vehicle of control that isnt centered within his own capabilities of restraint, because otherwise he'll betray himself and act out against his own wishes and cause harm when he doesnt want to. dirge NEEDS someone to leash him so he can fully let go, but the responsibilities and risks of something like that are too much to reasonably expect out of most people. so far minthara and gortash have been the only ones willing to step up to be his self control kill switch

anything that plays into or around dirges power dynamics will typically be received well. bondage and restraints are enjoyable for him, alongside most forms of painplay. he has a huge thing for blood, and letting him draw it or drawing blood yourself and letting him catch the scent of it will sharply increase the intensity of the experience

generally dirge enjoys spoiling his lovers, dedicating the entire night to them with barely any focus on himself, lavishing affection on them, and using his own body to pleasure theirs, or letting his partner use his body themselves. intense scenes push dirge into subspace where his tendency to worship a lover gets emphasized, and he has a much easier time finishing like that and is prone to overstimulation. because he usually focuses so much on his lover, dirge tends to be quiet in bed, but gets increasingly vocal the deeper hes pushed into subspace

the only thing dirge possibly enjoys more than having sex with someone, is the aftercare afterwards. dirge gets incredibly soft and sweet after sex, and is a very big cuddler. aftercare is another oppurtunity to spoil his lover, to service and attend to them, and he enjoys the feeling of winding around them in the afterglow of it all. typically, the night has gone on long enough to thoroughly work through most of his visceral cravings for intense sensation, pain and blood, and with the Urge cowed through dominance and satisfied through intensity, whats left is shameless affection. hes very much an acts of service+physical contact love language kind of guy

it probably goes without saying but there isnt much that dirge wont experiment with, as long as it turns his partner on. hes also very openly a monster fucker, and the potential for dramatic violence holds deep erotic appeal for him. chimeric hybrids of monster and man scratch an itch meant to be soothed by the rejected slayer form for him, and his "hear me out" cake features bloodbornes ebrietas, daughter of the cosmos and the moon presence, and would almost certainly include several of MtG's phyrexians if i knew more about them. hed happily solve the lament configuration to fuck a cenobyte ala hellraiser, and he almost definitely found several of the necromorph transformations in dead space remastered viscerally satisfying

overall dirge is a submissive bottom who prefers being able to focus almost the entirety of his attention to servicing his lover, as his own pursuit of pleasure requires a lot of time investment and intensity that has to be increased either physically through stimulation or emotionally through domination, but finds plenty of satisfaction and enjoyment through his effects on his lover. the act of sex is very casual for dirge, with the d/s dynamic being more emotionally charged and the relationship standard for dirge. hes very open to polyamory, but wont seek out another dom if hes already leashed to one, but will happily share a partner so long as everyone is satisfied with the arrangement. he has a very high stamina, owing to his particular collection of cult traumas and bhaalspawn traits and how they more or less ensure he takes a while to satisfactorily finish, and he will gladly suck the strap like his life depends on it and eat out his lover like a starving man graced with his last meal. he adores all the attention aftercare provides, and it means that if anyone plans on actually making a night of sleeping with dirge thats more than a quick roll in the hay, it WILL be a multi hour affair so dirge can propely indulge in all the physical stimuli their body can offer. he is, also, super big on terms of endearment and if you dont give him something to call you, hes going to invent his own and itll probably be something morbidly sweet.

all in all, probably a rewarding lay for anyone who can make it past all the cult trauma spike traps and dark urge murder scares! or at least the post coital snuggles would be

[residentcryptid]

TLoZ: Call of the Void ★ it's the lore post

Are you tired of seeing me post music with absolutely zero context and/or explanations besides "haha silly goofy tune"?

If yes, you should click the read more button :-0

SPOILER WARNING FOR TLOZ ECHOES OF WISDOM

what is this?!?!?

It's a fanmade soundtrack project for The Legend of Zelda series!

TLoZ: Call of the Void started out as a one-shot TTRPG campaign that I was going to run for my friends in ye olden days, which did not end up happening. Honestly, that was probably for the best because the first draft of this was not very good!!

ANYWAY!!!!!

There are going to be between 25-30 pieces of music in total and they will (IDEALLY) be available to listen to across all platforms by DECEMBER 2025.

so, what's it even about?

Our story takes place about 400 years after the events of Tears of the Kingdom, in a somewhat more technologically advanced Hyrule than the one of the past. Lately, though, folks have been reporting disappearances, large swarms of monsters suddenly appearing near villages, and unusual violet chasms. Many have begun to believe that these events are connected, somehow.

There's this old prophecy that states that a hero, a priestess, and a sorcerer will rise to save Hyrule from... whatever it is that's causing all of these problems, but our heroes will soon discover that there are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle.

The TLDR is that this story is full of red herrings, the real big bad here is Null, who Vidar is working for, and despite traveling across the land, the sky, and the depths, our heroes aren't able to fully stop our favorite orb shaped ancient evil from breaching containment and nearly succeeding in plunging the world into nothingness.

ok cool, now who are these people?

these guys are the most relevant to the plot, which is why they're the only ones listed here!

i will make a separate post for side characters, which will be linked here once it's up (which may take a while because i still need to design and draw all of them....... crying)

Link

Link was born in a small village, a short walk away from the Lost Woods. He grew up being warned of the dangers that lay beyond. To their dismay, he'd sneak out in search of these things, armed with nothing but his father's old broadsword.

On one of his ventures into the Lost Woods, he stumbled upon one of those weird old temples. There, he found the Master Sword. Eventually, that led to him becoming Zelda's personal guard. They're pretty close friends now.

Interests include monsters, where the monsters are, how to defeat the monsters, and the foods you can cook with monster parts.

Link also communicates exclusively through Hylian sign language, which is commonly taught and used throughout Hyrule at this point.

Princess Zelda

Hyrule's crown princess, who's known for her bubbly, energetic personality & love for learning.

Zelda often spends the little spare time she has traveling through Hyrule, studying the plants, animals, and other natural curiosities of her kingdom.

She's also determined to find the root cause of the disasters that have plagued her people for centuries and do away with it for good. Perhaps her light magic will play a role in that…?

The pressure of being the crown princess gets to her sometimes and the visions she's been getting lately haven't helped ease the anxiety.

Kije Dragmire

The younger Dragmire brother, whose very existence was the first warning sign that the prophecy may be flawed. Only one Gerudo male is to be born every 100 years, so it goes. It never accounted for twins. Or for the younger one to be the bearer of the Triforce of Power. Weird situation all around.

Growing up, Kije's always been something of an afterthought. That's not to say he was forgotten, but it was very clear that no one expected him to even… exist. Being routinely left out of things did allow him more time to study magic on his own time. Silver linings.

Kije is a masterful sorcerer who favors fire, lightning, & wind. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't born able to do any of that. It was through meticulous study & the creation of his own personal spellbook, as well as his strong sense of tenacity & determination.

Outside of magic, he's also taken to studying the history of Hyrule & making jewelry for himself & his friends. He'll never pass up a chance to talk about weird and cool rocks & the best places to find them. He & Zelda could go on forever about stuff like that, really.

Io Ota

Io is a researcher & inventor whose pursuit of knowledge has put them directly in harm's way more times than they can remember. Most of their expertise lies in creating useful (and cool) gadgets & the long-lasting effects of the Upheaval.

They're also responsible for creating an updated model of the Wild era's Sheikah Slate that the current figureheads of Hyrule (and Link) use to communicate from a distance.

While they were originally from Kakariko village, they set off to do their own thing by the time they were 14, citing everyone's concern over their wellbeing as an "annoyance" that was getting in the way of their studies.

Now they've set up shop in the Windvane Tech Lab, located southeast of Mabe Village.

Ganondorf Dragmire

Ganondorf is the oldest Dragmire sibling (by what, a few minutes?) & is quite adamant that he should have been the bearer of the Triforce of Power. And that his younger brother should not exist. He's regarded as a natural-born leader, warrior, and a... generally tolerable person to be around. That is, if you're willing to put up with his brutal honesty & excruciatingly blunt manner of communication.

As the oldest of the three, he's set to succeed Chief Rika as the leader of the Gerudo, which most folks were pretty content with. He's always been the most serious and, to some, the most dedicated to his people (not much of a competition when Kije & Deva are never really around). Unfortunately though, almost everyone thinks it's weird and cringe to try to assassinate your own brother with the help of a strange little bug-eyed shapeshifter.

Honestly, he never cared about Vidar's personal goals (didn't even him seriously, really), nor did he care about what happened to the Princess or her goofy green swordsman, but it was hard to resist an offer to get rid of Kije in order to rightfully claim what should have been his piece of the Triforce. Alas. Some things are just not meant to be.

Vidar Leucanthe

A teenage shapeshifter with a chip on his shoulder. After a lifetime of being kicked around by the people around him, he developed a hate for Hylians that led him to partnering with an ancient being to bring about the end of the world. And yes, he knows he'll die too & he doesn't really seem to care.

Vidar has a morbid sense of humor, sometimes behaves like a feral cat, and avoids forming close bonds with other people. Often refers to himself as "we" and seems to have a strong inferiority complex, only displaying a modicum of confidence when masked or in a non-human form.

Originally, he was from Mabe Village. The circumstances of his birth were quite unusual, inexplicable even, and he's the only member of the Leucanthe family with the ability to shapeshift & the only one with those dark markings all over his body. He later comes to figure out why that is, but for most of his life, he's just been treated like a monster or a bad omen of sorts.

After a brutal monster attack in his village (that was blamed on him! for no reason!), he cut everyone off and left. Hasn't spoken to his folks since that day. Eventually, he stumbled upon a rift, which interestingly, he wasn't affected by. He can just go in and out of the Stilled World at will... Again, he will later figure out why that is.

His current home is located in the Great Sky Island, hidden away from all of the other villages up there. In his spare time, he likes to carve miniature critters out of wood. His house is full of them (and several other trinkets from across the lands).

is anyone else working on this??

as of now, no 🥲 just me sadly rip

[iamespecter]

Taking advantage of the fact that you reopened your questions, I've always wanted to ask you if you plan to show more of your Brawl Beasts OCs. Any lore or something caught my attention. I hope the question isn't too personal.

EHEHEHEHHEHEHHE twirls hair omg anon,,,,.,.,.,,., flutters my eyelashes at this question

I don't talk a lot about my OCs because I got this mental illness called "being a people pleaser in fandoms" but since anon has so graciously opened the floodgates.... :3

Brawl Beasts is a story of mine (in which I hope to make it a real series someday) that centers mostly around Cederick H. Gray, a 25-year old bear that's the local fish stocker just trying to live a normal life. He has a routine of getting up, going to work, working all day, going home, and then going to sleep.

He doesn't ask for much, he just wants to fit in with everyone else but his massive size making him a klutz makes it harder to do that.

That all changes when he spots a swan running away from a bunch of authorities, and they exchange glances, a sense of foreign deja vu that leaves him confused and distracted for the rest of the day.

And about a day later, while he was completing a delivery, some authorities approached him out of nowhere for questioning about a mysterious incident from 13 years ago.

He attempts to pacify the authorities while they were trying to take him in, saying the truth that he had no idea what they were talking about, the swan lady then comes to his rescue and high-end chase sequence commences as they try to run away from authorities.

After finding a lonesome alleyway to take a breather in, Cederick dreads about the fact that he's now a criminal on the run, and the swan tells him to suck it up, because this is his life now.

Angry and confused, Cederick refuses to entertain the swan's questions and keeps bringing up the fact that the life he's spent trying to get just right is now ruined.

She then makes Cederick question the fact that he has no recollection of anything 13 years prior. Only vague flashes that are part of an incomplete picture, and it works as he mulls it over. He then questions his existence and what exactly is he, and she extends her hand, saying she could help him find out.

Cederick reluctantly agrees, and she finally introduces herself as Francesca "Cheska" J. Yellow, and that's where the story of Brawl Beasts begins.

All in all, the story of Brawl Beasts is an action-packed adventure where him and Cheska must travel to different places to puzzle pieces of his missing memories altogether, to figure out what had happened 13 years ago all the while avoiding the people that want to either capture them, or just straight up kill them for snooping around. And to do that, they need help from three others;

Matthers "Matt" D. Timber-Wolfe, a weapons specialist hitman that was blackmailed to join in order to track and sleuth down the people who may have knowledge about what happened 13 years ago,

Charles "Fuzz" G. Fuzzford, a doctor to help with anything medical related the group may need... Well, he would've been a doctor if he could just pass the exams-

And Hazel "Zel" A. Brown, an ex-con now specializing in working and fixing tech. Despite being the one to recommend her, Cheska doesn't seem enthusiastic about seeing her.

I honestly think that because of the topics and the general tone of the story, it'd be rated 17+. Which, is to be expected because it's literally called "Brawl Beasts" lmao

I unfortunately do not have a lot of art of these guys unless I count old outdated artworks that have no relevance in the current story, because I've rewritten this thing like. 10 times by now I think... after all, this concept of mine has been around for 6 years already-

And once I reveal more about it, you'll actually see connections from this story that I took to put in my AUs lmao, this is like, my own version of what City of Metronome is to Tarsier Studios

Anyways random art dump that's still kinda relevant (featuring my friend Megi's mushroom oc, Gimo)

And the bonus T-R-E-A-T meme

[wayward-robin]

No spoilers past 2x10 if possible folks!

2x04 – Stuck thoughts

I have a feeling I’ll be saying this a lot but Christopher is seriously the cutest kid! That opening morning routine scene with him and Eddie was so sweet I think it gave me cavities.

I love when drunk people get ideas. They come up with the weirdest, most random things. Like sticking your dead in a truck’s tail pipe!

Athena’s plot was interesting. I think everyone whose been in the same job for a long time can empathise with the career choice dilemma. Do you stay where you’re comfortable or risk some changes? We’re always told to aim higher but sometimes higher isn’t where you’re meant to be and can actually restrict you doing what you enjoy. I think she made a good choice. She needs to be out there doing stuff. Plus, can you imagine Athena with a partner? I can’t.

How did Chimney get his name? I’m assuming an actual chimney was involved in some for or another. Is this one of those pieces of lore that just never get explained and are a permanent mystery because I would be OK with that.

I’m very relieved Chim has no lasting consequences of the rebar through the brain. Hilarious he ran into his ex at this hospital. His very pregnant ex. You could literally see the maths running through his head when he realised that. I’m with Hen though. Chim can be the bigger person and forgive her. I’m going to hold a grudge for her being a cold hearted bitch.

Ah, Chim does remember the accident. I had wondered because he was very, very conscious throughout. Super sad he’s been holding onto all that grief – only word I can think to use that represents his reaction. I hope now he’s started to process though he can move on with.

Like Buck needs to start doing with Abby! I mean, seriously, I liked Abby well enough in season 1 but she’s practically ghosting him now. She sounds like she’s moved on, he needs to too.

Carla’s back!! Oh I missed that sunshine smile of hers! And she’s going to be looking after Christopher? Awesome!!

Do I dare ask this because I’m really not sure if I’m jumping the gun or misreading considering it’s only ep 4 but Buck helping Eddie out like he did with Chris, arranging it with Bobby so he can come to the station for the day, arranging a meeting with Carla… is this Buck stepping into it with Eddie, like he tried hard to for Abby and her mom last season after that chat with Bobby?

And Maddie directly called out Buck for his boy crush! Firstly, that is such a big sister thing to do (I know, I’ve done it myself) and secondly, this is TV. They’re not going to waste a second on pointless dialogue banter if they didn’t want it to be relevant. It’s not a novel.

Screw it. I had my friend look up the ship name for Buck and Eddie (Buddie – I like it!) so I didn’t accidentally see any spoilers and I’m tagging it going forward because its been 4 eps and these two are already ridiculous and living in my head rent free. You don’t want to read me gushing, block me.

[marianaaags]

"In Your Eyes" spoiler alert (analysis and theories)

This post ended up being longer than expected, so I appreciate in advance if you'll take the time to read it all :]

Originally I wrote all this in Spanish so I leave you the post with the original text here, in case of any error in the translation.

I wanna start by saying that this map left me with more questions than answers, but I did my best. Anyway, this post is gonna focus on Leda/Night Swan and her story, plus some theories I’ve got about where the lore might go next.

Not sure if Jack is actually The Traveler’s kid, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say he is. Jack seems to admire him a lot, to the point of trying to copy his moves from afar, while we see Leda looking annoyed, refusing to go back to Earth and arriving at Eternyx.

Here, she impresses people with her flow, with Cygnus and Mihaly being the most relevant ones. We also see her magic having an interesting interaction with the pink liquid flowing through the streets (I’ll come back to this later).

The routine goes on with Cygnus and Leda interacting, and they end up at what looks like Cygnus’ place, where he somehow impresses/manipulates Leda with a prophecy that says she would take control of the danceverse. Leda seems to like this a lot, so she changes her outfit and heads back to the observatory to bring Jack to Eternyx with her.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’m gonna try to give a chronological recap of Leda/Night Swan’s story and highlight the most important points.

In MOTD, we find out that Leda is human and entered the danceverse thanks to The Traveler and Discoball. For some reason, The Traveler decides it’s a good idea to teach her how to open portals to different danceverses (I guess it’s some kind of magic). She learns how to do it and ends up refusing to go back to Earth, staying with The Traveler and starting a relationship with him.

Like I said before, we’ll assume that Jack was born from this relationship, and this is where the events of "In Your Eyes" happen (and here’s where my theory begins). I wondered for a while, "If Cygnus is a city full of factories, what are they even producing/processing?" And I think we now have the answer... *drumrolls*

It looks like it’s flow (but a materialized, liquid kind of flow in a bright pink color). I’m not sure how it’s used, but this is a key point in my theory, so I’m gonna call it "liquid flow."

Back to the story, Leda already seemed obsessed with perfection back when she was on Earth, and meeting Cygnus and hearing the prophecy was the last straw that pushed her over the edge. But how did Cygnus realize the prophecy was about Leda? That’s right, because she could interact with the liquid flow, which leads us to Cygnus and Leda’s plan to take over the danceverse.

Now we move on to the next map, "Darkest Hour," which seems to be the first part of their plan. In this map, we see Leda in the industrial area of Cygnus, where the smoke from the factories is a pastel pink color at first, but during the routine, her interaction with the factories turns the smoke black, hinting that she corrupted the liquid flow At some point, she learns to use this liquid flow to turn the coaches into minions.

I think the story continues in "Lose Yourself," but since it’s still in beta, I’ll just highlight that in this map, we see the "corrupted liquid flow" on the streets and the minions of who is now Night Swan.

Let’s continue with everything that happens in "Enter the Danceverses" (if you’ve made it this far, I’m assuming you know what went down). But I want to point out a few details. We see Jack remembering a very specific move from The Traveler during his map, and this could be why NS seems annoyed with him. He also uses this move to save Wanderlust when he was turned into a minion. At the end, we see NS escaping to Cygnus after being defeated (probably to come up with another plan with Cygnus).

The story continues in "Dance with the Swan" (again, I’ll assume you know what happened here), and the important detail here is the ending. A while ago, I wondered, "Why does NS leave on a ship instead of using a portal?" We kinda got the answer here; the place she’s heading to is the source of the liquid flow, which, for some reason, can only be reached by ship.

Now, let’s go back to the prophecy. We see where this liquid flow naturally comes from in Eternyx, which is like a volcano on an island (based on the images, it seems like Chaos Mountain). This place was protected by three deities that NS corrupts (I’m guessing they’re coaches we already know or will get to know) and takes control of this place. After she gathers an army using the power of this corrupted liquid flow she goes back to this island, and with its power, she’s able to conquer the rest of the danceverses.

Based on this, here are my theories 🤓☝️:

Phoenix is one of the deities that protected Chaos Mountain (she’s the only coach with a routine there).

The "liquid flow" is dangerous, even when it’s not corrupted. Despite it flowing through Eternyx’s streets, no one interacts with or touches it. Jack seems like he’s about to touch it in "Treasure" but doesn’t.

NS is gonna use Discoball to send her minions to the rest of the danceverses.

Jack will somehow purify these deities to stop his mom’s plan.

I also suspect that Mothigan and Darius could be the other two deities since they’re somehow linked to flying animals, like Phoenix.

What do flying animals have to do with flow or being deities? I have no idea; honestly, I’m just pulling this theory out of thin air.

But as I was rereading this, I thought of a connection: the ability to fly. The island where the "liquid flow" originates is inaccessible without a boat, but flying could also be a way to get there. That would also explain where the names Night Swan and Cygnus come from.

That’s the end of my theories. I’m really surprised you made it this far; thanks for taking the time to read all of this 🫶, and sorry for making it so long.

Oh wow, I really just wrote 5000 characters of a theory for a dancing game. If this isn’t the definition of hyperfixation, then Idk what is

[cloudcastor]

Alright everyone AU down below!!!

I’ve been tentatively calling it “Destiny Islands AU”

On the surface, it’s a slice of life AU.In the general context of kingdom hearts, they never left the islands, Sora is just a regular school boy and all he’s worried about is what’s he gonna do once he graduates and how he’ll keep his childhood friends post-high school.

But underneath that, this is a post KH3 AU. Sora is stuck in a (wow! so original!) simulation a lá KH2. We get the “bad” and “true” end post Yozora fight, however, this AU follows the belief that the bad ending still happens. This is while Sora is asleep and in his crystal state. Using his powers, Yozora creates this as a way to keep Sora busy and ensure he doesn’t wake up any time soon to spoil any plans.

Sora’s connection to the Real World is through Riku, who has the power to reach out to him via Dreams, however, this starts to cause discrepancies. There is a “Dream” Riku and a “Real” Riku that unintentionally swap places. As Sora’s real memories start to come through, there’s hiccups in the simulation as well. Sometimes he’ll remember an experience that he knows he didn’t go through, he’ll see a ship in the sky where he once saw a boat, and sometimes people don’t remember…..Riku.

As these memories continue to surface, Sora constantly finds himself wondering what’s a dream and what’s reality.

As an aside, there’s a bit of added lore to the islands that goes as follows. The motto is Destiny Islands: of Fate, Fortune & Future.

This is thematically relevant:

FATE (memories): Play island; Where things are predestined to happen

FORTUNE(simulation): Main Island; prosperity from land, community, and tradition

FUTURE (reality): Big Island; Where those go who want change

How does this relate to Sora?

The Play Island is where the discrepancies start, and it’s where Riku first shows up. It’s a place that isn’t tied down to whatever rules the rest of the simulation is running on. A bit of a limbo if you will. This is where Sora starts to regain his true sense of self.

The Main Island is the simulation at large. It has the town, his family's shop, the school and the grocer. It’s as close to normalcy as you would imagine. If Riku hadn’t shown up Sora would probably still be stuck in the routine of it all…

The “Big Island” exists as more of a vague threat. Sora doesn’t realize that “Riku graduating and leaving the main island” means “Riku is somewhere where I'm not” to him. At least not yet. It’s also his feelings manifesting of Riku having left the islands already, except this time he has no way to follow.

Okay but where is the soriku?

It’s the Vibes™

My initial thoughts are that this is a place that’s familiar to Sora, but since it’s a world without “conflict”, it leaves him bored and reflective. Life has only ever been this hometown. Even before Riku shows up, Sora is slowly unlocking thoughts and emotions he hasn’t had the time to sit and think about for quite some time. We know he has feelings of sadness, anger, and hopelessness. Without the constant threat of the worlds falling to darkness, or friends being in danger, how would he deal with these emotions without the context. I’m sure it has him feeling confused and at a bit of a loss. The desperation starts to kick in as he imagines this dull life without Riku, he’ll do anything so he won’t get left behind(….again). It starts to break the simulation even more.

On Riku’s end… he has no idea what’s going on! Seeing Sora constantly “Dream” about the islands makes him feel guilty that he isn’t searching hard enough or that he’s not bringing him home fast enough. He truly believes Sora wants to “return home” and since he never sees himself in this simulation (because he takes his own spot) he believes it to be a home where he doesn't belong. A home he’s not welcome to return to.

However, that doesn’t stop him from at least trying to get Sora back. It’s the least he could do after all. He tells himself it’s strictly his responsibility and nothing more.

Buuuuut….. As they catch themselves meeting up from time to time, lines begin to blur. Sora thinks Real Riku is actually Dream Riku. Riku thinks Sora is simply stuck in a dream world cycle and unaware of what he’s doing. They let themselves be more honest, not knowing they are talking with each other and idk maybe they get to kiss as a treat…

The rest is a bit more of a secret since I might do something with this in the future (looks at my hands….i wanna make a comic. so bad…) but for now that’s the gist of it!

Thanks for lookin :-)

[crossdressingdeath]

DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

[jd-gifs]

Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six || Just Dance 2023

Requested by @ssstarlighttt!

[beesmygod]

fact check me on this absurd bloodborne father gascoigne deepest lore posting

i'm working on the next "you hunted" update and frankly i feel split between feeling like im doing the pepe silvia routine and partly feel like it makes enough sense to get a soft pass. i know these are so many words to read. but ultimately its about gascoigne and his stupid music box, if that means anything to you:

on our short trek from the tomb of oedon to his chapel, we pass through a weird...sewer...drainage room thing with a ladder leading to a modest library. a note on the table reads:

"The Byrgenwerth spider hides all manner of rituals, and keeps our lost master from us. A terrible shame. It makes my head shudder uncontrollably."

this note is REALLY weird. even cross-checking the re-translation guide doesn't do much but reinforce the literal meaning of the note: there's a spider at byrgenwerth (another rom, we don't know this yet) hiding rituals, even the ritual involving the lost (or, in a better translation, unseeable/invisible) lord. bummer. ahhhh my head is rattling. but...who wrote this? about who? and why?

it's time to be a Fromsoft Lore guy in the worst way: we're going to dissect this note down to its atomic structure in order to wring any and all possible meaning from it in a futile attempt to try to come up with a tortured explanation for nonsense. skip all this italicized text to return to planet earth.

who wrote this note? if we knew that, a lot of things would be cleared up. the potential suspect list comprised of known individuals who have passed through that area recently is pretty tiny. can't be fauxsefka, because she doesn't use this route to reach the clinic. alfred doesn't seem to have much interest in the church, knows little about byrgenwerth, and seems unaware of most things in general. an unnamed and unknown NPC of no consequence? well, maybe. probably, even.

but what about gascoigne? you find this note immediately after defeating him by using a key he drops. it clear he did not progress past the library, as the incense would have driven him off (and the chapel dweller's reaction suggests you are the first hunter they've seen/sniffed). there's a possible clue left in the library that points to a hunter having passed through recently: the blood gem workshop tool. its one of three "misplaced" workshop tools found in the waking world. a hunter took this with them when they left the dream and left it in a chest in oedon chapel. that narrows down the pool of candidates quite a bit. gascoigne obviously knows what blood gems are, he gifted one to his wife. and this is before we've even discussed gascoigne's connections to a "lost master".

who is this note about?  the words used for titles in the english translation are all over the place and "master" could mean anything from "school principal" to "great ones". this has made trying to pin the subject of this note down near impossible. the japanese is more specific: "lords" in this note is translated as "主" and is almost never in the script otherwise. the only relevant usage even remotely close is it's use is in a different note later as a flowery way to refer to whoever has assumed the role of vicar of the healing church (essentially: "lord of blood ministration"). it is also used for micolash ("lord of the nightmare"), the japanese name of the bloodletting beast ("lord of the beast blood"), and for master willem of byrgenwerth ONLY in the graveguard set item description1. in the case of micolash and the bloodletting beast, "lord" can be read as "host" as well. but NOT like a parasite host!!! specifically like, a household host. "host of the beast blood" is intended to be literal.

now time to play "guess who?": willem could be described as "lost" metaphorically, but he's also like, right there. out in the open. he's considerably less lost than our other two options, micolash or laurence/host of the beast blood. willem doesn't use the 主 kanji usually; he's "headmaster" willem or some other title that makes it clear he's from a school. forget willem. it's not him.

i'm pretty sure japanese players were supposed to intuit a connection between the "lord of the beast blood" and the "lord of blood ministration" and this nuance was lost in translation. and while there is a vacuous spider in lower pthumeru blocking access to a secret 4th labyrinth layer where a hunter can find a lost lord of the beast blood, it's clearly not in byrgenwerth. it's not the big doggie.

micolash, head of the rogue school of mensis, is literally lost in the nightmare acting as it's host/lord. access to the corpse of micolash is blocked until rom, the byrgenwerth spider, is defeated. so. having eliminated any alternatives, the note is almost certainly about micolash. but. why? who in oedon chapel gives a shit about micolash?

there are a truly confusing number of connections between gascoigne and the school of mensis (and thus, micolash). the most specific and startling connection is that the music box that gascoigne has a good/bad (?) reaction to plays "mergo's lullaby". this exact song plays during a fight with the wet nurse of oedon's presumed (but like, come on. it is) child, the titular mergo. if gascoigne's daughter is sent to iosekfa's clinic, you will obtain the level 1 formless oedon rune from her body which, as we discussed in the last part, depicts the blood moon descending during a (mensis) ritual; levels 3 and 4 of the rune are found in oedon chapel itself.

gascoigne's garb reads:

The dingy scarf is a Holy Shawl and symbol of the Healing Church, from which Gascoigne would eventually part ways. "Father" is a title used for clerics in a foreign land, and there is no such rank in the Healing Church.

reads a bit differently now...perhaps father gascoigne did not bring a foreign form of worship to yharnam. gascoigne left the healing church in order to start his own, based on the foreign practices of pthumeru.

only today the church is abandoned, and some say that the residents of oedon have all gone mad.

[raayllum]

I'm so sorry, but I'm SO confused. What's the difference between Deep, Dark, and Star Magic? And how are they connected??

Basic definitions:

Dark magic: magic taken by using the essence of magical creatures. Most spells need specific ingredients (sometimes multiple) and trigger words and we also see the Relic (Viren's) Staff being used for dark magic purposes*. Has no naturally occurring gemstones

Star magic: magic used by Startouch elves and a handful of other creatures, such as Starweaver spiders, or cuddlemonkeys (Stella). Involves visions, time, and seeming teleportation (Stella's little portals, the Merciful One beaming down to Aaravos, Aaravos' little bug pal*). It is incredibly rare and largely unknown in canon. Has three gemstones — quasar diamonds — that can be used to channel star magic and restore souls to bodies (most likely)

Deep magic: an ancient, older form of magic performed by beings — First Elves — in a time before there were distinct primal elves. We know one form of deep magic is just known as 'Power'.

Relevant metas (bolded is most relevant; rest are adjacent and/or helped develop bolded)

Weird connection between dark magic, star magic, and old/blood magic

Did Viren use star and dark magic to save Soren?

What's up with the dark magic dreams and Janai's nightmare?

Gift Giving & Primal vs First Elves :: Or Going Off Into the Deep Lore Deep End

What happened with Elarion?

Misc thoughts:

The tricky thing about your question OP is that the only magic of the three we have a 'good' understanding of is dark magic. Dark magic is a very cut and dry transactional process — you kill or take parts from a magical creature in order to channel that specific power into your spell — but for both star and deep magic, we can only guess. The fact that both these things are very often muddled with dark magic complicates things further.

For example, while Little bug pal / Sir Sparklepuff is very clearly Star magic — he's born and mirrored after Aaravos — "using his essence" to fully resurrect Viren is about as dark magic-y as it gets ("I'll harvest her / consume you" about Zym and Zubeia; "How are we going to take it home?" "In pieces" about the dragon in 2x07).

Then, we have Aaravos call the Blood of Child ritual "one of the old spells," which is routinely how other things — such as the Sarai avenge spell ("I knew about an ancient spell") and objects related to Aaravos (the relic staff, the cube being "an ancient relic") are referred to as well. Kpp'Ar's arm wounds are also distinguished as being "from an ancient and disturbing practice". We see blood being used in more minor dark magic spells (Claudia uses her blood to help breathe underwater, and Kim'Dael drinks it + moon magic combo) but there's been multiple instances of blood being used in spells that also use star magic (Sir Sparklepuff, the unicorn horn) alongside blood (Viren's blood, Harrow's blood) that also results in dark magic corruption ("No more dark magic, never again!" vs Viren's corrupted face after he corrupts the spear).

There are also more weird similarities — the way Callum and Viren's dark magic induced dreams warp time (Callum's foreshadow his dark magic use in S5; Viren is literally speaking to his past self "here we are again, only this time...") are the only things we've seen work that way, other than Janai's dreams that she asserts "may be a warning". And we know that time-bending and reality altering stuff is related to star magic (Callum's Spellbook).

We also know thanks to s5 that Startouch elves are known as the First Elves in ancient legends (there's that word again). Rayla states "if I can figure out how he put you into the cursed coins, maybe I can figure out how to get you out". Viren's staff — a gift from Aaravos a thousand years ago — is what put them in (dark magic?) but star magic is what can get them out (in theory) so there's a connection drawn there. The one Startouch elf we know well is Aaravos, and he can possess people if they've done dark magic, so there's a personal connection there he's pulling on through the magics, and we know he had some involvement in humans acquiring dark magic at least.

Basically the nearest thing I can figure is that:

Star magic and deep magic are possibly synonymous with no difference between them.

Unicorn / Startouch elf Leola helped give humans primal magic from a 'good' form of deep/star magic but it wasn't enough for insert xyz reason

Aaravos took it one step further and helped give humans dark magic from a form of 'bad' deep/star magic (Power), possibly through his cube key. It's primarily rooted in taking the blood/essence of things

Dark magic pulls on both this form of deep (star) magic Power and primal magic in a twisted perversion. Hence the dreams, corruption, and Aaravos' ability to possess

[gcu-sovereign]

Wrote and collected 5 pages worth of edh data tonight, interspersed with theory and a few jokes. This was after trying to pick up where I left off from the previous evening's writing, which has a much larger scope than this new project.

This new thing is meant to be comprehensive, so I'm pouring over edhrec for the relevant combinations. Turns out there are loads and LOADS of Doctor/companion combinations nobody gives a shit about! Hardly a surprise, but I think it telegraphs that lore completely overrode mechanics with that precon set. Fortunately for my sanity, I'll definitely be stopping at the 2 color decks, as spilling digital ink about ways to cheat out 1 card are routinely indistinguishable from 'do I cut this land or this spell'.

I may also dip my toe into questions about 'what are the largest mana value creature subtypes' or 'which large creatures have the least of these keywords' to add some 99-synergy too. For instance, even though yore-tiller was completely blank in my dive of commanders, Breya decks may still have things to Do from all those wacky affinity lands creatures

[twofrontteethstillcrooked]

Satanic panic: 8 Oct. Suptober

"Okay. Okay, here's the thing," Sam said, clearly struggling to keep his volume low and still be heard over the milling police, sounds of a crowd cheering on the other side of the venue's stage, and the weeping wailings of several nearby… 

Castiel wasn't sure what they were. Leather-bound, pentagram-tattooed lizard people? The rest of the band, he was given to understand.

Sam continued, "Satanic panic, 1980s style? Fake news. Never proven. All the pearl clutching and accusations about ritualistic satanic sacrifices and abuses, totally unsubstantiated. At best, you could say, yes, people did panic, but wholly without cause."

"Yeah," Dean said.

"Now, this so-called death metal – Satan metal – band is on its fifth lead singer in five years."

"Right."

"Except they've all been the same guy."

"I thought the first one was different," Castiel interjected.

Both brothers shook their heads. "Same guy," Dean said. "Different, y'know, whatta you call 'em." He snapped his fingers a couple of times. "Vestments." 

"Vestments, names, personas, et cetera," Sam huffed. "Different positions in the larger cult."

"Only it's not really a cult?" Castiel was having a hard time keeping up.

"Right, it's all phony." Dean rolled his eyes; he'd been loudly vocal, earlier, about his distaste for this particular band.

Castiel asked, "Is it important that all of the lead singers were only one man?" 

Sam gave a grin like a grimace emoji. (Castiel liked sending texts with that one.) "It's relevant, possibly, because part of the lore – the storyline – of the band was that every lead singer was 'replaced'." He made finger quotes. "Which is to say, 'murdered'." 

"But it was just the one man changing costumes," Castiel deduced. "That's somewhat clever."

"Some people think so." Dean looked askance at Sam.

"Several of their songs are great, pointedly political commentaries about the corruption of modern life and the downfall of empires," Sam said, in a tone that indicated the debate with Dean was ongoing.

"It's a shame then," Castiel said, squatting to pull the bloody sheet down from the face of the corpse sprawled halfway out of the dressing room doorway, "that the lead singer seems to be literally dead this time."

He didn't have to ask why this case warranted the Winchester's skillset. The singer's eyes were burned clear out of his head.

He looked up at Dean and Dean nodded, grimly.

-

"What are you reading?" Dean manhandled Cas enough to be able to crawl into bed behind him, his thighs bracketing Cas's hips. As it was one of Dean's usual nighttime routines, Cas allowed the interruption without complaint.

"In this story, apparently we're investigating the killing of a famous singer who leads a made-up satanic cult." Cas showed him the screen of the old tablet Sam had given him. 

"Pretty sure most satanic cults are made up," Dean said, hooking his chin over Cas's shoulder. "And I'm sayin' that even though I've met actual Satan."

"Throughout the ages there've been more than a few cults dedicated to Lucifer," Cas admitted. "But most of them didn't really know who they were worshiping, and certainly not in any way that would've been useful to Lucifer."

"I guess that's comforting to hear," Dean muttered. He coughed into Cas's shoulder. "Hey. We get up to anything sexy in that story?"

"Hmm." Cas scrolled back up to the top of the first chapter. "It's rated General Audiences."

"Ah," Dean said, his fingers tickling up Cas's ribs while Cas turned in his arms. "Guess we'll have to write our own fic."