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sleepyfan-blog · 1 year ago

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Mattias' Arrival (1)

Author’s Note: This is Mattias’ introduction into the Astartes’ Husbandry AU and is connected to Cedric’s current character arc. For other adventures click here and here. First. Previous. Next. Thank you very much @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for letting me borrow her oc Petras

Tagged:@egrets-not-regrets @kit-williams @bleedingichorhearts @i-am-a-dragon34 @c-u-c-koo-4-40k

Warnings: Lying, manipulation, blood, violence, Petras being Petras

Summary: Mattias goes from chatting with one of his brothers to finding himself on M3 Terra. Luckily for him, he’s immediately found by a group of older Black Templars and made a member of their Crusade.

“So… What do you think it’s going to be like when we are deployed with our firstborn brothers?” Matias asked as he gently nudged one of his siblings.

Lestra hummed briefly before shrugging “I don’t know. Hopefully they are a bit less uptight on the rules than our Ultramarine minders have been.”

“... Can you really blame them for that, though? Their Primarch arose from near-death while Maccrage itself was being invaded by Chaos and Xenos alike. For the first time in ten-thousand years a primarch leads the Imperium. Their gene-sire walks amongst them once again.” Mattias points out, a tiny smile appearing on his face and he sighed wistfully “Imagine if you will, if Lord Dorn were found alive and willing to lead the Imperium once more…”

Lestra let out a small sound, muffled by the hand they’d pressed to their mouth, as their eyes widened “I… Oh. I get it now. Yes, you’ve made your points, and made them well. I’m… I’mgoing to need to take a moment to process that last thought you’ve given me…”

Mattias nodded, stretching and yawning a little. He found the strict training schedule that the Ultramarines kept them on to be both familiar and comforting. “It’s about to be lights out so we should head to our assigned bunk room to sleep.” He pointed out. They had four and a half hours of downtime that they were allowed to use to do any number of tasks or even… Learning a new skill outside of their assigned roles as Battle Brothers. It was amazing if mildly terrifying.

It was an unprecedented amount of free time, and Matias was eagerly learning to wield some of the other kinds of melee weapons that were available to practice sparring with in the Ultramarines’ armory. HIs favorite so far was a spear and short-sword combo that gave him all sorts of two-weapons techniques to learn and practice drills with.

“We still have over half an hour before our assigned sleep time and we’re in real-space.” Lestra pointed out “I want to look at the stars on the observatory deck. It’s so much better to be able to see them, rather than trying to memorize star charts that the Mechanicum gave us to memorize during basic training.” Lestra pointed out, green-blue eyes shining hopefully at his Brother as he asked.

Mattias heaved a sigh. Some of their more wary fellow Primaris brothers had quietly insisted that if Primaris marines were to wander around different parts of the ship and away from where larger groups of them were, to at least stay in pairs, for their own safety. While the Ultramarines had been accommodating and pleasant hopes, some of their more tightly wound fellow Primaris marines were convinced their kindness was some sort of test, and that the usual misery would fall upon them all at one point. Mattias was pretty sure that wasn’t going to happen - if the Ultramarines were going to be cruel to them, why pretend to be nice at all? But he dutifully stuck to the request. “Alright. We’ll go to the observatory deck… Again.”

Lestras sulked a little “Yes, again! The star charts that we were given to memorize have so far not been entirely accurate! Some of them were wildly inaccurate. I suspect that the reason why the star charts are incorrect is because of the time it takes to survey a given star system and get it sent back to Mars means that the drift and motion of the planets and star or stars in the system have already shifted out of alignment… Or because one or more of the planets have been destroyed for one reason or another. But I find it really fascinating to compare the information we were given to what is actually tr-”

Mattias held up a hand, pausing his sibling’s rant, the amused grin on his face dropping a little “I’d be happy to accompany you to the observation deck. I know how strongly you feel about this… But you know to question the veracity of certain things is heresy! Please be careful with your words, dearest sibling of mine. I know that you are loyal and true, but our hosts don’t know you as I do and the walls have ears and eyes everywhere.” He kept his voice light and calm, trying to shake off the ominous worry gnawing at his hearts.

Lestras huffed and grumbled “It’s just… It’s possible to travel through time as well as in space in the Warp, both backwards and forwards relative to one’s starting point. There have been several documented cases of that happening on a massive time-scale. If we ever do end up in the past, the differences in how the star charts we memorized are, versus what we see before us is one way to have a relatively accurate guess as to when in time we are. That is all I meant by it.” Lestras grumbled, though they nodded slightly in understanding.

“Mmm-hmm. Do you want to tell me more about it?” Mattias asked, even though he had heard this particular rant from Lestras more than once. It was a favored topic of theirs, and he enjoyed the passion and joy in which they took in talking about stars and astral-navigation. Mattias found their enthusiasm to be very charming and hoped to find a similar passion one day.

The Ultramarines encouraged their attempts at varied learning, which was a breath of fresh air. Compared to the rigid training of the Mechanicum. Especially as they did not like questions beyond the acceptable ones, and punished incorrect questions and lines of thinking with heavy mecha-dendrites…. Unless one’s questions were unfortunate enough to get The Creator’s personal attention. While he seemed to enjoy indulging others’ curiosity when in a mood… Those brothers were often taken away and never seen again.

Mattias managed to pull himself free of his mauldin musings when he and Lestras arrived at the Observation deck. His sibling was too focused on the stunning spectacle of stars and planets to notice the lurking Ultramarine Captain standing near one of the armored windows. They rushed in, dragging Mattias along with them and pressed their hands against the toughened glass, looking at the planet that the ship was in geo-stationary orbit around.

Mattias couldn’t remember if he had been told the name of this world… But this was where the Primaris Lamenterts, along with their assigned ships and supplies were being dropped off at, to be led by Brother Sargeant Hagiel of the Lamenter’s third company. “Woah, hey, Lestras!” He called out as the other dragged him across the floor, glancing briefly at the Older Cousin who was watching them, a small smirk appearing on his face as he watched them.

“What? It’s such a beautiful sight, and it’s not as if anyone comes into the observatory! It’s one of the least-used parts of the ship… Which I do understand, while we are in the warp, as it is quite dangerous to observe the warp, even through the gellar fields, madness and worse lies for the fool who does that… But in real space the view can be-” Lestras rambled, unaware of the Firstborn watching him.

The Ultramarine’s shoulders were shaking a little, and he put his red and white crested helmet on, presumably to prevent the laughter that was clearly shaking his body to be heard by either of them.

“Yes yes I know all that. But see, we-” Mattias started, before falling silent as the firsborn Marine raised an armored finger to his face plate, over where his lips would be, as a shushing motion before he slowly started to leave the observatory, moving soundlessly as he did so “-should be fine! Sorry, I thought I saw something. Now what do you think of the system?”

“The planets and other major bod-” Lestra started to say, before a blinding flash of white washed through the room, causing Mattias to cry out in alarm, throwing an arm over his face to try and preserve his vision, the other trying to grab blindly for his sibling.

Mattias could not say how long it took him to blink the blinding white out of his eyes. He knew for certain that he wasn’t suddenly teleported somewhere - teleporters had a different color and he both would have been forewarned about being teleported, or activated a teleporter beacon if he was high enough ranked to merit such an artifact… Mattias found himself at the bottom of some kind of ravine or canyon. The orange-brown stone walls stretched several hundred feet above, carved over time by the river that he could see. The water was a stunning shade of blue-green and shone in the bright light of the single star he could see in the sky. It was a cloudless day and he could feel a light breeze on his face.

He fumbled with his helmet, which had been clipped to his belt, before placing it on his head, hearing it click into place before he activated the vox-caster in his helmet, broadcasting on all Black Templar frequencies first “Hello? Is anyone nearby? Do you know where we are? I don’t know how I got here, I was in orbit around a habitable planet moments ago. This is Brother Mattias of the Black Templars, can anyone read me?”

There was a deafening silence that lasted for what felt like an eternity before there was an answering voice on the vox “This is Brother Cazzard of the Sprechembriech Crusade of the Black Templars. From the confusion in your voice, I’m guessing that you’ve just landed on Ancient Terra. Send me your coordinates and I’ll come get you… What’s your rank? I am a veteran battle brother.”

“Uhm… It’s a little complicated?” Mattias answered as he dutifully sent his exact location to the Brother he was speaking to “I’m a Primaris marine, sir. I am… I was with the Indomitus Fleet, along with the rest of the Primaris Black Templars, heading to where the Black Templar fleet was being assembled to swear fealty to the Imperial Regent, who is leading the Indomitus Fleet.”

“Ah so you don’t technically have a specific rank within the Black Templars because you haven’t met your older brothers, yet. Given what I’ve heard about Primaris Marines, you’d be considered an Aspirant, until one of us takes you on as an Apprentice. Who’s the Imperial Regent, by the way?” Brother Cazzard asked “Got your location ping… I’m close to the top of the canyon you’ve found yourself in. There’s a footpath that you can use to get to the top of the canyon. This place is a pretty popular attraction to the local mortal populace. I’ll bring you to the sarge and he’ll explain the hows and whys of where we are, Mattias.”

Foot path?... Hmm… Oh! He could see small groups of mortals, some of them riding four-legged animals, walking down the path. They were across the river from where he was standing. “I see the path. I’lll need to cross the river to get there. Is the water safe to move through?”

“It is. Are you in armor?” Cazzard asked. “And is it void-ready?”

“Yes sir, on both counts.” Mattias answered promptly.

“Good lad. Just walk across. There shouldn’t be enough pressure in the water of the river to cause you issues, and the water doesn’t run fast enough to cause you problems when crossing. See you soon, little brother.” Cazzard rumbled.

Mattias pouted a little as he did as he was ordered to, as he could hear the amusement in his voice.

Two months passed without Mattias noticing the time. The realization that he was on Holy Terra was a huge shock to the young Black Templar, who had never had the honor to step foot on those sacred grounds, despite having been trained ever since he could remember within the halls of the priesthood of Mars. He had briefly interacted with other wandering Crusades of older brothers, but mostly kept respectfully quiet and to the back of the group, observing how his older brothers interacted with one another.

There were groups of Firsborn Cousins who preferred to stay in one place and dig in, fortifying whatever town or region that they lived in. It was in one of these forts where he had briefly met a couple of his fellow Primaris Marines - an incredibly anxious Judiciar and a tightly wound Apothecary in training.

Both of them had been nice enough, but they had also been really weird and borderline hostile towards his older Brothers - who while strict, had taught him much. They also interacted with traitors on purpose and without the due venom and wariness that warranted, so Mattias avoided interacting with Ramiel and Cedric more than absolutely necessary.

Captain Deitrich - a venerable Dreadnaught who serves as the leader of their warband - called out to Mattias. He had been speaking with the leader of the other Templar Warband who were in the area, a Chaplain Captain. “Mattias, come here, lad.”

“Yes sir.” Mattias answered obediently, standing up from where he had been sitting on the ground, making minor repairs to one of his boots, sliding his foot inside of it before walking over to where his Crusade Leader was standing. “Did you require something of me, sirs?”

The Chaplain Captain looked him over critically before humming “You are indeed a Primaris Marine. Of the handful or so I’ve heard of being on Ancient Terra, you’re the only one I know of who is part of a proper Crusade… Which I find strange, given that there are at least two, possibly as many as a half-dozen Primaris Black Templars within the nearby mortal city. Not that the Cousins who run the base will allow us to meet any of them.”

Mattias blinked in confusion “Are… Are you talking about Judiciar Ramiel, and Apothecary in training Cedric? I’ve met them once or twice… They were a little strange, but nothing that some time around Older Brothers wouldn’t fix.”

“Care to explain that comment, apprentice?” The Chaplain asked, his steely blue gaze sharpening a little as Mattias spoke.

“Both of them were tightly wound and very anxious. I imagine being surrounded by strangers and forced to be polite to filthy traitors and corrupted heretics is awful.” Mattias answered, shuddering a little at the very thought. He couldn’t imagine staying in one place all the time. Being unable to wander and explore, on top of all of the nonsense that they had to deal with. He was perfectly happy to stay with his older brothers.

“... I see. Walk with me, if you please, Matthias. I think I may know this Ramiel, from Before, and I’d like to discuss what you know of him in greater detail, privately.” Captain Petras murmured, his voice quiet and thoughtful as one of the other’s hands lightly pressed against the middle of Mattias’ back.

Toroz looked up from where he was leaning against a nearby tree and tending to his chainblade “If you wanna talk about the other primaris marines, why not in front of us? They’re our little brothers too, same as Mattie here.”

There was a flash of emotion that crossed the Chaplain’s face, but it faded as quickly as it came. HIs voice was clipped and curt “Ramiel may be my apprentice, from Before. He…” There was a tremor in his voice and he looked away from the two groups “He was killed, in M42. I was unable to avenge his death, before being brought here by the whim of whatever brings us here.”

“... Oh.” Toroz responded, a guilty look appearing on his face as he took a half step back, looking away from the chaplain captain.

“I’ll tell you know about Judiciar Ramiel, but truth be told sir, I don’t know much about him.” Mattias answered earnestly, dutifully walking alongside the older Black Templar, mentally going over what he did know of the other Primaris marine.

“You know, you very nearly had me fooled for a moment or two.” Chaplain Petras murmured his voice light, and almost pleasant, if not for the strangely intense expression on his face.

“What do you believe that I’ve fooled you about, sir? To my knowledge, I have done or said nothing that would present myself or anything that I know of in a false manner, sir.” Mattias asked, a genuinely confused expression appearing on his face as he looked at the older templar.

There was a very strange and disconcerting look on Petras’ face as he stalked closer to where he had ordered the younger Astartes to sit. “That you didn’t recognize me. That you didn’t remember our last encounter. It did take me a few moments to place which of the abominations whom I had culled in M42 you were. But then I remembered your timid, babbling Brother. The one who rambled uselessly about star charts.”

Mattias felt his hearts lodge themselves into the back of his throat, and his eyes widened in utter confusion and distress. Cedric and Ramiel had both warned him that not all Firstborn Brothers had reacted well to the Primaris Rollout, particularly within their own chapter. “Are… Are you referring to Brother Lestras, sir?” He asked, voice cracking in grief and anger at the thought of his sibling being killed for existing. There was nothing wrong with them!

Petras sneered down at him, raising a power-claw clad fist and attempting to strike him across the face “Did I tell you that you could speak, abomination? But yes. Lestras was that waste of resources name, I remember now. I found him here, you know. On Ancient terra. His wounds were grave, but survivable. I knew that those soft-hearted fools would be coming by soon so I could not kill him fully, but I ensured that his wounds would kill him.”

Mattias had been so startled by the reveal that, had he not been trained since he could begin to move combat maneuvers, he would have allowed the blow to hit him. As it had been long-engrained inside of him, Mattias rolled backwards off of the rock he’d been sitting on, evading the strike. “You… You killed them here? On Ancient Terra? Why?!” Mattias snarled, now up on his feet, fury boiling in his hearts. How dare this bastard do this?

“You Primaris Marines are wasteful abominations of flesh and gene-seed. You should not exist, and it is my duty to cull you miserable wastes of sentience wherever I find you. The God-Emperor himself has granted me this second chance to continue the culling. Why else would I have been brought here, after I was struck down by that fool, otherwise?” Petras revealed, the utterly terrifying look on his face intensifying “I did not say you were allowed to move, abomination. You will kneel before me and take your punishment for existing and for daring to endear yourself to proper marines. To true Black Templars.”

Oh like fuck he was! Mattias hissed “The fuck I will! You just admitted to murder and you’re calling me the abomination? That’s fucked. You want to hurt me? Just try it old man!” With that he charged the chaplain at full speed, pulling out his blade and trying to slash at the other with an overhead, two-handed strike.

It felt as if time had slowed down to a near stop, as Mattias tried to continue his charge.

Petras laughed, one hand on some kind of device, the other hand curling into a fist as the electricity crackled in the power-fist before slamming his fist into Mattias’s rib cage. “You poor, foolish idiot. Do you think that you’re the first abomination to try and lash out?”

Mattias let out a pained whimper as he felt his ribs crack and the electricity set fire to his nerves, still stuck in some strange sort of temporal slowing unable to dodge or attack back. “You… Bastard!” He slowly, agonizingly slowly, staggered towards his helmet, intending on calling out for help.

In between one moment and the next Petras had somehow snatched up Mattias’ helmet and threw it out of his immediate grabbing distance and struck him with impossible speed, this time striking his back with another electrified punch from the depths of the warp itself “Oh no. I will not let you -”

Mattias heard something snap in his back and he felt the feelings in his legs go numb. His hearts were pounding away so loudly and so swiftly in his ears, his breath rapid and shallow, and yet… His body was so slow to respond. “Bastard!” he hisses, interrupting the other’s rant. There had to be something he could do? They weren’t too far from the rest of the group, so if he yelled loudly enough… They should hear him. Mattias took in as deep of a breath as he could manage and screamed “HELP! HELP ME PLEASE! HE’S TRYING TO KILL ME!”

The sound of his voice seemed to echo strangely off of the trees and bushes and Petras laughed, dark and amused “You poor, naive fool. Do you really think that I would have been so careless as to make sure that they could hear you? I am quite familiar with how far Primaris Marines’ voices can carry. How loud they can be, when they are desperate, sniveling and hoping for a rescue that will not c-”

The sound of several sets of armored footsteps echoed reassuringly back and hope blossomed in his chest, even as Mattias could not stop himself from falling to the ground. He used his hands to catch himself so that he didn’t smash face-first into the ground. “Please… Help!” Mattias called out, forcibly rolling himself so he was face up, yanking his limp legs to help in the movement with his hands.

Pain continued to blossom around him as Petras continued to hiss and strike at him until Toroz came charging into the clearing, staggering to a halt at the sight before him. “What… What are you doing?” He demanded.

Petras looked over and stated “I am punishing this insolent whelp. He has been incredibly rude to me while out of sight and hearing of you and his other superiors he actually listens to so I am administering the punishment he deserves.”

“Then why was he screaming that you were trying to kill him? Stop hurting him! You know the consensus - if an underling from a different crusade needs punishing, you need to go to their highest ranking Brother, not administer the punishment yourself. Not without permission.” Toroz snapped back, rushing over to Mattias side, blocking Petras’ next strike by grabbing the other’s hand.

“You have no right to -” Petras hissed, visibly incensed.

“I have every right to intervene. He’s already bleeding and I think you damaged his spine.” Toroz hisses, cutting off Petras mid-rant. “This isn’t the first time that your punishments have clearly gotten out of hand. I’m going to ask the captain to pull the council together to fucking censure your ass. I swear to-”

Petras yanked his hand out of Toroz’ grip and slapped him with the other, growling “You have no right to threaten me! I will have you punished for your cheek. Besides, Brother Sargeant Toroz has been dead for ten years. I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re certainly not him.”

Toroz growled and kicked Petras square in the chest, sending the other flying through the clearing and through a tree, his black and white armor turning to teal and silver. “Get fucked, you stupid bastard. To hell with this assignment, I’m not letting an aspirant get mauled to death by a lunatic in front of me. Come on, hatchling, let’s get you treated.”

“You… You’re teal?” Mattias whimpered, eyes going wide as the older marine walked over, bent down and scooped him up.

“Sure am. Don’t struggle, I am trying to help you. Alpharius’ tits, he’s done a number on you.” Toroz or whatever his name was swore, putting Mattias on his back and sprinting off “Keep talking to me. Yell at me about how much of a low-life I am. Come on, where’s that fiery temper your chapter is so well known for?”

Mattias whimpered again, the jolting pain from the other’s movements causing him increasingly difficulty to breathe “Oww… He said. He said I was an… ‘bomination… Why was he so mean to me? I didn’t do anything wrong? I didn’t not do stuff I was supposed to… Why does he got to be so mean?”

“I don’t know. There’s something deeply wrong with that fucker. But don’t worry I’ll not let him hurt you anymore, hatchling. You just focus on staying awake and keeping breathing.” Toroz ordered him.

#cw lying #cw violence #cw blood #petras being petras #cw manipulation #oc: petras #oc: mattias #oc: lestra #oc: cazzard #warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry sentience #my writing #space marine husbandry #writing prompt

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exoticalmonde · 6 days ago

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Such Is The Joy of Our Reunion - Eve's Adventures Through Yan /Part I/

Hello, hi there, Tumblr's laziest Arknights storyteller here with another event that benefits her and nobody else. How have the seasons been treating you? I hope kindly, because I am here to only make it worse.

It's a fine Sunday afternoon, I have an energy drink at my side and a bowl of grapes. I did the laundry, had lunch, and there are hours to spare as I go through the story.

BUT FIRST!

As is tradition, I will mention the New Banner and go through my impressions of the characters. If you don't want to see that, you can just go to Part II and have a read of the story.

So, you're here to see another Sui sibling? My pleasure to introduce you to this little sweetheart! A lot has been said about Yu throughout the last six months and it's been all positive.

He's the youngest Sui sibling to reach us - the twelfth fragment, confirmed by the pattern Hypogriph has left us with in regards to their birthdays.

Yu's main role is Defender, but his branch is a Primal Protector, the second of this kind. Only other known is Philae (who I even forgot about, since she was introduced in I Portatori dei Velluti).

Primal Protectors are similar to Arts Protectors, but have the ability to inflict Arts and Elemental Injury using their skills like Ritualists; They lack DEF, but have additional ATK and RES + they're stronger when faced with Elemental Injury.

[Marketplace cook Yu, in front of his stove 24/7. Whether chopping, roasting, or washing greens, he can do it all.]

That being said, there's not really much to compare between them in terms of basic stats, so I'm just going to talk about his abilities. Firstmost, Yu's two talents:

You Feed Me, I Feed You When blocking enemies, gains 25% Sanctuary; blocked enemies receive 40% of ATK as Arts damage and 12% of ATK as Burn damage per second

For those who have forgotten what Santuary is: Sanctuary reduces the Physical and Arts damage taken. Multiple instances of Sanctuary do not stack; the most effective source takes precedence over the others. (Examples for characters with Sanctuary are Hoederer, Shu, Tsukinogi, Penance, Windchimes, etc.)

Midst Markets, Dragons Dwell When there are at least 4 Operators on the field, recovers 1.5% Max HP as both HP and Elemental Injury per second

I actually don't have any characters with Defensive Recovery OR with taunt in their kits, so having Yu is actually very nice. In comparison to the other 2 Sui Defenders, Yu has more HP than SHU at MaxLvlE2, he is more expensive to deploy with a whooping 26 DP cost, but he attacks faster and has more ATK than both of his sisters. Considering his 'Sanctuary' passive and especially since I can see a Module coming flying his way already, I can almost say for sure he'd fare just fine enough.

Passive Effect: becomes more likely to be attacked Max HP +40%, DEF +40%; every time Yu is attacked, deals 40% of Yu's ATK as Burn damage to the attacker

Charges for 19 seconds while blocking at lvl. 7, lasts for 30; Charges for 16 seconds at M3.

IMPORTANT to note, a lot of talk has been happening with Blaze being dependent on Yu, yes. I knew that it was because of his Skill 3. I can confirm that this skill does trigger the Elemental Burst and is just as effective.

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Immediately deals 100% of ATK as Arts damage to all surrounding enemies and teleports those ground targets that can reach Yu to his position; Block +2, Max HP +130%, ATK +200%, and normal attacks deal Arts damage

BLOCK +2 ARE YOU ALSO SEEING THIS, IT MEANS THIS LITTLE MAN IS GAINING A BLOCK OF +5 for about 20 seconds, while also turning himself into a nuclear powerplant. What a champ.

Also, Arts Damage dealer for those pesky enemies that are immune to Physical.

It's important to note:

Yu will increase his stats first,

Then deal the damage instance,

Then teleport enemies 0.13 seconds afterwards

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Max HP +80%, ATK +80%, DEF +80%, and grants effects of Talent 2 to all Operators on the field; creates a wall of fire spanning the entire field; Arts damage dealt by other allies that crosses the wall will deal an additional 7% of Yu's ATK as Burn damage; enemy projectiles passing through the wall have a 15% chance of being removed

This is the Magnum Opus of Arkinights right about now - the great wall of fire that stretches across the field, and any damage that goes over the wall becomes Burn Damage.

Every Blaze, W-Alter, Logos, Goldenglow and Passenger in proximity to The WallTM will have, as the kids say, a blast.

I also like that there is a % chance for the enemy attacks moving from their side of the wall to 'yours' could disappear. Thank you Logos, for introducing that magic trick to us.

That being said...

I GOT YU TWO TIMES!!! He came home together with the Blazter twice for all 120 pulls I had saved for him, post-Mitm devastation. I'm currently saving for the other banner I'm extremely excited to see, and I pray that my patience will be repaid again.

Whoever thinks I wasn't patient while saving for Yu is a hater, by the way.

Anyways, Yu out of the way,

BLAZE ALTER!!!

[Rhodes Island Elite Operator, willing to burn herself away to see your shared dream realized. Her flames may not miss a single enemy—but if you need to light some birthday candles, just use a match!]

Primal Caster, huh? They've really been getting incorporated recently - much more than the Primal Defenders at least.

Blazter is of the same type as Diamante, Warmy and Nymph with their usual problem being that they cannot inflict Elemental Injury on their own. 'How to know if your operator is dealing Elemental Injury?' some would ask. I've asked myself this every time a Primal Caster falls into my hands.

Does that funky little circle show up anywhere around the enemy? We got 4 whole variants!

If it doesn't show up, then they don't deal Elemental Injury. Thus, most of the characters I already mentioned are USELESS if they don't have a Ritualist Supporter or any other characters that possess Δ modules. (I'll help you - as of 20.07.2025, those characters are Logos, Ifrit, Ebenholz; Viviana is on the list of 'does burn damage' but I am unsure if she does Elemental Injury.)

Blaze is no exception to this problem.

But that doesn't make her utter trash in my opinion. If one is to close their eyes and act like she's a Core Caster that does big explody damage, then it's nothing new under the Originium sky.

After all that unfortunate information, we can move on to her Talents

Meltdown Whenever an enemy triggers a Burn damage burst, immediately deals 350% of ATK as Elemental Damage to that enemy and recovers 12% Max HP

'Inflicted by enemy' suggests that the enemies are the ones who are meant to do the burning, not vice versa. In that case, I can only assume that this talent is not usable in the case of facing the Flamethrowers, any of the Dublinn Flamechasers, etc. etc.

From The Ashes When defeated, becomes downed instead and gains 6000 Barrier; cannot attack or be healed while downed, but recovers 3% HP per second; once HP is full, revives and stuns��nearby enemies for 5s

There is no limit on how many times From the Ashes can be triggered, but it will not activate if Blazter takes lethal damage.

While Downed, Blazter is immune to Stun and Freeze, and can still restore SP even if she is not using her skills. During this time, Blazter can also be healed by Meltdown.

Selects the Operator with the highest Max HP within range, dealing 55% of ATK as Arts damage and 30% of that Arts damage as Burn damage to all enemies surrounding that Operator every second for 20s

Can't go wrong with an Auto skill and she is much like a Besieger or a Deadeye, but she just targets the enemy with the highest MAX HP.

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Attack Range changes, Attack Interval increases, ATK +120%, attacks 3 enemies at once; when attacking, loses 5% HP and sets a burning field at the location of the target; passing enemies have -50% Movement Speed and takes 35% of Blaze the Igniting Spark's ATK as Arts damage and 30% of that Arts damage as Burn damage every second.

Pretty straightforward, there's not much to say. She technically turns into a Hexter for 35 seconds.

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Attack Range changes, ATK +85%, Attack Interval greatly reduces, and normal attacks now deal AoE damage; If the target is under the burst effect of Burn damage, deals an additional 70% of ATK as Elemental Damage

Loses 3% of Max HP per second; skill activation grants 21 ammo, and whenever an enemy enters the burst effect of Burn damage gains 2 ammo; skill ends when all ammo is used (Can manually deactivate skill)

Now THIS is the skill we all care for.

Again, while she does apply burn damage with these two abilities, she doesn't trigger the Burst herself, which is why it's implied that IF the enemy is under the burst effect of Burn damage, she deals more Elemental Damage.

To get this fun effect, you'd need someone like Bobbing or Warmy, Yu or anybody else you can think of. Don't let the pyro cat walk this world alone, you need to hold this 30-year-old's hand all the time.

[Baizao food critic Xingzhu, inviting you to partake in the refreshments she most cherishes. A poem for all sour and sweet, a sigh for all bitter and burning.]

Free operator from the event, just another Abjuer with a simple talent called Friendship Fair, Together Tied which at E2 grants 10% Sanctuary to 2 other allies within range.

Her skills aren't that impressive, but the whole shtick is that she deals Arts damage all the time and using the skill makes her heal nearby allies. Can't be more of a support than this.

Immediately performs a heal to all targets within range equal to 290% of Xingzhu's ATK.

At level 7 it had a charge time of 11 seconds and I would've killed to have this skill be on Auto, alas.

---

ASPD +43, heals 1 additional target, and the targets of Xingzhu's talent recover HP equal to 18% of Xingzhu's ATK every second

It's... weird to see flat ASPD buffs because I don't usually touch Abjurers, but I guess we all have tricks up our sleeves.

On top of that, the 'every second' part is apparently not stated in-game, but an approx measurement because every +HP is delayed by 0.01 seconds.

That being said, I can't wait to see her in the story and bond with her, because she is ao adorable and I don't get to like her type of character that much. Will I level her up? Probably. Will I ever use her? She doesn't have anything useful in comparison, I mean... It's sad.

Tsukinogi reveals enemies. Silence Alter makes enemies unable to receive lethal damage. Quercus helps with SP gain. Nine-coloured Deer gains ranged physical resistance.

And Xingzhu heals.

The choice is yours, Doctor...

But after all that, we can't possibly have an event without a completely unrelated character who will most likely never be seen inside the event itself and is here just to skew my chances of getting the 5 stars I truly need.

No, this commentary is not biased because she showed up 9 times within 120 pulls.

[Blacksteel advance recon team member Surfer, always looking forward to her next camping trip. The endless sights of the wilderness unfold before her. It was there that she found herself, and there that she caught a glimpse of her parents, long-departed.]

Like, we finally get another Blacksteel character who is playable and she is not only pointless to the story, but useless in technicality. Anybody who wants her as a waifu, you GO and never listen to me, but it's unfortunate to show up with this type of kit when we have Puzzle and Cantabile. I'm not even going to look in Ines' direction.

Surfer's Talent is Solo Traveler, where if there are no other operators in the surrounding 4 tiles when she is deployed, you gain 2DP.

The only operator I can compare this to is Puzzle, and his Talent gives him free rein on 120% of delicious ATK, and he recovers 2SP when hitting an enemy with full HP. That helps later with his skills.

After deployment, ATK +70%. Generates 1 DP after each attack

Absolute same as Cantabile.

---

ASPD +40, each attack grants 1 DP, and Steals 40 DEF from the target (max 200, lasts until skill ends or Surfer is retreated)

This is definitely unique, although I'm not sure how useful it is to tank up a character who is otherwise going to die from 3 hits the moment those 10 seconds are over.

Hey, but at least when you assign her to the Base, she gives you clues that are not on the Clue Board!

Go listen to Yu's EP while I'm reading the story.

youtube

Oh, right, Blaze's is out too.

youtube

#arknights #arknights doctor #arknights commentary #Such is the Joy of Our Reunion #Yu Arknights #Blaze Alter Arknights #Surfer Arknights #Xingzhu Arknights #Event #Sui Siblings Mentioned #Skills comparisons #Gameplay #Gacha Pulls Mentioned #doctor of ri shenanigans #arknights art

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starguardianniom · 7 months ago

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My latest pulls

Great news, I got Harumasa, his w-engine and Miyabi!!! And then Rina when trying to get M1 Harumasa. XD I guess my keychains prayers really worked~ XD

Look at my baby! Already maxxed him out to level 60, ignore his stats that was wednesday. XD

She is beauty, she is elegant, she happily came home in under 20 pulls, so I could get Harumasa's w-engine, good girl. ^^

Also got Seth's w-engine, tons of Lucy's w-engines to the point that I have Rina with it at 2 stars on top of Lucy having it maxxed out in stars. Also another Anby engine.

I was so happy to get Harumasa's engine, I normally really don't do the engines, but this time I felt like Harumasa needed his pills to survive with me since I love him to death and plan to have him fight against everything and everyone because I love him and want to have him shoot at everything that wants to hurt him, worry not I have Miyabi on his team so she can bodyguard him, he is perfectly safe. XD

It also came with Anton of all people (I already have him at M6 since a long while now) and another of Lucy's engine. XD Still not gonna complain, Harumasa's w-engine is what I wanted. ^^

I also got Nicole and 3 Seth, so now Seth is at M6, good for him. Except it's weird because in Harumasa's banner I got Lucy like exactly once, meanwhile Seth is always there pretty much everytime I get an A agent. XD Seriously I swear I could have gotten Seth for the first time entirely on Harumasa's channel alone and have him at M6 in literally 70 pulls, which is pratically what happened too funnily enough, I had Harumasa but wanted him to M1, got Rina, now trying again, still keep finding Seth. And I did Harumasa's agent story after completing chapter 5. So I find it even funnier. Because Seth is in Harumasa's agent story.

Also yes Miyabi is also maxxed out already again ignore her stats that was also wednesday but I am too busy taking pictures of Harumasa to update it I'll do that tomorrow. XD

Also other pulls is now that I have Lucy to M5, I got her once on Lighter's channel, I used it to get my pity low enough to get Miyabi, and good thing I did too and didn't get Lighter by accident or I would have legit cried. I do not regret skipping Lighter at all, yes I know he has a trust event with Seth and Harumasa, I'll get him next time.

I also now finally have Piper to M6 at last while getting Miyabi, thank god. I'm now avoiding Miyabi's banner like the plague because god knows it will give me only Soukaku when I already had her a dozen of times so now that Miyabi is home I don't need to get her Mindscape cinema because she's that overpowered. XD

I swear I got as many Seth as I got Soukaku and Anton, I love Seth, but just let me get Lucy one more time to complete her cinema, or let Corin too. XD

I also managed to get Ben to M3 in Lighter's banner, legit got him 3 times in a row. Note that since playing the game, I have never encountered him even once while doing pulls, I got him for free like everyone else, but he was completely absent in the channels, until Lighter came up. I was legit starting to wonder if my game remembered him. XD

I managed to get Corin to M5 too, only one more to go.

Rina legit came alone to crush my dream of Harumasa M1, but that's fine, I will keep pulling for Harumasa until his banner is gone, and I didn't have Rina so it's cool, she's gonna be a good support to him I guess. And to Corin. She's currently level 30 though, because I hadn't done any support stuff in a long time since Nicole because well, busy farming for when Harumasa and Miyabi would show up, and when they showed up, it was time to get their attacks leveled up, and Rina legit got me to 165 dennies when trying to get her attacks up a little, I'm back to being able to afford the last of Harumasa's core skills, I just need to farm again the materials, but I have the dennies for it at least. And then it will be Miyabi.

Ok so far I have Billy, Anby, Seth, Piper, Soukaku and Anton to M6, Corin and Lucy to M5, Nicole to M4, Ben to M3, Soldier 11 to M1, Harumasa, Miyabi, Tsukishiro, Jane, Burnice, Rina, Grace and Koleda to M0. I think I forgot no one...

I will legit skip Astra and Evelyn because I already have Nicole as a support Ether. Eve is cool but I have Soldier 11 so.

Anyway Hoyo was being nice to me last week. Hope I can get some Harumasa mindscape cinema before his channel is gone in the meanwhile I get the time to get back from the heart shattering experience his agent story gave me, simply put it ripped my heart apart, grinded it to dust, then turned the dust into glass, only to smash it repeatedly on the wall with a baseball bat and then gently glue back the pieces together and now it's barely holding on. My poor baby. I had some headcanons and feared the worst that they would kill him off but thank god my headcanons were just headcanons and he survived (barely but shhhh). I was afraid he was gonna be either a half-human half ethereal experiment or just an artificial super soldier or something but he was just a normal human who got a terminal illness who got experimented on by his adoptive father who grew a conscience and spent the rest of his life developing something to keep his illness in control despite having experimenting on him because he grew fond of him and couldn't kill him, I'm never forgiving his master but also my heartstrings still got pulled so hard because it's touching but also sad but still I took joy in beating him up, even if he did kill me and I had to revive and immediatly killed him after that. XD Still destroyed mentally and emotionally but loved it. <3

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caustic-caffeine · 8 months ago

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Redoing my character references (including redesigns as needed). After I finish Cecie’s, I may reblog with more info on the three’s dynamic 😌

[Edit] Cecie’s is now attached! Now that I got the M3 completed I’ll be taking a break from sheets to do some scenes. Though many more reference sheets will be made in the future…

Cecie’s Lament Characters

Francis, the demonic warlock patron.

Maddox, the half-elf wizard-turned-warlock.

[Edit] Cecie, the elf soothsayer.

A brief note on elves and demons (under the cut):

Elves:

My elves age differently from humans, maturing far slower and then leading prolonged lives. The average elf’s life expectancy sits in the 500s, though some have far exceeded this thanks to good medicine and magic practices. In elf-dominant cultures, an elf isn’t considered an adult until their 80s, at which point they will leave the home and venture out into the world to gain broader experience (and find a specific skill to hone in on). Trips like these often take decades to complete, with 20 years being considered on the short side.

Half-elves live shorter lives, but have the same maturation rate as full-blooded elves. They are still expected to participate in the same customs as full-blooded elves (if they want to be “respectable”, anyway). For Maddox, that means that he left the home in his early 80s and became a mercenary until his 110s (at which point he returned home for Cecie’s sake).

Demons:

“Demon” is just a shorthand term for all entities who were created to be or transformed into the servants of a deity. There’s a lot I could share about them, but I’ll save that for a separate post in the future (if folks want me to share the lore, or if I feel like doing it myself.)

“Demons” in my worldbuilding are not connected to Christianity, or any other real-world religion. They share some superficial similarities, but with vastly different origin stories and mechanics.

#Not doing my usual organization tags until after Cecie’s finished #Just posting this to get the ball rolling again

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heretichromia · 2 years ago

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Unit Evaluation - Gladiia

(And also the Abyssal Hunters as a whole.)

Gladiia became available once again today, this time permanently (through Record Restoration). There's a lot of buzz happening around her right now, so I feel like I should throw my hat in the ring.

Mostly because...I disagree with most of the takes I'm seeing.

Gladiia is a very good unit, if used in the right scenarios. I'm certainly biased, but I would encourage anyone who's interested in using her to build her. However, I need to stress that the hype surrounding her is overblown.

Compared to the premier units in this game, she is not by any stretch of the imagination broken. This is not a Młynar or Texas the Omertosa-level unit who'll instantly warp the way you play the game with her awesome might. Don't build her thinking you'll get an obscene powerhouse, especially if you don't have her best partner, Specter the Unchained.

Beneath the cut, I'll break down her strengths and weaknesses, and give you some tips on how to play with her. It gets a little long-winded, so I'll give you a TL;DR:

As a standalone unit, Gladiia's module elevated her from "incredibly mediocre outside of niche use cases" to "decent, but inferior to other 6* options for most players." As the lynchpin of the Abyssal Hunter squad, Gladiia offers you the opportunity to play with some reasonably powerful generalist units whose power largely lies in their mixture of solid damage and self-sufficient durability (with one noteworthy exception). Their power, however, is often overstated; they don't excel in either category, and in many cases are sidegrades or downgrades to other options.

I've also included small TL;DRs for each subsection, if you're just interested in my conclusions.

I don't have a ludicrous Risk 27 Abyssal Hunter CC clear to show to prove that I know what I'm talking about, but mid-risk CC (18-24ish, unsure with the new CC system since I wasn't a fan of Pinch Out and so didn't bother doing above 600) is generally the area of difficulty I like playing around with. Keep that in mind when I'm talking about these operators, so you can take my words with a grain of salt if your personal goals for using them are different!

—

Solo, Without Module

TL;DR: Gladiia has shift power that can't be replicated by any other unit, but without her module is a fragile, low-damage pseudo-Guard that isn't worth using for general content unless you're as stubborn as I am.

Before we talk about her ludicrously-hyped module, it's probably helpful to recall what Gladiia was like before her module came out.

Without her module, Gladiia is a fairly unimpressive unit outside of a very narrow set of use cases. Her power is largely concentrated in her pulling strength, and in those cases, she's completely invaluable:

Her S2's wide range and good shifting power (strength 2, the same as other shifters' S1 at M3) makes it a very flexible skill for things like shifter stalls. Her S3, as well, has some good niche shifting utility that can't be replicated by other operators (though note that the actual max risk clear used S2). Her S1 is also worth using in some situations, as it can store multiple charges, but it's by far the most niche skill in her arsenal.

The issue is that, if you're the average player, you'll almost never be taking advantage of that power. She's like Weedy: Queen in Contingency Contract, but most players will never be doing hard enough content to need to take advantage of the power she has at her disposal.

In terms of general use, she's...not very good by the standards of 6* lane-holders or crowd control units. She'll be a valuable roster addition for new players, acting as a pseudo-Guard. As she's cheap (13 DP), she might be good to shore up holes in struggling rosters.

She doesn't do a whole lot of damage. She's not particularly durable—in fact, she's only slightly less squishy than Pioneer Vanguards, and less durable than Bagpipe. Her cooldowns are relatively short, but her power on-skill isn't very impressive.

She's not useless. I, stubbornly, brought her to almost every map anyways. Her regen passive means she'll be able to handle waves of weak enemies by herself without the need to babysit her with a Medic. Her S3 provides some decent crowd control in terms of a single-target Bind and an AoE pull, though you'll need to get used to how it works to make good use of it. The issue is that she doesn't really do a lot compared to other 6* units, which is...what you'd generally expect from a welfare unit, unfortunately. If you lack lane-holders or cannot use more powerful sources of crowd control (e.g. Gnosis' Freeze), you'll still likely get good use out of her.

—

Solo, With Module

TL;DR: Gladiia's module fixes her fragility and helps her low damage output, but is not itself a magic bullet that'll make her a unit on-par with the stronger 6*s. She becomes a reasonably defensive crowd control-focused unit that can help hold weaker lanes.

Gladiia experienced the single most phenomenal upgrade a unit's ever gotten from a module. That much is undeniably true. Her module gave her pretty much everything she needed to become a solid generalist, and...she is!

The damage reduction and enhanced regen makes her reasonably bulky, but keep in mind that without it she's squishier than off-skill Bagpipe. Putting 30% damage reduction onto that fairly fragile frame isn't going to make her a tank, but while she won't be replacing your Defenders anytime soon, you don't need to worry much about her dying. Her damage increase is nice, too. If you don't have or want to use the other Abyssal Hunters, Gladiia with her module is perfectly fine on her own. She's still not a unit that I'd recommend over a dedicated 6* lane-holder for that role, but can be used to very good effect in conjunction with other units.

I personally prefer using her S3 for general content. It's a solid mixture of crowd control and pretty considerable arts damage on a short cooldown. Others tend to favor her S2 for lane-holding, and I've seen a few recommend putting Mastery points into that first. I've personally...never really been impressed with her S2's performance in these general cases, and only switch to it if I'm using her for pulling, or in specific scenarios where it'd be good in a particular map.

—

With Specter the Unchained

TL;DR: Gladiia is a great unit to support the already quite good Specter the Unchained, and both make each other a good deal more effective. There's a cute synergy between the timings of Gladiia's S3 and Specter's S2, as well.

Here's where I should talk about the unit I effectively always pair her with in some capacity. These two are a match made in heaven, and complement each other very well. If you don't have Specter Alter, then Gladiia is still a perfectly fine unit, but if you do, you'll notice a significant boost to their performance when you use them together.

First, Specter's own Abyssal Hunter faction buff helps considerably with Gladiia's survivability. At max level, even without Specter's Mod-Y, it'll get her to slightly over 3,000 HP. Coupled with her damage reduction and regen, this means she can withstand a good amount of punishment. The only thing holding her bulkiness back is her relatively low DEF, which does sometimes mean she melts faster than you'd think.

Second, Gladiia's module makes Specter Mod-Y (S3)...legitimately decent. She turns from an S2 machine into a more than competent lane-holder capable of tanking and dealing respectable damage to elites and bosses. Nearly 4,000 HP off-skill translates to over 10,000 on-skill, and her middling DEF is offset pretty heavily by Gladiia's staggering 30% damage reduction and over 350/s HP (on-skill) regen. As a bonus, with Specter's Mod-Y, Gladiia's skills have even shorter cooldowns, letting you spam whirlpools.

Third, Gladiia has very nice synergy with Specter's other skill—her most powerful and specialized one, which can't be replicated by Gavial Alter. There's the obvious synergy: Gladiia's damage reduction and regen means that Specter can survive more punishment between her skill cycles, keeping her cycling between periods of invulnerable onslaughts and AoE burn. The less obvious one comes in how well their skills are synced. Specter's skill timings are 20/20/20 at max investment. Twenty seconds off-skill, on-skill, and in her substitute. Gladiia's S3 lasts for 8 seconds, and then has a 35-second cooldown. This means that you can use Gladiia with Specter to consistently lock enemies in overlapping arts damage AoEs between cycles of Specter's blender. I like placing Gladiia 1-2 spaces behind Specter for these purposes.

—

Full Squad

TL;DR: The Abyssal Hunters as a full squad are fun, but do not necessarily or even often represent the strongest thing you can be doing with a selection of 4-5 units in your already limited squad.

...I don't think the Abyssal Hunters are that strong.

I feel a little crazy saying that, since the ubiquitous opinion that I always hear is that they're overpowered. It's everywhere on Twitter, on Tumblr, on Reddit. Even fucking Yii made a video calling them broken.

I really don't agree with that assessment. They're good. They're definitely very good. But in my playtime being stubborn about using the Abyssal Hunters as often as I can in the hardest content I can tackle, I've never really felt like they were the strongest thing I could be doing. When I'm stuck on a stage, I switch off of the Hunters so I can take it seriously. That's not the most objective analysis I can give, though, so...here goes.

The Abyssal Hunters kind of suck.

Individually. They kind of suck individually.

I don't think I need to convince anyone that Guard Skadi is a joke of a 6* by herself, and while Specter is great by 5* standards, she doesn't exactly hold a candle to the 6* lane-holder options when you're not abusing her invincibility. Andreana...

Andreana isn't real. I'm sorry. I wish she was. She's not.

The only one of them that's powerful—not just decent, but actually strong—as a standalone unit is Specter the Unchained.

It's not relevant to this analysis, but it is relevant to the general point of this post to point out that Specter the Unchained is a limited unit from a year ago that a majority of the people just newly picking up Gladiia won't ever have.

Gladiia, Specter the Unchained, and Specter can all be very specialized units who offer very strong roles in specific scenarios. But most of the time, if you're taking the full squad, they're not going to be used in those windows of power. At best, you usually just have Specter the Unchained using her blender optimally. They're just...Guards.

They all do the same thing. They're Guards. You place them in lanes, and they hit things. And none of them besides Specter the Unchained are even particularly good at that. Specter (5*) is great when you're using her to tank unsurvivable damage. She's not so great when you're just using her as a nun-flavored Mountain whose skill options are a reasonable DPS boost that stuns her for 10 seconds and fucking ATK Up γ.

And...yes. I get that stacking enough buffs onto a vanilla stick will eventually make the stick strong enough to break anything. The issue here is that the teamwide buffs are largely defensively-focused. There are some offensive parts of those buffs, but they're the ones with the strongest opportunity cost. They're—likely intentionally—found on the most individually mediocre members, Skadi and Andreana. Skadi feels great to bring when you're using her to 1v1 incredibly strong enemies, but when that's not a great option for the map you're bringing, she feels useless. The worst part is that if you're bringing her for the team buff, you have to choose between her modules, because the one that provides the strongest buff is her worse module by a considerable margin. Skadi Mod-X almost makes her feel like a worthwhile unit, by reducing her redeployment time to 40 seconds, making her (with S2) a decently tanky medium-redeploy unit who can square up against units that would make other helidrops falter.

Andreana gives 20 ASPD to the entire team, which is great—but you can only bring 12 Operators to your mission.

Is that really worth a slot in your team? What are you giving up by bringing someone who's weak enough that she's not even worth deploying?

Yes, with all of the buffs combined, Specter the Unchained does become a monster. But with all of the obscenely powerful units we have in the game, is it ever actually worth it to bring two to three dead weights to use her more effectively? Especially when the most potent buffs, the defensive buffs, will usually only be effective on her for a third of the time when she's equipped with her strongest skill?

Is that worth not bringing Texas? Yato? Surtr? Ines? Bagpipe? A real Defender? A secondary DPS? A plan B, in case something goes wrong?

...Maybe? Maybe that's been the experience for you, and these units actually have felt overpowered in your hands. But that hasn't been my experience. These units are clearly powerful. If this review has seemed largely negative, it's only because it exists in the face of endless praise or even complaints about how strong the Abyssal Hunters are.

The Hunters are tanky. They're really, really tanky. Not quite Hoshiguma or Nian tanky, but...well, nothing is. But we're in a metagame where people are (incorrectly, in my opinion) calling Hoshiguma a bad unit because she doesn't provide much utility other than her tankiness. Which is...almost exactly the same as what the Abyssal Hunters as a full squad bring to the table. They're big meatballs that are largely unimpressive in terms of damage or utility.

What content are the Abyssal Hunters optimal in, exactly? They're not meta in Contingency Contract; while Gladiia and Specter the Unchained are CC mainstays, the full squad is never brought, and Gladiia's "gamebreaking" module isn't utilized at all. They're not meta in Integrated Strategies. They're not even the strongest units in SSS, and that's a game mode that has a dedicated buff for them.

At best, they're optimal units for middling difficulty content—and I'd contest that, but we don't have leaderboards to look to for what units are best for clearing story stages. But even if that were true, to get them to that state, you need to invest large amounts of resources into getting full level 3 modules for each of them—and you inarguably need a year-old limited unit!

Stacking teamwide buffs is a great way to bring mediocre units up to playability, but you really need a critical mass of them in order to make them a serious metagame contender. And I...just don't think we're there. I don't think we're that close, honestly.

...

—

Conclusions?

In summary, build Gladiia!

...Look, she's neat. She's one of my favorite units and I use her all the time. And she is good, just...don't expect her to revolutionize the game for you.

And build the other Abyssal Hunters, too. Just...do it because they're a neat thematic squad that's decently powerful as a whole. They work fine without Specter the Unchained, too. They'll be weaker, of course, but they're still perfectly usable. All you're really missing on the other units is her HP buff, and they're still pretty strong without it.

Build them because you like them, and so Gladiia is surrounded by her family. Not because you think they'll crack the game in half, or something.

#arknights #gladiia #abyssal hunters #arknights analysis

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the-lunacy-system · 1 year ago

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Headmates

Mel

Pronouns - she/her Gender - trans female Sexuality - demisexual/bisexual Age - 15 Origin - born with the body, not sure what the word for that origin is Role - host Note(s): Usually frontlocked, has most of the external memories as a result [M1]

Cornelius

Pronouns - he/him Gender - cis male Sexuality - idk he won't tell us Age - 500+ Origin - fenigenic Role - physical protector/geographical archivist/scout Note(s): was an English soldier in his past life. He won't say more than that [M1]

Meyeki

Pronouns - she/her Gender - trans female Sexuality - asexual Age - blurry, ~16-17 Origin - quoigenic Role - dysphoria holder Note(s): can be a bit rude at times. She often makes me voice train when she's in co-con [M1] I think she'll be less rude now, thanks to those talks I had with her. [M3]

Michael

Pronouns - he/him Gender - cis male Sexuality - pansexual Age - 23 Origin - introject (OC) Role - order keeper Note(s): was one of my's OCs at first. Was a king back in his source world. Easily annoyed by lack of magic in our reality [M1]

Wraith/Basil

Pronouns - he/it Gender - demiboy Sexuality - omnisexual Age - 16 Origin - Basil (Omori) fictionkin Role - might become a co-host if he continues its recent patterns for long enough Note(s): Wraith was torn apart in Origin by the subconscious shortly after forming. It barely made it to the safety of Bright Field. It's been slowly healing. [M1] NEWS, GOOD AND BAD! GOOD: WRAITH SUDDENLY GOT A BIG BURST OF HEALING AND REMEMBERED EVERYTHING! BAD: WRAITH REMEMBERED EVERYTHING (poor guy, that's a lot of trauma to suddenly remember) [M1]

Bill

Pronouns - he/him/chaos Gender - "Why do you want to know, Golden Boy?" (I, Michael, was the one that asked him) Sexuality - (Because of his response to the gender question, I'm not even going to ask) Age - hundreds of millennia Origin - introject (Gravity Falls) Role - none yet Note(s): Already a handful. [M3]

Headspace

Bright Field

Bright Field is the topmost layer of Headspace. It consists of a white void that has a sort of ground. At the center of Bright Field is the Control Dome, a hollow black metal dome that houses our fronting interface. Across from the Control Dome is the Tavern, where most layers of Headspace meet. Inside the Tavern there is a bar that gives us access to likely symbolic beverages, some of which can trigger emotions on command. Nearby is the Link Arch, a stone archway that holds a portal back to Michael's source world. As far as I know, only he can use it. Floating in circles around the other structures of Bright Field is the Memory Library, two bookshelves filled with memories from everyone in the system constructed on a small floating island.

Origin

Origin is the layer directly below Bright Field. It is the layer where new headmates form, and, as we learned from Wraith, is one of the places where the subconscious is capable of harming us. The easiest way to get in or out of Origin is through one of the doors in the Tavern, but there are other ways (the same goes for most other layers of Headspace)

Fiction Space

Fiction Space is by far the largest layer of Headspace, and is the only one that can be interacted with without the need to actually be in the layer. Fiction Space is, as the name suggests, where a lot of the fiction made and consumed by us is stored. Fiction Space is far too vast to be fully described, even individual regions of it are incredibly complex because of how much time we've spent building it.

Headspace Facts

There are gaps in the fabric of Headspace that can be used to travel to other layers without having to return to the Tavern

Bright Field is the only truly safe layer of Headspace. The other layers can injure and even kill headmates

Headspace only lets those it deems skilled enough to survive traverse all of the layers

If the body is listening to music, it will be played in all of Bright Field as well

Our Gimmick Blogs

@locibarpulo-official

@omnisec-archive

DNI

Anti-endos, anti-tulpas, homophobes, transphobes, aphobes, the Fr*nch, pedophiles, zoophiles, anti-furries, people who ship Dipper and Bill (Gravity Falls), and fully nsfw blogs

#plurality #plural system #endogenic #fenigenic #system intro #introject #system stuff #plural #actually plural #intro post #pinned intro #quoigenic #tw french

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goofnuggetkarlaa · 11 months ago

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The clears are done! Just reclears babeeey! (Some thoughts below the cut)

Definitely the fastest I've ever completed a tier. Since most of us completed the first 3 Ultimates before DT, the overall skill level is definitely higher than it was in previous tiers.

All of them were great fights! M2s was a bit annoying in some parts (just personal preference, don't actually think the mechanics themselves are bad), and M3s was my favorite to heal by far ♥ M1s was good but we cleared it so fast it's hard to have many opinions on right now, and M4s was definitely a decent step up from the other 3 fights just by how long it is without a checkpoint. I really love those types of fights though, they can be really refreshing from the endless Down For the Count cutscenes lol, but definitely more punishing.

Overall I had a blast! Mechanics were good, dps/healing checks weren't that bad but I don't really mind for the first tier of an expansion, and the music/voice lines were banger! I haven't really enjoyed a tier quite as much since Asphodelos. How is everyone else feeling? I hear from friends without statics that PF can be a nightmare.

(As a side note, we actually cleared M3s two days earlier, but it was an unofficial raid night and 7 of us went and cleared it since it was the end of the week and we were really close to finishing it. I ended up just taking a solo pic cause I felt bad for our WHM. He was also missing again for our M4s clear but it was cause he's on vacation and so missed our raid night. Hopefully reclears will still be a breeze!)

#ffxiv #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ff14 #the nugget speaks #ff14 dawntrail #ff14 screenshot #savage raiding #arcadion savage #ffxiv arcadion

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randomthoughtsbysam · 3 months ago

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#IFTTT #RacerViews

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pooce-not-art · 3 months ago

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Catherine with Sleepknights + Other supports you can add that you might not think about.

Hii I'm back with another long post, but this time its about the Sleepknights niche! I always love using status effects in video games, and sleepknights is by far my most favorite since you really need to rely on it to do damage. This post isn't about pure sleepknights (AKA: operators that inflict sleep in their kit) It's more about other operators that can fit into sleepknights well + being a small sleepknights overview.

First things first, what does this have to do with Catherine? She doesn't have sleep in her kit! Yes that is true, she's not a true sleepknights member, but she fits insanely well in there as a support and also as a 2nd laneholder, which is something sleepknighs lacks having basically only Blemishine.

The major reason is her S1 and how her barrier works. How it works is that any operator being supported by her device will get a barrier equal to a % of Catherine's max hp and an atk + def buff if she has s1 + the operator has barrier. The thing of note is that Barrier only regens if the operator hasn't taken damage in 5 seconds. You can regenerate it with Catherrine's S2 but then you won't get the 15% atk/def buff from her s1.

This is where Sleep comes in. You can technically also use stun or freeze, however stuns tend not to last long enough and freeze is the hardest to get consistently mostly requiring Gnosis. Be warned that sleep is the most resisted status. So this might not work at all depending on the elite and boss. You can always check in the enemy viewer.

Almost every source of sleep that the player can inflict has a minimum of 5 seconds at lvl 7. This means that no matter what, as long as all the attacking enemies are asleep, Catherine's device will be able to recharge a little. One of the two exceptions to this is the Terra Research Commission who can roll one second sleep on their talent. The other is Grainbuds S2 which requires at least a level of mastery for it to last 5 seconds. Other than these 2 exceptions, all sources of sleep including Blemishine's ModX Talent upgrade last at least 5 seconds. Most of these sources last for longer which just mean more time for the barrier to recharge.

But as you can see you can pretty reliably get barrier and that +15%atk/def buff onto Blemishine by just spamming their skills(which is what you do in sleepknights anyways) The barrier does not apply to summons or pseudo-summons so no super slumberfoot.

The other Operator I would like to mention is using Spuria with Erato.

Before you ask, Aak still requires the standard Aak setup for her to survive. Catherine's barrier is nowhere near enough even with Mod3 S2M3 Spuria just requires less people.

Erato does want ASPD for her s1 and even at lvl 7, Spuria's s2 gives Erato enough time to get 2 shots off before the sleep runs out even if you got unlucky with a stun.

This lets 3 of her shots ignore 60% of defense (50% without module) instead of the standard 2. (I think Erato's foreswing of 16 frames is short enough for this to not actually matter in the first place, due to besiegers having a 2.4(1.8-1.7 with aspd buff) second attack interval and Spuria's stun only lasting 2-1.8 seconds max). In addition, Erato's S1 has pretty poor scaling on masteries going from 215%@lvl7 to 240%@m3 so getting an Atk buff helps a lot.

S2 is her main sleepknights skill as it has her prioritize sleeping targets to take advantage of her monstrous 60% def ignore on them.

Its basically just a better Swift strike gamma giving 50% atk and 50 aspd at m3 while having a really good 20s uptime 25s downtime. She benefits less from spuria here than just like Warfarin since she has aspd and atk basked into her kit. With spuria s2M3 she gets a really nice +80%Atk +90 aspd though, so idk just get lucky and not hit the 20% chance of 1.8s stun

I did some calculations using this equation which calculates the DPS: (BaseAtk *[1.0 + AttackBuffs])/(2.4/(1.0 + ASPDBuffs))

With this, plugging my Erato's 1065 atk stat, I calculated her using s2 by itself as : 998.43 Warfarin's S2M3 90% atk buff: 1597.5 A 60% increase Spuria's S2M3 You "miss" 1/5 shots : 1398.73 A 40% increase. Btw if you hit all of spuria's shots its only a 52% increase Missing all but 1 shot is a 13% atk increase but thats unlikely

However Spuria's buff lasts the entire skill duration of 20 seconds, and has a smaller sp charge duration of 40 so you can buff every other s2 with her module which reduces the time to 32 seconds. You can also do this for warfarin if you manage to find a spot where the enemies are dying, but you're somehow not getting anyone else in her range. Also the standard "Spuria is an actual unit that can attack and do things argument". I would say that she's easier to use and has more dps in the long run, esp since erato tends to not kill everything on s2. Its still a single target attack that gets most of its benefits from hitting sleeping targets. It applies, just a lot less since she won't be attacking the enemies as much. Sleepknighs also doesn't tend to have healing issues with Blemishine s2 and Sora s1 so Spuria should be above 80% hp for her module trait. But ofc Warf is prolly better since she can buff more than 1 class.

In all, I think Catherine adds a nice buffer to sleepknights that doesn't take away from what makes it special (Blemishine sweeps), same with Spuria they just let the existing operators perform a little better.

#arknights #sleepknights #long post #arknights analysis #spuria arknights #catherine arknights #Catherine just has me in a theory crafting mood so I've been posting a lot lol #Sorry for the long blocks of text I got 0 recording software + this is mostly math

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paradise-in-k4 · 7 months ago

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Index - Blog Tags

The search function is enabled for easy searching. Most of the tags are marked below for easier searching, but not all of them since there’s a 30-tag limit.

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#crack rp

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#project zeppelin

#the eternal dark incident

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#the lost word incident - Stuff about Touhou Lost Word, which is a focal point in structuring my multiverse despite being a “non-canon” game.

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#honkai logbook - The mun plays Honkai Star Rail now, I guess?

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#razor spade’s card table - The mun plays card games. Or Razor Spade is hosting a few of her own.

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exoticalmonde · 9 months ago

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The Evealia Guide Through Babel (event) - Part I

Wow, who would've ever thought that I have more enthusiasm to talk about the Babel event and that, which has to do with the Sarkaz race, than I do with literally anything else.

I have 0 excuses. So I shall provide none.

This is the personalized (read: for me) guide through the Babel event in Arknights, with a provided story explanation/synopsis and a run-down on the event characters/media.

Gorgeous medals by the way, there's something within me that screams and years for them. Maybe it's because I've been playing this game for two, running towards three years and I'm attached to the Sarkaz. I'm attached to Theresa and Babel and can't wait to see how this event could possibly change my opinion of Theresis and Manfred.

(Warning: The following post will contain spoilers for the event, as well as commentary on my experience. Thank you for reading.)

With all that said, I think I'm going to go through the characters first. We're happy to welcome four new Operators who would happily join Rhodes Island: Lutonada, Odda, Aroma and Ascalon.

Only one of them we already know about from the Main Theme Chapter 13; Only two of them will be relevant to the story.

So let's start with the one we won't be mentioning ever again - Lutonada.

A new 4-star juggernaut defender from Bolivar. You can see her unique in that she is the first 4-star character of this class. Alongside her are Mudrock, Penance and Vulcan. To be fair, it's a spicy- I meant, it's a pricy class, with most of the characters costing over 30DP to deploy; making it tricky to use early if you don't have at least two flag Vanguards and difficult to leave alone if they're not Mudrock.

Juggernauts are special also with their inability to be healed, making it detrimental for them to have their own type of healing in their kit. Lutonada heals when an enemy she is blocking dies. That makes her S2 the most important skill, because according to the numbers - it charges pretty fast and its mechanic is basically: >Pull enemy towards self via magnets >Block >???? >Heal Pretty easy to use and I, as a fan of Empowered Attacks, love her S1 because those sweet, sweet 230% damage on an attack for every 3 seconds on her M3 sound very nice.

Should you build her? Personally, the downside to her is that as a 4-star she has significantly less HP than Penance and Mudrock, but you can practically ignore the 200HP difference between her and Vulcan. The same can be said about their attack and defence (ALL of this at E2).

Dr. Eve will always support your simple, carnal desires above all else. You want her? Did you pull her? Then build her. To bypass the Juggernaut's inability to be healed, you can always snatch either a Perfumer, Angelina (E2 perk), Suzuran (S3), or Blemishine (S2) who all have passive healing on all allies under some conditions, or you can use a Bard supporter like Heidi, Skalter and Sora.

Her Module is kind of... Eh? For all the cost you throw, she recovers 20% HP when an enemy blocked by her dies. It does sound like a lot, but I'm not sure if it means exactly what I think it does. I wanted her but didn't get her. Hope the little ratscal joins my ship eventually.

NB: Forgot to mention - her push force is 0 for her S2 and so far it doesn't seem to change with Masteries. Keep that in mind.

---

Next up we have Aroma, this is our new 5-star Blast Caster - on the same road as Corroserum and Ifrit.

The difference between her utility and Corroserum's (I won't talk about Ifrit, because she is practically the best, most aggressive Blast Caster you can find) is within the effects of their abilities. Numbers aren't really that important here, because they're both 5-stars.

What is important to note is that while Corroserum's S1 is practically unwanted because of his 10s stun duration, his S2 is helpful because it silences the enemies for 5 seconds max at M3.

Meanwhile, Aroma deals extra ARTS damage on her S1 + she deals additional damage to AERIAL targets. It's pretty helpful but practically feels useless, because rare are the times we have aerial targets line up perfectly and for long enough to fit inside her range. Unless she is used to taking down aerial targets when they float.

Her S2 just does additional damage to enemies who have been Levitated - props to her talent. The other people who levitate so far are Chongyue, Irene, Ho'olheyak, Quanipalaat and Odda.

I... am... Not sure if her Module expands her range like the other Blast Casters'? But it sounds like it should, it would be unfair otherwise. I'm leaving it for you to decide if you want this, but it's surprisingly easy to build material-wise.

---

Which brings us to our second before last Operator, the free character in the Event whom you can get with just 40% of all the currency you'll be getting. It's a long story.

First in many things, Odda is an unseen before Earthshaker Guard. That role is kind of like Dreadnought guards, but they can block two enemies from the get-go and they do an AOE attack each basic attack.

Him, I actually got all the tickets to and dropped Ash to build. He has an empowered attack for his S1 which ends up at a chargetime of whooping 2 seconds!!! It extends the splash area as well with .5 tiles, so... He does damage of 1.5 tiles additionally.

Unlike Lutonada, Odda's S2 has Levitate with a weight of 3 or less for 0.5 seconds on each splash attack.

He doesn't have any Modules so far, but I personally have gotten attached to him through the story. I want to mention that unlike what I've noticed, his story says he is a Messenger from Kazdel. I thought it was interesting this bean with a gargantuan hammer is intended to... run around as fast as he can.

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And finally, I almost forgot, we have Ascalon - our very dedicated Ambusher Specialist. At least that's what is said about her, but I heard that practically even Ethan is better in certain aspects.

I didn't like Ascalon when we first met her, even though her design was amazing.

Passively, her talent slows the Movement Speed of enemies and they take Ascalon's ATK as ARTS damage per second for 18/25 seconds (E1/E2). In her E2 she gets more ASPD and gains even more (wow, 8+6) if there is high ground in the 4 adjacent tiles.

Looks like this is the patch for enhanced attacks because Ascalon does 210% additional damage to an enemy, attacking twice and stores up to 3 charges in her M3 for S1.

Her S2 gives her +130% ATK, slows enemies by 60% if they are on the ground and in attack range and inflicts her T1 (the poison-esque damage) on nearby enemies when defeated. The radius of this 'nearby' means 1.3 tiles away. And it's specified that the MS reduction works on Aerial targets too, but the Talent effect is applied only to ground units.

Finally, to top it off, her range expands and she attacks faster and reduces the Physical and Arts hit rate of ground enemy units by 50%. She's more likely to be targeted by enemies, but recovers 8% MAX HP when she manages to dodge.

Her S1 gets increased, that's all.

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Right. Everybody should be on the list. Now, to my favourite part of events - watching the YT videos that are meant to introduce the event for us.

youtube

First came the Official Babel Trailer.

Here is a script I very painstakingly made of everything written on the screen, because I'm unfortunately not that fast of a reader. During my scripting, I also noticed that the last line... is almost impossible to notice because the screen cracks and glitches when it shows up. I didn't notice it the first two times I watched it for my own pleasure.

[Theresa, you've forged an irreversible "fate".] [Swords and spears sharpen in fear of your bloodkin.] [You believe our differences will eventually be put aside,] [That the tribes will ultimately unite.] [Theresa, I've seen it... your wish.] [A sea of stars shining at the end of savagery,] [A new path emerging from the storm.] [But every path has an end, Theresa.] [When you surpass the limits of civilization,] [No one will be able to comprehend your love...] [They will loathe you...] [They will fear you...] [Until hate transforms the land into ruin.] [Until blood washes the memories away.] [But we do not struggle on our own, do we?] [Words of hope are engraved on wreckage.] [...You have brought us ample delights.] [So, don't let go of my hands.] [Let's see for ourselves, together.] [Watch life awaken from despair...] [I want you to believe,] [We can still stand together,] [in the sea of flowers, listening...] [To the voices of the universe...]

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As a side note, Twitter provides another just slightly edited video of the new characters which I like to include for the fullness of the list. You can watch it Here, since I can't find it on YT.

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youtube

Finally, here is the Arknights Animation PV for Babel.

Dying. And crying. Screaming. You can see baby Amiya. You see baby Ascalon, Manfred, Theresa... Little Logos, ilovehim. His terrible haircut, his pointy ears, the cutiest that has ever patootied, I was screeching worse than any Banshee you could ever hear when I saw him.

The speaker I'm pretty sure is Kal'tsit and the important information is provided in the video description itself:

[To advance from present to future, You first settle the past.] [Arknights: Babel] [Your Highness... I swear to you]

I remember when I saw it my first thought was: Oh my god are we seeing somebody having a father??? But then I think I got swept away seeing Manfred being tied to a pole with Theresis and Theresa being the best adoptive parents that could exist.

Also, Savage jumpscare.

Also also,

Genuinely me.

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Last on the list for today is the furniture set: 'Scar Market Memories' A room modeled after the Scar Market based on the Sarkaz mercenaries' descriptions. The market was known for its disorder and disarray. Its visual appearance was established by a Cyclops who had been in charge for several decades.

I really like this one, it fits so well with Hoederer's furniture pack because they're both very... Sarkaz. By Sarkaz, I mean that they look like a hole you could've dug up to live in. Kind of cosy, kind of sad. Like anything Sarkaz we're about to learn.

---

This is what it looks like on the ship without the Minecraft shaders. Now let's just go through some of them and see the more interesting tidbits of information we have about the Sarkaz lifestyle.

Surely, a piece of furniture can't have any sort of angst about it. I mean, come on, it's just a room.

Downward Facing Branches

A withered thick tree branch, severed to a third of its original length. "We hang a dead tree branch above our heads to remind every Sarkaz: Death is gazing upon you."

...

What the absolute hell.

---

Long Twig

It's.... It's just a long twig.

Please.

A withered, thick tree branch, severed to a third of its original length. It is a symbol that stands in for the dead. The corpse of the tree is twisted and haggard, just like our fallen comrades in their final moments.

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Witchcraft Workbench

A metal table full of scratches and marks, with a basket holding strange tools hanging underneath. All astute mercenaries know that they should never ask about the tools' real purpose.

God damn it.

---

Oddities Showcase

Oh, yeah, I love oddities showcases, I've seen people make miniature showcases of like... things they... like...

A collection of cheap objects brought back from all across Terra is put on display here. The "oddities" in the name refers not to the trinkets, but to the mercenaries who managed to bring them here without dying.

---

"Work and Life"

A storage rack with some daily necessities, a few wanted posters, and quite a few ID tags. Note: The ID tags are just decorations. No Sarkaz mercenaries were harmed in the making of this collection.

You're funny, you're so very funny I am clapping my thighs with amusement you freak--- *Gets dragged away by Hoederer for a 10-minute break*

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Hoederer: "Doctor..." Me: "I don't want to read anymore..." Hoederer: "Doctor, please, you've been stalling for so long. You have to at least finish this part." Me: "Can we just please do anything else, I am going to die if I have to read another furniture set that talks about how each and every Sarkaz dies like a mayfly unnoticed and illiterate until somebody who probably minutely knew about them notices they've been gone four months past when they were meant to return-" Hoederer: "They do." Me: "... I'm sorry. I'm going back to work."

---

Steel Rail Lights

Hanging from the dark ceiling light are a cloth, a teapot, and some wine glasses; also some books. "I just put whatever on top since it's convenient. Just like how I put my life on the line for coin. Because money is convenient."

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Messy Wine Cabinet

A messy storage shelf with wineglasses and a bottle of wine of unknown origin. Strong liquor distilled from grains is the mercs' favorite. It's cheap, strong, and "kills instantly."

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Charcoal Oven

The charcoal fire burns slowly and projects a dark red color on the oven. To prevent indoor carbon monoxide poisoning, the "fire" here is actually a number of lights with different colors.

Are you saying.... Are you saying that they...

Okay, I think we're done here, nothing more interesting to see from the furniture set. Everything is terrible and all died, some mercenaries have artistic vision while others sleep on metal mats and other trash they put together.

I can't believe I called any of this cosy before reading their descriptions.

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I also want to give props to all of you, each comment is such a banger I've been laughing at them separately and together for ten minutes now.

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