#semi-actually really important lore post

[thenextchapterbegins]

Dark earths zodiac

The Bat

Creature of the halflight, you fly along the line of the brink, the almost-- the bat zodiac embodies the inbetween. They are often considered strange by their peers, but in the right setting their feeling of discomfort fades and they become a unique voice. Those under the sign of the bat tend towards anxiety, longing to live unwitnessed-- the bat is most comfortable in the dark, but not alone; this sign craves to exist without judgement. They tend to become lost in their thoughts, their own worlds, to the extent that they can forget to engage with the world around them. But those who love the bat know that they will always return. For all their shadows, the bat actively seeks to be compassionate. Having themselves felt both the harsh sear of the sun and the lonely chill of the moon, they find themselves able to sympathize with almost anyone.

And so you push through the hanging vines and into the sun. It is strange and open without the undergrowth, quiet without the birds. Will you say something to the forest before you go? Will you leave it one last secret? One last love? Or has it taken enough? The trees are silent.

one last secret

"When giaia was defeated. When the earth was put whole, it took weeks to discover all the damage caused. cities and nations erased...millions upon millions dead...all the while i quipped, i joked. it was just another adventure. Another puzzle...fight the bad guys win the day. Their is still rebuilding, when i walked the streets, when i saw parents cry in graves, when i saw children mourn their parents all who were taken too soon. “

“I saw the memorials..everyday is just another day of putting back the pieces....but you can still see it when i look at them, they look at me. Their is a horror in our eyes and a profound sadness....we survived something so terrible...i knew. After that, i had to change. I couldnt just let things happen, i couldnt just joke..sometimes people need to be stopped, they need to be laid to the ground and made sure something like that never happens again. That the fear and weight of their consequences is put to them, if they cant be made to see reason..then you must strike so hard they can never stand again. Some would say i've grown jaded...turned my back on the princples i have laid out always. “

“ I say that they would let something like this happen again just to hold onto fragile morals..morals mean nothing if millions have to die for them to be held...i was wrong, and strangely..my rival  who i had seen as brutal, cruel..maybe sometimes a villain. That they were right...sometimes force, sometimes...revenge is the right path...and honestly now they might be able to guide me on who to...strike hard when needed but still restrain yourself from falling darker down a hole...because its hard now.”

“ Hard to just give up. To make sure nothing like this could ever happen again. To let the darkness fuel to put the fear of god in anyone that could claim to want to destroy or hold the earth in their grip. But i also know, i know now that if i did that. I would become like them...the only thing i truly fear though.”

 “Is losing my friends, i still smile, i still quip to them..but im not like that really anymore, it feels like lying in a way...or maybe im just using it to act normal, to feel like i used to feel. I dont know...its so complicated now."

{ mun note, using sonic unleashed as a backdrop to my lore has been very fun because whilst the game is VERY SILLY if u take it with a serious lens it honestly becomes a horror game in a way and i think taking seriously could fundemtnally change sonic and thats what i’ve done.}

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

hooo boy, i watched miraculous when five or six episodes of first season aired (i was aware of it when it was only two)! it was really cool to see magical girl superhero in Paris, who has a (semi-related) crush to his classmate, who's also a superhero and partner to her superhero persona - who said crush HAS A CRUSH ON SUPERHERO SELF! i remember when theories flew on identity of Hawkmoth and who could possibly be (wiki was also ambiguous on that, based on the factor of the same va, which - i mean, one va can do multiple voices, that was earlier practise for budgeting reasons)! it was nice to see heroes thru everyday lives (well, how much normal is up to debate), everyday strugles, akuma of the episodes, ways how the main heroine solves it, and (some debatable) lessons of the day - girl magical show, y'all! (even tho it was called Tales of Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir)

and then the lore at the end got complicated at the end of seasons! and we got a little more of lore building, and different vibes and dynamics according to that! we got more lore on some episodes, but still not rocking the main status quo story of the season!

and then S4 and S5 happened.

to me, the problem was there undefined, until, in your previous posts, you put the name on it: the writers are incapable of juggling and merging stand-alone episodes and overarching story. they started with stand-alones, but saw that the continuous plot had more success with older audiences (c'mon, scrambled episodes were partialy their tactic, whether the actual s1 scrambling was their intention or truly an accident of tv broadcasts).

and since most of the audience are online, they think that providing additional and vague explanations and lore can - let's be frank, cover their asses. (which, hello, one show with overarching plot did almost the same with their actual lore, and only the hardcores picked up on it - bad idea if you want to make deeper sense to the story)

they tried marrying the storytelling formulas (stand-alones and overarched) in S2 and S3, but it wasn't noticeable, remarkable, and didn't raise the fandom's ire too much - still not rocking the actual important boat, which is offline view on the actual show (kids stand-alone, just turn your brain off and enjoy!) (which, in fairness, Thomas worked on Totally Spies, and that show had some success). it was egregious when it became obvious and contradicting (bc tying all the episodes's lore details is REALLY the true detective work), WHILE STILL WORKING WITH STAND-ALONE FORMULA! (some speculation on my part: some leaks didn't help with the writing process; different writers for different episodes (good idea for brainstorming, bad idea for the core characterisation and story); and... well, they certainly aren't good, or at all, detectives, or long-time planners - i mean, you plan several seasons, but not the finer details? the devils are in them, not in investors whims and wishes in order to get money).

but the desperate hope, masochistic curiosity and the endless possibilities of lore and story are already deep in our brains and hearts that we have to see thru the actual chaotic dumpster mess of the show and how it ends - some love it, some hate the ride, some cope with fanfics, some with rants, and some left the train and are somewhere else. the rest who remain... well hello there! make sure you get enough rests, snacks, beverages of your choice and some meditations (any kind) to witness all!

anyway, that's my pov.

The writers apparently always wanted to tell a more complex story, they just couldn't early on because they'd sold the show as not having one:

So Sebastien sold the Miraculous series to broadcasters as a formula show. A person gets angry, is akumatized, then marinette transforms into Ladybug then frees the person from the akumatization and… The End. It's also for this reason that Marinette tries to confess her love for Adrien in every episode, but is unable to do so. But he tried to go against what he had planned with TF1, by slipping little extra stories into certain episodes. Audiences were receptive to these slightly hidden stories. The TV channel even asked Sébastien if there really were hidden things in the series, but he denied everything. Thanks to the positive reception from the public, TF1 agreed to develop the characters of Marinette and Adrien and flesh out the universe a little more.

My tin foil hat theory is that this conflict is at the heart of Miraculous' problems. The writers keep trying to make the show they want to make instead of the show they can make within the limits set by the higher ups and so you end up with the worst of both worlds. A show that's too serious to just turn off your brain and have fun with, but a show that's also too underdeveloped to tell a serialized story well. (Supporting evidence for this theory: the script for Chat Blanc getting rejected for being "too dark" leading it to be in season three instead of season two.)

I get the frustration of being held back from telling the story you want to tell, I really do, but I'm of the opinion that you should tell the best story you can within the limits you set instead of trying and failing to tell the darker grittier story that you really want to tell, but can't because no one will pay for it.

Context for that last bit;

So Sébastien started working with Thomas Astruc (the man who wrote and created the "Ladybug" project). At first, he didn't want to work on this project because he found it complicated. Thomas wanted to make a series for adults, but at the time, it was very complicated to make a cartoon for adults. What's more, they didn't have enough money to take on such a project. Sébastien finally agreed, but there were some changes to be made, which Thomas accepted.

(Note this is from the same interview linked above.)

[transbee]

Still thinking about her btw. And that whole time period in ff7 as a whole. Dirge had a lot of issues but it did plant the seeds of turk-era vincent in my brain and the dynamic happening between him hojo lucrecia and an unborn sephiroth.

please. please won't someone be insane about lucrecia with me. she makes me wanna pace around in circles.

[elendsessor]

okay didn’t mean to make a follow up post so soon but in thinking about how the hunter is treated in wilds and the shadiness behind the guild’s actions in that entry specifically, i also started thinking about the actual importance of the forbidden lands on a lore standpoint going beyond just the guardians.

there isn’t really a true concrete timeline except for sequels to dos, but the common theme throughout each dos-adjacent game is legends coming back and things meant to be forgotten, well, not being forgotten.

lunastra returning is one thing, finally properly introducing the ancient civilization beyond fatalis stuff. 4u sees an entire shift of the environment. while not explicitly stated to be a sequel, sunbreak does mention the frenzy virus outbreak and a rough estimate as to how long it might’ve been going on for. frontier is still debatably canon, but with acknowledgements of mezeporta existing in mainline and the diva in wilds offering stat buffs like she did in frontier (keo and/or inagami are just waiting to come back), we can at least assume the possibility of certain lore concepts and maybe even monster lore yet to appear being canon. heck, valstrax becoming more common at least around the point of rise and them being symbols of disaster speak volumes.

wilds is the biggest deep dive we’ve gotten on ancient civilization lore in a long while, but man is it huge.

the fact that the forbidden lands are called the forbidden lands to begin with is a major red flag. the people living there don’t call it that, meaning the guild is what gave it the name. and with tasheen mentioning some of the remaining citizens of wyveria left to go elsewhere means there’s no way the guild didn’t know about what was going on there.

and i think that’s also where the zoh shia assignments are better put into perspective. the guild wasn’t helping nata because it was the right thing to do, rather they wanted to erase the existence of the forbidden lands altogether because they’re potentially on the verge of another dragon war.

i mainly say this because of how olivia is portrayed. she’s loyal to a fault, and the lack of a handler proves that. but it’s also interesting how adamant she is to have the dragontorch be shut down despite experiencing not only an entire ecosystem thriving, not only a civilization thriving, but especially because a hunter’s job is to preserve that very ecosystem no matter where it is.

this is further supported by the high rank zoh shia assignment. verner’s surprised to hear her be against the dragontorch destruction. she wasn’t there to experience the fight nor showed any doubt in the hunter’s capabilities at any point. say what you will about monster hunter writing but she definitely isn’t the type to change her opinions on a dime. i do think all along she wanted to keep the dragontorch standing. so why so adamant?

for one is that loyalty. she’s the perfect mouthpiece for the guild.

the other is what that destruction brings. the people will suffer and so will the monsters, but the guardians? gone. easy to be cleaned up. the keepers don’t have a purpose anymore and the secret of wyveria’s unethical activities would eventually be forgotten. there would be no reason to go to the forbidden lands. wiping out an ecosystem is a small price to pay for peace.

but everything persisted anyways. the guardians are shown capable of becoming semi-organic, at least with g ark.

zoh shia can’t be the only edw-adjacent monster i’m sorry. you can’t tell me no civilization thought the same thing. heck, wyveria isn’t THE ancient civilization, rather it was a part of it. for them to be preparing for war despite no clear opposition could be because they anticipated something. why else would they demand dominance over an entire ecosystem? why would they make biological weapons instead of the standard super weapons everyone can have? they knew they were pushing it. there was a matter of time before something fought back. the only hope they had to keep dominance was to play by enough rules. even if they were somehow the only society capable of such a feat, it wasn’t just them who suffered.

with a bunch of elder dragons reawakening, premonitions of disaster and ecological changes, the guild has every reason to fear another war. perhaps they felt like they did something wrong, and they believed the only way to fix it was to pin it on someone. what happened to keep standing? the forbidden lands. the wyrmway. one of if not the last active remnant of the ancient civilization.

ngl i’d love to see capcom follow up on these implications. maybe we won’t get a dragon war 2 electric boogaloo but i’d love to see how letting the dragontorch remain impacts the entire world. hear me out-

[under-lore]

About "Tweets aren't canon"

One misconception that one seems to be nearly guaranteed to see brought up by someone whenever discussing Undertale/Deltarune lore with people who are not particularly invested in it is that "Toby Fox said tweets weren't canon".

And, when you first hear it, it actually sounds quite convincing, because this tweet is in fact real and does seem to say that.

So... What's actually going on here with tweets and with this one in particular ?

The actual status of tweets

Before mentioning what's really going on with that specific tweet, i'd like to lay some groundwork first.

For instance, regarding the fact that this tweet dates back from November 2016. And that if the tweet were to be taken seriously, it would mean that no tweets especially after that date are to be treated as canon.

Something that is rather explicitely not the case.

There are several examples for this, although the Gaster tweets which introduced us to Deltarune and directly link up to the game's "Goner Maker" introduction sequence are i would say prime offenders.

Here in these tweets, we are not yet connected, then we are given a way to connect.

Then, we pick this back up where we left it in Deltarune, where we are then asked wether the connection was a success.

This has of course been pointed out to Toby (although he never responded to those messages), and yet it did not prevent him from re-doing the exact same thing a few years later for chapter 2.

In short, the situation is that, to this day, Toby Fox still purposely uses tweets in order to provide important canon-accurate information about his games, with the Spamton Q&A as recently as last year.

In light of that, using that one tweet to say that any information coming from tweets is invalid just can't be right... So one might wonder :

But then, why did Toby say that ?

The problem comes from the fact that this quote is usually cropped like this when people try to share it around :

Which is greatly misleading !

Obviously, Toby Fox's popularity comes mainly from Undertale and later Deltarune. Due to this, and due to the majority of the fandom nowadays being teenagers, many in the fandom are not aware that ever since his own teenage years, Toby Fox has been for the lack of a better term, a massive shitposter. A habit that only started to die out after Undertale's release and in the year that followed. (Though he still shows glimpses of it from time to time)

I mean, we are talking about the person who kept on posting memes on twitter for nearly a decade and who made "a goast poot on u" at the end of the Earthbound Halloween Hack, his first semi-serious game project.

Why ?

Because he's just that kind of "funny guy" and felt like it. His words, not mine.

This was, up until not so long ago, the kind of person that Toby was online.

When taking all this into account and looking back at the un-cropped version of that quote, it becomes pretty obvious what's going on here.

Toby Fox found a bootleg nursery rhyme video of Undertale characters, found that hilarious (As the "funny guy" that he is), and decided to make a shitpost about it. Joking about how this weird thing that he found, right here, was the peak of official Undertale material and might just be more canon in his book than the kickstarter or tweets were.

The post that started this whole thing in the first place was just that, a shitpost, a joke, not something that Toby ever actually meant. Which honestly should have been pretty obvious in the first place, i mean, this is still a post about Toby trolling bootleg nursery rhymes, people. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously...

Besides, that tweet's statement would have been self-contradictory anyways. If tweets weren't canon, then this tweet would not be canon either, etc... Leading to one of those silly paradoxical loops rather than to an actual statement about tweet canonicity.

So then, that brings the question : Why ?

Why do so many people still claim that tweets aren't canon ?

The reason is likely the same as the reason why this misconception was created in the first place : It is a rope to cling on to for some people to defend certain headcanons that Toby had debunked via tweets.

Because yes, between late 2015 and late 2016 Toby used to once in a while answer a question about the lore of the game on tweeter. Leaving some people with their headcanons turning out to be wrong.

(A few examples of headcanons that Toby denied on twitter were that Undyne killed the green soul human, or that ghost monsters used to be humans, for example.)

It was some of those people, in the first place, who started cropping this tweet to make it seem like their headcanons were still on the table and started the mess in the first place.

This rumor, at its origins, was not just a mere misconception but rather a deliberate attempt at misinformation from some fans that weren't happy with the way Toby had taken the game, which is unfortunately still being shared around to this day due to how sensible it seems at first sight.

[your-ne1ghbor]

It was 1 am-2 am when I decided: OOOO I should mess with Star's design again... so tell me... Why did it work???

also another long post from the sleep deprived fish lets goo

The cape is ugly af, but the rest of the deign is actually...GOOD??? I am in shock since this rarely happens when I actually like how the colors came out on any character-

UNFORTUNATLY, the cape is what ruins it due to how BLAND it is. Not only that, but it is VERY important to how I design his cape. Like basically:

Yes, that is how important his cape is! I wanna talk about what his cape means in another post where I talk about the Star Realm, but for now, I got this ugly ahh cape.

Not only that, the rims with the colors being gold is actually wrong with how I wanted to make his color pallet. The gold rims (ON HIS CAPE NOT THE REST OF THE OUTFIT) are supposed to be a light blue to signifiy a lake. HOWEVER, I tried to see what it would look like, especially here and in my other post here, where it just does not work with his design. Sure, the light blue is nice, but doesn't fit no matter how hard I try to make it look nice. The gold rims work way too well to where the only light blue where it would work, would only be seen on the back of his cape...WHICH IS UGLYYYYYYYYY

Perhaps I go with either a different cape? Change up the color pallet? Or try to make it work with the lore of the Star Realm? (Yeah I'm being serious, thats how important his cape is and how I represent it. If it doesn't look good or work, then idk... I really wanted to incorprate the star realm onto his cape. I might have to come up with a symbol of the star realm if this doesn't work)

The front however, is actually okay, which is basically the little circle with the ribbon draping over his cape. It is just as important as the rest of the design of his cape, ESPECIALY with those 2 pieces in particular. I dont have a problem with it, since it is what I wanted it to look like in the first place and works well with the design either way.

I don't want to continue empathizing on how important it is to how I represent his cape, but it is overall significant to his design. So I'll talk about the bottom of his design since it is actually where I had trouble with before.

To be specific, it is how I wanted his top to look like. Either I wanted a closed off semi-skirt like what the original or what @signed-sapphire and @chillwildwave did with their star boy's design, or go with a more open skirt like what @oh-shtars and @spectator-zee with theirs. It ofc ended up being more open, just it being shorter. I was unironically inspired by Eugene's outfit lmao but the rest came by easy. I knew I wanted his shoes to be almost up to his knees cause he needs to be FANCYYYYY. I also changed up his sleeves and made it more flowy cause I wanted more fun with his design and works with his character :D

Speaking of character, this somewhat works with his character. SOMEWHAT. He is pretty a optimistic kind of prankster, but I feel like his bright personality is toned down to how dark the outfit came out. I know it is to represent the stars since...you know..he is one, just that (quote from one of my bsfs (TY FOR YOUR INSIGHT BTW)) "the outside is more dark whilst the inside has lighter colors, it makes it look like a glowing star trying to hide, a bit".

I mean, makes sense to why he needs to hide: Maggy wants to make sure he is fucking dead- JOKES ASIDE, it works with context, but he doesn't nessicairly like hiding stuff, like he is pretty open about his feelings for example, but like I said, it also works since he has to hide from the people of Rosas and her parents or else he's seen as the monster (rawr rawr rawr) in their eyes 💀

That aside, you probably notice I changed up his hair. Why? Because I wanted to try something and make it have more depth. It works, so it stays for now.

Is this the final design for him? No. Its not. Until I get the cape right, I still have to get his design working. At least it is working with how I am envisioning it, minus the few little details that make me annoyed for no particular reason other than it needing to work with his character and world.

My next post is going to be an update to the Maggy silly lil backstory cause...it is REALLY important to the story 😭😭

Until then, GOOD DAY/AFTERNOON/NIGHT

[incorrectfatui]

okok more headcanons- I have more for some Harbingers than others, I'll do Dottore and Crucy in this one. I have a lot of angsty ones about Crucabena in particular, but I'll just do some fun ones here so it won't get to heavy (same with Scara later on) Dottore: -most people can't really get under his skin. He used to be a lot easier to anger (see Webtorre), but Prime and the older segments have gotten good at keeping it disguised. A notable exception to this rule is Scara, mainly because of their complicated relationship- like Nahida explained, he is jealous of him, and this too manifests in his (lack of) patience when interacting with Scara compared to others. -not all that concerned about people he's close to dying. Has a vast amount of forbidden knowledge, so he knows about Teyvat running in a sort of loop. He's annoyed when people he's close to die, yes, but he knows they'll come back in some form in the next cycle, so he's kind of detached. -Doesnt actually have strong feelings about (new) Arlecchino. He's annoyed that he has less test subjects now, yes, and he would rather have Crucabena back, but he doesnt hate her or anything. She's an annoyance at most, but not really a threat. -does not actually like Pierro one bit (and thats mutual between the two). He's glad for the opportunities the Fatui provide, but Pierro? No. -Would collect pokemon cards. - I have a lot about Scara & him but I think I'll need a separate post for that Crucabena: -I mentioned this in the last post, but I absolutely think she was a really, really feral child. Whenever I draw her as a kid, my immediate thought is "this kid bites". -I think she was born with one of her elements (hydro/cryo). We dont see her having a vision, and I dont think she'd have two delusions. She's based off of a goddess/witch, and I think the latter describes what I see her as in Genshin. I also think she is one of the Fatui members who does not age regularly, although that's mostly my Crucattore childhood friends agenda speaking. -terrible at cooking. horrible. the house of the hearth lives off of fast food -*huge* enabler. Not just for Dottore, but for everyone that is not her children. Put her on a mission with Sandrone and find them coming back to Snezhnaya with a suspicious amount of robot-parts and new puppets. Put her and Signora into a casino and see Signora's yearly savings gone in one evening. She seems well adjusted, but she's really, REALLY not -this is more lore heavy, but I think she's related to one of the tribes Remuria conquered. Remuria ofc being based off of Rome, and her name being a romanised version of a welsh name. Frankly, I think her true name is still the welsh version and she just goes by the romanised one for *some* plausible deniability. (Similarly, Clervie is also the romanised version, although I'd say Clervie herself doesnt know) -Also her child sacrificing ideology has me thinking Enkanomiya, so I'll probably incorporate that in my AUs somehow -Was active in Fontainian politics. Because someone had to be, and it surely wasnt Sandrone. -oracle/prophet. No I will not elaborate. -Despises being called nicknames, but Dottore and Columbina (at the very least) almost exclusively address her that way. Crucabena/Ceridwen? Thats Crucy and Ceri to Dottore and Bina. -the fairytale book she reads to the children is some genuinely important semi-historical account, like a lot of the books we find in genshin are. She's aware, but she really does not care if the children figure it out. They'll die anyways. Pierro wasnt happy about it tho. -Got a lot of condolence-cards from fontainian and snezhnayan politicans after Clervie died. Genuinely took a few minutes to realise what those were about, because she really did not see it as that significant of an event. -Similarly, used Clervies death as an excuse to get out of doing her job. You want her to do paperwork?? Her, the poor woman mourning her only childs death?? Preposterous.

[npdkondraki]

hello ben npdkondraki. it is your mutual muppet. yourscp posting has made me want to get back into scp but also that is such a tall order and i was wondering if you had any sort of "starter kit" of sorts to get back into it.

covered in blood and shaking hey muppet. you put me under psychological torment by asking this of me. enjoy your crumbs

OK FIRST OFF. MANDATORY READING TO UNDERSTAND SOME THINGS IN THESE;

go read about the misc types of reality benders . really the greens are most important and come up the most but learning the others is also recommended tbh.

go read the personnel / character dossier . half of these guys are so incredibly niche they dont even come up in "standard mainsite affairs" but theres some good ones on there. pick and choose whoever you like and go from there

go read the o5 command dossier. im only recommending this because they play a fairly large role in wider scp antics. this is literally just surface level info about them however you gotta take it upon yourself to learn more. surprisingly i know next to nothing about the o5 so i am for once Not the person to ask about them

ok thats all back to the good shit thank u. everything from here on out is tales or scips that i classify as tales for some fucking reason dont even ask its too convoluted. enjoy my hand-crafted selection of insanities

annon - im biased i just really like annon. but its good starter material i think?????????????? maybe. im assuming so. anyway this ones about the o5 council i told you theyd come up i hope you read about them otherwise this will like . probably not make sense

duke 'till dawn - i dont need to say why im including this one. anyway this ones got some good characterization in it. also dracula is there

excerpts from "how to survive when reality doesn't", by alto clef - transcript of a lecture from clef its Really Good and i enjoy the characterization. id say its a pretty good view on how it speaks + how it generally composes itself .:-)

transcript of dr alto clefs seminar, "reality benders and you: how to survive when existence doesn't" - dj khaled voice Anotha One. again i just like the characterization here + good view on how she does its job

incident 239-b- clef-kondraki - this one is MANDATORY if you read nothing else here READ THIS ONE. anyways. good writing + baller characterization + good story + everything here fucks severely no notes. written exclusively in the form of transcripts of audio logs and camera footage. i think this is a good look at how most of them compose themselves under stress .:-) (BONUS: theres an abridged version which sucks badly and i love it. its the normal version but its lolfoundation now. its great. its awful. this one isnt mandatory its just a fun extra) (also read supplemental report 239-b-192 for. additional lore)

routine psychological evaluations by dr glass - this one is stupid but it is a good starting point. this is where a lot of the fanon ideas of them come from BUT! its pretty accurate to their actual characters too so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

yesterday - this one is really angsty im sorry. unforchies its also mandatory reading. read about these guys during the last day of their lives NOW

the king is dead - im stretching the term "starter point" pretty thin i think but it is semi-important knowledge ????????? kind of ? it gets brought up several times in misc tales & canons so its a starter point To Me.

epitaph - once again stretching the term "starter point" but this is semi-important knowlege vis a vis gears & iceberg and why theyre Like That. also its really good and id be amiss to not include it honestly

ok thats all the ones i can think of. im sure im missing some but . go forth go read about other tales

[gyarustarrr]

LORE LORE LORE!!!🗣️🗣️🗣️ (This is super long and my English is horrible for a native speaker so bear w me)

ILL BE REAL I DIDNT PUT MUCH THOUGHT INTO A REASONABLE BACK STORY but bcuz shes a self insert i had to make a mention for my bestie who can EASILY be in the pressure universe fr <3

Pre-lockdown: I think itd be unique that if Sebastian was used to give humans gills then Phanny can be used to find immortality cuz who doesnt love when a corrupt corporate entity tries to find the cure for death, happens all the time lol. I say for the important parts shes fused with an immortal jellyfish, my favorite jelly which im extreme jelly of 😼😼😼😼, and i would say that its possible that she could live forever IN THEORY with the dna of that jelly but that would have to be tested lmaooo.

I believe because shes also able bodied (mostly) she would be given similar jobs as Sebastian so shes not depressed, rotting, or lashing out. Not sure if they'd work together but she's observant and being a psychologist, she def psychoanalyzing the hell outta everybody in the facility out of boredom. She seems happy but ofc its a coping mech to make the best out of the absolute horrors around her, still emotional unstable and freaks tf out frequently. Once Sebastian frees everybody, she's free to roam and sees what Sebastian is doing. She asks to assist him in his goal but she only plays a part once Seb handles BIDNESS on land during lockdown. Post lockdown she scavenges for data and whatever here and there but shes mostly left alone or out of most of his operation, yk,,,working with Mr Lopee and all. She really tries to get close with Sebastian (despite emphasizing hes a married man, YEAH SURE BUDDY YOU'RE LIKE 32, WHATEVER MAKES U FEEL BETTER💀) and being the drama fiend i am, i think having a "moment of weakness" would lead to their complex semi romantic possibly toxic dynamic.

Fight: And as i did my research its highly debatable if Sebastian is telling pAInter the truth about getting them both out. Phanny would believe this without question cuz if he can make a plan and has all these skills and resources, he should be able to take everyone (this also includes other peoples inserts and ocs who are experiments because it makes the setting more lively and interesting). I even thought of a cool ass line my homie thought was cold asf for argument dialogue between Phanny and Seb about taking everyone back up to the surface.

Just to summarize: Phanny mentions how noble Seb is after making progress with his escape plan, assuming that he'll take at least as many people as possible including Phanny. Sebastian at this point is already trying to push her away post weakness moment and he know damn well he's just doing this for himself and never accounted to leave w/ a whole damn facility of sentient experiments. He just wanna see his mom again and hes already working in private with Mr Lopee i mean this is a one man escape plan. This ofc shatters Phanny cuz from what hes saying, nobody and he mean NOBODY is getting out of here with him. Hes not a savior and hes not responsible for people he dont even know or fuck with like tf?? And Phannys like OKAY? Nobody's asking you to be JESUS but can you at least be Moses?? Free us so we can all get justice! Explain why you can't take a handful and come back once u take this damn company down?? What about your promise to pAInter? To ME.

Ofc it ends in a big brawl, think Mark getting his shit rocked by his own dad (Omniman from invincible) and they just have this heartbreaking dialogue and they split ways.

Post fight + breakdown: After this, Phanny is basically losing it. I even have a vision for this if it was actually in game and she was an actual character with weight to the gameplay. Like crying and wailing in the vents and pipes, shit breaking, Phanny not being seen for a majority of the game until shes physically stopping u from going through doors and rushing the player. Not to kill them, she loves the expendables and protects them but if she really has to if it means Sebastian can get out/she gets to see another day then...

Plus i drew what that would look like in my last post where shes just standing in the dark in the corner blocking the door. Even if shes not blocking the door she's obviously going through something and can't be interacted with, she just follows the player with her eyes and breathes heavily. If its not that then shes crying by the the water and interacting with her gets the player a DEVIOUS side eye or no response.

Pre-breakdown + if she were actually in the game: I can't really explain why she would help the expendables WITHOUT knowing removing the crystal will indirectly end their lives, i actually havent evaluated that yet but shes friendly to expendables, takes free trade in exchange for shiny objects, and can be seen hanging out with or talking to Sebastian, or passing by in the water/halls. She's capable of killing the player entirely by accident due to her tentacles hanging from the ceiling which she chills in and dying to her makes her scream or apologize (before Sebastian says something snarky) since shes strictly against killing and never willing.

Announcing ur presence helps her know shes in the way. Typical interactive npc shenanigans. Maybe even saving expendables from certain attacks but these are rare interactions in the game. She's overall friendly and if she were real, she'd prolly be a fandom fave (ofc not on Sebastian's level, LETS BE HUMBLE YALL😭) because shes so polite and her tragedy comes near the end where the player isnt even aware of how she became hostile in just a few hours of the run. Her story would hardly happen in game and itd be one of those things a creator would have to mention outside of their game for fans to know abt yk?

Its typical for creators to just drop the craziest lore ever about a character but they're purposefully vague or literally like oh yeah time constraints so we scrapped it lol.

ALRIGHTY CLASS, ANY QUESTIONS? (typing this on my phone was so crazy guys ik its a lot but trust me its DECENT lore </3

[superbpudding]

Hello again, sorry for today's images being crap i just felt like it. Anyway since there aren't any super mysterious strange yiik youtubers with weird videos that im aware of today's topic of discussion is the legend herself Semy Pak.Also my right arm hurts rn so i will be a little more insane today ok, also since this is just pure YIIK talking and speculation be prepared for just my raw consciousness and what i think about things in YIIK. So uh first of all for anyone who haven't realised it yet ALEX EGGLESTON DIDN'T MEAT SEMI PAK HE GASLIGHTS YOU INTO BELIEVING HE DID HE ACTUALLY SPENT THE WHOLE DAY EAGLING HIS STON TO HIS REFLECTION ON THE MONITOR !!! Sources cited: when Alex comes home he keeps yapping about some other random bullshit that isn't anyhow connected to Sammy and also on the next day he mentions not being able to get "the video" out of the head, not the events. He also seems surprised when Vella mentions her name on the phone in Chapter 2. So now with that cleared up let's start with the very first appearance of Sammy and what comes before that. First of before we get to Sammy we meet another woman, a Blue one, she mentions that Alex is "not supposed to be back here" and disappears.

I want to instantly point out how her outfit, skin color and hair color are exactly the same as one of Spectre Sammy's, personally i think that counting YIIK's cyclical narrative the Blue Woman is the previous missing woman that Alex was obsessing over(possibly even Jae-Hwa Wen herself), with the graves you see in Factory Hotel being graves of previous Sammys and Dalis, the one in park looking area could also be referencing the "The Death of Semi Pak" post.

I also want to point out the tree that Sammy sits on, it has a mirrored Borjgali symbol, that being the symbol of tree of life, the sun and the eternity. With it being placed on a literal tree i think it's safe to assume that the tree in question is the tree of life, with other 2 meanings being the eternal cycle of yiik's narrative and this tree being the symbolical beginning and the end of all Sammys. This same tree also appears in KNN ending.

After that she gets taken by the Mysterious Star Creatures during the elevator ride and while the original is interesting too i want to talk about the I.V version of this cutscene. It ends with this scene of Sammy getting killed in an Iron Maiden which is a really similar to one of Asuka Furutani getting turned into a Digital Soul Vessel in Deviation Perspective 1, while ost "Digital Soul Vessel assembly line" plays on the background, so i think it's fair to assume that in this scene she gets turned into a Digital Soul Vessel, while the literal God takes her body.

Now let's talk about the lore implications of this scene. Personally i think that the Digital Soul Vessel for Sammy is the ONISM1999, the one that Alex specifically downloads on his computer and that is presented to us as a website, with details of who she is manifesting as different posts, tho i can't be sure what are the full implications of it since i think there will be something new going on about Sammy in I.V that the Digital Soul Vessel creation hints to. Anyway let's move on to the next appearance of Sammy.The Librarian, with talking about this character i want to point out something probably obvious but important to understanding Sammy, Sammy is parallel to Alex. The story of her life that she tells is Alex's, the traits that Sammy shows are Alex's, "oh no i've become my mother", her story of wanting to go far away but ending up in the mind dungeon is what's happening to Alex. The fact that she appears in the Mind Dungeon is important too, the Alex's Mind Dungeon is not just a manifestation of his mind, Vella gave Alex a phone number for it, the same Vella who tells Alex about how in her universe you can call the dead, the Krow is the connection between the alive and the dead in Alex's mind she is connecting Alex with shattered pieces of time and matter floating in the Soul Space and Alex sees a parallel of himself as a dead because he Wishes He Could Just Disappear because these ONISM posts are his and by posts i also mean the "Fuck it. I'm done." because Rory is parallel to Sammy and both Rory and Sammy are parallel to Alex because he is internally a deeply traumatized character and i can't not speak about it.

So uh let's i should probably explain in levels what i just said rn so uhhh. First of all, why Sammy is parallel to Alex. If we don't count stuff like Sammy literally telling us about who Alex is from his head as if she's talking about herself there's still plenty of other hints and signs through the game starting literally from the Title Screen:

When you get to the ending 1 of the game you see that the King and Queen are both Alex, they are parallel to each other despite being the opposites, the concept characters of The Digital and The Spiritual in game are parallel and so are characters who fit into them and it just so happens that literally every love interest that Alex has is the Digital to his Spiritual and is parallel to him, including Sammy. Then i want to mention the phone calls at the end of Chapter 5. They may seem very random and don't have any obvious meaning at first but their role in the narrative is to draw parallels between characters.Michael is paralleld to Chondra Alex's mom is paralleled to Alex's dad and then there's Sammy who seemingly makes pretty random statements however they are swapping Sammy and Alex in their roles with Sammy asking Alex to pick up her cat from the dry cleaners, like if it isn't a real cat but a stuffed toy, like a stuffed Panda. She mentions Alex leaving Sammy in the elevator while leaving her alone which is the opposite of what was shown to us in Chapter 1.

And then finally, Spectre Sammy, she appears in both main endings and in both she ends up hugging the Alex model, however while in Ending 1 her monologue more just sets up what's comming but Ending 2 is way more focused on her. So, the thing is, there are 2 Sammys. There is the Semi Pak and there is what i call the Semy Pak(Spectre), Alex himself mentions there being 2 different Sammys multiple times actually, with talking about how Sammy he met and on ONISM video "didn't look exactly the same" or how "his Sammy and Sammy in the newspapers were different", so, why would there be 2 Sammys? This is where "You" come in, "The Player", or actually The Ultimate Alex, the one who wields the sword in Ending 1 and the one who you give your name to at the start of the game, they can exist as their separate concept outside of the player however through you taking role of The Ultimate Alex the concept of it is told, The Ultimate Alex is the impossible goal of Alex to be the Ultimate self in form of a main hero from a video game and his desire to become this goal instead of anything realistic has started to control his life and it created The Dungeon Master who is The Ultimate Alex and the Proto of this concept is deeply hidden in Better Endings but just like Twisted Beings i doubt it's possible to truly defeat them since the fact that we're playing the game still means that The Ultimate Alex exists. Anyway, since "You" the Ultimate Alex is better version of Alex from another reality and he wants to make you as close to himself as possible he gives you a copy of his own friends...and his obsession, another Sammy. Since "You" are just like Alex that means you also parallel to a Sammy, that's why in Ending 2 you work at KNN, "You" are being paralleled to Sammy Pak with all the characters refering not to Alex but to the name you gave to the Ultimate Alex. This is why Alex stands with Spectre Semy and Ultimate Alex stands with Semi.

And now, about how Sammy is paralleled to Rory. First of all i want to talk about the "Do you ever wish you could just disappear?" post, the theme of wanting to escape to "soul space" because of unwell mental health state is very similar to Rory's arc in chapter 2, we can also see bearsnessecity reply to this post which is interesting because bearsnessecity is also the one posting the "Fuck it. I'm done.", which appears at the exact same moment as "The Death of Semi Pak". The only other bearsnessecity appearance is in "GHOST SITING in WIND TOWN - NJ", in which the users S/superbpudding appear and tell Rory that she's a ghost. There's also a water tower with Sammy jumpscare in Windtown and also there's Rory's grave in KNN, right near the Sammy Pak grave.

The Golden Alpaca in KNN's version of Sammy's room quotes Alex's responce to Rory. The date of Sammy disappearing, 4/04, is the date of Rory's birthdy. The gate from Rory's house also allows you to go back to Sammy's room. Now for the last section of this post i want to talk about something even i don't fully understand the implications of. So uh, you know how in Chapter 5 there's a sideguest where an ONISM user makes you place Sammy posters around the state. These posters have a very interesting description:"Last Seen 04/01/1999".You get these posters in the mall and right down from the mall on the overworld map you can see trees that form text saying

4 0 1. April 1th. Personally i see the possible implications of this being that either Sammy really went missing not on April 4th but instead on April 1th and Alex adjusted it for his narrative and to make it fit with Rory's birthday or it comes back again to 2 Sammys, one of wich went missing on April 4th and other on April 1th. Also the obvious implication that it being April 1th could mean that the video was a prank. The posters themselves are interesting too, first of all they are very obviously different from what is described in item's description since they still say 4/04. The e-mail adress is the same one that sent Alex the "link" to onism post, also want to note how she wears different clothing than one on video. I aslo want to say that in post "Elevator Girl" a similar poster is described(tho there is no image attached, despite users acting like there is) and it also seems like the name Semi Pak was found out through this poster(btw the post appears way earlier than when Vella calls Alex and informs him of Sammy's name being found).

Now i want to compare it to different poster, the one that appears in I.V/Nameless Psychosis intro in Claudio's shop.It is very similar to the previous one however there are quite a few important differences, first of all the date on poster being 2016 and nto 1999, the photo is a screenshot of Sammy's 3D model which is the same as in the ONISM video, building behind her looking nothing like any buildings in New Jersey and instead looks like buildings in the intro. However the 2 most important details for this discussion is the lack of name "Semi Pak" on poster and also the height being 5'1 instead of 5'2 as on the mall poster, yet again suggesting multiple Sammys.

I also want to talk about Sammy's age on these posters, on both of the posters and also in ONISM1999 posts it's stated that Sammy is 21, however on her gravestone near Alex's house and as said by Alex himself her age is 23. Which is interesting considering that 23 is Rory's age.

That was pretty muc it, it's still not everything there is to be said about Sammy but i think that's enough for this post. Thanks for reading and all that.

[capricioussun]

I don't know if I or another person have asked but what's your interpretation of Fell Papyrus?

I swear I'm going to try and keep this from becoming a novel but I can't be held accountable for if I fail.

Edit post-typing: I failed. Anyway

So, similarly to the US boys, I started off basically taking the UT boys (as I see them) and going all the way back to the beginning and seeing how the changes would ultimately affect them. This pretty consistently has a bigger impact on Papyrus than Sans because I've always seen Papyrus as very...sort of impressionable? Or reflective. A lot of his behaviors come from those around him and their expectations.

To me, he comes across as the type of character to try to mold himself into a specific shape because he sort of lacks his own sense of self. I've always headcanoned this as coming from my standard lore of being like, partially synthetic and receiving a larger part of Gaster's soul than Sans in their creation, meaning he takes more after someone with low empathy and serious issues with derealization, and only became even more sort of..."detached" from himself after Gaster shattered and it damaged his and Sans' "code" (Papyrus more so, again, because of having a larger percentage of Gaster's soul).

In UF, because of how Gaster was, and because of how much fear he semi-unintentionally instilled in Sans, that Sans then went on to try and teach Papyrus through the lens of, he wound up with a tremendously overzealous responsibility complex. Gaster had impressed on the boys how important they were to his plans to free monsterkind, all the way up until shattering when the boys were still young. And then Sans tried desperately hard to teach Papyrus how to be entirely self sufficient and survive in a world as cruel as theirs because he believed he'd get killed or Fall Down at pretty much any moment (Sans was a very, very stressed out kid/teenager).

So Papyrus essentially learned Anything can be an exploitable weakness, not to show emotions, do anything for the sake of surviving, and above all else, protect those that need protecting, with Sans, and eventually Undyne, at the top of the list. This is also where his deeply secretive nature really settled in, and also why he struggles so much to accept...really anything good that's offered freely. Kindness, friendship, help. He has to remain untouchable, unreachable, the one to provide and not take, because if he messes up, if he lets the wrong person in, he's not just risking his own well being, but by extension, everyone who's depending on him.

It's also a really good way to distract himself from the crushing loneliness. Saw a tumblr post the other day that resonated so hard w/ my ideas of him that said something along the lines of "if I cannot be wanted I will be needed, and if I am not needed then let me be used until there is nothing left". He was never really allowed to develop himself as a person, not fully, so he completely filled himself with what he thought he had to be. When those things are taken away, he has nothing, and he’s too terrified to let that happen.

It's also why I hc he, in some ways, winds up having a really really hard time after surfacing in some of my ideas/aus/stories. He was needed underground, Sans needed him, Undyne needed him, Snowdin needed him, and by extension the whole underground did, to keep the balance. Above ground, everyone calming and becoming happier, Sans and Toriel settling down, Undyne and Alphys settling down, being a replaceable member of the ambassadorial team, he's hit with this just...utter loss of self.

Getting carried away on the specifics. He and UT Papyrus actually align in a lot of ways it's hard to see at first glance. Both have their "roles", both have a specific sort of "bit" they do with their brothers, both let Undyne believe she knows what's best because they believe it's what best for her, both, despite knowing better, desperately want to believe in the greater good. Despite all the aforementioned problems, despite preparing his whole life to kill humans, he's the first to give up and try to help Frisk. They're just a child. A child who wants to help, who's scared, who doesn't even have a brother to look after them.

In reality he’s a nervous wreck. My man is TIRED. He puts himself under tremendous pressure and doesn't know how to express nor understand emotions. His schtick is so well rehearsed anything that goes off script completely blindsides him. The soft, silly, bratty goofiness is really only under a very thin layer of ice. It doesn't take much to crack it, but that only makes him that much more defensive and paranoid. He can't risk anyone knowing how "weak" he truly is, even if most anyone who's been around him any amount of time can see it clear as day, because he’s about as good at hiding it as UT Papyrus would be lol

At least they don't know about the [REDACTED]. That, he’s actually really good at hiding.

I do wish I'd given him a different nickname than Edge looking back, but back when I'd nicknamed my main guys I just went w/ the fandom usuals so now he’s forever cursed to be Edge bc I associate it too strongly lol

[ichinose-kazuma]

Wait I think I've seen that fuckass Ichinose card in a reddit post

Here's the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/TribeNine/comments/1jtgtw2/power_harassment_lebenstrieb_stories/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=1

oooooooooooooooooo?

Thank yyou I am now going to combust. I am not going to spontaneously combust. Leaving an Ichinose-shaped crater in Poland forever. I am going to claim several lives in doing so . The entire area will be lost. Wish I could now go start punching the table in despair without my mother a few meters away judging me

Not my complete thoughts since today's a pretty sleepy day for me but anyway,

I know of some people who upon reading that a fictional character had a cold would. Nevermind

This sounds like something that I would actually write about him. Like straight up. Veneration: the T9 devs agree I am more-or-less objectively correct about the character of Ichinose Kazuma

googling what dorayaki is in order to engage with his interests. Ohh that looks fine. I would put that in my mouth. Dunno if I would like it. But I would be partial to trying it

Ichinose lightweight lore. Idk what "not good at drinking" would mean in exact specifics though I am also not very. Good at drink stuff. What the hells a martini or nalewka or goldwasser, all smells the same (bad), real men pour half a glass worth of isopropyl alcohol in their bath so the skin pores will absorb it and we fucking don't like it, but we know we have to.

hehe he likes dessert <3

wait I just remembered. That one scene where he yells at his useless goon for forgetting his drink. Did his tolerance like, got better or was he enduring through the torments in order to appear Cool or what

"how incredibly rigid and incompetent can you be, only knowing how to follow the rules?! (did not actually say it out loud before giving up)" in the context of the things he actually says in the main game is. hm

once again gonna google castella. looks spongy is that one of those sponge-structured thingies I heard people talk about

I am on Ichinose's side on this one actually you can persecute me all you want. What's wrong with a castella. Perhaps it was indeed the boss' fault for not being clear enough with him about him needing to apparently buy the Debbie Wingham's Runway Cake as a souvenir in order to maintain company respectability or whatever. Also he might be an unreliable narrator with saying that his boss proceeded to verbally insult him multiple times afterwards, he also might not. If he wasn't then that's Bad and Mean. And he should have killed them. Idk how it is in Japan never been there but itssaa ffuckinh souvernir..... .....

Ichinose's strong as fuck for going that long without realizing he has a cold. I would have toppled over on the ground pathetically as soon as I started getting the mildest congestion symptoms

Ichinose and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I'm having a blast meanwhile. His pain my gain

I lied I actually do feel bad for him even more. We are both suffering fuck our stupid baka lives truly

I am engaging with every single media wrong because no matter what if you give a specific set of traits to a villain I would straight up refuse to hate them for anything and just feel bad for them. Like not even in an acceptable way but moreso like I wish you got help so you didn't kill those approximately 104 people. Another torturous case of me seeing too much of myself in fictional villains only. The way he thinks is so reminiscient of my own mind, some of the dialogue in this one sounds like something that I would think on the semi-daily, but never show because of my masking and knowing that playing nice with people is so much more important; I don't really like interacting with others anymore, because of how much the longer they talk to me like we're equals or something the more I hate them and cuss them out in my head, without even listening to what they're saying at all, forever angry at the entire world for not realizing how much insignificant it is compared to me and it's just Some Guy giving me the directions to the bathroom the whole time. Ichinose Kazuma can be something that is so personal to the average Ichinose-Kazuma (with a dash) (it's this blog). Granted I am exaggerating a little bit but in order to understand my absolute and thorough obsession with Ichinose you gotta know that we are very similiar little things.

Ichinose Kazuma I am cupping your face in my hands I could have taught you how to normalmode instead of whatever the hell you're doing.

Wait actually nevermind, not gonna say that masking is the requirement or the best option for bettering your life, sorry bout that. Instead Ichinose Kazuma I am cupping your face in my hands this time even stronger, I could have taught you how to get healthy and sustainable sources or supply and hype yourself up without casualties and also you can tell me about whatever the hell happened in your childhood I promise I'm as good as a licensed therapist and wouldn't just say "damn that sucks" but if I hypothetically would then maybe you'd feel better anyway or something. Just throwing offers there. I could be your narcissism mentor boy I mean they I mean robot .

[dr-docktor]

About Floppy Disk Curt... So, do you have some more plot made for this au? Sorry if you made a post and I missed it, I just mean - how does Owen realize that Curt is (semi) sentient? What does he do? How sentient is Curt, actually? What does he remember? And how much can he feel? Does their codependence get worse?

HAHAHA I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED. I sort of expanded on some of the lore in some previous asks but none of it is super organized so I can go over it real quick! I'm still developing a lot of it so if things don't make a ton of sense, I'm working on fixing that lol. First off, I sort of shifted the time period around to be closer to the 90's to better fit the technology, aesthetics, and the rise in popularity of mascot-y desktop assistants.

Owen kills Curt during the staircase scene and despite what he tells himself and his coworkers. He regrets it. He regrets it so god damned much. There's no one to feel so strongly about anymore, whether it be love or seething hatred. He just feels empty.

Meanwhile, Chimera retrieved Curt's corpse and uploaded his consciousness into a computer with the hopes of getting what little he knows about the inner workings of A.S.S. out of him. (don't ask how this is possible, uhhhh silly sci-fi shenanigans I guess)

Of course, he's not cooperative. So Chimera opts to do the totally sane and not evil thing by separating himself from his memories of being human. His ambitions, his relationships, everything except for what Chimera needs. They can't seem to find a way to outright delete the memories for good (I'll probably either rework this part or figure out why they can't outright delete them) but what they can do is try and build up walls of restrictions to prevent him from accessing them. So for a a little while he's just this blank slate spitting out what little information he knows about A.S.S. Mostly useless.

Until Chimera gets an idea.

With the rise of a new trend comes the opportunity for PROFIT. This one being the rise of household computers and mascot-y desktop assistants to help the average user learn how to use a computer.

But Chimera wants to take it a step further. They are the future, after all. They want a desk top assistant that's incredibly life-like. Something that the user can have a genuine conversation with (like an incredibly early chatbot). This project is also absolutely meant to be spy-ware. 1000%. No way its not.

They call the project the 'Beta Anatomy Simulacrum Technology for Research and Development'. Or B.A.S.T.R.D for short! (I had to STRETCH to make that acronym work lmao)

Rather than start this from scratch, the project head (The name I'm going with right now is Harper Royale) has the brilliant thought of "well, what's more life-like than an actual human consciousness in a computer that we have collecting dust somewhere in the tech labs? It's already a husk we just add some code to it and bam it's ready!"

So they take the empty husk of digital curt mega and fix it up a little. Royale thinks its a good idea to give a miniscule amount of his humanity back to him. Namely curiosity (so he can learn things) and a basic understanding of how to have a functional conversation with people. Nearly everything else, like the cheery personality and character model, is all added in by the developers.

The good news is the projects going great! Employees within Chimera are finding the little guy really helpful and entertaining. Employees nickname him DC as a reference to his knowledge on A.S.S. Like their own personal informant inside DC (as in the capital of the us where a lot of government buildings and information is stored)

The bad news? Curiosity. Because now he wants to know why the sad looking British guy from one of the first few rounds of test trials keeps calling him Curt.

Tt spirals into this terrible loop of DC starting to put stuff together, never quite reaching the conclusion that he was a living person once (much less the importance of one Owen Carvour) before the employees catch on to what he's doing and reset him from square one. Over and Over and Over again. The only frame of reference that DC has are these hidden notes he leaves himself during each loop.

Eventually the higher-ups at Chimera realize that the cost of having to go through the complicated process of resetting DC the moment they figure out that he's gained a little sentience and then run through test trials AGAIN simply outweighs the potential profit. So they move to shut down the project, much to Royale's dismay.

The higher-ups joke that Carvour should be the one to do the honors, given everything between him and Curt. And he's like "ok yeah I'll do it" and they're like "we were joking but you've given us zero reason to doubt you so have fun killing the simulacrum of your former closest friend, bestie"

Owen, of course, decides to go behind everyone's backs and download the one and only existing copy of the B.A.S.T.R.D program onto his personal computer. At this point, Owen has no clue about DC slowly regaining his sentience if left unchecked and literally only did it because he has problems about processing the fact that he killed Curt that he refuses to confront. (what a normal guy)

So slowly, having been freed from this loop of resets, DC slowly begins to put together the pieces. He doesn't know how exactly Owen may or may not be involved in any of this, but he keeps most of this growing autonomy a secret for safety reasons. Just in case Owen is decidedly someone not to be trusted and turns him in.

DC, however, will test still the waters by subtly bringing up memories that he knows are somehow important to either him or Owen and then gauging his reaction. Doing his damn best to put together context clues.

Admittedly I don't have anything beyond this yet. I'm still working on Owen's reactions to all of this and also how the technology works. But I hope this answers at least some of your questions!

[window-on-the-west]

Director's Commentary of "Collide"

AKA my excuse to dump a bunch of Gilly lore and also explore his relationship with Shadowheart. Because I can't shut up <3

Long post incoming!! Link to the fic here.

“Just so we’re clear, I like being ignored less than I like being made to feel useful. Else I wouldn’t have joined you in the first place,” she said.

Kind of hypocritical given the fact that she's miffed he barged close to her tent, but that's the attitude I wanted to go for. Push-and-pull dynamics. She wants to cut everyone off because of Shar, but the desire to be close to people is overpowering. Also, allusion to "create water" spell.

She gave an uneasy swallow, suddenly uncomfortable. “I think—I’m near the mark. Is that so?” Another towel splashed into the basin again, and the black eyes left her. “You could be closer,” he murmured. 

Double meaning here. "You could be closer"; again, in reference to Shadowheart's reticence and association with Shar. Directly after this line, the trees rustle and she thinks she hears a voice whispering to her. Not-so subtle hint that Shar is none too pleased by Giliath's suggestion.

Giliath shrugged. “I never really was good at getting people to do that. But that was not my intent.”

A running joke I have with myself is that despite being a paladin, Giliath's charisma is *shit* (which I axed in favor of high strength and intelligence, which is really unnecessary unless you're playing a wizard). Made for horrible gameplay in my first run, but it's a funny concept to me and is important to his backstory as a healer. The low charisma is alluded to a few more times throughout the fic and in other fics with him.

“Rest assured, there are worse things than needing medicine,” he said softly. 

My own real-world grievances lol. I think this one speaks for itself

Then the bubbling grew louder, filling her ears, and she was drowning, and it was not water but blood, His blood, vile black ichor that oozed through the lowest pit of the Hells, blood from whence she came but would smother her if she stayed. She?

Two things, here. "His blood" is in reference to the Blood of Asmodeus, which runs through Nessus and "creates" devils. It is hinted here that Giliath is closely related to devils and not just a distant descendant of them.

The other detail here is something I've been waffling back and forth on, and that is that Giliath might not actually be cis, but rather a trans man, though "she" is mostly used to indicate that Shadowheart is currently experiencing Giliath's memories through him and is about to "become" him.

A sword dangled at her waist, and a woman—another tiefling—lay dead at her feet. 

More vague lore. Leonis is Giliath's blood mother, but she did not raise him in his early years; someone else did.

“Before, you served no one. No purpose. Now you serve me.” She laughed and slapped him again. “And I, I serve the Lord of the Nine. The Lord of Everything. Look at me!” 

"The Lord of Everything" isn't a canon DND title for Asmodeus, but since his goal is to conquer everything and become the one true ruling deity, I thought it fitting for Leonis to call him this.

“At any rate, he’s a strong one,” she continued. “Surgeon’s patched him up good and proper. ‘Twould be a waste to…” she glanced back at him, and Daechir thought he saw something that looked like pity in her eyes. 

The village he ransacked was DEFINITELY thinking of killing him btw. Waste of muscle though.

“Don’t want to—what, be here? Why are you, then? Aside from getting to meet me, of course,” Nathalion put in quickly. 

Nathalion is a semi-major character who shows up in my Giliath "origin" fic (which has been condemned to my WIP graveyard, lol). Everyone in the paladin compound is super wary of Giliath when he comes along because of his history. EXCEPT Nathalion, in large part because he is one of those chatterboxes that latches onto the quiet types and because he doesn't really fit in, either. There's some tragedy attached to his arc that Giliath alludes to at the end of Collide, and he never does manage to shake off the guilt of that.

“Oh? Having a change of heart, Shadowheart?” His tone was playful, but there was no mistaking the surprise in his face. She scoffed. “Perhaps I spoke too soon.” “Time will tell,” he murmured, to her bewilderment. But he said no more and turned to finish cleaning his supplies. 

More double meaning here. "Having a changed of heart, Shadowheart?" at face value is in context of her changing her mind about him being "a lousy paladin." But because I love unnecessary wordplay, I also wanted to hint at her ultimately changing her mind about Shar (hence, "Time will tell," though this could also be in reference to the fact that Giliath still hasn't proved himself as a worthy paladin. My forever guilty idiot <3).

“One last thing,” she said, nodding to the purplest part of the camp. “Mind the wizard, will you? If you spend any longer with him, you’ll become him. You already sound just like him.”

Two things. "Purplest part of the camp" was very funny for me to write. Secondly, "you'll become him"; again, more double meaning!! See, the astral sex scene where they become one being. ALSO interesting to consider in the context of Shadowheart's own mind melding with Giliath just now.

She turned to leave, to return to her tent and commence the evening prayer. She stopped and glanced back over her shoulder. “Giliath?” she said. He looked at her expectantly, and she drew in a breath. “Thank you for risking the cut,” she said.

More hesitation here. She's always about to do her Sharran Activities(TM) before those dastardly desires for connection interrupt her. "Thank you for risking the cut" is in reference to Nathalion of course, and is giving her a lot to consider.

[rahkshirock]

Hypognosis character building, and Lynn's thoughts on role-playing

(If you don't know what this is, I'm writing about a game I'm making! you can read the introduction to it here!)

Alright so, when making a game, I think it’s important to establish your intentions. For one, when you do, you can write your drafts, step back, and compare your intention to the product, and see if you got lost down a rabbit hole along the way and missed the mark overall. 

Second, since I'm going to be doing this planning process semi-publicly and giving updates along the way, it’s more important to show my thought process than it is to give you a few paragraphs of finished semi-technical info before it’s fully cooked. I want to get yall *excited* for this project, not tell you exactly how to play it at home, for the time being.

With that in mind, the goal is to make a speculative fantasy role-playing game where a group of strange and varied people ally together to go on quests. *groundbreaking,* right? So… what makes Hypognosis something that I’ve wanted to play for a few years now as I’ve been trying to write it? Let me try to show you by walking you through how I *want to* make Estver, the guy from the last post, into a playable character.

When I make a character in an RPG, i usually look to the classes (whatever form they take) as inspiration for what *sort* of character to make. It’s rare that I get completely taken by the lore of a setting enough to make a character completely seamless with it. Instead if I see that there are Holy Knights, it follows that there’s probably some sort of feudal system with a church. Since I have some experience with churches in my life and have read a lot of fantasy about holy knights, i get the idea of character’s I am *encouraged* to make. It’s like the game is giving me permission.

Now, you don’t need permission from a game system to make the sort of character you want of course. If the mechanics of said holy knight class would let me make a pretty good cowboy marshall type, I might find value in re-flavoring an existing thing to form my character, while making no mechanical changes. It’s fun to think about this sort of thing to me: if the mechanics in front of me were stripped of their flavor text, would I be able to tell what the class was supposed to be? Something to keep in mind.

Now, Estvar as I’ve written him is devout and traveling on a pilgrimage. He has training as a city guard, so he has some skill with weapons and armor, and he is faithful to his god. His character motivation is that he is devoted to a cause: that of the friend he made once years ago, thinking every day about the life he could live on the other side of the gate, eventually swearing to travel all that way. Is he a paladin in the making? Uh… No, actually. I don’t think so.

Do you see how, if I were playing 5E, all these little character details in the fluff of Estvar’s backstory would lead you toward making him a paladin? It would be a natural fit within that system and yet if I did, I would be dissatisfied because a paladin fights with a specific set of mechanics that *do not fit* in what I have in mind. I don’t think Estvar would ever cast a spell, even if it was a “holy” one. and his home city isnt really feudal, he's a soldier not a knight...

So since I’m making my own game, do I simply eliminate all the mechanics that might interfere with the story? I certainly could. Fiction-first games are popular for a reason. I’ve played and GMed for a few and they were great fun! But I think mechanics are great tools for telling stories when you the storyteller aren't too experienced with what *should* happen. What if I’m asked to describe exactly what my character does and im a bit exhausted that day? I want to play and be helpful but im just not up to being a *storyteller* atm. Well, a rule that lets me swing a sword with such-and-such dice to resolve what happens is useful.

Complicating that, I like rolling dice as more than a *resolution* mechanic. All too often when you ask an interesting question and roll a die, that die roll is the *end of play.* It is the deciding factor that resolves the tension so you can continue with the scene. I much prefer them to be a *complicating* factor in a compelling way, where my carefully planned ideal solution breaks and I have to scramble on the fly for a new plan. That’s what I find fun!

All this coming to the point: Hypognosis is my attempt to have a crunchy game that is crafted in such a way that someone who doesn’t have the same mental image of combat that I do going in, will *fall into a natural pattern* that the game describes that looks like that cool fight that I the author have in mind. That isn’t an uncommon goal for games. It really comes down to execution.  

Getting back to Estvar, his cultural background is very textbook for the people of his home city of Buldren. He has a strict set of rules he’ll have to follow, notably a prohibition on spilling blood, and he’ll want to seek absolution in some way if he breaks them. His faith is a *morale* concern rather than a *magic powers* concern for him. If he comes into a situation where he’s forced to kill someone with a sword and comes out covered in their blood, he will suffer a mental wound. (distinct from just usual trauma) He’ll take that wound and either treat it after the battle with appropriate penance, or else will fester into a scar over time. 

On the flip side, his home city has more modern technology and medical knowledge than their neighbors. He’ll have learned martial arts leveraging blunt weapons to crush an enemy rather than hacking them to pieces. In addition, with his soldier background, he’ll have moves that synergize well with allies standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He’s efficient and effective, not flashy. 

In game terms, how do I select those options for Estvar? Each region in the world has specific traits you can select which make up your character’s Heritage. These are a wide-ranging suite of powerful options that come bundled with Complications. Not necessarily negative qualities, but consequences which are designed to conflict in interesting ways with other characters’ concerns in the party. His concerns are born from his home culture, and that culture will continue to be a part of him as he travels abroad.

From there, a character spends Time in order to select what their skills are. A character learns by doing. Since Estvar has his military background, he’s skilled in the sorts of things his home would find useful and spent years training him in. However because he is a member of a religious sect that is more strict than his home as a whole, he won’t wield the more technologically advanced weapons his home can field, as they are far too much like magic. 

His is a pretty sparse background, the sort of life lived without much self-direction. Estvar is dutiful, but has not *pursued* a goal of his own. As such, he will fall behind a character built from the ground up to be the user of some powerful and arcane type of technology or the heir of some destiny.

So how to represent his actual *character?* there comes in the closest thing to a character class that this game has. A character’s Fate is a representation of their personal drive and the arc of their story. If a character’s skills tell you what number you have to roll on your dice to perform an action, a character’s *Fate* will let you manipulate the dice themselves in your favor. A Fate is a quality that can’t be quite defined in the fiction of the world itself. It’s a tilt to the world that makes unlikely happenstance occur suspiciously often.

Estvar’s Fate might be called that of The Pilgrim. He is just a traveller, stepping temporarily into the stories of others along the way, with a city in the far distance, so far away that he feels he might never reach it in his lifetime. It’s the journey that matters.

His journey is one of discovery, and as such he starts a little less capable than others. But his ears are open to other’s stories. When he eventually finds himself at the end of the road, he will look back on his journey as the same man who started, and yet profoundly changed.

Many of those changes will be in the form of new skills or in connections to other characters. He’ll build a web of relationships and pick up new goals, whether his own or shared with new companions. Perhaps he will even turn his back on his path, inverting his Fate and defying it, becoming a Wanderer, aimless. But there is no dual-classing in this game. If a character rejects their path, it will continue to loom over them as that inversion. A man avoiding the inevitable end of the road, but the city will ever be on the horizon, waiting.

But the other side of time passing is injury and hardship. Wounds tell a character’s story as much as the character’s goals do. Estvar starts with a mental scar that is difficult for him to recognize or overcome: a paranoia that if he does not undertake certain rituals, that bad things will happen as a result, an illogical fixation he can't overcome by fighting it. There’s no great reason behind it, he simply has this scar and will carry it for his journey. 

As odd as it is to say anything can synergize with a mental illness, his faith gives him a way to mediate this problem by being Absolved when he feels that he has sinned in some way. Many of the sins he holds against himself are not ones that anyone else would worry about, but they weigh on him. And this is one way he can be free of them.

Physical injuries are handled the same way. If he breaks an arm, Estvar will need to get medical treatment for it and rest enough to recover. Should everything go well, the wound may heal without a trace. But equally, he might carry a scar for the rest of his life. Scars are permanent, and vary in severity. They tell a character’s story, and inform their future actions. They can be dramatic to roleplay, and sometimes they’re cool to look at.

And with that, without getting too far into any specifics, is Estvar. I’ll be talking about his home city and its allies next, but this is the end of this blog post. It’s an *intention.* calling my shot. These are the types of things I want a player to be thinking about when they make a character or try to bring a character over to this system.

and as for something a little further in the future... I never said Estvar was *human* now did I?

If you’re interested in hearing more, I’m aiming to make a post like this every week. If you’d like to contribute to this endeavor and help me pay rent, i have a Ko-fi! you can find it here, and every bit is appreciated:

[thekaijudude]

If R/B show was actually about the Original Rosso, Blu and Saki following the O-50 lore......

You can actually see the Ultraman Orb and Juggler appearing to team up with them in the story?

Most definitely.

The context of them meeting up would very likely be a joint mission ordered by the VoL

This is as opposed to the RB rn where we arent even sure if they are still in contact with the VoL as we last saw their situation post-movie in UGF1 where Kasumi and Isami are doing their own things on Earth. Where in established VoL lore, they should be actively on a mission no?

Like at this point, what is the point of them being O50 Ultras?

Not to mention its not like they dont know where O50/VoL is to report back for their updates on their mission as we saw Grigio went back in UGF2

The entire series is essentially an affront to the established O50 lore because O50 Ultras were all experienced mercenaries prior to being Ultras. With reincarnation in the mix (wasnt explained properly either if this is a VoL or universal thing and whats supposed to happen after), this muddies the water of the purpose of the RB siblings atp.

Cause they lost their "mercenary" qualities with their reincarnation, does that mean that they essentially also lost their "worthiness" of being an O50 Ultra?

Tbh what I suspect is more likely the case is that since the RB siblings can all still access their powers, means that the VoL hasnt taken back their powers (which I no doubt it can do so considering what we saw its capable of thus far), so the VoL is likely understanding with the reincarnation situation and allow the siblings to live out their normal human life before they come to accept that they have a far longer lifespan, and thus realizing their "worthiness" again before assigning missions again.

This is supported by the fact that Asahi exists as the embodiment of the Makoto Crystal, which has to be a direct intervention of the VoL and Asahi herself is likely a "mole" planted to monitor the RB siblings up close. Whether or not Asahi herself knows this consciously or not is up for debate.

Another supporting evidence of why Asahi's existence is a direct intervention of the VoL is as I mentioned before, the VoL is likely another semi-dormant Legendary Ultra (ill explain why in the attached posts) and Asahi only arrived after Grigio Bone's attack in ep 1, not in the past where the RB siblings lost against Reugosite. So the Makoto Crystal wasnt a power that the predecessor RB siblings had that was dispersed after their defeat against Reugosite.

Also, when Asahi was transported onto their Earth, reality itself was altered and everyone's memory was also altered to forcibly fit Asahi's existence in. This is a feat that I have no doubt that a Legendary Ultra like the VoL is capable of

So imo, I can only see the RB siblings being really "useful" and true to the O50 lore after like another 100 years or something where theyved lived out a normal human lifespan before they can truly regain their "worthiness" as O50 Ultras, so all hope isnt really lost with them, at least for now

Below are more information and details why I believe the VoL is another Legendary Ultra, this was right after the Decker Movie as it all ties in together:

Thanks for the question!