armouredgrub

[armouredgrub]

The traditional “mock up” idea of my other wip

[armouredgrub]

Some temperance silverV drabble…hhhhh

After what happened in Mikoshi, Johnny was almost in auto pilot. He was able to amble away from the Arasaka tower, shooting any stray Arasaka soldiers with his Malorian, his mind was racing, so much so that he could barely make out his own thoughts. His body hurt and yet it seemed to move on its own.

He instinctively made his way to V’s apartment in the mega building, his feet just moved. None of it had felt real, he didn’t feel real. He stumbled into her apartment and slumped to the ground against the cool metal door. His heart was pounding and he could barely hear. He shoved his face into his hands and tried to steady his ragged breathing.

‘Breathe.’

Finally feeling the ground beneath him he shifted slightly, the pressure hurt.

He was slightly distracted by Nibbles pawing around in on the coffee table. The soft and comforting hum of the apartment almost put him at ease. A stifled sigh escaped his lips, the smell of some candle the chakra chick had given V still lingered in the dingy little pad. It vaguely reminded him of rain and trees.

‘Don’t forget me, asshole.’

They were home, they made it, something he desperately wished he could say.

No ‘we’ anymore, or did you forget?

The cooling comfort of V’s apartment all but fell away when he suddenly felt so alone. Johnny almost forgot what had happened, maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe it was the all too familiar pounding head. He shuddered at the thought and clutched tighter. He couldn’t feel her anymore. She was gone.

V is gone.

He sat there, for what seemed like hours, his hands clutching over his eyes, the ache in his head had ghosted away and the hum in the apartment was no longer one of comfort but a reminder of how lonely he felt.

You were supposed to save her. Wasn’t that the deal? Your promise?

Surprised you couldn’t cut it?

‘The man that saved my life.’

“Fuck…” the word was a broken thing weak and defeated. And what was worse? It was her voice he could hear. It all felt like a cruel joke, like a nightmare. He willed his hands from his face and stood, his body still ached, so fucking much.

Hobbling his way to V’s bathroom, he hesitated for a moment near the vanity, he wanted this to be a nightmare, desperately. Maybe V was dreaming?

You know she’s not.

His teeth gritted, painfully grinding over themselves, something V would do.

‘Keep that shit up and you’ll be toothless by 30.’

By 30? Never had a chance. Know why, Johnny-boy?

‘But it’s my body!’

He peered into the mirror and his stomach dropped and his heart sank.

It was her face. Her hands. Her tired, tired eyes. The heart he could feel sinking, it was hers. The head that finally ceased throbbing, hers.

With her hands he washed her face.

‘I’m so damn tired, Johnny.’

Cleared of the dirt and the blood, he tentatively looked back up into the mirror.

Defeated.

That dark voice was chiming in again and fuck if it didn’t burn in him. It hurt, it hurt so fucking badly. So badly he could hardly breathe.

A guttural and desperate cry escaped his throat, which was muffled by the clasping of fingers over his mouth. His one free arm strained painfully as he slumped onto the vanity.

His chest grew cold and the inside of his nose stung. Her all-too-familiar warmth was gone. He’d lost his best friend.

She was more than that.

Lost the last person who genuinely gave a damn about you.

He lost a part of himself.

‘Thought this concert was important to you.’

‘It was, but not more important than you.’

He wilted further, back to the cool floor. Cradling his head again, trying to stifle heavy sobs.

She’s gone.

Gone.

Defeated.

Died for dirt.

Died for you.

Because of you.

[armouredgrub]

Bit of a long standing WiP my laptop was compromised and I’m waiting for it to be fixed.

Vs pants and back tattoo killed me, still gotta finish Johnnys tattoos and his aviators.

[armouredgrub]

night city teaches

[armouredgrub]

I love Photomode!

[armouredgrub]

People of NC

[armouredgrub]

If V/Johnny isn’t gonna be the MC in Cyberpunk Orion, please let it be about the rogue AIs and the possibly collapse of the black wall, and please let either Johnny/V (depending on the ending in 2077) be an NPC that is looking to go beyond the black wall to find their missing half. Let it be a choice the player character has to make/a mission, is the player character gonna be Johnny/V’s helper or villain?

Is V/Johnny willing to risk the safety of the world just to find each other again?

[armouredgrub]

One Last Step - Part 2

[armouredgrub]

Letting Johnny keep my body so he can experience what its like to have a fat ass for once

[armouredgrub]

Wear the grudge like a crown of negativity Calculate what we will or will not tolerate Desperate to control all and everything Unable to forgive your scarlet lettermen

[armouredgrub]

“I spent so long bein’ nothin’ but noise. She made me want to be music.”

[armouredgrub]

Wanted to draw my V in a wacky style. Had so much fun with it!!

[armouredgrub]

Listen, if Denis Villeneuve, Hampton Fancher and Michael Green could figure out a way for Officer K to have sex with his hologram girlfriend in Blade Runner 2049 then the devs at CD Projekt RED could've figured out a way to integrate V and Johnny Silverhand having sex to the plot of Cyberpunk 2077.

[armouredgrub]

Not me replaying Cyberpunk 2077 to earn all the eddies just to never spend them so that Johnny is set for life post Temperance.

Buy that guitar king, buy 10 even!

[armouredgrub]

What if the hornsent were trying to make empyreans with the Saint Jars? The hornsent seemed to have created the divine tower but why did they never ascend? And Marika, a Shaman, is able to betray them and “steal” godhood?

The Shaman, which may have been Numen women, possibly arrived on the boats found on the Cerulean coast, are used in this pot ritual as a kind of glue.

These shaman were able to ‘meld’ with the flesh of others. Possibly being the ingredient that ties all the souls and flesh together, a Shaman is a person who can interact with spirits, maybe as well as unifying them physically by melding the flesh together, the Shamans are able to unify the spirits, maybe not into one soul, but unify their goals or intentions.

Not all Shaman are empyreans though, to be clear. Empyreans are beings who are deemed fit to become a god.

The known empyreans are:

Miquella

Melania

Marika

Ranni

An interesting part of all of these characters is their ability to “split” their soul into two or more beings, or at least, share their very being with another.

Miquella + St Trina

Melania + her daughters (the god of Rot)

Marika + Radagon

Ranni + ???

In Ranni’s case, I’m unsure of what her split identity was. It is stated: Ranni had her own empyrean flesh slain. She, like Melina, is a bodiless soul and since we don’t hear much about Ranni before she became what she is currently, we can’t really know what it was that made her worthy as an empyrean.

So, what is an Empyrean?

As I said before, Empyreans are those who are fit to become a god. But what actually makes them worthy?

To become a God, an empyrean must align themselves with the influence of an outer god, and become its vassal. Watching Miquella’s ascent to godhood, shows us that he needs to divest himself of his flesh, he also divests certain psychological aspects, such as his doubts and his love.

So to become a God, one must divest themselves of their flesh? Things that tie them to the corporeal realm.

The Vitruvian man shows an image of a man posed two different ways, one, which fits perfectly within a square and one that goes beyond the bounds of the square to fit within a circle. In regard to the vitruvian man, the man in the square, is mean to represent earthliness, being rooted within the confines of the mortal/material world. The man in the circle, is mean to represent the infinite or divinity.

In regards to Marika and radagon, their statues always portray them in unique poses. Radagon is always standing straight, head held high and his arm out to the side at a 90° angle. Marika on the other hand is often standing with her head stooped low as if looking down, her arms are curved upwards, her hands meeting the height of her head.

To me, this shows that Radagon represents the corporeal and/or human aspects, this is further shown by Radagon’s fervent faith and loyalty to divinity, he is looking up to the heavens and is depicted in front of a lattice which could symbolise support. He attempted to mend the Elden ring by implementing this lattice into its very design.

Whereas Marika, she represents the divine and eternal aspects, from the point of view of those seeing the statues, Marika’s likeness would be looking down at them, divinity is always shown to be superior to those stuck in the corporeal plain. She is also depicted in front of a shawl styled similarly to velificatio (a stylistic way to depict deities in ancient Roman art). The shawl may also be a depiction of her veil.

Back to the Vitruvian man, the theory behind this artwork is that a human is both earthly and divine, having aspects of both plains.

This is shown in the empyreans with their two seperate personas. Maybe, the way one becomes a god, is to divest themselves of their corporeal aspects and give themselves to an outer god. Miquella, in becoming a god divested himself of St. Trina, and Marika must’ve divested herself of Radagon. This doesn’t mean that those parts of themselves are killed, as St. Trina is not dead and neither is Radagon. Similarly with Malenia, it is said that after defeating her, she will “bloom” once more and become a god. Interestingly, all of her daughters kill eachother in battle, which would divest her of her human aspects, and yet it is said that even those ‘children’ will bloom again, becoming scarlet Valkyrie’s.

All of the current empyreans have shaman blood through Marika/Radagon. And since shamans have the ability to meld with others, maybe that aspect of them is what makes them eligible to become gods? Being able to meld with their chosen outergod.

Also, I don’t believe Miquella joined with an outer god. He created the unalloyed gold, able to propel outer gods. Miquella became his own god, creating his own order, abandoning the Elden ring (this can be shown in his circlet’s description.)

Anyway, another rant xD

[armouredgrub]

Trying to piece together some Elden Ring Lore…

Some definitions mixed with speculations:

Elden Ring - Basically the natural laws of the land. Can be edited by the empyrean who chosen to brandish it. The person who brandishes the Elden Ring is a God, chosen by the Greater Will.

Empyrean - A demi-god (or just a being) being chosen as fit to be a God (not a God yet, but are the only ones able to pursue godhood).

Elden Beast - A physical manifestation of the Elden Ring. Landed after Metyr.

Metyr - The messenger and Translator of the Greater Will. “The abandoned Daughter”. Also the mother of the 2 fingers (and the fingercreepers).

The Greater Will - The “Creator” also a “fled God” was most likely the progenitor of all life in this world. It does not dwell on the earth. And has seemingly stopped sending messages to Metyr and her children.

Outer Gods - Other (possibly) cosmic beings working in opposition to the Greater Will (Perhaps competition?) Beings such as: The Frenzied Flame, The Formless Mother, The God of Scarlet Rot, The Nameless god of the twin bird and a few more…Like the Greater Will, these gods require vassals in order to enact their wishes

The Frenzied Flame - The antithesis of The Greater Will, embodies the idea of Chaos and destruction of order, return everything back to primordial soup, possibly paving the way to something new, something unimaginably different.

Two Fingers - Metyr’s children, relay Metyr’s wishes to those who understand them (the Finger readers). Originally thought to be the words of the Greater Will, it is revealed that Metyr hasn’t heard her mother’s voice in eons, and so the instructions that the fingers echo don’t come from the Greater Will.

Three Fingers - The messenger of the Frenzied Flame, also known as the reader-less fingers. It seems they communicate differently to the two fingers. Is it a seperate being to Metyr? Or is it meant to mimic them, similar to how Hyetta and Shabriri mimic Irina and Yura? The Fingerprint shield description states that the reader-less fingers left messages in the form of finger prints…possibly braille?

Finger maidens - members of the Golden order who fulfill the wishes of the Greater will by guiding the tarnished toward becoming Elden Lord. (most tarnished can’t see grace anymore so they actually need the guidance, unlike the player tarnished who could see it from the beginning).

Extra: Vyke and Bernhal’s maidens apparently needed to burn, but as shown with Bernhal’s maiden, her sacrifice was for naught, she couldn’t be kindling for the flames, this was a task that only Melina could enact. Vyke on the other hand, wanting to find another way, turned to the Frenzied Flame, the only other sure fire way to burn the Erdtree…Seems Marika wishes to be freed from the eternal cage of godhood, regardless of how it’s done, weather it’s by Ranni or The Frenzied Flame.

Extra: Hyetta wanted to become a finger maiden, but seemed to attract the attention of people who curse their existence, they would unsolicitedly offer her their eyes which give her a weak glimpse at a “distant flame”. Like Shabriri, I believe the frenzied flame used Irina’s corpse as a puppet in order to guide the tarnished, except they would find that this finger maiden leads not to becoming the Elden Lord, but instead to becoming the Lord of Frenzied flame.

Grace - The guidance of grace and the guidance of the fingers are different things. The Tarnished are those loyal to Godfrey, who in turn was Marika’s loyal Elden lord, the one who enacts her visions. It would make sense that Marika summons the Tarnished back to the lands between to follow HER wishes, not the Greater Will’s. Hence Grace leads our Tarnished to the Lands of the Giants after discovering that the Erdtree has barred its entrance, something the Fingers Freeze up about, as they have no clue what to do now, this wasn’t in their plan…

This links back to Metyr, she doesn’t know what the Greater Will wants anymore and has only been assuming. Everything Enia’s fingers had been saying were just assumptions made by Metyr.

Ultimately, the Tarnished (in my belief) were always Marika’s plan B, her means of escape, of rest, in case her vision of her world backfired. Marika, having gone through so much, almost being a husk by the end, but still being strung up and used as a vessel, wished for her reign to finally end, one last ‘fuck you’ to the Greater Will, the very thing that seduced her with notions of vengeance for her loved ones, only to betray her by turning her into its eternal puppet.

Sorry for the babble, this was some clarification for myself, but hopefully it helps or inspires others too. Elden Ring Lore is something I could ruminate on forever XD.

[armouredgrub]

Elden Ring (especially the DLC) is just a cycle of meeting relatively friendly (albeit kinda crazy) people, helping them out, finding their God, killing it and then killing said friendly people.