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Kitty :)

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✨ Fields of Mistria's 3rd Major Update is coming this July!

Check out the roadmap to see what’s on the way and stay tuned for updates and sneak peeks in the coming months 💛

🖥️ Web Version

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I think what would greatly benefit everyone's understanding of orv's worldbuilding is a passing aquaintance with the Cthulhu wiki. and this is the one and only case where the wiki is a BETTER source of information than the original works by Lovecraft, because the Cthulhu mythos is a "collaborative writing shared universe" and who's worldbuilding is vague and contradictory between authors. think Maurauders fandom or SCP foundation, only more classy than fanfiction.

Anyway, ORV takes a lot from the Cthulhu mythos, because it takes a lot from every myth in the world. The whole Outer God thing will make a lot more sense if you know what its supposed to be, the same way its easier to understand the Olympus constellations if you know the greek gods and their myths. The Majority of characters in orv are real mythological or historical figures and the outer gods are no different, I and maybe you are just less familiar with them.

Heres a small glossary of relevant information:

1. "great old ones" are sometimes mentioned in orv as spying on Kim Dokja, and mentioned by other Outer Gods as the most powerful beings. they're from the lovecraft stories.

They are "beyond imagination" i.e beyond Oldest Dream's Star Stream/the universe comprehended by humans and exist outside of it.

2. "The Great One" is what outer gods in ORV call the Oldest Dream. He seems to be the only Great One in the orv universe, but In the myths there are multiple and are described like this.

Gods of the dreamlands->oldest dream the connection is there. Take notice of how the Great One is protected by Nyarlathotep, hes important.

3. Have you ever wondered what was up with those "Shantaks" living in N'gai forest? These are from the myths too.

They have horse head like in orv and Nyarlathotep rules over/is allied with them.

4. The Nameless Mist that attacks the 73rd demon realm and causes KDJ to sign the outer god contract with SP and get sent to 1863rd round is also an Outer God from the myths. Specifically, it is one of Nyarlathotep's siblings.

5. Best for last, there is of course Nyarlathotep himself i.e The Crawling Chaos i.e Secretive Plotter.

Kim Dokja straight up thinks that SP is Nyarlathotep and calls him that to his face. he is right. While SP "neither confirms or denys being the Crawling Chaos/Nyarlathotep" he obviously...is him. (SP lies about his identity a lot. but this time he didnt even say he WASNT, just that it doesnt matter and to call him SP please). SingShong basically plagiarised everything about him completely from lovecraft

First of all, in their first meeting SP looks like a black shadow person with glowing white eyes, which is why Kim Dokja drew the conclusion that he was Nyarlathotep, since this is how he looks too

Nyarlathotep is the avatar of other outer gods an has a clear personality and is more rational and human than the rest (KDJ says this bout SP too)- he hates his masters (like SP hates his sponsor).

Kim Dokja once says that SP is like no other outer god because he actually speaks human language and can communicate clearly and rationally. Nyarlathotep is the only outer god who can do that and is the messager of them.

The event referenced here where Nyarlathotep causes people to go insane is mentioned in ORV too, as SP talked to the Recorders of Fear and drove them to insanity. He has darkness powers and knows the future of the universe that no one else does.

He looks like a human being and has a thousand different forms (like the different regressions).

He can shapeshift and possess people (SP does both. shapeshifts into YJH and possesses him)

Also as previously mentioned he protects the Great One (OD) and rules over Shantaks in the forest. On top of looking exactly like Nyarlathotep and having the same abilities as him and the same role and traits and literally getting told "You are Nyarlathotep" by Kim Dokja I think it is pretty safe to say that he IS Nyarlathotep.

Also, the reason why KDJ thinks SP can beat The Nameless Mist and calls him is because he thinks that is SP's/Nyarlathotep's sister. which is just kind of funny to me. go get your sibling dude its eating my planet

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Drew 24h increments on the schedule posts to make it easier to see what times each block represent!

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i am so sick of them im serious

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a protagonist regresses by living in that story setting

a reader regresses by rereading the story

an author regresses by writing and erasing

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Haru Yo Koi - Yuzuru Hanyu (Notte Stellata 2025 Day 3)

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but who can grow me a new brother?

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Talking with a friend, we both agreed that only way to successfully write Jiang Cheng as a villain is if you love him very, very much.

I am what might be described as a Jiang Cheng stan, yet I totally can see why he would cross the line from toxic to evil. That reason is love.

Back again to the old saw, "the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference."

Jiang Cheng loved so much. He needed to be loved so much. He did not ever get the help he needed to become emotionally mature enough to deal with all the ways he loved so much. The push to hate would not be difficult.

He would be monstrous in his hate, because it was fed on love.

His entire life was heartbreak and grief and betrayal all the way down. Making him a villain or a demon might look like an easy thing to do, but if it's not coming from a deep well of compassion for him, then it will be flat and cliched.

If the resolution doesn't involve love and some kind of reparations and reconciliations and acknowledgement that Jiang Cheng's pain was always born out of love, then it's just a flat story with a bland EveryVillain who happens to be named Jiang Cheng.

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We need shittable cities (actively maintained public restrooms).

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today I used the phrase "breasting boobily" in casual real life conversation and everyone was shocked asking how I came up with that and I had to explain it. ive been at the devil's sacrament so long that I forgot he wasn't god

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did I not love them best? I who birthed, who nursed, who killed them?

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I was definitely making this post about shin Godzilla in my head so I love this actually

i deserve to be a big monster. i deserve to undergo a terrifying yet true and beautiful transformation

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people might think creating OC lore involves a lot of thinking & planning, but in my personal experience, OC development is more like a divine vision from a god slamming you over the head with a mallet while ur doing the fuckin dishes or folding laundry

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"Would you fall in love with me again" but make it a ten-thousand-year wait

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Touchstarved Origins

Okay, so there's been a lot of divisive opinions over the replacement of 'The Hound' background with 'The Exile' background. I have my own thoughts that I wanted to express on the situation, as well as the origin system as a whole.

TLDR: I'm not against 'The Exile' existing, but I do think it's the least interesting and the weakest of the four backgrounds. I'm also firmly against the replacement of 'The Hound'. I also want to talk about how I would add/fix the current backgrounds. Also these are just my opinions - I'm not speaking objectively.

Spoilers ahead!

What's the point of the Origin system?

There's two main reasons for the current origin system.

First of all, each background has a 'perk', which each background can gather different types of information about the world and the love interests. This info may effect player decision-making.

Secondly, the backgrounds allow for roleplay and MC creating. This aspect is a huge part of the fandom, and RSS encourages people to make OCs with the backgrounds as a 'guide'.

How well is Origin system implemented?

I think it's important to keep in mind that it's only a demo out right now. That being said, as of these demos, I do not think the origin system has been implemented very well.

The 'perks' the backgrounds give and the story/dialogue differences are pretty minimal. This means that the way the Origin system currently works, the don't really meet the intentions behind the backgrounds.

The Exile & The Hound

Welp, onto the issue that inspired this post. First of all, I believe that 'The Hound' shouldn't have been replaced at all. IMO it was the weakest in terms of implementation, but that doesn't mean it should have been removed, just made better.

People have been building their MCs/OCs for years at this point, and it's straight up not fair for people to have their backgrounds taken away for seemingly no reason. There was no communication from RSS or even a survey from RSS asking about changing up the backgrounds.

I've also seen people say the backgrounds are 'similar enough', which I can't fully agree with. They're both survivalists, but the contexts are just too different - One is survival in in a socal world, and the other is survival in 'the wild'. Also, I think the biggest appeal to a lot of people about 'The Hound' was the criminal edge and the social intuition, which in a game about character interaction, is a big loss.

There's also the 'balance' of the original three backgrounds. While I don't think the OG backgrounds were the epitome of character building, they were different in the 'right' ways. For example: 'The Hound' is street-smart and familiar with lowtown's entertainment district, 'The Alchemist' is book-smart and somewhat familiar with lowtown's entertainment district, and 'The Unnamed' most likley has some education and isn't familiar with lowtown's entertainment district. They've also all been betrayed, which adds on to their desperation. This also means they learn different information that is relevent to the LIs (eg, 'The Unnamed senses familiar about Kuras, but 'The Alchemist' notices no magic from the reattached limb).

So, what about 'The Exile'? Backstory-wise, there's the isolation of 'The Unnamed' and a parental figure of 'The Alchemist', but no 'betrayal'. It does take some the the social intuition stuff from 'The Hound' (eg. "I've learned to recognise a leader when I see one" about Ais) but for a character that's described to live away from other people (apart from the hermit), it doesn't really fit or make sense. The 'perk' of an 'uncanny intuition' is very similar in flavour to 'The Unnamed' - I can't see why 'The Unnamed' wouldn't also have the red choice to 'move immediately'. 'The Exile' is also fluent in multiple languages, but that seems like something 'The Alchemist' would know.

In short, 'The Exile' feels like a mish-mash of the original backgrounds, lacking a strong identity - both storywise and gameplay-wise. It has qualities that already belong to a background or qualities that should belong to another background. If the goal was to have more 'cohesive' backgrounds, we ended up with a redundant background.

That being said, I do think there's a place for 'The Exile', but as it is right now, it needs a major rework.

Sidenote, blind/new players of Touchstarved aren't going to know what soulless are when selecting the backgrounds, so making it a 'selling point' of the background isn't a great move.

Things I Would Add to the Backgrounds

These are just some moments I could see happening with events that happen in the demo + feel in-tune with the background.

'The Unnamed':

I'll note it's hard to think of moments for 'The Unnamed', since we lack information on how their religion and temple function.

I think 'The Unnamed' should be the weakest fighter out of the backgrounds. Should probably never feel comfortable in altercations.

Should be the most 'aware' on what their curse does to people. Could come with different dialogue during Mr. Chocky's scene or Leander's 'hold back' scene.

Just more references to 'The Unnamed's' old faith. It was such a big part of their life, that it feels wrong to know so little.

Less knowledgeable of 'normal' society. They say the entertainment district in unfamiliar to them, but we don't actually see them go about the place much differently. For example, they shouldn't assume Vere is a sex worker because of the 'parted pink curtains'.

'The Hound':

I actually don't think 'The Hound' needs to be some super proficient combatant, but they should be the most compatent when caught off guard and general 'physical' situations. For example, they don't get knocked to the floor by the 'lowlife' in the bar, and/or their escape from the soulless is more skilful (not just trying to open a door and failing). Mhin would still show up of course.

Let. Them. Steal. The best moment I can think of is after they left Kuras's clinic, they pickpocket someone and use the money to buy food. I think it would make sense because they're already thinking about money in that scene.

Related to the last point, but 'The Hound' should be the most 'comfortable' finanally. Unlike the other backgrounds who have likely not been finanally responsible for themselves, 'The Hound' is used to poverty and low spending power (since most of the money they did have was for a cure). And of course, they have the means to steal. Maybe alter MC's lines about being worried about money.

'The Alchemist':

Not a great physical fighter, but as they get more settled in Eridia, having 'The Alchemist' preparing things such as protection enchantments. If taken off guard, they'll be weak, but if they can prepare for an encounter and such, they'll be in a better condition. That's to say, I don't mind them being 'weak' in the demo.

Some more general history stuff. For example, 'The Alchemist' thinking about how old Eridia is.

'The Exile':

I think if you're going to add a choice to fight the soulless, and a new backgound that's 'familiar' with soulless, I think it's fair to say the MC should have lived in the encounter. It's not like Mhin wouldn't have swooped in to kill the soulless anyways.

Final Thoughts

I do hope RSS come out and explain why 'The Hound' was removed, since I doubt they can add it back in without adding a lot more work the finished game. This also isn't made as a dig at anyone who likes 'The Exile', I just have a Thoughts™.

Also, please tell me if I've missed anything I should have mentioned or if I've said something incorrect!