lutiaskokopelli

[lutiaskokopelli]

I was yesterday years old when I learned that the 2015 version of Outer Wilds' Alpha (not its 2013 version) had an alternate version of Hal! I had already played a bit of the 2013 version and knew they weren't in here, so imagine my surprise when I discovered four text files named "MuseumFriend_<number>" in the 2015 Alpha's dialogue!

Anyway, I decided to celebrate by drawing a somewhat younger Hal in their Alpha outfit!

This design may or may not show up in the future in a comic or two about the village's backstory that I'd been meaning to draw for months >:) As FKNO grew more complex and all, a larger and larger amount of headcanons has been established in that fic's chronology, and with it a lot of backstory scenes which have enough material to be little short stories of their own! Notably a couple having to do with the Quantum Grove. Or one which addresses the reason why Gossan's spots are different in the museum photo compared to their appearance in-game. Or one which does both at once (sort of).

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...Also because a couple friends saw it that way due to the angle of the screenshot I shared with them, here's another version in which Hal wears a cowboy hat. I do not know yet whether or not they'll keep the hat. I wouldn't want to draw comics of Tephra-aged Hal with a cowboy hat and have everyone confused :') (Even though their skin colors are very different, it doesn't help that Hal and Tephra have the same spots pattern and that their eyes are similar)

I would have done the same to Hatchy... But alas, they don't even have a model at all in the Alphas. You just play as a disembodied shadow 😔

[lutiaskokopelli]

ref thing of all the canon hearthian face patterns and colors and such. picked colors are very vague but its fun to see who matches patterns with who! and eye colors oooo. done mostly for my own interests but u all bullied me to post lol (thank you)

faces pulled from repcons rips

[lutiaskokopelli]

On the subject of minerals/rocks, if naturally occurring ice is a mineral, does that make glacial ice a weird type of regional metamorphic rock?

Thanks so much for your fun question, anon! Apologies that it’s taken the team a little while to respond! 

The short answer is, yes! Ice is the crystalline, or solid, form of water - it’s naturally occurring, inorganic, has a definite chemical composition (H₂O), and has a defined and organised crystal structure (as seen below) - so by all accounts, a block of ice is what we would call a mono-mineralic rock!

Fig. 1: Crystalline structure of ice, or solid water. Doesn’t that structure look familiar? There’s a reason that snowflakes look the way they do, and that’s because of that beautifully organised crystalline structure!

You are absolutely correct in that glacial ice meets all the requirements to be classed as a metamorphic rock, too! 

But, why?

Well, we won’t divulge too much as we’ll be talking about the different rock types in our next big post - but for the purpose of this ask we’ll do a quick crash course in sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

Let’s start with sedimentary basics. When talking seds one of the best ways to imagine your rock is like a layer cake. Let’s say you’re making a chocolate and vanilla layer cake. Your chocolate batter represents mud, and your vanilla batter is sand - they each have a different colour and texture. You lay your muds down first, then your sands. You can keep doing this again and again if you wish, until you have lots of layers. Then, you bake! The baking represents the many millions of years it takes for these sediments to solidify into a solid rock (although you technically don’t need heat for real rocks). Do note that in reality it’s not quite as simple as this, there are many things that affect ways that rocks solidify!

Now imagine just a plain old chocolate cake. No frosting or filling. Just chocolate sponge. We layer up the chocolate sponge and bake. Boom, we have a whole unit of just mudstone.

The origins of glaciers are exactly the same, except your mudstone is snow! Lots and lots of snowflakes that have built up over time.

Okay, but what about the metamorphism? Metamorphic rocks start out pre-baked, if we’re using our cake analogy, so we already have our snow layers. Metamorphism of rock occurs either due to heat or pressure - or both. We don’t have heat when it comes to ice, but we do have pressure! Lots of pressure, actually - caused by the weight of all that snow piling up and up. As the weight increases, the ice at the bottom gets squashed which causes the crystals to change shape or recrystallise into ice. 

Now think back to our cake. If we kept layering up layers and layers of baked cake, eventually the bottom layer would get squashed, altering the texture and making it really dense. The same thing is happening here! Turning soft snow into hard ice. And then this keeps happening, compressing the ice even more to form glacial ice! Also cool to note that the “texture” of normal ice under the microscope is very different to that of glacial ice!

Fig. 2: Diagram showing how glacial ice is formed. Note the different texture and size of the "crystals" between the fine-grained and coarse-grained ice! Original image from Let's Talk Science.

This recrystallisation is a really key part of metamorphism in rocks, too, with metamorphic textures being one of the main diagnostic features that geologists use to categorise different types of metamorphic rocks - limestone to marble, for example!

Fig. 3: Petrographic slide images showing limestone (left) and marble (right) showing the recrystallisation effects of metamorphism. Note how different the shapes are! Marble and limestone are made of the same building blocks (CaCO₃), but have different properties because of this! Original images from Alex Strekeisen's incredible website for all things optical petrography.

Now you can be a cool geologist at parties and let folks know the ice in their drink is technically a rock! 

(DekkiiDan does this. Merrydock does this. So does Mohs. We are cool.)

Anyway, hope that answers your question! It was a really fun one, hehe!

See you in the next loop! The OWGS Team

[lutiaskokopelli]

mica. what a fun character honestly, there is sooo much you can do with them. the closest thing we have to official confirmation of an apprenticeship. mini slate, mini engineer, mini firestarter

i love the model rocket (shoutout to xen-42’s mod that puts an fpv camera on it). its so much. how much they love what they do to be making functional space ships at an age around moraine (in my head this is less than hatchling and hal but more than tephra galena). how capable they already are, probably better at fixing ships up than any of the astronauts. a little about how close they are with slate.

it’s so interesting to me to think of another mini slate, someone who loves the rockets and science of it all without actually wanting to go to space. they make it sound like they’re super super excited to see your launch, but only for the launch itself, and not because you’re going into space. not that they wouldn’t be interested, of course, there must be some interest there to motivate making the rocket instead of working on other kinds of machines. theyre the clearest “next in line” out of any of the hearthians.

i bet they’d be a dangerous prankster. like one to elevate the game. they’re young, able, and capable, with none of slate’s prank wisdom that comes from decades of yanking people’s chains. rutile is worried about all the fires that owv starts, but they aren’t worried enough about all of the windows mica’s going to break. i don’t think they’d be a wild child, nothing seems to imply that, but boy would they be influenced by slate. in fact, i bet slate would egg them on to do the (safer) pranks. i bet they bounce ideas off of each other in a mentor-mentee way.

i want to know what projects they have cooking up

[lutiaskokopelli]

Thank you OP for sharing your notes, this is extremely useful and concise!

I somewhat vaguely "disagree" with some of your interpretations when they involve colors, but this is because Repcon's artist refs are extremely dark and desaturated, which will skew a bit what colors mean in a vaccuum (on top of making it hard to see their eye color specifically, but so does the game in that regard). What I use as reference for color charts are rather each Hearthian's texture files (which Repcon also shares in that same drive, just in the Textures (dump) folder and they're hidden within all the other textures of the game – look for the "Villager_HEA_*" PNG files). They are admittedly too bright and saturated compared to what we see in-game, but they make it clearer that each Hearthian's spot pattern and color, skin and eye colors are less 100% unique and more different combinations of a specific pool of possibilities. For example, Porphy (duller) and Gneiss' (redder) here show that their eyes actually are more red than pink:

You are correct on Esker's and Arkose's eyes being purple rather than pink though!

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Height charts are tough, and I'm very sorry to pull the "Your honor, the defense's autopsy report is outdated" on you 😭 I've datamined the game on version 1.1.14 and tried looking at the 3D models myself, but the scale of models is inconsistent (as in 10x bigger or smaller than other Hearthians for no known reason, so it's difficult to really trust whether manually adding or removing zeroes is good enough), so you will see a couple different height charts out there. The latest one that I believe people consider the most accurate to this day is this one (made by Repcon as well in assistance with Pikpik and Tashizuma) — as in, it's accurate for everybody except Galena and Tephra, who are too tall here for some reason (they should be around the same height as Mica, Moraine and Arkose):

In that one, I'm so sorry to tell you that Hornfels lost like uh. a lot of centimeters T_T Slate's still tallest, with Marl and Porphy coming right after.

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About the uniqueness of the characters' skin and spot patterns: Hal and the protagonist have the exact same skin color, Slate and the protagonist the exact same eye color, and the more complex spot patterns such as Hal's or Marl's are kinda sorta copy/pasted on different Hearthians, just using different skin and spot colors. So everyone is still unique, but I just wanted to specify that they're not as unique as if everyone's textures had been completely repainted from scratch independently.

The characters' 3D models definitely are tweaked in 100% unique ways though!! Not enough to cure the same face syndrome impression to me (they still need to fit the limited number of rigs), but definitely enough to give guidelines for interpretation. The next image is a sketch of mine rather than anything datamined/calculated by modders, but it was an attempt to look at each character's face as seen in Repcon's Artist Reference images, and enhance the tweaks in the face that makes each of them unique:

I initially wanted to wait until after I'd had the time to give them colors and spot patterns, but oh well, I'll post that again in its own post once that is done. In the meantime, have fun guessing who's who! (I repaired Gossan's eye on purpose in order not to make it too easy to find them :P)

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Zero comment on the rest though, you are 100% correct on everything else. Sorry for going Um Akshually on you a bit, I just want you to know that your analysis work is still very useful!

I've been staring at the Hearthian Models a lot and here are some notes

I've been staring at their models in the past few days for my art. The more I look at them the more details I discover haha. (Here is the link to the refs I've been looking at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Me-eKLK8WZiByvGE6UCo1D4PwmCZfCi?usp=share_link) Some things I've noticed:

Based on Esker's ear floppiness, they're actually much closer to the other Founders' ages than to Gneiss, Spinel, or Tektite's ages.

Hearthian eyes are really colorful :0. I thought Esker had pink eyes, they actually have PURPLE eyes (maybe Arkose as well, but it's hard to tell because their eyes are almost all pupil and no sclera). Moraine's eyes are orange, Hatchling's eyes are orange-yellow, Hal's eyes are yellow skewed towards green, Porphy and Gneiss both have pink eyes, but Porphy's eyes are a lighter pink than Gneiss's, Marl and Rutile's eyes are green, and Tuff's eyes are blue. Most hearthian eyes are yellow, but even then the shade of yellow varies.

(this is based on a height chart, i couldn't actually pull the models in a 3d program to view so idk how accurate this is) Esker is WAY shorter than I thought, literally the same height as the Hatchling

Speaking of height, Hornfels is the tallest Hearthian, followed by Slate, then Riebeck. Hornfels and Slate are over a head taller than the Hatchling, almost 2 heads taller than Gossan and Feldspar.

While Solanum is very tall compared to most Hearthians, she is about half a head shorter than Hornfels and Slate. The Prisoner, if we measure all the way to the tip of their antlers, is twice the height of the Hatchling. Even without the antlers, they are about 75% taller than the Hatchling. They are so big :0

All of the Hearthians wear leather boots. The only two exceptions are Mica, who wears what looks like sideways geta sandals, and the Hatchling, who wears SOCKS (WHY??? THE VILLAGE IS BUILT AROUND A GEYSER, HAS A WATERFALL, AND MULTIPLE SMALL CREEKS. THE GROUND IS GOING TO BE MUDDY AS HELL). The Hatchling does wear boots when in their space suit though.

The Hatchling is the only traveler that doesn't have an Outer Wilds patch sewn on their space suit (which makes me sad :( maybe it's because they're supposed to get their patch once they complete their first solo flight? they'll never have a chance to earn their patch....). Esker also doesn't have one, but it's likely because we never see them in their space suit.

Proportion-wise, Hearthians are generally top-heavy. While the exact proportion varies (ex: Hornfels and Slate have almost perfect 50-50 upper-lower body ratios while Riebeck's legs are only half the length of their torso), Hearthian legs are usually about the same length as their torso.

Because Hearthians are top-heavy, their arms are also longer than ours. Their hands fall right below the crotch (just like in humans). Their hands are also really big. Human hands are approximately the size of our faces (from chin to eyebrow) while Hearthian hands are the size of their entire skull.

The third finger of Hearthian hands is thicker than the other two fingers, and all of their fingers are thicker than our fingers. It makes it easy to draw because we can use our own hands as reference without having to squish the bones in our palms to match Hearthian hands haha

I'm sure most of us have noticed that Hearthians have unique patterning. Common patterns include spots and leopard spots. Gossan is unique in that their spots form stripes. The color and density of the spots varies as well. Most of the Hearthians tend to have spots along the sides of their skull, their upper face and ears, and the sides of their neck. Hornfels has almost no spots, just some spotting along their eyes, ears, and neck. Spinel has spots that resemble freckles that cover their entire face, ears, and forehead, but has almost no spots on their skull. Gossan is again unique in their patterning as their spots are along the front of the skull and back of their neck.

Every single Hearthian has a unique eye, mouth, and skull shape, which is an insane detail to add from an art direction perspective. Every Hearthian is already distinguishable from more obvious design choices, like height and clothes, so unique face shapes are entirely unnecessary, especially since most players will probably never talk to the other Hearthians more than once, much less remember what they look like beyond the travelers. Some Hearthians have narrow jaws while others have squarer jaws. Some Hearthians have droopy eyes while others are doe-eyed. Some Hearthians have an upward tilt to their lips while others have a downwards tilt. Some Hearthians have a long oval face while others have a square face. Some Hearthians have resting bitch face while others have an easy smile. This are details that only insane people who stare at the Hearthian models for hours find *coughs*

TLDR; The Hearthians have a lot of cool unique features but only insane people would go out to find them

[lutiaskokopelli]

The Field Guide to the Outer Wilds is a wonderful art book that is mostly a fun ride full of pretty pictures and telling a lot about the history of this game's design, but it does contain its fair share of info about lore that either was considered at some point, or still is. Seems like we have a case of the latter on our hands here!

The Nomai's ability to reshape matter around them already visible in-game with a couple examples that are either obvious (Solanum creating projection stones and levitating rocks to make the pillars for her conversation) or more subtle to notice (the road signs that can be knocked off and will rebuild themselves after a couple instants) -- but the art book fully solidifies just how far it goes, by mentioning this on multiple pages and showing that the initial Nomai architecture design was really intended to reflect this extruding and reshaping method of construction.

Anyway, two light bulbs flashed in my mind when I read about this: first off, so cool, and second, this requires some real high quality shitpost. Don't mind that this has been sitting as a WIP in my files for... °checks notes° ...almost two months. Well, uh, the lore map work and real life are also to blame I suppose fsjdklgs

(PS: Don't praise the art too hard, especially not the staff -- as the bonus page shows, game assets and screenshots were used for basically everything that isn't a living character, for the sake of saving time and effort on the parts of the comic that mattered way less in my mind than, y'know, the joke and characters' silly faces.)

(PPS: Ignore that Hal's pouch is on the wrong side, I only looked up a ref sheet after I was already done with the lineart and needed to get the colors 😭 Also ignore the fact that even with a 3D model as reference I still managed to get a staff blessed with a quantumly undefined size that changes in every panel to fit the user's needs)

[lutiaskokopelli]

Lore Map Update!

First off, big thanks to @white-hole-station who helped out a ton with these new lore cards! They decided to share their work on documenting and analyzing Hearthian dialogue, and this shall save me a lot of precious time :D

I will try to regularly post updates like these if you don't mind! One purpose is to remind people that the Outer Wilds Lore Map exists, sure, but most importantly, it's so that you guys can give criticism on what's being put in it. Do you disagree with the conclusions or the wording? Are the tags wrong? Do you see a typo? Tell me all about it so it can be fixed!

A couple lore cards in this bunch seem to me like there is definitely more to explore here, and that some debate may be in order (because there already has been some debate while writing them already!). So if you have more evidence about this or that, please comment here so we can have a proper conversation!

Without further ado, here is the list of today's new additions:

And the save point that will let you open them and view their full contents all by yourselves:

{"Pins":["MarlTreeKeeper","MarlBigTree","RutileMarlGrudge","MoraineMarlGrudge","EskerMarlFriends","EskerMarlGrudge"],"DLC":"Show"}

(grah I hope Tumblr won't be dumb about copy/pasting these. I do not want to have to figure out a URL-based system for save points PLEASE)

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A few screenshots:

PS: Let me know if you'd like me to make posts like these also for lore cards that are already present on the web page, so that you can give them the same kind of scrutiny and criticism! Alternatively if you see something you'd like to talk about, you can totally @ me or DM me (though it'd be best if multiple people could join the conversation and give their opinion --- that's what the Discord server is for! Purely lore talk to debate what is or isn't appropriate to put on the Lore Map).

I've already seen one post taking a screenshot of a specific lore card -- you can do that and @ me in it if you have some criticism about it, that way it's public and anyone can take part in the debate!

Since this is an alternate kind of wiki, this means that agreeing with what you see there is crucial. Agreeing with only 99% of it is not good enough if the 1% of disagreement you hold is factually true.

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And now for some fun bonus ramblings strictly meant for speculation/headcanon territory and the funsies:

[lutiaskokopelli]

hehehehehe im glad the silly thing is workinggggg

Fun fact I learned about this myself (and thus wrote this lore card) many many months after the plot for my fic was set in stone. So uh, oops, sorry Hal. Still not gonna allow your best buddy the actual astronaut to remember the loops even if it's how the canon says it should happen

Outer Wilds lore heads gonna go crazy after this

[lutiaskokopelli]

Hello everyone! I have been working on this project for many, many months, if not a whole year by now -- but it is finally here! And so I present to you yet another documentation project:

The Outer Wilds Lore Map aims to be one big interactive web page containing as much of the OW lore as possible -- from physics data about how big (small, really) the planets are, to obscure fun facts about lore that could have been but was removed or retconned at some point, to whether or not Chert knows what Ash Twin looks like without its sand!

I have already spent a very long time writing it all in the tutorial and the coding itself, so I will rather let the images speak for themselves here. All I will say is that I have done everything I could in order to make it as intuitive and comfy an experience as possible. The lore is very lacking for now, and filling it will take a while -- but hey, wouldn't it be fun to do it with friends? If only in order to have people nag at me for all the typos, or if you disagree with something.

You want to help out? Just curious? If you're interested, there is a Discord server that you can join in order to give your thoughts on where this is going!

The link for a permanent invite is present on the Lore Map's page, just open the blue "Tutorial & Tips" button and look at the bottom!

[lutiaskokopelli]

Welcome to the Outer Wilds Geological Survey!

Founders of the Outer Wilds Geological Survey Mohs & Lari

Outer Wilds hosts a story like no other; one that spans eons and is pieced together across planets. However, you may not have noticed the subtler story beneath the one we know and love - the one told through the rocks that paint the world. What rocks occur where, their shapes, colouration, and orientation, can all give an indication to a broader geological history.

Here, we aim to survey the Outer Wilds and explore what the rocks say about mineralogy, volcanic activity, major historical and geological events, and even planetary formation! From the geyser mountains of Timber Hearth, to the labyrinthine caves of Ember Twin, to the floating islands of Giant's Deep - We plan on exploring all major sites of interest and come up with our best explanations of the geology and what it means for the history of the Outer Wilds solar system.

Investigating a collapsed in cave on Ember Twin; The Grove Shard, on Timber Hearth

This blog is run by @merrydock and @dekkiidan. We are both huge fans of geology (huge enough to have studied it and have professional experience in this field!). We just couldn't help but read the rocks of Outer Wilds to see what we could learn, and we hope to share our notes with all of you to inspire you to take a better look at the geology that surrounds you, too!

If you have any questions or comments, or just want to say hi, feel free to reach out! We love Outer Wilds and talking rocks and would be happy to chat. We encourage you to explore our blog on desktop, please utilise the nav-tab and explore to your heart's content!

[lutiaskokopelli]

Haven't seen much of you in a while, asumed you were busy, just want to wish you success in whatever you're doing, you're awesome, remember to take care

Aah, thank you!! Yeah, I know I've been... quiet publicly to say the least x'D

I'm still doing stuff in the shadows! But always stuff that can't be posted here because of spoilers (yay to working on a sequel to a fic you haven't even finished writing), or WIPs that I don't want to post here because it's not "good enough" in my eyes. Or both.

Work still has me in a chokehold because of both the amount given to me by real life and the amount given to me by my own plans and expectations, haha, but I am slowly getting there. I've been hoping to catch up to a certain extent before taking it easy (aka getting back to doing fun things, aka writing/drawing instead of plotting and making graphs and charts and timelines and organizing notes without actually making any art behind it).

Thanks for the message!! I hope you take care too <3

[lutiaskokopelli]

Lutiaaaaaas, Hatchy OC asks for the Firn :)

8, 12, 44?

🌻 Xanna ::D

Thank you!! :D

8. Do they wear something other than the canon outfit/space suit?

I haven't drawn them enough to show it (and even their Modern AU self sort of only ever has been drawn with one real outfit so far 😂), but yes! If only for the sake of being realistic lmao. They only have the one space suit, but in terms of regular Timber Hearth clothes, they definitely have a couple outfits they recycle through.

The way I portray the Hearthians' world in FKNO is rather on the cozy but (unfortunately) somewhat post-apocalyptic side of things, due to the small size of the planet and the even smaller Hearthian population making for a tiny world with limited resources -- so admittedly, everyone sort of has the bare minimum, and clothes are being handed down from person to person. So while Firn may have other outfits... they admittedly wouldn't necessarily reflect their true personal style, haha. Chances are they even share/trade a couple with Hal.

12. What is your Hatchling’s favorite food or dish?

Firn has the sweet tooth of a human toddler. Creamy melting oozing caramelized marshmallows could never be topped, no competition... and pretty much anything that doesn't taste like sugar feels either bland or blergh to them. They particularly despise sap wine, both for its taste and for its status as the cultural rite to adulthood.

44. How willing is your Hatchling to end a loop early? Do they meditate through it?

Firn is a very end-justifies-the-means person, and even if they aren't in the time loop themself, just being given proof that the loop is real and that they only have a limited time to get the most of it is incentive enough to get their gears running at full speed. And in a way... not being able to remember the loops is taken in their rational mind as being "less important" than those who do -- therefore, if someone has to die this loop, they will volunteer every time unless the other survivors would be screwed without them (e.g. piloting is required for what comes next and Gabbro isn't available for that).

If Firn were alone in the loop -- they would honestly have even less qualms about ending the loops early, e.g. if they missed their shot and would have to wait until the next loop for their next attempt. Firn would look for the least painful and/or fastest way to die, and use that when needed... Because impatient as they are, they really aren't too good at meditating. The one time they did, it was more the low oxygen reserves knocking them out rather than them actually being able to relax and wait things out.

[lutiaskokopelli]

For Firn for the Hatchling OC Ask Game, 6, 38, and 42!

6. What color are your Hatchling's eyes?

Firn's design is basically the canon one (except they do not run around the village in wet socks and actually wear shoes), so orange!

38. What was your Hatchling's first death?

Firn would find it very lame if they were genre savvy enough to know about it, but as close as they got to running out of oxygen while stuck in orbit around Giant's Deep, it's actually the good ol' supernova that got them (both prior to the statues activating and on the first loop where Hal and Gabbro got paired, which changed their """First loop""" schedule from all of the previous ones).

42. In a normal game setting, which ending does your Hatchling get?

It's... a tough one. FKNO is a story in which Firn doesn't get paired on the loop where they normally "should" have (since it's Hal who gets it instead), and I've mentioned it here and there but it is actually a very good thing for them and everyone they know that they didn't get to know the "normal game setting."

As much as I want to say that they would choose going to the Eye eventually... The fact that they get stubborn when things don't go their way, and the fact that they can get pretty creative with both elaborate pranks and "stupidly intelligent" short-term plans, all paired to a "none of the damage caused stays anyway" state of reality, alongside the sheer loneliness caused by the time loop (Gabbro certainly would not be able to keep them in check on their own, not when their ship is basically unusable), all make for a rather grim combo.

They might settle for going to the Eye in the end, after having gone through many horrors, potentially hundreds or thousands of loops of denial and trying anything and everything. They might settle for going to the Eye but with extra steps, possibly with dangerous consequences for whatever comes next. Or maybe they could come up with something else entirely -- but even if they somehow managed to save everyone, the damage done in the process (if only to their own psyche) would have been immense.

If you read their respective fics, I believe that Firn had the potential to become a Mesa or a Cordie -- and I am so very glad that Hal being paired to the museum statue in their stead allowed them to dodge that bullet. Firn hates being forced to forget everything every three or so sunrises, but perhaps they would hate it less if they knew what the alternative could have been.

[lutiaskokopelli]

Not really a question, just wanted to remind you that you're awesome

th ank you...

[lutiaskokopelli]

HATCHLING OC ASK GAME

How does it work? Reblog this post to let your followers know that your ask box is open for any of the following questions about your Hatchling OC! Followers will place a number or two in your ask box, along with the name of the OC they are inquiring about if you have more than one. Then you’ll answer the ask as it fits your Hatchling OC. 

Does your Hatchling go by any name other than The Hatchling? If so, what?

How old was your Hatchling on their launch day?

Does your Hatchling use pronouns other than they/them? If so, which ones!

How tall is your Hatchling?

Does your Hatchling have scales, whiskers, tails, multiple eye-lids, or some other feature not seen in game?

What color are your Hatchling's eyes?

On a scale of one to ten how perky are their ears? One being tall and pointy like Tephra or Galena, ten being low like Spinel or Gneiss.

Do they wear something other than the canon outfit/space suit?

Does your Hatchling wear jewelry, accessories, or makeup? 

Does your Hatchling have any piercings or tattoos? If so, what and where?

What is your Hatchling’s favorite color?

What is your Hatchling’s favorite food or dish?

How does your Hatchling like their marshmallows?

What is your Hatchling’s stance on sap wine? Why?

What does your Hatchling like to do with their free time?

Is your Hatchling athletic or nerdy?

Is your Hatchling more likely to sass Slate, or leave them wondering why Gossan is letting an airhead launch?

How does your Hatchling approach problem solving? Do they try to think through the problem, attempt to brute force the issue, or stumble across solutions accidentally?

Where does your Hatchling hang out when they are on Timber Hearth?

What is your Hatchling’s favorite planet?

What is your Hatchling’s least favorite planet? Why?

What is your Hatchling’s favorite space tool? Examples include signal scope, translator tool, little scout?

Does your Hatchling have an instrument? If so, what is it?

Does your Hatchling have any specific area of study?

If your Hatchling had to pick a  job other than astronaut what would it be?

Why did your Hatchling join OWV?

After a crash, is your Hatchling more likely to repair their ship or leave it to reset with the loop?

Is your Hatchling a decent pilot? Were they always that way?

If the time loop had never happened, what kind of astronaut would your Hatchling have become?

Which Villager did your Hatchling attach to most while they were growing up?

Is your Hatchling flirtatious?

Is your Hatchling dating anyone? If so, who?

Would your Hatchling OC want hatchlings of their own?

Which lost loved-one is the hardest for your Hatchling to process?

Did your Hatchling ever consider trying to add someone else to the time loop? If so, who? 

How long was your Hatchling stuck in the time loop?

Where in the solar system did your Hatchling visit first?

What was your Hatchling's first death?

Who is your Hatchling’s favorite Nomai and why?

 What discovery was the most shocking for your Hatchling and why?

Was your Hatchling tempted to break space time? If so, did they suspect what would happen?

In a normal game setting, which ending does your Hatchling get?

How deeply in denial was your hatchling about the end of the universe?

How willing is your Hatchling to end a loop early? Do they meditate through it? 

How does your Hatchling feel about the inhabitants of the Stranger blocking the Eye signal?

Does your Hatchling tend to agree more with the Nomai or the Owlks regarding The Eye? Why?

How did your Hatchling feel when they realized they couldn't save anyone? Afraid? Relieved? Angry?

How does your Hatchling really feel about The Eye?

In a post loop AU would your Hatchling ever tell anyone about the loops? Who?

Freebie! Tell us any headcanon you want.

Special thanks to @merrydock, @nephtheless, @poisonhemloc, and @tippertot for helping me come up with some of these questions and providing peer review!

Inspired by this list of OC questions over in the Cult of the Lamb Fandom made by @transtistic. 

[lutiaskokopelli]

(The full piece is on ao3, it ended up a little longer than expected!: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61783735)

(I applied for this gift exchange with my art blog @ria-starstruck, and got @lutiaskokopelli as a giftee! I had a lot of fun writing Hal and the hatchling and some timeloop shenanigans :D hope you enjoy!)

“What if…I was in a time loop, and I could bring you along. Would you want to be in it as well?”

Your best friend on the planet, in the solar system, in the whole entire universe, is currently all geared up and ready to go to space—somehow having gotten the launch codes from Hornfels without you noticing—and yet, they’re still on the ground, leaning on the little outcrop of dirt just outside the museum, next to you, speaking to you.

“Where in the universe would you even get yourself into such a situation?” You snort. “Don’t answer that. Of course you’d manage it, somehow.”

“Hey!” They shove you, lightly.

You lean back into their hand. “’Hey’ yourself. Would you want me to bail you out of your hypothetical time travel problems, too?”

“Since when do you ‘bail me out’ of anything? I’m usually the one bailing you out.”

“Yeah, and who was it that had to distract Mica the last time you got their model ship stuck in a tree?”

“And that was so nice of you to do, Hal.” They blink pleadingly at you.

But it’s rare that you get even close to having the upper hand in your little bouts of bantering. “I am so nice.”

“The nicest.” They tilt their head at you.

You rub the back of your neck. This is a fun change of pace, but you’re a little too unused to it. “What do you want?”

“What?”

“I mean, why are you still here? You could be…anywhere. Trying out the translator. Finally finding out what the Nomai have to say…”

Their ears twitch. “I wanted to find out if you’d want to get stuck in the same time loop as me.”

“You could ask me that any time though.” You turn to look them in the face, but they avoid your gaze. “You’re…not nervous about finally heading to space, are you?”

“No!” They cover up their sudden exclamation with a breezy laugh. “Done it a hundred times before.” They wink at you, and you roll your eyes at their obvious fib.

“Sure, sure, if you say so…” You sigh. “And…yeah, of course I’d want to be in the same time loop as you. I couldn’t figure that out without your help.” You nod at the translator. “How could you get out of some time loop without mine?”

They beam brightly at your response, but just as quickly, their ears droop and their grin disappears. “Hal, would you really want to be?”

You’d thought they were talking about some hypothetical situation before, but the lightness in their tone is gone entirely now. You don’t laugh as you answer in kind: “I really would.”

They sigh, and pat you on the shoulder once, heavily. “Good. That’s good to hear. Thank you, Hal.” Just as you’re about to ask them what’s going on, they smile again, the solemnity lifted. “So, I’ve been thinking of heading to Giant’s Deep and checking out those statues…”

It’s useless to try to pry things out of them before they’re ready to talk. So, you match their response, say something about the statues, about the one in the museum—you offer to go get Hornfels so you three could have a proper discussion, but your friend declines, says they just wanted to spend some time with you. You circle around the topic of their first launch a few times, but neither of you quite touch upon it.

And then, out of nowhere, so casually that at first you don’t parse the meaning of the words, they say, “Oh, and the sun’s going to go supernova in about five minutes.”

“Okay,” You say at first, and then it hits you. “Wait, what?”

“The sun,” your friend says patiently. “It’s going to explode. Supernova.”

You frown at them. They’re studying you with a careful sort of nonchalance—a little too careful.

Is this really a joke? You risk squinting directly at the sun with your lower eyes.

Wasn’t the sun once smaller? Was it always so red, so dim, with only its core glowing luminous white? Weren’t the stars once fainter during the day?

A sentence from the museum’s exhibit on a star’s life cycle drifts through your mind: the sun’s core has contracted, and its outer layers expanded. It’s a red giant now. Ultimately, it will collapse under its own gravity…

The exhibit feels inappropriately glib now.

“The sun looks…different.” You venture cautiously. This isn’t a prank. Right? No way. You rub at your eyes—it still looks the same. And that “same” is different than it’s looked for all your life. You think.

“Yep. So. Are you sure you’d wanna hop in on this time loop with me?”

You stare at them, stricken. “This is…real? You’re saying…in less than five minutes, we’ll all be…”

“…Yeah. But, time loop, remember. You’re not really dying.”

You lean heavily against the outcrop of dirt behind you, and slide down to the ground. Your friend joins you, squatting by your side.

You want to sink into silence, but…five minutes? Less than that? This couldn’t be a prank. It isn’t a prank. Your friend wouldn’t be looking at you with such a grave expression if that were the case. “Why…” You whisper. “Why is it happening? Why now? It’s your first launch day. We only just finished the translator…what about the Nomai?! How could we not have seen the sun starting to…”

“Oh, the sun exploding is because of them, I think! The supernova powers the technology they set up to create these time loops.”

“Wait—what? Why?!”

“It’s…a long story. And we have a lot less than five minutes now.”

Without you noticing, the sun has set, and night fallen with it.

“I’ll tell you everything once you’re in the loop with me—or! If you don’t want to join, I’ll tell you as much as I can now—or promise to tell you next loop—“

“I’m joining you,” You say firmly.

Your friend’s eyes gleam—with joy, with sorrow. “I didn’t know if you’d believe me,” They say hoarsely.

“Well, if you say it’s true…then I guess it is.” You respond. “Something…seems a little off with you, anyway.” From the minute they’d pulled you outside, actually, but you didn’t want to admit it. You look away and scuff at the ground with your shoe.

Your friend breathes out shortly. “That obvious, huh?” Their grin falls, their ears droop. “I don’t know how to stop the loop, how to stop the sun from exploding. I keep focusing on just…different things I don’t know…I keep reaching dead ends. There’s so much I’ve translated, so much I want to show you…I wish I could. I wish you could remember. And…” They inhale. “…And I miss you, Hal.”

You sniff. “I miss you too.”

Their laugh is watery. “From your point of view, you saw me just yesterday.”

“Sure, but…hearing the way you talk about it…I wish I could be there.”

“Well…I’ve got something new to focus on. Soon enough, you will be here with me.”

“Yeah…yeah.”

The trees and houses below the path from launch tower to museum are suddenly engulfed in pitch darkness, the kind you’ve never seen before. Rooms are this dark. Caves are this dark. Outside is never, never this dark, to the point where you can’t distinguish the horizon from the black of space. Only the little lanterns throughout Timber Hearth provide any light.

“It’s happening,” your friend says quietly, and you inhale. “It’ll be ok. It’s…the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

You swallow, throat thick, and hold tight to their arm, watching the place where the horizon should be.

You swear you hear something—an impossibly dense, impossibly loud, ever-so-faint whump. A current of faint blue ripples past you, through the sky, and some distant burning begins to flare, coming closer and closer. Your scales feel dry—or is it only your anticipation of some intense heat?

Then you see it, the foam of some blue-white fire, spraying up like a glowing geyser, followed by the entrails of the only sun you’ve ever known.

Sparks of blue light streak past you. Everything ahead is silhouetted and consumed in turn by that light. Your friend was right—it is beautiful, but you cry out and hold your friend close as it swells towards you. Your eyes water and smart.

“ARE YOU SURE?!” Your friend shouts to be heard above the roar of your dying sun.

The ground rumbles beneath your feet, from the force of a star’s death. “YES!” You pull them towards you, hug them tight, shouting again into the side of their helmet, and in response, your friend’s arms come up and wrap tight around your burning body as your world ends.

[lutiaskokopelli]

Gossan brute-forces their way into the time loop. Consequences be thrown to the bramble, if there can even be consequences anymore now; an astronaut or two desperately need their help.

This is all that matters, when nothing else will; and perhaps, just perhaps, even a cut short life at the end of the universe can still have meaning.

A gift for @dragonfeather15! 

While the story is for now incomplete, I still wanted to post something on this first day, and I will do everything in my power to finish it asap - today or tomorrow at best, most definitely before the 11. I hope you can at least have a good read with this for the time being, with the promise of more in the very soon future!

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Outer Wilds Fanfic

Outer Wilds Gossan