obscuremechala

[obscuremechala]

after school and hw i really wanna draw, especially Virion and Enceladus from that writing snippet. i'll talk about them and their roles a bit later but i do have some design changes in mind now,,, but i also have to further my education irl first. and also eat breakfast. that would be good.

[obscuremechala]

TRaToR - So what even is this, bex [masterpost? ehh,,]

so uh. mentioned this a couple of times here. and i wanna talk more about it. and tumblr lets me type for ages,,, so im gonna be chatting and actually using this like a blog ig

feat. this random doodle i did a while back that is pretty much how this whole thing is gonna feel

TRaToR (project name part is optional) aka The Rise and Tide of Revolution is a story with a bunch of ocs ive had in my head since like 2017, initally very inspired by Transformers Prime specifically but it's grown into ,,,something. wish i could tell you what tbh (definitely has robots. that won't ever change)

(cutting bc this is a long post and i cut all the rambly preludes,,, later i'll make a tag directory or something)

1. the what

TRaToR (The Rise and Tide of Revolution) is an original story project that's consumed a lot of my brain tbh. If you've seen me draw my robot ocs, they're for this project. it's definitely sci-fi, debatably dystopian/cyberpunk in essence.

I don't have a definitive pitch/plot summary bc im reworking everything, and what i wanna do with this blog now is to share my developments and ramblings that probably would only make sense to me (and with a lot of asides like this one. but i digress).

2. vague world notes

the setting! and vague factions + species. Im rebuilding everything, it's all not exactly final, so im kinda keeping things vague here

Prazhidi, mechala city-nation: where I'm intending for us to set off on this journey! a massive, sprawling urbanized area with a history that's constantly burying itself, metaphorically and literally. it's continually built upon ruins of its past. lots of mechanical folk live here. cramped and winding, alot of the place is considered "depths," and the deepest ruins are borderline inhospitable to folks

Unilacht Co. (aka the Unilacht): a corporation currently in control of Prazhidi, validated through its brutal bid for control over all their competing corporations quite some time ago. Now, they are equal to none.

Melien, mining colony currently in orbit: a mining colony where rebels who tried to do something about the Unilacht Co. were sent; essentially doubles as a penal colony. Also doubles as a planetoid-sized spaceship (and currently, another moon for the homeworld).

Mechala (like my username!): a categorization of living beings. It's a collective term for any sort of mechanical sapience, and there's quite a few subcategories that we won't get into today (mostly bc im still working on them,,,).

The Armada (name wip): A rebel faction led by Auchtor, formed on Melien after overtaking the means of production. a lot of the soldiers and personnel are fellow prisoners, but even more recruits were obtained from elsewhere... odd.

The Rebellion (name wip): an incredibly vague descriptor. i need a better one but names are hard. This specific rebellion refers to one that broke out on Melien, with some of the foreign recruits questioning the means that Auchtor had undertaken in the name of revolution. Led by Trysltine and Andrumn at the time.

3. plot? sorta

So a story's already forming with these elements, hmm? at least some core background is. so, what I'll share for now goeth thusly:

The Armada and the Rebellion begrudgingly came to an agreement upon arriving on the homeworld, but it wasn't enough in the end. A Unilachti spy in the Armada's ranks, Dhoxus, leaked the secret operations of the Armada, including just how, exactly, they managed to recruit such fine mechanical soldiers. This reopened the rift between the two, and more importantly, allowed the Unilacht to crush and capture their forces, with the captured undergoing a reprogramming and reintegration into either society or the Unilacht forces. A small number have fled and escaped the fate of reintegration, but they're largely left with the question of what now? give up? try to fight another day? leave? As the Unilacht captures the Armada's founder, Auchtor, at last, one small rebel enclave, led by a disabled veteran turned spymaster, decides on a new priority; answers. Answers to all the questions left unanswered by the leak and the Unilacht. Will unraveling the half-buried histories and conspiracies of Prazhidi help in constructing a better future? or tearing down the current powers? or will it uncover secrets deeper than the light can reach, that maybe should have stayed buried?

feel like this makes it sound like i have a lot more in place than i do. but i like writing dramatic sometimes. wanna join me on the journey to figuring stuff out? maybe even make a webcomic? (maybe not with this at first. this story is a bit too complicated for a first comic,,,)

gonna link any ramblings/art/writing under the cut in an effort to try to keep things organized,,, probably in chronological order idk what im doing man

stuff ive done so far if you don't feel like scrolling through nonsense:

writing snippet 1 - Virion and Enceladus

[obscuremechala]

aight so im actively chipping at overhauling my whole story for TRaToR and being a bit more loose with the whole thing. this is a bit of a snippet of an interaction between two of the major characters, Enceladus and Virion.

There's a lot of things that they talk about that aren't explained bc im building off of knowledge that's just in my brain right now. also nothing is final and canon is a sandcastle that's being destroyed by the waves. i don't know man. i don't know how to explain stuff yet. i'll get there. (planning a post about the overhaul soon kinda just want this to be out there)

this is riffed off of an interaction ive had in mind for a while but im revamping it (no one knows what im talking about bc i haven't talked about anything anywhere).

enjoy (writing under the cut) vvvvv

Virion’s shoulders sagged as he examined Celi’s tablet. The biomech’s obnoxiously cocky eyebrows couldn��t be mistaken for anyone other than the bot who’d led the Armada’s–no, Unilacht’s now–assassin right to him. Meo, he introduced himself as? “Him?” he questioned.

Celi leaned back in her seat and tapped her fingers together. “Yeah, him. We worked together back on Melien for a bit, back in the rebellion days. Back when things were simpler…”

“You worked with him?” Virion tapped the screen, pointing out the guy’s absurd eyebrows.

Celi nodded. “Yeah. He’s quite the chatterbox, but I like listening.”

Oh. They were friends. Virion examined the photo, brow creasing under his helm. “You remember the other day, when Spectral finally tracked me down and chased me out of a contract?”

She gave him the barest of nods. “I remember.”

“He showed up and had a chat just a few hours just before she approached me.”

Enceladus raised her visor and looked at the photo. She processed the intel for a millisecond. “He’s under contract by the Unilacht, correct? Reaching him will be harder.”

Virion draped an arm over the table while supporting his head with his other hand, all to scrutinize the biomech’s large optics. “You’re absolutely certain about him, specifically?”

“Meo’s in communications tech, which gives him access to a lot of systems. With his maintenance certification, he can get into pretty much any system he wants, up to a certain clearance.” She adjusted her position with her cane, leaning on it more.

“Is that his current contract? Dhoxus would know about his spying habit, right? Maybe the Unilacht reassigned him. Surely he wouldn’t have accidentally led Spectral right to me.” Though, better she met him than Enceladus; only one of them would have survived that encounter at the warehouse.

Celi tapped a finger against her cane’s handle. “Good point. Dhoxus probably would have planned a reassignment. The only reason the Armada didn’t assign him to the Comms Department is because of his atrocious processing of written material. There’s a name for it, but he didn’t remember it. Would the Unilacht put up with that or rather stick him with his beloved radios?” Her optics gazed upwards as she considered this.

Virion squinted at the bigger bot, leaning against the table. By Melasi, she was still gonna go for it. She had that much faith in that slippery little biomech? “I never took you for an optimist, to be transparent,” he remarked, not expecting much in return. Celi gave him a shrug and took her tablet back.

Dampener mentioned that he and Celi were friends at some point, long before Virion was in the picture. He’d lamented their distancing relationship, though Virion didn’t remember the specifics as he had tuned him out most of the time. With other people, Spectral had a habit of lurking and talking about folks, Dampener especially, behind their backs. And Meo… Meo talked fast. The bugmech tried to flatter him before asking his questions.

All three of them had somewhat similar habits; all of them wanted to tell people what they wanted to hear, and once they were in their good graces, they could do whatever they wanted. The power of charisma and interpersonal analysis, Auchtor called it. Manipulation was a shorter word in comparison.

“Enceladus?”

“Yeah?” She lowered her tablet.

Virion glanced down at his hands, pondering his phrasing. “Do you take constructive criticism? I’ve noticed a pattern.”

“Alright, shoot.”

“I think you have a type.”

[obscuremechala]

It feels like this every time I write a fic

[obscuremechala]

onwards, comrades

[obscuremechala]

this is your random reminder to CHECK IF YOU'RE STILL HAVING FUN

are you enjoying scrolling tumblr? watching youtube? reading that book? playing that game? drawing that art? doing that activity? if not,

YOU CAN STOP AND DO SOMETHING ELSE

you don't have to stick to something that you are doing for fun if it isn't fun for you anymore. You can come back! If you've loved it before you are likely to love it again! but you can stop!

Don't get stuck in a loop of doing something that you think should be fun when it isn't! You can put it down for a bit! Maybe that's the very thing that will make it fun again later!

[obscuremechala]

Day 372: it's aromantic spectrum awareness week

[obscuremechala]

once again ive realized ive been forgetting to post art on here. right now im in one of the creative funks of all time but maybeee??? its getting better??? in the meanwhile hhere's some stuff i forgot to share here (almost entirely oc art and concepts and whatever)

literally scrapped this dampener redesign in june 2024 i'll get to him one of these days

on the contrast a design thats actually going somewhere for once (designing robots always takes forever man,,, but i love them too much to stop. im sensing a pattern here)

ehhh thats it for now. don't remember if i posted the top meo piece here but probably not. have a good day folks i might actually try to post more

[obscuremechala]

[obscuremechala]

hmmmm thinking i might actually try to post oc stuff on here but maybe in a sideblog? ive not been great at organizing stuff here on the main and i think i'd actually care about keeping my oc ramblings in order...

[obscuremechala]

forgot to post these here. tears of the kingdom+long term nuclear waste storage warnings

[obscuremechala]

[obscuremechala]

love when theres a character whose entire existence is spoiler tagged by default. go behind the curtain boy

[obscuremechala]

they were so funny for this

[obscuremechala]

The eight stages of writing :

- this is awesome

- this is slightly less awesome

- this is shit

- I’m shit

-oh god oh fuck what the hell am I doing

-wait this might not be that bad actually

- How the fuck is this working

-This is awesome

[obscuremechala]

touch-starvation needs to be written with emphasis on the starving part. you are hungry to be touched. so hungry that even the very taste of it makes you nauseous. it has been long since anything has ever touched you, ever fed you - that your body has grown more used to that gnawing emptiness more than anything else. it's better for you to be held, to eat but it makes you sick to try. you know

[obscuremechala]

People who are able to write multichaptered fics and not get sick of your own idea or spoil everything in chapter 1 or lose motivation or forget about it, teach me your secrets