#Also it makes talking about forging a sword really hard

[callsign-rogueone]

Do you have dad!sawyer head canons? Thinkin about him a lot lately.

I’ve been waiting for a chance to talk about him and peach and their perfect girls 🩷 and I am always thinking about sawyer too… I will never be normal about him and his first first year. love him so bad.

from the beginning:

it’s Sliseag who figures it out first, and who breaks the news to Sawyer so nonchalantly, when you’ve been sick for a full week and just can’t keep food down: “She’s not ill,” he says, sounding amused. “she’s carrying your child.”

of course, he goes protective mode times a thousand after finding out. even though peach is literally a healer, and her mother was a midwife, sawyer is making sure that you go to every appointment with the healers, that you’re eating enough… it’s a little over the top sometimes, but you know it’s because he loves the both of you endlessly and just wants the best for you.

he’s absolutely taking time off from rider stuff when his girls are born (because this is in the happily ever after, so there’s no war going on) and he helps you as much as possible.

I think he’s an only child, so he never was really around kids or babies, but he takes to it immediately, which relaxes you enough that you’re actually able to get some sleep and start to recover.

toddler era:

him and peach are having two girls, a few years apart — Daisy and Stella. their nicknames from him are flower and starlight 🥹 and Ridoc and Sweetheart are their godparents, of course.

the girls are attached at the hip, even when Stella is super young. Daisy has her mother’s healer instincts, and loves helping take care of her little sister.

I am never giving up my farm boy sawyer headcanon. so like him and peach, these kids are growing up digging in the dirt and helping around the house, learning to take care of animals and appreciating the land.

speaking of animals, they are both obsessed with daddy’s dragon. Sliseag is endlessly patient with them, and plays babysitter sometimes when they’re out in the yard, keeping them out of trouble.

when the girls are a little older (and can be trusted not to eat things that aren’t food, lol), Sawyer makes them tiaras and jewelry out of old daggers, and little play swords that aren’t sharp and won’t hurt them.

they both absolutely love sleeping over at Ridoc and Sweetheart’s, because Ridoc is the fun uncle with no kids of his own and is a little crazy, but sweets keeps things within reason.

Sawyer knows he’s protective to a fault, and he wants them to be safe, but he also tries really hard not to enforce gender roles on the girls and make them think that all they could be is a damsel in distress. but he also doesn’t want them to feel pressured into becoming riders. it’s complicated.

when they’re school aged:

Stella is the one who is more outgoing and as of age 7, wants to be a rider like daddy. she’ll probably do it. she has her mother’s wildness, which Sawyer finds both endearing and a little scary at times, lol

again, I’m still not done with OS (up to ch 30!) so I don’t know how fully sawyer will recover from his injury, and how much rider duties he’ll have going forward. BUT…

it would be sweet to think about him and peach becoming kinda like Nolon and Winifred, both working at Basgiath or some other outpost with Sawyer working in the forge, and Peach in the infirmary, their kids going to the little school they probably have there for the kids. he continues to walk them to school, even when they’re old enough to find their way themselves.

he doesn’t let his injury stop him from playing with the girls, sitting on the floor for tea parties, carrying them on his shoulders… but Daisy always notices when he’s tired out or in pain, and smoothly changes the activity or “gets tired” and just wants to lay down and read with him or something. world’s sweetest girl.

in conclusion, sawyer henrick is just so husband. the sweetest boy, who would take the very best care of you and your girls. I love him endlessly and I miss him so bad… I need to find the emotional bandwidth to keep reading OS for the chance of more sawyer content.

[levemetal]

Can I ask about the dvawtk au wqw/mqf/sj title from the WIP tag game? That one looks so intriguing👀

Omg I am SO happy you asked!!

It's a dvawtk au in the sense that characters obtain parts of pidw or svsss and are tasked to improve the plot- this time with more the very loose way it is in dvawtk rather than the more restrictive actually present system in svsss. It is also probaaaably a crack AU.

Basically one day disciple Wqw wakes up to the massive book that is pidw on his lap with the ominous message to fix the plot. So, since he is good friends with disciple Mqf here, naturally he goes straight to him. Mqf received svsss with the same task. So, together they pour over the two volumes as best as they can and decide that:

A) SJ gets replaced by a stranger in Svsss during a qi deviation when they are already peak lords for a while

B) Binghe is a nuclear bomb

C) They must somehow keep SJ from abusing his disciples or improve his situation in general

With this in mind, they enter shenanigans in order to get closer to SJ, whom the both of them were quite neutral to up until now. They enbark on quite the adventure to get Yqy & Sj to reconcile for example. A lot of their attempts backfire before they eventually, somehow, endear themselves to SJ. Sj is confused but eventually allows it and grows fond of the two idiots trying REALLY hard to improve his life now matter how much the universe seems to be against it.

Years later, while SJ and Lqg bicker about Binghe, Wqw swoops in and nabs Binghe. (Knowing how to recognize a cursed sword would do him some good, Mqf and him figured)

The Binghe here however is actually Bingge, who had reset his own timeline, and he is actually kinda pissed because he wanted to get to SQQ's peak, thank you very much!! How is he supposed to make his shizun proud now??? So cue Bingge running away to Qjp on a regular basis trying to get SJ to be proud of him and SJ at this point is more exasperated than angry. It has become a weekly occurrence that he has to kick this brat back to Wan Jian, what the hell has his life come to. And then there's his two shidis checking in every few days! Honestly.

SJ technically remembers the last timeline, although only as horrible nightmares he can never seem to remember. This plus combined with the fact he is now getting no sleep or rest maaaaybe makes him a tad suicidal. No matter, just means his two friends will get clingier.

None of the 3 is sure when exactly they became a romantic polycule but here they are now. It probably started the day SJ snapped back at other peak lords slandering Wqw and Mqf tbh. It ends up being very beneficial for the 3 of them in the long run. (Even if they have to talk out a lot of things with SJ first and give him time due to well. Sj typical trauma) SJ now has two warm weighted blankets. Mqf is overworking himself less. Wqw is being more careful in the forge lest his boyfriends slaughter him metaphorically. Yes the disciples all knew this was happening before these idiots.

SJ has been probably starting to roll off the Bingge stuff onto Ming Fan too. So congrats Ming Fan on your future half demon husband. Ning Yingying is laughing at you as we speak.

Bingge probably still takes a tumble to the abyss, not because he was pushed, but because he lost his footing and stumbled in or got tossed in by whoever was attacking the IAC.

Bonus: Mbj got a copy of svsss about the chapters concerning him and his spy which makes him drop all his plans and instead debark on a dating sim experience as he should <3 OG!Sqh will be so confused but less oblivious than Airplane was. They can stay out of the insanity, as a treat :3

Bonus bonus: Some rough sketches of the dreadful polycule :3

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Gryffindor's Sword

This isn't really a theory for the books, but this really bothered me, so it's more like a little rant, I guess.

See, I love historical weapons (and historical fashion, but that's not what we're talking about now), and I hate the design of Godric Gryffindor's sword in the movies. And I want to rant a little about what Gryffindor's sword would actually look like if anyone bothered to do a quick Google search.

This ornate little thing:

Is not a sword, it's a toothpick. No way would a self-respecting English wizard-warrior of the 11th century use something that looks anything like that. Not only does the blade look pathetic, this sword isn't remotely functional. Here is a summary of some of my complaints about the design (without talking about historical accuracy):

This thing is tiny. Swords shouldn't be this dainty, they need to have some weight behind them so blows would actually do damage. This so-called "sword" is barely better than fighting with a knitting needle.

The hilt is too ornate, it looks purely ceremonial and not functional. Battle-made swords would usually be simpler. All the ornate details on the hilt make it so it'll be incredibly uncomfortable to hold in your hand, which is the last thing you want in a fight.

Additionally, the all-metal hilt would have a very weak grip with little to no friction. It means that in the middle of a duel, you could find the sword slipping out of your hand if your opponent strikes it hard enough.

The blade profile is atrocious. The edge should thin out gradually to improve the cutting, here we see the edge just, thins out really quickly at the end, without gradual tempering. Even kitchen knives have this gradual thinning. But not this sword, I guess no one needed to cut with it.

And it won't be good for stabbing either, as the point is barely pointy (even in other photos). And even if we assume it's pointy, a blade designed for trusting would be thinner at the point than this one (on all planes). That said, thrusting swords in this period would still be better at cutting than the above atrocity.

This sword lacks a fuller (the sort of cave-in in the middle of the blade). The fuller helps reduce weight and strengthen the rigidity of a sword. Magic can help with both these issues, but, the lack of fuller is a mark of a poorly designed sword.

Well-made swords would usually have what's called a "distal taper", which is that the blade gradually thins on the horizontal plane to reduce weight at the point. This is good for balance and stabbing. This is an example of a distal taper on a knife:

The design from the movies does not have a distal taper and I can guarantee no goblin would look at the abomination the movies called a sword and think it's remotely passable.

So, if we want to talk about what Godric Gryffindor's sword would actually look like?

It'll be something like this:

(11th-century Viking Sword, got popularised in Britain by the Viking invasions)

Or this:

(11th-century Anglo-Saxon Broadsword, existed in Britain since the 5th century in slightly different designs. Yes it is very similar to a Viking sword, it was a common design at the time)

Or even an arming sword that rose in popularity around the mid-11th-century:

(Early 11th century English Arming Sword)

As an 11th-century English wizard, Godric could've had either of the three.

As for the design described in the book and how it could work with this kind of blade:

A gleaming silver sword had appeared inside the hat, its hilt glittering with rubies the size of eggs.

(CoS, 295)

For the metal, there are two possibilities here:

Harry doesn't know much about swords or metals, I think he could mistake polished steel for silver. Silver is way weaker than steel and depending on forging, another steel sword could cut through it. Pure silver would also not hold its form as much as steel, so a sword design like that of older bronze swords (another softer metal) could be better for it than what was typical for steel swords in the 11th century. Even if the silver is hardened to keep it in shape (which can be done) it would become brittle and break easily. Basically, regular silver is a really bad metal for these kinds of swords, especially if your opponents wield steel. Which brings me to the second option...

The other possibility is that Goblin-forged silver is just magically very strong so it won't break under pressure (like regular hardened silver). Steel swords solve the issue by having some yield to bend instead of snapping, if goblin silver is just magically strong enough that the sword won't snap or the sword is enchanted unbreakable, this would work too.

As for the egg-sized rubies, well, maybe the size of fish eggs? I honestly don't know what JKR was on about here... The sword could have one egg-sized ruby on the pommel (the metal piece at the end of the hilt), but that's it.

If I were to get more specific with the design, I did like that the movies wrote Godric's name on the sword, which is very much possible with a more historically accurate functional sword. Like these Viking/Anglo-Saxon swords from the early 10th century with gold and silver inlay on the blade and hilt (The sword is damaged but it's real):

So his name and maybe some other patterns could be written on the sword in silver and gold, which would look really cool, in my opinion.

Also, you could get even decorative on the pommel and crossguard while keeping it functional, including the addition of more precious metals like silver beyond just inlaying it.

Like this replica of 10th-century bronze Viking sword hilt:

Ceremonial swords (not meant for battle) could get even more ornate on the hilt. Like the Essen Sword gifted in 993 A.D that actually has precious stones decorating its pommel and crossguard:

My vision for Gryffindor's sword

Steel blade or magical goblin-forged silver (doesn't really matter) that is shaped like the blades above. Personally, I'm leaning towards an arming sword design, with blade inlays of silver and gold that write the name Gryffindor along with some other magical imagery of lions or dragons.

The hilt would be made of silver (or covered in silver) and have one large ruby on the pommel and/or multiple rubies like in the sword pictured above along with gold inlays. I also imagine the crossguard ending with little lion heads, kinda like the little dragons on this crossguard (The date on this sword is debated to be anywhere between the 8th century to the 13th century, but they could create hilts like this in the 11th century):

The hilt would have a wrap of leather so there would be a better grip for fighting. No way is Gryffindor carrying a ceremonial sword that he can't use. I think said leather should be painted red.

[nathanwinter]

i've seen a few tweets that sort of started going down this train of thought, but has anyone made a post about how uncanny the farmer must seem to the rest of pelican town?

a few friends and i were talking about just. this silent, unknown person showing up to a miniscule town to live on a piece of property that is, in some games, full of violent and aggressive monsters. They proceed to:

Eat raw and inedible food on a regular basis -- if anything, it's most of what you subsist on until you get a kitchen;

Work near-tirelessly every single day for 18- to 20-hour days of hard labor;

Barge into people's houses at any hour the front door is not locked just to wordlessly hand out a gift and immediately leave;

Charge through town carrying axes, swords, pickaxes, and other very large and dangerous-looking objects in their hands;

Casually slaughter dozens of monsters in the cave systems that are considered by the rest of the town to be incredibly dangerous;

Immediately start using magic and communicating with local fey apples, something it seems none other than the Wizard can do;

Possess the ability to easily and consistently dig fossils and ancient artifacts out of the ground, with seemingly no limit to this ability.

These poor people must think they accidentally awakened some primal eldritch horror or something. They just don't mind because the horror grows really nice potatoes and also kills megacorps for fun.

And if you ignore the existence of video game mechanics and all, you can include:

Always wakes up at the exact same time, then will always collapse into instant unconsciousness at the exact same time at night with no exceptions;

Pulls hot coal, metal, and food out of forges/ovens without batting an eye;

Almost never speaks, just stands in front of townsfolk and stares wordlessly at them until they make enough small talk to satisfy them;

Run faster than any other character and might be the only one with a footstep sound? Which paints the hilarious mental image of them having these loud thundering footsteps like a dinosaur in Land Before Time;

Only occasionally use their breathing animation.

[beevean]

🌻:> - curse-of-darkness

I really wish more people engaged with CoD in better faith, and didn't stop at the surface story about the cycle of revenge. I've been thinking recently about how much of a massive nerd Hector actually is lol

Same man! (ft. lil spidey)

But I'm talking about the game itself. Admittedly, most protagonists have a level of dorkiness to them: you have Alucard who is scared of elevators and throws peanuts into his mouth like a game, or Juste and his personal room, even Soma has his moments like using the Excalibur as a bludgeon. But Hector is just, I'm questioning how seriously he's taking his quest lol

He wastes time not only sitting on chair but judging them (the stump "is hard on the rear", no you don't say), he forges all manners of silly weapons by himself - he doesn't find them, he makes them! He has the idea! - some of his Devils are simply peak...

why is this thing the best weapon you can have against dracula.

But also in a more serious way, you have the Tiramisu fairy whose specialty is translating the inscriptions left by Sage Eneomaos, which hints at the fact that Hector enjoys studying and learning this kind of stuff. You know he's the kind of guy who in a college AU or whatnot he would gush about his major no matter who's listening lol.

And I don't know, I was just thinking about how fun it is to put the pieces together left by the game, even unintentionally. These games are fun to think about, I don't know what to tell you. And Hector is a well written, compelling character :P

oh and since you reminded me of this with your castlesibs tease: I'm not super fond of the idea that Hector's main weapon is the sword, because it doesn't help against the Edgy Alucard accusations lmao. I would either give him a rapier, which is still different from Alucard's sword, or assign him an axe, which would fit his more aggressive nature. Or, y'know.

Or if you want to get much more blatant... :P

(yes i know that these beeg weapons are the complete opposite of the rapier. both would go depending on the interpretation. i personally prefer the rapiers when it comes to playing lol)

all of this to say that I would like to imagine how Alucard and Hector would fight. Sure, Alucard would win, but they should have very different fighting styles, I think.

[butterflydm]

Rings of Power - s1 eps 5-6

This is not exactly a liveblog, but I am going to write down my thoughts about each episode before I move on to the next one.

(spoilers for the whole rings of power show and for LotR)

Episode 5 continues the trend of strong episodes. Very good episode. The Harfoot song in the beginning was pretty touching and a nice way of showing that time was passing in that storyline.

This was a great episode for Elrond, who really goes through a lot of stress. He learns that his king was hiding information from him because he wants mithril from the dwarves; he learns that his people are dying/fading. Gil-Galad says here that he was hoping that sending away Galadriel and her soldiers -- the last remnants of the war -- would make the blight stop spreading on the tree. And I continue to love Elrond and Durin's relationship - <3 <3 <3 <3.

We saw some significant cross-cutting between Gil-Galad and Halbrand (our High King and our "Lost King") as well as between Halbrand and the Southlanders who went to pledge themselves to Adar.

"Only blood can bind" -- Adar says that here and it feels pretty significant. I have seen some s2 gifsets that use that quote in a pretty clear and significant way. It was also implied that the Sauron-sympathizer killed the teenager to earn his place to Adar (though we only saw orcs marching later on, so we don't know if any of those who surrendered survived). The sword was revealed as a key in this episode and it uses blood to work whatever it does. Only blood can bind. From what Adar says, he plans to do something to blot out the sun in the lands -- I have my suspicions about that, based on what I think the Southlands end up being in LotR. We also had Miriel's father warn her of darkness if she goes to Middle-Earth.

Actually oaths in general seemed like a strong theme in this episode. We have Elrond's oath to Durin being a strong source of conflict for him, and Arondir warning Bronwyn that pledging themselves to the orcs will drag the Southlanders back down into the darkness.

We also get our big moment when Halbrand decides to be Galadriel's lost king. I do see a lot of conflict in him in this episode, especially in the scene in the forge where he talks to Galadriel. She convinced him that his fate belonged in Middle-Earth (which was "the one place I swore to never return" per Halbrand). This is when everyone's fate was sealed, because as soon as Halbrand goes back to Middle-Earth... that's a bell that can't be unrung. But I do feel like I watched him actively making his choice, and he made it because of Galadriel's passionate and vulnerable words to him. He wasn't at all involved in the fire on the boat that made the queen doubt herself and push harder on Galadriel to make sure the "King of the Southlands" was with them -- that was entirely due to the actions of Elendil's and the chancellor's kids. If the fire doesn't happen, then Galadriel doesn't go back and tempt Halbrand one last time.

btw, SUCH a great scene between Galadriel and Halbrand in the forge! He is trying so hard not to be tempted by what she's offering him but she's right that he yearns to be more than "common" (see: him feeling the need to show off that he can handle a sword after her training exercise with the soldiers). The real power that Halbrand fell from was even greater than being a mortal king.

Very strong episode.

Mom update: she's still inclined to believe that Adar is Sauron, though she has some doubts; and the Gandalf storyline is her least favorite because she feels like he's not learning the ropes of living in the world quickly enough. She did like the Harfoot song at the start of the episode. She's really into our other three storylines (Galadriel & Halbrand; Elrond, Durin, & Gil-Galad; and the Southlands).

Episode six was really powerful. Very much focused on the Southlands people and then the arrival of the Numenor back-up, and super-intense.

The big kaboom at the ending was... when I saw that water going through the channels and realized that Adar wasn't just creating a way for the orcs to move in daylight, but that this was part of his larger plan... I was aware that the Southlands didn't actually exist in LotR, at least not to my knowledge, but I wasn't certain that they would be Mordor until we saw that mountain blow.

Theo had a heartbreaking episode -- and we got a reminder/foreshadowing of the One Ring at the end, when he was talking about feeling a loss over the key/sword and how holding it made him feel powerful. That's Sauron's main temptation -- the allure of power, and the various things that can be done with it. (and that's also what Galadriel has been tempting him with)

Arondir and Bronwyn were both very brave and heroic, and got to finally openly acknowledge their attraction to each other and kiss, plus Arondir doing so much to try to look out for and support Theo. They are such a good little family unit. I'm gonna miss Bronwyn in s2! (I am aware that she doesn't come back)

Isildur also had a good episode, plus there were some visual reminders of what I vaguely remember from the LotR prologue about what he's going to do in the future. I actually also felt like we got a visual reminder of Sauron's tower in TRotK going down in this episode, when Arondir collapsed the watchtower. The Return of the King... and we did have a "king" return in this episode.

Galadriel and Halbrand were both heroic in saving the Southlanders... and both had intense moments of deeply desiring revenge that the other one pulls them back from. Halbrand is definitely not working with Adar at this point, since Adar is under the impression that he killed Sauron (and I've seen the gifsets of how!), so this plan is all about Adar using the bones of what was once Sauron's plan to instead conquer and create a homeland for orcs (killing and enslaving the current occupants).

If I had been watching this live and unspoiled, that scene in the woods would have made me ship Galadriel and Halbrand for sure... I mean, it still did, but you know. I know it's a lot more complicated than it looks, lol. I feel like I can safely say that I am ~into~ Galadriel/Halbrand (Sauron) at this point. Everything with them pulling each other back from the brink of revenge and then bonding over it... delicious. Honestly, even more delicious knowing the truth about him.

Adar using himself as the bait so that the human worshipper of Sauron could actually go and use the key to make the mountain go boom... that was very clever of him. (also, we see that the humans who surrendered to Adar were thrown out to be on the front lines of the assault against their own people; that's what surrendering gets you. it doesn't save anything)

Halbrand/Sauron assumed that Adar would recognize him, even in a different form. But he didn't (though Adar was clearly feeling some twinges of something by the end of their scenes together).

This is the second episode in a row where we've had Galadriel and Halbrand deeply bonding over something they have in common, so that is definitely a thing.

Adar telling Galadriel that maybe she should have looked for Morgoth's successor in her own mirror? Ooof.

But now that the mountain has blown up... Halbrand is very very good at noticing and taking opportunities when they arise. And I'm aware that he's not still being "the King of the Southlands" in s2. I'm aware of the actual reveal scene but not what exact events lead up to it, so I am interested to see how that goes.

Adar said that after Morgoth died, Sauron dedicated himself to healing Middle-Earth, but at the expense of the Orcs? I think I understood that correctly.

Sauron's intentions might be genuinely good but if he uses manipulation and violence to achieve them, then he poisons his own goals. We've already seen that Halbrand is just... effortlessly manipulative. During the scene where Galadriel escapes from the cell in Numenor, Halbrand wastes no time to find a way to get something out of the situation that benefits himself (the guild crest).

And that is maybe the key thing that Sauron never figured out after Morgoth died. That Morgoth's endgoal wasn't the only problem -- Sauron's methods are also a problem, also create and court evil results. He always looking for an angle that benefits himself and though violence isn't his first resort (manipulation would appear to be), once he does choose violence, he's brutal about it. He didn't just need to fix the endgoal of idk destroying the world (or whatever it was that Morgoth wanted, I'm not a Tolkien scholar). He also needed to fix the methods that he uses to interact with the world. It's not just the 'what' that matters but the 'how'.

So... if Halbrand had stayed in Numenor, what would have changed? The mountain would still blow, because that was Adar's plan, and he put it into motion before he was captured by Galadriel & Halbrand - he made himself into the bait to distract anyone from the real danger. The only thing that would have changed (so far) is that Galadriel might have actually killed Adar in the barn -- it was Halbrand who pulled her back from the edge, just like she was the one who pulled him back earlier. Everything else that happened in the battle and afterwards didn't need his involvement, not as long as Galadriel still brought the Numenor host. I suspect the answer to the question of "what would have changed" will rapidly change in the upcoming episodes, though.

It is also easy to picture a scenario where finding out about the mountain going boom leads to Halbrand going to the chancellor of Numenor and selling himself as the solution to this new problem of all his hopes and dreams of trade with the newly-rebuilt Southlands going up in flames. A road that would carry less guilt and turmoil for Galadriel specifically, since she would not be the reason that Sauron returned to Middle-Earth.

Mom update: she was feeling pretty stressed out about the mountain blowing up, so we will continue next week! She isn't sure what to think about Sauron at the moment, after Adar saying that he killed him. She knows that Sauron isn't dead, because of LotR, but she doesn't have any guesses as to what's going on with him. She is considering the idea that he's already basically disembodied, the way that he is in LotR. She DID have a critique about how quickly Bronwyn was on her feet after that terrible injury (my mom had a real bad shoulder injury when she was a kid, so she's experienced that kind of pain. Not an arrow, but there were broken bones and such).

So far, I feel like the episodes have been building on each other and getting better and this episode in particular was... so so intense.

[hxhhasmysoul]

General Thoughts on Yuuta?

As few as humanly possible? I wish the fandom let me forget about this boy.

I’ve never found Yuuta interesting. Now, thanks to fandom I find him downright annoying. 

Yuuta has strong Shinji vibes at the beginning of Zero and while it’s realistic, there are people who are like that, I just find it boring. This is a very personal bias but as a person who has several concurrent mental issues, I have a strong dislike for characters and actual people who make their mental illness their whole personality. 

His arc in Zero also doesn’t excite me. He is super powerful from the start but can’t control it. Then he puts practically zero work into it an can control it.. He seems like a scrawny loser but starts to do gymnast shit with a sword really quickly. His CT is Copy, where he just copies the techniques of others and uses them in a more powerful way than they do, with no conditions or downsides.. When he needs to, he learns reverse curse technique and can apply it to others which we learn is super hard… 

Basically, everything he needs to know and be able to do, he is able to do in the moment he needs it… 

And Yuuta has no principles, not ideals. He is unfazed by Getou’s fascist speech. Yuuta fights Getou because Getou directly harms Yuuta’s only friends. It’s really sad because Getou actually is shown to have a vested interest in pursuing Yuuta, or more precisely Rika. I mean Getou’s plan and ideology are nonsense, but what fascist ideology is internally coherent anyway, it’s always reactionary drivel that focuses on targeting the weak instead of trying to get to the bottom of societal (in this case jujutsu society’s) problems. But Yuuta has no personal connection to Getou, no thematic one either. 

I think Gege really noticed what a weak protag Yuuta was because all of this is fixed in Yuuji whose ability to perform gymnastic feats is established in chapter one. Who also has principles and a personality more complex than: I’m depressed.  Same with Getou and his primitive plans are replaced with Mother, the perfect plotter, and their amazing multi-layered plans. The Gege added Sukuna, an emotionally constipated jujutsu and poetry nerd who can also forge a plan of his own. And Mahito, a creepy kid curse who thinks he can plot but alas adults were in the room, so no he can’t And Yuuji has a deep personal and thematic connection to all three of them, and likewise.

It really shows how much Gege grew and developed the world of JJK between Zero and the main series.

There’s a hint that Yuuta’s so powerful partially because of Rika’s love for him. She loves and she stayed with him after she died. “Love is the greatest curse”. So the arc goes that Yuuta is told that he can stop keeping Rika’s soul from crossing over, can break her curse by simply talking to her, releasing her. 

And this is where Gege in my opinion really made a serious mistake. The way this is set up, and later much more well developed in JJK proper, there should’ve been a cost to releasing Rika. There is a strong idea of balance and give and take to jujutsu. Gege had a perfect opportunity here to grant Yuuta space to grow by depowering him. Letting Yuuta lose some of his powers by letting go of Rika. But Yuuta just became more powerful for JJK proper… 

And that meant there was nowhere to go with Yuuta’s character. Yuuta was still unconnected to any of the major villains and barely to any of the important characters, only to Maki and Gojou, though he barely interacts with either in JJK proper. 

I and also other people have written before how Yuuta literally does nothing during the final showdown, how he only pauses the fight, prolongs it and distracts from the people who Sukuna actually connects with during the fight, ie Yuuji and Maki. Or how he wasn’t even necessary to kill Kenjaku.  

And Yuuta has no personal connection to either Kenjaku or Sukuna. He has a forced thematic connection to Sukuna when he takes over Gojou’s body, a pathetic attempt at becoming the strongest. And he has that connection for like five minutes in the story… 

If Yuuta never appeared in the JJK main story… it would’ve been almost the exact same story. Gege needed Yuuta for one moment, just after Shibuya to fake Yuuji’s death. And maybe even that could’ve been handled differently. Someone else could’ve fought in Sendai instead of him, there are other capable characters to fight in the Culling Games.

_________________

More posts on Yuuta by me and others. If I missed any good ones, please tell me and I will add them to the list.

[blacklegsanjiii]

i think truly the most absurd parenting scenario we could put sanji in is with Real Pirate King Buggy 🦅🦅🦅🦅

Sanji would really suit that like. commedia dell’arte venetian theatre. Sanji would make a fine Arlecchino or Tartaglia (both lover roles, but Arlecchino or ‘the Harlequin’ is often a trickster character too)

Buggy would unironically be an incredible father tho. like. i am fully confident that there is nothing Buggy doesn’t excell in despite his pathetic soppy wet cat existence. He’s a COMPETENT soppy wet cat.

Sanji growing up as an acrobat in Buggy’s circus and getting doted on by all the crew oh ya know he’d love the dramatic flamboyance of it all.

Listen.

Listen, you're cooking. And it smells GREAT! But I think we need to adjust the seasoning a bit. Buggy managed to successfully hide in the East Blue and be forgotten from Roger's crew and all his adversaries. Like Buggy has to be running a network of some sort. He probably has informants in the New World ya know? For sure in the Grand Line.

I don't really fuck with Shuggy ATM(crossguild brain rot) but like also Buggy probably knows about Usopp and Luffy and that's part of why he signed the(forged) adoption papers. Sanji is also probably skilled with all sorts of weapons? His kitchen knives are not weapons but like he has a set of knives that are always hidden on him. He probably shows Usopp a bunch of spices and stuff that are good for bombs and Nami and Robin are confused about exactly how much in universe Shakespeare, albeit Robin is impressed. Luffy just knows but imagine Zoro finds out when the cook, who doesn't fight with his hands just swallows a Marines sword to distract them right before Luffy Gum Gum Pistols them.

Rayleigh talks more about Shanks and Sanji is just looking at his nails and briefly brings up Buggy. And Sanji can't help himself when he says "at least he's not a dead beat, he didn't abandon me" which makes Robin laugh and Luffy and Usopp ask what means and Sanji is like "you both haven't seen the Redhair crew since you were in the single digits, Buggy saw me at Baratie three weeks before you lot wrecked it and he would stop by every couple of weeks normally" And the crew is shook.

Like then Sanji just proudly showing everyone his photo of the Buggy Pirates, him, and Buggy in the adoption office and then again with just Buggy and Sanji and the paper and the jolly Roger. Rayleigh is having heart palpitations as Nami, Luffy, and Zoro scream at how lame his dad is and Sanji is like "oh you guys are the reason he's in Impel Down this makes sense" and Rayleigh is losing it. Shakky is laughing so hard. Rayleigh asks if anyone is planning to get Buggy out of prison and Sanji shrugs and says the lion is in charge now.

And then after the time skip to the forming of the crossguild everyone keeps shitting on. Like imagine Mihawk and Croc walking into Buggy's tent and seeing Black Leg Sanji as a child in full clown get up sitting on his own head in a photo and next to it is the adoption photo. When they ask Buggy about it hes just like "oh yeah, I adopted him at ten. Saw him all the time after he started at Baratie. Unfortunate he's not out of his civilian phase yet." And Croc and Mihawk are reeling. "Then again I think having to relive his trauma in Germa and with Big Mom probably didn't help, oh well. I'll talk to him about it when I see him."

When they see each other is some meeting between the Hats, the Guild and Redhair Pirates Luffy and Usopp are really happy to see their dad's. Sanji is probably being passed around by Buggy's crew and petting Richie who has him pinned to the ground and Crocodile is groaning that the clown's kid did the whole Mr. Prince thing and Shanks is confused because "you didn't tell me you had a brat?"

"well I legally adopted him eleven years ago and when Garp found out he said I was a better dad than you and Roger and Rayleigh so."

[laplumedupetitluma]

Heart to heart talk at the tavern

Hi ^^" i still exist and well here's another scenario write by my little hands (i got others write downs but i'm still working on it ^^") so yeah here's the one with the hero of the four sword and Melin's dad. (Also i dont have any ideas of a name for him so if anyone got any ideas please help TvT)

Anyway ^^" i hope your going to enjoy it. I'm not that great to write conversations down with the description of characters with it --" it's always hard, so i hope i did a good job!

Also again you can consider the girls as the readers.... but well in case if you want to be a big buff dad 🤷‍♀️ i'm not judging (now i'm gonna hide again after i clic on post see ya 👋 and maybe re read to correct the mistake i made --" and please dont go after my head if it's bad)

Four - Melin's father

_______________________________________

A quiet afternoon in Hyrule. Sun shyning, the temperature warm and enjoyable, spring was here and today not many people request needed to be taken care of, the forge unusually quiet for a day as nice as this one.

However who was the hero of the four sword and minish to complain about it ? Instead he use this opportunity to go to the village Inn for a drink (without alcohol of course)

Opening the familliar dark wooden door he helped repair more often than he can remember or like to admit, the short blond step inside. Carved, modest table and chair, made of wood a lighter color, than the walls, candles attach to the ceiling in a chandelier, giving the place a cozy aura with the deem light, the entire place cool as the windows were close to keep the warm outside.

Turning his head at the sound of footsteps, the owner of the inn walk out of the kitchen that where in a room behind the counter. The man in his late thirty smile to greet the hero while rubbing his hands with a towel before pitting it over his shoulder.

-Ah ! Link, my boy ! It’s been a while since i’ve saw you here. I swear if Melin dont tell me your doing good i would have thought you left on another adventure of yours

Laugh the man at the young man in a famillia way, as Link walk over sitting on a stool in front of the man behind the counter, already getting a wooden cup out for him

-Your here to finally pay your debt, boy ?

The man laugh again while the hero just grimace and clear his throat.

-No… I mean, I’m going to pay of course ! Just,…

The old man keep laughing cutting the short boy ranting as he fill the cup with juice.

-Don’t worry, Melin isn’t here, your good. She’s the only one on your case about it, hmm, maybe mu boys too, if she give the tripplets the ok.

Link just laugh nerviously already imagining the horror it would be if that happen

-Yes, I’m aware…..thank you for not….well thanks for sparing me sir.

The man shake his head as he push the full cup toward him.

-Don’t worry about it Link, and don’t call me sir. First I’m not that old and second your almost familly at this point.

The hero smile at the man words before he lean on the counter slightly, crossing his arms on it with a sigh. The man was kind, but damn was he huge still, not necessarly in height but his physic was impressive, big arms and large torso showing the man despite being a bit round was very well in shape. Throwing drunk asses out of the inn might help stay in shape for sure. And like that leaning on the counter Link realize that Melin’s father really look his age as he speak looking around to make sure the inn was empty before speaking looking like a worried father toward the blond as he wipe the counter with the towel.

-You manage to see your Ma recently, Link ? I know she’s busy with the royal familly stuffs, since she was the late queen lady in waiting. But i hope she still take time to talk with you when your at the castle.

Link smile at the older man words since it’s been like that forever. Even when he was younger Melin’s father had always been kind to him, with Melin and the triplets as the girl would bring to the forge baskets full with the left over of the day and som fresh cook food too for him and his grandfather with the biggest smile each time, even to this day.

The hero smile fondly at the memory as the older man was now on a rant on how he would go to the castle one day to get his hand on his father and would give him a piece of his mind on how he left his son alone with his poor grandfather to go train with a sword everyday. Sighing with an annoyed look on his face before noticing the look on the hero’s face. With a hearty laugh he ruffle the long hair of the short young man, waking him up from his daydream.

-Ha ! But I speak, I speak and your getting lost in the clouds my boy. Your probably getting bored with my rants if you daydream about who know who for the past five minutes. But i guess you’ve come of age to do so.

The man grin, his big hand still in the boy hair, while the hero, or more like all the colors were mortified by the man words. Even Vio was now hyperventilating from their mistake

-What ?! No ! That not the case, I was just thinking on how it’s very calm today at the inn and the village in general. That all.

The man nod with a knowing smile and a firm pat on the shoulder.

-Don’t worry boys. I’m just kidding you can all relax

The older man say still with that father smile and voice he got. And Link…. Well Link plus the colors really appreciated him for that. After the four swords events, not many people knew how to threat him, while Melin (obviously she was with him), her father and the triplets were treating him….treating them the same way as before. Aswell as considering the colors as individual persons when they were separate.

But then Link blink realizing something he, they never asked, not even to Melin and she was with them on their adventures.

-Excuse me, but I, …..We always wondered, but what happened to the mother of Melin and the triplets ?

The man smile directly disappear while looking at the hero, making them realize their mistake as Vio took over completely to avoid more damage.

-My apology it wasn’t our intention to make you uncomfortable sir. You can forget we even asked. We didn't mean….

But the man cut him/them off directly.

-It’s okay. You boys might need to know the truth, just in case something happens with Melin.

He sighs, the man smiling before , was now looking ten years older as he seemed lost in his memories. Head down, before looking up at them with a serious face.

-Can I ask you boys something ?

Noticing the serious turn of the conversation the hero(es) nods.

-If my daughter wasn’t what you think she is. Would you still stay by her side, if she was in danger or in difficulty ?

The hero(es) frowns, confused. They knew already that she was a guardian. They knew about her abilities, the different things she can do, the wings, the journals too, so what else was there to know that got to do with her mother. They nod anyway.

-Of course

_____________________

I dont know, Part 2? ^^"

[thekingbiscuit]

More than three people seemed to like the half drabble from my notes last time (insane but also thanks!) so here I shall give another.

It's a creature au where a loner mer legend finds a half dead bottled fae and reluctantly makes friends in his desperation to help the little guy out.

It's written like an outline and I don't have it I'm my soul to write a full on fic so consider this free and open source. (I'll also reblog with what I wrote about my creature headcannons so check that if it's confusing)

Legend is swimming around lazily in the sun, trying to get away from it all.

He's half asleep when a bottle knocks against him.

He's pretty far off and nothing should be able to get in or out of this water. But he decides it's not his problem.

He likes the bottle, and he's a bit of a hoarder, so he takes it. Back in his den he opens it to find a dead looking fairy.

He has no clue what to do, but feels kinda bad so he rests him on a ledge.

He covers it with a soft cloth, hoping it would die peacefully, but it clutches at his fingers, a gesture legend takes as wanting to live.

Legend is secretive but also a little lonely, so he decides to take on the task.

He flunders for a couple days. A first it's too hot, so he cools it with water, but then it suddenly starts to shiver, so he puts him in the sun under some blankets, that makes him get some kind of seizure. All the while he's accidentally getting attached.

It takes three days for the annoying human to come looking for him. It's warriors and he brought some fish. He's really after his flame rod for a bonfire.

Legend is stressed as it is and tries to get the intruder to leave, but wars finds out anyway.

Legend shields him protectively, but wars insists that the fae will die at this rate. Out of options, he accepts help.

Wars suggests time, who supposedly grew up with fae, but leg can't get that far into the island and is unwilling. He tells him to help him himself or don't help at all.

Wars does what he can, he's having a hard time with such a small patient. They have a breakthrough when his breathing is steady and he's no longer fitful, but he is still definitely going to die without any food.

Legend gives in and they go visit four, unfortunately that means including war's charge wind. Four has a forge near a river that legend is able to get near to, but he cannot go all the way. Wars leaves his scarf with legend as insurance and goes with the fae to get help.

Legend is beside himself despite himself and it shows so clearly that sky tries to cheer him up. Leg bites at him though. Sky says he wishes he'd hang out with them more, and he'd love to help him with whatever, but he needs to talk to them.

Sky flies off, and the trio returns with the patient. Legend tolerates four and vice versa, so four agrees to be a live in nurse in exchange for some sea minerals for his forge.

Legend is appalled at the idea of more people in his sea cave, but wars insists that the fae needs better care, so he agrees. Four moves in.

The fae child improves rapidly with someone his size to feed and look after him. He even wakes up one night. Legend alone talks to him, he's not very present, but he says he's lost and gives him his name. Leg is against it, but hyrule doesn't understand why, and learns that the fae boy is probably an orphan.

During Hyrule's recovery wild finds them, begging four for a new sword. He's mostly uninterested in the fairy. Four doesn't want to leave so soon, but hyrule is ok with it and legend is more than happy, like a liar.

Wild makes a meal for legend and crew as an apology for taking four away. Wars explains that wild is the only soul on the island who can cook a decent meal, and will constantly use this to bribe for his own way. It works too.

Legend has to coax hyrule into eating, and then learns that he enjoys watching his new little friend thrive.

Hyrule gets better on tall tales from Wind's seemingly imaginary time as a pirate and war's time in the army. Legend never knew the islanders had actual lives like that. Hyrule asks him about his own past.

He doesn't tell them all his trauma, but just that he was accused of kidnapping his own sister, the princess and was banished away. This was his second time washing up on an island.

Finally Hyrule tells his own story, he's a rare type of male great fairy nymph, with royal blood that can be used for premium dark magic, so he was being milked for his blood. He tells the story in an extremely innocent way.

His bottle fell out of a window, and he was at sea for a very long time. He thanks legend for all his help.

Later, hyrule worries about his wings. He's been trapped all his life and never learned to fly. Legend does not hesitate to enlist sky for help this time. Hyrule caught on quickly and they make a day of it, legend leaps as high up as he can to try to catch the airborne creatures.

The avian invites legend to a campfire. Legend hasn't been to one before, he avoids them, but this time he agrees. Hyrule is excited about the food. Sky warns him to introduce Hyrule to twilight first so there won't be any problems.

Legend does try, but hyrule falls into a panic attack at the scent of dark magic, and they learn that he isn't completely ok. Twilight is a little put off, but respects their space.

Time just pushes himself in at that point, wondering why he hasn't gotten to see the new islander yet. Time adores fae and is very good to hyrule, making legend jealous.

He leaves Hyrule in time's care to go hunt. When he returns hyrule tries to tell him about time teaching him that all dark magic isn't evil, and that he gave him something to show him, but legend brushes him off.

They're at sea when hyrule brings up the bonfire again, legend asks if he's sure, and hyrule isn't afraid of twili magic, only dark. He wants to show him the item time gave him, but legend has no time to react to the twili crystal and suddenly he's a drowning rabbit in the ocean.

Legend resigns himself to death, but the entire chain joins a rescue mission. Now legend is the sick one. He wants a moon pearl so he can grovel in his misfortune in his cave, but nobody will let him, in fact they take advantage of his situation and show him around the land bits of the island.

When he does turn back, he's just a dude with pink hair. He's forced to admit that he's cursed with legs if he gets beached, but he has to drown on air before it kicks in so he doesn't. The rabbit thing is a different curse. He's just really cursed.

They convince him to stay human just for the bonfire.

Finally they get to see what the bonfire thing is all about, and it's really just a good time with food and friends. Legend almost can't believe it deep down. Yet here it is.

[utilitycaster]

I've been seeing complaints that Spenser was 'trying too hard to kill the cast' this episode, which I have to say I wildly disagree with, but I will admit to be a little confused why the players sometimes took one or even two marks after rolling a six. Or I guess I'm not confused so much as I wonder if the mechanics for injury, success, failure, etc could be too vague atm? Candela doesn't really have anything like CR rating or DC which it doesn't NEED, but I guess could create some grey area?

Good question! Here's the secret: all TTRPGs I'd consider worth my time have a huge swathe of gray area, D&D very much included (indeed, I find a lot of the more baseless criticisms of D&D, especially from Game Based Heavily On D&D But Different fans (derogatory) to come from people mad at that gray area) and as long as the players and GM have agreed on it, it's fine. With that said I admit that paying attention to individual rolls is not what I am inclined, personally, to do, but if this is about Sean rolling a six and taking two body...that is because he was going to take four body off the bat and reduced it with a good roll that the GM permitted him. (It also might be about Marion taking in the rift, which was similarly stated beforehand to cost him a Bleed scar no matter what he rolled, the roll reflecting how successful he was.) Now, we can talk about the implications of taking four body seemingly out of nowhere, but do recall that is coming off an earlier 1 roll in his interaction with Duncan.

CR ratings generally are a poor understanding of difficulty, and the thing about DCs is you can set them arbitrarily high (or for that matter, secretly low). Like...to use D&D, you cannot make a persuasion check for someone who dislikes you to give you all their belongings and run away forever. The DM is going to set the persuasion check at 50 and it is going to be unreachable by any means. Even a nat 20 will give you a result of "they think you're joking and laugh it off instead of run after you with a sword." If you jump off a sufficiently high cliff in D&D and roll a nat 20 to land, you still might take enough damage to die during your three-point landing. And so on.

So: while we don't have all the rules of Candela Obscura, it is valid from my knowledge of the Forged in the Dark engine, which Illuminated Worlds was heavily influenced by, for Spenser to say "this action is unbelievably dangerous and there is no possible way you are escaping unscathed, and a full success means that you live to tell the tale with only a gunshot wound or bleed damage rather than outright death." That's the other thing: completely valid for the GM to come in planning to kill the players. That's the premise of EXU Calamity. I would assume the table discussed that this was going to be a much darker and more dangerous game than Chapter 1 and everyone shares those expectations, and is prepared to possibly lose these characters. Which is, frankly, another thing that comes up specifically in actual play: what the table knows and expects and is prepared to accept is often something much harsher than the audience is prepared to accept. I mentioned being irritated at the presumptive nature of a lot of safety tool discussion (and am feeling very validated by Spenser's tweet about how he handled the letters to Sean) but like...when the CR or D20 or Candela tables prepare for their games, they have talked about expectations of tone and whether the GM will be trying to gently usher new players to victory, flat out gunning for a potential TPK, or somewhere in between.

This was a long, pre-full dose of caffeine way to say that one of the biggest rules of GM-ing is that the GM sets the tone of which the danger and difficulty of the world is part, and also that, based on everything about how this chapter has been presented, if someone accuses Spenser of being very hard on the party my answer is "...yeah, no shit, did you fail to realize that from the tone and text of literally every trailer and interview?"

[shadowcatzone]

xingyue child after all the trauma (tm)

Xingyue child buying/sharing lunch with yanqing bc the stupid kid used all his money for swords again and didn't buy food. Despite knowing probably that if they keep feeding him he'll keep wasting all his money on swords rather than starving once or twice and then learning his lesson.

(They probably get any money spent back from jing yuan but don't tell yanqing)

Xingyue child adjusting yanqings age like a slider depending on who asks and what will get them the most benefit out of it. Wanna go to some sort of amusement park? He's 9 so he only pays half. Wanna watch a martial arts movie? He's 14 actually so old enough. Wanna get out of trouble quickly? "Sir, i'm just the attendant of jing yuans young son. You'll have to take any complaints to his father."

(They might get in trouble with jing yuan for this, but they're rather scolded by their "uncle" than a stranger)

Xingyue childs first priority being bailu, second priority yanqing. If something, anything, goes wrong, they'll pick up bailu, (and yanqing, if necessary) then make a run for either the artisanship commission or divination commission.

(Then they'll wait any danger out on a rooftop or in the forge until jing yuan or yanqing come pick them up)

Xingyue child playing with bailu. Neither of them really needs to pretend that they're younger than they actually are, but they will. Both are over 18 technically. Neither is fully grown. Both will absolutely throw a temper tantrum if only to throw off suspicion. Then they'll shit-talk about the preceptors.

(Included but not limited to: playing in yanqings room when he isn't there, playing in jing yuans room when yanqing IS there, playing in the study when jing yuan isn't there.)

Xingyue child trying to fight (and defeat) dan heng, ultimately getting defeated without dan heng making a single attack. Man's just dodging while xingyue child exhausts themself and ultimately falls on their face. Decides that dan heng is mean and will never fight him again (until the next opportunity arises) pouting all day afterwards.

(Jing yuan says he could at least block them. Dan heng claims that would be unfair, considering he's much stronger than them. Jing yuan sighs, dan heng is as stubborn as dan feng)

Xingyue child insisting on calling blade "yingxing" or "dad". That's a problem(tm), kafka never had to fix blade that often, not even during/after the story quest on the luofu.

(Because no one wants to leave the child alone with blade, even though he hasn't done anything to the child and it's unlikely that he will)

Xingyue child most likely picking up smithing (and tinkering) like yingxing and so they try to. Create. But they want blade to show them how, look at what they made, how is it etc. Nobody wants that, least of all blade, but the moment dan heng says he doesn't want it, blade will willingly go, if only to upset dan heng.

(Dan heng will be forced to go as well, to make sure "our child is okay. I mean, your child. I mean, my- no- their child. The child of dan feng and yingxing." Cue beet-red dan heng)

Bonus: xingyue child happily working in the forge, concentrating so hard on whatever they're making. Meanwhile, blade making out with dan heng, occasionally stopping mid-kiss to tell xingyue "you're doing great, keep it up." "Careful with that part, it can be difficult. You'll know what i mean" "just a bit more... [xingyue], heat the metal up a bit more.". Also, pushing his fingers into dan hengs mouth, to make sure he doesn't close it.

(If xingyue child noticed any of that (most likely not) they didn't let it show)

Also, cue blade abruptly stopping when he hears xingyue child call out "done!" Then runs over excitedly. Blade pretends nothing happened. Dan heng pretends the forge is too hot.

[fictionfixations]

doing yunli's story quest

i think it has a different name but tbh genshin was like my first actual gacha game i was really committed to so expect me to refer to things in genshin terms unless i can remember the equivalent in the game im playing.

lmao

OHHH cause we never got to know what the sword looked like

..huh.

argenti i love you but why are you literally everywhere

actually this is probably why he appears in the wardance event

??? when she said hanguang (earlier, screenshot underneath this screenshot) i had a hunch that it mightve been her father with the way she reacted.

it probably is a cursed sword though. i know shes making a scene but who cares if its a threat to someone's safety? theres this like side quest that happens after wardance where we say goodbye to everyone returning to their own xianzhou ships (fu xuan also returns) and yunli and yanqing talked about the sword a bit and she didnt seem to have anything against it so i guess it gets solved in this

holy fucking shit you can hear swords slashing and screaming in the background

whats the blade of forged remnants? OH ITS HER SWORD old mettle

why am i struggling so hard im

NOOOOOOO. you do not understand my absolute HATRED for fights against argenti or yanqing. (well i hate sunday's too but hes just a weekly boss. argenti and yanqing can be pulled out whenever) its the having multiple smaller enemies... aAaaaaaa

my team is getting their ass beat i cant

tingyun is so fucking squishy she and robin keep dying after each other😭

i dont have a team that can win this om. the ONLY character i have built that he has weakness against is ROBIN. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

i dont have herta built. i despise his shields with a passion. i cant do enough damage 😭

i cant continue the story D:

in all fairness i was also stuck on sundays boss battle for a lONG time (only managed because every single turn i had lynx heal to build up her ult as fast as possible. but im doing that method right now and its still not working 😭. i also had to switch in dr ratio for more imaginary weakness but i cant do that here cause they arent buILT.)

it also wouldnt matter if the character was built or not with aventurine cause they wouldnt immediately die at least but i dont have him hHHHH

...wwwhy did you target my only damage dealers wtf man. itd be a different story if he was really close to dying but hes NOT imfioahdwsauiodj

OH MY GOD I FORGOT THIS WAS A THING. i kept quitting before i could hit the defeat screen

i forgot to mention it but argenti is like being possessed by the heliobus in the cursed sword

his voice sounds oddly familiar. i wanna say it sounds like ben (moze's and kaveh's va) but it also feels like its not his voice theres just a quality of it that reminds me of ben's? i might be completely wrong

ohh

oh thats fair

i see

this felt. really short tbh. its been like what? an hour at least?

oh...

thats sweet

[drakeanddice]

Someone was asking about sentient magic items, specifically the sort that are haunted or powered by a soul.

I ever tell y’all about Tomb?

Tomb was designed as a weapon of legacy for a game I ran about a million years ago. I can’t remember exactly what rule system we were using (though I’m fairly sure it was a D&D of one kind or another), but I recall very clearly that it was for a proposed one-shot that turned into a decently long campaign. Typical stuff. Hero’s Journey stuff. Young would-be hero doesn’t watch their feet and they get swept up into a whirlwind adventure that blows them far from home and croft. The classic. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t exactly plumbing vast unknown depths here.

The sword, Tomb was supposed to make up for the fact that our hero was alone on this journey for the most part. Random NPC tag alongs occasionally, sure, but not always. Tomb was supposed to be the toolkit that this player had to overcome the stuff that really should have fallen to the other specialists in an adventuring party.

Tomb is short for Tomb of the Unknown Hero. The souls of heroes past, those who had forged the legends this sprat had grown up with, the ones that had made them want to wander in the first place, resided in this sword. It was a conclave of voices—advice, exhortation, expertise. When the hero didn’t know how to move forward as a Fighter, couldn’t pick the lock, couldn’t identify the magic item, couldn’t break the curse, they’d turn to Tomb.

But it was also an amazing lore-delivery device. The Player came to know these characters, trapped ostensibly in this sword at the moment that they died while wielding it, and would turn to them, talk to them, seeking not only their advice, but their perspective. Over the course of the game, we fleshed out about two dozen distinct voices in this sword. Every time the character leveled up, I presented a list of optional powers that the sword would get as it too leveled up.

When finally the campaign reached its end, Tomb and the Hero triumphed in their struggle against…I can’t even remember what dark fate was threatening the world. Whatever BBEG was hellbent on ruining everything for everyone was defeated. And the Hero asked if Tomb was finally at peace, if the souls of the heroes of the ages could now rest.

The answer was no.

They weren’t trapped. They weren’t longing for peace.

Every hero, when struck down in the course of their mission, regardless of whether or not they are holding Tomb, is presented a choice.

“You can let go, hero. Your mission can end here. But another hero is out there. They are alone. They don’t know what you know. They haven’t learned the hard lessons by dint of toil and pain like you have. They are just as young and feel just as invincible as you did when you first set out.” And then it tells them again, “But it can all be over now.”

And some of them choose that. Most of them choose that. The burden is heavy and the road is long. They are happy with the evils they overcame and the lives they’ve changed for the better. The other hero will learn as they did.

But some still have a little more to give.

And that’s Tomb.

[lotus-tower]

to clarify—I’m fascinated by the concept of applying yaoi hole to gintama because of the questions that get raised in the attempt. for instance, in the ouroboros framework, the soul is the anus—or rather, the soul is forged in the anus, and can be conflated with either the hole or the pole depending on context. because the soul is the sword, the place where the sword is made, the substances used to forge it, the equipment used to forge it, the whole metalworks.

but then if the soul is the yaoi-hole, this other organ not part of the body—and how can we doubt that it is, if gintoki says it like that—then it somehow becomes distinct from the anus in a way that the hole is not distinct from the pole in ouroboros theory. does this then help articulate some kind of distinction between the hole (nefarious, destructive) and the hole (necessary, creative) in gintama? I would consider making a hard separation between those ill-advised normally, but what about under yaoi-hole theory?

what differentiates the anus from the yaoi-hole is a sense of “realism”, of accuracy, of bodily knowledge, of materialization, but also its connection to shit and the status it’s granted in gintama’s comedy as something vulgar (unlike the mysterious organ gintoki speaks of). surely there’s something in there for further thought when it’s not 3:30 am.

when i first read about the “three eras” of yaoi and specifically about “the era without holes,” my first thought was naturally: an idyllic era before Hole (bad)?

but if anything, in gintama, if you go back to the beginning (shouyou), he experienced the garden of eden in reverse. there’s no idyllic pre- world for him in any metaphorical sense. but then I read the commentary about the organ and went oh, ok. so then the age of “hole discovery”��yeah, sure.

i’m not committed to anything yet—but again, if gin-san said so himself. maybe this is too easy and simple an answer though. but modeling aside, we’re talking about questions raised here. and the next one is really interesting. if we’ve mapped the yaoi-hole to the soul, and the issue of the anus is still pending but orbiting the ideas I discussed previously… then what is the prostate?

i don’t have the symbolic or cultural lexicon to theorize it honestly. but it’s interesting to think about because it just feels vaguely possible.

[theseventhoffrostfall]

relative to your javelin/plumbata post, Tod Todeschi or some other Pollack last name does do a lot of experimental archaeology type videos where he tests stuff like that. Results vary but I respect he will actually try stuff out.

But I am autistically into old smelting and bronze/iron age stuff as well and I think there's a lot of potential on how many things we take for granted now as commonplace used to be extremely limited. Certain foundries and smelters, even if privately owned, would be borderline national secrets/treasures because they could consistently produce good quality metals or knew HOW to build them right. On par with monks sneaking silkworms out of china. We have accounts of Vikings making it as far as Afghanistan specifically to find burial mounds for Indo Persian wootz blades.

The Hittites were pretty good at early Ironworking for example and well-made bronze is probably better than iron except bronze is an alloy and iron can be refined much easier. I know the French weirdly kept refining brass and ARCO brass/other types in the 19th century and while not the same strength as steel the way the US and Brits innovated, French Brass was stronger than anyone else's.

Fuck I mean IIRC the Chinese spent centuries in West/Central asia like the Stans trying to learn how to breed better warhorses because old horses used to be a lot smaller and things like chariots were how you utilized horses in war instead of individually.

There's so much cool shit you can do just around the idea of foundries and smelting and it's not even been 200 years since we really figured out steel and even the 1990s saw a huge increase along with aluminum technology. Even the first Conan movie kinda touched on this with how rare materials were relatively speaking. I'd love to see a period or fantasy related story that deals with a lot of intrigue and logistical concerns like that. A warlord fighting a grueling campaign that makes no sense tactically but it's because he wants to capture a series of foundries that utilize some mythical pass high in the mountains for their bellows, or specifically daming part of a river to create a faster pressure current for a downward falling water wheel for the actual forging.

Prior to modern technologies, making steel was a literal pain in the ass and insanely wasteful. Closest analogy I can think of is raising an entire cow from birth, killing it, and only taking 1 cut of meat from the carcass and leaving the rest. You didnt "make" steel, you made this disgusting lump of iron and carbon as homogeneous as you could and prayed to God that at the center was a nice good hunk of steel you could then forge into an ingot.

Also FWIW it's less that the javelins were designed to break and bend IMO and simply that its a possibility especially in an actual battle. Oakeshott talks about Celtic leaf bladed swords and the front ranks retiring to the rear to bend kinks out of them. I'd say it's less about iron vs steel and more about heat treat and fucking NO ONE figured out actual mathematical heat treat shit until very recently. Toledo made swords (also known as a specific pattern of blade kind of like a thrusting claymore) are famous for having very rigid blades at their base but very flexible and springy at the tips. In the era where heat treat was more like a cooking recipe or an AdMech ritual than hard scientific fact, being able to CONSISTENTLY produce good heat treated blades was a huge sign of quality. Sorry for the autism but I love metallurgical history.

Nah, you're good, big dog. Most of the concepts are familiar to me, but they're good for bringing to the general discussion table without, you know, me having to type all of that out.

But yeah, the main crux of my argument is based on a few things you mentioned. You, as far as I understand it, can't just go off and harden the average stuff you'd have gotten out of a mine in the Roman empire, even after being smelted. You need to tap the famous and rare(esque) deposits of The Good Shit and buy ingots and such from them. Like you said, on a gross scale they can tell by this point how the carbon-iron interaction is working, but they're much less familiar with, like, ingots from bumfuckulum are better than ingots from frottingshire because of the specific nickel and magnesium content or whatever.

And like you mentioned, being able to consistently produce heat-treated steel is a sign of quality, which means your smiths (Roman ordnance smithies-- insofar as any existed-- local dudes who live near the garrison, dude who follows around the army with his dinky forge setup) can't be average smiths, you can only hire big-dick smiths to do their fanciest work, which is pretty stupid to do for an item that, speaking from a soldier's perspective, is gonna handled roughly, barely maintained, and haphazardly reclaimed. Plus it's a long, narrow spike of metal in an army that used shortswords and small-segmented, scale and mail armor. This is like 1500 years before we're good enough at metallurgy to be making rapiers and suchlike, your javelins have a short service life anyway. Just doesn't make sense to go whole-ass on quality from a logistics point of view. It's just that "they were meant to bend in an enemy's shield" makes them sound cool and clever and you cool and clever for knowing that, whereas "they did it to save money and production time" just sounds boring and lame to Joe Average.

On a related topic to something you mentioned, it seems like the understanding is spreading that early iron was of moderate-at-best advantage against good quality bronze work, and lacks several very real advantages that bronze has. It just so happens that bronze leaves you utterly dependent on trade networks to source at least one of those high-demand metals that generally aren't found together, while iron you "just" source and smelt and work. I've seen more and more people suggesting what immediately occurred to me when I read this, which was that not being reliant on trade networks meant you could be a lot more aggressive with relative impunity, and this explains a lot of infamous Iron-age belligerence more than just "they were powerful and vengeful and had Super Swords"