I've been thinking about the templars lately. they were promised honor, virtue, told that they would be charged with protection of the innocent... And then those same people are systemically exploited and abused, abuse others because they're taught to regard everyone else as either sheep who need to be lead or potential threats. Never equals, except in their brothers/sisters-in-arms. They act as the guard-dogs and military arm of an entirely different organization that they're only a functionary member of but have no governing say in. Even the chantry aren't their equals- they function as the templar order's supervisors! And all this isolation and closing of ranks ends in disability, addiction, death, and abandonment by the system they spent their bodies in service of.
To top that off, retaliations against them just confirm the paranoia they were taught to embrace. It's probably a long hard road to get out of that hole.
Like, listen. the dichotomy of mage vs templars is a satisfying and easy one, but the system is tearing them apart too. have you ever heard of a retired templar?
at the end of it, mages and templars need to unite against the real threat. the chantry.
649 notes
·
View notes
There are a couple of lines in Psychonauts 2 that I think about quite a bit. I’m pretty sure these have already been done but if NOT, then. Uh. Spoilers for Psychonauts 2 I guess?
First off- one of Sam’s lines. There’s actually a lot about Sam that I think could have been put to better use—specifically a conversation about how psychic powers aren’t always controllable, giving parallels between Compton, Dogan, and Maligula and MAYBE Raz. But the line I SPECIFICALLY think about is a joke one.
“And if you use enough syrup, you can’t taste the difference between chicken and snake. Eggs is eggs!”
In Psychonauts, eggs are used as a metaphor for brains. Like, this isn’t some vague thing, it’s extremely front and center. Eggs and brains are directly linked. And, it should be noted, that Sam actually puts an entire nest—INCLUDING BIRD EGGS—in the, uh…. ‘Pancake mix’.
So, snakes and chickens and syrup, right? Chickens, generally used to describe someone who is cowardly or otherwise not the type to actually do anything, syrup being sweet enough to distract from other tastes, and snakes being, well, people who are not trustworthy.
And then there’s Nick Johnsmith, aka Gristol Malik, who is a well liked non psychic that Truman calls a lick spittle—someone who fawns over others easily. In other words, a snake (egg, brain) that acts sweet (and syrupy) enough to seem like a chicken (egg, brain).
Do you see. Do you SEE THE VISION HERE.
Anyways onto phrase 2. Said by Gristol Malik.
“He took a poor, sad, country girl and turned her into a mighty warrior. And I’m going to do it again.”
Now, usual context will say he means he’ll bring Maligula out of Lucy/Nona. I don’t think that’s incorrect, per se.
But one of the things that really, REALLY snapped Lucy/Maligula was the death of Marona, her sister.
And who do we have camping nearby? Why, it’s an entire family. In fact, it’s Raz’s entire family. And at LEAST half of them are psychics.
Gristol already views Raz as a puppet. He only kind of likes him because he’s half Grulovian. And, you know, during the Rhombus of Ruin, Loboto was no longer under Oleander’s employee, so… who wanted Raz’s brain removed? Someone who, oh I don’t know, might have heard about Raz being a powerful psychic that MIGHT have noticed Raz’s rather unique name… or, more specifically, the last name of a circus that performed for the Gzar and his family, famous for water acts. One that, by chance, someone could have known that a Galochio, a family of psychics, recently married into?
And you know, Maligula is older, it’s good to have back-ups, right? I mean, this is the same guy that ACTUALLY pulled one over on an entire spy group of mind readers.
But, hey, maybe it wasn’t a plan to turn Raz into Maligula by killing one or some or all of his family! Raz is kind of pissed right now, and might not snap the way Gristol would want him to. I’m pretty sure murdering, say, Mirtala, his baby sister, might not work in Gristol’s favor when Raz is already against him.
That said… he’s not the only psychic in the Aquato family. And in fact some of those family members aren’t the most on board with the whole… Psychics and Psychonauts business.
Specifically, we have a barely used plot thread including Frazie Aquato and her acceptance of her psychic powers!
I’m sure that, oh say, her little brother dying in the middle of him helping the Psychonauts pick up their messes, when he should have been able to be saved by one of his heroes since he was literally at their headquarters and surrounded by psychic adults, will only have good things happen to the Psychonauts. I’m SO sure that Frazie won’t get extremely pissed at these people her brother looked up to so much. She’ll definitely be understanding and absolutely won’t use what seems to be a family trait of extremely powerful psychic power along with the hydrokinesis in her bloodline. Specifically because she, an acrobat since birth and taught to ignore a lot of the usual fears most people have about safety and the instinct to flee, definitely has a great relationship with her fight or flight mode.
:))))
Anyways I have a lot of thoughts about Psychonauts 2 (I’m not saying I’d do a fix it of some things that bother me, but I do tend to do canon rewrites to smooth out wrinkles as a fun writing exercise/my version of hyperfixation on media and with the time gap between the games there is PLENTY of those in the plot, so uhhhhhhhh) but no one to bother them to, so uhhhhh yeah thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
21 notes
·
View notes
Jude and Max 🌈
—
I mentioned a few months ago how I was going to make original characters inspired by Dean and Cas simply because I wanted original characters to draw for my art portfolio and it can’t be fanart.
However, despite it being a haha thing with not much thought behind it, I have developed them into full fledged characters now!
Their full names are Maxwell Clarence Charleston (Born 1830) and Jude Smith (born 1980). I’ll be making more art with them and explaining their background and story and I can’t wait to continue developing them!
Jude is an avid movie buff and loves books. He’s a big fan of old classic horror movies and collects old Hollywood memorabilia and his favorite TV show is Gunsmoke. He loves Skittles and wants to be a movie director.
Max loves being outside and during his nature walks would often collect flowers and leaves to press into his book. He’s a big science guy and loves learning new things about the world and dreams of traveling. He also really likes coffee lol.
That’s obviously not all to them, but I figure this can be their official introduction! I wanted them side by side their inspiration which is Dean and Cas of course!
I imagine I’ll be drawing these four together more lol just for fun
(Why does the Vertigo cover look like Nic Cage lmao)
42 notes
·
View notes
I gotta stop playing COD high, because I get wayyyy too attached to new operators. Tell me why MWIII isn't even released yet and I'm already making an 8 page backstory for Rocket and Roach being best friends??
I played two rounds with a Rocket named "Buddy" and I cried every time he died. I played a round against two Rockets named "Dino" and "Rhino" and cried because they were obviously buddies and were chasing each other around the match, avenging and saving each other. They weren't even that great at it, but I loved them.
87 notes
·
View notes