#IF VOLITION CAN DO IT YOU CAN TOO BIOWARE

[aricr0cs]

So I'm getting ready to go rescue Anora and something occurred to me.....

Here me out ghgbg

HEAR ME OUT GBGBGBGG

I've always wondered this entire time.... I watched my gf play dao (see pinned post). And I've always wondered....

Morrigan is antisocial. She sleeps away from everyone else in camp.

Shale too. She's off a bit. Near Bodahn and Sandal.

Zevran Oghren leliana Wynne and Alistair are far more social and are all grouped near the fire. It just makes sense.

So why? Tell me why Sten is so close?? It would make sense for him to be distant too. Even if for no other reason than not wanting to talk and a barasaad compulsion to check camp fortification.

I've ALWAYS wondered why he chose to stand so close to that little social circle.

But seeing him here in the warden's room in Denerim......

Yall I'm swooning so hard. I'm grasping at straws with unmitigated joy.

"It is not every warden that can say she has her own Barasaad."

"What is your wish, kadan?"

Yall I find this big grumpy man choosing.... of his own volition, to lump grump in the warden's room in Denerim (side note but Morrigan is there too and don't think for a second that another distant person in camp choosing to lounge so near to the warden isn't every bit just as meaningful to me.....)

You go to speak to him and the first thing he does is complain about Denerim's fortification.

"But they will do." Said by this giant grump that's choosing to spend his time essentially watching over where the warden sleeps as he has since he became a companion.

After my gfs Dalish warden's first dream of the archdemon she woke up near the campfire. That was my first taste of camp. And there he was. Not off being distant as I'd expect him to be. And not right next to her like Alistair. But still only a short distance away.....

And you know he heard her tossing and crying out every night with those dreams.

As pissy as he is..... the warden took him out of his prison in Lothering. She found his Asala. He called himself "her own Barasaad." He called her kadan. In my playthru he did not fight her in Haven. Merely said his piece and moved on. He's the most vulnerable in fights and still my warden drags him everywhere and painstakingly shoves the majority of healing potions down his reluctant gullet (he really does sometimes curse when you select a poultice for him ynhnhh).

And now he's here. In my warden's room. Worried about fortifications and choosing to spend his time watching over the warden's dreams as he has since the beginning. As steadfast and routine as any good soldier in the Barasaad.

My dwarf warden is in a romance with Alistair. And he's over with the Arl. Nothing wrong with that. The fate of the world and his own obligations to the throne and to Ferelden make this an understandable necessity.

Simping aside I find it so so meaningful that the two most socially distant companions have chosen to spend their Denerim time near the warden. Literally more close to her than any other companion.

I've seen people saying that Sten is a wooden character. Or put in to ignite interest in the qun and begin that part of game lore. And this he certainly does do at least for me.

But this man isn't wooden at all imo. Just because he doesn't talk much doesn't mean he doesn't have thoughts and opinions and reasons for the choices he makes.

And I friggin love him to pieces gnybgbg

BIOWARE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID

[fleshwerks]

Thoughts on new Dragon Age "teaser"? You have the best takes.

I'll be deadly honest, I didn't even realise it was out, that's how checked out I am, but I will always fall hook line and sinker for a delicious bait made of things I can chew on, so let's seeeeeee. I'll do first impressions for now. I'll warn you, I haven't done 'takes' in ages, I've seriously lost my edge and resemble someone yelling at a cloud more than someone with intelligent or at least entertaining takes. Proceed on your own volition. Note, I have not been keeping up with DA4 updates. At all. I am literally grasping at straws and screaming out of my arse.

I'll say this. I believe Mark Darrah who had retired from BioWare was brought back on to save this tattered ship that had failed to launch how many times now? If you were with DAI and Anthem especially, you know that when a vet of that calibre is being brought on board towards the end of production, you're fucked. The sheer scope of the regions visited in the trailer... I wouldn't blink an eye if it was a turn-based strategy game, but it is not.

I'm surprised how shit the game visually looks, but it's been my criticism with the thus far released art, and now, environment assets. And again, I'm coming off of Anthem, and Anthem was truly, truly gorgeous. Now someone might argue that every DA has had its distinctive visual style. Well I thought DA2, for what it was, sure did look inspired. I didn't enjoy the game or the characters, but I enjoyed looking at it. Dragon Age Inquisition kind of lost me aesthetically, but I see what they did there. It was more generic, certainly not attempting to be photorealistic, but I saw the idea and accepted it.

Now this though? What is this? The panning over what I presume is Treviso literally looks like a mobile game ad.

Ok, fine, I'll not go in on the visuals, I'm too fresh out of art college and I'm so anal-retentive that my o-ring's more pinched than a pinprick about this stuff. Moving on.

I believe the new PC is an Antivan Crow? Since when are they fighting for all of Antiva? Everyone??? Since when?! Zevran's canonically not returning, and even he was compassionately practical on his best days. The Crows are not good people. They buy kids to train for miserable jobs meeting miserable ends. Oh, so we had a whole character who gave the Crows a finger for being the shitshow they were, but now they're this resistance task force? What, why, because the 'Islamic Borg' invaded?

Then. I feel like I'm missing a fuckton of contest because I haven't read the preceding comics and stories, I have one comic book from the DAI-DA4 interim and it ended so disappointingly, I never bothered after that.

We're really retconning all the complex and complicated factions into freedom fighters, aren't we. I guess such is the state of our real world. Always a plucky band of people belonging to formerly shitty fucking organisations suddenly saving the day like heroes, possibly somewhere along the way ruminating for 2 seconds on whether they deserve to pat themselves on the back, landing on 'but we will change how we operate, and we will save the world, always!'

I'm into the Rivaini squid though. I've never been fond of Rivain, not just because parts of the fandom like to present this place that has barely been talked about in canon like some haven for... idk. I just didn't expect squids. And you people know I love marine invertebrates. You know what, fuck it, here's my 'best take': have squid, will travel!

But that port city ravaged recently by the dragons in ruins looks like it's been in ruins for the past 2000 years, only recently excavated. It's so clean. And here I go again with the aesthetics.

Anyway, Falon'din and/or dirthamen is fuckin' around in Rivain, aren't they. Because I believe that head shape, multi-hands etc were presented in many of the statues we saw in DAII, and given that Falon'din's proverbial crows, envy and nightmare were so prominently featured, and sexyman Solas' outright resentment for former master Dirthamen and the vain Falon'din, welll... risen gods. Dirthamen at the very least was associated with watery depths, but they're twins (or are they? Perhaps the facets of one person altogether)... Anyway, I'm more interested in what the fuck is happening in Weisshaupt. That part genuinely interests me. Circling back to Dirthamen, Razikale is the dragon of Mystery. Associated with Dirthamen, at least according to my theory, while Urthemiel was the Dragon of Beauty, and we keep getting indications that Falon'din was pretty, aggressive, and exceedingly vain. So Big Dirty's up next. Falon'din had the crows, right? Both defeated in DAI. He's out, more or less. And again, Solas most likely was Dirthamen's student before he decided that he himself didn't want to be but totally wanted to be revered. So my take is that Razikale, who got mentions in DAI is waking up as well.

The villain gods of this mess, the classic Dragon Age false gods we fight in every single game as end bosses, will be connected to Dirt. Eh. Same eagle, different liver.

Anyway I have a doubt that this kind of scope will end anywhere nice. The production's been fraught as fuck to the point where the panic button has been pressed many times. The art looks like a significant downgrade, the production has been filled with veterans just clocking the fuck out.

It doesn't sound interesting. I'm tired of saving the world as an Eastern European in late 2023. This kind of story does not speak to me at all anymore. Not after 2019, not after 2021. It looks dated and mediocre, the story is so old that if it goes where I think it will, it has no relevance or message for anybody but perhaps some American audiences (some). I'm just... I'm not.

The rah-rah I got from that clip leaves me ice cold. There is no rah-rah in such widespread misery. There are only curse words and the sound of grinding teeth, and everybody's a dick, and everybody's dick past is dredged up hard. No retcons.

I don't want it. It better receive insanely high marks for me to play it. And I loved this franchise, two of the PCs have gone on to be archetypal in my private works now.

The mystery is gone. The power creep... I don't want to hang out with gods. They should have never been brought into the story as characters you can extensively hang out with. Edit: basically the entire thing sounds about as exciting as a somewhat well-produced mobile game. Which is fun to fuck with while taking the metro, but...

[jcmarchi]

Gothic, Elex II Dev Piranha Bytes Addresses Studio Closure Rumors: 'Don't Write Us Off Yet'

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/gothic-elex-ii-dev-piranha-bytes-addresses-studio-closure-rumors-dont-write-us-off-yet/

Gothic, Elex II Dev Piranha Bytes Addresses Studio Closure Rumors: 'Don't Write Us Off Yet'

Last week, the internet began to speculate that Gothic and Elex II developer Piranha Bytes was being shut down after fans noticed the studio’s website was essentially defunct. Many speculated Piranha Bytes was another casualty in owner Embracer Group’s purge of studios that began last year after a planned $2 billion deal with Saudi Arabia-backed Savvy Games Group fell through in 2023.

[embedded content]

Studio closures at the hands of Embracer include Saints Row developer Volition Games and reformed TeamSplitters team Free Radical Design. Game Informer reached out to Piranha Bytes following last week’s speculation to see if it was, indeed, another closure at the hands of Embracer, and today, studio CEO Michael Rüve responded, stating the studio’s situation right now is difficult but that people shouldn’t write them off yet. 

Here’s what Rüve’s statement says, in full: 

“Dear fans, yes, it’s true. We, Piranha Bytes, are in a difficult situation. There are a lot of news about us circulating right now and this is our answer: Don’t write us off yet! We [will] do everything to continue creating worlds in which you can lose yourself. This is what our hearts have always beaten for. We are convinced that we will succeed. We are creative minds and there’s no lack of ideas! We stick together, no matter what. 

“Now, we are focusing on this goal with all our strength and do whatever it takes to find a partner for this project. As soon as there [is] any news, we will share them with you. Thank you very much for your continuous support!”

This statement lines up with RPG Site’s reporting that Piranha Bytes is looking for a new publisher or buyer after Embracer decided to close the studio in November of last year. However, THQ Nordic, a publishing arm within Embracer, struck a deal with Embracer to give Piranha Bytes management more time to find a new publisher or buyer. This is likely the difficult situation Rüve’s statement is referring to, and the possibility of finding a new publisher or buyer is probably why he’s asking fans not to write the team off yet. 

Only time will tell, but given the studio’s more than two decades of history in game development, and the human cost of studio’s closures and layoffs, here’s hoping the team finds a more stable owner or publisher. 

2024 has already been marred by a heartbreaking string of layoffs, resulting in more than 3,000 jobs lost in the games industry and games-adjacent industry. And those job cuts come after a terrible 2023 where more than 10,000 developers and employees were laid off over the year. 

Last week, Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games laid off 10 percent of its staff. In this month alone, we learned Unity would be laying off 1,800 people by the end of March, and that Twitch was laying off 500 employees. Discord also announced it had laid off 170 employees. Game Informer covered layoffs happening at PTW, a support studio that’s worked with companies like Blizzard and Capcom, and at SteamWorld Build company, Thunderful Group, which let go of roughly 100 people, last week. Game Informer covered news about Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive reportedly laying off 45 people last week, too. 

In January of last year, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees amidst its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it completed in October. 

Striking Distance Studios, the team behind 2022’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off more than 30 employees in August of 2023. That same month, Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 employees, including long-time studio veterans. The following month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off roughly 45% of its staff, and Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off 830 employees. 

In October of last year, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog laid off at least 25 employees, and Telltale Games also underwent layoffs, although an actual number of affected employees has not yet been revealed. Dreams developer Media Molecule laid off 20 employees in late October.

In November, Amazon Games laid off 180 staff members, Ubisoft laid off more than 100 employees, Bungie laid off roughly 100 developers, and 505 Games’ parent company, Digital Bros, laid off 30% of its staff. 

In December, Embracer Group closed its reformed TimeSplitters studio, Free Radical Design, and earlier in the year, Embracer closed Saints Row developer Volition Games, a studio with more than 30 years of development history. A few weeks before the winter holidays, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro laid off 1,100 employees. 

The games industry will surely feel the effects of such horrific layoffs for years to come. The hearts of the Game Informer staff are with everyone who’s been affected by layoffs or closures.

[sparatus]

bioware is a coward for never showing us tali’s fleet and flotilla fanfiction

[yetanotherlesbianonthiswebsite]

The Ridge of Thedas

Did you play through Broken Circle and thought “yes, Bioware, you told me thrice now that I can choose to exterminate the mages, but where is my option to fireball the templars”?

Would you have preferred WEaWH to end with inquisition soldiers storming the Winter Palace, arresting the entire Orlesian nobility and handing Briala the resources to rebuild the Dalish Kingdom?

Do you think that Sera’s transphobic jokes and both the concept and execution of Brialene are, in fact, not the pinnacle of sapphic representation?

Do you wish to see BioWare’s obnoxious obsession with abusive sapphic couples replaced with my obnoxious obsession with softly supportive sapphic triads?

Do you want Briala to experience a non-toxic relationship with a couple of women who actually love and respect her?

Are you just as skeptical as Leliana regarding the question if Cullen has a soul?

Great! Me too! With zero experience in writing, I am trying to create a fanfiction around an anarchist transbian Surana where an alliance of queer rebellious mages, anti-feudalist Wardens and Dalish freedom fighters changes the canon timeline of Thedas from 9:31 onward. I’ve planned out the (hi)story until vaguely 9:50. Given that I’ve never done creative works of any kind by my own volition before, it is entirely too ambitious and chaotic, but it might still be partially enjoyable:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29630508/chapters/72843495

Yes, all of my revolutionary OCs are very queer (except Matthian) and most are poly, yes, Imerati Surana is a shameless self-insert to a large degree, yes, she kisses both amazing women from canon and OCs. It’s called coping and escapism and I need every bit of it now.

 Ultimately, the hopefully existent good parts of my story are a love letter to @dalishious ‘ writing; Journey’s End is such a beautiful example of how one can (re)claim Thedas as a canvas to tell meaningful stories from a marginalized perspective. Please, if you haven’t, go read it. I had no inkling when I began to write that one day, I’d exchange actual messages of love with them.  I had no idea that my love for their art would spill into love for them, and I love them so much, and it is an indescribably beautiful blessing to be loved by them as well. Light of the sun, you are amazing.

 I’ve added content notes at the beginning of each chapter that aren’t obvious from the topic at hand (like, there’ll be violence, this is DA, but if a chapter is extraordinarily gory, say a military encounter or a murder scene, I’ve marked it as such). Now, I’ve tried my best to put in the research to navigate the canon coding of cultural groups in Thedas, and I’ve tried my best to avoid tropes. Yet, that doesn’t guarantee that I didn’t make major and minor mistakes in that portrayal and please feel free to call me out on them, should you want to invest the energy to do so (of course, it shouldn’t be the task of the marginalized to educate the privileged on the violence they are causing, but any feedback is appreciated!).

[dalishious]

The Verchiel March Part II.

#LowElfEsteem is a series on Sera’s romance with an elven mage, discussing both the well and poorly done aspects of her writing, while also examining her character on a deeper level.  

As said in Part I, Sera’s personal quest is more about her relationship with the Inquisitor, than it is her as an individual. Namely, if the Inquisitor gains her trust or not, and trust is not something that Sera gives out lightly. As Sera eventually shares, she has had to rely on no one but herself for most of her life, because of abandonment, betrayal, and unfair life circumstances.

If the Inquisitor either a) talked to Harmond too much to the point that Sera kills him by her own volition, b) let him go, or c) sided with him, Sera will be moderately to extremely angry.

Sera: What? What do you want? Because I'm still angry. Angry face.

A) Sera: And you should thank me for stomping that smile off that arse. He was getting in your head.

B) Sera: You let that pisshead go. You know he's just going to play his game somewhere else. That's what they do.

C) Sera: You made a deal with that pisshead. After everything, you made a deal. What is wrong with you?

The Inquisitor can then either a) tell Sera everything that happened was her fault and lay down some very disturbing victim-blaming on her friends, b) tell Sera they don’t tolerate people questioning authority / telling her the Inquisition has more important things to do than help her, or c) apologize to Sera for their actions.

The first option is indeed very disturbing to me, and I sure would hope no one would pick that honestly feeling such a way...

Inquisitor: You had me march my people through his territory. That provoked him. If we'd stayed out, it might've stayed peaceful.

Sera: What? I don't even know what to say to that. “Let the bad man do what he wants, or he'll get worse?”

Sera: What kind of lay-down-and-take-it shit is that?

…But the very fact that it’s a position Dragon Age has taken in full sincerity before in terms of the mage-templar conflict, well... I can’t help but wonder if this is just yet another case of BioWare’s centrist ideology making it into another facet of the franchise. And I can’t help but wonder how many players honestly feel such, too. (Especially given the outpouring of hate towards Sera as a character.)

The argument ends with the Inquisitor getting another offer to kick Sera out of the Inquisition. Because of course not having that as a constant option in her hub dialogue wheel isn’t enough, we need to really drive home the fact that Sera is a #BitchLefty to get rid of, right? //sarcasm

If the Inquisitor either encouraged Sera to kill Harmond or seized his territory, she will thank the Inquisitor—though if seizing territory, she will comment that he deserved much worse than that. The Inquisitor’s responses are almost identical to those if Sera is angry, and lead into the same argument. The only difference is, there is one option to give support for Sera’s endeavors. 

Inquisitor: Risky, but keep it within the Inquisition, and I'll support you.

Sera: Even though this puckered around us?

Inquisitor: Even so.

Sera: Well. Good, then.

Sera: Right, what do you mean, because I am really not used to that... acceptance thing you're doing right there.

Sera is downright shocked with the last option, and it is what breaks my heart the most; how she says she is not used to being accepted. Even when saying the Inquisitor is now on her “good side”, she does so with hesitancy and doubt. For all the carefree vibes Sera exudes, she cannot understand why someone would truly like her.

But because we are not allowed to have good things... I really, really wish that the Inquisitor’s support for Sera had more enthusiasm to it. Even when the game lets you be nice to Sera for once, it comes with negativity attached to it. 

Inquisitor: We'll have some differences, but I want to be one of your friends.

Sera: You're pretty big to be one of my contacts. Important, I mean. Not fat. But all right, Inquisitor.

Why must the game insist there are differences in opinion between Sera and the Inquisitor? Why is that not a character decision the player can make? Why can the Inquisitor not say “fuck yeah Sera, you’re great and I appreciate you”? 

Also, real nice insertion of a fatphobic joke there, Kristjanson. How funny would it be if the Inquisitor was fat, am I right? //sarcasm

For some reason this is another case where Sera has different responses to the flirting option per each race the Inquisitor is.

Inquisitor: I don't want this to get in the way of you staying. I like having you here.

[Adaar] Sera: Oh-ho-ho! Yes, that's, um. Woof.

[Cadash] Sera: You're just the cutest little... (Chuckles.)

[Lavellan] Sera: Mhn, maybe?

[Trevelyan] Sera: I could see that, "Lady" Trevelyan. I could.

And just like in the conversation where Sera is introduced, the different responses boil down to fanning herself over how hot Adaar is, borderline infantilizing Cadash, teasing Trevelyan, and unsure of Lavellan. And again, I fail to see why this is at all necessary. The only one I can see as maybe being valid is her hesitancy with a Dalish elf in particular, given it is one of the many allusions to the past judgement she’s received from them. (But that’s a topic for either the next post or the one after.)

Despite the execution, I do like the idea of Sera coming to see the Inquisitor as someone she can trust; someone she can depend on. I think this scene is a really good segue into her rooftop cookie scene, where she finally starts to talk about herself, hopeful for the first time that she will be accepted.

—————

An important note: I now have a Patreon for early access to the majority of my writing before eventually sharing on Tumblr. However, where this is a series that I have already started, I do not feel it is fair to do so. So please consider #LowElfEsteem to be in its own little side project category!

[thebookworm0001]

what is your theory about matt goldman's departure?? 👀

Okay, so - starting off with the fact that literally all I have is speculation. I don’t know anything, I don’t know anyone in bioware. This is me connecting observations that may have nothing to do with each other. I am simply a nosy bitch who has too much time on her hands and who spends too much time online. Take nothing I say as fact and please do not bother anyone - especially the devs or Goldman - about this.

Going into what we know:

This article came out of nowhere. Publicly, there was nothing to suggest that this was a planned departure. In fact, Goldman has been very active on twitter in the past month, tweeting about the things he loves about Dragon Age as recently as last week.

Goldman’s departure was not announced by either bioware or ea and, at the time of my writing this, still has not been commented on by either. The news was broken by Kotaku, who somehow got their hands on an internal e-mail sent by a bioware GM.

This email is vague and bare bones as hell.

Every other major departure from bioware has been met with a public announcement from both the studio and the departing team member. Remember when Darrah and Hudson left? We got bioware blog posts from the chief studio officer at EA, Darrah, and Hudson, then got another one from Christian Dailey as well. These posts were filled with language that uplifted both the departing individuals and Dailey as a strong leader in taking over Darrah’s role. They talked about their long history in game dev and how hard a decision this was for them, but they leave the studio in strong hands as they retire.

Following that, just about every dev I was aware of on social media made some sort of tweet marking their departure - wishing them well and conveying that they’ll miss working with them that.

Goldman has gotten none of that. The email was short, curt, and said nothing of Goldman’s 20+ years in development, let alone giving him any praise.

The lack of detail makes it seem like this was a very quick decision - I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that email was written just after the decision for Goldman to depart was made, the day it was made. I also find the phrasing ‘mutually agree[ing] to part ways’ very… concerning. It’s one of those phrases that can mean ‘we gave this individual a choice to leave or for us to fire them.’ It would be weird on its own, but not damning. Just an odd choice of phrasing. It could even lend itself to the theory that there were creative differences or a simple desire to move on to new projects if, perhaps, his now former coworkers were wishing him well or saying they’ll miss working with him.

That hasn’t happened. Even several days after the news broke, I haven’t seen any of the devs I follow say anything about Goldman leaving. Well. There was a tweet from a former dev that was a vague ‘when you Know Things but can’t say anything’ sort of tweet. And that’s an assumption on my part as to the context. It could be completely unrelated. But the devs have been active on twitter - talking about DA even. Just no mention of Goldman.

So, to recap: on what seems to have been an incredibly short timeframe, Goldman left bioware with no replacement lined up to take over his position and was sent off with an email that was fairly cold and impersonal. There has been no official communication to the public from either Bioware or EA, save a line in the kotaku article mentioning an EA representative saying Goldman left and Dragon Age is in good hands. His coworkers have also made no public comment on his departure.

That being said, what I believe:

There was some sort of interpersonal conflict between Goldman and someone or multiple someones at Bioware - one that was significant enough that he found it in his best interest to leave the studio immediately, possibly because he was facing the choice between leaving of his own volition or being fired.

I do not know what that conflict would have been and any further speculation on my part has the potential to get wildly out of hand. Whatever it was, it was a significant enough impact for Goldman to leave the studio at a point in time where the team seems to be rapidly expanding.

I do not think it was anything to do with the game itself and it’s development and more than that I have full confidence in the many, many developers who remain at bioware and are looking forward to sharing their work with us.

[crqstalite]

so @spindlewit inspired me to pick up this trainwreck of me playing star wars again about a lana conspiracy i started a LONG time ago that i’m just now revising after they provided their own opinion on this. thank you for diverting my afternoon XD

i took it seriously, sorry.

source: https://spindlewit.tumblr.com/post/612223381785460736/oooh-whats-this-about-a-lana-conspiracy

spoilers below

my first major question: is why she can’t be killed?

lana is the only character from an expansion that can not be killed at any point in the story up to 6.1. possibly because for ds!outlanders/commanders she would be the only advisor left and logically she would have no replacement(, but why not leave theron with the commander instead, or even let the commander run things themselves?). the four characters that can be killed are: 

-arcann (on zakuul, chapter six: the dragon’s maw)

-senya (on voss, chapter one: wrath and ruin)

-koth (on the gravestone, chapter three: dark reunions)

-theron (on nathema, the nathema conspiracy flashpoint)

this may be on bioware for this, but all four characters a) get replaced or b) aren’t important enough to be replaced. and, because they can be killed, bioware may not know what to do with them, because inevitably some people will feel cheated in not getting extra story just because they didn’t like a character and killed them off. i know some people have actual emotional issues with the reasoning for why they couldn’t deal with a certain character (usually arcann), so i can understand bioware’s reasoning. but for those of us who do like the characters, it’s easy to feel deprived of more content because of this reasoning. while good to cater to one side of the fandom, alienating the other doesn’t help the issue.

arcann, for example, never did much after knights of the eternal throne ended. as big a character as he was in those two expansions, you still only get one conversation with him (a personal alliance alert for everyone), and possibly a side flirt before nathema conspiracy. after that, you hear nothing from the scarred prince. absolutely nothing. so he falls under b, and because bioware didn’t focus on him, he didn’t need a replacement because he didn’t have any pull in the story.

senya, much like her son, also didn’t. she doesn’t have a story after knights of the eternal throne either. as one of my favorite characters, i don’t have an inkling of why, there’s plenty of plot in her to be used too. she falls under b as well, she didn’t need a replacement.

koth did get a replacement...kind of. if you kill him, or if he leaves on his own volition, hylo replaces him as the pilot of the gravestone. which is cool because as an ls!outlander/commander, you don’t get the option to have her quips and snips. he wasn’t my favorite character because of his need to have zakuul be at the forefront of everything he does, but after finishing khaak (ds!outlander who did kill him), i realized that you didn’t miss him, as morally dark or light that you were. you didn’t lose the gravestone, hylo just took over. there weren’t any stakes to killing him. it was literally just a moral question, and really didn’t need to have ds/ls consequences.

theron. oh stars theron.

theron doesn’t get replaced. and in a way, he needed to. there isn’t much you miss in the subsequent expansions without him by your side, gnost-dural doesn’t even mention him even though he’s oddly absent. in fact, no one does. not even lana. possibly as a plot point that everyone’s too scared of you to say anything about it, or even that the outlander + lana lied about where he was (an interesting plot point that i may write about in a while) after his death. most likely because most people who like theron kept him alive anyways, and anyone who killed him didn’t like him anwyay. the same way they did koth.

a bit of a tangent, but bioware has a nasty habit of shoving characters aside for new ones. the vanilla companions being the very first victims of this. after the vanilla story, you get voice lines, but no conversations with them until you meet them again after knights. because bioware introduces lana and theron instead as the new main characters. cytharat, katha niar and lemda avesta are also victims of this in a way, as they were quickly forgotten after the makeb arc. in jedi under siege, tau idair, arn pelarun and major anri are the characters that quickly take over during the expansion. lana and theron rarely appear if at all during this story. i understand that you were either undercover or working for a faction they might not agree with, but wouldn’t it be more suspicious if the esteemed commander didn’t have her right hand man/woman beside them during the mission?

but theron, in my opinion, desperately needed to be replaced after his death. it left lana as the only advisor to the commander. this makes her often the sole bringer of bad news, and she has most of your information you’ll ever have because of this. that’s just odd to begin with, as more often than not lana is just infodumping exposition when it should be shared with theron or some one else. and some empty spots that they try to fill during jedi under siege and onward where theron is supposed to be. there’s even a scene at the end of onslaught that if you romance lana and kiss her at the end, you hear and offhanded cough and the camera even pans to where he should be. (i assume). coding issues and whatnot aside, it brings us full circle.

why can’t lana be killed?

it sounds very dark, i know. but everyone else can be, and our darling lana has plot armor the entire six expansions to 6.1. the uprisings that spindlewit mentioned, i’ve never done. that is extremely interesting, and i’d like to definitely run a couple when i can. here’s also this from their post:

“based on what Jonas Balkar tells a trooper upon his return, Lana fielded his attempts to contact you. from what else have we been isolated?”

i have yet to run a trooper past disavowed, so i wouldn’t know but that is very odd. it’s plausible that lana hasn’t only done this to balkar, but to others as well. who’s to say that lana has conviently put a blindfold over your eyes? what else has she skillfully covered up? skirmishes between the republic and empire during the fight against zakuul? pleads from either faction that she simply didn’t want the commander distracted by? she’s the one who found out about iokath and told you first anyway, and as spindlewit says:

“her omnipresence in the story and plot-protection. she’s always on/by your side and can’t be killed, is your primary source of all information.”

possibly, this is because iokath got so out of hand that she finally had to call it in. who’s to say that imperial and republic forces in the alliance haven’t been rats and haven’t been feeding malcom/acina facts about the new alliance and their territory on iokath to make the invasion easier? by this time, the eternal alliance (by swtor’s “official” timeline [courtesy of torcommunity.com]) is only three years old up until iokath. still extremely vulnerable, and haven’t picked a side yet or a fight with either faction. other than the eternal fleet, they’re just another upstart group and haven’t gained much traction up until that point. yes, they brought the eternal throne down, but they’re still recovering from that fight as well. morals or intentions or otherwise, malcom and acina would need whatever allies and supplies they could get to take out the other. taking iokath would be one of their very first steps. it’s mentioned even in-game that supplies across the galaxy are dwindling, so it isn’t just us that’s suffering from this either.

theron was a rat, yes, but who’s to say he’s the first one? we only know that iokath was just being invaded at about the same time by both factions, who’s to say that the republic and empire hadn’t already had small task forces on iokath before we’d been alerted, and theron’s scheme had only added to the problem? acina and malcom, depending upon who you side with, seem to know exactly what they’re looking for when they hit iokath. this could be after weeks of scouting, or this could be because of their spies on the inside of the alliance.

time is also shit in swtor. until others or star wars themselves tries to plot out the timeline, you’ll notice that it’s anybody’s guess how long it’s been between certain events. i personally believe it’s been maybe a week since the republic and empire touched down on iokath to when we make our decision/end up at their base.

there’s nothing we learn later that can prove otherwise. and there isn’t anything to prove that lana hadn’t already found out about this and hid it accordingly. it’s also possible that shit finally hit the fan, and to keep from looking like a failure of keeping iokath strictly neutral, she’d have to fabricate a story to keep her in the limelight of the commander’s eye.

we only get one cutscene before war on iokath, and it sounds like we haven’t personally been to iokath for a very long time. lana may have information she’s been withholding, and without anyone else on iokath, she could very easily have many secrets that no one would know about.

because in all, lana needs to stay at the right hand of the commander. 

if you haven’t already noticed, lana, unlike theron, often isn’t phased by the things you do. quinn and elara remain somewhat bad examples, but theron had a very emotional reaction to the death of his father. whether because it is family or not, lana doesn’t blink an eye at all no matter who dies on iokath. even if acina dies, she isn’t any more or any less disallusioned than she was before. on an imperial saboteur? you can kill every darth possible and she will still support you anyway. hell, senya, koth and theron can die. all people she recruited to your alliance and had ties to in the past. watching them die, even fighting senya, not even begging the commander not to leave theron, had some emotional toll we aren’t seeing. because she’s pragmatic.

pragmatic: adjective

dealing with things sensibly and realistically in a way that is based on practical rather than theoretical considerations."a pragmatic approach to politics"

that’s how she’s always described, isn’t she? a pragmatic sith lord who doesn’t care for titles or achieving a better or newer status among her peers.

or she’s willing to do whatever necessary to remain in power. defecting from the empire entirely, allying with the republic. making the hard decisions, allowing what she had to fall apart so the commander could rise, along with her. her position has never been threatened before, so of course she wouldn’t need to rise in power. she doesn’t want to lead, she doesn’t need to lead. she just needs to be close to the top.

because if she did continue to remain in power, that’d mean she had all the confidential and redacted knowledge in the galaxy, if not more. when the commander’s back was turned, she would have information they never would. she even advises us to watch everyone after iokath, and the commander would never even know about the ability to do this before, emperor/ess or otherwise. and you receive some pretty in detail things about both theron and lana. nothing that would raise too much suspicion. i don’t have those emails on hand, but its still rather concerning. and since lana was the one who wished to procure these examinations, who’s to say she didn’t edit her own from what the program sent in?

think, the worst callout post in the galaxy is at the fingertips of lana beniko.

so why doesn’t lana have her own betrayal arc?

well, that’s just it.

she should...but she doesn’t. a) bioware knows that most people don’t have a problem with lana, in fact most do like her character. with koth, people didn’t like his character. senya + arcann, some people had issues with arcann and in turn his mother. theron? some people just had problems with theron from the beginning. it wouldn’t serve a purpose to have the ability to kill her. b) she doesn’t have any reasoning to...yet.

lana isn’t as covert as theron. she doesn’t have a past in sis, or imperial intelligence. but she’s a very quick learner and her patchwork of knowledge has become an entire blanket. hell there’s even a throwaway line in shadow of revan where theron and lana banter back and forth. she very clearly picks up things very quickly, claiming to slice through four layers of encryption to shut the jammer down.

theron’s right to say, “i’ve created a monster”. he’s partially the reason she’s able to slice so well anyways.

yes, she was minister for a period of time. she saw the effect of theron’s treason, how unplanned it was and just about how well it went for him (spoiler: it didn’t go well). she would know that to attempt the same thing, she’d have to bide her time until she was in a position to do so without minimal knockback. before she can betray anyone, she needs to know what will hit hardest. that means not breaking the commander’s trust and being the person that we can lean on. someone we’d never question because they were always there for us. even the wookiepedia says this:

“Lana Beniko had a very unusual personality for a Sith Lord. She spoke in a very serene and considerate manner, and possessed a keen mind with a preference for analyzing a problem rather than charging in head on.”

lana beniko could destroy the alliance from the inside out. if she really wanted. yes, a romanced theron could as well, but he didn’t want power either. he never needed it, and was even willing to accept he might not be accepted back into the alliance after what he did. but a romanced lana would be even worse, knowing even more about how to tear down the commander, and make it hurt. she would analyze us just as a computer would, storing every tic, every outburst, every decision to use against us.

but she doesn’t want to. logically, she doesn’t have a reason to. koth did, he wanted justice for zakuul and a ds!outlander didn’t provide that. theron sort of did after his father died, and to keep the order of zildrog off our backs. lana has no responsibilities anywhere. no one is clambering for her to come back to empire either (as far as we’re concerned), so she’s happily at the top of the food chain with no prior relationships to her faction. there’s no agenda for her to serve. to say it safely, while a betrayal arc would be cool, the motivation for her to do so just isn’t there yet. it’d make just as much sense as theron’s, and it would be even more of a let-down.

at the same time, i can’t label a time lana ever asked for help in game. no one really does, but it’s very clear lana thinks she can handle everything. and in a way, she does. even moreso than theron, though possibly in other areas than him. after jedi under siege/onslaught without theron to help her with day to day or even the bigger issues, she could very quickly become overwhelmed, just as she did on ziost.  she could have a plan to betray the commander if the commander does set their sights on killing her or lost trust in her, a copout if you will. if the commander were to turn on her for any reason, she’d have blackmail against them. a way out to yet again prove that she was in the right. with the support of the alliance (that she built), she could become commander herself or more likely find the next one among a pool of canindates, continuing to puppeteer it all. even if the alliance didn’t want a new commander, there would still be a major fallout with the commander either gone from the picture entirely or the alliance decaying from the inside due to trust issues.

because lana beniko is pragmatic. lana beniko will always survive, no matter what it takes. and rising from the ashes of the fire that she set, isn’t above her.

this took me an entire afternoon and there’s still stuff i want to talk about. especially how a betrayal arc would look with theron by your side instead of lana.

she could also just be a good character without any bad intentions, but that would be really boring, wouldn’t it? ;)

[sleepymarmot]

Twilight Mirage liveblog 5/5 (finale & post-mortem)

64-67

Found a new shortcut to my heart: announcing your finale is going to be a mashup of The Quiet Year and Firebrands 

Why is it surpising that the Qui Err Coalition allies with the Waking Cadent? That was my first thought when Iota was making her speech! The Qui Err thinks the humans should leave, the Cadent thinks the humans should leave, sounds pretty compatible to me. 

What's the logic of “When Crystal Palace arrives, we will blow up this system”? It's not a bomb! But it will be in danger if a bomb goes off right next to it!

Oh no, Ali is doing the classic “shoot yourself in the foot on purpose” move

I don't get how Grand Magnificent got promoted from “got paid once to retire” to “is trusted to do actual missions for Advent”

Why the hell does Gig want to kill Ballad

The players keep underestimating how “horny” the scenes in Firebrands are and Austin is increasingly exasperated 

I would like to thank Jack from the bottom of my heart for choosing dance as a framing for making contact with Grand. Also I completely lost it at “there are talons on my shoulder”

I must have missed something, what's so bad about the Splice and Our Profit that everyone's so excited to fuck them over? The Mirage is made a renewable resource, right, so the Splice isn't a drain on anything?

The Echo-Ballad scene is so frustrating that I can't even feel appropriately bad about it! Come on Echo, just help Grand go back to Advent as an undercover spy, it doesn't have to be a competition this time!

I still don't understand Independence II… How do you send your new very conspicous and recognizable design to friends in rival factions without blowing your cover 

The timeline here is really weird… Echo rescues Grand and brings Ballad with them, Ballad calls off his people, Grand sends out his new mech design… And a week later, Grand's still on Qui Err territory having a friendly lunch with its leader? If going back is still an option, how is that going to look without making Advent seem like total idiots? Ah, it's only a day after? Okay…

I'm very glad the Volition problem was solved so peacefully!

5 minutes later: “Quire could die!” How about no??! I was so busy preparing to mourn Volition. I am completely unprepared to lose Quire just like that.

Memorious was alive and also an axiom worm this whole time? Wut

Fuck, do we need another opportunity to kill off Ballad?! This list of NPCs is making me very nervous, I don't want any of them to die… As soon as they said “tactical skirmish” I started screaming internally and likely won't stop until it is over… Wow, Ali, that was cold Oh no, Keith is really on a mission to murder Ballad

Grand how could you bring a bomb to Christmas dinner what the hell RIP bird leader / avian boss, he had an amazing unique voice and, in my head, a really cool cartoony design

Thanks for 9.5 hours of fun. Now I guess it's time for the 4 hour long brutal and heartbreaking final boss encounter

Full offence Gig, but I wouldn't log off even the real internet for lawn games

Signet fucking saved everyone single-handedly, twice. Two biggest threats. Incredible. What is the rest of the game even about

Seriously, do the players know something about Advent that I don't?! Otherwise please stop calling your cheesy space mafia “nazis”

I've been waiting for Even and Cascabel stealing time together since the beginning of the finale! For 11 hours! Finally! This finale is in dire need of more romance content I like that everyone immediately starting dragging all Bioware games at once

I don't see how a secular virtual reality is more of a “weird cult” than an augmented reality in which people maintain an actual religion worshipping the union of human and synthetic life for 30k years. Can we not do the hypocrisy again please. Why is it okay for the Divine Fleet to build their own take on utopia but when the NEH does it's portrayed as a threat and all characters treat it with suspicion and contempt

OK all these ideological debates are fine and dandy but people really should ask more practical questions like “you don't have to rush, why don't you just go back to the previous eco-friendly methods we have previously agreed upon” Glad Fourteen won, but ideologically, as you can guess from this entire liveblog, I'm with Our Profit

I don't like how Tender started with the intention of attacking Our Profit / the Splice but very much like how it somehow turned into her offering to help them and solve everyone's problems in one move

Grand Magnificent building a pseudo-Divine to blind the Crystal Palace with the power of bullshit is the ideal happy ending for him

Good on everyone for doing the best possible things with the Divines, except for the DFS for managing to do every possible bad thing simultaneously!!! My dislike of that faction is vindicated but at what cost Oh god it's even worse 

“Echo Reverie, who knew well both the value and the cost of violence, and who dreamt powerfully of peace” is such a beautiful and concise summary of their character arc God I just love how organically Echo and Gig's arcs led them to help a decolonized society lead independent, peaceful and joyful lives

A new Fleet with a healthier relationship between the Divines and everyone else is nice, thank you Signet

Oh my god, the ending titles are Gig interviewing everyone, that's so sweet!!! Really the perfect sentence to end this campaign with.

(I feel like a jerk mentioning it but… Whenever there's music overlayed with the voice track, it's almost always too loud and I have to strain my ears to hear the words… It's been like that since season one. Am I really the only one with this problem?!) 

Whew! Hard to believe this long, long listening experience is over. I have mixed feelings: sometimes it was exciting or inspiring, sometimes it was fun but I felt I could as well be doing something else, sometimes I listened to the outro and thought “this music and the montage for it in my head right now make me feel so much more than the episode I just heard”, and sometimes the ideology of the narrative or characters'/players' opinions and actions clashed enough with my worldview enough to poison the entire experience. What's new is that, unlike the previous arcs, I didn't have an urge to shake my friends and yell at them “you absolutely must listen to this!” and that made me sad. But that might be just me getting used to this show and taking its good features for granted.

Post-mortem

Oh god, the production of the final sequence sounds like absolute nightmare

Thanks for validating me with the speech about the Fleet's lack of engagement with its “original sin”, Austin 

Thanks, Janine, I hate it! This religion didn't need to get any creepier!

Yes tell us how many ears Tender has! I need to know!! Tender's fursona is the Russian food cat?! Amazing The livestream practically starts with googling animal pictures. Classic

Honestly Echo's disability was barely noticeable to me as a listener… There wasn't a lot of visible difference between the way they accessed the mesh and other PCs did, and after the nanites did activate, I don't think it was ever brought up again…

Yeah I'm genuinely upset that Tender and Fourteen didn't get together, by the way! Or at least have an overt romantic storyline! Give me that sweet sweet PC/PC romance my soul is starving Like I get what Jack is saying about the value of depicting friendship and normally I'd be on his side but 😭 😭 😭 On the other hand I didn't know Echo/Grand was a thing (And now feel kind of bitter it got more official endorsement than my ship that has more canonical foundation) This universe is actually about Austin inventing NPCs who have crushes on Keith's characters and then Keith pointedly avoiding the subject How could anyone forget about Tender's wild fangirling over Waltz lmfao

Austin calmly talking of all these things I screamed about above like “yeah that's what I intended”. Like on the one hand I'm glad, but on the other why couldn't you make it less frustrating to listen to

The rehabilitation theme is another thing that is present thematically but was not discussed on screen enough imo. One thing my mind kept returning to re: Contrition's Figure was the question of forgiveness for serious crime, personal boundaries and principles, and the policy of not disclosing the inmates' crimes. I imagine a survivor of rape or abuse wouldn't want to share space with someone who did the same kind of crime that hurt them. Even if they wouldn't be made to interact, of course, but what if that person believes those kind of people don't deserve rehabilitation at all? What if they reject that system on principle? You often encounter seemingly serious statements like “abusers/rapists/nazis should die”, especially lately. I've heard that about “fascists” (which is a separate issue) in this very campaign. Where do people with these opinions go in a utopia? Do they not exist? Do people who commit horrific crimes not exist either? Because I was listening to that arc and thinking “What if one of those undisclosed crimes was csa or serial murder or something like that? Would I be expected to shake hands and play chess with that criminal? How could I rehabilitate, heal, re-socialize, learn to trust in a space where anyone I meet could be Shrodinger's rapist?” And that leads to the bigger question of what a utopia is. Is it a better society – or better human nature? If latter (and Austin said so) – then to what extent? Because the theoretical people who are so much more advanced than us that they are, en masse, incapable of extreme cruelty, must also differ from our generation with their entire psychology. And a psychology so different would be unimaginable, unplayable, and would not provide necessary dramatic conflict or antagonistic characters. Which is why most alien characters in most stories, including this one, are just humans in silly costumes or prosthetics.

Oh dear god, that must be the heaviest personal story yet… But I understand better what Declan's Corrective was about.

Oh I've been definitely thinking about static utopias vs utopias of process while listening! When I wrote at some point that they made me stop and consider what a utopia is, it was one of the things I meant.

Yeah, sure, in our world the Splice would be terrible because of the existing power dynamics. But that's a Counter/weight story! Twilight Mirage and the Divine Fleet have been about the technologies and ideas that could have been, or were, used to terrible ends, but miraculously, we got to see them used in good faith with genuinely good intentions and good results. Divines have been all kinds of threats over the ages, and yet the Fleet managed to build a community around them that was a small paradise for 30,000 years. So why do the NEH and the Splice not get the same benefit of the doubt? Why is narrative not treating them with the same respect? Why are they always a threat? Why isn't there a major, likeable NPC whose life was enriched by the Splice to the extent that it is central to their identity, who could be our advocate for that point of view? Why are some powerful and potentially infinitely dangerous things, like Divines or religion itself, shown as more valid than others? And don't tell me that our player characters are from the Fleet – none of them are Qui Err either, and yet by the end it is a respected, lovingly portrayed player faction.

Oh, and also, speaking of the Splice's dangers, and what would have made it dangerous in the real world – one of the things that bothered me about it was that these dangers weren't actually described and addressed in the show properly! Probably at least in part because this techology is so magical it's hard to codify how it works. If it gives an indefinite amount of time, how do you sync up all these infinite amounts of timelines? Whenever anyone logs in to visit Tender, how do they know if it's been a day for her, like in the real world, or a hundred years? (Oh and by the way, I waited in vain for the explanation for these strange duplicities and possible time anomalies; what was going on with Ache and Acre?) If opposing the Splice and the NEH were about solving specific problems with the Splice, I would be all for that!

But yeah, I really do appreciate “processes that self-regulate and address their own issues”, how the story and specifically the finale were about the work of building a better world. I like the finale especially because it shows the social processes more clearly; TM's lack of a faction game and its focus on “bigger picture” was palpable, so I was happy to see again that aspect of the show I think is really good and unique. At first I thought it was anticlimactic that the main threats of the finale were solved so easily, early, and pretty much single-handedly. And, indeed, in a tv show that would have looked pretty strange (and require some rewriting, because with how it went down, Signet should have been the sole protagonist from the start lol). But on the other hand, it gave a lot of space and focus to what the whole story has been about: building a better society and future. Not just saving it from an external threat and drawing the curtain on that – but making sure the world we won is the one we want to live in. Preserve the environment! Decolonize the land! Shut off the tyrannical prophecy machine! And that's a good thing, and from my perspective very characteristic of this show. Before it, I didn't even know there were games about building and preserving communities and addressing civil issues! For years I thought “Well, stories of adventure are fun, but they don't address the real issues”, but turns out, there are people and systems that at least try to combine both. And that's a thought I can find comfort in, even if the specific choices of this campaign make me frustrated sometimes.

“I also tried to move away from violence this season and ended up making an arms manufacturer”

Somehow the end of the post-mortem feels sadder and more final than the end of the show proper

[obsxduri-blog]

Intermissions I-IV: Catching Up

Blog Guest: Jou

I.

Preferred name: Jou Preferred pronouns: They/Them Timezone: USA EST UTC -5

Preferred writing style (script, para, either): Either Preferred writing genre: A roadtrip to hell with brief respites. Anything that causes characters to change, either drastically or over time. Characters developing bonds & relationships & affecting one another. (I’d say the typical “fantasy/scifi” but uh, Obscura’s already got that covered?) Genres you’re less interested/would rather not partake in: It’s just not believable to me if characters are 100% happy all the time, I guess? Any other writing preferences?: I’m so flexible it hurts.

Favorite color: Purple! Specifically, blue-violet. Favorite/lucky number: 3 (which I accidentally gave to Duri as well, for. Reasons.) A song/show/drama you’d recommend: Ore Monogatari!! & Pretty Rhythm: Rainbow Live. Fill in the blank: “You’re always free to message me about ___!” Plotting; cats; characters; anything you want, really. If you could choose a species in Obscura that you’d like to be, what would it be? Why?: Beast-blooded because I’m not a furry, but given the opportunity to be a real-life dragon, I’d take it.  What is your ultimate weakness; what makes you feel all soft and squishy inside?: FRIENDS.... Write the first thing to come to mind in caps: WEEEEH???? Three random facts about you: I am 5′10″ (178 cm) which means I am disgustingly tall (actually, the rest of you are very short). Currently attending art college! My two moods are soft & meme.

II.

How long have you been rping?: Eight years, though is my first KRP. Do you write outside of rp?: Yes! Talk to me sometime about my 80+ OC’s. OwO Which days/times do you get the most writing done?: Whenever I have time to sit down.

If your muse(s) could describe you in a few words, what would they say?: “Haunted by a lack of sleep.” or something. I have difficulties describing others’ personalities, let alone myself, even in the frame of a fictional character doing it. What is the most wicked thing you could imagine your character doing?: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Witches, man. We’ll definitely see, though. If your muse(s) were real, would you fight them?: I’m pretty sure Duri needs a lot of therapy & some good friends, so no, I am absolutely not fighting this one. If other people or other muses want to fight Duri, though? By all means.

What object would you erase from existence if given the opportunity?: Headphone jacks in computers that don’t quite work. They’re hellish. If you had a billion dollars and could only spend it, what would you buy first?: Pay off my crippling college debt, buy a house big enough to move in all of my friends, get my transition rolling w/o dealing with insurance stuff...this is probably too realistic to be meme-y, sorry. If you could play any sport, what would it be?: Weight-lifting or hand-to-hand combat/self defense. Or parkour. Do you have any fun hobbies or talents you’d like to share?: I think I already mentioned going to art college, but yes, I do art! And that’s...pretty much my entire identity now...!!!! Do you have/want any pets?: I have six! Two dogs (Benny & Chooch) & four cats (Izzy, Dagda, Mozz, & Zoot).

III.

What’s the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to you?: One time I managed to win $200 in a scratch-off game on vacation? That’s objectively pretty lucky. I’m also just...really lucky to know the people that I do, have the friends that I have, and be loved like I am. If you could attend any concert or event right now without any obstacles, what would you choose?: Time travel me back to see Queen & David Bowie. ;_; I am a simple gay. What’s your dream vacation?: Big city with  Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate? Any style preferences?: I drink. SO much hot chocolate over the school year. I also really love tea, and I have been...sort of getting into coffee. Ish. I go to Starbucks sometimes because that fuckin’ Midnight Mint Mocha was literally made for me. A game you love ( traditional, video, etc )?: I LOVE AND HATE BIOWARE GAMES. They single-handedly destroyed my aversion to retaining canon & shipping canon/OC characters. Crappy ending? No problem! Didn’t happen! One of your favorite characters got thrown into the void because of an arbitrary choice meant only to punish people who didn’t take one specific choice early on???? They’re fine, they crawled OUT of the void. AU WHERE THANE DIES? NOT AN AU I LIKE. THANE LIVES ON HAPPILY WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND, RECONCILED WITH HIS SON AND HE’S. FINE. THAT’S THE NEW CANON.

Favorite/Number one go-to internet meme?: I type like you would expect the Internet to in private (lots of periods/commas, Capital Letters, trademark symbol, raNDOM CAPS). I like bone-hurting juice? Calling people furries? Least favorite internet meme?: Crave that mineral. Something that makes you want to flip a table?: Memes.

In your opinion, do you fit the stereotyped traits of your western zodiac sign? Do you believe that another sign fits you better? What about your muse?: I’ve been told by people with more expertise than me that I pretty much fit the textbook definition of an Aquarius: weirdo, mysterious, deep-thinker. I had to go look up Scorpio stuff for Duri, and like...she’s more like it as MagCoChe? Since that’s the kind of person she wants to be (intense, caring, brave, etc). She’s also pretty ambitious (#JustLittleWitchThings) & stubborn with that ambitiousness. So, I guess she does fit Scorpio! Just...not in the way you necessarily expect those things to manifest, since people tend to talk about Scorpios as though they’re very confident. Post a gif of what you’re currently feeling right now.

IV.

Do you prefer to brainstorm your plots or wing them? Do you have no preference in either?

I like to have some sort of skeleton of where to go, but I’m fine with winging it from there—I feel like the meat of a story can’t truly be found until you’re within it & writing it. That being said, I’m also very partial to plotting out where things will go in terms of those skeletons? I basically like having a guideline, and then playing with that.

What kind of writing memes do you like, if any (sentence starters, drabble memes, head-canon memes, etc)?

I just love memes in general! I feel like some surprising things come out of the drabble memes (I know I really enjoy reading what others come up with for those), but each kind serves their own function, especially in terms of what the mundane feels like writing.

What’s the easiest way to plot with you? Alternatively, what is the easiest way to contact you for plotting?

I am absolutely okay with plotting over Tumblr, but as long as I am awake, I am on Discord. (Other members can friend me through the OBS chat!)

What kind of movies/television series/dramas/anime/etc do you like to watch?

I watch a disgusting amount of superhero movies due to my stepfather’s interests. I’ve also been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation for the same reason, as a family activity. That being said, I gravitate heavily towards fantasy & scifi genres when it comes to consuming media of my own volition!

Would you be interested in the occasional group viewing of a movie/series/drama/cartoon/etc, if one were to be organized?

Absolutely!! I feel like movies are more feasible just because we all live with vastly differing sleep schedules & time zones, but I would happily do any. ovob

If yes to the above, do you have any specifics in time or day as to when you are available to attend? If no, is there any group activity that you would be interested in participating in (ie, games of some sort)?

I’m pretty much available whenever I’m awake/online? I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything from midnight to 10 AM or somewhere around there, but it also depends on my class schedule.

If you were caught up in a food fight, what food would you throw first?

Something that leaves a stain or sticks, so something with tomato sauce or a food like rice. Or maybe I’d just lob a full slice of pizza through the air in hopes it would hit someone topping-side first. Who knows?

If you could be any mythological beast, which one would you be and why?

Who says I’m not already an alien. Or a dragon. Or both. Have any of you ever seen me in the same room as an alien dragon?? I think not. 

Top five things that make you happy?

My friends because I’m terribly sappy, cats & animals of all kinds, talking about OC’s & muses, video games, memes?

Share a picture! It could be of your bias, a cute animal, a drawing, a meme, an anime wife—anything you’d like!