#almyra has one now

[iturbide]

tfw you look up a random piece of information and end up finding something to incorporate into your worldbuilding

[stergeon]

> Resign from your JOB and move to ALMYRA.

Well, it has been nice. You will miss a great many things about FÓDLAN, but this is for the best. You make to bid FERDINAND goodbye and depart for the east.

There is no need to be glum. It is not so bad. ALMYRA will be fine. You do not really know much of much about the country, but it will not be here, and that will be preferable. This is a good plan. You want to do this. It will be like a VACATION (or what you assume a VACATION is like), except it will be forever and you will never return. You can write to FERDINAND about the HORSES, and try getting yourself some sun as DOROTHEA has done, and perhaps make yourself some new FRIENDS.

No... No... Actually, you do not want to do this. You do not want to do this at all.

In light of this revelation, it occurs to you that you must give further thought to some of your emergency scenario plans.

Whilst you were mentally four thousand miles away, something else happened, and FERDINAND is now cheerfully espousing the virtues of adopting a fresh new look. How fortunate indeed to have a SORT-OF-BOYFRIEND so immune to the devastating effects of truth.

There is an opening in the conversation, and since you sidestepped the last one so deftly, you are obliged to fill it yourself.

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[semi-imaginary-place]

Which characters have tragic pasts that aren’t recognized enough?

I think people don't notice because Petra is very active about her situation. She's a political hostage in a foreign land that has turned her country into a vassal state from the war that killed her dad. But she's made the most of it. Petra taught herself a new language, she trains constantly, she's made herself be involved with the politics of Fodlan, and she's always seeking to better herself and hone her skills so that she's not just a prisoner but someone useful to Brigid. Petra's the opposite of passive, she refuses to just let things happen to her, and in a lot of ways she doesn't have a choice either she is an active participant in her life or she will just be shuffled around as a political pawn and hostage against the country she loves. We don't know the specifics of the international agreement about Petra but I can easily imagine it being something like "give us a hostage as a guarantee you won't attack us or we'll continue the war we won, raze you to the ground, kill all of you, and take your land".

Claude's backstory isn't tragic and uh... at least half the cast if not more has had it worse than him but I do want to talk about it since I never see people talk about the struggles Claude has had. I think a large part of it is that like Petra, Claude doesn't show the struggles he's been through nor does he really talk about himself or his past. They both show a strong front and face forward in their lives.

Claude's spent his entire life being alienated, in Almyra for being too foreign and not Almyran enough and then in Fodlan for being too foreign and not Fodlan enough. He's faced multiple childhood assassination attempts just because of his parentage and at least some of these have come from family members. Claude is a rarity among the cast in having not only both parents but having 2 parents that love him. However his parents are of the tough love approach, that what doesn't kill will make him stronger so they offer him little support, protection, or help in a world that is hostile to him at every turn. And so Claude grew up with everyone against him, with his every action used as justification that he's weaker and lesser than a full Almyran. And this has destroyed his ability to trust or be open with people. Claude is very insecure in his interactions with other people because he's used to every slip of information given being used against him. You see this in his supports with Marianne where he sees any information about himself as possible leverage against him so it has to be exchanged like a commodity so that they both have equal leverage against the other. And yet he does genuinely want to help people and cares about those around him as clumsy as his attempts are at making friends. Claude's backstory is not nearly on the level of say Edelgard's or Lysithea's but it's a shame no one is talking about it at all.

Dimitri stans screaming and crying about poor Dimitri and yeah he's had it rough (a lot of 3H characters have traumatizing backstories) but Dedue is right there, what about his pain! The hypocrisy! The Tragedy of Duscar led to the massacre of his family and not only that but he's now a genocide survivor since Faerghus decided to wipe out Duscar, take over their land, rename and settle on it. Not to mention they were wrongfully scapegoated for it. Dedue has had everything taken from him so he doubles down on this life debt to Dimitri because it's the one thing he has left. It's a trauma response coping mechanism that he's rather override his will, opinions, and personhood for Dimitri's sake. And the of course Faerghus hates him and reminds him of that every day.

At this point I'm wondering if its a racism problem that it's Petra, Dedue, and Claude whose struggles are most often overlooked.

[raxistaicho]

Is Edelgard a fascist?

So as I mentioned in a recent post, I'd like to dig in detail into the notion that Edelgard is a fascist. And also debunk said notion.

Now then, I'm going to look into the actual indicators of fascism, and not the "that character is in power and I don't like them" version we see thrown carelessly around the internet today.

It's broadly accepted today that the fourteen key signs of a fascist society are as follows:

While the exact wording can vary, these are the most common traits.

We'll start with the easiest ones first:

Corporations and labor movements don't exist in Fodlan, nor is there such a thing as private mass media, nor does Fodlan have elections (no, not even in post Azure Moon), so those can four can't be analyzed. However, given that corporations are modern-day fiefdoms and CEOs and the rich are modern-day aristocrats, it's not hard at all to imagine that Edelgard would align her interests more with the working class than the wealthy if she existed in a different kind of society.

And rampant sexism is the most obvious, "no", given Edelgard cares more about talent than what a person has between their legs.

Moving on next to the things that can be addressed with a little more detail.

Supremacy of the military: So obviously Edelgard starts a war, which makes things a bit weird here, but there's no indication the Adrestian military is given disproportionate focus in terms of funding or cultural emphasis aside from what could be reasonably expected from a country at war. Additionally, Edelgard favors diplomacy as a solution to Fodlan's relations with Almyra and Brigid, and Edelgard demonstrates a wide range of areas of focus for her future reforms between research (Linhardt, Constance), education (Ferdinand), faith (Manuela), and the arts (Dorothea), making it clear the military is just one of many tools in her reformist arsenal. 4 is a strong strong no.

Obsession with national security: This trait is more or less an obsession with external forces attempting to ruin you. Edelgard's detractors would immediately leap to her designating the Church of Seiros as a target while forgetting that the CoS is her only target. With fascism, there is always An Enemy looking to tear down society, but that isn't the case with Edelgard. She targets the CoS for very specific and demonstrable reasons, and once they're defanged she sets out making peace with former enemies abroad and at home. Her detractors would point out Hubert continuing to observe Fodlan for internal threats, but given how fragile Fodlan's internal peace would be for years following the war (rebellions would be a common issue, whether or not the Agarthans are involved), this is more of a justified concern than an obsessive rooting out of imagined agitators. 7 is another no.

Disdain for intellectuals and the arts: Several characters Edelgard forms very close support attachments with (Bernadetta, Dorothea, Manuela, Linhardt, Hanneman) are artistic types or intellectuals, and, despite what her detractors would have you believe, so 11 is another no.

Obsession with crime and punishment: Edelgard treats Varley and Aegir, people who tormented her, her loved ones, and countless others with a very even hand. While Rhea's confinement appears to be under severe circumstances (underground and likely in isolation for five years), this isn't done because Edelgard felt like being extra mean: you simply can't confine a woman who can transform into a dragon in an ordinary cell. Compare this to the Knight of Seiros's obsession with summary executions and Edelgard comes off looking very merciful. 12 is another very likely no.

Rampant cronyism and corruption: Firstly, she actively fights against corruption.

Cronyism is where her detractors will point out her giving positions of power to close friends, but the issue there is a key aspect of cronyism is that the person committing it ignores it does so without regard for the beneficiaries' qualifications.

The two characters most likely to ruffle feathers are Caspar and Bernadetta, but none of their endings imply they were incompetent at their respective positions. It's simply the nature of Fire Emblem ending cards to assume the character was highly succesfull during the war - aside from a few joke characters or poor Ilios.

That's a few more knocked out, leaving only a few left.

Powerful and continuing nationalism: Nationalism is the focus on the advancement of one's own country above all others. Three Houses doesn't treat Adrestia, Faerghus, and Leicester as countries, but as regions or powers, but I'll ignore that for sake of argument. Edelgard detractors claim Edelgard is focused on the advancement of specifically Adrestia, but that's certainly not true. The common anti-Edelgard claim is she's trying to regain the lands of Faerghus and Leicester for its own sake, but she isn't, she's trying to unite Fodlan so she can bring her reforms to all the continent at once.

Additionally, she's very concerned for Brigid's well-being, see her support conversations with Petra in both games, and she expresses an interest in forging better diplomatic ties with Almyra. Ultranationalism of the fascistic sort usually involves a major withdrawal of foreign relations. This is another no.

Disdain for human rights: You could argue with some justification that this is a fairly weak spot for Edelgard through her alliance with the Agarthans, and there's some merit to that. It is, however, a bit jarring to argue that the woman who wants to usher in new human rights has disdain for them.

As I mentioned previously, her treatment of Rhea during her imprisonment in Enbarr is often a sore spot with Edelgard's detractors, and it definitely seems to be the case that Rhea was imprisoned underground and largely in isolation... but again, how does one humanely secure a woman who can transform into a 30-foot flying dragon? It's just one of those things of the issues of trying to secure such an individual.

Also, as I mentioned previously, Edelgard avoids cruel and unusual punishment wherever possible, even for those who've seriously wronged her, such as Aegir. Another no, though perhaps a bit weaker than some past ones.

Identification of enemies/scapegoats:

The scapegoats part is important. As I mentioned previously, in fascist societies, there always has to be An Enemy to fight against, as fascism is obsessed with action for actions' sake and unity against some Other, all to keep the people at home from paying attention to their rights being stripped away.

So while Edelgard certainly identifies the Church of Seiros and Nabateans as a problem for Fodlan as a whole, she does this for the very clear reason of stripping their ability to interfere in the peoples' self-interests, and not just to give Fodlan an enemy to fight. Noticeably, once the church and the Nabateans are defeated in Crimson Flower, Edelgard focuses the rest of her life on social reforms. There's no indication she continues launching wars, whatever Fantasy Invader tries to say. Another no.

Religion and government intertwined:

This would seem to be Edelgard's weakest point, since she appoints one of her own ministers as head of the southern church in Scarlet Blaze. In Crimson Flower proper we have too little information on church life in Adrestia under her to know this one either way.

It's worth remembering that Edelgard's reformed system generally acknowledges the first generations of people in power will more or less be people who would have already had that power, since they're generally the most apt recipients due to their initial advantage. In that regard, the head of Adrestia's religion doubling as a government official is a problem she inherited, not one she created: Count Varley was already minister of Religious Affairs. It would be a lot more suspicious if she named Hubert the southern bishop.

Furthermore, given the nature of Edelgard's merit-based reforms, once Varley dies there's a much better chance of the next southern bishop not being tied to Adrestia's government.

Lastly, Religion and government being "merely" intertwined is an improvement from SS and VW, in which Fodlan becomes a full-on theocracy, and AM, in which religion has permanent influence over the government.

And there we go! Of the fourteen warning signs of Fascism, only one of them could be honestly tied to Edelgard, and mostly only because of her loathed alliance with the Agarthans - which she ditches in Scarlet Blaze, leaving her entirely free of human rights abuses.

So yeah, Edelgard doesn't actually look very much like a fascist when your standards are actual fascism and not, "this lady accrues power and I don't like her for it".

That's why you never take an Edelgard detractor at their word, folks.

[slotumn]

Twist on a 3H golden route where Byleth does succeed in getting the lords to cooperate in implementing reforms and defeating Agarthans, but ultimately ends up backstabbed by them for political reasons.

Namely, they're way too popular/influential/capable, and this does not bode well for the rulers of the three nations.

Byleth being powerful isn't as much of a problem in the standard 3H routes, because one way or another, the continent becomes unified and Byleth is on the side of the unifier. But in a situation where all three regimes still exist and there's this prominent figure who helped fix so much of the continent's problems and has religious/ideological significance transcending the three nations' borders? Like it or not, they're political competition and threat for the lords. Whether they're archbishop or "just" a general/advisor, they are too damn competent and/or popular. And it doesn't even matter whether Byleth intends to become a politician themselves— just by existing, the lords are going to get compared to them.

Even if Byleth tries to stay behind the scenes as much as possible, realistically there would be other personnel who worked with Byleth alongside the lords in various endeavors, and they're going to have opinions. Said personnel are probably important figures in each nation's military/government, too. And again, like it or not, Byleth is risking showing up the lords in front of their own guys. Even if they're close personally, in terms of politics, it's that much harder to maintain authority when there's someone who seems stronger than you right in the vicinity!

Claude stepping down as leader of Leicester and going over to Almyra doesn't solve this either, because in a situation where Adrestia and Faerghus still exist, Byleth can't just take over Leicester. Considering the significance of their power, Byleth directly ruling over one of the three nations will definitely look biased and stroke tensions.

So, what are the options? Just have Byleth hang around and vibe? Either as the archbishop or an advisor who floats around between the three nations? This influential, popular figure simply being allowed to exist in vicinity of the three regimes without pledging alliance to any of them? That's going to work out real well (not). The most idealistic scenario is Byleth agreeing to disappear after everything (driving out Agarthans + implementing reforms) is over, but realistically? The regimes wouldn't wanna wait that long. If they let Byleth hang around until that's all done, it's too late, this commoner ex-merc already has stolen too much thunder.

This is the irony about overwhelming power; in times of great turmoil, it saves, but otherwise, it's a threat, a disruptor to the balance, even if it's wielded by someone benevolent.

Anyway, the situation is: the lords all have good reasons to want to solidify their own authority over their respective nations as they get rid of Agarthans and reform things, and it's obvious as all fuck who's (unintentionally) undermining said authority. Yeah maybe Byleth is their beloved mentor, but now, they're leaders of their nations before they're their teacher's students. Maybe they feel bad about doing this, but whatever their personal sentiments are, that doesn't change their next political move.

The lords betray and kill Byleth for power— just like how the Agarthans they'd teamed up to defeat killed Sothis for power.

I think all the ways Byleth could react to this are very sexy. Genuinely caught off guard and dies casting a curse on the ungrateful fools of Fódlan? Sexy. Expected it and doesn't stop it because they know this is what it takes to bring peace? Sexy. Too sad and tired and heartbroken to fight back? Sexy.

Tl;dr local teacher literally too powerful to be allowed to exist in a golden route, gets killed by their students

[randomnameless]

The quintessential problem with Claude and the deer is that they should not have been involved in the war at all, or at least not Claude. What does he have to gain participating on it? Nothing, and he makes it even more explicit in azure moon when he dissolves the alliance. He could've pretty easely given the power to Lorenz or Hilda and nope out of there (what he does in silver snow), as it is clear througouht white clouds that he doesn't have as much of an attachtment to Fodlan as he does Almyra. And it isn't like the devs couldn't take the deer studients out during post-TS, when Marianne unless recruited is pressumed dead, and Lorenz unless recruited joins the imperial forces and dies helping the empire.

Outside of the problems with racism and the bigoted tropes related to "savage cultures" the Fodlan games perpetuate, the devs did not know how to use one of their house leaders for the main plot of "church vs empire", and idk if that's because they bit more than they could chew, or if it was intentional taking into account who gets the short end of the stick in both games happens to be mixed and from one of those "savage cultures".

TBH...

It's on the devs for having wanted to add a third lord to their game, but failing to, well, link him to any of those plots.

Supreme Leader's war of unification?

Well, Nopes gave him a part this plot - and yet there's no third choice in this plot : you bend the knee or you die. Nopes' wise, Clout decided (in his route) to bend the knee with his "alliance" that is totally supposed to make Supreme Leader reconsider her desire to roll over Leicester and make it part of Adrestia again!

(Granted, Nopes don't tell us how his plea to stop the war after killing the evil lizard lady will play out and leaves an open ending...)

In Houses, well, he doesn't want Leicester to be flattened, and goes on the offensive (counter offensive?) when Billy pops up with basically what is the plot events of Silver Snow (down to using the same strategy with disguises) with the Gronder Map.

And that addition radically changes... well, everything regarding Claude's relevance : he cannot form an alliance with the Blue Lord or the Kingdom to get rid of the Empire because "plot convenient myopia" and apparently Dimitri BaD enough that he attacks Alliance troops for no reason.

Forget SS, GW (and AM, in a way) is just using plot contrived excuse to... not have an united from to face the Empire. Why? IDK. Each Lord must be the hero of his story, or the unification boner means only one of them can "win" an unified Fodlan i'd guess.

Nabateans and the plot ?

No one gives a fig about that "plot", so it's basically pursuing a side-quest for no payoff.

Now, as @fantasyinvader wrote, Claude's story and journey as one who is ignorant and gets to learn and clear his misconceptions + the background of the land we're living in could have been interesting, doubly so given how Billy is voiceless and cannot play the "protag discovers the world at the same time as the player does" role.

But it has... no payoff.

Much like Rhea's infodump about the World, Relics and Nabateans... Claude reacts to the mention that Billy has a rock for heart, and not about his crest, his shiny bow or the fact that Rhea also had a vested interest in, uh, getting rid of prejudice against people who are perceived as "different" because her family was genocided for that.

Hell, the entire "prejudice" angle from Supreme Leader's war is swept under the rug, so we can have the Deers say nonsense like wanting to rekt Thales for Supreme Leader's sake, while only Flayn and Seteth can hear her "nabateans shouldn't have power over the people"...

There's no parallel drawn in the game about Claude and Rhea's situation - since she's at the center of this subplot - about being perceived as "outsiders" and not being able to do various things from existing to "rule over the people" because of what they are, or even faking their identities and building metaphorical walls between them and the people they're living with because they are afraid of rejection.

Nah, we can't have that, Rhea must be irrelevant to the possible, while also being the biggest scapegoat/dragon of this saga at the same time as a nebulous red herring to sell pots of tea.

Ihthe "fight against prejudice and make people accept each other" angle was that relevant to his route, Claude would have most likely talked or interacted with Dimitri and learnt of his plan to cleanse Duscur's name in his Father's assassination, raised a brow at Petra being a hostage and done something else than give a surprised pikachu face at Rhea's infodumps.

He could have reacted at her reveal that if you might want to live in peace with some people, if those people don't want that and label you as nothing more than fodder or things to be looted, it's not going to work.

And of course, gave a reaction at your second in command (unofficially?)'s reveal that, uh, her house keeps identured Almyran children as war prisoners?

Some people already made some AUs or "what ifs" routes for a proper Claude route and not the nonsense that we got in FE16 where it's basically "I react to the same plot events that happen in the other routes but top it all with a zombie".

The Deers could have been "better introduced" in a plot about getting rid of prejudice, or learning the causes of this prejudice : Marianne was/is hunted because of her blood ties to Maurice - not because what she did, but because what Momo did back then! - Lysithea was treated as a guinea pig and her house rolled over by Adrestia who has a less than rosy views about the "offshoots" that are called Leicester and Faerghus, Lorenz could explain that prejudice, just like piety, are tools used by people whenever they're relevant, like, some people being pissed at foreigners and some who aren't because they make money through international trading like Margrave Edmund does, Hilda justifying her House's animosity towards Almyrans because they lost many people in those pointless skirmishes (maybe a closed ones? Her mom or Uncle or whatever?) which would make Claude realise that "ending prejudice" is a much more difficult quest than, idk, just killing one or two randoms.

The commoner trio might share Claude's views about prejudice and welcoming foreigners, but have more "mundane" worries like being able to have a roof and food to eat, which might be the case of some people in Leicester, or tell us more about Leicester and how it works (give us more insight about the different countries if Fodlan ffs).

Maybe we could have add a Claude who learns and discovers Fodlan, and along the way, starts to love the land as much, if not more, than Almyra and really wanting to protect this land from whatever Supreme Leader's cooking, or becoming an Almyra v.2.

I don't think making Claude the third wheel of the plot was maliciously intentional because of the, uh, implications with RL cultures and Almyra, but more like they didn't know where to put him.

I noticed you wrote the conflict as one that is "the church vs the empire", but I do not really agree - if that was the case, the war would have stopped in VW/AM/SS the second Rhea was caught.

The main conflict is Supreme Leader's war of conquest - with the twist that the devs were really banking on their brilliant idea of making the red emperor the titular waifu of the game that each person/lord/whatever Rhea is must find a way to excuse and/or justify her actions.

With this in mind, AM is basically Dimitri's fall (and rise!) because of his ties to Supreme Leader.

In VW? The game cannot explore too much outside of the Supreme Leader scope so we're left with.. well, what VW was.

Claude cannot go on a journey to discover Fodlan and get rid of his misconceptions... because part of those same misconceptions are used by Supreme Leader to start her war, or the sheer concept of a conquest, aka a nation being rolled over by another is anathema to his, supposed, ideal of wanting people to accept each other despite their differences.

I ranted about it since day 5, but the Nabatean subplot (and Fodlan in general) is accessory to Supreme Leader war, there is no point aka no payoff for learning all of that, because you cannot challenge the one who wants to unify the continent.

As such, Claude cannot deviate too far from this plot - while receiving infodumps about "the lore" - and we end up with third wheel of a bike and characters who, at first and second glance, appear to be irrelevant.

Fodlan ends up unified despite starting as three separate countries, we feel bad for Supreme Leader and mourn her unknown ideals, Rhea is gone and the Agarthans aren't a problem anymore.

the second the devs said leicester was a republic, claude was doomed. Merchant republics are always irrelevent or straight up useless in the FE series!

[fantasyinvader]

With the last few points in mind, we can see how SS, AM and VW are may be somewhat radical from a Japanese POV.

In SS, Byleth's leadership goes against a very common mentality in Japan where it's viewed as wrong to give people money they did not earn, even when that person is in dire straights. In fact, begging for money is actually illegal over there. So with that in mind, Byleth focusing on reconstruction of Fodlan in addition to the Japanese text saying he supported “every soul” in a motherly-fashion, it does point to Byleth's rule being one that looked out for the people.

It also has elements associated with oudou, considering the Sword of the Creator's Japanese name the Sword of the Emperor of Heaven. Emperor of Heaven is term for the Jade Emperor, the deity that oversees Heaven's mandate (Mazu, the Emperess of Heaven, is commonly depicted in red robes... but she's associated with water as a sea goddess, not fire. She's also said to be an incarnation of the Jade Woman of Marvelous Deeds, and associated with a star in the big dipper, who is said to oversee all aspects of life and death and help those who call upon her. So, Edelgard's color scheme itself might be a red herring, as Sothis is the one associated with water). Byleth judged Edelgard as unworthy of following, rejecting her and in turn leading the Black Eagles to do the same. They no longer bend the knee to their emperor simply because she is their emperor, they take a stand against her actions and work to remove her from power. And this is consistent for them regardless of whether Byleth taught their House or recruited them to another House, not joining Edelgard is tied to their character development (see Ferdinand and Caspar's paralogues not being available in Flower).

Dimitri takes Byleth's supporting the poor a few steps further, believing change has to come from the people and giving them a voice in politics while at the same time supporting them. He empowers the masses, and on top of that even has focus on improving relations with foreign nations (whereas the Japanese text indicates Edelgard begins invading other countries). Dimitri is also meant to represent oudou himself, a benevolent ruler justly governing the people.

Claude also identifies Edelgard's rule as oudou, stops her, but then puts Byleth and his version of oudou in charge of Fodlan. I think the best way to put how Claude is radical is, to put it bluntly, fuck the past and fuck the traditions associated with it.

Claude's goal in coming to Fodlan was to learn from it in order to change Almyra, and he got that in Verdant Wind. He begins transforming his homeland into a trading powerhouse, works with the Church in order to bridge the two nations, and can even introduce magic to his country in one ending. On top of that, people have noted that he embodied a very negative stereotype of his people in Hopes, so his character growth proved beneficial. He's no longer the type who will flee to save his own life rather than protecting his people, he stops trying to manipulate everyone and instead work with them as well.

When applied to Fodlan, it's not saying that the Church is bad. It still continues to exist, but now the false history of Fodlan has been corrected. People now know what the past really was, not some glamorized image of it from the Agarthans nor the story told as part of a peace treaty. The Church is still going to be there, helping to rebuild Fodlan after the slate was wiped clean, free to spread it's messages without having to also recite falsehoods that can give people mixed messages. And on top of that, there's also support for other faiths and customs to be brought in, accepted and learned from. The game really drives home it's the dawn of a new era for a reason.

So, we have that. Meanwhile Edelgard trying to set the clock back on Fodlan, spouting ideals informed by Agarthan manipulations, and trying to conquer the world... this is all supposed to be tyranny according to the devs. SS, AM and VW all support some form of progress whereas Flower, once you see through the cracks and get to know Edelgard, is supposed to be regression. To return to old ways, old traditions, that the Church put a stop to for good reason.

[tisiphonewolfe]

Writeblr Intro

Heyo!

I'm Tisiphone - or Tiss, or Tizzy, I don't mind (she/her). I mainly write SFF, but I intend to try my hand at horror and potentially espionage thrillers in the future. I also can't seem to write anything without women being very gay in the middle of it all, so I'm leaning into it.

I follow from @princessw0lf

About me:

I'm a disabled trans lesbian from the UK

What I like seeing in books? Mysteries woven through the plot that resolve satisfyingly. Characters that bounce off each other and grate against each other in interesting ways. Weird romances that don't dominate the plot, but are a key part of it. Great character development.

Favourite books? The Locked Tomb Series by Tamsyn Muir, The Unspoken Name by A.K. Larkwood, Malice by Heather Walter, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon. And a lot of Terry Pratchett.

Fiction I probably won't enjoy? Something where the plot is purely interpersonal drama or romance with nothing interesting happening outside of it. Literary fiction. YA.

Outside of writing? By day I'm a software developer. The rest of my time is spent drawing, playing games both video and tabletop, and playing electric guitar (badly).

DMs/Asks/Tag games? Fire away!

@sam-glade is my pal and you should go check them out too!

With this blog I'm aiming to post writing updates, inspiration, and probably writing-related memes.

About my writing:

At the moment I'm primarily writing high fantasy/epic fantasy, with a view to trying out some more genres later on.

Admittedly a lot of the classic elements of western fantasy are in there, but I've been trying to get back to the mythological roots of creatures like elves, gnomes, and dwarves, and to present them as not being all white and vaguely British.

The world of The Tectomancy Saga is also, like that of my childhood writing hero Sir Terry, an odd shape. There's a reason for that, and we'll get to it eventually.

While my stories are currently third-person multi-pov stories, I intend to experiment on that at some point in the future.

My stories will probably all revolve around two things; a central mystery and a central relationship. I love a plot where you can pick at the smallest words and phrases, theorise about absolutely everything. I want to write stories where people have a thousand ideas about what the truth is, and each one of them knows there's a good chance they could be correct. I also, as a queer trans lady, want to write about sapphic relationships and include many people who are not cis.

My favourite themes to write are anti-authority, people breaking out of systems they've been trapped in for a long time, people being more important than power.

I'm definitely a plantser. I know kind of where I'm going, but let's see where the journey takes us along the way!

Finally, you can expect the tone of my writing to be trying to find that sweet spot between serious and dry humour that makes you groan, with a healthy sprinkling of subtle meme references.

Current projects below the cut

The Tectomancy Saga

On a bowl-shaped world suspended far above swirling blue mists, nine goddesses, witches, or geniuses, blessed their peoples with divine magics, then disappeared. Now, the world is decaying, tensions are rising, and people scramble to control the magics in order to shape the future.

Made with Crown and Claw

WIP Intro

High Fantasy: The classic Princess-in-a-tower-guarded-by-a-dragon story, but we see the machiantions that put her there, and what happens afterwards.

Releine Sholt is hand-picked by the heir to Tectomancy, Princess Almyra Tectus, to be her new bodyguard. The role has one ominous stipulation: nobody can ever speak to the Princess, on the threat of dire punishment.

'There was only one bed' turns out to have horrifying consequences.

Progress: Fourth draft done at 129.5k

Bound by Stone and Blood

High Fantasy: The saga continues from different perspectives, having different adventures, that will eventually conjoin.

Almyra vies for control of her kingdom. Ellimane tracks down two misfits who are being hunted by a rogue automaton. Releine visits hell. A new threat rises in the shadows of Versewelt, the decaying land.

Bitter exes who technically never dated are definitely not thinking about each other.

Progress: First draft underway at 69k

Snippets and Short Stories:

Flash Fiction Friday: On the Edge

Flash Fiction Friday: I Can't Tell

Her New Captain (Alternate Chapter)

Other

Naenia, through Murder

WIP Intro

Naenia, the reaper who is responsible for death through murder, is shellshocked when a murdered homicide detective returns to life before her eyes and promptly asks her out on a date.

Detective Carina Choudhry has an odd - very Goth - new girlfriend, who saved her from the serial killer she was on the trail of.

Progress: Complete at 46k

Fay and the Red Kite (Title pending)

Fay Orrel, a trainee mech pilot, finds that her beaten-up old training machine holds an AI that has replicated its deceased former pilot. She tries to keep the other woman secret from the PMC that owns the mech, who would be certain to wipe the AI's memories, destroying Mina forever.

Progress: Well, I wrote the prologue and some of the first chapter. Being dabbled with!

[malsfefanfics]

marianne and dedue? in the dimitri/marianne paired ending marianne would inevitably be spending a Lot of time with dedue which fascinates me. also they would just be cute in general.

I think I have just the thing for you.

When Marianne woke up, she found she was moving. She didn't remember getting up. The last thing she remembered was sitting in her study, going over old records that needed to be recounted. The paperwork of the Kingdom had been seriously neglected even before the war. So she and Dimitri had been working day and night to reorganize them.

But right now, Dimitri was at the Central Church for a meeting with the Archbishop, and then head to the Locket to meet with the new King of Almyra for peace talks. She could still remember the look of excitement on her husband's face when he spoke of this meeting. She'd been invited to come with him, but they were so behind on their work as is. So Marianne chose to stay to ensure they didn't fall further. And other reasons.

Which is why she fell asleep at her desk. Again. For the third time this week.

And why she didn't panic when she realized she was being carried back to her room.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

"About thirty minutes," Dedue answered. "I already called for a maid to help you change."

"Thank you." She leaned her head against his shoulder, letting herself relax in his arms. "Dedue? May I ask you something....personal?"

Dedue nodded. "You may. Though I am not sure I will answer."

"...do you love Dimitri?"

His steps slowed. "Why do you ask?"

She shrugged. "I've noticed the way you look at him when no one else is looking. It's the same face he makes when looking at me..."

Dedue let out a sigh. "I know where your mind is wandering. Rest assured, I am content with my place at his side. And you make his Majesty happy. So whatever it is you are about to say, don't."

"But-"

"Do you love his Majesty?"

"Of course-"

"Then there's nothing to fear. As long as Dimitri is happy, that's what matters. And he's happiest when he has you by his side" He smiled, a little awkwardly, as a warm chuckle bubbled from his throat. "It's actually why I chose to stay this time."

She stared at him. "Huh?"

Dedue looked her over carefully, letting out a soft 'ah' in understanding. "I see. You didn't tell him yet, did you?"

"How...." Marianne sighed, her own laugh bubbling to the surface. "You knew?"

He nodded. "Wasn't hard to figure out. Rest easy, I will leave it to you to inform him. In the meantime, I will stay and watch over you both."

All the stress and fear from the last few weeks melted away. Marianne let herself melt into the safety of her friend's arms, listening to the beating of his heart as she rested against his chest.

"I'm glad you're here, Dedue. Thank you. But...remember...Dimitri cares for you as well..."

"...I know."

"....Dedue?"

"Yes?"

"Will...you stay by my bedside? Until I fall asleep again?" She nuzzled in closer. "I do not want to fall asleep alone again..."

"Of course," he assured. "I will not leave your side until you are fully asleep."

"Thank you."

[tire-d-falcon]

How Fire Emblem 3 Hopes butchered Claude's character.

In order for me to explain how 3 Hopes did him dirty i first have to explain what makes Claude so great in 3 Houses.

In Houses he's a clever and ambitious man who's main goal in life is to end racism and discrimination.

He wants to achieve that goal using his unique and powerful position as the Crown Prince of Almyra and the Leader of the Leicester Alliance to make that dream a reality.

For all his valid criticisms against the church and the Seiros faith he doesn't believe that violence is need to change the Church and Fodlan for the better and learns that Rhea isn't as averse to change than he initially believed.

He fights against Edelgard to put a stop to her senseless and bloody war that prevents him from achieving his dream and to protect innocents from her vicious conquest.

And whether he comes out on top, gets beaten by her or saved by Dimitri he's more than willing to disband the Leicester Alliance so that Fodlan can be better governed under one ruler and prevent opportunistic lords from sowing more conflict and he does everything in his power to keep his soldiers, citizens and himself alive by surrendering if he loses to Edelgard cause he know he can't achieve his noble dream if he's dead.

He's a wise, clever and creative visionary who wants to do everything in his power to achieve his goals as peacefully as possible.

Now that we've established that it's time to talk about his butchered counterpart and how he spits on everything Houses Claude stands for.

In Hopes he's a dimwitted and selfish man who's main goal is to preserve and expand Leicester's power, status and influence and dismantle the church through war which endangers everyone, Leicester included.

Not only has his original goal been reduced to an afterthought but the way he tries to achieve his new goal is more detrimental than it is beneficial.

He sides with his invaders who tried to violently conquer Leicester and slaughtered his soldiers and citizens. He continues Edelgard's pointless war that does more harm than good for everyone involved. He makes enemies out of allies like Faerghus and the Church the former out of a vendetta regarding Leicester and the latter over false and illogical accusations and throws away any opportunity to solve any issues with Faerghus and the Church peacefully by spilling their blood.

Not only was his vengeful nature not present in Houses but he's made statemants contradicting his stance on vengeance. From wanting to end a history of hostility between Almyra and Fodlan to extending mercy to Edelgard despite the crimes she's committed.

To make that matter even worse is that Hopes Claude is vengeful against the wrong group. He had no issues fighting Faerghus for what their ancestors did and yet doesn't have that same energy against Adrestia for their ancestors denying Leicester's right to be independent and the fact that Edelgard is responsible for the deaths in Leicester cause of her war.

And most accusations he throws at the church are either false or not even Rhea's fault but that of humans ( Which isn't to say Rhea and the church isn't without fault cause they definitely are corrupt ) and what's worse the church hasnt done anything to suggested they did commit the crimes he accuses them off and his source of information comes from an unreliable source.

He's so shortsighted, narrow-minded, delusional and all around idiotic that in Scarlet Blaze he and his weaker forces wages war against 2 bigger forces all in a sad attempt to conquer Fodlan for Leicester, needlessly throwing away the lives of his soldiers, citizens, friends and his own and disbanding Leicester in the process.

Which is all the more bizarre considering he teams up with Faerghus and the Church in Azure Moon despite his grudges against Faerghus and the Church making his decision to Scarlet Blaze even more stupid.

It's a shame it even came to this cause not only did the other 2 lords improve from their original counterparts but the goal of their routes were allowed to stay the same, Claude is the only one who's gotten a gross downgrade and the only one route objective was changed from stopping Edelgard and finding out the truth about Crests to becoming her errand boy.

The first half of Golden Wildfire was great and then everything went downhill since Claude killed his shoehorned and obnoxious brother. Why the second half couldn't be Claude cooperating with Faerghus and the Church like in Azure Gleam is beyond me.

But anyways that's the end of my long vent about 3 hopes and it's mistreatment of my favorite lord.

[omgkalyppso]

"You can trust me. I hope you know that." your FE3H or BG3 characters of choice

I decided I'd write something I'd probably never have written otherwise! Shahid's surrender.

I'm not sure which AU it fits into. Avery is there, my shez oc. And Nader briefly.

The whole thing is 2,193 words and I'll probably put it on ao/3 later. No editing has been done.

Thank you for the ask!!!

.

Shahid felt the noose tightening. Khalid was the leader of this Leicester Alliance, he should not have been upon the field — what else could there be for him to prove? Unless he simply wanted to kill him personally.

In victory, Shahid imagined he would find his brother at the back of the army, or further still in the walls of some city. Why wouldn't he run away again, as he always had?

In defeat, Shahid would have expected to die at the hands of a stranger, or to be brought violently back to his brother's heel for execution.

Yet here they were, landing wyverns across from one another in a field already stained with blood, no action or subordinates to distract from their acknowledgement of one another.

“It really is you …”

“I'm here to stop you from ruining Almyra's reputation, Shahid.” Claude’s wording was careful. If he could appeal to his brother’s Almyran pride he might be able to turn the leadership of this fight elsewhere.

Shahid pulled on the reigns of his wyvern, causing the beast to rear back with a roar. “Her reputation in this land of weaklings and cowards?”

Claude sighed, disappointed that he’d stumbled on the wrong phrasing for Shahid’s current mood.

“Even now Fodlan's only glory is from the heels of Almyra's weakest link. Without you, this country will cannibalize itself within the decade,” Shahid spat, charging his mount forward, knowing that turning the wyvern would only give an archer lie his brother a larger target.

Rather than accept the clash, Claude took off, spinning thrice to avoid the thrown axe he’d known was coming.

“Almyra knows her worth!” Shahid shouted after him in chase. Whispering under the rush of wind and wings, “And mine.”

.

Shahid’s axes came close. A single strike to a winged shoulder would have been enough to risk a deadly fall and a lost friend, so Claude paced himself, not meaning to toy with Shahid, but timing sudden drops and careful acrobatics to his advantage. Arrows riddled Shahid’s wyvern before Shahid had managed more than a single scratch on the hide of Claude’s wyvern. Shahid’s mount’s movements had steadily become more choppy, but the final arrow sent the beast to the ground in a steady decline.

Claude wished they’d landed earlier. Shahid’s mount didn’t die gracefully, but Claude had some relief that his brother jumped down and across the wyvern’s wailing body, axe still raised in accusation.

“Give it up, Shahid!” Claude shouted, landing across the field, bow still raised. “It's over. You lost.”

Shahid’s eyes flickered to where a Fodlani soldier rushed forward, skidding to an angular stop to his brother’s side. Beyond, he could see his own fallen guard, and bared his teeth in rage.

“Let fly that arrow, then!” He taunted. “I'll never kneel to the likes of you!”

“But that isn't what I'm asking for you to do here!” Claude insisted. He threw his arms down in frustration, lowering his weapon as he thought of how Shahid would have demanded his allegiance, if not his death — and how he should be doing the same, whether because of Almyran custom, to hide his identity as planned, or for the safety of both Leicester and Almyra. He dismounted. “Let's end this, come on!”

Claude dreamed of the children they had never been, playing together, teaching one another, and reflected on how Shahid’s natural gravity and subtle intellect had inspired the methodology of his plans all the same. Even with how their environment had pit them and their siblings against one another, they were more similar than they were different, even if he would have to convince Shahid of the worth of people not from Almyra. He was his brother, and Claude wanted him at his side, even ahead of him, so long as he would listen, as long as he would try.

“You little brat …” Shahid hissed, holding his left shoulder as though his axe was heavy and he was supporting himself. “I'd sooner die!”

The knife flying in Claude’s direction wasn’t a surprise, but it also wasn’t an attack he should have been weathering, with dreams of reconciliation.

Avery was in front of him in the blink of an eye, easily parrying the thrown blade with the strange, summoned sword that acted as an extension of his arm.

Claude sighed hopelessly, and then donned a different mask as he addressed his classmate, “Thanks for that.”

With his dual blades still at the ready, and without looking away from Shahid, who took three more heavy steps forward, Avery squared his posture, tightened his jaw and tossed his head slightly to adjust his bangs.

“Look, Claude …” Avery said, low. “If you can't do it, then I can.”

Shahid heard him anyway and chuckled darkly as he swung his axe up to hold the weapon in both hands. “Yes, Claude,” he mocked, “loose a mongrel on a prince of Almyra. Even that would be more dignified than to be ended by the hand of an impertinent, soulless—”

“Prince Shahid—” Nader shouted, as if to interrupt him — royalty, while he had the impertinence to land his wyvern at his brother’s side.

Shahid would have none of that, and took off towards him in a run. “How dare you speak to me! You fucking turncoat.”

He expected his brother’s guard dog to cut him off and ignored the roar and shout as he readied to swing up towards the defensive maw of the wyvern on which Nader sat, catching an arrow in the upper arm at the last moment. His weapon faltered, and he should have died, but Nader pulled hard to turn his well-tamed beast aside and into flight again, leaving Shahid on the ground, injured and shamed.

“Why?!” he called up after Almyra’s supposedly staunchest general. “Why did you come with me at all? Why did I trust you?! How could you trust him?!”

It hurt. His pride, his arm, his heart. Yet when the soldier rushed his side, Shahid was able to spin his axe in a wide arc and send them crashing aside.

He expected that might earn him a moment to breathe, to rethink his retreat, but then Claude tackled him and Shahid lost his grip on his weapon as he met the earth unceremoniously.

They’d never fought before, not really. Claude had been a babe, a child, and Shahid had injured, annoyed and abused him if Claude had had the misfortune of being left without a sympathetic authority in his presence. Perhaps that had led Shahid to believe he’d never fought before at all, or to see him still as that helpless child.

Claude clamped a hand around Shahid’s throat, allowing his brother enough momentum to try to sit up from his place prone on the ground before shoving him back down, choking him briefly and cracking the back of his head against the ground. Shahid reached up to claw at his face with one hand, punching back against his brother’s left shoulder with his left hand. Shahid’s wild eyes shook and his vision swam, but he could make out the glittering pieces in Claude’s outfit at this inescapable proximity and despite how Claude decked him in the temple, he was able to steal one of his brother’s many knives with his left hand as his right clung to Claude’s chest, Shahid’s brain rattling in his skull.

Shahid drove that knife into his brother’s thigh and did not release the hilt through the resulting scream, nor as he used Claude’s shock to force them to roll aside.

Shahid longed to berate his brother, to banter and rage and tell him exactly why and how he would never take Almyra, but all he could do was grunt as he pulled out the blade and struggle with his right arm, still plucked by his brother’s arrow, to try to drive it down into the side of Claude’s head. Claude only had to raise his arm to redirect the blow into the earth, where Shahid left the knife and reached forward to grab his brother’s hair and knock him into the ground as Claude had done to him moments ago.

They tussled, all hands, and teeth, and hidden knives, and the rush of wind and dirt as Nader’s wyvern landed somewhere nearby, and Shahid knew he was going to die here.

Claude’s injured leg kneeled down on Shahid’s arm, the retrieved knife held down by Claude’s left fist, deep in his shoulder. Claude’s right forearm extended across Shahid’s chest, Shahid’s right arm twisted on the ground, the arrow now broken and its tip lost somewhere inside the wound. They both gasped for air, the same air, Claude wished he could shout, blood stinging down the side of his forehead getting caught in his brow.

“Shahid,” Claude asked again. “Don't make me do this.”

Shahid hissed through a false smile of teeth again, until Claude pressed the blade harder.

“Don't you want to see home again?” Claude asked desperately, close to crying as he watched Shahid’s eyes squint closed in pain. “The southern beaches, the western desert…”

Shahid’s eyes opened slowly, staring blindly at the blue and white sky above.

“Don't you want to see the sun tomorrow?” Claude bargained. They both winced, shoulders shrinking in shame and humiliation as Nader corralling a crowd could be heard at a distance.

“Shahid,” Claude begged. “Please.” He pulled the knife free, letting the tip press into Shahid’s cheek, not piercing the skin. “Keep your eyes. Keep your tongue.”

Shahid let his gaze drift to Claude again, the fight draining out of him as he thought of home, tears swelling with the realization of all he’d lost, and all he had yet to lose by agreeing.

“I mean to treat you with dignity and respect,” Claude promised, “and that means I won't seek to humiliate you if you just stop … But this respect also means I'll kill you if I have to, brother.”

Shahid smiled again, not at ease, but less malicious than before — more impressed.

“We don’t need to be enemies. But even as enemies,” Claude said, sliding the blade down to press up into the soft flesh under the corner of Shahid’s jaw, “you can trust me. I hope you know that.”

Shahid scoffed and felt the knife draw blood. He swallowed just to feel that he could, and endeavoured to memorize Khalid’s face in this moment: No joy in his victory.

“Get. Off. Me,” he declared, low and regal. He fully expected Claude to refuse, to press a promise of reconciliation, alliance, vassalage, or exile, but on his shaky leg, Claude slowly lifted himself up and stepped away. Shahid lay in the dirt barely a moment longer, reaching up to touch first his neck and then his forehead, bare, now that his circlet had rolled away on the ground during their fight.

Shahid looked over to the purple haired soldier that held their broken ribs in a crooked stance where they stood by the rubble he’d tossed them into, and then turned his attention back to Claude as he sat up with a grunt and a hand on his chest.

“Shahid—” Claude began again, silenced by a raised royal palm raised not so high as usual for the pain and exhaustion Shahid was subject to.

Shahid stretched his neck back, and closed and stretched his hands before making strides to pull himself to his feet, one knee, split open, nearly giving out on him, bleeding copiously through his armor.

“You,” he demanded of the purple haired soldier. “Ask for my surrender.”

Avery answered before looking to Claude in confusion. “What?”

“Please,” Claude said, an open hand facing the ground extended towards Avery to ensure he stayed his weapons. “Do as he says.”

Keeping in-line with the standard set by the nobles in his presence, Avery forced himself to stand though he kept his arm around himself, still feeling the weight of the Almyran prince’s blow.

“In the name of the Leicester Alliance, I demand you … call off your forces. And, uh, submit … to a total surrender.”

Claude’s wince and Shahid’s lowered brow reinforced how Avery had not done that correctly.

“Do I have any forces left?” Shahid asked Claude.

“We’ll take care of it,” Claude answered cryptically.

After a roll of his eyes, Shahid addressed the soldier again, “You will have to bind me.”

“There's no need for—” Claude began to object.

“Shut up,” Shahid said ineloquently. “I need no more than my hands to best you.”

Claude had to hold himself back from pointing out all the evidence to the contrary, and could see how his irritation earned another biting smile from Shahid.

“I will need to be bound,” Shahid told the soldier despite the bile in his throat.

“Yeah,” Avery agreed, sparing a glance at Claude. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Take him straight to the keep. And find him a subtle healer,” Claude ordered Avery. “He’s not a spectacle.” Shahid laughed openly. Claude hid his eyes in his hands and rubbed feeling back into his face, and then swept back his hair. “I have stuff to finish up here.”

[randomkposts]

I asked, and did get enough feedback to do another poll. I can't belive I forgot to include trust issues on a poll about Claude von Riegan. Welp time to fix that. I'm not going to put an other button as while some people did put in thoughts in notes/reblogs/ tags like I asked, the ratio between voters and people who added thoughts was not proportional. Not unexpected, but still disapointing. So I'll just ask here that you write in the notes or reblog and add any thoughts or options that may have been missed.

Greyscale won the previous poll, now lets see how it does against some of these new options

I am aware that friendzone may not be the most accurate/ prefered description term, however I can not think of a better term to use to summerize this poll.

For some well written out thoughts on some of the options, check out awakening girls reblog on the previous poll.

For the fanfic that inspired it,

If you want to vote all of the above, say so in the notes/reblogs please. In the meanwhile, vote for the one you feel influances him the most

[stergeon]

at some point i will figure out how to write the post-canon, post-empire edelgard autonomy fic of my dreams. it just feels like a very big task and maybe like with playing the dane, i’m simply not old and traumatized enough to manage it yet.

but my vision is thus: it’s set years (realistically, decades) after the end of crimson flower, when everything has gone as right as it can possibly go. fódlan is thriving. the social reforms have taken effect. the nobility system is nearly eliminated, if not entirely so, with titles made merely symbolic. social mobility, welfare, and prosperity are high. there’s an explosion in arts and culture and technology. brigid and duscur have gained independence; relations with sreng and almyra are much improved; heck, maybe they've even figured it out with dagda. in my most idealistic version, leicester and faerghus would eventually be ceded back to become autonomous regions, essentially disbanding the adrestian empire. rule is no longer hereditary, but merit-based. there's a roadmap for the future, and everything is on track—and more than that, people at all points on the power spectrum have already seen it bear fruit. with or without edelgard, it will be pursued. there's buy-in. they believe.

of course, it's not perfect—nothing can be—but edelgard's vision has been fulfilled. the people are empowered. humanity is free. fódlan has healed.

and somehow, she's had enough time to resolve her goals outside of politics, too. those who slither in the dark have been eradicated. edelgard and lysithea's second crests have been successfully removed, allowing them to live if not full lives, then substantially longer ones than they would have with their twin crests intact. who knows—maybe she finally gets around to having that wedding.

point for point, every item listed in edelgard's manifesto has been checked off. the ghosts of her past have been laid to rest. she can finally take off her crown. she can finally pursue the quiet, humble life she's wanted for so long. she can finally breathe.

... but can she?

edelgard is nothing if not driven. her intelligence, vision, and sheer willpower allowed her to plan and execute a revolution against two countries and the most powerful institution on the continent, all while she was still a teenager. as royalty, her life was never truly hers even before she became heir to the adrestian throne, with all the additional baggage of survivor's guilt and the desire for vengeance and her need to ensure nothing that happened to her can ever happen to anyone else, ever again.

so what happens when that drive has no outlet? what happens when someone who has been constantly in motion, constantly working and planning and preparing every spare second of every day since she was fourteen years old, suddenly has to stand still? what happens when someone whose hands have been bound for so long—first literally in the dungeons of enbarr, then by the weight and responsibilities of her crown—is set free?

being edelgard, she would step away from the throne, no matter how hard it was for her to give up control. she's always been focused on the endgame, and she knows that if she doesn't let go, she'll be setting the wrong tone for fódlan's future. she's too devoted to that endgame to cling to power much longer than she needs to, though i could see her making some excuses and trying to iron out just a few more things to buy herself some more time to mentally prepare before she's done for good.

but who would she be then? who is the woman without the crown? what becomes of a machine once it is no longer needed, when it has made itself obsolete? what about when that machine is a person with legs and arms and an innate unwillingness to gather dust on a shelf?

what happens when you get everything you want? what happens when all your wanting has been for others to thrive, and now you have to want only for yourself? how do you discover who you are when you've spent decades being everything for everyone else? how do you find meaning again? how do you find purpose?

after a lifetime of devotion and passion and movement, how do you learn to sit with yourself, and be quiet, and be still?

gosh, i would love to meet her. i would love to pick her brain. but boy, i do not envy the work that girl has to do.

[thehumanistcrusader]

I don't think we realize just dangerous Silver Snow could be for Byleth as a character.

(EDIT: Changed the title to reflect the headcanon-esque nature of this post.)

In the other three routes, Byleth has the house leaders to anchor themselves down when they receive their divine powers. In Azure Moon and especially Verdant Wind, they are able to maintain their humanity despite their rise to godhood because they have those bonds, and in Crimson Flower, they end up losing their powers altogether. But Silver Snow? Oh, Silver Snow is a whole other ball game.

In Silver Snow, Edelgard, who in another timeline would have been the one to relieve Byleth of their divinity and perhaps even fill their life with love and compassion, instead turns on them, leaving to fulfill her own ideals. Dimitri ends up going insane from his own demons and dies at Gronder, likely not in a very nice way, too. Claude is forced to leave Fodlan for Almyra in order to save himself. Worse yet, all the other students who weren't lucky enough to join Byleth are likely dead as well.

And Rhea, the one person they've been holding out for this whole time, the one person that they had hoped would be able to turn things around, is either dead, or has retired to Zanado. Byleth was just beginning to show their humanity, to warm their stone cold heart, and what did they get for it? Nothing. Their home is ravaged by war, so many of their students, their friends are dead, and the ones that did make it out will never get to see their dear Professor grow old alongside them. Even Cyril, the youngest voiced character in the entire game, will be nothing but a blink to the immortal Byleth. Sure, Seteth and Flayn are still there, and maybe Macuil and Indech could be convinced to come hang out at Gareg Mach, but even these 4 are nothing compared to the 40+ friends that Byleth has lost.

A major part of Byleth's story is the relationship between their humanity and their divinity. Azure Moon and Verdant Wind manage to strike a balance, albeit leaning towards human and divine respectively. The Black Eagle routes, then, are the extremes. In Crimson Flower, Byleth sacrifices their divinity to embrace their humanity, finding themselves in the loving arms of close friends, and perhaps eventually, family. In Silver Snow, what does Byleth do when almost everyone they know is dead, and they must now shoulder the responsibility of leading Fodlan for all eternity? Simple. They reject their humanity, and with it the memories of happier days, and embrace their divine nature wholeheartedly. There is no longer Byleth, there is only The Enlightened One.

Fodlan is transformed into a theocracy, ruled eternally by The Enlightened One, who rules with daft precision and perfection. Thanks to the technology from Shambala, Fodlan is transformed into a technological paradise. Every building is self-powered, all foods is grown in buildings with perfect conditions, all jobs are handled by machines. There is no disease, because The Enlightened One heals all the sick. There is no crime, because The Enlightened One rains divine judgement on those who sin. There is no war, because The Enlightened One destroys all who threaten Fodlan.

However, just as The Enlightened One guards those under the wings, so too do they strike down any from outside. Under their rule, Fodlan becomes even more isolationist, to the point where had folks like Petra or Claude tried to enter Fodlan, they would have been chased off like savage bears outside of one's house, because to The Enlightened One, that is essentially what they are: savage beasts threatening their precious home.

Fodlan becomes a perfect world, and yet, because of this, there is no growth, no change, no evolution. The Enlightened One has become a cold, apathetic, and pragmatic ruler in their rejection of humanity. Fodlan becomes cold, stale, emotionless, blanketed forever...

...in silver snow.

[kyogre-blue]

This awful nightmare month had FOUR paralogues. So tiring. And they don't even let me kill Flayn or Seteth! Or let me see Rhea murdering those two NPC imperial suckups. Disappointing all around.

To get my notes under the char limit, I'll put the part about the first paralogue here.

Immediately after Claude's death/deportation, we get invaded by Almyra. Holst "fell ill" but big doubt.jpg, since he does not show his face to either Hubert or Edelgard (Hubert can only comment that "it's said" that Holst looks and smells awful). The Alliance supposedly can't cooperate enough to muster forces to support the Locket, even though we just spent lots of time playing up how Claude maneuvered everything to go down with the least amount of damage possible and how the Alliance has been extremely peaceful and cooperative to our occupation and invasion. The Goneril soldiers book it immediately when we arrive, no green units for us. And at the end, Holst politely passes the duty of guarding the Locket to the Empire. Which is another way of saying he refused to do it anymore, possibly on account of the dead little sister. You know, just maybe.

This is hilarious in general, and you can read all kinds of funny things into it, especially since this is the route where the game lies to you all the time with a straight face, so you are free to interpret practically all things you're told as complete bullshit (and you'll be provably right at least half the time).

Personally, I think it's very funny to assume everyone who says the Alliance occupation is going oh so well is either wrong or lying. I mean, sure, Claude supposedly arranged it so things would go peacefully whether he won or lost, BUT he was wrong at least twice about his allies surrendering peaceably and his dying words are about how he misread the entire situation. Yeah, logically this is all structured to contrast how the Kingdom and the Church won't go down as peacefully, but it's funnier if the Alliance is also not peaceful about this at all.

Almyra certainly is not looking like a future friendly neighbor, despite Edie's optimistic outlook.

Live blogging:

Hubert reports that Thales has started collecting the Relics from the Alliance (cool! definitely not a problem! Hilda wasn't casually able to oneshot everyone with that awful axe!)

He also suggests that we have one of our Lions recruits pretend to be a hostage to force their family to betray the Kingdom. Lovely man, so practical.

Byleth: you're using too many Proper Nouns, I can't keep tracks :( Edelgard: don't worry about it, kitten

Nader's in good spirits, at least. The Almyran forces have a lot of wyverns, mounted archers and also giant birds.

Edelgard thinks we can befriend Almyra, she would even consider a treaty. It's not a land ruled by blind fealty to the goddess (lol), so as long as communicate openly and respect the differences between our cultures... OK. We're not gonna mention Claude at all, which is funny.

Next paralogue! Hubie is investigating Solon, Kronya and Arundel. He wants to know their identities, their origins, their numbers, their base of operations, their plans, and where they acquired their dark powers, how they disguise themselves. He calls them "those who slither in the dark."

Now, working backwards from this, it means that he doesn't know these things in early war phase (where we are now), unless we assume he got further in his investigations in other routes.

Also, as has been pointed out, although this is a descriptive name that Hubert came up with, it's also used by Rhea for some reason.

It's a shame that Arundel is just Thales, he has a pretty nice design.

Hubert calls Arundel "Regent" even now. Weird!

We're sent to help some Agarthans who were experimenting in the Sealed Forest but their demonic beast subjects ran wild. Hubert later suggests that this was all a setup to make Edie's faction feel powerless in the face of the Agarthans' experiment (because they are aware Hubert is investigating them), but it backfired because Hubie isn't intimidated at all. He's looking forward to when Edelgard finished uniting Fodlan, and then House Vestra will fight the Agarthans in the shadows. (Hilarious from a narrative standpoint.)

Incidentally, you only need to save more than half the mages to get Arrow of Indra. The "Mysterious Mages" that you save also do not have Agarthan Technology abilities unlike the shapeshifters. Ladislava is popular with the citizens of the empire. She doesn't put up airs, is talented and also beautiful. She's known as the Scarlet Warrior.

There isn't much unrest in the former Alliance territories, perhaps thanks to Caspar's dad's strength (aka keeping them in line by force).

Riegan was once a branch family of Blaiddyd, which is very mysterious given their different crests.

Ladislava's troops depart at the end of the month (February) to the western front. They have high mobility. iirc she's a wyvern rider.

It's a bit funny to get the quest for the Almyran merchant same month as the Almyra invasion paralogue.

Claude told Lysithea roughly that she shouldn't focus too much on whether they win. Unlike Judith and Hilda, she listened lol.

Hubert hanging out in the Deer classroom, thinking about Claude. Relatable. He says that Claude has a compassionate exterior, but underneath is cold and calculating. Harsh! Also, not really in line with Claude's behavior toward his allies.

Linhardt says that there's a passage from the Holy Mausoleum to the Holy Tomb, but he can't figure out the mechanism. It's not really clear where the Holy Tomb is, and I've seen the speculation that it's under the amiibo gazebo... but the Holy Mausoleum is in the cathedral, so the two being connected... it's possible both are true, but kinda weird if so.

Dorothea: They'll write operas about this... I'm sure a pretty actress will play you :) And Edie :)) Maybe they'll throw in a love story :)))) hahaha (extremely awkward laugh)

Just realized you steal Zoltan's idol from the advisory room in the cathedral. Nice.

Hubert and Edie A: He emphasizes again that he's devoted to her due to personal feelings but also that he's not loyal in the sense of following her orders. He does what he thinks is best and if Edie disagrees, or doesn't like it, or is kept in the dark for her own good, well, that's how it is. He also mentions that his devotion became personal after Edie returned from the Kingdom, which calls back to how he and Ionius treat it as some kind of malicious kidnapping.

Petra paralogue: Church is threatening Brigid :( Well, per the Empire's perspective. Catherine is here <3

Jokes aside, Petra's perspective is interesting. Brigid is trapped between the Empire and Dagda, and they don't have the ability to stand against either one. They were dragged into war with the Empire by Dagda, which they then lost, and Petra's father was even killed. So they became a vassal state of the Empire, but given the whole racism issue, they probably were not in a good position. So Petra is focused on basically proving that Brigid is a useful and valuable ally for the Empire. Which is a rather practical approach.

Leonie paralogue... Interesting details that you need recommendations to get into Officers Academy. In the Alliance this means paying nobles to get them. Raphael mentions that his family sold their business to pay for him, iirc, since he wasn't up to running it anyway. Ignatz's parents are more successful, so perhaps they could just afford it. Leonie's entire village had to chip in to buy her way in. Presumably Ashe was sent by Lonato directly (though interesting choice given that the uprising happens very early in the year, so he must have already been planning it). I think the only other commoner is Dorothea, who... well.

Linhardt brings up the crests perpetuate the nobility angle and says to take it up with the Goddess for handing them out like that. But given where Leicester crests actually came from... sigh

Linhardt read about the legend of Saint Indech, so it's free real estate for any other character to read in an AU. Very nice.

Lake Teutates... Indech is a giant turtle. Man, these "dragons" are all kinds of shapes lmao. He attacks with water spikes.

Leonie calls the Immovable One a "magic beast" which we haven't seen so far, only wild beasts and demonic beasts.

Linhardt immediately caught on that the Immovable One is Saint Indech.

Petra has been in Fodlan for 9 years as of the war phase, so she came 3 years before the Academy.

Garreg Mach can be entered from the north by following Aillel, the Valley of Torment.

The map this time is a modified version of the monastery defense map from end of Academy Phase and second battle of the other routes. Previously, I didn't realize that the right hand third is gone. Presumably, this is the gorge that Byleth fell into...

We're fighting an expeditionary force led by Alois, while Rhea and Catherine hold off the rest of our army at the Sealed Forest. Aaah, they're so cool <3 They're also set up an ambush.

OK, so the situation with Flayn and Seteth is that they just retreat when defeated, regardless of who fights them. I thought there would be some scene about specifically sparing them, but nah. They just leave on their own. You don't even have any unique dialogue with Seteth, and Flayn just talks about how she won't kill you since she owes you her life.

Rhea murdered the heck out of Ladislava and Randolph off-screen. Shame, I would have loved to see it.

We killed Alois tho! He felt that, since we betrayed Rhea, Jeralt would not have approved.

[slotumn]

I've said before that I like Silver Snow as the bittersweet for Fódlan/outright bitter outcome for Byleth, and because I love making my faves go through it, here are ways I would personally make it Even Worse™

1. The Eagles all side with Edelgard by default.

Most of them have strong familial/financial/political connections to Adrestia, and that doesn't change just because they personally found Edelgard's methods pre-TS unsavory or w/e. Defecting isn't that easy, and defecting after hanging around within Adrestia for 5 years (as most of the Eagles apparently do during SS, according to their bio...?) really isn't easy! You can recruit them back on maps depending on support levels, but by default you start post-TS only with Church members (+AW, maybe)

So yeah already you get Byleth having to fight, and potentially kill, even more of their former students. And if you do manage to recruit some of the students back, it's repeatedly emphasized how bad the risk is for them; they defected from the Imperial army and if Byleth's army loses this war they're 100% getting executed as traitors.

2. You get the battle at Gronder Field, but it's a defend/survive map

Basically the situation is that Byleth's army gets news of the tristate clash at Gronder, and they go there in an attempt to curb the bloodshed. But it doesn't work, and Byleth can only watch as they beat each other to death.

You also get to see in this battle just how badly the war damaged the continent and its people, because the three nations are insanely hateful and bigoted to each other as they fight. People who were former schoolmates are straight up calling each other subhuman beasts who should be exterminated, and it hits Byleth and the player that even after the war is over, that's what you will have to pick the pieces up from.

The "subhuman beasts" rhetoric is also foreshadowing of how the Agarthans may have been involved in stoking the ethnic/national bigotry and tensions— although the lords also bear responsibility for letting all that fester to propel their own goals and/or maintain power.

3. Full flashback/cutscene that actually shows the massacre at Zanado at some point after rescuing Rhea

I think one of the problems around the writing of Rhea/Nabateans in the game is that despite the Zanado massacre being very important to the game's worldbuilding and lore as well as characterization, the way you find out about is very underwhelming. And if I remember correctly you don't even hear it in SS, just VW, as infodump. I think actually showing the event would both make SS stand out from other routes, and do it justice as Byleth's route by connecting everything about how they came to be.

If you put the scene in before Shambhala, hearing the Agarthans call Nabateans subhuman/beast in the flashback also connects the dots from what you heard at Gronder, and further solidifies why Byleth has to go kick Slither ass. They've not only ruined Fódlan society from Zanado massacre to now in their arrogant, selfish pursuit of power, they were in fact directly responsible for the worst things Byleth had to go through.

4. Proper coronation scene for Byleth right before the final battle

Again, if Silver Snow is the Byleth route, I think they should get to have this one. Edelgard gets her coronation scene pre-TS, Dimitri gets his return to Fhirdiad scene, and Claude... okay he's kind of an exception because his coronation would be in Almyra but yeah. This would be good for a couple reasons.

First, coronating Byleth being the last thing Rhea does before she possibly dies is a good way to wrap up her character arc, especially if you get a CG that's a clear parallel to Byleth sitting on the throne in White Clouds. Byleth isn't Sothis, but Byleth has accepted their role to lead Fódlan to a better future as all of them wanted.

Second, it's more emphasis on the bittersweetness, because while Byleth did agree to be king, a large part of why they did is because there is literally no one else suitable left. They killed Edelgard, Hubert, and possibly other Eagles with their own hands. Most of the Lions and Deer died screaming bloody murder at Gronder. Rhea's health is in decline. The war shredded the administrative capabilities and functions of the entire damn continent, and Byleth has to pick up the scraps.

A good way to visually represent Byleth being the only one left would be having a CG where they're standing alone in their royal robes (Enlightened One outfit) with Aymr, Areadbhar, and Failnaught hung up on the walls. That's the legacy of the three kids they met that fateful day: three weapons that maim and kill, three razed (former) countries, and countless dead.

It also gets even more tragic that the first thing you have to do after becoming king is (possibly) killing Rhea. Like holy shit Byleth genuinely cannot catch a break.

5. Unique post-final battle scene instead of S-support scene if Byleth doesn't choose anyone to S-support

Actually I think this would be good in all routes, not just SS, but again if SS is Byleth's route then I think this would make the narrative the strongest there. Basically, we get to see a cutscene that hints at what Byleth does on their own when everything is over.

It doesn't need to be too explicit about what they get up to— just the hint that, despite everything, time marched on, and despite everything, life continued. Maybe even a book ends thing where they wake up from dreaming about all the events that happened through the game (Awakening-style lmao)

Tl;dr Silver Snow could have gone much harder if it let Byleth be even more miserable