#ancestor mystery!

[egophiliac]

oh, uh, this...this isn't Silver's backstory after all.

[gamebunny-advance]

Oh.

Nintendo out there just casually (kinda) confirming the "descended from humans" and "the wraiths are involved in all of the spaceship crashes" theories.

(source)

Okay, they're not really "confirmations" but more like they're officially addressing the different theories that people have about the true nature of PNF-404 and are telling you to keep on speculating on your own time.

Take these translations with a grain of salt since they're machine translations.

[mrsheo]

I know her like for a second, but I already love her

[ancestorsalive]

[metamatronic]

Argent is kinda handsome and... hot?

as is tradition with recent pokemon games, i aspire to have all NPCs be a little hot. as a treat.

a secondary but incredibly important addition is that at least 25-50% of the NPCs must also be Gender™

[science-lings]

PLEASE elaborate on the phoenix and franziska shenanigans during the 7yg you have NO idea how much i like them

I am someone who loved the investigative portion of Bridge to the Turnabout where Franziska had to babysit Phoenix when he wasn't allowed to follow Miles and Iris. I think when he's not her rival defense attorney and is looking particularly pathetic, she is actually pretty chill around him. She is not exempt from his aura that gets young women to imprint on him and follow him around.

She is genuinely offended on his behalf when he gets disbarred because he beat Miles and Manfred and even her! why the hell would he cheat in a case against a teenager! She does not think for a second that he forged that diary page because she knows firsthand how he throws himself into things and cannot prepare an entire evil plan for shit. However, she does not know how to convey this to him so she bullies Miles into flying him and Trucy around because Miles is almost too good at being resigned to pine sadly from a distance.

It's also important to know that she sees Phoenix being a caring father to Trucy and as someone who never really had a valid father, decided that maybe (ex) defense attorneys have rights... Even if Miles didn't get his shit together to put a ring on That Man's finger, Franziska would find herself in Phoenix's found family, it's only a matter of time.

For some reason Phoenix doesn't go to court with Edgeworth, maybe he can't stand being there while not being a lawyer, maybe he forgot he wasn't an attorney once and got kicked out for yelling out an objection, it doesn't matter, Trucy gets to be Edgeworths weirdgirl assistant and Phoenix is stuck investigating with Franziska and they are the worst people to keep each other out of trouble. We're talking about 'guy who ran across a burning bridge' and 'woman who got shot in the shoulder and still managed to get to court eventually' they are an unstoppable duo when they find something they can both get behind.

If anyone can slowly get Franziska to loosen up and learn to embrace the childhood that she lost, it would be Phoenix. I mean, this girl passed the bar at like 13 there was no way she had time to binge she-ra and check out books on drawing horses from the library. He would convince her to get a cat who hangs out in a window backpack that she can carry around during her travels because it turns out that her life is kinda lonely and she totally seems like the cat lesbian type. She is also allergic to cats so she has to get a sphinx or a devon rex or just the most gargoyle/ golbin looking creature to walk on this earth. That just seems like her vibe.

[lauritanaomystery]

Why is Lewis your favorite character?

You ask me why? YOU ASK ME WHY?! (my inner Lewis screams)

Ehmm, eehhmm ehem! The only thing I can say is: just look him!!! el es precioso!!!

Although to be honest with you: I feel a great attraction towards this beautiful flower from the past, a queen of my heart… I AM YOURS, MUSHI!!!

Yeh, she is perfect to me!!!

[nastyadreamstar]

[thesleepyfable]

Mushi: Soul on Fire.

[848ellie]

Time Loops ⌛ Our planet is a school and we are here to learn its lessons. This is why some of us keep coming back to the same families where we get another chance to overcome the same challenges, make the same choices, and deal with the same issues that happened in the past.

[sincerely-sofie]

How would Sen react if she found/met someone that was a human, that had been turned into one of the artificially made constructs like her?

She’d be jealous of them for having an excuse to be broken.

[dailycharacteroption]

Retrograde Revision 3: Ancestor Mystery (Oracle Mystery)

(art by ArtLeonCD on DeviantArt)

And so we come to the end for this week, and I must say, looking back on what I wrote on today’s subject in the early days of the blog really does feel like I did this entry injustice, but that’s what these revisitations are for, right?

Whether it is great records set in stone or oral traditions, we as humans, as well as many fantasy peoples, are defined by the legacy of our forebears, of the act of keeping the name and memories of those who came before alive, to better understand how they strived and sweat and bled to make the world that we live in today, all in direct defiance of the uncaring and forgetful march of time.

Civilization, all civilizations, are based on this at their core, on the legacy of our ancestors, so it only makes sense to honor or even worship them for their role in making our lives possible, and the prayer that whatever remains of them after death will watch over us into the future. Apply that to a fantasy setting, and the echoes of long-dead ancestors, be they spirits formed from their memories or their souls watching from the afterlife, may indeed come to offer guidance and protection, often using oracles of this mystery as a mouthpiece and/or instrument of their will.

Naturally, these oracles show up most often in cultures and religions that have a strong sense of history. The dwarves with their great halls built by forefathers and their fathers in kind, the elves with their long view, the iruxi lizardfolk with their tendency to keep the bones of their ancestors close in a very literal way, all are potential candidates. However, any civilization might give rise to such oracles, with perhaps the exception of young species or created beings that lack a history.

Regardless of their origins, however, the weight of history and the strength of an army of forebears stands behind these mystics.

The spells of these oracles range from various manifestations of their ancestors aiding them in ghostly form, to those that bless them and others with courage and determination, to stepping beyond the veil into ethereal and astral realms.

With a gesture, many of these oracles can summon to their hands an echo of one of the weapons wielded by their family in the past. At first, these weapons are well-made but mundane, but grow more magical and even able to touch spirits as they grow in power.

Others can invoke the courage and skill of their ancestors for a few brief moments, gaining greater prowess in battle.

Some develop the ability to unnerve others with a touch, such foes feeling the otherworldy presence of the spirits watching over them.

Others call upon a relevant ancestor when attempting a task, seeking their guidance on the matter.

More powerful oracles can allow the spirit of a great warrior to possess them, becoming a deadly force on the battlefield for minutes at a time.

Many can also call upon their ancestors to shield them from harm, blocking incoming attacks and even casting aside projectiles with mastery.

With an inversion of their power, some can become as spirits themselves, intangible and invisible to mortals for a while.

Powerful mystics might learn to invoke the wrath of their ancestors in a flurry of half-visible shapes and forms tearing into foes, an assault which is even more destructive to the undead.

Many also possess a knack for speaking to the dead, asking questions of even begrudging and hostile interviewees with some modicum of success.

Others learn to commune with their ancestors fully by entering a meditative trance, able to learn of the near and farther future, as well as eventually asking great questions of them.

Finally, at the end of their path, the strongest of these mystics become avatars of their ancestral lineage, becoming harder to usurp mentally, gaining heightened senses, superior divinatory power, and even able to project their spirit astrally without any setup.

The revelations and magic of this mystery lends itself well to a mixed combat and support oracle, able to go toe to toe with mighty foes while also supporting their allies and being supported in kind with spiritual allies and the like. Add in proficiency with all knowledges and ways to buff or complement that with divination, and they prove true to their class name as information utility characters as well. If your character’s backstory points to a specific type of weapon or combat style, you might consider choosing feats and spells that complement it as well.

Two different routes you might take with these characters are perhaps the most obvious. On the one hand, your oracle might be a proud (or ashamed) keeper of their ancestry’s legacy, ready to perpetuate it and fight for (or against) what they believed in. On the other hand, they may be only learning of their grand history when they begin hearing the voices of the dead in their ears. Either way, the concept of family and legacy likely mean a lot to them, whether they already know it or are discovering it on their own.

Gorvid Duskhammer has awoken as an oracle, the first ever in his clan. However, the ancestral voices in his ear are those not of mountain dwarves, but of duergar, pointing to a hidden, dark history behind his otherwise well-respected clan. So desperate is he to hide this foul truth that when foreign heroes appear to solve the dwarven city’s undead problem, he tags along into the family crypt, to silence them if they realize the corpses below are of grey dwarves.

The bitter life of a street urchin has made Callad hard and cruel. When he awoke as an ancestor oracle he realized he had been denied greatness his whole life. Now, he rules over the shattered keep his ancestors once lorded over, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, plotting to restore his families name to greatness, by any means necessary.

It is said that the blade of Karaactus was lost for all time, but they say one of his blood still lives, an ancestor oracle who may be able to divine what happened to the magic sword. However, they might object to someone else wielding their ancestral weapon, which presents another problem.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

Book Lovers Day & International Day of the World’s Indigenous People & National Handholding Day

Person A has the super power to trace someone’s genetic ancestry just being shaking their hand, and works in an archive of ancestral records. They use their power to help people find the specific records, or at least narrow it down to a place of origin. One day, they shake Person B’s hand, who has come to the archive to do some family history digging and learns Person B is a complete blank, seemingly having come from nowhere and no one.

[Overflow prompts for today's obscure holidays is available on Patreon! X3 Prompts!]

[an-incoherent-mess]

So I'm really into genealogy and have been for a few years now and I'm blessed with being really good with names and dates etc. So in conversation I can remember like a ridiculous amount of:

Jane Doe Smith Johnson

b. 1805 Tennessee d. 1879 Missouri

Married 1828 to John Patrick Johnson. Had five children. Died of TB

Etc etc

And that's cool enough apparently but I've mostly been using it for

A. Making up bullshit but real sounding names for stuff (i.e my name is Emily Stewart, Grace Kolár, etc). The point is that they're normal sounding and varied.

B. Having a bizarre frame of reference for historical events. Like "oh [small town],[state] 1942 had [random] event happen? My 1st cousin 4x removed got married there that year, small world!"

It's so dumb, like I'll read about some historical event from my area (where I've had family in the vicinity of since the 1840s) and I'll link up the time frame in my head and be like hmm... I wonder what 3rd great aunt Helen thought about that happening next door to her church.

[the-tharns-speak]

How are the moth priests doing, does the government control them?

Moth priests are doing fine, they filled in a form for a partial tax refund for the last year - actually a very sensible motion on their side, given the impromptu crater in their backyard.

Does the government control them? Not any more than any other citizen of the Empire. The Council has a very limited influence on the going-ons of the officially recognised churches within the Empire. Technically the Emperor counts as “the high priest of any of the Eight Divines you need in the moment”, but practically it gets used only for ceremonies.

However, legally speaking, the Cult of the Ancestor Moth is a sect (also known as: cult) - a religious body with nothing enough following to be actually recognised by the Imperial Council as an official church whose faith citizen can follow.

[minotaurmerkaba]