#and a ton i can just delete

[a-vibing-potato]

Ohhhhhhhhh

[aroaceleovaldez]

i should post my nico cosplay here at some point cause i'm gonna start working on a project for his armor soon and the material i found for it is so cool

[starlos-soulmate]

Still a bit mad over that anon, but I feel I'm doing somewhat better. Just needed a breather

[2hoothoots]

i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:

Restore Ford Cruller's memory

Find Maligula

???

Profit

but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.

[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]

like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.

...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:

[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]

and that's kind of interesting, right?

to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:

"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"

my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.

so what is going on here?

in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:

"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."

other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.

the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.

[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]

i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!

we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.

like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.

i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.

[aldisobey]

What. What the fuck DO YOU MEAN you've only been writing fic since Veilguard?

???!!!???!!!!!!!!

And it's so good?????

@excited-hiss

I uh. I’m blushin. My eyes burn. I didn’t consider myself a ‘writer’ until a few months back. Reading this—from you? Meltin. I line tile. now one with grout.

I’ve always written! Always. But you’re only a writer if published right? See I am also dumb. and a coward. And writing a character I didn’t create terrifies me. Because then you can get it wrong? I didn’t make that voice how could I write it?! Fanfic?!! Never. Sacrilege. I’m not even a writer I wouldn’t defile…

BUT EMMRICH. I had to see him. I had to see more. And I wanted to show what I thought HAPPENED. I didn’t have an AO3 account. I worked on that for weeks. The hours would be embarrassing. But that was my first post on tumblr.com. Bless those first likes. I was seconds from deleting. And I would’ve missed all the friendship and community being a WRITER of fanfic of all things brought!! I love you all.

And it’s been so fun to share that and get to see other takes. I worried for nothing. There are no rules. We are all writers if we’re writing and it’s a glorious thing. I don’t know how to put it…but hmm. I love the writing and Emmrook community, sincerely. Earlier hangups scared me off fanfic when it’s all fun.

[fossilizedhysterics]

angel Ɛ✦3

[miodiodavinci]

i saw that you used to hint at oc stuff on twitter (don't ask me why im digging im looking for zola stuff lmao) why don't you post more about them?

i am simply terrified that if i post oc things online someone will steal the concept and run with it faster and better than i ever could have and then i will be devastated forever and ever

more seriously i have very little to show for any of my oc things (adhd brain making life difficult as per usual awawawawawa) and every time i've shared oc things in the past i've ended up never following up on it and it makes me feel bad and guilty so i've just convinced myself i will Never talk about my ocs until i have something substantial i can put out there

[dreamingofthewild]

"People only rate BG3 highly because of the romances" has got to be one of the most inane takes I have seen so far.

It's good to be critical, but I just had to block someone who decided to shit over BG3 and the BG3 fandom because they enjoyed Veilguard and didn't like any of the criticisms.

Sorry for the negative posting again. It's good to be critical, but why do you have to insult others in doing so? Why bring BG3 and the BG3 fandom into it?

[chibishortdeath]

Maybe this is just me being autistic or something, but I do not understand how movie/TV adaptations of games are so hard to make. The original media is right there??? Just use it as a basis for your script?????? Add and subtract where necessary for the medium while still keeping it the same story at heart????????? “But it’d be boring if it was a whole tv show” ok then why is it not boring as a game???????????? Why do people replay games then???????????????????? I don’t get it.

[flaming-toads]

Sometimes the wips don't get finished because I'm afraid I'm going to ruin them if I continue.

[halfusek]

great. gonna have to glaze/nightshade all my art. its not like i have an over 4500 images long comic. no problem at all

[remxedmoon]

My family is still staying in half of the church that wasn’t affected by the bombing because there is nowhere else to stay other than tents. They are limited to one small meal a day and one shower a week. They are sleeping on the floors, but no one can sleep since there is bombing everywhere around them. Even when there is no bombing, they can still hear the loud buzzing sound of the military planes above them, which would keep anyone who hears it awake. Along with everything, My grandma has diabetes and osteoporosis, so she can’t walk. She has to take her insulin medication along with many others; however, she has run out of many of her medications.” Am on my knees requesting for donation. Target $450

oh wow, you are a persistent scammer. for anyone wondering, insulin pens aren’t permitted to enter gaza, and in the cases of this person’s other scams, insulin does not cost 300+ dollars. there’s a great post by 12percentspider that goes into depth about this specific scam, and another post by kyra45 with links to information about other common scams. stay safe and stuff

[liebgirl]

remember that cobra kai cast interview from a while ago where tanner and mary switched outfits? do you guys think he only picked mary because she’s the only one he likes. i get a vibe that those two are like. each others only real ally in the enemy territory that is the cast of cobra kai… no offense i’m sure they’re all coworker friendly with each other. if i was in the cast of cobra kai i’d keep it coworker friendly with everybody too but i would also go home and complain to my friends and family about how fucking annoying jacob bertrand is. you understand

[rubiesintherough]

.

[dragonstailbutch]

.

[keeps-ache]

if i ever get around to it i'll maybe write a boring book for people who think they're boring